Holiday Booklist - 2012

Kids Picks

Teen Picks

  • Bray, Libba. The Diviners. 2012.
    Seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle into the thick of the investigation.
  • Grant, Michael. BZRK. 2012.
    In the near future, the conjoined Armstrong twins plot to create their own version of utopia using nanobots, while a guerilla group, BZRK, develops a DNA-based biot that can stop bots, but at the risk of the host's brain.
  • Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. 2012.
    What happens to your typical teenage love story when the teens meet at a support group for kids with cancer?
  • LaFevers, Robin. Grave Mercy. 2012.
    In the 15th century kingdom of Brittany, 17-year-old Ismae escapes from a brutal arranged marriage into the sanctuary of a convent, only to discover that if she stays at the convent, she will train as an assassin.
  • Levithan, David. Every Day. 2012.
    Every day A wakes up in a different body and has to live a different life. But when A falls in love with Rhiannon, A wants to make a connection with someone else for the first time.
  • Lowry, Lois. Son. 2012.
    The finale to the story of Jonas, first started in The Giver.
  • Lynch, Chris. Kill Switch. 2012.
    All Daniel wants is spend one last summer with his grandfather before his grandfather's dementia pulls them apart. But when his dear old Da starts to let things slip about the job he used to hold— people he's killed, countries he's overthrown— old work "friends" show up to make sure he stays quiet.
  • Summers, Courtney. This is Not a Test. 2012.
    Barricaded in Cortege High with five other teens while zombies try to get in, Sloane Price observes her fellow captives become more unpredictable and violent although they have more reason to live than she has.
  • Wein, Elizabeth. Code Name Verity. 2012.
    In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can. (Read a staff review of this title!)
  • Darth Vader and Son by Jeffery Brown. 2012. (nonfiction)
    A comic reimagining of Darth Vader actually playing dad to Luke Skywalker.

Adult Fiction Picks

  • Albom, Mitch. The Time Keeper. 2012.
    After being punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift, Father Time returns to Earth with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.
  • Dicks, Matthew. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. 2012.
    Eight-year-old Max Delaney has Aspergers Syndrome and it's up to his imaginary friend, Budo, to look out for him. So when Max is kidnapped, it's not only up to Budo to save him, he must ultimately decide which is more important: Max's happiness or Budo's very existence. (Read a staff review of this title!)
  • Joyce, Rachel. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 2012.
    Harold Fry is convinced that in order to save an old love, he must deliver a letter to her. He meets a variety of characters as he walks, and as he tries to find peace and acceptance, he reminisces about the events of his past and people he has known.
  • Locke, Attica. The Cutting Season. 2012.
    When the dead body of a young woman is found on the grounds of Belle Vie, the estate's manager launches her own investigation, which leads her to a centuries-old mystery involving the plantation's slave quarters— and her own past.
  • Morton, Kate. The Secret Keeper. 2012.
    When she is 16, Laurel Nicolson witnesses a shocking crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother. Fifty years later, Laurel returns to the family farm for her mother's 90th birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by questions she has not thought about for decades.
  • Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds. 2012.
    Written by an Iraq war veteran, this is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive.
  • Ratner, Vaddey. In the Shadow of the Banyan. 2012.
    When civil war overwhelms the streets of Cambodia's capital, seven-year-old Raami's world of royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution. As she endures death, starvation and brutal forced labor, she clings to the mythical legends and poems her father told her. Based on the author's personal story.
  • Sloan, Robin. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. 2012.
    The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his Web-design job, but he's landed a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. After just a few days on the job, though, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests.
  • Walker, Karen Thompson. The Age of Miracles. 2012.
    When the earth's rotation suddenly begins to slow, Julia struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape as well as the normal disasters of everyday life.
  • Walter, Jess. Beautiful Ruins. 2012.
    In 1962, a young Italian innkeeper falls in love with an American actress. Fifty years later, the innkeeper shows up on a movie studio's back lot searching for the mysterious woman he last saw decades earlier.

Adult Nonfiction Picks

  • Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends by Pippa Middleton. 2012.
    In her first book, Middleton reveals the secrets to hosting a successful party with recipes, tips and detailed instructions on how to throw a memorable event.
  • The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton by Lucille Clifton. 2012.
    Clifton was the first African American woman to receive the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which honors a U.S. poet whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition." This book combines all 11 of her published collections with more than 50 previously unpublished poems.
  • The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. 2012.
    A son and his dying mother talk books while waiting for her chemotherapy treatments.
  • Food Lover's Guide to the World: Experience the Great Global Cuisines by Lonely Planet. 2012.
    Take your taste buds on a tour around the world and cook up your next great culinary adventure. You'll find celebrity food-lover contributions, ways to find great local dishes, cultural tips (including how-to-eat etiquette) and more than 50 recipes.
  • More than Human by Tim Flach (photographer) and Lewis Blackwell. 2012.
    Flach, an award-winning photographer, is best known for the originality he brings to capturing animal behavior and characteristics. This book showcases a menagerie of creatures as they have never been seen before.
  • My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story, with Recipes by Luisa Weiss. 2012.
    The story of how one thoroughly confused, kitchen-mad perfectionist broke off her engagement, quit her dream job and found her way to a new life, a new man and a new home in Berlin— one recipe at a time.
  • My Ideal Bookshelf by Jane Mount (art) and Thessaly La Force (editor). 2012.
    In this book, dozens of leading cultural figures share the books that matter to them most; books that define their dreams and ambitions and, in many cases, helped them find their way in the world.
  • Safari: A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen and Carol Kaufmann. 2012.
    As if on safari, you'll encounter eight wild animals that come alive, thanks to an innovative lenticular-based technology.
  • Skulls: An Exploration of Alan Dudley's Curious Collection by Simon Winchester and Nick Mann (photographer). 2012.
    This spellbinding visual exploration of more than 300 different animal skulls includes information about the science and pseudoscience of skulls and a look at skulls in religion, art and popular culture.
  • The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean. 2012.
    Genes can explain crazy cat ladies, why some people survive nuclear bombs and how others can become truly singular violinists. New York Times bestselling author Kean explores the wonders of DNA, and shows how it will influence our species' future.