State-of-the-art library-on-wheels makes its debut, offering greater accessibility, modern features.
On Thursday, August 13, the library’s centennial celebration continued by Celebrating a Century of Fun at the Arlington Heights Senior Center.
Throughout 2026, we'll be sharing stories from our community that showcase the impact our library has had throughout the decades.
Your Next Great Read
Strangers in the villa
"Sydney Lowe's life in New York is shattered when her husband, Curtis, admits to a meaningless affair with a client. Begging for forgiveness and vowing to prove his devotion, Curtis suggests the couple retreat to a remote hilltop house in Spain to repair their marriage. High above the Mediterranean, Sydney and Curtis are working on the isolated property and their relationship when a pair of Australian travelers turns up at their door in dire need of help. Lonely for companionship and desperate for free labor, Sydney and Curtis invite the attractive young couple to stay. But as the days pass, dark secrets come to light, the Lowes' bond is tested, and not everyone will leave the villa alive."--
Bad Asians
"Diana, Justin, Vivian, and Errol have been friends for as long as they can remember. They worked hard and went to good schools, but rather than finding post-grad dream jobs, they've reunited while moving back into their childhood bedrooms. A year out of college, they are still job-hunting in the shadow of the early aughts recession. The four of them could not be more different, but together, away from the watchful, gossiping eyes of their parents, they can be their true selves. When their frenemy, Grace, returns to North Potomac after dropping out of Harvard Law School to pursue documentary filmmaking, the group sees little harm in allowing her to tape them hanging out for a short film. Thinking their comments would never see the light of day, the quartet openly shares their opinions, mouthing off about parental pressures and revealing intimate truths. None of them expect Grace's video to amount to anything-how many people even watch YouTube, anyways? When the video goes viral (2 million views and counting), propelling Grace into filmmaking stardom, the rest of the "Bad Asians" are forced to grapple with the not-so-flattering caricatures of themselves captured in her documentary. Overnight, they are recognized on the street, constantly asked for selfies, and worse, ripped apart in the comments. Worse still, the video's notoriety and a desperate attempt at spin control push the crew even further away from building the lives they each desire. As they grow up and grow apart, the group of friends tries again and again to figure out who they are outside of one another. In Bad Asians, Lillian Li offers a thoughtful and engrossing exploration of Asian-American identity, childhood friendship, and the early days of navigating missteps in full view of the world. Li's tale also captures how youth and ambition offer no guarantees, and while sometimes friends drift away from each other to find themselves, if you're lucky, they come back"-- Provided by publisher
Over and over
"Lissa is at a low point in her life when she meets Ash, but she can't deny their instant connection. It feels as they have met before, like she knows him somehow. And then the flashbacks start. Images of places she's never been to and times long since past. It shouldn't be possible, but she becomes sure: these are memories of past lives. And in those lives, there is always one person. A person wearing a different skin but who has the same soul. She falls in love with him, every time. And every time, it ends badly. She knows she needs to do something different this time. She can't keep making the same mistake, over and over. But how is she supposed to do that when she's not sure where she went so wrong? Can Lissa and Ash learn from the mistakes of the past and find a way to be together? Or are they destined to never have their happy ending?" --
This book made me think of you
"Twelve books. Twelve months. One chance to heal her heart... When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there's a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn't come as more of a shock. Partly because she can't remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago.... When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the kind (and adorably bookish) bookshop owner, explains the gift-twelve carefully chosen books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him. Her monthly trips to the bookstore-and heartfelt conversations with Alfie-give Tilly the comfort she craves and the courage to set out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to vlog her journey, her story becomes more than her own. With help from Alfie, her budding new following and her friends and family, can Tilly's year of books show her how to love again?" --
Les Normaux. 2
"Magic and mayhem collide in supernatural Paris as Sébastien, a young wizard, comes to terms with his demisexuality and explores his growing feelings for his neighbor Elia--a hot supermodel vampire. Join Elia, Sébastien and their assorted crew of wonderful friends, as they navigate the ins and outs of dating and relationships in this modern and paranormal love story."--
Konkurent
"Zaginięcie dziecka to koszmar, który przeraża każdego rodzica. Kiedy trzyletni Łukasz znika z piaskownicy, cała Polska wstrzymuje oddech, a media natychmiast nagłaśniają sprawę. Wydaje się, że to kolejne porwanie, jednak w głębi mrocznej intrygi kryje się prawda o wiele bardziej szokująca, niż ktokolwiek mógłby przypuszczać. Właśnie tak rozpoczyna się "Konkurent", porywający thriller Diany Brzezińskiej, który z impetem zamyka cykl, łącząc wszystkie niedokończone wątki w wielki finał, obiecujący niezapomniane emocje." --
Finding Cinderella a novella
Daniel does not believe in love at first sight until he lays eyes on Six, a girl with a quirky personality, but a secret from the past could jeopardize their chance at happily ever after
The reservation
"On the morning of the most important booking in the long history of the celebrated restaurant, Aunt Orsa's erupts into chaos with the discovery that twenty-two rib eye steaks have been stolen. Hers is the most august of fine-dining establishments in this Midwestern college town, and tonight Orsa is set to host a large party honoring a very special guest--a bestselling author of national renown. And what's up with the recent spate of online reviews, from insulting to frankly terrible? Is Orsa, who wants only to be loved, being sabotaged on several fronts? No one is above suspicion, not the Mennonite baker nor the tattooed hard-ass chef de cuisine. Could the culprit be among the servers, or even the inexperienced undergrad working as hostess?"--
Premacanda kī śreshṭha kahāniyāṃ mānava jīvana ke vibhinna pahaluoṃ kā bebāka ākalana karatī huī kahāniyoṃ kā śreshṭha saṅkalana!
