Kirkus Reviews' New & Notable Fiction for July

Click here for the link. Bring some books to the beach this 4th of July weekend!

New Audiobook Arrivals!

Researcher Marina Singh is sent by her boss at Vogel, a drug manufacturer, to the jungles of Brazil following the death of a co-worker. It is there that the company is looking into a miracle drug based on a tree bark used by a native tribe. Upon her arrival, Marina must find out the circumstances of her colleague's death, as well as find out why work has slowed to a crawl on the drug. That means dealing with Annick Swenson, a determined researcher who Marina has a complicated relationship with.




Four best friends -- Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena-- now in their late 20s, try to find their way in the world as young adults. The sixth installment of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series.








The Kelleher family has been coming to Maine for sixty years. Their beachfront cottage, won on a barroom bet after the war, is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and threadbare sweaters are shared on chilly nights. It is also a place where cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and ancient grudges simmer below the surface. As Maggie, Kathleen, and Anne Marie descend on Alice and the cottage, each woman brings her own baggage--a secret pregnancy, a terrible crush, and a deeply held resentment for misdeeds of the past.




To many, Folly Beach is one of the most beautiful and idyllic of places. But to Cate Cooper, it is the place that harbors many bad memories from the past. She never planned on coming back, but her late husband has left her both penniless and without a home. As Cate takes inventory of her life, she looks to Folly Beach's history for answers to her future.






Unable to retain her professional detachment when her mother is abducted while babysitting her 4-month-old daughter, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Faith Mitchell teams up with Will Trent and Sara Linton in a case that reveals unsettling truths. By the best-selling author of Broken.






After a mountainside massacre yields a grim message, Painter Crowe, director of Sigma Force, must join with Commander Grayson Pierce and an unlikely ally if he is going to get to the root of a conspiracy that stretches back to a lost prehistoric colony in America. By the best-selling author of The Doomsday Key

New DVDs out this week!

"Barney's Version" - Looking back on a life that has been anything but ordinary - stars Paul Giamatti (Golden Globe Winner), Minnie Driver and Dustin Hoffman

"Beastly"- A modern fantasy twist on "Beauty and the Beast" starring Vanessa Hudgens, Peter Krause (TV's "Parenthood", Neil Patrick Harris, and Mary Kate Olsen

"Season of the Witch" - An adventure in the era of the Crusades and Black Plague starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman

"Sucker Punch" - A tale of alternate reality set in the 1950s starring Emily Browning, Carla Gugino and Jon Hamm (TV's "Mad Men")

"The Warrior's Way" - A samurai confronts American outlaws plus killers from his past - stars Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush ("The King's Speech")

Looking for the Next Stieg Larsson?

Try The Hypnotist by Lars Keplar


This title is the newest Swedish noir translated into English, and is getting rave reviews. Booklist says,
The Swedish invasion continues with the first novel translated into English from the author Swedes are calling the next Stieg Larsson. Unlike the more police-oriented work of Jo Nesbø and Henning Mankell, The Hypnotist, a best-seller throughout Europe, is a psychological thriller likely to appeal to fans of Larsson and the duo of Anders Roslund and Borge Hellström.When a critically injured boy is found at the scene of a horrific murder, former hypnotist and physician Erik Maria Bark is called in to help the cops talk to him. The theory is that only hypnotism will penetrate the distorting maze of drugs and pain to reach the boy's memories of what happened. What Erik learns sets off a terrifying chain of events that endangers his family, his marriage, and his job. Enigmatic genius investigator Joona Linna, who refuses to accept convenient scenarios for the crimes, leads the investigation. A cracking pace makes up for the rather-flat-seeming characters. Still, Kepler (husband-and-wife Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril's team pseudonym) belongs on every international crime fan's reading list.

Featured Staff Picks - Novel Destinations

Staff Picks are located in the lobby - you can browse the collection of available titles or look through the binder of all picks and reviews. This week's featured picks are great reads for our Adult Summer Reading Club "Novel Destinations".



At the age of twenty-six, Maarten Troost—who had been pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock of life by racking up useless graduate degrees and muddling through a series of temp jobs—decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of Kiribati. He was restless and lacked direction, and the idea of dropping everything and moving to the ends of the earth was irresistibly romantic. He should have known better.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals tells the hilarious story of what happens when Troost discovers that Tarawa is not the island paradise he dreamed of. Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles through relentless, stifling heat, a variety of deadly bacteria, polluted seas, toxic fish—all in a country where the only music to be heard for miles around is “La Macarena.” He and his stalwart girlfriend Sylvia spend the next two years battling incompetent government officials, alarmingly large critters, erratic electricity, and a paucity of food options (including the Great Beer Crisis); and contending with a bizarre cast of local characters, including “Half-Dead Fred” and the self-proclaimed Poet Laureate of Tarawa (a British drunkard who’s never written a poem in his life).

