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New Books at the Rohrbach Library: Best Sellers
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New Books shelved in our Leisure Reading area
All the print books on this page are shelved in the Library's
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, immediately to your right after entering the front door.
Knowing What We Know
by
Simon Winchester
Call Number: BD175 W56 2023
ISBN: 9780063142886
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
"A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter . . . . Simon Winchester has firmly earned his place in history . . . as a promulgator of knowledge of every variety, perhaps the last of the famous explorers who crisscrossed the now-vanished British Empire and reported what they found to an astonished world." -- New York Times From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes--this is award winning writer Simon Winchester's brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things--no need for math, no need for map-reading, no need for memorization--are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds, will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness? Addressing these questions, Simon Winchester explores how humans have attained, stored, and disseminated knowledge. Examining such disciplines as education, journalism, encyclopedia creation, museum curation, photography, and broadcasting, he looks at a whole range of knowledge diffusion--from the cuneiform writings of Babylon to the machine-made genius of artificial intelligence, by way of Gutenberg, Google, and Wikipedia to the huge Victorian assemblage of the Mundanaeum, the collection of everything ever known, currently stored in a damp basement in northern Belgium. Studded with strange and fascinating details, Knowing What We Know is a deep dive into learning and the human mind. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom? Does Rene Descartes's Cogito, ergo sum--"I think therefore I am," the foundation for human knowledge widely accepted since the Enlightenment--still hold? And what will the world be like if no one in it is wise?
Life in Five Senses
by
Gretchen Rubin
Call Number: BF233 R82 2023
ISBN: 9780593442746
Publication Date: 2023-04-18
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. "Life in Five Senses invites us into the seismic shift toward a life grounded in sensation, vitality, and innate intelligence."--GLENNON DOYLE, author of Untamed "An inspiring and practical guide to living in the moment."--SUSAN CAIN, author of Bittersweet and Quiet For more than a decade, Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then, one day, a visit to her eye doctor made her realize that she'd been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. She'd spent so much time stuck in her head that she'd allowed the vital sensations of life to slip away, unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation into a world rediscovered by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. In this journey of self-experimentation, Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning in to the physical world. From the simple pleasures of appreciating the magic of ketchup and adding favorite songs to a playlist, to more adventurous efforts like creating a daily ritual of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attending Flavor University, Rubin show us how to experience each day with depth, delight, and connection. In the rush of daily life, she finds, our five senses offer us an immediate, sustainable way to cheer up, calm down, and engage the world around us--as well as a way to glimpse the soul and touch the transcendent. Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives--and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.
The Wager
by
David Grann
Call Number: G530 W25 G73 2023
ISBN: 9780385534260
Publication Date: 2023-04-18
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire. "Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history--and imperialism--with gusto." --Time "A tour de force of narrative nonfiction." --The Wall Street Journal On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang. The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.
Got Your Number
by
Mike Greenberg; Paul Hembekides
Call Number: GV697 A1 G74 2023
ISBN: 9781368073561
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
ESPN personality (Get Up and #Greeny) and New York Times bestselling author Mike Greenberg partners with mega-producer Hembo to settle once and for all which legends flat-out own which numbers. In short essays certain to provoke debate between and amongst all generations, Greeny uses his lifetime of sports knowledge to spin yarns of the legends among the legends and tell you why some have claimed their spot in the top 100 of all time. Sports and numbers go hand in hand. Sports and loud, assertive debate? Even better. Cheering on, agonizing over, and being in plain awe of your favorite players has left you with a deep and intricate memory of their greatness, not to mention well-honed arguments as to why your favorites are really the best. In arenas, in front of your TV, and in bars, you've debated friends and strangers alike. You've joyfully mocked your friends' (sometimes laughable) favorites. You've spouted accomplishments, statistics- Yours won six titles, batted .350 in the clutch, or generated 82% of their team's scoring. But not all numbers are created equal. Some are accomplishments. Others are identity. Looming large over any image you have of an athlete- the number on their jersey. Numbers often provide the most visceral parts of any sports legend's identity. They are what people remember-worldwide. Jordan, Jeter, Brady-to fans, they are as much their number as they are anything else. Sure, 1 through 100 might seem like a large range, but fierce competition across the ages has blessed only a lucky few to claim one of these as their own. For some, the victors may not be so obvious. That's why Greeny's here to help. Ascend into discussion, fans of all stripes. Come away enlightened. Or maybe a little enraged. Either way, you are sure to be occasionally surprised-and endlessly entertained. Whatever your sport, welcome to the place where all the arguments are finally decided, once and for all.
Generations
by
Jean M. Twenge
Call Number: HM726 T84 2023
ISBN: 9781982181611
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
A groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the six generations that currently live in the United States and how they connect, conflict, and compete with one another--from the acclaimed author of Generation Me and iGen. The United States is currently home to six generations of people: -the Silents, born 1925-1945 -Baby Boomers, born 1946-1964 -Gen X, born 1965-1979 -Millennials, born 1980-1994 -Gen Z, born 1995-2012 -and the still-to-be-named cohorts born after 2012. They have had vastly different life experiences and thus, one assumes, they must have vastly diverging beliefs and behaviors. But what are those differences, what causes them, and how deep do they actually run? Professor of psychology and "reigning expert on generational change" (Lisa Wade, PhD, author of American Hookup), Jean Twenge does a deep dive into a treasure trove of long-running, government-funded surveys and databases to answer these questions. Are we truly defined by major historical events, such as the Great Depression for the Silents and September 11 for Millennials? Or, as Twenge argues, is it the rapid evolution of technology that differentiates the generations? With her clear-eyed and insightful voice, Twenge explores what the Silents and Boomers want out of the rest of their lives; how Gen X-ers are facing middle age; the ideals of Millennials as parents and in the workplace; and how Gen Z has been changed by COVID, among other fascinating topics. Surprising, engaging, and informative, Generations will forever change the way you view your parents, peers, coworkers, and children, no matter which generation you call your own.
A Fever in the Heartland
by
Timothy Egan
Call Number: HS2330 K63 E43 2023
ISBN: 9780735225268
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
"With meticulous detective work, Timothy Egan shines a light on one of the most sinister chapters in American history-how a viciously racist movement, led by a murderous conman, rose to power in the early twentieth century. A Fever in the Heartland is compelling, powerful, and profoundly resonant today." --David Grann,author of THE WAGER and KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON A historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Klan's rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them. The Roaring Twenties--the Jazz Age--has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he'd become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows - their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman - Madge Oberholtzer - who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees. A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.
Women We Buried, Women We Burned
by
Rachel Louise Snyder
Call Number: HV6626.2 A3 2023
ISBN: 9781635579123
Publication Date: 2023-05-23
"Snyder shows us how to summon the courage to imagine in a cruel and dangerous world. A beautiful book." -Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Rogues, Empire of Pain, and Say Nothing "How do you remember every detail and make the reader feel like they saw, heard, and felt each moment? I have no idea, actually, but Rachel Louise Snyder has done it." -Masha Gessen, National Book Award winning author of The Future Is History and Surviving Autocracy "A gorgeous memoir that parses the patriarchy with an endearing frankness as fierce as it is, astonishingly, forgiving." -Beth Macy, New York Times bestselling author of Dopesick and Raising Lazarus "The hope contained on these pages is hard won, and all the more precious due to the struggles from which it emerges." -Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage From the author of the groundbreaking, award-winning No Visible Bruises, a riveting memoir of survival, self-discovery, and forgiveness sure to captivate readers who loved Tara Westover's Educated and Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle. For decades, Rachel Louise Snyder has been a fierce advocate reporting on the darkest social issues that impact women's lives. Women We Buried, Women We Burned is her own story. Snyder was eight years old when her mother died, and her distraught father thrust the family into an evangelical, cult-like existence halfway across the country. Furiously rebellious, she was expelled from school and home at age 16. Living out of her car and relying on strangers, Rachel found herself masquerading as an adult, talking her way into college, and eventually travelling the globe. Survival became her reporter's beat. In places like India, Tibet, and Niger, she interviewed those who had been through the unimaginable. In Cambodia, where she lived for six years, she watched a country reckon with the horrors of its own recent history. When she returned to the States with a family of her own, it was with a new perspective on old family wounds, and a chance for healing from the most unexpected place. A piercing account of Snyder's journey from teenage runaway to reporter on the global epidemic of domestic violence, Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a memoir that embodies the transformative power of resilience.
Hidden Brilliance
by
Lynn Kern Koegel; Claire LaZebnik
Call Number: LC4717.5 K64 2023
ISBN: 9780063225374
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
A groundbreaking exploration of the ways in which the intelligence and abilities of children and young adults with autism are often overlooked and misjudged, with tried-and-true interventions that can be used to help them reach their full potential. Our limited and often biased view of what's considered "normal" often prevents us from recognizing the gifts and brilliance of those who don't fit a specific mold. Too often we don't explore and take advantage of the far-reaching gifts and potential of those diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum or neurodiverse. Dr. Lynn Kern Koegel has had vast experience researching Autism Spectrum Disorders--ASD--and working with autistic people of all ages. She has repeatedly witnessed firsthand evidence of great intelligence that hasn't yet been nurtured or realized.In Hidden Brilliance, Dr. Koegel and writer Claire LaZebnik explore the ways in which the brilliance and talents of children and young adults diagnosed with ASD are commonly overlooked or misjudged, even by trained professionals. This book isn't about changing people, but about bringing out their best, by focusing on and nurturing their strengths. The authors examine the forces at play--including outdated attitudes, a lack of sufficient training, and an overreliance on standardized testing--that complicate and confuse the effort to see the remarkable capabilities of these kids. The authors argue that behaviors often described as disruptive or interfering are actually brilliant attempts at communication and point the reader toward interventions that can encourage people to effectively communicate their needs and thoughts. Hidden Brilliance helps us see how and why parents--who often feel alone in their ability to see past their children's struggles to the incredible capabilities underneath --are often dismissed or ignored. This long overdue book explains ways to identify your child's strengths and abilities and then use them as a tool for social communication, improved learning, and overall growth. While no one can predict a child's future, a positive and supportive attitude combined with the right goals and interventions that consider the child's strengths can lead to extraordinary growth and connection. Warm and hopeful, Hidden Brilliance opens the door to a new way of looking at people diagnosed with ASD--those who deserve to have their brilliance shine brightly for all to see.
The Wind Knows My Name
by
Isabel Allende; Frances Riddle (Translator)
Call Number: PQ8098.1 L54 W5613 2023
ISBN: 9780593598108
Publication Date: 2023-06-06
This powerful and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and Violeta weaves together past and present, tracing the ripple effects of war and immigration on one child in Europe in 1938 and another in the United States in 2019. Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht--the night his family loses everything. As her child's safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel's mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin. Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita's mother. Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers--and never stop dreaming.
Ascension
by
Nicholas Binge
Call Number: PR6102 I53 A94 2023
ISBN: 9780593539583
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
"Smartly paced, deploying twists and turns strategically to keep the reader moving. . . The ideas are big and the journey is a whole lot of fun." --The New York Times "[An] excellent page-turner. . . Ascension is thoroughly recommended--a macabre, escapist pleasure for the thoughtful set."--The Wall Street Journal A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human The only way out is up. . . An enormous snow-covered mountain has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. No one knows when exactly it showed up, precisely how big it might be, or how to explain its existence. When Harold Tunmore is contacted by a shadowy organization to help investigate, he has no idea what he is getting into as he and his team set out for the mountain. The higher Harold's team ascends, the less things make sense. Time moves differently, turning minutes into hours, and hours into days. Amid the whipping cold of higher elevation, the climbers' limbs numb and memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade. Paranoia quickly turns to violence among the crew, and slithering, ancient creatures pursue them in the snow. Still, as the dangers increase, the mystery of the mountain compels them to its peak, where they are certain they will find their answers. Have they stumbled upon the greatest scientific discovery known to man or the seeds of their own demise? Framed by the discovery of Harold Tunmore's unsent letters to his family and the chilling and provocative story they tell, Ascension considers the limitations of science and faith and examines both the beautiful and the unsettling sides of human nature.