Selected stories of a Hindi and Urdu author
The fair-weather friend
"The next gripping domestic suspense novel from Jessie Garcia. It's always sunny in Detroit for Faith Richards. The popular TV meteorologist, endearingly referred to as "The Fair Weather Friend" by her viewers, has the world by the tail. But one night, Faith leaves work on a dinner break and never returns. Her body is found the next morning. The town is reeling, suspects emerge, and long-buried secrets are uncovered. While her allies rally, her list of adversaries also grows. Little does anyone know that only the deepest secrets will expose the truth. In this riveting thriller from the author of THE BUSINESS TRIP, Jessie Garcia's signature multi-POV, rapid-fire style will propel you into the heart of a mystery no one could have forecasted"--
Kucharz
"Piotr Chomczyński, uznany kryminolog, przemyca niuanse swojej pracy w powieści o narkotykach syntetycznych, które zalewają polskie ulice. Nowa trucizna na rynku, stare demony w cieniu. Kto pociąga za sznurki w grze, w której stawką jest życie? W Poznaniu pojawił się nowy kucharz narkotyków, który zalał miasto nieznanym syntetykiem. Nowa substancja zbiera śmiertelne żniwo, pozostawiając za sobą pytania, na które nikt nie chce odpowiadać. W żyłach ofiar płynie trucizna, której skład przypomina laboratorium szaleńca. Marcin Koch - młody kryminolog, który dotąd jedynie konsultował sprawy dla policji - tym razem wchodzi w śledztwo głębiej, niż powinien. Wciąga go nie tylko tajemnica syntetyków, ale też determinacja Natalii, córki jego guru, która za wszelką cenę chce poznać prawdę. Tropy urywają się w podejrzany sposób. Wszyscy, którzy wiedzą za dużo, milkną albo znikają. Koch czuje, że w tej sprawie chodzi o coś więcej niż nielegalne laboratoria. Kiedy śmierć staje się tylko eksperymentem, a wiedza zabójczą bronią, agonia przybiera nową twarz. Czy Marcin Koch odważy się odkryć prawdę?"-- Polonia.com
When I kill you
"The multimillion-copy and New York Times bestseller B. A. Paris returns with a triumphant, unsettling new suspense novel. Who is watching Nell Masters? Nell Masters is certain someone is following her. The hairs on the back of her neck rise when she travels to and from work, there are silent calls to her office, and a huge bouquet of flowers arrives without a card. And Nell has a reason to be looking over her shoulder, because she has a secret that she's hiding from everyone in her life, including her new partner, Alex. But Alex also has secrets of his own. Fourteen years earlier, when Nell went by the name Elle Nugent, she witnessed a student, Bryony Sanders, getting into a stranger's car. When Bryony was found murdered, Elle became obsessed with finding the person responsible. She was convinced she knew who it was and her fixation with Brett Parker, the man she accused, led her down a dangerous path . . . Now, Nell tries to convince herself that this unnerving feeling of being watched is all in her mind. Has someone from her past discovered her new identity? Has the stalker become the stalked? Or is there something even more deadly at play?"--
All booked up
"Empty nester Virginia Meadows faces financial struggle and pressure from her daughter to leave her beloved family home, brimming with memories and a cherished library. Determined to keep the house, she opens her home to women needing lifestyle changes, but when romantic schemes begin to brew, Virginia starts to reconsider love as a possibility"-- Provided by publisher
Spoiled milk
"The untimely death of a student at a boarding school for privileged girls turns out to be the first in a haunting series of escalating supernatural events. A thrilling debut novel about teenage repression, queer desire, and the everyday horror of coming of age. In 1928, Emily Locke's final year at the isolated Briarley School for Girls is derailed when Violet, the school's brightest star, (and a cunning beauty for whom Emily would do anything), falls to her death on her eighteenth birthday. Emily and her buttoned-up rival Evelyn are, for once, in agreement: Violet's death was no accident. There's an obvious culprit, the French schoolmistress with whom Violet was getting a little too close--they only need to prove it. Desperate for answers, Emily and her classmates turn to spiritualism, hoping to conjure Violet's ghost or a glimpse of wisdom from the great beyond. To their shock, Violet's spirit does appear, choosing pious Evelyn as her unlikely medium. And Violet warns them: the danger has just begun. Something deadly is infecting Briarley. It starts with rotten food and curdled milk, but quickly grows more insidious. As the body count rises and students race to save themselves, Emily must confront the fatal forces poisoning the school. Emily's fight for survival forces her to reevaluate everything she knows: about Violet, Evelyn, Briarley, and, ultimately, herself. Avery Curran channels the indelible ambience and intrigue of the classic boarding school novel while turning the beloved genre on its head in this visceral, exuberant debut"-- Provided by publisher
Symphony of monsters
2023, Eastern Ukraine. Veronika, a nurse, comes home to discover that her nine-year-old son, Valentyn, has disappeared. She is distraught--as is her daughter, Lilya--they have no idea where Valentyn has been taken or why. They each embark on a quest to find him--Lilya with the bold recklessness of an adolescent, Veronika with the fearless determination of a mother. But the enemy have eyes and ears everywhere and no one can be trusted. Almost no one. Hundreds of miles away, behind the scenes, a brilliant and stubborn outlaw is working to help them find Valentyn. Together they will have to confront this Symphony of Monsters, a real-life project that is more terrifying than fiction. By turns moving and gripping, from the very first page to the last, the reader is rooting for these everyday heroes caught in a plot that is bigger and more sinister than any of them can imagine
Art cure the science of how the arts save lives
From cradle to grave, engaging in the arts has remarkable effects on our health and well-being. Music supports the architectural development of children's brains. Artistic hobbies help our brains to stay resilient against dementia. Dance and magic tricks build new neural pathways for people with brain injuries. Arts and music act just like drugs to decrease depression, stress, and pain, reducing our dependence on medication. Going to live music events, museums, exhibitions, and the theater decreases our risk of future loneliness and frailty. Engaging in the arts improves the functioning of every major organ system in the body, even helping us to live longer. This isn't sensationalism, it's science: the results of decades of studies gathering data from neuroimaging, molecular biomarkers, wearable sensors, cognitive assessments, and electronic health records. From professor Daisy Fancourt, an award-winning scientist and science communicator and director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health, this book will fundamentally change the way you value and engage with the arts in your daily life and give you the tools to optimize how, when, and what arts you engage in to achieve your health goals. The arts are not a luxury in our lives. They are essential
The beginning comes after the end notes on a world of change
Rebecca Solnit offers a thrilling account of the sheer breadth and scale of social, political, scientific, and cultural change over the past three quarters of a century. In this sequel to her enduring bestseller Hope in the Dark, Solnit surveys a world that has changed dramatically since the year 1960. Despite the forces seeking to turn back the clock on history, change is not a possibility; it is an inevitability. The changes amount to nothing less than dismantling an old civilization and building a new one, whose newness is often the return of the old ways and wisdoms. In this rising worldview, interconnection is a core idea and value. But because the transformation is obscured within a longer arc of history, its scale is seldom recognized. While the white nationalist and authoritarian backlash drives individualism and isolation, this new world embraces antiracism, feminism, a more expansive understanding of gender, environmental thinking, scientific breakthroughs, and Indigenous and non-Western ideas, pointing toward a more interconnected, relational world
Sabor y fuego : the art of authentic Mexican salsa
"Immerse yourself in the vibrant flavors of Mexico with Sabor y Fuego: The Art of Authentic Mexican Salsa. With more than 50 salsa recipes and meal ideas, this cookbook offers a rich exploration of Mexico's beloved culinary traditions. From the bright and tangy freshness of pico de gallo to the deep, smoky complexity of roasted salsas, this cookbook is the ultimate guide to flavorful and fiery sauces. Sonia Mendez brings you an exceptional variety of salsas that will transform any meal. Drawing on her family's cherished taqueria recipes--some passed down through generations--Sonia also introduces exciting contemporary spins that showcase the versatility of Mexican sauces. Whether you're seeking a salsa to liven up tacos, complement grilled meats, or simply serve with chips as a satisfying appetizer, this collection has you covered."--SimonandSchuster.com
Don't forget we're here forever a new generation's search for religion
"Why are young people in Britain today turning to faith in our age of uncertainty? Lamorna Ash was raised with about as much Christianity as most people in Britain these days: a basic knowledge of hymns and prayers received via a Church of England primary school education; occasional brushes with religious services. But once she started writing about her two friends' unexpected conversions, she began encountering a recurring phenomenon: in an age of disconnection and apathy, a new generation was discovering religion for itself. In Don't Forget We're Here Forever, Ash embarks on a journey across Britain to meet those wrestling with Christianity today. Through interviews and her own deeply personal journey with religion, and from Evangelical youth festivals to Quaker meetings, a silent Jesuit retreat along the Welsh coastline to a monastic community in the Inner Hebrides, she investigates what is driving Gen Z today to embrace Christianity. Written with lyrical beauty and sensitivity, this is a reminder of our universal need for nourishment of the soul" --
