What would you say if someone asked you to name a book that has stayed with you long after reading? Staff and volunteers at the Lititz Public Library mentioned these titles for reasons as varied as the subjects and themes represented in the selections. All are available to borrow from the library.
The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain
When President Francois Mitterrand and his party leave an elegant Parisian brasserie, a man discovers the president’s black felt hat has been left behind and decides to keep it as a souvenir.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
In 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy friend and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project to expose racial persecution.
City of Thieves by David Benioff
A young writer learns his grandfather’s story about how he tried to secure pardons during the siege of Leningrad by gathering hard-to-find ingredients for the wedding cake of a powerful colonel’s daughter.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The elders give a young teen his career assignment as the receiver of memories at the Ceremony of Twelve and he soon discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthoy Doerr
A blind French girl flees the devastation of WWII Paris and takes refuge with a great uncle in a house by the sea where she crosses the path of a German boy trained to track members of the French Resistance.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A novel of family relationships centers on a young girl growing up amid the poverty of a Brooklyn tenement from 1902 through 1919.
All That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon
In the wake of the Chernobyl disaster the Soviet Union begins to collapse changing the lives of a nine-year-old child prodigy, his aunt, a leading surgeon and a teenage boy in a rural village.
The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild by Lynn Schooler (Nonfiction)
A solitary Alaskan outdoorsman and wilderness guide relates the story of his friendship with Japanese photographer Michio Hoshino and their quest to find the elusive glacier bear.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Twin brothers born from a secret love affair between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Ethiopia are driven apart by their love for the same women in a country on the brink of revolution.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dr. Frankenstein undertakes an obsessive experiment that leads to the creation of a monstrous and deadly creature.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (Nonfiction)
The author is the third daughter in three generations that grew up in 20th century China; her grandmother was a warlord’s concubine and her mother a young, idealistic member of the Communist elite who faced turmoil during the Cultural Revolution.
On The Beach by Nevil Shute
Survivors of an atomic war face an inevitable end as radiation poisoning moves toward Australia from the North.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Nonfiction)
The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family’s nomadic upbringing.
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
When the parish church bells toll out the death of an unknown man, Lord Peter investigates the sinister affair.
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Nonfiction)
The author contends that humanity can shift from a world of dangerous and expanding egos to a saner more loving existence and offers practical advice on how to promote kindness and freedom.
Originally published on July 3, 2014 in the Lititz Record Express.