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The Phoenix Crown
From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles.
San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing's fallen Summer Palace
His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined...until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.
Added by Ann R.
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The Vacancy in Room 10
The Most Anticipated 2024 Book Releases by Nerd Daily
Most Anticipated Crime Fiction Novels of 2024 by Novel Suspects
"[An] entertaining thriller [that] maintain[s] tension and intrigue through to the satisfying end. The author's fans will devour this." --Publishers Weekly
When Anna Hartley's husband, Henry, calls her with a terrible, guilty confession, she can't believe what she hears. It has to be a bad joke--the mild, predictable artist she married would never hurt a fly, let alone commit murder. But her confusion turns to horror when police find his body washed up on the banks of the Rio Grande.
Desperate for answers to the millions of questions his untimely death has raised, Anna checks in to The Sycamores, the run-down motel turned apartment Henry rented as an art studio. As she absorbs every bit of gossip the eclectic mix of residents are willing to share about her husband and each other, she begins to piece together a picture of a very different man than the one she married, and the life he led behind her back. The more she learns, and the less sense things seem to make, she finds herself wondering: Did she ever really know Henry at all?
But Henry's secrets aren't the only ones; as Anna's search for clues expands, Cass, the mysterious, jaded motel manager, seems more and more determined to keep Anna in the dark. And when threatening letters start appearing at her door, Anna has to decide what's more important--the truth, or her own safety.Added by Ann R.
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Finding Margaret Fuller
A “sweeping” (Entertainment Weekly) novel of America’s forgotten leading lady, the central figure of a movement that defined a nation—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
“Whether exploring Margaret’s remarkable friendships or delving into her crucial legacy as a journalist, writer, and feminist, Finding Margaret Fuller promises to transform every reader it touches.”—Marie Benedict, co-author of The Personal Librarian
Young, brazen, beautiful, and unapologetically brilliant, Margaret Fuller accepts an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the celebrated Sage of Concord, to meet his coterie of enlightened friends. There she becomes “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists, a role model to a young Louisa May Alcott, an inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne and the scandalous Scarlet Letter, a friend to Henry David Thoreau as he ventures out to Walden Pond . . . and a muse to Emerson. But Margaret craves more than poetry and interpersonal drama, and her restless soul needs new challenges and adventures.
And so she charts a singular course against a backdrop of dizzying historical drama: From Boston, where she hosts a salon for students like Elizabeth Cady Stanton; to the editorial meetings of The Dial magazine, where she hones her pen as its co-founder; to Harvard’s library, where she is the first woman permitted entry; to the gritty New York streets where she spars with Edgar Allan Poe and reports on Frederick Douglass. Margaret defies conventions time and again as an activist for women and an advocate for humanity, earning admirers and critics alike.
When the legendary editor Horace Greeley offers her an assignment in Europe, Margaret again makes history as the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with luminaries like Frédéric Chopin, William Wordsworth, George Sand and more. But it is in Rome that she finds a world of passion, romance, and revolution, taking a Roman count as a lover—and sparking an international scandal. Evolving yet again into the roles of mother and countess, Margaret enters the fight for Italy’s unification.
With a star-studded cast and sweeping, epic historical events, this is a story of an inspiring trailblazer, a woman who loved big and lived even bigger—a fierce adventurer who transcended the rigid roles ascribed to women and changed history, all on her own terms.Added by Ann R.
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Happily Never After
Their name? The objectors.
Their job? To break off weddings as hired.
Their dilemma? They might just be in love with each other.
When Sophie Steinbeck finds out just before her nuptials that her fiancé has cheated yet again, she desperately wants to call it off. But because her future father-in-law is her dad’s cutthroat boss, she doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Her savior comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple (usually) wants to hear at their ceremony: “I object!”
During anti-wedding festivities that night, Sophie learns more about Max the Objector’s job. It makes perfect sense to her: he saves people from wasting their lives, from hurting each other. He’s a modern-day hero. And Sophie wants in.
