Members of the library staff have been spending the last year reading books relating to various genres, so that we can help suggest the perfect books for you to read! This last month, we read novels that take place in New England. Here is a sampling:

• Staff Pick: The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Connor
  Hardcover, Paperback, Feature Film
  This novel, loosely based on the life of Boston mayor James Michael Curley, tells the story of a longtime mayor in an unnamed East Coast city, his attempt for re-election, and the end of a political era.
  readalikes: All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Rascal King by Jack Beatty, All Souls by Michael Patrick Macdonald
• Doreen’s Pick: The Good House by Ann Leary
  Hardcover, Paperback, Large Print, Audio CD, Playaway
  Hildy is a real estate agent and a recovering alcoholic dealing with small town life in the fictional town of Wendover, Massachusetts.readalikes: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
• Jeanette’s Pick: The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
  Hardcover, Paperback, Large Print, Audio CD, Español, русский
  While hiking in Maine and wanting some peace away from her brother and mother, Trisha gets lost in the woods. All she has for company is her walkman radio and she spends the time listening to Red Sox broadcasts, featuring her the exploits of her favorite player, closer Tom Gordon. A must for late 1990’s Red Sox fans, devoted listeners to Joe Castiglione, and anyone who knows the Giant Glass jingle by heart.
  readalikes: False Memory by Dean Koontz, The Empty Chair by Bruce Wagner, She Walks these Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
• Gerry’s Pick: Still Alice by Lisa Genova
  Original I-Universe edition, Simon and Schuster edition, Large Print, Audio CD
  Fifty year old Alice Howland, a Harvard professor, finds her life changed when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Lisa Genova is a native of Waltham.
  readalikes: The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
• Laura’s Pick: Revere Beach Boulevard by Roland Merullo
  Hardcover
  Father Dom of Revere recounts four days in the life of the Revere based Imbesalacqua family, through the voices of the family members and their extended associates.
  readalikes: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
• Laura’s Pick: My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
  Hardcover, Paperback
  Three friends from Brookline, TC, Augie, and Alejandra, write about their ninth grade year. The book is written in alternating viewpoints and features e-mails, diary entries, as well as traditional narratives. Fun fact: TC’s full first name is Tony Conigliaro.
  readalikes: P.S. Longer Letter Later by Paula Danziger and Ann M. Martin, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
• Louise’s Pick: Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
  Original 1956 edition, Hardcover (contains Return to Peyton Place), Paperback, Feature Film, Television Show
  This is the classic soap opera novel, detailing the lives of Peyton Place, a fictional New England town.
  readalikes: The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann, Empire Falls by Richard Russo, The Beans of Egypt, Maine by Carolyn Chute, Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons
• Maureen’s Pick: Run by Ann Patchett
  Hardcover, Paperback, Large Print, E-book, Audio CD, Playaway, Downloadable Audiobook
  Two young men, adopted as babies, and named Tip and Teddy by their political father, have an encounter with their birth mother, when she pushes Tip out of the way of an oncoming vehicle on a snowy night in Boston.
  readalike: Digging to America by Anne Tyler
• Anne’s Pick: The Headmaster’s Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene
  Hardcover, Large Print
  Arthur Winthrop, a headmaster of a prestigious boarding school in Vermont, is found wandering naked in Central Park in New York City.
  readalikes: Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller, The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver
• Anne’s Pick: The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott
  Hardcover, Large Print, E-book, Audio CD, Playaway, Downloadable Audiobook
  Alice Barrow works at a Lowell mill in 1832 and becomes involved with the mill owner’s son. Everything is thrown into array, though, when her best friend is found murdered.
  readalikes: The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman, Triangle by Katharine Weber
• Anne’s Pick: The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
  Hardcover, Paperback, Large Print
  In 1926, two teachers from a private school in Chatham begin a torrid affair which leads to murder!
  readalikes: An Educated Death by Kate Flora, Deception by Denise Mina
• Anne’s Pick: City in Amber by Jay Atkinson
  Hardcover
  This is the story of Lawrence and its residents, as told over a 100 year period.
  readalikes: The Girl in the Italian Bakery by Kenneth Tingle, Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson