Online Recreational Reading

It's 1927 and a bizarre trial is underway in New York. Scholars and artists are grilled at the witness stand as the court attempts to decide: can Constantin Brancusi's abstract sculptures be considered works of art? Meanwhile, back in Paris, the sculptor and his friends are full of doubts. Can Brancusi's work rival the beauty of industrial machinery? Is America really ready to take up the mantle of Modernism?

Jules and his older brother Martin are on a trip to Norway. A chance for the young art student to reconnect with his sibling, who appears to be withdrawing deeper and deeper into an obsessive downward spiral. But what is behind Martin's unsettling behavior? What is the secret he refuses to speak of, and which is making him turn his back on his family?

This sweeping, intercontinental graphic novel covers 40 years in the life of a mother and daughter. Liberty is a young woman navigating her shadowy past and rocky present in the New York City of the early 2000s. But "Liberty" is also a word with a weight of its own, one carried by an entire generation of African-Americans living through a moment of great hope and fear.

In a distant future lives a young woman named Blanche. She's the heiress of Cocto Citadel, a neofeudal city like those that arose after the end of the world... When Blanche and her father find themselves at the center of dramatic power struggles, it's in the heart of NeoForest, the Great Central Forest, that everything must be decided.

Three-time Eisner Award winner Junji Ito invites you to the horrific Tomb Town and beyond. Countless tombstones stand in rows throughout a small community, forming a bizarre tableau. What fate awaits a brother and sister after a traffic accident in this town of the dead? In another tale, a girl falls silent, her tongue transformed into a slug. Can a friend save her? Then, when a young man moves to a new town, he finds the house next door has only a single window. What does his grotesque neighbor want, calling out to him every evening from that lone window? Fresh nightmares brought to you by horror master Junji Ito.

Florence Dupré la Tour gives us a love story for the ages: her childhood growing up with her twin sister. In part one of this autobiographical tale, she continues to explore her own life in masterfully crafted inks and watercolors, unflinchingly plumbing the depths of her family to show both the bliss of having a twin, and the harsh reality and suffering of trying to find your place in a relationship, in your family, and in society.

The path to your life's work is difficult and risky, even scary, which is why few finish the journey. This book will help you discover your life's work to live a life that matters with passion and purpose. It's about the task you were born to do, your true life's work. Bestselling author and entrepreneur Jeff Goins explains how the search begins with passion but does not end there. Only when our interests connect with the needs of the world do we begin living for a larger purpose. Those who experience this intersection experience something exceptional and enviable. Though it is rare, such a life is attainable by anyone brave enough to try. Through personal experience, compelling case studies, and current research on the mysteries of motivation and talent, Jeff shows you how to find their vocation and what to expect along the way.

Health-care providers and their patients are human, and all humans have unconscious biases that affect how we listen, observe, and act. Bias impacts patients when they are at their most vulnerable. Health-care bias can mean the difference not just between suffering and relief, but between life and death.For the first time, an author with the unique perspective of being one of America's top doctors, a woman, and Black, candidly addresses the issue of bias in health care, sharing personal and patient stories and pragmatic solutions. Dr. Angela Marshall, repeatedly named a 'Top Doctor' by Washingtonian magazine, draws on extensive research, poignant stories from some of the thousands of patients she has treated, and her own compelling personal experience, to examine the bias from both patients' and health-care providers' points of view. She offers a bold blueprint for change, filled with fresh solutions that can help everyone in our health-care system. Dismissed not only explains what so

Gender Euphoria: a powerful feeling of happiness experienced as a result of moving away from one's birth-assigned gender. So often the stories shared by trans people about their transition centre on gender dysphoria: a feeling of deep discomfort with their birth-assigned gender, and a powerful catalyst for coming out or transitioning. But for many non-cisgender people, it's gender euphoria which pushes forward their transition: the joy the first time a parent calls them by their new chosen name, the first time they have the confidence to cut their hair short, the first time they truly embrace themself. In this groundbreaking anthology, nineteen trans, non-binary, agender, gender-fluid and intersex writers share their experiences of gender euphoria: an agender dominatrix being called 'Daddy', an Arab trans man getting his first tattoos, a trans woman embracing her inner fighter. What they have in common are their feelings of elation, pride, confidence, freedom and ecstasy as a direct result of coming out as non-cisgender, and how coming to terms with their gender has brought unimaginable joy into their lives.

