“Destroying things is much easier than making them.” – Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
Abundance by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
nonfiction / politics / economics / sociology.
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades—because we haven’t been building enough.
Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next generation’s problems. Rules and regulations designed to solve the problems of the 1970s often prevent urban-density and green-energy projects that would help solve the problems of the 2020s. Laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions have made it too difficult for government to act consequentially. In the last few decades, our capacity to see problems has sharpened while our ability to solve them has diminished.
Progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and preserves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel.
“…very smart and eminently useful. Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…ambitious… a fair-minded book [that] recognizes some of the trade-offs that come with redesigning government for dynamism.” – Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker
“Klein and Thompson’s vision for more effective government is something like an anti-DOGE: They imagine a future United States where careful and informed elected officials find ways to strip back the barriers to effective policy and allow the government to invest efficiently in underdeveloped pockets of society… For Klein and Thompson, abundance means a government that is capable of building things, capable of innovation, and capable of implementation at scale.” – Julian E. Zelizer, The New Republic
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones ★
fiction / horror / historical fiction.
A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
“…as much an autopsy of institutionalized treachery as a demonization of its tragic and terrifying ‘villain.’ A weirdly satisfying and bloody reckoning with some of America’s most shameful history.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] chilling tale… Based on gruesome and true events, Jones blends history and horror in a haunting story of vengeance and survival.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Bestseller Jones astonishes in this ingenious, weird western reimagining of the vampire tale… a remarkably well-wrought work of historical horror that will captivate Jones’s fans and newcomers alike.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A riveting story of heartbreak, death, and revenge, this remarkable work of American fiction, a thought-provoking tale filled with existential terror, unease, and a high body count, transforms, in Jones’ deft hands, from the unapologetic horror novel it most certainly is into a critique of the entire idea of the United States—a critique that, despite the horrors, both real and supernatural, is forcefully infused with both heart and hope.” – Becky Spratford, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Early Thirties by Josh Duboff
fiction.
Sometimes friendship can be its own love story.
Victor and Zoey are getting old, well old-er, and it’s beginning to be a real problem.
Best friends for a decade, they have seen each other through bad dates and office drama, late nights and hungover brunches, during their years together in New York City.
As their wild twenties come to a close, though, the dynamic between the two is shifting. Coming off a tough breakup, Victor dedicates his energies toward building a career writing celebrity profiles for one of the last glossy magazines left, while Zoey navigates the terrain at her nascent fashion startup, questioning her future with her fiancé. The friends and acquaintances in their orbit—authors, influencers, “It girls”—are also searching for a sense of belonging, amidst anxieties and self-doubt.
But when tragedy befalls Victor, his once unbreakable bond with Zoey really starts to crack. They find themselves ignoring their ongoing text thread and pushing away what might be the most meaningful relationship of their lives. An immersive, hilarious, and heartbreaking story, this is a debut novel about best friendship, finding yourself, and realizing growing up has as much to do with the person you were as it does with the person you are desperately trying to become.
“Duboff, in his debut, adroitly captures how, despite achieving what they thought they wanted in certain aspects of their lives, both Victor and Zoey feel there is an indefinable more missing… [for some readers] it will feel like seeing reflections of themselves in these characters. A good fit for people who enjoyed Good Material by Dolly Alderton.” – Halle Carlson, Booklist
“[This] book felt completely original, I whipped through it, and it’s stuck with me far longer than most. The story so precisely depicts a microcosm of striving New York-y internet-y people who are obsessed with their own personal dramas that feel crisis-level to them, yet completely trivial to others in their lives. At times, it was like having a mirror held up to me in a way that wasn’t totally comfortable.” – Book Enthusiast
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green ★
nonfiction / science / health / history.
Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.
In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.
In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.
