“Literature can remind us that not all life is already written down: there are still so many stories to be told.” – Let the Great World Spin
FICTION
Apeirogon by Colum McCann ★
Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.
Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them and they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.
McCann crafts Apeirogon out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material. He crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate, and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our time.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] masterful novel… Balancing its dazzling intellectual breadth with moments of searing intimacy, this is a transformative vision of a historic conflict and a triumph of the novelist’s art.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A soaring, ambitious triumph… deeply nuanced and sensitive… a remarkable achievement… McCann’s latest novel may be his finest yet.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…a soaring and revelatory reading experience that is at once intimate and vast, heartbreaking and hopeful, and, yes, kaleidoscopic.” – Amazon Book Review
“McCann, who began his career as a reporter, examines with skill and empathy the characters’ private agonies as they play out against the backdrop of war; his virtuosic storytelling conjures the confounding realities of the Israeli occupation… Throughout, there’s a rich tension between the factual and the imagined, and in the way particular tribulations are part of a universal experience… Apeirogon reminds us that such incandescent art evokes humility and light in the face of oppression and loss.” – O, The Oprah Magazine
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook | eAudiobook
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore ★
Just because life may be out of order, doesn’t mean it’s broken.
It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order…
Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met?
Oona Out of Order is a remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of sequence. Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.
Description from Goodreads.
“Oona Out of Order is beautiful and heartbreaking, a novel about the nature of time and how life marches on, that you simply must read.” – PopSugar
“Witty, humorous, heartwarming. Imbued with musical and cultural influences spanning decades and reminiscent of Liane Moriarty’s What Alice Forgot and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, Oona Out of Order is a delightfully freewheeling romp.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“A smart, funny, time-hopping journey around the last four decades… Montimore’s meditation on what always changes and what never will sparkles with hope and heart, perfect for readers who love a quirky, thought-provoking tale.” – Shelf Awareness
“A compelling page-turner… Montimore delivers a rock-and-roll love letter to 1980s–90s New York City as Oona discovers her true self through a lifetime of music and pop culture. A perfect match for those who enjoy well-developed characters with a twist.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook
MYSTERY
Trouble Is What I Do by Walter Mosley
Leonid McGill’s spent a lifetime building up his reputation in the New York investigative scene. His seemingly infallible instinct and inside knowledge of the crime world make him the ideal man to help when Phillip Worry comes knocking.
Phillip “Catfish” Worry is a 92-year-old Mississippi bluesman who needs Leonid’s help with a simple task: deliver a letter revealing the black lineage of a wealthy heiress and her corrupt father. Unsurprisingly, the opportunity to do a simple favor while shocking the prevailing elite is too much for Leonid to resist.
But when a famed and feared assassin puts a hit on Catfish, Leonid has no choice but to confront the ghost of his own felonious past. Working to protect his client and his own family, Leonid must reach the heiress on the eve of her wedding before her powerful father kills those who hold their family’s secret.
Joined by a team of young and tough aspiring investigators, Leonid must gain the trust of wary socialites, outsmart vengeful thugs, and, above all, serve the truth — no matter the cost.
Description from Goodreads.
“Spieled in a powerful, streamlined voice, this wrenching American noir will stick with readers long after the final page.” – Booklist
“This gifted raconteur of the African American experience has produced an absorbing noir beauty of a tale.” – Washington Post
“[Mosley] wanders through a few underworlds of the New York City crime category, always a treat for readers, and one that packs a moral punch. Mosley is, quite simply, an icon of detective fiction, and with each new novel in the McGill series he’s making New York noir his own just as he did with Los Angeles.” – LitHub
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook
Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little
Marissa Dahl, a shy but successful film editor, travels to a small island off the coast of Delaware to work with the legendary–and legendarily demanding–director Tony Rees on a feature film with a familiar logline.
Some girl dies.
It’s not much to go on, but the specifics don’t concern Marissa. Whatever the script is, her job is the same. She’ll spend her days in the editing room, doing what she does best: turning pictures into stories.
But she soon discovers that on this set, nothing is as it’s supposed to be–or as it seems. There are rumors of accidents and indiscretions, of burgeoning scandals and perilous schemes. Half the crew has been fired. The other half wants to quit. Even the actors have figured out something is wrong. And no one seems to know what happened to the editor she was hired to replace.
Then she meets the intrepid and incorrigible teenage girls who are determined to solve the real-life murder that is the movie’s central subject, and before long, Marissa is drawn into the investigation herself.
