Summer Reading 2025
June 9-August 4
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Fiction

El Dorado Drive
by Megan Abbott

When Harper moves in with her sister Pam, she's surprised to find Pam doing so well financially after her messy divorce. After all, Pam's ex-husband wiped their bank accounts, even stole from their kids. But Pam managed to find her way back. Thanks to the Wheel. Twice a month, the women of the Wheel meet. New members bring cash to the party that is pooled together and then gifted to one lucky member. It's all about giving back. Lifting each other up. As women should. As they must. But when Harper is invited, with the promise of an end to her financial burdens, the sisters inadvertently unleash a darkness lurking within the group. If they're not careful, it might just get them killed.
Room on the Sea: Three Novellas
by Andrâe Aciman

Three lyrical short fictions circle questions of aging and loss, and explore both passion and amorous ambivalence.
My Name Is Emilia del Valle
by Isabel Allende

In 1800s San Francisco, young writer Emilia, daughter of an Irish nun and a Chilean aristocrat, journeys to South America with talented reporter Eric to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.
My Friends
by Fredrik Backman

Jarrod has felt distanced from his daughter Liv since the death of Jarrod's partner Charlie, but when Liv finds boyfriend Zel murdered, Jarrod rushes to her aid and they comb for clues across the Coachella Valley while a killer's on the loose.
Spent: A Comic Novel
by Alison Bechdel

In Alison Bechdel's hilariously skewering and gloriously cast new comic novel confection, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, running a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont, is existentially irked by a climate-challenged world and a citizenry on the brink of civil war. She wonders: Can she pull humanity out of its death spiral by writing a scathingly self-critical memoir about her own greed and privilege? Meanwhile, Alison's first graphic memoir about growing up with her father, a taxidermist who specialized in replicas of Victorian animal displays, has been adapted into a highly successful TV series. It's a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group (recognizable as characters, now middle-aged and living communally in Vermont, from Bechdel's beloved comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For). As the TV show Death and Taxidermy racks up Emmy after Emmy-and when Alison's Pauline Bunyanesque partner Holly posts an instructional wood-chopping video that goes viral-Alison's own envy spirals. Why couldn't she be the writer for a critically lauded and wildly popular reality TV show...like Queer Eye...showing people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?!!
The Payback
by Kashana Cauley

When Jada Williams is relentlessly pursued by the Debt Police, she is left with no choice but to take down her student loan company with the help of two mall coworkers.
Flashlight
by Susan Choi

The author of Trust Exercise follows a father's disappearance across time, nations and memory.
King of Ashes
by S. A. Cosby

After returning to Jefferson Run, Virginia, and family business Carruthers Crematorium—with brother Dante in debt to criminals and sister Neveah exhausted from holding everything together—Roman discovers that his father's crash was no accident and Dante has placed them all in real danger.
Old School Indian
by Aaron John Curtis

A coming-of-middle-age novel about an Ahkwesáhsne man's reluctant return home and what it takes to heal.
To Smithereens
by Rosalyn Drexler

A zany romance set amid the Manhattan experimental art scene and the female wrestling world of the 1970s, from an overlooked star of the Pop Art movement.
Among Friends
by Hal Ebbott

At a New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host's fifty-second birthday, envy and resentment erupt into an unspeakable act; accusations, denials, and shattered illusions follow, driving wedges between friends, spouses, children and parents.
One Golden Summer
by Carley Fortune

Charlie was 19 when Alice took his photo near her Nan's cottage in Barry's Bay, but now he's a grown-up flirt who makes Alice feel seventeen again—warm nights on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice's soul, but she begins to worry for her heart.
Great Black Hope
by Rob Franklin

A young Black man is caught between worlds of race and class, glamour and tragedy a friend's mysterious death and his own arrest.
My Train Leaves at Three
by Natalie Guerrero

How much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice in order to chase your dreams? After her sister Nena's sudden death, Xiomara, an Afro-Latina singer and actress born and raised in Washington Heights, is numb. With her sister gone, Xiomara is painfully close to thirty, living in a tiny apartment with her ultra-Catholic Puerto Rican mother, and having the same shitty sex with the same shitty men that she's been entertaining for years. Behind on rent despite two minimum-wage jobs, one of which involves singing show tunes while serving pancakes to tourists at Ellen's Stardust Diner, Xiomara is bitingly cynical, especially in her grief, and barely treading water. But when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to audition for Manny Santos, the most charismatic director of the moment, falls into her lap, it seems to Xiomara like a second chance to pursue the dream she thought she'd left behind has finally come. Meanwhile, something about Santi, a new coworker at the print shop where she spends half of her days photocopying other performers' headshots, starts to tug at the threads of her apathy. Nothing is simple, and soon Xiomara finds herself interacting with the ugliest sides of the industry and the powerful men that control it. While Xiomara grapples with the hard truth that sometimes the closer you are to your dreams, the further away from yourself you become, she is forced to ask herself if she has what it takes to build a new shiny life without losing the truth of her old one.
Fever Beach
by Carl Hiaasen

