Under the Radar Titles for 2010 - Rosemary's Picks

There are always going to be a small number of titles that get most of the media attention, such as award winning books, titles that are on the best sellers list or become popular because of the controversial subject matter.

Given the increasing number of award winners and best sellers that the media has to cover, many other quality books fly under the radar of the mainstream media

Listed below are a few wonderful titles that deserve a much wider readership:

Large Print: an Unshelved collection by Bill Barnes. If you want to have an amusing and insiders view of the coming and going of library staff and the world they occupy, this is the book for you. Many people who do not work in offices read Scott Adam’s Dilbert series. There is no reason any library user can’t "get" this strip. I actually subscribe to this on-line so that I can get my daily chuckle.


Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian. What happens when one of your parishioners says "there" when you have just finished her baptisms. What happens when that same person goes home that night and is murdered? What happens when you happen to be a minister in a crisis of faith and the victim was your lover, who is married? These and other questions are answered within the pages of this novel.


Divine Misfortunes by A. Lee Martinez. According to Locus "Divine Misfortune reads like a mash-up of Neil Gaiman, Monty Python and a sugar-bombed nine year old" . That description alone would have been enough for me. I have read other books by this talented author so this one was a must read. Teri and Phil decide to get their own personal god. They choose Luka, a minor god of fortune. The question is will he bring good luck or bad?


Paul is Undead : the British zombie invasion by Alan Goldsher. Quite frankly, I am getting a bit tired of the vampire/werewolf/zombie trend in literature and entertainment right now. But I could not resist this absurdly funny book that has John, Paul and George as zombies with Ringo as a7th level ninja lord.. The novel reads like a series of interviews and newspaper stories and each is more amazing and incredible that the last.


The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi Durrow. How much does one’s identify come from how you look? With bi-racial children this is a question that may be asked again and again. Where and by whom they are raised also effects the answer to this question. After experiencing a devastating family tragic Rachel is sent to live with her grandmother. She is a blue-eyed, light- skinned black and she is forced to be ,either black or white when she is neither.


Mothers and Other Liars is the debut novel by Amy Bourret. This family saga will get the tears out of even the most hardened heart. Ruby’s entire life changes when she finds an abandoned baby at a truck-stop. In a moment of impulse she takes the baby and runs. So what does constitute a family? Who does have the "right" to a child who was thrown away in the trash? What is the definition of "mother"?


Bite Me is Christopher Moore’s third novel in his wonderfully, warped vampire saga. The Atlantic Journal-Constitution" has stated that Moore is " Stephen King with a whoopee cushion and a double-espresso imagination". All of Moore’s novels are a whiz of a comedic ride to the wacky world we live in regardless of whether it takes place in San Francisco or "The Island of the Sequined Love Nun".

Hopefully, within this list you will find a "jewel" or two of your own!