“I miss you more than I remember you.” – Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon’s Enduring Impact on America by Mark Whitaker
nonfiction / history / politics / sociology / biography / true crime.
Malcolm X has become as much of an American icon as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, or Martin Luther King. But when he was murdered in 1965, he was still seen as a dangerous outsider. White America found him alienating, mainstream African Americans found him divisive, and even his admirers found him bravely radical. Although Ossie Davis famously eulogized Malcolm X as “our own Black shining prince,” he never received the mainstream acceptance toward which he seemed to be striving in his final year. It is more in death than his life that Malcolm’s influence has blossomed and come to leave a deep imprint on the cultural landscape of America.
With impeccable research and original reporting, Mark Whitaker tells the story of Malcolm X’s far-reaching posthumous legacy. It stretches from founders of the Black Power Movement such as Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton to hip-hop pioneers such as Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur. Leaders of the Black Arts and Free Jazz movements from Amiri Baraka to Maya Angelou, August Wilson, and John Coltrane credited their political awakening to Malcolm, as did some of the most influential athletes of our time, from Muhammad Ali to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and beyond. Spike’s movie biopic and the Black Lives Matter movement reintroduced Malcolm to subsequent generations. Across the political spectrum, he has been cited as a formative influence by both Barack Obama—who venerated Malcolm’s “unadorned insistence on respect”—and Clarence Thomas, who was drawn to Malcolm’s messages of self-improvement and economic self-help.
In compelling new detail, Whitaker also retraces the long road to exoneration for two men wrongfully convicted of Malcolm’s murder, making The Afterlife of Malcolm X essential reading for anyone interested in true crime, American politics, culture, and history.
“…captivating… Readers will relish this sweeping and singular work.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A complex, thoughtfully written book that ably lives up to its title.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] incisive survey of Malcolm’s enduring place in American culture… Whitaker has a gift for streamlining gobs of material, some of it quite contentious, into a smooth, readable narrative… an engaging reminder that the likes of Malcolm never really die.” – Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times
The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want by Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna
nonfiction / technology / politics / business.
Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Have big tech scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to put authors, artists, and others out of business? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?
The answer to these questions, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make clear, is “no,” “they wish,” “LOL,” and “definitely not.” This kind of thinking is a symptom of a phenomenon known as “AI hype.” Hype looks and smells fishy: It twists words and helps the rich get richer by justifying data theft, motivating surveillance capitalism, and devaluing human creativity in order to replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. In The AI Con, Bender and Hanna offer a sharp, witty, and wide-ranging take-down of AI hype across its many forms.
Bender and Hanna show you how to spot AI hype, how to deconstruct it, and how to expose the power grabs it aims to hide. Armed with these tools, you will be prepared to push back against AI hype at work, as a consumer in the marketplace, as a skeptical newsreader, and as a citizen holding policymakers to account. Together, Bender and Hanna expose AI hype for what it is: a mask for Big Tech’s drive for profit, with little concern for who it affects.
“A refreshingly contrarian take on AI and the clouds of hyperbole surrounding it.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…Bender and Hanna have constructed a thorough, witty, and accessible argument against AI that meets the moment.” – Kailyn Slater, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“The authors are as skeptical of ‘AI doomers’ as they are of ‘AI boosters,’ positing that while large language models are incapable of harboring any intent to wage war on humanity, the real threat lies in how they’re cheapening the quality of human labor, normalizing data theft, and subjecting individuals to ever more sophisticated surveillance… AI skeptics will find plenty of fodder for their critiques.” – Publishers Weekly
Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land by Ross Halperin
nonfiction / history / true crime.
The vast majority of Hondurans would have never dared to set foot in Nueva Suyapa, a mountainside barrio that was under the thumb of a gang whose bravado and cruelty were the stuff of legend. But that is precisely where Kurt Ver Beek, an American sociologist, and Carlos Hernández, a Honduran schoolteacher, chose to raise their families. Kurt and Carlos were best friends who had committed their lives to helping the poor, and when they accepted that nobody else—not the police, not the prosecutors, not the NGOs—was ever going to protect their neighbors from the incessant violence they suffered, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
In magnetic prose, journalist Ross Halperin chronicles how these two do-gooders became quasi-vigilantes and charged into a series of life-and-death battles, not just with this one gang, but also with forces far more dangerous, including a notorious tycoon who commanded about a thousand armed men and a police force whose wickedness defied credulity. Kurt and Carlos would eventually get catapulted from obscurity to being famous power players who had access to the backrooms where legislators, ambassadors, and presidents pulled strings. Their efforts made some of the most violent neighborhoods on earth safer and arguably improved a profoundly corrupt government. But they were forced to compromise their principles in order to make all that happen, and furthermore, they acquired a large number of outraged critics and precipitated some heartbreaking collateral damage.
