THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin

A human-created virus has infected humankind, mutating most into superstrong, near-immortal vampiric creatures. The "virals"-also called "jumpers" and "dracs" (after Dracula, of course)-can leap 20 feet through the air at a bound and split a human (or a horse, or a cow) in half with their bare hands. A small band of men and women embark on a cross-country trek, looking for a way to protect the few remaining uninfected humans from extinction. With them travels an enigmatic prepubescent girl who talks to the virals with her mind and seems to have been born 100 years before. VERDICT The monsters in this compulsive nail biter are the scariest in fiction since Stephen King's vampires in Salem's Lot. Although the novel runs 700 pages, Cronin is a master at building tension, and he never wastes words. Shout it from the hills! This exceptional thriller should be one of the most popular novels this year.

~ For Library Journal: David Keymer, Modesto, CA Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information

One of the best books I have ever read. Loved the characters. Very interesting story about the help in the South. ~ Lisa

Note: The Brookfield Library will be hosting a book discussion on THE HELP on Thursday, September 2nd at 12:30 and 7:00 p.m. We have a limited number of copies available at the check out desk for any reader who registers and will attend one of the discussions.


THE HELP: A NOVEL by Kathryn Stockett



"......Optimistic, uplifting debut novel (and maiden publication of Amy Einhorn's new imprint) set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing "about what disturbs you." The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies--and mistrusts--enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. Assured and layered, full of heart and history...."

2008 Reed Business Information.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK: MY YEAR IN A WOMEN'S PRISON by Piper Kerman



A compelling, often hilarious, and unfailingly compassionate portrait of life inside a women's prison - When Piper Kerman was sent to prison for a ten-year-old crime, she barely resembled the reckless young woman she'd been when, shortly after graduating Smith College, she'd committed the misdeeds that would eventually catch up with her. Happily ensconced in a New York City apartment, with a promising career and an attentive boyfriend, she was suddenly forced to reckon with the consequences of her very brief, very careless dalliance in the world of drug trafficking.

Kerman spent thirteen months in prison, eleven of them at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, where she met a surprising and varied community of women living under exceptional circumstances. In Orange Is the New Black, Kerman tells the story of those long months locked up in a place with its own codes of behavior and arbitrary hierarchies, where a practical joke is as common as an unprovoked fight, and where the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailer is constantly and unpredictably recalibrated. Revealing, moving, and enraging, Orange Is the New Black offers a unique perspective on the criminal justice system, the reasons we send so many people to prison, and what happens to them when they're there. ~ Book Jacket

"Whether or not you are a dog lover, you will love this book! The characters and story are unforgettable, and I have a new appreciation for car racing. Enzo lives on!

~ Patti

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein

"Enzo narrates his life story, beginning with his impending death. Enzo's not afraid of dying, as he's seen a television documentary on the Mongolian belief that a good dog will reincarnate as a man. Yes, Enzo is a dog. And he belongs to Denny: husband, father, customer service technician. Denny's dream is to be a professional race-car driver, and Enzo recounts the triumphs and tragedies--medical, financial, and legal--they share in this quest, the dangers of the racetrack being the least of their obstacles. Enzo ultimately teaches Denny and the reader that persistence and joie de vivre will see them through to the checkered flag."


~Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Insignificant Others by Stephen McCauley

"...Richard Rossi, a middle-aged human resources manager, confronts several delusions about his life: that his relationship with his partner, Conrad, is strong, despite infidelity on both sides; that he isn't really in love with Benjamin, a married father of two; and that his career is going well and he likes his job. As Conrad drifts away on frequent business trips, Richard is forced to think about what might have been. Set in Boston during the last years of the Bush administration, as the economy is starting to teeter, the novel has an end-of-an-era feel that fits Richard's contemplations about love, the generation gap, compulsive fitness, and the worship of material goods...."


~ Devon Thomas, DevIndexing, Chelsea, MI for Library Journal

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano



"It's love, or something like it, for 15-year-old Alice Della Rocca when she first lays eyes on Mattia Balossino in the halls of her school. She recognizes a kindred spirit in the awkward, intelligent boy, who sports a bandage on his hand, the result of a shocking self-harming episode. Anorexic, with a bad leg from a childhood ski accident, Alice insinuates herself into Mattia's life in spite of the wall he has put up around himself, and the two settle into an odd but lasting friendship. Preferring not to be touched and feeling most at home in his math studies, Mattia comes to see both himself and Alice as"twin prime" numbers—similar, but always separated.

Eventually, after graduating from college, he reveals to Alice the awful secret behind his cutting habit. At the age of seven he left his retarded twin sister Michela in a local park to attend a birthday party, and she was never seen again. His confession brings the two closer, but soon after Mattia takes a job at a university overseas, in part to escape his feelings for Alice. Once there he flourishes in his career while carefully avoiding personal entanglements. Alice in turn settles down with an outgoing doctor she believes can give her a normal life. But the two never forget each other, and when Alice's life takes a difficult turn she summons Mattia back to Italy. He comes, knowing full well that surrendering to his attraction to her holds equal parts pain and pleasure. A bestseller in Europe, winner of the Premio Strega in the author's native Italy, this compelling debut shows a remarkable sensitivity and maturity in the depiction of its damaged soul mates." ~Kirkus Reviews

"This book is an easy summer read. Bella is a lipstick-addicted makeup artist and stylist who is divorced and has sworn away men. Then she meets Sean Ryan and things turn out a little differently. Along the way, she has many entanglements with a large, loving family. The escapades of Bella and her family, set in small town Massachusetts, make for an enjoyable story. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a fun, happy, easy read. ~Megan

Summer Blowout by Claire Cook "Cook updates the themes of love and disenchantment that drove "Lifes a Beach" and "Must Love Dogs" in her latest beacher. Bella Shaughnessy, a makeup artist whose solace in times of hardship is finding just the right lipstick to match her mood, gets a divorce and quits men after discovering that her husband of 10 years has been seeing her younger half-sister, Sophia. During a wedding job, she gets stuck with dog-sitting Precious (who looked kind of like a flying squirrel) and quickly gets so attached that she takes drastic measures to keep the dog. Can other kinds of attachment be far behind, as cute and easygoing Sean Ryan enters the picture? Sufficient comedy and romance keep readers entertained until the last page." ~Publisher Weekly

"In a day-by-day diary format, Libby Riddles tells her own story of winning the 1985 Alaskan Iditarod dog sled race. Without preamble or historical "filler," the first page jumps right into the Anchorage start of the race and takes the reader along every step of the next grueling, exhausting 18 days and 1200 miles to the finish line in Nome. Riddles shares with her readers the roller coaster of emotions that define her quest: the pain and exhaustion, the joy and hope, the fear, the incredible beauty of Alaskan wilderness, the hunger and thirst, the friendships and camaradarie, and above all, her love for her dogs."
~ Margaret

RACE ACROSS ALASKA: THE FIRST WOMAN TO WIN THE IDITAROD TELLS HER STORY by Libby Riddles and Tim Jones

Patrick Davis has it all until he's kicked off the set of the movie production of his screenplay, he's being sued by the actor for assault and he's dealing with his wife's infidelity. But as bad as things are, his real troubles start after he receives a dvd and learns that he and his wife are the victims of identity theft and some serious and deadly stalking. Watch for this on the big screen! ~ Katherine

THEY'RE WATCHING by Gregg Hurwitz

Always a master of the gripping setup, Hurwitz (Trust No One) outdoes himself in this ultra-suspenseful thriller. One gray L.A. winter morning, disgraced screenwriter Patrick Davis steps out onto his porch in Bel Air, retrieves his newspaper, and finds a DVD tucked inside. The DVD opens with a static image of Patrick's downstairs bathroom, shot from outside the house, then shows him entering, using the toilet, and leaving. Other DVDs follow, each more disturbing than the last, until Patrick receives a phone call: "So. are you ready to get started?" Readers will be more than ready, as Hurwitz sure-handedly leads everyone, Patrick included, through this tale of mystery and murder, serving up one shocking surprise after another. Patrick eventually proves that, even though he's been outmaneuvered time after time, he's not entirely the pawn those manipulating him take him for. " ~ Publisher Weekly

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot

"Science journalist Skloot makes a remarkable debut with this multilayered story about "faith, science, journalism, and grace." It is also a tale of medical wonders and medical arrogance, racism, poverty and the bond that grows, sometimes painfully, between two very different women-Skloot and Deborah Lacks-sharing an obsession to learn about Deborah's mother, Henrietta, and her magical, immortal cells. Henrietta Lacks was a 31-year-old black mother of five in Baltimore when she died of cervical cancer in 1951. Without her knowledge, doctors treating her at Johns Hopkins took tissue samples from her cervix for research. They spawned the first viable, indeed miraculously productive, cell line-known as HeLa. These cells have aided in medical discoveries from the polio vaccine to AIDS treatments. What Skloot so poignantly portrays is the devastating impact Henrietta's death and the eventual importance of her cells had on her husband and children."

~ Publisher Weekly Review

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

David Mazzucchelli's boldly ambitious, boundary-pushing graphic novel is remarkable for the way it synthesizes word and image to craft a new kind of storytelling, and for how it makes that synthesis seem so intuitive as to render it invisible…Asterios Polyp is a fast, fun read, but it's also a work that has been carefully wrought to take optimum advantage of comics' hybrid nature — it's a tale that could only be told on the knife-edge where text and art come seamlessly together.

–NPR’s The Five Best Books to Share with Your Friends.

Check this out for our summer reading program!

Charley's Web by Joy Fielding

"A newspaper columnist who pushes the limits is contacted by a young girl who was a nanny and killed the children she cared for. She is now on death row and she wants Charlotte to make her story into a book. Surprise ending!" ~ Nancy

"New author for me. Enjoyable, fast-paced political thriller. I enjoyed the characters and will definitely read more of Flynn's work. If you like Ludlum or Clancy, you'll enjoy this book." ~ Patrick

EXTREME MEASURES by Vince Flynn

"In the newest devastatingly intense thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon Vince Flynn, his deadly and charismatic hero Mitch Rapp wages a war against a new enemy with the help of a fellow soldier as dedicated -- and as lethal -- as they come.Vince Flynn's thrillers, featuring counter terrorism operative Mitch Rapp, dominate the imagination of readers everywhere. In them, Flynn captures the secretive world of the fearless men and women, who, bound by duty, risk their lives in a covert war they must hide from even their own political leaders."