Times being what they are you may be finding yourself at home more than usual. We are going through a stressful time as a city, county, state and country. It seems like the perfect time to escape into a good book. Below are some books that will pull you into another world. If you’re feeling not so well, all these titles are fabulous as audiobooks.
If you enjoy mind bendy fiction may I suggest Dark Matter and Recursion by Blake Crouch. You may know him as the author of the Wayward Pines trilogy, which was made into a TV series. Dark Matter is the story of Jason Dessen, a college professor who foregoes a life of cutting-edge research to marry the woman he loves when she gets pregnant. I’m not going to say much more about the plot as I don’t want to spoil it for you. This book was mind bending, well written and thoroughly enjoyable and a great read for fans of All Our Wrong Todays. Recursion is the story of a New York City cop who is investigating a new phenomenon, False Memory Syndrome. The people suffering this are tortured by memories of lives they have never lived. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist trying to create technology to preserve memories, spurred on by her mother’s advancing dementia. Helena accidentally creates a technology that has the power to destroy humanity. Barry and Helena must find a way to put the genie back in the bottle. It’s obvious that Crouch has a fascination with how our choices not only shape our lives, but also who we are.
If you enjoy interesting takes on Sherlock Holmes, may I suggest Sherry Thomas’s adaptation: The Lady Sherlock Series: A Study in Scarlet Women, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, The Hollow of Fear and The Art of Theft. In this re-imagining of the classic stories, Charlotte Holmes is a confection loving, genius who embroils herself in a scandal when her father goes back on his word to fund her education in exchange for participating in her coming out season in London. Her ensuing social disgrace means she is on her own in Victorian London, and there’s a killer on the loose. She assumes the moniker Sherlock Holmes since a woman would never be accepted in such a role. It’s a fun series and the audiobooks are wonderful. This is a great series of fans of Laurie King and the Countess of Harleigh Mysteries.
If you haven’t tried Young Adult fiction, may I suggest Leigh Bardugo, author of the current Peak Pick, Ninth House. I read Ninth House because I so enjoyed The Six of Crows and its sequel The Crooked Kingdom. Both books take place in the world of Grisha, that Bardugo created in her Shadow and Bone series. Her world building is stunning and expansive. Her characters have depth, humanity and hope. Her characters are well developed, and the plotting is complex and fast paced. The world building is intricate and immersive particularly in the Barrel, the underbelly of the trading city, Ketterdam. In Six of Crows, Kaz Brekker a ne’er do well with a tragic past, leads a motley gang trying to make it in a city where everyone takes every advantage they can. The Dregs, Kaz’s crew, must pull off an impossible heist to get free of the worst of Ketterdam’s criminal underworld. You will not want this book to end, but thankfully there is a sequel waiting for you.
Hopefully these titles will provide a welcome distraction. If you’d like information on accessing downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks check out our webpage here.
~posted by Kathryn J.
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