The two love cynics start working together, going from wedding to wedding, and Sophie’s having more fun than she’s had in ages. She looks forward to every nerve-racking ceremony saving the lovesick souls of the betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, however, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a little hookup session or two—but it’s totally fine, because they definitely do not have feelings for each other. Love doesn’t exist, after all.
And then everything changes. A groom-to-be hires Sophie to object, but his fiancée is the woman who broke Max’s heart. As Max wrestles with whether he can be a party to his ex’s getting hurt, Sophie grapples with the sudden realization that she may have fallen hard for her partner in crime.Added by Ann R.
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How to End a Love Story
"Emotional, relatable and binge-worthy." -Tessa Bailey
"I'll read anything she writes. An absolute star." -Emily Henry
"I was hooked on the very first page. Don't miss this one!" -- Carley Fortune
A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang.
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Entertainment Weekly - Today.com - Paste - Daily Waffle -The Nerd Daily and more!
Helen Zhang hasn't seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.
Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She's even scored a coveted spot in the writers' room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer's block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except...
Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he's well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn't have taken the job on Helen's show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can't pass up.
Grant's exactly as Helen remembers him--charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she's never been. And Helen's exactly as Grant remembers too--brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen's parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he's in the picture at all.
When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet... the key to making peace with their past--and themselves--might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.
Added by Ann R.
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Jaded
A young lawyer wakes up the morning after a work gala with no memory of how she got home the previous night and must figure out what, exactly, happened—and how much she's willing to put up with to make her way to the top of the corporate ladder in this “smart, compulsively readable novel” (The New York Times).
Jade isn’t even my real name. Jade began as my Starbucks name, because all children of immigrants have a Starbucks name.
Jade has become everything she ever wanted to be.
Successful lawyer.
Dutiful daughter.
Beloved girlfriend.
Loyal friend.
Until Jade wakes up the morning after a work event, naked and alone, with no idea how she got home. Caught between her parents who can’t understand, her boyfriend who feels betrayed, and her job that expects silence, the world Jade has constructed starts to crumble.
Jade thought she was everything she ever wanted to be. But now she feels like nothing at all.
For fans of Queenie and I May Destroy You, Jaded is a blistering—and sometimes darkly funny—account of consent, power, race, sexism, and identity in a broken society.Added by Ann R.
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Every Single Secret
From New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd comes a twisty emotional thriller about a woman's perilous quest for revenge, perfect for fans of Sandra Brown, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Lisa Jewell.
Never whisper the truth. Never reveal the past.
In an isolated lighthouse on the California coast, Rowan Winterbourne lives a solitary life with only her secrets for company. For she has a mission that drives her--to avenge herself against Gregory Torval, the powerful drug and arms dealer who murdered her mother and vowed to eliminate everyone in her family.
Then Joe Grantham arrives at her door and, for the first time, Rowan lets her guard down--a dangerous mistake when he blackmails her to go with him to Torval's private island. There Torval's decadent birthday celebration rages, and while Joe pursues his own agenda, she'll provide the perfect distraction.
On Raptor Island, Torval's will is law and Joe, the closest she has to an ally, is an enigma she can't trust. One false move, one careless word, and Rowan will die. As dark truths are uncovered, one by one, Rowan recognizes her last chance for the revenge has come. But is it worth everything she must sacrifice to get out alive?
"If Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley are on your Mount Rushmore of suspense writers, Dodd's latest release definitely needs a spot on your shelf."-- E! News on Forget What You KnowAdded by Ann R.
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The Hunter
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, BBC, TODAY, Elle, CrimeReads, and more
"Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family."—TIME
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.
It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.
Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.
From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.Added by Ann R.
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Expiration Dates
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes a love story that will define a generation.
Being single is like playing the lottery. There’s always the chance that with one piece of paper you could win it all.
Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.
But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.
Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.Added by Ann R.
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Bye, Baby
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A March 2024 Indie Next and LibraryReads Pick
"Powerful, relatable and crazily addictive, Bye, Baby takes an unflinching look at the battling forces of toxicity and love which define so many female friendships. I couldn't put it down." ––Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of Ghosted and The Love of My Life
Every friendship has its shadow...