Cloud Girls
by
Lisa Harding
Call Number: PR6108 A7255 H37 2023
ISBN: 9780063270282
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
A PEOPLE MAGAZINE PICK! "Shocking--and shockingly good. It is thought-provoking, anger-provoking, guilt-provoking, and--most importantly--it is a brilliantly written novel."--Roddy Doyle Thrown together by a harrowing twist of fate, two girls will find hope and redemption in friendship in this award-winning, emotional gut punch of a novel from the author of Bright Burning Things. Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Failed by them at every turn, Sammy acts out, seeking attention from boys, then men, when what she wants most is protection. Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn thirteen and as her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Her family knows that the nice life this stranger seems to be offering Nico is too good to be true, but they and Nico hope for the best as she's shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel. As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship--and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive--form a potent bond. Heartbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful, Cloud Girls exposes the failings of polite society and the cruelty that exists beneath its surface, yet reminds us that goodness and love can flourish in the darkest times.
Cold People
by
Tom Rob Smith
Call Number: PR6119 M586 C65 2023
ISBN: 9781982198404
Publication Date: 2023-02-07
From the brilliant, bestselling author of Child 44 comes a suspenseful and fast-paced novel about an Antarctic colony of global apocalypse survivors seeking to reinvent civilization under the most extreme conditions imaginable. The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist...Antarctica. Cold People follows the perilous journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they must also confront the urgent challenge: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity's future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold? Original and imaginative, as profoundly intimate as it is grand in scope, Cold People is a masterful and unforgettable epic.
Weyward
by
Emilia Hart
Call Number: PR9619.4 H3438 W49 2023
ISBN: 9781250280800
Publication Date: 2023-03-07
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft." --Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century. 1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha's mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom. 1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives--and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom. Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.
Birnam Wood
by
Eleanor Catton
Call Number: PR9639.4 C39 B57 2023
ISBN: 9780374110338
Publication Date: 2023-03-07
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER & NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER "Birnam Wood is terrific. As a multilayered, character-driven thriller, it's as good as it gets. Ruth Rendell would have loved it. A beautifully textured work--what a treat." --Stephen King "A generational cri de coeur . . . A sophisticated page-turner . . . Birnam Wood nearly made me laugh with pleasure. The whole thing crackles . . . Greta Gerwig could film this novel, but so could Quentin Tarantino." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times The Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries brings us Birnam Wood, a gripping thriller of high drama and kaleidoscopic insight into what drives us to survive. Birnam Wood is on the move . . . A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand's South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place: he has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker, or so he tells Birnam's founder, Mira, when he catches her on the property. He's intrigued by Mira, and by Birnam Wood; although they're poles apart politically, it seems Lemoine and the group might have enemies in common. But can Birnam trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust one another? A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its drama, Austenian in its wit, and, like both influences, fascinated by what makes us who we are. A brilliantly constructed study of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is a mesmerizing, unflinching consideration of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.
Blue Skies
by
T. C. Boyle
Call Number: PS3552 O932 B59 2023
ISBN: 9781324093022
Publication Date: 2023-05-16
Denied a dog, a baby, and even a faithful fiancé, Cat suddenly craves a snake: a glistening, writhing creature that can be worn like "jewelry, living jewelry" to match her black jeans. But when the budding social media star promptly loses the young "Burmie" she buys from a local pet store, she inadvertently sets in motion a chain of increasingly dire and outrageous events that comes to threaten her very survival. "Brilliantly imaginative . . . in a terrifying way" (Annie Proulx), Blue Skies follows in the tradition of T. C. Boyle's finest novels, combining high-octane plotting with mordant wit and shrewd social commentary. Here Boyle, one of the most inventive voices in contemporary fiction, transports us to water-logged and heat-ravaged coastal America, where Cat and her hapless, nature-loving family--including her eco-warrior parents, Ottilie and Frank; her brother, Cooper, an entomologist; and her frat-boy-turned-husband, Todd--are struggling to adapt to the "new normal," in which once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters happen once a week and drinking seems to be the only way to cope. But there's more than meets the eye to this compulsive family drama. Lurking beneath the banal façade of twenty-first-century Californians and Floridians attempting to preserve normalcy in the face of violent weather perturbations is a caricature of materialist American society that doubles as a prophetic warning about our planet's future. From pet bees and cricket-dependent diets to massive species die-off and pummeling hurricanes, Blue Skies deftly explores the often volatile relationships between humans and their habitats, in which "the only truism seems to be that things always get worse." An eco-thriller with teeth, Boyle's Blue Skies is at once a tragicomic satire and a prescient novel that captures the absurdity and "inexpressible sadness at the heart of everything."
The Ferryman
by
Justin Cronin
Call Number: PS3553 R542 F47 2023
ISBN: 9780525619475
Publication Date: 2023-05-02
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying."--STEPHEN KING From the New York Times bestselling author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia--where the truth isn't what it seems. Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera's lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh. Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process--and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he's been dreaming--which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry. Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group--known as "Arrivalists"--who may be fomenting revolution. Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized--and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.