With The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Maarten Troost has delivered one of the most original, rip-roaringly funny travelogues in years—one that will leave you thankful for staples of American civilization such as coffee, regular showers, and tabloid news, and that will provide the ultimate vicarious adventure.



Buying a Piece of Paris is a charming and witty love song to the most beautiful city in the world.

Paris has seduced many admirers, but for Ellie Nielsen it’s true love. So deep is her infatuation that she’ll only be satisfied with a little place to call her own. The object of her desire seems so simple: the sort of apartment she’s seen a thousand times in magazines and movies. Something effortlessly charming, and quirky, and old— and expertly decorated. Something exuding character and Parisian chic. Something quintessentially French.

Little does she realize that the French real estate scene is not quite the dreamscape she’d imagined. With two weeks to find and secure an apartment, and a cursory grasp of the language, Ellie embarks on a mad dash through the streets of Paris, negotiating the fraught world snobby real estate agents, xenophobic bankers and perplexed Parisian naysayers. Thwarted at every turn, in the end it only makes her more determined to succeed.

With her trusty French phrasebook in hand, and plucked up reserves of savoir faire, Ellie undertakes the adventure of a lifetime. Beauty is everywhere even if, like all true romances, there are many obstacles to be overcome. But then, c’est toujours comme ça à Paris. Written with great verve and a superb ear for language, Buying a Piece of Paris is a joy to read and a pleasure to dream about.

Summer Reading Guide from the L.A. Times

Click here for the summer reading guide from the L.A. Times

This guide is broken into subjects including Fiction, Page Turners, Travel & Outdoors, Current Events, Audiobooks and more!

Book Signing - Author Lisa See

@ the Huntington Book Revue on Saturday, June 25th, 7pm
Bestselling author, Lisa See, will speak about and sign her new book, Dreams of Joy.



From the New York Times bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and Peony in Love, comes the brilliant follow-up to her most recent novel, Shanghai Girls, Dreams of Joy.

We are introduced to Joy, the daughter of Shanghai’s heroine Pearl, a strong-willed nineteen-year-old who is hurled into the New Society of Red China. Blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy is at the forefront of one of the most intense times of China’s history. In her most powerful novel yet, Lisa See returns to timeless themes, of motherhood, romantic love, and love for your country.

New DVDs out today

The Adjustment Bureau" - How much would you challenge fate for the sake of true love? - stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt

"Cedar Rapids" - A comedy about a first big-city convention - stars Ed Helms (TV's "The Office"), Anne Heche and Sigourney Weaver

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules" - A family feature based on the popular children's books by Jeff Kinney - stars Zachary Gordon and Steve Zahn

"The Eagle" - An action/adventure about resolving past issues in the Roman Empire - stars Channing Tatum and Donald Sutherland

"Happythankyoumoreplease" - Twenty-something New Yorkers figuring out their presents and futures - stars Josh Radnor and Malin Akerman

" Unknown" - An auto accident survivor wakes to find someone else has his identity - stars Liam Neeson, January Jones ("Mad Men") and Aidan Quinn

Beach Reads!

New York Magazine's "Summer Guide" offers 5 beach reads for the Summer 2011 season

There seems to be something for everyone on this short list, no matter how you plan on spending your summer. Read the full article here.

Let Us Pick Your Next Read!

Merrick Library's Reference Department would like to make choosing your next read easier. Fill out this short questionnaire and our staff will provide you with up to 5titles according to your preferences. You will be notified when your selections are available at the Reference Desk.

New DVDs out this Week!

"Battle: Los Angeles" - UFOs are no longer a mystery and the last stand against them is in the City of Angels - stars Aaron Eckhart and Bridget Moynahan

"Hall Pass" - wild comedy of husbands and wives starring Jason Sudeikis ("Saturday Night Live") and Christina Applegate

"Kill The Irishman" - organized crime families have a turf war in 1970s Cleveland - stars Ray Stevenson, Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken

"Mooz-Lum" - much applauded drama about life seen from the viewpoint of a black Muslim college freshman - cast features Danny Glover and Nia Long

"Red Riding Hood" - fantasy/adventure twist on the time-honored fairy tale starring Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman

New Audiobooks!

The husband-and-wife team of Sam and Remi Fargo are used to hunting for treasure, but they aren't used to hunting for people - until an investigator friend of their goes missing and they promise to search for him. On a journey that will take them to Tibet, Nepal, China, Italy, and Siberia, the Fargos find themselves embroiled with black-market fossils and a skeleton that could just turn the history of human evolution on its head.

