|
|
Book Club Nonfiction October 2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp
by Lynne Olson
Ravensbrèuck was [an atypical place], not just as the only all-female German concentration camp, but because 80% of them were political prisoners. Among them was a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance. Already well-practiced in sabotaging the Nazi occupation of France, these women joined forces to defy their German captors and keep each other alive. Calling themselves the maquis (guerillas) of Ravensbrèuck, the sisterhood's members, amid unimaginable terror and brutality, subverted Germany's war effort by refusing to do the work they were assigned. Knowing that they risked death for any infraction did not stop them from defying their SS tormentors at every turn---even staging a satirical musical revue about the horrors of the camp. After the war, when many in France wanted nothing more than to focus on the future and forget about those who'd resisted the enemy, the women from Ravensbrèuck refused to allow their achievements, needs, and sacrifices to be erased--
|
|
|
|
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy
by Mary Roach
An Instant New York Times Bestseller A BEST BOOK OF 2025: TIME - SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - KIRKUS - SHELF AWARENESS - CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY A Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee From the New York Times best-selling author of Stiff and Fuzz, a rollicking exploration of the quest to re-create the impossible complexities of human anatomy.
|
|
|
|
The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness
by Arthur C. Brooks
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the bestselling author of From Strength to Strength, the definitive account of how the modern world makes meaning so hard to find--and a plan to discover your life's deepest purpose. If you struggle to discern life's meaning, you're not alone. Millions today describe a growing sense of emptiness, a lack of purpose and significance. And there's a reason: Rapid cultural, economic, and technological changes have rewired our brains, reducing their ability to perceive depth and purpose. In The Meaning of Your Life, social scientist and happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks shows you how to push back against these changes and find the meaning you need to live a happy, fulfilling life. Relying on cutting-edge science, he offers practical, evidence-based strategies for breaking free of the powerful trends and personal habits that dull your focus on the why of your life. Drawing on the great philosophers and the world's faith traditions, he shows how everyone can--and must--approach life's most important and mysterious questions and provides a blueprint that will help even the most skeptical person find a life of spiritual transcendence, passionate love, and true calling. What is the meaning of my life? is not an unanswerable question, but rather the start of a pilgrimage into unexplored corners of your consciousness. The Meaning of Your Life is your handbook for this journey.
|
|
|
|
Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
by David Epstein
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Fascinating stories. . . . Boxing ourselves in may be the ultimate way to think outside the box. --Wall Street Journal I thought David Epstein's first two books were brilliant, but Inside the Box is his best. I'll never think about my own work the same way again. --Malcolm Gladwell It's never been easier to do too much. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Range, why limits are the key to stimulating creativity, innovation, collaboration, and personal contentment. We live in a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and prizes freedom above all else. We have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be, and how to spend our time. All that choice is wonderful; it is also overwhelming. The irony is that total freedom can be paralyzing, and unlimited resources don't necessarily lead to the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, overvaluing complete freedom can be disastrous for everything from starting a company to harnessing creativity to finding personal satisfaction. David Epstein argues that all of us--individuals, businesses, institutions, even societies--can benefit from narrowing our options. He dives into the science and practice of constraints, exploring exactly when and how guardrails can be beneficial, whether we're working with limited resources or using self-imposed boundaries to tap unexpected wells of focus and innovation. Original, galvanizing, and deeply researched, Inside the Box tells absorbing stories of people and organizations that embraced constraints to transform themselves, and the world--as well as a few that struggled from a lack of limits. Epstein reveals how boundaries create breakthroughs, and how setting the right constraints can help you become the most creative, productive, and satisfied version of yourself.
|
|
|
|
The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World
by Nathaniel Philbrick
A New York Times Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2026 - A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Fall National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower, reveals how California's Gold Rush forged the modern United States--and lit the long fuse to civil war In January 1848, a carpenter spotted flecks of gold in a shallow stream at Sutter's Mill in California, triggering the greatest voluntary migration in U.S. history, as hundreds of thousands raced west in pursuit of sudden wealth, reinvention, and power. From the feverish gold-mining camps of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the wharves and vigilance committees of San Francisco, Nathaniel Philbrick renders a combustible, all-world society: Chilean brothers reinventing themselves to outrun prejudice; Native communities navigating dispossession and violence; the merchant-showman Samuel Brannan, drawn into the center of early vigilantism; and the politicians vying for control of California's future--the ambitious Free-Soil political boss David Broderick, who squared off against William Gwin, the Southern power broker intent on tilting the state toward slavery and the Confederacy. In The Rush, Nathaniel Philbrick transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America's modern contradictions--capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty--and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die. This is the story of a nation tearing at the seams and a republic tested by its own ideals. Not until ayear after the outbreak of the Civil War, when President Lincoln signed legislation that would unite the nation east to west by building a transcontinental railroad, was California's loyalty secured. Philbrick follows the gold as it moves from riverbed to countinghouse to the halls of power, revealing how vigilantism hardened into law and how debates over slavery in the West tipped the balance in Washington. The result is a clear, human story of how a scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging--and how California's rise helped push a fractured nation toward war. The Rush is alive with characters whose choices still reverberate: a searing, panoramic epic that captures both the fury and the promise of America.
