“Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say I’ll take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again.” – Sigrid Nunez, The Friend
FICTION
What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez ★
A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with her guests, a stranger who seeks help comforting his elderly mother, a friend of her youth now hospitalized with terminal cancer. In each of these people the woman finds a common need: the urge to talk about themselves and to have an audience to their experiences. The narrator orchestrates this chorus of voices for the most part as a passive listener, until one of them makes an extraordinary request, drawing her into an intense and transformative experience of her own. In What Are You Going Through, Nunez brings wisdom, humor, and insight to a novel about human connection and the changing nature of relationships in our times. A surprising story about empathy and the unusual ways one person can help another through hardship, her book offers a moving and provocative portrait of the way we live now.
Description from Goodreads.
“Richly interiorized… With both compassion and joy, Nunez contemplates how we survive life’s certain suffering, and don’t, with words and one another.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Short, sharp, and quietly brutal… spare and elegant and immediate… [What Are You Going Through] is concerned with the biggest possible questions and confronts them so bluntly it is sometimes jarring: How should we live in the face of so much suffering? Dryly funny and deeply tender.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Sigrid Nunez orchestrates a beautiful chorus of humanness here, and the novel asks a question we might all be thinking in these distant times: What does it mean to really be there for someone in times of hardship?” – Literary Hub
“Much as in Rachel Cusk’s recent work, the narrator is a conduit and sounding board for the stories of others… Deeply empathetic without being sentimental, this novel explores women’s lives, their choices, and how they support one another… Highly recommended for readers who favor emotional resonance over escapism during difficult times.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
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Monogamy by Sue Miller ★
Graham and Annie have been married for nearly thirty years. A golden couple, their seemingly effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. Graham is a bookseller, a big, gregarious man with large appetites—curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer. She is about to have her first gallery show after a six-year lull and is worried that the best years of her career may be behind her. They have two adult children; Lucas, Graham’s son with his first wife, Frieda, works in New York. Annie and Graham’s daughter, Sarah, lives in San Francisco. Though Frieda is an integral part of this far-flung, loving family, Annie feels confident in the knowledge that she is Graham’s last and greatest love. When Graham suddenly dies—this man whose enormous presence has seemed to dominate their lives together—Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him? Then, while she is still mourning him intensely, she discovers that Graham had been unfaithful to her; and she spirals into darkness, wondering if she ever truly knew the man who loved her.
Description from Goodreads.
“A robust, character-driven examination of the inner workings of a lengthy marriage… The novel is grounded by vibrant prose, vividly portrayed secondary characters, and the resiliency of everlasting love… A spectacular, powerful return.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Miller’s skill at depicting the intricacies of marriage, parenting, and domestic life, the atmosphere of the independent bookstore, and the pleasures of flowers, wine, and food (a craving for split pea soup with ham and dill, served with ‘a loaf of dark rye [from] Formaggio,’ lingers still) makes this book charming and inviting in a way that is somewhat at odds with its sorrowful impetus. A thoughtful and realistic portrait of those golden people who seem to have such enviable lives.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] sophisticated, melancholy novel about an American family that some would call dysfunctional, others awkwardly recognizable and sympathetic… such private sorrows occur no matter what else is going on. A salute to Sue Miller for diving into the domestic dramas that play out in many an American family.” – Star Tribune
“…unbelievably good… If this is not Miller’s best novel, it is surely among her very best.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
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Anxious People by Fredrik Backman ★
This is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths. As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] witty, lighthearted romp… Backman charms.” – Publishers Weekly
“A deeply funny and warm examination of how individual experiences can bring a random group of people together. Backman reveals each character’s many imperfections with tremendous empathy, reminding us that people are always more than the sum of their flaws.” – BookPage
“[A] tight-knit, surprise-filled narrative… the brisk, absorbing action prompts meditation on marriage, parenting, responsibility, and global economic pressures. Comedy, drama, mystery, and social study, this novel is undefinable except for the sheer reading pleasure it delivers. Highly recommended.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Backman’s latest novel focuses on how a shared event can change the course of multiple people’s lives even in times of deep and ongoing anxiousness. A story with both comedy and heartbreak sure to please Backman fans.” – Kirkus Reviews
