Patch Reads: Check Out These Titles

Recommendations from the Strongsville Library staff:

Come in from the heat, and stop in to the to check out these and other great books.  We hope you will enjoy them. 

Happy reading!

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk By Ben Fountain, May 2012, 307 pages. 

Book discussion groups will flock to this brilliantly crafted novel described as Catch 22 updated for the Iraq War generation. In Fountain’s darkly comic novel, the focus has shifted from lampooning military bureaucracy to publicity, reflecting our contemporary culture. Billy Lynn and his company have survived a fierce firefight that was caught on camera thanks to embedded reporters. They become overnight celebrity “American Heroes” and part of a Thanksgiving spectacle back at home. This is a must read for those who loved Catch 22 and for fans of Christopher Buckley.

Porch Lights: a Novel By Dorothea Benton Frank, June 2012, 324 pages.

When Jimmy McMullen, a fireman with the NYFD, is killed in the line of duty, his wife, Jackie, and 10-year-old son, Charlie, are devastated. Charlie idolized his dad, and now the outgoing, curious boy has become quiet and reserved. Trusting in the healing power of family, Jackie decides to return to her childhood home on Sullivans Island in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Three generations of a family – a grandmother, a mother, and a son – discover the indelible power of love, in this emotional journey that interweaves stories of swashbuckling pirates and an enigmatic writer named Edgar Allan Poe with the bonds of family. Mary Kay Andrews and Karen White fans will enjoy this summer read.

The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.: a Novel By Nichole Bernier, June 2012, 309 pages.

Before there were blogs, there were journals. And in them we'd write as we really were, not as we wanted to appear. Inheriting her best friend's diaries after a tragic accident, Kate learns unknown aspects of her late friend's life, from her deeply troubled childhood and complicated relationship with her mother to her struggles as an artist and feelings of powerlessness as a wife and parent, which culminated in a belief-challenging affair. Fans of the work of Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve will enjoy this new novel.

Reviews brought to you each week by librarians Jennifer Niederhausen, Dona Stein and Heather Timko
, Adult Services Division.