|
|
|
|
The Look
by Michelle Obama
An illustrated book about fashion by former First Lady Michelle Obama--
|
|
|
|
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home
by Gregg Olsen
In May 2005, authorities discovered the Groene family murdered in their Idaho home. The family's youngest members--eight-year-old Shasta and her brother, nine-year-old Dylan--were nowhere to be found. As a community prayed for their return, Shasta and Dylan were already miles away in the woods of Montana at the hands of serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan. After a harrowing forty-eight day ordeal, Shasta was rescued. In many ways, her survival story was only beginning. In the following years, while Shasta struggled to outrun her trauma, a pattern of self-destructive behavior shadowed her like an ever-worsening thunderstorm. She still had hope buried deep inside--every bit as much as the little girl who had been held captive in the woods. This would be an all-new battle for Shasta. And she was determined not to lose--
|
|
|
|
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
by Sarah Wynn-Williams
An insider account charting one woman's career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.
|
|
|
|
Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit
by Brené Brown
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Bren Brown returns with an urgent call to reimagine the essentials of courageous leadership. In a time when uncertainty runs deep and bluster, hubris, and even cruelty are increasingly framed as acceptable leadership, Brown delivers practical, actionable insights that illuminate the mindsets and skill sets essential to reclaiming focus and driving growth through connection, discipline, and accountability.LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD Over the past six years, Bren Brown, along with a global community of coaches and facilitators, has taken more than 150,000 leaders in 45 countries through her Dare to Lead courage-building work. In Strong Ground, Brown shares the lessons from these experiences along with wisdom from other thinkers. This is a vital playbook for everyone from senior leaders developing and executing complex strategies to Gen Z-ers entering and navigating turbulent work environments. It is also an unflinching assessment of what happens when we continue to perpetuate the falsehood that performance and wholeheartedness are mutually exclusive. With equal amounts of optimism and caution about AI, Brown writes, I hear a lot of experts trying to soothe people's anxiety about the pace of technological change by offering platitudes like, What makes us human will ensure our relevance. This is dangerous simply because, right now, we're not especially good at what makes us human. We're not hardwired for this level of uncertainty, and many of us feel as if the constant need to self-protect is driving the humanity right out of us. This is why organizational transformation today must foster deep connection, deep thinking, and deep collaboration. We need the courage to lead people in a way that honors and protects the wisdom of the human spirit. Brown offers a broad assessment of the skill sets and mindsets we need moving forward, including the capacity for respectful and difficult conversations, increased productive urgency and smart prioritization rather than reactivity, and strategic risk-taking, paradoxical thinking, and situational and anticipatory awareness skills. She identifies the toughest skill set as the discipline, humility, and confidence to unlearn and relearn. Brown writes, Individuals and organizations are building new muscles. Finding our strong ground--that athletic stance--is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability in a maelstrom of uncertainty and a platform for the fast, explosive change that the world is demanding.
|
|
|
|
All the Way to the River: Oprah's Book Club: Love, Loss, and Liberation
by Elizabeth Gilbert
In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe.--
|
|
|
|
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shattered a Nation
by Andrew Ross Sorkin
With the depth of a classic history and the drama of a thriller, 1929 unravels the greed, blind optimism, and human folly that led to an era-defining collapse--one with ripple effects that still shape our society today. In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded--one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin. With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, ... Andrew Ross Sorkin takes readers inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivete in an endless boom led to disaster--
|
|
|
|
Counterweights: An Essential Practice for Holding Hope in a Heavy World
by Shannan Martin
Through the inevitable ups and downs of life outside of our control, we have a say in how we nurture goodness and light so we can move forward in hope. This book shows you how to notice the ordinary, accessible delights hiding in plain sight--reminders that even in tough times, life can be beautiful and deeply good.
|
|
|
Pierce County Library System
3005 112th St. E, Tacoma, Washington 98446
253-548-3300mypcls.org |
|
|
|