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Family Literacy Center program
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New Arrivals
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Farmhouse Weekends
Serve up comfort classic recipes for casual weekends with family and friends.
Farmhouse Weekends is the cookbook for anyone who daydreams of country life. Prepare meals and experiences to enjoy in the easy companionship of family and friends--everything you need to create the perfect farmhouse weekend, no matter where you live, is found within these pages. Each chapter provides recipes inspired by author Melissa Bahen's weekend jaunts in the country: apple cider donuts and white bean chili after a day of picking fresh apples in the fall; buttery cobbler full of ripe, summer berries after a trip to the farmers' market; hot, flaky biscuits slathered with butter and homemade strawberry freezer jam to start out a spring day. You'll find brunch, dinner, and dessert recipes for spring, summer, autumn, and winter: 65 recipes to entertain and enjoy good company all year round.
Melissa Bahen started Lulu the Baker in 2008, a popular online source for recipes, projects, and snapshots of modern country life. Since then, she has published Scandinavian Gatherings: From Afternoon Fika to Midsummer Feast, and her modern farmhouse kitchen has appeared in Rachael Ray Everyday, Better Homes & Gardens, Belong Magazine, Taproot Magazine, Eugene Magazine, and Cloth Magazine. She is a recipe and project developer for online brands, including Canada Dry, Albertsons, Hidden Valley Ranch, and many more. She lives with her husband, four children, and many animals on her farm in western Oregon. -
Flight of the Diamond Smugglers
For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed "overmined" and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling?particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air.
Entering Die Sperrgebiet ("The Forbidden Zone") is like entering an eerie ghost town, but Frank is surprised by the number of people willing--even eager--to talk with him. Soon he meets Msizi, a young diamond digger, and his pigeon, Bartholomew, who helps him steal diamonds. It's a deadly game: pigeons are shot on sight by mine security, and Msizi knows of smugglers who have disappeared because of their crimes. For this, Msizi blames "Mr. Lester," an evil tall-tale figure of mythic proportions.
From the mining towns of Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth, through the "halfway" desert, to Kleinzee's shores littered with shipwrecks, Frank investigates a long overlooked story. Weaving interviews with local diamond miners who raise pigeons in secret with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters, Frank reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town.
Interwoven throughout this obsessive quest are epic legends in which pigeons and diamonds intersect, such as that of Krishna's famed diamond Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, and that of the Cherokee serpent Uktena. In these strange connections, where truth forever tangles with the lore of centuries past, Frank is able to contextualize the personal grief that sent him, with his wife Louisa in the passenger seat, on this enlightening journey across parched lands.
Blending elements of reportage, memoir, and incantation, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is a rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed in one of the most dangerous areas of coastal South Africa. With his sovereign prose and insatiable curiosity, Matthew Gavin Frank "reminds us that the world is a place of wonder if only we look" (Toby Muse).
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World Travel
A guide to some of the world's most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to Tanzania's utter beauty and the stunning desert solitude of Oman's Empty Quarter--and many places beyond.
In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places--in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid, World Travel provides essential context that will help readers further appreciate the reasons why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable.
Supplementing Bourdain's words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Chris; a guide to Chicago's best cheap eats by legendary music producer Steve Albini, and more. Additionally, each chapter includes sly, witty illustrations by cartoonist Tony Millionaire.
For veteran travelers, armchair enthusiasts, and those in between, World Travel offers a chance to experience the world like Anthony Bourdain.
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When Women Invented Television
Must-Read Book of March --Entertainment Weekly
Best Books of March --HelloGiggles"Leaps at the throat of television history and takes down the patriarchy with its fervent, inspired prose. When Women Invented Television offers proof that what we watch is a reflection of who we are as a people." --Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls
New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia Jennifer Keishin Armstrong tells the little-known story of four trailblazing women in the early days of television who laid the foundation of the industry we know today.
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women--each an independent visionary-- saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch tv today.Irna Phillips turned real-life tragedy into daytime serials featuring female dominated casts. Gertrude Berg turned her radio show into a Jewish family comedy that spawned a play, a musical, an advice column, a line of house dresses, and other products. Hazel Scott, already a renowned musician, was the first African American to host a national evening variety program. Betty White became a daytime talk show fan favorite and one of the first women to produce, write, and star in her own show.