On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.
Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be in their small Hudson Valley hometown. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind—including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. But Billie knows the worst thing Cassie has ever done, and she will do whatever it takes to restore their friendship...
Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye, Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.Added by Ann R.
New Non-Fiction
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The Heirloomed Kitchen
“Fans of Ree Drummond’s ‘Pioneer Woman’ culinary brand and Jill Winger’s ‘Prairie Homestead’ books will find Schoenith’s charming debut to be an equally beguiling introduction to cooking good old-fashioned food and living a simpler life.”—Library Journal
“The Heirloomed Kitchen is a beautiful, inspiring cookbook marked by warm Southern hospitality and nostalgia for days gone by.”—Foreword Reviews
Ashley Schoenith’s The Heirloomed Kitchen: Made-from-Scratch Recipes to Gather Around for Generations takes us back to our grandmother’s kitchen with enticing aromas and made-from-scratch meals cooked with love.
This carefully curated cookbook with nostalgic-style photography beautifully presents the food while also showcasing heirloom cookware, serving vessels and utensils, and the gracious gentility of Southern hospitality. The recipes are slow-paced and packed with family memories taken from those splattered, handwritten recipe cards passed down from mother to child to grandchild.
The 100 plus recipes, along with elegant photography, bring you to the table for family meals with breakfasts, appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, sides, desserts, special holiday gatherings, and, of course, classic drinks for the cocktail hour. You’ll find Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits, Fried Green Tomatoes, Chicken and Dumplings, St. George Island Shrimp and Grits, Cornmeal-Fried Okra, Banana Pudding Cups, Wild Strawberry Shortcakes, Derby Mint Juleps, and Back Porch Sun Tea all calling you to the dining room for food, family, and memory making.
More accolades:
“The Heirloomed Kitchen is a visually stunning book, beautifully styled with Ashley's textiles and family keepsakes. Ashley's organic sensibility to both her day job, as a textile designer, and her approachable and comforting family of recipes make me want to dive in and live in this book. If you do not already have a soft spot for the south, it's heritage, traditions and history, follow Ashley's recipes for gathering around a table, a well set table, and enjoy your family and friends.”—Anne Quatrano, author of Summerland, chef & owner, Bacchanalia & Star Provisions
“It's no surprise that Ashley's strong sense of place rings true throughout this beautiful book. Nods to Ice Milk and Parker House Rolls were a reminder to rediscover the simple recipes tied to memories of my childhood. Her thoughtful notes, storied recipes, and signature aesthetic will no doubt inspire readers to honor and create their own unique traditions around the table.”—Carrie Morey, author of Hot Little Suppers & owner of Callies Hot Little Biscuit
“The Heirloomed Kitchen is a treasure trove of time-honored recipes that celebrate the cherished tradition of gathering together around dishes that will always feel like home. Each page is a delicious journey, and Ashley has masterfully captured the joy of Southern cooking. This book is a must-have for anyone who believes the best meals are made with love and enjoyed with family."—Courtney Dial Whitmore, author of The Southern Entertainer's Cookbook.
Edited by Kate
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ADUs
“A beautiful book for readers researching affordable options for chic yet environmentally friendly ADU construction.”—Library Journal
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are good for people and communities. An inside look at 25 charming, ultra-functional, extra living spaces will inspire you to build one of your own!
An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a smaller housing unit built on the same lot as a primary dwelling (also known as Additional or Auxiliary Dwelling Units) — think granny flat, in-law unit, laneway house). It has an arrangement for sleeping, cooking, and lavatory. An ADU can be detached, attached, a garage conversion, or a basement conversion. The uses are myriad—for family members, guest spaces, rental income, or more.
These attractive, well-designed ADUs are located from coast to coast across the US and Canada. Each house includes information about the type of construction, the major green features, and how it is used. A variety of styles (e.g., laneway houses, garage conversions, and stand-alone independent structures, and ones connected to the primary house) show versatility and ways to blend new ADUS into the architecture of the primary house and neighborhood.
Each featured ADU shows how to make the most of the small space for comfortable living without the burden of a big house to care for.
More Accolades:
“The contemporary architectural designs are sleek, and the environmentally friendly features offer insight into how housing can be made more efficient. This is worth a look.”—Publishers Weekly
Edited by Kate
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Judaism Is About Love
A profound, startling new understanding of Jewish life, illuminating the forgotten heart of Jewish theology and practice: love.
A dramatic misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition has shaped the history of the West: Christianity is the religion of love, and Judaism the religion of law. In the face of centuries of this widespread misrepresentation, Rabbi Shai Held—one of the most important Jewish thinkers in America today—recovers the heart of the Jewish tradition, offering the radical and moving argument that love belongs as much to Judaism as it does to Christianity. Blending intellectual rigor, a respect for tradition and the practices of a living Judaism, and a commitment to the full equality of all people, Held seeks to reclaim Judaism as it authentically is. He shows that love is foundational and constitutive of true Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness.
Ambitious and revelatory, Judaism Is About Love illuminates the true essence of Judaism—an act of restoration from within.Edited by Kate
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New and Selected Poems
Characterized by "a radical simplicity and seriousness of purpose, along with a fearless interest in autobiography and its tragedies and redemptions" (Matthew Zapruder, New York Times Magazine), Marie Howe's poetry transforms penetrating observations of everyday life into sacred, humane miracles. This essential volume draws from each of Howe's four previous collections--including What the Living Do (1997), a haunting archive of personal loss, and the National Book Award-longlisted Magdalene (2017), a spiritual and sensual exploration of contemporary womanhood--and contains twenty new poems. Whether speaking in the voice of the goddess Persephone or thinking about aging while walking the dog, Howe is "a light-bearer, an extraordinary poet of our human sorrow and ordinary joy" (Dorianne Laux).
Edited by Kate
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Says Who?
A kinder, funner usage guide to the ever-changing English language and a useful tool for both the grammar stickler and the more colloquial user of English, from linguist and veteran professor Anne Curzan
“I was bowled over, page after page, by the author’s fine ear for our language and her openhearted erudition. I learned a lot, and I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more.”—Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer’s English
Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living, breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), this book explains where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and reveals the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable.
Linguist and veteran English professor Anne Curzan equips readers with the tools they need to adeptly manage (a split infinitive?! You betcha!) formal and informal writing and speaking. After all, we don’t want to be caught wearing our linguistic pajamas to a job interview any more than we want to show up for a backyard barbecue in a verbal tux, asking, “To whom shall I pass the ketchup?” Curzan helps us use our new knowledge about the developing nature of language and grammar rules to become caretakers of language rather than gatekeepers of it. Applying entertaining examples from literature, newspapers, television, and more, Curzan welcomes usage novices and encourages the language police to lower their pens, showing us how we can care about language precision, clarity, and inclusion all at the same time.
With lively humor and humanity, Says Who? is a pragmatic and accessible key that reveals how our choices about language usage can be a powerful force for equity and personal expression. For proud grammar sticklers and self-conscious writers alike, Curzan makes nerding out about language fun.Edited by Kate
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Code Noir
"VERDICT Informative and full of big flavors, this is a delicious and accessible introduction to Caribbean food for novices; will be a welcome addition to library shelves." —Library Journal
Through 80+ recipes, Code Noir tells the interesting and complex story of Caribbean cuisines that are not only incredibly rich in flavor but also in history.
Code Noir is a cookbook steeped in history. Not just because of the title, which hits on a seventeenth-century decree in which King Louis XIV recorded how enslaved Africans in the French colonies were to be treated, but also because it deals with the food and the people that, through the gruesome course of history, came together in the Caribbean.
