| This month we have recommendations for readers of popular fiction, mysteries, young adult novels as well as some books that have recently appeared on the big screen. Popular April Books  | If you like Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout or Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, you might also like: Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman’s wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as they struggle to keep it--and themselves--afloat. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | If you like Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer, or One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs, you might also like: From the acclaimed bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder, a taut, intense narrative about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the largest manhunt in American history. Magnificent in scope, drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, this nonfiction thriller illuminates one of the darkest hours in American life. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | If you like Atonement by Ian McEwan, or Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon, you might also like: A stunning portrait of motherhood and the artist’s life in all their terror and glory, Maggie O’Farrell’s newest novel is a gorgeous inquiry into the ways we make and unmake our lives, who we know ourselves to be, and how even our most accidental legacies connect us. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | If you like the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer or the Southern Vampire Mystery series by Charlaine Harris, you might also like: Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … |
Mystery Nominees Need a little mystery in your life? The Edgar Awards will be announcing the winner of their 2010 Best Novel award on April 29th. Get a reading head start and see if you’re right about who the winner should be.  | Award-winning screenwriter Malla Nunn delivers a stunning and darkly romantic crime novel set in 1950s apartheid South Africa, featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper -- a man caught up in a time and place where racial tensions and the raw hunger for power make life very dangerous indeed. In a morally complex tale rich with authenticity, Nunn takes readers to Jacob's Rest, a tiny town on the border between South Africa and Mozambique. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | Gripping and surprising, Nemesis is a nail-biting thriller from one of the biggest stars in crime fiction. Grainy closed-circuit television footage shows a man walking into an Oslo bank and putting a gun to a cashier's head. He tells the young woman to count to twenty-five. When the robber doesn't get his money in time, the cashier is executed, and two million Norwegian kroner disappear without a trace. Police Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | John Hart’s second book, Down River, won him the 2008 Edgar Award for best novel. Now, with The Last Child, he achieves his most significant work to date, an intricate, powerful story of loss, hope, and courage in the face of evil. Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith, The Last Child leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | The Odds by Kathleen George Kathleen George’s latest work pushes the edge--a spectacularly original crime novel. The Homicide Department is upside down--Richard Christie is in the hospital, Artie Dolan is headed away on vacation, John Potocki’s life is falling apart, and Colleen Greer is so worried about her boss’s health, she can hardly think. A young boy in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood dies of a suspicious overdose. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | The author of The Clearing now surpasses himself with a story whose range and cast of characters is even broader, with the fate of a stolen child looming throughout. The suspense--and the complicated web of violence that eventually links Sam to complete strangers--is relentless, urgently engaging and, ultimately, profoundly moving, the finest demonstration yet of Gautreaux’s understanding of landscape, history, human travail, and hope. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | Discuss these and other mysteries in the Suspense & Thrillers or True Crime groups. |
Coming Soon!  | Crossing by Andrew Fukuda (Exclusive Amazon Q&A with the author) Question: Crossing is the story of Xing Xu, a Chinese teenager growing up in a small town in upstate New York. Xing is a loner who doesn’t fit in at school and when a rash of disappearances rattle the town, suspicion is immediately cast in his direction. Where did you get the inspiration for this book? Andrew Fukuda: I worked for a few years with immigrant teens in Manhattan's Chinatown. What really struck me was how acutely they felt isolated from society at large. Shoved out of the way, really. And they shared a real disenchantment with America. (full interview) |
Young Adult Author  | We’re thrilled to have New York Times bestselling author, Laurie Halse Anderson as a member of Shelfari. Anderson has authored popular & award winning books like Speak, Prom, Twisted and Wintergirls showing an insightful view into the teenage experience. Her 2008 novel Chains, tell the gripping story of two sisters, slaves during the Revolutionary War, who show what lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual. Her compelling sequel, Forge, will be released later this year so make sure you add Chains to your reading list today. | Find other YA books to read and discuss in the YA Books that Adults Should Read group. |
Coming Soon!  | (Exclusive Amazon Q&A with the author) Question: Greyhound has an interesting title and cover. How would you describe what the book is about to readers? Steffan Piper: Greyhound is the story of an 11-year-old boy named Sebastien Ranes who is abandoned by his mother. As the book opens, we find her dropping him off at the Stockton Greyhound bus station to travel across country, unaccompanied, to go live with his grandmother in Altoona, Pennsylvania--over 2,500 miles away. (full interview) |
Books on the Big Screen They say the book is usually better--we’ll let you be the judge. Check out the story behind these recent and upcoming releases.  | Imagine a drug that makes your brain function in a fantastically efficient way, tapping in to your fundamental resources of intelligence and drive. Alan Glynn’s techno-thriller is a riveting and thought-provoking must read. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | The Runaways (movie) is based on Neon Angel, which chronicles the story of The Runaways one of the first female only rock bands in the 1970’s. The lead singer, Cherie Currie, shares her story about being involved in drugs, violence, sexual abuse and the high pressure music scene as a teenager. Currie’s story is inspiring, hilarious and shocking. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … | | |  | From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Mystic River comes a hair raising tale you don’t want to miss. The year is 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. But then neither is Teddy Daniels. Members have added characters, quotes, settings and more … |
Thank you! Kudos to our Top Editors & Librarians! These amazing Shelfarians help us find books to read by adding information to the book detail pages and cleaning up our catalog. See what edits you’ve made to books on Shelfari. Happy Reading,
Amanda & the Shelfari team |