Hormone healthy eats 100 recipes to balance your hormones, support your cycle, and feel your absolute best
"Discover how simple it is to eat in tune with your cycle with this groundbreaking cookbook from nutritionist and hormone health coach Lauren Chambers, featuring 100 crave-worthy, nutrient-dense recipes and color photography throughout." --
C# programming in easy steps
"Unlock the power of C# and start creating professional-grade applications -- the easy way! C# Programming in easy steps, 4th edition is your beginner-friendly guide to one of the world's most popular programming languages. In easy steps, and with crystal-clear, syntax-highlighted examples (free to download), you'll quickly gain the skills to code with confidence. Discover how to: build a solid founcation with C# essentials; grasp object-oriented programming (OOP), and debug with ease. No prior experience needed. Illustrated with C# 1 and .NET 9. However, the examples will work with versions C# 14 and .NET 10 when they are released."--
The Gelli arts(r) printmaker's handbook exploring image transfers and layering techniques for creating incredible art with gel plates
"The Gelli Arts Printmaker's Handbook is the ultimate guide to creating gorgeous art with gel plates! Gel plate printing is an approachable new way of making creative monotypes without a press. Using the flexible printing plates, artists can use paints, inks, stencils,and different textures to create amazing artwork. Now, noted artistand instructor Jessica Russo Scherr shares her groundbreaking secrets for making unique works of art with gel plates. Scherr shows how to make prints that honor both photographic precision and painterly expression. She also helps readers find their creative voice through this versatile medium. Whether you're a seasoned printmaker or just beginning to explore artistic expression, the Gelli Arts Printmaker's Handbook will help you explore the endless possibilities of gel plate printmaking."--
Roots to revenue how to start and grow a genealogy business at home
"Real people across the country are turning their love of genealogy into successful enterprises, combining personal fulfillment with financial gain. This book is about helping you do the same. By the time you finish reading, you'll see how your journey "from roots to revenue" can become your story too.."-- adapted from page [4] of cover
Moon handbooks. Oaxaca
How great ideas happen the hidden steps behind breakthrough success
"Great ideas are all around us, waiting to be discovered. Here's how to find them. We're used to imagining creativity as a lightbulb moment--sudden, mysterious, reserved for the gifted few. But what ifideas aren't conjured from thin air? What if they're discovered--more like precious artifacts that we unearth and refine? In How Great Ideas Happen, cognitive scientist George Newman draws on cutting-edge research to show that creativity isn't magic, it's method. The most successful innovators don't wait to be struck by brilliance; theircreative process is more like archeology. As keen-eyed explorers, they scan the terrain, dig with intention, and, with a little luck, find gold. With vivid examples from the arts, science, and business, Newman shows how creativity often comes from discovering what was already there. For example, how Jackson Pollock tapped into deep patterns in nature to create his famous 'drip' paintings; how Korean filmmakers created an entirely new genre by closely studying foreign films; or, how Paul Simon made Graceland by carefully sifting through previously recorded material for what he could take away. By revealing the hidden steps behind breakthrough success, How Great Ideas Happen uncovers a repeatable method that anyone can follow, reframing creativity not as a rare gift, but as a universal capacity waiting to be unlocked through exploration. The creative process is an adventure of ideas--this book is your guide"--
Be your own bestie a no-nonsense guide to changing the way you treat yourself
"You deserve happiness. You deserve hope. And you deserve a sassy best friend who can help you learn not to settle for less. It's time to start loving yourself radically. And Misha Brown-you may know him as @yourbestiemisha-is here to guide you along your journey of self-discovery, accountability, and most importantly, self-love. With his no-nonsense (but always loving) approach, Misha shares stories from his own life, encounters with others, and the wisdom gleaned from them to help you release the patterns, relationships, and beliefs that have kept you from stepping into your full fabulousness. With equal parts hilarity and heart, Misha's S.A.S.S. Method to glowing up your life consists of: S - Self-reflection: Turn your focus inward to push away what's been holding you back A - Affirmations: Reshape the way you speak to and about yourself S - Standing your ground: Set boundaries and stop apologizing S - Sculpting the life you want: Take bold steps toward your own happily ever after No matter where you are today, now is the time to begin showing up for yourself as your own best friend. Because you deserve it, bestie!" --
The world of Black film : a journey through cinematic Blackness in 100 films
"The World of Black Film is an entertaining, informed, and thought-provoking survey of important and influential Black films from around the globe. Starting with the unfinished silent comedy Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) and concluding with Steve McQueen's World War II epic Blitz (2024), this book takes readers on an exciting journey through an eclectic mix of classics and hidden gems spanning more than 100 years and 30 countries. Beautifully designed and bursting with eye-catching film imagery and poster art, this is essential reading for general film fans, enthusiasts of Black cinema, educators, and students alike" --
Singleness for struggling romantics
"Being unmarried--especially when you don't want to be--can feel lonely and confusing. For many Christian singles, the longing for marriage exists alongside the call to live faithfully in the present--a tension that is rarely acknowledged or understood. Written by a fellow struggling romantic, this book offers a firsthand perspective on navigating singleness while still longing for marriage. With honesty, humor, and rich biblical insight, it explores topics such as loneliness, attraction, and dating--providing guidance for living faithfully and fruitfully even when desires go unmet"--Page 4 of cover
Heartland a forgotten place, an impossible dream, and the miracle of Larry Bird
"In the fall 1974, Larry Bird, one of the greatest players to ever pick up a basketball, was lost, and in danger of slipping away. He had dropped out of Indiana University, spurning legendary Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight. He returned home to French Lick, a tiny town in the second poorest county in Indiana, and he got a job hauling trash. It could have ended right there for Bird, were it not for two men: Bob King, an old coach with bad knees, and Bill Hodges, a man who knew what it was like to be poor and overlooked. In the spring of 1975, during one of the darkest chapters of Bird's life, King and Hodges convinced Bird to leave French Lick and play basketball at Indiana State University, a college that could not even fill its arena, much less compete with Bobby Knight. Then, while no one was watching, King and Hodges built a team of players around Bird who were just like him: they were castoffs and leftovers, ready to work"--
Michelin short stays. Rome
Dreaming of home how we turn fear into pride power, and real change
"A MacArthur "Genius" shares her inspiring story, from undocumented newcomer to leader in a powerful immigrant youth movement. Dreaming of Home is a coming-of-age story both for a young woman finding her true self and for a social movement of immigrant youth trailblazers who inspired the world and changed the lives of millions. Cristina Jiménez's family fights to stay afloat as Ecuador falls into a political and economic crisis. When she is thirteen, her parents courageously decide to seek a better life in the U.S., landing in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York. There are many challenges, but eventually, Cristina discovers she is not alone; she finds her calling within a community of social justice organizers. With deep candor and humor, Cristina opens the door to what it's like to grow up undocumented and the reality that being a "good" immigrant doesn't shield you from systematic racism, danger, or even the confusion of falling in love. Through personal stories and historical truth telling, Cristina invites us to acknowledge the America that never was and to imagine the America that could be when everyday people build power and fight for change. And she reminds us that home is more than a physical place on the map, offering each of us a roadmap for finding the home within even when the world around us seems to be crumbling"-- Provided by publisher
Bibi my story
"From their earliest days, Bibi and his close-knit brothers, Yoni and Iddo, were instilled with purpose. Born in the wake of the Holocaust at the dawn of Israel's independence and raised in a family with a prominent Zionist history, they understood that the Jewish state was a hard-won and still precarious gift. All three studied in American high schools--where they learned to appreciate the United States--before returning to their cherished homeland. The brothers joined an elite special forces outfit of the Israeli Defense Forces known as "the Unit." At twenty-two, Bibi was wounded while leading his team in the rescue of hostages from a hijacked plane. Four years later, in 1976, Yoni was killed in Entebbe, Uganda, while leading his men in one of the most daring hostage-rescue missions in modern times. Yoni became a legend; Bibi felt he would never recover from his grief. Yet, inspired by Yoni's legacy and guided by the wisdom of his visionary historian father, Bibi thrust himself into the international struggle against terrorism, ultimately becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history. In this memoir Bibi weaves together his gripping personal story with the dramatic history of Israel and the Jewish people." --
