Mary Buck

10/19/2016 - 3:58pm

This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids. You can browse other book matches here.

Magician's End by Raymond E. Feist
Three decades...Five Riftwars...One magnificent saga: Magician's End is the final book in New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist's science fiction epic Riftwar Cycle.

Thirty years ago, Feist's first novel, Magician, introduced us to an orphan boy named Pug, who rises from slavery to become a Master Magician, and to Midkemia and the Riftwar, an epic series of battles between Good and Evil that have scarred Pug's world for generations. After twenty-nine books, Feist delivers the crowning achievement of his renowned bestselling career: Magician's End, the final chapter in The Chaos Wars, the climax of his extraordinary Riftwar Cycle. Pug, now the greatest magician of all time, must risk everything he has fought for and everything he cherishes in the hope of destroying an evil enemy once and for all. But to achieve peace and save untold millions of lives, he will have to pay the ultimate price. (catalog summary)

 

If you like books with a similar writing style to those by Raymond Feist, you may enjoy the following titles (some of them are not in the fantasy/sf genre, but are wonderful, just the same!):
 



Across the Nightingale Floor 
by Lian Hearn
Set in an imaginary, ancient Japanese society dominated by warring clans, Across the Nightingale Floor is a story of a boy who is suddenly plucked from his life in a remote and peaceful village to find himself a pawn in a political scheme, filled with treacherous warlords, rivalry-and the intensity of first love. In a culture ruled by codes of honor and formal rituals, Takeo must look inside himself to discover the powers that will enable him to fulfill his destiny. (catalog summary)


 





American Gods
by Neil Gaiman
Upon his release from prison, a widower accepts a job as a bodyguard and joins the battle between the gods of yore and the neotoric gods of persent-day America. (catalog summary)

 

 

10/19/2016 - 3:35pm

This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out thebook-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids. You can browse other book matches here.

Darkness by Karen Robards
BOOM. That's the sound that changes everything for Dr. Gina Sullivan, a renowned ornithologist on a group research grant trip on the remote island of Attu, Alaska. When an everyday outing turns sinister at the onset of one of Attu's infamous storms, Gina expects thunder and lightning--but what she doesn't see coming is the small jet plane that drops out of the sky and into the water mere feet from her boat. Even more unprecedented: there's a sole survivor from the crash, and he needs Gina's help. But it turns out that rescuing the stranger and getting them both out of the oncoming storm is just the beginning. (catalog summary)
 

Karen Robards's style of romantic suspense and domestic fiction sugests that these titles may appeal to you:




First Light
by Bill Rancic
A moving story of love, family, and survival against all odds from beloved entrepreneur and reality TV star Bill Rancic. (catalog summary)


 

 



Flawless
by Heather Graham
There's a pub in New York City that's been in the Finnegan family for generations. Now Kieran and her three brothers own it. Kieran Finnegan is also, as it happens, a criminal psychologist—a fitting reaction, perhaps, to her less-than-lawful teenage past. Meanwhile, New York's Diamond District has been hit by a rash of thefts. No one's been killed—until now. FBI agent Craig Frasier is brought in to investigate; he and Kieran meet at a jewelry store in the middle of a heist. She's there to "unsteal" a flawless stone taken by her light-fingered youngest brother as an act of vengeance. Craig's there to stop the gang. (catalog summary)

 

10/11/2016 - 10:38am
If you like The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading recommendations, fill out the book-match form, and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids. You can browse the book matches here.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
A ruined mansion in the English countryside, secret illegitimate children, a madwoman hidden in the attic, ghostly twin sisters-yep, it's a gothic novel, and it doesn't pretend to be anything fancier. But this one grabs the reader with its damp, icy fingers and doesn't let go until the last shocking secret has been revealed. Margaret Lea, an antiquarian bookseller and sometime biographer of obscure writers, receives a letter from Vida Winter, "the world's most famous living author." Vida has always invented pasts for herself in interviews, but now, on her deathbed, she at last has decided to tell the truth and has chosen Margaret to write her story. Now living at Vida's (spooky) country estate, Margaret finds herself spellbound by the tale of Vida's childhood some 70 years earlier...but is it really the truth? And will Vida live to finish the story? (Library Journal, 2010)
 

