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Staff from the Scranton Public Library love to read a wide variety of books. From best sellers to award winning novels, each staff member has a unique to read pile and we are happy to share their picks for 2019.  We hope that you discover a new favorite author!

 Michele’s Top 5 Books of 2019

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

This book tells the story of Alix and Emira and what happens after Emira is confronted late at night by a security guard while she is watching Alix’s young daughter. Told from both viewpoints, this book delves into transactional relationships and brings to light the darkness that can happen when one person does the right thing for the wrong reason. The book has both its light and dark moments and really gets the reader to examine the situation from every side.

Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K. Randall

At the turn of the century, San Francisco faced a crisis – the bubonic plague was spreading like wildfire throughout its Chinatown neighborhood. Racist pseudoscience, political hubris, and cover ups threatened to derail the possibility of containment. Federal health officer Rupert Blue led a sanitation crusade and raced to understand how the disease was spreading by patrolling the streets filled with waste and examining bloated corpses in an effort to develop a plan to save a city that didn’t seem to want to be saved. This book has it all – rats, black buboes and even an earthquake.

The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell

In 1913 in Calumet, Michigan, Annie Clements has had enough of seeing men risk their lives for wages that barely allow their families to put food on the table and have clothes on their backs. Annie takes the lead and convinces the men to strike and demand better wages from the powerful mining company that owns the town. As the strikes wears on, Annie discovers just how far she is willing to go to ensure the miners, and the entire town, receive the justice they deserve.

The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

1941. Audrey Coltrane has no time for romance in her life as her love of flight outweighs any romantic notions she might have. She meets Lieutenant James Hart while training military pilots in Hawaii. A fast friendship, with a hint of something more, develops much to Audrey’s dismay. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she joins the Women Airforce Service Pilots and builds strong bonds with her fellow pilots. When James goes missing in action, Audrey can no longer deny her true feelings and she risks her life to go behind enemy lines in search of James.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

In 1936, Cussy Carter is living in Troublesome Creek, KY, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. She joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky, bringing books to the improvised Hill People of Eastern Kentucky. Along her route, she experiences joy and friendships, as well as suspicion from those who do not trust her due to her skin tone nor the government led program. This book is inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service.

-Michele – mlegate@albright.org