tasty stories

 

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) meeting is on Tuesday,July 18th at 6:30pm at the temporary library location at 3100 Overton Road, 35223. It is one of our biannual Reader’s Choice meetings so there is no assigned topic, share anything you’ve been enjoying this summer!  The August meeting topic is ecology and the meeting location is up in the air at the moment, but Zoom will definitely be available.

This week BAB met to chat about foodie fiction, novels that feature either a setting, occupation, hobby, or character trait that centers around food.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a swashbuckling epicure's adventure simmered over a surprisingly touching love story―with a dash of the strangest, most delightful cookbook never written. Eli Brown has crafted a uniquely entertaining novel full of adventure: the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food.

The House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

A young woman is drawn into the upper echelons of a society where blood is power in this dark and enthralling Gothic novel from the author of The Year of the Witching.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success ― not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is. If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone. But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Whip, Stir, and Serve by Caitlyn Frost (Amazon only)

Maggie Jensen has one goal: make cinnamon buns, from scratch, for her father's retirement party. She’ll do whatever it takes to finish the job and prove she isn't a klutz in the kitchen. She’s more comfortable in the wood shop, but how hard can this possibly be? But after her first attempt ends in disaster, Maggie knows she needs a good luck charm to make this happen. Enter Liam, the eye candy behind the deli counter. Their relationship is sweet, but their chemistry is hot. Liam is in control of the kitchen - and Maggie is ready to serve. 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. . .Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (streaming on Netflix)

Directed by Mike Newell, the film stars Lily James, Matthew Goode, Michiel Huisman, Glen Powell, Jessica Brown Findlay, and more. In 1946 a London-based writer begins exchanging letters with residents on the island of Guernsey, which was German-occupied during WWII. Feeling compelled to visit the island, she starts to get a picture of what it was like during the occupation.

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay

In the vein of the classic 84, Charing Cross Road, this witty and tender novel is a sensuous experience of food and a deep friendship between two very different women in 1960s America.

The Menu

A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

A Chef’s Life 

A new character-driven PBS documentary and cooking series that takes viewers inside the life of Chef Vivian Howard, who, with her husband Ben Knight, left the big city to open a fine dining restaurant in small-town Eastern North Carolina.

Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi (streaming on Hulu)

Award winning cookbook author, host and executive producer Padma Lakshmi, takes audiences on a journey across America, exploring the rich and diverse food culture of various immigrant groups, seeking out the people who have so heavily shaped what American food is today. From indigenous communities to recent immigrant arrivals, Padma breaks bread with Americans across the nation to uncover the roots and relationship between our food, our humanity and our history - ultimately revealing stories that challenge notions of identity, belonging, and what it means to be American.

The Big Night (streaming on Kanopy)

Chef Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and businessman Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are immigrant brothers from Italy who open their dream restaurant, Paradise, in New Jersey. However, Primo's authentic food is too unfamiliar for the local tastes, and the restaurant is struggling. When famous Italian-American bandleader Louis Prima is scheduled to appear at Paradise, the two brothers put all of their efforts into the important meal, which will likely decide the fate of their restaurant.

Tortilla Soup (streaming on Kanopy and Hoopla)

Three grown sisters, Maribel (Tamara Mello), Leticia (Elizabeth Peña) and Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) try to cope and live with their father Martin (Héctor Elizondo) ; a veteran chef who is slowly losing his sense of taste. Martin has one simple rule: be at home for Sunday dinner and attendance is both mandatory and non-negotiable. A rift in the family develops when the sisters develop relationships and an obnoxious woman (Raquel Welch) sets her sights on Martin's affections.

Waitress

Jenna (Keri Russell) works in a diner in a small Southern town and is a genius at creating luscious desserts, but her marriage to an overbearing lout (Jeremy Sisto) makes happiness impossible. When she discovers she is pregnant, she makes plans to skip town before her condition is obvious. However, she begins an affair with the new town doctor (Nathan Fillion), who is the only one who knows her secret.

Babette’s Feast

Beautiful but pious sisters Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Philippa (Bodil Kjer) grow to spinsterhood under the wrathful eye of their strict pastor father on the forbidding and desolate coast of Jutland, until one day, Philippa's former suitor sends a Parisian refugee named Babette (Stéphane Audran) to serve as the family cook. Babette's lavish celebratory banquet tempts the family's dwindling congregation, who abjure such fleshly pleasures as fine foods and wines.

Like Water for Chocolate

The youngest daughter in her family, the beautiful Tita (Lumi Cavazos) is forbidden to marry her true love, Pedro (Marco Leonardi). Since tradition dictates that Tita must care for her mother, Pedro weds her older sister, Rosaura (Yareli Arizmendi), though he still loves Tita. The situation creates much tension in the family, and Tita's powerful emotions begin to surface in fantastical ways through her cooking. As the years pass, unusual circumstances test the enduring love of Pedro and Tita.

Flavorful Origins (streaming on Netflix)

Chinese food is popular in America, and this series brings viewers information about a certain type of the ethnic food, Chaoshan cuisine. Each episode focuses on an ingredient that is often used in Chaoshan cooking, exploring where the ingredients come from and what they are used for, as well as bringing to light the stories of the people behind the cuisine's creation. The featured ingredients range from common foods like olives to more exotic fare like yusheng, a freshly sliced raw fish that is eaten with vegetables and dipping sauce.

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers

A satire of early foodieism, a critique of how gender is defined, and a showcase of virtuoso storytelling, Chelsea G. Summers’ A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world’s most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.

Fresh (streaming on Hulu)

FRESH follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who meets the alluring Steve (Sebastian Stan) at a grocery store and -- given her frustration with dating apps -- takes a chance and gives him her number. After their first date, Noa is smitten and accepts Steve's invitation to a romantic weekend getaway. Only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Meet Elizabeth Zott, a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show. 

Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

The first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show falls for their clumsy competitor in this delicious romantic comedy debut that USA Today hailed as “an essential read.”

The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal

More like a poetic biographical essay on a fictional person than a novel, The Cook is a coming-of-age journey centered on Mauro, a young self-taught cook. The story is told by an unnamed female narrator, Mauro’s friend and disciple who we also suspect might be in love with him. Set not only in Paris but in Berlin, Thailand, Burma, and other far-flung places over the course of fifteen years, the book is hyperrealistic―to the point of feeling, at times, like a documentary. It transcends this simplistic form, however, through the lyricism and intensely vivid evocative nature of Maylis de Kerangal’s prose, which conjures moods, sensations, and flavors, as well as the exhausting rigor and sometimes violent abuses of kitchen work.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Once a month on a Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class. The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create....

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

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....

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

As Paris rediscovers its joie de vivre, Tabitha Knight, recently arrived from Detroit for an extended stay with her French grandfather, is on her own journey of discovery. Paris isn’t just the City of Light; it’s the city of history, romance, stunning architecture . . . and food. Thanks to her neighbor and friend Julia Child, another ex-pat who’s fallen head over heels for Paris, Tabitha is learning how to cook for her Grandpère and Oncle Rafe. Between tutoring Americans in French, visiting the market, and eagerly sampling the results of Julia’s studies at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, Tabitha’s sojourn is proving thoroughly delightful. That is, until the cold December day they return to Julia’s building and learn that a body has been found in the cellar. Tabitha recognizes the victim as a woman she’d met only the night before, at a party given by Julia’s sister, Dort. The murder weapon found nearby is recognizable too—a knife from Julia’s kitchen.

The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter

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. In Lambda Award finalist Chana Porter’s highly anticipated new novel, an aspiring chef, a cyberthief, and a kitchen maid each break free of a society that wants to constrain them.

https://poets.org/text/great-anthologies-food-poems

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/145091/poetry-and-food

binging books and screens

Book Riot emails are frequently the highlight of my day and I love sharing them with you here!  These tv show/film & book pairings go out to my fellow book/tv show bingers!!

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SQUID GAME (available in library system, streaming on Netflix)

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS BY NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH

What they have most in common: Dystopians with deadly games used to show society’s ills.

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DARBY AND THE DEAD (streaming on Hulu)

UNDEAD GIRL GANG BY LILY ANDERSON

What they have most in common: Dead cheerleader needing help from living non-friend, humor, and enemies finding friendship.

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GINNY & GEORGIA (streaming on Netflix)

THE HOLLOW INSIDE BY BROOKE LAUREN DAVIS

What they have most in common: Both have crime and mysteries, dark humor, women all in on revenge, and mother-daughter relationships that aren’t the healthiest.

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SHRINKING (streaming on Apple TV+)

MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE BY LORI GOTTLIEB

What they have most in common: Watching a therapist(s) with their own problems, while being a fly on the wall for their therapy sessions with patients. Both balance heartfelt and funny.

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POKER FACE (streaming on Peacock TV)

THE LOST ONES (NORA WATTS #1) BY SHEENA KAMAL

What they have most in common: Both MCs operate as human-lie detectors, solving mysteries, while not having much in the way of friends and family, and going on cross-country trips.

