You are, on vacation and would like to sit in the sun at the beach and read an interesting book. But there are so many choices, so many decisions to make.... what to pick?

Of course we do always encourage everyone to read about our area, about its rich history or some local mysteries. Click here for some of our featured local titles.

Here is a list of some interesting reads we think you'll enjoy.

Wicked
Gregory Maguire
Price: $16.00 (Paperback)

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?
Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

The Senator's Wife
Sue Miller
Price: $14.95 (Paperback)

Meri is newly married, pregnant, and standing on the cusp of life as a wife and mother, recognizing with some terror the gap between reality and expectation. Delia - wife of the two-term liberal senator Tom Naughton - is Meri's new neighbor in the adjacemt New England town house. Tom's chronic infidelity is an open secret in Washington circles, but despite of the complexity of their relationship, the bond between them remains strong.

Soon Delia and Meri find themselves leading strangely parallel lives, as they both reckon with the contours and mysteries of marriage: one refined and abraded by years of complicated intimacy, the other barely begun.

Slumdog Millionaire (Originally Published as Q&A)
Vikas Swarup
Price: $15.00 (Paperback)

Ram Mohammad Thomas has been arrested. Because how can a poor orphan who has never read a newspaper or gone to school correctly answer all twelve questions on the television game show "Who Will Win a Billion?" - unless he has cheated?
As the story unfolds, Ram explains to his lawyer how he knew the answer to each question by telling a chapter of his amazing life - from the day he was salvaged from a dustbin to his meeting with a security-crazed Australian army colonel while perfomring as an overly creative tour guide at the Taj Mahal. Stunning a television audience of millions, Ram draws on a store of street wisdom and accidental encounters that provides him with the essential keys not only to the quiz show but also to life itself.
In a beguiling blend of high comedy and poignancy, Vikas Swarup has created a kaleidoscopic vision of the struggle of good against evil, and what happens when one boy has no other choice in life but to survive.

... for Children 3 - 6

The House In The Night
Susan Marie Swanson (Author) & Beth Krommes (Illustration)
Price: $17.00

"Using a few graceful words per page to illuminate the dark, this bedtime gem shines its light clearly on things that matter in a home filled with books, art, music and ever present love. Kromme's ("The Lamp, the Ice, and a Boat Called Fish") astonishing illustrations are so closely intertwined with the meticulous text that neither can be isolated without a loss of meaning. The book begins, intriguingly, Here is the key to the house. / In the house burns a light. / In that light rests a bed. / On that bed waits a book. That book takes the child reader up into the skies and back home again, to sleep (dark in the song, song in the bird, / bird in the book, book on the bed). Kromme's black-and -white scratch board illustrations are as delicate and elegant as snowflakes, and she uses a single color, a marigold, to bring warmth to both home and stars. This volume's artful simplicity, homely wisdom and quiet tone demonstrate the interconnected beauty and order of the world in a way that both children and adults will treasure.
Publisher Weekly