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Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

Thomas R. Insel

A bold, expert, and actionable map for the re-invention of America's broken mental health care system As director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Insel was giving a presentation when the father of a boy with schizophrenia yelled from the back of the room, "Our house is on fire and you're telling me about the chemistry of the paint! What are you doing to put out the fire?" Dr. Insel knew in his heart that the answer was not nearly enough. The gargantuan American mental health industry was not healing millions who were desperately in need. He left his position atop the mental health research world to investigate all that was broken-and what a better path to mental health might look like. In the United States, we have treatments that work, but our system fails at every stage to deliver care well. Even before COVID, mental illness was claiming a life every eleven minutes by suicide. Quality of care varies widely, and much of the field lacks accountability. We focus on drug therapies for symptom reduction rather than on plans for long-term recovery. Care is often unaffordable and unavailable, particularly for those who need it most and are homeless or incarcerated. Where was the justice for the millions of Americans suffering from mental illness? Who was helping their families? But Dr. Insel also found that we do have approaches that work, both in the U.S. and globally. Mental illnesses are medical problems, but he discovers that the cures for the crisis are not just medical, but social. This path to healing, built upon what he calls the three Ps (people, place, and purpose), is more straightforward than we might imagine. Dr. Insel offers a comprehensive plan for our failing system and for families trying to discern the way forward. The fruit of a lifetime of expertise and a global quest for answers, Healing is a hopeful, actionable account and achievable vision for us all in this time of mental health crisis.

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The Strong Black Woman: How a Myth Endangers the Physical and Mental Health of Black Women

Marita Golden

For generations, Black women have been expected to embody unshakable strength—shouldering the weight of their families, communities, and history with quiet resilience. But beneath the surface of the Strong Black Woman ideal lies a silent epidemic of anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion. In this powerful and deeply human exploration, The Strong Black Woman: How a Myth Endangers the Physical and Mental Health of Black Women shares the stories of Black women who have challenged the cultural and familial expectations that once kept them from prioritizing their mental health. Battling the stigma surrounding therapy and self-care, these women confront the toll of systemic racism, generational trauma, and the pressure to be “twice as good.” Through honest conversations and personal journeys, this book reveals what happens when Black women decide to choose themselves—embracing vulnerability, seeking support, and creating new paths to healing. Their stories are not just about survival, but transformation.

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Psychedelics: The Revolutionary Drugs That Could Change Your Life ― A Guide from the Expert

David Nutt

We are on the cusp of a major revolution in psychiatric medicine and neuroscience. After fifty years of prohibition, criminalization and fear, science is finally showing us that psychedelics are not dangerous or harmful. Instead, when used according to tested, safe and ethical guidelines, they are our most powerful newest treatment of mental health conditions, from depression, PTSD, and OCD to disordered eating and even addiction and chronic pain. Professor David Nutt, one of the world's leading Neuropsychopharmacologists, has spent 15 years researching this field and it is his most significant body of work to date. In 2018, he co-founded the first academic psychedelic research center--underpinned by his mission to provide evidence-based information for people everywhere. It revived interest in the understanding and use of this drug in its many forms, including MDMA, ayahuasca, magic mushrooms, LSD and ketamine. The results of this have been nothing short of ground-breaking for the future categorization of drugs, but also for what we now know about brain mechanisms and our consciousness. At a time where there is an enormous amount of noise around the benefits of psychedelics, this book contains the knowledge you need to know about a drug that is about to go mainstream, free from the hot air, direct from the expert.

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Unstressed: How Somatic Awareness Can Transform Your Body's Stress Response and Build Emotional Resilience

Alane K Daugherty

In the midst of daily stress and turmoil, this book exposes the power of our emotions to heal us-and offers new hope for reclaiming contentment, connection, and a greater sense of well-being. Do you feel stressed out during the day and lie awake at night worrying? You're not alone. In today's hectic, fast-paced world, stress and anxiety have become a default way of being-as natural to us as breathing air. And because stress is an inevitable part of life, one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to learn how to manage and heal it. This book offers proven ways to help you counter the negative effects that stress has on the body and mind. You'll also discover practical skills and clinically proven strategies grounded in mindfulness, neurobiology, and positive psychology to help you cultivate deep sense of emotional resilience. Using the author's innovative HEART tools (Heartful Engagement And Re-focusing Training), you'll learn to manage stress by harnessing the power of positive emotions-such as gratitude, compassion, empathy, and hope-leading to a feeling of expansiveness and possibility, and a lived sense of calm, happiness, and vitality. Stress affects both body and mind-leading to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, as well as physical illnesses. In this guide, a professor of kinesiology shows readers how embodying positive emotions such as gratitude, compassion, empathy, and love can rewire the body's stress response, ignite a sense of calm and connection, and lay the foundation for strength and resilience in the face of everyday stress.

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Overcoming Overwhelm: Dismantle Your Stress from the Inside Out

Samantha Brody

Do more. Be more. Try harder. It's the battle cry of our culture -and it's making millions of us sick, tired, and frustrated. Why? According to Dr. Samantha Brody, "We simply can't solve stress and overwhelm by doing more and more of what we've been doing." With Overcoming Overwhelm, this pioneering naturopathic physician offers an alternative. In this step-by-step guide, she helps us restore balance and sanity by showing how we can take back control of every dimension of our lives: our physical health, nutrition, commitments, work and home environments, relationships, and more. With practical guidance and many self-assessment tools, readers embark upon a simple three-step plan tailored to those unique issues-for better health, greater resilience, and peace of mind.

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Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion

Wendy Suzuki

World-renowned neuroscientist and author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life has developed an "absolute game-changer" ( Conscious Conversations podcast) for managing unwarranted anxiety and turning it into a powerful asset. We are living in the age of anxiety, a situation that often makes us feel as if we are locked into an endless cycle of stress, sleeplessness, and worry. But what if we had a way to leverage our anxiety to help us solve problems and fortify our well-being? What if, instead of seeing anxiety as a curse, we could recognize it for the unique gift that it is? As a neuroscientist, Dr. Wendy Suzuki has discovered a paradigm-shifting truth about anxiety: yes, it is uncomfortable, but it is also essential for our survival. In fact, anxiety is a key component of our ability to live optimally. Every emotion we experience has an evolutionary purpose, and anxiety is designed to draw our attention to a number of negative emotions. If we simply approach anxiety as something to avoid , get rid of , or dampen , we actually miss an opportunity to not only manage the symptoms of anxiety better but also discover ways to improve our lives. Listening to our worries from a place of curiosity, instead of fear, can actually guide us onto a path that leads to joy.

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Move on Motherf*cker: Live, Laugh, and Let Sh*t Go

Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt

Your negative inner voice is a total assh*le. Tell it to f*ck off with this irreverent, laugh-out-loud guide! I'm not good enough. This shouldn't be happening. Things never work out for me. When we're anxious, stressed, or fearful, the negative voice in our heads can be extremely powerful. It tells us we're not smart or attractive enough. It berates us for our mistakes. And it keeps us feeling stuck in an endless loop of worry, shame, and hopelessness. But there is a way to shut it down. Blending evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and profanity, this unexpected guide will show you how to respond to your negative inner voice with one very important phrase: Move on, mother*cker (MOMF)! With MOMF, you'll learn to manage worry and anxiety, put a stop to unhelpful internal dialogue, and approach new situations with humor, levity, and perspective. You'll also find real tools to help you: - Set personal and professional boundaries - Identify toxic or codependent relationships - Become assertive without being aggressive - Stop seeking perfection This book also includes journaling and other self-awareness exercises to help you put MOMF to work every day. So, stop letting your inner voice tear you down. With this fun and effective guide, you'll learn how to take control of your negative thoughts and get back to living your best life. Blending evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and profanity, this laugh-out-loud guide teaches readers to respond to their negative inner voice with one very important phrase: "Move on, mother*cker!" Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt, PhD, ABPP, is a board-certified health psychologist who has been in professional practice for more than nineteen years. She lives in Michigan with her family, including the family treasure, Bacon-the dog prince. Foreword writer Emma Byrne, PhD, is author of Swearing is Good for You. With a background in artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience, she is fascinated by the flexibility of the human brain.

