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Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea
by Mary Higgins Clark Carol Higgins ClarkAmerica&’s Queen of Suspense—Mary Higgins Clark—joins forces with her daughter Carol—bestselling author of the Regan Reilly mysteries—in this fast-paced novel set on a special holiday cruise that sets sail from Miami the day after Christmas.Alvirah Meehan, lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, and private investigator Regan Reilly are guests, along with their spouses, on the &“Santa Cruise.&” The cruise is a gift from Commodore Randolph Weed to a select group that &“has made the world a better place.&” His largesse is prompted by the desire to create a buzz about his new cruise ship, the Royal Mermaid, as she sets out on her maiden voyage. Alvirah, Regan, and her new husband Jack—head of the NYPD Major Case Squad—are joined as guests on the cruise by a mystery fan convention, celebrating &“a ghost of honor,&” as well as ten men who donated time playing Santa Claus, now hoping for a restful post-season. That tranquility vanishes when two Santa suits disappear from a locked room, a storm develops, and an attempt is made on a passenger&’s life. As the Royal Mermaid sails through troubled waters, Alvirah, Regan, and Jack uncover clues that lead them to dangerous criminals not on the original guest list…
Field Trip: A QUIX Book (Geeger the Robot)
by Jarrett LernerAmelia Bedelia meets James Patterson&’s House of Robots series in the adventures of Geeger in the sixth and final story in a fun-to-read Aladdin QUIX chapter book series that&’s perfect for emerging readers!Geeger the Robot and his class go on a field trip to the Amblerville History Museum, and he&’s surprised to see all the other incredible inventions that came before robots. But not every museumgoer thinks robots are amazing. Can Geeger change their minds?
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
by Amy HempelThe Collected Stories of Amy Hempel gathers together the complete work of a writer whose voice is as singular and astonishing as any in American fiction. Hempel, fiercely admired by writers and reviewers, has a sterling reputation that is based on four very short collections of stories, roughly fifteen thousand stunning sentences, written over a period of nearly three decades. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With compassion, wit, and the acutest eye, Hempel observes the marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation in an uneasy America. When Reasons to Live, Hempel's first collection, was published in 1985, readers encountered a pitch-perfect voice in fiction and an unsettling assessment of the culture. That collection includes "San Francisco," which Alan Cheuse in The Chicago Tribune called "arguably the finest short story composed by any living writer." In At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, her second collection, frequently compared to the work of Raymond Carver, Hempel refined and developed her unique grace and style and her unerring instinct for the moment that defines a character. Also included here, in their entirety, are the collections Tumble Home and The Dog of the Marriage. As Rick Moody says of the title novella in Tumble Home, "the leap in mastery, in seriousness, and sheer literary purpose was inspiring to behold.... And yet," he continues, "The Dog of the Marriage, the fourth collection, is even better than the other three...a triumph, in fact." The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel is the perfect opportunity for readers of contemporary American fiction to catch up to one of its masters. Moody's passionate and illuminating introduction celebrates both the appeal and the importance of Hempel's work.
100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife
by Ken JenningsFrom New York Times bestselling author and legendary Jeopardy! host and champion Ken Jennings comes a hilarious travel guide to the afterlife, exploring to die for destinations from literature, mythology, and pop culture.Ever wonder which circles of Dante&’s Inferno have the nicest accommodations? Where&’s the best place to grab a bite to eat in the ancient Egyptian underworld? How does one dress like a local in the heavenly palace of Hinduism&’s Lord Vishnu, or avoid the flesh-eating river serpents in the Klingon afterlife? What hidden treasures can be found off the beaten path in Hades, Valhalla, or TV&’s The Good Place? Find answers to all those questions and more about the world(s) to come in this eternally entertaining book from Ken Jennings. Written in the style of iconic bestselling travel guides, Jennings wryly outlines journeys through the afterlife, as dreamed up over 5,000 years of human history by our greatest prophets, poets, mystics, artists, and TV showrunners. This comprehensive index of 100 different afterlife destinations was meticulously researched from sources ranging from the Epic of Gilgamesh to modern-day pop songs, video games, and Simpsons episodes. Get ready for whatever post-mortal destiny awaits you, whether it&’s an astral plane, a Hieronymus Bosch hellscape, or the baseball diamond from Field of Dreams. Fascinating, funny, and irreverent, this &“gung-ho travel guide to Heaven, Hell, and beyond&” (The New Yorker) will help you create your very own bucket list—for after you&’ve kicked the bucket.
Lie With Me: A Novel
by Philippe Besson&“I remember the movement of his hips pressing against the pinball machine. This one sentence had me in its grip until the end. Two young men find each other, always fearing that life itself might be the villain standing in their way. A stunning and heart-gripping tale.&” —André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name A New York Times Book Review Editor&’s Choice The critically acclaimed, internationally beloved novel by Philippe Besson—&“this year&’s Call Me By Your Name&” (Vulture) with raves in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Vanity Fair, Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Out—about an affair between two teenage boys in 1984 France, translated with subtle beauty and haunting lyricism by the iconic and internationally acclaimed actress and writer Molly Ringwald. In this &“sexy, pure, and radiant story&” (Out), Philippe chances upon a young man outside a hotel in Bordeaux who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he&’s never forgotten, a hidden affair with a boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Thomas is the son of a farmer; Philippe the son of a school principal. At school, they don&’t acknowledge each other. But they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair. Despite the intensity of their attraction, from the beginning Thomas knows how it will end: &“Because you will leave and we will stay,&” he says. Philippe becomes a writer and travels the world, though as this &“tender, sensuous novel&” (The New York Times Book Review) shows, he never lets go of the relationship that shaped him, and every story he&’s ever told. &“Beautifully translated by Ringwald&” (NPR), this is &“Philippe Besson&’s book of a lifetime...an elegiac tale of first, hidden love&” (The New Yorker).
Falling Man: A Novel
by Don DeLilloThere is September 11 and then there are the days after, and finally the years. Falling Man is a magnificent, essential novel about the event that defines turn-of-the-century America. It begins in the smoke and ash of the burning towers and tracks the aftermath of this global tremor in the intimate lives of a few people. First there is Keith, walking out of the rubble into a life that he'd always imagined belonged to everyone but him. Then Lianne, his es-tranged wife, memory-haunted, trying to reconcile two versions of the same shadowy man. And their small son Justin, standing at the window, scanning the sky for more planes. These are lives choreographed by loss, grief and the enormous force of history. Brave and brilliant, Falling Man traces the way the events of September 11 have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world. It is cathartic, beautiful, heartbreaking.
Forever Young: The Science of Nutrigenomics for Glowing, Wrinkle-Free Skin and Radiant Health at Every Age
by Nicholas PerriconeDr. Perricone’s FOREVER YOUNG makes an extraordinary promise: by following a program designed to decrease wrinkles and dramatically improve the appearance of the skin, the reader is also guaranteed more energy, less fat and an improved mood. The core of Dr. Perricone’s appeal is his scientific grounding and authority. In a field notorious for the triumph of style over substance, Dr. Perricone is at the cutting edge of new science which is scientifically proven to work. At the core of the new book is an exciting new science on skin: Nutrigenomics and gene expression. With his innovative vision, Dr. Perricone has applied the new science to ease wrinkles, make the skin supple, smooth and glowing. His prescriptive program will shave years off the reader's appearance and will give the reader more energy.
Goes for Gold: A QUIX Book (Geeger the Robot)
by Jarrett LernerAmelia Bedelia meets James Patterson&’s House of Robots series in the adventures of Geeger in the fifth story in a new, fun-to-read Aladdin QUIX chapter book series that&’s perfect for emerging readers!It&’s Field Day at Amblerville Elementary. Geeger the Robot is determined to win the foot race and bring home the gold medal. But will racing toward the finish line be the beginning of trouble between Geeger and his best friend, Tillie?
The Rottenest Reunion (Junior Monster Scouts #8)
by Joe McGeeThe Junior Monster Scouts face a Grump family reunion in this exciting eighth chapter book of the Junior Monster Scouts series!Baron Von Grump and Baroness Von Grumpier are hosting a family reunion! Before the Junior Monster Scouts or villagers know it, there are Grumps everywhere with plans to take over the village with their not-too-nice ways! Can the scouts make peace with this feuding family?
Lisey's Story: A Novel
by Stephen King*Now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Julianne Moore and Clive Owen* The &“haunting…tender, intimate book that makes an epic interior journey&” (The New York Times), Lisey&’s Story is a literary masterpiece—an extraordinarily moving and haunting portrait of a marriage and its aftermath.Lisey lost her husband Scott, after a twenty-five year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, Lisey knew there was a place Scott went that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it&’s Lisey&’s turn to face Scott&’s demons, to go to that terrifying place known as Boo&’ya Moon. What begins as a widow&’s effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. &“Intricate...exhilarating&” (The New Yorker), perhaps Stephen King&’s most personal and powerful novel ever, Lisey&’s Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love. It is a beautiful, &“rich portrait of a marriage, and the complicated affection that outlives death&” (The Washington Post).
