general fiction

general fiction 

2009: #24 – The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (Dinaw Mengestu)

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Seventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution for a new start in the United States. Now he finds himself running a failing grocery store in a poor African-American section of Washington, D.C., his only companions two fellow African immigrants who share his bitter nostalgia and longing for his home continent. Years ago and worlds away Sepha could never have imagined a life of such isolation. As his environment begins to change, hope comes in the form of a friendship with new neighbors Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter. But when a series of racial incidents disturbs the community, Sepha may lose everything all over again.

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general fiction 

2009: #16 – Full Speed (Janet Evanovich)

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Jamie and Max have intense chemistry-even though they drive each other crazy. Max thinks Jamie is a magnet for trouble and Jamie thinks Max is the most annoyingly sexy, mysterious man she’s ever met. She knows she should stay away from him. But boy, oh boy, do the sparks fly when they get together. Jamie is a newspaper owner from a small southern town. And in Full Speed, she’s after the story of a lifetime. Max Holt is right in the middle of that story, and so Jamie tracks down the millionaire playboy, forcing him to take her on as partner.

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general fiction 

2009: #15 – College Girl (Patricia Weitz)

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Just as Curtis Sittenfeld’s bestselling Prep drew us into the world of boarding school and its social relationships, College Girl perfectly captures the experience of college, of being a student at a big state university— complete with its jocks and hipsters, frats and sororities, drinking rituals and cafeteria food, its economic, academic, and social pressures—and how it gets funneled into the campus culture of collegiate sex and dating. In particular, College Girl reveals what all this means for a girl inexperienced in sex and romance, dealing with the demons she’s brought from home.

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general fiction 

2009: #13 – Upbound (Peter Hassebroek)

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Seven-year-old Karl Stevenson loves jigsaw puzzles, but he soon encounters a jumbo in real-life when his beloved Uncle Douglas unexpectedly dies. Suspicious circumstances surround the death, and Karl refuses to believe that his uncle is gone forever. It takes a casual remark by his babysitter to turn Karl down a different path. His newborn brother, Samuel, eerily has some of the same characteristics as Uncle Douglas. Could Samuel be his uncle reincarnated? Truly a hope worth exploring, Karl believes, unaware of the personal cost involved.

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