- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
News & Stories
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

Maybe this once
Sullivan, Sophie, 1976-
"From the "queen of sweet romance" (Falon Ballard) Sophie Sullivan, comes a small-town, opposites-attract romance about two people who end up with more feelings than they bargained for after pursuing a summer fling. Charlotte "Charlie" Ashford has worked hard to become her own person. Tired of living in the shadow of her famous parents, she gladly left behind a life of glitz and glamour to pursue her true passion: becoming a counselor. However, when a viral video upends Charlie's plans, she wonders if the real key to discovering herself is through her late father. Grayson Keller has finally found his footing. He's settled in one place, surrounded by family, and secure in his business. By his third summer as owner, Get Lost Lodge is showing a steady profit and seeing its fair share of repeat visitors. Whatever happens, Grayson is perfectly content with his quiet life and careful heart. That is, until he meets Charlie, who he can't seem to get out of his head. On the surface, Charlie and Grayson seem to have nothing in common more than a growing attraction that neither of them can fight. Trusting each other isn't easy. They've both been hurt before, and they're not looking for anything serious. The solution is easy: they'll date, have some fun, and walk away unscathed. Right? Or, maybe this once, they can see past the hurt to what, or who, is on the other side waiting for them"-- Provided by publisher

The orchard
Heller, Peter, 1959-
"Hayley and her seven-year-old daughter Frith live in a rustic cabin with no electricity in the foothills of Vermont's Green Mountains. A renowned translator of Tang dynasty poetry, Hayley walked away from her career and her addict husband to raise Frith alone in a land populated not by ambition-fueled academics but by hawks, beavers,and other wild things--including their exuberant Bernese Mountain dog Bear. They get by on what little they earn from their overgrown apple orchard and the syrup they make from their maple trees. Frith--precocious, homeschooled, and a voracious reader--considers herself queen of this backwoods paradise. She is too young to understand the pain and regret that have followed her mother here"--

Ice
Dukaj, Jacek, 1974-
"A Trans-Siberian odyssey through political, criminal, scientific, philosophical and amorous intrigues, and into an endless winter to confront something utterly alien. 14th July 1924: In a Warsaw buried under feet of snow and Russian rule, Benedykt Gieroslawski, a dissolute young Polish mathematician, is roused from his bed by two officials from the Ministry of Winter and dispatched to Siberia, on the Trans-Siberian Express, to track down his long-exiled father. The catalyst for this frosty metamorphosis of 20th century history is the impact of the Tunguska asteroid, deep in Siberia, in 1908. From this Ground Zero, emerge the Gleissen, silent harbingers of an eternal winter that follows in their ponderous wake. As they spread across the continent, agriculture collapses and people flock to cities as they seek protection from the deadly cold. As the land freezes, so does history: the Tsar still rules Russia; the Belle Époque endures; and the First World War never happened. But out there, on the ice, a new world is being forged. The extreme, alien cold has transmuted elements into strange new forms, a 'black physics' that is the catalyst for a new industrial and scientific revolution. At the heart of it lies Siberia - a 'Wild East', a magnet for all the political, religious and scientific fevers shaking the world at the dawn of the 20th century, the crucible where black physics, shamanic lore and the cold logic of winter combine. And Benedykt's final destination. Will he embrace the ice, or destroy it?"--Front cover flap

The girls before
Marshall, Kate Alice,
"There is a girl in a basement. The door has stopped opening. The light is gone. Stranger is trapped in the dark, with only her imagination and the scribbles on the wall left by long-dead girls to keep her company. Nearly out of food and water, she makes one last attempt to escape. But if the door opens at last, will it mean salvation, or only the beginning of her fight to survive? Audrey is a search and rescue expert who never stopped looking for her ex-best friend, Janie, who disappeared when they were teenagers. Janie used to love the local legend of a forest witch who saves girls from bad men, but Audrey knows now that for every one saved, there's always another one lost. When she stumbles upon evidence in the forest that a teenage runaway might have actually been kidnapped from land belonging to the town's most prominent family, she will have to dig through decades of secrets to reveal the biggest one of all: what happened to the girls before"--

The house of hidden letters
Broom, Isabelle, 1979-
"Skye MacKinnon is desperate for an escape. When she wins a lottery to buy a run-down cottage on a Greek island for only one euro, Skye jumps at the chance to get out of England and start over. As she unlocks the tattered blue door of her whitewashed new cottage, the sun-kissed sea glinting in the bay outside her windows, Skye immediately feels like she's found her true home. Skye and the other lottery winners--the first residents in these houses since the 1940s--form a tight-knit group, finding in one another the strong relationships they'd been missing in their own lives. When Skye and local contractor Andreas discover a set of mysterious letters, they begin to unravel the history of the prior residents and the truth about life on Folegandros during the Second World War"-- Provided by publisher