Together, their stories chronicle a forgotten chapter in the history of television and popular culture.
But as the medium became more popular--and lucrative--in the wake of World War II, the House Un-American Activities Committee arose to threaten entertainers, blacklisting many as communist sympathizers. As politics, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and money collided, the women who invented television found themselves fighting from the margins, as men took control. But these women were true survivors who never gave up--and thus their legacies remain with us in our television-dominated era. It's time we reclaimed their forgotten histories and the work they did to pioneer the medium that now rules our lives.
This amazing and heartbreaking history, illustrated with photos, tells it all for the first time.
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How to Be a Psychic
Discover your innate psychic ability!
Take control of your future with How to Be a Psychic. You'll start by learning how to tune in to the psychic ability you already have--but never knew how to access. After mastering these easy-to-follow instructions on how to hone the sensitivity of your senses, you'll move on to the more specialized skills of a psychic, such as:- Channeling spirits, including talking with people who have passed away
- Communicating with animals
- Connecting telepathically with people across long distances, using the power of your mind
- Looking into the future
There's no prior experience or crystal balls required. With the help of How to Be a Psychic, you'll soon be able to achieve clairvoyance, determine your future, and reach the Other Side.
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Beautiful Things
“I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love,” Hunter Biden writes in this deeply moving memoir of addiction, loss, and survival.
When he was two years old, Hunter Biden was badly injured in a car accident that killed his mother and baby sister. In 2015, he suffered the devastating loss of his beloved big brother, Beau, who died of brain cancer at the age of forty-six. These hardships were compounded by the collapse of his marriage and a years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.
In Beautiful Things, Hunter recounts his descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety. The story ends with where Hunter is today—a sober married man with a new baby, finally able to appreciate the beautiful things in life. -
Relationship Goals
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A candid, inspiring guide to finding lasting love and sustaining a healthy relationship by getting real about your goals--based on the viral, multi-million-view sermon series about dating, marriage, and sex
"No matter where you are and no matter what stage of life you are in, Relationship Goals will be a game changer."--Levi Lusko
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY COSMOPOLITAN
Realer than the most real conversation you've ever heard on the topic, Michael Todd's honest, heartfelt, and powerful teaching on relationships has already impacted millions of people in all seasons of life around the world. Now, in Relationship Goals, Michael tells his own story of heartache and healing, unpacks explosive truths from God's Word, and tells it to you straight to help you win at relationships in every part of your life.
Where did the idea for relationships come from in the first place? Does God really care who I hang out with? Is it even possible to avoid relational train wrecks? From his plan for intentional dating in the age of social media to handling break-ups well to doing family instead of just being in a family, Michael tackles the questions we all have about relational success.
As he candidly examines our most common pitfalls in relationships and the start-today ways to get past them, Michael helps you align your longings with God's awesome desires for your life. Now, that's a good relationship goal.
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The Chicken Bible
Poultry enthusiasts unite!
ATK has you covered from the basic to the spectacular with 500 recipes that deliver low-key dinners, game-day favorites, simple sandwiches, special-occasion showstoppers, and beyond.
You can call chicken a lot of things. Blank canvas, weeknight go-to, lean protein, we've heard it all. But boring? That's where we draw the line. Sure, it might have started to feel a bit redundant. But that's not the chicken's fault. ATK is here with the inspiration you need. It's time those chicken pieces in your freezer got the respect they deserve.
Chicken is the go-anywhere, eat-with-anything, highly-transformable crowd favorite that always hits the spot. Find exactly what you're looking for (and more!) with a wide breadth of themed chapters, including Easy Chicken Dinners, Classic Braises, Breaded and Fried, Pasta and Noodles, Pot Pies and Casseroles, and appliance-specific recipes. There's even a dedicated chapter of recipes for cooking for two. And with an introduction detailing how to prep any chicken part, from pounding breasts and preparing cutlets, to whole bird skills like butterflying or breaking down a chicken, you'll be a poultry pro in no time. Cozy up to succulent roast chickens with sauces made from pan drippings, sink your teeth into the crispiest, crunchiest fried chicken you've ever had, try your hand at sous vide for unbelievably moist chicken, or fire up the grill for anything from kebabs to beer can chicken. Feel like wingin' it? Us too. Our favorite is our game-changing Korean-Style Fried Chicken Wings, double-fried so they stay extra-crispy under their blanket of spicy, salty, slightly-sweet sauce. With over 500 recipes, you could eat chicken every night and never tire of it. (And yes, that's a challenge.) -
Chatter
An award-winning psychologist reveals the hidden power of our inner voice and shows how we can harness it to live a healthier, more satisfying, and more productive life.
