Reading: Movies

Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, this book recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Nonfiction. 170 pages.

When ten people arrive on private Indian Island off England's southwest coast, lured to a mansion by invitations from a mysterious host, terror mounts as one guest after another is murdered, in a classic whodunit. Fiction. 275 pages.

Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied, stole, and lived on the streets. This candid memoir was written by a father who wouldn't give up on his son. Nonfiction. 340 pages. Available as ebook

In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her 16th birthday. Young Adult Fiction. 563 pages.

The riveting story of a woman who has lost her short term memory and wakes up every morning scared because she doesn't recognize the man in bed with her. Not to worry, it's her husband. Or is it? Fiction. 360 pages.

African American detective Ron Stallworth tells his story of how he went undercover to investigate the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs in 1978. This book is the basis of the award winning movie by Spike Lee. Nonfiction. 191 pages.

Follows one young man from his impoverished childhood with a crack-addicted mother, through his discovery of the sport of football, to his rise to become one of the most successful, highly-paid players in the NFL. Nonfiction. 339 pages.

An in-depth exposé of a band of beautiful, privileged teenagers who were caught breaking into celebrity homes and stealing millions of dollars worth of valuables. Nonfiction. 268 pages.

When Garrard Conley was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to 'cure' him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. This memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds. Nonfiction. 340 pages.

In a remarkable true story about human inventiveness, an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family. Nonfiction. 286 pages.

A sudden and powerful romance blossoms between an adolescent boy and a young man who is a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Nonfiction. 248 pages.

The powerful bond between two brothers--one alive and the other killed in a terrible accident--unexpectedly transcends the barriers of life and death, and it is up to one enchanting woman to make their world right. Heartwarming and moving. Fiction. 306 pages.

In this fast paced urban fantasy series set in New York, Clary Fray is suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, and is drawn in to this dark world. Young Adult Fiction. 485 pages. Available as ebook

After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue. Young Adult Fiction. 231 pages.

Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others. Young Adult Fiction. 162 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

An outrageously funny debut, Crazy Rich Asians is the story of three superrich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting and scheming that occur when Nicholas Young, heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia, brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season. Fiction. 517 pages.

A boy with Asperger's investigates the murder of his neighbor's dog. Described as 'gloriously eccentric' and 'very moving' and 'very funny'. Young Adult Fiction. 226 pages.

John, a high school dropout, enlists in the Army not knowing what else to do with his life. While in the Army he meets Savannah, the girl of his dreams. They fall in love and she awaits his return from the Army. Then 9/11 changes everything. Fiction. 278 pages.

The gripping account of the experiences of the thirty-three men who endured entrapment beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days during the San José mine collapse outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010. Nonfiction. 309 pages.

A veteran of years of simulated war games, Ender believes he is engaged in one more computer war game when in truth he is commanding the last fleet of Earth against an alien race seeking the complete destruction of Earth. Fiction. 324 pages. Available as ebook

Guy Montag, a fire-fighter and book-burner for the State, discovers that in order to remain human he must preserve the books that attest to his humanity. Fiction. 179 pages. Available as ebook

Hazel,a 16-year old girl with stage IV thyroid cancer. To help her deal with her clinical depression, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets "hottie" Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor. Irreverent, raw, and unforgettable. Young Adult Fiction. 318 pages. Available as ebook

The experiences of a free-lance writer who embarked on a zany journey into the drug culture. Nonfiction. 204 pages.

First part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. After discovering the true nature of the one ring, Bilbo Baggins entrusts it to the care of his young cousin, Frodo, who is charged with bringing about its destruction and thus foiling the plans of the Dark Lord. Fiction. 398 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Seventeen-year-olds Stella and Will, both suffering from cystic fibrosis, realize the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, but their love for each other is slowly pushing the boundaries of physical and emotional safety. Young Adult Fiction. 281 pages.

"These are the memories that inspired the television show. The author is the thirty-year-old proprietor of Baohaus, the hot East Village hangout where foodies, stoners, and students come to stuff their faces with delicious Taiwanese street food late into the night. But before he created the perfect home for himself in a small patch of downtown New York, he wandered the American wilderness looking for a place to call his own." Nonfiction. 276 pages. Available as ebook

In this is a moving account of one woman's journey into madness and back, .Susanna Kaysen writes about the 17 months she spent on a ward for teenage girls at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Nonfiction. 168 pages.

