Henry James

 

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) meeting will be on Tuesday, June 25th at 6:30pm in the library’s Conference Room.  This will be one of our biannual Reader Choice meetings, meaning there is no assigned topic, we are sharing what we’ve been enjoying reading, watching, and listening to lately.  I hope to see you there! https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/8810336

Last night, BAB met to discuss the work of Henry James.

The Beast in the Jungle

Almost universally considered one of James' finest short narratives, this story treats appropriately universal themes: loneliness, fate, love and death. The parable of John Marcher and his peculiar destiny has spoken to many readers who have speculated on the worth and meaning of human life.

What Maisie Knew

After her parents’ bitter divorce, young Maisie Farange finds herself shuttled between her selfish mother and vain father, who value her only as a means for provoking each other. Maisie—solitary, observant, and wise beyond her years—is drawn into an increasingly entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual betrayal until she is finally compelled to choose her own future. Published in 1897 as Henry James was experimenting with narrative technique and fascinated by the idea of the child’s-eye view, What Maisie Knew is a subtle yet devastating portrayal of an innocent adrift in a corrupt society.

The Turn of the Screw

The novella follows a governess who, caring for two children at a remote estate, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted. The Turn of the Screw is considered a work of both Gothic and horror fiction.

Washington Square

Washington Square is the story of Catherine Sloper, a young heiress who is wooed by Morris Townsend, a handsome gentleman who is more interested in Catherine's inheritance than he is in her. When the two get engaged against the wishes of her stubborn father Catherine must make a choice between the only man she will ever love and the wealth that she will inherit. Named for the upscale area of New York in which the novel is set, Washington Square is a classic examination of social class in mid-19th century New York.

The Aspern Papers

One of James' best-known and most acclaimed longer tales, The Aspern Papers is based on the letters Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Mary Shelley's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, who saved them until she died. In The Aspern Papers, a critic is determined to get his hands on a great poet’s papers hidden in a faded Venetian house—no matter what the human cost.

Wings of the Dove

Emerging from the grit and stigma of poverty to a life of fairytale privilege under the wing of her aunt, the beautiful and financially ambitious Kate Croy is already romantically involved with promising journalist Merton Densher when they become acquainted with Milly Theale, a New York socialite of immense wealth. Learning of Milly's mortal illness and passionate attraction to Densher, Kate sets the scene for a romantic betrayal intended to secure her lasting financial security. As the dying Milly retreats within the carnival splendour of a Venetian palazzo, becoming the frail hub of a predatory circle of fortune-seekers, James unfolds a resonant, brooding tale of doomed passion, betrayal, human resilience, and remorse.

The Wings of the Dovd (film, 1997)

Kate (Helena Bonham Carter) is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher (Linus Roache). But she knows her Aunt Maude (Charlotte Rampling) will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict (Michael Gambon). When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie (Alison Elliott) traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

The Innocents (film, 1961)

Based on the Henry James story "The Turn of the Screw," a psychological thriller about a woman who takes a governess job for two orphans in a Victorian home. She begins to see what she believes are ghosts and suspects the children's bizarre behavior is the result of supernatural powers.

The Others (film, 2001)

Grace (Nicole Kidman), the devoutly religious mother of Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), moves her family to the English coast during World War II. She awaits word on her missing husband while protecting her children from a rare photosensitivity disease that causes the sun to harm them. Anne claims she sees ghosts, Grace initially thinks the new servants are playing tricks but chilling events and visions make her believe something supernatural has occurred.

The Haunting of Bly Manor (series, 2020)

A young governess arrives at Bly Manor and begins to see apparitions haunting the estate.

The Fall of the House of Usher (series, 2023) Netflix has not released to DVD yet.

Siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built a pharmaceutical company into an empire of wealth, privilege and power; however, secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton's masterwork captures the opulence and deceit of a bygone era. It follows Newland Archer, a young lawyer engaged to marry virginal socialite May Welland in 1870s New York, when he meets her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, a lady unrestrained by convention and surrounded by scandal. Archer must choose between happiness and the social code that has governed his life as all three are dragged into a love triangle packed with sensuality, cunning, and betrayal. 

The Shining by Stephen King

Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

One postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country physician, is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. Its owners—mother, son, and daughter—are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

The Black Swan by Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann's bold and disturbing novella, written in 1952, is the feminine counterpart of his masterpiece Death in Venice. Written from the point of view of a woman in what we might now call mid-life crisis, The Black Swan evinces Mann's mastery of psychological analysis and his compelling interest in the intersection of the physical and the spiritual in human behavior. It is startlingly relevant to current discussions of the politics of the body, male inscriptions of the feminine, and discourse about and of women. The new introduction places this dramatic novella in the context of contemporary feminist and literary concerns, bringing it to the attention of a new generation of readers.

Youtube channel: Tristan and the Classics
https://www.youtube.com/@tristanandtheclassics6538/community

 

 

Alabama ties

 

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) group meeting will be Tuesday, May 21st at 6:30pm in the library’s Conference Room.  Take note that this a week earlier than the normal meeting time in an attempt to avoid abutting the Memorial Day weekend.  

This year, May is our annual author study and we will be chatting about Henry James! Listen to/read/watch anything about/by Henry James and come tell us about it!

BAB met this week to chat about books with an Alabama setting and the titles truly ran the gamut! (Book descriptions pulled from Amazon)

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and the puritanical administration of Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny. But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes. On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her.

Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café. It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

The Elementals by Michael McDowell

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait. Something that has terrified Dauphin Savage and Luker McCray since they were boys and which still haunts their nightmares. Something horrific that may be responsible for several terrible and unexplained deaths years earlier - and is now ready to kill again ...

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die. Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

Glass Cabin by Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel (not available in the Jeff Co. library system)

Glass Cabin chronicles the thirteen years Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel spent building their home out of secondhand tin, tornado-snapped power poles, and church glass on Hydrangea Ridge. Their alternating voices support one another like parts of their cabin-every board needs its nail, every window needs its frame. These poems explore the work it takes to measure cuts for stairs, to haul one ton of water up the mountain, and to write. It is also a meditation on hope, on frustration, and their place in the wilder parts of the world.

Big Fish by Daniel Wallace

In his prime, Edward Bloom was an extraordinary man. He could outrun anybody. He never missed a day of school. He saved lives and tamed giants. Animals loved him, people loved him, women loved him. He knew more jokes than any man alive. At least that’s what he told his son, William. But now Edward Bloom is dying, and William wants desperately to know the truth about his elusive father—this indefatigable teller of tall tales—before it’s too late. So, using the few facts he knows, William re-creates Edward’s life in a series of legends and myths, through which he begins to understand his father’s great feats, and his great failings. The result is hilarious and wrenching, tender and outrageous.

Big Fish (film)

When Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) becomes ill, his son, William (Billy Crudup), travels to be with him. William has a strained relationship with Edward because his father has always told exaggerated stories about his life, and William thinks he's never really told the truth. Even on his deathbed, Edward recounts fantastical anecdotes. When William, who is a journalist, starts to investigate his father's tales, he begins to understand the man and his penchant for storytelling. (Rottentomatoes.com)

Treeborne by Caleb Johnson

Janie Treeborne lives on an orchard at the edge of Elberta, Alabama, and in time, she has become its keeper. A place where conquistadors once walked, and where the peaches they left behind now grow, Elberta has seen fierce battles, violent storms, and frantic change―and when the town is once again threatened from without, Janie realizes it won’t withstand much more. So she tells the story of its people. Treeborne is a celebration and a reminder: of how the past gets mixed up in thoughts of the future; of how home is a story as much as a place.

The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis

From the best-selling author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, a searing multi-generational novel—set in the 1980s in racially and politically turbulent Philadelphia and in the tiny town of Bonaparte, Alabama—about a mother fighting for her sanity and survival.  

The Amulet by Michael McDowell

When a rifle range accident leaves Dean Howell disfigured and in a vegetative state, his wife Sarah finds her dreary life in Pine Cone, Alabama made even worse. After long and tedious days on the assembly line, she returns home to care for her corpselike husband while enduring her loathsome and hateful mother-in-law, Jo. Jo blames the entire town for her son’s mishap, and when she gives a strange piece of jewelry to the man she believes most responsible, a series of gruesome deaths is set in motion. Sarah believes the amulet has something to do with the rising body count, but no one will believe her. As the inexplicable murders continue, Sarah and her friend Becca Blair have no choice but to track down the amulet themselves, before it’s too late . . .

Alabama Empire by Welbourn Kelley

Originally published in the 1950s, Alabama Empire is a fabulously rich and exciting novel of early America--and of John Fyfe, a bold young Scottish renegade whose adventures sweep him from New York's infamous debtors' prison to Alabama's exotic Creek Empire; from Dorcas Lord, the minister's daughter turned harlot, to the arms of Amalie, the passionate Scotch-French-Indian princess; from duty as General Washington's physician to the danger and excitement of being the trusted counselor of the brilliant half-breed Creek emperor, Alexander McGillivray...

