Staff Picks

Read any good books lately? The Staff at the Poughkeepsie Public Library District has! See what we recommend with our Staff Picks. If you would like to borrow any of these books, just click on the link to its title. You can see if it is on the shelf at the Library, or you can place a hold on it using the Request-a-Title option.

Almost anything by Jeffrey Archer
This author's tales are usually well-spun, although some don't reach to the level of others. Some of my favorites are Kane & Abel, The Fourth Estate, and The Prodigal Daughter. While these are not great literature, they keep your interest at the beach or in the backyard and are generally available in the Library. - Tom

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
For the ecologically minded, try Artemis Fowl. Yes, it's a young adult series, but it's worth the adult read. The first book is a little slow to start, but then grabs you. The second book, The Arctic Incident , keeps you riveted. The author moves from setting to setting so it's fast paced. It's an enjoyable series, which includes environmentally conscious fairies, a preteen mastermind with a hunky bodyguard and worldly escapades. - Mary

Bobbie Faye's Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey
If you love films like Bringing Up Baby, you'll love Bobbie Faye's Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day. If you love writers like Janet Evanovich, Jane Heller, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, you'll love Toni McGee Causey. Bobbie Faye's day is so hilariously disastrous your own day is bound to seem better! - Jennara

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben
"For most of human history, the two birds More and Better roosted on the same branch. You could toss one stone and hope to hit them both...But the distinguishing feature of our moment is this: Better has flown a few trees over to make her nest. That changes everything. Now, if you've got the stone of your own life, or your own society, gripped in your hand, you have to choose between them. It's More or Better" (from introduction). Bill McKibben shows how, especially in the United States, happiness has decreased over the past several decades even as material wealth has increased: that is, More doesn't increase happiness once basic human needs are met. And the pursuit of More has had deleterious effects on the planet's water, land, air, resources, and non-human inhabitants. McKibben argues that we must stop pursuing the More of hyper-individualistic growth and should rather focus on Better - by developing local economies based on the principles of community and sustainability. - Bev

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
Don't let the J (Juvenile) or YA (Young Adult) on the spine label deter you from reading this edge-of-your-seat page-turner. You'll meet Ingrid, who, like her idol Sherlock Holmes, uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls, and be introduced to a colorful cast of characters who put on one of the strangest versions of "Alice in Wonderland" in community theatre history. The combination of engaging writing style, well-drawn characters and an exciting plot make this a mystery you will not want to put down! - Beth

Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg
A warm-hearted story about a family in Chicago during WWII. Very good read! - Mary

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman
This collection contains exactly the sort of stories that one would expect Neil Gaiman to write - brilliant, original, imaginative fantasy tales that occasionally make tentative steps across the border into horror (but never quite cross over). Fantasy, but lyric fantasy, not epic, and grounded in our reality - there are no hobbits here, and almost all these tales concern fantasy elements that seem to have somehow brushed up against our reality, rather than the reverse. - Chris

In an Instant: a Family's Journey of Love and Healing by Lee and Bob Woodruff
Anyone who watches network television knows the name Bob Woodruff, a newsman on ABC. In December 2006, Bob was named co-anchor of World News Tonight. As part of his new responsibilities, Bob traveled to Iraq, embedded in a military compound near Baghdad, riding with the Iraqi army on a military expedition. While doing a stand-up interview in an armored vehicle, Bob was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device). This is the story of his recovery told by both Bob and his wife. - Lauren

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
A beautifully written and inspiring memoir describing how the human spirit is able to overcome the brutal loss of family at the age of twelve and subsequently being forced to take up arms to fight the war in Sierra Leone. - Barbara

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
A doctor attends to his own wife's labor and delivery during a snowstorm. He makes a decision that will forever affect his family. - Peggy

Narrative of Sojourner Truth edited by Margaret Washington
Not just for Black History Month - a great pick for local history buffs. Sojourner grew up in this area and there are abundant references to local sites. Also a great read for Women's history/suffrage readers. She is such a strong female figure that even back then she was recognized as a women's rights activist. She also was a forerunner of Martin Luther King's nonviolent activism. - Mary

Nefertiti: a Novel by Michelle Moran
Several thousand years before The Other Boleyn Girl loused up her sister's life, another royal lady did her best to get her own way at her sister's expense. We see Nefertiti as an elegant image, but her sister Mutnodjmet knew her as an ambitious political meddler. Readers looking for good historical novels will enjoy Nefertiti. - Jennara

A Nest of Gentlefolk, and Other Stories by Ivan Turgenev
Turgenev's portrayal of the Russian countryside is a mirror for the interior feelings of his character Lavretsky, whose attempt at finding love and building his own "nest" is thwarted by a cruel twist of fate. - Dan

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. His small act of kindness propels him into a world he never dreamed existed. There are people who fall through the cracks, and Richard has become one of them. And he must learn to survive in this city of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels, if he is ever to return to the London that he knew. - Chris

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
This is a thought-provoking, disturbing look at the social structures in high school and how adults help to perpetuate those structures. An interesting read for anyone with high school age children. - Carol

This is a very good book about a very significant subject for today. It is about a high school boy who went to his school and shot 10 kids and wounded several more. It deals with the reasons for the boy's action and how it affected all those involved. This book will make you cry. - Mary

No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason
This book gives a lot of tips and ideas for generating material for your blog. The author's shopping blog Mighty Goods is very highly rated by Business Week and Forbes. I think this would be especially helpful to newcomers to the world of blogging who aren't sure what to do. - Tammy

Promethea, Book 1 by Alan Moore
"Promethea" is a Wonder Woman as seen through a realistic lens. The daughter of a sorcerer rescued by mythological gods when her father was murdered, she is immortal, but lives only through possessing the bodies of mortals. Naturally, she has some supernatural foes to take on and some rather exotic powers, yet the world she inhabits is quite similar to our own in all its ragged glory. - Chris

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine, the Hellblazer. And this is only the beginning..... - Chris

Strangers in Paradise (Pocket Book 1) by Terry Moore

Katchoo is a beautiful young woman living a quiet life with everything going for her. She's smart, independent, and very much in love with her best friend, Francine. Then Katchoo meets David, a gentle but persistent young man who is determined to win Katchoo's heart. The resulting love triangle is a touching comedy of romantic errors until Katchoo's former employer comes looking for her and the $850,000 in missing mob money. As her idyllic life begins to fall apart, Katchoo discovers no one can be trusted and that the past she thought she left behind now threatens to destroy her and everything she loves, including Francine. - Chris

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What We're Reading!

See what some of the Library staff members are currently reading! If you would like to borrow any of these books, just click on the link to its title. You can see if it is on the shelf at the Library, or you can place a hold on it using the Request-a-Title option.

1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz - Elizabeth

Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife by David Mizejewski - Elizabeth

Double Bind by Christopher Bohjalian - Jennara

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer - Elizabeth

Elementary, My Dear Watkins by Mindy Starns Clark - Jinay

Flirting with Pride And Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece edited by Jennifer Crusie - Angela

Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett - Melvil

Grave Matters: Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial by Mark Harris - Elizabeth

In My Blood: Six Generations of Madness and Desire by John Sedgwick - Laura

Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust by Josip Novakovich - Tom

The Key by Jennifer Sturman - Jinay

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood - Jennara