“One can never have too many librarian friends.” – Jennifer Chiaverini, The Wedding Quilt
The Age of Grievance by Frank Bruni
nonfiction / politics / sociology.
The twists and turns of American politics are unpredictable, but the tone is a troubling given. It’s one of grievance. More and more Americans are convinced that they’re losing because somebody else is winning. More and more tally their slights, measure their misfortune, and assign particular people responsibility for it. The blame game has become the country’s most popular sport and victimhood its most fashionable garb.
Grievance needn’t be bad. It has done enormous good. The United States is a nation born of grievance, and across the nearly two hundred and fifty years of our existence as a country, grievance has been the engine of morally urgent change. But what happens when all sorts of grievances—the greater ones, the lesser ones, the authentic, the invented—are jumbled together? When people take their grievances to lengths that they didn’t before? A violent mob storms the US Capitol, rejecting the results of a presidential election. Conspiracy theories flourish. Fox News knowingly peddles lies in the service of profit. College students chase away speakers, and college administrators dismiss instructors for dissenting from progressive orthodoxy. Benign words are branded hurtful; benign gestures are deemed hostile. And there’s a potentially devastating erosion of the civility, common ground, and compromise necessary for our democracy to survive.
How did we get here? What does it say about us, and where does it leave us? The Age of Grievance examines these critical questions and charts a path forward.
“Whether from left or right, Bruni calls for a dose of humility on the part of all… A welcome call to grow up and cut out the whining.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] lucid, powerful examination of the ways in which grievance has come to define our current culture and politics, on both the right and left.” – Panio Gianopoulos, Next Big Idea Club
“[The] book is at its best when it is most evenhanded, expressing a curse-on-both-your-houses despair. There’s plenty of culpability to go around, and the poisoning of national politics with mutual loathing and grudge-bearing needn’t be a contest.” – Lionel Shriver, New York Times
Bite by Bite: Nourishments & Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil ★
nonfiction / memoir / food.
In Bite by Bite, poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil explores the way food and drink evoke our associations and remembrances—a subtext or layering, a flavor tinged with joy, shame, exuberance, grief, desire, or nostalgia.
Nezhukmatathil restores our astonishment and wonder about food through her encounters with a range of foods and food traditions. From shave ice to lumpia, mangoes to pecans, rambutan to vanilla, she investigates how food marks our experiences and identities and explores the boundaries between heritage and memory.
Bite by Bite offers a rich and textured kaleidoscope of vignettes and visions into the world of food and nature, drawn together by intimate and humorous personal reflections, with Fumi Nakamura’s gorgeous imagery and illustration.
“Lyrical essays about food? I’ll have seconds.” – Literary Hub
“Nezhukumatathil’s background as a poet is obvious throughout. Her writing is lyrical (some essays include poems), and her brevity shows her skill in word choice and description.” – Bettina Makalintal, Eater
“This whimsical and soothing work will appeal to fans of food writing, memoirs, intercultural stories, and poetry.” – Jessica S. Levy, Booklist
“These essays are not just meditations on mouthwatering mastications of exotic fruits and savory favorites, but joyous and generous glimpses into the genius of a spirit that embraces the ascendance of the everyday into the sublime.” – Emily Liner, Indie Next
The Complete Book of Pickleball: The Ultimate Training Guide for Passionate Players of All Levels by Kurt Brungardt, Matt Brungardt, & Brett Brungardt
nonfiction / sports / pickleball.
Easy to learn and fun to play, pickleball is also a surprisingly athletic sport. In this user-friendly book, fitness superstars, the Brungardt brothers, focus their expertise on the needs of pickleball players of all levels, applying the same innovative training methods they’ve used with NBA MVPs, Cy Young Award-winners, and Olympic and tennis champions, to make picklers more athletic and injury-resistant.
To safely reach your pickleball potential, health and fitness professionals agree that the sport should not be your only form of exercise. To fill this critical gap, the Brungardts have created PB-150, a comprehensive program that delivers all the components of an elite pro training center experience—with the fun and flexibility of the pickleball spirit.