“This highly readable call to action could not be more timely.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…enlightening… Green skillfully sparks readers’ curiosity within the first pages… a thought-provoking work…” – Lissa Buffi, School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“[Does] a wonderful job of tracing the history of TB, and its ongoing impact on people even today… [Green is] breathing new life into TB and global health advocacy, and we need it now, more than ever before.” – Madhukar Pai, Forbes
“[An] important book… Insightful and extremely well and clearly written, Everything Is Tuberculosis makes what might be inaccessible accessible. In the end, Green says that his book exists only because he met Henry, and readers will be so grateful he did.” – Michael Cart, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
The Fifteen: Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Navi POWs in America by William Geroux
nonfiction / history / true crime.
The American government was faced with an unprecedented challenge: where to house the nearly 400,000 German prisoners of war plucked from the battlefield and shipped across the Atlantic. On orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Department of War hastily built hundreds of POW camps in the United States. Today, traces of those camps—which once dotted the landscape from Maine to California—have all but vanished. Forgotten, too, is the grisly series of killings that took place within them: Nazi power games playing out in the heart of the United States.
Protected by the Geneva Convention, German POWs were well-fed and housed. Many worked on American farms, and a few would even go on to marry farmers’ daughters. Ardent Nazis in the camps, however, took a dim view of fellow Germans who befriended their captors.
Soon, the killings began. In camp after camp, Nazis attacked fellow Germans they deemed disloyal. Fifteen were sentenced to death by secret U.S. military tribunals for acts of murder. In response, German authorities condemned fifteen American POWs to the same fate, and, in the waning days of the war, Germany proposed an audacious trade: fifteen German lives for fifteen American lives.
Drawing on extensive research, journalist and author William Geroux shines a spotlight on this story of murder and high-stakes diplomacy, and on the fifteen American lives that hung in the balance—from a fearless P-51 Mustang fighter pilot to a hot-tempered lieutenant colonel nicknamed “King Kong.”
Propulsive and vividly rendered, The Fifteen reminds us that what happens to soldiers after they exit the battlefield can be just as harrowing as what they experience on it.
“A compelling exploration of the experiences of prisoners of war in WWII.” – Rebekah Kati, Booklist
“[An] exhilarating history… a riveting, whirlwind look at a little-known episode of WWII.” – Publishers Weekly
“A sparsely known chapter of WWII history told with exhaustive research and attention to detail. With a cast of characters as intriguing as the history itself, there’s something here for nearly every reader.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
Four Red Sweaters: Powerful True Stories of Women and the Holocaust by Lucy Adlington
nonfiction / history / biography.
Jock Heidenstein, Anita Lasker, Chana Zumerkorn, and Regina Feldman all faced the Holocaust in different ways. While they did not know each other—in fact had never met—each had a red sweater that would play a major part in their lives. In this absorbing and deeply moving account, award-winning clothes historian Lucy Adlington documents their stories, knitting together the experiences that fragmented their families and their lives.
Adlington immortalizes these young women whose resilience, skills, strength, and kindness accompanied them through the darkest events in human history. A powerful reminder of the suffering they endured and a celebration of courage, love, and tenacity, this moving and original work illuminates moments long lost to history, now pieced back together by a simple garment.
“A stirring account of survival as told through clothing.” – Rebekah Kati, Booklist
“…moving… Novelistic and wrenching, this serves as a poignant testament to the unconquerability of the human spirit.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth
fiction / horror / mystery / suspense.
Olivia Becente was never supposed to have the gift. The ability to commune with the dead was the specialty of her sister, Naiche. But when Naiche dies unexpectedly and under strange circumstances, somehow Olivia suddenly can’t stop seeing and hearing from spirits.
A few years later, she’s the most in-demand paranormal investigator in Denver. She’s good at her job, but the loss of Naiche haunts her. That’s when she hears from the Brown Palace, a landmark Denver hotel. The owner can’t explain it, but every few years, a girl is found dead in room 904, no matter what room she checked into the night before. As Olivia tries to understand these disturbing deaths, the past and the present collide as Olivia’s investigation forces her to confront a mysterious and possibly dangerous cult, a vindictive journalist, betrayal by her friends, and shocking revelations about her sister’s secret life.