The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg

In the spring of 2001, a community of people in the Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama had come to the edge of all they had ever known. Across the South, padlocks and logging chains bound the doors of silent mills, and it seemed a miracle to blue-collar people in Jacksonville that their mill still bit, shook, and roared. The century-old hardwood floors still trembled under whirling steel, and people worked on, in a mist of white air. The mill had become almost a living thing, rewarding the hardworking and careful with the best payday they ever had, but punishing the careless and clumsy, taking a finger, a hand, more.

Open Season by Linda Howard

Daisy Minor is bored. Worse than that, she's boring. A small-town librarian, she's got a wardrobe as sexy as a dictionary and hasn't been on a date in years. She's never even had a lukewarm love affair, let alone a hot one. So when she wakes up on her thirty-fourth birthday, still living with her widowed mom and spinster aunt, she decides it's time to get a life. One makeover later, she's letting her hair down, dancing the night away at clubs, and laughing and flirting with men for the first time in, well, ever. But on her way home late one night, Daisy sees something she's not supposed to see. Suddenly the target of a killer, she's forced to put her manhunt on hold. But the very moment she stops looking might be the moment she finds what she's wanted all along. Trouble is, before he can share her life, he might just have to save it.

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allison

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.... A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys--except for Claire's rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before. When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire's quiet life is turned upside down. 

Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia

Coretta Scott King Award–winning, Newbery Honor, and New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime. Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning One Crazy Summer and P.S.Be Eleven will be enjoyed by fans of the first two books, as well as by readers meeting these memorable sisters for the first time.

Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell (June 1, 1950 – December 27, 1999) was an American novelist and screenwriter described by author Stephen King as "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today". His best-known work is the screenplay for the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice. While arguably best known for his works of Southern Gothic horror, McDowell was an accomplished stylist who wrote several series with marked differences in tone, character, and subject matter. His period novels are praised for their intricate eye for historical research and accurate details and range from Gilded Age New York City to wiregrass Alabama in the depths of the Great Depression(Wikipedia).

Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese

When Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, he has mixed emotions. Raised by the old man he was entrusted to soon after his birth, Frank is haunted by the brief and troubling moments he has shared with his father, Eldon. When he finally travels by horseback to town, he finds Eldon on the edge of death, decimated from years of drinking. The two undertake a difficult journey into the mountainous backcountry, in search of a place for Eldon to die and be buried in the warrior way. As they travel, Eldon tells his son the story of his own life—from an impoverished childhood to combat in the Korean War and his shell-shocked return.

This Isn’t Going to End Well: The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew by Daniel Wallace

If we’re lucky, we all encounter at least one person whose life elevates and inspires our own. For Daniel Wallace, that was his longtime friend and brother-in-law, William Nealy. Seemingly perfect, impossibly cool, William was James Dean, Clint Eastwood, and MacGyver all rolled into one: an acclaimed outdoorsman, a famous cartoonist, an accomplished author, a master of all he undertook. William was the ideal that Daniel sought to emulate, and the person who gave him the courage to become a writer. But when William took his own life at age forty eight, Daniel’s heartbreak led him to commit a grievous act of his own, a betrayal that took him down a path into the tortured recesses of William’s past.

The Love Song of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

The NAACP Image Award-winning poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic—an intimate yet sweeping novel with luminescence and force—that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era. 

LA Times Book Prizes

 

Last week, the Los Angeles Times announced the winners of the 44th annual Book Prizes in a ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The Times’ Book Prizes recognize outstanding literary achievements and celebrate the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers.

Winners were announced in 13 categories for works published last year, including the new prize for achievement in audiobook production, presented by Audible. Additionally, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley was honored with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement and Access Books received the Innovator’s Award for its work renovating school libraries and ensuring that underserved students and communities have access to quality literacy resources. A complete list of this year’s Book Prizes winners follows.

2023 Book Prizes Winners

Achievement in Audiobook Production (presented by Audible): Dion Graham and Elishia Merricks, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): AMemoir,” Macmillan Audio (UNAVAILABLE IN AUDIO IN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM)

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: Shannon Sanders, “Company: Stories,” Graywolf Press

Biography: Gregg Hecimovich, “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative,” Ecco/HarperCollins

Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose: Claire Dederer, “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma,” Knopf

Current Interest: Roxanna Asgarian, “We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America,” Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Fiction: Ed Park, “Same Bed Different Dreams: A Novel,” Random House

Graphic Novel/Comics: Emily Carroll, “A Guest in the House,” First Second

History: Joya Chatterji, “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century,” Yale University Press (UNAVAILABLE IN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM)

Mystery/Thriller: Ivy Pochoda, “Sing Her Down: A Novel,” MCD

Poetry: Airea D. Matthews, “Bread and Circus: Poems,” Scribner
(UNAVAILABLE IN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM)

Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction: Tananarive Due, “The Reformatory: A Novel,” Saga Press

Science & Technology: Eugenia Cheng, “Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths,” Basic Books

Young Adult Literature: Amber McBride, “Gone Wolf,” Feiwel & Friends

For more information about the Book Prizes, including the complete list of 2023 finalists and past winners; eligibility and judging information, go to latimes.com/BookPrizes.

The Book Prizes ceremony is a prologue to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the nation’s largest literary festival, which will bring together more than 550 writers, experts and storytellers, hundreds of exhibitors and an estimated 155,000 attendees. The 29th annual Festival of Books is presented in association with USC. Festival news and updates are available on the event website and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles (#bookfest).

Medical Bag

 

Upcoming programs:

Friday, April 5th 6pm-8pm ages 21+ only: Space Prom, more info here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/9881603

Saturday, April 13th 9am-noon: Crafterday, more info here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/10365557

Tuesday, April 30th 6:30-7:30pm Books & Beyond: Novels Set in Alabama, more info here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/8810334

For reading suggestions of novels set in Alabama, scroll down to the Books & Beyond row on our Shelf Care page: https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations

 

Last night, Books & Beyond met to discuss medicine, health, etc.  Here’s a recap of our discussion! (book descriptions from Amazon, film descriptions from Rotten Tomatoes)

The Asylum Confession Files series by Jack Steen

My name is Jack Steen, and for those who arrive on my 'death' ward at the Asylum, I'm the last face many will see before they die. I am the night nurse at an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and most of my patients know me as their Angel of Death. I know them as mass murderers, rapists, and serial killers - among other things. Here's what happens: they come on my floor, they give me their deathbed confession, and I help to make their death less painful. There's a catch, though: I want the real story, the one they haven't told anyone else. The majority of these killers are expert manipulators. They could be playing their final game with me by messing with my head. Now, maybe they're messing with yours too.

The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber

Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals. Time and again he was fired or allowed to resign. But Cullen continued to work and kill, shielded by a hospital system that, by accident or design, successfully protected the institution while failing to protect patients. The Good Nurse is a searing indictment of a crushing and dehumanizing for-profit medical system, and an inspiring human story of the previously unknown individuals who chose to risk their jobs and lives to do the right thing. Mesmerizing and irresistibly paced, this book will make you look at hospitals and the people who work in them in an entirely different way.

The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura

Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood. Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine, her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male medical establishment. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to receive an M.D. She was soon joined in her iconic achievement by her younger sister, Emily, who was actually the more brilliant physician. Exploring the sisters’ allies, enemies, and enduring partnership, Janice P. Nimura presents a story of trial and triumph.

The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and laced with Mukherjee’s own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece on what it means to be human.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of―or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists―who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts. Like all of Roach’s books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.

The Prince of Medicine: Galen in the Roman Empire by Susan P. Mattern

Galen of Pergamum (A.D. 129 - ca. 216) began his remarkable career tending to wounded gladiators in provincial Asia Minor. Later in life he achieved great distinction as one of a small circle of court physicians to the family of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, at the very heart of Roman society. Susan Mattern's The Prince of Medicine offers the first authoritative biography in English of this brilliant, audacious, and profoundly influential figure.

A History of Present Illness by Anna Deforest

This “brutal and brave” (Booklist) novel transmutes the practice of medicine into a larger exploration of humanity, the meaning of care, and the nature of annihilation—physical, spiritual, or both.

Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell

Every day, we wake up hungry. Every day, we break our fast. Hunger explores the range of this primal experience. Sharman Apt Russell, the highly acclaimed author of Anatomy of a Rose and An Obsession with Butterflies, here takes us on a tour of hunger, from eighteen hours without food to thirty-six hours to seven days and beyond. What Russell finds-both in our bodies and in cultures around the world-is extraordinary.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

From the New York Times bestselling author comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor

A powerful journey from star athlete to sudden paralysis to creative awakening, award-winning science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor shows that what we think are our limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths.

Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine by Ira Rutkow

A landmark chronicle of Civil War medicine, Bleeding Blue and Gray is a major contribution to our understanding of America’s bloodiest conflict. Indeed, eminent surgeon and medical historian Ira M. Rutkow argues that it is impossible to grasp the harsh realities of the Civil War without an awareness of the state of American medicine at the time.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter

So many important questions, so much convincing, confusing, contradictory misinformation! In this age of click bait, pseudoscience, and celebrity-endorsed products, it’s easy to be overwhelmed—whether it’s websites, advice from well-meaning friends, uneducated partners, and even healthcare providers. So how do you separate facts from fiction? OB-GYN Jen Gunter, an expert on women’s health—and the internet’s most popular go-to doc—comes to the rescue with a book that debunks the myths and educates and empowers women. From reproductive health to the impact of antibiotics and probiotics, and the latest trends, including vaginal steaming, vaginal marijuana products, and jade eggs, Gunter takes us on a factual, fun-filled journey.

Murder by Lamplight by Patrice McDonough

For fans of Andrea Penrose and Deanna Raybourn, and anyone who relishes riveting, well-researched historical fiction, this inventive and enthralling debut mystery set in Victorian London pairs the unconventional, trailblazing Dr. Julia Lewis with a traditional and skeptical police inspector, as they try to stop a wily serial killer whose vengeance has turned personal.

Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence.

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

“Mukherjee expresses abstract intellectual ideas through emotional stories…[and] swaddles his medical rigor with rhapsodic tenderness, surprising vulnerability, and occasional flashes of pure poetry” (The Washington Post). Throughout, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—reminds us of the questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world. In riveting and dramatic prose, he describes the centuries of research and experimentation—from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Mendel and Darwin, from Boveri and Morgan to Crick, Watson and Franklin, all the way through the revolutionary twenty-first century innovators who mapped the human genome.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

For two thousand years, cadavers – some willingly, some unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender confirmation surgery, cadavers have helped make history in their quiet way. “Delightful―though never disrespectful” (Les Simpson, Time Out New York), Stiff investigates the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What should we do after we die?

The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Tim Winegard

A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate.

Some of Tess Gerritsen’s early books:

Harvest

For Dr. Abby DiMatteo, the long road to Boston’s Bayside Hospital has been anything but easy. Now, immersed in the grinding fatigue of her second year as a surgical resident, she’s elated when the hospital’s elite cardiac transplant team taps her as a potential recruit. But Abby soon makes an anguished, crucial decision that jeopardizes her entire career. A car crash victim’s healthy heart is ready to be harvested; it is immediately cross-matched to a wealthy private patient, Nina Voss. Abby hatches a bold plan to make sure that the transplant goes instead to a dying seventeen-year-old boy who is also a perfect match. The repercussions are powerful and swift and Abby is shaken but unrepentant—until she meets the frail, tormented Nina. Then a new heart for Nina Voss suddenly appears, her transplant is completed, and Abby makes a terrible discovery: Nina’s heart has not come through the proper channels.

Life Support

When an elderly patient with a critical, viral infection of the brain mysteriously vanishes from the emergency room, ER resident Toby Harper finds her job and home life coming under intense scrutiny, while her search for the missing patient uncovers a frightening epidemic and a nightmarish conspiracy.

Bloodstream

Gerritsen again weaves frighteningly realistic medical detail into heart-stopping suspense, as a small-town doctor races to unravel the roots of a violent epidemic -- before it destroys everything she loves.

Gravity

A NASA doctor conducts a deadly race against time to destroy a lethal microbe as it multiplies in the International Space Station.

Terminal Choice (film) (Not available in JCLC, view on Youtube here)

A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, show
ing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate.

Lorenzo’s Oil (film)

True-life drama of a father and mother who battled against the odds to save their son's life. Augusto and Michaela Odone are dealt a cruel blow by fate: five-year-old Lorenzo is diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease, but the Odones' persistence and faith leads to the cure which saves their boy and re-writes medical history.

Andromeda Strain (film)

Chilling tale about a US research satellite carrying a deadly extraterrestrial microscopic organism that crashes into a small town in Arizona. A group of top scientists are hurriedly assembled in a bid to identify and contain the lethal stowaway. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton.

The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter

In the quaint religious town of Seagate, abstaining from food brings one closer to God.  But Beatrice Bolano is hungry. She craves the forbidden: butter, flambé, marzipan. As Seagate takes increasingly extreme measures to regulate every calorie its citizens consume, Beatrice must make a choice: give up her secret passion for cooking or leave the only community she has known. Elsewhere, Reiko Rimando has left her modest roots for a college tech scholarship in the big city. A flawless student, she is set up for success...until her school pulls her funding, leaving her to face either a mountain of debt or a humiliating return home. But Reiko is done being at the mercy of the system. She forges a third path—outside of the law. With the guidance of a mysterious cookbook written by a kitchen maid centuries ago, Beatrice and Reiko each grasp for a life of freedom—something more easily imagined than achieved in a world dominated by catastrophic corporate greed. A startling fable of the entwined perils of capitalism, body politics, and the stigmas women face for appetites of every kind, Chana Porter’s profound new novel explores the reclamation of pleasure as a revolutionary act.

 

Libby Book Awards

 

Libby by Overdrive has announced the winners of the inaugural Libby Book Awards. The titles on this list represent the best books of 2023, as selected by an expert team of OverDrive librarians, and voted on by over 1700 public librarians and library staff. 

Many of the titles on this list are still experiencing surges of popularity and may be checked out, with some still experiencing hold lists!

Best Fiction Book of the Year Winner

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Finalists 

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

(Honorable Mention) Tom Lake by Anne Patchett

 

Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Winner 

The Wager by David Grann

Finalists 

The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen

Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo

Monsters by Claire Dederer

When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey 

 

Best Young Adult Book of the Year Winner

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Finalists 

The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert   

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis    

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

(Honorable Mention) What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez

 

Best Audiobook of the Year Winner

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

Finalists 

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. Read by Adam Lazarre-White

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig. Read by Dion Graham

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron 

 

Best Book Club Book of the Year Winner

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Finalists 

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Maame by Jessica George

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Wellness by Nathan Hill

 

Best Comic/Graphic Novel of the Year Winner

The Talk by Darrin Bell

Finalists 

Batman — One Bad Day: Riddler by Tom King and Mitch Gerads

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed

 

Best Debut Author of the Year Winner

Ana Reyes, author of The House in the Pines

Finalists

Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam

Marisa Crane, author of I Keep My Exoskeletons toMyself

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain Gang AllStars

Selby Wynn Schwartz, author of After Sappho

 

Diverse Author of the Year Winner

Michelle Min Sterling, author of Camp Zero

Finalists 

Annalee Newitz, author of The Terraformers

Chana Porter, author of The Thick and the Lean

Stephen Kearse, author of Liquid Snakes

Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women

 

Best Fantasy Book of the Year Winner 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Finalists 

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

Witch King by Martha Wells

 

Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year Winner 

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Finalists 

Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

Loot by Tania James

North Woods by Daniel Mason

 

Best Mystery Book of the Year Winner

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Finalists 

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

 

Best Romance Book of the Year Winner 

Georgie All Along by Kate Clayborn

Finalists 

Ana Maria and theFox by Liana De la Rosa

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles

(Honorable Mention) We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

 

Best Romantasy Book of the Year Winner

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Finalists 

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

 

Best Science Fiction Book of the Year Winner 

System Collapse by Martha Wells

Finalists 

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Translation State by Ann Leckie

 

Best Thriller Book of the Year Winner 

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Finalists 

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Pet by Catherine Chidgey

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron

 

Best Cookbook of the Year Winner 

Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly

Finalists 

Portico by Leah Koenig

Still We Rise by Erika Council

Tenderheart by Hetty McKinnon

(Honorable Mention) Let’s Eat by Dan Pelosi

 

Best Memoir of the Year Winner 

Pageboy by Elliot Page

Finalists 

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

 

https://company.overdrive.com/2024/03/13/libby-book-award-winners-2023/

Hot Books of Spring

Spring is a time for renewal and growth — and it’s bringing tons of buzzy new titles to add to your reading list! From thought-provoking literary fiction to page-turning historical novels to gripping suspense, here are some titles we’re looking forward to reading this spring.  Many may have already been published and some are forthcoming, so get on the waitlist today!

The Women by Kristin Hannah
Nursing student Frankie’s sheltered life is upended when her brother is sent to Vietnam, and she decides to follow him by joining the Army Nurse Corps. 

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker
In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larson is dropped off at an orphanage in Chicago, with her mother promising to come back. But she never returns, and the young girl is sold to a traveling circus. Now at 94 years old, an unexpected DNA test exposes secrets Cecily has kept hidden for decades, the revelation calls into question everything she thought she knew about her family — and everything her family thought they knew about her.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Every year, reclusive former movie star Lana Farrar invites her celebrity friends to vacation on her private Greek island. But even paradise can’t keep old resentments from bubbling to the surface… and soon, they result in murder. 

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore was an infamous heiress with a vast fortune and plenty of secrets. After her death 10 years ago, she left her entire estate to her adopted son, Cam — but Cam wanted nothing to do with the McTavish fortune or the rest of the family. Now his uncle has died and Cam, along with his wife, Jules, have come back to Ashby House… and this time, Jules intends for her husband to claim his rightful inheritance. 

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang
Two beloved authors return with a historical novel that will whisk you from California’s 1906 earthquake to the halls of Versailles. Singer Gemma and embroideress Suling both find themselves drawn to railroad magnate Henry Thornton, who possesses a famed relic. When Thornton vanishes, the women think the Phoenix Crown lost for good… until it reappears near Paris, five years later.

Random in Death by J. D. Robb
When a 16-year-old girl attends a crowded concert, she winds up dead from a needle’s jab. But who would want to kill a teenager? As Lieutenant Eve Dallas digs into the case, she starts to worry the killer might be set on taking people out with no rhyme or reason.

The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
It’s 1869, and Louella’s hate turns to hope when she marries Reverend William and they build a new life with the formerly enslaved people of the Montgomery Plantation. Building a community based on freedom and dignity for all, William and Louella become the king and queen of a kingdom that promises a better way of life. 

The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes
When CIA agent Kane is sent to the borders between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to extract a vital informant, his mission will bring him face-to-face with one of the deadliest foes he’s ever come across.

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
College senior and resident assistant Millie Cousins is focused on graduating and starting her future. So, when visiting professor Agatha Paul offers her an unorthodox opportunity, she willingly agrees. But as Millie is thrust deeper into the throes of Agatha’s invasive project, she realizes the danger of her involvement with the educator.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
Ricki Wilde, the black sheep of a prominent Atlanta family, seeks a new life away from her socialite sisters. When a fateful opportunity presents itself, Ricki moves to Harlem to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. As she immerses herself in the remnants of the Harlem Renaissance, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger sets her on a path of life-changing experiences.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
When a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 is brought to Fort Marion Prison Castle, he’s forced to learn English and convert to Christianity. His son attends the brutal Carlisle Indian Industrial School. And in 2018, Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield strives to protect her family and her nephew while he tries to connect to his Cheyenne heritage.

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
Cassie Andrews lives a quiet life in New York City, working in a bookshop and chatting with its customers. When one of her favorites, a sweet old man, dies in front of her, she takes possession of the last book he was reading as a memento. Soon, she’s accosted by a man named Drummond Fox who informs her that the strange book is actually The Book of Doors, a magical relic that can turn any door into a magical portal.

One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Arden, a crisis management expert, has just been accused of sleeping with a client. To save her reputation, she stakes her entire career on helping a shattered family work through a drunk driving incident. But could she be protecting a killer in the process?

Familia by Lauren E. Rico
Gabby DiMarco’s unwavering belief in facts is shattered when a genealogy test reveals a sister, Isabella, whose existence defies everything Gabby knows. In San Juan, artist Isabella yearns for the sister she lost long ago. When they hesitantly meet, they embark on a quest for the truth, uncovering a past full of life’s surprises and uncertainties. 

The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck by Kylie Scott
When Lilah saves a witch from being hit by a car in a busy LA intersection, she’s given five predictions as an unexpected thank-you. But the excitement of winning the lottery and the promise of meeting her alleged soulmate are tempered with the news that apparently she only has one week left to live!

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
In 1908 China, the death of a courtesan sets off a chain of events that puts a cunning detective and a determined mother on the path for the truth — and justice. The author pens a story that weaves ancient folklore into a compelling story about second chances and maternal love. 

Wolves of Winter by Dan Jones
In 14th-century Normandy, the Essex Dogs have barely made it through the Battle of Crécy when they are sent to attack the fortress of Calais for King Edward.

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
An Ireland set in the near future is on the brink of unraveling. Eilish Stack is shocked to open her front door to secret police officers who are there to question her trade unionist husband. When he disappears, Eilish is left to navigate the fallout, determined to protect her family in this tyrannical new world… no matter the cost.

The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
In bringing to life the inimitable Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Academy Award against the backdrop of her segregated times, The Queen of Sugar Hill introduces readers to the important, inspiring, heart-wrenching story of the legendary actress whose legacy deserves to be fully understood and celebrated,” says author Marie Benedict.

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez
The construction of the Panama Canal comes alive in this breathtaking novel that alternates perspectives between a local fisherman, a teenage girl, and a scientist hoping to cure malaria.

The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
When famed author Irena Rey goes missing, eight of her translators converge on her house on the edge of a Polish forest. They’re looking for clues about her whereabouts, but the longer they spend together the more secrets they discover about the woman whose work they all admire.

Anita de MonteLaughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
In 1985, rising art star Anita de Monte was found dead in New York City, and in just a few decades, she’s been forgotten. When Raquel — a first-generation student at an Ivy League college — stumbles across Anita’s story, she’s fascinated. As a student of color, Raquel feels like an outsider at her school, and as a woman in a relationship with a well-connected, older student, she feels connected to Anita’s similar story. 