"This book is going to fundamentally change some of the most important conversations in your life--the ones you have with yourself."--Adam Grant, bestselling author of Give and Take
One of the best new books of the year--The Washington Post, BBC, CNN Underscored, Shape, Behavioral Scientist, PopSugar * Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness starred reviews * Next Big Idea Club Finalist
Tell a stranger that you talk to yourself, and you're likely to get written off as eccentric. But the truth is that we all have a voice in our head. When we talk to ourselves, we often hope to tap into our inner coach but find our inner critic instead. When we're facing a tough task, our inner coach can buoy us up: Focus--you can do this. But, just as often, our inner critic sinks us entirely: I'm going to fail. They'll all laugh at me. What's the use?
In Chatter, acclaimed psychologist Ethan Kross explores the silent conversations we have with ourselves. Interweaving groundbreaking behavioral and brain research from his own lab with real-world case studies--from a pitcher who forgets how to pitch, to a Harvard undergrad negotiating her double life as a spy--Kross explains how these conversations shape our lives, work, and relationships. He warns that giving in to negative and disorienting self-talk--what he calls "chatter"--can tank our health, sink our moods, strain our social connections, and cause us to fold under pressure.
But the good news is that we're already equipped with the tools we need to make our inner voice work in our favor. These tools are often hidden in plain sight--in the words we use to think about ourselves, the technologies we embrace, the diaries we keep in our drawers, the conversations we have with our loved ones, and the cultures we create in our schools and workplaces.
Brilliantly argued, expertly researched, and filled with compelling stories, Chatter gives us the power to change the most important conversation we have each day: the one we have with ourselves. -
Blood Gun Money
“An eye-opening and riveting account of how guns make it into the black market and into the hands of criminals and drug lords.” –Adam Winkler
From the author of El Narco, a searing investigation into the enormous black market for firearms, essential to cartels and gangs in the drug trade and contributing to the epidemic of mass shootings.
The gun control debate is revived with every mass shooting. But far more people die from gun deaths on the street corners of inner city America and across the border as Mexico's powerful cartels battle to control the drug trade. Guns and drugs aren't often connected in our heated discussions of gun control-but they should be. In Ioan Grillo's groundbreaking new work of investigative journalism, he shows us this connection by following the market for guns in the Americas and how it has made the continent the most murderous on earth.
Grillo travels to gun manufacturers, strolls the aisles of gun shows and gun shops, talks to FBI agents who have infiltrated biker gangs, hangs out on Baltimore street corners, and visits the ATF gun tracing center in West Virginia. Along the way, he details the many ways that legal guns can cross over into the black market and into the hands of criminals, fueling violence here and south of the border. Simple legislative measures would help close these loopholes, but America's powerful gun lobby is uncompromising in its defense of the hallowed Second Amendment. Perhaps, however, if guns were seen not as symbols of freedom, but as key accessories in our epidemics of addiction, the conversation would shift. Blood Gun Money is that conversation shifter. -
And Then They Stopped Talking to Me
Through the stories of kids and parents in the middle school trenches, a New York Times bestselling author reveals why these years are so painful, how parents unwittingly make them worse, and what we all need to do to grow up.
"As the parent of a middle schooler, I felt as if Judith Warner had peered into my life--and the lives of many of my patients. This is a gift to our kids and their future selves."--Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
The French have a name for the uniquely hellish years between elementary school and high school: l'âge ingrat, or "the ugly age." Characterized by a perfect storm of developmental changes--physical, psychological, and social--the middle school years are a time of great distress for children and parents alike, marked by hurt, isolation, exclusion, competition, anxiety, and often outright cruelty. Some of this is inevitable; there are intrinsic challenges to early adolescence. But these years are harder than they need to be, and Judith Warner believes that adults are complicit.
