great reads
Discover your next favorite book with our curated list of great reads! Explore top-rated fiction, non-fiction, and hidden gems for every book lover.
Book
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sonsâtheir love, their sacrifices, their lies. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love, and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject-the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful debut.
Book
Plantation
by Dorothea Benton Frank
Carolina Wimbley Levine had always sworn she'd never go home again, but when she must return to "see about Mother," she learns that Miss Lavinia, the Queen of Tall Pines Plantation, is filled with secrets and as maddeningly eccentric as ever.
Book
The Christmas Box Collection
by Richard Paul Evans
Richard Paul Evans' #1 New York Times bestseller The Christmas Box has become a holiday classic, a tale so touching that it continues to "tug families' heartstrings" (USA Today). His exquisite prequel, Timepiece, and The Letter completed the glorious trilogy of the Parkin family. Now all three magical stories are compiled in one extraordinary treasury that -reaches into that place where all broken hearts will forever be made whole" (The Star, Chicago). The Christmas Box A Christmas story unlike any other, The Christmas Box is the poignant tale of a widow and the young family who moves in with her. Together, they discover the first gift of Christmas -- and what the holiday is really all about. Timepiece Tracing the lives of a young couple as they discover love, loyalty, and the power of forgiveness, Timepiece is a tale of wisdom and of hope -- and a gentle reminder that the connections from one generation to the next are indelible. The Letter A mysterious letter is found at the grave of a couple's only child in this unforgettable conclusion to the collection. As they face love's greatest challenge, they find its truest meaning and learn the lessons that are echoed throughout.
Book
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
by Ann Brashares
The first novel in the wildly popular #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, from the author of The Whole Thing Together and The Here and Now. Some friends just fit together. Once there was a pair of pants. Just an ordinary pair of jeans. But these pants, the Traveling Pants, went on to do great things. This is the story of the four friendsâLena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmenâwho made it possible. Pants = love. Love your pals. Love yourself. "Funny, perceptive, and moving." --USA Today âAn outstanding and vivid book that will stay with readers for a long time.â âPublishers Weekly, Starred, Flying Start âThe loving depiction of enduring and solid friendship will ring true to readers.â âThe Bulletin, Recommended âA feel-good novel of substance.â âKirkus Reviews, Starred âUplifting.â âSeventeen
Book
Jemima J
by Jane Green
Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herselfâas JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mailsâno small feat. With a fast-paced plot that never quits and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman's quest to become the woman she's always wanted to be, learning along the way a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately, who she really is.
Book
Babyville
by Jane Green
After three runaway hits (already topping more than 450,000 Broadway copies in print), Green turns her bestselling talents to the topic of modern motherly love.
Book
The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
"The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry was thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing." "The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals - steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable."--BOOK JACKET.
Book
Five Quarters of the Orange
by Joanne Harris
Returning to the small Loire village of her childhood, Framboise Dartigen is relived when no one recognizes her. Decades earlier, during the German occupation, her family was driven away because of a tragedy that still haunts the town. Framboise has come back to run a little cafe serving the recipes her mother recorded in a scrapbook. But when her cooking receives national attention, her anonymity begins to shatter. Seeking answers, Framboise begins to see ther her mother's scrapbook is more than it seems. Hidden among the recipes for crepes and liquors are clues that will lead Framboise to the truth of long ago.
Book
Shopgirl
by Steve Martin
With more than 340,000 copies in print, Steve Martins Shopgirl has landed on bestseller lists nationwide including: New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Filled with the kind of witty, discerning observations that have brought Steve Martin incredible critical success, this story of modern day love and romance is a work of disarming tenderness.
Book
Sophie's Heart
by Lori Wick
After the tragic death of his wife, Alec Riley struggles to put his life back together. He and his three children are lost in their grief...until Sophie walks unexpectedly into their lives. Having left her native Czechoslovakia, Sophie has discovered the land which seemed so bright with promise is far from her dream. A highly educated woman, Sophie now finds herself keeping house for Alec and his family How can Sophie find peace in her new job? Will God use her gentle spirit to help heal Alec's broken heart? From the author of "The Visitor "and "Bamboo and Lace "comes a warm contemporary story of God's tender mercies and loving intervention in the life of one family.
