Reading Room Blog

Thank you for contacting the Central Rappahannock Regional Library for a
"Book Match". We love connecting readers with just the right book.

You requested books that "capture you from the beginning...(with)
excitement and adventure". I love heart-pounding, non-stop action
books, too. These types of books can range from laugh-out-loud funny to
seriously gruesome.

Some suggestions for you:

The Death and Life of Bobby Z. by Don Winslow. Facing life

These are a few titles that I hope you will enjoy. I have enjoyed most
of them as I am a Jane Austen lover. (Of course, no one can write as
well as she can.)

Pride, Prejudice, and Jasmine Field by Melissa Nathan:

Successful magazine journalist Jasmine Field finds her life falling
apart - her best friend leaves, her family unravel, and her column hits
the skids -just when she gets a lead role of Elizabeth Bennett. A
Publisher Weekly says she is a hybrid of Bridget Jones and Elizabeth

If you liked A Hustler's Wife by Nikki Turner, you may like to read the
following books in our collection:

Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah - a cautionary tale protesting
drugs and violence among young African-Americans in the inner city.

Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree -- describes conduct of life in Pennsylvania.

True to the Game by Teri Woods -- represents the
Philadelphia inner city streets drug game during the late 80's.

Sisters and Lovers by Connie Briscoe -- witness the struggles that the

If you liked "Who Moved My Cheese", you may also like these books about
change and motivation:

"Attitude Is Everything for Success" by Keith D. Harrell
Annotation from the book jacket: "This is an enlightening, inspiring,
and practical guide for gaining control of your career and your life by
ridding yourself of negative attitudinal baggage, building positive
attitudes, and then turning them into actions to help you achieve your
dreams."

Thanks for requesting a book match for Till We Have Faces by C. S.
Lewis.

Here are some titles you may enjoy. I performed a search using the
terms"fiction" and "mythology".

The following annotations are credited to Amazon.com:

Ilium by Dan Simmons
From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty
Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down
upon a momentous battle, observing -- and often influencing -- the

Thanks for contacting the Central Rappahannock Regional Library to
request a book match. We love matching readers to the right book!

You stated that you liked "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb and
like the "inspirational fiction" genre.

There are many books that deal with difficult or emotional topics, but
in an ultimately uplifting and/or redemptive manner. Some suggestions:

Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard - the story of a son,

Thanks for contacting the Central Rappahannock Regional Library for a
Book Match. There are so many wonderful facets to Dear Exile! I have
not found an exact match, but here are a few suggestions for books you
may like.

For the letters aspect between friends, two locales:

84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff
Helen Hanff, a vivacious New York writer with a passion for literature,
writes to a London bookstore in search of rare English classics. Frank

Following are some suggestions of books set in India. Some are
historical novels and some are contemporary, but all deal with domestic
situations. Only the first two are long.

"The Far Pavilions" by M. M. Kaye
"By the Green of the Spring" by John Masters
"The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"A Passage to India" by E. M. Forster
"The Guru of Love" Samrat Upadhyay
"The Jewel in the Crown" by Paul Scott
"The Raj Quartet" by Paul Scott

I've listed below a few titles of action/adventure books, spanning from espionage to
bio-thriller, that you may wish to try. If none of these sound like
your kind of book, let us know a little more about what you may be
looking for!

Trojan Odyssey, by Clive Cussler
This 17th Dirk Pitt extravaganza finds Cussler (literally, as he makes a
cameo at book's end) and his entourage of paint-by-number characters in
fine fettle, foiling a dastardly plot by outlandish villains to launch a

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Judy Loest lives in Knoxville and, like many fine Appalachian writers, her poems have a welcoming conversational style, rooted in that region's storytelling tradition. How gracefully she sweeps us into the landscape and the scene!

Faith

Leaves drift from the cemetery oaks onto late grass,
Sun-singed, smelling like straw, the insides of old barns.
The stone angel's prayer is uninterrupted by the sleeping
Vagrant at her feet, the lone squirrel, furtive amid the litter.