The golden boy
Finn, Patricia (Novelist),
"After an involuntary retirement from his high-flying Hollywood career, Stafford Hopkins has retreated to a luxury estate on Maui, along with his wife Agnes, both grimly resigned to life in a paradise where neither feels fully at home. Stafford is ready to retreat into himself, too, when a letter arrives with shocking news. Stafford has been named guardian of four children he didn't know existed: the grandchildren of his late childhood friend, Bobby Shepherd, whose ghost Stafford can no longer ignore. Returning to both the hardscrabble farming town and the dark secret he'd tried to forget for decades, Stafford is forced to confront his past in order to rebuild his future - and to redirect the fates of his family and the four young people suddenly in his care. Slyly funny and deeply moving, The Golden Boy is a captivating debut about love, mercy, and second chances." --

She made herself a monster
Kovatcheva, Anna,
"We make monsters in order to destroy them. For thousands of years, we've named witches and burned them, suspected demons and exorcised them. When crops die and children fall ill, who better to blame than a monster? In nineteenth-century Bulgaria, Yana rides from one desolate town to the next, staging grisly displays while the villagers sleep: animal corpses in the public square, eggs filled with blood in the chicken coop. She tells the stricken villagers stories of vampires that stalk the night. Then Yana eliminates the threat, and leaves seeds of hope in her wake. The village of Koprivci, however, is plagued by exceptional illness and misfortune, its children rarely surviving infancy. There, Yana meets Anka: a headstrong orphan who the villagers blame for their curse. As Anka approaches womanhood, the village Captain is grooming her for marriage against her will. Anka is powerless against him-that is, until Yana arrives. Together, the orphan and the vampire slayer hatch a plan: to conjure a monster so vile, it might provide cover for Anka to escape. But their plan quickly takes on a horrifying life of its own... Inspired by Slavic folklore, SHE MADE HERSELF A MONSTER concocts a clever mix of witchery, ghost stories, heresy, and deception to spin a feminist fable about agency and the power of collective action. It is a haunting and astoundingly cathartic tale of two women who will stop at nothing to take control of their fate"-- Provided by publisher

Hooked a novel of obsession
Yuzuki, Asako, 1981-
"Eriko's life looks perfect--from her prestigious job at a Japanese trading firm to her spotless apartment and devoted parents. Her newest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile Perch into the Japanese market, is as ambitious as she is. But beneath her flawless surface lies a consuming loneliness. Eriko has never been able to hold on to a real friend. Enter Shoko: a popular lifestyle blogger whose work Eriko follows obsessively. Shoko lives a life of controlled chaos--messy apartment, take-out dinners, a kind, easy-going husband. She writes about daily contentment, though her fractured relationship with her father gnaws at the edges of her happiness. When Eriko orchestrates a "chance" meeting with Shoko, the two women strike up an unlikely connection. For a fleeting moment, Eriko believes she's finally found what she's always longed for. But as her fascination turns to fixation and Shoko's carefully balanced life begins to dissolve, both women are pushed to breaking points neither of them saw coming."--Provided by publisher

A lie for a lie
DeStefano, Ren,
"A deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds when a housewife with a secret life takes on a tech billionaire with secrets darker than her own . . . from the author of How I'll Kill You. Margaux leads a double life that would make most people dizzy. By day, she's a seemingly ordinary interior decorator with a picture-perfect marriage. By night, she works for a mysterious employer known only as Mr. X. Her specialty: infiltrating the lives of dangerous targets, gaining their trust, and ultimately exposing their crimes. Her latest assignment: Bertram Casimir, a ruthless tech CEO with an empire built on questionable foundations. His own sister is demanding retribution-alleging he stole a groundbreaking app and may be responsible for the suspicious disappearance of an ex-girlfriend. The job seems straightforward, but Margaux quickly discovers Bertram is no ordinary mark. He sees through her carefully constructed facade, matching her move for move. As the lines between hunter and prey blur, Margaux finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Bertram. They share more than she'd like to admit-a dangerous intelligence, a taste for high-stakes manipulation. When the evidence begins to shift, threatening to unravel everything she knows, Margaux realizes this is far more than just another job. Her secrets-and her life-are now on the line. One lie remains, and it might just save her"-- Provided by publisher