A remarkable and dangerous feat of reportage, Bear Witness shows what happens when altruism, faith, and an obsession with justice are pushed to the extreme.
“[A] harrowing look at the gang violence that grips Honduras… Smart, thoughtful reporting from the trenches.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Halperin’s skillful reporting and insight and his own risk-taking make Ver Beek and Hernández’s story unforgettable.” – Melanie Dragger, Booklist
The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr
fiction / historical fiction.
Ireland 1973, a baby boy is found on the beach of a close-knit fishing village. Fisherman Ambrose Bonnar offers to bring the child into his own family: his son, Declan, wife, Christine, and up the lane, Christine’s sister and aging father. The townspeople remain fascinated by the baby, now named Brendan, as he grows into a strange yet charismatic young man.
The Boy from the Sea tells the story of a family and community, all thrown into turmoil by Brendan’s arrival. The family’s fortunes rise and fall over the years—as do the town’s, because nothing happens to one family here that doesn’t happen to them all—as the forces of a voracious global economy and modernized commercial fishing wreak havoc on their way of life. In the village, Brendan and Declan are wildly different and often wildly at odds; out on the sea, Ambrose worries about his children, but cannot afford to tear his attention from the brutal work that keeps his family afloat. As the world around them keeps changing, the mystery of one boy’s origins pulls them all toward a surprising, stormy fate.
Both outrageously funny and incredibly moving, The Boy from the Sea is a dazzling novel from a major new voice in Irish literature.
“An intimate and psychologically savvy domestic drama.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…Carr manages to paint a colorful portrait of the townsfolk via their curiosity about Brendan’s origins and their belief that he can help them. Readers will be hooked.” – Publishers Weekly
“Carr’s beautiful and beguiling debut offers many delights… a novel that will bewitch many readers.” – Malcolm Forbes, Minnesota Star Tribune
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
fiction / romance.
Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry’s rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.
She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward. And in the midst of everything, she’s facing her toughest challenge yet: caring for an aging parent. Who has time for romance? From her experience, there’s a low ROI on relationships. Anyway, she hasn’t met the man who can keep up with her. Until… him.
Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer’s hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.
But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her, understanding her—is it time to let herself have something more?
“[A] perfect contemporary romance.” – Susan Maguire, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Known for weaving romance with themes of activism, identity, and emotional truth, Ryan’s latest novel doesn’t just ask whether love is worth the risk—it explores what it means to live on your own terms.” – She Reads
“Raw emotion and unfettered sensuality animate bestseller Ryan’s intoxicating third Skyland romance… Ryan’s ability to blend steamy forbidden romance, complicated family dynamics, strong female friendships, and frank explorations of misogynoir remains unparalleled. This is an author at the very top of her game.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass – How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up by Dave Barry
nonfiction / memoir / comedy.
How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people?
In Class Clown, Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment—there was no internet—and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the sixties).
He began his journalism career at a small-town Pennsylvania newspaper where he learned the most important rule of local journalism: never confuse a goose with a duck. His journey then took a detour into the business world, where as a writing consultant he spent years trying, with limited success, to get corporate folks to, for God’s sake, get the point. Somehow from there he wound up as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald, where his boss was a wild man who encouraged him to write about anything that struck him as amusing and to never worry about alienating anyone.
His columns were not popular with everyone: He managed to alienate a vast army of Neil Diamond fans, and the entire state of Indiana. But he also developed a loyal following of readers who alerted him to the threat of exploding toilets, not to mention the fire hazards posed by strawberry pop-tarts and Rollerblade Barbie, which he demonstrated to the nation on the David Letterman show. He led his readers on a crusade against telemarketers that ultimately caused the national telemarketers association to stop answering its own phones because it was getting—irony alert—too many unwanted calls. He has also run for president multiple times, although so far without success.
