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Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel
by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox has vanished. When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces--which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades. Where'd You Go Bernadette is an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are and the power of a daughter's love for her mother.
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Clap When You Land
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
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Daisy Jones & the Six: A Novel
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid brilliantly captures the 1970s rock scene in Daisy Jones & The Six, a riveting novel presented as the oral history of an iconic band. The story centers on the explosive pairing of two volatile talents: Daisy Jones, a mesmerizing singer who lives for rock 'n' roll, and Billy Dunne, the intense frontman of The Six. When a producer realizes their combined chemistry is the key to superstardom, their collaboration becomes legendary—a legacy fraught with sex, drugs, and rivalry.
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Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable
by Mark Dunn
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.
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Interior Chinatown
by Charles Yu
Willis Wu sees himself as nothing more than "Generic Asian Man," forever relegated to the background of his own life. He works at the Golden Palace restaurant, which serves as a perpetual set for the procedural cop show, Black and White. Willis dreams of being "Kung Fu Guy"—the most respected role for someone who looks like him. After accidentally stumbling into the spotlight, Willis is launched into a wider world, uncovering the secret history of Chinatown and the buried legacy of his own family in Charles Yu's inventive, deeply personal novel about assimilation and pop culture.
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My Sister, the Serial Killer: A Novel
by Oyinkan Braithwaite
When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other...
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Homeseeking
by Karissa Chen
Homeseeking is an epic and intimate story of enduring love against the backdrop of six decades of tumultuous Chinese history. Widowed Haiwen encounters his childhood sweetheart, Suchi, in a Los Angeles market—sixty years after they last saw each other. Their soul-deep love was shattered in 1947 when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army, leaving Suchi with only his violin. The novel traces their separate paths through war, famine, and opportunity across Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and New York, revealing a story of loyalty, sacrifice, and the power of a single choice to define a lifetime.
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Waste Wars: The Afterlife of Your Trash
by Alexander Clapp
Waste Wars is a jaw-dropping exposé of the massive, multi-billion-dollar global economy fueled by the world's garbage. For two years, journalist Alexander Clapp traveled five continents to report on this secret "hot potato" trade, which ships, sells, and smuggles millions of tons of waste—from Western cellphones to cruise ships—from wealthy nations to the poorest ones. This unflinching book reveals how this globalized business offloads our consumption footprint onto distant lands and unsuspecting populations, with devastating environmental and social consequences.
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The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays On A Human-Centered Planet
by John Green
Adapted and expanded from his critically acclaimed podcast, John Green's The Anthropocene Reviewed is a unique collection of essays examining the current geological age, in which humanity profoundly shapes the planet. Green reviews diverse facets of the human-centered world—from the QWERTY keyboard to the Penguins of Madagascar—on a five-star scale. Rich with detail and empathy, this artfully curated collection features beloved pieces alongside six all-new essays, showcasing Green's gift for storytelling and exploring the shared human experience.
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We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year
by Charles J. Wheelan
In the insightful and hilarious memoir, We Came, We Saw, We Left, the Wheelan family documents their unconventional pre-pandemic gap-year experiment: quitting work, school, and routine to travel the world on a modest budget. The book chronicles nine months across six continents with three teenagers, juggling adventure, global economics, and family dynamics. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to," it offers a funny, honest look at everything that can go wrong—from getting treated for flesh-eating bacteria to sneaking out of an army-barricaded Peruvian town.
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On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer
by Rick Steves
In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu. A 23-year-old Rick Steves made the trek, and like a travel writer in training, he documented everything along the way. From taking wild bus rides through Turkey to enduring monsoons in India, the experience ignited his love of travel and forever broadened his perspective on the world. On the Hippie Trail contains Rick's journals from 1978—the last year the trip was possible—and full-color travel photos from this trek of a lifetime through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, plus a brand-new preface and afterword reflecting on the historic context of the moment and how the journey changed his life.
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America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled
by Blythe Roberson
Frustrated by canonical travel narratives written by privileged white men, writer and comedian Blythe Roberson quits her day job and sets off on a Great American Road Trip to visit the national parks. Borrowing her stepfather's Prius, Roberson journeys from the mega-popular Loop parks down the Pacific Coast to the scorching desert. The result is a hilarious and insightful millennial travelogue, America the Beautiful?, which uses jokes and meditations to rage on ecotourism, climate change, and the structural inequalities that limit true American "freedom."
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World Travel: An Irreverent Guide
by Anthony Bourdain
Travel the world like Anthony Bourdain in World Travel, a practical and frank guide to his favorite global destinations—from cosmopolitan cities like Paris and Shanghai to the stunning solitude of Tanzania and Oman. Collected from his life of experience, the book offers essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, and what to avoid. It is supplemented by original essays from his friends and colleagues—including Christopher Bourdain and Steve Albini—that provide deeper, sardonic, and often intimate stories about the man and the places he loved.
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Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
by Joshua Foer
A completely revised and updated second edition of the best-selling guide to the planet's most unusual and mysterious locations incorporates 120 new entries and a full-color gatefold road trip map outlining an itinerary for ultimate enthusiasts. 150,000 first printing. Illustrations. Maps. Tour.
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In A Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson
More a cabinet of curiosities than a guidebook, Atlas Obscura celebrates over 600 of the world's most curious and unusual destinations. It features natural wonders, architectural marvels, and bizarre events, from New Zealand's glowworm caves and India's stepwells to Spain's Baby Jumping Festival and Turkmenistan's "Door to Hell." Filled with photographs and compelling descriptions, the book revels in the unexpected, expanding our sense of how strange and marvelous the world truly is.
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