A Year in Fiction Books from the HCL Staff

​As the year comes to an end, here is a reflection of our staff Adult Fiction picks for the year 2022. So many great books and not enough year to read them all. Here is a recap of what Harney County Library staff read and recommends for anyone looking for something to knock their socks off.

Stay tuned for 2023 blog posts to highlighting important reading materials and cheers to a wonderful year ahead. 

ADULT:

•  A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman: Ove is grumpy but loveable. He points at people he does not like. But underneath his bitterness, there is a kind man with a story that will warm your heart. This book is funny, filled with unexpected friendships and a story to be shared over and over.
• The Essential Oils Book Creating Personal Blends For Mind & Body: recommended for its simple approach to creating herbal potpourri, salt baths, herbal steams, and sets up the reader for success on the education of essential oils to use and blend successfully.  
• Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom: Available as an audiobook on Hoopla! A sharp look at Instagram culture and a deeper look at feminism in the digital age through the eyes of an influencer. Makes you think.
• Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid: A former tennis star returns to retake her record. Fascinating even for non-tennis afficionados.
• The Paris Wife by Paula McClain: A poignant historical fiction account of Hadley Richardson. Hemingway’s first wife and their life in Jazz Age Paris. 
• Rose Code by Kate Quinn: 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.

• Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Toweles: With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing late 1930s Manhattan to life with splendid atmosphere and a flawless command of style. Readers and critics were enchanted; as NPR commented, “Towles writes with grace and verve about the mores and manners of a society on the cusp of radical change.” 
• The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn: In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper--a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour. 
• Conviction by Denise Mina: It’s just a normal morning when Anna's husband announces that he's leaving her for her best friend and taking their two daughters with him. With her safe, comfortable world shattered, Anna distracts herself with someone else's story: a true-crime podcast. That is until she recognizes the name of one of the victims and becomes convinced that only she knows what really happened.     
• Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates: Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known. 
• The Music of Bees, a debut novel by Oregon author, Eileen Garvin: It portrays how a true family can be formed from loving bonds of friendships and compassion, especially when there are limitations in family ties. It is heartwarming and uplifting, giving the reader a reminder that humans can be truly wonderful. It is set in Hood River Oregon, and th author did a good job of describing place and community complication
• Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier: In another one of her delightfully historical novels, Tracy Chevalier tells the story of early 19th-century British fossil collector Mary Anning, and her lifelong friendship with amateur paleontologist and artist Elizabeth Philpot. "There was something different about her, though I could not say exactly what it was. It was as if she were more certain. If someone were sketching her they would use clear, strong lines, whereas before they might have used faint marks and more shading. She was like a fossil that's been cleaned and set so everyone can see what it is."