Booklists

A twist of a the classic Wizard of Oz story, this whimsical and compelling book retells the story of  Elphaba better known as the Wicked Witch of the West, who maybe wasn't so wicked after all.

Call Number: MAG

Pages: 426

 

 

 

Schindler's list by Thomas Keneally

Based on a true story this thought provoking modern day classic follows a wealthy German industrialist and Nazi Party member, Oskar Schindler, who gambled his life and fortune to try to rescue hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust.

Call Number: KEN

Pages: 398

Awards: Man Booker Prize for Fiction, Los Angeles Times Book Prizes

 

 

 

The Kite Runner by  Khaled Hosseini

Set in the mid 1970’s Afghanistan this bleak and heart-wrenching story follows Amir, the son of a wealthy merchant who desperately seeks his father’s attention and turns to his friend Hasaan for help. However Amir’s cowardice and civil chaos separate the childhood friends.

Call Number: HOS

Pages: 371

Awards: ALA Notable Books 2004, School Library Journal's Adult Books for High School Students: 2003

 

 

 

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover

In this character driven book Baptist Evangelical Baptist missionary Nathan Price along with his family embark on a mission to the Belgium Congo in 1959. Written from the viewpoint of Price’s wife and daughters the family the dysfunctional family is nearly destroyed by Nathan's tyranny, cultural arrogance and Africa itself.

Call Number: KIN

Pages: 546

Awards: Booklist Editors' Choice - Adult Fiction for Young Adults: 1998, Booklist Editors' Choice - Best Fiction Books: 1998, Indies' Choice Book Awards: Adult Fiction, Oprah's Book Club

 

The English Patient

In the last days of WWII a grieving nurse, a maimed thief and an emotionally detached Sikh sapper are each haunted by the riddle of a unnamed burn victim man known only as the English patient. This gripping story is a poetic and solemn narrative of the horrors of war, displacement, loss, and sudden, desperate love.

Call number: OND

Pages: 301

Awards: ALA Notable Books - Fiction: 1993, Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book: Regional Award: Caribbean & Canada, Governor General's Literary Awards: English -Language Fiction, Man Booker Prize, Trillium Book Award (Ontario): Trillium Book Award       

 

Forrest Gump

Set in the 1960’s this humorous modern day classic follows Forrest Gump, a pleasant and obedient man albeit one of low intelligence as he goes on numerous adventures from college football to being captured by cannibals.

Call Number: GRO

Pages: 241

 

 

 

Memoirs of a Geisha

Written as a fictional memoir the story follows nine-year-old Chiyo  as she is sold  to a "okiya" in Kyoto to learn the arts of  dance, singing and the tea ceremony. Chiyo’s life however is one of indentured servitude as she may not leave until she has repaid all of  her living expenses and even her original purchase cost, thus forcing Chiyo  has to endure the unrestrained cruelty of the other geshia.

Call number: GOL

Pages: 434

 

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

In this coming of age story dorky-looking Arnold Spirit leaves his troubled school in the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school, causing Arnold to become an outcast among his own community.

Call: ALE

Pages: 240

Awards: California Young Reader Medal: Young Adult, National Book  Awards: Young People's Literature School Library Journal Best Books: 2007,YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2008