The bridge back to you
Neilson, Riss M.,
"Olivia owes everything to Celia's Place. It's where she learned how to be a great chef. It's also where she first fell in love. But at nineteen, Olivia had a wanderlust she couldn't deny. And Carmello, whose mother owned the restaurant, couldn't leave Celia's Place behind any more than he could force Olivia to stay. Now, ten years later, Olivia is a successful personal chef. Her job allows her to travel the world, and she has never stayed in the same place for too long. When Carmello learns that his mother left shares of her beloved restaurant to both him and Olivia, he plans to buy her half of the shares back quickly and painlessly. That is until Olivia shows up at the restaurant, ready to help run it. Now Carmello sees an opportunity: drive Olivia away from his restaurant so that she will want to sign over her shares. But Olivia sees a different opportunity. She finally has the chance to stay in one place and build a home after years on the move, and perhaps now is the right time to explore whether that home can be with the one who got away. Soon enough, sparks begin to fly, but can Olivia and Carmello avoid the mistakes of the past?"-- Provided by publisher

Two can play
Hazelwood, Ali,
"An enemies-to-lovers spicy novella set in the world of video gaming from the New York Times bestselling author of Problematic Summer Romance-now in print and ebook! Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime: to design a video game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only problem? Her colead is Jesse F-ing Andrews, aka her archnemesis. Jesse has made it abundantly clear over the years that he wants nothing to do with her-and Viola has no idea why. When their bosses insist a wintry retreat is the perfect team-building exercise, Viola can't think of anything worse. Being freezing cold in a remote mountain lodge knowing Jesse is right next door? No, thank you. But as the snow piles on, Viola discovers there's more to Jesse than she knew, and heat builds in more ways than one"-- Provided by publisher

The seven daughters of Dupree
Williams, Nikesha Elise,
"It's 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother Gladys remains silent about the family's past, including why she left Land's End, Alabama, in 1953. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers. From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby's fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia's future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom"--

Where'd you go, Bernadette
Semple, Maria,
"When fifteen-year-old Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, her fiercely intelligent but agoraphobic mother, Bernadette, throws herself into preparations for the trip. Worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Bernadette is on the brink of a meltdown. As disaster follows disaster, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces. Which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together emails, invoices, and school memos to reveal the secret past that Bernadette has been hiding for decades"--Flap page 1 of dust jacket

Every happiness
Shah, Reena, 1975-
Every Happiness is a dazzling debut that explores the ties that bind two women across decades and continents despite rivalry, class difference, and the conflicting needs of family and self

Mother is watching
Brown, Karma,
"Mathilde 'Tilly' Crewson, a thirty-nine-year-old mother and art conservator, is tasked with restoring The Mother. The painting, believed to be the work of a female surgeon-turned-artist after a personal tragedy, is the rumored fourth piece in a collection of only three known works. But this newly discovered painting, scarred by fire, holds more than meets the eye. Soon after receiving the painting, Tilly discovers she's unexpectedly pregnant again, and strange, inexplicable occurrences begin: terrifying insect swarms, eerie visits from her long-deceased mother, and sinister whispers that invade her mind. As these malevolent forces intensify, Tilly comes to a harrowing realization that the only way to sever the perilous bond she shares with the painting is to destroy it. But The Mother has plans of her own--and they're darker than Tilly could ever imagine. As Tilly's obsession with the mysterious painting spirals into a nightmarish descent, the line between reality and the supernatural shatters, threatening both her sanity and her life"-- Front flap of dust jacket

Lonely Planet. Midwest USA Great Lakes to Great Plains

I feel bad about my neck and other thoughts on being a woman
Ephron, Nora,
A collection of essays offers a humorous look at the ups and downs of being a woman of a certain age, discussing the tribulations of maintenance and trying to stop the clock, menopause, and empty nests

The chosen and the damned Native Americans and the making of race in the United States
Silverman, David J., 1971-
A historical study examining the central role of race in Native American and United States history from the colonial era to the modern period. The book traces how Euro-American and Native American racial identities were formed and contested over four centuries, including colonial wars, the creation of reservations and boarding schools, and modern Native activism. Themes include the construction of White and Native identity, the effects of racial ideology on national policy, and the resilience and resistance of Native peoples. The work situates Native Americans as integral to understanding U.S. racial history

The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership follow them and people will follow you
Maxwell, John C., 1947-
"HarperCollins and John C. Maxwell are celebrating the milestone anniversary of Maxwell's New York Times bestselling book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership with the publication of a new revised and updated 25th Anniversary Edition. Maxwell has gone through every word of this book and updated it for the next generation of leaders. He has added new insights to these timeless laws and included lessons learned since he originally wrote the book. He removed dated stories and replaced them with fresh ones that apply to today's world of business. What Maxwell didn't change are the powerful leadership truths that have been helping people become better leaders for the last quarter century. This is still the best book on leadership people can buy, whether they want to learn leadership on their own, develop as leaders in a group, or teach leadership to others as a mentor" --

