To find these selections and many other new titles, see the NMC library catalog.
New Fiction
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges–Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer.
The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur by Lev Grossman
The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, full of duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings, The Bright Sword is a story about power and hope, and the struggle for the soul of England between the new Christian God and the old gods of fairy. But most of all it’s a story about flawed men and women full of strength and pain who are looking for a way to reforge a broken land, in spite of being broken themselves.
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
They were just friends. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. Shiloh would go to college and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change. Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed. Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
In 1581, Emilia Bassano is allowed no voice of her own. But as the Lord Chamberlain’s mistress, she has access to theater in England, and finds a way to bring her work to the stage secretly. And yet, creating some of the world’s greatest dramatic masterpieces comes at great cost – by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her own out of history. In the present, playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. Although the challenges are different 400 years later, the playing field is still not level for women in theater.
The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville
The warrior who cannot be killed, who’s seen a thousand civilizations rise and fall, has had many names: Unute, Child of Lightning, Death himself. These days, he’s known simply as “B.” And he wants to be able to die. In the present day, a U.S. black-ops group has promised him they can help with that; all he needs to do is help them in return. But when an all-too-mortal soldier comes back to life, the impossible event ultimately points toward a force even more mysterious than B himself. One at least as strong. And one with a plan all its own.
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits – torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community. Over the course of twenty years, by coincidence and design, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit. Thomas and Grace will ask themselves what it means to love and be loved, what is fixed and what is mutable, and how much of our fate is predestined and written in the stars.
New Non-Fiction
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger
A book exploring the emerging science on plant intelligence, uncovering plants’ complex and unimaginable capabilities and calling into question what we consider to be conscious agents in the natural world.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s, with rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rising sharply. The author presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which a rewiring of childhood has interfered with children’s social and neurological development. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.
Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop that Changed History by Jori Lewis
A stunning work of popular history: the story of how a crop transformed the history of slavery. Author Jori Lewis reveals how demand for peanut oil in Europe ensured that slavery in Africa would persist well into the twentieth century, long after the European powers had officially banned it in the territories they controlled.
Books Through Bars: Stories From the Prison Books Movement edited by Moira Marquis and Dave “Mac” Marquis
Co-edited by two activists with deep experience in organizing prison books programs (PBPs), Books Behind Bars introduces readers to a grassroots-level and nationwide movement. It challenges the largest prison industry in the world by refusing to let incarcerated people remain isolated and forgotten. The volume also includes essays, images, and artwork from independent bookstore owners, formerly and currently incarcerated folks, activists, artists, journalists, volunteers, organizers, and scholars
City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highway by Megan Kimble.
Every major American city has a highway tearing through its center. Seventy years ago, planners sold these highways as progress, essential to our future prosperity. Instead, they divided cities, displaced people from their homes, chained us to our cars, and locked us into a high-emissions future. And the more highways we built, the worse traffic got. City Limits exposes the social and environmental costs wrought by our allegiance to a life of increasing speed and dispersion, and brings to light the people who are fighting for a more sustainable, connected future.
The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope by José Andrés
Nonprofit World Central Kitchen (WCK), which feeds communities impacted by natural disasters and humanitarian crises, shares recipes inspired by the many places they’ve cooked as well as inspiring narratives from the chefs and volunteers on the front lines. Photographs captured throughout the world highlight community and hope while stunning food photography showcases the mouthwatering recipes.
Summaries and images adapted from publishers.