Lost in the Stacks

Are you struggling to find something to read? Do you have a desire to read "great" or "popular" books? If so, check out some of these books that provide rankings and descriptions of "top" books.

This is the first is a trilogy of novels about the Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon. Sandra Gulland tells her story in the form of fictional diary entries. This novel begins with Josephine's girlhood on Martinique and tells of her life in Paris during the French Revolution, her imprisonment during the Terror, when she narrowly escapes the guillotine, and ends with her marriage to Napoleon. The story continues in two other volumes.

Take a look at the 2019 Michigan Notable Book award winners.

February is Black History Month. The Shapiro Book Display will feature non-fiction books by black authors, in honor of past and current leaders, events, and movements. Be sure to stop by the lobby to see what's on display

The Magic Circle is a mystery/adventure novel about a younger nuclear security expert, Ariel Behn, who, in 1989, inherits a pile of ancient manuscripts which hold the key to a powerful secret. She also discovers the history of her own very complex family and their activities in Europe between World Wars I and II.

Mark Dery's "Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey" provides a detailed look at the life and works of author/illustrator Edward Gorey.

Labyrinth tells the story of two women, in two different times (1209 and 2005), and their quest for a secret of immense power. On an archaeological dig in the south of France, Alice finds two skeletons and a mysterious carving of a labyrinth on a wall, and begins experiencing visions of a past life. Her story is intertwined with that of Alaïs, a young woman in medieval Carcassonne, whose father is a guardian of one of three manuscripts that contain the secret of the Holy Grail. The plot is similar to The Da Vinci Code, but Labyrinth is much better written.

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This is the first of a series of mysteries set in 1920s India, featuring Perveen Mistry, one of the first female lawyers in India. She investigates the murder of a man at the home of the three widows of a wealthy Muslim mill owner. The widows live in strict seclusion and will talk to Perveen, while they cannot talk to a male lawyer. In alternating chapters set a few years earlier, we learn of the traumas Perveen went through as a young woman, and her disastrous marriage. Author Massey conveys a wonderful sense of the various cultures and religions in 1920s India.

This brilliantly-written historical novel tells the story of Anne Marie Grosholtz, who became the wax sculptor Madame Tussaud, in her own unique voice. Orphaned at an early age, Marie learns the art of modeling body parts for anatomical study from a physician. Eventually she draws the attention of the royal family, and she tutors the sister of Louis XVI. Her business prospers in the tumultuous days of the French Revolution, but her association with the royal family leads to her imprisonment. Marie is a survivor, though, and, after losing many friends during the revolution, she eventually goes to London, where her famous museum was established.