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When You're Not OK: A Toolkit for Tough Times

Jill Stark

From Jill Stark, bestselling author of Happy Never After, comes this warm and practical book of tips and wisdom to help guide you through the tough times. This is a self-care manual for the days when you feel alone - the days when you worry that you're too weird or broken or unfixable to be normal. With compassion, humour, and honesty, Jill offers signposts to help you find the path back to yourself. Whether you're having a bad day, or a run of bad days that seems never-ending, When You're Not OK is an emotional first-aid kit for your body, mind, and soul, written by someone who's been there too.

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Thoughts and Feelings: Taking Control of Your Moods and Your Life

Matthew McKay

Celebrating forty years as a self-help classic and recommended by therapists worldwide, Thoughts and Feelings has helped thousands of readers manage stress, anxiety, depression, and difficult emotions using evidence-based cognitive therapy. In addition to the tried-and-true techniques that have made this book a must-have mental health resource, this fully revised and updated fifth edition also includes new chapters on self-compassion and habit reversal-two powerful tools for helping readers achieve lasting, positive change.

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The No-Nonsense Meditation Book: A Scientist's Guide to the Power of Meditation

Steven Laureys

Steven explores the effect of meditation on the brain, using hard science to explain the benefits of a practice that was once thought of as purely spiritual. The result is a highly accessible, scientifically questioning guide to meditation, designed to open the practice to a broader audience. A mix of fascinating science, inspiring anecdote and practical exercises, this accessible book offers thoroughly researched evidence that meditation can have a positive impact on all our lives.

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Stress Less, Accomplish More: Meditation for Extraordinary Performance

Emily Fletcher

You know you should be meditating, so what's stopping you? This entertaining and enlightening book by the founder of Ziva Meditation-the favorite training for high achievers-will finally take meditation mainstream. "We meditate to get good at life, not to get good at meditation."-Emily Fletcher In our high-stress, overworked lives, we think the answer to accomplishing more is to do more. But the best advantage we can give ourselves is to take a mental break-to spend a few minutes of the day giving the body and brain rest. Did you know that a brief meditation can offer rest that's five times deeper than sleep? When you make time to practice the Z Technique this book teaches, you'll actually be more productive than if you took an hour-and-a-half nap or had a cup of coffee. A leading expert in meditation for high performance, Emily Fletcher has taught meditation at numerous global corporations, including Google, Barclays Bank, and Viacom, to help their employees improve their focus and increase their productivity levels. With Stress Less, Accomplish More, anyone can get the benefits of her 15-minute twice-daily plan. Emily specifically developed the Z Technique for working people with busy lives. Now, you can learn to recharge anywhere, anytime-at home or at your desk. All you need is a few minutes and a chair (no apps, incense, or finger cymbals required). This is not just another meditation book. In Stress Less, Accomplish More, Emily teaches a powerful trifecta of Mindfulness, Meditation, and Manifesting to improve your personal and professional performance, clarity, health, and sleep. You'll learn how to cultivate Mindfulness through brief but powerful exercises that will help you stop wasting time stressing. Plus, you'll get Manifesting tools to help you get crystal clear on your personal and professional goals for the future. Filled with fascinating real-life transformations, interactive exercises, and practical knowledge, Stress Less, Accomplish More introduces you to a relevatory daily practice and shows you how to make it work for your modern life.

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The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter – One Month at a Time

Jennifer Ashton

The Self-Care Solution by Dr. Jennifer Ashton blends personal experience with medical insight as she takes on a new wellness challenge each month—like cutting alcohol, improving sleep, or limiting screen time. As both doctor and participant, she shares the science, struggles, and benefits behind each habit shift. With expert advice, relatable stories, and practical tips, this inspiring guide shows how small, consistent changes can lead to a healthier, more balanced life—one month at a time.

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Zen Wisdom for the Anxious: Simple Advice from a Zen Buddhist Monk

Shinsuke Hosokawa

By dipping into this little book of simple Zen Buddhist sayings, you can calm your anxiety and return serenity to your soul. Are you feeling stress and anxiety from the demands of daily life? Do you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list and the constant deluge of information from all quarters? Are you unhappy with your life and envious of those around you? At times like these it's important to step back and take a breath. Zen meditation may conjure up images of sitting in silence for long hours, but according to Buddhist monk and author Shinsuke Hosokawa, Zen can be summed up as "the knowledge needed for a person to live life with a positive outlook." With this in mind, he has produced this charmingly illustrated collection of thoughts and sayings to help you live life with less stress and anxiety. The sayings include: pay attention to what is right in front of your eyes ; nothing happens by chance, every encounter has its meaning ; be careful not to confuse the means and the purpose ; keep flowing just like water ; nothing will control you ; even a bad day is a good day ; check the ground beneath your feet when you're in trouble ; you'll never walk alone. These 52 mindful sayings mirror the 52 steps traditionally taken to achieve Buddhist enlightenment, and they also coincide with the 52 weeks of the year--passing through the seasons, both in the natural world and our lives. Each page has an illustration and a simple, meditative reflection to help you see into your own heart, accept your current state of being, reduce anxiety and find peace. Whatever the time of year, whatever your time of life, by browsing the pages of this book you are sure to quickly find a piece of universal wisdom that will resonate with your soul.

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Smile: A Story of a Face

Sarah Ruhl

Happily married and in the flush of hard-earned professional success, with her first play opening on Broadway, Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high risk pregnancy and given birth to twins when she discovers the left side of her face entirely paralyzed. Bell's palsy. Ninety percent of Bell's palsy sufferers see spontaneous improvement and full recovery. Like Ruhl's mother. Like Angelina Jolie. But not like Sarah Ruhl. Sarah Ruhl is in the unlucky ten percent. Like Allen Ginsberg. But for a woman, a mother, a wife, and an artist working in the realm of theater, the paralysis and the disconnect between the interior and exterior, brings significant and specific challenges. So Ruhl begins an intense decade-long search for a cure, while simultaneously grappling with the reality of her new face-one that, while recognizably her own-is incapable of accurately communicating feelings or intentions. In a series of searing, witty, and lucid meditations, Ruhl chronicles her journey as a patient, mother, wife, and artist. She details the struggle of a body yearning to match its inner landscape, the pain post-partum depression, the joys and trials of marriage and being a playwright and a mother to three tiny children, and the desire for a resilient spiritual life in the face of difficulty.

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The Small Guide to Anxiety

Gary Small

Is anxiety hurting your performance at work, at school, or affecting your relationships? In "The Small Guide to Anxiety", Dr. Gary Small shows how to gain back your control: how to tell the difference-an anxiety disorder or normal worries; how to find a therapist that's right for you; how to overcome generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in just weeks; how to stop a panic attack instantly, with a small item in your pocket or purse; a breakthrough therapy with a 90 percent success rate in getting rid of phobias; "neuromodulation" techniques that reduce your anxiety; ways [to] improve your sleep if you suffer from anxiety; and much, much more. "The Small Guide to Anxiety" will show you which therapies work best to help you overcome these anxieties, and lead a richer, fuller, more satisfying life.

