All books listed here are available at the library. Stop in, give us a call, or use the online catalog to place a hold and check one out.
February is Black History Month. Read books featuring black characters, stories, and authors.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: A coming of age memoir by acclaimed writer and poet Maya Angelou detailing her experiences with racism and violence she experienced as a young girl. Years later, Maya begins to heal by learning to love herself again.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi: Homegoing follows two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, who are born into different families and end up living completely different lives. One marries a wealthy Englishman while the other is sold into slavery in America. Spanning three hundred breathtaking and emotional years, this novel is not one you will easily forget.
Heavy by Kiese Laymon: This powerful memoir explores the weight of growing up in Jackson, Mississippi as a black man. This includes the complex relationships he shares with his mother, grandmother, food, and eventually gambling. Kiese writes about what it’s like to live in a heavy body, in all senses of the word.
Beloved by Toni Morrison: A tale of endurance, pain, heartache, and power, following the story of Sethe who is born into slavery and eventually escapes to Ohio. The memories she brings with her, haunt her along with the ghost of her unnamed baby. Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward: Messy family dynamics come to light as the story unfolds from the perspective of Jojo and his mother Leonie. Walking the reader through the past and present of Mississippi includes both hopes and struggles. Sing, Unburied, Sing is great for lovers of poetry and character focused stories.
To celebrate Groundhog Day, here are a few books that feature a time loop where the main character is repeating the same day (or length of time) over and over again. Watch the movie Groundog Day, if you get a chance!
11/22/63 by Stephen King: You can’t change the past. Right? Jack Epping sets out on a mission to change history by stopping the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963. He does this by entering a time loop to take him back to the events prior to the assassination. Part sci-fi, part romance, part historical fiction; this book has something for everyone.
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: Popular high school senior Samantha is reliving the last day of her life over and over again. This young adult novel takes the reader along with her as she realizes she has more power than she realized to change events happening on this repeated day.
Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl: Neverworld Wake reads like your typical young-adult mystery novel, if the story was unfolding over the same 11 hour period each day. A year after the death of one of their friends, Beatrice goes back to her hometown to search for answers. She has one shot to find them.
Opposite of Always by Jason Reynolds: Jack and Kate meet at a party and quickly begin falling in love. Then Kate dies and their story ends. Unless they could have a second chance. Jack has to find out what he’s willing to do to save the people he loves, with or without consequences.
See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon: Barrett Bloom has one of the worst first days of college you can imagine. So imagine her shock when she wakes up and has the chance to live the same day again. She soon finds out that she’s not the only one stuck in this day when she meets Miles. They begin working together to get “unstuck” and might even fall in love.
Celebrate the day of love with romance books featuring Valentine’s Day themed covers.
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood: In this enemies to lovers, workplace romance, Bee and Levi work together at NASA on a neuroengineering project. This nerdy, steamy, and sweet novel is the second in the STEMinist series from Ali Hazelwood and has been compared to the rom-com You’ve Got Mail.
Exes and O’s by Amy Lea: Tara asks her new roommate Trevor for help reconnecting with her exes in an attempt to rekindle a lost romance. But the more time they spend together, the more Tara thinks Trevor might be the only one who appreciates her authentic self. Full of pop-culture references, Exes and O’s is a slow burn contemporary romance for lovers of romance novels.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: This romance between Alex, the president’s song, and Henry, the Prince of England, has politics, enemies to lovers, interesting family dynamics, and some steamy scenes. What starts as a friendship to fool the media quickly turns into a forbidden romance.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes: Unexpected circumstances bring together Louisa and Will, who couldn’t be more different. What follows is a heartbreaking romance that goes beyond love and explores what it really means to live. Fans of the film adaptation will enjoy catching up with the novel that inspired it.
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver: Contemporary romance with a touch of magic, heartbreak, and second chances. When Lydia loses someone close to her, she decides to pick up the pieces and continue living life to the fullest. Giving her a second chance at the life she lost while allowing her to choose from the new life she’s discovered.