A London commuter train is the setting for a missing person story with an an unreliable narrator. Prepare for twists and turns in this fun, creepy, best selling thriller. Fiction. 316 pages. Available as ebook

Set in the late twentieth century, Jonas lives in a peaceful community that knows of no pain, war, or poverty, but in society's quest for sameness they have also lost the meaning of love and family. Follow Jonas and other outcasts who question this life. Young Adult Fiction. 179 pages. Available as ebook

Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North. Young Adult Fiction. 351 pages. Available as ebook

On their fifth anniversary, Nick's clever and beautiful wife Amy disappears. Is he the killer? Find out in this fast-paced, devilishly dark and ingeniously plotted, best selling thriller Fiction. 419 pages. Available as ebook

Jay Gatsby had once loved beautiful, spoiled Daisy Buchanan, then lost her to a rich boy. Now, mysteriously wealthy, he is ready to risk everything to woo her back. A classic of twentieth-century literature. Fiction. 180 pages. Available as ebook

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution. Fiction. 350 pages.

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Young Adult Fiction. 309 pages. Available as ebook

This runaway best seller tells the story of 16-year-old Starr Carter, who is drawn to activism after she witnesses the police shooting of her unarmed friend. Winner of the Coretta Scott King award. Young Adult Fiction. 444 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project. Fiction. 464 pages.

An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. Nonfiction. 346 pages.

This action thriller is set In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting youth against one another. First part of a trilogy that includes Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Young Adult Fiction. 374 pages. Available as ebook Catching Fire and Mockingjay also available as ebooks.

A 15-year old from the planet Lorien is running from the Moagadorians, an alien race that is hunting him and 8 other teenage Lorics who are living on the Planet Earth. These 9 teens are a group of Loric people gifted with special powers called Legacies. Young Adult Fiction. 440 pages.

Mia had everything: a loving family, an adoring boyfriend, and a bright future in music. Then, in an instant, everything changes…. Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a riveting and uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, and loving. Young Adult Fiction. 262 pages.

Truman Capote’s masterpiece is the intensively researched narrative of the lives of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, and of the two men, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, who brutally murdered them. A True Crime classic. Nonfiction. 343 pages.

Long before the Twilight series brought the eroticism of vampires to the teen audience, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire brought these themes to adults. Over 8 million copies sold – the first of The Vampire Chronicles, about the vampire Lestat. Fiction. 351 pages.

In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. Into the Wild tells the unforgettable story of how he came to die. Nonfiction. 207 pages. Available as ebook

A humorous account of a New York City teenager's battle with depression and his time spent in a psychiatric hospital. This is a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. Young Adult Fiction. 444 pages. Available as audiobook

In his New York Times bestselling chronicle of military life, Anthony Swofford weaves his experiences win war with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family. Nonfiction. 260 pages.

Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. Fiction. 371 pages.

Unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain. Fiction. 326 pages. Available as ebook

Looking down from heaven, 14-year-old Susie Salmon recounts her rape and murder and watches her family as they cope with their grief and "the lovely bones" growing around her absence. Fiction. 328 pages.

It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war-and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan. Fiction. 274 pages.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller about an astronaut stranded on Mars. Mark Watney draws on his ingenuity, his engineering skills, and a dogged refusal to quit as he confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Fiction. 369 pages. Available as ebook

Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape. Young Adult Fiction. 375 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

"Funny, surprising, and heartbreaking... A thought-provoking, thoroughly entertaining novel that captures the complexity of love." (review from People). Fiction. 369 pages.

A 36-year-old single mother finds a bottle containing a love letter written only three weeks earlier by a man declaring his love to his darling Catherine. She decides to try to make contact with the man in hopes of changing both their lives. Fiction. 342 pages.

Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas’ twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country’s most notorious serial killers and criminals. This book is the basis of a Netflix original series. Nonfiction. 375 pages.

Moneyball starts with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games? Michael Lewis has written what Slate calls "the single most influential baseball book ever". Nonfiction. 288 pages.

Millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett is found dead, stabbed a dozen times in his compartment on the famous Orient Express, which is stranded by a storm. Will detective Hercule Poirot find out who done it before the murderer strikes again? Fiction. 265 pages

Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant Naples neighborhood, the novel follows the divergent life of paths of Elena and Lila during a time of momentous change. From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors. Fiction. 331 pages. Available as ebook

The students of Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the occasional fleeting remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and strange destiny. Fiction. 288 pages. Available as ebook

High school student Nick O'Leary, member of a rock band, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to avoid his ex-sweetheart. Hang on for an epic night of adventure in Manhattan. Young Adult Fiction. 183 pages.

