Bestselling Books for December

THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Ok, I admit that this sounds awful but it is really a wonderful series that will delight adults and teens. This trilogy has been our biggest seller for weeks. Try it- I bet you will enjoy it. And the movie promises to be wildly popular.

STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson
A biography of the recently deceased entrepreneur, based on 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years.  If you don't think this guy has changed the world, check everyone in the grocery store and see how many are carrying around i-phones.  This is a basic text for entrepreneurs and others who need motivation. 

THE TIGER'S WIFE, by Téa Obreht
In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather's recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with "the deathless man." But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her-the legend of the tiger's wife.  There is a touch of magical realism in this book.

THE MILLENNIUM TRILOGY by Stieg Larsson
The Millennium series was originally written in Swedish by the late Stieg Larsson. The primary characters in the series are Lisbeth Salander, a woman in her twenties with a photographic memory and poor social skills, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and editor of a magazine called Millennium. Blomkvist, the character, has a history similar to Larsson, the author.

The stories are raw and gritty and have gained world-wide fame.  The Swedish names and politics are sometimes cumbersome but well worth it.  The books and movies are not for the squeamish but are widly enjoyed by many.  If you haven't read them yet, we suggst you get started.  We expect the last book in the series to come out in paper on February 21.

A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE by George RR Martin
This saga takes place in a fictional world, primarily on a continent called Westeros but also on a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. Most of the characters are human but as the series progresses others are introduced, such as the assumed-to-be-extinct cold supernatural Others from the far North and fire-breathing dragons from the East. The series is told in the third-person through the eyes of a number of point of view characters, 25 by the end of the fifth book.

There are three story lines that become increasingly interwoven: the chronicling of a dynastic civil war for control of Westeros among several competing families; the rising threat of the Others, who dwell beyond an immense wall of ice that forms Westeros' northern border; and the ambition of Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled daughter of a king who was murdered in another civil war fifteen years before, to return to Westeros and claim her rightful throne.
 
The series is considered a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer.  Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin's stunning series is oft compared to  Tolkien.  The HBO series was quite popular.

 
THE PARIS WIFE:A Novel by Paula Mclain
A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, that captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness-until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group-the fabled "Lost Generation"-that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage-a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they've fought so hard for.  

UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience by Laura Hillenbrand.
An Olympic runner's story of survival as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.  This powerful story of the human spirit will transport you to a different world and a different time. Though it paints a vivid picture of the experiences of our parents and grandparents who gave their lives during the last world war, it also makes us thankful to the soldiers who are currently fighting and dying for us on battlefields far away from our lives.

THE CENTURY TRILOGY by Ken Follett
Following the very successful Pillars of the Earth and World Without End  is Follett's magnificent new historical epic. Fall of Giants is first novel in The Century Trilogy, which follows the fates of five interrelated families-American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh-as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man's world in the Welsh mining pits...Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson's White House...two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution...Billy's sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German embassy in London...

These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty. As always with Ken Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. It is destined to be a new classic.