Author: enelson

Nine Books to Commemorate Native American Heritage Month

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Beginning with the tribes’ devastating loss of land and the forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools, David Treuer shows how the period of greatest adversity also helped to incubate a unifying Native identity. He traces how conscription in the US military and the pull of urban life brought Indians into the mainstream and modern times, even as it spawned a new generation of resistance. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is an essential, intimate history – and counter-narrative – of a resilient people in a transformative era.

This first complete account of the Lakota Indians traces their rich and often surprising history from the early sixteenth to the early twenty-first century. Pekka Hämäläinen explores the Lakotas’ roots as marginal hunter-gatherers and reveals how they reinvented themselves twice. The Lakotas are imprinted in American historical memory. Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull are iconic figures in the American imagination, but in this groundbreaking book they emerge as something different: the architects of Lakota America.

In December 1866, tensions were rising in Wyoming, between the Native American tribes who had lived on the land for generations and the settlers who would destroy their home. Crazy Horse and his fellow Lakota hunters had been watching for months as Colonel Carrington and his army set up camp on one of the most crucial swaths of hunting ground in hundreds of miles, and began to build forts. A story of protection and betrayal, Ridgeline grapples with essential questions about who owns land: those who are born on it, or those who would kill to claim it.

When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher ‘KC’ Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and no one but his mother was actively looking for him. Unfolding like a gritty mystery, Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance.

Good Friday on the Rez introduces readers to places and people that author, writer, and entrepreneur David Bunnell encounters during his one day, 280-mile road trip from his boyhood Nebraska hometown to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to visit his longtime friend, Vernell White Thunder, a full-blooded Oglala Lakota, descendant of a long line of prominent chiefs and medicine men. This captivating narrative is part memoir and part history. Bunnell shares treasured memories of his time living on and teaching at the reservation.

The Earth Is Weeping is a sweeping, definitive history of the battles and negotiations that destroyed the Indian way of life even as they paved the way for the emergence of the United States we know today. Dramatically relating bloody and tragic events as varied as Wounded Knee, the Nez Perce War, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. As the action moves, we encounter a pageant of fascinating characters and great native leaders such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Red Cloud and the warriors they led.

This is the story of a Native American woman who effectively became the chief of an entrenched patriarchal tribe, the story of a woman who crashed through thick walls of ethnic, racial and gender prejudice, then spent the rest of her life using a unique bicultural identity to improve the lot of her people―physically, emotionally, politically, and spiritually. Joe Starita’s A Warrior of the People is the moving biography of Susan La Flesche Picotte’s inspirational life and dedication to public health, and it will finally shine a light on her numerous accomplishments.

Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances. Killers of the Flower moon is a true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.

New Mysteries, Thrillers, and Fantasy Fiction to Read this Halloween

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Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby–one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years–will surely be their salvation. Funny, tender and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships.

A brand-new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors. This collection of a dozen original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.

When Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom—covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her—she knows she’ll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it’s not what worries her the most. With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it’s only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she’s worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future.

Emery Blackwood’s life changed forever the night her best friend was found dead and the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her. Years later, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence on the misty, remote shores of Saoirse Island and running the family’s business.  Spells for Forgetting is a deeply atmospheric story about ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.

They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

They call themselves the May Mothers–a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time. When the women go out for drinks, they are looking for a fun break from their daily routine. But something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter .Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed.

 Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke – until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor. FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out.

Nine Cookbooks to Devour This Fall Season

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Melissa Clark brings her home cook’s expertise and no-fuss approach to the world of one-pot/pan cooking. With nearly all of the recipes being made in under one hour, the streamlined steps ensure you are in and out of the kitchen without dirtying a multitude of pans or spending more time than you need to on dinner. These are simple, delicious recipes for weekdays, busy evenings, and any time you need to get a delicious, inspiring meal on the table quickly–with as little clean-up as possible.

What’s better than serving your family food they rave about? Keeping it simple, of course! Sure, there are times when you want to spend all day noodling around in the kitchen, but most days we want more oomph with less effort. In The Simply Happy Cookbook, Steve Doocy and his wife, Kathy, provide more than a hundred recipes for their favorite dishes that are just as comforting to make as they are to eat–using fewer ingredients, simpler preparations, and less time in the kitchen.