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Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy

Shauna Shapiro

Learn how self-compassion can change everything about how you feel, how you relate, and how you live-for good. "Revolutionary findings in neuroscience have demonstrated that we can change our happiness set point. But it's not through changing our external world. It's through changing our internal landscape," writes Shauna Shapiro. In Good Morning, I Love You, Dr. Shapiro-one of the leading scientists studying the effects of mindfulness on well-being-shows us that acting with compassion toward ourselves is the key. In short, lively chapters, Dr. Shapiro explains the basic brain science and offers numerous mindfulness and self-compassion practices. Stories from her life and research demonstrate how this powerhouse combination alleviates anxiety, boosts creative thinking, and enlarges our sense of belonging and purpose. We can see it on brain scans. Negative and critical thoughts (and the vast majority of our thoughts are negative) cause the part of the brain responsible for learning to literally shut down. Kind and self-compassionate thoughts, by contrast, turn on the parts responsible for growth and change. With practice, we can literally rewire our brains for greater feelings of calm, joy, and possibility. Try it and see . . . even if it makes you squirm. When you wake up tomorrow, take a deep breath, hand on heart, and say, "Good morning, I love you." Then try it the next day. And the next. See what happens.

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The Wedding Date

Jasmine Guillory

A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel. Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist. On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend. From the best man's toast to the bouquet toss, Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible. But before they know it, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other. They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want.

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Kindred

Octavia Butler

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned across the years to save him. After this first summons, Dana is drawn back, again and again, to the plantation to protect Rufus and ensure that he will grow to manhood and father the daughter who will become Dana's ancestor. Yet each time Dana's sojourns become longer and more dangerous, until it is uncertain whether or not her life will end, long before it has even begun.

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On Ocean Boulevard

Mary Alice Monroe

It's been sixteen years since Caretta 'Cara' Rutledge has returned home to the beautiful shores of Charleston, South Carolina. Over those years, she has weathered the tides of deaths and births, struggles and joys. And now, as Cara prepares for her second wedding, her life is about to change yet again. Meanwhile, the rest of the storied Rutledge family is also in flux. Cara's niece Linnea returns to Sullivan's Island to begin a new career and an unexpected relationship. Linnea's parents, having survived bankruptcy, pin their hopes and futures on the construction of a new home on Ocean Boulevard. But as excitement over the house and wedding builds, a devastating illness strikes the family and brings plans to a screeching halt. It is under these trying circumstances that the Rutledge family must come together yet again to discover the enduring strength in love, tradition, and legacy from mother to daughter to granddaughter. Like the sea turtles that come ashore annually on these windswept islands, three generations of the Rutledge family experience a season of return, rebirth, and growth.

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The Summer of Lost and Found

Mary Alice Monroe

The coming of Spring usually means renewal, but for Linnea Rutledge, Spring 2020 threatens stagnation. Linnea faces another layoff, this time from the aquarium she adores. For her-and her family-finances, emotions, and health teeter at the brink. To complicate matters, her new love interest, Gordon, struggles to return to the Isle of Palms from England. Meanwhile, her old flame, John, turns up from California and is quarantining next door. She tries to ignore him, but when he sends her plaintive notes in the form of paper airplanes, old sparks ignite. When Gordon at last reaches the island, Linnea wonders-is it possible to love two men at the same time? Love in the time of the coronavirus proves challenging, at times humorous, and ever changing. Relationships are redefined, friendships made and broken, and marriages tested. As the weeks turn to months, and another sea turtle season comes to a close, Linnea learns there are more meaningful lessons learned during this summer than opportunities lost, that summer is a time of wonder, and that the exotic lives in our own back yards. In The Summer of Lost and Found, Linnea and the Rutledge family continue to face their challenges with the strength, faith, and commitment that has inspired fans for decades. Mary Alice Monroe once again delves into the complexities of family relationships and brings her signature "sensitive and true" (Dorothea Benton Frank, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling to this poignant and timely novel of love, courage, and resilience.

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The Sacrifice of Darkness

Roxane Gay

New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay (World of Wakanda, Difficult Women) adapts her short story "We Are the Sacrifice of Darkness" as a full-length graphic novel with writer Tracy Lynne Oliver (This Weekend), and artist Rebecca Kirby (Biopsy.) Expanding an unforgettable world where a tragic event forever bathes the world in darkness, The Sacrifice of Darkness follows one woman's powerful journey through this new landscape as she discovers love, family, and the true light in a world seemingly robbed of any. This young adult drama challenges notions of identity, guilt, and survival in a graphic novel for fans of On A Sunbeam and Are You Listening?

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Harlem Shuffle

Colson Whitehead

Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time. See, cash is tight, especially with all those installment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who also doesn't ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa -- the "Waldorf of Harlem" -- and volunteers Ray's services as the fence.

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The Other Black Girl: A Novel

Zakiya Dalila Harris

Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada in this electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing. Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she's thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They've only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust. Then the notes begin to appear on Nella's desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW. It's hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there's a lot more at stake than just her career. A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.

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The Nickel Boys: A Novel

Colson Whitehead

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
 

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Transcendent Kingdom

Yaa Gyasi

A novel about faith, science, religion, and family that tells the deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief, narrated by a fifth year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford school of medicine studying the neural circuits of reward seeking behavior in mice.

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We Are Not Like Them: A Novel

Christine Pride

Told from alternating perspectives, an evocative and riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event-a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives. Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia. But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen's husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband's freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend. Like Tayari Jones's An American Marriage and Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things, We Are Not Like Them explores complex questions of race and how they pervade and shape our most intimate spaces in a deeply divided world. But at its heart, it's a story of enduring friendship-a love that defies the odds even as it faces its most difficult challenges.

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When Stars Rain Down: A Novel

Angela Jason-Brown

Opal Pruitt is just about to turn 18 in the oppressively hot summer of 1936. She works hard at her job, takes care of her beloved Granny, and dreams about boys with her cousin Lucille. The young black teenager's journey to adulthood will be forged in fire, though, as the Ku Klux Klan attacks her Colored Town neighborhood and she endures a vicious beating at the hands of an unknown white attacker. Although slavery is over, Parsons, Georgia is still starkly divided along unequal racial lines and Opal begins to fear the community's thirst for justice on her behalf could ignite a chain reaction with devastating consequences."--Provided by publisher.

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The Personal Librarian

Marie Benedict

Hired by J.P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library, Belle da Costa Greene becomes one of the most powerful women in New York despite the dangerous secret she keeps.

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Libertie

Kaitlyn Greenidge

Coming of age in a free Black community in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson is all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, has a vision for their future together: Libertie is to go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her light-skinned mother, Libertie will not be able to pass for white. When a young man from Haiti proposes to Libertie and promises she will be his equal on the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is still subordinate to him and all men. As she tries to parse what freedom actually means for a Black woman, Libertie struggles with where she might find it—for herself and for generations to come. Inspired by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the United States and rich with historical detail, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s new and immersive novel will resonate with readers eager to understand our present through a deep, moving, and lyrical dive into our past.

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Black Cake: A Novel

Charmaine Wilkerson

We can't choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become? In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves. Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor's true history, and fulfill her final request to "share the black cake when the time is right"? Will their mother's revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever? Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

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Island Queen: A Novel

Vanessa Riley

A former slave rises above the harsh realities of being owned and colonialism on Montserrat working hard to buy freedom for herself, her mother, and her sister and becoming an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter.

