Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists

Though Mussolini and the fascists have been defeated, the war has devastated Italy, especially the south. Seven-year-old Amerigo lives with his mother Antonietta in Naples, surviving on odd jobs and his wits likethe rest of the poor in his neighborhood. But one day, Amerigo learns that a train will take him away from the rubble-strewn streets of the city to spend the winter with a family in the north, where he will be safe and have warm clothes and food to eat. Together with thousands of other southern children, Amerigo will cross the entire peninsula to a new life.
(Description from catalog)

Winning a junior ice hockey championship means everything to the residents of Beartown. Victory could attract government funding and an influx of talented athletes. Victory would mean everything to outcast Amat, to golden boy and star player Kevin, and to dedicated general manager Peter, whose own professional hockey career ended too early. When scandal erupts following a drunken celebration after a key win, no resident is unaffected. With so much riding on the success of the team, the line between loyalty and betrayal becomes difficult to discern.
(Description from catalog)

"France, 1984. Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love, Thomas. Their hidden affair during their last year of high school was carried on without ever acknowledging each other in the halls. Stealing steal time to meet in secret, Philippe and Thomas carry on a passionate, world-altering affair."

A New York documentary filmmaker, visiting his wife's small mountain community in the majestic Italian Dolomites, is challenged to unravel the truth about a decades-old triple murder in the wake of a devastating accident. (Description from catalog.)

Italian teenager Giovanna searches for a sense of identity and clear perspectives when she finds herself torn between the refinements and excesses of a divided Naples. (Description from catalog.)

A bestselling, prizewinning novel of obsession and psychological intrigue about two enigmatic unmarried women, one of whom manipulates the other from afar, by one of Japan's most acclaimed young writers.
(Description from catalog)

Deciding to go vegetarian in the wake of violent thoughts, Yeong-hye, a woman from an Asian culture of strict societal mores, is denounced as a subversive as she spirals into extreme rebelliousness that causes her to splinter from her true nature and risk her life. (Description from NoveList)

On the verge of losing her job, Yona, a top representative at a cutting-edge travel agency, takes an assignment to assess a struggling desert island getaway, where she uncovers a plot to fabricate a catastrophe.
(Description from catalog)

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. In the convenience store, she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person. However, eighteen years later and 36 years old, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life, but is aware that she is not living up to society's expectations and causing her family to worry about her.
(Description from catalog)

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and... no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home. (Description from catalog)