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Michiko Kakutani, author of Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread

In the introduction to her new collection of essays, Michiko Kakutani writes: "In a world riven by political and social divisions, literature can connect people across time zones and zip codes, across cultures and religions, national boundaries and historical eras. It can give us an understanding of lives very different from our own, and a sense of the shared joys and losses of human experience." Readers will discover novels and memoirs by some of the most gifted writers working today; favorite classics worth reading or rereading; and nonfiction works, both old and new, that illuminate our social and political landscape and some of today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to medicine to the consequences of digital innovation.

Stuart Woods, author of Shakeup: A Stone Barrington Novel

Upon returning from a dangerous coastal adventure, Stone Barrington is looking forward to some normalcy with the leading lady in his life. But when a grisly crime arrives on his doorstep, along with some suspicious new clients eager for his help, Stone realizes peace and quiet are no longer an option. As it turns out, the mastermind behind the malfeasance rocking New York City and the nation's capital wields a heavy hand of influence. And when Stone is unable to recruit those closest to the case to his side, he is left with few leads and a handful of dead-ends. But with the help of important people in high places --- and the expertise of alluring new friends --- Stone is more than ready to rise to the occasion.

Christie Tate, author of Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

Christie Tate had just been named the top student in her law school class and finally had her eating disorder under control. Why then was she driving through Chicago fantasizing about her own death? Why was she envisioning putting an end to the isolation and sadness that still plagued her in spite of her achievements? Enter Dr. Rosen, a therapist who calmly assures her that if she joins one of his psychotherapy groups, he can transform her life. All she has to do is show up and be honest about everything. Christie is skeptical, insisting that she is defective, but Dr. Rosen issues a nine-word prescription that will change everything: “You don’t need a cure, you need a witness.” So begins her entry into the strange, terrifying and ultimately life-changing world of group therapy.

Bryan Washington, author of Memorial

Benson and Mike have been together for a few years, but now they're not sure why they're still a couple. When Mike finds out that his estranged father is dying in Osaka just as his acerbic Japanese mother, Mitsuko, arrives in Texas for a visit, Mike picks up and flies across the world to say goodbye. In Japan, he undergoes an extraordinary transformation, discovering the truth about his family and his past. Back home, Mitsuko and Benson are stuck living together as unconventional roommates, an absurd domestic situation that ends up meaning more to each of them than they ever could have predicted. Without Mike's immediate pull, Benson begins to push outwards, realizing he might just know what he wants out of life and have the goods to get it.

Jess Walter, author of The Cold Millions

The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. While 16-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his older brother, Gig, dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar and introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous creature: a mining magnate determined to keep his wealth and his hold on Ursula. Dubious of Gig’s idealism, Rye finds himself drawn to a fearless 19-year-old activist and feminist named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all, and Rye will be forced to decide where he stands.

Lee Child, author of The Sentinel: A Jack Reacher Novel

In broad daylight, in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee, Jack Reacher spots a hapless soul walking into an ambush. He intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution. The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town’s data, records, information…and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent and clear his name. Reacher is intrigued; there’s more to the story. The bad guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something serious and deadly, involving a conspiracy, a cover-up and murder --- all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he’s up against.

Editorial Content for Three Women Disappear

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

It is appropriate that the latest James Patterson book is being released during Halloween week, because this package is overflowing with treats. Patterson and co-author Shan Serafin gift readers with THREE WOMEN DISAPPEAR, a full-length murder mystery, as well as COME AND GET IT, a short novel. Either title published on its own would be worth the price of admission. So the presence of both under one cover is almost as good as double-dipping on the giant Hershey bars at that neighborhood house that always passes out the best candy. Read More

Teaser

Accountant Anthony Costello has a talent for manipulating both numbers and people, turning losses into profits, enemies into allies --- and vice versa. When Costello is found murdered in his own home, three suspects had motive. All three had access to his home. And all three women are missing. Are they in the wind --- or in the grave? Eyes are on Detective Sean Walsh, whose personal connection to the case is stronger than leads to solve it. Neither the powerful bankroll behind Costello nor Walsh's vengeful superior officer can budge the investigation, yet as Walsh continues to dig, he uncovers even more reasons the women have to stay hidden --- from the law, and from each other.

Promo

Accountant Anthony Costello has a talent for manipulating both numbers and people, turning losses into profits, enemies into allies --- and vice versa. When Costello is found murdered in his own home, three suspects had motive. All three had access to his home. And all three women are missing. Are they in the wind --- or in the grave? Eyes are on Detective Sean Walsh, whose personal connection to the case is stronger than leads to solve it. Neither the powerful bankroll behind Costello nor Walsh's vengeful superior officer can budge the investigation, yet as Walsh continues to dig, he uncovers even more reasons the women have to stay hidden --- from the law, and from each other.

About the Book

A man is dead and the three possible witnesses are missing as one detective watches his personal connections to the crime grow stronger and stronger while the case develops in this twisted mystery.

Sarah, his personal chef
Anna, his wife
Serena, his maid

Accountant Anthony Costello has a talent for manipulating both numbers and people, turning losses into profits, enemies into allies --- and vice versa. When Costello is found murdered in his own home, three suspects had motive. All three had access to his home. And all three women are missing. Are they in the wind --- or in the grave?

