Positively Ellinwood Street

Oooooh, our first comment! Summer reading suggestions, you say? First, here are seven big books coming in July (go ahead and click on the links to place your holds in the catalog):

Hit and Run by Lawrence Block
Swan Peak by James Lee Burke
Damage Control by J. A. Jance
Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen
Tribute by Nora Roberts
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

We always keep this list of Coming Attractions for next month at the third floor desk. If you want a treasure trove (over 300 !) of staff recommended titles, visit our Staff Picks Database.

About that July list; Hit and Run is fourth in a series; maybe you'd rather start with the first book, Hit Man? Or if you'd like another drily witty crime novel, why not try the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake? And if you like Iris Johansen, you might also like the romantic suspense novels of Tami Hoag and Catherine Coulter.

Or if you're curious what kids are reading these days, check out the summer reading lists of our local high schools at the bottom of the library's teen page.

I just returned Here If You Need Me, the lovely, droll and moving true story of the first chaplain in the Maine Game Warden Service. Several of the staff just read and raved about Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler, a story about a young woman who goes to live with her godmother, a best-selling mystery writer who has doll-sized crime scenes all over her house, and whose characters may or may not be real people. I could (and will) suggest books all day long, so I'll stop, but if none of these are to your taste, please email us and we'll come up with other suggestions. Stop by the desk too, we're all more than ready to talk about books!