ADULT FICTION
” Anima Rising: A Novel” by Christopher Moore — “Hilarious . . . [Moore’s] imagination swings into overdrive. He contemplates the sex lives of Klimt and Egon Schiele, writes pastiches derived from Frankenstein and the Freud-Jung correspondence, and even finds room to include a grating failed artist named Hitler. . . Plenty of fun to be had.” — Publishers Weekly
“Atmosphere: A Love Story” by Taylor Jenkins Reid — “Thrilling . . . heartbreaking . . . uplifting. . . Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel, Atmosphere, is the fast-paced, emotionally charged story of one ambitious young woman finding both her voice and her passion as she fights to become one of the first female NASA astronauts in the 1980s. You’ll barrel through this electric novel, rooting for the women to not only succeed in the space program but to soar. A pitch-perfect ending . . . I loved it.”—Kristin Hannah, author of The Women
“Beach House Rules” by Kristy Woods Harvey — “Charming and beachy in the best way, Beach House Rules will appeal to those looking for an escape with emotional depth.” — Booklist, starred review
“Big Bad Wool” by Leonie Swann — “Witty . . . As in the previous book, Swann gives each of her animal protagonists a distinctive voice and personality, and she stirs up hilarious misunderstandings between the flock and their human counterparts. The mystery itself is brisk and surprising. Cozy mystery fans will be delighted.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Consider Yourself Kissed” by Jessica Stanley — “Follows Coralie’s journey through a decade of love affair with single dad Adam, marriage and motherhood, exploring the complexities of balancing personal aspirations with the demands of family life against the backdrop of a tumultuous era in British history. ” — Atlas Publishing
“Crush” by Ada Calhoun — “[In Crush,] Calhoun’s cleverest feat is blowing us along in this whirlwind of desire and possibility. As ever, Calhoun suggests, women must carve some new path through a thicket of emotional briars. That may sound grim, but rest assured this is not another tale about women’s sexuality that’s so depressing.” —The Washington Post
“Death at the White Hart: A Novel” by Chris Chibnall — “Despite the contemporary setting, there’s a classic feel to this police procedural. The mystery is rooted in human emotions, like classic whodunits of a century ago. The cast of suspects is varied and interesting, much more than stereotype or even archetype, but the true delight is the introduction of Nicola and her team, a group of misfits who complement each other with dry humor and absolute commitment to their jobs. Hopefully, this is the start of a beautiful series.” —Kirkus
“Fever Beach: A Novel” by Carl Hiassen — “Carl Hiaasen’s Fever Beach turns, like many of his novels, on the actions of a collection of enthusiastic, comically unfocused malcontents….Mr. Hiaasen’s eye for the absurd, like his ear for dialogue, is as sharp as ever.” — Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal
“Float Test” by Lynn Steger Strong — “Lynn Steger Strong’s exquisitely written fourth novel, The Float Test, is a piercing portrait of the Kenner clan … Steger Strong here experiments with point-of-view and memory, at times seeming to interrogate the validity of the novel form itself.” — Washington Post
“Great Big Beautiful Life” by Emily Henry — “Henry (Funny Story, 2024) continues to burnish her reputation for fashioning sublimely satisfying love stories with another perfectly calibrated, delectably witty tale featuring endearingly quirky, thoughtfully nuanced characters.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Just for the Summer” by Abby Jimenez — “This witty, emotion-filled novel from Jimenez isn’t one to just read, it’s one to sink into.” — Library Journal, starred review
“Mansion Beach” A Novel” by Meg Mitchell Moore — “Just as F. Scott Fitzgerald did, Moore looks critically at the spectacle of class and wealth. And though it’s fun for a Gatsby fan to note the ways the story follows and diverges from the original’s characters and plot, Mansion Beach stands on its own. It’s a summer read with a bite, like a cocktail with an extra shake of bitters.” — BookPage
“Open Season” by C. J. Box — “…an exciting nonstop ride…CJ Box has the uncanny ability to hold your full attention throughout this intriguing murder mystery….” — Dave Bragonier
“Run for the Hills” by Kevin Wilson — “In Kevin Wilson’s poignant, comic stories, the theatricality of family life often takes center stage. . . . This is Wilson’s special terrain, that sweet hurt where love and disappointment intersect. . . a slim, winsome story.” — Washington Post Book Review
“The Bombshell” by Darrow Farr — “Farr’s accomplished debut deftly balances heady ruminations on colonialism and revolution with relatable human moments…vibrant prose lends texture and urgency, while the fully fleshed characters’ increasingly thorny interpersonal relationships raise the story’s stakes and give it soul. A passionate powder keg of a novel.” —Kirkus Reviews
ADULT BIOGRAPHY
