The Grafton Public Library presents…

The “It” Books of Summers Past

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Book	Author	Dewey Number	Description
Main Street (1920)	Sinclair Lewis	FIC SIN	Perhaps his most famous novel, satirizing small town life.
The Caine Mutiny (1951)	Wouk, Herman	FIC WOU	A sea yarn plus.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962)	Kesey, Ken	FIC KES	The unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants—this was Kesey’s first novel and was made into a film starring Jack Nicholson.
In Cold Blood (1966)	Truman Capote	FIC CAP	The first “non-fiction” novel about the brutal murder of the Clutter family. Films have been made.
The Thorn Birds (1977)	McCullough, Colleen	FIC MCC	Meggie, the priest Ralph and Australia itself are the main characters in this epic.
Roots (1977)	Haley, Alex	929.2 HAL	The story of Kunta Kinte and his descendants—into slavery and out. We also have the audiobook
The Right Stuff (1979)	Wolfe, Tom	629.1 W	A good year to read a book about the early days of the space program.
Sophie’s Choice (1980)	Styron, William	FIC STY	The tale of concentration camp survivor Sophie and her love affair with Nathan.
The Cider House Rules (1985)	Irving, John	FIC IRV	A tale set in rural Maine of Wilbur Larch, founder and director of an orphanage and abortionist.
Misery (1987)	King, Stephen	FIC KIN	A writer’s worst nightmare—to meet their # One Fan!
The Joy Luck Club (1989)	Tan, Amy	FIC TAN	Four Chinese women, drawn together by their past, begin meeting in San Francisco—they are called The Joy Luck Club.
Like Water for Chocolate (1993)	Esquivel, Laura	FIC ESQ	Lots of books now include recipes and cooking. But Esquivel did it first and best with this tale set in Mexico. We also have the film.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994)	Berendt, John	975.8 BER	Murder at Mercer House in Savannah results in a fascinating true crime tale. The audiobook is wonderful too.
Into Thin Air (1997)	Krakauer, Jon	796.509 KRA	Six of Krakauer’s fellow Mr. Everest climbers never make it back to their camp, and in the end, five of them die. This is the account.
Seabiscuit (2001)	Hillenbrand, Laura	798.40 HIL	Seabiscuit was an unlikely champion. This is the story of his discovery-a rags-to-riches horse.
The Da Vinci Code (2003)	Brown, Dan	FIC BRO	This book rocketed Brown into superstardom. Most people have read it—but it’s on our list anyway.
Eat, Pray, Love (2006)	Gilbert, Elizabeth	910.4 GIL	In case there is any one who hasn’t read this-it struck a chord with many. Some loved it, some didn’t.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2008)	Larsson, Stieg	FIC STI	Lisbeth Salander walked into fictional history with this first in a thrilling trilogy. We have the film too.
Gone Girl (2012)	Flynn, Gillian	FIC FLY	Marriage can be a real killer.
The Fault In Our Stars (2012)	Green, John	FIC GRE	A terminal cancer patient meets the love of her life. A smarter, edgier Love Story? You decide. We have the film as well.
All the Light We Cannot See (2014)	Doerr, Anthony	FIC DOE	A WWII novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France.
The Girl on the Train (2015)	Hawkins, Paula	FIC HAW	Unreliable narrators often make the scariest thrillers.
Where the Crawdads Sing (2018)	Owens, Delia	FIC OWE	Top circulating title at our library last summer.