Middletown Thrall Library Invites You to Go... BEYOND THE BESTSELLERS: Your Personal Guide to Interesting Books Not Necessarily Found on Bestseller Lists: Summer 2006 Edition

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Past Issues

Missed a past issue of Beyond the Bestsellers? Click below for previous BTBs and more reading recommendations:

Consider any of the titles below the next time you're looking for something interesting to read. To learn more about a book and check on its availablity within the library system, click a title link below.

Some book records in the library catalog have additional links you can click to learn more about the book and the author. Some titles even have chapter excerpts that you can read online!

Scroll down and browse by genre to begin!





GENERAL FICTION

  • The Good Works of Ayela Linde by Charlotte Forbes - Ayela Linde, the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress in a Texas border town, marries a visitor from Boston. In interconnecting stories ranging in time from 1934 to 2004, this novel explores Ayela's character and the profound effect she has on others.
  • Sparkle Life by Kara Lindstrom - Lindstrom's novel is about the glitzy and sexy business of movies as seen through the lives of three women in their thirties and the compromises they make.


Other titles to consider:

MYSTERIES

  • No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman - P.I. Tess Monaghan has a new gig as a consultant for the local newspaper. When her boyfriend brings home a street kid who may hold the key to the murder of a young federal prosecutor, Tess finds herself questioning her loyalties in this highly suspenseful mystery.
Other titles to consider:

SCIENCE FICTION

  • Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher - This entry in the Dresden Files finds Chicago Wizard Harry Dresden charged with protecting the city's mortal population from black magic. Nicholas Cage's Saturn Films is producing a new television series based on the books.
Other titles to consider:

THRILLERS

  • Brandenburg Gate by Henry Porter - The events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall are the backdrop for this first rate Cold War thriller. Henry Porter has been compared favorably to John Le Carre, and Brandenburg Gate has been called "clever," "gripping," and "a total triumph."
Other titles to consider:

NEWLY TRANSLATED NOVELS

  • Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faïza Guène - Doria, a Moroccan teenager living in the housing projects outside of Paris, is determined to make a new life for herself in this "confection that is tender, funny and even wise," according to the New York Times.
Other titles to consider: