Each week, when available, a local library will recommend a selection of books available for check out.

This week’s suggestions come from the Stone Ridge Library at 3700 Main Street, Stone Ridge. For more information, visit stoneridgelibrary.org, or call the library at 845-687-7023.

The Sea by John Banville

Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Sea is a beautifully written novel about grief and memories, set in the Irish seaside town where the protagonist, middle-aged Max Modern, spent his summer holidays as a youth and experienced first love.

The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton

Sasha Severn lives in a world devoid of pollinators. The bees are all gone and the world has come apart with poisoned land and food shortages. Dalton's descriptive language brings the landscape and the characters vividly alive in what turns out to be a very hopeful story.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Book I), The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (Book II) By Garth Nix

Garth Nix, a master of young adult fantasy novels, presents an entertaining series featuring a family of magical booksellers who patrol the intersection of the modern world with the mythical Old World of England. Book I, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, follows protagonist Susan as she searches for her unknown father, along the way discovering the Booksellers, the Old World, and a bit of romance. Book II, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, finds Susan once more pulled into the Old World and working, albeit reluctantly, with the Booksellers to save the world from destruction amidst murder, mayhem, and deadly sorcery. Great fun!

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz

Science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers through the rise and fall of four ancient cities deemed (but never really) lost. Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, this fascinating read chronicles how nomadic peoples settled to create the first city, explores how that changed the land and the world, and probes the environmental and political pressures that caused these once-thriving centers of civilization to be abandoned.