Category Archives: Booklists

Cookbooks and Baking Books to Download

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While the library’s building is closed, I thought a list of some of our best downloadable cookbooks and baking books would be welcome. I’ve ordered cookbooks for the library in both formats for many years, and was pleased to find such a great assortment available from our Overdrive/Libby collection, Media on Demand. If you’re not a local reader, your home library should have a similar collection.

Baking Books

America’s Test Kitchen. The Perfect Cookie
Berenbaum, Rose Levy. The Cake Bible
Berry, Mary. Baking with Mary Berry
Gardner, Erin. Erin Bakes Cake
Greenspan, Dorie. Dorie’s Cookies.
Hertzberg, Jeff and Zoe Francois. The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Lee, Jennifer Tyler and Anisha Patel. Half the Sugar, All the Love: A Family Cookbook
Manzke, Margarita. Baking at République
Martha Stewart Living. Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts
McKenney, Sally. Sally’s Baking Addiction
Parks, Stella. Bravetart
Reinhart, Peter. Perfect Pan Pizza.
Tosi, Christine. All About Cake

Cookbooks

America’s Test Kitchen. The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook
Carle-Sanders, Theresa. Outlander Kitchen
Drummond, Ree. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It!
Garten, Ina. Cook Like a Pro
Greenspan, Dorie. Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook
Hall, Carla. Carla Hall’s Soul Food
Lemlin, Jeanne. Simply Satisfying
Mangini, Cara. The Vegetable Butcher
Nosrat, Samin. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Ottolenghi, Yotam. Ottolenghi Simple
Perelman, Deb. Smitten Kitchen Every Day
Teigen, Chrissy. Cravings: Hungry for More
Yeh, Molly. Molly on the Range

Happy cooking and baking! Brenda

 

Comfort Reads

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Comfort Reads

What are you reading during this challenging time? While the library is currently closed, our online collections are still available, and no SWAN library cards will expire before July. I have been able to purchase new ebooks and downloadable audiobooks for our Overdrive collection, Media on Demand.  Our other digital collections, eRead Illinois and Hoopla also have plenty of content. For more ideas, see our  monthly newsletters of new titles from Next Reads. Here is a list of some suggestions for comfort reads, many of which are available in Media on Demand:

Allen, Sarah Addison. Garden Spells
Andrews, Donna. Murder with Peacocks
Andrews, Mary Kay. Savannah Blues
Austen, Jane. Pride & Prejudice
Bauermeister, Erica. The School of Essential Ingredients
Bivald, Katarina. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country; A Walk in the Woods
Buck, Rinker. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey
Bujold, Lois McMaster. A Civil Campaign
Crusie, Jennifer. Anyone But You
Doig, Ivan. The Whistling Season; The Bartender’s Tale
Fforde, Katie. Wild Designs
Flanders, Judith. A Murder of Magpies
Heyer, Georgette. A Civil Contract
Jiles, Paulette. News of the World
Kelly, Sofie. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat
McCaffrey, Anne. The Harper Hall trilogy, beginning with Dragonsong
Moyes, Jojo. One Plus One
Peters, Ellis. Brother Cadfael mysteries, starting with A Morbid Taste for Bones
Pratchett, Terry. Night Watch.
Shute, Nevil. Trustee from the Toolroom
Simsion, Graeme. The Rosie Project
Stabenow, Dana. Breakup
Stewart, Mary. Nine Coaches Waiting; Rose Cottage
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit
Willis, Connie. To Say Nothing of the Dog

Happy Reading!

Brenda

 

 

New African American Fiction

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We have a display of new African American fiction and non-fiction to celebrate Black History Month. Here are some of the new fiction titles:

New African American Fiction

 Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame. Friday Black

Billingsley, ReShonda Tate. More to Life

Bird, Sarah. Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen

Bump, Gabriel. Everywhere You Don’t Belong

Grey, Anissa. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls

Hall, Rachel Hozell. They All Fall Down

Hurston, Zora Neale. Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Jones, Tayari. An American Marriage

McMillan, Terry. It’s Not All Downhill from Here (March 2020)