A dim-witted Proud Boys reject becomes entangled in a bizarre web of corruption and intrigue involving a hitchhiker, a con artist, an eccentric millionaire and a power-hungry politician in the new novel by the best-selling author of Bad Monkey.
Bug Hollow
by Michelle Huneven

Sally's brother Ellis goes missing after high school but turns up at Bug Hollow, where a freak accident kills him weeks later; mother and father Sybil and Phil and sisters Katie and Sally each seek their own solace, and after his pregnant girlfriend comes to their door, Sally cares for Ellis's child Eva.
Kakigori Summer
by Emily Itami

When music idol Ai is embroiled in scandal, her sisters, ambitious Rei and single mother Kiki, pause their lives and spend the summer with Ai in their childhood home on the Japanese coast so they can rescue their baby sister.
Summerhouse
by Yiægit Karaahmet

Fehmi and ðSener have been together for forty years--no small feat for any pair, but especially admirable for a gay couple in Turkey. Behind closed closet doors, their life on Bèuyèukada, an idyllic island near Istanbul, is like a powder keg that only needs one spark to make it blow. That spark soon comes in the form of Deniz, the wildly handsome and troubled teenager next door, who immediately catches Fehmi's eye. This "harmless" crush raises ðSener's hackles: he is horrified to see his husband made unrecognizable by his lecherous desires, and Deniz represents a sinister threat to everything ðSener holds dear. Little do Deniz and Fehmi know that ðSener will stop at nothing to protect his family, and if all three of them make it to the end of summer alive, it'll be a miracle. Dishy, emotional, and suspenseful, Yiægit Karaahmet's debut makes a fierce political statement about gay rights in Turkey, while also introducing a shockingly lovable pair of antiheroes who could be Tom Ripley's grandfathers.
Never Flinch
by Stephen King

From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines-one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker-featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters. When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to "kill thirteen innocents and one guilty" in "an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man," Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help. Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women's rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate's message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate's bodyguard-a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness. Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion-a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off. Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King's richest and most propulsive novels.
The Names
by Florence Knapp

Cora's hesitation to name her son triggers three alternate paths over thirty-five years, revealing the lasting impact of domestic abuse and the complexities of family in her search for autonomy and healing.
The River Is Waiting
by Wally Lamb

Corby Ledbetter, grappling with addiction, prison life, and the tragedy that shattered his family, finds unexpected kindness and connection behind bars, as he seeks redemption and hopes for forgiveness from those he's hurt the most.
The Accidental Favorite
by Fran Littlewood

A moving family dramedy investigates the question so many of us have asked ourselves: do my parents have a favorite?
The Bewitching
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multi-generational gothic horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.
Atmosphere: A Love Story
by Taylor Jenkins Reid

In 1980, professor Joan begins training for the Space Shuttle in Houston with Top Gun pilot Hank, scientist John, mission specialist Lydia, warm-hearted Donna, and aeronautical engineer Vanessa, who become unlikely friends—until December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, when everything changes in an instant.
Vera, or Faith
by Gary Shteyngart

"The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original. Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world"
The Dark Maestro
by Brendan Slocumb

Curtis Wilson, a cello prodigy from D.C. who rose to classical music stardom, is forced into witness protection after his drug-dealer father turns informant, but when the cartel remains untouchable, Curtis and his family must use their wits and his musical gifts to fight for survival.
The Book of Records
by Madeleine Thien

A novel that leaps across centuries past and future, as if different eras were separated by only a door.
The Emperor of Gladness
by Ocean Vuong

In the struggling town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from despair by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, forging an unexpected bond that reshapes their lives and reveals dynamics of love, memory, and resilience on the margins of society.
So Far Gone
by Jess Walter

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
Run for the Hills
by Kevin Wilson

