LINCOLN IN THE BARDO

by George Saunders

This one will haunt me for sometime (pun entirely intended). It is an extraordinary work that is extremely difficult to explain in a single paragraph.

Saunders' (Tenth of December) first novel starts with a small nugget of history-one night a grief stricken Abraham Lincoln visits the crypt where his son Willie had been buried earlier that day. What Saunders creates from that single scene is a combination ghost story/Greek tragedy/historical narrative that focuses on various themes of death and love.

-Laura Skinner

THIS IS NOT OVER

(paperback)

by Holly Brown

Two women become entangled over email when Dawn, the vacationer, does not receive her full rental deposit from Miranda, the host. Both women are determined to prove the other wrong and in the process uncover a bevy of secrets that may be their ultimate undoing.

-Laura Capstick

THE DRY

by Jane Harper

A tightly written mystery set in a small Australian farming town during the blistering heat of a summer drought. Federal agent Aaron Falk returns home to help solve a murder/suicide, but quickly discovers links to a 20-year-old secret. Small town-big secrets!! This book will keep you turning pages long after bedtime.

-Laura Skinner

This direct to paperback release is a beautiful story of love, friendship, unsung heroes and the will to survive. Set during WWII, a young Dutch girl who has been thrown out by her family, the result of an indiscretion with a German soldier, finds a new home with a traveling circus for herself and the Jewish baby boy she rescues.

-Di Grumhaus

THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTRESS

by Jason Rekulak 

Impossible not to enjoy this one! Socially challenged high school geeks make good - but not before they have some epic cringe-worthy moments. Really fun read for adults or high school age, and especially entertaining for those of us who remember the 1980's well.

-Beth Mynhier

VICTORIA: THE QUEEN: AN INTIMATE BIOGRAPHY OF THE WOMAN WHO RULED AN EMPIRE

by Julia Baird

For those currently hooked on the PBS Masterpiece Theater production of Victoria, here is a wonderfully revealing portrait of the queen loaded with intimate detail. The author writes like a novelist, and has included many previously unreported episodes in the monarch's life, despite Victoria's heirs attempts to sanitize her history. A refreshing biographical account of a passionate and powerful woman!

-Susan Ross

HILLBILY ELEGY: A MEMOIR OF A FAMILY AND CULTURE IN CRISIS

by J. D. Vance

(Digital Audiobook)

I highly recommend listening to this compelling memoir that was on every list in 2016.  J. D. Vance narrates the audio and hearing him read his words adds so much!

-Di Grumhaus

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS

by Elan Mastai 

In Tom Barron's world, 2016 is technologically advanced beyond comprehension thanks to a genius inventor who, in 1965, created a clean, powerful engine that "made everything possible". One invention made possible was a time machine. Elan Mastai shows off his own genius as he writes with contemporary familiarity and takes us places we've never gone before in a time travel novel. All Our Wrong Todays is inventive, intelligent, absorbing and difficult to put down!

-Beth Mynhier

PACHINKO 

by Min Jin Lee

A multi-generational sweeping saga that illustrates the conflict between the Japanese and Korean immigrants. Captivating historical fiction!

-Maxwell Gregory

THE RIVER AT NIGHT

by Erica Ferencik

An unforgettable thriller about four friends and their white water rafting adventure gone wrong.
- Staff