After the North Pole a story of survival, mythmaking, and melting ice
A memoir from the Norwegian explorer recounts his 58-day ski journey to the North Pole, offering a gripping adventure story and a deep reflection on nature, human resilience and the profound significance of this remote region
The witching year a memoir of earnest fumbling through modern witchcraft
"Diana Helmuth, thirty-three, is skeptical of organized religion. She is also skeptical of disorganized religion. But, more than anything, she is tired of God being dead. So, she decides to try on the fastest growing, self-directed faith in America: Witchcraft. The result is 366 days of observation, trial, error, wit, and back spasms. Witches today are often presented as confident and finished, proud and powerful. Diana is eager to join them. She wants to follow all the rules, memorize all the incantations, and read all the liturgy. But there's one glaring problem: no Witch can agree on what the right rules, liturgy, and incantations are. As with life, Diana will have to define the craft for herself, looking past the fashionable and figuring out how to define the real. Along the way, she travels to Salem and Edinburgh (two very Crafty hubs) and attends a week-long (clothing optional) Witch camp in Northern California. Whether she's trying to perform a full moon ritual on a cardboard box, summon an ancient demon with scotch tape and a kitchen trivet, or just trying to become a calmer, happier person, her biggest question remains: Will any of this really work? The Witching Year follows in the footsteps of celebrated memoirs by journalists like A.J. Jacobs, Mary Roach, and Caitlin Doughty, who knit humor and reportage together in search of something worth believing."--
Wandering through life a memoir
"The internationally bestselling author of the Guido Brunetti mysteries tells her own adventurous life story as she enters her eighties. In a series of vignettes full of affection, irony, and good humor, Donna Leon narrates a remarkable life she feels has rather more happened to her than been planned. From a childhood in the company of her New Jersey family, with frequent visits to her grandfather's farm and its beloved animals, and summers spent selling homegrown tomatoes by the roadside, Leon has long been open to adventure. In 1976, she made the spontaneous decision to teach English in Iran, before finding herself swept up in the early days of the 1979 Revolution. After teaching stints in China and Saudi Arabia, she finally landed in Venice. Leon vividly animates her decades-long love affair with Italy, from her first magical dinner when serving as a chaperone to a friend, to the hunt for the perfect cappuccino, to the warfare tactics of grandmothers doing their grocery shopping at the Rialto Market. Some things remain constant throughout the decades: her adoration of opera, especially Handel's vocal music, her advocacy for the environment, embodied in her passion for bees-which informs the surprising crux of the Brunetti mystery in Earthly Remains-and her eager imagination for crime as she watches unsuspecting travelers on trains. Yet as Leon inspects the cracks in the wall of a friend's bedroom, caused by the seven-story cruise ships making their way down Venice's canals, she admits regretfully that the thrill may be gone as mass tourism renders the city less and less appealing to its longtime chronicler. Having recently celebrated her eightieth birthday, Leon now confronts the dual challenges and pleasures of aging. Complete with a brief letter dissuading those hoping to meet Guido Brunetti at the Questura, and always suffused with music, food, and her fierce sense of humor, Wandering through Life offers Donna Leon at her most personal"--
The riddles of the sphinx inheriting the feminist history of the crossword puzzle
"Combining the soul-baring confessional of Brain on Fire and the addictive storytelling of The Queen's Gambit, a renowned puzzle creator's compulsively readable memoir and history of the crossword puzzle as an unexpected site of women's work and feminist protest. The indisputable 'queen of crosswords,' Anna Shechtman published her first New York Times puzzle at age nineteen, and later, spearheaded the The New Yorker's popular crossword section. Working with a medium often criticized as exclusionary, elitist, and out-of-touch, Anna is one of very few women in the field of puzzle making, where she strives to make the everyday diversion more diverse. In this fascinating work--part memoir, part cultural analysis--she excavates the hidden history of the crossword and the overlooked women who have been central to its creation and evolution, from the 'Crossword Craze' of the 1920s to the role of digital technology today. As she tells the story of her own experience in the CrossWorld, she analyzes the roles assigned to women in American culture, the boxes they've been allowed to fill, and the ways that they've used puzzles to negotiate the constraints and play of desire under patriarchy. The result is an unforgettable and engrossing work of art, a loving and revealing homage to one of our most treasured, entertaining, and ultimately political pastimes"--
Middle of the rainbow how a wife, mother and daughter managed to find herself and win two Emmys
The blunt and honest memoirs of Emmy-winning actress Bonnie Bartlett Daniels. It's the story of her 70-plus year career, and her struggles in the pre-#metoo and pre-feminist world. It's also the rare and unique story of a 70-plus year marriage (with film, theatre and TV icon William Daniels.) In a full telling of her life, we learn that through years of psychoanalysis and, ultimately, thanks to motherhood, she was able to heal the scars left by her abusive father and learn to love her life as if it were a rainbow "with a pot of gold at both ends."
A promised land
"In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency--a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil"--
Gowanus crossing a Brooklyn boyhood
"A veteran journalist's gritty, darkly funny memoir about growing up Italian American in 1960s Brooklyn. Mid-century Gowanus: Decades before the Whole Foods went up and the lofts were refurbished, a raucous, unruly, proudly Italian American enclave clings to the banks of the noxious canal. The Mafia and the Catholic Church-two centuries-old, rigidly hierarchical institutions defined by oppressive codes of silence-dominate the neighborhood. In Gowanus Crossing, Vincent Coppola brings the world of his childhood ferociously to life. A third generation Italian immigrant, Coppola grew up in old Gowanus, a bookish kid for whom Park Slope, to say nothing of Central Park, might as well have been the moon. His journey through and eventually out of the neighborhood is harrowing, hilarious, and populated with a cast of characters who burst off the page: a four-foot-tall wiseguy who walks a lion on a leash, a predatory priest, mobbed-up undertakers, Coppola's three wayward brothers, and a host of assorted schemers, scammers, mobsters, bookies, gamblers, and certifiable crazies. Combining Frank McCourt's gimlet eye with the exuberant menace of a Scorsese movie, Gowanus Crossing captures a lost world in all its glory"-- Provided by publisher
I'm that girl living the power of my dreams
This memoir from the two-time Olympian gymnast chronicles her journey to the awards podium while overcoming racism, childhood trauma and devastating setbacks, highlighting the importance of family support and the resilience of the human spirit
Nowhere girl a memoir of a fugitive childhood
"In this memoir that spans dozens of countries worldwide, a young girl and her family adopt one new identity after another and run from both the law and the secrets that will eventually catch up to all of them"--
Strangers tend to tell me things a memoir of love, loss, and coming home
My life, my love, my legacy
"The life story of Coretta Scott King--wife of Martin Luther King Jr., founder of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and singular twentieth-century American civil rights activist--as told fully for the first time, toward the end of her life, to one of her closest friends Born in 1927 to daringly enterprising black parents in the Deep South, Coretta Scott had always felt called to a special purpose. One of the first black scholarship students recruited to Antioch College, a committed pacifist, and a civil rights activist, she was an avowed feminist--a graduate student determined to pursue her own career--when she met Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister insistent that his wife stay home with the children. But in love and devoted to shared Christian beliefs and racial justice goals, she married King, and events promptly thrust her into a maelstrom of history throughout which she was a strategic partner, a standard bearer, a marcher, a negotiator, and a crucial fundraiser in support of world-changing achievements. As a widow and single mother of four, while butting heads with the all-male African American leadership of the times, she championed gay rights and AIDS awareness, founded the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, lobbied for fifteen years to help pass a bill establishing the US national holiday in honor of her slain husband, and was a powerful international presence, serving as a UN ambassador and playing a key role in Nelson Mandela's election. Coretta's is a love story, a family saga, and the memoir of an independent-minded black woman in twentieth-century America, a brave leader who stood committed, proud, forgiving, nonviolent, and hopeful in the face of terrorism and violent hatred every single day of her life."--Provided by publisher
Dyscalculia a love story of epic miscalculation
"Dyscalculia is an exquisite and raw booklength essay that follows Camonghne Felix's journey to survey and reconfigure the pieces of a broken heart in order to rebuild one that is entirely her own. Felix uses her childhood "dyscalculia"--a disorder that makes it difficult to learn math--as a metaphor for the consequences of her miscalculations in intimacy. Dyscalculia negotiates the misalignments of perception and reality, love and harm, and the politics of heartbreak, both romantic and familial"--