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The Perishing

Natashia Deón

Lou, a young Black woman, wakes up in an alley in 1930s Los Angeles, nearly naked and with no memory of how she got there or where she's from, only a fleeting sense that this isn't the first time she's found herself in similar circumstances. Taken in by a caring foster family, Lou dedicates herself to her education while trying to put her mysterious origins behind her. She'll go on to become the first Black female journalist at the Los Angeles Times, but Lou's extraordinary life is about to become even more remarkable. When she befriends a firefighter at a downtown boxing gym, Lou is shocked to realize that though she has no memory of ever meeting him she's been drawing his face since her days in foster care. Increasingly certain that their paths have previously crossed-perhaps even in a past life-and coupled with unexplainable flashes from different times that have been haunting her dreams, Lou begins to believe she may be an immortal sent to this place and time for a very important reason. One that only others like her will be able to explain. Relying on her journalistic training and with the help of her friends, Lou sets out to investigate the mystery of her existence and make sense of the jumble of lifetimes calling to her from throughout the ages before her time runs out for good. Set against the rich historical landscape of 1930's Los Angeles, The Perishing charts a course through a changing city confronting racism, poverty, and the drumbeat of a coming war for one miraculous woman whose fate is inextricably linked to the city she comes to call home.

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Razorblade Tears

S. A Cosby

A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah's white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek's father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys. Provocative and fast-paced, S. A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.

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The Water Dancer

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her--but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he's ever known. So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia's proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North. Even as he's enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram's resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures. This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children--the violent and capricious separation of families--and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today's most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.

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Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance

Zora Neale Hurston

In 1925, Barnard student Zora Neale Hurston-the sole black student at the college-was living in New York, "desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world." During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nearly a century later, this singular talent is recognized as one of the most influential and revered American artists of the modern period. Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston's "lost" Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston's world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer's voice and her contributions to America's literary traditions.

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They Can't Take Your Name: A Novel

Robert Justice

Inspired by the atmospheric poetry of Langston Hughes and set in the heart of Denver's black community, this gripping crime novel pits three characters in a race against time to thwart a gross miscarriage of justice--and a crooked detective who wreaks havoc...with deadly consequences. What happens to a dream deferred--especially when an innocent man's life hangs in the balance? Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother's Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue a law degree with the intention of clearing her father's name. Just as she nears success, it's announced that Langston will be put to death in thirty days. In a desperate bid to find freedom for her father, Liza enlists the help of Eli Stone, a jazz club owner she met at the classic Five Points venue, The Roz. Devastated by the tragic loss of his wife, Eli is trying to find solace by reviving the club...while also wrestling with the longing to join her in death. Everyone has a dream that might come true--but as the dark shadows of the past converge, could Langston, Eli, and Liza be facing a danger that could shatter those dreams forever?

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The Rose Code: A Novel

Kate Quinn

Joining the elite Bletchley Park codebreaking team during World War II, three women from very different walks of life uncover a spy's dangerous agenda years later against the backdrop of the royal wedding of Elizabeth and Philip.

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The Yellow Bird Sings

Jennifer Rosner

It is wartime in German-occupied Poland. A mother hides with her five-year-old daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives. The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings. He sings whatever the girl composes in her head: high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of contrabassoon. Music helps the flowers bloom. When the daisies grow abundant, the bird weaves a garland for the girl to wear on her head like a princess-though no one can see. She must hide from everyone in the village: soldiers, the farmhouse boys, the neighbors too. The lady with squinty eyes and blocky shoes just dragged a boy down the street and returned, proud and straight-backed, cradling a sack of sugar like a baby. After the Jews in their town are rounded up, Róza and her daughter, Shira, spend day and night hidden in a farmer's barn. Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses inside her. To pass the time, Róza tells Shira a story: There is a little girl who, with the help of her yellow bird, tends an enchanted garden. The garden must be kept completely silent-only the bird can sing the girl's musical compositions-and together the girl and her bird avert many threats. Thus Róza manages to soothe Shira and shield her from the horrors around them. But then the day comes when their haven is no longer safe and Róza must face an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side, or give her the chance to survive apart. The Yellow Bird Sings is a beautiful, heartrending novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter, and the triumph of hope in even the darkest of times.

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The Immortals of Tehran

Ali Araghi

A sweeping, multigenerational epic, this stunning debut heralds the arrival of a unique new literary voice. As a child living in his family's apple orchard, Ahmad Torkash-Vand treasures his great-great-great-great grandfather's every mesmerizing word. On the day of his father's death, Ahmad listens closely as the seemingly immortal elder tells him the tale of a centuries-old family curse . . . and the boy's own fated role in the story. Ahmad grows up to suspect that something must be interfering with his family, as he struggles to hold them together through decades of famine, loss, and political turmoil in Iran. As the world transforms around him, each turn of Ahmad's life is a surprise: from street brawler, to father of two unusually gifted daughters; from radical poet, to politician with a target on his back. These lives, and the many unforgettable stories alongside his, converge and catch fire at the center of the Revolution. Exploring the brutality of history while conjuring the astonishment of magical realism, The Immortals of Tehran is a novel about the incantatory power of words and the revolutionary sparks of love, family, and poetry—set against the indifferent, relentless march of time.

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Violeta: A Novel

Isabel Allende

Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.

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The Soul of a Woman

The author describes her lifelong commitment to feminism in a meditation on what it means to be a woman, discussing progress within the movement in her lifetime, what remains to be done, and how to move forward in the future.

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Whereabouts

Jhumpa Lahiri

A marvelous new novel from the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Lowland and Interpreter of Maladies--her first in nearly a decade. Exuberance and dread, attachment and estrangement: in this novel, Jhumpa Lahiri stretches her themes to the limit. The woman at the center wavers between stasis and movement, between the need to belong and the refusal to form lasting ties. The city she calls home, an engaging backdrop to her days, acts as a confidant: the sidewalks around her house, parks, bridges, piazzas, streets, stores, coffee bars. We follow her to the pool she frequents and to the train station that sometimes leads her to her mother, mired in a desperate solitude after her father's untimely death. In addition to colleagues at work, where she never quite feels at ease, she has girl friends, guy friends, and "him," a shadow who both consoles and unsettles her. But in the arc of a year, as one season gives way to the next, transformation awaits. One day at the sea, both overwhelmed and replenished by the sun's vital heat, her perspective will change. This is Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel she wrote in Italian and translated into English. It brims with the impulse to cross barriers. By grafting herself onto a new literary language, Lahiri has pushed herself to a new level of artistic achievement.

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To Paradise

Hanya Yanagihara

Spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, an unforgettable cast of characters are united by their reckonings with the qualities that make us human--fear, love, shame, need, and loneliness.

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Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

Wole Soyinka

A towering figure in world literature gives us a tour de force, his first novel in nearly one-half century: a savagely satiric, gleefully irreverent, rollicking, fictional meditation on how power and greed can corrupt the soul of a nation. ("You don't see things the same way when you encounter a voice like that."-Toni Morrison) In an imaginary Nigeria, a cunning entrepreneur is selling body parts stolen from Dr. Menka's hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Dr. Menka shares the grisly news with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer, and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne-the life of every party- who is about to assume a prestigious post at the United Nations in New York. It now seems that someone is determined that he not make it there. Neither Dr. Menka nor Duyole knows why, or how close the enemy is, how powerful. Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a literary hoot, a crafty whodunit, and a scathing indictment of Nigeria's political elite. It is a stirring call to arms against the abuse of power from one of that country's fiercest political activists, who just happens to be a global literary giant.