Inside, chef and culinary activist Lelani Lewis goes back to her Caribbean roots with classics like jerk chicken, salted cod fritters, pepperpot stew, and Guinness punch. She also shares new creations with typically Caribbean ingredients like cassava, corn, coconut, lime, plantain, and chilies: plantain with peanut and lime salsa, sweet potato gratin with ginger cream, and crème anglaise of creamed corn and caramelized guava.Edited by Kate
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Welcome to AI
A fascinating guide to the rapidly advancing world of artificial intelligence and how this powerful technology will impact our lives, our careers, and our world.
Artificial intelligence is driving workforce disruption on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution.
In schools and universities AI technology has forced a reevaluation of the way students are taught and assessed. Meanwhile, ChatGPT has become a cultural phenomenon, reaching a hundred million users and attracting a reputed $1 trillion investor interest in its parent company, OpenAI.
The race to dominate the generative AI market is accelerating at breakneck speed, inspiring breathless headlines and immense public interest.
Welcome to AI provides a rare view into a frontier area of computer science that will change everything about how you live and work. Read this book and better understand how to succeed in the AI-enabled future.
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Egyptian Made
An incisive exploration of women and work, showing how globalization’s promise of liberation instead set the stage for repression—from the acclaimed author of Factory Girls
“Exhaustively reported and researched, Egyptian Made takes us halfway across the world and inside the intimate lives of women caught between tradition and independence.”—Monica Potts, New York Times bestselling author of The Forgotten Girls
What happens to the women who choose to work in a country struggling to reconcile a traditional culture with the demands of globalization? In this sharply drawn portrait of Egyptian society—deepened by two years of immersive reporting—Leslie T. Chang follows three women as they persevere in a country that throws up obstacles to their progress at every step, from dramatic swings in economic policy to conservative marriage expectations and a failing education system.
Working in Egypt’s centuries-old textile industry, Riham is a shrewd businesswoman who nevertheless struggles to attract workers to her garment factory and to compete in the global marketplace. Rania, who works on a factory assembly line, attempts to climb to a management rank but is held back by conflicts with co-workers and the humiliation of an unhappy marriage. Her colleague Doaa, meanwhile, pursues an education and independence but sacrifices access to her own children in order to get a divorce.
Alongside these stories, Chang shares her own experiences living and working in Egypt for five years, seeing through her own eyes the risks and prejudices that working women continue to face. She also weaves in the history of Egypt’s vaunted textile industry, its colonization and independence, a century of political upheaval, and the history of Islam in Egypt, all of which shaped the country as it is today and the choices available to Riham, Rania, and Doaa. Following each woman’s story from home and work, Chang powerfully observes the near-impossible balancing act that Egyptian women strike every day. -
No Judgment
A 2024 MOST ANTICIPATED READ -- The Millions, BookPage, LitHub, and more
From the national bestselling novelist and essayist, a groundbreaking collection of brand-new pieces about the role of cultural criticism in our ever-changing world.
In her writing for Harper's, the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, and elsewhere, Lauren Oyler has emerged as one of the most trenchant and influential critics of her generation, a talent whose judgments on works of literature--whether celebratory or scarily harsh--have become notorious. But what is the significance of being a critic and consumer of media in today's fraught environment? How do we understand ourselves, and each other, as space between the individual and the world seems to get smaller and smaller, and our opinions on books and movies seem to represent something essential about our souls? And to put it bluntly, why should you care what she--or anyone--thinks?
In this, her first collection of essays, Oyler writes with about topics like the role of gossip in our exponentially communicative society, the rise and proliferation of autofiction, why we're all so "vulnerable" these days, and her own anxiety. In her singular prose--sharp yet addictive, expansive yet personal--she encapsulates the world we live and think in with precision and care, delivering a work of cultural criticism as only she can.
Bringing to mind the works of such iconic writers as Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, and Terry Castle, No Judgment is a testament to Lauren Oyler's inimitable wit and her quest to understand how we shape the world through culture. It is a sparkling nonfiction debut from one of today's most inventive thinkers.
Edited by Kate
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The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food
This essential guide to growing a bountiful food garden includes detailed seed-starting, growing, and harvesting information for 62 vegetables, fruits, and herbs, a complete companion-planting guide, and organic pest-control handbook.
