Librarians' Line-Up: Best Books Read in 2015, Part 2

This week we are continuing our previous Librarians' Line-Up topic, here are the remaining staff favorites of 2015. See part one here.

My favorite book of the year was Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine. Who wouldn’t love an alternate reality where the library is the supreme power, knowledge is treasured, and books are owned by the rich and powerful? Well, people like Gutenberg (who was killed by the people in power because he wanted to bring books (and power) to the masses)… Awesome story.
  ~Mary

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

While this book uses many of the usual children's fiction tropes (an obvious mix up, snooty adults, an impossible journey, and powerful adversaries) the writing really soars above the usual. Lisel and Will, the two children at the center of the adventure are passionately crafted to feel just like real children - no preciousness or super-precociousness. The adults are just serious enough in their ridiculous ambitions to read as threatening without being a cartoon of evil. The supernatural aspect, the ghosts and the other side, are clever and smart and touching. I especially loved the crankiness of Po for most of the book - I never realized that I always wanted ghosts to be impatient and cranky with the living, but now that I have seen it done, it makes total sense. This is one of the finest children's stories I have ever read.

~John P.

My favorite book of the year was Aziz Ansari's book, Modern Romance. Anybody who is familiar with his comedy or new Netflix show knows that Aziz loves talking about and analyzing relationships. Because of that, his book about romance in today's world felt like an inevitability. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed. Several times I found myself laughing out loud. I would definitely recommend it to any fan of his comedy.

~Marilyn

My favorite book read in 2015 was The Martian by Andy Weir. It was such an unexpected book to me. I found the main character of Mark Watney to be very approachable, even though he was hyper-intelligent and able to grow potatoes on freaking Mars. The book was smart, engaging, suspenseful, and surprisingly funny. The movie was pretty decent, but as is usually the case, the book was better.
~Cailey