Staff Picks

Robinson Crusoe

By Daniel Defoe

Find it here!

4

Rated by Debbie L.

Published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe is an oldie but a goodie! Robinson Crusoe is a young man bent on experiencing sea adventure. He finds himself shipwrecked on a small deserted island and survives for many years. His thought process and perspective alters greatly as the years pass on the island. He reckons with God and begins to realize that God has provided great blessings to him while he has resided there and, indeed, he does live quite comfortably on the island.

Dunkirk (2017) DVD

By Christopher Nolan

Find it here!

3

Rated by Emily D.

The film Dunkirk tells a very important story. During the Second World War the British, French and other allied forces get surrounded at Dunkirk, a beach town in France. The limited Navy and Red-cross ships can't seem to make it back across the channel without being hit by German forces, and British fighter planes don't have the fuel capacity to be of much help. Overall, the situation is very grim. The British Navy commissions the use of any serviceable ship or boat to rescue the 300,000 some odd soldiers trapped at Dunkirk.

Karl Marx City (DVD)

By Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker

Find it here!

4

Rated by Michelle H.

Filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker travel to Chemnitz, Germany because a mystery surrounds Petra’s father’s death. Just before ending his life, he sends his daughter a sweet note with no indication of his plans other than his disappointment with East Germany and the surveillance practices of the Stasi. What Epperlein and Tucker uncover is that place in the mind we all go, or would go, when very few around us are trustworthy and nowhere is safe from the gaze of surveillance, neither your home nor anywhere you visit.

And Then There Were None

By Agatha Christie

Find it here!

4

Rated by Jackie S.

And Then There Were None is the first Agatha Christie novel I’ve read, and I was not disappointed. This intense mystery follows ten strangers who have been invited to stay on an island by an unknown host. Trying to figure out which of the guests lured the rest to this remote location, and then committed murder, is what keeps the reader engaged. As I am often disappointed when I can foresee the conclusion of a book, I was delighted that Christie’s writing style kept me on my toes, and didn’t make any one suspect stand out consistently.

Ready Player One

By Ernest Cline

Find it here!

4

Rated by Dylan R

Functioning as both a seminal look into pop culture's past as well as a fun, technological romp, Ready Player One is a fantastic tale centered around Wade Watts, a teenager and dedicated gamer in the year 2044. Having almost no family, few friends, and seemingly even fewer avenues open to him to escape his downtrodden existence, Wade has had a difficult life, to say the least. However, what Wade does have is access to the OASIS; a cyber-reality which will change his life forever.

Stalker

By Andrei Tarkovsky

Find it here!

5

Rated by Michelle H.

Two men are taken to The Zone – a quarantined area rumored to have an abandoned building with a room inside it in which wishes are granted. But the road there isn’t clear, and even if it were, the path there can never be repeated. If the room is found, it grants only the wish behind the conscious wish, making the journey toward the room an increasingly frightening endeavor as the men inevitably wander hither and yon looking for the correct path and the correct wish.

The Mountain Between Us

By Charles Martin

Find it here!

4

Rated by Debbie L.

Oh, I liked this one! I stayed up late to read it and grabbed it first thing in the morning to continue reading. Two strangers are stranded in harsh weather in remote mountains after a plane crash. They need each other in order to find their way out alive. A great recommendation for fans of Nicholas Sparks. The Mountain Between Us is also a major motion picture starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba. 

Behold the Dreamers

By Mbue, Imbolo

Find it here!

5

Rated by Kari E.

Behold the Dreamers tells the story of two different families who were brought together by the Lehman Brothers collapse. Jende and Neni Jonga emigrate from Cameroon, Africa to New York City with their young son, Liomi. Jende is a loyal chauffeur who does not talk about what he hears his boss say in the car. Jende is proud of the car he drives and his ability to support his family. Coming to America is everything Neni dreams of and more.