The Bride Wore White
by
Amanda Quick
Call Number: PS3561 R44 B75
ISBN: 9780593337868
Publication Date: 2023-05-02
A psychic desperate to escape her destiny--and a killer--finds her future in the coastal town of Burning Cove in New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick's latest novel. Being Madame Ariadne, Psychic Dream Consultant, wasn't Prudence Ryland's ideal gig, but it paid well which was reason enough to do the work--until she realizes that her latest client intends to kill her. But Prudence, a master at reinvention, finds a new job and home as far away as possible and is finally able to relax--which turns out to be a big mistake. Letting her guard down means being kidnapped and drugged and waking up in a bloodstained wedding dress in the honeymoon suite next to a dead man. With the press outside the hotel, waiting with their cameras and police sirens in the distance, it's obvious she's being framed for the man's murder. Prudence knows who is responsible, but will anyone believe her? It doesn't seem likely that rumored crime boss Luther Pell or his associate, Jack Wingate, believe her seemingly outrageous claims of being a target of a ruthless vendetta. In fact, Prudence is convinced that the mysterious Mr. Wingate believes her to be a fraud at best, and at worst: a murderer. And Jack Wingate does seem to be someone intimately familiar with violence, if going by his scarred face and grim expression. So no one is more shocked than Prudence when Jack says he'll help her. Of course, his ideas for helping her involve using her as the bait for a killer, but Prudence feels oddly safe with Jack protecting her. But who will protect Prudence from her growing fascination with this enigma of a man?
48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister
by
Joyce Carol Oates
Call Number: PS3565 A8 A68 2023
ISBN: 9781613163818
Publication Date: 2023-03-14
What has become of Marguerite Fulmer? On an otherwise average day in Upstate New York, the young woman left her family home, never to return. No note was left, no explanation; just a messy bedroom and her sister Gigi, driven to dig through the meager clues and discover the truth behind her disappearance. As the investigation unfolds, every subtle bit of evidence becomes a potential clue. The silk Dior slip dress, left in a heap on the floor; the impression of Ferragamo boots outside in the dirt, a trail of footsteps that abruptly ends before it leaves the yard. And as Gigi trails the detectives, she finds previously unknown troubles in the life of her perfect, gorgeous, much-loved sister?troubles that at times seem to reflect her own. Bit by bit, like ripping the petals off a flower blossom, a dark truth is revealed. And subtly, but with the unbearable suspense at which Joyce Carol Oates excels, clues mount and bring to light the fate of the missing beauty.
The 23rd Midnight
by
James Patterson; Maxine Paetro
Call Number: PS3566 A822 A822 2023
ISBN: 9780316402781
Publication Date: 2023-05-01
The latest in this "successful and suspenseful" (Entertainment Weekly) series: an attention-seeking copycat is recreating murders by a famous killer from the Women's Murder Club's past--with devastating new twists. Detective Lindsay Boxer put serial killer Evan Burke in jail. Reporter Cindy Thomas wrote a book that put him on the bestseller list. An obsessed maniac has turned Burke's true-crime story into a playbook. And is embellishing it with gruesome touches all his own. Now Lindsay's tracking an elusive suspect, and the entire Murder Club is facing destruction.
Good Night, Irene
by
Luis Alberto Urrea
Call Number: PS3571 R74 G66 2023
ISBN: 9780316265850
Publication Date: 2023-05-30
This "powerful, uplifting, and deeply personal novel" (Kristin Hannah, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Four Winds), at once "a heart-wrenching wartime drama" (Christina Baker Kline, #1 NYT bestselling author of Orphan Train) and "a moving and graceful tribute to heroic women" (Publishers Weekly, starred review), asks the question: What if a friendship forged on the front lines of war defines a life forever? In the tradition of The Nightingale and Transcription, this is a searing epic based on the magnificent and true story of courageous Red Cross women. "Urrea's touch is sure, his exuberance carries you through . . . He is a generous writer, not just in his approach to his craft but in the broader sense of what he feels necessary to capture about life itself." --Financial Times In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle. After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a courageous American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact. Taking as inspiration his mother's own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women's heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea's "gifts as a storyteller are prodigious" (NPR).
Rogue Justice
by
Stacey Abrams
Call Number: PS3601 B746 R64 2023
ISBN: 9780385548328
Publication Date: 2023-05-23
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The #1 bestselling author of While Justice Sleeps returns with another riveting and intricately plotted thriller, in which a blackmailed federal judge, a secret court and a brazen murder may lead to an unprecedented national crisis. "Abrams delivers another smart, zippy thriller." --Washington Post "A thoroughly compelling take on the machinations of Washington and those covetous of power." --New York Magazine Supreme Court clerk Avery Keene is back, trying to get her feet on solid ground after unraveling an international conspiracy in While Justice Sleeps. But as the sparks of Congressional hearings and political skirmishes swirl around her, Avery is approached at a legal conference by Preston Davies, an unassuming young man and fellow law clerk to a federal judge in Idaho. Davies believes his boss, Judge Francesca Whitner, was being blackmailed in the days before she died. Desperate to understand what happened, he gives Avery a file, a burner phone, and a fearful warning that there are highly dangerous people involved. Another shocking murder leads Avery to a list of names - all federal judges - and, alarmingly, all judges on the FISA Court (the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), also known as America's "secret court." It is this body which grants permission to the government to wiretap Americans or spy on corporations suspected of terrorism. As Avery digs deeper, she begins to see a frightening pattern - and she worries that something far more sinister may be unfolding inside the nation's third branch of government. With lives at stake, Avery must race the clock and an unexpected enemy to find the answer. Drawn from today's headlines and woven with her unique insider perspective, Stacey Abrams combines twisting plotlines, wry wit, and clever puzzles to create another immensely entertaining suspense novel.
The Last Word
by
Taylor Adams
Call Number: PS3601 D3973 L37 2023
ISBN: 9780063222892
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
After posting a negative review of a horror novel, a woman staying at an isolated beach house begins to wonder if the author is a little touchy--or very, very dangerous--in this pulse-pounding novel of psychological suspense and terror from the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and Hairpin Bridge. Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house's owner, Jules. One day, she reads a poorly written--but gruesome--horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can't just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too? As Emma digs into Kane's life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of? Displaying his trademark command of rapid-fire pacing, unnerving atmosphere, and razor-sharp characterization, Taylor Adams once again delivers a diabolically disturbing--and deadly--game of cat and mouse.