With deep insight and compassion, Warner walks us through a new understanding of the role that middle school plays in all our lives. She argues that today's helicopter parents are overly concerned with status and achievement--in some ways a residual effect of their own middle school experiences--and that this worsens the self-consciousness, self-absorption, and social "sorting" so typical of early adolescence.
Tracing a century of research on middle childhood and bringing together the voices of social scientists, psychologists, educators, and parents, Warner's book shows how adults can be moral role models for children, making them more empathetic, caring, and resilient. She encourages us to start treating middle schoolers as the complex people they are, holding them to high standards of kindness, and helping them see one another as more than "jocks and mean girls, nerds and sluts."
Part cultural critique and part call to action, this essential book unpacks one of life's most formative periods and shows how we can help our children not only survive it but thrive. -
And Now I Spill the Family Secrets
In the spirit of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Roz Chast's Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Margaret Kimball's AND NOW I SPILL THE FAMILY SECRETS begins in the aftermath of a tragedy.
In 1988, when Kimball is only four years old, her mother attempts suicide on Mother's Day--and this becomes one of many things Kimball's family never speaks about. As she searches for answers nearly thirty years later, Kimball embarks on a thrilling visual journey into the secrets her family has kept for decades.
Using old diary entries, hospital records, home videos, and other archives, Margaret pieces together a narrative map of her childhood--her mother's bipolar disorder, her grandmother's institutionalization, and her brother's increasing struggles--in an attempt to understand what no one likes to talk about: the fractures in her family.
Both a coming-of-age story about family dysfunction and a reflection on mental health, AND NOW I SPILL THE FAMILY SECRETS is funny, poignant, and deeply inspiring in its portrayal of what drives a family apart and what keeps them together.
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American Serial Killers
"Fans of Mindhunter and true crime podcasts will devour these chilling stories of serial killers from the so-called "surge" or epidemic years of serial murder. With books like Serial Killers, Female Serial Killers, and Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky has established himself as the foremost expert on the history of serial killers. In this first definitive history of the worst decades of American serial murder, when the number and body count of serial killers exploded, Vronsky tells the stories of the most notable and unusual serial killings from the 1950s to the early twenty-first century. From Ted Bundy to the Golden State Killer, our fascination with these classic serial killers seems to grow by the day. American Serial Killers gives true crime junkies what they crave, with both perennial "favorites" (Ed Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer) and many fascinating lesser-known killers such as Melvin Rees, Harvey Glatman and Danny Rolling"--
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Already Toast
The story of one woman's struggle to care for her seriously ill husband--and a revealing look at the role unpaid family caregivers play in a society that fails to provide them with structural support.
Already Toast shows how all-consuming caregiving can be, how difficult it is to find support, and how the social and literary narratives that have long locked women into providing emotional labor also keep them in unpaid caregiving roles. When Kate Washington and her husband, Brad, learned that he had cancer, they were a young couple: professionals with ascending careers, parents to two small children. Brad's diagnosis stripped those identities away: he became a patient and she his caregiver.
Brad's cancer quickly turned aggressive, necessitating a stem-cell transplant that triggered a massive infection, robbing him of his eyesight and nearly of his life. Kate acted as his full-time aide to keep him alive, coordinating his treatments, making doctors' appointments, calling insurance companies, filling dozens of prescriptions, cleaning commodes, administering IV drugs. She became so burned out that, when she took an online quiz on caregiver self-care, her result cheerily declared: "You're already toast!"
Through it all she felt profoundly alone, but, as she later learned, she was in fact one of millions: an invisible army of family caregivers working every day in America, their unpaid labor keeping our troubled healthcare system afloat. Because our culture both romanticizes and erases the realities of care work, few caregivers have shared their stories publicly.
As the baby-boom generation ages, the number of family caregivers will continue to grow. Readable, relatable, timely, and often raw, Already Toast--with its clear call for paying and supporting family caregivers--is a crucial intervention in that conversation, bringing together personal experience with deep research to give voice to those tasked with the overlooked, vital work of caring for the seriously ill. -
Agent Sonya
The "master storyteller" (San Francisco Chronicle) behind the New York Times bestseller The Spy and the Traitor uncovers the true story behind the Cold War's most intrepid female spy.
