New fiction roundup – January 2019

Did you set a reading resolution to start the new year? If you’re looking for books to get you started, here are a crop of titles coming out in January – from explorations of near-future societies, to eerie short stories, to picaresque adventures and mystery, there’s a little something for everyone.

1/8: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks – When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the study morphs into real life situations, Jess realizes she may have told her secrets to the wrong person… A Peak Pick!

2019 Reading Resolutions

It’s the end of December, a time when many are setting New Year’s Resolutions, although I personally prefer to just go with a list of goals. Whatever your terminology, perhaps you’re considering a reading resolution? If you’d like to undertake one but you’re unsure where to start, here are a few ideas:

BY NUMBER
The most basic reading resolution of all is to simply set a target number of books to read over the course of the year. Perhaps consider how many you read last year, and go from there. You could choose the same number, or increase the number to challenge yourself.

New Fiction Roundup – December 2018

12/4: The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson – School librarian Charlotte finds herself filling in for her glamorous twin sister who falls ill the night before a beauty pageant.

12/4: The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash – This family saga follows the Winters family, living New York City’s famed Dakota building, in the year leading up to John Lennon’s assassination.

12/4: Eighteen Below by Stefan Ahnhem – When a police chase in Helsingborg ends in the death of a tech entrepreneur, Danish police officer Fabian Risk makes a bizarre discovery that complicates the case.

A Foray into Gothic Fiction

Reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier in 7^th grade was a formative moment for me: I learned the vocabulary word sepulchre; I was deliciously creeped out. It wasn’t until this year, though, that I realized Rebecca was part of a larger type of fiction that I really, consistently enjoy: Gothic fiction. The good news for readers like me – those who love creepy old mansions, sinister family secrets and the sense that something is not quite right – is that there are a steady crop of titles to keep us busy. This year I’ve read two titles that I’d like to suggest you snuggle up with on a cold and dreary night.

A trio of novels for Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time designated to honor the histories, cultures, and contributions – historical and ongoing – of American Indians and Alaska Natives. You can check out a booklist of novels by Native American authors published in the past five years in our catalog. Highlighted here are three outstanding novels from 2018.

Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson is narrated by Sequoyah as he looks back on 1989, the year he was 15. That year, after his mother is sent to jail on a drug charge, Sequoyah finds himself in foster care with the Troutts, alongside another Native American foster kid, Rosemary. He reflects back on his friendship with Rosemary, the strangeness of that time, and the way it contributed to who he became. A masterful coming-of-age novel. Shortlisted for the National Book Award.