Best Books 2015: C.R. library staff pick some of year’s literary treasures

This holiday season were you wishing for a shiny new car, boat, or other exciting mode of transportation? If those dreams were beyond means, consider trading them in for another type of travel. As author Laurie Anderson notes 'Literature is the safe and traditional vehicle through which we learn about the world and pass on values from one generation to the next.”

Cedar Rapids Public Library staff members recommend treasures from our collection that they've read and enjoyed this past year.

'My Life with Charlie Brown” is a 'quick read - very informative and fun,” said Curtis Kraetsch. Cartoonist Charles Schulz's previously unpublished public speech texts, trade journal articles, and more reveal insight into the Peanuts strip, characters, and his profession.

'Funny, exciting, and informative” is how CSA Marta Petermann describes Bill Bryson's much-lauded 'A Walk in the Woods.” The Appalachian Trail hiking adventure, now also a Robert Redford – Nick Nolte film, is a favorite of several other library staffers as well. Marta appreciates author Liane Moriarty's works, too. Doreen Cronin's picture book 'Diary of a Worm” was tops on her list this year as a 'fun-filled adventure told from a worm's perspective.” Reading Lois Lowry's The Giver quartet was 'life-changing” for her, too.

It's the summer of 1948 in the rustic village of Brownsburg, Va. A stranger arrives in town carrying two suitcases - one full of money, the other of knives. In a tale of love gone horribly wrong, Robert Goolrick's 'Heading Out to Wonderful” is 'heartbreaking and beautifully written,” according to Renee Taylor of ISAIC, at Ladd Library. 'It's one of those stories that stays with me long after reading the final page. I recommend it to anyone who listens.”

Young Adult Assistant Jacob Kohl suggests 'Fortune Smiles” and 'The Long Goodbye,” two books he liked this year. The former, by Adam Johnson (award-winning writer of 'The Orphan Master's Son) is a short story collection, boasting tales both 'gut-wrenching and euphoric,” said Jacob. 'They are human, they are brilliant, and every one lands with the heartbreaking betrayal of being struck by a loved one.” Of the Raymond Chandler classic he states, 'This is the book I wanted, exactly the way the genre should be…cinematic, cynical idealism bled across every page. Hard men fighting harder women in an ocean of gin, scotch, and beer. He's (Chandler's) a vacation without guilt.”

'The Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries” by Carola Dunn is a historical fiction series recommended by Youth Services Manager Carol Hoke. 'This is similar to Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series,” Carol notes. Set in 1920's England, these post-WWI female sleuth books will also appeal to fans of Downtown Abbey.

Sir John Franklin's 19th century Arctic expedition full of shipwrecks, sea monsters, and survival provides the basis for Jean Kirby's pick 'The Terror” by Dan Simmons. She says, 'I can't recommend this highly enough. It's an education, a page-turner, and a trip to places most of us will never see or experience. It's historical fiction. How much is fiction? You decide.”

For those who want to understand autism more thoroughly, Abby Anthony recommends 'The Reason I Jump.” Part memoir, part medical breakthrough on paper, 13-year-old Naoki Higashida relates 'what it's really like living day to day with autism” Abby notes. 'I finished this book in a matter of hours and was surprised by how emotionally charged it is. It's a great read!”

' For more information on Cedar Rapids Public Library materials and programs visit www.crlibrary.org