If you liked The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, you may enjoy the following works:



Darling Jim
by Christian Moerk
When two sisters and their aunt are found dead in their suburban Dublin home, it seems that the secret behind their untimely demise will never be known. But then Niall, a young mailman, finds a mysterious diary in the post office's dead-letter bin. From beyond the grave, Fiona Walsh shares the most tragic love story he's ever heard—and her tale has only just begun in this modern gothic novel of suspense. (catalog summary)






The Distant Hours
by Kate Morton
A long-lost letter arriving at its destination fifty years after it was sent lures Edie Burchill to crumbling Milderhurst Castle, home of the three elderly Blythe sisters, where Edie's mother was sent to stay as a teenager during World War II. (catalog summary)



 

09/15/2016 - 12:19am
4th Annual Meet the Moon

View the moon with David Abbou, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, at the library’s Meet the Moon event on Saturday, October 8. We’re celebrating the annual International Observe the Moon Night at the Porter Branch with an open house from 7:00-8:30. We’ve partnered with the NASA Solar System Ambassadors Program and the Rappahannock Astronomy Club and invite everyone to attend. Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Library. Call 540-659-4909 to sign up.

09/06/2016 - 4:13pm
If you like The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris
This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids.  You can browse the book matches here.
 
The Four-hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
This step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches: how Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week; how to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want; how blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs; how to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist; how to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent "mini-retirements." (catalog summary)
 
Here are similar books for those interested in either retiring younger or for those interested in working less, but making more:


Balancing the Big Life: Finding Happiness in Work, Family & Life by Miriam Liss
We can obtain happiness for ourselves through a better evaluation of what we want from ourselves, our families, our jobs, and each other. Determining a 50/50 division of labor around the house may not be the thing that works for everyone. Working from home or not at all may not be the thing to bring us satisfaction, but learning what studies show and how to feel balanced and make those decisions to bring balance is crucial. The authors argue that people can find balance in their roles by doing things in moderation. Although being engaged in both parenting and work is good for well-being, people can avoid the pitfalls of over-parenting and over-working. They show that balance can come from a meaningful consideration of what happiness and contentedness mean to us as individuals, and how best to achieve our goals within the limitations of our current circumstances. They illustrate that balance is not simply an individual problem. Social issues such as the lack of parental leave, flexible work schedules, and affordable, high quality child care make balance difficult. With attention now on the issue, they argue that it’s time men and women advocate for better services and better opportunities to achieve balance, happiness, and success in all their roles. (catalog summary)
 




Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do
by Chris Guillebeau
Through inspiring stories of those who have successfully landed their dream career, as well as actionable tools, exercises, and thought experiments, he'll guide you through today's vast menu of career options to discover the work perfectly suited to your unique interests, skills, and experiences. (catalog summary)
 
 
 
09/06/2016 - 12:04pm
If You Like Drop City by T.C. Boyle

This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids.  You can browse the book matches here.

Drop City by T.C. Boyle
It is 1970, and a down-at-the-heels California commune has decided to relocate to the last frontier--the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska--in the ultimate expression of going back to the land. The novel opposes two groups of characters: Sess Harder, his wife Pamela, and other young Alaskans who are already homesteading in the wilderness and the brothers and sisters of Drop City, who, despite their devotion to peace, free love, and the simple life, find their commune riven by tensions. As these two communities collide, their alliances shift and unexpected friendships and dangerous enmities are born as everyone struggles with the bare essentials of life: love, nourishment, and a roof over one's head. (catalog summary)

If you like Drop City, you may also find these stories of folks living outside of society are appealing:  
 

 