The Haunting of Room 904 is a paranormal thriller that is as edgy as it is heartfelt and simmers with intensity and longing. Erika T. Wurth lives up to her reputation as “a gritty new punkish outsider voice in American horror.”
“[A] wonderful, wholly inventive new horror novel… a simmering, sinister, and transportive journey through a kaleidoscopic, metaphysical and memorial world.” – Olivia Rutigliano, CrimeReads
“A scary but sensitive story that never loses its compassion for real-life horrors.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Readers will eagerly follow Olivia’s investigation, getting to know her diverse and endearing friends, as this harrowing story twists and turns, winding its way from past atrocities right up to the present.” – Becky Spratford, Booklist
Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
fiction / comedy.
Joannie hadn’t been on a date in seven years when Johnny invites Joannie and her daughter to dinner. His house is beautiful, his son is sweet, and their first kiss is, well, it’s not the best, but Joannie could convince herself it was nice enough. But when Joannie’s childhood crush, a summer-camp fling turned famous billionaire, crash-lands his hot-air balloon in Johnny’s swimming pool, Joannie dives in.
Soon she finds herself alighting on a lost weekend with Johnny the bad kisser, Jonathan the billionaire, and Julia, his smart, stunning wife. Does Joannie want Jonathan? Does Julia want her husband? Or Joannie? Or Joannie’s beautiful little girl? Does Johnny want Julia? Does Jonathan want Joannie, or Julia, or maybe, his much younger personal assistant, Vivian, who is tasked to fix it all? A tale of lust and money and lust for money, Hot Air is as astonishing as it is blisteringly funny, a delirious, delicious story for our billionaire era.
“Dermansky’s slim volume packs a punch. It’s full of gimlet-eyed observations about privilege, desire, and satisfaction (or lack thereof). Call this tale daring and wise.” – Kristine Huntley, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“A new Dermansky novel is like a holiday declared out of the blue… You might find yourself trying to put this book down so it won’t be over too soon. And when it is, you might start it all over again to see how the heck she did it. Has any writer made so much happen in just over 200 pages?” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Known for her direct style and evocative storytelling, [Dermansky’s] exceptional as a sharp satirist. This arch, edgy comedy is no exception… Hot Air is a romp that fixes you in place with outrageous humor that matches the characters’ unbelievable behavior… Dermansky is at the top of her game: an iconoclastic writer whose deadpan delivery and spartan writing succeed because of her confidence. Her jokes land without an excess of development or explanation — much like her characters’ actions.” – Lauren LeBlanc, Boston Globe
I’ll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan by Giaae Kwon
nonfiction / essays / memoir / music.
I’ll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan is a smart, poignant, constantly surprising essay collection that considers the collision between stratospherically popular music and our inescapably personal selves. Giaae Kwon delves into the global impact of K-pop artists, from H.O.T. to Taeyeon to IU to Suga of BTS, and reveals how each illuminated and shaped her own life.
In using intimate experiences to examine larger cultural topics, this singular work breaks new ground in its consideration of K-pop. Written from the perspective of a bilingual and bicultural Korean American, I’ll Love You Forever blends the critical with the personal. Kwon interweaves profiles of different K-pop idols with ruminations on various aspects of Korean culture, from the country’s attitude toward plastic surgery and female sexuality to its obsession with academia. Combining insightful critique and adoring analysis, I’ll Love You Forever provides readers with a fuller picture of a culturally and socially complex industry and the machine and heart behind its popularity. Above all, Kwon offers up the passion of a superfan, finding joy in K-pop along the way.
“…enjoyable… A fun, colorful memoir of a global phenomenon.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Intensely compelling, courageous, joyful, and illuminating… this is truly razor-sharp cultural criticism that will give readers a more profound understanding of Korean history. The book combines a musicologist’s researched, nuanced detail with the broad, big-picture analysis of a cultural historian.” – Emily Dziuban, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“This perceptive debut from food writer Kwon folds piercing examinations of fandom and Korean pop culture into a candid self-portrait… This entertaining blend of criticism and personal history will captivate even those who’ve never pressed play on a K-pop track.” – Publishers Weekly
Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War by Michael Vorenberg
nonfiction / history / biography.
