Staff recommendations from Winter Reading

Congratulations to Matthew, our winner for Week 3, and Celeste, our winner for Week 4. They each win a $20 gift card! Keep your entries coming in! The next three weeks we will be drawing multiple weekly winners! Participants in this year's Winter Reading have read 89 books so far. Check out some of the books library staff members have enjoyed during Winter Reading:

	The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "Very engrossing. Katniss is a strong, intelligent teenage character, and if the people behind the movie version mess up the casting for her I will be mad. Collins presents a future in which Panem, formerly North America, is composed of districts, and each year, to atone for uprising against the Capitol, each district must select two kids to participate in the Hunger Games, where they are required to fight each other to the death. The games are televised, and homes in all the districts tune in to root for their tributes. The manipulation of the tributes throughout the Games reminds me of reality TV in our culture. You will not be able to put this book down." --DP
	Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "I'm going through the Sookie Stackhouse series for the second time because I love how Charlaine Harris writes. This book contains one of my favorite plotlines from the series -- Eric loses his memory and stays with Sookie while she tries to keep him safe from the witches who are after him. His complete change of character is quite funny, as he is frightened and unsure of himself when Sookie finds him running along the side of the road. Plus Alcide returns, the witches arrive, and the mysterious, secluded community of Hotshot is introduced. I hope the writers of the TV series True Blood incorporate the plotlines from this book in the next season!" --DP
	Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks Find it in the catalog! Rating: 4 out of 5 --GB A new woman in town keeps her past to herself and arouses suspicions of the townspeople. She eventually falls in love and then must face her past and decide between leaving or staying.
	House Rules by Jodi Picoult Find it in the catalog!  Rating: 4 out of 5 --GB In Picoult's latest, a teenager with Asberger's syndrome is on trial for murder.
	Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "I enjoyed reading about the author's experiences living in Paris. As an Australian she talks about the differences between her culture and that of the French. She also shares her struggle to find work as a freelance journalist. Although she lives with a Frenchman, she still feels like an outsider and it is difficult for her to find her place in the city. Especially intriguing is what happens when she gets a dog and then becomes subject to all sorts of unsolicited advice and comments from passerbys. I had no idea how serious the French were about their dogs!" --DP
	Dracula in Love by Karen Essex Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "Essex retells the story of Dracula from the female point of view, with Mina, not Dracula, being the focus of the story -- the character we know as Dracula doesn't appear until more than a quarter of the way through the book. I actually think the way the author tells the story is very refreshing and something I had never read before in regards to literature about vampires. The writing is dark and sensual in a way that I had not expected. Dracula in Love is also a good work of historical fiction set in Victorian England, and I recommend it to readers who enjoy books set in that era. Just don't call it a "vampire book."--DP