Wild life finding my purpose in an untamed world
"Growing up in the diverse and bustling California Bay Area, renowned wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant always felt worlds away from the white male adventurers she watched explore the wilderness on TV. She dreamed of a future where she could spend sleepless nights under the crowded canopies of the Amazon and the starry skies of the savanna. But as Rae set off on her own expeditions in the wild, she saw nature's delicate balance in a new light. Wild Life follows Rae on her adventures and explorations in some of the world's most remote locales. Hers is a story about a nearly twenty-year career in the wild--carving a niche as one of very few Black female scientists--and the challenges she had to overcome, expectations she had to leave behind, and the many lessons she learned along the way. An incredible journey spanning the Great Plains of North America to the rainforests of Madagascar, Wild Life sheds light on our pivotal relationship and responsibility to the natural world and the relatives--both human and otherwise--that we share it with."--
The Aeneid
"A fresh and faithful translation of Vergil's Aeneid restores the epic's spare language and fast pace and sheds new light on one of the cornerstone narratives of the west. For two thousand years, the epic tale of Aeneas' dramatic flight from Troy, his doomed love affair with Dido, his descent into the underworld, and the bloody story behind the establishment of Rome has electrified audiences around the world. In Vergil's telling, Aeneas' heroic journey not only gave Romans and Italians a thrilling origin story, it established many of the fundamental themes that shape human existence--the role of duty and self-sacrifice, the place of love and passion in human life, the relationship between art and violence, the tension between immigrant and indigenous people, and the way new foundations are so often built upon the wreckage of those who came before .." --Inside jacket
Exit opera
"Set in locations from dive bars to Montparnasse Cemetery, from a ancient Greek temple to a tourist shop in Assisi, 'Exit opera' explores the ever-vexing issues of time, mortality, love, and loss, and considers the roles of art and human connection. Whatever their nominal subject--jazz, zombies, Buddhism, Siberian tigers--these poems make for a compelling mix of humor and pain, difficulty and solace"--Inside jacket flap
Revise the Psalm work celebrating the writing of Gwendolyn Brooks
Essays, poetry, and art included in this anthology celebrate the one-hundredth birthday of the late poet and cultural icon Gwendolyn Brooks
The flame poems, notebooks, lyrics, drawings
A collection of lyrics, poems, notebook sketches, and self-portraits maps the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's singular creative journey through the weeks just prior to his death
Green of all heads poems
"Written over the span of a decade, GREEN OF ALL HEADS is a work of formal range and emotional urgency. In the coinciding wakes of tragic loss and new motherhood, Aracelis Girmay examines the entangled temporalities of an aging parent and newly born children. This vital work grapples with what it means to attend to life in the context of corporate industries of both and death. In language shaped by these pressures, she turns to what is small, unruly, nationless, plural-flowers, speech-to reach toward new relational and political possibility. Away from the fixed and monumental, and toward that which is fleeting, she writes: "-- i am learning to lift -- my voice -- like a flower -- in -- a field of flowers --." The result is a language broken and emboldened by love"--
Clarity & connection
A collection of poetry and short prose focused on understanding how past wounds impact our present relationships. The author describes how intense emotions accumulate in our subconscious and condition us to act and react in certain ways. In a spare, poetic style, he guides readers through the excavation and release of the past that is required for growth
Zero at the bone fifty entries against despair
"Few contemporary writers ask the questions about faith, morality, and God that Christian Wiman does, and even fewer--perhaps none--do so with his urgency and eloquence. Wiman, an award-winning poet and the author of My Bright Abyss, lays the motion of his mind on the page in this genre-defying work, an indivisible blend of poetry, criticism, theology, and searing memoir. As Marilynne Robinson wrote, "[Wiman's] poetry and his scholarship have a purifying urgency that is rare in this world . . . It enables him to say new things in timeless language, so that the reader's surprise and assent are one and the same." Zero at the Bone begins with Wiman's preoccupation with despair, and through fifty brief pieces, he unravels its seductive appeal. The book is studded with the poetry and prose of writers who inhabit Wiman's thoughts, and the voices of Wallace Stevens, Lucille Clifton, Emily Dickinson, and others join his own. At its heart and Wiman's, however, are his family--his young children (who ask their own invaluable questions, like "Why are you a poet? I mean why?"), his wife, and those he grew up with in West Texas. Wiman is the rare thinker who takes up the mantle of our greatest mystics and does so with an honest, profound, and contemporary sensibility. Zero at the Bone is a revelation." -- Provided by publisher
The poetry of impermanence, mindfulness, and joy
"Over 125 poetic companions for all life's ups and downs. The Buddha once told a disciple that good spiritual friends are the whole of holy life. The poems expertly gathered here offer all that one might hope for in such spiritual friendship: wisdom, compassion, peacefulness, good humor, and the ability to both absorb and express the deepest human emotions of grief and joy. The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy offers a wide-ranging collection of 129 ancient and modern poems unlike any other anthology on bookshelves today. It uniquely places Buddhist poets like Han Shan, Tu Fu, Saigyo, Ryokan, Basho, Issa, and others alongside modern Western poets one would not expect to find in such a collection--poets like Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, William Stafford, Denise Levertov, Jack Gilbert, Ellen Bass, Billy Collins, and more. What these poems have in common, no matter whether they are explicitly Buddhist, is that all reflect the essential truths the Buddha articulated 2,500 years ago. The book provides an important poetic complement to the many prose books on mindfulness practice--the poems here both reflect and embody the dharma in ways that can't be matched by other modes of writing. Its unique features include an introduction that discusses the themes of impermanence, mindfulness, and joy and explores the relationship between them. Biographical notes place the poets in historical context and offer quotes and anecdotes to help readers learn about the poets' lives. A short essay at the back of the book on "Mindful Reading" helps readers approach the poems from an experiential, non-analytical perspective and illustrates the similarities between meditation and the mindful reading of poetry. Brehm also includes a guided meditation on sound that helps readers appreciate the sonic qualities of poetry and shows how the anthology might be used in ongoing spiritual practice"--
Why fathers cry at night a memoir in love poems, letters, recipes, and remembrances
Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He takes us through stories of his parents: from being awkward newlyweds in the sticky Chicago summer of 1967, to the sometimes-confusing ways they showed their love to each other, and for him. Alexander attempts to deal with the unraveling of his marriage and the grief of his mother's recent passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken dish. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories to understand his greatest love for his daughters
You are here poetry in the natural world
"For many years, "nature poetry" has evoked images of Romantic poets standing on mountain tops. But our poetic landscape has changed dramatically, and so has our planet. Edited and introduced by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón, this book challenges what we think we know about "nature poetry," illuminating the myriad ways our landscapes--both literal and literary--are changing. You Are Here features fifty previously unpublished poems from some of the nation's most accomplished poets, including Joy Harjo, Diane Seuss, Rigoberto González, Jericho Brown, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Paul Tran, and more. Each poem engages with its author's local landscape--be it the breathtaking variety of flora in a national park, or a lone tree flowering persistently by a bus stop--offering an intimate model of how we relate to the world around us and a beautifully diverse range of voices from across the United States. Joyful and provocative, wondrous and urgent, this singular collection of poems offers a lyrical reimagining of what "nature" and "poetry" are today, inviting readers to experience both anew."--
Chicago poems
Get me through the next five minutes odes to being alive
"Our politics are broken; our world is melting; the next catastrophe looms. Enter James Parker, who for years now has been writing odes of appreciation on subjects from the seemingly minor ("Ode to Naps") to the unexpected ("Ode to Giving People Money") to the seemingly minor, unexpected, and hyperspecific ("Ode to Running in Movies"). Finally collecting Parker's beloved and much-lauded odes in one place, this volume demonstrates the profound power of the form. Each ode is an exercise in gratitude. Each celebrates the permanent susceptibility of everyday humdrum life to dazzling saturations of divine light: the squirrel in the street, the crying baby, the misplaced cup of tea. Parker's odes are songs of praise, but with a decent amount of complaining in there, too: a human ratio of moans. Varied in length but unified in tone, mostly in prose, sometimes toppling into verse, the odes range across music, movies, literature, psychology, and beyond, all through the lens of Parker's personal history. Gathered together, they form an accidental how-to guide to honoring your own experience-and to finding your own odes"--
