Plano Reads: Book Selfies, Episode 5
The libraries may be closed, but our love of reading and recommending never ends!
Your Plano Public Library staff are virtually recommending our latest favorite reads, and below is the list of these titles, with additional read-alikes you can checkout on Overdrive and the Libby app.
See all Book Selfies posts here.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Recommended by: Tenille at Haggard Library, available as an eBook and an eAudiobook
Genre: fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller
Description from Overdrive: Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Read-alikes
The Absent One by Jussie Adler-Olsen
Save Me from Dangerous Men by Saul Lelchuk
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

Wayside School series by Louis Sachar
Recommended by: Sarah O. at Haggard Library, available as eBooks and eAudiobooks
Genre: juvenile fiction, humor
Description from Overdrive: Accidentally built sideways and standing thirty stories high (the builder said he was very sorry for the mistake), Wayside School has some of the wackiest classes in town, especially on the thirtieth floor.
Wayside School series Read-alikes
My Weird School series by Dan Gutman
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
How to Be a Supervillain series by Michael Fry

Author Christopher Moore
Recommended by: Erik at Davis Library
Genre: fiction, fantasy, humor, mystery
Titles include: Love Story series, Fool series, A Dirty Job series and others
Christopher Moore Read-alikes
Books by Douglas Adams
Books by Seth Grahame-Smith
Books by Kurt Vonnegut

This Mortal Coil Trilogy by Emily Suvada
Recommended by: Amy B. from Haggard Library, available as an eBook
Genre: young adult fiction, science-fiction, thriller
Description from Overdrive: Seventeen-year-old Cat must use her gene-hacking skills to decode her late father’s message concealing a vaccine to a horrifying plague.
This Mortal Coil Trilogy Read-alikes
The Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken
The Maze Runner series by James Dashner

Strings of Life by Shi Tiesheng
Recommended by: Amy C. at Davis Library, available as an eBook
Genre: fiction, Chinese literature
Description from Overdrive: The book is a collection of the novella Strings of Life and the prose essay In the Temple of Earth, both written by China’s contemporary writer Shi Tiesheng. Strings of Life unveils the profound life philosophy and reveals the significance of human survival self-redemption out of plight and fulfilling process aiming at the pointless target. In the Temple of Earth is the writer’s eulogy on the mother’s love. With the temple of earth as a carrier, the essay expresses a desperate man’s seeking of hope, and the remembrance of his mother.
本书收录当代作家史铁生的小说《命若琴弦》和散文《我与地坛》。《命若琴弦》是一篇包孕着深刻人生哲理的小说,揭示了人类生存的意义——
Strings of Life Read-alikes
你我 by 朱自清
长恨歌 (Song of Regret) by 王安忆
床畔 by 严歌苓

Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
Recommended by: Melanie from Haggard Library, available as an eBook and eAudiobook
Genre: juvenile fiction
Description from Overdrive: Officer Buckle knows more about safety than anyone in the town of Napville. But whenever he tries to share his safety tips, nobody listens – until the day the Napville Police Department buys a police dog named Gloria, who has her own way of demonstrating safety tips.
Officer Buckle and Gloria Read-alikes
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
Hi, Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold eBook | eAudiobook
The Bad Seed by Jory John
I love mystery books, so I’ll have to give The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a read! Another good mystery book is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I couldn’t put the book down!