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Books & More

Books are what libraries are famous for and we have plenty of them for readers of all ages. So it doesn’t matter if you prefer fiction or nonfiction, we’ve got you covered. Check out some of our staff favorites or let us create a personalized reading list just for you.

  • Book Spotlight
  • Staff Picks
  • Trending Genre
  • Book Club Sets

Book spotlight | New Year, New Bookshelf

How to Break up With Your Phone
The Little Book of Hygge
Atomic Habits
Dare to Lead
Girl Up
Better Than Before
Becoming
Embrace Your Almost
Love 2.0
Tiny Habits
Happy Days
All This Could be Different
Temporary
Disorientation
Drama Free
Quarterlife
The Myth of Normal
The Tools
The Seven Circles
Why We Sleep
Set Boundaries
That Sounds Fun

staff Picks | What We're Reading

What Happened to the Bennetts
The Adventures of Princess and Mr. Whiffle
Never Fall for Your Fiancee
Bookshops and Bonedust
The Only One Left
Shark Heart
The Rook
Too Late
Big
The Brothers Hawthorne
The Seven Year Slip
The Alchemist
The Traveling Cat Chronicles
Pretty Boys are Poisonous
Annihilation
When I’m Dead
Emily Wilde
The Book of Lost Names

cOLLECTION | Lovers & Friends

The fall of the house of Usher
W0rldtr33
Yasmeen
Voyaging. Volume one, The plague star
The treasure of the black swan
Starman. Bowie
Silk hills
Run. Book one
Rain like hammers
Punderworld. Volume 1
Oddball
Nervosa
Miss Butterworth and the mad baron
Hummingbird heart
The exile
Dune. House Harkonnen. Volume one
Ducks : two years in the oil sands
Cryptid club
Chivalry
A career in books
Bubble
The British Paranormal Society. Time out of mind

Book Club Sets | Our Recommendations

The Canterbury Sisters
A Tree Grows un Brooklyn
In Cold Blood
Go Set a Watchman
A Room With a View
The Night Circus
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Next Year in Havana
The Hours Count
Say Nothing
I’ll be Gone in the Dark
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Bobbit Rock
The Devil in the White City
Two if by Sea
The Good Neighbor

Reserve copies for your whole book club with just a few simple clicks. We offer an array of titles perfect for your book club. With your library card, you can check out a set which includes 12 to 15 copies— conveniently packaged in a heavy duty Lexington County Library tote bag. Each set checks out for 1 month (30 days) so everyone has more than enough time to finish the book and discuss.

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NoveList Plus

Looking for great read-alikes? You can log on to NoveList to browse recommendations for any age group. You’ll need the Discus password provided by South Carolina State Library. If you don’t have a Discus password, call any library branch and we’ll be happy to help.

NextReads Newsletters

Sign up for monthly newsletters based on your favorite genres to get reading recommendations delivered straight to your inbox. Genres and topics include: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, New York Times Best Sellers, Page to Screen, Romance, Thrillers and Suspense, and much more.

 

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award winners, best sellers and hot topics

Book Lists & Reading Recommendations

Book Awards for Children's Books

Caldecott Medal
Hot Dog (2023)

Hot Dog (2023)

Watercress (2022)

Watercress (2022)

We are Water Protectors (2021)

We are Water Protectors (2021)

The Undefeated (2020)

The Undefeated (2020)

Hello Lighthouse (2019)

Hello Lighthouse (2019)

Wolf in the Snow (2018)

Wolf in the Snow (2018)

Radiant Child: the Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (2017)

Radiant Child: the Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (2017)

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear (2016)

The Adventures of Beekle: the Unimaginary Friend

The Adventures of Beekle: the Unimaginary Friend

Coretta Scott King
2023 Author Winner

2023 Author Winner

2023 Illustrator Winner

2023 Illustrator Winner

2023 Author Honor

2023 Author Honor

2023 Author Honor

2023 Author Honor

2023 Author Honor

2023 Author Honor

2023 Illustrator Honor

2023 Illustrator Honor

2023 Illustrator Honor

2023 Illustrator Honor

2023 New Talent Award

2023 New Talent Award

2023 New Talent Award

2023 New Talent Award

Newberry Medal
Freewater (2023)

Freewater (2023)

The Last Cuentista (2022)

The Last Cuentista (2022)

When You Trap a Tiger (2021)

When You Trap a Tiger (2021)

New Kid (2020)

New Kid (2020)

Merci Suárez Changes Gears (2019)

Merci Suárez Changes Gears (2019)

Hello Universe (2018)

