- December 13, 2018
New Boy (2017)
Tracy Chevalier
In this modern retelling of Othello, set in a 1970s Washington, D.C. schoolyard, a single day changes the characters for their entire lives.
Osei “O” Kokote is the son of a diplomat from Ghana. He is the only African American at his new school. Surrounded by white kids who have been shaped by ...
Read more… - December 13, 2018
How to Stop Time (2018)
Matt Haig
How would you live your life if you only aged one year for every fifteen? This novel is the story of 41-year-old protagonist Tom Hazard, who due to a rare medical condition has been alive for centuries. The clandestine Albatross Society protects his secret. As a member of the Society, ...
Read more… - December 13, 2018
All That Man Is (2016)
David Szalay
I shouldn’t have loved this book; it is, after all, just about men, being an exploration of the male ego through the arc of a lifespan.
In a series of subtly interconnected stories, different male protagonists each represent an “age of man,” from youth through old age. The book’s title ...
Read more… - December 13, 2018
We Are Okay (2017)
Nina LaCour
I had high expectations of this (dare I say ugly?) little book, because it was this year’s Printz Award winner. The Michael J. Printz Award is awarded by the American Library Association to the “best book for teens” in its publishing year (more information can be found by clicking here). ...
Read more… - December 13, 2018
After the Eclipse: A Mother’s Murder, A Daughter’s Search (2017)
Sarah Perry
In May 1994, Crystal Perry was brutally raped and murdered in the dead of night in her home in Bridgton, Maine. Sarah Perry, her only child, was twelve years old and in the house at the time. After the Eclipse is Sarah’s ...
Read more… - December 12, 2018
The Baker’s Secret (2017)
Stephen P. Kiernan
Set in a small town in Normandy, France in the time before the D-Day Invasion, The Baker’s Secret is a little gem of a novel about courage and resiliency.
Emma has lived in Vergers all her life and has suffered under the Nazis for the last two years. Phillippe, the young ...
Read more… - December 12, 2018
Home Fire (2017)
Kamila Shamsie
Home Fire is riveting. Devastating. An ode to the devotion and terrible decisions made in the names of love and justice. Isma, Aneeka, and Parvaiz Pasha are three British siblings born and raised in the Islamic faith; when all of their relatives pass away, Isma is 12 years old when she’s left ...
Read more… - December 11, 2018
The Rules of Magic (2017)
by Alice Hoffman
Finally, a book about love and magic that is as real and true as it is inventive. In The Rules of Magic, Alice Hoffman has created a beautiful portrayal of family devotion and connection, a novel that captures the exhilaration and trepidation of true love. In this prequel to ...
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Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart. Vol. 2: Choices (2018)
Brian Michael Bendis
Riri Williams’ Ironheart joins Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel and the new Thor in the continued re-imagining of superheroes in the Marvel universe, resulting in an increasingly female-superhero-heavy lineup. It’s interesting to compare her character and arcs to other women superheroes in the current pantheon.
Like Kamala Khan ...
Read more… - December 11, 2018
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (2016)
Jessmyn Ward, editor
If you are thinking about participating in the “Now Read This” book group, you may also want to read this collection of essays compiled and edited by Jesmyn Ward, the author of Sing, Unburied, Sing (which is the book club selection for January). ...
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