"[An] immensely exciting, fast-moving account."--The Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Foreign Affairs * Kirkus Reviews * Library Journal
In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her.
They didn't know that she was a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer. They didn't know that her husband was also a spy, or that she was running powerful agents across Europe. Behind the facade of her picturesque life, Burton was a dedicated Communist, a Soviet colonel, and a veteran agent, gathering the scientific secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the bomb.
This true-life spy story is a masterpiece about the woman code-named "Sonya." Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, MI5, MI6, and the FBI--and she evaded them all. Her story reflects the great ideological clash of the twentieth century--between Communism, Fascism, and Western democracy--and casts new light on the spy battles and shifting allegiances of our own times.
With unparalleled access to Sonya's diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, Ben Macintyre has conjured a page-turning history of a legendary secret agent, a woman who influenced the course of the Cold War and helped plunge the world into a decades-long standoff between nuclear superpowers.
Staff Picks
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Remote, Inc
You can thrive and excel when you're working remotely, if you adopt the mindset, habits and tech tools of professionals who are even more productive outside the office: Learn to think like a "business of one," and that entrepreneurial mindset will transform your experience of remote work.
It's not enough to stay sane while you're working from home: You deserve to thrive and excel. But that's hard to do when you, your boss or your team are still trying to replicate the way you work at the office, enduring an endless series of video calls while pretending that yes, everyone is wearing pants.Remote, Inc. shows you a new approach, based on the mindset and habits of people who flourish while working outside the office some or all of the time. These are the folks who manage to get even more done at home, even though you know they've got kids or dogs underfoot and somehow fit in a daily run at lunchtime.
Their secret? They think like a "business of one." That's how productivity experts Robert C. Pozen and Alexandra Samuel describe the mindset that lets people thrive when they're working remotely, whether working from home full-time or spending a few days each week in the office. You can follow their lead by embracing the work habits and independence of an entrepreneur - while also tapping into the benefits of collegiality and online collaboration.
Remote, Inc. maps out the principles that drive this entrepreneurial approach, and translates them into the specific habits and tools that make remote work productive and enjoyable. It shows you how to:
- Focus on goals and results instead of the 9-to-5 schedule
- Wow your managers by treating them like valued clients
- Beat information overload with a system that prioritizes the most important emails and messages
- Make online meetings purposeful, focused and engaging
- Learn to love your colleagues again by building great relationships through online collaboration
- Plan for success in a world in which many professionals will work remotely
Just as important as making you a professional powerhouse, Remote Inc. will help you find a balance between work from home, and life at home.
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Can You Keep a Secret?
With the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism that have made her Shopaholic novels beloved international bestsellers, Sophie Kinsella delivers a hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:
Secrets from her mother:
I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Sammy the goldfish in my parents’ kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.
Secrets from her boyfriend:
I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.
I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.
From her colleagues:
When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.
Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:
My G-string is hurting me.
I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.
Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.
But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from
the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse—Until they do. -
This Is How It Always Is
New York Times Bestseller
The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick
“Every once in a while, I read a book that opens my eyes in a way I never expected.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine book pick)
People Magazine’s Top 10 Books of 2017
Amazon’s Best Books of 2017: Top 20
Amazon’s Best Literature and Fiction of 2017
Bustle’s 17 Books Every Woman Should Read From 2017
PopSugar’s Our Favorite Books of the Year (So Far)
Refinery29's Best Books of the Year So Far
BookBrowse’s The 20 Best Books of 2017
Pacific Northwest Book Awards Finalist
The Globe and Mail's Top 100 Books of 2017
Longlisted for 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award
“It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think.” —Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies
This is how a family keeps a secret...and how that secret ends up keeping them.
This is how a family lives happily ever after...until happily ever after becomes complicated.
This is how children change...and then change the world.
This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.
When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever. -
The Book of Lost Friends
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a new historical novel: the dramatic story of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post–Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.
Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away.
Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything. -
The Husband's Secret
The #1 New York Times Bestseller
One of the Best Books of the Year ?Entertainment WeeklyOne of the Top Ten Books of the Year ?People magazine
?It's a knowing, touching, and entertaining page-turner. What a wonderful writer?smart, wise, funny.” ?Anne Lamott
"The Husband's Secret is so good, you won't be able to keep it to yourself." ?USA Today
?Shocking, complex and thought-provoking, this is a story reading groups will devour. A knockout!" ?Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author?Emotionally astute, immensely smart, and as cinematically plotted as any Tom Perrotta Novel destined for critical accolades and a big-screen adaptation.” ?Entertainment Weekly
?A novel that's perfect for vacation reading.” ?People
"Brilliant." ?Sophia Hannah, international bestselling author of The Wrong Mother
At the heart of The Husband's Secret is a letter that's not meant to be read
My darling Cecilia, if you're reading this, then I've died. . .Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret?something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all?she's an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia?or each other?but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's secret.Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses?and, ultimately, ourselves.
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Snapdragon
Kat Leyh's Snapdragon is a magical realist graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town’s witch and discovers the strange magic within herself.
Snap's town had a witch.
At least, that’s how the rumor goes. But in reality, Jacks is just a crocks-wearing, internet-savvy old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online—after doing a little ritual to put their spirits to rest. It’s creepy, sure, but Snap thinks it’s kind of cool, too.
They make a deal: Jacks will teach Snap how to take care of the baby opossums that Snap rescued, and Snap will help Jacks with her work. But as Snap starts to get to know Jacks, she realizes that Jacks may in fact have real magic—and a connection with Snap’s family’s past. -
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
Who are you becoming? That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. By outward metrics, everything appeared successful. But inwardly, things weren't pretty. So he turned to a trusted mentor for guidance and heard these words: "Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life." It wasn't the response he expected, but it continues to be the answer he needs.
Too often we treat the symptoms of toxicity in our modern world instead of trying to pinpoint the cause. A growing number of voices are pointing at hurry, or busyness as a root of much evil. Within the pages of this book, you'll find a compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favor of a slower, simpler way of life. -
Home Work
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In this follow-up to her critically acclaimed memoir, Home, Julie Andrews shares reflections on her astonishing career, including such classics as Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and Victor/Victoria.
In Home, the number one New York Times international bestseller, Julie Andrews recounted her difficult childhood and her emergence as an acclaimed singer and performer on the stage.
With this second memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, Andrews picks up the story with her arrival in Hollywood and her phenomenal rise to fame in her earliest films--Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Andrews describes her years in the film industry -- from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. Not only does she discuss her work in now-classic films and her collaborations with giants of cinema and television, she also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world, dealing with the demands of unimaginable success, being a new mother, the end of her first marriage, embracing two stepchildren, adopting two more children, and falling in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films, including Victor/Victoria, the gender-bending comedy that garnered multiple Oscar nominations.
Cowritten with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, and told with Andrews's trademark charm and candor, Home Work takes us on a rare and intimate journey into an extraordinary life that is funny, heartrending, and inspiring. -
A Rogue of One's Own
A lady must have money and an army of her own if she is to win a revolution--but first, she must pit her wits against the wiles of an irresistible rogue bent on wrecking her plans...and her heart.
Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London's major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis and London's undisputed lord of sin, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price--a night in her bed.
Lucie tempts Tristan like no other woman, burning him up with her fierceness and determination every time they clash. But as their battle of wills and words fans the flames of long-smoldering devotion, the silver-tongued seducer runs the risk of becoming caught in his own snare.
As Lucie tries to out-maneuver Tristan in the boardroom and the bedchamber, she soon discovers there's truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war... -
Spellbreaker
A world of enchanted injustice needs a disenchanting woman in an all-new fantasy series by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician.
The orphaned Elsie Camden learned as a girl that there were two kinds of wizards in the world: those who pay for the power to cast spells and those, like her, born with the ability to break them. But as an unlicensed magic user, her gift is a crime. Commissioned by an underground group known as the Cowls, Elsie uses her spellbreaking to push back against the aristocrats and help the common man. She always did love the tale of Robin Hood.
Elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey is one elusive spell away from his mastership when he catches Elsie breaking an enchantment. To protect her secret, Elsie strikes a bargain. She'll help Bacchus fix unruly spells around his estate if he doesn't turn her in. Working together, Elsie's trust in--and fondness for--the handsome stranger grows. So does her trepidation about the rise in the murders of wizards and the theft of the spellbooks their bodies leave behind.