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THE LAW ACCORDING TO LIDIA POËT (streaming on Netflix)

THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL (PERVEEN MISTRY #1) BY SUJATA MASSEY

What they have most in common: Both are feminist historical mysteries with women fighting for rights and solving mysteries as lawyers during time periods when it was illegal for women to be lawyers. And both are based on real women in history.

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HARLEM (streaming on Amazon Prime Video)

WASH DAY DIARIES BY JAMILA ROWSER, ROBYN SMITH

What they have most in common: A group of four friends in NY with the ups and downs of life, filled with a range of emotions including Black joy.

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EXTRAORDINARY (streaming on Hulu)

HENCH BY NATALIE ZINA WALSCHOTS

What they have most in common: Fun, fresh, creative takes on the super hero story.

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KILL BOKSOON (streaming on Netflix)

THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE: A NOVEL BY GU BYEONG-MO, CHI-YOUNG KIM (TRANSLATOR)

What they have most in common: Starring older South Korean hit women with a look at their current life predicament and how they came to be — neither shies away from violence.

If you’re a fan of pop culture and TV book pairings check out Matching Books and Cure Albums, 5 of the Best Mystery Books Like DEAD TO ME, and Loved These Shows & Films? Read These Books!

For the full article, go here: https://bookriot.com/show-film-book-pairings/

 

reading summer

Today is the official first day of summer! The books on this list all take place during a favorite reading time, with all of its seasonal delights, desires, and diablerie!

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

Her 2013 novel is set during the record-setting 1976 London heatwave during which the patriarch of an Irish family clears out his bank account and disappears, leaving his family to puzzle out where he went, and why. In the aftermath, the three adult children respond to their mother's plea for help and descend on their parents' home for the first time in ages. Soon the three are working (and squabbling) together as they try to determine what might have happened to their father. As the search progresses, secrets from the parents' marriage and the adult children's struggles and insecurities are revealed. The story takes us from London to Ireland and New York City as we wait to see what happened to the father, and what will happen next in each character's life.

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

In this coming-of-age story, debut author Bennett shows us how grief predictably consumes a 17-year old girl growing up in a tight-knit community in Southern California, and how two friends get pulled into the tangled aftermath during that tumultuous summer. Bennett tells the story through the eyes of the community's mothers: though we may expect these community pillars to show up with casseroles when someone is sick, in this story the mothers' vicious gossip causes nothing but trouble. 

The Shore by Katie Runde

Brian and Margot live a dream life with their teen daughters Liz and Evy in a beach town on the Jersey Shore, as year-round residents who make their living renting vacation homes to tourists. But when Brian is diagnosed with a rare and personality-altering brain tumor, everything changes. While Margot tries to keep their bustling real estate business afloat, the girls adjust to caretaking for their father and continuing to do normal teenage stuff like trying new summer jobs and trying on new personas. This moving, heart-wrenching, and ultimately hopeful story of love, family, and grief in a tourist town made for a wonderful and touching listening experience.

Beach Read by Emily Henry

January is a 29-year-old romance writer who no longer believes in happily-ever-after. Demoralized and broke, she moves into the lake house she inherited when her father died, hoping to lick her wounds and finish her current manuscript. But then, in a cruel twist of fate, she discovers her neighbor is the beloved literary fiction writer Augustus Everett, her college rival (and crush), whom she was hoping to never see again. It turns out Gus has troubles of his own, and so the two make a bet to get their writing back on track.

Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews

Aspiring writer Florence is determined to get her stories published, no matter what it takes. But after her initial underhanded efforts to get a book deal result in getting fired from her low-level publishing job, she receives a fortuitously-timed offer to play assistant to a blockbuster novelist whose identity is a closely-guarded secret. Soon she's privy to the secrets of “Maud Dixon,” who hit the bestseller charts with her debut about a sinister Southern murder, but whose sophomore novel is long overdue to the publisher. When the prickly writer invites Florence to accompany her on a research trip to Morocco, Florence can't say yes fast enough...

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

This contemporary story puts a fresh spin on A Room with a View, but you don't need to be familiar with E.M. Forster's classic to enjoy this glittery, glamorous, and gossipy novel that opens on an island holiday in Capri—and then jumps forward several years to a decadent summer vacation in East Hampton.

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Searle

When twenty-something Katy loses her mother to cancer, she loses her best friend in the world, and she has no idea what to do next. She makes the difficult decision to travel to the Amalfi Coast—painful, because she and her mother had planned to take this trip together. At a charming hotel in Positano, Katy imagines what her own mother's visit must have been like many years before, when she first visited the hotel in which Katy is finding solace. But then—Katy's mother appears, in the flesh, though she isn't yet Katy's mother, because she's just thirty years old. 

