reading the law

 

Upcoming O’Neal Library events for adults:

Saturday, May 10th 10am-noon: Crafterday, bring your own craft and visit with fellow crafters

Saturday, May 10th 3-5:30pm: Great Short Stories on Film presents Minority Report (PG13/2h25m)

Monday, May 12th 6:30-7:30pm: Great Short Stories discussing “Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick

Tuesday, May 27th 6:30-8pm: Books & Beyond discussing dystopian/apocalyptic/postapocalyptic books and films

This week, the Books & Beyond Discussion Club met to chat about books, films, and podcasts with legal themes.

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt

In 1951, a monumental book by a relatively unknown German-Jewish émigré addressed the terrifying new mode of political organization underlying the twin horrors of Stalinism and Nazism. Herself a refugee from Nazi persecution, Hannah Arendt sought, from her exile in New York City, to answer the unfathomable questions raised by the Soviet gulag and the Holocaust: How could there be such barbarism in the midst of civilization? How had governments exerted such absolute control over citizens, terrorizing them and enlisting them to commit atrocities on their behalf?

Conclave by Robert Harris

The best-selling author of Enigma and Fatherland turns to today's Vatican in a ripped-from-the-headlines novel and gives us his most ambitious, pause-resisting thriller yet - where the power of God is nearly equaled by the ambition of men.

Conclave (Rated PG, 2h0m)

CONCLAVE follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events -- selecting the new Pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church.

Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2004
Applebaum intimately recreates what life was like in Soviet concentration camps and links them to the larger history of the Soviet Union. Immediately recognized as a landmark and long-overdue work of scholarship, Gulag is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history of the 20th century.

The Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum

In the long-awaited follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag, acclaimed journalist Anne Applebaum delivers a groundbreaking history of how Communism took over Eastern Europe after World War II and transformed in frightening fashion the individuals who came under its sway.

The Grim Reaper’s Lawyer by Mea Monique

When having to decide between spending her afterlife in hell or as the Grim Reaper’s Lawyer, it's not even a hard choice for Joyce Parker. Of course she’d choose hell. Joyce thought her prayers were finally answered when her client killed her. Yes, she knows, it's morbid. But, so is being a lawyer. Now dead, Joyce thought it was blue skies, angel wings, mimosas and Jesus. Well, she was embarrassingly wrong. The insufferable, but good-looking Grim Reaper needs a favor. He needs her to represent him in the newly formed Reaper’s Court. That is, of course, if she wants to go to heaven rather than to hell, which is exactly where she was heading.

What starts off as a favor turns into a whirlwind of chaos with Joyce and the Grim Reaper being in the center of it all. Not only does Joyce have to help the grumpy Reaper, but she also has to save the whole Afterworld—a job she most definitely did not sign up for. Joyce’s life on earth was boring, but her afterlife ends up being the most alive she’s ever felt. Trials, secrets, evil reapers, missing souls, traitors, stolen mimosas and unexpected romance—all the elements for one hell (literally) of a life after death.

PODCASTS

-You’re Wrong About (The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case)

Mike tells Sarah how a tragic story became a national punchline and a decades-long moral panic. Digressions include a sympathetic psychic, a paternalistic principal and a manure mishap. Mike appears to be unaware of the difference between a cousin and a nephew.

-70 Million (A Special Court Keeping Native Americans Out of Jail)

Kirsten made her way out of jail and addiction with the help of a special court on the Penobscot Nation reservation in Maine. There, culture and justice work together to bypass traditional punitive measures for more restorative ones. Reporter Lisa Bartfai visits the Healing to Wellness Court to see how it all works.

-Slow Burn (10 seasons available)

Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time.

-This Land (Season 2)

Host Rebecca Nagle reports on how the far right is using Native children to attack American Indian tribes and advance a conservative agenda.

-5-4 (190 episodes available)

5-4 is a progressive and occasionally profane take on the ideological battles at the heart of the Court’s most important landmark cases; an irreverent tour of all of the ways in which the law is shaped by politics.

The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

Talcott Garland is a successful law professor, devoted father, and husband of a beautiful and ambitious woman, whose future desires may threaten the family he holds so dear. When Talcott’s father, Judge Oliver Garland, a disgraced former Supreme Court nominee, is found dead under suspicioius circumstances, Talcott wonders if he may have been murdered. Guided by the elements of a mysterious puzzle that his father left, Talcott must risk his marriage, his career and even his life in his quest for justice. Superbly written and filled with memorable characters, The Emperor of Ocean Park is both a stunning literary achievement and a grand literary entertainment.

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter’s thrilling new novel takes as its starting point an alternate history: President Abraham Lincoln survives the assassination attempt at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. Two years later he is charged with overstepping his constitutional authority, both during and after the Civil War, and faces an impeachment trial.... Here is a vividly imagined work of historical fiction that captures the emotional tenor of post-Civil War America, a brilliantly realized courtroom drama that explores the always contentious question of the nature of presidential authority, and a galvanizing story of political suspense.

Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy by Stephen L. Carter

Taking inspiration from the Abolitionist sermons of the nineteenth century, Carter proposes to rebuild our public and private lives around the fundamental rule that we must love our neighbors, a tenet of all the world's great religions. Drawing on such diverse disciplines as law, theology, and psychology, he investigates many of the fundamental institutions of society-including the family, churches, and schools-and illustrates how each one must do more to promote the virtue of civility.aThrough it all, Carter emphasizes that loving our neighbors has little to do with how we feel and everything to do with how we choose to act. The true test of civility is whether out of love and concern for others, we will discipline our individual desires and work for the common good.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

This 1942 novella is the first of Camus' novels published in his lifetime. The story follows Meursault, an indifferent settler in French Algeria, who, weeks after his mother's funeral, kills an unnamed Arab man in Algiers.

The Law of Similars by Chris Bohjalian

When one of homeopath Carissa Lake's patients falls into an allergy-induced coma, possibly due to her prescribed remedy, Leland Fowler's office starts investigating the case. But Leland is also one of Carissa's patients, and he is begining to realize that he has fallen in love with her. As love and legal obligations collide, Leland comes face-to-face with an ethical dilemma of enormous proportions. Graceful, intelligent, and suspenseful, The Law of Similars is a powerful examination of the links between hope and hubris, love and deception.

The Anatomy of a Fall (Rated R, 2h 30m)

For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide. Samuel's suspicious death is presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect. What follows is not just an investigation into the circumstances of Samuel's death but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel's conflicted relationship.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

Murder on Shades Mountain: The Legal Lynching of Willie Peterson and the Struggle for Justice in Jim Crow Birmingham by Melanie Morrison

One August night in 1931, on a secluded mountain ridge overlooking Birmingham, Alabama, three young white women were brutally attacked. The sole survivor, Nell Williams, age eighteen, said a black man had held the women captive for four hours before shooting them and disappearing into the woods. That same night, a reign of terror was unleashed on Birmingham's black community: black businesses were set ablaze, posses of armed white men roamed the streets, and dozens of black men were arrested in the largest manhunt in Jefferson County history. Weeks later, Nell identified Willie Peterson as the attacker who killed her sister Augusta and their friend Jennie Wood. With the exception of being black, Peterson bore little resemblance to the description Nell gave the police. An all-white jury convicted Peterson of murder and sentenced him to death.

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorter

A Pulitzer Prize-winning, dramatic account of the Civil Rights Era’s climactic battle in Birmingham as the movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., brought down the institutions of segregation.

Children of Darkness and Light: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell: A Story of Murderous Faith by Lori Hellis

A blonde beauty queen, missing children, six suspicious deaths, and the twisted Mormon doomsday writings of her fifth husband are only the beginning of a tragic crime saga that gripped Americans and instigated frantic searches all over the country. Clinging to and manipulating one another, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell believed the return of Jesus Christ was imminent and that God had chosen them to lead the 144,000 and usher in the new millennium. When the people closest to them began dying, it became clear they would stop at nothing to be together and fulfill their mission. When the bodies of Lori’s missing children—J.J. and Tylee—were discovered in Chad’s backyard, the strange and complex story of their fundamentalist Mormon beliefs were revealed in all their true horror.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, “virtually indispensable” study that has already transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history (Chicago Daily Observer), 
The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.

Item descriptions pulled from Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes, and podcast aggregator sites.

art fact and fiction

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) meeting is on Tuesday, April 29^th at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion will be law/legal books and films. 

If you’d rather attend online, register for a Zoom link: https://oneallibrary.org/event/11282322

If you’re looking for suggestions, visit the Shelf Care page of the Library’s website and scroll down to the Books & Beyond row: https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations

Last night, BAB met to discuss books and films about art topics!

Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky

(The BAB participant noted that this was an incredibly academic title.)
Featuring an enlightening introduction by the book's translator, Michael T. H. Sadler, providing generational and cultural context for Kandinsky and his work, Concerning the Spiritual in Art gives testimony to the mind and creative expression of Kandinsky and other artists of his generation. This seminal and thought-provoking book exploring the heart of the artistic endeavor belongs in the library of every serious artist and student of modern art.

Understanding Art: The Hidden Lives of Masterpieces

Works are removed from their frames and set up for curators, historians, restorers and scientists to view and discuss freely. The five major artists whose pieces are examined include: Raphael, Rembrandt, Poussin, Watteau and Leonardo.

The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures by Philip Mould

What separates a masterpiece from a piece of junk? Thanks to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow and its American spin-off, everyone is searching garage sales and hunting online for hidden gems, wondering whether their attics contain trash or treasures. In The Art Detective, Philip Mould, one of the world's foremost authorities on British portraiture and an irreverent and delightful expert for the Roadshow, serves up his secrets and his best stories, blending the technical details of art detection and restoration with juicy tales peopled by a range of eccentric collectors, scholars, forgers, and opportunists.

Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

Roman emperors used to wear togas dyed with a purple color that was made from an odorous Lebanese shellfish–which probably meant their scent preceded them. In the eighteenth century, black dye was called logwood and grew along the Spanish Main. Some of the first indigo plantations were started in America, amazingly enough, by a seventeen-year-old girl named Eliza. And the popular van Gogh painting White Roses at Washington’s National Gallery had to be renamed after a researcher discovered that the flowers were originally done in a pink paint that had faded nearly a century ago. Color is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes–painted all the more dazzling by Finlay’s engaging style.

Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World’s Most Coveted Masterpiece by Noah Charney

Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece is on any art historian's list of the ten most important paintings ever made. Often referred to by the subject of its central panel, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it represents the fulcrum between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also the most frequently stolen artwork of all time. In this fast-paced, real-life thriller, art historian Noah Charney unravels the stories of each of these thefts. In the process, he illuminates the whole fascinating history of art crime, and the psychological, ideological, religious, political, and social motivations that have led many men to covet this one masterpiece above all others.

What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci’s Most Mysterious Portrait by Eden Collinsworth

Five hundred and thirty years ago, a young woman sat before a Grecian-nosed artist known as Leonardo da Vinci. Her name was Cecilia Gallerani, and she was the young mistress of Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan. Sforza was a brutal and clever man who was mindful that Leonardo’s genius would not only capture Cecilia’s beguiling beauty but also reflect the grandeur of his title. But when the portrait was finished, Leonardo’s brush strokes had conveyed something deeper by revealing the essence of Cecilia’s soul. Even today, The Woman with an Ermine manages to astonish.

Despite the work's importance in its own time, no records of it have been found for the two hundred and fifty years that followed Gallerani’s death. Readers of The Hare with the Amber Eyes will marvel at Eden Collinsworth’s dexterous story of illuminates the eventual history of this unique masterpiece, as it journeyed from one owner to the next–from the portrait’s next recorded owner, a Polish noblewoman, who counted Benjamin Franklin as an admirer, to its exile in Paris during the Polish Soviet War, to its return to WWII-era Poland where—in advance of Germany’s invasion—it remained hidden behind a bricked-up wall by a housekeeper who defied Hitler’s edict that it be confiscated as one of the Reich’s treasures.

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of 16th-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn't know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery - or crime? - lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex, and power.

Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

In 1985 Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten—certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist. Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.

Gabriele by Anne Berest (this title will be published April 22, 2025)

The year is 1908, the height of the Belle Époque, and a brilliant, young French woman named Gabriële, newly graduated from the most elite music school in Europe, meets a volcanic Spanish artist named Francis. Following a whirlwind romance, they marry and fall headlong into a Paris that is experimenting with new forms of living, thinking, and creating. Soon after marrying Francis, Gabriële meets Marcel, another young artist, five years her junior. Soon, Francis, Marcel, and Gabriële are all involved in a fervent affair that will change the course of art history and redefine the avant-garde.

As the Belle Epoque gives way to rebellion and revolution, and the world descends into the devastation of World War I, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and Gabriële Buffet revolutionize art and open up new ways of seeing and thinking, along the way posing a vital question for their age and ours: what is the connection between new ways loving and new ways of creating?

Moving between Paris, New York, Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, London, and Saint-Tropez, Gabriële is as audacious, uninhibited, intimate, and unforgettable as its central character, the mercurial, pioneering Gabriële Buffet.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Italy, 1347. While Brother William of Baskerville is investigating accusations of heresy at a wealthy abbey, his inquiries are disrupted by a series of bizarre deaths. Turning his practiced detective skills to finding the killer, he relies on logic (Aristotle), theology (Thomas Aquinas), empirical insights (Roger Bacon), and his own wry humor and ferocious curiosity. With the aid of his young apprentice, William scours the abbey, from its stables to the labyrinthine library, piecing together evidence, and deciphering cryptic symbols and coded manuscripts to uncover the truth about this place where "the most interesting things happen at night."  Adapted to a famed film starring Sean Connery.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert Edsel

At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuhrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised. In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis. Adapted to a famed film starring George Clooney.

Leviathan by Paul Auster (not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

“Six days ago, a man blew himself up by the side of a road in northern Wisconsin.” So begins Peter Aaron’s story about his best friend, Benjamin Sachs. Sachs had a marriage Aaron envied, an intelligence he admired, a world he shared. And then suddenly, after a near-fatal fall that might or might not have been intentional, Sachs disappeared. Now Aaron must piece together the life that led to Sach’s death. His sole aim is to tell the truth and preserve it—before those who are investigating the case invent an account of their own.

Loving Vincent (2017)

Mystery surrounds the death of famed painter Vincent van Gogh in 1890 France.

---

If, like me, you found yourself curious about Noah Charney and The Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, learn more here: https://www.artcrimeresearch.org/our-work/

Title descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes.

literary magical realism

 

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) social group will meet on Tuesday, March 25th at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion is art.  Novels, nonfiction, biography, and film are all encouraged!  If you’d rather attend online, click here to register for a Zoom link.

This week, BAB met to discuss a literary style, magical realism!

Betrayed by Rita Hayworth by Manuel Puig (not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

When it appeared in 1968, Manuel Puig’s debut—a portrait of the artist as a child in small-town Argentina—was hailed as revolutionary. Borrowing from the language of "true romance" and movie magazines, the techniques of American modernism, and Hollywood montage, Puig created an exuberant queer aesthetic while also celebrating the secret lives of women.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: Stories by Haruki Murakami

Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, and an ice man, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we might wish for. From the surreal to the mundane, these stories exhibit Murakami’s ability to transform the full range of human experience in ways that are instructive, surprising, and entertaining.

The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin

Cinderella wants her Prince Charming dead in this sophisticated fairy-tale for the twenty-first century.

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

A magical realist coming-of-age story, Gold Diggers skewers the model minority myth to tell a hilarious and moving story about immigrant identity, community, and the underside of ambition.

La Dalma del Elba (The Lady of Dawn) by Alejandro Casona (Download a California State University thesis translation from the original Spanish in PDF)

A Spanish play written by playwright Alejandro Casona, first performed in 1944. The play takes place in a small unnamed Spanish town (believed to be the author's) on the fourth anniversary of the day Angelica, the eldest daughter of the local Narces family, died by drowning in a river, just days after getting married. Since they never found the body, no proper burial could be performed and her death still haunts her loved ones. Then, a mysterious woman, known only as The Pilgrim, comes along. Since it is believed that hosting religious pilgrims brings blessings, they allow her to stay. Then the old man remembers who she is: Death herself, whom he met when several men died in a mining accident several years before. He pleads with her not to claim another member of the family, but she explains she has no choice in the matter. However, since she overslept, she now cannot claim her target- Martin, Angelica's widower. She leaves, but warns that she will return in 'seven moons'- on the Day of Saint John, a local holiday.

Ask Baba Yaga by Taisia Kitaiskala (not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

With a strange, otherworldly style, poetic clarity, and striking honesty, Ask Baba Yaga contains beautifully skewed wisdom to be consulted in times of need.

Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch

In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he’s ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder he knows she didn’t commit.

The Swarm by Frank Schatzing

Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic eyeless crabs poison Long Island’s water supply. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean’s revenge. In this riveting novel, full of twists, turns, and cliffhangers, a team of scientists discovers a strange, intelligent life force called the Yrr that takes form in marine animals in order to wreak havoc on man for his abuses. The Day After Tomorrow meets The Abyss in his gripping, scientifically realist, utterly imaginative thriller. With the compellingly creepy and vivid skill of this author to evoke story, character, and place, Frank Schatzing’s book are certain to find a home with fans of Michael Crichton.

Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe

Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim and using her charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret: once, they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang dynasty China. Razor-sharp, hilarious, and raw in emotion, Sister Snake explores chosen family, queerness, passing, and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale “The Legend of the White Snake,” this is a novel about being seen for who you are—and, ultimately, how to live free.

Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

First published in 1992, Smilla's Sense of Snow instantly became an international sensation. When caustic Smilla Jaspersen discovers that her neighbor--a neglected six-year-old boy, and possibly her only friend--has died in a tragic accident, a peculiar intuition tells her it was murder. Unpredictable to the last page, Smilla's Sense of Snow is one of the most beautifully written and original crime stories of our time, a new classic.

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family in the first novel to be translated into English by the International Booker Prize–shortlisted author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

heartwarming new fiction

 

Some of the Most Anticipated Heartwarming Fiction of This Year

If you’re looking for that cozy, feel-good vibe, add these to your hold lists and TBRs!  These new titles will tug at your heartstrings, bring a tear to your eye, or a smile to your face 😊

Already published:

Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis

Old flames reignite in Sunrise Cove in this charming enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, small-town, forced-proximity love story about family, friendships, and true love.

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds by Jennifer Moorman

Infused with magical detail and heartfelt storytelling, The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds is a tale of resilience in the face of loss and a testament to the timeless bond of family.

The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang

On the outskirts of Rainbow Town, there is an old, abandoned house. They say that if you send a letter detailing your misfortunes there, you could receive a ticket. If you bring this ticket to the house on the first day of the rainy season, you'll be granted entrance into the mysterious Rainfall Market—where you can choose to completely change your life.

The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy

Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be—and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime.

This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer

An homage to New York City, to romance, and even to loss, This Is a Love Story tenderly and suspensefully captures deep truths about life and marriage in radiant prose. It is about love that endures despite what life throws at us, or perhaps even because of it.

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, this is the story of a socially awkward mother of the bride navigating the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

Forthcoming:

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again. Release date: March 5

One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter

A remarkable tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival, One Good Thing is a tender reminder that love for another person, even amidst darkness and uncertainty, can be reason to keep going. Release date: March 4

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

Inspired by a true literary mystery, Henry returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both. Release date: March 18

Beach Vibes by Susan Mallery

An unforgettable beach read about love, secrets, betrayal and the family we’re born into—and the one we choose for ourselves. Release date: March 18

All Our Beautiful Goodbyes by Julianne MacLean

A shining thread of hope illuminates this epic tale of lost love and fallen dreams, set in the remote splendor of Nova Scotia and spanning decades. Release date: March 25

The World’s Fair Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

A timely celebration of quilting, family, community, and history. Release date: April 1

Spilling the Tea by Brenda Jackson

Ninetysomething Mama Laverne is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren their perfect match before going home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent—and she intends to keep it that way. Release date: April 1

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget  that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering. Release date: April 1

Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory

Avery Jensen is almost thirty, fresh off a breakup, and she’s tired of always being so uptight and well-behaved. She wants to get a hobby, date around (especially women), flirt with everyone she sees, wear something not from the business casual section of her closet—all the fun stuff normal people do in their twenties. One problem: Avery doesn't know where to start. Enter Taylor Cameron, Napa Valley's biggest flirt and champion heartbreaker. Taylor just broke up with her most recent girlfriend, and her best friend bet her that she can't make it until Labor Day without sleeping with someone. (Two whole months? Without sex? Taylor?!?!) So, she offers to give Avery flirting lessons. Release date: April 8

The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner

A glimmering novel set in the world of pop music about sisters, motherhood, young love, and the dreams we chase. Release date: April 8

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a humorous, thought provoking, and nostalgic romp through one pivotal and tumultuous American year--as well as an ode to self-discovery, persistence, and the power of sisterhood. Release date: April 22

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve. Release date: April 22

Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer

A touching novel about parenthood, first love, family bonds, and rekindled relationships. Release date: April 22

Gold Coast Dilemma by Nana Malone

A romance about a Ghanaian American heiress faced with the dilemma of choosing between culture and a love connection. Release date: April 29

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

An unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later. This tale is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art. Release date: May 20

The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly

Two sisters living on Martha’s Vineyard during World War II find hope in the power of storytelling when they start a wartime book club for women in this spectacular novel inspired by true events. Release date: May 27

The Guest Cottage by Lori Foster

Love, forgiveness, and renewal take center stage in the haven of a quiet lakeside town when two very different women bond over one man’s betrayals. Release date: May 27

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

A razor-sharp, wildly sexy novel about a wealthy New England family's long-overdue reckoning…and one week that threatens to tear them apart. Release date: July 8

The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham

Elin Hilderbrand teams up with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, to deliver a dishy, page-turning novel following an intertwined cast of characters over the course of one drama-filled year at a New England boarding school. Release date: September 16

Calling All Blessings by Beverly Jenkins

Tamar July, town matriarch of Henry Adams, KS, is being haunted by dreams of her humiliating wedding day, sixty years ago, when she discovered her intended, Joel Newton, was already married. The truth left her furious, heartbroken, and carrying a child, her son Malachi “Mal” July. Why are these dreams coming to her now? And is the great horned owl perched on her backyard shed somehow connected? When Joel’s legitimate son comes to Henry Adams wanting to meet his half-brother, Mal, Tamar must deal with her past, her anger, and explore what it means to truly forgive. Release date: October 28

© 2025 BookBub. All rights reserved.
www.bookbub.com/blog/the-best-heartwarming-fiction-2025
Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash
 

 

air & space

 

Upcoming programs for adults:

Sat, Feb 1: 9am to noon – Crafterday (a bring-your-own-craft drop-in program to socialize with other crafters, no instruction provided)

Sat, Feb 1: registration opens for redemption vouchers to the Feb 21 & 22 Alabama Symphony Villa-Bobos + Shostakovich performances

Mon, Feb 10: 6:30-7:30pm – Great Short Stories discussion group (“Before Tonde, After Tonde” by Petina Gappah)

Thu, Feb 20: 6-8pm – Preview Party for the Friends of O’Neal Library Annual Book Sale (Donors of $50 or more since February 2024 will receive an invitation. Donate now online, or donations will also be accepted at the door)

Fri, Feb 21 & Sat, Feb 22: 10am-5pm – Friends of O’Neal Library Annual Book Sale open to the public

Sun, Feb 23: 2-5pm - Friends of O'Neal Library Annual Book Sale open to the public

Tue, Feb 25: 6:30-8pm – Books & Beyond discussion group chatting about magical realism in novels & films

(image description:  recent cross stitch project completed by librarian Holley Wesley.  Pattern is from Climbing Goat Designs: "James Webb Space Telescope Stitchalong")

Last night, the Books & Beyond discussion group met to chat about air travel and space exploration.

Youtube video essay (39 minutes) by Mina Le & Abbey Frank, “underconsumption-core, travel outfits, and Paul Mescal’s shorts”

Participant comments: “It’s a really cool look at airport fashion, from how people dressed flying in the 50s and 60s to now. Includes some interesting stuff about flight attendant fashion!”

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

Winner of the 2024 Kirkus Nonfiction Prize • Shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024

Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program and the lives of men and women whose stories have been overshadowed by the disaster, as well as the designers, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space. A masterful blend of riveting human drama and fascinating and absorbing science, Challenger identifies a turning point in history—and brings to life an even more complex and astonishing story than we remember.

Soviet Space Dogs by Olesya Turkina

This book is dedicated to the Soviet Space Dogs, who played a crucial part in the Soviet Space program. These homeless dogs, plucked from the streets of Moscow, were selected because they fitted the program's criteria: weighing no more than 15 pounds, measuring no more than 14 inches in length, robust, photogenic and with a calm temperament. These characteristics enabled the dogs to withstand the extensive training that was needed to prepare them for suborbital, then for orbital, space fights. Images of the Space Dogs proliferated, reproduced on everyday goods across the Soviet Union: cigarette packets, tins of sweets, badges, stamps and postcards all bore their likenesses. Soviet Space Dogs uses these unique items to illustrate the story (in fact and fiction) of how they became fairytale idols.

Blind Watchers of the Sky: The People and Ideas that Shaped Our View of the Universe by Rocky Kolb

In this immensely readable book, noted cosmologist Rocky Kolb reveals the very human struggles of astronomy superstars seeking cosmic truths while lost in the clouds of confusion. Punctuated by the author's razor-sharp wit, this book provides anyone curious about science with a behind-the-scenes peek into the discovery process…it's not exactly the scientific method you learned in school.

Interstellar (2014)

In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. Professor Brand (Michael Caine), a brilliant NASA physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers through the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind's new home.

Brian Greene

Professor Greene is world-renowned for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of superstring theory, including the co-discovery of mirror symmetry and the discovery of spatial topology change. He is the director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Physics.

Professor Greene is known to the public through his New York Times best-selling books and numerous media appearances from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert to Charlie Rose. The Washington Post called him “the single best explainer of abstruse concepts in the world today.” Professor Greene has hosted two NOVA mini-series based on his books, receiving the George Foster Peabody award for “The Elegant Universe with Brian Greene.” Greene has had cameo roles in several Hollywood films including Frequency, Maze and The Last Mimzy and in 2008, with producer Tracy Day, co-founded the World Science Festival. He is the director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Physics.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.

The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport

Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, including Richard Branson and Paul Allen, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry-hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.

Pillars of Creation: How the James Webb Telescope Unlocked the Secrets of the Cosmos by Richard Panek

The James Webb Space Telescope is transforming the universe right before our eyes—and here, for the first time, is the inside account of how the mission originated, how it performs its miracles of science, and what its revolutionary images are revealing.

NOVA: Ultimate Space Telescope (PBS)

How did NASA engineers build and launch the most ambitious telescope of all time? Follow the dramatic story of the James Webb Space Telescope—the most complex machine ever launched into space. If it works, scientists believe that this new eye on the universe will peer deeper back in time and space than ever before to the birth of galaxies, and may even be able to “sniff” the atmospheres of exoplanets as we search for signs of life beyond Earth.

Above All Else: A World Champion Skydiver’s Story of Survival and What it Taught Him About Fear, Adversity, and Success by Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld (Not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Dan survived a plane crash from which sixteen of the twenty-two people on board were killed. He was left critically injured and woke up from a six-week-long coma with a broken neck, broken skull, severe head trauma, a collapsed lung, and other serious internal injuries. Against all odds, Dan recovered and went on to become one of the greatest competitive skydiver in the world. With the love and support of friends and family, Dan was able not only to resurrect his life but return to skydiving to achieve greater heights than he could have ever imagined.

The Long Way Home: A Journey into History with Captain Robert Ford by Ed Dover (Not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

The story of how a Pan American Airways B-314 flying boat, caught in the South Pacific, made an unplanned flight around the world following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Flying in total secrecy and radio blackout, Captain Ford and his 10 man crew flew over 31,500 miles in six weeks, avoiding enemy action in their effort to return safely to the United States. An astounding feat in 1941!

Stateless by Elizabeth Wein

When Stella North is chosen to represent Britain in Europe’s first air race for young people, she knows all too well how high the stakes are. As the only participating female pilot, it’ll be a constant challenge to prove she’s a worthy competitor. But promoting peace in Europe, the goal of the race, feels empty to Stella when civil war is raging in Spain and the Nazis are gaining power—and when, right from the start, someone resorts to cutthroat sabotage to get ahead of the competition.
 
The world is looking for inspiration in what’s meant to be a friendly sporting event. But each of the racers is hiding a turbulent and violent past, and any one of them might be capable of murder—including Stella herself. Agatha Christie meets Karen McManus in this thrilling mystery, packed with adventure, intrigue, love, and betrayal, from bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth Wein.

Item descriptions pulled from Amazon, PBS, and Rotten Tomatoes.

 

 

mystery lovers rejoice

 

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as they celebrate the 216th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the nominees for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction and nonfiction published in 2024. The 79th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on May 1, 2025, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square.

