Books Across America
Use the listed call numbers to find the books on the third floor. To learn more about call numbers, view the Finding Items in the Library Tutorial.
Alabama
Just Mercy by Call Number: KF373.S743 A3 2014A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice.
Alaska
Ordinary Wolves by Call Number: PS3611.A55 O73 2004A stirring and vivid novel about a white boy raised among natives on the harsh Alaskan tundra, Ordinary Wolves depicts a life different from what most people have ever known.
Arizona
Ceremony by Call Number: PS3569.I44 C4 2006The great Native American Novel of a battered veteran returning home to heal his mind and spirit .
Arkansas
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Call Number: PS3623.I66255 H66 2011The rigid moral codes held by mid-twentieth-century preacher Samuel Lake are called into question when his twelve-year-old daughter and his neighbors hide a young boy from his abusive father, a man who lashes out at the community when he learns about the deception.
California
There There by Call Number: PS3615.R32 T48 2018The story of twelve unforgettable characters, Urban Indians living in Oakland, California, who converge and collide on one fateful day. As we learn the reasons that each person is attending the Big Oakland Powwow--some generous, some fearful, some joyful, some violent--momentum builds toward a shocking yet inevitable conclusion that changes everything
Colorado
Plainsong by Call Number: PS3558.A716 P58 1999The interwoven lives of a community in Colorado. The characters include two cattle farmers who take in a girl, thrown out of her house for becoming pregnant. The novel describes the girl's impact on their lives, both men being bachelors.
Connecticut
The Land of Steady Habits by Call Number: PS3620.H6895 L36 2014For Anders Hill, long ensconced in the affluent, insular villages of suburban Connecticut that some call "the land of steady habits," it's finally time to reap the rewards of his sensibly-lived life.
Delaware
The Book of Unknown Americans by Call Number: PS3608.E565 B66 2014A boy and a girl who fall in love. Two families whose hopes collide with destiny. An extraordinary novel that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American.
Florida
Stiltsville by Call Number: PS3604.A5258 S75 2010Against a vivid South Florida background, Susanna Daniel's Stiltsville offers a gripping, bittersweet portrait of a marriage--and a romance--that deepens over the course of three decades.
Georgia
An American Marriage by Call Number: PS3610.O63 A84 2018"A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple." --Barack Obama
Hawaii
The Descendants by Call Number: PS3608.E477 D47 2007A man from one of the most respected families in Hawaii whose wife is in a coma learns she was cheating on him
Idaho
A Country Called Home by Call Number: PS3552.A6815 C68 2008It is 1960 when Thomas Deracotte and his pregnant wife, Helen, abandon a guaranteed future in upper-crust Connecticut and take off for a utopian adventure in the Idaho wilderness.
Illinois
Chicago by Call Number: PS3604.O9547 C49 2016On the last day of summer, some years ago, a young college graduate moves to Chicago and rents a small apartment on the north side of the city, by the vast and muscular lake. This is the story of the five seasons he lives there, during which he meets gangsters, gamblers, policemen, a brave and garrulous bus driver, a cricket player, a librettist, his first girlfriend, a shy apartment manager, and many other riveting souls, not to mention a wise and personable dog of indeterminate breed.
Indiana
All the Bright Places by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.N6434 Al 2015The New York Times bestselling love story about two teens who find each other while standing on the edge.
Iowa
Golden Age by Call Number: PS3569.M39 G65 2015The third book of a trilogy about a farm family from Iowa, which takes them from the late 1980s through the present and into the future
Kansas
Bent Road by Call Number: PS3618.O89265 B46 2011Celia Scott and her family move back to her husband's hometown in Kansas, where his sister died under mysterious circumstances twenty years before, and where Celia and two of her children struggle to adjust--especially when a local girl disappears.
Kentucky
The Sport of Kings by Call Number: PS3613.O73 S68 2016The Sport of Kings is an American tale centered on a horse and two families: one white, a Southern dynasty whose forefathers were among the founders of Kentucky; the other African-American, the descendants of their slaves.
Louisiana
The Vanishing Half by Call Number: PS3602.E66444 V36 2020A novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
Maine
Olive Kitteridge by Call Number: PS3569.T736 O5 2008At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her.
Maryland
A Spool of Blue Thread by Call Number: PS3570.Y45 S68 2015Set in Baltimore, this capacious novel takes us across three generations of the Whitshanks, their shared stories and long-held secrets, all the unguarded and richly lived moments that combine to define who and what they are as a family
Massachusetts
Writers and Lovers by Call Number: PS3561.I4814 W75 2020Blindsided by her mother's sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she's been writing for six years.
Michigan
Middlesex by Call Number: PS3555.U4 M53 2002The astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl.
Minnesota
The Lager Queen of Minnesota by Call Number: PS3619.T7224 L24 2019A novel of family, Midwestern values, hard work, fate, and the secrets of making a world-class beer, from the author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Mississippi
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Call Number: PS3623.A7323 S56 2017Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn't lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won't acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.
Missouri
Gone Girl by Call Number: PS3606.L935 G66 2012On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?
Montana
Fall Back Down When I Die by Call Number: PS3623.I5476 F35 2019For readers of My Absolute Darling and Fourth of July Creek, a "riveting and timely" Montana story about the unbreakable bond between a young man and the abandoned boy put in his care (Jess Walter), as old grievances of land and blood are visited upon them.
Nebraska
Fangirl by Call Number: YOUNG ADULT PZ7.R79613 Fan 201Being consummate fans of the Simon Snow series helped Cath and her twin sister, Wren, cope as little girls whose mother left them, but now, as they start college but not as roommates, Cath fears she is unready to live without Wren holding her hand--and without her passion for Snow. Also available in a graphic novel.
Nevada
Beautiful Children by Call Number: PS3602.O3255 B43 2008One Saturday night in Las Vegas, twelve-year-old Newell Ewing goes out with a friend and doesn’t come home. In the aftermath of his disappearance, his mother, Lorraine, makes daily pilgrimages to her son’s room and tortures herself with memories. Equally distraught, the boy’s father, Lincoln, finds himself wanting to comfort his wife even as he yearns for solace, a loving touch, any kind of intimacy.
New Hampshire
Nineteen Minutes by Call Number: PS3566.I372 N56 2008Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the day its complacency is shattered by a school shooting.
New Jersey
Born to Run by 
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Call Number: ML420.S77 A3 2016The revelatory and wildly bestselling memoir by legendary rock star Bruce Springsteen. Also available in audiobook.
New Mexico
The Five Wounds by Call Number: PS3617.U25 F58 2021From an award-winning storyteller comes a stunning debut novel following a New Mexican family's extraordinary year of love and sacrifice.
New York
The House of Impossible Beauties by Call Number: PS3603.A86822 H68 2018A gritty and gorgeous debut that follows a cast of gay and transgender club kids navigating the Harlem ball scene of the 1980s and '90s, inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary Paris Is Burning
North Carolina
Where the Crawdads Sing by Call Number: PS3615.W447 W48 2018In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a heartbreaking coming of age story and a surprising murder investigation. Also available in eBook.
North Dakota
O Beautiful by Call Number: PS3625.U53 O24 2021From the critically-acclaimed author of Shelter, an unflinching portrayal of a woman trying to come to terms with the ghosts of her past and the tortured realities of a deeply divided America.
Ohio
Little Fires Everywhere by - This link opens in a new window
Call Number: PS3614.G83 L58 2017A riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. Also in audiobook.
Oklahoma
Killers of the Flower Moon by Call Number: E99.O8 G675 2017Presents a true account of the early twentieth-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
Oregon
Juliet Takes a Breath by Call Number: PS3618.I8457 J85 2016Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn't sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that's going to help her figure out this whole "Puerto Rican lesbian" thing.
Pennsylvania
Baker Towers by Call Number: PS3608.A544 B34 2005A compelling story of love and loss in a western Pennsylvania mining town in the years after World War II.
Rhode Island
Gravewriter by Call Number: PS3601.R75 G73 2006Billy Povich lost his wife because of his gambling habit, and then she died in a car crash. Now he plans to kill the man who was at the wheel the night of her death. But a summons to jury duty for a murder trial changes Billy's plans as he finds himself in a race against time to save all he holds dear.
South Carolina
A Lowcountry Heart by Call Number: PS3553.O5198 A6 2016Final words and heartfelt remembrances from bestselling author Pat Conroy take center stage in this winning nonfiction collection, supplemented by touching pieces from Conroy's many friends.
South Dakota
The Work of Wolves by Call Number: PS3563.E93 W67 2004In this unforgettable story of horses, love, and life, the entire ensemble of characters learn, in very different ways, about the strong bonds that connect people to each other and to the land on which they live.
Tennessee
Southernmost by Call Number: PS3558.O8659 S68 2018Asher Sharp is willing to give up everything for what he believes in. Except his son. In the aftermath of a flood that washes away much of a small Tennessee town, evangelical preacher Asher Sharp offers shelter to two gay men. In doing so, he starts to see his life anew--and risks losing everything.
Texas
Bluebird, Bluebird by Call Number: PS3612.O247 B58 2018A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas, Bluebird, Bluebird is an exhilarating, timely novel about the collision of race and justice in America
Utah
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Call Number: PS3551.B2 M66 2006Ex-Green Beret George Hayduke has returned from war to find his beloved southwestern desert threatened by industrial development. Joining with Bronx exile and feminist saboteur Bonnie Abzug, wilderness guide and outcast Mormon Seldom Seen Smith, and libertarian billboard torcher Doc Sarvis, Hayduke is ready to fight the power--taking on the strip miners, clear-cutters, and the highway, dam, and bridge builders who are threatening the natural habitat.
Vermont
The Invited by Call Number: PS3613.C584 I55 2019A chilling ghost story with a twist- the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house--they build one.
Virginia
Murder and Moonshine by Call Number: PS3613.I53277 M87 2013All small towns have secrets---and plenty of them---as every small-town waitress knows. Daisy is no different. A young, recently separated waitress at H & P's Diner in sleepy southwestern Virginia, she hears more than her fair share of neighborhood gossip while serving plates of hash and peach cobbler.