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The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh
What would you do if you knew your life’s potential? That’s the question facing the residents of Deerfield, Louisiana, when the DNAMIX machine appears in their local grocery store. It’s nothing to look at, really–it resembles a plain photo booth. But its promise is amazing: With just a quick swab of your cheek and two dollars, the device claims to use the science of DNA to tell you your life’s potential. With enough credibility to make the townspeople curious, soon the former teachers, nurses, and shopkeepers of Deerfield are abruptly changing course to pursue their destinies as magicians, cowboys, and athletes–including the novel’s main characters, Douglas Hubbard and his wife, Cherilyn, who both believed they were perfectly happy until they realized they could dream for more…
Written with linguistic grace and a sense of wonder, The Big Door Prize sparkles with keen observations about what it might mean to stay true to oneself while honoring the bonds of marriage, friendship, and community, and how the glimmer of possibility can pull these bonds apart, bring them back together, and make second chances possible, even under the strangest of circumstances.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] surprising and heartwarming contemporary drama about looking back and looking forward… readers of this singular, nuanced story will, quite possibly and without a machine as prompt, undertake their own personal reflection.” – Shelf Awareness
“Walsh skirts the edge of fantasy in this playful and touching tale… The novel transcends its quirky premise, offering many insights on the mysteries of the human heart.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“It’s hard to believe that Walsh wrote this moving novel long before the COVID-19 pandemic, for there is eerie prescience in its soulful message that gratitude and grace are not to be taken for granted and that life can be upended in an instant.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
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The Best Part of Us by Sally Cole-Misch
Beth cherished her childhood summers on a pristine northern Canadian lake, where she reveled in the sweet smell of dew on early morning hikes, the loons’ evening trills across the lake’s many bays, every brush stroke of her brother’s paintings celebrating their cherished place, and their grandfather’s laughter as he welcomed neighbors to their annual Welsh harvest celebration. Theirs was an unshakeable bond with nature, family, and friends, renewed every summer on their island of granite and pines.
But that bond was threatened and then torn apart, first as rights to their island were questioned and then by nature itself, and the family was forced to leave. Fourteen years later, Beth has created a new life in urban Chicago. There, she’s erected a solid barrier between the past and present, no matter how much it costs―until her grandfather asks her to return to the island to determine its fate. Will she choose to preserve who she has become, or risk everything to discover if what was lost still remains?
The Best Part of Us will immerse readers in a breathtaking natural world, a fresh perspective on loyalty, and an exquisite ode to the essential roles that family, nature, and place hold in all of our lives.
Description from Goodreads.
“The novel… honors the natural world with dazzling imagery… A dramatic, rewarding story about a woman reconnecting with family, nature, and herself.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Sally Cole-Misch’s novel is a lush and lovely homage to the natural places where her protagonist grew up… The plot spanning past and present kept me enthralled and engaged throughout my reading of this exceptionally good book. The Best Part of Us is most highly recommended.” – Readers’ Favorite
“The Best Part of Us is a captivating celebration of nature that pushes us to consider our connections to the Earth… Her words paint the Earth as our ultimate refuge, a source of strength to draw from and live intimately within… Each character is multi-layered and built beautifully to show how variable the human relationships to the environment can be.” – Michigan Daily
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MYSTERY
One By One by Ruth Ware ★
Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers… and you can’t trust any of them?
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
Description from Goodreads.
“Read this back to back with Christie’s And Then There Were None, and you will witness the evolution of a literary form over the space of eight decades as Ware proves she’s more than deserving of all those comparisons to the Queen of Crime.” – BookPage
“Ware’s gifts for characterization, plot, and pacing shine here… Ware’s fans will devour this in a sitting.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Hilarious, well plotted, and vintage Ware, this one is not to be missed.” – CrimeReads
“Ware does what she does best: Gives us a familiar locked-door mystery setup and lets the tension and suspicion marinate until they reach fever pitch. Another win for Ware… Simply masterful.” – Kirkus Reviews
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Shadows in Death by J.D. Robb
As it often did since he’d married a cop, murder interrupted more pleasant activities. Then again, Roarke supposed, the woman lying in a pool of her own blood a few steps inside the arch in Washington Square Park had a heftier complaint.
