Titles
available
for loan
to groups
As
a service to local discussion groups, the Palatine Public Library offers
multiple copies of books previously used for Library book discussions. If your group wants to borrow copies of any
of the following titles, please contact Gwenyth Udd at (847) 358-5881, ext. 108,
or fill out the online request form.
Please contact us at least a week before you want to pick up the
books.
To
find out more about the following titles, you can check an online bookstore (amazon.com
or barnesandnoble.com) to read reviews and customer comments. Many of these authors also have websites of
their own.
Alexie,
Sherman
Reservation Blues 15
copies
A
Spokane Indian forms an all Indian rock 'n' roll band.
Ali,
Monica
Brick Lane 21
copies
A
Bangladeshi bride adjusts to her new home in London.
Atwood,
Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale 15
copies
A
woman describes her life in a future society founded on the oppression of
women.
Berendt,
John Nonfiction
Midnight in the Garden
of
Good and Evil 15 copies
Eccentric
characters and a murder case are woven together in this true story.
Bird,
Sarah
The Yokota Officers Club 21 copies
The
daughter of an Air Force pilot learns the truth behind a painful family secret.
Bohjalian,
Chris
The Law of Similars 15
copies
A
state prosecutor risks his career and home life to protect his lover.
Bradley,
James
Flags of Our Fathers 20 copies
The moving story of the six Marines who raised the
Brooks,
Geraldine
Year of Wonders 17 copies
In
1666 a young widow confronts the spread of disease and superstition in her
English village.
Brown,
Carrie
Rose's Garden 15 copies
A
recently widowed man finds new purpose in life through his wife's beloved
garden.
Campbell,
Bebe Moore
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine 15 copies
In
the 1950's, a black teen goes from
Chevalier,
Tracy
Girl with a Pearl Earring 14 copies
A
girl becomes a servant in the household of the 17th century Dutch painter
Vermeer.
Cisneros,
Sandra
The House on Mango Street 24 copies
Esperanza
wants to grow beyond the limitations of her Chicago neighborhood.
Coetzee,
J. M.
Disgrace 15
copies
A
disgraced professor attempts to relate to his daughter and to a South African
society with new racial complexities.
Crace,
Jim
Being Dead 16
copies
An
exploration of why a couple comes to be where they are when they are murdered,
and what
happens after their deaths.
Doig,
Ivan
Dancing at the Rascal Fair 15 copies
In
1889 two young Scotsmen cross the ocean to settle in Montana and find their
friendship tested by family loyalties and the harshness of the life they have
chosen.
Dubus,
Andre III
House of Sand and Fog 15 copies
An Iranian immigrant and a self-destructive alcoholic
battle over the ownership of a house.
Ehrenreich,
Barbara Nonfiction
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting
by in
An
author goes undercover to report on the dilemmas of life as an unskilled
worker.
Ellis,
Joseph Nonfiction
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation 15
copies
Six
episodes exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new American
republic.
Erdrich,
Louise
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse 15 copies
A
woman, disguised as a man, serves an Indian reservation as a Roman Catholic
priest.
Erdrich,
Louise
The Master Butchers Singing Club
15 copies
A
North Dakota town after World War I is home to a rich variety of characters.
Fadiman,
Anne Nonfiction
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down 15 copies
A Hmong family's experience
with the American health care system.
Fitzgerald,
Penelope
The Bookshop 15 copies
A
woman struggles to operate a bookstore in an English seaside town.
Frazier,
Charles
Cold Mountain 15 copies
A
wounded Confederate soldier flees the war, and the woman he loves learns the
harsh reality of a farmer's life.
Gladwell,
Malcolm Nonfiction
The Tipping Point 10 copies
Explore
the fascinating dynamics behind social change.
Gleick,
James Nonfiction
Faster: The Acceleration of Just about Everything 15
copies
The
author explores our obsession with time.
Golden,
Arthur
Memoirs of a Geisha 14 copies
A
geisha tells the story of rising from her beginnings as a fisherman's daughter.
Guterson,
David
Snow Falling on Cedars 11 copies
The
trial of a Japanese American accused of murder stirs memories of past loss and
prejudice.
Hamill,
Pete
Snow in August 15 copies
An
Irish Catholic boy and a rabbi from Prague become friends in Brooklyn.
Harris,
Joanne
Coastliners 20
copies
Rival
villages on a French island compete for resources, income, and hope.
Haruf,
Kent
Plainsong 18
copies
Daily
drama and seasonal stability in a
rural
Hegi,
Ursula
Stones from the River 15 copies
Trudi, a
dwarf librarian, tells about life in a small German town from World War I to
the
1950's.
Hosseini,
Khaled
The Kite Runner 23 copies
A
man returns to Afghanistan to redeem an injustice he did to a boyhood friend.
Hurston,
Zora Neale
Their Eyes Were Watching God 15 copies
A
proud, independent, light-skinned black woman's quest for identity takes her
through three marriages and back to her roots.
Ishiguro,
Kazuo
When We Were Orphans 15 copies
In
1937 a London detective investigates the fate of his parents, who vanished in
Shanghai when he was a child.
James,
Henry
Daisy Miller 21
copies
An
American tourist baffles her European admirers.
James,
Henry
The Portrait of a Lady 15 copies
A
young American girl travels to England in the 19th century and falls under the
influence
of a
fortune hunter.
Jones,
Edward P.
The Known World 21
copies
The
death of a free black slave owner causes a chaotic transition at his Virginia
plantation.
Kidd,
Sue Monk
The Secret Life of Bees 20 copies
A
runaway takes refuge with an eccentric family of beekeepers.
Kingsolver,
Barbara
The Poisonwood Bible 14 copies
A
missionary, his wife, and their four daughters arrive in the Belgian Congo in
1959 unprepared for its climate, culture, and political upheaval.
Krakauer,
John Nonfiction
Into the Wild 15 copies
The
author researches how a young man came to die in the Alaskan wilderness.
Lahiri,
Jhumpa
Interpreter of Maladies 16 copies
The
characters in these stories navigate between their Indian traditions and the
new world in which they find themselves.
Larson,
Erik Nonfiction
The Devil in the White City 20 copies
Murder, magic, and madness at the
Lee,
Chang-Rae
Native Speaker 23 copies
A
Korean-American undercover agent's personal identity is shaped by his two
cultures.
Mah,
Adeline Yen Nonfiction
Falling Leaves 17 copies
A
woman's memoir of her difficult childhood illuminates the complexities of
Chinese society and family relationships.
Martel,
Yann
Life of Pi 22
copies
Pi
Patel survives a shipwreck and long days at sea in a lifeboat.
McCall
Smith, R. Alexander 18
copies
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
A
canny, caring African woman makes a groundbreaking career move.
Min,
Anchee
Katherine 15
copies
A
classroom of Chinese students gets a taste of the Western world from an American
teacher.
Nafisi, Azar
Reading Lolita in Tehran 22 copies
A
teacher secretly shares forbidden Western literature with a few students.
O'Brien,
Tim
In the Lake of the Woods 15 copies
While
a politician recovers from the loss of an election following revelations about
his past as a soldier in Vietnam, his wife disappears.
Patchett,
Ann
The Magician's Assistant 15 copies
When
her husband dies suddenly, a woman begins to discover how she's glimpsed him
only through smoke and mirrors.
Patchett,
Ann
Bel
Canto 22
copies
Terrorists
invade an international gathering and hold the attendees hostage.
Paton,
Alan
Cry, the Beloved Country 23 copies
The
children of a Zulu country parson come to grief in Johannesburg.
Pearl,
Matthew
The Dante Club 22 copies
A
literary classic is apparently inspiring a serial killer in 1865 Boston.
Potok,
Chaim
My Name Is Asher Lev 15 copies
A
young artist endures the conflict between his talent and his family's
traditions.
Raleigh,
Michael
In the Castle of the Flynns 21
copies
An
orphaned boy is raised by his Irish Catholic relatives in Chicago.
Remarque,
Erich
All Quiet on the Western Front 17 copies
A
German soldier struggles to survive the horrors of World War I.
Salzman,
Mark
The Soloist 15
copies
Serving
on a jury in a murder trial and teaching a potential prodigy changes a former
cello prodigy's life.
Saramago,
Jose
Blindness 15
copies
In
an unnamed city in an unnamed coutry all residents
except one are struck by a mysterious white blindness.
Schlink,
Bernhard
The Reader 15
copies
A
man learns that a former lover is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's
Nazi past.
Schwartz,
John Burnham
Reservation Road 15 copies
A
hit-and-run driver and the parents of the boy who was killed struggle with the
aftermath of an accident.
Shields,
Carol
The Stone Diaries 15 copies
An
American woman chronicles her life in this fictional diary that spans the 20th
century.
Shields,
Carol
Unless 17 copies
A
successful writer's daughter drops out of college and becomes a street corner
panhandler.
Spencer-Fleming,
Julia
In the Bleak Midwinter 18 copies
A
clergywoman investigates the case of an
abandoned
baby.
Stegner,
Wallace
Crossing to Safety 15 copies
Two
young couples meet and forge a lasting friendship when the husbands begin
teaching at a Wisconsin university.
Wharton,
Edith
The House of Mirth 15 copies
A
young woman from turn-of-the-last-century New York struggles to rise to the
heights of society.
Wilder,
Thornton
The Bridge of San Luis Rey 16 copies
A
monk tries to find meaning behind the deaths of five people killed in the
collapse of a Peruvian bridge.