For a rogue spellbreaker like Elsie, there's so much to learn about her powers, her family, the intriguing Bacchus, and the untold dangers shadowing every step of a journey she's destined to complete. But will she uncover the mystery before it's too late to save everything she loves?
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Beartown
Now an HBO Original Series
“You’ll love this engrossing novel.” —People
Named a Best Book of the Year by LibraryReads, BookBrowse, and Goodreads
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People, a dazzling and profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.
By the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town’s junior ice hockey team are about to compete in the national semi-finals—and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Under that heavy burden, the match becomes the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown.
This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world. -
100 Hikes of a Lifetime
This ultimate hiker's bucket list, from the celebrated Appalachian Trail to Micronesia's off-the-beaten-path Six Waterfalls Hike, treks through 100 energizing experiences for all levels.
Filled with beautiful National Geographic photography, wisdom from expert hikers like Andrew Skurka, need-to-know travel information, and practical wildlife-spotting tips, this inspirational guide offers the planet's best experiences for hikers and sightseers. From short day hikes--California's Sierra High Route, Lake Agnes Teahouse in Alberta, Norway's Mt. Skala--to multiday excursions like Mt. Meru in Tanzania and multi-week treks (Egypt's Sinai Trail, Bhutan's Snowman Trek, and the Bibbulum Track in Australia), you'll find a hike that matches your interests and skill level. Crossing all continents and climates (from the jungles of Costa Rica to the ice fields in Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Parks), as well as experiences (a wine route through Switzerland or moose spotting on the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming,) there is a trail for everyone in these pages. So pack your gear and lace your boots: this comprehensive and innovative guide will lead you to experience the best hikes of your life! -
Eat, and Love Yourself
A story about Mindy, a woman living with an eating disorder who has to learn how to love herself again.
In pursuit of the perfect body, Mindy buys the low-fat diet products and the glossy magazines which promise the secret to losing weight. One night, while perusing the aisles of the neighborhood convenience store for a midnight snack, she finds a new product. A chocolate bar called “Eat and Love Yourself”. On a whim, Mindy buys the curious candy, not knowing that with every piece of chocolate she eats, she will be brought back to a specific moment of her past -- helping her to look at herself honestly, learn to love her body the way it is, and accepting love. Perhaps, she will even realize that her long lost high school best friend, Elliot, was more than just a friend…
Sweeney Boo (Love Is Love) presents an honest and uncompromising look at how we form our self-image, the eating disorders that haunt our most private moments and what it takes to learn to love ourselves again. -
How to Attract Birds to Your Garden
Help your local wild birds by providing them with a safe garden environment
Make a difference to your local birdlife. Help reverse the decline in bird numbers by creating a haven in which they will thrive. It's a win-win. Provide the best shelter, feeding, and nesting opportunities for them and then you can reap the rewards as they sing and entertain.
No need to be an expert gardener already, or to break the bank - many of the most beneficial features can be installed easily and cheaply, and many you can build yourself or upcycle to be eco-friendly. -
The Tourist Attraction
Curl up with a quirky small-town Alaskan rom-com that'll leave you laughing over:
- A grumpy local and the sunny tourist who turns his world upside down
- A rogue moose who threatens to steal every scene
- A vacation you'll never forget
- And a sweet romance that doesn't need to scald the pages to burn its way into your heart
He had a strict "no tourists" policy...until she broke all of his rules.When Graham Barnett named his diner The Tourist Trap, he meant it as a joke. Now he's stuck slinging reindeer dogs to an endless parade of resort visitors who couldn't interest him less. Not even the sweet, enthusiastic tourist in the corner who blushes every time he looks her way...
Two weeks in Alaska isn't just the top item on Zoey Caldwell's bucket list. It's the whole bucket. One look at the mountain town of Moose Springs and she's smitten. But when an act of kindness brings Zoey into Graham's world, she may just find there's more to the grumpy local than meets the eye...and more to love in Moose Springs than just the Alaskan wilderness.
This story of Alaska marries together all the things you didn't realize you needed: a whirlwind vacation, a friendly moose, a grumpy diner owner, a quirky tourist, plenty of restaurant humor, and a happy ending that'll take you away from it all.