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 21 - 40 of 59  There are a total of 59 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Down and out in Paris and London"
Star rating for Down and out in Paris and London
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Down and Out in Paris and London follows the journey of a writer among the down-and-out in two great cities. Without self-pity and often with humor, this novel is Orwell at his finest--a sobering, truthful protrayal of poverty and society.
Book cover for "Expedition backyard"
Star rating for Expedition backyard
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Mole and Vole always venture out into the world to see what nature they can find, but after an accidental move from the country to the city, the best friends have to learn to discover new plants and animals in their new environment.
Book cover for "Fun home"
Star rating for Fun home
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
A memoir done in the form of a graphic novel by a cult favorite comic artist offers a darkly funny family portrait that details her relationship with her father--a funeral home director, high school English teacher, and closeted homosexual.
Book cover for "Ghost world"
Star rating for Ghost world
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
One of the best-selling and critically-acclaimed graphic novels of all-time telling the story of two supremely ironic, above-it-all teenagers facing the thrilling uncertainty of life after high school. As they attempt to carry their life-long friendship into a new era, the careful dynamics of their inseparable bond are jolted, and what seemed like a future of endless possibilities looks more like an encroaching reality of strip malls, low-paying service...
Book cover for "Heart-shaped box"
Star rating for Heart-shaped box
Author:
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
A collector of obscure and macabre artifacts, unscrupulous metal band musician Judas Coyne is unable to resist purchasing a ghost over the Internet, which turns out to be the vengeful spirit of his late girlfriend's stepfather.
Book cover for "Hellboy"
Star rating for Hellboy
Series:
Hellboy series volume 1.
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Hellboy is determined to uncover his mysterious origin.
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 "I, robot"
Star rating for I, robot
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
The three laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm 2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. With these three, simple directives, Isaac Asimov changed our perception of robots forever when...
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...

31. 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 "Kent State"
Star rating for Kent State
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard gunned down unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. In a deadly barrage of 67 shots, 4 students were killed and 9 shot and wounded. It was the day America turned guns on its own children - a shocking event burned into our national memory. A few days prior, 10-year-old Derf Backderf saw those same Guardsmen patrolling his nearby hometown, sent in by the governor to crush...
Book cover for "Kirby"
Star rating for Kirby
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 memoirs of Sherlock Holmes"
Star rating for The memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Series:
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
"This collection includes many of the most familiar cases Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ever solve, including "Silver Blaze," "The Greek Interpreter," and "The Musgrave Ritual." As Holmes's fame grows, it brings him a notoriety that piques the ire of London's criminal underworld, who begin to scheme against him. It is in "The Final Problem" that Dr. Watson relates the grisly, fatal, and shocking tale of how Holmes finally meets his match, encountering...
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

...
Book cover for "My friend Dahmer"
Star rating for My friend Dahmer
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"You only think you know this story. In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer, the most notorious serial killer since Jack the Ripper, seared himself into the American consciousness. To the public, Dahmer was a monster who committed unthinkable atrocities. To Derf Backderf, 'Jeff' was a much more complex figure: a high school friend with whom he had shared classrooms, hallways, and car rides. In [this story], a haunting and original graphic novel, writer-artist Backderf...
Book cover for "The oddly pedestrian life of Christopher Chaos"
Star rating for The oddly pedestrian life of Christopher Chaos
Description:
"Meet teenage mad scientist Christopher Chaos. For all his life he knew he was different. His brilliant mind works in ways that defy logic and enable him to do things that push him beyond his peers. Unfortunately, these abilities have also caused great pain in his personal life--leading others to fear him and leaving Christopher with profound loneliness and guilt. Then one day something cracked. When the cute boy at high school turns out to be a deadly...
Book cover for "On Gold Mountain"
Star rating for On Gold Mountain
Author:
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
In 1867, Lisa See's great-great-grandfather arrived in America, where he prescribed herbal remedies to immigrant laborers who were treated little better than slaves. His son Fong See later built a mercantile empire and married a Caucasian woman, in spite of laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Lisa herself grew up playing in her family's antiques store in Los Angeles's Chinatown, listening to stories of missionaries and prostitutes, movie stars...