2005 Staff Recommended Adult Fiction

Hissy Fit  by Mary Kay Andrews (Brandy – East Regional)
Calling off her high-society wedding after discovering her fiancâe's infidelity, Keely Murdock faces financial ruin before receiving assistance – and an opportunity for revenge – from the new owner of a local bra company.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Jean – Zebulon)
Wealthy Mr. Darcy and spirited Elizabeth Bennett dislike each other at first sight, and each must contend with their pride and prejudices while Elizabeth's mother plots economically advantageous marriages for all her daughters.

The DaVinci Code  by Dan Brown (Kathryn – Cameron Village)
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu work to solve the murder of an elderly curator of the Louvre, a case which leads to clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci and a centuries-old secret society.

The True History of Kelly Gang  by Peter Carey (Betty – Lib. Admin.)
Ned Kelly, the legendary 19th-century Australian folk-hero, describes how he, his brother and two friends led authorities on a 20-month manhunt, marked by widespread populist support, before his capture and execution.

Girl with a Pearl Earring  by Tracy Chevalier (Tara – Southeast Regional)
A poor 17th-century servant girl knows her place in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, but when he begins to paint her, nasty whispers and rumors circulate throughout the town.

The Prince of Tides  by Pat Conroy (Jean – Zebulon)
Interweaves the events of Tom Wingo's summer in New York and his relationship to Susan Lowenstein, his sister Savannah's beautiful psychiatrist, and the complex history of the South Carolinian Wingo family, from World War II through Vietnam.

Bridget Jones’s Diary  by Helen Fielding (Susan – Southeast Regional)
The daily chronicle of a 30-something, single, English woman who is convinced her life would be perfect if she could lose weight, stop smoking and develop "Inner Poise."

Outlander  series by Diana Gabaldon (Tara – Southeast Regional)
In Scotland with her husband on a second honeymoon after World War II, Claire enters a circle of stones and is transported back to the Battle of Culloden 200 years earlier, where she must marry a Scot to save her husband.

American Gods  by Neil Gaiman (Dan – North Regional)
Days before his release from prison, Shadow learns that his wife has been killed in an accident. On the plane ride back home for the funeral, he meets Mr. Wednesday, who offers Shadow a job. Shadow accepts but soon discovers that Mr. Wednesday is far more dangerous than he could ever have imagined.

The Next Step in the Dance by Tim Gautreaux (Kathy C. – West Regional)
Paul follows his young bride Colette as she leaves their small town for a better life in California and returns with her to Louisiana, where they must pick up the pieces of both their marriages and their livelihoods during the 1980s economic recession.

Southern Sisters Mystery series by Anne George (Jane D. – Cameron Village)
Murder on a Girls' Night Out
Mary Alice, who has buried three husbands, and her sister Patricia Anne, a retired English teacher, are lifelong residents of Alabama and are now in their sixties and ready to live a life in quiet retirement. But Patricia Anne has a knack for stumbling across dead bodies and involving Mary Alice in her quest to solve the crime.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime  by Mark Haddon (Bob – East Regional)
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically gifted, autistic 15-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

Skinny Dip  by Carl Hiassen (Dan – North Regional)
Doctoring water samples to help his corrupt agribusiness employer continue illegal dumping in the Everglades, biologist Chaz Perrone attempts to murder his wife, who has figured out his scam and who survives to plot her husband's downfall.

Practical Magic  by Alice Hoffman (Pat – East Regional)
The story of two sisters, Gillian and Sally Owens, brought up by their elderly guardian aunts in a small New England town. The aunts possess magic that they, in turn, hand down to their nieces.

The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini (Kathy C. – West Regional)
Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.

A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House (Nicole – East Regional)
In 1917, a Cherokee woman who leaves her community to marry a white man finds herself isolated and discriminated against as she tries to settle in to her new life.

A Journey to Here  by Margaret Johnson-Hodge (Nicole – East Regional)
A story that revolves around the lives of Sylvia Allen and Dorothy Butler, two 46-year-old women whose attraction to the same boy many years ago destroyed their friendship. Now, 30 years later, both women must learn to figure out the difference between getting what they want and getting what they need.

Watermelon  by Marian Keyes (Kathryn – Cameron Village)
When her husband, James, leaves her after she delivers her first child, Claire retires to her family in Dublin, where she slowly recovers from the experience, giving James a big surprise when he shows up again.

