How well would you say that Bram Stoker’s Dracula holds up more than 100 years after publication? How does it compare with books like Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series, Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Saint-Germain series? In what ways have modern authors built upon the vampire legend and in what ways have they changed it?

Join me during the month of May for Tim Farrington’s The Monk Downstairs. It’s the story of a single mother who’s given up on men and her downstairs tenant, a former monk who’s given up on God, and the unexpected friendship-turned-romance that blooms between them.

This New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year (review) has been described by Elinor Lipman as “warm, intelligent, wry and absolutely wonderful” and Publishers Weekly says its “fluent prose, seamless dialogue, and a lovingly rendered Bay Area setting lift this novel above the pack.”

Stop by the Main Library’s Circulation Desk or click here to reserve your copy of the book. Want to read the first chapter right now? Click here!

If Father’s Day this weekend has you thinking about dad, here are a couple of ideas from the stacks for easy weekend reading:

Responsible Men by Edward Schwarzchild
Three generations of men feel the effects when a con man decides it might just be time to go straight.

The Mist by Stephen King
Along with a crowd of others, a man and his son try to wait out a creepy mist that seems to have taken over their town.

Infidelity for First-time Fathers by Mark Barrowcliffe
Feeling unprepared to become a dad, Dag cheats on his pregnant fiancee with another woman, who shortly after announces she’s pregnant, too.

Belmondo Style by Adam Berlin
Small time criminal Jared and his son Ben head to Key West after an armored car robbery, trying to keep ahead of the law.

Donor Boy by Brendan Halpin
When the couple that Sean Cassidy helped conceive a child are killed in a car accident, he’s called upon to be the stand-in dad to fourteen-year-old Rosalind.

Little Children by Tom Perotta
Moms and dads caught up in suburbia, wondering if this is really all there is.

The Risk Pool by Richard Russo
Twelve-year old Ned goes to live with his dad and gets an education he’ll never forget.

A Father’s Affair by Karel Glastra van Loon
A widower with a teenage son learns he’s been infertile all his life.

Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
Edward Bloom always wanted to be a great man, making up for his absences from his son’s childhood with tall tales, but it’s only upon his father’s deathbed that William realizes how good a dad he really has.