The only problem is, the killer may still be on the loose. And he might not be finished.
A wickedly funny exploration of our cultural addiction to tales of murder and mayhem and a thrilling, behind-the-scenes whodunit, Pretty as a Picture is a captivating page-turner from one of the most distinctive voices in crime fiction.
Description from Goodreads.
“Both a captivating thriller and a snarkily funny send-up of Hollywood pretensions, the book glories in movie references — film fans will be especially rewarded.” – Seattle Times
“Murder and mayhem plague a film set on a secluded island… Readers fascinated with the behind-the-scenes machinations of a movie set will be enthralled, plus there’s a frisson of romantic tension… A quirky and distinctive heroine headlines this fun and fast-paced thriller loaded with cinematic flourishes.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] smart, cinematically steeped page-turner… Little scores with the achingly vulnerable Marissa, whose specific set of skills enables her to see the big picture before anyone else. Psychological thriller fans will be well satisfied.” – Publishers Weekly
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook
Firewatching by Russ Thomas
When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he’d gone on the run from his creditors. But then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright’s burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive.
As the sole representative of South Yorkshire’s Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but he knows this is the case that might finally kick start his floundering career. Luckily, he already has a suspect. Unluckily, that suspect is Cartwright’s son, the man Tyler slept with the night before.
Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force. Soon their investigation will come up against close-lipped townsfolk, an elderly woman with dementia who’s receiving mysterious threats referencing a past she can’t remember, and an escalating series of conflagrations set by a troubled soul intent on watching the world burn…
Description from Goodreads.
“[An] excellent debut… This stunning police procedural marks Thomas as an author to watch.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] gritty first novel… Tyler and Rabbani make an intriguing team, and Thomas shows a flair for vivid imagery in this twisty, very dark procedural.” – Booklist
“The richness of Tyler’s character and the vividness of his negotiation of his own sexuality and the casual bigotry in his community are effective. The subsidiary characters are lively and believable, the arsons are particularly well described… This is a rewarding entertainment. A good detective in an incendiary procedural.” – Kirkus Reviews
Available Formats:
Print Book
The King’s Justice by Susan Elia MacNeal
London. December, 1942. As the Russian army repels German forces from Stalingrad, Maggie Hope, secret agent and spy, takes a break from the Special Operations Executive division to defuse bombs in London. But Maggie herself is like an explosion waiting to happen. Shaken by a recent case, she finds herself living more dangerously–taking more risks than usual, smoking again, drinking gin and riding a motorcycle–and the last thing she wants is to get entangled in another crime. But when she’s called upon to look into a stolen Stradivarius, one of the finest violins ever made, Maggie finds the case too alluring to resist.
Meanwhile, there’s a serial killer on the loose in London and Maggie’s skills are in demand. Little does she know that in the process of investigating this dangerous predator, she will come face to face with a new sort of evil… and discover a link between the precious violin and the murders no one could ever have expected.
Description from Goodreads.
“Irresistibly readable and brilliantly crafted, this is a story both historical mystery and fiction fans will adore.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Vivid descriptions of devastated London and distinctive, emotionally flawed characters enhance a plot that builds to a wicked twist. This enjoyable effort will inspire those new to MacNeal to seek out earlier entries.” – Publishers Weekly
“Action-packed, intertwined mysteries featuring an introspective heroine and packed with little-known historical details.” – Kirkus Reviews
Available Formats:
eBook
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Lost Diary of M by Paul Wolfe
She was a longtime lover of JFK.
She was the ex-wife of a CIA chief.
She was the sister-in-law of the Washington Post’s Ben Bradlee.
She believed in mind expansion and took LSD with Timothy Leary.
She was a painter, a socialite and a Bohemian in Georgetown during the Cold War.
And she ended up dead in an unsolved murder a year after JFK’s assassination.
The diary she kept was never found.
Until now…
Description from Goodreads.
“Wolfe gives poignant and poetic voice to… a free spirit and early feminist. What could easily have been salacious fluff capitalizing on JFK’s sexual proclivities is, instead, a compassionate and intricate portrait of a woman’s psyche. By placing Meyer at the nexus of one of the twentieth century’s definitive eras, Wolfe’s inspired study of a cryptic woman is credible and haunting.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“The author deftly simulates a complicated woman’s diary, creating a document that feels entirely authentic… the author includes interesting political and historical details in the entries, shedding light on a woman with a front seat to American history.” – Kirkus Reviews
“This imagined diary of Mary Pinchot Meyer, socialite and lover of JFK, simmers with intrigue and sensuality, painting in vivid colors both the magnificence and dark underbelly of Camelot.” – Newsweek
Available Formats:
Print Book
YOUNG ADULT
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold
You are alone in the woods, seen only by the unblinking yellow moon. Your hands are empty. You are nearly naked.
