“The classroom was a jail of other people’s interests. The library was open, unending, free.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates
FICTION
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett ★
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from, and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.
Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.
The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are. Filled with suspense, you may read it quickly to find out what happens, but what happens to Danny and Maeve will stay with you for a very long time.
Description from Goodreads.
“Patchett’s splendid novel is a thoughtful, compassionate exploration of obsession and forgiveness, what people acquire, keep, lose or give away, and what they leave behind.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Like the many-windowed mansion at its center, this richly furnished novel gives brilliantly clear views into the lives it contains.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Patchett is at her subtle yet shining finest in this gloriously incisive, often droll, quietly suspenseful drama of family, ambition, and home… With echoes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and in sync with Alice McDermott, Patchett gracefully choreographs surprising revelations and reunions as her characters struggle with the need to be one’s true self.” – Booklist
“In Ann Patchett’s eighth novel, The Dutch House, everyone and everything bustles with vitality. It is a story about the interminable bond between siblings and it is an absolute joy to read… moving and thoughtful—a quietly brilliant novel that has quickly become a favorite.” – Amazon Book Review
Available Formats:
Print Book | Audiobook | eBook | eAudiobook
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it’s his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked.
Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she’s destined to be.
What does it mean to lose your mother? How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never ending.
Description from Goodreads.
“A spellbinding portrait of what it means to be human in an inhuman world.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“An exceptionally voiced tale of deepest love and loss… one of [Hoffman’s] finest. WWII fiction has glutted the market, but Hoffman’s unique brand of magical realism and the beautiful, tender yet devastating way she explores her subject make this a standout.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Page by page, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, The World That We Knew presents a breathtaking, deeply emotional odyssey through the shadows of a dimming world while never failing to convince us that there is light somewhere at the end of it all. This book feels destined to become a high point in an already stellar career.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Print Book | Audiobook | eBook | eAudiobook
MYSTERY
Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Anna Waterhouse
It is 1873, and as the economies of Europe threaten to crumble, Mycroft Holmes finds himself in service to the Crown once again. A distant relative of Queen Victoria has been slain by the Fire Four Eleven killer, a serial murderer who leaves no mark upon his victims, only a mysterious calling card. Meanwhile, Sherlock has already taken it upon himself to solve the case, as his interest in the criminal mind grows into an obsession.
Mycroft begrudgingly allows Sherlock to investigate, as Ai Lin—the woman he is still in love with—needs his aid. Her fiancé has been kidnapped, and the only man who might know his fate is a ruthless arms dealer with a reputation for killing those who cross him. Mycroft persuades his friend Cyrus Douglas to help find the young man, but Douglas himself is put in harm’s way.
As Sherlock travels the country on the hunt for the Fire Four Eleven murderer, both he and Mycroft will discover that the greed of others is at the root of the evil they are trying to unearth…
Description from Goodreads.
“Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse’s third pastiche (after 2018’s Mycroft and Sherlock), their best yet, provides intriguing challenges for both Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes while continuing to present plausible backstories for the brothers… The authors do a stellar job of illuminating the siblings’ developing relationship while concocting a clever and twisty plot. Sherlockians will be enthralled.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The third Mycroft tale is another winner. The Victorian setting is well drawn, the dialog rings true, the period details, both factual and fictive, support a labyrinthine plot including race and class distinctions… Highly recommended, as are its two predecessors.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“A thoroughly entertaining mystery, with great appeal for Holmesians, in particular, and fans of Victorian mysteries, in general.” – Booklist
Available Formats:
Print Book
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates ★
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.
So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.
This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.
Description from Goodreads.
“Hiram tells a tale with many harrowing subplots—and moments of great beauty… Coates is an exceptional prose stylist… [His] depiction of the cruelty inflicted on slaves is unflinching. And with great care and insight, he shows us how Hiram and those he loves find sustenance in shared hopes and memories… Coates is among the finer nonfiction writers of his generation. This potent book about America’s most disgraceful sin establishes him as a first-rate novelist.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“[The Water Dancer] feels like a natural bridge… and the product of a lot of carefully considered passion, too. Nearly every paragraph is laced through with dense, gorgeously evocative descriptions of a vanished world and steeped in its own vivid vocabulary.” – Entertainment Weekly
“[A] jeroboam of a book, a crowd-pleasing exercise in breakneck and often occult storytelling that tonally resembles the work of Stephen King as much as it does the work of Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead and the touchstone African-American science-fiction writer Octavia Butler.” – New York Times
“Coates makes his ambitious fiction debut with this wonderful novel… In prose that sings and imagination that soars, Coates further cements himself as one of this generation’s most important writers, tackling one of America’s oldest and darkest periods with grace and inventiveness. This is bold, dazzling, and not to be missed.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook | eAudiobook
SCI-FI & FANTASY
System Failure by Joe Zieja
With the galaxy thrown into chaos by mutual breaches of the Two Hundred Years’ peace, what seemed like an isolated incident on the Thelicosa/Merida border has become an epidemic. In the midst of this chaos, the Thelicosan and Meridan fleets on their respective borders have come to a sort of tense peace after the events in Book II but now it’s clear: somebody wants war. And it’s not the Free Systems of the galaxy.