A Work in Progress
by Jarrett LernerA young boy struggles with body image in this poignant and &“perceptive&” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) middle grade journey to self-acceptance told through prose, verse, and illustration.Will is the only round kid in a school full of thin ones. So he hides…in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn&’t the only feeling that dominates Will&’s life. He&’s also got a crush on a girl named Jules who he knows he doesn&’t have a chance with, because of his size—but he can&’t help wondering what if? Will&’s best shot at attracting Jules&’s attention is by slaying the Will Monster inside him by changing his eating habits and getting more exercise. But the results are either frustratingly slow or infuriatingly unsuccessful, and Will&’s shame begins to morph into self-loathing. As he resorts to increasingly drastic measures to transform his appearance, Will meets skateboarder Markus, who helps him see his body and all it contains as an ever-evolving work in progress.
Overboard!: A True Blue-water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival
by Michael J. TougiasFrom masterful storyteller Michael J. Tougias comes a new, heart-stopping true-life tale of maritime disaster, his most thrilling and amazing story yet. In May 2005, Tom Tighe, captain of a forty-five-foot-long sailboat named the Almeisan, and his first mate, Loch Reidy, welcomed three new crewmembers for a five-day voyage from Connecticut across the blue waters of the Gulf Stream to sun-drenched Bermuda. The new crew included forty-six-year-old Kathy Gilchrist, seventy-year-old Ron Burd, and thirty-four-year-old Chris Ferrer. Although Tighe had made the trip forty-eight times, with Reidy accompanying him on twenty of those voyages, the rest of the crew had joined to learn more about offshore sailing. Four days into the voyage, an enormous storm struck, sweeping two of the crew into the towering sea. The remaining crewmembers managed to stay aboard the vessel as it was slowly torn apart by the rampaging ocean. Overboard! follows the simultaneous desperate struggles of both those still on the boat and those fighting for their lives in the sea. The Coast Guard, alerted to the Almeisan’s distress, rushed to the storm-tossed scene. Their ensuing search and rescue mission proved so spectacularly difficult and dangerous that it was later selected—from among thousands of incidents—as the Guard’s search and rescue case of the year. Highly trained helicopter pilots and rescue swimmers alike found themselves in almost as much trouble as those trapped by the ferocious ocean. By turns tragic, thrilling, and deeply inspiring, Overboard! is a riveting, fast-paced story of death and survival at sea—amazing, unforgettable, and all true.
The Drama with Doomsdays (The Celia Cleary Series #2)
by Scott ReintgenCelia must find the classmate at the heart of a Doomsday Prophecy before it&’s too late in this second &“high stakes&” (Kirkus Reviews) book in the contemporary fantasy middle grade series perfect for fans of the Thirteen Witches and Love Sugar Magic series.Ever since the fateful visions about Jeffrey Johnson, Celia Cleary&’s prophecies have focused on smaller things like minor mishaps and everyday inconveniences. It&’s finally starting to feel like she has a handle on her powers…until things take a turn for the weird. One day at school, Celia&’s notebook magically fills in with a single name written over and over: Patrick. She uses the family guidebook to investigate and learns that the mysterious Patrick is connected to a Doomsday Prophecy—a vision that involves a large group of people, a point of no return, and a terrible future. The target for this particular reckoning? The entire eighth grade. Celia soon finds herself in a race against the clock to figure out which Patrick at their school is at the heart of the coming disaster. As the shifting sands of luck turn against her, she&’ll need Grammy&’s voice and the help of friends more than ever. But even with their efforts combined, can they prevent the doomsday?
Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
by Annie Proulx*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Literary Hub!* A Finalist for the 2022 NBCC Awards in Nonfiction, the 2023 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award, and the NEIBA 2023 New England Book Award* From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx, this riveting deep dive into the history of our wetlands and what their systematic destruction means for the planet &“is both an enchanting work of nature writing and a rousing call to action&” (Esquire). &“I learned something new—and found something amazing—on every page.&” —Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo LandA lifelong acolyte of the natural world, Annie Proulx brings her witness and research to the subject of wetlands and the vitally important role they play in preserving the environment—by storing the carbon emissions that accelerate climate change. Fens, bogs, swamps, and marine estuaries are crucial to the earth&’s survival, and in four illuminating parts, Proulx documents their systemic destruction in pursuit of profit. In a vivid and revelatory journey through history, Proulx describes the fens of 16th-century England, Canada&’s Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia&’s Great Vasyugan Mire, and America&’s Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. She introduces the early explorers who launched the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and writes of the diseases spawned in the wetlands—the Ague, malaria, Marsh Fever. A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is &“an unforgettable and unflinching tour of past and present, fixed on a subject that could not be more important&” (Bill McKibben). &“A stark but beautifully written Silent Spring–style warning from one of our greatest novelists.&” —The Christian Science Monitor
Dork Diaries 8: Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After (Dork Diaries #8)
by Rachel Renée RussellNikki Maxwell&’s favorite fairy tales get dork-tastic twists in this eighth installment of the #1 New York Times bestselling Dork Diaries series!After a bump on the head in gym class on April Fool&’s Day, Nikki has a wild dream in which she, her BFFs Chloe and Zoey, her crush Brandon, and mean girl MacKenzie all end up playing the roles of some familiar classic fairy tale characters. Of course, the stories don&’t go quite as expected—because they each have a very special Dork Diaries spin!
The Shipping News: A Novel (Scribner Classics)
by Annie ProulxWinner of the Pulitzer Prize, Annie Proulx&’s The Shipping News is a vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary North American family.Quoyle, a third-rate newspaper hack, with a “head shaped like a crenshaw, no neck, reddish hair...features as bunched as kissed fingertips,” is wrenched violently out of his workaday life when his two-timing wife meets her just desserts. An aunt convinces Quoyle and his two emotionally disturbed daughters to return with her to the starkly beautiful coastal landscape of their ancestral home in Newfoundland. Here, on desolate Quoyle’s Point, in a house empty except for a few mementos of the family’s unsavory past, the battered members of three generations try to cobble up new lives. Newfoundland is a country of coast and cove where the mercury rarely rises above seventy degrees, the local culinary delicacy is cod cheeks, and it’s easier to travel by boat and snowmobile than on anything with wheels. In this harsh place of cruel storms, a collapsing fishery, and chronic unemployment, the aunt sets up as a yacht upholsterer in nearby Killick-Claw, and Quoyle finds a job reporting the shipping news for the local weekly, the Gammy Bird (a paper that specializes in sexual-abuse stories and grisly photos of car accidents). As the long winter closes its jaws of ice, each of the Quoyles confronts private demons, reels from catastrophe to minor triumph—in the company of the obsequious Mavis Bangs; Diddy Shovel the strongman; drowned Herald Prowse; cane-twirling Beety; Nutbeem, who steals foreign news from the radio; a demented cousin the aunt refuses to recognize; the much-zippered Alvin Yark; silent Wavey; and old Billy Pretty, with his bag of secrets. By the time of the spring storms Quoyle has learned how to gut cod, to escape from a pickle jar, and to tie a true lover’s knot.
I Need You to Read This: A Novel
by Jessa MaxwellThis &“super creepy&” (The Washington Post) and &“perfectly plotted whodunnit&” (Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author) follows an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor&’s murder—from the bestselling author of The Golden Spoon. Years ago, Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn&’t date. Her quiet world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times. When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position but soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis&’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much. As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor&’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and she suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen&’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her in this &“fresh and fascinating&” (Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot) page-turner.
Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
by Anthony SwoffordAnthony Swofford's Jarhead is the first Gulf War memoir by a frontline infantry marine, and it is a searing, unforgettable narrative. When the marines -- or "jarheads," as they call themselves -- were sent in 1990 to Saudi Arabia to fight the Iraqis, Swofford was there, with a hundred-pound pack on his shoulders and a sniper's rifle in his hands. It was one misery upon another. He lived in sand for six months, his girlfriend back home betrayed him for a scrawny hotel clerk, he was punished by boredom and fear, he considered suicide, he pulled a gun on one of his fellow marines, and he was shot at by both Iraqis and Americans. At the end of the war, Swofford hiked for miles through a landscape of incinerated Iraqi soldiers and later was nearly killed in a booby-trapped Iraqi bunker. Swofford weaves this experience of war with vivid accounts of boot camp (which included physical abuse by his drill instructor), reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family. As engagement with the Iraqis draws closer, he is forced to consider what it is to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man. Unlike the real-time print and television coverage of the Gulf War, which was highly scripted by the Pentagon, Swofford's account subverts the conventional wisdom that U.S. military interventions are now merely surgical insertions of superior forces that result in few American casualties. Jarhead insists we remember the Americans who are in fact wounded or killed, the fields of smoking enemy corpses left behind, and the continuing difficulty that American soldiers have reentering civilian life. A harrowing yet inspiring portrait of a tormented consciousness struggling for inner peace, Jarhead will elbow for room on that short shelf of American war classics that includes Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and be admired not only for the raw beauty of its prose but also for the depth of its pained heart.