The Collected Regrets of Clover
by
Mikki Brammer
Call Number: PS3602 R34483 C65 2023
ISBN: 9781250284396
Publication Date: 2023-05-09
"A beautiful tale of a vulnerable, compassionate woman who finds that, in order to care for others, she must also let herself be cared for." --Kirkus (starred review) What's the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can't give yourself a beautiful life? From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process. Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story--and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she'll have the courage to go after it. Probing, clever, and hopeful, The Collected Regrets of Clover is perfect for readers of The Midnight Library and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine as it turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life.
The Guest
by
Emma Cline
Call Number: PS3603 L547 G84 2023
ISBN: 9780812998627
Publication Date: 2023-05-16
A young woman pretends to be someone she isn't in this "spellbinding" (Vogue), "smoldering" (The Washington Post) novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Girls. "Under Cline's command, every sentence as sharp as a scalpel, a woman toeing the line between welcome and unwelcome guest becomes a fully destabilizing force."--The New York Times "Alex drained her wineglass, then her water glass. The ocean looked calm, a black darker than the sky. A ripple of anxiety made her palms go damp. It seemed suddenly very tenuous to believe that anything would stay hidden, that she could successfully pass from one world to another." Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she's been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes of a rarefied world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake. Taut, propulsive, and impossible to look away from, Emma Cline's The Guest is a spellbinding literary achievement.
Crow Mary
by
Kathleen Grissom
Call Number: PS3607 R57 C76 2023
ISBN: 9781476748474
Publication Date: 2023-06-06
The New York Times bestselling author of the "touching" (The Boston Globe) book club classics The Kitchen House and the "emotionally rewarding" (Booklist) Glory Over Everything returns with a sweeping saga inspired by the true story of Crow Mary--an indigenous woman torn between two worlds in 19th-century North America. In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell's past, falls in love with her husband. The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota--despite Farwell's efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point. From an author with a "stirring and uplifting" (David R. Gillham, New York Times bestselling author) voice, Crow Mary sweeps across decades and the landscape of the upper West and Canada, showcasing the beauty of the natural world, while at the same time probing the intimacies of a marriage and one woman's heart.
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece
by
Tom Hanks; R. Sikoryak (Illustrator)
Call Number: PS3608 A71522 M35 2023
ISBN: 9780525655596
Publication Date: 2023-05-09
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From the legendary actor and best-selling author: a novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film...and the humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American culture since World War II. "Wild, ambitious and exceptionally enjoyable." --Matt Haig, best-selling author The Midnight Library, The Humans and Reasons to Stay Alive Part One of this story takes place in 1947. A troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for twenty-three years. Cut to 1970: The nephew, now drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle and, remembering the comic book he saw when he was five, draws a new version with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero. Cut to the present day: A commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and decides to turn it into a contemporary superhero movie. Cue the cast: We meet the film's extremely difficult male star, his wonderful leading lady, the eccentric writer/director, the producer, the gofer production assistant, and everyone else on both sides of the camera. Bonus material: Interspersed throughout are three comic books that are featured in the story--all created by Tom Hanks himself--including the comic book that becomes the official tie-in to this novel's "major motion picture masterpiece."
Happy Place
by
Emily Henry
Call Number: PS3608.E5715 H36 2023
ISBN: 9780593441275
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "The beach-read master hooks us again."--People Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by BuzzFeed ∙ Paste Magazine ∙ Elle ∙ Southern Living ∙ SheReads ∙ Culturess ∙ Medium ∙ Her Campus ∙ Readers Digest ∙ Zibby Mag and more! A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry. Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college--they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now--for reasons they're still not discussing--they don't. They broke up five months ago. And still haven't told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group's yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they'll all have together in this place. They can't stand to break their friends' hearts, and so they'll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It's a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week...in front of those who know you best?
The Golden Doves
by
Martha Hall Kelly
Call Number: PS3611 E452 G65 2023
ISBN: 9780593354889
Publication Date: 2023-04-18
Two former female spies, bound together by their past, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II--a pulse-pounding novel inspired by true events from the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls "Martha Hall Kelly deftly illuminates little-known complexities of the post-war era while painting a vivid portrait of the deep scars and trauma that Holocaust survivors carried."--Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Sapphire American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie's mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette's son is stolen from her, never to be seen again. A decade later the Doves fall headlong into a dangerous dual mission: Josie is working for U.S. Army Intelligence and accepts an assignment to hunt down the infamous doctor, while a mysterious man tells Arlette he may have found her son. The Golden Doves embark on a quest across Europe and ultimately to French Guiana, discovering a web of terrible secrets, and must put themselves in grave danger to finally secure justice and protect the ones they love. Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into the stories of women throughout history and for exploring the terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of Nazi fugitives in the wake of World War II--and the unsung female spies who risked it all to bring them to justice.
American Mermaid
by
Julia Langbein
Call Number: PS3612 A563 A84 2023
ISBN: 9780385549677
Publication Date: 2023-03-21
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR * "Sublime." --New York Times Book Review * A brilliantly funny debut novel that follows a writer lured to Los Angeles to adapt her feminist mermaid novel into a big-budget action film, who believes her heroine has come to life to take revenge for Hollywood's violations. "Brilliantly sharp, funny, and thought-provoking, the gripping story of a woman trying to find her way in our chaotic world." --Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist novel American Mermaid becomes a best-seller. Lured by the promise of a big payday, she quits teaching and moves to L.A. to turn the novel into an action flick with the help of some studio hacks. But as she's pressured to change her main character from a fierce, androgynous eco-warrior to a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Threats appear in the screenplay; siren calls lure Penelope's co-writers into danger. Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her mermaid come to life, enacting revenge for Hollywood's violations? American Mermaid follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a ruthless industry town, where she discovers a beating heart in her own fiction, a mermaid who will fight to move between worlds without giving up her voice. A hilarious story about deep things, American Mermaid asks how far we'll go to protect the parts of ourselves that are not for sale.
