Summer is a great time to catch up on all the books you’ve been wanting to read.
Here are some suggestions of quality, award-winning books available for checking out at the Crestview Public Library.
"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. A blind French girl and a German boy have a chance encounter in occupied France during World War II. Doerr's book received the Alex Award (given to 10 books written for adults that also appeal to 12- through 18-year-olds.)
"Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. "An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse," the publisher states. St. John Mandel's novel won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, which recognizes the best science fiction novel published for the first time in the United Kingdom in the previous year.
"The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend" by Dan Santat. "This magical story begins on an island far away, where an imaginary friend is born," the publisher states. "He patiently waits his turn to be chosen by a real child, but when he is overlooked time and again, he sets off on an incredible journey to the bustling city, where he finally meets his perfect match." Santat's book won the Caldecott Medal, which recognizes the most distinguished American picture book for children.
"Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson. "In vivid poems, (the author) shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement," the publisher states. Woodson's biography won the Coretta Scott King Author Award, which recognizes African-American authors’ outstanding contributions to children's literature, promoting a better understanding and appreciation of the culture and contribution to the realization of the American Dream.
"Mr. Mercedes" by Stephen King. " ‘Mr. Mercedes’ is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable," the publisher states. It won the Edgar Allan Poe Best Novel Award, which recognizes authors for outstanding contributions in mystery, crime and suspense writing.
"Redeployment" by Phil Klay. "Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories (about the war in Afghanistan) struggle to make meaning out of chaos," the publisher states. Klay's novel won the National Book Foundation's Fiction Award, which honors American books of the highest literary merit.
"The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert. This Pulitzer Prize winning fictional work tells the "future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes," the publisher states.
Marie Heath is the Crestview Public Library's director.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HEATH: 7 end-of-summer reads