Make every day Taco Tuesday! Tacos just might be the perfect food. They’re affordable, portable—and delicious! Explore every facet of this quintessential street food with this comprehensive taco recipe book, filled with traditional home-style dishes and expert guidance to help you capture the magic of Mexican tacos. Prepare authentic Mexican tacos from the comfort of your kitchen with this comprehensive taco cookbook.

In Spectacular Spreads, Maegan Brown shares more of her tips and tricks for effortless, stress-free, and foolproof entertaining that will impress your guests and feed a hungry crowd, all while allowing you to relax and enjoy the occasion. Visually exciting and deliciously enticing, the spreads are comprised of easy-to-find fresh and prepared foods and are arranged in beautiful, artful, and whimsical ways.

Fall in love with cooking again with classic family-friendly recipes made quick and easy! With her family-friendly cooking and lifestyle brand ranging from a hit Food Network show to an eponymous magazine to a bestselling line of food and home products to restaurants and shops in her bustling small town, Ree Drummond remains totally in tune with what today’s families want to eat—and comfort, speed, and ease are on the menu.

We may fondly remember the classics like tuna noodle casserole, lasagna, or macaroni and cheese from childhood, but this collection of recipes reveals the incredible versatility—as well as the simplicity, ease, and satisfaction—of a well-baked casserole. With healthy options, sweet options, and even vegetarian options, it’s a treasury for any home cook.

There’s something for everyone in these 125 easy, show-stopping recipes: fewer ingredients, foolproof meal-prepping, effortless entertaining, and everything in between, including vegan and vegetarian options! Especially for home cooks who are pressed for time or just starting out, Half Baked Harvest Super Simple is your go-to for hassle-free meals that never sacrifice taste.

Celebrated author and food blogger Shelly Westerhausen shares the secrets to creating casually chic spreads anyone can make and everyone will enjoy (and envy) in her bestselling Platters and Boards cookbook. This visual cornucopia of a cookbook is the guide to entertaining with effortless style. Organized by time of day, 40 contemporary arrangements are presented with gorgeous photography, easy-to-prepare recipes, suggested meat and drink pairings, and notes on preparation and presentation.

Sweet Paris is a dazzling cookbook featuring 59 seasonal dessert recipes with American and French influences, accompanied by exquisite photographs and tips on serving and hosting with French flair for any occasion, from a casual afternoon teatime to an intimate dinner party to a festive holiday gathering. Frank brings together the best elements of French style and American baking.

New Non-fiction Books to Read in October

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Javier’s adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. A memoir by an acclaimed poet, Solito not only provides an immediate and intimate account of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments.

No one takes chili more seriously than Brian Baumgartner, aka Kevin Malone from The Office! Brian Baumgartner’s first cookbook is about his all-time favorite food both on- and off-screen — chili. With an introduction by Brian with a behind-the-scenes look at the infamous chili scene that made him a chili icon, the book shows his devoted passion for this classic comfort food and its rich history. Brian is a true chili master who is just as serious as his fictional counterpart about making the most perfect pot of chili!

As a seasoned medical technician and union leader, Anthony Almojera thought he understood the toll of the job on first responders. So when a strange new virus (COVID-19) began spreading in New York, Anthony thought that his life and training had prepared him for this new challenge. Following one paramedic into hell and back, Riding the Lightning tells the story of New York City’s darkest days through the eyes of one extraordinary medic and the New Yorkers he serves

Explore the evolution and influences of Stephen King’s body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and discover how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life. Timed with Stephen King’s 75th birthday on September 21, 2022, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences features archival photos and documents from King’s personal collection alongside the stories behind how his novels, novellas, short stories, and adaptations came to be.

From the American Library Association comes a must-read challenge for book lovers and literary activists to explore! Formatted as an interactive recommended reading list from ALA, this one-year challenge tasks readers with a new read each week, all banned or challenged book from yesterday and today. These titles span categories, from fantasy and graphic novel to nonfiction and romance, but are all were challenged or banned at some point in history.