He became a book author and joined a literary rock band, which was not good at playing music but did once perform with Bruce Springsteen, who sang backup to Dave. As for his literary merits, Dave writes: “I’ll never have the critical acclaim of, say, Marcel Proust. But was Marcel Proust ever on Carson? Did he ever steal a hotel sign for Oprah?”
Class Clown isn’t just a memoir; it’s a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy, and sadness. Dave says the most important wisdom imparted by his Midwestern parents was never to take anything too seriously. This laughter-filled book is proof that he learned that lesson well.
“Well, it’s about time. At the age of 77, Pulitzer Prize–winning humor writer and novelist Barry has written a memoir. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun… He seems genuinely humble, genuinely astonished at how he’s made an entire career out of writing funny stuff, and genuinely a nice guy. Hilariously funny, too. And we’re not making this up.” – David Pitt, Booklist
“Lifelong fans of Barry will enjoy the familiar rhythm of his humorous (and sometimes satirical) storytelling, and first-time readers will enjoy his candid, unpretentious voice and hilarious anecdotes spanning nearly 80 years.” – Alana R. Quarles, Library Journal
“[A] rollicking, sometimes meditative, and genuinely funny look at the life of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer… Barry offers an agenda-free honesty that’s all too rare. It’s a relief to read an author who isn’t climbing on a pedagogical hobbyhorse or hammering you with an ulterior motive.” – Frederick Hess, Education Next
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong ★
fiction.
One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.
Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.
“…searching and beautiful… This downbeat tale soars to astonishing heights.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…remarkable… A sui generis take on the surprising and cruel ways violence is passed on across generations.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…Vuong’s epic-feeling novel is a determined portrait of community, caretaking, and characters who, if they only have each other, have quite a lot.” – Annie Bostrom, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“The Emperor of Gladness is a gorgeous testament to love, loss, and an undying hope for a second chance – one you hold on to until your fingers bleed. From Vietnam to America, it unravels cycles of grief, memory, and love… The literary formalities bend to his will; his brilliance dances across the pages. You will tear through this book, craving more of that specific reading experience that only Vuong can give you.” – Ruby Grinter, Readings
Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen
fiction / comedy / mystery / suspense.
“The afternoon of September first, dishwater-gray and rainy, a man named Dale Figgo picked up a hitchhiker on Gus Grissom Boulevard in Tangelo Shores, Florida. The hitchhiker, who reminded Figgo of Danny DeVito, asked for a lift to the interstate. Figgo said he’d take him there after finishing an errand.”
Thus begins Fever Beach, with an errand that leads—in pure Hiaasen-style—into the depths of Florida at its most Floridian: a sun-soaked bastion of right-wing extremism, white power, greed, and corruption. Figgo, it turns out, is the only hate-monger ever to be kicked out of the Proud Boys for being too dumb and incompetent. On January 6, 2021 he thought he was defacing a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, but he wound up spreading feces all over a statue of James Zacharia George, a Civil War Confederate war leader.
Figgo’s already messy life is about to get more complicated, thanks to two formidable adversaries. Viva Morales is a newly transplanted Floridian, a clever woman recently taken to the cleaners by her ex-husband, now working at the Mink Foundation, a supposedly philanthropic organization, and renting a room in Figgo’s apartment because there’s no place else she can afford. Twilly Spree has an anger management problem, especially when it comes to those who deface the environment, and way too many inherited millions of dollars. He’s living alone a year after his dog died, two years after he sank a city councilman’s party barge, and three years after his divorce.
Viva and Twilly are plunged into a mystery—involving dark money and darker motives—they are determined to solve, and become entangled in a world populated by some of Hiaasen’s most outrageous characters: Claude and Electra Mink—billionaire philanthropists with way too much plastic surgery and a secret right-wing agenda—and Congressman Clure Boyette—who dreams of being Florida’s (and maybe America’s) most important politician. The only things standing in his way are his love for hookers and young girls, and his total lack of intelligence. We meet Noel Kristianson—a Scandinavian agnostic injured when Figgo thinks he’s a Jewish threat to humanity and runs him over with his car; Jonas Onus—Figgo’s partner in white power idiocy; and many, many more. Hiaasen ties them all together and delivers them to their appropriate fates, in his wildest and most entertaining novel to date.