Spine poems an eclectic collection of found verse for book lovers
"A charming, clever, and original collection of more than 100 spine poems--a popular form of found poetry composed by arranging book spines"--
Birds of America poems / Chera Hammons ; illustrations by Sophie Lucido Johnson
An evocative, uplifting, and thoughtfully illustrated collection of poems steeped in the natural world, examining life and healing in the aftermath of trauma. See how the eagles lift now, bound by surviving together. We only get one shot at this. Save what you can. Love even what you can't save
Shakespeare's sonnets
Brawler stories
"Ranging from the 1950s to the present day and moving across age, class, and region--from New England to Florida to California--these nine stories reflect and expand upon a shared theme: the ceaseless battle between humans' dark and light angels"--
The Italian summer kitchen timeless recipes for la dolce vita
"For a culinary tour of Italy, or a master class in creating the nation's many regional gems in your home kitchen, you couldn't ask for a better tour guide than Cathy Whims. Cathy brings together dishes from Italy's many and varied regions, united by her masterful interpretation of cucina povera - literally 'food of the poor', which means fresh produce, local meats, handmade pasta and pizza and simple cooking methods. These recipes for drinks, appetisers, pasta, pizza, risottos, meat and fish and desserts are united not by region but by feeling: everything is authentically Italian yet easy for the home cook to create no matter where they live"--
A proposal to die for
"A fast-paced, witty, and delightful new mystery about a former wedding planner whose biggest job yet is threatened by a dead body (or two). Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingencies and pros and cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rising rent costs, she jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard ... the Fourth. Jess joins Diana's bachelorette retreat at the family-run Golden Ash resort. But their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the spa's "no cell phone" rule, the couple next door is fighting, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she's warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie? As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she finds herself spending time with Dean-just to avoid the drama, of course. But when an "accident" claims the life of one guest and Jess discovers another body (in the sauna of all places), it's clear secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it's up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains--before she's silenced for good"--
The mother-daughter book club
"Between their busy lives and their far-flung residences, the Mother-Daughter Book Club--four longtime college friends and their five daughters--more often discuss the books on their nightstands via 2 a.m. texts than in-person meetings. And maybe it's just as well, after what happened at their last get-together... So it's an emotional reunion when they finally gather again, this time on the spectacular shores of Italy's Lake Como. Sightseeing excursions, reminiscing fueled by "Como-politans," and a hint of vacation romance all build toward the book club's trademark "Night of Secrets." These friends, and sometimes rivals, are close readers--of novels, memoirs, and of each other. But as the years and the distance cast shadows and doubt, confidences and sympathies turn into surprising revelations"--
Die for me
"A stay-up-all-night, smart, spicy romance following a doctor who finds herself falling for an alluring, much-younger man with a deadly secret. Sean's not in the market for love. The only female, let alone Black, interventional cardiologist at her hospital, she's watched too many of her male colleagues divorce their first wives to marry younger models-and then there's the abusive relationship she's spent the better part of her early 30s healing from. Her passions are reserved for her best friend, her goddaughter, and her job. Then she meets Julian. Brooding, beautiful and eleven years her junior. In short: A bad idea. Julian pursues her in a way that sets off alarm bells in her mind, but she finds herself unable to resist their undeniable chemistry-even starts fantasizing about him in dreams that feel altogether too real. They also have a lot in common despite their age gap. So, to hell with it: If men can date younger, why can't she? But the more Sean gets to know him, the more impossible Julian seems: He has a depth and sorrow to him that's beyond his years, and sometimes there's a look in his eyes that's less than human, and leaves her feeling more like prey. Plus, Sean herself has been exhibiting odd symptoms-memory lapses, a lack of restraint that's unlike her, persistent exhaustion-that all trace back to Julian, making Sean feeling more than a little afraid. Who-or what-is she falling, irrevocably, in love with? Extraordinarily transfixing, suspenseful, and addictive, Die for Me is nothing short of a seduction"--Provided by publisher
The ultimate meal prep cookbook one grocery list. a week of meals. no waste.
The experts from America's Test Kitchen offer a selection of varied, quick-prepare meal plans designed to save both time and money, outlining recommendations for pre-making vegetables and grains, organizing bulk pantry ingredients and effectively storing leftovers
The brittle age
In the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shatters the peace of a small town. It is the 1990s and Lucia is twenty years old at the time. The only survivor of the crime is her best friend. Years later, Lucia is a physiotherapist separating from her husband. When the pandemic forces her daughter Amanda to return from Milan to the family home, Lucia's memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of past trauma. This gripping family drama weaves together Lucia and Amanda's personal struggles with the mysteries surrounding the tragedy that scarred their family land decades earlier. Inspired by true events.
Python's kiss stories
Written over the past two decades, Louise Erdrich's magnificent story collection features a range of characters--a tribal newsletter editor whose son tells her a story that nothing in her experience can encompass, immigrant farmers whose tenuous hold on the earth, and sanity, is challenged, and ordinary people, bird lovers, artists, grade-school teachers, and romantics. A girl decides to spend her life with a stone. A man is confronted with a folk-singing thief. A woman enters a corporately owned afterlife to seek revenge on her father. Accompanied by specially commissioned artwork by Aza Erdrich Abe--an intimate and revelatory creative collaboration between mother and daughter--these stories offer an opportunity to celebrate the wisdom and brilliant, wide-ranging imagination of one of America's most important writers
And the crowd went wild
"After a mortifying--and very public--humiliation, Dancy Flynn is desperate to find sanctuary far from the crowd. But where can a washed-up sex symbol hide? How about making an unannounced appearance at the secluded lake house of the sweet, sensitive high school boyfriend she hasn't seen in almost twenty years? But Chicago Stars quarterback Clint Garrett is no longer the kid Dancy remembers. Now he's a grid iron superhero, still holding a massive grudge against her for breaking his teenage heart. With no room in his life for either complexity or distractions, he banishes Dancy to a refurbished old railroad caboose tucked away in the woods--and out of his sight"--
I'm a lot surviving myself and all the people I've been
"Have you ever frozen when someone asks, 'So, tell me about yourself?' If so, take a page from I'm a Lot. Alison Leiby proudly embraces the identities we're often encouraged to hide: Housewives stan. Discount shopaholic. Former jock. Happily single. Childless by choice and proud cat mom. Through these different roles and identities, Leiby reveals her hard-earned wisdom about what it's like to be a woman who does it all (except for the things that make her say 'uh, no thank you'). When she was nineteen years old, a complication from back surgery left Leiby on her deathbed. After a surprising recovery, you might assume Leiby was ready to seize life by the you-know-whats. But instead of letting this one miraculous experience define her, Leiby's brush with death made her realize there is nothing more beautiful in this life than just getting to be yourself. And while women are still expected to conform to many patriarchal labels, Leiby ignores the pressure to be palatable and instead champions all the joyful, weird, and complicated selves she brings to the world. In fourteen personal essays full of deadpan jokes, tender moments of candid introspection, and insightful social commentary, Leiby encourages us to ditch the manufactured Instagram persona and embrace the fact that sometimes the puzzle pieces don't always fit to create a perfect picture, but that doesn't mean we are incomplete." --
The widow
"#1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham is the acclaimed master of the legal thriller. Now, he's back with his first-ever whodunit, even more suspenseful than his courtroom dramas, as a small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name. Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it. Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn't commit: murder. Simon knows he's innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer..."-- Provided by publisher
Nothing tastes as good
"Retail worker Emmett Truesdale has never fit the Southern California mold of six-pack, suntanned masculinity. Over three hundred pounds, he carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. After trying every diet under the sun, he remains stuck--in his dead-end job, in love, and in his body. Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous and as Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight. Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing and when the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster. But how can he give it up now that people are finally starting to treat him like he's human?"--