The Complete Book of Pickleball brings together a dream team of experts in the fields of strength and conditioning, sports movement, sports vision, physical therapy, sports psychology, athletic training, performance nutrition, and sports medicine. Along with the Brungardts, these experts will coach you through an interactive, easy-to-follow, holistic workout that includes:
- Prehab exercises to help you avoid injuries and play pain-free
- Dynamic warm-ups to prep you to play at a high level
- Strength Training to increase your power output
- Drills to improve balance, coordination, agility, and quickness
- Sports Vision Training to boost reaction time
- Mental techniques to enhance your game and create resilience
- Performance nutrition to fuel, recover, and rebuild
Combining your passion for the game with the PB-150 training program gives you a portal into all the transformative benefits of exercise, while allowing you to enjoy the game you love, for a lifetime.
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson ★
nonfiction / history / biography.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.
“…twisty and cinematic… a mesmerizing and disconcerting look at an era when consensus dissolved into deadly polarization.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Even diehard Civil War aficionados will learn from Larson’s look at the six months between Lincoln’s 1860 election and the surrender of Union troops under Maj. Robert Anderson at Charleston’s Ft. Sumter… A riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult.” – Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times
“Larson deftly blends swift and vivid writing with in-depth research in primary sources, bringing alive people who are now less-known than Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis but key to shaping events… Compelling details, fresh perspectives, and lively writing make this a standout view of the antebellum and Civil War eras.” – John Rowen, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…Larson’s account of the political crisis that led to the first shots being fired in Charleston Harbor reads like a thriller and positively drips with tension… not just a saga of hubris, heartbreak, and heroism, as the subtitle suggests, but a sobering and timely cautionary tale. ” – Sally Lee, Columbia Magazine
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
fiction / mystery / comedy / romance.
All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series—is that too much to ask?
Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life—the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with ten years ago and now can’t get out of her life—Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.
Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker—and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly—theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts, and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books.
“[An] amusing, light read that invites the reader to gather the clues and solve the crime before Eleanor reveals the answer.” – Alejandra Santana, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“This series debut is sure to delight fans of traditional mysteries as well as those who prefer a good CWC (cozy with corpses)… Perfect for fans of The Magpie Murders; the Finlay Donovan series; and Only Murders in the Building.” – Brian Kenney, First Clue
“…Eleanor’s first-person narration is a delight, chock-full of amusing asides (often in footnotes) that wryly examine the craft of mystery writing and business of publishing. A sequel would be welcome.” – Publishers Weekly
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
fiction / historical fiction.
The Funeral Cryer long ago accepted the mundane realities of her life: avoided by fellow villagers because of the stigma attached to her job and underappreciated by her husband, whose fecklessness has pushed the couple close to the brink of breakup. But just when things couldn’t be bleaker, she takes a leap of faith—and in so doing, things start to take a surprising turn for the better.
Dark, moving and wry, The Funeral Cryer is both an illuminating depiction of a “left behind” society—and proof that it’s never too late to change your life.
“The title character’s wry, sad, and insightful inner voice is the star here. Her meditations on grief, death, love, and duty are full of poetry and longing. Perfect for literary-fiction fans, especially those who enjoyed other extraordinary novels about ordinary people, such as Lydia Millet’s Dinosaurs and Zorrie by Laird Hunt.” – Lynnanne Peason, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…dark, poignant, and subtly humorous… conveys the timeless message that it’s never too late to embrace change and seek a more fulfilling life all the while effectively conveying the societal pressures faced by women in such a community.” – Emma Pei Yin, Aniko Press
“[A] subtle and understated examination of social expectations in rural China… Lu’s world is deeply convincing, and her character’s situation is often painfully laid out on the page. But that just leads to a deeper emotional resonance with the funeral cryer, making it ultimately very moving.” – Doug Johnstone, Big Issue
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
fiction / historical fiction.
1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild destroyed French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.
1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.
Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change.
“Charles packs Jessie’s story with emotion… Bibliophiles are in for a treat.” – Publishers Weekly
“The author’s fictionalized depiction of historical figure Jessie Carson sensitively imagines her motivations and explores the concepts of grief and trauma, resulting in an inspiring novel that celebrates resiliency, community, and connection.” – Mel Bruecks, Booklist
“A compelling remembrance of real librarians who could very easily have been lost to history. Readers who like historical novels with strong women characters will enjoy.” – Lucinda Ward, Library Journal
The Museum of Lost Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini
fiction.
Summer Sullivan, the youngest founding member of Elm Creek Quilts, has spent the last two years pursuing a master’s degree in history at the University of Chicago. Her unexpected return home to the celebrated quilter’s retreat is met with delight but also concern from her mother, Gwen; her best friend, Sarah; master quilter Sylvia; and her other colleagues—and rightly so. Stymied by writer’s block, Summer hasn’t finished her thesis, and she can’t graduate until she does.