The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson

From the author of Meet Me at the Museum, a story of three women brought together by a small narrowboat who embark together on a journey through the river canals of rural England. One woman anxiously awaits a surgery, one has given up her ordinary life to become a free spirit, one is unsure if she'll return to her husband when the journey is done—but until those looming realities need to be faced, they'll spend the summer together (along with one small dog) enjoying the scenery as they wend their way down the river at 4mph.

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau

This 1970s coming of age story features 14-year-old Mary Jane, a sheltered girl from a respectable Baltimore family whose life changes the summer she nannies for a local doctor ... whose best client is about to become a live-in rock star in rehab. Mary Jane can't tell a soul what she sees in that house: the rock star's presence is a tightly-kept secret, plus her prim parents would make her quit if they grasped just how much their family sensibilities differ from those of her employers. She's left on her own to process her introduction to the baffling adult world of sex, drugs, friendship, and rivalry, as well as her burgeoning friendship with the rock star's wife, an actress she's long admired.

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

To her great surprise, 39-year-old gallery owner Solène falls madly in love with a 20-year-old member of the boy band August Moon, embarking on an initially secret and then all-too-public relationship that unfolds in glamorous (read: seriously fun to read about) settings all over the world.

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

The titular hotel’s Gilded Age glory days are long gone: it’s a real dump (and in a fun plot twist—haunted!) when London billionaire Xavier Darling buys it sight unseen. The new owner hires local restaurateur Lizbet Keaton to make his hotel the best property on the island, if not the whole Eastern seaboard. And that means The Hotel Nantucket has to wow Shelly Carpenter, the influencer who’s become a national obsession for her blog Hotel Confidential. The influential critic regularly reviews hotels for her eighteen million followers and awards each property anywhere from one to five keys. The staff is energized by this audacious goal, because no hotel has ever earned five keys from Shelly Carpenter. To earn the coveted fifth key, they’ll have to do everything right.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

In this summer novel, three friends embark on a road trip on the Lincoln Highway, the very real road that stretches between San Francisco and New York City. Each eighteen-year-old has their own reasons for wanting to escape their circumstances and find a better place. Along the way they meet all kinds of characters and embark on adventures big and small, making decisions that are sure to change the course of their lives forever. 

YOUNG ADULT

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

In this fast-paced YA debut, a girl travels halfway around the world to find herself—and maybe find love, too. Ever Wong is an eighteen-year-old Asian American girl in Ohio, a talented dancer who harbors dreams of pursuing professional dance, though she hides those ambitions from her family. When her parents find out she’s considering dance instead of med school, they send her to Taiwan to spend the rest of the summer at Chien Tan, an immersive high school program devoted to language and culture. When Ever arrives she’s surprised to discover that far from the scholarly experience she expected, the students themselves call the program “Loveboat,” because it’s tons of fun and so many long-term relationships begin here.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Isabel "Belly" Conklin lives for summers at the beach with her family—and her mother's best friend and her so
ns Jeremiah and Conrad. They've always been her summer companions, extra brothers to annoy her from June through August. But this summer, everything changes as Belly has to chose where her affections will lie. 

Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass

In this tropical YA spin on Persuasion, Reyna and Aiden grew up and fell in love on the island of Tobago. Reyna feels stuck on the island, because her family owns a beautiful seaside resort she promised her mother she'd take ownership of one day. But Aiden's band hit it big, so he left to pursue his dreams. After a two-year absence, circumstances bring the two together again, and Reyna can't help but remember why she once thought they'd be together forever. 

 

summer's hottest ebooks

 "Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting."
--"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

We know waiting is difficult, but here are some suggestions to tide you over while you wait for the summer's hottest ebooks and eaudiobooks!

Download the Hoopla app and log in with a valid library card for instant, anytime access to Hoopla's entire catalog of ebooks, eaudiobooks, music, movies, and graphic novels/comics!  Hoopla is available to residents within the city limits of the following communities: Birmingham, Center Point, Gardendale, Homewood, Hoover, Irondale, Leeds, Mountain Brook, Pinson, Pleasant Grove, Trussville, Vestavia Hills, and Warrior.

These are the top 5 most popular ebook titles with the longest holdlists.  Whet your appetite with something else while you wait!

·       Happy Place by Emily Henry

·       Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

·       Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

·       Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

·       Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (THISTITLE IS INSTANTLY AVAILABLE IN EBOOK AND EAUDIOBOOK ON HOOPLA!)

HAPPY PLACE

Stay by Allie Larkin (ebook on Libby)
Savannah “Van” Leone has been in love with Peter Clarke since their first day of college. Six years later, Peter is marrying Van's best friend, Janie. After the wedding, nursing her broken heart with a Rin Tin Tin marathon plus a vodka chaser, Van accidentally orders a German Shepherd puppy over the Internet. When “Joe” turns out to be a hundred-pound beast who only responds to commands in Slovak, Van is at the end of her rope-until she realizes that sometimes life needs to get more complicated before it can get better.

You Had Me at Hello by Mhairi McFarlane (ebook on Hoopla)
Rachel and Ben. Ben and Rachel. It was them against the world. Until it all fell apart. Ten years after they said goodbye, Rachel bumps into Ben one rainy day. As they talk, the years melt away. But life has moved on. Ben is married. Rachel is not. And slowly but surely, Rachel feels the return of the broken heart she can′t do anything to mend.

Mhairi McFarlane also has other great titles available in ebook & eaudio on Hoopla and Libby.

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
The USA Today bestselling author is back with a hilarious rom-com about two strangers who get trapped in a lie and have to fake date their way out of it...

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (ebook & eaudio on Libby) **this may have as many holds as Emily Henry’s books but it’s a perfect readalike and worth the wait!
Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic story of love and the people and choices that mark us forever.

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha (ebook on Hoopla)
A darkly comic debut, bursting with vibrant Brazilian spirit and unforgettable characters – a jubilant novel about the emancipation of women.

Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict (ebook on Hoopla, ebook on Libby)
Marie Benedict's powerful new novel shines a light on Rosalind Franklin, a woman who sacrificed her life to discover the nature of our very DNA, a woman whose world-changing contributions were hidden by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind.

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz (ebook onLibby)
Two women’s lives, separated by 30 years, intertwine as war breaks out across the timeline--a war that threatens to destroy time travel and leave only a small group of elites with the power to shape the past, present, and future. Against the vast and intricate forces of history and humanity, is it possible for a single person’s actions to echo throughout the timeline?

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz (ebook on Libby)
A"rollicking biography" (People Magazine) and extraordinarily entertaining account of how Julia Child transformed herself into the cult figure who touched off a food revolution that has gripped the country for decades.

Half Life by Jillian Cantor (ebook on Libby and ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
The USA Today bestselling author reimagines the pioneering, passionate life of Marie Curie using a parallel structure to create two alternative timelines, one that mirrors her real life, one that explores the consequences for Marie and for science if she’d made a different choice.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla, ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Meg - the sweet-tempered one. Jo - the smart one. Beth - the shy one. Amy - the sassy one. 
Together they're the March sisters. Their father is away at war and times are difficult, but the bond between the sisters is strong. Through sisterly squabbles, happy times and sad, their lives follow different paths, and they discover growing up is sometimes very hard to do. . . 

Maame by Jessica George (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George's Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla, ebook & eaudio on Libby)
In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic. A smart, funny, gorgeous retelling.

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
In Mary Beth Keane's extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.

The Lost Family by Jenna Blum (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
Jenna Blum artfully brings to the page a husband devastated by a grief he cannot name, a frustrated wife struggling to compete with a ghost she cannot banish, and a daughter sensitive to the pain of both her own family and another lost before she was born. Spanning three cinematic decades, The Lost Family is a charming, funny, and elegantly bittersweet study of the repercussions of loss and love.

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
With the unexpected arrival of a child placed for adoption by one of their daughters fifteen years before, the Sorensons will be forced to reckon with the rich and varied tapestry of their past. As they grapple with years marred by adolescent angst, infidelity, and resentment, they also find the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile.

Shaky Town by Lou Mathew (ebook on Hoopla)
Welcome to Shaky Town, a place invisible on maps and found only in the secret heart of its citizens. In this masterwork of panoramic style, Lou Mathews—a former mechanic and street racer—weaves together the tragedies and glories of one eastside neighborhood in the 1980s. A luminous achievement of peerless authenticity, Shaky Town captures the grit and gold of working-class Los Angeles and lays down Matthews's marker as one of the city’s great chroniclers.

ROMANTIC COMEDY

Other ebooks by Curtis Sittenfeld on Libby

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
Olivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who’s secretly posting fanfiction of his own. 

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
“Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!” —Reese Witherspoon

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

DEMON COPPERHEAD (THIS TITLE IS INSTANTLY AVAILABLE INEBOOK AND EAUDIOBOOK ON HOOPLA!)