When a night out at the theatre is interrupted by the murder of a young woman in Washington Square Park, it seems like an ordinary case for Detective Eve Dallas and her team. But when Roarke spots a shadow from his past in the crowd, Eve realises that this case is far from business as usual.
Eve has two complex cases on her hands – the shocking murder of this wealthy young mother and tracking down the shadow before he can strike again, this time much closer to home. Eve is well used to being the hunter, but how will she cope when the tables are turned? As Eve and the team follow leads to Roarke’s hometown in Ireland, the race is on to stop the shadow making his next move…
Description from Goodreads.
“Excellent… Robb’s many fans will be enthralled.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] thrill ride that you won’t want to put down.” – Red Carpet Crash
“Another adrenaline-fueled thriller that never loses its capacity to enthrall.” – Booklist
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Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney
When Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn’t there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture?
And although what Clemmie finds is a work of art, what the police find is a body… in a place where Clemmie wasn’t supposed to be, and where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly, the bland, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] solid mystery.” – Publishers Weekly
“A good fat traditional mystery of about 300 pages, with spicy insight, and a perfect distraction from the stresses beyond the doors. Take the passenger seat with this remarkable lady under fire.” – Kingdom Books
“A fine mystery.” – Booklist
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SUSPENSE
Once Two Sisters by Sarah Warburton
When her sister goes missing, Zoe assumes it’s just another one of her estranged sibling’s stunts–but the danger is all too real.
Zoe Hallett and her sister, Ava, are the precocious offspring of two pioneering scientists, but the sisters have been estranged for years. When Zoe reads a news story about Ava’s mysterious disappearance, she assumes it’s just another of her sister’s twisted fictions, designed to blame Zoe and destroy the peaceful life she’s created with her husband and beautiful stepdaughter in Houston. But Zoe’s email is hacked to send threatening messages to Ava–and a more sinister picture begins to emerge.
Zoe returns to her home state of Virginia to prove her innocence to the authorities, to her parents, and to Glenn, her ex-boyfriend and current brother-in-law. For the first time, Zoe begins to believe Ava is in grave danger, and when Glenn catches her searching for clues in Ava’s home, she looks guiltier than ever–but maybe Glenn is not all he seems.
The clues Zoe finds point to a bizarre link between Ava’s disappearance and her mother’s “research”. Is there a secret someone is trying to protect? And would someone be willing to kill to protect it? As her sister’s life hangs in the balance, Zoe draws on hidden reserves of strength and hope to save the sister she never thought she loved.
Description from Goodreads.
“A breathless energy imbues the strong plot… Warburton delves deep into the psychological underpinnings of her believable characters in this highly entertaining domestic thriller. Readers will eagerly anticipate her next.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Besides enjoying the juicy premise and the edgy thrills, you’ll feel much more relaxed about your own family reunion.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…grounds itself in the complex nature of sisterhood.” – Popsugar
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HORROR
That Time of Year by Marie NDiaye
Herman’s wife and child are nowhere to be found, and the weather in the village, perfectly agreeable just days earlier, has taken a sudden turn for the worse. Tourist season is over. It’s time for the vacationing Parisians, Herman and his family included, to abandon their rural getaways and return to normal life. But where has Herman’s family gone? Concerned, he sets out into the oppressive rain and cold for news of their whereabouts. The community he encounters, however, has become alien, practically unrecognizable, and his urgent inquiry, placed in the care of local officials, quickly recedes into the background, shuffled into a deck of labyrinthine bureaucracy and local custom. As time passes, Herman, wittingly and not, becomes one with a society defined by communal surveillance, strange traditions, ghostly apparitions, and a hospitality that verges on mania.
