Book Lists

Enjoy these unique booklists, created by our library staff. Many are available as PDF files, although we are adding new Web-based booklists each week.

Fiction

Fantasy and Science Fiction:

• After Tolkien
• Arthur: The Once and Future Story
• Conquer the Stars! Classics in Military Science Fiction
• Cyberpunk: Wired Weirdness in the Library
• Folktales for Grownups
• Gumshoes of the Galaxy: Cops and Private Eyes in Science Fiction
• Humorous Fantasy
• Modern Fairy Tales - New!
• Otherworldly Love
• Pirate Treasure
• What If? Alternative History

Fiction of Places

• Armchair Explorations
• By the Sea, On the Sea
• Going Back to New Orleans
• Jersey Girls (and Guys)
• I Love New York
• Into Africa -- Fascinating Books about Africa
• Let it Ride (Las Vegas)
• Neighbors of Mitford
• North Carolina: Fact and Fiction
• Roman Holiday - Travel to Italy
• That Southern Flavor

Historical Fiction

• At the Dig
• Civil War Stories
• Courage Against Cruelty: Life as a Slave in the Americas
• Days of Sail
• Geishas, Wives, and Concubines
• Historical Thrillers
• If You Liked Gods and Generals, You Might Like...
  
• Japanesque
  
• Lives of the Painters
• Masters & Commanders
• Medieval Intrigue
• Mysteries Go to War: Civil War
• Mysteries Go to War: Other Conflicts
• Mysteries Go to War: Vietnamese Conflict
• Mysteries Go to War: World War I
• Mysteries Go to War: World War II
• Pirate Treasure
• Prehistoric Peoples
• Reenacting History
• Samurai!
• Stories from Queen Elizabeth's Court
• Tales from the New Found Land of Virginia
• War and Lawlessness on the High Seas
• Will Power

Horror

• Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble
  
• Books with Bite - New!
• Classic Tales of Horror
• Creature Feature
• Evil Spirits and Haunted Houses
• King of the Dark Fantastic!
• Spine Tinglers
• The Virus That Ate L.A.
• Werewolves

Humor/Satire

• Comically Delicious: Adventures in Cooking
• Divine Comedies
• Love and Laughter
• Off-beat, Eclectic, Quirky, Slightly Askew Fiction
• Tickle Your Funnybone

Literature and General Fiction

• A Sampling of Virginia Writers
• April is Poetry Month
• Art: Plain and Fancy Fiction
• Biblical Fiction
• Books About Books
• Bottoms Up
• Censored!: A Selection of Books Banned in Years Past
• Children's Picture Books for the Young at Heart
• Christian Contemporary Fiction
• Christmas Askew
• Classics Redux - UPDATED
• Dear Reader
• Domestic Violence: Fiction and Nonfiction
• Everybody's Got a Place in the Choir
• Favorite Classics from CRRL Staff
• Favorite Fabulous Fiction
• Fiction Good Enough to Eat
• For Quilt Lovers
• For People Who Like Series
• A Friend in Need
• Fun with Teachers
• Gentle Reads
• Getting Older and Still Very Active - Books By or About Older People
• Gigantic, Enormous, Gargantuan Books
• Greatest Hits of the '50s
• Hooray for Hollywood
• The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Friends
• I Want My Youth Back!
• If You Love "To Kill A Mockingbird"...
  
• Let It Snow
• Masters of the Short Story
• Military Brats, Military Wives
• Mid-Life Madness: Stories for People of a Certain Age
• Oprah's Book Club
• Pearls: Dazzle Our Imagination!
• Pink Slip Blues
• Reel Good Reads: From Print to Film
• Some Really Great Books for a Book Club
• Spice of Life: Books to Savor
• Street Lit
• Terrific Short Reads
• Women Bring Home the Bacon

Multicultural

• Armchair Explorations
• Coming to America
• The Indian Subcontinent
• Latin Twist
• Stories from Iran

Mystery & Thriller

• African-American Mysteries
• Art Mysteries
• Bases Loaded
• Beach Vacations Can Be Murder
• Chilling Thrillers
• Conspiracies for the Femmes
• Conspiracy: They're Out to Getcha
• Detectives with Disabilities
• Gumshoes of the Galaxy: Cops and Private Eyes in Science Fiction
• Hot and Muggy in the Tropics
• If you like CSI, Then Try...
• If you like The Da Vinci Code...
• If you like Tom Clancy...
• In the Mind of a Killer
• It's All Political - UPDATED
• Let it Ride: Casinos, Gambling, & Danger
• Living Again...and Again...and Again: Reincarnation
• Marriage Can Be Murder
• Middle Eastern Thrillers
• Mink, Manolos, and Murder
• Murder Abroad
• Murder by Gaslight
• Murder in Multiples
• Murder Most Mirthful
• Mysteries Go to War: Civil War
• Mysteries Go to War: Other Conflicts
• Mysteries Go to War: Vietnamese Conflict
• Mysteries Go to War: World War I
• Mysteries Go to War: World War II
• Mysteries to Read with the Lights On
  