We set out on the James River, March 25, 1865, aboard the paddle steamboat River Queen. President Lincoln is on his way to General Grant’s headquarters at City Point, Virginia, and he’s decided he won’t return to Washington until he’s witnessed, or perhaps even orchestrated, the end of the Civil War. Now, it turns out, more than a century and a half later, historians are still searching for that end.
Was it April 9, at Appomattox, as conventional wisdom holds, where Lee surrendered to Grant in Wilmer McLean’s parlor? Or was it ten weeks afterward, in Galveston, where a federal commander proclaimed Juneteenth the end of slavery? Or perhaps in August of 1866, when President Andrew Johnson simply declared “the insurrection is at an end”? That the answer was elusive was baffling even to a historian of the stature of Michael Vorenberg, whose work served as a key source of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Vorenberg was inspired to write this groundbreaking book, finding its title in the peace Lincoln hoped for but could not make before his assassination. A peace that required not one but many endings, as Vorenberg reveals in these pages, the most important of which came well more than a year after Lincoln’s untimely death.
To say how a war ends is to suggest how it should be remembered, and Vorenberg’s search is not just for the Civil War’s endpoint but for its true nature and legacy, so essential to the American identity. It’s also a quest, in our age of “forever wars,” to understand whether the United States’s interminable conflicts of the current era have a precedent in the Civil War—and whether, in a sense, wars ever end at all, or merely wax and wane.
“A brilliant work and a vital contribution to the canon.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Expert analysis and eloquent prose make this a must-read for U.S. history buffs.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Vorenberg tells this story deftly, managing a number of related narratives involving dozens of people in the years when the Lost Cause myth had not yet become the dominant Civil War and Reconstruction story. This fine book ably challenges many untested assumptions about the Civil War.” – Kirk Johnson, Booklist
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
fiction / historical fiction.
Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train’s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.
From an author whose “writing is superb alchemy” (Audrey Niffenegger, New York Times bestselling author), The Paris Express is an evocative masterpiece that effortlessly captures the politics, glamour, chaos, and speed that marked the end of the 19th century.
“…Donoghue establishes an intricate web of human relationships as the narrative speeds toward an unexpected yet plausible finale… Readers ought to jump on board.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Donoghue’s particular forte lies in showing how confined circumstances shape interactions. Her characterization is a marvel as she dexterously illustrates people’s outward appearances and innermost desires. In her hands, the novel’s long-ago setting becomes an exciting place buzzing with fresh life and technological ideas on the cusp of a new century, even as the shocking derailment takes place.” – Sarah Johnson, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“All aboard Emma Donoghue’s latest, a taut story centered on a real-life tragedy. Delving deep into the psyche of an anarchist and holding a mirror to society’s structures of class and race, this is a captivating read.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
Passing Through a Prairie Country by Dennis E. Staples
fiction / horror.
For decades, a dark force has terrorized the Languille Lake reservation. Spoken of only in whispers as “the sandman,” he lurks in the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino, the reservation’s main attraction and source of revenue, leeching its patrons’ dreams and preventing the ghosts that linger there from moving on. Fleeing a breakup, Marion Lafournier, a midtwenties Ojibwe, seeks solace in the slot machine’s siren song. Here he falls afoul of the sandman, an encounter he barely escapes through the timely intervention of his cousins Alana and Cherie, who both work at the casino and are intimately aware of the sandman’s power. Meanwhile, Glenn Nielan, recently out of the closet and an aspiring documentarian, hopes to capture the faces of the Ojibwe land while experiencing the casino’s thrills. But he will learn that all who choose to play the sandman’s games are in danger of falling into his grasp.
Marion and Alana are members of the Bullhead clan, a family with ties to a sacred past and a fierce determination to ensure their future. Alana, with her sevenfire sight, is the only person to fully understand the danger the sandman poses. Aware of Marion’s occasional ability to navigate the spirit world, she enlists his aid in defeating this wraith. But the power and reach of the sandman go far beyond Alana’s worst fears. Soon she and Marion find themselves in a battle for their lives and for the souls of the reservation’s residents, both the living and the dead.
“Ojibwe writer Dennis E. Staples’ blend of suspense, comedy and thrills is perfect for fans of Reservation Dogs and Stephen Graham Jones.” – Lizz Schumer, People
“The sense of timelessness and multiple points of view add to the novel’s chaotic suspense, giving readers the impression they’re trapped in an episode of Twin Peaks. This is a quick and unique read sure to appeal to thriller fans who also enjoy gothic horror.” – Elizabeth Resier, Booklist
“Staples shines in his exploration of Native American folklore… particularly as Marion discovers his calling and Alana hones her ability to see the spirit world. At its best, the novel illuminates how a community attempts to cope with ancestral trauma. This is worth a look.” – Publishers Weekly
Serial Killer Support Group by Saratoga Schaefer
fiction / suspense / mystery / horror.
When Cyra Griffin’s younger sister is murdered by a serial killer, Cyra knows better than to expect justice from the hands of the police department. With the investigation already dying its own slow death, Cyra follows the blood trail and finds her own way forward.
Using insider information (don’t ask), Cyra infiltrates a support group for serial killers by pretending to be one herself in the hopes of finding the person who ended her sister’s life. Proving herself to them comes at a cost, but it’s one Cyra is willing to pay in the name of revenge.
But the dangerous men in the group aren’t the only obstacle in Cyra’s path for vengeance, and the further Cyra descends into the deadly world of serial killers, the harder it becomes to hold on to her own humanity.
This dark, witty debut novel is a cunning homage to women’s wrongs that will have you wondering exactly how many monsters walk unseen among us.
“[A] fun, twisty, dark psychological novel… Fans of the TV show Dexter will love this one.” – Red Carpet Crash
“…twisted and unexpected… set[s] itself apart from others in the genre with an intricate plot, shocking twists and an ending that I didn’t see coming… a gripping tale that lures you in with its bizarre premise and keeps you hooked with its unexpected twists.” – Justin Soderberg, Capes & Tights
“Readers will quickly turn pages to see where the complex plot leads them. The surprising conclusion is both a testament to female strength and a warning about the consequences of revenge. Those who enjoy dark stories with strong female protagonists are in for a treat.” – Barbara Bibel, Booklist
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett ★
fiction / comedy.
Cherry Hendricks might be down on her luck, but she can write the book on what makes something funny: she’s a professional clown who creates raucous, zany fun at gigs all over Orlando. Between her clowning and her shifts at an aquarium store for extra cash, she’s always hustling. Not to mention balancing her judgmental mother, her messy love life, and her equally messy community of fellow performers.
Things start looking up when Cherry meets Margot the Magnificent—a much older lesbian magician—who seems to have worked out the lines between art, business, and life, and has a slick, successful career to prove it. With Margot’s mentorship and industry connections, Cherry is sure to take her art to the next level. Plus, Margot is sexy as hell. It’s not long before Cherry must decide how much she’s willing to risk for Margot and for her own explosive new act—and what kind of clown she wants to be under her suit.
Equal parts bravado, tenderness, and humor, and bursting with misfits, magicians, musicians, and mimes, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One is a masterpiece of comedic fiction that asks big questions about art and performance, friendship and community, and the importance of timing in jokes and in life.
“…Arnett’s latest will have you hooked from its hilariously disastrous opening pages.” – Sarah Stiefvater, PureWow
“Wild, luxurious and absurd… a novel in which Arnett’s craft and her comedy are on full and feral display.” – Annie Berke, Washington Post
“…irresistible… Despite, or perhaps due to, its absurdity and bittersweet undertones, Cherry’s story makes a powerful case for pursuing one’s art authentically and fearlessly. It’s a riot.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“As Cherry struggles to be a true artist and find love, Arnett’s prose perfectly blends the tragedy and humor of life, leaving readers alternately gut-punched with grief and bursting with laughter.” – Eric A. Ponce, BookPage
The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry
fiction / historical fiction / mystery / romance.