Hello Universe (2018)

The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2017)

The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2017)

Last Stop on Market Street (2016)

Last Stop on Market Street (2016)

Crossover (2015)

Crossover (2015)

Flora & Ulysses (2014)

Flora & Ulysses (2014)

The One and Only Ivan (2013)

The One and Only Ivan (2013)

South Carolina Book Awards
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020

Acorn was a Little Wild
Bathe the Cat
Chez Bob
Dancing with Daddy
Don’t Hug Doug
Gibberish
Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates
Hurricane
Invasion of the Unicorns
Knight Owl
Mel Fell
Negative Cat
Nigel and the Moon
Regina is not a Little Dinosaur
Sadie Sprocket Builds a Rocket
Someone Builds the Dream
Something’s Wrong
This Very Tree: a story of 9/11, resilience, and regrowth
A Walk in the Words
Be Strong

The Accidental
Allergic
Bartali
Ben Yokohama and the Cookie of Doom
Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
Dog Squad
Elephant in the Room
Falling Short
Fast Pitch
The Islanders
Last Gate of the Emperor
The Many Meanings of Meilan
The Marvellers
Maya and the Robot
Ophie’s Ghosts
Shine on, Luz Veliz!
Simon B. Rhymin’
Sofia Acosta Makes a Scene
Stella
Stuck

365 Days to Alaska
Across the Desert
Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year
An Occasionally Happy Family
Cuba in my Pocket
Eddie Whatever
Fallout : Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown
Fast Pitch
Flight of the Puffin
Lines of Courage
Linked
The Lion of Mars
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance
Now You Say Yes
Playing the Cards You
Rivals
Stowaway
What Lives in the Woods
Wild River
Worst-Case Collin

African Town
All of Us Villains
Beasts of Prey
Bluebird
The City Beautiful
The Cost of Knowing
Enduring Freedom
Every Single Lie
The Girls I’ve Been
Huda F Are You?
In the Wild Light
A Lesson in Vengeance
Lies Like Wildfire
Luck of the Titanic
Project Hail Mary
The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss
She Drives Me Crazy
This Poison Heart
Vinyl Moon
You’d Be Home Now

the bear in my family
bedtime bonnet
black is a rainbow color
the camping trip
the chicken who couldn
eyes that kiss in the corners
facts vs. opinions vs. robots
Harlem grown: how one big idea transformed a neighborhood
home for a while
if you come to earth
lift
memoirs of a tortoise
Milo imagines the world
the oboe goes boom boom boom
old rock (is not boring)
Ronan the librarian
stompin
swish!: the slam-dunking, alley-ooping, high-flying Harlem Globetrotters
this way, Charlie
unstoppable

Amari and the night brothers
becoming Muhammad Ali: a novel
blue skies
clean getaway
connect the dots
distress signal
echo mountain
Finn and the intergalactic lunchbox
the hide and seeker
in the red
Isaiah Dunn is my hero
Katie the catsitter
prairie lotus
Railway Jack: the story of an amazing baboon
red, white, and whole
scritch scratch
the total eclipse of Nestor Lopez
unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre
war stories
Winterborne home for vengeance and valor

all he knew
alone
Amari and the night brothers
the brave
the canyon
city spies
Cleo Porter and the body electric
closer to nowhere
dress coded
fighting words
ground zero
the in-between
measuring up
Santiago
the shape of thunder
starfish
the stitchers
tune it out
turtle boy
twins

all your twisted secrets
be dazzled
the bridge
cemetery boys
charming as a verb
clap when you land
displacement
firekeeper
the gilded ones
grown
the inheritance games
legendborn
lycanthropy and other chronic illnesses: a novel
more than maybe
prepped
the ravens
this is my America
this is not the Jess show
unscripted
watch over me

There are no bears in this bakery
Because
Madeline Finn and the shelter dog
Carl and the meaning of life
The happy book
Nobody hugs a cactus
The very impatient caterpillar
When a kid like me fights cancer
SumoKitty
A voice named Aretha
The proudest blue: a story of hijab and family
If I built a school
The Paper Kingdom
Equality
Just like me
Snail crossing
The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng
A Crazy-Much Love
Packs: Strength in Numbers
This Book Is Gray

Song for a whale
Pay attention Carter Jones
The bridge home
Lety out loud
A wolf called Wander
Finding Orion
On thin ice
Stay
Guest : a changeling tale
More to the story
Some places more than others
Strange birds : a field guide to ruffling feathers
The ghost in apartment 2R
When stars are scattered
Once upon an Eid: stories of hope and joy by 15 Muslim voices
Mananaland
Hello from Renn Lake
Woke : a young poet
All the Impossible Things
Scouts

