Minneapolis Public Library: Book Lists

If you are looking for noteworthy fiction or just a good read for yourself, family or friends, consider these outstanding twenty-first century novels. Many have won major literary awards. Imaginative plots, surprising characters, unusual styles and settings are to be found among them.

Compiled by Joyce Carolyne Cobb

African American Fiction

Whether written by well-known authors or first -time novelists, these recently published works reveal both political and social viewpoints through many techniques including character, dialogue and place in each writer's unique style. There is wide latitude in themes, from uncomplicated relationships to more complex situations involving parenting, religion, abuse, and racial problems. Settings span the globe.

Compiled by Joyce Carolyne Cobb

Classic American Fiction

These engaging classic stories which include Nobel and Pulitzer, nominees and winners, and other works by other distinguished American authors, are often on required reading lists of high school and college teachers. Each of them is recommended for young adult and/or adult audiences. Hennepin County Library owns these works in a variety of different formats including books, DVD's downloadable audio books, audiotapes and compact discs. Ask for additional titles by these authors.

Compiled by Joyce Carolyne Cobb

Club de Lectura en Espanol

Ven a leer con nosotros las mejores novelas Latinoamericanas por escritores Latinos. Participa en el Círculo de Lectores el primer sábado de cada mes en East Lake. Para mayor información llama a Mónica al 612-630-6425. Y ahora, también el tercer sábado de cada mes con Paula al 651-491-2972. ¡Te esperamos!

Join us to read some of the best Latin American novels by Latino authors. All of the novels and discussions are in Spanish. Everyone is welcome! Monica's group meets the first Saturday of each month at East Lake Library. Paula's group meets the third Saturday of each month at Franklin Library. Please call Monica (612-630-6425) or Paula (651-491-2972) for more information.

Fiction by Latin American Authors

Whether you use your fiction to explore serious themes, or to propel fantastic escapes, you will find a recent book by a Latino author to meet your needs. The stories vary widely, from a randy old man seeking redemption in LaPaz to mysteries and Chiquita lit, but the writing is vivid and compelling, and guaranteed to have you looking for earlier books by these inspired writers.

GLBT Pride 2007

When the Minneapolis Public Library put together its first gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (glbt) booklist in 1991 it was hard to find enough new titles to include. Since then the number of new titles has grown each year, and, happily, it's difficult to select representative titles from so many choices for the annual list. The glbt community is a diverse one, and here's just a small sampling of items added to the collection during the last year. Compiled by Walter Johnson

Graphic Novels

A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels, and often aimed at mature audiences. The term also encompasses comic short story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic-book series.

Graphic novels are typically bound in longer and more durable formats than familiar comic magazines, using the same materials and methods as printed books, and are generally sold in bookstores and specialty comic book shops rather than at newsstands. Read more.

Compiled by Ardeshir Sepahsalar

Inspirational Fiction

Slow down, take a breath, find a chair and put the cat on your lap. No mouse, no PDF, no dot.com, just enjoy the books that bring meaning to your life. Listen or turn pages and the rain disappears and you are refreshed and alive again. Warning, do not spill the tea on the page.

Compiled by Dan Kelty

Memorable Mystery Novels of the 20th Century, 1900-1919

Some of the focus during this time period included the San Francisco Earthquake, World War I, the Russian Revolution and Prohibition. Einstein's Theory of Relativity and the first silent movie concerned many.

Compiled by
Joyce Carolyne Cobb and Michael McCabe

Memorable Mystery Novels of the 20th Century, 1920-1939

The Great Depression, Women's Suffage, J. Edgar Hoover, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh and Mohandas Gandhi were newsmakers during this period.

Compiled by Joyce Carolyne Cobb and Michael McCabe

Memorable Mystery Novels of the 20th Century, 1940-1959

Newsmakers included World War II, Communist China, McCarthyism, the Korean War, Polio Vaccine, Disneyland, Chuck Yeager and Apartheid.

Compiled by Joyce Cobb and Michael McCabe

Memorable Mystery Novels of the 20th Century, 1960-1979

Many fiction writers used information from the news headlines which included JFK, Martin Luther King, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Charles Manson, the Vietman War, Watergate, Abortion, Parry Hearst and Star Wars.

Compiled by
Joyce Carolyne Cobb and Michael McCabe

Memorable Mystery Novels of the 20th Century, 1980-1999

Mikhail Gorbachev, AIDS, Personal Computers, the Ethiopian Famine, Exxon Valdez, Internet, Operation Desert Storm and Princess Diana were headline news stories.

Compiled by
Joyce Carolyne Cobb and Michael McCabe

Recent Fiction by Minnesota Authors

Since Minnesota's earliest days as a state and the works of Ignatius Donnelly, through the Roaring 20's works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis- right up to today- Minnesota has been known for its authors and the quality of its popular fiction. This list contains recent works by some of the most popular of our modern authors.

Compiled by Michael McCabe

Recent Native American Fiction

Leech Lake Ojibwe David Treur, whose novel appears below, has also completed a controversial look at Native literature, Native American Fiction: A User's Manual, which the New York Times summarized as arguing that native American writing should be judged as literature, not as a cultural artifact, or as a means of revealing the mystical or dociological core of Indian life to non-Natives. In general, the books listed below demonstrate the powerful force exerted by personal and community history. Readers will enjoy the creativity and sensitivity of these authors, portraying time as a mutable concept, the joyful release of humor, and human courage in the face of tremendous pain.

Compiled by Susan M. Woodwick

Recommended Speculative and Science Fiction
Speculative fiction, the literature of the imagination, runs from “hard” science fiction, grounded in physics and biology, to social science fiction, science fantasy, “high” and heroic fantasy, dark fantasy and supernatural horror, to offbeat works on the border between the fantastic and the real. This recommended list focuses mainly on fiction with some connection to science, but includes some hard-to-pin-down pieces. It ranges from pioneer authors Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (early 20th century) and H.G. Wells (late 19th and early 20th centuries) to the turn of the millennium, and samples the increasing diversity of the field’s contributors and subject matter. Connecting these wide-ranging novels and stories is that magic ingredient, Sense of Wonder. --Eric M. Heideman

Romance Novels

Warm candlelight, soft music, intimate dinners; action, adventure and exotic locales. Stories of stately courtship to stories that don't flinch from presenting the myriad problems of our modern world. Romance fiction has grown with the times and reflects the full spectrum of modern relationships.

Compiled by Michael McCabe

Urban Fiction

These gripping stories of the Inner City frequently involve young protagonists who are involved in crime, drama, struggles, and survival. In many cases, the protagonists are trying to live in a hostile environment which may include violence and poverty. Profanity and sex are often explicit.

Hundred of titles are currently available in this genre.

Compiled by Joyce Carolyne Cobb

Western Fiction

Ride again in those glorious (and not so glorious) days of yesteryear. Stake a claim. The stagecoach is due in this afternoon. How about a couple of shots of rotgut at the Longbranch? Careful of that stranger that just came through the swinging doors. We cornered those rustlers back in the box canyon. Let's ride!

Compiled by Michael McCabe