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Handpicked by Meghan September 2017 Hello, I am the Adult and Teen Services Associate at the River Forest Public Library. I am currently pursuing a Masters of Library and Information Science at Dominican University. My favorite hobbies include reading, travel, spending time with family, and going to see musicals. My reading tastes are all over the map, but the genres I tend to enjoy most often include history nonfiction (especially Irish or American history), psychological thrillers, humor, memoirs, and fantasy. I love to get to know the amazing patrons of RFPL and help people discover books, movies, or television shows. Let's chat about books and media!
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Best I've Read So Far This Year
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Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Themby Jennifer Ashley WrightAn irreverent tour of history's worst plagues and the people who battled them includes coverage of the Antonine Plague, leprosy, and polio while surveying the lesser-known, bizarre and grotesque details that marked each disease. By the author of It Ended Badly. 614.4 WRI
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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fineby Gail HoneymanA socially awkward, routine-oriented loner teams up with a bumbling IT guy from her office to assist an elderly accident victim, forging a friendship that saves all three from lives of isolation and secret unhappiness. FICTION HONEYMAN
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Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionariesby Kory StamperExplores the inner workings of dictionary lexicography, explaining why it takes months to define a single word, and how pronunciation and language can have social influence. 413.028 STA
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennoxby Maggie O'FarrellIris Lockhart is stunned when she receives news that her great-aunt Esme, a previously unknown woman edited out of her family's history, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital, where she has been confined for more than sixty years, and soon discovers that Esme holds the key to long-hidden family secrets that could change her life forever. FICTION OFARRELL
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Someday, Someday, Maybeby Lauren GrahamThe stage and screen star best known for her work in such series as Gilmore Girls presents the story of a struggling actress in 1990's New York City who searches for work and the perfect hair product while befriending a rival and resisting her father's pressure to get a "real" job. FICTION GRAHAM
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Bullby David ElliottThe best-selling author of the Evangeline Mudd series updates the classic story of Theseus and the Minotaur in a darkly comedic, versed adaptation specifically tailored to the interests of today's young adults. TEEN FICTION ELLIOTT
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The Hate U Giveby Angie ThomasCaught between her poor neighborhood and her fancy prep school, sixteen-year-old Starr Carter becomes the focus of intimidation and more after witnessing the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. TEEN FICTION THOMAS
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Al Franken, Giant of the Senateby Al FrankenThe Harvard-educated comedian and talk-show host chronicles the story of his unlikely senatorial campaign, detailing the ensuing months-long recount and what his service has taught him about America's deeply polarized political culture. BIOGRAPHY FRANKEN
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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agendaby Becky AlbertalliSixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity—and that of his pen pal—will be revealed. TEEN FICTION ALBERTALLI
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Some of My All Time Favorite Books
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Dublin Murder Squad Seriesby Tana FrenchIn the Woods - The Likeness - Faithful Place - Broken Harbor - The Secret Place - The Trespasser The moody Dublin Murder Squad novels are one part mystery, one part police procedural, and one part psychological suspense story. Featuring compelling, well-drawn characters and rich detail, these atmospheric yarns are suspenseful and meditative, offering a look at contemporary Ireland that alternates between disturbing and lyrical. FICTION FRENCH
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Watchmenby Alan MooreAs former members of a disbanded group of superheroes called the Crimebusters start turning up dead, the remaining members of the group try to discover the identity of the murderer before they, too, are killed. 741.5973 MOO
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A Discovery of Witchesby Deborah E. HarknessDiscovering a magical manuscript in Oxford’s library, scholar Diana Bishop, a descendant of witches who has rejected her heritage, inadvertently unleashes a fantastical underworld of daemons, witches, and vampires whose activities center around an enchanted treasure. FICTION HARKNESS
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The Well of Shadesby Juliet MarillierA continuation of the epic series that began with The Dark Mirror finds master assassin and spymaster Faolan dispatched by King Bridei to identify who among the king's subjects are loyal and treasonous, a mission Faolan hopes will unlock secrets from his past. SCI FI MARILLIER
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Transfer of Powerby Vince FlynnWhen a gang of terrorists seizes control of the White House, taking hostages, leaving many dead, and driving the president to a secret bunker, it is up to the CIA's top counterterrorism specialist, Mitch Rapp, to stop the insurrection. FICTION FLYNN
