“It’s a big universe. To stay in one tiny place is doing a disservice to yourself.” – Janelle Monáe
Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
Fiction / Suspense / Mystery.
“I could just kill you right now!” It’s something we’ve all thought at one time or another. But Ruby has actually acted on it. Three times, to be exact.
Though she may be a murderer, Ruby is not a sociopath. She is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice. She’s felt empathy and sympathy. She’s had long-lasting friendships and relationships, and has a husband, Jason, whom she adores. But the homicide detectives at Miami Beach PD are not convinced of her happy marriage. When we meet Ruby, she is in a police interrogation room, being accused of Jason’s murder. Which, ironically, is one murder that she did not commit, though her vicious mother-in-law and a scandal-obsessed public believe differently. As she undergoes questioning, Ruby’s mind races back to all the details of her life that led her to this exact moment, and to the three dead bodies in her wake. Because though she may not have killed her husband, Ruby certainly isn’t innocent.
Alternating between Ruby’s memories of her past crimes and her present-day fight to clear her name, Blood Sugar is a twisty, clever debut with an unforgettable protagonist who you can’t help but root for—an addicting mixture of sour and sweet.
Description from Goodreads.
“A unique and riveting ride… Brilliant and mesmerizing… Rothchild gives Ruby a confessional voice, an analytical mind, and a vigilante’s heart.” – Mystery & Suspense
“Mesmerizing… Rothchild does a terrific job keeping readers wondering about Simon’s reliability, and pulls off the considerable challenge of engendering sympathy for an unrepentant killer. Vivid prose is another plus… [readers] will have a hard time not devouring this standout effort in one sitting.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Ruby Simon is the kind of character who lures readers into and then through a story, eliciting our amateur psychological diagnoses, stealing our breath with her cunning, and sparking serious guilt for having rooted for her even a little bit… This whip-smart, well-constructed debut makes Rothchild a thriller writer to watch carefully.” – Booklist
A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty
Nonfiction / Economics / History / Politics / Philosophy.
It’s easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts of the world over the past two generations. No one has done more to reveal the problem than Thomas Piketty. Now, in this surprising and powerful new work, Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the centuries, he shows, we have been moving toward greater equality.
Piketty guides us with elegance and concision through the great movements that have made the modern world for better and worse: the growth of capitalism, revolutions, imperialism, slavery, wars, and the building of the welfare state. It’s a history of violence and social struggle, punctuated by regression and disaster. But through it all, Piketty shows, human societies have moved fitfully toward a more just distribution of income and assets, a reduction of racial and gender inequalities, and greater access to health care, education, and the rights of citizenship. Our rough march forward is political and ideological, an endless fight against injustice. To keep moving, Piketty argues, we need to learn and commit to what works, to institutional, legal, social, fiscal, and educational systems that can make equality a lasting reality. At the same time, we need to resist historical amnesia and the temptations of cultural separatism and intellectual compartmentalization. At stake is the quality of life for billions of people. We know we can do better, Piketty concludes. The past shows us how. The future is up to us.
Description from Goodreads.
“Marked by Piketty’s trademark lucidity, impressive multidisciplinary scholarship, and provocative progressivism, this is a vital introduction to his ideas.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“An activist’s history, part reckoning with the past and part manifesto for the future, designed to bolster the courage of those who would continue the forward march. It is an admirable undertaking… Piketty mounts an impassioned plea for a renewed and retooled commitment to equality in its various forms, laying out an ambitious blueprint for a new kind of democratic, self-managing and decentralized socialism, not least as a counter to the authoritarian, state-socialist model of China.” – Literary Review
“A Brief History of Equality is a route into Piketty’s arguments in his earlier books, with their luxuriantly extensive data and historical detail. Anybody who has not been able to face those tomes… should read this one.” – Financial Times
Dream Town by David Baldacci
Fiction / Mystery / Suspense / Historical Fiction.
It’s the eve of 1953, and Aloysius Archer is in Los Angeles to ring in the New Year with an old friend, aspiring actress Liberty Callahan, when their evening is interrupted by an acquaintance of Callahan’s: Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter in dire straits.
After a series of increasingly chilling events—mysterious phone calls, the same blue car loitering outside her house, and a bloody knife left in her sink—Eleanor fears that her life is in danger, and she wants to hire Archer to look into the matter. Archer suspects that Eleanor knows more than she’s saying, but before he can officially take on her case, a dead body turns up inside of Eleanor’s home… and Eleanor herself disappears.
Missing client or not, Archer is dead set on finding both the murderer and Eleanor. With the help of Callahan and his partner Willie Dash, he launches an investigation that will take him from mob-ridden Las Vegas to the glamorous world of Hollywood to the darkest corners of Los Angeles—a city in which beautiful faces are attached to cutthroat schemers, where the cops can be more corrupt than the criminals… and where the powerful people responsible for his client’s disappearance will kill without a moment’s hesitation if they catch Archer on their trail.
Description from Goodreads.
“In the Archer series, [Baldacci] proves to be a natural at handling the postwar setting. Baldacci’s fans should be lining up for [Dream Town].” – Booklist
“[A] welcome third outing for PI Aloysius Archer… Solid prose nicely evokes the traditional hard-boiled whodunit.” – Publishers Weekly
“Baldacci paints a vivid picture of the not-so-distant era… The 1950s weren’t the fabled good old days, but they’re fodder for gritty crime stories of high ideals and lowlifes, of longing and disappointment, and all the trouble a PI can handle. Well-done crime fiction. Baldacci nails the noir.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
End of the World House by Adrienne Celt ★
Fiction / Science Fiction / fantasy / Horror / COMEDY.
Bertie and Kate have been best friends since high school. Bertie is a semi-failed cartoonist, working for a prominent Silicon Valley tech firm. Her job depresses her, but not as much as the fact that Kate has recently decided to move from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
When Bertie’s attempts to make Kate stay fail, she suggests the next-best thing: a trip to Paris that will hopefully distract the duo from their upcoming separation. The vacation is also a sort of last hurrah, coming during a ceasefire in a series of escalating world conflicts.
One night in Paris, they meet a strange man in a bar who offers them a private tour of the Louvre. The women find themselves alone in the museum, where nothing is quite as it seems. Caught up in a day that keeps repeating itself, Bertie and Kate are eventually separated, and Bertie is faced with a mystery that threatens to derail everything. In order to make her way back to Kate, Bertie has to figure out how much control she has over her future—and her past—and how to survive an apocalypse when the world keeps refusing to end.
Description from Goodreads.
“Brilliant.” – PopSugar
“Mystery, time-travel, and love at the end of the world. What more could you want?” – Town & Country
“What do you get when you take Groundhog Day, add a dash of the apocalypse, a little French obsession, and mix in female friendship and romantic entanglement? This firecracker of a book that gets weirder and more bizarrely funny the more pages you turn.” – Good Housekeeping
“End of the World House showcases Celt’s agile and humorous prose, as well as a knack for cutting descriptions. Celt renders our surreal daydreams – or perhaps our complacent nightmares – crystal clear. This novel is so much fun.” – Chicago Review of Books
Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse ★
Fiction / Fantasy.
“There are no tides more treacherous than those of the heart.” – Teek saying
The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.
The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded?
As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth.
And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages. How will Serapio stay human when he is steeped in prophecy and surrounded by those who desire only his power? Is there a future for Naranpa in a transformed Tova without her total destruction?
Welcome back to the fantasy series of the decade in Fevered Star—book two of Between Earth and Sky.
Description from Goodreads.
“A major Native voice in genre writing, Roanhorse has crafted another stunning, politically-engaged page-turner that proves her Between Earth and Sky series is appointment reading.” – Chicago Review of Books
“The pages turn themselves. A beautifully crafted setting with complex character dynamics and layers of political intrigue? Perfection. Mark your calendars, this is the next big thing.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“A razor-sharp examination of politics, generational trauma, and the path to redemption… Roanhorse strikes a perfect balance between powerful worldbuilding and rich thematic exploration as the protagonists struggle against their fates. Fantasy fans will be wowed.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Roanhorse introduces an epic fantasy with vivid worldbuilding and exciting prose. Readers will be attracted to the story, in which there is no real right vs. wrong. Only inevitable change will draw out the heroes of this imaginative tale.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins
Fiction / Suspense / Science Fiction.