And the wolf is angry.
Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old, Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle. She’s kept mostly to herself. She’s been good. But then comes the night of homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks. Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the woods—frightened, but not alone.
Description from Goodreads.
“In the wake of her Printz Honor–winning Damsel, Arnold blazes a new and equally powerful trail through toxic masculinity. Read, shed your pelt, and be transformed—for blades are being sharpened.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“It’s unsettling how seamlessly Arnold incorporates dark fantasy elements of beastly wolves and cunning hunters into her all-too-realistic tale. A fantastic novel in the #MeToo era, empowering women to share their stories by reaching out, speaking up, and demanding a change.” – School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Arnold uses an intriguing blend of magic realism, lyrical prose, and imagery that evokes intimate physical and emotional aspects of young womanhood. A timely and unabashedly feminist twist on a classic fairy tale.” – Kirkus Reviews
Available Formats:
Print Book
The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow
Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.
Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.
Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.
Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.
Description from Goodreads.
“Dow paints a moving picture of two young people’s defiance and the power of song and story to combat despair.” – Publishers Weekly
“There is much to enjoy in this story featuring a complex black teen: Ellie is bright, resourceful, and coping with issues with body image and anxiety. Morris and his family are intriguing. The depiction of the world has many similarities to today’s society, and the overlay of speculative aspects fits seamlessly. A promising debut that begs for a sequel.” – Kirkus Reviews
“This debut has it all: music, books, aliens, adventure, resistance, queerness, and a bold heroine tying it all together.” – Ms. Magazine
Available Formats:
Hoopla eAudiobook
NONFICTION
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson ★
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
Description from Goodreads.
“There are countless books about World War II, but there’s only one Erik Larson. . . . There are many things to admire about The Splendid and the Vile, but chief among them is Larson’s electric writing. The book reads like a novel, and even though everyone (hopefully) knows how the war ultimately ended, he keeps the reader turning the pages with his gripping prose.” – NPR
“I have an early copy of this book on my desk and idly began reading the first pages—and suddenly time disappeared.” – The Seattle Times
“An enthralling page-turner.” – O, The Oprah Magazine
“What Larson brilliantly provides are the finer details of the effects on England as he focuses on the family and home of its dynamic, idiosyncratic, and indefatigable leader… Larson’s skill at integrating vast research and talent for capturing compelling human dramas culminate in an inspirational portrait of one of history’s finest, most fearless leaders.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Print Book | eBook | eAudiobook
The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President by Jill Wine-Banks
It was a time, much like today, when Americans feared for the future of their democracy, and women stood up for equal treatment. At the crossroads of the Watergate scandal and the women’s movement was a young lawyer named Jill Wine Volner (as she was then known), barely thirty years old and the only woman on the team that prosecuted the highest-ranking White House officials. Called “the mini-skirted lawyer” by the press, she fought to receive the respect accorded her male counterparts—and prevailed.
In The Watergate Girl, Jill Wine-Banks opens a window on this troubled time in American history. It is impossible to read about the crimes of Richard Nixon and the people around him without drawing parallels to today’s headlines. The book is also the story of a young woman who sought to make her professional mark while trapped in a failing marriage, buffeted by sexist preconceptions, and harboring secrets of her own. Her house was burgled, her phones were tapped, and even her office garbage was rifled through.
At once a cautionary tale and an inspiration for those who believe in the power of justice and the rule of law, The Watergate Girl is a revelation about our country, our politics, and who we are as a society.
Description from Goodreads.
“A timely reminder of a notorious scandal that resulted in a president’s impeachment… An absorbing debut memoir… [and] a penetrating, firsthand view of history.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Sprightly and engrossing… Wine-Banks reveals tantalizing behind-the-scenes details that bring that pivotal time in the nation’s history back to life and relevancy… A captivating and candid look back on a storied career.” – Booklist
“Riding the crest of the #MeToo movement, Wine-Banks describes the mostly workaday sexism she encountered on the job… The book’s fast-moving narrative and crisp prose should hook readers.” – Boston Globe
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