By Howard County Library System staff

We’re getting even closer to the start of school. If you enjoyed our last compilation, there’s still a little bit of time left to read and we’re still full of suggestions! Whether you’re looking for a narrative to take with you for Labor Day weekend or a thoughtful novel to share with your book club this autumn, our staff continues to share their recent summer reading recommendations. And remember, readers’ advisory is one of our favorite ways to make connections with readers in the community – so if none of these suit your tastes or your reading goals, please stop by any branch and ask the instructors and research specialists for more reading ideas!

Cold Eternity by SA Barnes

Space horror is my new favorite genre mash-up, and SA Barnes has cemented herself as the queen of this space. Her newest, Cold Eternity, is a creepy story about a woman on the run who takes a job on ghost ship filled with dozens of cryogenically frozen passengers.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Rachel Gillig is back with another decadent and enthralling romantasy after wrapping up her debut duology that began with One Dark Window. In The Knight and the Moth, a priestess must team up with a heretical knight when her fellow priestesses start disappearing. 

~ Alex H., Teen Instructor and Research Specialist, Glenwood Branch

Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

During the summer of 1996, awkward teens Frankie and Zeke create a mysterious poster and plaster it all around their town, leading to chaos and mass hysteria. The teens go their separate ways after that fateful summer, now known as The Coalfield Panic of 1996, and their secret exists only between them until a journalist begins poking around 20+ years later. The characters feel fully-realized as does the setting. This is the first book I’ve read by Kevin Wilson and I can’t wait to read more!

American Rapture by CJ Leede

A sudden zombie outbreak sends sheltered teen Sophie on an action-packed road trip across the Midwest in search of her twin brother, who was sent away to a conversion camp by their ultra-religious parents. A coming-of-age story filled with horror, heartbreak, and gore — think The Last of Us with a dash of religious trauma.

~ Emily B., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Central Branch

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr

Love a good puzzle do you? Well, what if your entire life… was a puzzle?

Meet Clayton Stumper—found as a baby with nothing but a cryptic note and raised by a secret British society of puzzle geniuses. When Clayton turns 25, his mysterious past decides it’s time to be solved. This debut is a heartwarming, brain-tickling mystery packed with eccentric characters, emotional twists, and riddles. It’s reads as if The Da Vinci Code put the kettle on, got all warm and cozy, and joined a Sudoku club in the Cotswolds. If you like your fiction with clues, codes, and a dash of emotional catharsis—add this one to your TBR pile!

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

What happens when a picture-perfect, ‘nice neighborhood’ life gets a little… kidnapped? Meet the Fletchers: wealthy, neurotic, self destructive, greatly traumatized — and that’s before the father is abducted from their own driveway! In Long Island Compromise, the American Dream gets duct-taped, stuffed in a van, and ransomed back to you — but somehow, the cost is even more than before. It’s equal parts hilarious, devastating, and deeply Jewish, yet somehow makes existential despair and generational trauma feel kind of warm and fuzzy.

~ Wendy C., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Central Branch

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler

Wives and mothers of a certain age can completely relate to Anne Tyler’s heroine, Delia Grinstead, who suddenly flips a switch while on family vacation at the beach. Delia, frustrated and feeling isolated, just walks away, finding a new life in a small rural town; as she says to her mother-in-law, “because I just like the thought of beginning again from scratch” (139).

But is Delia just re-enacting her suburban life and hoping for a different outcome? When her daughter, Susie, invites her home for Susie’s wedding, we’re all waiting to discover the answer – and, I have to say, I had no idea what would happen, even just a few pages from the end. With her delightful sprinkles of local color and her deep, deep understanding of human nature, Ladder of Years truly is near-perfection.

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre

This is narrative nonfiction that reads in many places like the screenplay for an action/adventure movie, in only the best sense. Author Macintyre puts us right in the thick of the action in North Africa during World War II, as the newly-minted Special Air Service trains in the desert and embarks on daring behind-the-lines raids to destroy German supplies and equipment, particularly planes in their airfields.

Despite some resistance from the upper brass, the men who led and trained the group, David Stirling and Paddy Mayne, end up making a huge difference in the fate of the fight against Rommel, and they inspire feats of bravery and moments of true courage among their ruffian-like band of recruits. The author makes clear that the SAS were innovative game-changers who did things others couldn’t or wouldn’t even attempt. A really great story, told well.

~ Julie F., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Miller Branch