Embody your magic create the life of your dreams through astrology, numerology, mediumship, metaphysics, and human design
Brown, Aycee,
"From spiritual guide and teacher Aycee Brown, a warm and inviting handbook to discovering wholeness by embodying your truth and embracing your power"-- Provided by publisher

The invisible coup how American elites and foreign powers use immigration as a weapon
Schweizer, Peter, 1964-
"Our debates about immigration revolve around what happens with immigrants once they arrive. [The author believes that] we need to start talking about who is sending them and why. For decades, establishment elites sold us the story of immigration as a compassionate renewal of the American Dream within a harmonious melting pot. But beneath that narrative lies a different reality: mass migration has morphed into the most powerful political weapon ever aimed at the UnitedStates--one engineered by elites at home and aided by adversaries abroad"--

How to grow food your crop-by-crop guide to growing, cooking & preserving
Richards, Huw, 1999-
"Gardener Huw Richards and chef Sam Cooper bridge the gap between the garden and kitchen, profiling the growing and cooking of 70 crops. In this super-practical companion for all kitchen gardeners, each crop has no-nonsense growing information on spacing, sowing, and harvesting, accompanied by delicious and simple recipes for food made well. Whether you have containers on a balcony or acres of land, easy guides show the number of plants you can grow per square meter and the approximate harvest per plant so you can easily work out how many plants to grow and expected yield. There are also suggestions for the best varieties to grow for resilience and flavor. Recipes are easily adapted depending on how much you harvest and range from dishes to eat right away, such as a root vegetable tartiflette, and preserves to enjoy later, like a tomato sauce to add to pastas and stews"--

Be your own bestie a no-nonsense guide to changing the way you treat yourself
Brown, Misha,
"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!" --

Medicare 101 : from your initial enrollment period to parts A, B, C, and D, an essential primer on the government healthcare program
Lankford, Kimberly,
Medicare 101 is a guide that explains the structure and operation of the U.S. Medicare program. The book provides an overview of eligibility, enrollment, and coverage options, including Part A, Part B, and supplemental plans. It outlines common costs, benefits, and choices associated with the program and offers practical information to help readers understand and compare available coverage. Intended for individuals approaching retirement as well as caregivers assisting others, the guide presents basic information about navigating Medicare within the United States health care system

Big trust rewire self-doubt, find your confidence, and fuel success
Zahrai, Shadé,
"Self-doubt. It's the silent force that undermines potential, eats away at confidence, and traps even the most capable in overthinking. You can't outperform it, but you can rewire it. Drawing on leading research, over a decade of work with Fortune 500 companies, and experience educating millions of professionals worldwide, Dr. Shadé Zahrai reveals a proven system for breaking the cycle of self-doubt and building deep, unshakable self-trust. In Big Trust she shares her proven framework -- the Four A's: Acceptance, Agency, Autonomy, and Adaptability -- and shows you how to take control of your inner world so you can thrive in the outer one. With insights from her self-diagnostic quiz and actionable exercises throughout, you'll learn to: Reframe the beliefs that hold you back, Break free from people-pleasing and perfectionism, Quiet comparison and imposter thoughts, Stretch your comfort zone and reclaim your power, Channel emotion into clarity and conviction. Whether you're second-guessing a big decision, overthinking in high-stakes moments, or feeling stuck despite knowing you're capable of more, Big Trust offers practical steps that lead to powerful, lasting results. Everything you aspire to, and the strength to realize it, begins with Big Trust." --

Forgotten London exploring the hidden life of the city
Ackroyd, Peter, 1949-
No city shaped the modern world quite like London - a powerhouse of trade, finance and empire, the centre of global influence in the nineteenth century. But beyond the familiar stories of power and politics, its true life played out in the streets, where market traders, music hall crowds and factory workers gave it its vitality, its light and its shadows. This book uncovers its stories, bringing to life the highs and lows of those who made the city what it was. Covering the transformative years from the Victorian era to the Second World War, this richly illustrated book - featuring rare photographs, colourised images and period artwork - immerses readers in a side of London often overlooked

The legend of Wyatt Outlaw from Reconstruction through Black Lives Matter
Allen, Sylvester, Jr.,
"Wyatt Outlaw's story was one of Black success: He was a Union League leader, business owner, and the first Black town constable and commissioner in Graham, a small town located in North Carolina's Alamance County. But in 1870, Outlaw was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, setting off a dramatic series of events: more lynchings, a Republican-led 'war' against the Klan, and a white supremacist crackdown on Black political power that continues today. As a child, Black activist, musician, and Graham native Sylvester Allen frequently passed the site where Outlaw was killed without ever learning his name. Belle Boggs, white and also from the South, taught high school in Alamance County without knowing Outlaw's importance. Allen and Boggs both sought to discover why Outlaw had been erased from mainstream history books. In The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw, they share what they found in artful detail and connect Outlaw's story to the violence against Black people in Alamance and throughout the United States, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow, the civil rights era, and Black Lives Matter. Drawing on archival research, interviews, and their own personal stories, Allen and Boggs join the conversation begun by historian Peniel Joseph and activist William Barber II about a third Reconstruction in America, but they also offer ways to move forward for any community struggling with a history of racism"-- Provided by publisher

The official Raspberry Pi handbook 2026
"Dive into the world of Raspberry Pi with tutorials, project showcases, guides, product reviews, and much more from Raspberry Pi official magazine. The latest hardware and accessories from Raspberry Pijoin Raspberry Pi 5, 500, 500+, and Pico 2 in this, The Official Raspberry Pi Handbook 2026"--

Why democracy needs the rich
McGinnis, John O., 1957-
"Why Democracy Needs the Rich challenges the prevailing narrative that wealth undermines democracy, offering a bold, thought-provoking case for the essential role of the rich in sustaining and enhancing democratic institutions. In a time when billionaires are often vilified as symbols of inequality and unchecked power, John O. McGinnis flips the script, arguing that the wealthy are not just vital contributors to innovation and economic growth but also indispensable counterbalances to the influence of other powerful groups. Drawing on history, economics, and political philosophy, McGinnis illustrates how the rich act as stabilizers in a democracy by funding civic institutions, championing diverse ideas, and driving technological progress. He reveals how wealth can counteract the sway of ideologically homogeneous elites in media, academia, and entertainment while serving as a check on the excesses of special interest groups and bureaucracies. With sharp analysis and compelling examples, this book explores the unique role of the wealthy in preserving the balance and dynamism of a free society. It highlights how their financial independence fosters ideological diversity and their investments fuel advancements that benefit all citizens, not just the elite. Far from being a defense of inequality, Why Democracy Needs the Rich is a powerful argument for understanding how wealth, in the right context, strengthens the foundations of representative democracy and fosters a more resilient, vibrant society"--

P FKN R : how Bad Bunny became the global voice of Puerto Rican resistance
Díaz, Vanessa, 1983-
"P FKN R explores the work of Puerto Rican musical superstar Bad Bunny (Benito A. Martínez Ocasio), focusing on his cultural and political significance. By looking at the history of Puerto Rico with a deliberate focus on the last thirty years and putting the archipelago's major crises in dialogue with Bad Bunny's life and career, the authors demonstrate that understanding Bad Bunny's work requires a deep understanding of Puerto Rican history. Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau focus on key events such as the Puerto Rican debt crisis, Hurricane María, the mass protests in Puerto Rico in 2019, and current battles against gentrification across the archipelago. P FKN R explores how Bad Bunny's work has engaged with or is reflective of these moments-from his release of songs connected to the crises, to his participation in demonstrations, to his production of films about Puerto Rico's most pressing issues. Diaz and Rivera-Rideau outline the many ways in which Puerto Rico's people have resisted colonial rule, including through music. Bad Bunny's work is thus presented as part of the long history of Puerto Rican music as a form of resistance to colonial domination"--

Good Friday on the rez a Pine Ridge odyssey
Bunnell, David,
"Good Friday on the Rez introduces readers to places and people that author, writer, and entrepreneur David Bunnell encounters during his one day, 280-mile road trip from his boyhood Nebraska hometown to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to visit his longtime friend, Vernell White Thunder, a full-blooded Oglala Lakota, descendant of a long line of prominent chiefs and medicine men. This captivating narrative is part memoir and part history. Bunnell shares treasured memories of his time living on and teaching at the reservation. Sometimes raw and sometimes uplifting, Bunnell looks back to expose the difficult life and experiences faced by the descendants of Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull while also illuminating their courageous resiliency. Substantive and at times disturbing, Bunnell reflects back to his time on the rez during the violent 70s when he smuggled food to radical Indians at Wounded Knee. Peppered with Vernell White Thunder's spellbinding stories of growing up in a one-room log house with his medicine man grandfather, Bunnell begs the reader to join in on the poignant conversations about present-day Native Americans. Good Friday on the Rez is a dramatic page-turner, an incredible true story that tracks the torment and miraculous resurrection of Native American pride, spirituality, and culture -- how things got to be the way they are, where they are going, and why we should care."--

