- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
News & Stories
On Saturday, July 4, more than 50 members of the Arlington Heights community joined the library in the Frontier Days Fourth of July Parade.
Arlington Heights readers strolled downtown while hearing from acclaimed bestselling authors Layne Fargo, Sandra Jackson-Opoku and Daniel Kraus.
Makerplace staff partnered with the Village of Arlington Heights Public Works to bring a unique community art project to the Arlington Heights Farmers Market.
Your Next Great Read

Haven
Katz, Ani,
"A summer retreat to an elite island enclave owned by a Big Tech company becomes a mother's worst nightmare in this gripping thriller. After months of financial strain and escalating arguments, Caroline is relieved when her husband, Adam, secures a job at Corridor, a prestigious Big Tech company. Though his long hours on top-secret projects often leave Caroline alone with their newborn son, Gabriel, the life-changing income seems worth the sacrifice. When Adam suggests a summer retreat to Haven, the exclusive island community popular with Corridor employees, Caroline agrees, hoping the sun-soaked paradise will help Adam relax and bring their family closer. But she can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right about the town. Though Adam assures her of their safety, the locals' behavior is oddly secretive and ritualistic-even cultish. It's clear that Corridor hasn't resolved tensions about the way the company is transforming the island. And it doesn't help that Adam's colleagues seem to have a few strange beliefs of their own. When Caroline wakes to discover that Gabriel is missing, her worst fears are confirmed. Desperate and unsure of whom to trust, she must race to find her son-and pull back the curtain on this elite enclave-before he is lost to the island forever. Tensely plotted and terrifyingly prescient, Haven is a taut, darkly compelling exploration of the costs of innovation, the far limits of human progress, and the risks we're willing to take for a brighter future"--Provided by publisher

Między ustami a brzegiem pucharu
Rodziewiczówna, Maria, 1863-1944,
"Między ustami a brzegiem pucharu" autorstwa Marii Rodziewiczówny to opowieść o niezwykle gburowatym, nienawidzącym swojej polskości hrabim Wentzlu. Mężczyzna identyfikuje się jako Prusak i nie chce nawet słyszeć o swoim w połowie polskim pochodzeniu. Do czasu. Pewnego dnia poznaje przepiękną Polkę i zakochuje się od pierwszego wejrzenia. Książka obrazuje, jak pod wpływem kobiety hrabia Wentzel odnajduje swoją polskość i zmienia się w Wacława. "Między ustami a brzegiem pucharu" to książka, która przeniesie każdego do czasów dziewiętnastowiecznych balów, zalotów i romansów. Ta pozycja to klasyk i świetnie przedstawia sposób myślenia autorki i jej postrzeganie świata. Powieść została napisana prostym i zrozumiałym językiem, dostępnym dla każdego. Będzie świetną lekturą podczas leniwego popołudnia w czterech ścianach czy wakacjach na plaży." --

A little buzzed
Murray, Alys,
"Scout Porter is screwed. Not literally, of course. Literally, she's a twenty-six year old virgin, thanks to a relationship so disastrous she swore off love and sex for good. Metaphorically, she's screwed because the entire office of BuzzCorp, the sex toy start-up where she's head engineer, just found out. The vibrators she designs for her customers may be perfect, but this little revelation calls her reputation into question - and ruins the vibes in the office - so Scout decides she needs to lose her V-card, and fast. Enter Hudson Bailey, the nerdy and charming software developer hired to build the app for Scout's latest creation. The only problem is, he's as virginal with sex toys as she is with sex. So, Scout proposes a bargain: she'll teach him everything he needs to know about toys, if he'll take her virginity. For research, obviously. Scout doesn't do feelings. But their little experiment yields unexpected results - chemistry so off the charts Scout starts to think she might actually want more than just a one-time fling. When their budding relationship is threatened by the return of Scout's notorious ex, both Scout and Hudson will have to decide if they've reached their climax as a couple, or if they're willing to risk everything for a chance at true love"-- Provided by publisher

Hard times
Boyd, Jeff,
"An extraordinary crime novel from a rising star, that follows the ripple effects of a tragic shooting throughout a Chicago community from the view of the teachers, police officers, and students impacted. Buddy Mack has been caught in the middle of two worlds at war. As an English teacher at a South Side, Chicago, high school lauded for its football team, but at risk in every other way, he tries to instill a love of literature. While all of his students face challenges, he's especially concerned with a trio of boys who test him to no end but are full of promise and heart: Zeke, the football star; Truth, the sweet-talking charmer; and Dontell, Buddy's most promising student. At home, his wife, Chrissy, a successful corporate lawyer, is ready to upgrade to a big house on the North Side and start a family, but Buddy's torn over the implications. And the closest person he has in his life to talk to is Chrissy's little brother, Curtis, a corrupt Chicago cop. When the two worlds collide in a shocking moment that rocks the school, Buddy has to choose a side and fight for all he holds dear. Hard Times takes stock of what it means to be there for your people whether you want to or not and unflinchingly confronts the American Dream-a moving, engrossing, and necessary read"-- Provided by publisher

A far-flung life
Stedman, M. L.,
"Remote Western Australia, 1958: here, for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a vast sheep station, Meredith Downs. It is a million acres, an ocean of arid land. On an ordinary day, on a lonely road, under the unending blue sky, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds the lives of the entire MacBride family are shattered. And then, tragedy revisits when a twist of consequences claims the life of one sibling, and leads another to give up everything for the sake of an innocent child. Matt, the youngest MacBride, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide. The secrets at the heart of this gutting and beautiful story force him to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness"--

Everything everywhere...
Kirkman, Rick,
"One of the most beloved family comic strips, Baby Blues chronicles the adventures of the McPherson parents, Darryl and Wanda, and their three children, Zoe, Hammie, and Wren. Written by Jerry Scott and illustrated by Rick Kirkman, this complete collection of 2023 Baby Blues comic strips will delight new and old parents alike." --

Royal spin
Scobie, Omid,
"Emily in Paris meets Veep meets Red, White and Royal Blue in this sparkling fish-out-of-water romantic workplace comedy about a young American who trades a job at the White House for one at Buckingham Palace, from the dream writing duo: preeminent royal correspondent Omid Scobie and National Book Award-winner Robin Benway, both beloved New York Times bestselling authors"-- Provided by publisher

The valley of vengeful ghosts
Fu, Kim,
"In the aftermath of her mother's death, Eleanor is unmoored. For years, her mother orchestrated every detail of her life--from meals, to laundry, to finances--as Eleanor focused on her career as an online therapist. Left to navigate the world on her own, Eleanor clings to her mother's final directive: use her inheritance to buy a house. Desperate to obey her mother one last time, Eleanor impulsively buys a model home in a valley-turned-construction site, a picturesque development steeped in a shadowy history. It feels like a fresh start, until the rain comes--an endless, torrential downpour. As water seeps in through the house's cracks, the line between what is real and what is not begins to blur. Haunted by the stories of her clients, a stream of workmen and bureaucrats she can't trust, and visions of ghosts from her past and present, Eleanor's reality unravels, and she is forced to reckon with the secrets she's buried and the choices she's made."--

Missing Sam
Umrigar, Thrity N.,
"One night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head--and doesn't come back. Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious and feeling isolated as strangers and acquaintances alike doubt her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. She must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye even as she is torn between her fear that Sam is dead and her desire to find and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them?" --

Kissed by scandal
Brower, Dawn,
Georgina Williams prefers to remain in the background. She's more comfortable with books than a ballroom. In a last-ditch attempt to help her blossom, Georgina's father sends her to Havenwood Academy, a reformist school for young ladies that don't fit into the mold society has made for them. Adrian Carter is marked by scandal. With a reputation as a charming reprobate, he's never been one for convention. But when he meets Georgina evokes something in him that he can't explain. Can the unconventional lady and the rogue find romance in unexpected places?

Magic and mischief at the Wayside Hotel
Everett, Elizabeth,
"When a magical hotel appears smack dab in the middle of the most un-magical of worlds, the last thing the residents expect is to fall in love. Manager of the Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub, Pax Nomenta has one of the easiest jobs in all the known universes, unless you count the occasional plumbing disaster. When Number Five Wayside gets stranded on a non-magical world, even Pax's trusty Hotel Management Handbook can't help him. How is he going to "re-boot" the hotel and keep it on its magical journey? Josie LaChiusa is a single mom experiencing debt, having parenting doubts, and tipping dangerously towards depression, when an ad pops up on her phone that an apartment is available in a building she's never seen before. Pax needs a new guest to re-start his hotel, and Josie needs a nudge to re-start her life. In a building occupied by faeries, gargoyles, and a gnome with a bad attitude, two souls from very different places come together to create a home like no other"--

Nowhere burning
Ward, Catriona,
In Nowhere Burning, Catriona Ward presents a dark, contemporary novel about two siblings who flee an unstable home and seek refuge at an isolated, abandoned ranch in the Colorado Rockies. The ranch has become a gathering place for runaways, but its community is marked by secrecy and control. As the protagonist adjusts to the new environment, she becomes aware of underlying dangers connected to the location's past. The narrative explores themes of survival, belonging, trauma, and group dynamics within an isolated setting

The final score : six short novels
Winslow, Don, 1953-
This collection of interconnected crime stories presents a series of high-stakes events involving a range of characters, including a legendary casino robber, a college-bound teenager involved in illicit activities, law enforcement officers facing ethical dilemmas, and individuals entangled in organized crime. The narratives explore themes of loyalty, ambition, morality, and survival in the context of crime and its consequences

Bad Asians
Li, Lillian,
"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

Six little words
Page, Sally,
Kate gave up her dreams of being a painter years ago. Retired English teacher Bardy is grappling with writer's block. They discover a local community group encouraging people to rediscover their own creative spark and the long-lost courage to chase it

The kids who aren't okay : the urgent case for reimagining support, belonging, and hope in schools
Greene, Ross W.,
"From a child psychologist and New York Times bestselling authority on schools, a groundbreaking guide to helping the exploding number of students who are struggling with mental health challenges and concerning behavior" -- from front flyleaf

Clearing the air : a hopeful guide to solving climate change in 50 questions and answers
Ritchie, Hannah, 1993-
"We can't afford to delay climate action, but with all the shouting and disagreement it's hard to know where to turn. In her new book, bestselling environmental star Hannah Ritchie answers 50 key climate questions once and for all, clearing the air so we can get on and fix things. With so many conflicting headlines out there, it's tough to sort fact from fiction when it comes to climate change and the solutions we need for a cleaner future. The first piece of good news is that data scientist Hannah Ritchie is here with the answers and the steps we need to take now. Using simple, clear data, she tackles questions such as, 'Is it too late?', 'Won't we run out of minerals?' and 'Are we too polarized?'. The second piece of good news- the truth is way more hopeful than you might think. We're at a critical moment for our planet, and getting the facts straight is step one. But even more crucial is feeling hopeful about what we can do next. The third piece of good news? We already have many of the solutions we need to create a more sustainable planet for future generations. Clearing the Air is your essential guide whenever you're feeling lost or overwhelmed about climate change. Dive in, get informed and be part of building a better world for everyone"--publisher's description

The Pizza Planet cookbook : official recipes from your favorite food and fun spaceport
Caron, Sarah W.,
"Calling all Toy Story fans and pizza lovers: join the Pizza Planet team and learn the secrets to their out-of-this-world pies, sides, and more ... You'll find all the basic techniques, ensuring you can quickly get up to speed with Pizza Planet's signature doughs, sauces, and pizza-making tips. The recipes include everything you'd expect from the Pizza Planet you know and love from Disney and Pixar's Toy Story, including classic pies ans well as Sicilian-style pizzas, deep dish pizzas, and creative specialty pizzas ... Shareable sides, quirky desserts, and a few drinks round out the menu"--Page 4 of cover

The ADHD field guide for adults
Osborn, Cate,
From the social media sensations and mental health advocates Cate Osborn and Erik Gude comes a modern and refreshingly honest guide to managing ADHD for adults. ADHD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in adults. With roughly eight million adults living with ADHD and more people seeking and receiving diagnoses each year, there's a huge gap between lived experiences and straightforward information. Enter Cate Osborn and Erik Gude, ADHD advocates and educators and hosts of the wildly popular podcast Catie and Eric's Infinite Quest: An ADHD Adventure. They have witnessed this info gap firsthand in their own lives and in the flood of questions they regularly field from their millions of social media followers. Irreverent, indispensable, candid, and reassuring, Cate and Erik don't paper over the realities of neurodivergence. They give it to you straight. Featuring the most up-to-date foundational information, The ADHD Field Guide for Adults also explores issues that are rarely discussed, such as navigating sex and intimacy, and the healthcare system. Ingeniously structured and designed to be accessible for neurodivergent readers

The Greek kitchen
Alexiadou, Vepha,
The Greek Kitchen is a curated collection of 75 recipes drawn from Greece: The Cookbook by Vefa Alexiadou. The volume highlights traditional Greek home-cooking and features dishes that reflect the region's characteristic ingredients, including olive oil, bread, wine, fruits, and cheeses. Organized into chapters covering mezedes, soups and salads, vegetables, legumes and pasta, fish and shellfish, meat, baked goods, and desserts, the recipes range from seafood and grilled meats to pies, pastries, and classic sweets. Designed as an accessible introduction to Greek cuisine, the collection presents a selection of representative and well-known dishes for home cooks

The writer's room : the hidden worlds that shape the books we love
Lewin, Katherine Da Cunha,
"Virginia Woolf famously wrote in A Room of One's Own that "it is necessary to have five hundred a year and a room with a lock on the door if you are to write fiction or poetry." Writers have worked in all kinds of places, from garrets and sheds to boarding houses, bathrooms, and even while on the move. What is it that fascinates us about the writer's room? This book takes readers inside literature's creative spaces to explore this tantalizing question. Beginning with her own secondhand writing desk, Katie da Cunha Lewin invites us to consider how these environments embody the craft of writing and shape the literary works we love. She paints vivid portraits of Woolf's garden room at Monk's House, Emily Brontë's shared table in the parsonage, Sigmund Freud's study with its legendary couch, and the bustling Parisian cafés where Ernest Hemingway crafted stories in notebooks. She dismantles the familiar furniture of the writer's room to cast it in a surprising new light, from the hotel rooms where Maya Angelou wrote poetry to the busses where Lauren Elkin wrote on her phone to the kitchen tables around which Audre Lorde and the founders of Women of Color Press convened. Lyrical, insightful, and rich with personal insights, The Writer's Room reveals how these spaces are brimming with possibilities, shaping the creative process of authors and capturing the imaginations of readers."--

Manufacturing delusion : how the left uses brainwashing, indoctrination, and propaganda against you
Sexton, Buck,
"A former CIA analyst draws on his experience combatting jihadi terror movements and the history of totalitarian regimes to show how citizens lose touch with reality. Some of history's greatest empires have devolved into genocidal lunacy--often with shocking compliance from their own people. What methods can create this madness? In Manufacturing Delusion, acclaimed conservative commentator and former CIA officer Buck Sexton offers answers. Drawing on his intelligence experience, expertise in crowd psychology, knowledge of propaganda, and research into some of history's darkest totalitarian chapters, he equips you to identify mind control tactics used to form compliant citizens. He explores the eight tactics of mass delusion through examining: how Stalin used Pavlovian mind games to establish absolute control; how Chinese thought reform transformed opposition into terrorized pawns; how Jihadist preachers replace shared humanity with weaponized fear. Using these examples and others, Sexton walks you through a history of controlling regimes and the methods they used to create passive citizens. More importantly, he shows you how some of the early stages of mass delusion have already occurred right here in the United States of America, on issues of public health, gender, and racial justice. An unnerving explanation of how Orwell's 1984 could become reality, Manufacturing Delusion is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how to stand strong when everyone around them is going crazy."--Amazon

The Indian caliphate : exiled Ottomans and the billionaire prince
Mulla, Imran,
"Abdulmejid II was a talented painter, music enthusiast and Francophile. He was also the last Ottoman Caliph, expelled from Istanbul in March 1924 when Turkey abolished the 1,300-year-old Caliphate. From his villa on the French Riviera, Abdulmejid launched a plan to resurrect the institution and transform world history. Indian politician Shaukat Ali brokered a marital alliance between the Ottomans and the Nizam of Hyderabad, the world's richest prince, who governed a state the size of Italy in the Indian subcontinent. This saw the union of Islam's two greatest houses, and of the Islamic west and east. It cemented Hyderabad's status as a global Muslim capital, and left Abdulmejid's grandson, the Ottoman prince and the designated Nizam-in-waiting, perfectly placed to claim the Caliphate. But Partition in 1947 and the annexation of Hyderabad the following year spelled the end of this prospect. Exploring the lives, cultures and sensibilities of an amazing cast of players, The Indian Caliphate details this extraordinary history, which for decades has been consigned to near oblivion"-- Dust jacket

Mini Cyprus

How to live a meaningful life : using design thinking to unlock purpose, joy, and flow every day
Burnett, Bill, 1957-
How to Live a Meaningful Life is a nonfiction self-help book by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans that explores approaches to finding meaning and purpose in everyday life. Drawing on design thinking principles developed through Stanford University's Life Design Lab, the authors examine contemporary research on well-being and personal fulfillment. The book presents practical strategies for cultivating qualities such as engagement, coherence, community, and reflection, with the goal of helping readers make intentional choices about how they live and work. Emphasizing small, actionable steps, the authors offer tools intended to support personal growth and life satisfaction

No one's coming : the rogue heroes our government turns to when there's nowhere else to turn
Hazzard, Kevin, 1977-
July 2014. Two American medical volunteers who joined the fight against the deadliest Ebola outbreak in world history have gotten infected. The virus kills in just over a week and they're trapped in a hot zone with the clock ticking. If there's going to be a rescue it has to happen now. The very notion of getting the patients out is a radical and dangerous idea. Bringing them home might cause an outbreak of Ebola here in the US. No one's certain if it can or should be done or if they'll even survive the flight. In fact, the only thing anyone can agree on is that there's just one group of people resourceful enough (or crazy enough) to pull this off. Thousands of miles away and deep in the north Georgia mountains, a phone rings at Phoenix Air. It's the US government calling with another impossible mission. Kevin Hazzard chronicles the ten frantic days that followed that phone call, dropping readers into the center of a first-of-its-kind international rescue. Phoenix Air, an eccentric band of engineers, pilots, and doctors with a reputation for doing things nobody else could, would become a lifeline to the world. --

AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT all-in-one
Ambrosius, Lee,
"In the brand-new second edition of AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT All-in-One For Dummies, consultant and industry expert with more than 30 years of experience using and extending AutoCAD along with being a 20-year veteran of AutoCAD education, Lee Ambrosius, walks you through the fundamentals of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. He explains the most useful features of both AutoCAD and the more budget-friendly AutoCAD LT, showing you how to choose the right tools and workflows for your projects." --

A place both wonderful and strange : the extraordinary untold history of Twin Peaks
Meslow, Scott,
"From its start, when studio executives drafted a plan to recoup costs after what they predicted would be Twin Peaks' inevitable failure, to the 1992 prequel movie that earned scathing reviews at Cannes, to an unexpected and acclaimed return some twenty-five years later, David Lynch and Mark Frost's mesmerizing and game-changing series garnered millions of devoted fans who refused to let it die. In A Place Both Wonderful and Strange, entertainment reporter Scott Meslow takes readers behind the curtain to explore each iteration of Twin Peaks and Lynch and Frost's dedication to finishing what they started. Through fascinatingly detailed reporting and exclusive interviews with the show's cast and creators, the complete history is told for the first time. The influence of Twin Peaks is inescapable. It's hard to imagine prestige television like True Detective, Severance, and so many other shows could exist without Lynch and Frost's visionary brilliance. With David Lynch's passing in 2025, there may never be another return to the quirky, mysterious, and unforgettable town of Twin Peaks, but A Place Both Wonderful and Strange serves as a testament to the unbridled creativity and passion that went into the series' creation and the impact it had on the world."--

Saved to sin no more : how union with Christ empowers a life of holiness
Wetherell, Brad, 1987-
"Saved to Sin No More is a meditation on the doctrine of union with Christ as it relates to sanctification. Working systematically through Romans, the author unpacks both the nature of union with Christ-what it means, how it happens, and so on-and the implications of union for the Christian's ongoing battle against sin. The presenting question is "What are we saved for?" The book answers this question with chapters that look at fighting temptation, growing in godliness, increasing assurance, and cultivating love as the effectual result of our union with Jesus"--

Irreversible damage : the transgender craze seducing our daughters
Shrier, Abigail,
Content advice: The subject matter of this work may be considered insensitive, harmful, or offensive to members of the trans community

Daughter of crows
Lawrence, Mark, 1966-
"The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies -- known as the kindly ones -- against whom even the gods hesitate to stand. Each year a hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three will emerge. The Academy's halls run with blood. The few that survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws. Only the most desperate would sell their child to the Kindnesses. But Rue...she sold herself. And now, a lifetime later, a long and bloody lifetime later, just as she has discovered peace, war has been brought to an old woman's doorstep. That was a mistake." --

A drop of corruption : an Ana and Din mystery
Bennett, Robert Jackson, 1984-
Ana and Din are sent to the opposite fringe of the Empire to solve what appears to be a classic locked-room murder mystery. But no case that Special Investigations sends their most special team to is ever that simple. The moment that eccentric senior investigator Ana is on the scene, she knows that the case is about something no one wants to admit..."

Legacies
Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943-

Mayhem and the mortal
Williams, Shanora,
"One mission. One curse. No escape. Zaira doesn't want a hero. She needs a weapon. To save her sister from a soul-devouring curse, she has to cross The Shallows--a nightmare landscape of ruined magic, shifting paths, and vicious creatures that eat people alive. Her guide? Thane Valkor: sorcerer, assassin, walking red flag. His name clears rooms. His magic kills quietly. And whatever he's really after, it's not salvation. He promises to help. He might even mean it. But Zaira knows better than to trust a liar with a blade and ice in his veins. She just doesn't have a choice." -- Front flap

Jingo
Pratchett, Terry,
It isn't much of an island that rises up one moonless night from the depths of the Circle Sea just a few square miles of silt and some old ruins. Unfortunately, the historically disputed lump of land called Leshp is once again floating directly between Ankh-Morpork and the city of Al-Khali on the coast of Klatch which is spark enough to ignite that glorious international pastime called "war." Pressed into patriotic service, Commander Sam Vimes thinks he should be leading his loyal watchmen, female watchdwarf, and lady werewolf into battle against local malefactors rather than against uncomfortably well-armed strangers in the Klatchian desert. But war is, after all, simply the greatest of all crimes and it's Sir Samuel's sworn duty to seek out criminal masterminds wherever they may be hiding ... and lock them away before they can do any real damage. Even the ones on his own side

Running close to the wind
Rowland, Alexandra,
"Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Arasti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world--and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea. To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haffar. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Arasti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who's got his eyes on Avra's every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom. But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they'll all be as wealthy as kings--and, more important, they'll be legends"--

The Kingdom of Almonds
Kaplan, Ariel,
"In the enchanting conclusion to the Mirror Realm Cycle, the fate of all three realms hangs in the balance as Toba, Naftaly, and their companions must settle the question of Luz once and for all. . . Toba and Naftaly have stepped through the Gate of Luz into the mythic world of Aravoth, home to the Ziz, the bird of legend capable of raising the sea. Aravoth--the fabled third realm--is more dizzying and terrifying than Toba or Naftaly could have imagined. Nor had they expected to find someone already there, waiting for them. After barely escaping the burning city of Zayit, Elena and the old woman have a new problem: Barsilay, heir of Luz, is being held for an exorbitant ransom by the paranoid Queen of P'ri Hadar. As Barsilay sits in his dark, demon-inhabited prison cell, he begins to realize the queen is guarding an ancient secret that might be the key to his release. And the tyrant Tarses continues to close in on P'ri Hadar, wielding an army that spans the Mazik and mortal worlds and newly-powerful visions that reveal his most longed-for future--visions that he and Naftaly seem to share. In this triumphant finale, the mirror realms must find their balance, or risk being lost altogether."--

I hear a new world
Moore, Alan, 1953-
It's 1958 and Dennis Knuckleyard has decided to leave his adventures in the Great When in the past where they belong. For nine years, he's avoided so much as thinking about the magical version of London, until he rediscovers an unpleasant reminder of his last adventure--a key that he'd secretly brought into his own world from the other for safekeeping. But while Dennis may believe he's done with the Great When, it's far from done with him. When Dennis gives the key to a friend, its magical properties reawaken, bringing creatures from the other world into Dennis's and sparking riots in Notting Hill

The winged game
Kim, Sophie,
"Carriwitchet, the violent, rugby-esque game played atop winged beasts, was once Taissa Cho's whole life, and she was once the United Kingdom's most promising player. Until her nemesis, rival player Kion Locke, destroyed her career in a single moment. Expelled from the sport in disgrace, Taissa has spent the last two years dreaming of nothing but revenge and relishing watching Kion's team plummet to the bottom of the league. So when Taissa is offered the chance to redeem herself and her career, she can't refuse - even if the offer is coming from the very man who ruined everything in the first place. It's close to a dream come true . . . except for that pesky clause in her contract that demands she and Kion enter a fake relationship in order to garner some much-needed positive PR for the team. This could not be a worse match. Taissa and Kion only have two things in common: their love of the game, and their undying hatred for each other. Yet as a mysterious illness befalls the winged creatures of the entire league - putting both the beasts' lives and the very sport itself at stake - the athletes find themselves partnering up in other ways, determined to crack the case of the eerie sickness. As their investigation takes them on a whirlwind adventure, Kion and Taissa are prepared for anything . . . Anything, that is, but their fake-for-the-cameras relationship to maybe, just maybe, become something real after all"-- Provided by publisher

Seek the traitor's son
Roth, Veronica,
"Elegy Ahn did not ask for destiny to find her. She is happy with her life as a soldier, defending her small country from the Talusar, a powerful nation who worships a deadly Fever. A fever that blesses half of its victims with mysterious gifts. But then she's summoned to hear a prophecy--her, and the most ruthless of Talusar generals, Rava Vidar. Brought face to face, they learn that one of them will lead their people to victory over the other ... but they don't know which. And at the center of both of their fates: a man. A man that, Elegy is told, she will fall in love with. In just one day, Elegy's old life--her job, her purpose, and her future--is over. She and Rava are destined to collide, with the fate of their nations hanging in the balance. And when they do, only one will be left standing. Elegy intends to make sure it's her"--

Weavingshaw
Al-Wasity, Heba,
"Three years ago, Leena Al-Sayer awoke with a terrible power. Since then, she has hidden herself away from the world. When her beloved brother, Rami, falls fatally ill, Leena is faced with a terrible choice: Let him die or buy the expensive medicine that will save his life by bartering the only valuable thing she has--her secret. The Saint of Silence, a ruthless merchant who trades in confessions and is shrouded in unearthly rumors of cruelty and power, accepts her bargain, for a deadly price. Leena must find the ghost of Percival Avon, the last lord of Weavingshaw--or lose her freedom to the Saint forever. Leena finds the estate and the surrounding moors to be living things--hungry for blood and sacrifice. Fighting against Weavingshaw's might, Leena must also fight her growing pull toward the enigmatic Saint himself. As the house begins to entomb them, Leena has come to see that here in Weavingshaw, the dead are not hushed--and some secrets are better left buried with them."--

The traitor
Ryan, Anthony,
It's been a long journey for Alwyn Scribe. Born a bastard and raised an outlaw, he's now a knight and the most trusted advisor to Lady Evadine Courlain. Together they've won countless battles and helped to bring order to a fractured kingdom. Yet Evadine is not the woman Alwyn once knew. As puritanical fury increasingly replaces her benevolent faith, Alwyn begins to question what her true motives really are. As the kingdom braces itself for one final battle, Alwyn's conscience fights its own war with his heart. Now, more than ever, he must decide whose side he's really on

Crossroads of twilight
Jordan, Robert, 1948-2007,
Mat Cauthon flees the Shadow and the Seanchan Empire with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, while Perrin Aybara seeks to free his captive wife, and Egwere al'Vere seeks to reunite the Aes Sedai

The warrior
Aryan, Stephen, 1977-
"Bound, by duty and responsibility, Kell is King only in name. Trapped in a loveless marriage, he leaves affairs of state to his wife, Sigrid. When his old friend, Willow, turns up asking him to go on a journey to her homeland he can't wait to leave. The Malice, a malevolent poison that alters everything it infects, runs rampant across Willow's homeland. Desperate to find a cure her cousin, Ravvi, is willing to try a dark ritual which could damn her people forever. Journeying to a distant land, Kell and his companions must stop Ravvi before it's too late. While Kell is away Reverend Mother Britak's plans come to a head. Queen Sigrid must find a way to protect her family and her nation, but against such a ruthless opponent, something has to give..."--

The last smile in Sunder City
Arnold, Luke,
"I'm Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are three things you should know before you hire me: 1. Sobriety costs extra. 2. My services are confidential. 3. I don't work for humans. It's nothing personal - I'm human myself. But after what happened, it's not the humans who need my help. I just want one real case. One chance to do something good. Because it's my fault the magic is never coming back. The Last Smile in Sunder City is the debut novel from actor Luke Arnold - known for his lead role in Black Sails. This contemporary fantasy introduces Fetch Phillips - a character destined to be loved by readers of Ben Aaronovitch, Jim Butcher and Terry Pratchett's Discworld"--FantasticFiction.com

No excuses detox : quick-and-easy, budget-friendly, family-approved recipes to help you eat healthy every day
Gilmore, Megan, 1983-

Katie Chin's global family cookbook : internationally-inspired recipes your friends and family will love!
Chin, Katie,

The taste of country cooking
Lewis, Edna,
"This is a reissue of a Southern food cookbook by well-known cook, Edna Lewis with a new foreword by Toni Tipton-Martin"-- Provided by publisher

Saka Saka : adventures in African cooking, south of the Sahara
Cocagne, Anto,
"Chef Anto, a rising chef from Gabon, showcases African cuisines through 80 recipes from Gabon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, and Ethiopia. Woven through are interviews with artists of African heritage who talk about what these foods mean to them. In addition to vibrant photography, Chef Anto shares a wealth of tips for the home cook"--

Healthy slow cooker revolution : one test kitchen. 40 slow cookers. 200 fresh recipes.

Clean eating kitchen : the low-carb Mediterranean cookbook : quick and easy high-protein, low-sugar, healthy-fat recipes for lifelong health
Dudash, Michelle,
The Mediterranean diet holds the top rank for being easy to follow and delivering proven results for improved heart health and blood sugar management, decreased risk of cancer and increased longevity. Clean Eating Kitchen: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Cookbook delivers the benefits of the Mediterranean diet with fewer carbs, satisfying a mostly plant and seafood-based regimen that is higher in protein and good fats. With low-carb and low-sugar recipes packed with protein, you and your family can stay healthy by following one of the best eating lifestyles in the world. Enjoy simple, wholesome meals that leave everyone around the table happy and satisfied with the Clean Eating Kitchen: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

Plantifully simple : 100 plant-based recipes and meal plans for health and weight loss
Nelson, Kiki,
"Whether you want to prevent diabetes and stroke, sleep better, heal PCOS, resolve any number of health concerns associated with weight, are trying to shed those last ten pounds, or you are simply in a maintenance stage, Plantifully Simple is for you. Kiki Nelson, who lost seventy pounds on a plant-based diet and eliminated her risk for diabetes and stroke, shares the recipes, meal plans, plate-building, and mindset she adopted to reclaim her health-and keep off the weight. Here, she offers 100 all-new recipes that are as delicious as they are satisfying: they depend on luscious fruits and vegetables as well as comforting and satisfying carbs so you will never be bored or hungry-or feel restricted. Kiki knows that to lose weight you need a plan, and here she offers two foolproof plans. Both can deliver results, and offer freedom and peace of mind when it comes to making food choices"--

A kitchen witch's guide to recipes for love & romance : loving you, attracting love, rekindling the flames
Hunt, Dawn Aurora,
"A Kitchen Witch's Guide to Recipes for Love and Romance includes all the recipes you need to find-and maintain-love, using ingredients that have energetic properties and associations with love, sex, and romance. Combining the principles of Pagan beliefs and practices with easy recipes and personal anecdotes, this beautifully illustrated book will inspire you to cook up a little magic with positive intentions, simple spell craft, and visualization techniques. Now you can easily amp up the spiritual nutrition for attracting more love into your homes, lives, and meals"--

Delicious Disney : Disneyland Resort : recipes & stories from the happiest place on Earth
Brandon, Pam,
A holistic look at the California resort's culinary past, present, and future--all organically woven around diverse recipes from the Disney Chefs and fit for home chefs of varying skill levels. Some of the best vacation moments happen during a great meal, and this collection of official Disneyland recipes and stories from across the decades presents a holistic look at the culinary past, present, and future of Walt Disney's first theme park! Bite-sized, behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Marcy Carriker Smothers and the Staff of the Walt Disney Archives weave around sixty diverse recipes from the Disney Chefs, making it fit for both Disney park fans and home chefs of varying skill levels. For more than twenty-five years, Pam Brandon has worked closely with the Disney Chefs to thoughtfully take the best dishes from Disney theme parks and resorts and serve up official recipes that are just right for prepping on a smaller scale in home kitchens. This cookbook-meets-culinary-history coffee table book enchants with mouth-watering food photos, gorgeous Walt Disney Imagineering concept artwork, nostalgic restaurant menus, and a little Disney magic The book includes an assortment of appetizers, main courses, sides, desserts, and joyful libations, coming from fine-dining and quick-service establishments across the resort. Each has been tested by home chefs to help you bring your cherished vacation memories to life...and inspire new ones for years to come

Italian moms : something old, something new: 150 family recipes
Costantini, Elisa, 1938-

One bake, two ways : fifty bakes with an all-plant option every time
Bhogal, Ruby,
Great British Bake Off finalist Ruby Bhogal is here to delight us with a flexible approach to baking tasty, sweet treats that give you double helpings of temptation. She brings us 50 like-for-like recipes, with a plant-based and non- plant-based version for each bake

The best veggie burgers on the planet : 101 globally inspired vegan creations packed with fresh flavors and exciting new tastes
Newman, Joni-Marie

Old time Hawkey's recipes from the cedar swamp
Old Time Hawkey,
"Well hello, buddy. In videos that have captured the hearts of millions online, Old Time Hawkey, aka Fritz and his dogs Donnybrook and Kris Draper, is always there to offer a hot apple cider or an ice cream sundae on a tough day, to help you drift off to sleep with a story or a retro video game. Fritz's first cookbook, Old Time Hawkey's Recipes from the Cedar Swamp, features over 100 cozy recipes divided into three categories--indoor, campfire, and companions--with comforting recipes like Pumpkin Pancakes, Dutch Oven Nachos, and Honey Cinnamon Cold Brew. Everyone has a "cedar swamp." It could be a childhood home, an old journal, or something as simple as a scent or an old song. This book brings you on an adventure through Fritz's--with simple recipes inspired by three generations of campfires, deer camps, and family gatherings spent in Northern Michigan." --

Budmo! : recipes from a Ukrainian kitchen
Voloshyna, Anna,
"Celebrate the rich culture of Ukrainian cuisine with these traditional Eastern European recipes infused with a fresh, contemporary approach for today's home kitchen, from one of today's most exciting young chefs of Ukrainian cuisine. With its emphasis on fresh ingredients, time-honored heritage, and warm hospitality, Eastern European cuisine is having a culinary moment, in addition to Ukraine being of great current interest. Meaning "cheers!" in Ukrainian, Budmo! is the first cookbook to celebrate classic Eastern European recipes with a modern, creative twist. Presented by Ukrainian-born, California-based chef, blogger, and culinary instructor Anna Voloshyna, bright flavors and vibrant ingredients sing from each plate. A gorgeous magenta pkhali comes alive with roasted beets and a tangy pomegranate molasses. Borscht is reinvented with green sorrels and semi-soft eggs. And Voloshyna even shares a personal recipe for her Ukrainian grandmother's duck--roasted to a delicious crispy-brown perfection. These are the dishes that are perfect for gathering your favorite people with, and each one is bound to uncover the mouthwatering flavors and traditions of this endlessly fascinating part of the world."--provided by publisher

Eat happy : gluten free, grain free, low carb recipes for a joyful life
Vocino, Anna, 1973-
Eat Happy has 154 delicious grain-free, gluten-free recipes that are also free of any processed sugars. If you are low carb, paleo, are wanting to keep autoimmune issues at bay, or just want to lose extra weight, Eat Happy gives you comfort food where you won't miss the sugars or grains so your body and brain can feel happy from eating real foods

The greatest sentence ever written
Isaacson, Walter,
"To celebrate America's 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a ... deep dive into the creation of one of history's most powerful sentences: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, this line lays the foundationfor the American Dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation. Isaacson unpacks its genius, word by word, illuminating thethen-radical concepts behind it"--

Veil. Vol. 1, Temperature of orange
Kotteri,
Like a classic film, he and she encountered each other by chance. He was an on-duty police officer in the city. She was a runaway heiress. When he learned that she is looking for work, he decided to welcome her as the police station's telephone operator... This was the beginning of the everyday lives of he and she, and the delicate distance between them. Enjoy witty dialogue and bold illustrations, in this in full-color manga collection by Kotteri!

Revolutionary girl Utena. The student council saga. 1
Utena's sense of chivalry pits her against the student council members of Ohtori Academy, fighting a series of dangerous duels with its members

Revolutionary girl Utena. The student council saga. 1
Utena's sense of chivalry pits her against the student council members of Ohtori Academy, fighting a series of dangerous duels with its members

Becoming
Obama, Michelle, 1964-

Simply tomato : 100 recipes for enjoying your favorite ingredient all year long
Holmberg, Martha,
"Americans eat more tomatoes than any vegetable except for the potato. But what do we do with all those tomatoes? Acclaimed chef, cooking teacher, and author Martha Holmberg shares 75 recipes to turn the tomato into glorious dishes. Whether it's a fresh-off-the-vine tomato or a just-picked-from-the-supermarket-shelf tomato, Holmberg has ideas to make the best of our favorite summer fruit. There are three versions of gazpacho, five ways to top roasted tomato puff pastry, plus Tomato and Zucchini Gratin, Classic Panzanella, Tomato Risotto, and Stuffed Tomatoes with Spiced Beef Piccadillo. With more tomato varieties in existence than ever before, Holmberg explains which tomatoes work best with which recipes: choose a beefsteak to roast with fish or pick cherry tomatoes to toss with corn in a quick summer salad. Holmberg also reveals her secret, umami-packed ingredient-tomato water. She calls it a "magical elixir" that can add intense tomato flavor to most anything you make"--

Lollapalooza : the uncensored story of alternative rock's wildest festival
Bienstock, Richard,
"The definitive, no-holds-barred oral history of 1990s alt-rock festival Lollapalooza--told by the musicians, roadies, and industry insiders who lived it. From the New York Times bestselling authors of Nothin' But A Good Time. In Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival, New York Times bestselling authors Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour tell the no-holds-barred history of the iconic music festival. Through hundreds of new interviews with artists, tour founders, festival organizers, promoters, publicists, sideshow freaks, stage crews, record label execs, reporters, roadies and more, Lollapalooza chronicles the tour's pioneering 1991-1997 run, and, in the process, alternative rock's rise--as well as the reverberations that led to a massive shift in the music industry and the culture at large. Lollapalooza features original interviews with some of the biggest names in music, including Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Ice-T, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, Patti Smith, Alice in Chains, Metallica and many more. Conceived by Farrell as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction, Lollapalooza's inaugural outing across the U.S. in the summer of 1991 helped to coalesce an ideology and aesthetic that not only washed over popular music but seeped into fashion, film, television, literature, food, politics and more. Throughout the decade, Lollapalooza offered a vast and diverse ensemble of bands, breaking barriers of genre and uniting alternative rock, heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, industrial, goth, avant-garde, spoken word, electronic dance music and other styles under one big tent, and setting the template for the modern American music festival and the scores of other contemporary destination fests that are now an integral part of how audiences experience live music. Unorthodox not just in music, Lollapalooza also spotlighted visual arts, nonprofit organizations, political outfits and even the occasional freak show, offering a tantalizing cocktail of culture, art, and activism that, taken together, defined the alternative mindset that dominated the 1990s. Echoes of its impact reverberate strongly today - cemented by annual sell-outs at destination events all over the world, an estimation of 400,000 attendees at the flagship Chicago fest each summer, and a spot among the world's largest and longest-running music festivals. A nostalgic look back at 1990s music and culture, Lollapalooza traces the festival's groundbreaking origins, following the tour as it progresses through the decade, and documenting the action onstage, backstage, and behind-the-scenes in detailed and uncensored and sometimes shocking first-person accounts. This is the story of Lollapalooza and the 1990s alternative rock revolution"--

The killer next door
Marwood, Alex
"A taut new psychological thriller from the Edgar Award-nominated author of The Wicked Girls Alex Marwood's debut novel, The Wicked Girls, earned her lavish praise from the likes of Stephen King, Laura Lippman, and Erin Kelly, and was shortlisted for an Edgar Award. Now Marwood's back with a brilliant, tightly paced thriller that will keep you up at night and make you ask yourself: just how well do you know your neighbors? Everyone who lives at 23 Beulah Grove has a secret. If they didn't, they wouldn't be renting rooms in a dodgy old building for cash-no credit check, no lease. It's the kind of place you end up when you you've run out of other options. The six residents mostly keep to themselves, but one unbearably hot summer night, a terrible accident pushes them into an uneasy alliance. What they don't know is that one of them is a killer. He's already chosen his next victim, and he'll do anything to protect his secret"--

How to win friends and influence fungi : collected quirks of science, tech, engineering, and math from nerd nite
"In the vein of acclaimed popular-science bestsellers such as Atlas Obscura, Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry, The Way Things Work, What If?, and Undeniable, the co-founders of the global science organization Nerd Nite bring readers a collection of wacky, yet fascinating STEM topics. For 20 years, Nerd Nite has delivered to live audiences around the world, the most interesting, fun, and informative presentations about science, history, the arts, pop culture, you name it. There hasn't been a rabbit hole that their army of presenters hasn't been afraid to explore. Finally, after countless requests to bring Nerd Nite to more fans across the globe, co-founders and college pals Matt Wasowski and Chris Balakrishnan are bringing readers the quirky and accessible science content that they crave in book form, focused on STEM and paired with detailed illustrations that make the content pop. The resulting range of topics is quirky and vast, from kinky, spring-loaded spiders to the Webb telescope's influence on movie special effects. Hilariously named after Dale Carnegie's iconic book, How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi features narratives, bursts, and infographics on all things STEM from scientists around the world. Chapters are sure to make you laugh-out-loud, with titles such as "The Science of the Hangover," "What Birds Can Teach Us About the Impending Zombie Apocalypse," and "Lessons from the Oregon Trail." With fascinating details, facts, and illustrations, combined with Chris and Matt's incredible connections to organizations such as the Discovery Network and the Smithsonian Institution, How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi is sure to reach joyful STEM enthusiasts of all ages around the world. About Nerd Nite: Started in 2003, Nerd Nite is a monthly event held in 100+ cities worldwide during which folks give 20-minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along!"--

Replaceable you : adventures in human anatomy
Roach, Mary,
"The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what's available--sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we're attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet? In Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body's failings. When and how does a person decide they'd be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? Can an intestine provide a workable substitute for a vagina? Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit. Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a "superclean" xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell "hair nursery" in the San Diego tech hub. She talks with researchers and surgeons, amputees and ostomates, printers of kidneys and designers of wearable organs. She spends time in a working iron lung from the 1950s, stays up all night with recovery techs as they disassemble and reassemble a tissue donor, and travels across Mongolia with the cataract surgeons of Orbis International. Irrepressible and accessible, Replaceable You immerses readers in the wondrous, improbable, and surreal quest to build a new you."--Book jacket

Amity
Harris, Nathan,
In 1866 New Orleans, formerly enslaved siblings Coleman and June are separated, only to embark on perilous, individual journeys through the Mexican desert to reunite and seize the freedom they were promised

Annihilation
VanderMeer, Jeff
Area X has claimed the lives of members of eleven expeditions. The twelfth expedition consisting of four women hopes to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself

The handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret, 1939-
"Margaret Atwood's best-loved novel has taken the world by storm again. Riding high on bestseller lists for months and the basis for Hulu's Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning smash hit series, The Handmaid's Tale is everywhere--and it's primed for a stunning new graphic novel adaptation. The story is iconic: In the Republic of Gilead, a Handmaid named Offred lives in the home of the Commander, to the purpose that she become pregnant with his child. Stripped of her most basic freedoms, (work, property, her own name), Offred remembers a different time, not so long ago, when she was valuable for more than her viable ovaries, when she was mother to a daughter she could keep, and when she and her husband lived and loved as equals. Darkly prescient, scathingly sarcastic, and eminently frightening, The Handmaid's Tale has only gained relevance since it was originally published, and remains one of the most powerful, widely read stories of our times. This illustrated edition is a must-have for Atwood's growing legions of fans"--

The 500 hidden secrets of Chicago

Milk without honey
Harms, Hanna, 1994-
"Bees are vital to securing our food supply. We could live in a paradise where insects, especially bees pollinate fragrant seas of flowers whose fruits we harvest. Instead, vast lawns are now replacing flower gardens, and agriculture is characterized by monocultures. Pesticides and climate change are also causing insect mortality, with dramatic consequences for the global ecosystem. As we destroy the insect populations, honey is just one of many foods that will no longer be available to us, unless we learn to honor our innate connection with nature before it's too late."--

Barely functional adult : it'll all make sense eventually
Ng, Meichi,
"...a hilarious and poignant [autobiographical] collection of beautifully illustrated short stories that perfectly captures the best and worst of adult life and the joy, terror, fun, and pain that comes with learning to navigate its complexities and conundrums"--Back cover

Heart the lover
King, Lily,
""You knew I'd write a book about you someday." Our narrator understands good love stories--their secrets and subtext, their highs and their free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules. In the fall of her senior year of college, she meets two star students from her 17th-Century Lit class: Sam and Yash. Best friends living off campus in the elegant house of a professor on sabbatical, the boys invite her into their intoxicating world of academic fervor, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. They nickname her Jordan, and she quickly discovers the pleasures of friendship, love and her own intellectual ambition. Youthful passion is unpredictable though, and she soon finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, choices made will alter these three lives forever. Decades later, Jordan is living the life she dreamed of, and the vulnerable days of her youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news brings the past crashing into the present, she returns to a world she left behind and is forced to confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self. Written with the superb wit and emotional sensitivity fans and critics of Lily King have come to adore, Heart the Lover is a deeply moving story that celebrates love, friendship, and the transformative nature of forgiveness. Wise, unforgettable, and with a delightful connective thread to Writers & Lovers, this is King at her very best, affirming her as a masterful chronicler of the human experience and one of the finest novelists at work today"-- Provided by publisher

Try not to breathe
Bell, David, 1969 November 17-
"An ex-cop sets out to find her missing sister and discovers the horrifying truth about her family... A traumatic experience in the line of duty forces thirty-year-old Avery Rogers to abandon both her relationship and her position as a Kentucky State Police officer. She retreats to a college town where she works an unfulfilling job as a security guard, breaking up fights between drunken frat boys. But a frantic phone call turns Avery's life upside down. Her father-a retired cop who never fails to convey his disappointment in Avery-says her half sister is missing and in danger. Avery is sure Anna's just crashing with friends, but her father strong-arms her into searching for the sister she barely knows. Anna Rogers is fed up with her family-a half sister who resents her existence and a domineering father who thinks it's okay for cops to shoot unarmed civilians. She hits the road to attend a protest against police brutality, unaware of the danger that awaits her there. Just after catching a glimpse of Avery at the protest, Anna receives a shocking text. Now she's no longer road-tripping; she's running, pursued by an older sister she doesn't trust and a violent stranger who has been stalking her for weeks. When Avery discovers Anna's hiding place near a remote cave system, she risks everything to save her. Little do the sisters know that the past is catching up with them-including the explosive secret at the very heart of the Rogers family"--

How Simi got her groom back
Dev, Sonali,
The Naik sisters escaped their traumatic past in Mumbai to come to the States, but their journeys have been vastly different. Simi is working toward a bright future as a pediatric nurse in a small town in Kentucky when Rupi shows up at her door in distress, on the run, and as always, dragging trouble in her wake. With Rupi's safety in jeopardy, the sisters hatch a desperate plan to keep her in the country: Rupi must get married and fast even if it means Simi recruiting the man she's been secretly dating as her sister's groom. A perfect plan? Not quite. But there aren't many alternatives. As the big day inches closer, Simi and Rupi face a storm of wedding shenanigans and romantic surprises, not to mention sisterly jealousies. As the stakes and tensions rise, will their secrets tear them apart or will they find a way to risk everything for love? --from Amazon

