Inklings Book Suggestions 2017
1. Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli pirates : theforgotten war that
changed American history – Brian Kilmeade (272 p., PPLD 17
copies, electronic, audio) JANUARY
When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, America was deeply in debt, with its
economy and dignity under attack. Pirates from North Africa’s Barbary Coast routinely
captured American merchant ships and held the sailors as slaves, demanding ransom
and tribute payments far beyond what the new country could afford.
For fifteen years, America had tried to work with the four Muslim powers (Tripoli, Tunis,
Algiers, and Morocco) driving the piracy, but negotiation proved impossible. Realizing it
was time to stand up to the intimidation, Jefferson decided to move beyond diplomacy.
He sent the U.S. Navy and Marines to blockade Tripoli—launching the Barbary Wars and
beginning America’s journey toward future superpower status.
Few today remember these men and other heroes who inspired the Marine Corps hymn:
“From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli, we fight our country’s battles in
the air, on land and sea.” Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates recaptures this
forgotten war that changed American history with a real-life drama of intrigue, bravery,
and battle on the high seas.
2. The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah (440 p., PPLD 55 copies,
electronic, audio) FEBRUARY
In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are. FRANCE, 1939. In
the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as
he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but
invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes
that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions
Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything.
Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to
make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with
all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown
terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis
from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when
he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time
and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the
epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the
women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and
experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous
path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a
heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the
durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
3. The Lady in Gold - Anne Marie O'Connor (368 p., PPLD 5 copies,
electronic, audio) MARCH
Contributor to the Washington Post Anne-Marie O’Connor brilliantly regales us with the
galvanizing story of Gustav Klimt’s 1907 masterpiece—the breathtaking portrait of a
Viennese Jewish socialite, Adele Bloch-Bauer. The celebrated painting, stolen by Nazis
during World War II, subsequently became the subject of a decade-long dispute between
her heirs and the Austrian government.
When the U.S. Supreme Court became involved in the case, its decision had profound
ramifications in the art world. Expertly researched, masterfully told, The Lady in Gold is at
once a stunning depiction of fin-de siècle Vienna, a riveting tale of Nazi war crimes, and a
fascinating glimpse into the high-stakes workings of the contemporary art world.
One of the Best Books of the Year: The Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor.
Winner of the Marfield National Award for Arts Writing. Winner of a California Book
Award.
4. The Whip – Karen Kondazin (302 p., PPLD 3 copies) APRIL
The Whip is inspired by the true story of a woman, Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (18121879) who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man in the old west. As a young
woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love with a runaway slave and had his child. The
destruction of her family drove her west to California, dressed as a man, to track the
killer.
Charley became a renowned stagecoach driver for Wells Fargo. She killed a famous
outlaw, had a secret love affair, and lived with a housekeeper who, unaware of her true
sex, fell in love with her. Charley was the first known woman to vote in America in 1868
(as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville, California.
5. A Year in Provence – Peter Mayle (224 p., PPLD 3 copies, electronic,
audio) MAY
In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a longcherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote
country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January's frosty
mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing
through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in
Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live
vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.
6. Echo – Pam Munoz Ryan (592 p., PPLD 15 copies, electronic, audio)
JUNE
Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly
finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a
harmonica.
Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in
turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the
children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family
together. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible thread of destiny, their suspenseful solo
stories converge in an orchestral crescendo.
Richly imagined and masterfully crafted, Echo pushes the boundaries of genre, form, and
storytelling innovation to create a wholly original novel that will resound in your heart long
after the last note has been struck.
7. A Land More Kind than Home – Wiley Cash (309 p., PPLD 7 copies,
electronic, audio) JULY
In his phenomenal debut novel—a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between
two brothers and the evil they face in a small North Carolina town—author Wiley Cash
displays a remarkable talent for lyrical, powerfully emotional storytelling. A Land More
Kind than Home is a modern masterwork of Southern fiction, reminiscent of the writings
of John Hart (Down River), Tom Franklin (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter), Ron Rash
(Serena), and Pete Dexter (Paris Trout)—one that is likely to be held in the same
enduring esteem as such American classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men,
and A Separate Peace. A brilliant evocation of a place, a heart-rending family story, a
gripping and suspenseful mystery—with A Land More Kind than Home, a major American
novelist enthusiastically announces his arrival.
8. Surprised by Oxford - Carolyn Weber (480 p., PPLD 2 copies,
electronic) SEPTEMBER
Surprised by Oxford is the memoir of a skeptical agnostic who comes to a dynamic
personal faith in God during graduate studies in literature at Oxford University.
Carolyn Weber arrives at Oxford a feminist from a loving but broken family, suspicious of
men and intellectually hostile to all things religious. As she grapples with her God-shaped
void alongside the friends, classmates, and professors she meets, she tackles big
questions in search of Truth, love, and a life that matters.
From issues of fatherhood, feminism, doubt, doctrine, and love, Weber explores the
intricacies of coming to faith with an aching honesty and insight echoing that of the poets
and writers she studied. Rich with illustration and literary references, Surprised by Oxford
is at once gritty and lyrical; both humorous and spiritually perceptive. This savvy, credible
account of Christian conversion and its after-effects follows the Oxford liturgical calendar
as it entertains, informs, and promises to engage even the most skeptical and unlikely
reader.
9. The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman (352 p., PPLD 33 copies,
electronic, audio) OCTOBER
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia
and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from
the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom
brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one
stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up
onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific
war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift
from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy.
When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are
other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.
10. A Man Called Ove – Frederik Backman (337 p., PPLD 35 copies,
electronic, audio) NOVEMBER
Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if
they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict
routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove
be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the
time?
Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November
morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and
accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of
unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of
which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very
foundations.
A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major
Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Fredrik Backman’s novel about the angry old man next door is a
thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. “If there
was an award for ‘Most Charming Book of the Year,’ this first novel by a Swedish
blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down” (Booklist, starred review).
11. Once Upon a River – Bonnie Jo Campbell (348 p., PPLD 7 copies +
audio) DECEMBER
The wonder of “Once Upon a River” is how fresh and weathered it seems at the same
time. Ardently turning these pages, I felt as though I’d been waiting for this book and yet
somehow already knew it. After her critically acclaimed collection of short stories,
“American Salvage,” Bonnie Jo Campbell has built her new novel like a modern-day
craftsman from the old timbers of our national myths about loners living off the land,
rugged tales as perilous as they are alluring. Without sacrificing any of its originality, this
story comes bearing the saw marks of classic American literature, the rough-hewn sister
of “Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and
“Walden.” - Ron Charles, Editor, Book World (Washington Post)