No. It’s a mom-and-pop convenience store gone galactic. It’s the purveyors of balloons and nachos and supplies for bowling lanes. It’s the company that made the droids and a large part of the technology that all of the Free Systems are using in their militaries.
It’s Snaggardirs. And they want to snag it all.
Description from Goodreads.
“…a laugh-out-loud comedy of errors… A great introduction to space opera for novices and a fun time for all.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Hoopla eAudiobook
YOUNG ADULT
Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell ★
The story is supposed to be over.
Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after…
So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?
What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light…
That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West.
They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place…
With Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell has written a book for everyone who ever wondered what happened to the Chosen One after he saved the day. And a book for everyone who was ever more curious about the second kiss than the first. It’s another helping of sour cherry scones with an absolutely decadent amount of butter.
Come on, Simon Snow. Your hero’s journey might be over – but your life has just begun.
Description from Goodreads.
Available Formats:
Print Book
Slay by Brittney Morris
By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the Black man.”
But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”
Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?
Description from Goodreads.
“Gripping and timely.” – People
“Morris’s not-to-be-missed YA debut explores gaming culture and the diversity of the African diaspora... teens and adults alike will race through every page, relating to the importance of online friends, sharing Kiera’s desire to make the world a better place, and discovering that blackness is impossible to define.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…debut author Morris does a fantastic job of showing diversity within the black community… Gamers and black activists alike will be ready to SLAY all day.” – Kirkus Reviews
Available Formats:
Print Book
NONFICTION
Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith ★
Following a run of New Year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs–including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger’s words, “Anything is possible: after all, it’s the Year of the Monkey.” For Smith–inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing–the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.
Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.
Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.
Description from Goodreads.
“Poignant, gorgeous—a picaresque voyage through Patti Smith’s dreams and life, blending fiction and reality, conjured characters and actual ones. She writes of seeing her image reflected on the surface of the toaster: ‘I noticed I looked young and old simultaneously.’ That describes her spirit perfectly.” – New York Times
“Smith began writing Year of the Monkey on New Year’s Day 2016, a transformative year for the artist that brought aging, the loss of friends, and overall disillusionment. Juxtaposed with this personal narrative are Smith’s descriptions of western landscapes she visited… Fact and fiction increasingly blur, a combination made surreal by Smith’s obsession with details that keep popping up in various locations… A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence—expressed with Smith’s signature poetic flair.” – Vogue
“Smith’s grace and erudite philosophy is a welcome balm in these times… Her latest memoir is an introspective look at her year of solo wandering—she documents that year’s massive political and social change her own lyrical way. The American canon is littered with ‘road trip memoirs,’ but if there’s a voice we’d want to add to that genre, it would be Smith.” – Town & Country
“This is the modern-day Patti Smith: older, wiser, seeing the world, and reporting it all back to us in only the way she can. You can’t read this and not feel inspired after you put it down.” – Inside Hook
Available Formats:
Print Book
High School by Tegan Quin & Sara Keirsten Quin
From the iconic musicians Tegan and Sara comes a memoir about high school, detailing their first loves and first songs in a compelling look back at their humble beginnings.
High School is the revelatory and unique coming-of-age story of Sara and Tegan Quin, identical twins from Calgary, Alberta, who grew up at the height of grunge and rave culture in the nineties, well before they became the celebrated musicians and global LGBTQ icons we know today. While grappling with their identity and sexuality, often alone, they also faced academic meltdown, their parents’ divorce, and the looming pressure of what might come after high school. Written in alternating chapters from both Tegan’s and Sara’s points of view, the book is a raw account of the drugs, alcohol, love, music, and friendship they explored in their formative years. A transcendent story of first loves and first songs, High School captures the tangle of discordant and parallel memories of two sisters who grew up in distinct ways even as they lived just down the hall from each another. This is the origin story of Tegan and Sara.
Description from Goodreads.
“Complexly intimate, smartly crafted, and packing a subtle emotional wallop… A quietly heroic origin story.” – Rolling Stone
“…adeptly captures the searing pain of being a teenager…” – Washington Post
“This inspiring memoir will appeal to readers, especially fans of the duo.” – Library Journal
Available Formats:
Print Book
Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House by Tom LoBianco
A revealing, in-depth biography of Mike Pence, the most secretive and ingratiating vice president in modern history, from a reporter with remarkable access
No journalist has covered Mike Pence for as long or as closely as Tom LoBianco. The seasoned political reporter was at the first campaign rally governor Pence held in his hometown of Columbus, Indiana. He was there when Pence returned to Washington as Donald Trump’s vice president. Drawing on his deep ties both within the Beltway and in Indiana state politics, as well as reams of research and deep access to the vice president and his staff, LoBianco offers a revealing portrait of the devout Christian who shocked many of his closest followers when he joined the campaign and became one of the strongest champions of Donald Trump. He also explores the rumors—much debated inside the Beltway and among pundits in the media—surrounding the Vice President’s ambitions to succeed and even “overthrow” Trump.
LoBianco dissects Pence’s entire political life, from his detours in the ’90s, to his rapid ascension through the first decade of the twenty-first century, to the White House, and provides an inside account of how Pence nearly crashed and burned his career while governor, only to miraculously rise from the ashes thanks to the unlikely election of Trump. He also gives a rare look inside the “shadow government” Pence has built—a conservative machine at Trump’s call for now, but one that could just as easily step in if Trump is removed from office.
Piety & Power cuts to the core of the nation’s most enigmatic politician, and unearths new, important, and fascinating anecdotes about Pence’s faith, his marriage to Karen Pence, his bizarre, obsequious relationship with Trump, his deeply buried personality, his ascent to power under John Boehner, and his presidential aspirations and plans for America’s future.
From the explosive revelations of the Russia investigation to the sea change affecting the Republican party and its direction under Trump, it is vital that Americans know more about the man who could ascend to the Oval Office. Piety & Power provides insights and answers as it sheds light on this ambitious Midwestern politician, his past, and his possible future.
Description from Goodreads.
“In his evenhanded debut book, the author… allows the facts to speak for themselves… A useful portrait of an enigmatic politician.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Like Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, [LoBianco is] good at getting people to talk… LoBianco has come up with the best detailed treatment of Pence in the context of Indiana politics.” – Indianapolis Star
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook
Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin
In America, Mother = White
That’s what Nefertiti, a single African American woman, discovered when she decided she wanted to adopt a Black baby boy out of the foster care system. Eager to finally join the motherhood ranks, Nefertiti was shocked when people started asking her why she wanted to adopt a “crack baby” or said that she would never be able to raise a Black son on her own. She realized that American society saw motherhood through a white lens, and that there would be no easy understanding or acceptance of the kind of family she hoped to build.
Motherhood So White is the story of Nefertiti’s fight to create the family she always knew she was meant to have and the story of motherhood that all American families need now. In this unflinching account of her parenting journey, Nefertiti examines the history of adoption in the African American community, faces off against stereotypes of single, Black motherhood, and confronts the reality of raising children of color in racially charged, modern-day America.
Honest, vulnerable, and uplifting, Motherhood So White reveals what Nefertiti knew all along―that the only requirement for a successful family is one raised with love.
Description from Goodreads.
“In this timely, insightful memoir, novelist Austin examines adoption and child-rearing as a single black woman confronting gender and racial bias… juxtaposing tender mother-child moments with the dangers facing African-American boys, Austin captures both the love and fear of her parenting experience in this powerful, spirited narrative.” – Publishers Weekly
“Austin challenges readers to question the ideal of motherhood as being synonymous with whiteness. Along the way, she tackles the inherent sexism, classism, and racism within the adoption system and the broader community… an essential addition to the literature about adoption, reflecting a viewpoint that is sorely lacking.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“A moving and necessary corrective to the primarily white narrative on adoption.” – Booklist
Available Formats:
Hoopla eBook | Hoopla eAudiobook
American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta by Evan Funke & Katie Perla
A comprehensive guide to making the best pasta in the world: In this debut cookbook from Evan Funke, he shares classic techniques from his Emilia-Romagna training and provides accessible instructions for making his award-winning sfoglia (sheet pasta) at home. With little more than flour, eggs, and a rolling pin, you too can be a sfoglino (a pasta maker) and create traditional Italian noodles that are perfectly paired with the right sauces.
Features recipes for home cooks to recreate 15 classic pasta shapes, spanning simple pappardelle to perfect tortelloni.
Beginning with four foundational doughs, American Sfoglino takes readers step by step through recipes for a variety of generous dishes, from essential sauces and broths, like Passata di Pomodoro (Tomato Sauce) and Brodo di Carne (Meat Broth) to luscious Tagliatelle in Bianco con Prosciutto (Tagliatelle with Bacon and Butter) and Lasagna Verde alla Bolognese (Green Bolognese Lasagna).
Includes stories from Italy and the kitchen at Felix Trattoria that add the finishing touches to this master class in pasta, while sumptuous photographs and a bold package offer a feast for the eyes.
Forget your pasta machine and indulge in the magic of being a sfoglino with the help of the rich imagery and detailed instructions provided by Evan Funke and American Sfoglino.
Description from Goodreads.
“Like any proper sfoglino – the Italian term for a person dedicated to the art of fresh pasta making – Evan Funke has mastered the craft of making fresh pasta to the point at which he can cook by his senses. Thanks to his pasta manual, written with Katie Parla, you can, too… Mr. Funke studied in Bologna, Italy, before opening Felix Trattoria in Los Angeles, and while his recipes for handmade pastas are involved, there’s no machine required. The finished dishes are mostly streamlined, in keeping with his observation that ’80 percent of Italian cooking is about getting the best ingredients.’ The rest revolves around treating them right, which you’ll do with ease thanks to his careful instruction and step-by-step photography.” – New York Times
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