Undermoney: A Novel
by Jay NewmanFrom a seasoned global finance insider comes &“a gripping thriller that takes you into the world of New York hedge funds, Russian money launderers, and DC power politics [that] makes you feel like you&’re actually there&” (Bill Browder, author of Red Notice).When a US airdrop of billions of dollars disappears in the desert sands of Syria, only a small group of military operatives knows its ultimate destination or why it has been stolen. Their goal is no less than the restoration of America&’s geopolitical dominance on the global stage. Essential to this scheme are Greta Webb, a sophisticated CIA operative who is an expert on dark money, not to mention lethally skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and Elias Vicker, the damaged, dangerous soul who runs the world&’s largest hedge fund. To achieve its goals, the group must form dangerous alliances. One is with the hidden family that manages the largest private pool of capital that has ever existed. Another is with Fyodor Volk, the ruthless founder of Russia&’s most successful private military company, a mercenary with ties to Vladimir Putin. Volk has his eye on Greta. She would be wise to avoid him but cannot. Arcing from Manhattan&’s finest apartments to Washington, DC, from Middle Eastern war zones to private European bank vaults, Undermoney follows the Americans as they are enmeshed in the world of dark money and confront ever-increasing danger. Ultimately, they must decide whether their objectives are worth the cost of sacrificing not just a few but potentially many human lives. &“Unexpectedly timely&” (The New Yorker),Undermoney is a &“wildly entertaining peek behind the curtain of American politics, financial skullduggery, and high-stakes global conflict&” (Nelson DeMille).
Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life
by Glennon Doyle**The first book from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed** The inspiring and hilarious instant New York Times bestseller from the beloved writer, speaker, activist, and founder of Momastery, whose memoir Love Warrior was an Oprah&’s Book Club selection.Glennon Doyle&’s hilarious and poignant reflections on our universal (yet often secret) experiences have inspired a social movement by reminding women that they&’re not alone. In Carry On, Warrior, she shares her personal story in moving, refreshing, and laugh-out-loud new essays and some of the best-loved material from Momastery. Her writing invites us to believe in ourselves, to be brave and kind, to let go of the idea of perfection, and to stop making motherhood, marriage, and friendship harder by pretending they&’re not hard. In this one woman&’s attempt to love herself and others, readers will find a wise and witty friend who shows that we can build better lives in our hearts, homes, and communities.
Dork Diaries 12: Tales from a Not-So-Secret Crush Catastrophe (Dork Diaries #12)
by Rachel Renée RussellNikki Maxwell has to juggle two kids&’ feelings in the twelfth installment in the blockbuster #1 New York Times bestselling Dork Diaries series!In Nikki Maxwell&’s newest diary, it&’s the countdown to the end of the school year, and Nikki&’s juggling some big questions about how she&’ll spend her summer. She&’s also facing an unexpected crush catastrophe—there&’s a new kid interested in Nikki, but the last thing she wants to do is accidentally hurt Brandon! It all comes down to a big decision Nikki has to make, and drama like she&’s never faced before!
Golden Gate: City Spies; Golden Gate; Forbidden City (City Spies #2)
by James PontiIn this second installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies returns for another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith&’s Spy School for Girls.After thwarting a notorious villain at an eco-summit in Paris, the City Spies are gearing up for their next mission. Operating out of a base in Scotland, this secret team of young agents working for the British Secret Intelligence Service&’s MI6 division have honed their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can&’t. Fourteen-year-old Sydney is a surfer and a rebel from Bondi Beach, Australia. She&’s also a field ops specialist for the City Spies. Sydney is excited to learn that she&’ll be going undercover on the marine research vessel the Sylvia Earle. But things don&’t go exactly as planned, and while Sydney does find herself in the spotlight, it&’s not in the way she was hoping. Meanwhile, there&’s been some new intel regarding a potential mole within the organization, offering the spies a lead that takes them to San Francisco, California. But as they investigate a spy who died at the Botanical Gardens, they discover that they are also being investigated. And soon, they&’re caught up in an exciting adventure filled with rogue missions and double agents! This mission is hot! The City Spies are a go!