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (ebook on Libby, ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
The story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
Over the course of one humid summer, as the urge to procreate overtakes the lush countryside, this novel's intriguing protagonists—a reclusive wildlife biologist, a young farmer's wife marooned far from home, and a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors—face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with whom they necessarily share a place.

The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg (ebook & eaudio on Libby, eaudio on Hoopla)
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. This is a mill story—not of bricks, steel, and cotton, but of the people who suffered it to live.

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Ree Dolly's father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the Dollys will lose their house if he doesn't show up for his next court date. With two young brothers depending on her, 16-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. Living in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks, Ree learns quickly that asking questions of the rough Dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. But, as an unsettling revelation lurks, Ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost.

White Trash by Nancy Isenberg (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
In her groundbreaking  bestselling history of the class system in America, Nancy Isenberg takes on our comforting myths about equality, uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassing—if occasionally entertaining—poor white trash.

Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime.

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Urgent and compassionate, Signal Fires is a magical story for our times, a literary tour de force by a masterful storyteller at the height of her powers. A luminous meditation on family, memory, and the healing power of interconnectedness.

Here are the top 5 most popular eaudiobook titles with the longest holdlists.  Bide your time with a listenalike!

·       Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

·       Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (THISTITLE IS INSTANTLY AVAILABLE IN EBOOK AND EAUDIOBOOK ON HOOPLA!)

·       Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

·       Happy Place by Emily Henry

·       Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW

Followers by Megan Angelo (ebook & eaudio on Libby, ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
“This dark, pitch-perfect novel about our dependence on technology for validation and human connection is as addictive as social media itself.” —People Magazine

The Overstory by Richard Powers (eaudio on Hoopla)
From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours―vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. 

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla, ebook & eaudio on Libby)
For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise—an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship

Libby ebook only for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. 

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES (THIS TITLE IS INSTANTLYAVAILABLE IN EBOOK AND EAUDIOBOOK ON HOOPLA!)

Ebook only on Hoopla and Libby for The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey
A remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world can illuminate our own human existence, while providing an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (ebook & audio on Hoopla, ebook & eaudio on Libby)
This New York Times bestselling novel from Garth Stein is a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope as well as a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.

Inland by Tea Obreht (eaudio on Libby)
Mythical, lyrical, and sweeping in scope, Inland is grounded in true but little-known history. It showcases all of Téa Obreht’s talents as a writer, as she subverts and reimagines the myths of the American West, making them entirely—and unforgettably—her own.

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman (eaudio on Libby)
When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg—of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it—she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she’s given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery (eaudio on Hoopla)
This “fascinating…touching…informative…entertaining” (The Daily Beast) book explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (eaudio on Libby)
Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel is “an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a poignant meditation on love and loneliness” (The Associated Press).

Dog on It by Spencer Quinn (eaudio on Hoopla)
Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, and Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, are quick to take a new case involving a frantic mother searching for her teenage daughter. With Chet’s highly trained nose leading the way, their hunt for clues takes them into the desert to biker bars and other exotic locales—until the bad guys try to turn the tables and the resourceful duo lands in the paws of peril.

Honorable mention, but not available digitally: Genesis by Bernard Beckett
In this brilliant novel of dazzling ingenuity, Anax’s examination to be admitted into the Academy—the elite governing institution of her utopian society—leads us into a future where we are confronted with unresolved questions raised by science and philosophy. Centuries old, these questions have gained new urgency in the face of rapidly developing technology. What is consciousness? What makes us human? If artificial intelligence were developed to a high enough capability, what special status could humanity still claim? 

PINEAPPLE STREET

The Guncle by Steven Rowley (eaudio on Libby)
A warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (eaudio on Libby, eaudioon Hoopla)
A warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives.

The Mothers by Brit Bennett (eaudio on Libby)
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth.

Family Trust by Kathy Wang (eaudio on Hoopla)
Spanning themes of culture, ambition, love and – most of all – family, this sparkling debut is a sharp, funny and loving portrait of modern Asian-American life.

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan (eaudio on Libby)
Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, Exciting Times is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. In stylish, uncluttered prose, Naoise Dolan dissects the personal and financial transactions that make up a life—and announces herself as a singular new voice.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward (eaudio on Hoopla)
Can four lost adults find the peace they’ve been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back together? The Jetsetters is a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood.

HAPPY PLACE

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
With its keen observations of creative life in America today, as well as the joys and complications of being a mother and a daughter, Seven Days in June is a hilarious, romantic, and sexy-as-hell story of two writers discovering their second chance at love.

A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla, ebook & eaudio on Libby)
The national bestselling author of You Had Me at Hola returns with a seductive second-chance romance about a commitment-phobic Latina and her childhood best friend who has finally returned home.

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
From “the undisputed boss of the beach read” (The New York Times), The Summer Place is a testament to family in all its messy glory; a story about what we sacrifice and how we forgive. Enthralling, witty, big-hearted, and sharply observed, this is Jennifer Weiner’s love letter to the Outer Cape and the power of home, the way our lives are enriched by the people we call family, and the endless ways love can surprise us.

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble and when he loses his cool at their already strained relationship, Thea asks for a divorce. 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.

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

Florence Gordon by Brian Morton (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
Meet Florence Gordon, a blunt, brilliant feminist. At seventy-five, Florence wants to be left alone to write her memoir and shape her legacy. But when her son and his family come to visit, they embroil Florence in their dramas, threatening her coveted solitude. Marked with searing wit, sophisticated intelligence, and a tender respect for humanity, Florence Gordon is cast with a constellation of unforgettable characters. 

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times).

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Meg Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. It’s a story about the people who guide and the people who follow (and how those roles evolve over time), and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (ebook & eaudio on Hoopla)
Chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: young, brilliant, beautiful, and enormously talented, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther’s breakdown with such intensity that Esther’s neurosis becomes completely understandable and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such thorough exploration of the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche - and the profound collective loneliness that modern society has yet to find a solution for - is an extraordinary accomplishment, and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.

Memphis by Tara Stringfellow (ebook & eaudio on Libby)
A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.

Succession success

Not ready to say goodbye to the Roys' world of corporate greed, family infighting, and dynastic wealth? Then keep the boom times rolling with this juicy collection of books.

We That Are Young by Preji Taneja

When an aging hotel tycoon attempts to split his company shares among his three daughters, his youngest refuses to play into his wishes, and a family-wide power struggle begins. 

The Darlings by Cristina Alger

After marrying the daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, Paul Ross finds himself surrounded by all the trappings of New York luxury. When he loses his job, he gratefully accepts a new role working as a lawyer for his father-in-law’s hedge fund. Things take a quick, catastrophic turn after it’s discovered that a member of the firm was running a Ponzi scheme, thrusting Paul into the thick of SEC investigations that force him to determine where his true loyalties lie.

Growing Up Getty: The Story of America's Most Unconventional Dynasty by James Reginato

While most people have seen the Getty Images watermark splashed across a photo or have heard tales of family patriarch Jean Paul Getty’s notorious frugality, few know about the Getty family’s wide pool of fascinating descendants. Growing Up Getty offers a comprehensive look into the family offering a compassionate portrait of an American dynasty.

The Heirs by Susan Rieger

The Falkes family deals with inheritance and grief after the family patriarch, Rupert, dies. Rupert’s widow and five sons are forced to put their grieving on hold after a stranger sues the estate with claims that Rupert fathered her two sons. The damning allegations throw the children into a tailspin as they grapple with matters of inheritance and questioning what kind of people their parents really were.

The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden

Before it was a flashy Lady Gaga and Adam Driver-helmed movie, The House of Gucci was a meticulously reported book. This title fleshes out the multi-generational rise of the Gucci dynasty and the family’s troubles, which eventually led to their separation from the brand. The story hinges on Gucci heir Maurizio Gucci’s assassination, which his ex-wife was eventually convicted for arranging, and the events that led up to his tragic end. 

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

When Rachel goes to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time, she’s shocked to learn that he comes from one of the richest families in Asia. Although her boyfriend, Nick, initially believed that his family would accept his middle-class girlfriend after raising him to be humble and frugal, things take a turn for the worse when Nick’s mother makes it her mission to drive the young couple apart. 

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

While the Sackler family’s involvement with pharmaceuticals has previously been documented, it wasn’t until the release of Empire of Pain that their true reach and impact was fully examined. In this book, investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe details the family’s connection to the drug industry, mainly in the form of Purdue Pharma, the company behind the painkiller OxyContin. Through in-depth reporting, Radden Keefe reveals the ways that the development, approval, and marketing of OxyContin influenced the ongoing opioid crisis. 

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

When the Plumb family patriarch originally created “The Nest,” a joint trust fund for his four children, he intended for it to be a reasonable sum of money that they could fall back on. By the time the siblings are finally old enough to receive the money, the trust has grown exponentially, thanks to the stock market—and so has the children’s need for it. Each desperate in their own way, the siblings meet up after the eldest brother’s drunk driving accident threatens their much-anticipated financial lifeboat. 