Elm Creek Manor offers respite while Summer struggles to meet her extended deadline. She finds welcome distraction in organizing an exhibit of antique quilts as a fundraiser to renovate Union Hall, the 1863 Greek Revival headquarters of the Waterford Historical Society. But Summer’s research uncovers startling facts about Waterford’s past, prompting unsettling questions about racism, economic injustice, and political corruption within their community, past and present.
As Summer’s work progresses, quilt lovers and history buffs praise the growing collection, but affronted local leaders demand that she remove all references to Waterford’s troubled history. As controversy threatens the exhibit’s success, Summer fears that her pursuit of the truth might cost the Waterford Historical Society their last chance to save Union Hall. Her only hope is to rally the quilting community to her cause.
The Museum of Lost Quilts is a warm and deeply moving story about the power of collective memory. With every fascinating quilt she studies, Summer finds her passion for history renewed—and discovers a promising new future for herself.
“Chiaverini’s twenty-second Elm Creek Quilts novel is like a strong cup of tea—cozy yet hard-hitting—and will appeal to current fans and new readers alike.” – LynnDee Wathen, Booklist
Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends by Benny Blanco with Jess Damuck
nonfiction / food / cooking.
Hi, I’m benny blanco. I’m in a television show with my best friend Dave and I probably produced most of the songs you have heard on the radio from 2008 until now. When I was thirteen, my friend got a George Foreman Grill and it changed my life forever. We would invite friends over, get stoned, and make the most elaborate sandwiches our prepubescent minds could fathom. I became obsessed with food and cooking for friends.
I know what you are going to say, and I get it. Cooking is scary. But I promise you, once you get into it, it will be your new addiction. Slicing an onion is like taking a Xanax to me. I made this cookbook to teach you everything I know about food, cooking, and throwing the greatest dinner party of all time. There are the basics to get your kitchen ready, a little advice from my expert friends, then all of the dinner party menus I love to make, like:
- 5 Dishes to Get You Laid and One for the Morning After
- I Wish I Were an Italian Grandma
- Take Me to the Cheesy Rodeo
- F*ck Morton’s Steakhouse
Which are filled with insane recipes like:
- Lose Your Mind Lobster Rolls
- “I Might Go Vegetarian” Veggie Sandwich
- Chicken Cutlets with Honey, Peppers, and Parm
- “I Hope We Didn’t Make a Baby” Breakfast Burrito.
I’ve been told some of the finest stories over meals. I’ve laughed so hard I thought I was going to actually die. I’ve fallen in love—sometimes with the food, sometimes with the person across the table. I’ve cried in good ways, and I’ve cried in bad ways. I hope you’ve been lucky enough to have all these same memories and then some. But if you haven’t, I can make you a promise. If you follow these three simple steps, it will all become a reality: Open this book. Open your heart. And open wide, baby.
“[A] testament to kinship built on great food and even better dinner parties.” – Mika Yassur, Cultured
“Gen Z superstar benny blanco does it all, but what he really loves is food — and feeding his friends. This is a cookbook you want, whether you’re just starting out in the kitchen, or looking to up your skills.” – Isabelle McConville, Barnes & Noble
Real Americans by Rachel Khong ★
fiction.
Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn’t be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.
In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can’t shake the sense she’s hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers.
In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.
Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made? And if we are made, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?
“…unforgettable… Vibrant, tender and one to pass onto a friend.” – Charley Burlock, Oprah Daily
“Bold, thoughtful, and delicate at once, addressing life’s biggest questions through artfully crafted scenes and characters.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…imaginative and expansive, yet intimate… Real Americans is a profound, riveting, and loving journey of betrayal and forgiveness, of words left unsaid, that will provide rich food for thought for book clubs and independent readers alike.” – Jaclyn Fulwood, Shelf Awareness
“[An] ambitious, spacious book… I was entirely entranced by this book from the start, and I talked about it endlessly to anyone who would listen when I finished. I’d like to announce that this will be the buzzy book of the season (it should be, anyway!), and you don’t want to miss out.” – Jana Pollack, theSkimm
Silk: A World History by Aarathi Prasad
nonfiction / history / science / nature.
Throughout history, across cultures and countries, silk has reigned as the undeniable queen of fabrics, yet its origins and evolution remain a mystery. In a gorgeous and sweeping narrative, Silk weaves together its intricate story and the indelible mark it has left on humanity.