Eyes are on Detective Sean Walsh, whose personal connection to the case is stronger than leads to solve it. Neither the powerful bankroll behind Costello nor Walsh's vengeful superior officer can budge the investigation, yet as Walsh continues to dig, he uncovers even more reasons the women have to stay hidden --- from the law, and from each other.

Audiobook available; read by Chloe Cannon, Susannah Jones, Joshua Kane, Christie Moreau, Molly Parker Myers and Aida Reluzco

Editorial Content for Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Cindy Burnett

Reading a Rick Bragg book is like sitting down with an old friend --- a cantankerous and frequently funny old friend. In WHERE I COME FROM, Bragg reflects on life in the South, including growing up there, the small things in life that make a difference, and the importance of traditions. This is a collection of some of his best columns written for Southern Living and Garden & Gun. His diehard fans will revel in revisiting their favorites, while newcomers will enjoy his wit and wisdom and his insight on a wide range of seemingly ordinary topics. Read More

Teaser

In this irresistible collection of wide-ranging and endearingly personal columns culled from his best-loved pieces in Southern Living and Garden & Gun, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Rick Bragg muses on everything from his love of Tupperware to the decline of country music; from the legacy of Harper Lee to the metamorphosis of the pickup truck; and from the best way to kill fire ants to why any self-respecting Southern man worth his salt should carry a good knife. WHERE I COME FROM celebrates “a litany of great talkers, blue-green waters, deep casseroles, kitchen-sink permanents, lying fishermen, haunted mansions, and dogs that never die, things that make this place more than a dotted line on a map or a long-ago failed rebellion, even if only in some cold-weather dream.”

Promo

In this irresistible collection of wide-ranging and endearingly personal columns culled from his best-loved pieces in Southern Living and Garden & Gun, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Rick Bragg muses on everything from his love of Tupperware to the decline of country music; from the legacy of Harper Lee to the metamorphosis of the pickup truck; and from the best way to kill fire ants to why any self-respecting Southern man worth his salt should carry a good knife. WHERE I COME FROM celebrates “a litany of great talkers, blue-green waters, deep casseroles, kitchen-sink permanents, lying fishermen, haunted mansions, and dogs that never die, things that make this place more than a dotted line on a map or a long-ago failed rebellion, even if only in some cold-weather dream.”

About the Book

In this irresistible collection of wide-ranging and endearingly personal columns culled from his best-loved pieces in Southern Living and Garden & Gun, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Rick Bragg muses on everything from his love of Tupperware to the decline of country music; from the legacy of Harper Lee to the metamorphosis of the pickup truck; and from the best way to kill fire ants to why any self-respecting Southern man worth his salt should carry a good knife.
 
An ode to the stories and the history of the South, crackling with tenderness, wit and deep affection, WHERE I COME FROM celebrates “a litany of great talkers, blue-green waters, deep casseroles, kitchen-sink permanents, lying fishermen, haunted mansions, and dogs that never die, things that make this place more than a dotted line on a map or a long-ago failed rebellion, even if only in some cold-weather dream.” Evoking the beauty and the odd particularity of humble origins, Bragg's searching vision, generous humor and richly nuanced voice bring a place, a people and a world vividly to life.

Audiobook available, read by Rick Bragg

Editorial Content for Plain Bad Heroines

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Maya Gittelman

A story can be a doorway to a mirror, revealing a previously unknown reflection of oneself that seems all at once truer than any reflection ever has been before. This can be a lifesaving thing but also can be fraught with danger; for a queer person, an unruly woman or (imagine!) both, the world is not often a safe place for authenticity. Mary MacLane’s real-life book, I AWAIT THE DEVIL’S COMING, serves as this doorway to the many protagonists for Emily M. Danforth’s ambitious gothic novel. Read More

Teaser

Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them. Less than five years later, the school closes its doors forever --- but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property. Over a century later, Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution.

Promo

Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them. Less than five years later, the school closes its doors forever --- but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property. Over a century later, Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution.

About the Book

The award-winning author of THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST makes her adult debut with this highly imaginative and original horror-comedy centered on a cursed New England boarding school for girls --- a wickedly whimsical celebration of the art of storytelling, sapphic love and the rebellious female spirit.

Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever --- but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, oppo­site B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern her­oines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled --- or perhaps just grimly exploited --- and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period-inspired illustrations, PLAIN BAD HEROINES is a devilishly haunting, modern masterwork of metafiction that manages to combine the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters with the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl and the sharp humor and incisive social commentary of Curtis Sittenfeld into one laugh-out-loud funny, spellbinding and wonderfully luxuriant read.

Audiobook available, read by Xe Sands

Editorial Content for Crazy Stupid Bromance

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Wasniak

Do you think that romance novels are worthless and trashy? Well, think again because they just might be life-changing when the all-male Bromance Book Club uses them as guides to improve their relationships with their spouses! I’m finding Lyssa Kay Adams’ series to be original, steamy and downright entertaining. The men’s interactions and advice are hilarious and heartfelt. Read More

Teaser

Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts --- her best friend, Noah Logan. Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah has a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.

Promo

Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts --- her best friend, Noah Logan. Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah has a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.

About the Book

A hacktivist and a cat café owner decode the friend zone in this romantic comedy from the author of UNDERCOVER BROMANCE.

Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts --- her best friend, Noah Logan.

Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.

Noah’s pals in The Bromance Book Club are more than willing to share their beloved “manuals” to help him go from bud to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had.

Audiobook available, read by Andrew Eiden