“Fever Beach is among Hiaasen’s best novels, because it faces the horrors of our stupid times and portrays them in all their grotesquerie… He might be the only writer mean enough, and funny enough, to chronicle what’s happening to us all.” – Dan Kois, Slate
“There is a serious story to be told about right-wing conspiracists, corrupt politicians, and shady philanthropists, and Hiaasen is sort of telling that story, but mostly he’s making us laugh—and not polite little giggles, either. We’re talking giant belly laughs, embarrass-yourself-in-public spleen-busters. This could be his funniest book yet.” – David Pitt, Booklist
“[An] outrageous political satire… utterly ridiculous and deeply satisfying… For all his silliness, Hiaasen is working in a grand tradition that stretches back to Mikhail Bulgakov satirizing Stalinism and Charlie Chaplin mocking Hitler. At his best, he can pack a paragraph with so many little parodic bangs that it feels like a fireworks display, when the explosions come so fast you stop saying ‘Ahhh’ and just stand in slack-jawed bedazzlement.” – Ron Charles, Washington Post
Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire
fiction / fantasy / comedy.
In a tiny farm on the edge of the miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is trying to get on with her tiny, miserable existence. Dividing her time between tolerating her feckless husband, caring for the farm’s strange animals, cooking up “scrunge,” and crooning over her treasured pot of basil, Isabella can’t help but think that there might be something more to life. When Mr. Nagg returns home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she thinks: what harm could a little magic do?
This debut novel by beloved rare bookseller and memoirist Oliver Darkshire reimagines a heroine of Boccaccio’s Decameron in a delightfully deranged world of talking plants, walking corpses, sentient animals, and shape-shifting sorcerers. As Isabella and her grouchy, cat-like companion set off to save the village from an entrepreneurial villain running a goblin-fruit Ponzi scheme, Darkshire’s tale revels in the ancient books and arcane folklore of a new and original kind of enchantment.
A delightful and entertaining story of self-discovery—as well as fungus, capitalism, and sorcery—Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil is a story for those who can’t help but find magic even in the oddest and most baffling circumstances.
“[A] humorous and clever fantasy…” – Becky Meloan, Washington Post
“Darkshire’s prose is incredibly funny, even as it makes sure Isabella’s pain is still visible. Life can be as ludicrous as it is hard, offering unexpected chances for the unsatisfied to transform.” – Matthew Galloway, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…hilarious and surprisingly moving… A delightful and entertaining story of self-discovery—as well as fungus, capitalism, and sorcery—Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil is a story for those who can’t help but find magic even in the oddest and most baffling circumstances.” – Jayne S., Dear Author
The Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines by Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson
nonfiction / memoir / history.
From a unique and singular voice comes the incredible true story of the last surviving undercover British female operative in WW2. Pippa Latour parachuted into occupied France in 1944 to conduct sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. Selling soap to German soldiers and hiding codes on a piece of ribbon, she sent back crucial information about troop positions in the lead up to D-Day, and continued her work until Paris was liberated. From her childhood as an orphan in South Africa to her years as an undercover agent, Pippa’s story is that of a woman determined to honor her principles and risk her life to fight against the greatest evil of the 20th century.
The Last Secret Agent is a posthumously published memoir, co-written with journalist Jude Dobson. Pippa was decorated highly for her actions, including being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire and receiving the Légion d’Honneur in France. For years, Pippa kept her involvement in the war effort secret from everyone, including her family, but for the first time, her story can now be told in full.
“A wartime spy’s remarkable tale, told in an authentic voice.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Her matter-of-fact storytelling style belies the unusual life she led both before and during wartime, and her inspiring memoir is a tribute to a level of bravery that few possess.” – Becky Meloan, Washington Post
“More than a wartime tale, the book spans Latour’s entire life, giving us detail after rich detail of one of history’s most amazing women.” – Anthony Aycock, Booklist
The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North ★
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?
With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.