Madeline Hill and her mom have lived alone on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee, since her dad left; one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and announces she's his half-sister, and he wants Mad to join him for a crazy road trip to find their father and half siblings.
Non-Fiction
The Mind Electric : A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains
by Pria Anand

In this collection of medical tales "reminiscent of Oliver Sacks...the best of medical writing" (Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water), a neurologist reckons with the stories we tell about our brains, and the stories our brains tell us..
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
by Rick Atkinson

Chronicles the pivotal middle years of the American Revolution, tracing the Continental Army's fight for survival, George Washington's struggles for resources, Benjamin Franklin's diplomacy in Paris, and British attempts to suppress the rebellion in the face of mounting costs.
Ocean: Earth's Last Wilderness
by David Attenborough

Through personal stories, history and cutting-edge science, Ocean uncovers the mystery, the wonder, and the frailty of the most unexplored habitat on our planet--the one which shapes the land we live on, regulates our climate, and creates the air we breathe. This book showcase the oceans' remarkable resilience: they can, and in some cases have, recovered the fastest, if we only give them the chance. Drawing a course across David Attenborough's own lifetime, Ocean takes readers on an adventure-laden voyage through eight unique ocean habitats, countless intriguing species, and the most astounding discoveries of the last 100 years, to a future vision of a fully restored marine world--one even more spectacular than we could possibly hope for. Ocean reveals the past, present and potential future of our blue planet. It is a book almost a century in the making, but one that has never been more urgently needed.
Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind
by Nate Bargatze

Nate Bargatze used to be a genius. That is, until the summer after seventh grade when he slipped, fell off a cliff, hit his head on a rock, and "my skull got, like, dented or something." Before this accident, he dreamed of being "an electric engineer, or a doctor that does brain stuff, or a math teacher who teaches the hardest math on earth." Afterwards, all he could do was stand-up comedy.* But the "brain stuff" industry's loss is everyone else's gain because Nate went on to become one of today's top-grossing comedians, breaking both attendance and streaming records. In his highly anticipated first book, Nate talks about life as a non-genius. From stories about his first car (named Old Blue, a clunky Mazda with a tennis ball stick shift) and his travels as a Southerner (Northerners like to ask if he believes in dinosaurs), to tales of his first apartment where he was almost devoured by rats and his many debates with his wife over his chores, his diet, and even his definition of "shopping." He also reflects on such heady topics as his irrational passion for Vandy football and the mysterious origins of sushi (how can a California roll come from old-time Japan?). BIG DUMB EYES is full of heart. It will make readers laugh out loud and nod in recognition, but it probably won't make them think too much.
Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI
by John Cassidy

This compelling history of global capitalism, explored through the perspective of one of its fiercest critics, traces movements and ideas from the Industrial Revolution to modern degrowth, while addressing issues like automation, inequality and climate change.
Mark Twain
by Ron Chernow

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, under Halley's Comet, the rambunctious Twain was an early teller of tall tales. He left his home in Missouri at an early age, piloted steamboats on the Mississippi, and arrived in the Nevada Territory during the silver-mining boom. Before long, he had accepted a job at the local newspaper, where he barged into vigorous discourse and debate, hoaxes and hijinks. After moving to San Francisco, he published stories that attracted national attention for their brashness and humor, writing under a pen name soon to be immortalized. Chernow draws a richly nuanced portrait of the man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune and crafted his celebrity persona with meticulous care. Twain eventually settled with his wife and three daughters in Hartford, where he wrote some of his most well-known works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, earning him further acclaim. He threw himself into American politics, emerging as the nation's most notable pundit. While his talents as a writer and speaker flourished, his madcap business ventures eventually forced him into bankruptcy; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play. Drawing on Twain's bountiful archives, including his fifty notebooks, thousands of letters, and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures a man whose career reflected the country's westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars. No other white author of his generation grappled so fully with the legacy of slavery after the Civil War or showed such keen interest in African American culture. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain's writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted.
We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life's 20 Questions
by Glennon Doyle

Explores twenty essential life questions, offering wisdom, personal insights, and transformative lessons designed to help readers confront challenges, find healing, and share inspiration through courage, solidarity, and meaningful conversations.
The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War With Forbidden Literature
by Charlie English

The astonishing true story of the CIA's secret program to smuggle millions of books through the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
by Caroline Fraser

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Prairie Fires comes a terrifying true-crime history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond—a gripping investigation of how a new strain of psychopath emerged out of a toxic landscape of deadly industrial violence. Illustrations. Map(s).
Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i
by Sara Kehaulani Goo