I Have Some Questions for You
by
Rebecca Makkai
Call Number: PS3613 A36 I33 2023
ISBN: 9780593490143
Publication Date: 2023-02-21
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A twisty, immersive whodunit perfect for fans of Donna Tartt's The Secret History." --People "Spellbinding." --The New York Times Book Review "[An] irresistible literary page-turner." --The Boston Globe Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by TIME, NPR, USA Today, Elle, Newsweek, Salon, Bustle, AARP, The Millions, Good Housekeeping, and more The riveting new novel -- "part true-crime page-turner, part campus coming-of-age" (San Francisco Chronicle) -- from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past--the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia's death and the conviction of the school's athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers--needs--to let sleeping dogs lie. But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn't as much of an outsider at Granby as she'd thought--if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case. In I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman's reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.
Drowning
by
T. J. Newman
Call Number: PS3614 E96 D76 2023
ISBN: 9781982177911
Publication Date: 2023-05-30
"The first terrific thriller of 2023." --James Patterson * "Spectacular...Taut, gripping." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * "Reads like Apollo 13 underwater." --Don Winslow * "Masterful." --Patricia Cornwell Flight attendant turned New York Times bestselling author T. J. Newman returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside--and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them. Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors--but it's too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside. More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives. Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent--Shannon's mother and Will's soon-to-be ex-wife--who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff. There's not much time. There's even less air. With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family's desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them--against impossible odds.
Bad Summer People
by
Emma Rosenblum
Call Number: PS3618 O8338 B33 2023
ISBN: 9781250887009
Publication Date: 2023-05-23
Emma Rosenblum's Bad Summer People is a whip-smart, propulsive debut about infidelity, backstabbing, and murderous intrigue, set against an exclusive summer haven on Fire Island. "This roiling beach community satire serves up wicked, clever fun that is White Lotus sharp." --Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians and Sex and Vanity NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2023: Bustle, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, PopSugar, Bloomberg, Vogue, and more! None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder? Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he's the tennis pro--or someone else's husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other. Until a body is discovered, face down, off the side of the boardwalk. Stylish, subversive, and darkly comedic, this is a story of what's lurking under the surface of picture-perfect lives in a place where everyone has something to hide.
Romantic Comedy (Reese's Book Club)
by
Curtis Sittenfeld
Call Number: PS3619 I94 R66 2023
ISBN: 9780399590948
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A comedy writer thinks she's sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions--a "smart, sophisticated, and fun" (Oprah Daily) novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Eligible, Rodham, and Prep. "Delightful . . . The woman narrating Romantic Comedy is hyper-aware of the conventions of romantic comedy, and she knows full well that real life is no fairy tale. But could it be this time?"--The Washington Post Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she's long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life. But when Sally's friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show--and in society at large--who've gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman. Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week's show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn't a romantic comedy--it's real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right? With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.
The Endless Vessel
by
Charles Soule
Call Number: PS3619 O8766 E53 2023
ISBN: 9780063043046
Publication Date: 2023-06-06
Combining the wonder of The Midnight Library , the inventiveness of Ready Player One, and the artistry of Cloud Atlas, this novel by the bestselling author of The Oracle Year and Anyone explores the way we're all connected--and what can happen when we lose our capacity for joy. A few years from now, in a world similar to ours, there exists a sort of "depression plague" that people refer to simply as "The Grey." No one can predict whom it will afflict, or how, but once infected, there's no coming back. A young Hong Kong based scientist, Lily Barnes, is trying to maintain her inner light in an increasingly dark world. The human race is dwindling, and people fighting to push forward are increasingly rare. One day, Lily comes across something that seems to be addressing her directly, calling to her, asking her to follow a path to whatever lies at its end. Is this the Endless Vessel to happiness? She leaves her life behind and sets out through time and space to find out. From its opening heart-stopping scene in the present day at the Louvre in Paris, through the earthly meetings between Lily and her loved ones past and present, to a shocking and satisfying conclusion in a truly enchanted forest, Charles Soule has channeled history, science and drama to create a story for the ages--a story of hope and love and possibility. This is a novel you will not soon forget.
Camp Zero
by
Michelle Min Sterling
Call Number: PS3619 T47754 C36 2023
ISBN: 9781668007563
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick In a near-future northern settlement, the fates of a young woman, a professor, and a mysterious collective of researchers collide in this mesmerizing and transportive debut that "delivers its big ideas with suspense, endlessly surprising twists, and abundant heart" (Jessamine Chan, New York Times bestselling author). In remote northern Canada, a team led by a visionary American architect is breaking ground on a building project called Camp Zero, intended to be the beginning of a new way of life. A clever and determined young woman code-named Rose is offered a chance to join the Blooms, a group hired to entertain the men in camp--but her real mission is to secretly monitor the mercurial architect in charge. In return, she'll receive a home for her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother and herself. Rose quickly secures the trust of her target, only to discover that everyone has a hidden agenda, and nothing is as it seems. Through skillfully braided perspectives, including those of a young professor longing to escape his wealthy family and an all-woman military research unit struggling for survival at a climate station, the fate of Camp Zero's inhabitants reaches a stunning crescendo. Atmospheric, fiercely original, and utterly gripping, Camp Zero is an electrifying page-turner and a masterful exploration of who and what will survive in a warming world, and how falling in love and building community can be the most daring acts of all.
The Eden Test
by
Adam Sternbergh
Call Number: PS3619 T47874 E34 2023
ISBN: 9781250855664
Publication Date: 2023-04-25
Seven Days. Seven Questions. Forever Changed. Daisy and Craig's marriage is in serious trouble. That's why Daisy has signed up for The Eden Test, a week-long getaway for couples in need of a fresh start. Yet even as she's struggling to salvage her marriage, it seems Craig has plans to leave her for another woman. In fact, his bags are already packed -- long before he arrives to meet Daisy in this remote cabin in the woods of upstate New York. At first, their week away is marked by solitude, connection, and natural beauty -- and only a few hostile locals. But what Craig doesn't know is that Daisy, a slyly talented actress, has her own secrets, including a burner phone she's been using for mysterious texts. Not to mention the Eden Test itself, which poses a searing new question to the couple every day, each more explosive than the last. Their marriage was never perfect, but now the lies and revelations are piling up, as the week becomes much more than they bargained for...How far are they willing to go? Adam Sternbergh brings his wit, originality, and a Hitchcockian sense of dread to this chilling, surprising, and wholly entertaining portrait of a marriage on the brink.
