Movie List

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  Speak.  198 p.

            A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

Asbury, Herbert.  The Gangs of New York. 348 p.

            Draws from a variety of sources to describe the most infamous figures, places, and events to shape New York City's gang underworld from the early nineteenth century through the early twentieth.

Austen, Jane.  Emma.   396 p.

            A novel of Regency England that centers upon a self-assured young lady who is determined to arrange her life and the lives of those around her into a pattern dictated by her romantic fancy.

Batman. Comics

Bissinger, H. G. Friday Night Lights.  366 p.

            Follows the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, exploring the lives of the players and the impact of the championship team on the small town.

Bronte, Charlotte.  Jane Eyre. 461 p.

            When a penniless governess falls in love with the brooding master of Thornfield, she is unaware of the tragic events that will follow.

Cabot, Meg. The Princess Diaries.

            Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the Prince of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess and the heir to the throne.

Chevalier, Tracy.  Girl with a Pearl Earring.  233 p.

            Imagines the young woman in Johannes Vermeer's mysterious painting "The Girl With a Pearl Earring" as a sixteen-year-old Dutch girl named Griet who sparks the interest of the artist when she becomes a maid in his turbulent household.

Clancy, Tom.  Clear and Present Danger. 

            Armed men prepare to take the fight to the enemy after three American officials are killed by Colombian drug lords to make their message clear: Leave us alone.

Clancy, Tom.  Patriot Games.

Jack Ryan, historian, ex-Marine, and CIA analyst, summons all his skills and knowledge to battle against international terrorism.

Clancy, Tom.  The Sum of All Fears. 914 p.

            With the world poised on the brink of nuclear war, Ryan and his FBI counterpart, Dan Murray, seek a solution before the chiefs of state lose control of themselves and the world.

Conney, Caroline B.  The Face on the Milk Carton.  184 p.

            A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity.

Critchon, Michael.  Congo.  343 p.

            Three adventurers trek into the Congo in search of the diamonds of the Lost City of Zinj.

DeVillers, Julia.  How My Private, Personal Journal became a Bestseller.  212p.

Equirel, Laura.  Like Water For Chocolate.  246 p.

            A romantic and poignant tale of love and family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico.

Evans, Nicholas.  The Horse Whipser.  451 p.

            A mother brings her teenage daughter and their horse, Pilgrim, both seriously injured by a speeding truck, to the Horse Whisperer in Montana.

Fitch, Janet. White Oleander.  446 p.

            Astrid, the only child of a single mother, struggles to find a place for herself in a world full of foster homes and impossible circumstances, after her mother is jailed for murder.

Flagg, Fannie.  Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. 402 p.

Frazier, Charles.  Cold Mountain.  356 p.

            Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, leaves the hospital where he is being treated and determines to walk home to his sweetheart Ada, only to find the land and the girl he remembers as changed by the war as he.

Grisham, John.  The Runaway Jury. 550 p.

The Big Four in the tobacco industry think they have all their bases covered in an upcoming trial in which a widow is suing for the smoking-related death of her husband, but they did not count on an inside operator who has a personal grudge and a sure-fire plan to bring them down

Groom, Winston.  Forrest Gump.   248 p.

            Through three turbulent decades, Forrest rides a tide of events that whisks him from physical disability to football stardom, from Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love.

Guterson, David.  Snow Falling on Cedars. 460 p.

            When a newspaper journalist covers the trial of a Japanese American accused of murder, he must come to terms with his own past.

Harrison, Jim.  Legends of the Fall.  276 p.

Hayslip,  Le Ly.  Child of War, Woman of Peace.  368 p .

   The author recounts her life upon arrival in the United States as a bride and of her quest to join the two poles of her universe.

Hillenbrand, Laura.  Seabiscuit.  339 p.

            Describes how three men worked together to turn a rough-hewn, undersized horse into one of the fastest horses in racing history.

Hornby, Nick.  High Fidelity.  323 p.

            Recently dumped by his wealthy girlfriend, record store owner Rob Fleming finds himself in financial trouble and sets out on a pilgrimage to ask his former girlfriends where their relationships went wrong and to learn where his life went off track.

Hurston, Zora Neale.  Their Eyes Were Watching God.  184 p.

            An African-American woman searches for a fulfilling relationship through two loveless marriages and finally finds it in the person of Tea Cake, an itinerant laborer and gambler.

Ihimaera, Witi.  The Whale Rider.  150 p.

            As her beloved grandfather, chief of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, struggles to lead in difficult times and to find a male successor, young Kahu is developing a mysterious relationship with whales, particularly the ancient bull whale whose legendary rider was their ancestor.

Junger, Sebasktian.  The Perfect Storm.  227 p.

            Uses interviews, memoirs, radio conversations, and technical research to recreate the last days of the crew of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat that was lost in a storm off the coast of Nova Scotia in October 1991.

Kenneally, Thomas.  Schindler’s List.  397 p.

            The story of a man who took incredible risks and spent his considerable fortune to build a factory camp to protect Jews in World War II Germany.

King, Stephen.  It.  1138 p.

King, Stephen.  Cujo.  319 p.

Koontz, Dean.  Watchers.  487 p.

McCarthy, Cormac.  All the Pretty Horses.  302 p.

            The story of young John Grady Cole, the last of a long line of Texas ranchers, who, along with two companions, sets off on an idyllic, sometimes comic adventure, to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.

McCourt, Frank.  Angela’s Ashes.  363 p.

            The author chronicles his impoverished childhood in Limerick, Ireland, in the 1930s and 1940s, describing his father's alcoholism and talent for storytelling; the challenges and tragedies his mother faced, including the loss of three children; and his early experiences in the Catholic church, and balances painful memories with humor.

McDonald, Gregory.  Fletch.   253 p .

McMurtry, Larry.  Lonesome Dove.  945 p.

            Two former Texas Rangers, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, leave their Texas ranch to lead a cattle drive to Montana, encountering outlaws, Native Americans, and ex-loves along the way.

Mignola, Mike.  Hellboy.  Graphic.

            Hellboy, a creature summoned by a sorcerer in the employ of Hitler in 1944, is intercepted by the Allies and grows up to be a force for good, working as a detective with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved.  273 p.

            Sethe, an escaped slave who now lives in post-Civil War Ohio, has borne the unthinkable and works hard at "beating back the past." She struggles to keep Beloved, an intruder, from gaining possession of her present while throwing off the legacy of her past.

Moore, Alan.  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Graphic

            The adventures of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a group composed of characters taken from late 19th Century literature, as they defend Britain against various villains

Proulx, Annie.  The Shipping News. 337 p.

            Quoyle and his two emotionally disturbed daughters return to the family ancestral home in Newfoundland to start new lives.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter Series.

Sachar, Louis. Holes.  233 p.

            As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Sparks, Nicholas.  The Notebook.  214 p.

            Noah Calhoun, recently returned from World War II in 1946, buys an old plantation home in rural North Carolina, where he contents himself with memories of his first love, a girl he met fourteen years earlier, but then she unexpectedly arrives at his door.

Sparks, Nicholas.  A Walk to Remember.  240 p.

            When a twist of fate makes Jamie Sullivan his date at the homecoming dance, Landon Carter never dreamed they would fall in love, but as he comes to realize his true feelings for Jamie, he learns of a terrible secret that will take his love away from him forever.

Straczynski, J. Michael.  Coming Home – Spiderman Comics.

Tan, Amy.  The Joy Luck Club.  337 p.

            In 1949 four Chinese women began meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong. They called their gathering the Joy Luck Club. Forty years later they look back and remember.

Tolkien, J. R. R.  The Fellowship of the Ring (and sequels)   423 p.

            Frodo the hobbit and a band of warriors from the different kingdoms set out to destroy the Ring of Power before the evil Sauron grasps control.

Twain, Mark.  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  221 p.

Vax, Mark Cotta.  The Incredibles.  160 p. Graphic

            Forced to live as normal humans, superheroes Bob and Helen Parr, once Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, are struggling to make it in the suburbs, but when a message summons Bob to a remote island for a top-secret job, the super-couple and their budding super-children are soon fighting for their lives.

Wahl, Mats.  The Invisible.  186 p.

Walker, Alice.  The Color Purple.  295 p.

            Tells the story of two African-American sisters: Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a child-wife living in the south, in the medium of their letters to each other and in Celie's case, the desperate letters she begins, "Dear God."

Wells, Rebecca.  Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. 356 p.

            Siddalee Walker, a successful theater director, is thrown into a void of uncertainty when she has a falling out with her mother, Vivi, over a New York Times article in which Vivi is characterized as an abusive parent, and the Ya-Yas, Vivi's gang of lifelong girlfriends, conspire to restore the mother-daughter relationship.

X-Men  Graphic