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Noor

Nnedi Okorafor

When everything goes wrong on a trip to the local market, AO, a woman with a ton of major and necessary body augmentations, must race against time across the deserts of Northern Nigeria with a Fulani herdsman named DNA in a world where everything is streamed.

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Somna

Becky Cloonan

Set amidst the terrifying backdrop of the witch hunts in a quiet 1600s English village, SOMNA follows one woman's descent into an erotic escape from the confines of her puritanical world. Ingrid is unhappily married to Roland, the town's bailiff and chief witch hunter, who is on a single-minded quest to purge the 'heretics' in their midst. After a prominent town leader is found murdered, accusations fly and no one is above reproach from Roland's deadly crusade. Ingrid has her suspicions about who the real murderer is, but even as she pursues the truth, she's pursued herself by a shadowy figure. Ingrid finds that she's drawn to the foreboding phantom in ways she can't resist- does this dark and tempting stranger hold the key to the mystery...or will he damn Ingrid's soul to the blackest circle of Hell? From the masterful minds of Becky Cloonan (BY CHANCE OR PROVIDENCE, Wonder Woman) and Tula Lotay (BARNSTORMERS) comes an intoxicating blend of history, eroticism, and the supernatural in SOMNA-an evocative masterpiece that draws inspiration from cinematic folk-horror gems like Midsommar and The Witch- and will transport readers to a world where passion and spirits intertwine, enrapturing your senses and leave you craving more.

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Wonder Woman: The Adventures of Young Diana

Jordie Bellaire

The world may know her as Wonder Woman, but once upon a time she was Diana, the young princess of Themyscira. Back then, she struggled to find her place on an island deemed paradise by many, but which was, to her, a prison. Trapped in her role as a royal and shielded from the harsh realities of Man's World, Diana yearned for adventure, or at least a purpose. So when ancient texts portraying her home's history go missing, she gets both. How far will our hero go to find the texts and the truths they're hiding? Find out in this exciting story that promises to be a classic for years to come! Collected together for the first time, these backup stories from WONDER WOMAN by Eisner Award-winner Jordie Bellaire and rising star Paulina Ganucheau provide a refreshing look into Wonder Woman's upbringing and dangerous secrets of her past you'll never forget!

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Full Shift

Dugan, JenniferDugan, Jennifer

Tessa feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere. Not at school, where she can't figure out how to confess the feelings she has for her friend Maddie. And definitely not at home, where the other werewolves in her family make her feel like an outcast because she can't even shift into her full wolf form yet. Sometimes she thinks her whole life would be easier if she wasn't a werewolf at all. When word gets out that a group of werewolf hunters has infiltrated her pack's territory and that they've developed a cure that can make werewolves human, Tessa thinks she's found the answer to her problems. But when she discovers there might be more to the hunters' plans than anyone knows, it's up to Tessa to put herself on the line to protect the lives of those she loves most. And the only way to save them is to embrace the wolf inside her that is howling to get out.

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The Sweetness Between Us

Sarah Winifred Searle

Perley and Amandine are both starting their Junior year late. Perley was diagnosed with diabetes over the summer and has to worry about what this means, both for him and for his family's finances. Amandine is part of a venerated family of vampires, but was turned much sooner than expected after a car accident nearly killed her. When their worlds collide as they make up the time they missed, their fast friendship quickly turns into something more. Amandine sipping Perley's blood holds benefits for the both of them, but it also sets them on a path that could spiral out of control. Will they be able to get their lives back to normal? Or will both have to figure out new ways for their "normal" to look?

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Pillow Talk

Stephanie Cooke

When college freshman Grace Mendes reluctantly attends her first pillow fight match, she falls in love with the surprisingly gritty sport. Despite her usually shy, introverted, and reserved nature, Grace decides to try out for the Pillow Fight Federation (PFF), a locally famous league of fighters with larger-than-life personas like Pain Eyre, Miss Fortune, and champion Kat Atonic. They may battle with pillows, but there is nothing soft about these fighters. The first and only rule to pillow fighting is that the pillow needs to be the first point of contact; after that, everything else goes. Grace struggles with deep-seated body image issues, so she is especially shocked when she makes the competitive league and is welcomed into the fold of close knit, confident fighters. As her first official fight performing as newly crafted alter-ego/ring persona Cinderhella looms on the horizon, the real battle taking place is between Grace and her growing insecurities. What if people laugh or make fun of her? Why did she think she could pillow fight in the first place when she doesn't look like your "typical" athlete? Turns out, no one is laughing when Cinderhella dominates her first match in the ring. And as her alter-ego rises through the ranks of the PFF, gaining traction and online fame (and online trolls), can Grace use the spotlight to become an icon for not just others, but most importantly, for herself?

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The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn: Volume One

Tri Vuong

Oscar Zahn is just like any other paranormal investigator--he's working hard to make the world a better place, one exorcism at a time. So what if he's just a floating skull wearing a trench coat? He's still got a heart of gold! In this first installment of the online webcomic sensation The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn, join Oscar and his mysterious assistant Agnes as they embark on a terrifying yet heartwarming journey across ethereal realms, rescuing lost souls and solving creepy mysteries. Their travels take them across great distances and even through time, as Oscar sleuths out why the spirits he contends with are restless and malcontent. Yet the more mysteries he solves, the clearer it becomes that there's a greater game afoot, one that involves Oscar's own forgotten origin story.

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Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII

Joe Kelly

They're the most intensely mismatched team-up in comics and pop culture -- reunited for an all-new edge of your seat adventure! Yes, Wade Wilson and Logan are at the ends of the Earth -- and at each other's throats! The mysterious Delta believes in change. Change is good. But as he sets his sights on Deadpool, and Wolverine finds himself caught up in the plot, is the third time really the charm...or the curse? Get ready for WWIII to erupt on the scene with the wildest pairing in comics!

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Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair

Lucy Knisley

What if our cats could talk? Would they ask endless questions about why we haven't given them wet food...again? Would they scream greetings at the first sign of life before the sun even rises? Linney certainly will. Have you met Linney yet? If not, prepared to be blessed! Lucy Knisley's online Linney comics are collected for the very first time in this gifty hardcover featuring the internet sensation, Linney. With all-new comics, this collection shows us just how amazing, and what a true gift, all cats are.

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Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe

Ken Krimstein

During the year that Prague was home to both Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka from 1911-1912, the trajectory of the two men's lives wove together in uncanny ways--as did their shared desire to tackle the world's biggest questions in Europe's strangest city. In stunning words and pictures, Einstein in Kafkaland reveals the untold story of how their worlds wove together in a cosmic battle for new kinds of truth. For Einstein, his lost year in Prague became a critical bridge set him on the path to what many consider the greatest scientific discovery of all time, his General Theory of Relativity. And for Kafka, this charmed year was a bridge to writing his first masterpiece, The Judgment. Based on diaries, lectures, letters, and papers from this period amid a planet electrifying itself into modernity, Einstein in Kafkaland brings to life the emergence of a new world where art and science come together in ways we still grapple with today.

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Black Sands, The First Pharaoh

Manuel Godoy

The First Pharaoh is an action packed story about Rah who has emerged from the Rift and his only goal is to conquer the land of Kemet. Rah is accompanied by two young warriors, Nuit and Geb. Their path leads them across the fertile hills of Canaan, but all is not well in the tranquil land. Nephilim giants have dominated the region and their alpha is challenging Rah directly for a fight to the death. What will happen to the god king? SLJ says that The First Pharaoh issharply laid out, high contrast compositions; and manga influenced Illustrations. Along with being an action packed take on Egyptian mythology that will appeal to teens who like anti-heroes.