An award-winning journalist's breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawaii, its native people, and their struggle to hold on to their land and culture today. Illustrations.
Everyday Intuition: What Psychology, Science, and Psychics Can Teach Us About Finding and Trusting Our Inner Voice
by Elizabeth Greenwood

Digging deep into her personal experience as well as insights from neuroscience, psychology, feminist texts, psychics, and everyday people with extraordinary intuitive ability, Elizabeth Greenwood provides practical advice on tapping into our self-knowledge and learning to trust our instincts. Greenwood examines the science behind intuition, including how our brains process information, how psychedelic medicine and manifestation are opening new doors of consciousness, and how we can train ourselves to be more intuitive and ultimately enhance our daily lives.
Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji
by Keith Houston

We are surrounded by emoji. They appear in politics, movies, drug deals, our sex lives, and more. But emoji's impact has never been explored in full. In this rollicking tech and pop culture history, Keith Houston follows emoji from its birth in 1990s Japan, traces its Western explosion in the 2000s, and considers emoji's ever-expanding lexicon. Named for the world's most popular pictogram, Face with Tears of Joy tells the whole story of emoji for the first time.
Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings
by Honorâee Fanonne Jeffers

Explores the journeys and possibilities of Black women throughout American history and in contemporary times.
How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir
by Molly Jong-Fast

A darkly funny and deeply honest memoir exploring a daughter's complex relationship with her famous, elusive mother, the impact of dementia, blending humor, heart and raw reflection on loss, family and identity.
Dinner With King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Recreating the Sights, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations
by Sam Kean

From "one of America's smartest and most charming writers" (NPR), an archaeological romp through the entire history of humankind--and through all five senses--from tropical Polynesian islands to forbidding arctic ice floes, and everywhere in between.
The Möbius Book
by Catherine Lacey

A hybrid book of fiction and nonfiction centered on a series of breakups, rupturings, and endings.
Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory fame Machine
by Laurence Leamer

Examines the lives of ten women who inspired Andy Warhol's art and underground films, exploring their rise within his famed Factory, the turbulent 1960s Manhattan scene, and the exploitation, creativity, and chaos that defined their relationships with the iconic artist. Illustrations.
Is a River Alive?
by Robert Macfarlane

The best-selling author of Underland explores the concept of rivers as living entities, weaving together travel writing, natural history and reporting from Ecuador, India and Canada to illuminate the interconnectedness of humans and rivers. Illustrations.
How Things Are Made: A Journey Through the Hidden World of Manufacturing
by Tim Minshall

An illuminating journey through the world of manufacturing and its seismic influence on our lives, from internationally renowned expert Tim Minshall We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products, including furniture, technology, clothing, and even food. And yet the processes by which these things appear in our lives are virtually invisible. How often do we stop to think: Where do the things we buy actually come from? How are they made, and how do they make their way into our hands? The answers can be found in How Things Are Made, which traces the surprising paths taken by everyday items to reach consumers, from design to creation to delivery. Expert Tim Minshall takes us on a journey through the manufacturing world, from the smallest job-shops to mega-factories, from global shipping hubs to local delivery at your door, revealing the inner workings of the system that runs 24-7-365 to make and deliver the things we need-or want-to live our daily lives, including cars, cakes, phones, planes, drugs, and medical devices. Along the way, he explores how we can improve the fragility of our global manufacturing system and the impact it has on the natural world, revealing a path to a truly sustainable future. Brimming with energy and lively examples, How Things Are Made maps the awe-inspiring global system of manufacturing that enables virtually every aspect of our existence. By making sense of this surprising and hidden world, we are able to make better choices for ourselves, our communities, and the planet.
Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir
by Craig Mod

Photographer and essayist Craig Mod is a veteran of long solo walks. But in 2021, during the pandemic shutdown of Japan's borders, one particular walk around the Kumano Kodō routes--the ancient pilgrimage paths of Japan's southern Kii Peninsula--took on an unexpectedly personal new significance. Mod found himself reflecting on his own childhood in a post-industrial American town, his experiences as an adoptee, his unlikely relocation to Japan at nineteen, and his relationship with one lost friend,whose life was tragically cut short after their paths diverged. For Mod, the walk became a tool to bear witness to a quiet grace visible only when "you're bored out of your skull and the miles left are long." Tracing a 300-mile-long journey, Things Become Other Things folds together history, literature, poetry, Shinto and Buddhist spirituality, and contemporary rural life in Japan via dozens of conversations with aging fishermen, multi-generational inn owners, farmers, and kissaten cafe "mamas." Along the way, Mod communes with mountain fauna, marvels over evidence of bears and boars, and hopscotches around leeches. He encounters whispering priests and foul-mouthed little kids who ask him, "Just what the heck are you, anyway?" Through sharp prose and hiscurious archive of photographs, he records evidence of floods and tsunamis, the disappearance of village life on the peninsula, and the capricious fecundity of nature.
Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America
by Bridget Read

A groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade American society. Multilevel marketing companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the ultimate business opportunity: the chance to be your own boss. In exchange for peddling their wares, they offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and-most precious of all-financial freedom. If, that is, you're willing to shell out for expensive products, recruit everyone you know to buy them, and make them recruit everyone they know to do the same-thus creating the "multiple levels" of multilevel marketing, or MLM. Despite overwhelming evidence that multilevel marketing causes most of its participants to lose their money, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes, the industry's dubious origins, inextricably tiedto well-known ideological figures like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. Behind the scenes of American life, MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, teachers, nurses-anyone who has been left behind by inequality. In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny post-war California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the suburbs of Michigan and North Carolina, where MLM bought its political protection, to the stadium-sized conventions where top sellers today preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has been endorsed by multiple American presidents, has its own Congressional caucus, and enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffet, and Donald Trump. Along the way, Read delves into the heartbreaking stories of those enmeshed in the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn. A wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, Little Bosses Everywhere exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism's stealthiest PR campaign: a cunning right-wing political project that has shaped nearly everything about how we live.
Lessons from My Teachers: From Preschool to the Present
by Sarah Ruhl

A meditation on the life-altering bonds between teacher and student and the ineffable wisdom imparted both inside and outside the classroom, from a critically acclaimed author, MacArthur genius, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award–nominated playwright and author.
Life and Art: Essays
by Richard Russo

In twelve masterful new essays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Somebody's Fool and The Destiny Thief considers how the twin subjects of Life and Art inform each other and how the stories we tell ourselves about both shape our understanding of the world around us.
The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro

The riveting and cinematic story of a partnership that would change the world forever In 1928, a young social worker and hobby pilot named Amelia Earhart arrived in the office of George Putnam, heir to the Putnam & Sons throne and hit maker, on the hunt for the right woman for a secret flying mission across the Atlantic. A partnership-professional and soon otherwise-was born. The Aviator and the Showman unveils the untold story of Amelia's decade-long marriage to George Putnam, offering an intimate exploration of their relationship and the pivotal role it played in her enduring legacy. Despite her outwardly modest and humble image, Amelia was fiercely driven and impossibly brave, a lifelong feminist and trailblazer in her personal and professional life. Putnam, the so-called "PT Barnum of publishing" was a bookselling visionary-but often pushed his authors to extreme lengths in the name of publicity, and no one bore that weight more than Amelia. Their ahead-of-its time partnership supported her grand ambitions-but also pressed her into more and more treacherous stunts to promote her books, influencing a certain recklessness up to and including her final flight. Earhart is a captivating figure to many, but the truth about her life is often overshadowed by myth and legend. In this cinematic new account, Laurie Gwen Shapiro emphasizes Earhart's human side, her struggles, and her authentic aspirations, the truths behind her brave pursuits and the compromises she made to fit into societal expectations. With a trove of new sources including undiscovered audio interviews from those closest to Amelia, Amelia and George presents her as a multifaceted woman-complete with flaws, desires, and competitive drive. It is a gripping and passionate tale of adventure, colorful characters, hubris, and a complex and a vivid portrait of a marriage that shaped the trajectory of an iconic life.
I'll Look So Hot in a Coffin: And Other Thoughts I Used to Have About My Body
by Carla Sosenko

Carla Sosenko was born with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, a rare vascular disorder that resulted in legs of different sizes, a mass of flesh on her back, a hunched posture, and other idiosyncrasies big and small. She spent years trying to hide under layers of clothing, and then experimented with the opposite: wearing tiny dresses and short shorts, daring people to stare so she could make them regret it. No matter what she did, she was worried that she didn't measure up. In this candid and funny memoir, Carla shares what existing in an unconventional body has meant for her self-image, mental health, relationships, and ambitions. She writes of having liposuction when she was eight years old, and an adulthood spent obsessively gaming Weight Watchers points. She wrestles with the rise of Ozempic after working hard to reject diet culture. She tries to parse whether it is in spite of or because of her physical differences that she is an outgoing social butterfly who chose a high-profile career in media. Most ofall, Carla explores the ways in which she's felt alone and without community: not disabled but different; the recipient of pretty privilege, but also fatphobia; too much, but still never enough. We follow along as she learns to claim her body-and mind and spirit and life-for exactly what they are: her own. A clarion call for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or believed they should take up less space, I'll Look So Hot In a Coffin offers hope, recognition, and a new way to see ourselves-by celebrating what sets us apart.
On Book Banning
by Ira Wells