The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
It seems like an answer to all of their financial problems when Rosie and Chad Lowan inherit a luxury apartment in New York City’s historic Windermere building. But the Windermere has a dark history — and when one of their neighbors turns up dead, Rosie sets out to uncover the truth about their new home.

The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul
The drag superstar delivers a poignant memoir about growing up as a queer, Black kid in San Diego, and how his relationships with family and loved ones over the years shaped the person he is today.

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
When Frances Perkins arrives in New York City, filled with ideas of changing the world and solving social injustice, she immediately finds herself at odds with confident young lawyer Franklin Delano Roosevelt. However, over the course of 20 years, their initial antagonism will turn into a rock-solid political partnership.

The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian
Crissy makes a living as a Princess Diana impersonator in Las Vegas, a glamorous one-woman act that masks the more unsavory aspects of her life. But when her boss at the Buckingham Palace Casino is murdered, Crissy finds herself in very real danger.

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes
Following the war, librarian Emmy Clarke is sent by the Library of Congress to Germany to inventory books that were stolen by the Nazis. A handwritten dedication in a book of poetry sends Emmy on a journey that will reveal the horrors of war as well as the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Daphne Bell’s romantic encounters come with a mysterious twist: a slip of paper predicting each relationship’s duration. After years of fleeting connections, she meets Jake, except this time, there’s only a name and not a number.

In a Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati Alexander
After accepting a dream job at a video game company, Sloane somehow promises her employer she’ll stay single to focus on the job. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done — especially after her gorgeous neighbor, Charlie, asks her to pose as his girlfriend for a trip to an island resort.

A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
For Ashok and Priya Shah, moving to an affluent suburb of southern California is all they’ve dreamt of. But their optimism and hope is crushed when their 12-year-old son is the target of police brutality. 

American Daughters by Piper Huguley
Portia Washington, daughter of Booker T. Washington, grows up loyal to her father’s principles and eager to achieve her own mark on the world. Spirited Alice Roosevelt both blooms in and is stifled by the role of First Daughter during her years living in the White House while her father, Theodore Roosevelt, serves as president. Though born from very different backgrounds, the two women develop a lifelong bond that will strengthen and challenge both of them through the years.

While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi
Reeling from the mysterious death of her best friend, Elizabeth hires a personal assistant to help get her life back on track. Brianna is everything Elizabeth could have asked for, and the two women soon come to rely on each other. But both of them are holding secrets close to their chests…

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci
A Black lawyer from Chicago joins forces with a white lawyer from Virginia to save a Black man from wrongful conviction and death in this gripping legal thriller.

Funny Story by Emily Henry
Stranded in Waning Bay, Michigan, after her fiancé falls for his childhood friend Petra, Daphne starts anew as a children’s librarian living with Petra’s ex, Miles. Polar opposites, Daphne’s pragmatic ways clash with Miles’s penchant for listening to heartbreaking ballads. As a friendship forms, the pair decide to take part in a little ruse, posting misleading photos of their summer adventures.

Mind Games by Nora Roberts
Raised by her grandmother since her parents’ deaths, Thea is able to read minds — but her gift often feels like more of a curse, especially because it’s shared by her parents’ killer. And he’s not finished with Thea yet… 

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
Five couples are stranded on an island when a storm strikes. Lyla’s there with her boyfriend — though their relationship is shaky — after they auditioned to join a reality show called One Perfect Couple. It was supposed to just be a game, but this show is turning deadly…

Camino Ghosts by John Grisham
Bookseller Bruce and novelist Mercer are thrown together to help save a deserted island from developers — an island that’s rumored to be cursed.

COMING SOON!

Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice 
Ten years ago, society completely collapsed after a blackout, leaving people to create new societies to replace the old. After settling a new community, Evan Whitesky now faces fresh trouble: The hunting and fishing are poor, and it’s becoming clear that his people must move to a better location if they are to survive.

Lucky by Jane Smiley
As a kid in St. Louis, Jodie Rattler won big at the racetrack — and the luck doesn’t seem to have run out since. Now a successful folk musician, Jodie travels all over the country and rubs elbows with fellow artists like Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell. But despite her fame, talent, and luck, Jodie can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
Tan’s sympathetic look at birds and what they can teach us about life is a poignant meditation on finding meaning during turbulent times.

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
With his financial future in jeopardy thanks to reckless spending, Rufus Leung Gresham is cajoled by his mother into attending his sister’s wedding with the aim of seducing a wealthy woman to become his wife. But should he follow through with the scheme, or risk it all and profess his love to Eden, the girl next door?