“A mesmerizing read, best read in a well-lit room.” – Jane Murphy, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] gripping serial killer thriller…” – Criminal Element
“Fans of Thomas Harris will be creeped out by North’s hair-raising antagonist and gripped by the plot’s dual investigations. This is a winner.” – Publishers Weekly
“Highly suspenseful, dark, and gritty, The Man Made of Smoke is a mystery and true crime must read. This explores how trauma informs and affects our present, and makes for a truly twisted, dark read.” – Mirna Villeda, The Indie Next List
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
fiction / mystery.
Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel and her Greek boyfriend, Andreas, in search of a new life back in England.
Freelancing for a London publisher, she’s given the last job she wants: working on an Atticus Pünd continuation novel called Pünd’s Last Case. Worse still, she knows the new writer. Eliot Crace is the troubled grandson of legendary children’s author Miriam Crace who died twenty years ago. Eliot is convinced she was murdered—by poison.
To her surprise, Susan enjoys reading the manuscript which is set in the South of France and revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, days before she was about to change her will. But when it is revealed that Lady Margaret was also poisoned, alarm bells begin to ring.
The more Susan reads, the clearer it becomes that Eliot has deliberately concealed clues about his grandmother’s death inside the book.
Desperately, Susan tries to prevent Eliot from putting himself in harm’s way—but his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic. Another murder follows… and suddenly Susan finds herself to be the number one suspect.
Once again, the real and the fictional worlds have become dangerously entangled. And if Susan doesn’t solve the mystery of Pünd’s Last Case, she could well be its next victim.
“…this mystery is a joy to solve.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Horowitz crafts a deliciously witty, clever, and hefty mystery–two mysteries in one, really–in a terrific art-imitating-life send-up that works as a stand-alone as well as a series entry.” – Peggy Kurkowski, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Horowitz dazzles with the brilliant third entry in his Susan Ryeland series… Horowitz is at the top of his game here, linking past and present in a virtuoso finale worthy of Agatha Christie. Fans will clamor for the sequel.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow ★
nonfiction / biography / history / writing.
Before he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, the man who would become America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Twain went west to the Nevada Territory and accepted a job at a local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humor. It wasn’t long before the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize.
In this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and lecturer, he eventually settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture, and emerged as the nation’s most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.
Drawing on Twain’s bountiful archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures the man whose career reflected the country’s westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain’s writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted. In this brilliant work of scholarship, a moving tribute to the writer’s talent and humanity, Chernow reveals the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in American history.
“…remarkable… Like his subject, Chernow has a keen ear for the perfect quote, insult, and witty rejoinder. This monumental achievement will stand as the definitive life of Mark Twain.” – Bill Kelly, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Essential reading for any Twain buff and student of American literature.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…Chernow has produced a literary biography of the first rank—serious, readable, not in thrall to the passing pieties and prejudices of our age… Chernow writes expressively but clearly. When he produces a pleasing turn of phrase, he does so to elucidate rather than obfuscate… The heartiest compliment I can pay to Chernow is that at no point did I wish, as I first suspected I might, that I was reading a book by Twain instead of one about him.” – Peter Tounguette, The American Conservative
“Enlightening and entertaining… Here, after covering Twain’s greatness, he has boldly written a book about the limitations of our body and mind, the traps of our reputation, the death of those we love and the embarrassing yearning for youth.” – Gary Sernovitz, Bloomberg
No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack
fiction / mystery / comedy / romance.
Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation and is definitely her uninvited plus-one to the special occasion.
Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series.
Filming wraps and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way—because of course there is—but nothing will stop their nuptials… that is until Emma receives a note that says, “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”
Eleanor is a professional at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer so true love can prevail… before it’s too late for her and the rest of the storm-trapped wedding party.
“…fast and funny… Mack complements the twisty plot with Eleanor’s brisk and biting first-person narration, chock-full of amusing asides (often in footnotes) that examine the movie business and the craft of mystery writing. This one goes down smooth.” – Publishers Weekly
“Catherine Mack is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, and this book series is quickly climbing to one of my favorite reads! Another 10/10 read for Mack in this hilarious wedding vacation romp.” – Tammy Klawitter, The Indie Next List
Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece’s Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece by James Romm
nonfiction / history / biography / philosophy.