The summer table : recipes and menus for casual outdoor entertaining
"Summertime--and the outdoor entertaining is easy! Warm the grill, whip up some sides and sweets, and prepare to share these simple, delicious dishes. Festive menus feature a Mexican Grill Party, Father's Day Barbecue, Beach Buffet, and Cocktail Party, along with picnics, pizza, lunches, and brunches. Filled with cooking tips and ideas for marinades, sauces, salsas, and more, The Summer Table celebrates the season's best"--
An American beauty
"When a railroad baron falls for a uniform girl at a gambling parlor thirty years his junior, he moves her to New York posing as a well-heeled Southern widow where her shrewd investing instincts build her a fortune"--
After the fall
"Part alien invasion story, part buddy comedy, and part workplace satire, After The Fall by Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (inspiration for the film Mickey 17), asks an important question: would humans really make great pets? Humans must be silent. Humans must be obedient. Humans must be good. All his life, John has tried to live by those rules. Most days, it's not too difficult. A hundred and twenty years after The Fall, and a hundred years after the grays swept in to pick the last dregs of humanity out of the wreckage of a ruined world, John has found himself bonded to Martok Barden nee Black Hand, one of the "good" grays. Sure, Martok is broke, homeless, and borderline manic, but he's always treated John like an actual person, and sometimes like a friend. It's a better deal than most humans get. But when Martok puts John's bond up as collateral against an abandoned house in the woods that he hopes to turn into a wilderness retreat for wealthy grays, John learns that there are limits to Martok's friendship. Soon he finds himself caught between an underworld boss who thinks Martok is something that he very much is not, a girl who was raised by feral humans and has nothing but contempt for pets like John, and Martok himself, whose delusions of grandeur seem to be finally catching up with him. Also, not for nothing, something in the woods has been killing people"-- Provided by publisher
Dolly all the time
"If they start by pretending, can they end with something real? Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn't solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home. So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield: annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family: with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it's in her nature to help. But Stewart's proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She's never relied on anyone besides herself, can she really start now?"--Provided by publisher
Before I forget
"A funny, heartfelt, late coming-of-age story that examines the role of memory in holding us back-and in moving us forward-for fans of The Collected Regrets of Clover and Maame. Call it inertia. Call it a quarter-life crisis. Whatever you call it, Cricket Campbell is stuck. Despite working at a zeitgeisty wellness company, the 26-year-old feels anything but well. Still adrift after a tragedy that upended her world a decade ago, she has entered early adulthood under the weight of a new burden: her father's Alzheimer's diagnosis. When Cricket's older sister Nina announces it is time to move Arthur from his beloved Adirondack lake house into a memory-care facility, Cricket has a better idea. In returning home to become her father's caretaker, she hopes to repair their strained relationship and shake herself out of her perma-funk. But even deeply familiar places can hold surprises. As Cricket settles back into the family house at Catwood Pond-a place she once loved, but hasn't visited since she was a teenager-she discovers that her father possesses a rare gift: as he loses his grasp of the past, he is increasingly able to predict the future. Before long, Arthur cements his reputation as an unlikely oracle, but for Cricket, believing in her father's prophecies might also mean facing the most painful parts of her history. As she begins to remember who she once was, she uncovers a vital truth: the path forward often starts by going back. With laugh-out-loud humor and profound grace, Before I Forget explores the nuances of family, the complexities of memory, and how sometimes, the people we know the best are the ones who surprise us the most"-- Provided by publisher
A horse's world a neuroscientist's journey into the equine mind
In the spirit of An Immense World and Soul of an Octopus, an award-winning neuroscientist and veteran horse trainer illuminates the mysteries of equine cognition and behavior, through her own extraordinary bond with a horse named True North
Upon a starlit tide
"Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758. To Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of a wealthy French shipowner, the high walls of Saint-Malo are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are busy trying to secure advantageous marriages, Luce spends her days secretly being taughtto sail by Samuel, her best friend--and an English smuggler. Only he understands how the waves call to her. Then one stormy morning, Luce rescues a drowning man from the sea. Immediately drawn in by the stranger's charm, Luce is plunged into a world of glittering balls and faerie magic, seduction and brutality. Secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface, but as Luce wrestles with warring desires, she finds that her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper--or the scales of a sea-maid's tail"--
Play nice
"Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so-glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio's parent's messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That's not what Clio's sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped Alex of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house. After Alex's sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house-flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother's claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother's book, the presence in the house becomes more real, and more sinister, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio's beautiful life to its very foundation"--
The possession of Alba Díaz
"When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn't trust... from bestselling author Isabel Cañas. In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family's isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong. Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family's legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin's betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can't help but notice her every time she enters a room or the growing tension between them... and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon's thirst for blood grows stronger. In the fight for her life, Alba and Elías become entangled with the occult, the Church, long-kept secrets, and one another... not knowing that one of these things will spell their doom"--
My name is Emilia del Valle
"In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man's pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan. As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny." --
The Grand Paloma Resort
"The Grand Paloma Resort is a lush paradise in the Dominican Republic where the guests enjoy incredible luxury, and the staff is always eager to please-that is, until they are pushed to the brink"-- Provided by publisher
Hombrecito
"A novel by a brilliant new voice, Hombrecito is a queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrant's complex relationships with his mother and his motherland."--
Catalina
"Catalina is trying to work out her own life as she leaves her undocumented family behind to enter Harvard. Suffering from bouts of PTSD, she struggles to connect to her new world just as she struggled to make sense of her old one. She infiltrates the subcultures of elite undergrads-internships and college newspapers, parties and secret societies-and observes them like an anthropologist, but then falls in love, or something like love, with a fellow student, an actual anthropology scholar who wants to teach her about the Andean world she was born in but never knew. They are drawn to each other by the strange attraction of exocticized fascination-she, a real live Latin American, becomes a subject of academic interest; he, in turns, draws her fascination as a white legacy admit born into the strange world she now navigates. Catalina is uncertain: should she let herself become what he wants her to be and take up residence in his secure and privileged world? Or should she return to the life she's known, with all its thorny precarity? Who is she anyway?"--
The dance and the fire
"After years apart, three high school friends return to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where an intense love triangle once left an indelible mark on their adolescence. The city, surrounded by a ring of claustrophobic wildfires, brings out the past and confronts them with their present: they must once again face the entanglement of friendship and desire, the seemingly distant discovery of sexuality, complex parental relationships, and the daunting task of artistic fulfillment. In the background, two forces of chaos and destruction are a constant presence. As fires ravage the physical landscape, one of the friends begins choreographing an ecstatic dance inspired by the German expressionist Mary Wigman and medieval Danse Macabre. What starts as a coping mechanism for the anxieties of youth and climate catastrophe becomes an overpowering, all-consuming hysteria. Mysterious powers are awakened, the boundary between reality and myth begins to blur, and the friends find themselves immersed in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain universe"--
Loca