Raised by the assassin hired to kill her in infancy, Princess Alana of Lubinia unsuccessfully contacts her father the king and is imprisoned as a pretender by the handsome captain of the palace guards, to whom she is betrothed when her claims are proven. By the best-selling author of the Malory series.

David Brooks reveals that success isn't all about money and fame, but about quality of life and the ability to provide for others. Here, listeners will discover that the most important aspects of success are often taken for granted.

In 1933, President Roosevelt personally selected William E. Dodd to be the United States ambassador to Nazi Germany. Dodd took his family with him, including his daughter Martha. Initially enamored with the Nazi party and its passion, Martha supported the Third Reich. However, when Hitler's violent policies became apparent, Martha changed her opinion and watched in horror. Here, author Erik Larson offers a chilling first-person account of Germany's transformation under Hitler's rule.

The Astral is a huge rose-colored old pile of an apartment building in the gentrifying neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For decades it was the happy home of poet Harry Quirk and his wife, Luz, a nurse, and their two children. But Luz has found some poems of Harry's that ignite her long-simmering suspicions of infidelity, and he's been summarily kicked out. He now has to reckon with the consequences of his literary, marital, financial, and parental failures.

NPR Previews Top Summer Reads

Read the full article here. Their list includes contemporary fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, and fantasy.

Click here to search our catalog and reserve your copy today!

See the World with Your Library Card!

Sign up for our Novel Destinations Adult Summer Reading Book Club! Travel the world by reading any book that takes place in another country or culture. You will receive 1 raffle ticket for every book you read and be entered to win our weekly raffle prize.

Registration is free and ongoing at the Reference Desk.

Lilian Jackson Braun Dies at 97

Popular mystery author Lillian Jackson Braun died this past Saturday at the age of 97. She is well known for her "The Cat Who..." mystery series, which she had been writing since 1966. Read the full New York Times article here.

You can find her series in our Mystery section. Search our catalog for what we have in stock here

New Staff Picks Added

Staff Picks are located in the lobby. Browse the selections or flip through the accompanying binder with the titles and their reviews.

Newly Added:

Angela Russo is thirty-three years old and single, stuck in a job she doesn't love and a life that seems, somehow, to have just happened. Though she inherited a flair for Italian cooking from her grandmother, she never has the time; for the past six months, her oven has held only sweaters. Tacked to her office bulletin board is a picture torn from a magazine of a cottage on the coast of Maine, a reminder to Angela that there are other ways to live, even if she can't seem to figure them out.
One day at work, Angela clicks on a tiny advertisement in the corner of her computer screen "Do Soulmates Exist?" - and finds herself at a dating website, where she stumbles upon "MaineCatch," a thirty-five-year-old sailing instructor with ice-blue eyes. To her great surprise, she strikes up a dizzying correspondence with MaineCatch - yet as her online relationship progresses, life in the real world takes a nosedive. Interpreting this confluence of events as a sign, Angela impulsively decides to risk it all and move to Maine.

But things don't work out quite as she expected. Far from everything familiar, and with little to return to, Angela begins to rebuild her life from the ground up, moving into a tiny cottage and finding work at a local coffee shop. To make friends and make ends meet, she leads a cooking class, slowly discovering the pleasures and secrets of her new small community, and - perhaps - a way to connect her heritage to a future she is only beginning to envision.






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.
Nearly twenty years after her family nurses a wounded enemy pilot back to health, London playwright Queenie attends the deathbed of her father and is haunted by memories of an unspeakable death and a heartbreaking disappearance.Another unforgettable tale weaving history and mystery from the bestselling author of The House At Riverton and The Forgotten Garden.

New Audiobooks!

The discovery of two murder victims who were killed twenty years earlier is complicated by the body of a third, recent victim at the same location, a case that compels detective Patrik Hedstrom to investigate a feuding clan of misfits, religious fanatics, and criminals.






Ayla is training to become a Zelandoni, one of the community's spiritual leaders and healers. She becomes the acolyte to the Zelandoni for the Ninth Cave and begins the series of intensive journeys that are part of the sacred training. But as she struggles to find a balance between her calling and her duties as a new mother, her pursuits begin to take a toll on her relationship with Jondalar.





Cotton Malone is no stranger to adventure; he has defended his country in some of the world's most exotic locations. However, he now faces an enemy much closer to home, a clandestine group with considerable influence and a history dating back to the formation of the U.S. Constitution.





With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn in to the blot--which is much more complicated than she knows.