Picks from the Saginaw Library Book Club

"Jason Bennett is driving his family home after his daughter's lacrosse game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them. Two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. Later that night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization. The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program, and they have no...

"For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium-and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance 30 years ago"-- After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old...

"What's the harm in a pseudonym? Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American--in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author R. F. Kuang in the vein of White Ivy and The Other Black Girl. Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut...

"In the summer of 1974, a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of Southie, the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat's teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn't come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK A must-read debut! Meet Elizabeth Zott: a formidable, unapologetic and inspiring (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat (The New York Times Book Review). "A unique heroine...

"'Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes...' Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. It's 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic....

This book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. It traces the story of the team that defeated elite rivals at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics, sharing the experiences of their enigmatic coach, a visionary boat builder, and a homeless teen rower.

"When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it's not easy. She deserted them all--and her high school sweetheart--five years before with little explanation, and they've got questions. Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around...

"The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrape for everything except books--thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, and traveling librarian Cussy Mary Carter. Last of her kind, Cussy's skin is a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on her family or the library project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble. To bring the joy of books to hill folks, Cussy must confront prejudices...

Park Ranger Anna Pigeon comes face-to-face with the dark side of humanity when she investigates the disappearance of three young girls in Rocky Mountain National Park.