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Castle Swimmer: Volume One

Wendy Martin

From the moment Kappa tumbles into existence on the ocean floor, his life's purpose is already decided for him: He is the Beacon, a light to all sea creatures, and destined to fulfill their many prophesies. In high demand and under immense pressure, Kappa quickly realizes that fame and glory are small compensation for a life of predetermined self-sacrifice. Unable to resist the call of destiny due to a magical yellow cord that appears from his chest and pulls him inexorably to any sea creatures he swims by, Kappa ultimately finds himself drawn to the Shark kingdom, where he is immediately imprisoned. The Sharks' prophecy states that the curse maiming their people will only be lifted once their prince, Siren, kills the Beacon. But when Prince Siren decides to defy fate and help Kappa escape, Kappa realizes that there might be more to life than fulfilling endless prophesies, leading to a raucous adventure as big and unpredictable as the ocean itself--and a romance that nobody could have predicted.

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Resurrection of Magneto

Al Ewing

As the Krakoan era approaches its end, the X-Men's greatest enemy returns! On Krakoa, resurrection from the dead was as easy as completing a circuit - but Krakoa fell. The time of easy miracles is over, and only the hard roads are left. Now it falls to Storm to bring Magneto home to fight against the FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X - but after all he did and all that was done to him, can the Master of Magnetism bear to come back to life? In the depths, Magneto was given a key by strange forces - and impossibly, he holds it still. Now, in death, Max Eisenhardt judges his own life - and counts the cost. Should he return to the world? And what does the Deep Key unlock?

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Spine-Tingling Spider-Man

Saladin Ahmed

The scariest Spider-Man story you've ever read! When a dangerous song takes all of New York City on a haunting journey through their dreams, a sleep-deprived Peter Parker must fight back his fears to face a threat unlike anything he has ever known! Because this time, his "Peter tingle" is a chill right down his spine! And if he can survive his encounter with the Sleep-Stealer - and a fight with the sinister Spidercide - Spider-Man will have to hit the road for the most terrifying ride of his life! Peter soon finds himself in the most frightening haunted house possible - but who took his powers? Who took his friends and family? Who stands the best chance at taking Spider-Man down - permanently? This has to be Mysterio's doing, right? But what if it's not?!

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Survival of the Goodest

Marianne Boucher

Sable has lived in a tight-knit community on a remote island for her whole life. With support from her parents, she's trained for years to take up her position as the next Kerpathic, a messenger who travels through the dangerous forest to share news, medicine, and culture. When her father, the current Kerpathic, has an accident, Sable must step into her pre-destined role. As her first mission goes awry, she wonders if she's ready for this important but dangerous work. Until a young naturalist arrives on the island and sets off to capture a mysterious animal that's never been seen on the mainland. Sable realizes that she can use her skills as a Kerpathic to defend the island's animals and their way of life. But she quickly learns that she can't do it alone.

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The Worst Ronin

Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Being a samurai isn't easy. Sixteen-year-old Chihiro Ito knows that more than anyone. Her father is renowned among the samurai, but the only thing Chihiro is known for is spending way too much time on her phone obsessing over Tatsuo Nakano, Chihiro's idol and the first woman to be accepted into Kesi Academy, a prestigious samurai school. So, when Chihiro's father is conscripted for service and the opportunity arises to work with Tatsuo in his stead, Chihiro jumps at the chance to prove that she's worthy of a spot at Kesi Academy and the samurai title. Their mission: kill the yamauba demon terrorizing a village. With a legendary samurai like Tatsuo by her side, Chihiro is convinced victory is inevitable. But Tatsuo isn't at all like the hero Chihiro imagined. Foulmouthed, quick tempered, and a terrible drunk, Tatsuo completely turned her back on the samurai way and is now a ronin working for hire as a means of escaping the grief that haunts her. Forced to work together, the two are thrust on a treacherous journey filled with epic battles and twisted conspiracies as they must put aside their differences to save the village and face the demons of the past.

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Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story

Patrick McDonnell

For seven weeks in fall 2023, Patrick McDonnell's ... comic strip MUTTS told a long-awaited tale that broke our hearts and gave us hope. Now, collected for the first time and in color, is the complete Guard Dog story, along with real-life stories of rescue and resources for readers who want to take action to help ensure that no dog is tied to a stake and denied their freedom"--Page 4 of dust jacket.

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All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey

Teresa Wong

Beginning with her mother's stroke in 2014, Teresa Wong takes us on a moving journey through time and place to locate the beginnings of the disconnection she feels from her parents. Through a series of stories--some epic, like her mother and father's daring escapes from communes during China's Cultural Revolution, and some banal, like her quitting Chinese school to watch Saturday morning cartoons--Wong carefully examines the cultural, historical, language, and personality barriers to intimacy in her family, seeking answers to the questions "Where did I come from?" and "Where are we going?" At the same time, she discovers how storytelling can bridge distances and help make sense of a life. A book for children of immigrants trying to honour their parents' pasts while also making a different kind of future for themselves, All Our Ordinary Stories is poignant in its understated yet nuanced depictions of complicated family dynamics. Wong's memoir is a heartfelt exploration of identity and inheritance, as well as a testament to the transformative power of stories both told and untold.

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Prez: Setting a Dangerous President

Mark Russell

It's 2046 and America has just elected its first teenage president! Oregon teen Beth Ross has just been elected President of the United States of America. Age restrictions were abolished when corporations gained the right to run for office. Elections are now held on social media, and after a corndog accident makes Beth Ross go viral, a nation is shocked to wake up and find that "Corndog Girl" has just become their new president. The eyes of the world are on Beth. But in a nation so used to misrule that the poor are willing to do anything on TV for a chance at a better life, will a fresh start be enough to undo the damage caused by Boss Smiley and his corporate shadow government?

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Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America

Russell Shorto

In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general. Bristling with vibrant characters, Taking Manhattan reveals the founding of New York to be an invention, the result of creative negotiations that would blend the multiethnic, capitalistic society of New Amsterdam with the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery. The book draws from newly translated materials and illuminates neglected histories―of religious refugees, Indigenous tribes, and free and enslaved Africans. Taking Manhattan tells the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism, a foundation from which America would rise. It also shows how the paradox of New York’s origins―boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement―reflects America’s promise and failure to this day. Russell Shorto, whose work has been described as “astonishing” (New York Times) and “literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune), has once again mined archival sources to offer a vibrant tale and a fresh and trenchant argument about American beginnings.

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You Can't Kill a Man Because of the Books He Reads: Angelo Herndon's Fight for Free Speech

Brad Snyder

The story of a young, Black Communist Party organizer and the landmark case that made him a civil rights hero. In 1932, eighteen-year-old Black Communist Party organizer Angelo Herndon was arrested, had his rooms illegally searched, and his radical literature seized. He was charged with attempting to incite insurrection--a crime punishable by death. You Can't Kill a Man Because of the Books He Reads chronicles Herndon's five-year quest for freedom during a time when Blacks, white liberals, and the radical left joined forces to define the nation's commitment to civil rights and civil liberties. Herndon's champions included the young, Black Harvard Law School-educated attorney Benjamin J. Davis Jr.; the future historian C. Vann Woodward, who joined the interracial Herndon defense committee; the white-shoe New York lawyer Whitney North Seymour, who argued Herndon's appeals; and literary friends Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, and Richard Wright. With their support, Herndon reinvented himself as one of the most famous Black men in America and inspired a constitutional right to protest.

