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. Available as ebook

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

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.

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.

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. Fiction. 248 pages.

After the unexpected death of a beloved pope, Cardinal Lawrence and church leaders are locked together in the Vatican in an ancient ritual and discover secrets that could shake the foundation of the Church. This thriller of a novel was the basis for the 2024 motion picture. Fiction. 285 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. Available as audiobook

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana, until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life. When one of her coworkers checks out, she decides that maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea. Inspiration for HBO series True Blood. Fiction. 327 pages.

This award winning novel tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire.Fiction. 535 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.

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. 249 pages. Available as ebook

Hazel is 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 Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor who forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life. Young Adult Fiction. 318 pages. Available as ebook Disponible en español.

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

"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

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. Fiction. 212 pages.

In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was whisked off to a hospital to a psychiatric hospital.. This book is the source of the movie starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. Nonfiction. 168 pages.

Rachel is unemployed and devastated by a recent divorce. She fills her time with drinking, riding the commuter train, and fantasizing about a seemingly perfect couple the train passes by every day. Then one morning, Rachel sees something shocking... Fiction. 316 pages. Available as ebook

On their fifth anniversary, Nick's clever and beautiful wife Amy disappears. Is he the killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they really know the one they love. Fiction. 419 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

As her senior capstone project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi is determined to find the real killer in a closed, local murder case, but not everyone wants her meddling in the past. T.V. adaptation streaming on Netflix.Young Adult Fiction. 389 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 and graphic novel

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. Available as ebook

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

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.

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return. Fiction. Available as ebook and audiobook

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

A darkly comedic, genre-bending tale in which an aspiring Asian American actor navigates the absurd stereotypes of his TV-inspired world, dreaming of breaking free from the background role of "Generic Asian Man" to become the lead in his own story. Winner of the National Book Award. Streaming on Hulu.Fiction. 270 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks--as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. 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

Best selling novelist Colleen Hoover delivers a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters in an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price. Fiction. 376 pages. Disponible en español.

A memoir of the Gulf War by a front-line infantry marine recounts his struggles with the conflict on the front lines, his battles with fear and suicide, his brushes with death, and his identity as a soldier and an American. . Nonfiction. 260 pages.

In the 1920s, members of the Osage nation who had gotten rich off the oil under their land began disappearing. White investigators who tried to uncover the truth were disappearing too. Young adult adaptation of a Nonfiction book. 322 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

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

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that exposes the harrowing truths of a segregated reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida through the intertwined stories of two boys who endure its brutal injustices.Fiction. 213pages. Available as audiobook

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.

A poignant coming of age novel told in a series of letters reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent. It's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends. Young Adult Fiction. 231 pages. Available as ebook Disponible en español.

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. Fiction. 374 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the President of the United States, finds himself drawn in a whirlwind romance with Prince Henry, heir to the British throne, which could derail his mother's re-election campaign and upend two nations. Young Adult Fiction. 421 pages. Available as audiobook.

A thrilling sci-fi novel set in a dystopian society on Mars, where Darrow infiltrates the ruling class to bring about a revolution. Fiction. 344 pages.

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.

A young mother seeks redemption and reconnection with her daughter after serving time in prison, while navigating love, grief, and forgiveness in a small-town community. Fiction. 320 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 and audiobook

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.

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

Two teens--Daniel, the son of Korean shopkeepers, and Natasha, whose family is here illegally from Jamaica--cross paths in New York City on an eventful day in their lives--Daniel is on his way to an interview with a Yale alum, Natasha is meeting with a lawyer to try and prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica--and fall in love. Young Adult Fiction. 344 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

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, audiobook, and graphic novel

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.

Born with green skin, this is the story of Elphaba before she became the Wicked Witch of the West in the land of Oz. Fiction. 406 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, audiobook and graphic novel