Tredyffrin Staff Picks

Everything I Never Told You

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Everything I Never Told YouEverything I Never Told You

By Celeste Ng

Review by Zoey Mills

I was recommended Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng based on my enjoyment of Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things. While both novels are arguably different, Celeste Ng cited Roy’s 1997 work as inspiration—and I quickly picked up on subtle similarities. In Everything I Never Told You we follow the story of Lydia Lee, the events leading up to and after her sudden, gruesome death, and how her family copes with their loss. The novel seems almost as though it were written backwards, by beginning with Lydia’s death and then jumping to the beginnings of the Lee family. Ng, like Roy, jumps around on the timeline of the story and explores how the family’s past and present influenced the events leading up to Lydia’s death. I’m not much of a mystery reader, but Ng had me instantly hooked and I finished the book in two days (despite my finals desperately begging for attention). Continue reading →

Sister

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SisterSister

By Rosamund Lupton

Review by Gretchen Chamberlin

This debut novel by British author, Rosamund Lupton, is a mystery which builds incrementally, relentlessly and brilliantly to its well plotted and harrowing conclusion!

At the opening of the book, I was slightly disoriented as Lupton plunges the reader headlong into the story. But, in short order, you come to understand that Bee’s younger sister, Tess, has gone missing and is later found dead. Was it a suicide as the police surmise, or was it a murder? Bee flies from New York to London and tries to uncover what happened. Continue reading →

11.22.63

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11/22/63

By: Stephen King

Review by Jonathan Trice

When it comes to reading for fun I tend to get in a rut. I devoted eighteen months to the works of Neil Gaiman, another six months straight of Edward W. Robertson novels and the past year has seen a heavy rotation of Stephen King.  When it was time for a new book, I chose 11/22/63 because it is the first work of historical fiction for Stephen King and I was still in a rut.  Continue reading →

Delicious

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DeliciousDelicious

by Sherry Thomas

Review by Michele Bolay

Delicious is one of the best-written historical romances that I have ever read, and I read a LOT of them. Thomas has such a talent with plot, SETTING, language, and characterization. Her stories and her characters are complex and compelling, and the late Victorian setting is a nice change from the Regency period, and offers up so many more possibilities for the female characters.

I rarely give 5-star reviews, but I could not put this one down and I know I will remember it long after. I do agree with some reviewers who said that the ending was a bit too tidy, but it’s a minor quibble. This IS still formula fiction, after all. So glad I have discovered Sherry Thomas!

Check availability on Delicious

About the reviewer: Michele Bolay has worked at the library for more than 25 years. She loves art, romance literature & working with community theatre. Visit her in our children’s department!

Woman of God

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Woman of God

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Review By Angie Andre

Commuting can be a long and tiresome experience but listening to audio books makes the long drive more enjoyable.  I have always enjoyed James Patterson so I happily checked out Woman of God with the expectation that it would be an entertaining listen. It ended up being much, much more. Continue reading →

Raven Boys

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The Raven BoysThe Raven Boys

By Maggie Stiefvater

Review by Zoey Mills

The Raven Cycle follows a group of soon-to-graduate prep school boys and Blue, a clairvoyant’s daughter, and their quest to find the grave of the Welsh King, Glendower. Lead by Gansey, the group is certainly dynamic in that each character brings something to the story. I would say one of Stiefvater’s main strengths is building characters.

As I got further into The Raven Boys, I realized that I became invested in characters (some more than others) and I could picture them as real people. Building entirely different worlds in a book is an extremely difficult thing to do, and often authors tend to give their readers an information overload. Stiefvater is extremely subtle in providing the information needed, and her foreshadowing is so subtle to the point where I had no idea of any of the twists that lay ahead. Although some events within the story are definitely fantastical, her writing is so moving and powerful that you can find yourself lost in the world of Henrietta, Virginia. Continue reading →

Templar

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Templar

by Jordan Mechner, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puvilland

Review by Travis Johnson

Dungeons, swordfighting, unjust imprisonment, evil viziers, love interests in towers, spectacular jumping ability: these are the things that Templar and Jordan Mechner’s groundbreaking 1989 computer game Prince of Persia have in common. However, if you were unaware of Mechner’s subsequent work in various mediums, you might be forgiven for finding it hard to believe that this is the work of someone who achieved their initial fame as a game programmer. Continue reading →

Justin Morgan Had a Horse

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Justin Morgan Had a HorseJustin Morgan Had a Horse

by Marguerite Henry

Review by Rachel Shuman

This is a wonderful book for a child interested in early American history. In telling the story of Joel Goss, the author shows what life was like for a boy growing up just after the Revolutionary War. The reader follows Joel as he spends the last summer of his childhood journeying with music teacher Justin Morgan. Upon their return home to Vermont, Joel is apprenticed out to a local miller. As he learns his trade and becomes a young man, his path often crosses that of Li’l Bub, a colt belonging to the music teacher, and the eventual founding stallion of America’s oldest horse breed. Their reunion, and the empathy Joel feels in regard to the aged horse, is deeply moving. Continue reading →

Public Library & Other Stories

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Public Library and Other StoriesPublic Library and Other Stories

by Ali Smith

Review by Krystal Mainhart

This book contains a variety of short stories which all, in one way or another, relate around the theme of books and libraries, and how both of these impact the individual as well as communities.  This book became part of, “a fierce fight, a growing national movement …to defend our public libraries [in the United Kingdom].”  In the North American edition, the stories are interspersed with brief sections of transcribed interviews- the author asked friends and strangers about their views of libraries, their histories, and recent library closures.  Continue reading →

The Jealous Kind

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 The Jealous Kind

by James Lee Burke

Review by Susan Williams

If you have never read James Lee Burke’s books, you are missing some truly great writing. Burke’s writing is lyrical and his descriptions are pure magic. Burke has won two Edgar awards and numerous other recognitions for his prose. Stephen King said he reads Burke because he is a “gorgeous prose stylist”. Continue reading →