Stealing
by
Margaret Verble
Call Number: PS3622 E733 S74 2023
ISBN: 9780063267053
Publication Date: 2023-02-07
A gripping, gut-punch of a novel about a Cherokee child removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s--an ambitious, eye-opening reckoning of history and small-town prejudices from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble. Since her mother's death, Kit Crockett has lived with her grief-stricken father, spending lonely days far out in the country tending the garden, fishing in a local stream, and reading Nancy Drew mysteries from the library bookmobile. One day when Kit discovers a mysterious and beautiful woman has moved in just down the road, she is intrigued. Kit and her new neighbor Bella become fast friends. Both outsiders, they take comfort in each other's company. But malice lurks near their quiet bayou and Kit suddenly finds herself at the center of tragic, fatal crime. Soon, Kit is ripped from her home and Cherokee family and sent to Ashley Lordard, a religious boarding school. Along with the other Native students, Kit is stripped of her heritage, force-fed Christian indoctrination, and is sexually abused by the director. But Kit, as strong-willed and shrewd as ever, secretly keeps a journal recounting what she remembers--and revealing just what she has forgotten. Over the course of Stealing, she slowly unravels the truth of how she ended up at the school--and plots a way out. In swift, sharp, and stunning prose, Margaret Verble spins a powerful coming-of age tale and reaffirms her place as an indelible storyteller and chronicler of history.
The Covenant of Water
by
Abraham Verghese
Call Number: PS3622 E744 C68 2023
ISBN: 9780802162175
Publication Date: 2023-05-02
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret "One of the best books I've read in my entire life. It's epic. It's transportive . . . It was unputdownable!"--Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India's Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning--and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl--and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi--will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants. A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
Hang the Moon
by
Jeannette Walls
Call Number: PS3623 A3644 H36 2023
ISBN: 9781501117299
Publication Date: 2023-03-28
The instant New York Times bestseller! Named a LibraryReads Pick for March 2023 and a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Oprah Daily, Elle, and LitHub! From Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, comes a riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition. Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who'd amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans. Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father's daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother's son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out. Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That's a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger. You will fall in love with Sallie Kincaid, a feisty and fearless, terrified and damaged young woman who refuses to be corralled.
The Couples Trip
by
Ulf Kvensler
Call Number: PT9876.21 V467 S27 2023
ISBN: 9781335455000
Publication Date: 2023-06-06
**Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award Best Debut of the Year** **Shortlisted for the Crimetime Award 2022** Two couples set out together on a hiking trip that goes terrifyingly wrong in this addictive psychological thriller for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley. Anna, Henrik and Milena's annual hiking trip is just around the corner. This year, however, Anna and Henrik have a hard time saying no when Milena asks if her boyfriend, Jacob, can tag along. The hike soon spirals into mayhem when the three friends come to realize that taking Jacob was a decision that could change their lives forever. From the austere mountaintops of northern Sweden, this highly anticipated thriller traverses through the unexplored wilderness--here, there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
The Possibility of Life
by
Jaime Green
Call Number: QB54 G74 2023
ISBN: 9781335463548
Publication Date: 2023-04-18
*An NPR Science Friday Book Club Pick* *A "Next Big Idea Book Club" Must Read* *A Gizmodo New Release Pick for April* *A BookRiot Science Book to Add to Your TBR* *A Wired Book to Read for Spring* *A TODAY Show Summer Book* *A Washington Post Book to Read This Summer* "A dazzling feat of imagination and synthesis."--Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of An Immense World A spellbinding exploration of alien life and the cosmos, examining how the possibility of life on other planets shapes our understanding of humanity One of the most powerful questions humans ask about the cosmos is: Are we alone? While the science behind this inquiry is fascinating, it doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is a reflection of our values, our fears, and most importantly, our enduring sense of hope. In The Possibility of Life, acclaimed science journalist Jaime Green traces the history of our understanding, from the days of Galileo and Copernicus to our contemporary quest for exoplanets. Along the way, she interweaves insights from science fiction writers who construct worlds that in turn inspire scientists. Incorporating expert interviews, cutting-edge astronomy research, philosophical inquiry, and pop culture touchstones ranging from A Wrinkle in Time to Star Trek to Arrival, The Possibility of Life explores our evolving conception of the cosmos to ask an even deeper question: What does it mean to be human?
On the Origin of Time
by
Thomas Hertog
Call Number: QB981 H475 2023
ISBN: 9780593128442
Publication Date: 2023-04-11
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Stephen Hawking's closest collaborator offers the intellectual superstar's final thoughts on the cosmos--a dramatic revision of the theory he put forward in A Brief History of Time. "This superbly written book offers insight into an extraordinary individual, the creative process, and the scope and limits of our current understanding of the cosmos."--Lord Martin Rees Perhaps the biggest question Stephen Hawking tried to answer in his extraordinary life was how the universe could have created conditions so perfectly hospitable to life. In order to solve this mystery, Hawking studied the big bang origin of the universe, but his early work ran into a crisis when the math predicted many big bangs producing a multiverse--countless different universes, most of which would be far too bizarre to harbor life. Holed up in the theoretical physics department at Cambridge, Stephen Hawking and his friend and collaborator Thomas Hertog worked on this problem for twenty years, developing a new theory of the cosmos that could account for the emergence of life. Peering into the extreme quantum physics of cosmic holograms and venturing far back in time to our deepest roots, they were startled to find a deeper level of evolution in which the physical laws themselves transform and simplify until particles, forces, and even time itself fades away. This discovery led them to a revolutionary idea: The laws of physics are not set in stone but are born and co-evolve as the universe they govern takes shape. As Hawking's final days drew near, the two collaborators published their theory, which proposed a radical new Darwinian perspective on the origins of our universe. On the Origin of Time offers a striking new vision of the universe's birth that will profoundly transform the way we think about our place in the order of the cosmos and may ultimately prove to be Hawking's greatest legacy.