The latest addition to Storey's bestselling Backyard Homestead series, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food is a one-stop reference for all the key information food gardeners need to grow a healthy, bountiful garden. Author Tanya Denckla Cobb presents key information based on extensive research and years of experience, including when to start seeds for each type of crop (and at what temperature), how far apart to space seedlings, how to tell when a crop is ready to harvest, and notes on preservation. The book features a comprehensive companion planting guide and an in-depth review of the most effective organic pest control practices, including recipes for how to make your own pest deterrent sprays.
Edited by Kate
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Houseplant Hookups
Taking its cues from the wonderful world of online dating, Houseplant Hookups explores the pros and cons of cohabitating with different houseplants.
★ “Isabel, who hails from three generations of plant-loving family members, shares her expertise and knowledge of houseplants in this amusing, informative book, best for neophyte horticulturists who might not yet have a green thumb.”—Library Journal, Starred Review
Cohabitation is a big step in any relationship, so to make sure you don’t get stuck with a deadleaf, Houseplant Hookups digs up all the dirt on 35 prospective houseplant partners. By first setting the foundation for a successful relationship with information on purchasing, propagating, and basic plant care, it’ll be easy to know when you’ve found the One.
Does your apartment have a scenic view of a brick wall? The Snake Plant thrives in low light. Tend to forget you’re even in a relationship? The Golden Pothos is anything but codependent and won’t hold neglect against you. Far more helpful than your average Tinder profile, Houseplant Hookups will help you decide if a relationship with a Fiddle Leaf Fig is more likely to be a fling or a forever kind of love.
Not sure where to start? Take the Cosmo-inspired quiz to narrow down your matches.
The perfect gift for any plant or gardening enthusiast, these illustrated dating profiles are as hilarious as they are informative.
More Accolades:
“The playful profiles provide a helpful overview of common houseplants, and Degnan’s colorful illustrations accentuate the distinguishing characteristics of each....Readers curious about what houseplant is right for them will want to consult this.”—Publishers Weekly
“The book is absolutely fantastic. Witty, clever, tasteful, beautiful... unique. One of a kind. I also love how the book feels in your hands. The quality of the printing and colors are magnificent.”—Alina Fassakhova, New York Based artist and plant enthusiast
“Houseplant Hookups is a fun book, with a creative approach to an otherwise fairly mundane topic. It engages readers with indoor horticulture and reminds us that no matter how big (or small) the garden, there is a perfect plant out there for all of us.”—Alice Bennett on Reedsy
“Agatha Isabel's Houseplant Hookups is the perfect book for people whose brown thumbs have let many a plant die. Clear explanations, a friendly tone, and lots of humor ease plant-shy readers into trying for plant love again.”—Shelf Awareness
Edited by Kate
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Big Bites
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the creator of Kat Can Cook comes 110 simple, nourishing, mostly gluten-free recipes that are big on flavor and reimagine the concept of “healthy food.”
Kat Ashmore’s mission is to empower hungry readers everywhere to feed themselves and their loved ones well and have fun doing it. Rather than focusing on restriction or deprivation, she asks: What can we add to our plates? After she turned to TikTok for a creative outlet, her series of big, meal-in-a-bowl salads, known affectionately as “Hungry Lady Salads,” went viral on social media, and she found a likeminded community of home cooks who wanted to fall in love with cooking again.