It begins in Africa…
A United Nations relief team in a small village in the Congo makes an alarming discovery. An unknown force is leveling the evolutionary playing field. Men, women, and children have been reduced to a dull, cattle-like state. The natural world surrounding them—plants and animals—have grown more cunning and predatory, evolving at an exponential pace. The insidious phenomenon is spreading across the African continent, threatening the rest of the world. But is it a natural event? Or more terrifyingly, did someone engineer it?
What has made the biosphere run amok? Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force are prepared for the extraordinary and have kept the world safe—vigilance for which they have paid a tragic personal price. Yet even these brilliant and seasoned scientific warriors do not understand what is behind this frightening development—or know how to stop it. As they race across the nation and around the globe—from Washington D.C. to the densest jungles of Africa—to find answers, the members of Sigma realize they have become prey.
To head off global catastrophe, Sigma Force risks their lives to uncover the shattering secret at the heart of a biosphere run amok—a truth that will illuminate who we are as a species and where we may be headed… sooner than we know.
Mother Nature—red in tooth and claw—is turning against humankind, plummeting the entire world into The Savage Zone.
Description from Goodreads.
“Exhilarating… Fans of Clive Cussler and Michael Crichton won’t want to miss this one.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The Sigma Force novels are muscular, dynamic action-adventures. But this doesn’t mean they skimp on character: Rollins knows just when to slow things down and let us get to know the players. He’s very good at this sort of thing, and his fans will surely be lining up for this one.” – Booklist
Loving Edie: How a Dog Afraid of Everything Taught Me to Be Brave by Meredith May
Nonfiction / Memoir / Pets.
Meredith May had a difficult childhood, with a mother who was physically present but emotionally absent. She learned early on to fend for herself, and never had to care for anyone else. When she and her wife, Jenn, adopt Edie, a sweet golden retriever puppy with saucer brown eyes and buttery white fur, Edie wins their hearts immediately. But it isn’t long after Edie joins the family that the problems begin.
Edie is an unusually anxious dog. She cowers around most people and the slightest noise sends her into a frenzy. Edie’s fears become so intense that Meredith and Jenn can’t leave the house. Is this normal puppy behavior or something more? Meredith grows determined to fix Edie, but what will she do if Edie can’t be fixed?
In this poignant and heartfelt memoir, Meredith shares her unforgettable journey with Edie, and the lessons about selflessness and unconditional love that she learns along the way. From treating Edie with CBD gummies to visiting a dog medium, Meredith shows just how far she is willing to go to save her dog. But maybe Edie is secretly the one doing the saving—if Meredith will only open her heart.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] heartfelt tale of how one incredibly anxious puppy completed a family.” – Booklist
“A delightful memoir… Loving Edie is a testament to just how far we go for those we love.” – Shondaland
“Loving Edie does something that many of my favorite memoirs do: It explores an experience that is more common than you’d think because no one talks about it… a delightful lesson in patience, self-reflection and hope.” – San Francisco Chronicle
The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe ★
Fiction / science fiction.
Whoever controls our memories controls the future.
Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts—as a means of self-conception—could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.
That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.
Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence… and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor—and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place—The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.
Description from Goodreads.
“A moving, triumphant collection… This is a knockout.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Blistering, hopeful, and richly written.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Each story in this collection is a searing but ultimately hopeful glimpse into how marginalized groups can hope and create in a world set against them. Written with a group of collaborators, including award-winning authors and sociologists, this book is reminiscent of the anti-racist and community-building themes present in N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor’s work, as well as the utopian philosophy of Ursula K. Le Guin and the dystopian technological vision of Philip K. Dick. It’s a stunning collection of stories.” – BuzzFeed
“Janelle Monáe is a creative superstar who has tackled everything from music to fashion to film. And with The Memory Librarian, she enters the literary world, proving that there’s truly nothing she can’t do… Echoes of classics like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind mix powerfully with explorations of genderqueerness, love, race, and more… True to the science fiction genre, The Memory Librarian is an assemblage of hope; liberation emerges when our memories and histories are used as educators. This one is sure to leave an impression.” – Bust
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez ★
Fiction / romance.