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD–a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, and examines one woman’s ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.

Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, including her beautiful friendship of nearly fifty years with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Dinners with Ruth is an extraordinary account of two women who paved the way for future generations by tearing down professional and legal barriers.

Madman in The Woods is a haunting account of the sixteen years when a young Jamie Gehring and her family lived closer than anyone to Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. They shared their Montana land, their home, and their dinner table with a hermit with a penchant for murder. A work of intricately braided research, journalism, and personal memories, this book is a chilling response to the question: Do you really know your neighbor?

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life. Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

New Fiction Books to Enjoy in October

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Here are the three things the Sullivan family knows to be true: the Chicago Cubs will always be the underdogs; historical progress is inevitable; and their grandfather, Bud, founder of JP Sullivan’s, will always make the best burgers in Oak Park. But when, over the course of three strange months, the Cubs win the World Series, Trump is elected president, and Bud drops dead, suddenly everyone in the family finds themselves doubting all they hold dear. Outrageously funny and wickedly astute, Marrying the Ketchups is a delicious confection by one of our most beloved authors.

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours. A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.

If you could choose your family…you wouldn’t choose the Penningtons. Dimple Pennington knows of her half siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. People Person is a vibrant and charming celebration of discovering family as an adult.

Just weeks after World War II ends, three women from different corners of the world arrive in Germany to run a displaced-persons camp. They long to help rebuild shattered lives—including their own. Charged with the care of more than two thousand camp residents, Martha, Delphine, and Kitty draw on each other’s strength to endure and to give hope when all seems lost. Among these strangers and survivors, they might find the love and closure they need to heal their hearts and leave their troubled pasts behind.

The small town of Paradise is devastated when a star high-school baseball player is found dead at the bottom of a bluff just a day after winning the team’s biggest game. For Jesse, the loss is doubly difficult—the dead teen was the nephew of his colleague, Suitcase Simpson, and Jesse had been coaching the young shortstop. As he searches for answers about how the boy died and why, he is stonewalled at every turn, and it seems that someone is determined to keep him from digging further.

Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother’s disappearance. That she was kidnapped. Murdered. That she took on a new identity to start a new family. That she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions and a woman–especially a Black woman–can find herself on trial for witchcraft. In this powerful and timely novel, Megan Giddings explores the limits women face–and the powers they have to transgress and transcend them.

Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits. It’s named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy. When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey’s new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island’s famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.

At home they are just sisters, but on stage, they are The Salvations. Ruth, Esther, and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, they’ve become a bona fide girl group whose shows are the talk of the Jazz-era Fillmore. On the Rooftop is a stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters’ ambitions for their own lives—set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco.

The latest installment in the highly acclaimed, internationally bestselling Strike series finds Cormoran and Robin ensnared in another winding, wicked case .When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.

New Audiobooks to Enjoy on the Libby App

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Sage Winters always knew her sister was a little different even though they were identical twins. Six years after Rosemary’s death from pneumonia, Sage, now sixteen, still misses her deeply. Sage is stunned to discover that her stepfather has kept a shocking secret: Rosemary didn’t die. She was committed to Willowbrook and has lingered there until just a few days ago, when she went missing.  Fact, fiction, and urban legend blend in this haunting story about a young woman mistakenly imprisoned at Willowbrook, the real-life institution later shuttered for its horrendous abuses.

Natalie Walker is the reason her older brother and sister went to prison more than fifteen years ago. She fled California shortly after that fateful night and hasn’t spoken to anyone in her family since. Ten years later, Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer saying her estranged mother has died and left the family’s historic Santa Cruz house to her–sort of. To inherit it, Natalie and her siblings must claim it together. This is a novel about learning to love and forgive your family, even when they accidently put you behind bars.

All it takes is the right book to turn a Book Hater into a Book Lover. That was Elliott’s belief and the reason why he started The Book Haters’ Book Club—a newsletter of reading recommendations for the self-proclaimed “nonreader.” As the co-owner of Over the Rainbow Bookstore, Elliott’s passion was recommending books to customers. Now, after his sudden death, his business partner, Irma, has agreed to sell Over the Rainbow. Filled with humor, family hijinks and actual reading recommendations, The Book Haters’ Book Club is the ideal feel-good read.