• Presidential Fiction
• Purrfect Crimes
• Religious Thrillers
• Sherlock Holmes in the Stacks!
• That Would Be Ma'am to You

Romance

• African-American Chick Lit
• Contemporary Inspirational Romance
• Dangerous Love
• Dating and other Disasters of Modern Life
• Desert Isles:Romance and Danger
• Historical Inspirational Romance
• Later Love
• Love, African American Style
• Love and Laughter
• Love Under Fire
• Not Your Ordinary Romance
• Otherworldly Love
• Pride and Prejudice Continued...
• Star-Crossed Lovers
• Virginia is for Lovers 
   

What We're Reading

Please see what our book clubs are reading here.

 

Non-Fiction

African-American

• African-American Success Stories
• Different Stories: The African-American Experience in Non-fiction
• Parenting for African Americans
• Spirituality in African-American Life

Art and Artists

• American Light
• Classical Music Classics
• Lives of the Painters
• Masters of Opera
• Masters of the Art Song
• The Mozart Mystique - In Celebration of His 250th Birthday!
• The Music Men
• Oil Painting Class
• Opera Star Pavarotti Dies 
• World Music

Cooking, Gardening and Hobbies

• Books for Cyclists
• Books for Garden Week
• Books We Wear Out [Gardening]
• Couch Potato Cooking
• Food...Still Popular After All These Years
• For Quilt Lovers
• Java Jive
• Joy of Fishing
• Keeping House, Keeping Home
• Knit One, How To
• Latin American Cooking
• May Flowers
• No No, Bad Dog!
• Popular Diets
• Relationship Help
• Sewing and So Forth
• So You Want to Be a Storyteller
• Stories from the Kitchen Table
• This year I really am gonna...
• Under the Tuscan Sun
• What's Cookin': Books About Food and Food People

Families and Parenting

• ACING the First Year of College...For Parents and Students
• Family Ties: Reunions and Gatherings
• Family Trees
• Homeschool Helper

Finances

• Manage Your Money
• Retirement Planning
• Women, Money, and Investments

Health and Self-Help

• Books for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• Getting Out the Words: Resources on Stuttering
• Healthy Choices for Diabetics
• Looking Good, Feeling Good
• Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
• Stress Management

History

• African-American Success Stories
• Can a Woman Rule?
• Civil War Medicine
• D-Day Resource List
• Different Stories: The African-American Experience in Non-fiction
• Life in Elizabethan England
• Marine Corps Memories
• Mysteries from History
• Natural and Not-so-natural Disasters! True Stories of Hurricanes, Avalanches and... Molasses?
• Nine Eleven
• Nonfiction - Not Just "Heavy" Reading
• Ronald Reagan Remembered: February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004
• Samurai!
• Shopping 'Till We Drop
• Stories from Iran
• The Super Seventies
• Women of Courage

People and Their Stories

• African-American Success Stories
• Bette Davis Eyes
• Brighten Up Your Day
• Christmas Memories
• Different Stories: The African-American Experience in Non-fiction
• Fascinating Folks
• The Lives of (Some) Famous Actors
• Memoirs are Made of This
• Nonfiction - Not Just "Heavy" Reading
• Only When I Laugh
• Picasso is 90
• Remembering Gerald Ford (1913-2006)
• Remembering Pope John Paul II
• Ronald Reagan Remembered: February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004
• Stranger Than Fiction
• The Three-Pound Universe
• The Music Men
• True Stories of Modern Day Missionaries
• What a Difference a Year Makes
• Who Was Cary Grant Anyway?
• Women of Courage

Science and the Natural World

• Books for Birders
• Books for the Birds
• Death - Read All About It
• Delicious Mushrooms
• For the Birds...and Maybe a Bat or Two
• Natural and Not-so-natural Disasters! True Stories of Hurricanes, Avalanches and... Molasses?
• The Three-Pound Universe
• What IS That?

Spirituality and Religion

• Celtic Spirituality
• Examine the Christian Faith - A List
• Religions of the World
• Soul Searching
• Spirituality in African-American Life

Sports

• And, They're Off! Books About Thoroughbreds and Their People
• Bases Loaded (Fiction)

Travel

• Bella Italia
• Heading Out for All Points
• Into Africa -- Fascinating Books about Africa
• Maine-ly for Adults
• A Short History of England
• Something Scottish
• Under the Tuscan Sun