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Ararat

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Ararat by Christopher Golden
Format:  Book
Who it’s For:  Adults

After a huge avalanche forces Adam Holzer and Meryam Karga, a couple climbing Mount Ararat, to hunt for shelter in one of the mountain’s caves, they stumble upon what they believe to be Noah’s Ark. Thrilled by their finding, the couple visions of turning their luck into a best-selling biography. Inside the ark is a great coffin that rapidly becomes the primary interest of the crew. Speculating who might be inside, with theories stretching from Noah himself to other biblical figures–the crew, after a passing disagreement, makes the choice to break open the coffin. But instead of discovering Noah, a horrible, evil-looking, horned cadaver rests inside.

What could go wrong?

Quite a lot. Particularly when an invading strangeness runs its nails down everybody’s back; when the crew turns abnormally malicious, needy, or fearful. When the crew awakens screaming, mysteriously overwhelmed by long-buried childhood terrors. When people disappear.

Find Ararat in the catalog!

The Ruins

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The Ruins by Scott Smith
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Two young couples decide to take a trip to Mexico.  The group enjoyed the beach, hotel, and making friends with fellow tourists when the brother of one of the couples goes missing.   The group ultimately decides to go searching for the missing brother.  Trekking through the Mexican jungle, the group stumbles upon a village which is only the beginning of the creeping horror; they endure throughout the story.  What started as an exciting day-trip gradually spirals into a terrifying nightmare when they find the remains of an ancient ruins site… and the disturbing presence that lurks there.

Find The Ruins in the catalog

Uglies

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Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Format: book
Who it’s for: teens

In a future civilization, the government offers its citizens on their sixteenth birthday dramatic plastic surgery to turn them into ‘pretties,’ who will then live a carefree life of relaxation and parties.  Tally Youngblood is eager for her modifications, but Shay, another ugly, talks to Tally about the opportunity of rebelling against the social standards of physical beauty.  On the day of Tally’s operation, she is given a proposition: assist the authorities in tracking the rebel Shay down, or never undergo the “pretty” surgery.  Tally ultimately chooses to help the authorities in pursuing the rebels.  Through some twists and turns in the story, the rebels soon reveal to Tally that the operation also contains surgery that makes them easier to control–ultimately altering their brains.  Tally and the other uglies join together to resist their transformation and to discover a remedy for those already turned ‘pretty’.

Series order:

  1. Uglies
  2. Pretties
  3. Extras
  4. Specials

Find Uglies in the catalog!

The City of Ember

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The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Kids and Teens

Ember is a city in everlasting darkness and is only lit by its progressively unpredictable electric system.  Other systems are falling apart as well, and stores of food and necessities that have lasted hundreds of years are dwindling.  The city was only meant to last 220 years, and now it has been 241.  But the messages the “Builders” left have been misplaced and forgotten.

Lina Mayfleet finds the messages, but not before her little sister chewed them to shreds. Now she and her pal Doon Harrow must decipher the few disjointed messages before the city falls to pieces.  Their determination leads them to discover long-overlooked mysteries about the creation and purpose of Ember, and what the “Builders” envisioned.  They want to spread their findings with the people of Ember — but only if the shady mayor and his guards don’t stop them first.

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Micro

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Micro by Michael Crichton
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Adults

On the island of Oahu, a greedy and power-obsessed science mogul named Vin Drake has created a nanotechnology company.  A team of young science graduate students travels to Hawaii to work for Drake’s company.  Almost instantly when arriving on the island, the group gets absorbed in an elaborate scheme that contains cons, killing, and corporate greediness.  This results in Drake turning against the students.  They are shrunk to a size smaller than ants. In this reduced state, they must travel through the island jungle and face challenging obstacles, as the sociopathic Drake attempts to capture them and stamp them out.  I honestly could not set this book down.  This page-turning thriller has you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

Find it in the catalog!