“Notes to John” by Joan Didion — “An intimate chronicle of [Didion’s] struggle to help her daughter. . . . Written with her signature precision though without her usual stylistic, incantatory repetitions, it is the least guarded of Didion’s writing.” —NPR
“Sad Tiger” by Neige Sinno — “Sinno’s prose is equal parts raw and lucid, and it’s enriched by fascinating readings of the sexual abuse depicted in Lolita and other works of literature. This is brilliant.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
ADULT NON-FICTION
“Abundance” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson — “A guide for liberals shaken by an age of factional polarization . . . [Klein and Thompson] are the best in the business at digesting and synthesizing expertise from a host of fields. . . . Abundance might inspire a demoralized Democratic Party to think big again.” —Samuel Moyn, New York Times Book Review
“Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge” by Ian Kumekawa — “A stellar account of a complex offshore world, as seen through the tangled history of a humble barge. . . . Throughout his epic telling, Kumekawa weaves in lucid and eye-opening explanations of the murky worlds of tax havens and loose regulations. The barge is at the heart of it all. The vessel has ‘no motor, no keel, no rudder,’ he writes, but his book has undeniable drive.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power” by Augustine Sedgewick — “Sedgewick describes how thinking about dads has changed over time. What is striking is the sheer variety of nonsense that people have believed . . . [but he] concludes on a personal note. When he asks his young son what a father should be, the boy replies that a dad should be ‘funny and good at hugging.’ As parenting advice goes, that is hard to beat.” —The Economist
“Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves” by Sophie Gilbert — “Gilbert has earned a National Magazine Award and a spot on the Pulitzer Prize shortlist for her work as a critic with The Atlantic. In Girl on Girl, her first book-length work, Gilbert trains her gimlet eye on popular culture in the past 30 years and the ways that its pervasive images “calibrated to male desire” have reduced, distorted and ultimately undermined the promises of feminism.” —NPR.org
“Let’s Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives and Makers” by Shannon Downey — “This stimulating, thoughtfully-organized guide to craftivism will appeal both to activist-minded creatives and noncrafters looking for practical steps to help turn their intentions into action.” ―Library Journal, starred review
“Mother Media: Hot and Cool Parenting in the Twentieth Century” by Hannah Zeavin — “This is a brilliant exploration of mothers’ labor, which Zeavin illuminates as both subterranean and ubiquitous, both ignored and fundamental to a society’s conception of itself. Profound work for a profound topic.” —Lydia Kiesling, author of Mobility
“Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers” by Caroline Fraser — “Murderland is, by design, an extremely disturbing book . . . The killers’ individual stories are skillfully intertwined with suspenseful accounts of the eventually successful efforts to catch (most of) them . . . This propulsive narrative is buttressed by extensive research documented in voluminous footnotes. This is a cautionary tale, not a triumphal one, and Fraser closes with a passionate, angry passage whose biblical cadences ring with righteous fury. Carefully documented though it is, Murderland is at heart a cry of outrage.” —Washington Post
“Native Nations: A Millenium in North America” by Kathleen DuVal — “An essential American history . . . Examining both past and present from an indigenous rather than a European perspective, [Kathleen] DuVal fuses a millennium of Native American history into a thought-provoking, persuasive whole.”””—The Wall Street Journal
“Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark” by Leigh Ann Henion — “In Night Magic, darkness is revered, and its secrets are revealed . . . Henion’s vivid style of nature writing and complementary self-reflection are reminders that witnessing the extraordinary can be as easy as shifting your bedtime back an hour and going outside.”―Scientific American+
“Tequila Wars: Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico” by Ted Genoways — “I am amazed by the research that Ted Genoways has done on the Cuervo family. I treasure these stories of more than two hundred years of my ancestors, particularly the stories of the life of my great-uncle Jose Cuervo―and every word of it is true. . . . May Tequila Wars be read widely, now and for generations to come.” ― Luís Cuervo Hernández, author of La Familia Cuervo
“Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future” by Daniel Lewis –“Lyrical and lovely . . . A mix of personal encounter and plea for conservation. The dozen species that fall under his gaze include the giant redwood, sequoia, bristlecone pine, and ebony. . . . Seriously, who doesn’t love a tree, especially at Christmas?” —The Guardian, “Best Science and Nature Books of 2024”