A walk in the park : the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin,
"From the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the epic adventure tale The Emerald Mile comes the most dramatic and deeply moving account ever of walking the Grand Canyon, a highly dangerous, life-changing 750-mile trek. The Grand Canyon is an American treasure, visited by more than 6 million people a year, many of whom are rendered speechless by its vast beauty, mystery, and complexity. Now, in A Walk in the Park, author Kevin Fedarko chronicles his year-long effort to find a 750-mile path along the length of the Grand Canyon, through a vertical wilderness suspended between the caprock along the rims of the abyss and the Colorado River, which flows along its bottom. Consisting of countless cliffs and steep drops, plus immense stretches with almost no access to water, and the fact that not a single trail links its eastern doorway to its western terminus, this jewel of national parks is so challenging that when Fedarko departed fewer people had completed the journey in one single hike than had walked on the moon. The intensity of the effort required him to break his trip into several legs, each of which held staggering dangers and unexpected discoveries. Accompanying Fedarko through this sublime yet perilous terrain is the award-winning photographer Peter McBride, who captures the stunning landscape in breathtaking photos. Together, they encounter long-lost Native American ruins, the remains of Old West prospectors' camps, present day tribal activists, and signs that commercial tourism is impinging on the park's remote wildness. An epic adventure, action-packed survival tale, and a deep spiritual journey, A Walk in the Park gives us an unprecedented glimpse of the crown jewel of America's National Parks: an iconic landscape framed by ancient rock whose contours are recognized by all, but whose secrets and treasures are known to almost no one, and whose topography encompasses some of the harshest, least explored, most awe-inspiring terrain in the world"--

A pair of aces
Benedict, Marie,
"A gripping novel about two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law--a prosecutor and a madam--who team up to bring down notorious gangster Lucky Luciano, from the New York Times bestselling authors of the million-copy bestseller The Personal Librarian. Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney for the City of New York and Manhattan's first Black female prosecutor, has her sights set on the one and only Lucky Luciano, head of New York City's five largest organized crime families. Other prosecutors have tried to bring down Lucky, but they've all focused on the crime syndicate's traditional businesses-bootlegging, gambling, loan sharking, and drug dealing-or tax evasion. No one has thought to approach the mob through its hand in prostitution. Until Eunice. But she can't get Luciano alone. Polly Adler has worked long and hard to build up her high-class brothel business. Her client list is filled with well-known names, both the famous and the infamous, who all know her booze is top-notch, her music first-rate, her food exquisite, and her girls the best. But Lucky has gone too far, putting her girls in danger, and Polly finally sees the chance to end his reign once and for all. Together, Eunice and Polly fashion a case utilizing a network of women. Bridging the enormous divide between them and risking their own lives, they assemble evidence bit by bit, under the nose of the man they're trying to convict. It is this very alliance-of two women from vastly different worlds-that launches the most sensational trial New York City has ever seen"-- Provided by publisher

Laundry love : finding joy in a common chore
Richardson, Patric,
"Patric Richardson, aka the "Laundry Evangelist," reveals his revolutionary methods for cleaning clothes-and making laundry loads more fun. Doing laundry is rarely anyone's favorite task. But to Patric Richardson, laundry isn't just fun-it's a way of life. After years of running Laundry Camp at the Mall of America for thousands of eager learners, he's ready to share his tips, tricks, and hacks-bringing surprise and delight to this commonly dreaded chore. Sorting your laundry? It's not all about whites and darks. Pondering the wash cycles? Every load, even your delicates, should be washed using express or quick-wash on warm. Facing expensive dry cleaning bills? You'll learn how to wash everything-yes everything-at home. And those basically clean but smelly clothes? Richardson has a secret for freshening those too (hint: it involves vodka, not soap). Changing your relationship with laundry can also change your life. Richardson's handy advice shows us how to save time and money (and the planet!) with our laundry-and he intersperses it all with a healthy dose of humor, real-life laundry stories, and lessons from his Appalachian upbringing and career in fashion. Laundry Love will make you wonder why you ever stressed about ironing, dry cleaning, or (god forbid) red wine spills on your new couch. No matter the issue, Richardson is here to help you make laundry miracles happen-wrinkles and stains be damned"--

We begin at the end
Whitaker, Chris,
"Thirty years ago, a teenage Vincent King was sent to prison. But now, he's served his sentence and is returning to his hometown. The hometown where his childhood best friend, Walk, is now the chief of police. The town where his childhood sweetheart, Star Radley, still lives. The same Star Radley whose sister he killed. Duchess, Star's daughter, is a self-proclaimed outlaw. She needs to be. Who else is going to take care of her and her five-year-old brother? Star is still dazzling, still beautiful, but she hasn't shined as bright since Vincent was sent away. Too often it's Duchess and Walk who are the ones taking care of her. But when Duchess exacts her own vigilante revenge, she will set into motion a series of events that threatens not only her own family, but everyone she grows close to. A crime thriller that will break your heart and a literary novel with a mystery at its core, We Begin at the End unforgettably examines how the choices we make can nudge us into the dangerous ground between good and evil"--

A cyclist's guide to crime & croissants
Claire, Ann,
"Nine months ago, Sadie Greene shocked friends and family by ditching her sensible office job in the Chicago suburbs and buying a sight-unseen French bicycling tour company, Oui Cycle. Now she's living the unconventional life of her dreams in the gorgeous village of Sans-Souci-sur-Mer. Sans souci means carefree, but Sadie feels enough pressure to burst a tire when hometown friends arrive for a tour, including her former boss, Dom Appleton. Sadie is determined to show them the wonders of France and cycling--and to prove she made the right move. She hopes her meticulously planned nine-day itinerary will win them over, with its stunning seascapes, delicious wine tastings, hilltop villages, and, of course, frequent stops for croissants. When Dom drags his heels on fun, Sadie vows he'll enjoy if it kills her. That is, until Dom ends up dead. The tragedy was no accident. Someone went out of their way to bring a permanent end to Dom's vacation. As more crimes--and murder--roll in, suspicions hover over Oui Cycle. To save her dream business, help her friends, and bring justice, Sadie launches her own investigation. However, mysteries mount with every turn. On an uphill battle for clues, can Sadie come to terms with her painful past while spinning closer to the truth--or will a twisted killer put the brakes on her for good?"--Amazon

Killers of a certain age
Raybourn, Deanna,
"Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that's their secret weapon. They've spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can't just retire - it's kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills. When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death. Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman-and a killer-of a certain age"--

If I ruled the world
Barnett, Amy DuBois,
"A fast-paced, juicy debut novel that peeks behind the curtain at the cutthroat world of hip-hop music and the glamorous magazine scene in the late 1990s, written by the ultimate insider. It's 1999, and Nikki Rose is the only Black editor on the staff of a prestigious fashion magazine she once thought would be her ticket to becoming a respected editor-in-chief. But after being told one too many times by her boss that "Black girls don't sell magazines," she walks away to take over Sugar, a struggling hip-hop music and lifestyle magazine with untapped potential. Thrown into an entirely new world of wealth, decadence, and debauchery, Nikki has just six months to save Sugar-and her own dreams. As she pulls all-nighters at the office and parties with the era's most influential bad boys, Nikki must prove she has what it takes to lead. Along the way, Nikki leans on a circle of loyal friends, and navigates unexpected romances that force her to reckon with what-and who-she truly wants. But her most dangerous challenge is evading Alonzo Griffin, her very married, very powerful ex-boyfriend and former boss, who's determined to destroy both her and Sugar. If I Ruled the World is a smart, utterly immersive romp through one of the most dynamic eras in pop culture history-a story of ambition, friendship, love, and the journey to finding your own voice."-- Provided by publisher

Poverty, by America
Desmond, Matthew,
"The Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a new and bracing argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it. The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow. Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom"--

Mr. & Mrs. Witch
Bond, Gwenda,
"In Mr. & Mrs. Witch, the new novel from bestselling author Gwenda Bond, a couple discovers at the altar the surprising secret identities they've kept from each other. Savannah Wilde is a witch, a powerful one, and a member of C.R.O.N.E, an organization for hire that deals with supernatural threats using their magic. Following a whirlwind romance that surprised her friends and family, Savvy is all set to marry the love of her life when she notices her bridal party and her mom are freaking out minutes before the wedding. Griffin Carter is an agent for H.U.N.T.E.R., a clandestine organization that, well, used to primarily hunt witches, but now mainly tries to shut down supernatural threats their own way. He can't wait to lay his eyes on the woman he's about to spend the rest of his life with. As he's getting ready, Griffin overhears his father and friends discussing something in distressed whispers. What he finds out concerns him, but not enough to deal with before the ceremony. As Savvy walks down the aisle to Griffin, the wedding quickly goes from blessed day to shit show when their true identities are revealed. To say there's bad blood between their organizations is putting it mildly. Savvy and Griffin are tasked to take the other out. Unable to go through with their orders, they-and their friends -find themselves on the run. But when the two of them discover a secret about both of their organizations, Savvy and Griffin realize the only way to survive is to team up-and, even with assassins hot on their trail, they just might make it out alive and try again at 'I do'"--

The reef
Roberts, Nora
Underwater diver Matthew Lassiter and Tate Beaumont, a student of marine archeology, search shipwrecks for a 16th century necklace. Together they brave danger--the necklace was cursed by its owner, a witch burned at the stake--and danger leads to love

The Route 66 cookbook : the best recipes from every stop along the way
Ly, Linda, 1980-
"The Route 66 Cookbook shares recipes for the must-try breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts from restaurants all along the Mother Road."-- Provided by publisher

Hemlock Island
Armstrong, Kelley,
"Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it's the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who've fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out...and failed. When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who's now a cop. There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it... But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they're trapped with someone-or something-that doesn't want them leaving the island alive" --

