Winter Reading: CRCPL Staff Picks

Need a book suggestion from a librarian? Here's a list of what the CRCPL staff recommends!

Updated December 20, 2023
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Divine rivals
Ross, Rebecca
Paper Book
When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever. After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family...
Dr. No : a novel
Everett, Percival
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2023 PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD A sly, madcap novel about supervillains and nothing, really, from an American novelist whose star keeps rising The protagonist of Percival Everett's puckish new novel is a brilliant professor of mathematics who goes by...

Just what you need--a book about nothing. I think the whole thing was a set up for the last line. As always, Everett writes like a tightrope walker. As a reader you're constantly wondering where/if/how he's going to pull it out of a nose dive. -- James Hill, Executive Director

A gentleman in Moscow
Towles, Amor
Paper Book
A New York Times "Readers' Choice: Best Books of the 21st Century" Pick The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers--Now a Paramount+ with Showtime series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov From the #1 New York Times...
The Gulf
Cochran, Rachel
Paper Book
"Exquisite and gripping. . . . The Gulf is a page turner to be savored; Cochran is a master of both prose and plot."--Ilana Masad, author of All My Mother's Lovers In this electrifying debut literary thriller, set on the gulf coast of Texas in the 1970s at the height of the women's...
The house in the cerulean sea
Klune, TJ
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER! A 2021 Alex Award winner! The 2021 RUSA Reading List: Fantasy Winner! An Indie Next Pick! One of Publishers Weekly's "Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020"...
I'm glad my mom died
McCurdy, Jennette
Paper Book
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother--and how she retook control of her life. ...
In a dark, dark wood
Ware, Ruth.
Paper Book
An "Entertainment Weekly "Summer Books Pick A "Buzzfeed" "31 Books to Get Excited About this Summer" Pick A "Publishers Weekly ""Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers" Pick A "BookReporter" Summer Reading Pick A "New York Post ""Best Novels to Read this Summer" Pick A "Shelf Awareness...
Lab girl
Jahren, Hope.
Paper Book
A New York Times BestsellerA Midwest Connections PickA National BestsellerNamed one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People"A Time and Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2016 So FarLab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It...
Lark ascending : a novel
House, Silas
Paper Book
Winner of the Southern Book Prize ​for Fiction * Winner of a Nautilus Award (Gold)​ A timely, powerful story of survival set in the not-too-distant future that Margaret Renkl (Late Migrations) calls "a beautiful book...shot through with...
Lessons in Chemistry
Garmus, Bonnie
Paper Book
#1 GLOBAL BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 6 MILLION COPIES SOLD * Meet Elizabeth Zott: "a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention" (The Washington Post) in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a ...
Love radio
LaDelle, Ebony
Paper Book
"Readers won't be able to get enough of these dope-ass characters." --Elizabeth Acevedo, author of Clap When You Land Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this "mega swoon-worthy, effortlessly cool" (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling...
Me talk pretty one day
Sedaris, David.
Paper Book
A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip...
Michael O'Halloran
Stratton-Porter, Gene
Paper Book
This early 20th-century classic chronicles the adventures of an orphaned newspaper boy in his "hand-to-hand scuffle" with life in a midwestern metropolis. Gene Stratton-Porter's faith in the healing power of nature is also apparent, in a lovingly depicted tamarack swamp set near the city.
Mrs. Plansky's revenge
Quinn, Spencer
Paper Book
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge is bestselling author Spencer Quinn's first novel in a new series since the meteoric launch of Chet and Bernie--introducing the irresistible and unforgettable Mrs. Plansky, in a story perfect for book clubs and commercial fiction readers. Mrs....
The night circus : a novel
Morgenstern, Erin.
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves,...
The ocean at the end of the lane
Gaiman, Neil
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller UK National Book Awards Book of the Year "Fantasy of the very best."--Wall Street Journal A groundbreaking work as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a...
Old Enough
Jakobson, Haley
Paper Book
Savannah Henry is almost the person she wants to be, or at least she's getting closer. It's the second semester of her sophomore year. She's finally come out as bisexual, is making friends with the other queers in her dorm, and has just about recovered from her disastrous first queer 'situationship....
Oliver Jeffers : the working mind & drawing hand
Jeffers, Oliver
Paper Book
This dynamic visual biography is Jeffers's personal chronicle of an artist who blends his love of creating stories with his love of art and his infectious charm, and is a must-have for art lovers and bibliophiles both young and old. Oliver Jeffers takes a dive into Oliver's own origin story,...
The power of fun : how to feel alive again
Price, Catherine
Paper Book
If you're not having fun, you're not fully living. The author of How to Break Up with Your Phone makes the case that, far from being frivolous, fun is actually critical to our well-being--and shows us how to have more of it. "This...
Project Hail Mary : a novel
Weir, Andy
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING RYAN GOSLING AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER LORD AND PHIL MILLER From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this "propulsive" (Entertainment...
The ritual
Nevill, Adam L. G.
Paper Book
Now a Netflix Original Movie! The Ritual is Adam Nevill's horror novel depicting a group of friends lost in a remote wilderness in Sweden where something supernatural lurks. When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of...
Shatter me
Mafi, Tahereh
Paper Book
The gripping first installment in global bestselling author Tahereh Mafi's epic, romantic Shatter Me series. One touch is all it takes. One touch, and Juliette Ferrars can leave a fully grown man gasping for air. One touch, and she can kill. No one knows why Juliette has such...
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Zevin, Gabrielle
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Sam and Sadie--two college friends, often in love, but never lovers--become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It...
Travis Daventhorpe for the win!
Molebash, Wes
Paper Book
For fans of Hilo and The Last Kids on Earth comes Travis Daventhorpe for the Win!, the first volume of a hilarious fantasy/sci-fi graphic novel series! Travis Daventhorpe may be a genius, but he's always struggled to make friends. After his attempt to...
Tress of the emerald sea
Sanderson, Brandon
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes a rollicking, riveting tale set in the Cosmere universe--a standalone adventure perfect for fans of The Princess Bride. The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean...
The wild robot
Brown, Peter
Paper Book
A New York Times BestsellerAn IndieBound BestsellerAn ALA Notable Book for ChildrenA School Library Journal Best of the Year PickA Kirkus Best Children's of the Year PickCan a robot survive in the wilderness? When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a...

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