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Gettysburg: The Tide Turns

Bruce Chadwick

The definitive oral history of the battle that turned the tide of the Civil War that combines vivid first-hand accounts with rich historical narrative. In late June of 1863, one month after his victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, head of the Army of Northern Virginia, invaded the North. He would cross the Potomac River and head towards Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with the goal of seizing the trains which would then take his army into Philadelphia and perhaps even New York City. He hoped that these victories would force U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to surrender. As he pushed north, Lee was operating without his cavalry leader, J.E.B. Stuart, whom he had allowed to go on a useless scouting mission. At the same time, the Union army, now led by little known commander George Meade was tracking Lee and his men. Both sides clashed at Gettysburg, a tiny Pennsylvania farm village on July 1 in what would be a three-day battle that would change the course of the war. The battle would reveal the mettle of the unheralded Meade and would also call into question General Lee’s reputation as a legendary commander when he unleashed the ill planned and ill prepared Pickett’s Charge. The battle proved costly to both sides. Some 50,000 men were killed across the battlefield and the defeated Lee’s army would never again invade the North. After so much bloodshed, President Lincoln's history-making and eloquent Gettysburg Address came to embody the essence of the war. The address, not even three minutes long, is considered the finest speech ever delivered buy an American President and has been memorized by generations ever since. Using letters, diaries, journals, newspaper articles, and other written sources, Bruce Chadwick has crafted another masterful oral history. Skillfully combining traditional historic narrative with the in-the-moment ethos of an oral history, Gettysburg: The Tide Turns brings this iconic battle to fresh and vivid life.

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Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live

Susan Morrison

Ever since its debut in the fall of 1975, Saturday Night Live's impact on the culture has been lasting and profound. It has been a breeding ground for our brightest comedy stars, launching the careers of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Pete Davidson, and many many more. Its iconic sketches - from Wayne's World to Weekend Update to Coneheads to the Californians to of course, More Cowbell -- have dominated water cooler talk for five decades, and its catchphrases, from "we're not worthy!" to ""Daaaaa Beeeears" are embedded in the public lexicon. And at the center of it all, from the moment of its inception to the present day, is one man: producer Lorne Michaels. Over his 50 years running the show, Lorne Michaels has become a revered, inimitable and bewildering presence in the world of entertainment. He's a mogul, a kingmaker, a tastemaker, a grudge-holder, a mensch, a workaholic, a genius spotter of talent, a ruthless businessman, a name dropper, an obsessive step counter, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, a winner of 90 Emmys--and a mystery. Generations of writers, actors, and stars have spent their lives trying to figure him out. He's "Obi wan Kenobi" (Tracey Morgan), the "Great and Powerful Oz" (Kate McKinnon), the Godfather (Will Forte), or "some kind of very distant, strange Comedy God" (Bob Odenkirk). Lorne will introduce you to him, in full, for the first time. With unprecedented access to Michaels (who has spent his career mostly avoiding reporters) and the entire SNL apparatus, The New Yorker's Susan Morrison takes you behind the curtain for the rollicking, definitive story of how Lorne created the institution that would change comedy forever. Lorne features hundreds of interviews with Michaels, conducted over several years; his close friends (such as Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, and Steve Martin); and the candid, hilarious stars of the show, including Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Buck Henry, Chevy Chase, and more. Nearly a decade in the making, Lorne is an intimate, deeply reported, and wildly entertaining account of a man singularly obsessed with the show that would define his life - and change American culture.

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Legends and Soles: The Memoir of an American Original

Sonny Vaccaro

The memoir from the "Savior of Nike" provides context to media stories including the courting and signing of Michael Jordan, being investigated by the Portland FBI for corporate espionage, close relationships with NBA superstars and Hall of Fame coaches, and the high-stakes drama behind the O'Bannon lawsuit that changed the landscape of college sports.

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The Killing Fields of East New York: The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighborhood

Stacy Horn

In this groundbreaking work of investigative journalism and true crime, Stacy Horn sheds light on how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly devastated East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood that would come to be known as the Killing Fields. On a warm summer evening in 1991, seventeen-year-old Julia Parker was murdered in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. An area known for an exorbitant level of violence and crime, East New York had come to be known as the Killing Fields. In the six months after Julia Parker's death, 62 more people were murdered in the same area. In the early 1990s, murder rates in the neighborhood climbed to the highest in NYPD history. East New York was dying. But how did this once thriving, diverse, family neighborhood fall into such ruin? The answer can be found two decades earlier. In response to redlining and discriminatory housing practices, the Johnson administration passed the Housing and Urban Development Act in 1968. The Federal Housing Authority aimed to use this piece of legislation to help low-income families of color finally achieve homeownership. But they could never have predicted how banks, lenders, realtors, and corrupt FHA officials themselves would use the newly passed law to make victims of the very people they were supposed to help, and the devastation they would leave in their wake. A compulsively readable hybrid of true crime and investigative journalism, The Killing Fields of East New York reveals how white-collar crime reduced a prospering neighborhood to abandoned buildings and empty lots. Following the dual threads of the hunt for the network of criminals behind the first subprime mortgage scandal and the ensuing downfall of East New York, Stacy Horn weaves a compelling narrative of government failure, a desperate community, and ultimately the largest series of mortgage fraud prosecutions in American history. The Killing Fields of East New York deftly demonstrates how different types of crime are profoundly entangled, and how the crimes committed in nice suits and corner offices are just as destructive as those committed on the street.

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Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima and the Surrender of Japan

R. J. Overy

With the development of the B-29 "Superfortress" in summer 1944, strategic bombing, a central component of the Allied war effort against Germany, arrived in the Pacific theater. In 1945 Japan experienced the three most deadly bombing attacks of the war. The firebombing of Tokyo in March burned the city's most densely populated sector, killed some 85,000 residents, and left more than one million homeless. The attack was part of a months-long campaign of incendiary bombing that destroyed almost two-thirds of Japan's cities. The two atomic blasts in August killed hundreds of thousands in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most of them civilians. The bombing brought a destabilizing devastation that, combined with a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, induced Japan, as they put it, to terminate the war. Many at the time and since have credited American air power, and especially the two atomic bombs, with Japan's surrender. But Richard Overy tells a different, more dimensional story. Drawing on his expertise on the war and its bombing campaigns, he delivers a precise recounting of these aerial attacks, and a balanced, informed assessment of how and why they occurred. Overy is astute on the Allied decision-making, and, notably, integrates the Japanese leadership as well. He ably navigates the dramatic endgame of the war, which featured factional infighting within the Japanese cabinet, a scramble by American officials to formulate an acceptable version of "unconditional surrender," and the crucial role played by the emperor, Hirohito. The atomic bombing emerges as impactful but not decisive in this rich, multilayered history.

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Notorious: Portraits of Stars from Hollywood, Culture, Fashion, and Tech

Maureen Dowd

Shining a white-hot spotlight on America's famous, from Hollywood legends to Broadway stars to media moguls, Notorious is a captivating assortment of Maureen Dowd's most compelling style features and profiles. Using her signature wit and incisive commentary as a scalpel, Dowd dissects influential cultural elites, including: Leading Hollywood women from Uma Thurman to Jane Fonda to Greta Gerwig; Silver screen foxes such as Paul Newman, Idris Elba, and Ralph Fiennes; Funny people like Tina Fey, Mel Brooks, and Larry David; Fashionistas from Andre Leon Talley to Ann Roth to Tom Ford; And media and tech titans like Elon Musk, Bob Iger, and Peter Thiel. Notorious is the perfect antidote to our current political malaise and an intimate, gossipy romp through the culture of celebrity from a legend in American journalism.