A light in the dark : surviving more than Ted Bundy
Rubin, Kathy Kleiner,
"In January 1978, I slept in my bed at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University as Ted Bundy stalked nearby. He grabbed an oak log from a stack of firewood, slipped through a back door with a broken padlock, and headed upstairs.He began twisting doorknobs. Room 9 was open, and he quietly and quickly killed one of my sleeping sorority sisters. Across the hall, he found another unlocked door and murdered again. Then, he turned the knob to my bedroom and found it was open. I remember the attack vividly. Bundy bashed me once in the head with the log and then attacked my roommate. He heard me moaning and came to finish me off. He never let his victims live. But he stopped suddenly when a bright light filled the room. He fled the sorority house and the light disappeared. Bundy wasn't my first brush with death, and he wasn't my last. I've long been a survivor."--Back cover

Fried green tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe
Flagg, Fannie

Laundry love : finding joy in a common chore
Richardson, Patric,
"Patric Richardson, aka the "Laundry Evangelist," reveals his revolutionary methods for cleaning clothes-and making laundry loads more fun. Doing laundry is rarely anyone's favorite task. But to Patric Richardson, laundry isn't just fun-it's a way of life. After years of running Laundry Camp at the Mall of America for thousands of eager learners, he's ready to share his tips, tricks, and hacks-bringing surprise and delight to this commonly dreaded chore. Sorting your laundry? It's not all about whites and darks. Pondering the wash cycles? Every load, even your delicates, should be washed using express or quick-wash on warm. Facing expensive dry cleaning bills? You'll learn how to wash everything-yes everything-at home. And those basically clean but smelly clothes? Richardson has a secret for freshening those too (hint: it involves vodka, not soap). Changing your relationship with laundry can also change your life. Richardson's handy advice shows us how to save time and money (and the planet!) with our laundry-and he intersperses it all with a healthy dose of humor, real-life laundry stories, and lessons from his Appalachian upbringing and career in fashion. Laundry Love will make you wonder why you ever stressed about ironing, dry cleaning, or (god forbid) red wine spills on your new couch. No matter the issue, Richardson is here to help you make laundry miracles happen-wrinkles and stains be damned"--

The nightmare before kissmas
Raasch, Sara
Nicholas "Coal" Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR facade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make-out session with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar one night. But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: he will marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter princess and his brother's not-so-secret crush. A situation that has diaster written all over it. Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess's hand ... and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the prince of Halloween. It's a fake competition between two holiday princes who can't keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience that no one wants. And it all leads to one of the sweetest, sexiest, messiest, most delightfully unfortgettable love stories of the year

Chinese heritage cooking from my American kitchen : discover authentic flavors with vibrant, modern recipes
Chung, Shirley (Chef),
From growing up in Beijing to attending culinary school in California, to making her name in the restaurant world and on Top Chef, today Shirley Chung is dishing out new and dazzlingly delicious takes on Chinese cuisine. These recipes are fresh and inspired, yet approachable for home cooks. Here are a few you won't want to miss: Sweet-and-Sour Baby Back Ribs, Five-Spice Seared Duck Breast with Kumquat Mustard, Scallion Pancakes with Hazelnut Pesto, Seared Scallops with Spicy Black Bean Sauce, Spinach Egg Drop Soup and Beijing-Style Hot Pot. These recipes use simple ingredients and techniques, but have the standout flavor and texture you expect from top-notch restaurants--no wok required! Plus you'll find fascinating history and chef's tips tucked away in the headnotes and instructions that will make you a better cook. Shirley brings the same lively energy to her book that made her a fan-favorite on Top Chef. She'll make you excited to cook, and her recipes--each with a gorgeous photograph--will have you drooling over the pages. With Shirley in your kitchen, every meal becomes a fun and delicious celebration. --from Amazon

Simple Thai cookery : step by step to everyone's favourite Thai recipes
Hom, Ken

The true true story of Raja the Gullible (and his mother)
Alameddine, Rabih,
In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and "the neighborhood homosexual," Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son's desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja's work life and love life, boundaries be damned. When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn't be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.--

Abyss
Binge, Nicholas,
"A FanFiAddict Most Anticipated Title! Severance meets Lovecraft in this surreal tale of corporate horror and existential dread. Joe always had potential, but he doesn't expect much, and he hopes that his new job as an admin assistant won't expect much of him. But when he enters the offices of Ponos-a company he's never heard of and knows nothing about-he discovers that potential is exactly what they want from him. A feverish dive into the inhumanity of both late-stage capitalism and the crippling anxieties of modern life, Abyss adds a new level of meaning to 'wage slave'"-- Provided by publisher

The mountains we call home : the Book Woman's legacy
Richardson, Kim Michele,
"In this standalone and companion novel to the The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series, our heroine for the ages, legendary book woman, Cussy Lovett, returns home. A powerful testament of strength, survival, and the magic of the printed word, The Mountains We Call Home is wrapped into a vivid portrait of Kentucky life: examining incarceration and criminalization, exploring the effects on the poor and powerless, and tracing the societal consequences of fractured family bonds, along with nostalgic glimpses of a bustling, multifaceted Louisville, and heartwarming portraits of reading efforts in every facet of life. Meticulously researched and richly detailed with a new cast of absorbing and complex characters, this beautifully rendered, authentic Kentucky tale is gritty and heartbreaking and infused with hope, spirit, and courage known only to those with no way out"--

How to cheat your own death
Perrin, Kristen,
"1968: Frances Adams is loving her new London life, and she's stepped into a world of glamour thanks to her new friend, Vera Huntington--a magnetic socialite as mysterious as she is provocative. Vera dances around London like she owns it, taking Frances with her. Present day: When Annie Adams heads to London to visit her famous artist mother, Laura, the last thing she expects to find is a dead body. Least of all for it to be Laura's new protégée, left in an alley with her heart surgically removed from her chest. Annie is no stranger to murder--after all, she's solved a few already. And something about this case feels familiar. She's read about one just like it in the journals of her late great aunt Frances, whose friend Vera was killed in the 1960s in the exact same way. As Annie investigates, threats pile up on Laura's doorstep, and it soon becomes clear that she's next. With her mother's life on the line, can Annie find the killer before it's too late?"--

The unseen world
Moore, Liz, 1983-
"The moving story of a daughter's quest to discover the truth about her beloved father's hidden past. The moving story of a daughter's quest to discover the truth about her beloved father's hidden past Ada Sibelius is raised by David, her brilliant, eccentric, socially inept single father, who directs a computer science lab in 1980s-era Boston. Home-schooled, Ada accompanies David to work every day; by twelve, she is a painfully shy prodigy. The lab begins to gain acclaim at the same time that David's mysterious history comes into question. When his mind begins to falter, leaving Ada virtually an orphan, she is taken in by one of David's colleagues. Soon after she embarks on a mission to uncover her father's secrets: a process that carries her from childhood to adulthood. What Ada discovers on her journey into a virtual universe will keep the reader riveted until The Unseen World's heart-stopping, fascinating conclusion"--Provided by publisher

Saint Catherine
Meyer, Anna,
In her 20-something years of existence, Catherine never skipped mass once. As a recovering Irish American Catholic, she has mostly traded the world of communion and confessionals for the "city-girl" struggle of work-life balance, family, and her relationships. The only thing she has not been able to shake is her fear that something bad will happen if she misses Sunday mass. But her fears become a reality when she skips mass for the first time and discovers she is now being possessed by a demon claiming to be the prince of hell. As she takes matters into her own hands and attempts to exorcise these demons (both the paranormal and emotional kind), Catherine must face her buried guilt and what it truly means to be good

The making and breaking of the American constitution : a thousand-year history
Peterson, Mark A., 1960-
"A provocative new history of America's constitution and an urgent call to action for a nation confronted by challenges its founders could never have imagined. The American Revolution occurred at a time when Britain's constitutional order failed to adapt to the extraordinary growth of its colonies. The framers designed an American constitution to succeed where Britain's had faltered, planning for continuous population and territorial expansion that would eventually cross the continent. Yet by the end of the nineteenth century, it was already ill-suited for an increasingly urban, industrialized society, and the transformations of the twentieth century have pushed it to a breaking point. This book charts the history and aims of the American constitution from its origins in an agrarian past to the grave crisis we face today. Mark Peterson traces the American constitutional tradition to the control of land in medieval England, showing how the founders incorporated the aspirations of Magna Carta with the administrative principles of the Domesday Book, a meticulous survey and valuation of landed property commissioned by William the Conqueror. This framework encouraged the growth of democratic self-government in a young nation. It also institutionalized the colonization of territory and the expulsion of Indigenous peoples, establishing a legal blueprint for transforming tribal lands into revenue-yielding real estate for settlers. Peterson's riveting narrative paints an arresting picture of a dynamic republic whose frame of government has changed enormously to meet the challenges of the modern age but whose written constitution has changed very little. Marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution reveals how this widening disconnect threatens the very existence of our democracy. It calls for a constitution that sustains the ideals developed over the past thousand years while meeting the challenges of the future."--

The American Revolution : an intimate history
Ward, Geoffrey C.,
From the award-winning historian and filmmakers of The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The Roosevelts, and others: a richly illustrated, human-centered history of America's founding struggle-expanding on the landmark, six-part PBS series to be aired in November 2025. "From a small spark kindled in America, a flame has arisen not to be extinguished." -Thomas Paine. In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic coast rose in rebellion, won their independence, and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired independence movements and democratic reforms around the globe. The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. In this sumptuous volume, historian Geoffrey C. Ward ably steers us through the international forces at play, telling the story not from the top down but from the bottom up-and through the eyes of not only our "Founding Fathers" but also those of ordinary soldiers, as well as underrepresented populations such as women, African Americans, Native Americans, and American Loyalists, asking who exactly was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Enriched by guest essays from lauded historians such as Vincent Brown, Maya Jasanoff, and Alan Taylor, and by an astonishing array of prints, drawings, paintings, texts, and pamphlets from the time period, as well as newly commissioned art and maps-and woven together with the words of Thomas Paine- The American Revolution reveals a nation still grappling with the questions that fueled its remarkable founding