Plato is one of history’s most influential thinkers, the “sublime philosopher” whose writings remain foundational to Western culture. He is known for the brilliant dialogues in which he depicted his teacher, Socrates, discussing ethical truths with prominent citizens of Athens. Yet the image we have of Plato—an ethereal figure far removed from society and politics, who conjured abstract ideas in peaceful groves—is a fiction, created by Plato’s admirers and built up over centuries. In fact, Plato was very much a man of the world.
In Plato and the Tyrant, acclaimed historian and classicist James Romm draws on personal letters of Plato—documents that have long been kept in obscurity—to show how a philosopher helped topple the leading Greek power of the era: the opulent city of Syracuse. There, Plato encountered two authoritarian rulers, a father and son both named Dionysius, and tried to steer them toward philosophy. At the same time, he worked on his masterpiece, Republic, in which he conceived a ruler who unites perfect wisdom with absolute power. That dream has echoed down through the ages and given rise to a famous term, one that Plato himself didn’t actually use: philosopher-king.
As Romm reveals, Plato’s time in Syracuse helped shape Republic—and also had disastrous results for Plato himself and for all of Greek Sicily. The younger Dionysius, emotionally unstable but intellectually curious, welcomed Plato with open arms, but soon the relationship soured. Plato’s close friendship with Dionysius’s uncle, Dion—possibly a bond of romantic love—created a rift in the ruling family that led to a chaotic civil war.
Combining thrilling political drama with explorations of Plato’s most cherished ideas, Romm takes us into the heart of Greece’s late classical age, a time when many believed that democracy had failed. Plato’s search for solutions led him to write his fervent plea for a new political order, and also led him to a place where he believed his theories might be put into practice. But Plato and the Tyrant demonstrates how Plato’s experiment with enlightened autocracy spiraled into catastrophe, and also gives us nothing less than a new account of the origins of Western political thought.
“A gripping, provocative, and deeply researched account of Plato’s failed experiment in enlightened autocracy.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Romm finds a fascinating new angle on Plato in this elegant study… a gritty, real-politick depiction of Plato that challenges the reverence that, according to Romm, built up for the thinker over the course of the 20th century.” – Dana Snitzky, Publishers Weekly
Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson ★
fiction / comedy.
Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly.
Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.
As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?
Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.
“Kevin Wilson’s witty and wry voice is back in this hilarious and hopeful novel that takes us along on a cross-country adventure.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“…hilarious and a little wacky and a total bundle of fun.” – Drew Broussard, Literary Hub
“…Wilson peppers the heartwarming story with his signature whimsy and plenty of soul. Equally important, during the journey, this modern family relearns what love and care might look like.” – Poornima Apte, Booklist
“…Kevin Wilson continues to write about family, the most universal topic there is, in unimaginably unique ways… [an] unbelievably adorable sibling road trip… Real feeling and believable characters? Not a problem. Kevin Wilson continues to do whimsy with as much heart as any writer ever has.” – Marion Winik, Boston Globe
Skin and Bones: And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories by Paul Doiron
fiction / short stories / mystery / suspense.
For the first time in print, Skin and Bones features a collection of eight gripping original short stories in the bestselling Mike Bowditch series—including one brand new, never-before-published story—from Edgar-award nominated author Paul Doiron.
In “The Bear Trap”, legendary Maine woodsman and bush pilot Charley Stevens tries to convince young Mike of the dangers awaiting rookie game wardens.
“Rabid” draws Mike into the story of a gruesome case involving a bat with rabies from Charley Steven’s past (2019 Edgar award nominee for Best Short Story).
When a visiting hunter goes missing in the middle of a snowstorm, a young Charley Stevens sets off to rescue him—but begins to suspect the man may not want to be found in “Backtrack”.
In “The Imposter”, Mike is confronted with a baffling case of stolen identity when he discovers a dead body whose driver’s license claims he is none other than Mike Bowditch himself.
Mike tracks down a sinister prowler who turns a couple’s dream vacation home into a nightmare in “The Caretaker”.
An investigation into the killing of a bald eagle in “Skin and Bones” unearths an old case of a missing young man whose physically abusive brother might have murdered him.
In “Snakebit”, Mike must hunt down a killer who uses the unlikeliest of murder weapons: rattlesnakes.