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Of Mice and Menby John SteinbeckThe American novelist's classic work of two itinerant farmhands' perpetual search for a home. FICTION STEINBECK
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The Historianby Elizabeth KostovaDiscovering a medieval book and a cache of letters, a motherless American girl becomes the latest in a series of historians, including her late father, who investigates the possible surviving legacy of Vlad the Impaler, a quest that takes her across Europe and into the pasts of her father and his mentor. FICTION KOSTOVA
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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhoodby Trevor NoahThe host of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah traces his wild coming of age during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed, offering insight into the farcical aspects of the political and social systems of today's world. BIOGRAPHY NOAH
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Trinityby Leon UrisRecounts the interrelationships, clashes, and common concerns of the Catholic, hill-farming Larkins of Donegal, the aristocratic and British Hubbles, and the Scottish-Presbyterian MacLeods of Belfast during the years from the 1840s famine to the 1916 Easter Rising. FICTION URIS
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Mystic Riverby Dennis LehaneSean Devine must confront the world of violence and pain he tried to forget when his childhood friend's daughter is murdered, and the investigation brings him face-to-face with a vigilante killer and a man with a dangerous secret. FICTION LEHANE
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The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommendby Katarina BivaldA Swedish tourist opens a bookstore in Broken Wheel, Iowa, to honor her deceased pen pal and makes some unconventional choices that threaten to bring long-hidden secrets to light as she attempts to share her love of reading with the locals. FICTION BIVALD
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The Silver Witchby Paula BrackstonMoving to a secluded Welsh cottage a year after her husband's sudden death, ceramic artist Tilda Fordwells begins manifesting powers similar to those of a legendary Celtic witch who issued a prophecy about ancient magic and a heartbreaking disaster.
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Me Talk Pretty One Dayby David SedarisThe bestselling author of Naked presents a savagely funny collection of stories, including pieces about his sojourn in Paris, as well as those that have been featured in The New Yorker, Esquire, and on National Public Radio. 814.54 SED
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nestby Ken KeseyThe American classic story of Randle Patrick McMurphy, a criminal who feigns insanity and is admitted to a mental hospital where he challenges the autocratic authority of the head nurse. FICTION KESEY
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Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadaversby Mary RoachA compelling look inside the world of forensics examines the use of human cadavers in a wide range of endeavors, including research into new surgical procedures, the testing of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, space exploration, a Tennessee human decay research facility, and a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. 611 ROA
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Some of My Favorite Movies and Shows
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Band of BrothersFollows the 101st Airborne as it drops into Normandy on D-Day and fights its way through Europe to the end World War II. DVD SER DRM BAN
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League of Their OwnA washed-up ballplayer becomes coach to one of the All-American Girls Baseball league teams in 1943, and finds himself drawn back into the enthusiasm of the sport.
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ChicagoMurderesses on death row, Velma Kelly and Roxy Hart vie for fame and freedom in Chicago during the 1920s. DVD MUS CHI
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It's a Wonderful LifeBroke and depressed, George Bailey contemplates suicide, but is brought back from the edge by an angel who shows him the impact he has made on other's lives. DVD HOLIDAY ITS
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Quiet ManWhen an American prize-fighter kills a man in the ring, he returns to the Irish village where he was born to find peace and there he meets and falls in love with the sister of the village bully. DVD DRM QUI
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Forrest GumpTells the story of a good-natured man with a low IQ who personally experiences important events in American history and continues to love, albeit unreciprocated, his childhood sweetheart Jenny. DVD DRM FOR
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10 Things I Hate About YouCameron loves Bianca, but she can't date until her unpleasant older sister Kat goes out, so Cameron singles out the only guy who could possibly be a match for Kat, a mysterious troublemaker with a nasty reputation of his own. DVD COM TEN
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Game of ThronesFollows the adventures of the powerful families in the kingdom of Westeros that are constantly vying for control of the throne. DVD SER SF GAM
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Hocus PocusThree witches from the 17th century are conjured up in modern-day Salem and it's up to Max and his friends to put a stop to the witches' mischief and right the wrongs the witches created 300 years ago.
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NewsiesIn turn of the century New York, the boys who distribute newspapers, known as Newsies, organize to challenge an unscrupulous newspaper publisher.
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