Monroe, Mary. Over the Fence

Moore, Wayéto. She Would be King

Norfleet, Celeste. One Night in Georgia

Porter, Regina. The Travelers

Sexton, Margaret Wilkerson. The Revisioners

Thompson-Spikes, Nafissa. Heads of the Colored Peoples: Stories

Washington, Bryan. Lot

Whitehead, Colson. The Nickel Boys

Wilkinson, Lauren. American Spy

Winslow, De’Shawn Charles. In West Mills

Woodson, Jacqueline. Red at the Bone

Mystery

Clark, Tracy. Borrowed Time

Holloway, Karla. A Death in Harlem

Locke, Attica. Heaven, My Home

Mosley, Walter. Down the River Unto the Sea

Romance

Cole, Alyssa. An Unconditional Freedom

Guillory, Jasmine. Royal Holiday

Hickman, Trice. The Other Side

Hodges, Cheris. Tempted at Midnight

Jackson, Brenda. Finding Home Again

Jenkins, Beverly. Rebel

Pope, Jamie. One Warm Winter

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Clark, Djèli. The Black God’s Drums

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. The Water Dancer

James, Marlon. Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Jemisin, N.K. How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color. Edited by Nisi Shawl

Onyebuchi, Tochi. Riot Baby

Okorafor, Nnedi. Binti: Night Masquerade

Penelope, L. Whispers of Shadow & Flame

Solomon, Rivers. The Deep

Thompson, Tade. The Rosewater Redemption

Turnbull, Cadwell. The Lesson

Urban Fiction

A’Zayler. Heart of the Hustle

Bryant, Niobia. Madam, May I

Dickey, Eric Jerome. Bad Men & Wicked Women

K’Wan. Wrath

Saundra. If It Ain’t About the Money

Looking Ahead: 20 Fiction Titles to Anticipate

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20 Fiction Books to Start Your Reading Year

Allende, Isabel. A Long Petal of the Sea (January)
Benedict, Marie. Lady Clementine (January)
Bivald, Katarina. Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins (January)
Bohjalian, Chris. The Red Lotus (March)
Box, C.J. Long Range (March)
Briggs, Patricia. Smoke Bitten (March)
Carr, Robyn. The Country Guesthouse (January)
Cummins, Jeanine. American Dirt (January)
Erdrich, Louise. The Night Watchman (March)
Jemisin. N.K. The City We Became (March)
Kubica, Mary. The Other Mrs. (February)
Lauren, Christina. The Honey-Don’t List (March)
MacDonald, Andrew David. When We Were Vikings (January)
Mandel, Emily St. John. The Glass Hotel (March)
Mantel, Hilary. The Mirror and the Light (March)
McMillan, Terry. It’s Not All Downhill from Here (March)
Napolitano, Janet. Dear Edward (January)
Reichs, Kathy. A Conspiracy of Bones (March)
Stabenow, Dana. No Fixed Line (January)
Turner, Nancy. Light Changes Everything (January)

Happy reading! Brenda

Staff Favorites

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Staff Favorites, 2019

These are some of the most memorable books we read or listened to in 2019. Look for a Staff Favorites display in January. Happy reading! Brenda

Fiction
Aciman, André. Call Me By Your Name (Korey)
Bardugo, Leigh. Ninth House (Denise)
Brennert, Alan. Daughter of Moloka’i (Brenda)
Chevalier, Tracy. A Single Thread (Brenda)
Collins, Bridget. The Binding (Meghan)
Frankel, Laurie. This is How It Always Is (Brenda)
Franqui, Leah. America for Beginners (Brenda)
Harris, Robert. Second Sleep (Brenda)
Heller, Peter. The River (George)
Hill, Joe. Full Throttle: Stories (George)
Jones, Tayari. An American Marriage (Meghan)
King, Stephen. The Institute (George)
Kwan, Kevin. Crazy Rich Asians (Debbie)
Morgenstern, Erin. The Night Circus (Korey)
Ng, Celeste. Little Fires Everywhere (Katie)
Prior, Hazel. Ellie and the Harpmaker (Brenda)
Ryan, Jennifer. The Spies of Shilling Lane (Brenda)
Setterfield, Diane. Once Upon a River (Katie)
Stein, Garth. The Art of Racing in the Rain (Debbie)
Waxman, Abbi. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (Brenda)
Williams, Beatriz. The Golden Hour (Brenda)

Graphic Novels
Arakawa, Hiromu. Silver Spoon (Denise)
Semikawa, Natsuya. Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu (Denise)

Mystery
Harper, Jane. The Lost Man (Brenda)
Hillerman, Anne. The Tale Teller (Brenda)
Montclair, Allison. The Right Sort of Man (Brenda)