Under the Dome: A Novel
by Stephen KingThe &“propulsively intriguing, staggeringly addictive&” (USA TODAY) novel from master storyteller Stephen King—a #1 New York Times bestseller.It is a typical October morning in Chester&’s Mill, Maine: glorious weather, a perfectly blue sky, and quiet. Then, all hell breaks loose. Inexplicably, and simultaneously, a plane falls from the sky in flames; a woman&’s hand is severed; and a farmer&’s John Deere explores (with him on it). A few moments later, a pulp-truck crashes spectacularly. Somehow, an invisible and impermeable barrier—exactly following the town&’s perimeter—has descended upon the town.Life under the dome quickly becomes a hothouse—with the best in some people and the worst in others flourishing. There are unambiguous heroes and villains, from a supremely corrupt local politician to a very enterprising newspaper reporter. The situation under the dome deteriorates by the minute: supplies of everything are diminishing quickly, the citizens are panicking, and the police force, under the control of the diabolically devious alderman Jim Rennie, implement their own version of martial law. Meanwhile, Barbie, brave Iraq war vet and short order cook, and a band of intrepid pals engage in a race against time to find the source of the dome and raise it before there&’s nobody left alive in Chester&’s Mill.Under the Dome is filled with a marvelous and enormous cast of over 100 characters. King&’s trademark idiomatic language is pure pleasure to read. &“Nowhere in Mr. King&’s immense body of work have his real and fantasy world collided with such head-on force&” (The New York Times Book Review).
Damnation Spring
by Ash DavidsonNATIONAL BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of 2021 by Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times &“A glorious book—an assured novel that&’s gorgeously told.&” —The New York Times Book Review &“An incredibly moving epic about an unforgettable family.&” —CBS Sunday Morning &“[An] absorbing novel…I felt both grateful to have known these people and bereft at the prospect of leaving them behind.&” —The Washington Post A stunning novel about love, work, and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future.Colleen and Rich Gundersen are raising their young son, Chub, on the rugged California coast. It&’s 1977, and life in this Pacific Northwest logging town isn&’t what it used to be. For generations, the community has lived and breathed timber; now that way of life is threatened. Colleen is an amateur midwife. Rich is a tree-topper. It&’s a dangerous job that requires him to scale trees hundreds of feet tall—a job that both his father and grandfather died doing. Colleen and Rich want a better life for their son—and they take steps to assure their future. Rich secretly spends their savings on a swath of ancient redwoods. But when Colleen, grieving the loss of a recent pregnancy and desperate to have a second child, challenges the logging company&’s use of the herbicides she believes are responsible for the many miscarriages in the community, Colleen and Rich find themselves on opposite sides of a budding conflict. As tensions in the town rise, they threaten the very thing the Gundersens are trying to protect: their family. Told in prose as clear as a spring-fed creek, Damnation Spring is an intimate, compassionate portrait of a family whose bonds are tested and a community clinging to a vanishing way of life. An extraordinary story of the transcendent, enduring power of love—between husband and wife, mother and child, and longtime neighbors. An essential novel for our times.
Cheat Day: A Novel
by Liv StratmanThis clever and witty debut novel about the unexpected consequences of one woman&’s attempt to exert control over her life by adhering to a strict wellness routine is &“the kind of book you devour in a day or two…sexy and funny, but also very perceptive&” (BuzzFeed).Kit and David were college sweethearts. Now married and in their thirties, they live in Kit&’s childhood home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. While David has a successful career, jetting off on work trips to exciting destinations, Kit is stuck in a loop. She keeps quitting her job managing her sister&’s bakery to seek a more ambitious profession, but fear of failure always brings her back to Sweet Cheeks. Kit finds a fraught solace in cycling through fad diets, which David, in his efforts to be supportive, follows along with her. Their latest program is the Radiant Regimen, an intense cleanse, and Kit is optimistic about embarking on a new chapter of healthy eating and self-control. Hungry in more ways than one, she soon falls into a flirtation with a carpenter named Matt who is building new shelves for the bakery kitchen. Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Kit and Matt soon begin a passionate affair. Kit suppresses her guilt by obsessing over her diet, pushing herself in greater extremes. Told in precise, intimate detail, Cheat Day is &“an incredibly likable novel of hungers controlled and liberated, and marriage&’s gray areas&” (Booklist) that explores monogamy versus monotony, deprivation versus indulgence, and limitations of modern wellness.