BEST NOVEL

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 
Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco 
Things Don’t Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins
My Favorite Scar by Nicolás Ferraro
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore 
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera 
The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell 

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Twice the Trouble by Ash Clifton 
Cold to the Touch by Kerri Hakoda 
The Mechanics of Memory by Audrey Lee
A Jewel in the Crown by David Lewis
The President’s Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins
Holy City by Henry Wise 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle 
The Vacancy in Room 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass 
Shell Games by Bonnie Kistler 
A Forgotten Kill by Isabella Maldonado 
The Road to Heaven by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson 

BEST FACT CRIME

Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers by Frank Figliuzzi 

The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson 

A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton by Deb Miller Landau 

The Amish Wife: Unraveling the Lies, Secrets, and Conspiracy that Let a Killer Go Free by Gregg Olsen 

Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America’s Second Slavery by Earl Swift 

The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age by Michael Wolraich 

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Nathan Ashman

American Noir Film: From The Maltese Falcon to Gone Girl by M. Keith Booker

Organized Crime on Page and Screen: Portrayals in Hit Novels, Films, and Television Shows by David Geherin

On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett by Ashley Lawson

Ian Fleming; The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare 

BEST JUVENILE

The Beanstalk Murder by P.G. Bell 
Mystery of Mystic Mountain by Janet Fox 
Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Stolen Key by Margaret Peterson Haddix 
The Spindle of Fate by Aimee Lim 
Find Her by Ginger Reno 
 
BEST YOUNG ADULT

Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell 
The Bitter End by Alexa Donne 
A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur 
Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson 
49 Miles Alone by Natalie D. Richards 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

OUR OTHER AWARDS

 THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD – Presented on behalf of Simon & Schuster.

The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen 
The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard 
The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill 
Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman 
Death in the Details by Katie Tietjen 

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD – Presented on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong 
A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh 
Proof by Beverly McLachlin
A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia 
All the Way Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen 
The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear 

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun.

The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald 
Death and Fromage by Ian Moore 
Booked for Murder by P.J. Nelson
Murder on Devil’s Pond by Ayla Rose 
The Treasure Hunters Club by Tom Ryan 

 

reading & writing

 

Upcoming programs!  Visit the O'Neal Library calendar for more information and program registration!

Sat, Nov 30 – 10am-noon: Great Short Stories Film Series screening Smoke (Rated R/1h52m)
Sun, Dec 8 – 3pm: City of Mountain Brook Holiday Parade ( I had the date wrong at the meeting!)
Mon, Dec 9 – 6:30pm: Great Short Stories Bookclub discussing “Augie Wren’s Christmas Story” by Paul Auster
Sat, Dec 14 – 9am-noon: Crafterday!  Bring your own craft
Sun, Jan 12 – 3-4:30pm: Great Short Stories Film series screening The Swimmer (Rated PG/1h34m)
Mon, Jan 13 – 6:30pm: Great Short Stories Bookclub discussing The Swimmer by John Cheever
Tue, Jan 28 – 6:30pm: Books & Beyond Discussion Group discussing air travel & space exploration

This week, Books & Beyond met to talk about reading & writing!

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue—it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and—the author’s favorite—historical tourism.

There There by Tommy Orange

A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

Drunk History (tv program)

The passage of time often has a way of rewriting history. So does a few drinks. The half-hour series "Drunk History" -- based on the award-winning web series – offers reenactments of famous events in history as told by inebriated storytellers. Each episode takes a tour of a U.S. city to explore stories and people from its rich past. Those stories are related in often-confusing ways by drunken narrators and performed by an all-star cast that includes Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Connie Britton, Michael Cera, Bill Hader, Kevin Nealon, Bob Odenkirk and Winona Ryder. Figures such as Teddy Roosevelt, Patty Hearst, Billy the Kid, Al Capone, and Lewis and Clark are profiled, as are seminal moments like the Battle of the Alamo, Watergate, and the Scopes Monkey Trial. Click here to enjoy one of my favorite episodes about the Kellogg brothers!

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.  It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast "Listen for the Lie," and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it. The truth is out there, if we just listen.

The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear by Ralph Keyes (not available in the JCLC, request via Interlibrary Loan)

In The Courage to Write, Ralph Keyes, an author who has taught writing for more than thirty years, assures us that anxiety is felt by writers at every level, especially when they dare to do their best. He describes the sequence of "courage points" through which all writers must pass, from the challenge of identifying a worthwhile project to the mixture of pride and panic they feel when examining a newly published book or article.

Keyes also offers specifics on how to root out dread of public "performance" and of the judgment of family and friends, make the best use of writers' workshops and conferences, and handle criticism of works in progress. Throughout, he includes the comments of many accomplished writers -- Pat Conroy, Amy Tan, Rita Dove, Isabel Allende, and others -- on how they transcended their own fears to produce great works.

Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a Sacred Practice by Vanessa Zoltan

Our favorite reads keep us company, give us hope, and help us find meaning in a chaotic world. In this fresh and relatable work, atheist chaplain Vanessa Zoltan blends memoir and personal growth as she grapples with the notions of family legacy and identity through the lens of her favorite novel, Jane Eyre. Informed by her training at the Harvard Divinity School and filtered through the pages of Jane Eyre as well as Little Women, Harry Potter, and The Great Gatsby, Zoltan explores topics ranging from the trauma she has inherited as the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors to finding hope, meaning, and even magic in our deeply fractured times.

Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina by Michael Casey (not available in the JCLC, request via Interlibrary Loan)

Examines the Western tradition of lectio divina (a spiritual and prayerful approach to reading the sacred texts) in order to help readers expand their spiritual approach to living.

Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. 

Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre

Helena Roth is known for her stories, and four years ago, she told the best one of all - a story the police and the public swallowed without question. Now, she lives alone with her secrets and her regrets, her solitude interrupted by a diagnosis that will force her to confess the truth. She sits down to pen her final novel, one that shares every sorbid detail, but is running out of time and must enlist the help of her biggest competition and arch rival: Marka Vantly. When these two polar opposites collide, an unlikely connection emerges and breathes life into a true story that will stun the readers, the police, and the world.

The Thirteenth Tale by Curtis Sittenfeld

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

I Want You More by Swan Huntley

Reeling from her father’s death, Zara Pines accepts a ghostwriting gig for celebrity chef Jane Bailey. Jane, star of the wildly popular cooking show 30 Bucks Tops, invites Zara to live in her East Hampton home for the summer. Zara doesn’t want to go, but Jane insists.

As the two women create Jane’s book, their attachment grows stronger. Zara, who’s lost and in search of an identity, finds one in the shadow of Jane. She starts wearing Jane’s clothes. And speaking like Jane. And adopting Jane’s mannerisms. Eventually, the line between them blurs and Zara starts to see the side Jane keeps hidden from the cameras. this dark and twisty novel about fame, lies, and obsession will make even the most open-hearted reader question how safe it is to trust the people they love.

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together.

McGuffey and His Readers: Piety, Morality, and Education in Nineteenth-Century America by John H. Westerhoff (not available in the JCLC, request via Interlibrary Loan)

William Holmes McGuffey -- teacher, preacher, college president, writer, educational reformer, and schoolbook compiler -- is perhaps the most important figure in the history of American public education, yet very few people know much about the man himself. Except for a few letters, a pair of handwritten sermons, and one unpublished manuscript on moral philosophy, his known writings are few. This book makes available some of those scarce writings as it looks at the man and his textbooks. It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1920, placing their sales in a class with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Indeed, since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some thirty thousand copies a year.

Genius (Rated PG-13, 2016, 1h 44m)

Renowned editor Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth) develops a friendship with author Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) while working on the writer's manuscripts.

The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron

From deep in the trenches of the Great War to the storied English countryside and the devastating Coventry Blitz of World War II, The British Booksellers explores the unbreakable bonds that unite us through love, loss, and the enduring solace that can be found between the pages of a book.

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

This “celebration of the world of books” (Kirkus) from New York Times bestselling author James Patterson is a collection of riveting stories celebrating the heroic efforts of the people who are on the front lines getting our books into the world.​

Loving Literature: A Cultural History by Deidre Lynch (not available in the JCLC, request via Interlibrary Loan)

One of the most common—and wounding—misconceptions about literary scholars today is that they simply don’t love books. While those actually working in literary studies can easily refute this claim, such a response risks obscuring a more fundamental question: why should they?

That question led Deidre Shauna Lynch into the historical and cultural investigation of Loving Literature. How did it come to be that professional literary scholars are expected not just to study, but to love literature, and to inculcate that love in generations of students? What Lynch discovers is that books, and the attachments we form to them, have played a vital role in the formation of private life—that the love of literature, in other words, is deeply embedded in the history of literature. Yet at the same time, our love is neither self-evident nor ahistorical: our views of books as objects of affection have clear roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century publishing, reading habits, and domestic history.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives. But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie

When tragedy forces Delphine Auber, an aspiring writer on the cusp of adulthood, from her home in postwar Paris, she seizes the opportunity to embark on the journey she's long dreamed of: finding the father she has never known. But her quest—spanning from Paris to New York’s Harlem, to Havana and Key West—is complicated by the fact that she believes him to be famed luminary Ernest Hemingway, a man just as elusive as he is iconic. She desperately yearns for his approval, as both a daughter and a writer, convinced that he holds the key to who she's truly meant to be. But what will happen if she is wrong, or if her real story falls outside of the legend of her parentage that she’s revered all her life? 

The King in Yellow by Richard Chambers

In a world that teeters between reality and hallucination, The King in Yellow, first published in 1895, stands as a collection of tales that unravel the fabric of the mind. Step into the haunting landscapes and unsettling cities, where you'll meet characters entranced by a mysterious play—a play so powerful, it drives its readers mad. Once its words have gripped your soul, there's no turning back.

Haunting, philosophical, and irresistibly engrossing, this literary masterpiece delves into forbidden knowledge and the human psyche's darker recesses. Inspired by the cosmos, occultism, and the labyrinth of the human condition, each story is an enigmatic tapestry woven of existential dread and otherworldly intrigue.

Discover why H.P. Lovecraft and countless other masters of the horror genre have found inspiration in this classic work. In a realm where psychological terror meets supernatural suspense, the veil between worlds is thin—and the King in Yellow reigns supreme.

Book and film/tv descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes. 

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash