To find these selections and many other new titles, see the NMC library catalog.
NON-FICTION
Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why it Matters, and What To Do About It
by Richard V. Reeves
Boys and men are struggling. Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have many losing ground in the classroom, the workplace, and in the family. The father of three sons, a journalist, and a Brookings Institution scholar, Richard V. Reeves looks at the challenges that face boys and men and offers fresh and innovative solutions. Of Boys and Men argues that helping the other half of society does not mean giving up on the ideal of gender equality.
Black Paper: Writing in a Dark Time
by Teju Cole
Teju Cole meditates on what it means to keep our humanity–and witness the humanity of others–in a time of darkness. ‘Darkness,’ Cole writes, ‘is not empty.’ Through art, politics, travel, and memoir, he returns us to the wisdom latent in shadows, and sets the darkness echoing. This collection also gathers several of Cole’s recent columns on photography for the New York Times Magazine and offers a suite of elegies to lost friends who show him–and us–ways of mourning in times of death.
The Story of Art Without Men
by Katy Hessel
Guided by art historian Katy Hessel, discover the glittering paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance and the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century US. Explore the Dutch Golden Age, the astonishing work of postwar artists in Latin America, and the women defining art in the 2020s. Have your sense of art history overturned and your eyes opened to many artforms often ignored or dismissed. From the Cornish coast to Manhattan, Nigeria to Japan, this is the history of art as it’s never been told before.
The Philosophy of Modern Song
by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan’s first book of new writing since 2004’s Chronicles: Volume One and since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Dylan offers a master class on the art and craft of songwriting. He writes over sixty essays on songs by other artists and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. Written in Dylan’s unique prose, the essays are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny.
Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet
by John W. Reid and Thomas E. Lovejoy
Five stunningly large, unbroken forests remain on Earth: the Taiga, the North American boreal, the Amazon, the Congo, and the island forest of New Guinea. These megaforests are vital to preserving global biodiversity, thousands of cultures, and a stable climate, argue economist John W. Reid and biologist Thomas E. Lovejoy. Megaforests serve an essential role in decarbonizing the atmosphere, and saving them constitutes the fastest, most affordable way to start addressing our planet’s most formidable ongoing crisis.
Digital Detox: Why Taking a Break from Technology Can Improve Your Well-Being
by Bernadette H. Schell
Digital Detox explores a range of topics associated with the countermovement to digital device over-usage and addiction. It includes experts’ opinions on the negative psychological, physiological, and behavioral effects of digital overuse, or Internet Addiction; the need to prevent or recover from these harms; measures commonly used to counteract addictions to smartphones, social media, and online gaming; and; research findings regarding digital detox remedies.
FICTION
The Mountains Sing
by Nguỹên Phan Qúê Mai
The multigenerational tale of the Tr̀ân family, set against the backdrop of the Vîẹt Nam War. Tr̀ân Dịêu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Ṇôi, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Ĥò Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that will tear not just her beloved country but her family apart.
In the Country of Others
by Leila Slimani; translated from the French by Sam Taylor
Mathilde, a spirited young Frenchwoman, falls in love with Amine, a handsome Moroccan soldier in the French army during World War II. After the war, the couple settles in Morocco. While Amine tries to cultivate his family farm’s rocky terrain, Mathilde defies the country’s chauvinism and repressive social codes by offering medical services to the rural population. As tensions mount between the Moroccans and the French colonists, Amine finds himself caught in the crossfire.
When the Angels Left the Old Country
by Sacha Lamb
Two supernatural creatures encounter humans in need of their help: Rose Cohen, whose best friend has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously. With cinematic sweep and tender observation, the author presents a totally original drama about individual purpose, the fluid nature of identity, and the power of love to change and endure. [YA Fiction]
Michael L. Printz Honor for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, 2023. | Stonewall YA Award, 2023.
Starling House
by Alix E. Harrow
Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago. Everyone agrees it’s best to ignore Starling’s old mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway. When Opal gets the chance to step inside Starling House she can’t resist.
The Bee Sting
by Paul Murray
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under—but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker. His wife is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And his twelve-year-old son plans to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil—can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life?
LIBRARY OF THINGS
Cajon percussion instrument
Smartphone microscope
Summaries and images adapted from publishers.