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

A King Lear reimagining (this one took home a Pulitzer in 1992), A Thousand Acres puts a rural spin on the classic tale. When a successful Iowa farmer tries to divide up his expansive land holdings among his three daughters, his youngest rebukes him and gets cut out of the will altogether. 

Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty by Jerry Oppenheimer

Johnson & Johnson is a near-universally known brand, but the dynasty is also characterized by scandal and tragedy. In Crazy Rich, the Johnson family’s legacy of dysfunction is put under the microscope, from the many marriages (and subsequent divorces) to the multitude of lawsuits. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

When the four Riva children gather for the eldest sister’s annual end-of-summer party, they’re forced to grapple with the after-effects of their upbringing and their parents’ tumultuous marriage. When their famous singer father shares his hope to rejoin in their lives, the Rivas must decide what grace fully-grown children are obligated to extend to their parents.

The Windfall by Diksha Basu

When entrepreneur Mr. Jha’s latest internet venture pays off, to the tune of $20 million, his first order of business is uprooting his family from their cramped housing complex and into a notoriously wealthy part of New Delhi. The Jhas quickly discover a brand new set of rules for their newfound way of life, which just might make them question who they are at their very core. 

Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams

Unscripted details the recent power play for what is now Paramount Global after Sumner Redstone resigned from his role as executive chairman following concerns about his competency. The book details the family’s fight to maintain control of the corporation, with Redstone’s daughter Shari shouldering the bulk of the responsibility. 

There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future by Kara Swisher

Step back into the time machine of meta-narratives and mergers with Pivot co-host (and official Succession podcast host) Kara Swisher’s definite saga on the 2000 AOL–Time Warner merger implosion for a look at how dramatic and devastating the effects of faulty strategy, poor execution, and petty men can be.

The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country by Gabriel Sherman

From his humble working-class origins to his long tenure at the top of the media and political dogpile, Ailes’s story is as engrossing as it is outrageous. If you’re in a viewing sort of mood, Showtime also adapted the book into a 2019 miniseries starring a disarmingly chilling Russell Crowe. 

Disneywar: Intrigue, Treachery, and Deceit in the Magic Kingdom by James B. Stewart

Jeremy Strong likened DisneyWar to the War of the Roses to GQ in 2018 and cited the text as an essential reference for building Kendall’s character. In the same interview, Nicholas Braun admitted to abandoning reading the book as part of his prep for Greg. It’s a gripping account of how some incredible executive pettiness during the rise and fall of Michael Eisner’s time at Disney shaped a great deal of entertainment in the late ’80s and early ’90s. And in the continuing parallels between real life and Succession, DisneyWar captures the rise of a not-inconsequential executive named Bob Iger, who would take Disney post-Eisner into a new age of success and to whom, in 2019, Rupert Murdoch would sell Fox in a surprise acquisition deal.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko is the fictional saga of a multigenerational Korean family living in Japan, rising from abject poverty, and highlighting not only how family secrets and strife are carried from one generation to the next but also how the indirect effects of colonial occupation and immigration are passed on. 

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

Truly, the final book in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians trilogy has the perfect title for any kind of story about the Über-wealthy. In arguably his best book, Kwan closes the story of Rachel Chu and Nick Young by following Nick’s bid to make amends with his family and inherit his grandmother’s estate. It’s a candy-colored familial romp with a satisfactory, surprising ending and sparkly descriptions of glitzy opulence, perfect summer reading on one’s private beach or yacht deck.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

King Lear seems the logical choice but instead, revisit another iconic sad boy and what happens when those with all the power fight over that power. There is no innocent, redemptive Cordelia figure in Succession, and just like in the Danish tragedy, there is perhaps no innocent figure among the players of Succession. Also, Tom and Greg are totally Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

The layers of allusion, inspiration, and direct references woven within Succession’s writing and art direction reflect how cerebrally rich the show is. Its references to Dante’s journey through hell in the first part of his “Divine Comedy” are perhaps both most and least subtle in the second season: Center stage in the key art is William Adolphe-Bouguereau’s Dante and Virgil, depicting the author and his guide as they pass by two condemned men fighting each other in the eighth circle for falsifiers and counterfeiters. Turn directly to Canto XXX in “Inferno” for the corresponding, excoriating passage on truth, consequences, and bearing witness to sinners.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

Caligula and Corialanus, Romulus and Remus, Nero and Sporus … if you don’t know your ancient Roman history, you may be missing some of the more explicit references that the characters themselves make to each other throughout Succession. It is also likely not a coincidence that Gibbon’s oft-cited work chronicles the decline and fall of an empire.