American struggle : democracy, dissent, and the pursuit of a more perfect union : an anthology
Meacham, Jon,
This "collection covers a wide spectrum of history, from 1619 to the twenty-first century, with primary-source documents that take us back to critical moments in which Americans fought over the meaning and the direction of the national experiment. From the founders to Lincoln to Obama, from Andrew Jackson to Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, from Seneca Falls to the March on Washington, this chorus ... tells the story of the country and of its people. As clashes over liberty and slavery, inclusion and exclusion, play out, these voices, ... framed by Meacham's singular commentary, remind us that contentious citizenship and fair-minded observations are essential to bringing about the more perfect union envisioned in the Preamble to the Constitution, which Frederick Douglass called a 'glorious liberty document'"--

Last branch standing : a potentially surprising, occasionally witty journey inside today's Supreme Court
Isgur, Sarah, 1982-
"A myth-busting glimpse into the inner workings of the Supreme Court in the "Roberts era," revealing what we get wrong about the nine justices (and what they eat for lunch) and the right way to fix a Court in crisis-from the popular ABC news pundit and witty co-host of the top legal podcast in the US"-- Provided by publisher

Declaring independence : why 1776 matters
Larson, Edward J. (Edward John),
On the 250th anniversary of American independence, with the history of our founding a political battleground, this study of the ideas and battlefield sacrifices of 1776 by a Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar could not be more timely

The unfinished business of 1776 : why the American Revolution never ended
Richards, Thomas, Jr., 1983-
A clarion call for taking back the American Revolution from the far right, published for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Who gets to claim the legacy of the American Revolution and the mantle of patriotism that goes along with it? In a sharp, irreverent, deeply informed account of the nation's founding moment and its enduring legacies, historian Thomas Richards Jr. invites us to see the Revolution not just as a one-time fight for political freedom from Britain but as an ongoing struggle for equality, justice, and social and political independence for all Americans

This land is your land : a road trip through U.S. history
Gage, Beverly,
"Ride along with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Beverly Gage as she travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops where Americans learn--and fight--about our history. From the birth of the nation in Philadelphia to Disneyland and the California dream, This Land Is Your Land offers a guided tour of thirteen places and thirteen key moments that define America's greatest successes and challenges"--

Boston, 1776 : a rogue tour of Revolution City
Dickey, Jeff,
"Relive the chaos, courage, and color of the American Revolution's capital city while meeting those who led the fight in the nation's War of Independence."--Amazon

The westerners : mythmaking and belonging on the American frontier
Nelson, Megan Kate, 1972-
"The Westerners tells two richly detailed and interwoven stories. The first reveals the captivating lives of women and men moving through the American West -- Indigenous peoples, Black Americans, Mexican Americans, and Canadian and Asian immigrants -- in the 19th century. The second tracks the attempts of many Americans to erase these westerners from history, through a frontier myth that lionized individualism and conquest and celebrated white settlers traveling west in search of prosperity. Nelson's vivid, eye-opening account centers on seven extraordinary individuals whose lives capture the true history of the frontier: Sacajawea, not just Lewis and Clark's guide but an explorer who forged her own path; Jim Beckwourth, a biracial fur trader whose sharp cultural insight made him indispensable; María Gertrudis Barceló, a Hispana gambling saloon owner who broke every stereotype to become the wealthiest woman in Santa Fe; Ovando Hollister, a gold miner, soldier, and newspaper man who championed Western expansion; Little Wolf, a Northern Cheyenne chief whose courageous leadership secured his people's future; Canadian immigrant Ella Watson, who strove to become a ranch woman in a male-dominated world; and the defiant Polly Bemis, a Chinese immigrant who carved out a life in Idaho despite federal expulsion efforts." --

Freedom lost, freedom won : a personal history of America
Robinson, Eugene, 1954-
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eugene Robinson traces his family's 200-year journey from slavery through civil rights, examining cycles of progress and setbacks in America's racial history

This vast enterprise : a new history of Lewis & Clark
Fehrman, Craig,
"In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their yearslong journey -- having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mountains, forests, and ravines -- they bring an incredible tale starring themselves as courageous explorers, skilled survivalists, underrated scientists, and peaceful ambassadors. While there is truth in those descriptions, there is also distortion. From one of the most exciting new historians to emerge in the past decade, This Vast Enterprise offers a bold and novel take on the expedition: a gripping narrative that draws on lost documents, stunning analysis, and Native perspectives. Craig Fehrman spent five years visiting more than thirty archives, interviewing more than a hundred sources, and collecting oral history passed down over centuries. He came to see that the success of Lewis and Clark depended on much more than just Lewis and Clark. We all know Sacajawea, and some of us know York, the Black man Clark enslaved. But This Vast Enterprise introduces us to John Ordway, a working-class soldier who fought fearsome grizzlies and towed the captains' hulking barge. It introduces us to Wolf Calf, a Blackfoot teenager who watched his friend die in a tense battle with Lewis and his men. To capture this cast of characters, each chapter in This Vast Enterprise moves to a different person's point of view, describing their desires and contradictions with an unprecedented level of care. One chapter shows Thomas Jefferson operating in an age of bitter partisan unrest -- his secret political maneuvers to fund the expedition, revealed here for the first time, are a case study in presidential power. Another chapter shows the strategy and strength of Black Buffalo, completely upending our understanding of Lakota-American diplomacy. York, in his chapters, finds ways to wield power and make choices in an era that didn't allow him much of either. Clark is not a folksy Kentuckian but a student of the Enlightenment. (Fehrman discovered his college notebook; no previous biographer even realized that he went to college.) Lewis is someone willing to sacrifice everything for his country, his mission, and his mentor, Jefferson; in Fehrman's subtle yet heartbreaking analysis, Lewis's legendary strengths are inseparable from his lifelong weaknesses. In the end, the captains are men who needed help -- from Sacajawea, from the Corps, and from each other. Mile after mile, the expedition pushes on through dramatic hailstorms and flash floods, life-threatening frostbite and infections, rattlesnakes and rabid wolves, with the Spanish cavalry in fierce pursuit. Fehrman balances the story's inherent adventure with the humanity of its protagonists." --

The greatest sentence ever written
Isaacson, Walter,
"To celebrate America's 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a ... deep dive into the creation of one of history's most powerful sentences: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, this line lays the foundationfor the American Dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation. Isaacson unpacks its genius, word by word, illuminating thethen-radical concepts behind it"--

Angelica : for love and country in a time of revolution
Beer, Molly,
Through the extraordinary life of Angelica Schuyler Church, a politically astute and socially influential figure, this story reveals how women shaped early American history through diplomacy, personal networks and a strategic presence in key revolutionary moments

We the people : a history of the U.S. Constitution
Lepore, Jill, 1966-
From the best-selling author of "These Truths" comes "We the People," a stunning new history of the U.S. Constitution, for a troubling new era

The ride : Paul Revere and the night that saved America
Kennedy, Kostya,
"Timed for the 250th anniversary of one of America's most famous founding events: Paul Revere's legendary ride, newly told with fresh research into little-known aspects of the myth that every American learns in school On April 18, 1775, a Boston-based silversmith, engraver, and anti-British political operative named Paul Revere set out on a borrowed horse to fulfill a dangerous but crucial mission: to alert American colonists of advancing British troops, which would seek to crush their nascent revolt. Revere was not the only rider that night, and indeed, he had completed at least 18 previous rides throughout New England, disseminating intelligence about British movements. But this ride was like no other, and its consequences in the months and years to come-as the American Revolution morphed from isolated skirmishes to a full-fledged war-became one of our founding legends. In The Ride, Kostya Kennedy presents a dramatic new narrative of the events of April 18 and 19, 1775, informed by fresh primary and secondary source research into archives, family letters and diaries, contemporary accounts, and more. Kennedy reveals Revere's ride to be more complex than it is usually portrayed-a coordinated series of rides by numerous men, near-disaster, capture by British forces, and finally success. While Revere was central to the ride and its plotting, Kennedy reveals the other men (and, perhaps, a woman with information about the movement of British forces) who helped to set in motion the events that would lead to America's independence. Thrillingly written in a dramatic, unstoppable narrative, The Ride re-tells an essential American story for a new generation of readers"--

1776
McCullough, David G
Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known. But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost -- Washington, who had never before led an army in battle

We the women : the hidden heroes who shaped America
O'Donnell, Norah,
"Over a decades-long, distinguished career ... journalist Norah O'Donnell has made it her mission to shed light on untold women's stories. Now, in honor of America's 250th birthday, O'Donnell focuses that passion on the American heroines who helped change the course of history. ... Through extensive research and interviews, as well as historical documents and old photos, O'Donnell curates a ... portrait of these fierce fighters for freedom. From Mary Katherine Goddard, who printed the first signed Declaration of Independence, to the Forten family women, who were active in the abolition and suffrage movements and were considered the 'Black Founders' of Philadelphia, to the first women who served in the armed forces even before they had the right to vote, O'Donnell brings these extraordinary women together for the first time, and in doing so writes the American story anew"--

The promise of a nation : commemorating 250 years of patriotism, resilience, and aspirations from the national collection
"Celebrate 250 years of American history-and witness the nation's decade-by-decade evolution-in this gorgeously illustrated volume featuring 700 Smithsonian objects"-- Provided by publisher
Upcoming Programs
Jul
12
Sun
noon–2 p.m.
Jul
12
Sun
12:15–1:45 p.m.
Jul
12
Sun
1–2:30 p.m.
Jul
12
Sun
3–4 p.m.
Jul
12
Sun
3–4:30 p.m.
Jul
13
Mon
9:30–10 a.m.
Jul
13
Mon
10–11:30 a.m.
Jul
13
Mon