The Ha-Ha  by Dave King (Lynn – Eva Perry Regional)
Rendered unable to speak, read or write after a Vietnam War injury 30 years earlier, Howard Kapostash feels trapped by his disability until his high school sweetheart, recently forced into rehab, asks him to care for her nine-year-old son.

Prodigal Summer  by Barbara Kingsolver (Kathryn – Cameron Village)
Wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud.

Patty Jane’s House of Curl  by Lorna Landvik (Ann – East Regional)
Two Minnesota sisters establish a beauty shop that becomes a support group and community center.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter  by Jeffry Lindsay (Kathryn – Cameron Village)
Hiding a secret life as an assassin while working as a murder analyst for the Miami police, Dexter Morgan is intrigued by the work of a new serial killer whose style mimics his own.

The Pleasure of My Company  by Steve Martin (Kristen – North Regional)
Daniel, a troubled man who lives alone, detached from the world, passes his time filling out contest applications and counting ceiling tiles, until his attachment to Clarissa and Teddy helps him rediscover the outside world.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency  by Alexander McCall-Smith (Jane D. – Cameron Village)
Precious Ramotswe sets up a detective agency in Botswana at the edge of the Kalahari Desert, making her the only female detective in the country. At first, cases are hard to come by. But eventually, troubled people come to Precious with a variety of concerns.

Atonement  by Ian McEwan (Martha – Green Road)
Three children lost their innocence – as the sweltering summer heat bears down on the hottest day in 1935 – and their lives are changed forever.

Gap Creek  by Robert Morgan (Donna – Zebulon)
The story of a young woman's struggles in early 20th-century Appalachia. 

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk (Bob – East Regional)
Working as a hotel maid despite her dreams of being an artist, Misty keeps a diary as she sits by the side of her husband, comatose after a suicide attempt, which unlocks Misty's creative energies and causes her to paint compulsively.

Master and Commander  by Patrick O’Brien (Liz – Cary)
Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin fight in the Napoleonic Wars.

My Sister’s Keeper  by Jodi Picoult (Donna – Zebulon)
Conceived to provide a bone marrow match for her leukemia-stricken sister, teenage Kate begins to question her moral obligations in light of countless medical procedures and decides to fight for the right to make decisions about her own body.

Set in Darkness  by Ian Rankin (Pamela – Duraleigh Road)
Inspector John Rebus investigates a body found in a Queensbury House fireplace, the suicide of a homeless man in possession of a fortune, and the murder of an ambitious politician – three deaths with ties to one of Scotland's most notorious criminals.

Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter  by Ruth Rendell (Theresa – Library Admin.)
Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford remains cool in the face of massive media attention as he sets out to investigate the stabbing death of celebrity writer Davina Flory and her husband and daughter.

Straight Man  by Richard Russo (Helen – Eva Perry)
During one torturous week, Hank Devereaux, head of the English department at the state university in Railton, Pennsylvania, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, finds his secretary is a better writer than he is, suspects his wife is having an affair, threatens wild fowl and confronts his father.

Fair and Tender Ladies  by Lee Smith (Donna – Zebulon)
Ivy Rowe wants to be a writer, but poverty and motherhood in World War I and then the Depression limit her to colorful letters describing those in her Appalachian family and community.

Of Mice and Men  by John Steinbeck (Jean – Zebulon)
The tragic story of two itinerant ranch hands on the run – one is the lifelong companion to the other, a developmentally disabled man.

The Bubbles Yablonsky series by Sarah Strohmeyer (Elizabeth – Southeast Regional)
Bubbles Unbound
Against all odds, Bubbles Yablonsky has returned to school, but while on her way to journalism school, she happens upon a crime scene and finds herself drawn into a murder investigation.

Lucia, Lucia  by Adriana Trigiani (Angela – Duraleigh Road)
The daughter of an Italian immigrant family in 1950 Greenwich Village, Lucia Sartori pursues a career in the fashion industry until she falls in love with a handsome stranger, who must win over her traditional family to marry her.

A Texas Sky  by Lori Wick (Donna – Zebulon)
Given the assignment of escorting Miss Darvi Wingate to the town of Aurora, Texas Ranger Dakota Rawlings thinks it will be an easy task until Darvi becomes a pawn in one of the biggest rackets in town, and Dakota must come to her rescue.