After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.
Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?
Description from Goodreads.
“Genuine laugh-out-loud moments.” – USA Today
“The perfect embodiment of romantic joy… This book is an emotional experience that will tick all the boxes for passionate romance fans. A must-read.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] layered, soul-stirring romance… Jimenez dexterously tackles class difference and shades her endearing side characters with as much care as her lovable leads. The result is an emotional roller coaster centered on love as a source of empowerment.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[This] flawlessly written contemporary romance is another perfectly calibrated synthesis of richly nuanced characters, blazing sexual chemistry, and sizzling wit deftly infused into an empowering story line… while also offering a subtle wink and nod to the enduring charm of Disney fairy tales.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Time Zone J by Julie Doucet
NonFiction / graphic novel / Memoir.
Time Zone J is Julie Doucet’s first inked comic since she famously quit in the nineties after an exhausting career in an industry that, at the time, made little room for women.
The year is 1989 and twenty-three-year-old Doucet is flying to France to meet with a soldier. He’s a man she only knows through their mail correspondence, a common enough reality of the zine era, when comics were mailed from cartoonist to reader and close relationships were formed. Time is not on their side—the soldier is just on furlough for a few days—but the two make the most of their visit and discuss future plans, maybe even Christmas in Doucet’s city, Montreal.
Based on diary entries from the whirlwind romance, the passion and high emotions of youth—before you know the limits of love, before you know the difference between love and lust—seep through the pages. In contrast to the tryst, Doucet draws herself today, at fifty-five.
After years of being in a crowd of men, Doucet compulsively returns to drawing, creating an alternate universe that foregrounds women. The pages of Time Zone J overflow with images pulled from past and present, faces and people that have inspired Doucet across more than three decades of creative work.
Description from Goodreads.
“Seething, exuberant… Doucet’s entire comics oeuvre [is] a lavish history lesson for those who might take today’s outpouring of feminist comics for granted.” – New York Times
“Raunchy brilliance… her open-ended treatment of female identity is still vital.” – New York Review of Books
“A trippy, semi-tragic comic that tells the story of an amour fou she shared with a troubled Parisian man in the late ’80s. Its full-bleed pages are packed with black-pen renderings of her current middle-aged self, random advertisements, observations, and doodles. Câlice, it’s good to have her back.” – Vulture
The Trouble with Happiness: And Other Stories by Tove Ditlevsen, translated by Michael Favala Goldman ★
Fiction.
A newly married woman longs, irrationally, for a silk umbrella; a husband chases away his wife’s beloved cat; a betrayed mother impulsively sacks her housekeeper. Underneath the surface of these precisely observed tales of marriage and family life in mid-century Copenhagen pulse currents of desire, violence, and despair, as women and men struggle to escape from the roles assigned to them and dream of becoming free and happy—without ever truly understanding what that might mean.
Tove Ditlevsen is one of Denmark’s most famous and beloved writers, and her autobiographical Copenhagen Trilogy was hailed as a masterpiece on re-publication in English, lauded for its wry humor, limpid prose, and powerful honesty. The poignant and understated stories in The Trouble with Happiness, written in the 1950s and 1960s and never before translated into English, offer readers a new chance to encounter the quietly devastating work of this essential twentieth-century writer.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] literary titan… [Ditlevsen’s] terse, unnerving stories peer into the fragility of relationships and the casual epiphanies that gut her characters.” – Oprah Daily
“Ditlevsen can conjure an entire world in just a few words.” – The Times
“These spare and sparkling stories summon deep wells of emotion without the slightest trace of sentimentality.” – Vogue
“Quiet and devastating… The stories are simple; the characters ordinary and immensely human. Their motivations are mysterious and subtle, and Ditlevsen is acutely sensitive to the way normal life can wear at their hearts… Already renowned for her memoirs, Ditlevsen is now poised to win acclaim as a master of short fiction.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW