This page is for staff to recommend reading to each other!
Warning : Some of these books may have adult themes and content that are not appropriate for children.
Check here for 180 recommendations from TED Talk peeps
Warning : Some of these books may have adult themes and content that are not appropriate for children.
Check here for 180 recommendations from TED Talk peeps
The remains of the day
Kazuo Ishiguro In 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars and an unrealised love between the butler and his housekeeper. Ishiguro’s dazzling novel is a sad and humorous love story, a meditation on the condition of modern man, and an elegy for England at a time of acute change. Goodreads Video review Recommended by Dianne M - I loved the elegant language used. I was so sad that it came to an end. |
Super sad true love story
Gary Shteyngart In the near future, America is crushed by a financial crisis and our patient Chinese creditors may just be ready to foreclose on the whole mess. Then Lenny Abramov, son of an Russian immigrant janitor and ardent fan of “printed, bound media artifacts” (aka books), meets Eunice Park, an impossibly cute Korean American woman with a major in Images and a minor in Assertiveness. Could falling in love redeem a planet falling apart? Goodreads Recommended by Peter A "It is a brilliantly written book about a dystopian society in the not-so-distant future." HK Public Library |
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls
David Sedaris A guy walks into a bar car and... From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved. Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. Goodreads Book trailer Recommended by Virginia P "David Sedaris writes hilarious short stories based on autobiographical accounts." Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver's license...records my first name simply as Cal." So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of 1967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic. Goodreads Book Trailer Recommended by Peter A "A wonderfully original story. " Watch the Oprah Interview with Evonne D in the audience! HK Public Library Born to Run
Christopher McDougall Best summarised by this review: "It is a beautiful story and a superb synthesis of the science (or running). It is about time that as a society we examined how it is that we have got to the point where it is considered unnatural to run." Non Fiction. Goodreads Recommended by Adrian G. HK Public library Fall On Your Knees
Ann-Marie Macdonald They are the Pipers of Cape Breton Island -- a family steeped in lies and unspoken truths that reach out from the past, forever mindful of the tragic secret that could shatter the family to its foundations. Chronicling five generations of this eccentric clan, "Fall On Your Knees" follows four remarkable sisters whose lives are filled with driving ambition, inescapable family bonds, and forbidden love. Their experiences will take them from their stormswept homeland, across the battlefields of World War I, to the freedom and independence of Jazz-era New York City. Compellingly written, running the literary gamut from menacingly dark to hilariously funny, this is an epic saga of one family's trials and triumphs in a world of sin, guilt, and redemption. Goodreads Recommended by Deb. G "I read this book on a beach in the Baja-I couldn't put it down. Be prepared." Library - ADU MAC HK Public Library Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Mary Roach Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can't walk for a year? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 4,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations -- making it possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA's new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Packing for Mars takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth. Goodreads Book Trailer Recommended by Jonathon C. "Mary Roach approaches otherwise serious, weighty subjects with great humour and inquisitiveness. She asks the questions you want to ask but are too embarrassed to. Fun, light reading which leaves better informed than when you started." Hk Public Library Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn Marriage can be a real killer. On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? Goodreads Book Review Recommended by Michelle M. "A really fast summer read. The story keeps you guessing throughout." HK Public Library To the End of the Land
David Grossman is a 2008 novel depicting the emotional strains that family members of soldiers experience when their loved ones are deployed into combat. Grossman began writing the novel in May 2003 when his oldest son Yonatan was serving in the Israeli Defense Forces and the book was largely complete by August 2006 when his younger son Uri was killed in the Second Lebanon War.[1] Originally written in Hebrew, an English translation by Jessica Cohen was published in September 2010 to widespread critical acclaim. Translation of this work presented a considerable challenge to the translator, as the original includes numerous Hebrew puns as well as quotations from and allusions to the Hebrew Bible as well as works of modern Hebrew literature. Goodreads Recommended by Flora M "Beautifully rendered - a great, great writer" HK Public Library (Chinese translations available) BossyPants
Tina Fey Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon—from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy. Goodreads Recommended by Tina P. "A fun, lighthearted book about what it's like to be a woman in a "man's world." HK Public Library The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal
A family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal. De Waal tells the story of his family the Ephrussi, who were once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty centered in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, peers of the Rothschild family. The Ephrussi lost almost everything in 1938 when their property was "Aryanized" by Nazis. After the war the family never recovered most of the their extensive property including priceless artwork, but an easily hidden collection of 264 Japanese netsuke miniature sculptures was miraculously saved, tucked away inside her mattress by Anna, a loyal maid at Palais Ephrussi in Vienna, during the war years. The collection was passed down as inheritance through five generations providing a common thread to tell the story of the Ephrussi fortunes from 1871 to 2009. [Wikipedia] Goodreads Recommended by Rebecca G. "An extraordinary book following the path of a collection of netsuke (tiny Japanese ornaments) which were passed down through the author's family starting in Europe in the early 20th century. The netsuke move with the family through Nazi-occupied Vienna and remarkably survive. It takes a while to get into the book but it is well worth sticking with it - you won't want it to end!" HK Public Library The Madonnas of Leningrad Debra Dean
Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. And while the elderly Russian woman cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—her distant past is preserved: vivid images that rise unbidden of her youth in war-torn Leningrad. In the fall of 1941, the German army approached the outskirts of Leningrad, signaling the beginning of what would become a long and torturous siege. During the ensuing months, the city's inhabitants would brave starvation and the bitter cold, all while fending off the constant German onslaught. Marina, then a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, along with other staff members, was instructed to take down the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping, yet leave the frames hanging empty on the walls—a symbol of the artworks' eventual return. To hold on to sanity when the Luftwaffe's bombs began to fall, she burned to memory, brushstroke by brushstroke, these exquisite artworks: the nude figures of women, the angels, the serene Madonnas that had so shortly before gazed down upon her. She used them to furnish a "memory palace," a personal Hermitage in her mind to which she retreated to escape terror, hunger, and encroaching death. A refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . Goodreads Book trailer Recommended by Tina P. A beautiful portrait of strength and struggle. Saving fish from drowning
Amy Tan The book opens with an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, stating that 11 tourists, including four men, five women, and two children have mysteriously vanished in Burma, after sailing away on a cruise on Christmas morning. From then on, the story is told through the omniscient first person narrative of Bibi Chen, the tour leader who unexpectedly dies before the trip takes place and who continues to watch over her friends as they journey towards their fate. The novel explores the relationships, insecurities and hidden strengths of the tourists, set against the uneasy political situation in Burma. Goodreads Recommended by Jill W. HK Public Library |
Ella Minnow Pea
Mark Dunn Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere. Goodreads Book Trailer Recommended by Michael F "Delightfully written and playful. Someone generously left a copy on the staffroom bookshelf" The sense of an ending
Julian Barnes Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is in middle age. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove. Goodreads Book Trailer Recommended by Kim D "An interesting novel exploring how people remember their own pasts." Library - ADU BAR HK Public Library The Elegance of a Hedgehog
Muriel Barbery We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence. Goodreads Recommended by Deb G. "A beautifully written book that will challenge you in many ways." This book has been made into a movie. Justice : What's the right thing to do? is a work on political philosophy by Michael J. Sandel. The book was written to accompany Sandel's famous "Justice" course at Harvard University which he has taught for more than thirty years and which has been offered online and in various TV summary versions. The book address a series of alternative theories of justice.
A link to the courses Recommended by Kit F. "This book helps us to think critically what justice is" 11/22/63
Steven King If you had the chance to change the course of history, would you? Would the consequences be what you hoped? Jake Epping 35 teaches high school English in Lisbon Falls, Maine, and cries reading the brain-damaged janitor's story of childhood Halloween massacre by their drunken father. On his deathbed, pal Al divulges a secret portal to 1958 in his diner back pantry, and enlists Jake to prevent the 11/22/1963 Dallas assassination of American President John F. Kennedy. Under the alias George Amberson, our hero joins the cigarette-hazed full-flavored world of Elvis rock n roll, Negro discrimination, and freeway gas guzzlers without seat belts. Will Jake lurk in impoverished immigrant slums beside troubled loner Lee Harvey Oswald, or share small-town friendliness with beautiful high school librarian Sadie Dunhill, the love of his life? Goodreads Book trailer Recommended by Michelle M. "An interesting read about time travel and the challenges of changing the past. Centered around trying to prevent the Kennedy assassination, but also reflects on relationships and personal challenges." Library - SF Fantasy KIN Hk Public Library All That I Am
Anna Funder All That I Am is a masterful and exhilarating exploration of bravery and betrayal, of the risks and sacrifices some people make for their beliefs, and of heroism hidden in the most unexpected places. When eighteen-year-old Ruth Becker visits her cousin Dora in Munich in 1923, she meets the love of her life, the dashing young journalist Hans Wesemann, and eagerly joins in the heady activities of the militant political Left in Germany. Ten years later, Ruth and Hans are married and living in Weimar Berlin when Hitler is elected chancellor of Germany. Together with Dora and her lover, Ernst Toller, the celebrated poet and self-doubting revolutionary, the four become hunted outlaws overnight and are forced to flee to London. Inspired by the fearless Dora to breathtaking acts of courage, the friends risk betrayal and deceit as they dedicate themselves to a dangerous mission: to inform the British government of the very real Nazi threat to which it remains willfully blind. All That I Am is the heartbreaking story of these extraordinary people, who discover that Hitler’s reach extends much further than they had thought. Goodreads Book Trailer Recommended by Flora M. "A compelling read that will keep you hooked until the last page." One hundred years of solitude Gabriel García Márquez,
The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel Garcia Marquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master. Goodreads Recommended by Elaine L. "Very inspiring book which will make you to have a deep reflection of your own culture and identity as well as what is happening in the world." Library - SF Classics GAR HK Public library Shantaram
Gregory David Roberts "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured." So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear. Goodreads Recommended by Kevin M. "Couldn't put it down. A realistic Fiction" SF Crime ROB The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer “ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb…. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways. Goodreads Recommended by Rebecca G. " This is a wonderful book; a great holiday read. My bookclub unanimously voted it the best book we read last year." HK Public Library What is the what Dave Eggers In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated. In this book, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, we come to understand the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him.
Non fiction Goodreads Information about the subject & the proceeds of the book Library - SF Historic EGG The Custodian of Paradise
Wayne Johnston In the waning days of World War II, Sheilagh Fielding makes her way to a deserted island off the coast of Newfoundland. But she soon comes to suspect another presence: that of a man known only as her Provider, who has shadowed her for twenty years. Against the backdrop of Newfoundland's history and landscape, Fielding is a compelling figure. Taller than most men and striking in spite of her crippled leg, she is both eloquent and subversively funny. Her newspaper columns exposing the foibles and hypocrisies of her native city, St. John's, have made many powerful enemies for her, chief among them the man who fathered her children—twins—when she was fourteen. Only her Provider, however, knows all of Fielding's secrets. Goodreads Recommended by Jill. W. |