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WHAT SHOULD I READ NEXT?
Have you ever found yourself without a satisfying book just when you crave one, but you can't decide what to bring home from the Library that will be just right? Here are some ideas to guide you quickly to some leisure reading that will appeal to you. Please remember, do not hesitate to ask a librarian for assistance.

If you like a particular genre (e.g. "contemporary romance", "legal thrillers", "horror", or "cozy mysteries", etc.), take a look at the Library's "read-alike" lists. These lists are available for you to take with you (and they make a handy bookmark), giving you names of many authors who write the type of books you read. Ask a librarian if you do not see these on display. Also, you may search on some of the links listed on  "our Favorite Book Lover's Web Sites" (such as "Genrefluent", on the Internet at genrefluent.com).

If you are about to embark on a trip, consider asking about fiction books to take along with your guidebooks, which have a setting that matches your destination. It is fun to see and to be in exactly the same places as where the imaginary action of a novel occurs.

Note the titles on the thematic display at the front of the Library. These displays are changed monthly, so enjoy the diversity of books! (Themes range from A to Z ; it may be anything from "Artic Adventures" to "Zoo Animals"). If the theme sparks your interest, feel free to select a number of the exhibited books to check out. This pre-selection saves you time, if you are in a hurry.

If you are a fan of series characters, ask a Librarian whether there are any new books featuring that character (a helpful book to check is called, To be Continued, edited by Merle Jacob, or you may search by author on the Internet in lists provided by booksellers such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or on "What's Next?", an Internet site of the Kent District Library in Michigan). Also, the Library has two bookmarks listing "series sleuths", female and male.

The Library owns various books about good reading choices. Some of these circulate and others are for reference use within the Library only. The Library may obtain others for you through the inter-library loan system.

You might ask a librarian to assist you in locating a few, such as:

  • 100 Best Books for Children, by Anita Silvey
  • 50 Years of Notable Books, edited by the American Library Association
  • Anatomy of Wonder-4, published by R.R. Bowker
  • Around the World with Historical Fiction and Folktales, by Beth Bartleson Zarian
  • Best Books for Children, by John Thomas Gillespie
  • Book Lust, and More Book Lust, by Nancy Pearl
  • The Fiction Catalog, (annual updates)
  • For the Love of Books, (by 115 writers)
  • Genreflecting, and Teen Genreflecting, by Diana Tixier Herald
  • How Reading Changed My Life, by Anna Quindlen
  • The Lifetime Reading Plan, by Clifton Fadiman
  • The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children, by Eden Ross Lipson
  • Outstanding Books for the College Bound, edited by the American Library Association
  • Read Anything Good Lately?, by Susan Allen
  • The Reader's Advisor, published by R. R. Bowker
  • The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, by Joyce Saricks
  • A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction, by Baird Searles
  • Reading Rules!, By Elizabeth Knowles
  • Sacred Fire: the QBR 100 Essential Black Books, edited by Max Rodriquez
  • Sequels, by Janet Husband
  • So Many Books, So Little Time, by Sara Nelson
  • To Be Continued, by Merle Jacob and Hope Apple
  • The Well-educated Mind, by S. Wise Bauer
  • The World's Best Thin Books, by Joni Richards Bodart
 

If you enjoy movies, check out one of the books made into popular films that are listed on two bookmarks available to you at the Library. For more information about film facts, visit the Internet site, reel.com

If you are looking for a suggestion from a Librarian or book reviewer, consult the American Library Association annual "Notable Book" list (ask a staff person to show you where these are on display), or see the annual lists of favorite books of your South Burlington Library staff. Also, click on the links listed under the "Award Winning Books" section of this website.

If you would like to explore new authors by checking out many books to sample a bit of each, try selecting from the Library's paperbacks collection. You will be able to check out several (they are not heavy to carry), and to try them without a deadline (no due back date or fines). These are ideal additions to your vacation luggage. Do bring these paperbacks to the Circulation Desk, so that staff can count the number that you take, and please return them at your convenience.

While you are browsing the bookshelves at the Library, narrow your choices by identifying what characteristics of a book appeal to you. Thinking about your own, unique, reading preferences will guide you (or a librarian, if you request assistance), in finding titles to try.
Here is a checklist to get you started (ask yourself which of the following aspects of your leisure reading experience you have enjoyed):

  • A certain genre of fiction (a mystery, suspense thriller, romance, historical saga, fantasy, science fiction, western, or others)?
  • A nonfiction book on a specific topic, or a biography?
  • A fast-paced, entertaining plot (a "page-turner")?
  • A detailed, thought-provoking, philosophical plot that concentrates the reader's attention?
  • A likeable heroine/hero, a villain, or an underdog?
  • Many characters (multiple generations, with a family tree for reference)?
  • An accurate context (an historical time period, or a credible setting in the future)?
  • A long, complex plot that unfolds slowly, like a soap opera (a "pot-boiler")?
  • A short, easy book that is a "quick read" (a "beach book")?
  • A simple, chronological plot (versus dream sequences, diversions, flashbacks, foreshadowing)?
  • An inspirational story, a moral lesson, a political treatise or a classic theme of "good over evil"?
  • A book for the "gentle reader" (language that is not profane, explicitly sexual or graphically violent)?
  • A literary style of writing (e.g. innovative, poetic, epistolary, satirical, minimalist, etc.)?
  • A narrator or the story told from another point of view?
  • A lot of interesting, authentic dialogue?
  • A lot of background research supplied by the author?
  • A book with language that evokes a mood (e.g. humorous, introspective, scary, emotional, sensual, magical, nostalgic, sweet, adventurous, silly, unconventional, etc.)?
  • A happy ending or a surprise ending?
  • An appealing color or design of the book jacket?
  • Any other characteristics that appeal to you?
WE HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY YOUR READING JOURNEYS, AND TO SEE YOU RETURN SOON
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BOOKLISTS FOR YOU

FINDING GOOD READS AT YOUR LIBRARY:
The South Burlington Community Library offers you a kiosk of Reader’s Advisory Resources (fiction suggestions).  The kiosk at the Library displays dozens of hand-out materials for novel lovers to use in hunting for book gems hidden among the fiction aisles.  These book suggestions lists are for adult Library users to have handy while browsing the fiction shelves for appealing leisure reading, or to bring home (for use as a bookmark or as a reminder of what you may wish to read next).  Since the first editions of these materials in 2002, many of these fiction suggestions lists have been updated in recent years.  Please ask a librarian about finding any of the listed books or authors, and discover your own reading favorites!

GENRE BOOKMARKS (Selected Authors)
Adventurers & Explorers
Bon Bons for Your Mind
Brit Wit Chic Lit
British Suspense
Christian Fiction
Coming Of Age Novels
Courtroom Suspense
Cozy English Mysteries
Horror
Military Fiction
Multi-Generational Family Sagas
Political Thrillers
Post Millennium Productions (movies from books)
Prehistoric Lives
Presenting a Decade of the Edgar Awards (best mysteries)
Psychological (Crime) Thrillers
Regional U.S. Detective Series
Rogues, Cons and Capers
Romance
Romantic Suspense
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Series Sleuths to Track Down- Female
Series Sleuths to track Down- Male
Traveler's True Tales
Vermont Voices (fiction and poetry from resident writers)
Village Tales for gentle Readers
Way Out West ("westerns")

ETHNIC FICTION (Author Lists by Writing Category)
Celebrating African American Authors
Hispanic Authors--Diverse Traditions in Literature
Jewish Culture in Literature

ANNOTATED TOPICAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES (Brochures with Plot Summaries for Selected Titles)
Comical Mysteries
Great Escapes
Middle East Culture in Fiction and Memoirs
Mysteries Around the World
Recent Fiction Suggestions for Reading Groups
Romance with a Humorous Twist
U.S. Historical Fiction
Women’s Friendships
Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

 FICTION SUGGESTIONS FROM THE LIBRARY STAFF (Pamphlets with selected titles)
Staff Choices- 2010
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AWARD WINNING BOOKS
Click on any of the following links to Internet sites to view lists of books that have won recognition by a variety of organizations, and in different categories. This list is not comprehensive; there are many other literary award programs for all genres of writing.

General Noteworthy Book Lists Vermont Book Awards Genre Fiction Awards
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OUR FAVORITE BOOK LOVERS' WEBSITES
Click on any of the links below to search for fiction books to match your preferences or needs (and please ask a librarian if you would like further assistance):
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HOW TO START A BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

If you are interested in forming your own book discussion group with co-workers, family or friends, but do not know how to start, a first step might be to attend one of the Library book discussion meetings to observe or participate. This may give you ideas of how to proceed and whether you would like to be a leader or just a member in your own group. Please ask at the Library about the different book discussion series, or look up details on this website.

You may ask a librarian to assist you in locating books at this Library, or through inter-library loan, about how to start a book group, such as:

  • The Book Club Companion, by Diana Loevy
  • Book Discussions for Adults: a Leader's Guide, by Ted Balcom
  • The Book Group Handbook, by Elaine Slezak
  • How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
  • The Mother-daughter Book Club, by Shireen Dodson
  • Reading Group Choices, (see updates on the Internet, at readinggroupchoices.com)
  • The Reading Group Handbook, by Rachel Jacobsohn
  • So Many Books, So Little Time, by Sara Nelson
  • Talking About Books, by Marcia Fineman
  • What To Read, by Mickey Pearlman
For ideas of books to select for your group, you may refer also to the books listed in the "What to Read Next" section of this website. Also, various Internet sites provide tips for book club leaders, such as: When selecting a book for your group to read, consider their preferences for a particular kind of literature, the length of the book (relative to the scheduled time for the participants to read the book before the next meeting), the availability of multiple copies, and whether the content is likely to evoke a strong response (i.e. to generate thoughtful, abundant discussion).

Reading Guides (containing lists of questions to pose to your group about a book, as well as author biographies, interviews, or bibliographies), are published for free by the major book Press's, and may be copied from their websites for those books that are popular among discussion groups. The largest booksellers (e.g. Amazon and Barnes and Noble), often provide on their websites useful plot summaries of books, excerpts of book and journal reviews, customer reviews and suggested "read alikes", to assist you in book selection for your group.


MULTIPLE COPIES AVAILABLE
 The following fiction and non-fiction books are currently available for book discussion groups in sets of multiple copies.  This list is revised periodically. An additional copy of each of these titles may be available to check out from the regular Library collection.  The book sets are available for pick up by local librarians, reading groups, individual patrons and their families. Libraries or individuals that are not local and require a book set to be mailed must request the loan through their home library, using the regular, Vermont Inter-Library Loan process.  (That library might request that the cost of mailing be paid by the borrower). 

In order for a reading group to reserve a book set, it is suggested that one designated group member request the title (please specify the number of copies requested), at least a month in advance of the book discussion date.  A replacement fee will be charged for any lost or badly damaged copies, and this must be paid before your group can borrow another set of books.

Please be aware that if a book set is reserved for use by the South Burlington Community Library, or on loan to another user, the books may not be available at a particular time for use by your group.


Book Title & Author Number of Copies
All Over but the Shoutin', Rick Bragg 17
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy 16
An American Childhood, Annie Dillard 16
Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner 15
The Awakening, Kate Chopin 12
The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver  17
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett  17
The Bookman's Promise, John Dunning 13
Bread Givers, Anzia Yezierska 1
Breadfruit, Celestine Vaite 12
The Camel Bookmobile, Masha Hamilton 12
Cannery Row, John Steinbeck 6
Charming Billy, Alice McDermott 16
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons 14
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 16
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon 7
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Anne Tyler 7
Drowning Ruth, Jane Hamilton 6
The Eight, Katherine Neville 4
Embers, Sandor Marai 13
Emma, Jane Austen  10
Empire Falls, Richard Russo  14
Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah   17
First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung   32
Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas 10
Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland 15
Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier 14
Grand Obsession, Perri Knize 10
The Grass Dancer, Susan Power 16
The Grass Harp,  Truman Capote 13
The Hours, Michael Cunningham 10
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III 15
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez 14
In Pale Battalions, Robert Goddard 1
Life Estates, Shelby Hearon 14
Locked Rooms, Laurie R. King 12
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert 4
The Man Who Owned Vermont, Brett Lott 12
Mansfield Park, Jane Austen 12
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden  15
Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls 19
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout 2
Out of This Furnace, Thomas Bell 13
Passing, Nella Larsen 16
Pears on a Willow Tree, Leslie Pietryzk 16
Persuasion, Jane Austen 10
Plainsong, Kent Haruf 18
Pompeii, Robert Harris 18
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 7
The Quiet American, Graham Greene 5
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant 14
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro 16
Rookery Blues, John Hassler 13
A Room with a View, E.M. Forster 18
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd 18
The Secret River, Kate Grenville 12
Seedfolks, Paul Fleischman 99
Shadow Baby, Alison Mcghee 12
The Songcatcher, Sharon McCrumb 15
Stolen Lives, Malika Oufkir 6
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields 20
Storming Heaven, Denise Giardina 10
The Story of Lucy Gault, William Trevor 15
Summer, Edith Wharton 14
Summer's Lease, John Mortimer 16
The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare 5
The Tender Bar, J.R. Moehringer 8
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini 11
The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett 12
The Volcano Lover, Susan Sontag 14
Waiting, Ha Jin 12
Waiting for the Mahatma, R.K. Narayan 18
The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve 17
When We Were Orphans, Kazuo Ishiguro 10
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte 14
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