To find these selections and many other new titles, see the NMC library catalog.
A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
This novel follows a group of children and their families on summer vacation at a lakeside mansion. The teenage narrator Eve and the other children are contemptuous of their parents, who spend the days and nights in drunken stupor. Named for a picture Bible given to Eve’s little brother Jack, A Children’s Bible is loosely structured around Bible stories intended for young readers. In A Children’s Bible, Millet offers brilliant commentary on the environment and human weakness.
Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall
From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit’s famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city’s African-American newspaper, Ziggy reflects on his life, the community that was the center of his world, and the remarkable people who helped shape it. Accompanying these “tributes” are thoughtfully paired cocktails.
Novel selected as a 2021 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove comes a charming, poignant novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious times.
The Removed by Brandon Hobson
Steeped in Cherokee myths and history, a novel about a fractured family reckoning with the tragic death of their son killed in a police shooting. With the family’s annual bonfire approaching and a rare moment in which they openly talk about their son’s memory— the family attempts to come together from their physical and emotional distances. The Removed seamlessly blends the real and spiritual —a meditation on family, grief, home, and the power of stories on both a personal and ancestral level.
Information Hunters: When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe by Kathy Peiss
Information Hunters examines the unprecedented American effort to acquire foreign publications and information in World War II Europe. An unlikely band of librarians, scholars, soldiers, and spies went to Europe to collect books and documents to aid the Allies’ cause. They travelled to neutral cities to find enemy publications for intelligence analysis and followed advancing armies to capture records in a massive program of confiscation.
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body. Full of extraordinary facts and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, “We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted.” The Body will cure that indifference with generous doses of wondrous, compulsively readable facts and information.
Alcohol and Humans: A Long and Social Affair edited by Kimberley J. Hockings & Robin Dunbar
Alcohol use has a long and ubiquitous history. The prevailing tendency to view alcohol merely as a ‘social problem’ or the popular notion that alcohol only serves to provide us with a ‘hedonic’ high, masks its importance in the social fabric of many human societies both past and present. Alcohol and Humans examines the broad use of alcohol in the human lineage and its wider relationship to social contexts such as feasting, sacred rituals, and social bonding.
I Have Something to Tell You: A Memoir by Chasten Buttigieg
A refreshingly candid memoir by the husband of former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg about growing up gay in northern Michigan. Chasten Buttigieg recounts his journey to finding acceptance as a gay man, tells the story of meeting his husband, life with Pete on the campaign trail, and his hope for America’s future. With honesty, courage, and great warmth, Buttigieg relays his experience of growing up in America and embracing his true self, while inspiring others to do the same.
Summaries adapted from publishers.