Bryson's Staff Picks

I enjoy mystery, sci-fi & fantasy, horror and range of non-fiction. I am also a huge reader of graphic novels of all kinds, with graphic novel biographies being a particular favorite.

Showing 1 - 16 of 16  There are a total of 59 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "11/22/63"
Star rating for 11/22/63
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? The author's new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination. In this novel that is a tribute to a simpler era, he sweeps readers back in time to another moment, a real life moment, when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has...
Book cover for "All systems red"
Star rating for All systems red
Series:
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
"In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked...
Book cover for "And then there were none"
Star rating for And then there were none
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
A killer stalks a group of ten total strangers on an isolated island off the Devon coast, in a story of murder and retribution set to a sinister nursery rhyme.
Book cover for "Batman"
Star rating for Batman
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
The story of how Batman's career started, told in graphic novel form.
Book cover for "Bookshops & bonedust"
Star rating for Bookshops & bonedust
Series:
Legends & lattes volume Prequel.
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk--so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it. What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do? Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing...
Book cover for "Can't we talk about something more pleasant?"
Star rating for Can't we talk about something more pleasant?
Author:
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"In her first memoir, Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents.--
Book cover for "Catch and kill"
Star rating for Catch and kill
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Now an HBO documentary series streaming on HBO Max. 
One of the Best Books of the Year
 Time * NPR * Washington Post * Bloomberg News * Chicago Tribune * Chicago Public Library * Fortune * Los Angeles Times * E! News * The Telegraph * Apple * Library Journal  In...
Book cover for "DC: The New Frontier"
Star rating for DC: The New Frontier
Description:

Darwyn Cooke's acclaimed epic is back in a new title collecting the 6-issue miniseries plus JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER SPECIAL #1! When Cold War paranoia outlawed the heroes of the Golden Age, stalwarts such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman continued to fight for truth and justice. But as the world hurtled toward an uncertain future, a new breed of hero would define the American Way!

Book cover for "The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy"
Star rating for The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy
Series:
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Seconds before Earth is demolished to make room for a galactic freeway, an earthman is saved by his friend. Together they journey through the galaxy. Chronicles the journeys, notions, and acquaintances of reluctant galactic traveler Arthur Dent, accompanied by never-before-published material from the late author's archives as well as commentary by famous fans.

10. Joyland

Book cover for "Joyland"
Star rating for Joyland
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.
Book cover for "Legends & lattes"
Star rating for Legends & lattes
Series:
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"Come take a load off at Viv's cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Grand opening! Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling...
Book cover for "March"
Star rating for March
Author:
Series:
March volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
A first-hand account of the author's lifelong struggle for civil and human rights spans his youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the birth of the Nashville Student Movement.
Book cover for "The murder of Roger Ackroyd"
Star rating for The murder of Roger Ackroyd
Series:
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:

"This is Agatha Christie's masterpiece, and if she never wrote another word, she'd have still gone down as the Queen." –LOUISE PENNY, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Ingenious and unexpected." –NEW YORK TIMES

The official edition of the beloved classic voted by the British Crime Writers' Association as the "Best Crime Novel of all Time," now featuring a new introduction by

...

14. Passage

Book cover for "Passage"
Star rating for Passage
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
One of those rare, unforgettable novels that are as chilling as they are insightful, as thought-provoking as they are terrifying, award-winning author Connie Willis's Passage is an astonishing blend of relentless suspense and cutting-edge science unlike anything you've ever read before.
It is the electrifying story of a psychologist who has devoted her life to tracking death. But when she volunteers for a research project that simulates...
Book cover for "The phantom of the opera"
Star rating for The phantom of the opera
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
A classic French thriller about a terrifying and legendary figure who emerges from the depths of the Paris Opera House and manifests the mythic 'opera ghost' in terrifying reality. At the heart of the Phantom's obsession is the lovely Christine Daae, who, after a brilliant performance, disappears suddenly and mysteriously.
Book cover for "World War Z"
Star rating for World War Z
Author:
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
An account of the decade-long conflict between humankind and hordes of the predatory undead is told from the perspective of dozens of survivors who describe in their own words the epic human battle for survival.