Arcadia by Lauren Groff
Follows the fortunes of Bit and the commune his parents helped to create. A group of like-minded folks comes together to create a utopia in Arcadia. Despite everyone’s best intentions, the commune falls apart under the strain of privation and a self-serving leader who can’t live up to his own ideals. Bit is ill-prepared for the real world, but manages to make his way until a flu pandemic threatens the human race. (catalog summary)

 

 

 

Boonville by Robert Mailer Anderson
Surrounded by misfits, rednecks, and counterculture burnouts, John Gibson--the reluctant heir of an alcoholic grandmother--and Sarah McKay--a commune-reared "hippie-by-association"--search for self and community in the hole-of-a-town Boonville. As they try to assemble from the late-twentieth-century jumble of life the facts of sexuality, love, and death, and face the possibility of an existence without God, John and Sarah learn what happens when they dare to try to make art from their lives. (catalog summary)

 

 

08/23/2016 - 11:32am
If you like books by Terry Goodkind

This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids.  You can browse the book matches here.

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
The protective barrier that separates Westland from its neighbors to the east is about to fall, letting loose a monstrous evil upon the world. Only the combined efforts of a young man dedicated to finding the truth, an enigmatic woman intent on concealing her past, and a crusty old hermit resigned to his inevitable destiny can prevent the opening of the three boxes of Orden-an event with the potential to destroy existence itself. The inclusion of graphic scenes of sado-eroticism, though integral to the story, may deter purchase by some libraries. Nevertheless, this first novel offers an intriguing variant on the standard fantasy quest. The richly detailed world and complex characters will appeal to mature fantasy aficionados. (Library Journal)

 

If you like Terry Goodkind books, these titles might peak your interest:




The Crystal Cave
by Mary Stewart
Mary Stewart tells the Arthurian legend in her own unique way, bringing to life one of the world's greatest legends and mysteries, shedding a fascinating new light on the turbulence and mystery of fifth-century Britain. (catalog summary)

 
 
 



The House of Daniel
by Harry Turtledove
In a Depression-era America that is woven with magic, zombies, and flying carpets, a down-and-out man escapes a local thug by joining a barnstorming minor league baseball team. (catalog summary)
 
 
 
 


The Oversight
by Charlie Fletcher
Once there were hundreds of members of the Oversight, the brave souls who guard the borders between the mundane and the magic. Now there are only five. When a vagabond brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, she could answer their hopes for new recruits, or she could be the instrument of their downfall. (catalog summary)
 

 
 
 
 
Proven Guilty: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Harry, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book, is drafted to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City. And if that wasn't enough, he must help the daughter of an old friend, whose boyfriend was the only one in a room where an old man was attacked. He insists he didn't do it. And what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film turns out to be-well, something quite close to that, as Harry discovers that malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago. (catalog summary)

 
 
08/22/2016 - 10:01am
If you like Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

This readalike is in response to a customer's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. Available for adults, teens, and kids.  You can browse the book matches here.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
A rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s. A radical young Irish monk struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gathers in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. A 38-year-old grandmother turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth. (catalog summary)

If you enjoyed Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for the writing, the family story and the setting, you may enjoy these titles:


 

American Rust by Philipp Meyer
Left alone to care for his aging father after his mother commits suicide and his sister escapes to Yale, Isaac English longs for a life beyond his hometown. But when he finally sets out to leave for good, accompanied by his temperamental best friend, former high school football star Billy Poe, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever. (catalog summary)

 

 

 

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind. Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future. (catalog summary)


 

03/01/2016 - 2:02pm

How can you help the Earth?  There are lots of ways to get involved in conservation whether you're a kid, teen, or adult. Check out the local activities, Web sites and library materials listed below for some great ideas.

02/17/2016 - 3:25pm
Porter Pairings Book Group

We’re excited to announce a new book group. 

 

The Porter Pairings group is meeting at Zibibbo 73: Trattoria and Wine Bar. Their staff have worked with us to pair a wine selection with each title we read. Each month, you’ll get to read a great book and try a new wine.  

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