In Ashmore's debut cookbook, she shares 110 wholesome, comforting mostly gluten-free recipes that are full of flavor, nourishment, and fun—and meant to be devoured in big bites! With her signature personality and joy, this cookbook is a celebration of nature and seasonality and encourages home cooks to rethink familiar ingredients. From Hungry Lady Salads and weeknight dinners to snacks and desserts, Big Bites shares recipes for
• Breakfasts: Avocado Toast with Hot Honey; Goat Cheese Fried Eggs
• Snacks: Burrata with Roasted Grapes; 5-Minute Tzatziki
• Hungry Lady Salads: Shaved Caesar Salad with Fennel and Crispy Chickpeas; Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Sesame Date Dressing
• Weeknights: Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon; One-Pot Pasta with Chicken Sausage + Broccoli
• Sunday Suppers: The Ultimate Beef Meatloaf with Caramelized Onions and Horseradish; Crispy Cod Cakes with Tartar Sauce
• Veggies + Sides: Salt and Vinegar Smashed Potatoes; Parmesan Roasted Zucchini
• Desserts: Orange Ricotta Company Cake; Extra Fudgy Avocado Brownies
• Secret Weapons: Quick Pickled Red Onions; Any-Green Sauce
Bring joy back into your kitchen with Kat Ashmore and Big Bites!Edited by Kate
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The Witch of New York
Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony—before even Lizzie Borden—there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation’s debut media circus.
On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and child in their home—and then covered up the crime with hellfire.
When an ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin’s sister-in-law) with a double homicide, the new “penny press” explodes. Polly is a perfect media villain: she’s a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was enthralled by her three trials—in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh—for the “Christmas murders.”
After Polly’s legal dream team entered the fray, the press and the public debated not only her guilt, but her character and fate as a fallen woman in society. Public opinion split into different camps over her case. Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman covered her case as young newsmen. P. T. Barnum made a circus out of it. James Fenimore Cooper’s last novel was inspired by her trials.
The Witch of New York is the first narrative history about the dueling trial lawyers, ruthless newsmen, and shameless hucksters who turned the Polly Bodine case into America’s formative tabloid trial. An origin story of how America became addicted to sensationalized reporting of criminal trials, The Witch of New York vividly reconstructs an epic mystery from Old New York—and uses the Bodine case to challenge our system of tabloid justice of today.Edited by Kate
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3 Shades of Blue
From the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of how jazz arrived at the pinnacle of American culture in 1959, told through the journey of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—who came together to create the most iconic jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue
The myth of the ’60s depends on the 1950s being the “before times” of conformity, segregation, straightness—The Lonely Crowd and The Organization Man. This all carries some truth, but it does nothing to explain how, in 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity, thanks to a number of Black geniuses so legendary they go by one name—Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Coltrane, and, above all, Miles. Nineteen fifty-nine saw Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, and more come together to record what is widely considered the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly the bestselling: Kind of Blue.
3 Shades of Blue is James Kaplan’s magnificent account of the paths of the three giants to the mountaintop of 1959 and beyond. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the towns that gave jazz its home, from New Orleans and New York to Kansas City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and LA. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange hothouses that can produce its full flowering. It’s a book about the great forebears of this golden age, particularly Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and the disrupters, like Ornette Coleman, who would take the music down truly new paths. And it’s about why the world of jazz most people know is a museum to this never-replicated period.
But above all, 3 Shades of Blue is a book about three very different men—their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. Bill Evans had a gruesome downward spiral; John Coltrane took the mystic’s path into a space far away from mainstream concerns. Miles had three or four sea changes in him before the end. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American odyssey with no direction home. It is also a masterpiece, a book about jazz that is as big as America.Edited by Kate
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Ghost Dogs
During childhood summers in Louisiana, Andre Dubus III's grandfather taught him that men's work is hard. As an adult, whether tracking down a drug lord in Mexico as a bounty hunter or grappling with privilege while living with a rich girlfriend in New York City, Dubus worked--at being a better worker and a better human being.
In Ghost Dogs, Dubus's nonfiction prowess is on full display in his retelling of his own successes, failures, triumphs, and pain. In his longest essay, "If I Owned a Gun," Dubus reflects on the empowerment and shame he felt in keeping a gun, and his decision, ultimately, to give it up. Elsewhere, he writes of a violent youth and of settled domesticity and fatherhood, about the omnipresent expectations and contradictions of masculinity, about the things writers remember and those they forget. Drawing upon kindred literary spirits from Rilke to Rumi to Tim O'Brien, Ghost Dogs renders moments of personal revelation with emotional generosity and stylistic grace, ultimately standing as essential witness and testimony to the art of the essay.
Edited by Kate