(Brand New!) Mike suspects there’s more to a grisly murder-suicide than meets the eye in “Sheep’s Clothing”.
Critically acclaimed for his brilliant crime novels, Paul Doiron proves he is also the master of short story in Skin and Bones.
“…riveting… All the stories are clever, smooth, and even, and rich with the raw beauty of backwoods Maine and its magnificent wildlife.” – Jane Murphy, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…eight top-shelf mysteries… Throughout, Doiron’s evocative prose and clever plotting work as well in the short story form as they do at novel length. This will delight existing Bowditch fans and newcomers alike.” – Publishers Weekly
“…all eight build suspense in a way that pulls readers into the stories and the lives of the characters… a briskly paced, intriguing, and entertaining collection that kept me fully engaged.” – Pam Guynn, Mystery & Suspense
Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James
nonfiction / history / true crime.
For as long as the axe has been in our hands, we have used it to kill.
Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology—one that has been with us since prehistory. And just as early humans used the axe to chop down trees, hunt for food, and whittle tools, they also used it to murder. Over time, this particular use has endured: as the axe evolved over centuries to fit the needs of new agricultural, architectural, and social development, so have our lethal uses for it.
Whack Job is the story of the axe, first as a convenient danger and then an anachronism, as told through the murders it has been employed in throughout history: from the first axe murder nearly half a million years ago, to the brutal harnessing of the axe in warfare, to its use in King Henry VIII’s favorite method of execution, to Lizzie Borden and the birth of modern pop culture. Whack Job sheds brilliant light on this familiar implement, this most human of weapons. This is a critical examination of violence, an exploration of how technology shapes human conflict, the cruel and sacred rituals of execution and battle, and the ways humanity fits even the most savage impulses into narratives of the past and present.
“What’s not to love about a brief history of axe murders that’s part true crime, part anthropology, part material history?” – Literary Hub
“[A] gleefully grisly cultural history… James keeps the pages turning. It’s a bit of macabre fun.” – Publishers Weekly
“In this exceptional book, James cites cases famed and obscure involving the axe, which will both inform readers and occasionally unsettle them.” – Philip Zozzaro, Booklist
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux
nonfiction / biography / art / history.
Paul Gauguin’s legend as a transgressive genius arises as much from his biography as his aesthetically daring Polynesian paintings. Gauguin is chiefly known for his pictures that eschewed convention, to celebrate the beauty of an indigenous people and their culture. In this gorgeously illustrated, myth-busting work, Sue Prideaux reveals that while Gauguin was a complicated man, his scandalous reputation is largely undeserved.
Self-taught, Gauguin became a towering artist in his brief life, not just in painting but in ceramics and graphics. He fled the bustle of Paris for the beauty of Tahiti, where he lived simply and worked consistently to expose the tragic results of French Colonialism. Gauguin fought for the rights of Indigenous people, exposing French injustices and corruption in the local newspaper and acting as advocate for the Tahitian people in the French colonial courts. His unconventional career and bold, breathtaking art influenced not only Vincent van Gogh, but Matisse and Picasso.
Wild Thing upends much of what we thought we knew about Gauguin through new primary research, including the resurfaced manuscript of Gauguin’s most important writing, the untranslated memoir of Gauguin’s son, and a sample of Gauguin’s teeth that disproves the pernicious myth of his syphilis. In the first full biography of Paul Gauguin in thirty years, Sue Prideaux illuminates the extraordinary oeuvre of a visionary artist vital to the French avant-garde. The result is “a brilliantly readable and compassionate study of Gauguin—not just as a painter, sculptor, carver and potter, but as a human soul perpetually searching for what is always just out of reach” (Artemis Cooper, Spectator).
“Newly definitive, impeccably researched, and lavishly illustrated.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Prideaux draws heavily on Gauguin’s own writings, including a recently discovered autobiography, to draw a rich psychological portrait that is buttressed by abundant historical detail. It makes for a revealing window into an unique artistic mind.” – Publishers Weekly
“Prideaux’s account of Gauguin’s life is fascinating, and her analysis of many of his art works is informed and interesting… a detailed account of the life of a complex character who, as he wrote, believed ‘life has no meaning unless one lives it with a will, at least to the limit of one’s will.'” – Ann Skea, Eclectica
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