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Bev's Picks

Bev has spent much of her adult life promoting reading and literacy. From Africa to Cable she has shared that passion.  Her favorites seem to change with the season. Here are some of her current recommendations.

Gone Girl (Hardcover)

By Gillian Flynn
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780307588364
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Crown, 6/2012
Other Editions of this Title
Customers have been raving about Gone Girl for the past few months, reviewers have been giving it stars, and now it is starting to show up on the best-of-the-year lists.  I decided it was time to move this psychological thriller to the top of my stack.  We hear the voice of both Amy and Nick, a married couple living the good life in New York. Suddenly life changes and unemployment, a dwindling trust fund, and a dying parent sends the two to Nick's hometown in Missouri. The move is a big adjustment for Amy and the marriage is in trouble. Then Amy is missing and everything points to Nick. While Nick seems a little clueless and irresponsible, he doesn't seem like a killer. Could he be an unreliable narrator? But if not Nick, then who? No spoilers here, but the book is full of twists and turns to the very end.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (Paperback)

By William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061730337
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks, 8/2010
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a story of a young hero and is worth sharing with all generations. First released as a book for adults, this remarkable true story has now been made into a lovely picture book for children as well. William Kamkwamba's story begins in Malawi, a land where magic reigned and science was mysterious. Kamkwamba read and devoured all the knowledge he can find in the little library in his village.  Ignoring the taunts of being misala -- crazy, -- he experiments with creating inventions from the scraps and pieces of junk. Eventually, he builds a windmill and brings to his village what very few Malawi's have -- electricity and running water. Both books give a real sense of the hard life  in the village: one does so with words and the other with collage and paint illustrations. A dusty sand color  used on the cover of the adult version and on the endpapers of the children's version perfectly matches the landscape as I remember sub-sahara Africa. This story takes me back to a place where I spent some time as part of a volunteer organization creating libraries. As you might imagine, that makes it pretty special for me but this story is inspiration for anyone!

The Summer Guest (Paperback)

By Justin Cronin
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780385335829
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dial Press Trade Paperback, 5/2005
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This book connects the dots between lives that have intertwined at this rustic fishing resort for thirty years.  Secrets are revealed, courage tested, love unfolds, and lives are changed.  A great read for sitting at the lake!

The Housekeeper and the Professor (Paperback)

By Yoko Ogawa
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780312427801
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Picador, 2/2009
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The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

Cutting for Stone (Paperback)

By Abraham Verghese
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780375714368
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Vintage, 1/2010
Other Editions of this Title
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.