In a remote corner of France, Jewish refugee Ella Rosenthal has finally reached safety. It has been three years since she and her little sister, Hanni, left their parents to flee Nazi Germany, and they have been pursued and adrift in the chaos of war ever since. Now they shelter among one hundred other young refugees in a derelict castle overseen by the Swiss Red Cross. The Winter Orphans is a poignant and ultimately triumphant novel based on the incredible true story of children who braved the formidable danger of guarded, wintry mountain passes in France to escape the Nazis.

Lucy Rourke has two great loves in her life: the gorilla troop she cares for as a primatologist and the laundry list of reality TV shows she watches to escape the fact that her actual love life doesn’t exist. And like a reality contestant gunning for the final rose, Lucy’s laser-focused on one thing: getting promoted to head keeper. So when a wildlife docuseries hosted by hotshot TV personality Kai Bridges chooses her zoo as its summer filming location, she sees an opportunity to showcase her beloved gorillas to the world and land a starring role in her department.

In the aftermath of her husband’s logging accident, Elsa has more questions than answers about how to carry on while caring for their two small children in the unfinished house he was building for them in the woods of rural Wisconsin. To cope with the challenges of winter and the near-daily miscommunications from her in-laws, she forges her own relationship with the land, learning from and taking comfort in the trees her husband had so loved. If she wants to stay in their home, she must discover her own capabilities, and accept help from the people and places she least expects.

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Full of the drama and verve of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life, and offers an unforgettable portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.

Everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed. It started with their ancestor Oanh who dared to leave her marriage for true love—so a Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth only to daughters.​ A novel brimming with levity and candor, The Fortunes of Jaded Women is about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family. It shows how Vietnamese women emerge victorious, even if the world is against them.

Nathan Silverman grew up in Berlin in the 1920s, the son of a homemaker and a theoretical physicist. His idyllic childhood was soon marred by increasing levels of bigotry against his family and the rest of the Jewish community, and after his uncle is arrested on Kristallnacht, he leaves Germany for New York City with only his mother’s wedding ring to sell for survival. An Affair of Spies is an action-packed tale of heroism and love in the face of unspeakable evil.

9 Fall Books to Read for Autumn Vibes

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As spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time, while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart. Far from them all is Pandora, the glamorous, exciting girl who ran away twenty years before.

Two women. A history of witchcraft. And a deep-rooted female power that sings across the centuries. Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family that has been turned into a small museum in Tynemouth, Massachusetts. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore.

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father? This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings. The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who’ve been a part of one another’s lives since their kids were born, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group’s children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil.

Patience Sparrow is the town healer and when a new doctor settles into Granite Point he brings with him a mystery so compelling that Patience is drawn to love him. But when her herbs and tinctures are believed to be implicated in a local tragedy, Granite Point is consumed by a long-buried fear and a modern day witch-hunt threatens. The plants and flowers begin to wither and die, and the entire town begins to fail. The Sparrow Sisters is a beautiful, haunting, and thoroughly mesmerizing novel that will capture your imagination.

Bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock would rather spend Halloween serving pumpkin goodies than wearing costumes with Pine Hills’ wealthiest at Yarborough mansion, especially when the soiree shapes up to be more trick than treat. As if a run-in with an old flame and a failed marriage proposal weren’t enough to horrify Krissy for one night, a woman is found strangled to death in a room filled with ominous jack-o’-lanterns. All signs suggest a crime of passion–but when the hostess’s jewelry disappears, malevolent intentions seem way more likely.

A group of strangers bound by terrifying synchronicity becomes humankind’s hope of survival in an exhilarating, twist-filled novel by Dean Koontz. As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana until tragedy upended her life. Now thirty-four and living in Santa Fe with only misty memories of the past, she begins to receive pleas–by phone, through her TV, and in her dreams. Heeding the disturbing appeals, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana, and to a strange childhood companion she had long forgotten.

