Houghton: 1009 books

Discover the little English village that neighbors Fairacre, in a novel that’s “enchanting, lovely, gentle, pointed, and charming” (Minneapolis Sunday Tribune). Miss Read's charming chronicles of English small-town life have achieved legendary popularity, providing a welcome return to...

Save the date for some English village fun: “You’ll relish a visit to Thrush Green” (Jan Karon, #1 New York Times–bestselling author). In the Cotswolds village of Thrush Green, celebrations are underway. A statue of Nathaniel Patten has graced the green for years, but little is known...

**“If you’ve ever enjoyed a visit to Mitford, you’ll relish a visit to Thrush Green,” where there’s a spring in the step of villagers young and old (Jan Karon, #1 New York Times–bestselling author). It is spring in the village of Thrush Green. In neighboring Lulling, Charles Henstock...

From the author of the Fairacre series: “The more turbulent the real world, the more charming we may find the stability of Miss Read’s tiny fictional world.” —Los Angeles Times Thrush Green is never quite as quiet as it first appears. When a local, long-empty cottage called Tullivers...

A year in the life of your favorite English villagers from Thrush Green: “Miss Read’s novels are sheer delight” (Chicago Tribune). Circling the seasons at Thrush Green, Miss Read returns to the Cotswold village already beloved by her readers. The snows of January yield to snowdrops and...

There’s no pleasing Mrs. Pringle—and everyone in Fairacre knows it. “Miss Read’s novels are sheer delight” (Chicago Tribune). Miss Read is certain of one thing—she won’t be forced to hire grumpy Mrs. Pringle to straighten up her house. Mrs. Pringle of Fairacre chronicles the life...

“If you’ve ever enjoyed a visit to Mitford, you’ll relish a visit to Fairacre.” —Jan Karon Miss Read once again transports readers to the picturesque English village of Fairacre with her Village Diary. Having received a beautiful diary for Christmas, she proceeds to set down a year’s...

The “fascinating” story of the CDC’s intrepid investigators, who travel the world to protect us from deadly pathogens (Chicago Tribune). Since its founding in 1951, the Epidemic Intelligence Service has waged war on every imaginable ailment. When an epidemic hits, the EIS will be there...

In this “powerful debut novel,” an American relief worker falls in love with the Ivory Coast as the country descends into civil war (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). In an Ivory Coast village where Christians and Muslims are squaring off for war, against a backdrop of bloody conflict and vibrant...

“A comprehensive and long-overdue examination of the immediate post–Tet offensive years [from a] first-rate historian.” —The New York Times Book Review Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how...

Observations on the many ways we manage to look down on others, from “a writer who can make you laugh out loud on every third page” (The New York Times Book Review). Snobs are everywhere. At the gym, at work, at school, and sometimes even lurking in your own home. But how did we, as a culture,...

**A British radio station struggles through the London blitz, in a “**wonderful” novel of World War II England (A.S. Byatt), by a veteran of the BBC. The nation is listening. It’s 1940, and BBC radio is on the air. Dedicated to the cause, it’s going to do what it does best: keep the...

Man Booker Prize Finalist: This “marvelous novel” about an abandoned husband, set in Moscow a century ago, is “bristling with wry comedy” (Newsday). March 1913. Moscow is stirring herself to meet the beginning of spring. English painter Frank Reid returns from work one night to find...

“A delectable comedy of manners” set in 1950s Florence, by the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Bookshop (The Boston Globe). It’s 1955, and Italy is still struggling a decade after the end of World War II. So are the Ridolfis, a Florentine family of long and fading noble lineage....