In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beautiful mother.
By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.
Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.
“An enchanting tale about the power of storytelling, complex family mythologies, language and love, Patti Callahan Henry’s latest can’t be missed.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“…captivating… Henry imbues her story with lush descriptions of the landscape and intriguing linguistic puzzles as Clara attempts to decipher Bronwyn’s dictionary of the invented language that was central to her work. Readers will be riveted.” – Publishers Weekly
“[A] delightful read, with well-defined characters. Patti Callahan Henry is a master storyteller exploring themes from love and loss to personal transformation.” – Jeff Walker, Charleston
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins ★
fiction / young adult / fantasy / science fiction / suspense.
As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight… and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
“Nostalgic, heartbreaking and adventurous…” – Syameen Salehaldin, Harper’s Bazaar
“…Sunrise on the Reaping is a reminder that regardless of the records of history, we may not always have the full picture… in a rather blunt – yet effective – manner, it’s as if Collins is asking us to reflect on how much we really know of our history, and how much power we have in ensuring that our current truths have a place in the future.” – Dhanika Pineda, NPR
“[A] propulsive, heart-wrenching addition to The Hunger Games, adding welcome texture to the cruel world of Panem… in expanding Haymitch’s story, Collins paints a shrewd portrait of the machinery of propaganda and how authoritarianism takes root.” – Jennifer Harlan, New York Times
“[A] commentary on the times we’re living in and as a rallying cry against the forces that would divide us… it’s the lines Collins inserts at key moments that brought me up short and reminded me why so many adults read fantasy in the first place… It’s a life-giving book, no matter what you think of the world we’re living in now. Because it reminds us that unity is worth something. In some cases, it’s worth everything.” – Lizz Schumer, People
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah ★
fiction.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, three young people come of age in Tanzania. Karim returns to his sleepy hometown after university with new swagger and ambition. Fauzia glimpses in him a chance at escape from a smothering upbringing. The two of them offer a haven to Badar, a poor boy still unsure if the future holds anything for him at all. As tourism, technology, and unexpected opportunities and perils reach their quiet corner of the world, each arrives at a different understanding of what it means to take your fate into your own hands.
“A tightly constructed family drama with surprising complications.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Nobel Prize winner Gurnah is a captivating, enthralling storyteller whose characters are vibrant and sympathetic. The pages fly by quickly in his wonderful new novel.” – Lisa Rohrbaugh, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Written in lucid prose, Gurnah’s tale is at once culturally specific and emotionally universal, especially in depicting Badar’s heartache as a boy and the strangeness of his arrangement with the Othman household as seen from Karim’s point of view. Gurnah is at the top of his game.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Theft takes many forms intimate and cultural, subtle and obvious in the newest web of interconnected lives masterfully spun by Nobel laureate Gurnah… Written with transfixing precision, wit, insight, and suspense, Theft is profoundly nuanced and revealing.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service edited by Michael Lewis
nonfiction / government / history / politics.
The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It’s also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it’s made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone.
Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers to find someone doing an interesting job for the government and write about them in a special in-depth series for the Washington Post. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees.
Whether they’re digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit. Expanding on the Washington Post series, the vivid profiles in Who Is Government? blow up the stereotype of the irrelevant bureaucrat. They show how the essential business of government makes our lives possible, and how much it matters.
“…Lewis has done it again.” – Calvin Kasulke, Literary Hub
“This exploration of public service is as fascinating as it is illuminating.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“[A] spirited rebuttal to the canard that federal civil servants are nest-featherers up to no good… Compelling arguments against ideologues bent on dismantling the government.” – Kirkus Reviews
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