Some four thousand years ago, the cultivation of silkworms began, the practice spreading to the far reaches of civilization. With it came a growing obsession with unlocking silk’s secrets to understand how the strongest biological material ever known could be harnessed.
Explorers and scientists, including groundbreaking women who pushed the boundaries of societal expectations, dedicated—even sacrificed—their lives to investigate the anatomy of silk-producing animals. They endured unbelievable hardships to discover and collect new specimens, leading them to the moths of China, Indonesia, and India; the spiders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Madagascar; and the mollusks of the Mediterranean.
Rich with the complex connections between human and nonhuman worlds, Silk not only peers into the past but also reveals the fiber’s impact today, inspiring new technologies across the fashion, military, and medical fields, and shows its untapped potential to pioneer a more sustainable future.
The culmination of author and biologist Aarathi Prasad’s own lifelong passion and grounded in years of research and writing, Silk is an intoxicating read that provides an essential illumination of nature’s most glamourous thread.
“Biologist and writer Aarathi Prasad unwinds tangled threads to weave one arc… Fascinating facts abound.” – Maddie Bender, Scientific American
“A colorful, wholly absorbing narrative tapestry.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] illuminating history… Thanks to her elegant prose, the book’s deeply informed scientific explanations are charming and accessible. Readers will revel in this exquisite deep dive.” – Publishers Weekly
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby
nonfiction / biography / history / dance.
At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company—the Dance Theatre of Harlem, a troupe of women and men who became each other’s chosen family. She was the first Black company ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star; she was cast in The Wiz and in a Bob Fosse production on Broadway. She performed in some of ballet’s most iconic works with other trailblazing ballerinas, including the young women who became her closest friends—founding Dance Theatre of Harlem members Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan, as well as first-generation dancers Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells.
These Swans of Harlem performed for the Queen of England, Mick Jagger, and Stevie Wonder, on the same bill as Josephine Baker, at the White House, and beyond. But decades later there was almost no record of their groundbreaking history to be found. Out of a sisterhood that had grown even deeper with the years, these Swans joined forces again—to share their story with the world.
Captivating, rich in vivid detail and character, and steeped in the glamour and grit of professional ballet, The Swans of Harlem is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of both their historic careers and the sustaining, grounding power of female friendship, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long.
“[A] captivating corrective to an often-whitewashed history.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“For those who love Hidden Figures and are interested in dance and culture…Captivating, rich in vivid detail and character, and steeped in the glamor and grit of professional ballet, The Swans of Harlem is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of their historic careers, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long.” – Leean Vargas, Texas Lifestyle Magazine
“Swans burns with the dancers’ distinct sense of urgency and purpose… Valby provides an absorbing glimpse into this world through vivid details of the women’s lives as artists, wives, mothers, friends and Black women. More than a chronicle of dance history, the book is a testament to the enduring power of sisterhood and female friendships, especially in the face of discrimination and exclusion… The book also works to set the record straight, ensuring the women take their rightful place in history.” – Ms.
An Unfinished Murder by Jude Deveraux
fiction / mystery / romance.
Retired romance novelist Sara Medlar has been comfortably sharing her large home with her niece Kate and her “honorary grandson” Jack. It’s a convenient arrangement given the Medlar Three, as they’ve become known, are often working closely together to solve mysteries in their small town of Lachlan, Florida. But when real estate agent Kate announces she’s been given the listing for the town’s storied Lachlan House, it sets off alarm bells for Sara and Jack. The infamous house has a dark history, one that’s certain to haunt them all.
With little memory of her childhood, Kate doesn’t understand what the fuss is about—until the trio visits the house and makes a grim discovery. Flooded by memories of the past, Kate realizes she spent time there as a child. But stumbling upon a skeleton dressed in a rotting tuxedo—a murder victim with connections to her father—causes Kate to wonder if the childhood she can’t remember might be one she’d rather forget.
As Sara, Kate and Jack delve deeper into the dead man’s history, they learn he was last seen at a party held at Lachlan House in the late nineties—a swanky soiree attended by his many enemies. With more than one motive in play, every partygoer is a suspect, and Sara is determined to find the culprit, even if it means digging up past secrets she’s worked hard to keep buried.
“The plot line is genius and vintage Jude Deveraux…” – Sandra Wurman, Fresh Fiction
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