Middletown Thrall Library Invites You to Soar... BEYOND THE BESTSELLERS: Your Personal Guide to Interesting Books Not Necessarily Found on Bestseller Lists: Summer 2007 Edition

You can pick up a printed version of this list at Middletown Thrall Library.


Check out our Booklovers Web Guide for sites especially helpful to readers: book clubs, reading groups, book discussions, reviews, reading advisories, publishers, bookstores, and more!



Find bibliographic information for over 5 million book, audio book, and video titles in Books In Print: Patron Edition, or browse by subject, author, or book awards. Login using your Thrall Library card.



Have you tried NOVELIST yet? Find books and authors based on ones you like. Login using your Thrall Library card.



Looking for suggestions? Stop by our Readers' Advisory Center by Reference or ask a librarian for recommendations on what you might like to read next.



Every year the library hosts book discussions open to the public. Ask to be added to our mailing list or stop by the library to find out what's in the works!



Click here to find out what other free programs are currently scheduled at Thrall.



Click here to view current bestseller lists and other news items of possible interest to you.



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 Maytrees by Annie Dillard - Annie Dillard's eleventh book unveils the story of Lou Bigelow and her future husband Toby Maytree who is just returning to Provincetown at the end of World War II. Close observations of nature, poetic language and the power of selfless love to redeem us are all featured in this moving novel.
  • My Summer of Southern Discomfort by Stephanie Gayle - Young New York liberal lawyer, Natalie Goldberg, leaves a prestigious securities law firm, after an affair with her boss goes sour, to take a job as a prosecutor in Bibb County, Georgia. Time and gardening heal her wounds while she wrestles with her principles when assigned to a capital murder case.


Other titles to consider:

HISTORICAL FICTION

  • The Archivist's Story by Travis Holland - Former literature professor Pavel Dubrov's job at the Lubyanka Prison has become mainly the destruction of books. When a manuscript found in the files is believed to be a story written by prisoner Isaac Babel, Pavel knows he must save it especially after meeting with Babel. The heartbreak of life in Soviet Moscow in 1939 is revealed in this fine debut novel.
  • Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon - McCarthy era Washington, D.C. is the setting for this story of Fordham graduate Tim Laughlin who falls for the charming and older bureaucrat Hawkins Fuller.


MYSTERIES

  • A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch - Gentleman sleuth Charles Lenox is asked to investigate the death of a maid of a good friend. Fans of Victorian murder mysteries will relish this debut.
  • The Glass Devil by Helene Tursten - In the third Irene Huss mystery, the Swedish inspector investigates the murder of a teacher that fails to show up at school. After finding satanic markings on his computer, Inspector Huss goes to notify the victim's parents only to find them dead with identical markings on their computer.
Other titles to consider:

SCIENCE FICTION

  • Mainspring by Jay Lake - This steampunk novel revolves around the premise that the Earth has a hidden mainspring that periodically needs to be rewound. The key needed for rewinding is lost, and its recovery is being hampered by dark magicians, monsters and other wonders.
Other titles to consider:

THRILLERS

  • The Exception by Christian Jungersen - When the Danish Centre for Genocide Information begins to receive threats, a Serbian war criminal is suspected. But when the four women employees begin to suspect each other, alliances shift, and office politics is taken to a new level. Jungersen's European bestseller is a thought provoking page turner.
  • The Mark by Jason Pinter - Twenty-four year old rookie journalist Henry Parker ends up on the run from the police, the FBI, and the mob when he is left holding the gun in an interview gone terribly wrong.
Other titles to consider: