LLF Staff Suggestions for the September LibraryReads List

Hello, librarian friends. 

We hope you had a great 4th of July weekend. If you're looking for more (book-related) fireworks, then be sure to join us for our virtual book buzz this Thursday, July 9th, from 10:30am – 12:00pm EDT. If you haven't yet registered, you can still do so by visiting this page! If you can't join us live, not to worry: the replay will be available immediately following the live broadcast on CrowdCast, Facebook, and YouTube.

Below, you'll find our staff suggestions for the September LibraryReads List. Remember: votes for the September LibraryReads List are due August 1st! 

-The LLF Team (Virginia, Chris, and Lainey)

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When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
For fans of: Watching You by Lisa Jewell and
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

"Cole expertly layers plot twists, raising the stakes until the dramatic finale, and readers will cheer when the real heroes are revealed. Cole is a sure-bet suggestion for romance readers, and When No One Is Watching will expand her already enthusiastic audience."
—Booklist review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: August 1, 2020

The Writer's Library by Nancy Pearl and
Jeff Schwager
For fans of: The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Twenty-three of today's living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from "America's Librarian" Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all.

"Pearl, a librarian and critic, and Schwager, a journalist and playwright, bring boundless enthusiasm and curiosity to this eclectic and probing book of interviews…. Readers of this delightful compendium will relish the chance to find many of those shared loves, as well as discover new ones."
—Publishers Weekly review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: August 1, 2020

Watch a special message to librarians from Nancy Pearl!

The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe
For fans of: The Collector's Apprentice by B. A. Shapiro and 
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
Catch Me If You Can meets Patricia Highsmith in this electrifying page-turner of greed and obsession, survival and self-invention, that is a piercing character study of one unforgettable female con artist.

"The gritty underbelly of the art market and the pathology of decades of financial chicanery meet their delirious match in Tedrowe’s Miss Farwell, who stands glaring up at the reader from the intersection of Hitchcock’s Marnie and Highsmith’s Ripley. Watch out for papercuts."
—Jonathan Lethem, bestselling author of The Feral Detective 

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LibraryReads Votes Due: August 1, 2020

Listen to our podcast episode featuring author Emily Gray Tedrowe in conversation with her father Alan Gray, Darien Library Director.

Monogamy by Sue Miller
For fans of: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver and 
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 
A brilliantly insightful novel, engrossing and haunting, about marriage, love, family, happiness and sorrow, from New York Times bestselling author Sue Miller.

"A robust, character-driven examination of the inner workings of a lengthy marriage…. The novel is grounded by vibrant prose, vividly portrayed secondary characters, and the resiliency of everlasting love…. A spectacular, powerful return."
—Publishers Weekly review

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
For fans of: Vengeful by V. E. Schwab and 
Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

"Walschots playfully pokes at both office politics and comic book absurdity while offering gripping action and gut-wrenching body horror. The inventive premise, accessible heroine, and biting wit will have readers eager for more from this talented author."
—Publishers Weekly review

The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg
For fans of: Fox 8 by George Saunders
Set during the height of World War II, a powerful and unsettling tale about a woodcutter and his wife, who find a mysterious parcel thrown from a passing train.

"With subtlety and intention, the novella ultimately implores us to consider the purpose of literature after tragedy: well-trodden thematic territory after 1945, to be sure, but approached here in a unique way. It is difficult, in 2020, to write a work of fiction about the Holocaust that is original; even simply in this sense, Grumberg’s work succeeds where many have failed. A postmodern fairy tale, by turns evoking horror and wonder, that scrutinizes the relationship between myth and history."
—Kirkus Reviews review

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
For fans of: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai and 
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
The Secret History meets Call Me by Your Name in Micah Nemerever's compulsively readable debut novel—a feverishly taut Hitchcockian story about two college students, each with his own troubled past, whose escalating obsession with one another leads to an act of unspeakable violence.

The Short Life and Curious Death
of Free Speech in America by Ellis Cose
For fans of: Open Season by Ben Crump and 
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Make Them Cry by Smith Henderson and
Jon Marc Smith
For fans of: Bearskin by James McLaughlin and 
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
For fans of The Border and Jason Bourne, Make Them Cry is an explosive action thriller about a DEA agent sucked into a dangerous turf war on the US-Mexico border.

"Diane 'Hardball' Harbaugh has helped put a lot of drug dealers behind bars. 'You got two speeds, girl,' her partner says. 'Legal eagle and meth dealer.' The woman has a whole lot more bravery than sense, but that makes for the good story this is…. Plenty of flaws in the main character but few in this satisfying thriller."
—Kirkus Reviews review

Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett
by Annie Lyons

To Tell You the Truth by Gilly MacMillan
Also from the author: What She Knew and The Perfect Girl

Prime Deceptions by Valerie Valdes
For fans of: Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik and 
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
The lovably flawed crew of La Sirena Negra and their psychic cats return in this fast-paced and outrageously fun science-fiction novel, in which they confront past failures and face new threats in the far reaches of space, from the author of the critically acclaimed Chilling Effect.

Praise for Chilling Effect: "Featuring memorable Cuban-descended characters, this engaging space opera debut delivers a story that dances between hilarity and seriousness, with all the joy and frustration psychic cats can bring to the mix."
—Library Journal review

Tools of Engagement by Tessa Bailey
For fans of: The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory and 
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
In Tessa Bailey’s rom-com follow-up to Fix Her Up and Love Her or Lose Her, two enemies must team up to flip a house—and the sparks between them will either burn the place down or ignite a passion that neither can ignore!

"Fans of the 'Hot and Hammered' series (Fix Her Up; Love Her or Lose Her) will delight in visiting with familiar characters, but this can certainly be read as a stand-alone. Fans of Christina ­Lauren and Helena Hunting should add Bailey to their list of go-to rom-com authors."
—Library Journal review

The Night Portrait by Laura Morelli
For fans of: The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester
An exciting dual timeline historical fiction novel about one of da Vinci's most famous paintings, Portrait of a Lady with an Ermine, and the woman who saved it from Nazi destruction in World War II.