Washington
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Call Number: PS3619.E495 W54 2012A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel.
Washington, D.C.
Speak No Evil by Call Number: PS3609.W43 S64 2018A revelation shared between two privileged teenagers from very different backgrounds sets off a chain of events with devastating consequences.
West Virginia
Death in Mud Lick by Call Number: RC568.O45 E97 2020From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter from the smallest newspaper ever to win the prize in the investigative reporting category, an urgent, riveting, and heartbreaking investigation into the corporate greed that pumped millions of pain pills into small Appalachian towns, decimating communities.
Wisconsin
The Art of Fielding by Call Number: PS3608.A72513 A87 2011A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed tale about love, life, and baseball.
Wyoming
Bird Cloud by Call Number: PS3566.R697 Z46 2011The author here turns her lens on herself. We understand how she came to be living in a house surrounded by Wyoming wilderness, with shelves for thousands of books and long worktables on which to heap manuscripts, research materials and maps, and how she came to be one of the great American writers of her time.
Atlanta
Them by Call Number: PS3613.C34514 T47 2007Barlowe Reed, an African American in his forties, buys a home in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward, and must come to grips with new white neighbors and rampant gentrification.
Boston
Run by Call Number: PS3566.A7756 R86 2007Set over a period of twenty-four hours, Run takes us from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard to a home for retired Catholic priests in downtown Boston. It shows us how worlds of privilege and poverty can coexist only blocks apart from each other, and how family can include people you've never even met. Ann Patchett illustrates the humanity that connects disparate lives, weaving several stories into one narrative. Run is ultimately a novel about secrets, duty, responsibility, and the lengths we will go to protect our children.
Charleston, S.C.
Gone with a Handsomer Man by Call Number: PS3573.E8244 G66 2011After Teeny Templeton catches her fiance playing naked badminton with two other women, he is found dead a few days later, and all fingers point to Teeny. Her only hope in clearing herself is an old boy-friend turned lawyer
Chicago
The Devil in the White City by Call Number: HV6248.M8 L37 2003The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death.
Las Vegas
- Beautiful Children by Call Number: PS3602.O3255 B43 2008In this masterly debut novel, Charles Bock mixes incandescent prose with devious humor to capture Las Vegas with unprecedented scope and nuance and to provide a glimpse into a microcosm of modern America. Beautiful Children is an odyssey of heartache and redemption; heralding the arrival of a major new writer.
Los Angeles
Echo Park by - This link opens in a new window
Call Number: PS3553.O51165 E35 2006Detective Harry Bosch, now in the Open-unsolved Unit, receives a call from the DA telling him a serial killer has confessed to several murders. Harry must interview the man about a case he couldn't crack involving the murder of a 22-year-old woman whose body was never found. -- Also in Audiobook
Miami
Bad Monkey by Call Number: PS3558.I217 B33 2013Andrew Yancy, late of the Miami Police, soon-to-be-late of the Key West Police, has a human arm in his freezer. There is a logical explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its owner.
New Orleans
Nine Lives by Call Number: F379.N553 A212 2009The hidden history of a haunted and beloved city told through the intersecting lives of nine remarkable characters.
New York
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Call Number: PS3618.O676 L55 2017A love letter to city life in all its guts and grandeur, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop. Lillian figures she might as well take her time. For now, after all, the night is still young
San Francisco
Telegraph Avenue by Call Number: PS3553.H15 T45 2012Michael Chabon takes us to Telegraph Avenue in a big-hearted and exhilarating novel that explores the profoundly intertwined lives of two Oakland, California families, one black and one white.
Savannah
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by Call Number: F294.S2 B48 1994Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense?
Asian Americans
The Best We Could Do by Call Number: GRAPHIC NOVEL BUI, T. / BEST WE COULDAn intimate and poignant graphic novel portraying one family's journey from war-torn Vietnam, from debut author Thi Bui.
African Americans
The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Call Number: PS3623.A4544 F56 2021An electrifying novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup, and the dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decades later for one last tour.
Hispanic Americans
The New American by Call Number: PS3563.A63629 N49 2020One day, Emilio learns a shocking secret: he is undocumented. His parents, who emigrated from Guatemala to California, had never told him. All is going well, he's in his second year at UC Berkeley...then he gets into a car accident, and—without a driver's license or any ID—the policeman on the scene reports him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Once deported to Guatemala, Emilio is determined to get back to California, the only home he has ever known.
Indigenous Americans
War Dances by Call Number: PS3551.L35774 W37 2009Alexie delivers a heartbreaking, hilarious collection of stories that explores the precarious balance between self-preservation and external responsibility in art, family, and the world at large.
Jewish Americans
The Hotel Neversink by Call Number: PS3616.R497 H68 2019Thirty-one years after workers first broke ground, the magnificent Hotel Neversink in the Catskills finally opens to the public. Then a young boy disappears. This mysterious vanishing--and the ones that follow—will brand the lives of three generations.