A lively, accessible survey of literary censorship through the ages. The freedom to read is under attack. There are, today, more efforts to ban books from libraries than ever before. The supposed "dangers" posed by books including The Handmaid's Tale, Gender Queer, Huckleberry Finn, and the works of Dr. Seuss--leading children down a path of sexual deviance, or harming them with racist language or non-inclusive narratives--fuel the puritanical zeal of De Santis Republicans and progressive educators alike. On Book Banning argues that today's culture warriors proceed from a misunderstanding of literature as instrumental to the pursuit of their ideological agendas. In treating libraries as sites of contagion and exposure, censors are warping our children's relationship with literature and teaching them that the solution to opposing viewpoints is cancellation or outright expurgation. On Book Banning provides a lively, accessible survey of literary censorship through the ages--from the destruction of libraries in ancient Rome, to the Catholic Church's attempts to tamp down religious dissent and scientific innovation, to state-sponsored efforts to suppress LGBTQ literature in the 1980s and beyond. Throughout, Ira Wells demonstrates how today's book bans stem from the ineradicable human impulse toward social control. In a whistle-stop tour of landmark legal cases, literary controversies, and philosophical arguments, we discover that the freedom to read and publish is the aberration in human history, and that censorship and restriction have been the rule. At a moment in which our democratic institutions are buckling under the stress of polarization, On Book Banning is both rallying cry and guide to resistance for those who reject the conflation of art and propaganda, for whom books remain sacred vessels of our shared humanity, and who will always insist upon reading for ourselves.
The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon's Enduring Impact on America
by Mark Whitaker

Explores the iconic freedom fighter's posthumous influence on Black Power, hip-hop, literature, sports, and politics while also detailing the wrongful convictions in his assassination, offering a broad view of his lasting impact on American culture and history.
Dianaworld : An Obsession
by Edward White

So much rested on her slender shoulders. There was parenting a future king, propping up the image of the British monarchy, championing global causes, and fulfilling the fantasies of dreamy young girls everywhere. What got lost in this epic level of responsibility was the woman herself. Diana, Princess of Wales, born Diana Spencer, was of aristocratic lineage but was revered for her perceived common touch. As she was, by turns, idolized and demonized by the press and the public, the adulation and opprobrium cast her way spawned a cottage industry of kitsch, launched numerous biopics, and inspired countless retrospective memoirs and tell-alls. In the end, however, the world came no closer to knowing the "true" Diana. Journalist White takes an equitable and ecumenical approach to this complex and tragic icon, placing Diana's life in social and historical context, from her origin story to her legacy, weaving together memories and observations from close confidants and perfect strangers alike. White ensures that readers will appreciate the phenomenal impact this often misunderstood yet perennially alluring woman has made on global culture.
That's How They Get You: An Anthology of New Black Humor
by Damon Young

From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a ground-breaking collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today. A critic explores what happens when a Yo Mamma joke goes too far. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. A writer shares the secret untold politics of The Electric Slide. All across the nation "Karens" become illegal overnight. These are just a few of the hilarious worlds contained in Damon Young's groundbreaking anthology featuring the best, funniest, and Blackest essays and short stories. With words that roast, ignite, and burn while connecting to and coalescing around a singular thesis, this anthology emphasizes how and why Black American humor is uniquely transfixing. It's not just a mixture of observational anxieties and stream-of-consciousness lucidities but also an acute political clarity about America. Edited and with an introduction by Damon Young, the critically acclaimed author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker, the collection features an all-star roster of contributors, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Mateo Askaripour, Mahogany L. Browne, Wyatt Cenac, Kiese Laymon, Angela Nissel, Deesha Philyaw, Nafissa Thompson Spires, Roy Wood Jr., Nicola Yoon, and more.
The Art Spy: The extraordinary untold tale of WWII resistance hero Rose Valland
by Michelle Young

A saga set in Paris during World War II uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the world's most treasured masterpieces.
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