Love life
Lowe, Rob,

'Til death do we parent raising my kid with his dad
Hilarious, Jess,
Jess Hilarious, comedy's whip-smart and unapologetic superstar, continues to push boundaries and offers a hilarious account of the challenges in creating a healthy coparenting relationship and the lessons she's learned on life's journey. After multiple attempts at a relationship between her and her son's father failed, Jess accepted that, while they would never get married, they were forever linked by the lifetime commitment of raising a child together. With her trademark wit and perspective, Jess shares her experiences with valuable and vulnerable insight for coparents who struggle with what it means to put their children first while protecting them from the ups and downs of adult relationships

The girl who fell to Earth a memoir
Al-Maria, Sophia
An award-winning young filmmaker and writer's funny and wry coming-of-age memoir about growing up in between the American and Arab cultures

The mayor of MacDougal Street a memoir
Van Ronk, Dave,

Finding home a memoir
Nicholas, Denise, 1944-
"A poignant, revelatory memoir from acclaimed novelist and actor Denise Nicholas that offers an episodic exploration of her multifaceted life, delving intimately into themes of artistic self-invention, race, and grief"

Chita a memoir
Rivera, Chita,
"The wildly entertaining memoir of the legendary Chita Rivera -- multi-Tony Award winner, Kennedy Center honoree, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom." --

I am Brian Wilson a memoir
Wilson, Brian, 1942-2025,
"The memoirs of the legendary co-founder of the Beach Boys offer insights into his difficult relationship with his father, the women in his life, his parenting experiences, and the events that inspired his music,"--NoveList

In the shadow of the mountain a memoir of courage
Vasquez-Lavado, Silvia,
"When Silvia's mother called her home to Peru, she knew something finally had to give. A Latinx hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. She was deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she'd suffered as a child. Her visit to Peru would become a turning point in her life. Silvia started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent-the restricted oxygen at altitude, the vast expanse of emptiness around her, the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains, the nearness of death-woke her up. And then, she took her biggest pain to the biggest mountain: Everest. "The Mother of the World," as it's known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn't go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her, their strength and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, gratitude for the strong women in our lives, and faith in our own resilience."--

Afro Sheen : how I revolutionized an industry with the Golden Rule, from Soul Train to Wall Street
Johnson, George, 1927-
"The inspiring and resilient story of George E. Johnson, creator of the iconic Afro Sheen and the first Black-owned company to be traded on Wall Street. You might already be familiar with Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen, but have you heard of the man behind the company that produced these products? In Afro Sheen, George Ellis Johnson, the acclaimed self-made businessman, reveals his inspiring and captivating rise from humble beginnings to the top of the haircare industry. At just twenty-seven years old, Johnson created the Johnson Products Company. JPC was the first Black-owned company to trade on a major stock exchange, became the financial sponsor of Soul Train, and was once considered the largest Black-owned manufacturing company in the world. At the height of its success, JPC was worth $37 million (over $225 million today)."--Amazon

Call the midwife a memoir of birth, joy, and hard times
Worth, Jennifer, 1935-2011,
Jennifer Worth was just twenty-two when she volunteered to spend her early years of midwifery training in London's East End in the 1950s. Coming from a sheltered background there were tough lessons to be learned. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying

Food for thought : essays & ruminations
Brown, Alton, 1962-
"From Alton Brown, the New York Times bestselling cookbook author and beloved culinary food personality, a debut collection of personal essays defined by his flair, wit, and insight. From cameraman to chef, musician to food scientist, Alton Brown has had a diverse and remarkable career. His work on the Food Network, including creating Good Eats and hosting Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen, has resonated with countless viewers and home cooks. Now, he shares exactly what's on his mind, mixing compelling anecdotes from his personal and professional life with in-depth observations on the culinary world, film, personal style, defining meals of his lifetime, and much more. With his whip-smart and engaging voice, Brown explores everything from wrestling a dumpster full of dough to culinary cultural appropriation to his ultimate quest for the perfect roast chicken. Deliciously candid and full of behind-the-scenes stories fans will love, Food for Thought is the ultimate reading experience for anyone who appreciates food and the people that prepare it"--

