Paperback Fiction

Tinkers

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tinkers by Paul Harding

George lies on his death bed in the Massachusetts house he built himself, surrounded by family and the antique clocks he restores. George loves the precision of fine timepieces, but now he is at the mercy of chaotic forces and seems to be channeling his late father, Howard, a tinker (mender) and a mystic whose epileptic seizures strike like lightning. Howard, in turn, remembers his “strange and gentle” minister father. Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Tinkers is a rare and beautiful novel of spiritual inheritance and acute psychological and metaphysical suspense.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

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girlwhoplayedwfire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second in a trilogy that began with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and once more features Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium with an explosive story on his hands. But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander - the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second in a trilogy that began with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and once more features Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium with an explosive story on his hands. But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander - the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Little Bee

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littlebee by Chris Cleave

Little Bee, the title character, first meets Sarah and Andrew on a beach in Nigeria, where they are vacationing, and she and her sister are running away from their village where all the rest of the people have been massacred. The pursuers catch up to them and what happens is horrific and awful. Their next encounter is two years later, in England, where Little Bee has fled and where she has been in a refugee camp for all that time. She arrives on the day of Andrew’s funeral, and the memory of what happened on the beach is overwhelming for each of the women, as they try to sort things out for the future. They travel back to Nigeria, also attempting to write a book about survivors and immigrants and refugees and camps. This novel is enthralling and witty and haunting and beautiful. (Connie’s Pick)

Let the Great World Spin

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by Colum McCann

Let the Great World Spin was the 2009 winner of The National Book Award for Fiction. The novel focuses on the lives of various New Yorkers on the day in 1974 when French trapeze artist Phillip Petit walked a tight rope between the World Trade Center towers. McCann has called his book an act of hope written, in part, as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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by Stieg Larsson

This debut thriller is the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson and a serious page-turner. Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. Blomkvist is aided by the pieced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.