Awesome Reads: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Awesome Non-Fiction Reads from 2013

Last week we shared the top 10 fiction books checked out from the library in 2013. Well, we have also taken the data from last year and compiled a list of the top 10 non-fiction books checked out from Linebaugh Library in 2013. Perhaps one of these reads will offer you the financial solution, perfect diet, or history fix you've been searching for!

Click on the linked book title to connect to the Linebaugh Library webpage and place a hold on that book.

Top 10 Non-fiction Reads

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O'Reilly
More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.

Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander
Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress.Then, Dr. Alexander's own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion - and in essence makes us human - shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. Then, as his doctors considered stopping treatment, Alexander's eyes popped open. He had come back.

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey
The success stories speak for themselves in this book from money maestro Dave Ramsey. Instead of promising the normal dose of quick fixes, Ramsey offers a bold, no-nonsense approach to money matters, providing not only the how-to but also a grounded and uplifting hope for getting out of debt and achieving total financial health.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society--from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer.

Wheat Belly Cookbook: 150 Recipes to Help You Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis
This cookbook companion to the New York Times bestseller Wheat Belly serves up 150 great tasting wheat-free recipes to help readers lose weight and beat disease.Wheat Belly shook the foundations of the diet world when author and renowned cardiologist William Davis revealed that an epidemic of adverse health effects—ranging from minor rashes and high blood sugar to the buildup of stubborn belly fat (so-called "wheat bellies")— could be banished forever with one simple step: Saying goodbye to wheat.

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly
The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American history—how one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles. President Abraham Lincoln's generous terms for Robert E. Lee's surrender are devised to fulfill Lincoln's dream of healing a divided nation, with the former Confederates allowed to reintegrate into American society. But one man and his band of murderous accomplices, perhaps reaching into the highest ranks of the U.S. government, are not appeased.

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance.

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
In this superb book, Tom Brokaw goes out into America, to tell through the stories of individual men and women the story of a generation, America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America. This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values--duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility for oneself. In this book, you will meet people whose everyday lives reveal how a generation persevered through war, and were trained by it, and then went on to create interesting and useful lives and the America we have today.

Shred: The Revolutionary Diet by Ian Smith
Dr. Ian K. Smith's Shred is the answer to every dieter's biggest dilemmas: how to lose that last twenty pounds? How to push through that frustrating plateau? What to do when nothing else is working? Here, Smith has created a weight loss program that uses all he knows about strategic dieting in one plan--like putting all the best players on the field at once to create a can't lose combination.

The Paleo Slow Cooker: Healthy, Gluten-Free Meals the Easy Way by Arsy Vartanian
The Paleo diet has been the latest health movement, taking the low carb diet a step further by eliminating grains and legumes and eating only lean, grass-fed meat. This is a popular trend much like the low carb diet. It is combined with the great bookselling topic of slow cooking. While the cavemen didn’t have slow cookers, they certainly used slow cooking techniques over fires which make the meals in this book one step closer to the origins and theory behind the diet. The delicious dishes are as homey as they are healthy—and ready when you are.

~All synopses taken from goodreads.com

Friday, March 28, 2014

Awesome Fiction Reads from 2013

At LPLS, we have taken the data and created a list of the top ten Fiction books checked out at the library from 2013! Hopefully there is an awesome new read in here for you!

Click on the linked Book Title to transfer you to the Linebaugh Library webpage to place a hold on the book!

Top Ten Fiction

12th of Never by James Patterson

It's finally time! Detective Lindsay Boxer is in labor--while two killers are on the loose. Lindsay Boxer's beautiful baby is born! But after only a week at home with her new daughter, Lindsay is forced to return to work to face two of the biggest cases of her career. Lindsay doesn't have much time to stop a terrifying future from unfolding. But all the crimes in the world seem like nothing when Lindsay is suddenly faced with the possibility of the most devastating loss of her life.

Private Berlin by James Patterson

Chris Schneider is a superstar agent at Private Berlin, Germany headquarters for the world's most powerful investigation firm. He keeps his methods secret as he tackles Private's most high-profile cases-and when Chris suddenly disappears, he becomes Private Berlin's most dangerous investigation yet.

Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson

A beautiful woman has been found murdered in her car, a lock of her hair viciously ripped off. A second woman is found hanging from a sixth-floor window with a brutal scar slashed across her stomach. When a third mutilated body is discovered, rumors of three serial killers on the loose send Washington D.C. into an all-out frenzy. Alex is under so much pressure to solve these three grim cases that he hasn't noticed someone else investigating him.

The Racketeer by John Grisham

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovitch

New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is certain of three truths: People don’t just vanish into thin air. Never anger old people. And don’t do what Tiki tells you to do. After a slow summer of chasing low-level skips for her cousin Vinnie’s bail bonds agency, Stephanie Plum finally lands an assignment that could put her checkbook back in the black. Geoffrey Cubbin, facing trial for embezzling millions from Trenton’s premier assisted-living facility, has mysteriously vanished from the hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Now it’s on Stephanie to track down the con man.

Mistress by James Patterson

Ben isn't like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts, he's a man consumed by his obsessions: movies, motorcycles, presidential trivia-and Diana Hotchkiss, a beautiful woman Ben knows he can never have. When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, Ben's infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life. Ben soon discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a shocking double life. And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana's illicit affairs.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

The Bone Bed by Patricia D. Cornwell

A woman has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. Somehow, the only evidence has made its way to the inbox of Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, over two thousand miles away in Boston. She has no idea why. But as events unfold with alarming speed, Scarpetta begins to suspect that the paleontologist’s disappearance is connected to a series of crimes much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age.

Inferno: a Novel by Dan Brown

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

The Husband List by Janet Evanovich

Caroline Maxwell would like nothing more than to join her brother, Eddie, and his friend, Jack Culhane, on their adventures. While Jack and Eddie are off seeing the world, buying up businesses and building wildly successful careers, Caroline's stuck at home frightening off the men her mother hopes will ask for her hand in marriage. When her mother sets her sights on the questionable Lord Bremerton as a possible suitor, Caroline struggles with her instincts and the true nature of her heart.

~All of the book summaries came from goodreads.com

Monday, March 24, 2014

Awesome Reads from the Winter Reading Program

The Winter Reading Program was a success here at LPLS! Patrons were asked to read 6 books in 6 weeks and provide reviews for each book they read. We compiled a list of the best reviewed books from the program here. Hopefully this list will provide for some awesome reads! If you click on the linked book title, it will direct you to Linebaugh's website so you can put a copy on hold.