Science Fiction and Fantasy
Chambers, Becky. Records of a Spaceborn Few (Brenda)
Cherryh, C.J. and Jane Fancher. Alliance Rising (Brenda)
Polk, C.L. Witchmark (Meghan)

Teen Fiction
Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon (Korey)
Lee, Stacey. Under a Painted Sky (Katie)
Shusterman, Neal. Scythe (Korey)
Thomas, Angie. On the Come Up (Katie)

Non-Fiction

Alexievich, Svetlana. Voices from Chernobyl (Denise)
DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism (Denise)
Dumas, Firoozeh. Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (Katie)
Harari, Yuval Noah. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (George)
Higginbotham, Adam. Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster (George)
Ingraham, Christopher. If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now : Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie (Brenda)
Keefe, Patrick Radden. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (George)
Land, Stephanie. Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive (Brenda)
Magnuson, Margareta. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (Korey)
Mickelson, Phil. One Magical Sunday: (But Winning Isn’t Everything) (Debbie)
Pan, Jessica. Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come : One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes (Katie)
Perry, Alex. The Good Mothers : The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World’s Most Powerful Mafia (Debbie)
Rich, Nathaniel. Losing Earth: A Recent History (George)
Rubenhold, Hallie. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (Meghan)

Downton Abbey

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Books and Videos for Fans of Downton Abbey

Fiction

Bradford, Barbara Taylor. Cavendon Hall
Follett, Ken. Fall of Giants
Galsworthy, John. The Forsyte Saga
Goodwin, Daisy. An American Heiress
Harper, Karen. American Duchess
Hollinghurst, Alan. The Stranger’s Child
Ibbotson, Eva. A Countess Below Stairs
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Remains of the Day
Kinghorn, Judith. The Echo of Twilight
Morton, Kate. The House at Riverton
Steel, Danielle. Beauchamp Hall
Waugh, Evelyn. Brideshead Revisited
Weldon, Fay. Habits of the House; Long Live the King; The New Countess
Wharton, Edith. Buccaneers; The House of Mirth
White, Roseanna. The Lost Heiress

Mysteries

Arlen, Tessa. Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman
Eccles, Marjorie. Heirs and Assigns
Fellowes, Jessica. The Mitford Murders
Maxwell, Alyssa. A Murderous Marriage

Non-Fiction

Carnarvon, Countess of. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey
Fellowes, Jessica. Downton Abbey: A Celebration
Gardiner, Juliet. Manor House
Livingstone, Natalie. The Mistresses of Cliveden
Moran, Mollie. Minding the Manor
Powell, Margaret. Below Stairs; Servants’ Hall
Rowley, Emma. Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey
Warwick, Sarah. Upstairs and Downstairs

Videos

Brideshead Revisited
The Forsyte Saga
Gosford Park
Howards End
Nancy Mitford’s Love in a Cold Climate
Remains of the Day
The Shooting Party
Secrets of Iconic British Estates
Secrets of the Manor House
Upstairs, Downstairs

Enjoy some of these titles before, after, or instead of watching the new Downton Abbey movie. Enjoy!

Brenda

Memorable Books Read in 2018

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Memorable Books Read in 2018

Fiction
Carey, Jacqueline. Starless                                                                                       
Cherryh, C.J. Emergence
Davis, Fiona. The Masterpiece
Edugyan, Esi. Washington Black
Green, Hank. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Greer, Andrew Sean. Less
Kingsolver, Barbara. Unsheltered. Library Reads pick
McCoy, Sarah. Marilla of Green Gables
Ng, Celeste. Little Fires Everywhere
Pearce, AJ. Dear Mrs. Bird
Robson, Jennifer. The Gown.
Simsion, Graeme and Anne Buist. Two Steps Forward
Titchmarsh, Alan. Mr. Gandy’s Grand Tour
Urrea, Luis Alberto. The House of Broken Angels

Non-Fiction
Brusatte, Steve. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs                                                               
Kurson, Robert. Rocket Men
Mearns, David. The Shipwreck Hunter

Books to Enjoy in 2019
Lundberg, Sofia. The Red Address Book. January, Library Reads pick
Letts, Elizabeth. Finding Dorothy. February
Liardet, Frances. We Must Be Brave. February
Heller, Peter. The River. March
Pavone, Chris. The Paris Diversion. May

These are books I enjoyed reading this year. Some are just for fun, others I read to consider for future book discussions or Library Reads picks. Enjoy!  Brenda