A literary horror story about power and assimilation, That Time of Year marks NDiaye once again as a contemporary master of the psychological novel. Working in the spirit of Leonora Carrington and Karen Russell, NDiaye’s novel is a nightmarish vision of otherness, privilege, and social amnesia, told with potent clarity and a heady dose of the weird.
Description from Goodreads.
“Utterly compelling in tone, plot, and style… this gorgeously eerie book will keep you holding your breath even past the end.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
”Superb… a biting, brilliant exposé on class and privilege, entitlement and hypocrisy, power and control.” – Shelf Awareness
“Marie NDiaye is so intelligent, so composed, so good, that any description of her work feels like an understatement.” – New York Review of Books
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NONFICTION
Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine ★
As everyday white supremacy becomes increasingly vocalized with no clear answers at hand, how best might we approach one another? Claudia Rankine, without telling us what to do, urges us to begin the discussions that might open pathways through this divisive and stuck moment in American history.
Just Us is an invitation to discover what it takes to stay in the room together, even and especially in breaching the silence, guilt, and violence that follow direct addresses of whiteness. Rankine’s questions disrupt the false comfort of our culture’s liminal and private spaces–the airport, the theater, the dinner party, the voting booth–where neutrality and politeness live on the surface of differing commitments, beliefs, and prejudices as our public and private lives intersect.
This brilliant arrangement of essays, poems, and images includes the voices and rebuttals of others: white men in first class responding to, and with, their white male privilege; a friend’s explanation of her infuriating behavior at a play; and women confronting the political currency of dying their hair blond, all running alongside fact-checked notes and commentary that complements Rankine’s own text, complicating notions of authority and who gets the last word.
Sometimes wry, often vulnerable, and always prescient, Just Us is Rankine’s most intimate work, less interested in being right than in being true, being together.
Description from Goodreads.
“[Claudia Rankine] is one of our foremost thinkers, and Just Us is essential reading in 2020 and beyond.” – BookPage
“In this genre-defying work, [Claudia Rankine], as she did so effectively in Citizen, combines poetry, essay, visuals, scholarship, analysis, invective, and argument into a passionate and persuasive case about many of the complex mechanics of race in this country… Rankine writes with disarming intimacy and searing honesty… A work that should move, challenge, and transform every reader who encounters it.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Rankine presents another arresting blend of essays and images, perfectly attuned to this long-overdue moment of racial reckoning… [Analyzing] the overwhelming power of whiteness in everyday interaction… Rankine once again opens a literary window into the Black experience, for those willing to look in.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Rankine seeks to find a space beyond white defensiveness and guilt where meaningful discussions can take place… A must-read to add to the conversation on racism, antiracism, and white fragility.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Print Book [Link Forthcoming]
Eat a Peach: A Memoir by David Chang & Gabe Ulla ★
In 2004, David Chang opened a noodle restaurant named Momofuku in Manhattan’s East Village, not expecting the business to survive its first year. In 2018, he was the owner and chef of his own restaurant empire, with 15 locations from New York to Australia, the star of his own hit Netflix show and podcast, was named one of the most influential people of the 21st century and had a following of over 1.2 million. In this inspiring, honest and heartfelt memoir, Chang shares the extraordinary story of his culinary coming-of-age.
Growing up in Virginia, the son of Korean immigrant parents, Chang struggled with feelings of abandonment, isolation and loneliness throughout his childhood. After failing to find a job after graduating, he convinced his father to loan him money to open a restaurant. Momofuku’s unpretentious air and great-tasting simple staples – ramen bowls and pork buns – earned it rave reviews, culinary awards and before long, Chang had a cult following.
Momofuku’s popularity continued to grow with Chang opening new locations across the U.S. and beyond. In 2009, his Ko restaurant received two Michelin stars and Chang went on to open Milk Bar, Momofuku’s bakery. By 2012, he had become a restaurant mogul with the opening of the Momofuku building in Toronto, encompassing three restaurants and a bar.