Fifth generation cider-maker Sanna Lund has one desire: to live a simple, quiet life on her family’s apple orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. Although her business is struggling, Sanna remains fiercely devoted to the orchard. Single dad Isaac Banks has spent years trying to shield his son Sebastian from his troubled mother. Fleeing heartbreak at home, Isaac packed up their lives and the two headed out on an adventure. Chance-or fate-led them straight to Sanna’s orchard. As Sanna’s life becomes increasingly complicated, she finds solace in unexpected places-friendship with young Sebastian.

Embracing a sweet escape from her usual routine at The Cookie Jar, Hannah gets asked for her help in baking pastries at the local inn for a flashy fishing competition with big prizes and even bigger names. But the fun stops when she spots a runway boat on the water and, on board, the lifeless body of the event’s renowned celebrity spokesperson. With goodies to bake and a mess of fresh challenges mixed into her personal life, it’s either sink or swim as Hannah joins forces with her sister, Andrea, to catch a clever culprit before another unsuspecting victim goes belly up.

Nine Humorous Fiction and Nonfiction Books to Keep You Laughing Out Loud

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There’s no right way to keep a diary, but if there’s an entertaining way, David Sedaris seems to have mastered it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background: new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet.

In July 2019, Nick took a hiking trip to Glacier National Park with his friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders. The trip, and the conversations between the three men, began a study and exploration of both the American West and its National Parks that addresses so many of the important issues that affect America today. This book is a humorous and rousing tour of America’s nature spots as well as a mission statement about loving, protecting, and truly experiencing the outdoors.

Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy. Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal. But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be.

Peggy Rowe has been writing all of her adult life. In fact, she doesn’t know how not to write—even through those years of constant rejection from publishing houses. But between her tenacity and the encouragement of her family, Peggy’s breakthrough finally came—at the age of eighty! Vacuuming in the Nude is most likely her funniest prose to date as she shares her journey and honing her ability to see humor in everyday situations.

Mother of two Liv Green barely scrapes by as a maid to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book while daydreaming of becoming a writer herself. So she can’t believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero, bestselling author Essie Starling, a mysterious and intimidating recluse. The last thing Liv expected was to be the only person Essie talks to, which leads to a tenuous friendship.

 Most people think of themselves as “good,” but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad”–especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, and more so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?

The Nineties is a wise and funny reckoning with the decade that gave us slacker/grunge irony about the sin of trying too hard, during the greatest shift in human consciousness of any decade in American history. Cult author Chuck Klosterman makes a home in every element of 90s culture: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, and changes regarding race and class. 

Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.

9 New Nonfiction Books to Read This September

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David Sowers and Laura Gillice are seriously injured in a head-on collision while vacationing in Yellowstone National Park with their dogs. When they are ambulanced away, David’s fifteen-month-old Australian shepherd, Jade, disappears. The young dog faces the threats of starvation, predators, and the hostile landscape of Yellowstone. Bring Jade Home is a gripping true tale of loss, the bond between people and animals, and the power of redeeming love.

In 1948, in the most stubbornly Dixiefied corner of the Jim Crow south, society matron Idella Thompson was viciously murdered in her own home. Her daughter, Ruth Dickins, was the only other person in the house. She told authorities a Black man she didn’t recognize had fled the scene, but no evidence of the man’s presence was uncovered. Beverly Lowry–who was ten at the time of the murder and lived mere miles from the Thompsons’ home–tells a story of white privilege that still has ramifications today.

An injured, young dog trudges the city streets, trembling from cold, from fear, from lack of food. Battered by the howling wind, he searches desperately for his lost family, yet day after day, week after week, all he ever finds is heartbreaking loneliness. But then, one magical spring morning, the dog and the girl meet. In a tale as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking, As The Stars Fall explores how compassion can make us whole again and friendship can heal even the most broken of hearts.

From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, Unmasked is a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards–and toll–of a life solving crime. Having experience in both forensic and investigative assignments, Paul throughout his 27-year career specialized in cold case and serial predator crimes, developing and applying investigative, behavioral, and forensic expertise in notable cases such as Zodiac, Golden State Killer, and Jaycee Dugard.  