Built to Move
by
Kelly Starrett; Juliet Starrett
Call Number: RA781 S734 2023
ISBN: 9780593534809
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * Simple and proven physical practices designed to improve the way your body feels--less stiffness! fewer aches and pain!--and boost the overall quality of your life, no matter how you spend your time. From the innovators behind The Ready State and the movement bible Becoming a Supple Leopard. "The definitive guide for building an all-around healthy and high-performing body and mind." --Andrew Huberman, Professor of Neurobiology, Stanford University & Host of The Huberman Lab Podcast After decades spent working with pro-athletes, Olympians, and Navy Seals, mobility pioneers Kelly and Juliet Starrett began thinking about the physical well-being of the rest of us. What makes a durable human? How do we continue to feel great and function well as we age? And how do we counteract the effects of technology-dependence, sedentary living, and other modern ways of life on our body's natural need for activity? The answers lie in an easy-to-use formula for basic mobility maintenance: 10 tests + 10 physical practices = 10 ways to make your body work better The book offers: Easy mobilization practices to increase range of motion and avoid injury Intuitive ways to integrate more movement into your daily life and escape sedentary habits No-fuss guidelines for improving nutrition and sleep Basic breathing practices to manage stress and pain Quick and simple assessments to gauge progress and what needs improvement It's full of foundational wisdom for everyone from beginners to professional athletes and everyone in between. Built to Move introduces readers to a set of simple principles and practices that are undemanding enough to work into any busy schedule, lead to greater ease of movement, better health, and a happier life doing whatever it is you love to do--and want to continue doing as long as you live. This book is your game plan for the long game.
Gut Feelings
by
Will Cole (Contribution by); Gretchen Lidicker (Contribution by)
Call Number: RC802 C596 2023
ISBN: 9780593232361
Publication Date: 2023-03-21
"Working with Will Cole has changed my health and my life. Gut Feelings offers a highly effective, intuitive, and softer way to reset and reconnect your body and emotions."--GWYNETH PALTROW The definitive guide to understanding the connection between what you eat and how you feel, offering a 21-day plan to reset your relationship with your body and heal the gut inflammation caused by stress, shame, and trauma--from the New York Times bestselling author of Intuitive Fasting and Ketotarian. It's easy to suffer from frustration and confusion when it comes to nutrition and health. With so much focus on what, when, and how to eat, the emotional component of eating tends to get left behind. Dr. Will Cole sheds light on the relationship between your physical and emotional health, providing a framework for you to better understand the gut-brain connection and influence that connection for the better. He illustrates how stress and shame can cause gut inflammation and sabotage your health in a process called Shameflammation. On the other end, problems with the gut can often present themselves in the form of mood swings, anxiety, and food cravings. True health isn't just about what you eat, but how you feel. Shameflammation can be the reason for chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disorders, leaky gut, IBS, and other GI disorders. Thankfully, it's possible to heal the connection between the physical and mental with good food and somatic practices that support a healthy gut and brain. Dr. Cole offers holistic tools to help you reevaluate your relationship with food and your body, getting you back in touch with your gut feelings. His 21-Day Gut Feeling plan helps you bridge the gap between your emotions and your health, including: * More than fifty healing recipes, such as Breakfast Fried Rice, Scallop Noodle Bowls, and Honey Grapefruit Sorbet * Dietary prescriptions founded upon flexibility and awareness * Mindfulness techniques to strengthen your intuition and discover your priorities Gut Feelings approaches nutrition and wellness from a place of self-love and will help you eliminate stubborn health conditions, on your own terms.
The Other Family Doctor
by
Karen Fine
Call Number: SF613 F5288 A3 2023
ISBN: 9780593466896
Publication Date: 2023-03-14
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Calling all animal lovers! A heartwarming memoir about one woman's career as a vet and the unique role pets play in our lives * "Filled with compassion and wisdom, Karen Fine is a healer whose own wounds have deepened her gifts for bringing animals and their people comfort and peace." --Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus A tribute to our furry, feathery, scaley, and wet family members, All Creatures Great and Small meets Being Mortal in this compelling memoir of one woman's dream to become a veterinarian. Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered, and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients' stories to provide the best possible care. And in The Other Family Doctor, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking, and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet. There's: * The feral cat who becomes a creature out of a fable when he puts his trust in a young vet to heal his injured paw * The pot-bellied pig who grows too big to fit in the car but remains a cherished part of her family * The surprising colony of perfectly behaved ferrets * The beloved aging pet who gives her people the gift of accompanying them on one final family vacation * The dog who saves his owner's life in a most unexpected way Woven into Dr. Fine's story are, of course, also the stories of her own pets: the birds, cats, and dogs who have taught her the most valuable lessons--how caring for the animals in our lives can teach us to better care for ourselves, especially when life seems precarious.
When the Heavens Went on Sale
by
Ashlee Vance
Call Number: TL782.5 V36 2023
ISBN: 9780062998873
Publication Date: 2023-05-09
An Instant New York Times Bestseller A momentous look at the private companies building a revolutionary new economy in space, from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk In When the Heavens Went on Sale, Ashlee Vance illuminates our future and unveils the next big technology story of our time: welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering and its unprecedented impact on our lives. With the launch of SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Silicon Valley began to realize that the universe itself was open for business. Now, Vance tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab by following four pioneering companies--Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab--as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands. With the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new, scrappy companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth's lower orbit for business. Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history, and he chronicles it all in full color: the top-secret launch locations, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear. Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology's most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.
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