Nightbooks
Searching for Lottie
Summer of a thousand pies
Other words for home
Wildfire : a novel
Running wild
Free lunch
Tristan Strong punches a hole in the sky
The Mystwick School of Musicraft
From the desk of Zoe Washington
96 miles
Black brother black brother
The blackbird girls
The light in hidden places : a novel based on the true story of Stefania PodgoÌ
Stamped : racism antiracism and you
Things you can
The only black girls in town
Efren divided : a novel
When stars are scattered
Revenge of the Red Club

Parkland : birth of a movement
Heroine
When I was Summer
Don
Five midnights
Accused! : the trials of the Scottsboro boys : lies prejudice and the fourteenth amendment
The library of lost things
Winterwood
I know you remember
All-American Muslim girl
Jane Anonymous
Break the fall
The grace year
Stamped : racism antiracism and you
Kent State
Dancing at the pity party : a dead mom graphic memoir
The shadows between us
All eyes on us
Girls Like Us
The Gravity of Us

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face by Larissa Theule
Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins by Michelle Meadows
Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Friends Stick Together by Hannah E. Harrison
Giraffe Problems by Jory John
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
Love, Z by Jessie Sima
The Magician’s Hat by Malcolm Mitchell
Misunderstood Shark by Ame Dyckman
Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung
Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Celebrating Animal Underdogs by Melissa Stewart
Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre
Remarkably You by Pat Zietlow Miller
The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros
Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes
Shaking Things Up by Susan Hood
Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy by Drew Daywalt
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

Amal unbound
Arlo Finch in the valley of fire
Betty before X
Blended
Caterpillar Summer
Daring Dozen
Echo
Finding Langston
Hardscrabble
Holes in the sky
Just like Jackie
Let
Lizzy and the good luck girl
Max & the Midknights
Saving Winslow
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
The Doughnut Fix
The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA
They call me Güero: a border kid
Willa of the Wood

The Benefits of Being an Octopus
Deep Water
Endling: The Last
Every Shiny Thing
Everything Else in the Universe
Front Desk
Genesis Begins Again
A Good Kind of Trouble
Harbor Me
I Am Still Alive
The Jigsaw Jungle
Lifeboat 12
Marcus Vega Doesn
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl
The Night Diary
Not if I Save You First
Shouting at the Rain
Small Spaces
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
The Unteachables

After the Shot Drops
Unbeatable: Oscar Robertson and the basketball team that awakened a city
Contagion
A curse so dark and lonely
The Hazel Wood
Here to stay
Heretics Anonymous
Hey, kiddo
I have the right to : a high school survivor
The silence between us
Sky in the Deep
Skyward
Stay sweet
Stronger, faster, and more beautiful
Time bomb
Truly Devious
A Very Large Expanse of Sea
The Waning Age
We
What you hide

Book Awards for Adult Books

Hugo
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (2022)

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (2022)

The Promise (2021)

The Promise (2021)

Shuggie Bain (2020)

Shuggie Bain (2020)

The Testament (2019)

The Testament (2019)

Girl, Woman, Other (2019)

Girl, Woman, Other (2019)

Milkman (2018)

Milkman (2018)

Lincoln in the Bardo (2017)

Lincoln in the Bardo (2017)

The Sellout (2016)

The Sellout (2016)

A Brief History of Seven Killings (2015)

A Brief History of Seven Killings (2015)

The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2014)

The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2014)

The Luminaries (2013)

The Luminaries (2013)

Pultizer Prize
Demon Copperhead (2023)

Demon Copperhead (2023)

Trust (2023)

Trust (2023)

The Netanyahus (2022)

The Netanyahus (2022)

The Night Watchman (2021)

The Night Watchman (2021)

The Nickel Boys (2020)

The Nickel Boys (2020)

The Overstory (2019)

The Overstory (2019)

Less (2018)

Less (2018)

The Underground Railroad (2017)

The Underground Railroad (2017)

The Sympathizer (2016)

The Sympathizer (2016)

All the Light We Cannot See (2015)

All the Light We Cannot See (2015)

The Goldfinch (2014)

The Goldfinch (2014)

The Orphan Master

The Orphan Master’s Son (2013)