Book
The Princess
by Lori Wick
IN THE LAND OF PENDARAN, LIVELY, AFFECTIONATE Shelby Parker was born to a simple life -- yet her mother, Daria, and those around her cannot help but notice the graces she possesses. Among those taking note of Shelby's winsome ways and tender heart are the king and queen of the House of Markham, who are seeking a new wife for their widowed son, Prince Nikolai. To uphold a long-cherished tradition of their country, Shelby and Nikolai agree to an arranged marriage. But while Nikolai is a perfect gentleman at public functions, he remains distant and shy at home, leaving Shelby to ponder the inner workings of his heart. Will the prince ever love her as he did his first wife? Can the faith they share overcome the barriers between them? A contemporary story of honor and commitment freely given and richly rewarded
Book
Holes
by Louis Sachar
This groundbreaking classic is now available in a special anniversary edition with bonus content. Winner of the Newbery Medal as well as the National Book Award, HOLES is a New York Times bestseller and one of the strongest-selling middle-grade books to ever hit shelves! Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment âand redemption. Special anniversary edition bonus content includes: A New Note From the Author!; "Ten Things You May Not Know About HOLES" by Louis Sachar; and more! .
Book
Fight Club
by Chuck Palahniuk
This underground classic first published in 1996 tells the darkly funny story of a god-forsaken man who discovers that his rage at living in a world filled with failure and lies cannot be pacified by an empty consumer culture.
Item Not Found
ID: 0312878915
(Type: books)
Book
Circle of Friends
by Maeve Binchy
â[An] irresistible invitation to share the lives of people who believe in enduring values.ââDetroit Free Press It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. Bennyâthe only child, yearning to break free from her adoring parents. . . . Eveâthe orphaned offspring of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood, abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be raised by nuns. Eve and Bennyâthey knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains . . . except their own. It widened at Dublin, at the university where Benny and Eve met beautiful Nan Mahlon and Jack Foley, a doctor's handsome son. But heartbreak and betrayal would bring the worlds of Knockglen and Dublin into explosive collision. Long-hidden lies would emerge to test the meaning of love and the strength of ties held within the fragile gold bands of a. . . Circle Of Friends. Praise for Circle of Friends âA rare pleasure . . . at terrific tale, told by a master storyteller.ââSusan Isaacs, The New York Times Book Review âCircle of Friends welcomes you in.ââThe Washington Post
Item Not Found
ID: 0525946829
(Type: books)
Book
Cut
by Patricia McCormick
"A tingle arced across my scalp. The floor tipped up at me and my body spiraled away. Then I was on the ceiling looking down, waiting to see what would happen next."Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside.Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak.But Callie can only stay silent for so long...
Book
Summer Sisters: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Judy Blume
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ⢠âSummer Sisters is a book to return to again and again.ââColleen Hoover âAs warm as a summer breeze blowing through your hair, as nostalgic as James Taylor singing âHow Sweet It Is.â You remember. So does Judy Blume. How sweet it was.ââChicago Tribune In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonardâs world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Marthaâs Vineyard, an enchanting place where the two friends become âsummer sisters.â Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin begs Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will goâbecause she wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friendâher summer sisterâstill has the power to break her heart.
Item Not Found
ID: 0688170528
(Type: books)
Book
A Girl Named Zippy
by Haven Kimmel
The New York Times bestselling memoir about growing up in small-town Indiana, from the author of The Solace of Leaving Early. When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar periodâpeople helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards. Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.
Item Not Found
ID: 006621016X
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 038533494X
(Type: books)
Book
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!
by Fannie Flagg
A funny, serious, and compelling novel by Fannie Flagg, author of the beloved Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (and prize-winning co-writer of the classic movie). â[This] tale of tough, eccentric, endearing women who first endure and then prevail. . . . will make you laugh out loudâand shed a few tears. . . . Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! is another rattling success.ââRichmond Times-Dispatch Once again, Flagg's humor and respect and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: a brainy, beautiful, and ambitious rising star of 1970s television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications, and her past marked by mystery. Among the colorful cast of characters are: Sookie, of Selma, Alabama, Dena's exuberant college roommate, who is everything that Dena is not; she is thrilled by Dena's success and will do everything short of signing autographs for her; Sookie's a mom, a wife, and a Kappa forever Dena's cousins, the Warrens, and her aunt Elner, of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, endearing, loyal, talkative, ditsy, and, in their way, wise Neighbor Dorothy, whose spirit hovers over them all through the radio show that she broadcast from her home in the 1940s Sidney Capello, pioneer of modern sleaze journalism and privateer of privacy, and Ira Wallace, his partner in tabloid television Several doctors, all of them taken withâand almost taken in by-Dena There are others, captivated by a woman who tries to go home again, not knowing where home or love lie.