The double Dutch fuss a memoir
Branch, Phill,
"Long before every moment of our lives was tracked by handheld devices and cameras recording our every move, Phill Branch was under surveillance. His father was a football playing, weed smoking, Army vet tailor made for the seventies -- he was one of those guys everyone wanted to be around and that women seemed to love. Phill was different, he was... defective and his father searched for proof of this in every action until he found it. "Your teacher called. She said you be out there jumping rope with girls, that true?" It was true and Phill paid greatly for this failure at boyhood. From this he learned there were standards to be met, codes that were not to be violated and strict punishment for any deviation from your assigned position in the world. In this personal narrative, Branch reckons with patriarchy and tradition, the legacy of these social structures in Black America, and how they have molded and silenced him. Taking readers from Newark, New Jersey to Los Angeles, California, Branch writes lyrically and honestly about growing up as a queer black son to a complicated and often absent father, rigid in his ideas of masculinity. From his early experiences of inappropriate relationships with men twice his age, to his successful rebranding at Hampton University, to his rubbing shoulders with celebrities all while struggling to feed himself as a writer in Hollywood, Branch charts his complex relationship with his idea of success, perceptions of manhood, and ultimately his father. The Double Dutch Fuss recounts growing up under the heavy burden of expectation-to be a boy, to be Black, and to be queer in ways that conform to rigid, often unforgiving norms. It is about the knotted path of becoming, while navigating the always-present fear of emotional and physical violence, and the threat of isolation for simply being who you are. The heart of the book explores the cosmic pull between fathers and sons, even when bonds are fractured, and how healing those wounds can open a pathway toward freedom and wholeness. The Double Dutch Fuss is an insightful and surprisingly humorous reflection on identity, masculinity, and the quiet, radical act of choosing to exist on your own terms"-- Provided by publisher

The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope
Kamkwamba, William, 1987-
An enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family

You never know a memoir
Selleck, Tom, 1945-
An American icon and famed actor brings us on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, clearing up misconceptions; sharing dozens of never-before-told stories from both his personal and professional lives; and offering a truly fresh perspective on a changing industry and a changing world

Beowulf : a new translation
Headley, Maria Dahvana, 1977-
"A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the much-buzzed-about novel The Mere Wife"--

The lost songs of Nina Simone poems
Buchanan, Shonda,
""Nina Simone's ghost lives in these poems by award-winning author, Shonda Buchanan. Like the icon's life and art, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone is complex, daring, sensuous, hard and soft all at once." Shonda Buchanan weaves a prism of language, sound and light around and through the life of concert pianist, singer and Civil Rights activist, the incomprehensible Nina Simone. With this book, Buchanan is declaring this The Century of the Black Woman, providing a realistic glimpse into not only Simone's life, but the lives of Black women in America, past and present, and their choices in a myopic, unforgiving country. A grandchild of enslaved Africans, American Indians and Irish migrants, born into poverty as Eunice Waymon in a traditionally large family, Nina Simone lived a life few Black American women lived during the Jim Crow era in the South, yet rose to ultimately impact the world with her creative genius and determined spirit. This book is both an emotional and historical excavation of an artist's life, capturing the rise and descent of that life, including Simone's family history, her childhood and young womanhood, as well as the addiction, mental health struggles and abuse. The Lost Songs of Nina Simone embodies the rich legacy --- the pleats between the cloth --- of Simone's artistry, beauty, self-immolation and rage."--Back cover

Owls and other fantasies poems and essays
Oliver, Mary, 1935-2019

The sun at the end of the road dispatches from an American life
Fitzpatrick, Tony, 1958-2025,
A collection of artist and author Tony Fitzpatrick's brief essays, haiku, poetry, collages, etches and drawing, capturing birds, stories, people and dogs that intersected his life in Chicago, Illinois and around the world

Roots to the earth
Berry, Wendell, 1934-

Woman without shame poems
Cisneros, Sandra,
"A bold new collection of poems from Sandra Cisneros, the best-selling author of The House on Mango Street"--

Then the war and selected poems, 2007-2020
Phillips, Carl, 1959-
"Then the War sees Carl Phillips turn his sharp and subtle gaze inward, charting the changing landscapes of his life and work in a collection of new and selected poems."--

She felt like feeling nothing
Sin, R. H.,

A timbered choir the sabbath poems, 1979-1997
Berry, Wendell, 1934-

Newspaper blackout
Kleon, Austin
Presents a collection of poetry constructed using a newspaper and permanent marker, including sections on how the author got started, how to make a newspaper blackout poem, and contest winners

Felicity
Oliver, Mary, 1935-2019,

Muse of fire World War I as seen through the lives of the soldier poets
Korda, Michael, 1933-
With Muse of Fire, Michael Korda takes a novel approach to World War I by telling its history through the lives of the soldier-poets whose verses memorialize the war's unimaginable horrors. He begins with Rupert Brooke and the halcyon days before violence engulfed his generation--destroying the self-contented world of Edwardian England--and ends with the tragic death of Wilfred Owen, killed only days before the armistice brought an end to a war that took over 25,000,000 lives. Korda recounts these four years of a civilization destroying itself and portrays the lives and anguished deaths of the young men who unforgettably illuminated it. As the success of Pat Barker's Regeneration, the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front, and the images of brutal trench warfare in today's Ukraine demonstrate, contemporary interest in "the war to end war" remains high. --

The heart of American poetry
Hirsch, Edward,
"We live in unsettled times. What is America and who are we as a people? How do we understand the dreams and betrayals that have shaped the American experience? For poet and critic Edward Hirsch, poetry opens up new ways of answering these questions, of reconnecting with one another and with what's best in us. In this landmark new book from Library of America, Hirsch offers deeply personal readings of forty essential American poems we thought we knew--from Anne Bradstreet's "The Author to Her Book" and Phillis Wheatley's "To S.M. a Young African Painter, on seeing his Works" to Garrett Hongo's "Ancestral Graves, Kahuku" and Joy Harjo's "Rabbit Is Up to Tricks"--exploring how these poems have sustained his own life and how they might uplift our diverse but divided nation. "This is a personal book about American poetry," writes Hirsch, "but I hope it is more than a personal selection. I have chosen forty poems from our extensive archive and songbook that have been meaningful to me, part of my affective life, my critical consideration, but I have also tried to be cognizant of the changing playbook in American poetry, which is not fixed but fluctuating, ever in flow, to pay attention to the wider consideration, the appreciable reach of our literature. This is a book of encounters and realizations.""--Provided by publisher

Slammed
Hoover, Colleen
Following the unexpected death of her father, eighteen-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and her younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope. One young man brings change to all of this. After moving across the country, Layken meets her attractive twenty-one-year-old neighbor who has an intriguing passion for slams. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope. Not long after a heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a chocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together and the forces that tear them apart

Son of nobody
Martel, Yann,
"The most famous stories of the Trojan War and its aftermath are Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. But these were not the only tales of the war sung to ancient audiences by bards-there were others, now vanished but for echoes and fragments, collected in what has come to be known as the Epic Cycle. In SON OF NOBODY, one such tale is the Psoad: an epic that follows the son of a goatherd, Psoas of Midea, who leaves his wife and family to fight on the beaches of Troy. Psoas meets his doom, and the epic poem of his life is lost to time--until another man on a foreign shore, a Canadian academic studying at Oxford, discovers its relics thirty centuries later. A truly daring feat of imagination, SON OF NOBODY is a novel composed in two voices: the first, a series of fragments from antiquity that tell the story of Troy from a lost, alt-Homeric tradition; the second, the voice of a modern-day scholar, Harlow Donne, who assembles and comments on these fragments while navigating a conflict of his own. Obsessed with his discovery, Donne still can't seem to let go of his family's past--he weaves together the tale of uncovering ancient papyri, faded codices, and broken cuneiform tablets with memories of his daughter as a child and his wife before their separation. Donne translates and writes in the heartfelt modes of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Ares, god of war, as the parallel stories offer a poignant glimpse into both the follies of failed relationships and of battle. SON OF NOBODY upends the regal perspective of traditional epics, and by grappling with questions of ambition, family, and responsibility in both the ancient and the modern worlds, it shows 'that the past is never done with, that always there are parallels and returns and repetitions, always the song continues'"--

Brawler stories
Groff, Lauren,
"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
Whims, Cathy,
"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
Harper, Molly,
"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
Patterson, Susan, 1957-
"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
Obuobi, Shirlene,
"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.
America's Test Kitchen (Firm),
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
Di Pietrantonio, Donatella,
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
Erdrich, Louise,
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
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth,
"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
Leiby, Alison,
"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
Grisham, John,
"#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
Dumas, Luke,
"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
Lemke, Lisa, 1981-
"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
Abé, Shana,
"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
Ashton, Edward (Science fiction writer),
"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
Monaghan, Annabel,
"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
Henwood Hoen, Tory,
"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
Jones, Janet L. (Neuroscientist),
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
Woods, Kell,
"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
Harrison, Rachel, 1989-
"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
Cañas, Isabel,
"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
Allende, Isabel,
"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
Natera, Cleyvis,
"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
Sanchez, Santiago Jose,
"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
Cornejo Villavicencio, Karla,
"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
Saldaña París, Daniel, 1984-
"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
Heredia, Alejandro, 1994-
"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
Cummins, Jeanine,
"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
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia,
"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
Gonzalez, Xochitl, 1977-
"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
Vargas Llosa, Mario, 1936-2025,
"In his final novel, the Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa returns to his native Peru"-- Provided by publisher

Autobiography of cotton
Rivera Garza, Cristina, 1964-
"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
Etcheves, Florencia, 1971-
"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
Allende, Isabel,
"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
Ojito, Mirta A.,
"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
Chapa, Veronica,
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
Gonzalez, Xochitl, 1977-
"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
5
Sat
10–10:30 a.m.
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.