Popular Fiction

All My Secrets
The Seamstress of Acadie
Amish Love Letters
The Gardins of Edin
The American Queen
In the Shadow of the River
What Happens Next
The Wind Blows in Sleeping Grass
The Vanishing at Castle Moreau
Beautyland
Dead in Long Beach California
Family Family
The Bullet Swallower
Orbital
All the Little Bird-Hearts
River East, River West
Familia
The Other Princess
Edith Holler
The General and Julia
The Madstone
We Must Not Think of Ourselves
A True Account: Hannah Masury
The Wildest Sun
The Roaring Days of Zora Lily
Mothtown
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
This Wretched Valley
Mister Lullaby
The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird
The Parliament
The Star and the Strange Moon
Where the Dead Wait
How to Solve Your Own Murder
The Other Side of Disappearing
James
The Mystery Writer: A Novel
Everyone Is Watching
The Great Divide: A Novel
Bye, Baby: A Novel
Happily Never After
Listen for the Lie
The Expectant Detectives
Sniffing Out Murder
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord
The Lace Widow
Gaslight
The Mayors of New York
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect
Daughter of Ashes
Fourth Wing
Iron Flame
House of Flame and Shadow
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
First Lie Wins
Lessons in Chemistry
Crosshairs
The Chaos Agent
Remarkably Bright Creatures
The Fury
The Atlas Maneuver
Demon Copperhead
The Covenant of Water
Shogun
Dune
Capote
One Day
Apples Never Fall
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln
Mr. and Mrs. American Pie
A Gentleman in Moscow
Girls with Bad Reputations
Her Adventures in Temptation
Say You
The (Fake) Dating Game
Never Blow A Kiss
Not Bad for a Girl
The Takeover
To Woo and To Wed
Wild Life
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
The Atlas Complex
Exordia
Faebound
Emily Wilde
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
Mislaid in Parts Half-known
Tusks of Extinction
Parliament
Kinning
Womb City
Dissolved
The Couple in the Photo
The Weekend Retreat
The Vacation
Midnight
Two Dead Wives
What Waits in the Woods
The Ascent
Dead of Night
Here in the Dark

Popular Nonfiction

Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice
When I was your age : life lessons, funny stories & questionable parenting advice from a professional clown
Into Siberia: George Kennan
The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust
Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad
With Her Fist Raised: Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Black
The Kneeling Man: My Father
Beekeeping for Beginners
Sisters Gonna Stitch: a Feminist Embroidery Guide
Making with Meaning: More Than 20 Meditative and Creative Crochet Projects
15-Minute Gentle Yoga: Four 15-Minute Workouts for Energy, Balance, and Calm
Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style
Plant Craft : 30 Projects That Add Natural Style to Your Home
DIY chicken keeping from Fresh eggs daily : 40 projects for the coop, run, brooder, and more
The Survivors of the Clotilda
Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America
Be a Revolution
The showman : inside the invasion that shook the world and made a leader of Volodymyr Zelensky
The Holocaust: An Unfinished History
The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free
No Stopping Us Now: The Adventures of Older Women in American History
The Story of Art Without Men
The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World
The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis
Legacy : a Black physician reckons with racism in medicine
Our moon : how Earth
Around the world in eighty games : from tarot to tic-tac-toe, catan to snakes and ladders, a mathematician unlocks the secrets of the world
Transient and strange : notes on the science of life
Blood : the science, medicine, and mythology of menstruation
The worlds I see : curiosity, exploration, and discovery at the dawn of AI
Dust: The World in a Trillion Particles
The handover : how we gave control of our lives to corporations, states and AIs
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Outlive : the science & art of longevity
Oath and honor : a memoir and a warning
Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America
Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir
Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story
Elon Musk
This American Ex-Wife: How I Ended My Marriage and Started My Life
I
The Woman in Me
Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
Think You
Beautiful and Terrible Things: Faith, Doubt, and Discovering a Way Back to Each Other
Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner
God
How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old
The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors
The Science of the Good Samaritan: Thinking Bigger About Loving Our Neighbors

Children & Teens

The Apartment House on Poppy Hill
The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman
Ink Girls
Tagging Freedom
Just Lizzy
Henry, Like Always
Marya Khan and the Fabulous Jasmine Garden
Jo Jo Makoons: Snow Day
The Party Diaries: Awesome Orange Birthday
I Am A Masterpiece
My Block Looks Like
The Teeny-Weeny Unicorn
Time to Make Art
Jump for Joy
Ten Little Rabbits
Gravity is Bringing Me Down
Are You Big?
Infinity Alchemist
Wander in the Dark
The Fox Maidens
Even If It Breaks Your Heart
Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid
Reggie and Delilah
Going Dark
Friday I
Nothing Burns as Bright as You