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 - 18 of 18  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 "All-star Superman"
Star rating for All-star Superman
Description:
"The Underverse ruled by Bizarros. The time-eating Chronovore. Jimmy Olsen, superhero? Nothing is impossible in All-star Superman. Except for the fact that Superman... is dying. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's masterpiece is now released as a part of DC's prestigious new imprint of standalone graphic novels, DC Black Label. Time running against the Man of Steel. After a diabolical plot by his arch-foe Lex Luthor puts him on the brink of death,...
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 "Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead"
Star rating for Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
Author:
Series:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Claire DeWitt is not your average private investigator. She has brilliant deductive skills and is an ace at discovering evidence. But Claire also uses her dreams, omens, and mind-expanding herbs to help her solve mysteries, and relies on Détection - the only book published by the late, great, and mysterious French detective Jacques Silette. The tattooed, pot-smoking Claire has just arrived in post-Katrina New Orleans, the city she's avoided since...
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.
Book cover for "I am legend"
Star rating for I am legend
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:

The basis for the film starring Academy Award nominee Will Smith, I Am Legend is a classic of horror and suspense.

In I Am Legend, a terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive are transformed into bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Robert Neville is the last living man on earth. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is

...
Book cover for "If Beale Street could talk"
Star rating for If Beale Street could talk
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
This novel is a moving story of love in the face of injustice. Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, the story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope...

12. 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 "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

...

15. 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 "We have always lived in the castle"
Star rating for We have always lived in the castle
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
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.