"It's 1999, and best friends Sal and Charo are striving to hold on to their dreams in a New York determined to grind them down. Sal is a book-loving science nerd trying to grow beyond his dead-end job in a new city, but he's held back by tragic memories from his past in Santo Domingo. Free-spirited Charo is surprised to find herself a mother at twenty-five, partnered with a controlling man, working at the same supermarket for years, her world shrunk to the very domesticity she thought she'd escaped in her old country. When Sal finds love at a gay club one night, both his and Charo's worlds unexpectedly open up to a vibrant social circle that pushes them to reckon with what they owe to their own selves, pasts, futures, and, always, each other." --
Speak to me of home
"What does it mean to call a place home? From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeanine Cummins comes a deeply felt multigenerational family story On her wedding day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1968, Rafaela Acuña y Daubón has mild misgivings, but she marries Peter Brennan Jr. anyway in a blaze of romantic optimism. She has no way of knowing how dramatically her life will change when she uproots her young family to start over in the American Midwest, unleashing a fleet of disappointments. In the 1980s, against the backdrop of her mother's isolation in St. Louis, Missouri, Rafaela's daughter, Ruth Brennan, wants only to belong. Eager to fit in, Ruth lets go of her language, habits, and childhood memories of Puerto Rico. It's not until decades later when Ruth's own daughter, Daisy, returns to San Juan that her mother and grandmother begin to truly reflect on the choices that have come to define their lives. When a hurricane ravages the island in 2023, leaving Daisy critically injured, Rafaela and Ruth return to the city where it all began. As they gather at Daisy's bedside, we follow them back into the pasts that brought them to this point: we watch as they come of age, fall in love, take risks, and contend with all the heartbreaks, triumphs, and reversals of fortune--both good and bad--that make up a meaningful life. As old memories come to light, so do buried secrets, leaving everyone in the family wondering exactly where it is that they belong. A striking, resonant examination of marriage, family, and identity, Speak to Me of Home is ultimately a story of mothers and daughters that asks: How can three women who share geography and genetics have such wildly different ideas of where they come from? And, more importantly, can they discover a common language to find their way back home?"--
The intrigue
"Handsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. Ulises knows his looks won't last forever, and he's desperate to get his hands on a real fortune. He thinks he's found it when he captivates his newest correspondent, Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in picturesque Veracruz. But when he meets her, he finds something he didn't expect. The woman has a niece, Inés, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt's household. When Inés discovers Ulises' true intentions, she wants in on the scheme. They'll convince her aunt that Ulises is a great catch, Perla will marry him, and her money will vanish. Easy, fast and clean. But Perla is not the desperate, silly spinster Ulises imagines. She harbors secrets. And although Ulises does not believe in true romance, Inés is more alluring than he bargained on. Suddenly, a simple plan may become perilously complicated. Venture into the streets of a small town where the patina of convention and good manners conceals a cauldron of avarice and lust"--
Last night in Brooklyn
"New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a captivating story about a young woman whose life becomes ensnared in her glamorous neighbor's secret past, laying bare the mounting tensions at play in a rapidly gentrifying, early 2000's Fort Greene, Brooklyn. SPRING, 2007 At twenty-six, Alicia Canales Forten feels smothered by her future. She's in a long-distance relationship, living at home with her mother's beliefs, saving up for her wedding to a future doctor. But after Alicia ventures out one night in the neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, she finds herself lured by the siren song of youth and possibility that the striving crowd of creatives holds, and moves in. No one embodies this more than La Garza, a larger-than-life, up-and-coming fashion designer whose epic house parties fuel neighborhood lore. La Garza's life, observed by Alicia from her apartment across the street, seems to hold the allure and fearlessness Alicia has never dared to imagine for herself. But when Alicia's wealthy banker cousin moves to the neighborhood, she finds herself increasingly drawn into both his and La Garza's precarious lives. Against the backdrop of a potentially life-changing presidential election and a looming once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis, Last Night in Brooklyn explores the dark compromise of the American Dream for people of color living, unknowingly, in the twilight of a cultural moment. It is a story about everything money can buy--and the destruction of what it can't"--
I give you my silence
"In his final novel, the Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa returns to his native Peru"-- Provided by publisher
Autobiography of cotton
"In 1934, a young Jose Revueltas traveled to Tamaulipas to support the cotton workers' strike in Estacion Camaron, which became the basis of his landmark novel Human Mourning. In her own groundbreaking novel, Autobiography of Cotton, Cristina Rivera Garza recounts her grandparents' journey from mining towns to those same cotton fields as it intersects with Revueltas's life in a vivid and evocative history of cotton cultivation along the Mexico-US border. Through archival research and personal narrative, Rivera Garza chronicles the way cotton transformed the borderlands by reconstructing the cotton workers' strike and reveals how cycles of deprivation and ecocide persist across generations. Deeply personal and politically acute, Rivera Garza crafts a new kind of border novel that tells how a brittle land radically altered her grandparents' lives and the territories they helped develop. An intimate fictionalization, Autobiography of Cotton reveals a rich social history of agricultural colonization, labor activism, environmental degradation, and cross-border migration"-- Provided by publisher
Frida's cook
"This colorful, emotive historical debut whisks us to the home of Frida Kahlo, where food, art, and love weave together an unforgettable story of friendship and loyalty, with a bright Coyoacán as a vivid background. A hidden painting. A buried past. A legacy waiting to be uncovered. Mexico City, 1939: Young and determined Nayeli Cruz flees from her Oaxaca home to arrive in Mexico City with neither friends nor prospects. Alone and armed only with her sharp wit and extraordinary talent in the kitchen, she finds herself in front of La Caza Azul, the home of Frida Kahlo. As she begins work as the artist's cook, Nayeli is pulled into Frida's world of pain, passion, and defiance. But it isn't long before amid the vibrant tapestry of flavors, scents, and colors, the two women form a deep bond--one that will shape the course of Nayeli's life and leave behind a secret buried in art. Buenos Aires, Present Day: Paloma, Nayeli's granddaughter, stumbles upon a mysterious painting depicting her grandmother as a young woman. The artist's identity is unknown, but the artwork's existence threatens to unravel long-held family secrets. As Paloma delves into her grandmother's past, she uncovers a tale of passion, betrayal, and resilience that challenges everything she thought she knew about the one woman who raised her"--
My name is Emilia del Valle
"In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man's pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan. As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny." --
Deeper than the ocean
"One hundred years after the shipwreck of the Valbanera, known to history as the 'poor man's Titanic', Mara Denis gets an assignment to report on the Canary Islands, where her ancestors lived before they moved to Cuba. Unexpectedly, she discovers that the grandmother her mother cherished was listed among the dead of the Valbanera, years before Mara's mother was even born. This fateful twist changes everything Mara thought she knew about her family and herself, and sends her on a quest to find the truth. If her great grandmother is a ghost, who is she and where did she come from?"--
Malinalli
An imaginative retelling of the triumphs and sorrows of one of the most controversial and misunderstood women in Mexico's history and mythology
Last night in Brooklyn
"New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a captivating story about a young woman whose life becomes ensnared in her glamorous neighbor's secret past, laying bare the mounting tensions at play in a rapidly gentrifying, early 2000's Fort Greene, Brooklyn. SPRING, 2007 At twenty-six, Alicia Canales Forten feels smothered by her future. She's in a long-distance relationship, living at home with her mother's beliefs, saving up for her wedding to a future doctor. But after Alicia ventures out one night in the neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, she finds herself lured by the siren song of youth and possibility that the striving crowd of creatives holds, and moves in. No one embodies this more than La Garza, a larger-than-life, up-and-coming fashion designer whose epic house parties fuel neighborhood lore. La Garza's life, observed by Alicia from her apartment across the street, seems to hold the allure and fearlessness Alicia has never dared to imagine for herself. But when Alicia's wealthy banker cousin moves to the neighborhood, she finds herself increasingly drawn into both his and La Garza's precarious lives. Against the backdrop of a potentially life-changing presidential election and a looming once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis, Last Night in Brooklyn explores the dark compromise of the American Dream for people of color living, unknowingly, in the twilight of a cultural moment. It is a story about everything money can buy--and the destruction of what it can't"--
Upcoming Programs
Sep
7
Mon
9:30–10 a.m.
Sep
7
Mon
10–11:30 a.m.
Sep
7
Mon
10:30–11 a.m.
Sep
8
Tue
9:30 a.m.–noon
Sep
8
Tue
9:30–11:30 a.m.
Sep
8
Tue
10–11 a.m.
Sep
8
Tue
1–2:30 p.m.
Sep
8
Tue