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Stomp Off, Let's Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong

Ricky Riccardi

The revelatory origin story of one of America's most beloved musicians, Louis Armstrong. How did Louis Armstrong become Louis Armstrong? In Stomp Off, Let's Go, author and Armstrong expert Ricky Riccardi tells the enthralling story of the iconic trumpeter's meteoric rise to fame. Beginning with Armstrong's youth in New Orleans, Riccardi transports readers through Armstrong's musical and personal development, including his initial trip to Chicago to join Joe "King" Oliver's band, his first to New York to meet Fletcher Henderson, and his eventual return to Chicago, where he changed the course of music with the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. While this period of Armstrong's life is perhaps more familiar than others, Riccardi enriches extant narratives with recently unearthed archival materials, including a rare draft of pianist, composer, and Armstrong's second wife Lillian "Lil" Hardin Armstrong's autobiography. Riccardi similarly tackles the perceived notion of Armstrong as a "sell-out" during his later years, highlighting the many ways in which Armstrong's musical style and personal values in fact remained steady throughout his career. By foregrounding the voices of Armstrong and his contemporaries, Stomp Off, Let's Go offers a more intimate exploration of Armstrong's personal and professional relationships, in turn providing essential insights into how Armstrong evolved into one of America's most beloved icons.

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American Poison: A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice

Daniel Stone

a trailblazing doctor and public health activist who took on the booming auto industry--and the deadly invention of leaded gasoline, which would poison millions of people across America. At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York City, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was dead. Alice Hamilton was determined to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. By the time of the accident, Hamilton had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. She specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. She was the first female professor at Harvard. She spent decades inspecting factories and mines. But this time, she was up against a formidable new foe: America's relentless push for progress, regardless of the cost. The 1920s were an exciting decade. Industry was booming. Labor was flourishing. Automobiles were changing roads, cities, and nearly all parts of American life. And one day, an ambitious scientist named Thomas Midgley Jr. triumphantly found just the right chemical to ensure that this boom would continue. His discovery--tetraethyl leaded gasoline--set him up for great wealth and the sort of fame that would land his name in history books. Soon, Hamilton would be on a collision course with Midgley, fighting full force against his invention, which poisoned the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the basic structure of our brains. American Poison is the gripping story of Hamilton's unsung battle for a healthy planet--and the ramifications that continue to echo today.

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The Way of Play: Using Little Moments of Big Connection to Raise Calm and Confident Kids

Tina Payne Bryson

Most parents understand that unstructured play time is good for a child's attention span and creativity, but new science has discovered that specific, deliberate, playful interaction with parents is the key to their healthy emotional development and later resilience as well. As New York Times bestselling author Tina Payne Bryson and nationally recognized play expert Georgie Wisen-Vincent explain, this doesn't mean getting on all fours and making toy car sounds or enrolling a child in mommy-and-me classes; it's the daily, little moments together that can make the most impact. In The Way of Play, they detail the eight playful techniques that harness this caregiving magic and take just a few minutes, including: Leaning Into Emotions helps your child let go of anxieties, drama and chaotic behavior; Tuning Into the Body teaches a child to practice the art of surfing sensory waves; Storytelling promotes better problem solving; Thinking Out Loud fosters calmer thinking and stronger communication with you, their siblings, and everyone else.

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People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations

Jinger Vuolo

Growing up, Jinger Duggar Vuolo followed the expectations of others, never taking the time to explore her own identity. She found herself growing increasingly anxious, indecisive, and fearful, often hiding from the possibility of meaningful relationships. It wasn't until she asked herself the question, 'Who am I?' that she realized she was a chronic people pleaser. As she began the journey to break free from the snare of people pleasing, Jinger Duggar Vuolo found her true identity and purpose in life through a relationship with Jesus and living in community with others. The fears and lies that create feelings of self-doubt can tempt you to "put on a show" to gain approval, instead of cultivating open and honest relationships without the pressure to measure up to others.

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Super-Italian: More Than 110 Indulgent Recipes Using Italy's Healthiest Foods; A Cookbook

Giada.De Laurentiis

If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that life involves a series of pivots. Certainly, that has been true for Giada herself and her journey through the world of food and cooking. Although through it all her fundamental formula has not changed: good cooking = Technique + Ingredients + Ambience. In writing her 11th (yes, 11th!) cookbook, Giada has found that "healthy" needs to be a part of that fundatmental formula as well. Choosing ingredients that promote wellness is the starting point not just to better meals, but to better health and longevity. We all know that food can cause inflammation, weight gain, and other maladies that lead to chronic illness, but we rarely think about the fact that the flip side is equally true. A diet rich in a variety of nutrients can make a world of difference in how you look and feel. And this is where this cookbook comes in. Every single recipe in this book will include the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to stay strong and function properly; antioxidants that tame inflammation; protein to help our bodies repair cells and make new ones; and fiber to keep our guts happy and remove waste from the body. With a deep dive into the Italian superfoods (think olives, beans and legumes, and bitter greens) as well as 100 recipes to help us get the very most out of these ingredients, Giada proves once again that she is an essential member of the food world.

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How Do You Sleep At Night: A Novel

Elizabeth Harris

Ethan and Gabe's marriage is tested when Ethan announces his congressional run as a Republican, while Nicole rekindles a romance with Ethan's sister Kate, a political reporter whose life spirals as family and career collide.

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The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Kate Fagan

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she's one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn't really exist. She's never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she'll be a whole person again.

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Hammajang Luck: A Novel

Makana Yamamoto

Edie is done with crime. Eight years in prison changes a person. Particularly when you're only there because your partner, your best friend, your all-but-sister, sold you down the river. Even getting Edie out on early parole doesn't earn Angel any forgiveness. That's why Edie knows they'll turn down Angel's offer of a job. One last, big score. A chance to take down the man who put them away: Joyce Atlas. But Edie's lost too much time with their family. A heavily pregnant sister, a seriously ill niece, and a nephew who wasn't born before they went to prison. There's not a question. Edie's going straight. Or trying to - but Atlas has had them blacklisted from every employer on the station. Edie really doesn't want to work with Angel. It's far too complicated, they're far too angry, and Angel is bringing up a lot of confusing feelings. But they don't have any other choice . . . And if they pull it off, the 1.25 billion payout might just soothe some old wounds.

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The In-Between Bookstore: A Novel

Edward Underhill

A whimsical and healing novel about a trans man in New York who-almost 30, laid off, broke-moves back to his small Illinois hometown, walks into the bookstore he worked at in high school. . . and slips through time to come face-to-face with his pre-transition, teenage self.

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Murder in the Dressing Room

Holly Stars

By day, Joe is a hotel accountant, invisibly sitting behind their desk and playing by the rules. By night, donned in sequins, they take to the stage as Misty Divine, a star of the London drag scene. But when Misty's drag mother, Lady Lady, is found dead in her dressing room beside a poisoned box of chocolates, Misty and her fellow performers become the prime suspects. Heartbroken by the loss, and frustrated by the clear biases of the police, Misty must solve the crime before the culprit strikes again. Among the drop-dead gorgeous lurks a cutthroat killer, and Misty Divine won't rest until she finds out who it is.

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The Lost House

Melissa Larsen

A young woman with a haunting past returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family. Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother's throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt. Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather's name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life--which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver's invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes's father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter. Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora's investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life--discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets. Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.

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