Chang’s love of food and cooking remained a constant in his life, despite the adversities he had to overcome. Over the course of his career, the chef struggled with suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety. He shied away from praise and begged not to be given awards. In Eat a Peach, Chang opens up about his feelings of paranoia, self-confidence and pulls back the curtain on his struggles, failures and learned lessons. Deeply personal, honest and humble, Chang’s story is one of passion and tenacity, against the odds.
Description from Goodreads.
“In the book’s most heartfelt section, Chang rhapsodizes about the egalitarian Asian dining ethos he wanted to import to the West and even allows himself a rare pat on the back for his influence (‘Food across the country had become porkier, spicier, brighter, better’). Foodies and chefs alike will dig into Chang’s searing memoir.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“With humor, pathos and heaping spoonsful of self-deprecation, Mr. Chang covers the ins and outs, the fires and floods, that come with running a restaurant.” – Wall Street Journal
“An entertaining, admirably candid self-assessment of life in the foodie fast lane.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…affecting… In vulnerable and honest terms, Chang puts these experiences into the context of his life and career, delving into the chaos of working in a kitchen and outlining his rise to cooking stardom.” – TIME
Available Formats:
Print Book [Link Forthcoming]
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil ★
From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction–a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us.
As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted–no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape–she was able to turn to our world’s fierce and funny creatures for guidance.
“What the peacock can do,” she tells us, “is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life.” The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world’s gifts.
Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.
Description from Goodreads.
“Nezhukumatathil’s investigations, enhanced by Nakamura’s vividly rendered full-color illustrations, range across the world, from a rapturous rendering of monsoon season in her father’s native India to her formative years in Iowa, Kansas, and Arizona, where she learned from the native flora and fauna that it was common to be different… The writing dazzles with the marvel of being fully alive.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s shimmering essay collection about fantastic creatures and plants, World of Wonders, is shot through with memories of her peripatetic life and observations about race, motherhood, and environmental issues… [It’s] a bibliophilic and visual delight that dazzles the senses, much like Nezhukumatathil’s beloved comb jellies. Her entrancing essays are a reminder to spend more time outdoors wondering at and cherishing this ‘magnificent and wondrous planet.'” – Foreword Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Reading World of Wonders, it’s clear that Nezhukumtathil is a poet. These essays sing with joy and longing―each focusing on a different natural wonder, all connected by the thread of Nezhukumtathil’s curiosity and her identification with the world’s beautiful oddities… It’s a heartwarming, poignant, and often funny collection, enlivened by Fumi Nakamura’s dreamy illustrations.” – BuzzFeed
“Should the wonderful David Attenborough ever retire, my hope is someone at BBC has read the work of Aimee Nezhukumatathil… What a lovely book this is, gentle in its pacing, well-illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, and quietly subversive in the way she channels its gusts of joy.” – Literary Hub
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The Writer’s Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager
Twenty-three of today’s living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from “American’s Librarian” Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all.
Before Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Jonathan Lethem became revered authors, they were readers. In this ebullient book, America’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted-playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America’s most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark.
Illustrated with beautiful line drawings, The Writer’s Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today’s favorite authors—the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America’s literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is. A love letter to books and a celebration of wordsmiths, The Writer’s Library is a treasure for anyone who has been moved by the written word.
The authors in The Writer’s Library are: Russell Banks, TC Boyle, Michael Chabon, Susan Choi, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Louise Erdrich, Richard Ford, Laurie Frankel, Andrew Sean Greer, Jane Hirshfield, Siri Hustvedt, Charles Johnson, Laila Lalami, Jonathan Lethem, Donna Tartt, Madeline Miller, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Luis Alberto Urrea, Vendela Vida, Ayelet Waldman, Maaza Mengiste, & Amor Towles.
Description from Goodreads.
“Pearl and Schwager bring boundless enthusiasm and curiosity to this eclectic and probing book of interviews. The 22 authors represented are a varied and never boring cohort… Readers of this delightful compendium will relish the chance to find many of those shared loves, as well as discover new ones.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The nearly two dozen literary conversations gathered here are at once substantial and effervescent—magnetic qualities attributable to the focus on what writers read and the expertise and passion of the two interlocutors, renowned librarian and book champion Pearl and playwright, producer, and journalist Schwager. Complete with lists of titles from each writer’s inner library, this is a zestfully elucidating and inspiring portal onto the lives and thoughts of truly exceptional writers.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“A spirited collection offering intimate insights into the writing life.” – Kirkus Reviews
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JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War era. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had ascended the ranks of Boston’s labyrinthine political machine, Kennedy was bred for government, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president ever cemented his status as one of the most mythologized political figures in American history. And yet, in the decades since his untimely death, hagiographic portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have made our 35th president more mysterious than ever–a problem further exacerbated by the fact that no genuinely comprehensive account of his life has yet been attempted.
Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall has spent seven years searching for the “real” JFK. The result of this prodigious effort is a sweeping two-volume biography that, for the first time, properly contextualizes Kennedy amidst the roiling American Century. Beginning with the three generations of Kennedy men and women who transformed the clan from working-class Irish immigrants to members of Boston’s political elite, Volume One spans the first thirty-nine years of JFK’s life, from sickly second son to restless Harvard undergraduate and World War II hero, through his ascendance on Capitol Hill and, finally, his decision to run for president.
In chronicling Kennedy’s extraordinary life and times, Logevall offers the clearest portrait we have of an iconic, yet still elusive, American president.
Description from Goodreads.
“I hope [the] second volume will follow soon and that it will be as massive as this one… When told in unprecedented detail by Logevall, it is bound to be enthralling.” – The Guardian
“Highly revealing, particularly for post-Camelot readers who wonder at the esteem in which JFK is held.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…sweeping… Logevall writes vividly of the hothouse Kennedy family culture, but also widens his lens to take in the forces of war, politics, and television that shaped JFK’s worldview and career. This richly detailed portrait sometimes feels romanticized in its evocations of Kennedy’s charisma, but Logevall helpfully reminds readers of the considerable substance beneath the glamour. Political history buffs will be enthralled.” – Publishers Weekly
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Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms by Jaime Schmidt
Supermaker is a guide to business and career development by Jaime Schmidt: acclaimed entrepreneur, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, and icon of the Maker Movement.
In Supermaker, she shares how you too can start or grow your own business with advice on branding, product development, social media marketing, scaling, PR, and customer engagement, all based on her own hard-won mastery.
In just seven years, Jaime Schmidt went from making natural products in her Portland, Oregon, kitchen to turning her brand into a household name and selling her company to Unilever—without sacrificing the integrity of her product or her creative vision.
• Readers learn how to get ahead on their own terms and while maintaining their commitment to fair and sustainable principles.
• A valuable resource to the ever-growing community of business owners and entrepreneurs who want to go from maker to magnate.
• Candid advice from an industry disruptor.
Following her growth from farmers’ market stand to international brand, Jaime’s book is a riveting mix of inspiration, the honest airing of mistakes, and indispensable instruction.
Supermaker empowers and unites the next generation of entrepreneurs.
• A go-to guide for the passion-to-profit journey.
• The perfect read for aspiring entrepreneurs, makers, creatives, and anyone with an interest in natural products, selling your products online, retail strategy, and digital marketing.
• Great for anyone who enjoyed Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie, Craft, Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco, and The Girls’ Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur by Caitlin Friedman.
Description from Goodreads.
“[Schmidt] intersperses her very personal, very readable story of making it with hard-won knowledge captured in sidebars: how to work your booth, taking feedback seriously, what’s in a name, and determining when to turn hobbies into business, among other topics… An easy read, with lessons to remember.” – Booklist
“If you have an idea, follow Schmidt’s playbook.” – Forbes
“[A] behind-the-scenes look at Schmidt’s business strategies, designed to inspire and advise entrepreneurs hoping to follow a similar path to startup success.” – Entrepreneur
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