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Five Books: Often Overlooked

Last month, we talked about the titles that were borrowed most often from the Novel Conversations statewide lending library for book clubs. This month we look at the other end…

5BooksFeb2014Last month, we talked about the titles that were borrowed most often from the Novel Conversations statewide lending library for book clubs. This month we look at the other end of the spectrum: books that are seldom borrowed but deserve consideration.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes – Most of our Novel Conversation books are fiction or biography, but we have a small collection of classic science fiction novels. Flowers for Algernon is the moving story of a mentally challenged 32-year-old man who takes part in a medical experiment that makes him a genius. Science, however, has its limits.

Maria’s Journey by Ramon & Trisha Arredondo – Maria’s life is both a remarkable journey in itself and a representative story from the Mexican American colonia of East Chicago, Indiana. Formed when the steel mills of northwest Indiana were hiring thousands of immigrants, this community sheltered Latino families who still a play an active role in the Region. The book is dedicated to the authors’ mother and all mothers like her with “exceptional strength, sacrifice, faith, and courage…”

Paper Towns by John Green – Can’t get on the list for The Fault in Our Stars? You might want to try another John Green novel, Paper Towns. Quentin “Q” Jacobsen is shaken out of his normal teen life in a central Florida high school by the twists and turns of Green’s inimitable plotting.

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma & Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron – These two true-life books revolve around libraries and librarians: one, a school librarian who vows to read with his daughter every night throughout her childhood and the other, a library director who adopts an abandoned, frostbitten kitten. The girl and the cat soon find themselves right at home among the books and readers.

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut – Described as creative, humorous and among the most accessible of Vonnegut’s works, this collection of short stories is a good introduction to one of Indiana’s most famous authors.

Yes, I chose six books again, but Novel Conversations has over 480 titles, and we’re eager to share them with you. Best of all – the above-mentioned books are available now!

This post was written by Nancy Conner, director of grants at Indiana Humanities and coordinator of Novel Conversations.