A poor and passionate young man falls in love with a rich young woman and gives her a sense of freedom. Will their social differences divide them? Fiction. 239 pages. Available as audiobook

Out of work and out of money, Stephanie Plum lands a job as bounty hunter and her first prey is, guess who? None other than Joe Morelli, the macho pig who deflowered her in high school. Now a cop, he is wanted for murder. The intriguing thing is she still rather fancies him. Fiction. 290 pages.

Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Piper's story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison - why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they're there. Nonfiction. 327 pages.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school: the world of first dates, family dramas, sex, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and those wild and poignant times. Young Adult Fiction. 231 pages. Available as ebook

A self-portrait of a black teenage girl, big, fat, unloved, with a father who rapes her and a jealous mother who screams abuse. For Precious, hope appears when a courageous young teacher bullies, cajoles and inspires her to learn to read. Fiction. 139 pages.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. In the virtual utopia called Oasis, gamers must navigate clever puzzles and outwit enemies in the virtual world to save the real one. Described by reviewers as “completely fricking awesome. Fiction. 374 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Drafted against her will to serve the regime of Vladimir Putin as an intelligence seductress, Dominika Egorova engages in a charged effort of deception and tradecraft with first-tour CIA officer Nathaniel Nash before a forbidden attraction threatens their careers. Fiction. 434 pages.

Based on a true story, The Revenant is a tale of obsession, the human will stretched to its limits, and the lengths one man will go for retribution. One of the greatest tales of the nineteenth century West. Fiction. 262 pages. Available as audiobook

The spellbinding tale of Seabiscuit, a horse with crooked legs and a pathetic tail that made racing history in 1938, thanks to the efforts of a trainer, owner, and jockey who transformed a bottom-level racehorse into a legend. Nonfiction. 399 pages.

After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, Lily Owens joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters. Heartwarming. Fiction. 302 pages. Available as ebook

Mack’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted , and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant, The Shack wrestles with timeless questions. Christian Fiction. 266 pages.

Mack’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted , and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant, The Shack wrestles with timeless questions. Christian Fiction. 266 pages.

Pat Peoples formulates a theory about silver linings while in a neural health facility. Once he becomes physically fit and emotionally supportive, his happy ending will be the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. Or so he thinks. Fiction. 289 pages.

Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands he is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity-- and that of his pen pal-- will be revealed. This fresh, funny novel won many awards. Young adult fiction. 303 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

During their first summer apart, 4 teenage girls, best friends since childhood, stay in touch through a shared pair of secondhand jeans that magically adapts to each of their figures and affects their attitudes to their different summer experiences. Young Adult Fiction. 294 pages.

Navajo Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Tribal Officer Jim Chee are investigating three murders, leading them into the dark and mystical domain of evil beings of Navajo legend, the “skinwalkers." Fiction. 304 pages.

In the quiet English hamlet of Wall, Tristran Thorn embarks on a remarkable journey through the world of Faerie to recover a fallen star for his lover, the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. Fiction. 250 pages. Available as ebook

The explosion of racial hate in an Alabama town is viewed by a little girl whose father defends a black man accused of rape. Fiction. 323 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Mattie Ross is fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150. She leaves home with Marshal Rooster Cogburn to avenge her father's blood. Fiction. 235 pages. Available as ebook

When Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human. Young Adult Fiction. 498 pages. Available as ebook

In May of 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean Lt. Louis Zamperini is captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of endurance. Zamperini answered desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor. Adult Nonfiction. 473 pages.

Four African-American women are leaning on each other while "waiting to exhale", waiting for the one man who will take their breath away. Fiction. 409 pages.

R is a zombie who yearns for a better life. He has no memories or pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn't enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. Then he meets a girl. A funny, scary, jubilant love story. Fiction. 241 pages.

Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope. Fiction. 350 pages. Available as ebook

An ingenious and entertaining novel about a Seattle family coming to terms with who they are. It is also a riotous satire of privilege and a powerful story of a daughter's unflinching love for her imperfect mother. Fiction. 330 pages.

Abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma, Novalee Nation, 17 years old and seven months pregnant, soon discovers the treasures hiding in this small Southwest town. Fiction. 376 pages.

A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. Nonfiction. 315 pages. Available as ebook

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. Young Adult Fiction. 245 pages. Available as ebook

The true story of how the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. Nonfiction. 368 pages.