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Pequot Library

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the Humanities to the Community

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SUSAN EI RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle by Ingrid Betancourt
Organic Crops in Pots by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell
Starter Vegetable Gardens by Barbara Pleasant
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Ernest Hemingway On Writing by Ernest Hemingway
A Lion Named Christian: the True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
 
Fiction:
The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.by Sandra Gulland (the Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy)
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe
by Sandra Gulland
The Last Great Dance on Earth by Sandra Gulland 
The Real Minerva by Mary Sharratt
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (YA for adults!)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Widow's War: a Novel by Sally Gunning
Bound: a Novel by Sally Gunning
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Thirteenth Tale: a Novel by Diane Setterfield 
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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ROBYN SWAN FILIPPONE RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand 

Fiction:
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
by Ann Weisgarber
The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The NIght Circus: a Novel by Erin Morgenstern
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
The March by E. L. Doctorow
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson; the first of the trilogy
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson; the second of the trilogy
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Suite Française by Irène Nemirovsky
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Mystery/Novel:
The Beekeeper's Apprentice, first in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Laurie R. King
Maisie Dobbs, first in the series by Jacqueline Winspear
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley; a Flavia de Luce mystery
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley; the second Flavia de Luce mystery
The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith 

Biography:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Classics:
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - 75th Anniversary in 2011
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 50th Anniversary in 2010
Anything by Jane Austen:
    Emma
    Sense & Sensibility
    Mansfield Park
    Northanger Abbey
    Pride & Prejudice
    Persuasion
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

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A
DAIR HEITMANN RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
The Journal Keeper by Phyllis Theroux
Holy Ghost Girl by Donna Johnson
The Boy Who Bit Picasso by Anthony Penrose
Lift
by Kelly Corrigan
Here if You Need Me by Kate Braestrup
Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen
Yarn: Remembering the Way Home by Kyoko Mori
The Color of Water by James McBride
Red Bird or any poetry book by Mary Oliver
Any book by May Sarton

Fiction:
Clay's Quilt by Silas House
The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell
The Language of Flowers
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding by Alexander McCall Smith
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
An Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
Daughters of the Stone by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (Historical Fiction)

Mystery/Novel:
False Mermaid by Erin Hart

Cookbooks:
Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals by Ming Tsai and Arthur Boehm
The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World
by Lynn Alley
The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques
Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn
The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond (As a memoir) 

Young Adults (YA): 
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War ll by Joseph Bruchac
Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes
Heroes Don't Run by Harry Mazer
The Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief series by Rich Riordan
Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
          The Ruins of Gorlan
          The Burning Bridge
          The Icebound Land
          The Battle of Skandia
          The Sorcerer of the North
          The Siege of Macindaw
          Erak’s Ransom
          The Kings of Clonmel
          Halt’s Peril
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief series by Rich Riordan
Wolf Brother (first in a series) by Michelle Paver
(For kids who have loved Star Wars-themed books you can progress onto books by Walter Jon Williams such as Destiny's Way and Backlash)

For Kids:
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques
Three Strong Women by Claus Stamm
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Mama Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse
The Little Bear series by Elise Holmelund Minarik

Classics:
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Call of the Wild by Jack London
White Fang by Jack London

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LESLIE MAHTANI RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn Saks
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The Man who Loved China: the fantastic story of the eccentric scientist who unlocked the mysteries of the Middle Kingdom (re: Joseph Needham) by Simon Winchester
Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment by David Bodanis 
A Beautiful Mind: a Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics by Sylvia Nasar
Days of Grace: a memoir by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim
A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable by John Steele Gordon
Out of Africa by Isak Dineson (the pen name of Baroness Karen Blixen)
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks
On Writing: a memoir of the craft by Stephen King
On Writing Well : An Informal Guide to Writing Nonficiton by William K. Zinsser
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
Get out of my life, but first could you drive me and Cheryl to the mall?: a Parent's Guide to the New Teenager by Anthony Wolf
Open: an Autobiography by Andre Agassi

Fiction:
Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee
Native Son by Richard Wright
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Howards End by E.M. Forster
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King, the first of a series including Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers including Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey, Part 1 of a series
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers including Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey, Part 2
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers including Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey, Part 3
Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers including Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey, Part 4
Last Orders by Graham Swift
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
The short stories of Katherine Mansfield
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Divisadero by Michael Ondaajte
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
Quentins by Maeve Binchy
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James
The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon 
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer (1st of a trilogy)
Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (2nd of the trilogy)
An Infamous Arny by Georgette Heyer (3rd of the trilogy)
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton   

For Older Kids:
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (1st of a trilogy)
Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (2nd of the triolgy)
The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett (3rd of the trilogy)

For Younger Kids:
Pete's a Pizza by William Steig
Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman
Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
The Story Snail by Anne Rockwell
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard (1st of a triogy)
Miss Nelson is Back by Harry Allard (2nd of the trilogy)
Miss Nelson has a Field Day by Harry Allard (3rd of the trilogy)
One of Each by Mary Ann Hoberman
I am Not Cute by Jonathan Allen
Let's Do Nothing by Tony Fucile
Bread, Bread, Bread by Tana Hoban
Hats, Hats, Hats by Tana Hoban
Strega Nona: an Old Tale by Tomie de Paola (and his other books about Strega Nona)

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ELIZABETH PATTERSON RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
At Home by Bill Bryson (all his books are terrific, especially his travelogues)
The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove, Cathy Erway
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (or any of his other books)
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
Origins by Annie Murphy Paul
As Always: The Letters of Julia Child edited by Joan Reardon

Memoir:
Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison
This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres and a Family Undone by Melissa Coleman
Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman (gives you a whole new view of our prison system)
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food and Love by Kristin Kimball
Marcus of Umbria by Justine van der Leun

Fiction:
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Caleb's Crossing
by Geraldine Brooks
Room
by Emma Donoghue
Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
World Without End
by Ken Follett
Gone With the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell (always a classic, always a favorite!)
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (the audiobook is fantastic!)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

Young Adults (YA):
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede and the other books of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

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BOB REPKO RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Fiction:
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Serena by Ron Rash
Savages by Don Winslow
The Tourist by Olin Steinhauer
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
Scorched Earth by Davin L. Robbins
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Virgil Flowers series by John Sandford
          Dark of the Moon
          Heat Lightning
          Rough Country
          Bad Blood

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KAI ALEXIS SMITH RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-fiction:
Art in Latin America: The Modern Era, 1820-1980 by Dawn Ades
Art and Revolution in Latin America 1910 – 1990 by David Craven
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey
Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature by Susan E. Davis and Margo DeMello
The Guide to Owning Dwarf Rabbits by Dennis Kelsey-Wood

Biography:
Just Kids by Patti Smith

Young Adults (YA):
The Giver by Lois Lowry

For Kids:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein (30th Anniversary Special Edition) by Shel Silverstein

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DAN SNYDACKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Non-Fiction:
Autobiography by Mark Twain
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
Commonwealth, by Jeffery Sachs
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
The Green Building Revolution by Jerry Yudelson
The Smithsonian Book of Books,
Michael Olmert
Enemies of the People: My Families Journey to America by Kati MartinMay
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
The Book: The Life Story of a Technology by Nicole Howard

Fiction:
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Payton
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
The Optimists Daughter by Eudora Welty
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
The Red Rover by James Fennimore Cooper
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
The Known World by Edward P. Jones

 


 

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