The British Royal Family believed that the dizzy success of the Sussex wedding, watched and celebrated around the world, was the beginning of a new era for the Windsors. Yet, within one tumultuous year, the dream became a nightmare. In the aftermath of the infamous Megxit split and the Oprah Winfrey interview, the Royal Family’s fate seems persistently threatened.

 Zibby Owens has become a well-known personality in the publishing world. Her infectious energy, tasteful authenticity, and smart, steadfast support of authors started in childhood, a precedent set by the profound effect books and libraries had on her own family. But after losing her closest friend on 9/11 and later becoming utterly stressed out and overwhelmed by motherhood, Zibby was forgetting what made her whole. She turned to books and writing for help.

The Earth is All That Lasts is a magisterial dual biography of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull , the two most legendary and consequential Native American leaders.  An essential new addition to the canon of Indigenous American history and literature of the West, The Earth Is All That Lasts is a grand saga, both triumphant and tragic, of two fascinating and heroic leaders struggling to maintain the freedom of their people against impossible odds.

An immigrant mother’s long-held secrets upend her daughter’s understanding of her family, her identity, and her place in the world in this powerful and dramatic memoir. A former national television host, advice columnist, and professor, Carmen searches to understand who she really is as she discovers her mother’s hidden history, facing the revelations that seep out.

A gripping, twisting account of a small town set on fire by hatred, xenophobia, and ecological disaster—a story that weaves together corporate malfeasance, a battle over shrinking natural resources, a turning point in the modern white supremacist movement, and one woman’s relentless battle for environmental justice.

9 New Books To Read on the Libby App

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Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the fear that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

New York City, 1921: Here four extraordinary women form a bridge group that grows into a firm friendship. Dorothy Parker: renowned wit, member of the Algonquin Round Table. Jane Grant: first female reporter for the New York Times. Winifred Lenihan: beautiful and talented Broadway actress. Peggy Leach: magazine assistant by day, novelist by night. Their romances flourish and falter while their goals sometimes seem impossible to reach and their friendship deepens against the backdrop of turbulent New York City.

Special Agent Garrett Kohl has just taken down a dangerous and deadly cartel boss when he finds trouble brewing back on his family’s homestead. A powerful energy consortium, Talon Corporation, has started an aggressive mining operation that threatens to destroy Garrett’s land, his family’s way of life, and everything they hold dear. To achieve its goals, Talon is flouting the law, bribing public officials, and meeting anyone who challenges it with physical violence.

Amy Connell and Lan Honey are having the best childhood ever. They live on a 78-acre farm in the South West of England, with sisters and brothers, other kids, chickens, goats, three dogs, and even a calf, called Gabriella Christmas. Free and unsupervised, Amy and Lan play with axes and climb on haystacks, but there is grownup danger at Frith they don’t see. It’s Gail, Lan’s mother, and Adam, Amy’s father who should be more careful. They should learn what kids know: never to play with fire.

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned .The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. Then, one morning everything changes. Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

A killer walking free. A life hanging in the balance. The ultimate choice Zach Bridger, former NFL star, has been divorced from Rebecca for five years, but he’s still named as Agent of her Medical Power of Attorney – and his ex-wife is in a persistent vegetative state on life support. The man responsible for her condition is currently walking free. To pursue him for a murder case, Zach must turn off Rebecca’s life support.

Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn’t exactly conducive to modern dating—and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she’s used to suspecting the worst. PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. It doesn’t help that she’s low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer. It’s not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier.

Newly minted professional matchmaker Sophie Go has returned to Toronto, her hometown, after spending three years in Shanghai. Her job is made quite difficult, however, when she is revealed as a fraud—she never actually graduated from matchmaking school. In a competitive market like Toronto, no one wants to take a chance on an inexperienced and unaccredited matchmaker, and soon Sophie becomes an outcast.

When the pandemic hits, Kristofer is forced to shutter his successful restaurant in Reykjavik, sending him into a spiral of uncertainty, even as his memory seems to be failing. But an uncanny bolt from the blue–a message from Miko Nakamura, a woman whom he’d known in the sixties when they were students in London–both inspires and rattles him, as he is drawn inexorably back into a love story that has marked him for life.