Here are some books our TAB members have read and loved recently. We’ve included the call number

so you can come and get them at Reston Regional Library! All summaries are taken from Novelist unless

otherwise noted.

 

The Odyssey, Homer (883 H)

The Trojan War is over. Odysseus, the cunning King of Ithaca, sets out to return home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. It proves a long journey, fraught with dangers, from Polyphemus the Cyclops, and the seductive Sirens, to the love of Calypso on her all-too-comfortable isle. 

 

Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones (JFIC JON)

Eldest of three sisters in a land where it is considered to be a misfortune, Sophie is resigned to her fate as a hat shop apprentice until a witch turns her into an old woman and she finds herself in the castle of the greatly feared wizard Howl.

 

Animal Farm, George Orwell (FIC ORW)

A satire on totalitarianism in which farm animals overthrow their human owner and set up their own government.

 

The Outlaws of Sherwood, Robin McKinley (YFIC MCK)

The author retells the adventures of Robin Hood and his band of outlaws who live in Sherwood Forest in twelfth-century England.

 

The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (SF ROT)

A hero named Kvothe, now living under an assumed name as the humble proprietor of an inn, recounts his transformation from a magically gifted young man into the most notorious wizard, musician, thief, and assassin in his world.

 

Spy Camp, Stuart Gibbs (JFIC GIB)

As almost thirteen-year-old Ben, a student at the CIA’s academy for future intelligence agents, prepares to go to spy summer camp, he receives a death threat from the evil organization SPYDER.

 

Hamlet, William Shakespeare (822.3 S7S)

Considered one of Shakespeare’s most rich and enduring plays, the depiction of its hero Hamlet as he vows to avenge the murder of his father by his brother Claudius is both powerful and complex. As Hamlet tries to find out the truth of the situation, his troubled relationship with his mother comes to the fore, as do the paradoxes in his personality. A play of carefully crafted conflict and tragedy, Shakespeare’s intricate dialogue continues to fascinate audiences to this day.

 

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (FIC ATW)

Offred, a Handmaid, describes life in what was once the United States, now the Republic of Gilead, a shockingly repressive and intolerant monotheocracy, in a satirical tour de force set in the near future.

 

Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition, Paul Watson (998 W 2017)

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of Where War Lives and expedition member describes how an unlikely combination of marine science and Inuit knowledge helped solve the mystery of the lost Franklin expedition of 1845.

 

Jane, April Lindner (YFIC LIN)

In this contemporary retelling of “Jane Eyre,” an orphaned nanny becomes entranced with her magnetic and brooding employer, a rock star with a torturous secret from his past.