Don't Miss Lists and Other Reading Resources

Off the Beat: Book Recommendations from Madison Police Officers

Ever wonder what Madison police officers do when they're not on duty?  Sometimes they read!  From Stephenie Meyer to Carl Hiaasen, Jon Krakauer to David Sedaris, officers on the downtown beat read a little of everything. 

These 2009 recommendations are from Madison Police Department officers who work the downtown beat: Philip Yahnke, Kristen Devitt, Jim McDermott, Scott McConnell, Meredith York, Sue Armagost, Jen Kane, Rhonda Hennessey, Mike Blake, Dan Hamilton, Jen Krueger Favour, and Jean Papalia. Thanks for keeping us safe!

See Off the Beat Recommendations from 2008.

Children’s and Teen Books

• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
• Olivia by Ian Falconer
• Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride by Kate DiCamillo
• Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
• Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
• Lincoln Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Shaped an Extraordinary Life by Martin W. Sandler

Fiction

• Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
• Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
• Up High in the Trees by Kiara Brinkman
• The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
• The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
• Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
• Talk Talk by T. Coraghessan Boyle
• Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott
• Dreaming the Bull by Manda Scott
• Dreaming the Serpent-Spear by Manda Scott
• Boudica: Dreaming the Hound by Manda Scott
• The Lost Legends of New Jersey by Frederick Reiken
• The Contract Surgeon by Dan O'Brien
• Indian Agent by Dan O'Brien
• Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
• Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
• A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon
• Uniform Justice by Donna Leon
• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
• Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• Submarine One by Alex Kerwin

Nonfiction

• Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
• Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
• Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death by Laurence Gonzales
• The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter by Holly Robinson
• Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon
• American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham
• Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley
• ... Halleck: Lincoln's Chief of Staff by Stephen Ambrose
• Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup
• The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town that Raised Them by Amy Dickinson
• Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch by Dan O'Brien
• The Bolter by Frances Osborne
• An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 by William Doyle
• Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell
• Champlain's Dream by David Hockett Fischer
• They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War by DeAnne Blanton and Lauren Cook
• The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Mark Epstein
• American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
• Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal by Laurie Notaro
• She Got Up Off the Couch, and Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
• A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
• Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and the Modern Age by Adam Gopnik
• The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq 2006-2008 by Thomas Ricks
• Death in the Long Grass by Peter Hathaway Capstick
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
• When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
• First, Do No Harm by Lisa Belkin
• Over the Edge, Death in the Grand Canyon: Gripping Accounts of All Known Fatal Mishaps in the Most Famous of the World's Seven Natural Wonders by Michael Ghiglieri and Thomas Myers

Last revised: 11/3/09 tk/al