Even when your job can be done from anywhere, the place you call home still matters—a lot. By the old rules of work, your dream career determines where you live. If you want to make movies, move to Los Angeles. If you want to work in publishing, you must be in New York. And if you're launching a start-up, you'll only succeed in Silicon Valley. But with the meteoric rise of remote and freelance work, more people than ever are becoming location independent. Even doctors, teachers, and other people in more traditional occupations have to make tough choices about where they settle, because living in the right place can still make all the difference for your success and happiness. So if work won't dictate where you live, how will you ever decide? If You Could Live Anywhere answers that question. Melody Warnick unpacks the big-picture concerns that we often miss when we're writing pros-and-cons lists about potential destinations. Because the secret to being happy isn't moving, it's aligning your location with your values. You'll learn how to craft a personal location strategy that will make the most of your money, your community, and your life, with success stories from people who flexed their location independence to find homes and work they love. The future of work is clear: it can happen wherever you are. So where do you really want to be?

The mountainous landscape of the Meteora monasteries between Kalabaka and Kastraki is part of the World Cultural Heritage. It is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year, from far and wide. Most of them climb the mountains to the monasteries by bus or by car. This little book wants to entertain the idea to explore offside the streets, deeply immersing oneself in the orthodox faith, contemplating and paying heed to the small things on the wayside. An ancient tree, majestic storks on a church dome or the ruins of bygone monasteries and hermitages – all these things want to tell us their stories!

A practical, shame-free guide for navigating conversations across our differences at a time of rapid social change. In the current period of social and political unrest, conversations about identity are becoming more frequent and more difficult. On subjects like critical race theory, gender equity in the workplace, and LGBTQ-inclusive classrooms, many of us are understandably fearful of saying the wrong thing. That fear can sometimes prevent us from speaking up at all, depriving people from marginalized groups of support and stalling progress toward a more just and inclusive society. Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow, founders of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law, are here to show potential allies that these conversations don't have to be so overwhelming. Through stories drawn from contexts as varied as social media posts, dinner party conversations, and workplace disputes, they offer seven user-friendly principles that teach skills such as how to avoid common conversational pitfalls, engage in respectful disagreement, offer authentic apologies, and better support people in our lives who experience bias. Research-backed, accessible, and uplifting, Say the Right Thing charts a pathway out of cancel culture toward more meaningful and empathetic dialogue on issues of identity. It also gives us the practical tools to do good in our spheres of influence. Whether managing diverse teams at work, navigating issues of inclusion at college, or challenging biased comments at a family barbecue, Yoshino and Glasgow help us move from unconsciously hurting people to consciously helping them.

Welcome to the writers and authors field! If you are interested in a career as a writer or author, you've come to the right book. So what exactly do these people do on the job, day in and day out? What kind of skills and educational background do you need to succeed in this field? How much can you expect to make, and what are the pros and cons of these various professions? Is this even the right career path for you? How do you avoid burnout and deal with stress? This book can help you answer these questions and more. Writers and Authors: A Practical Career Guide, which includes interviews with professionals in the field, covers the following areas of this field that have proven to be stable, lucrative, and growing professions.

The Bound-for-Career Guidebook views career identification, selection, entry, and progression as part of a larger developmental process—the career development process. In this guidebook for adolescents and young adults, the author outlines the experiences and tasks that will facilitate the career development process and lead to satisfaction and success. The reader will be exposed to the various educational and career transitions they must consider on the path to the workplace and specific guidance is offered on how to maximize entry and advancement. Along the career exploration, decision-making, and preparation path, the author answers frequently asked questions and offers an array of facts and myths that need to be considered. Empowered individuals are better able to guide themselves through their personal career journey. The reader's command of the information in the Bound-for-Career Guidebook will give them that power!

Career Challenges examines the career development encounters that people experience across their life-span. The book begins with a comprehensive examination of the career development process and why these eight phases must be understood in order for career success and satisfaction to be achieved. This analysis is followed by a meticulous treatment of more than two dozen significant challenges that members of the workforce must confront and resolve as they navigate their life experience. The career challenges examine the right and wrong ways to move through career development and address everything from conducting an effective job search and knowing how to manage career growth and mobility to essential tasks like preparing a resume, managing an interview' and dealing with job stagnation, change, or loss. Added to this edition are two new chapters dealing with the changing nature of work, workers, and the workplace in a high technology, post COVID world. Throughout the book, the author sets life-work balance as a paramount individual goal and outlines strategies about how this illusive objective can be achieved. Career Challenges is the next best thing to having a professional career counselor or recruiter in the room. While written for the individual experiencing the various life and career experiences, this book is also of significant value to counselors, search and staffing professionals, educators, and others playing important roles in these transitions. Career Challenges is the reader's map or GPS to a successful and satisfying career.

Learn how to discover your passion, step out of your comfort zone, and create the success you want with the help of this invaluable guide. How has your answer changed since childhood to the often-asked question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" For most, the answers tend to begin with excited seven-year-olds confidently and excitedly screaming out things like, "A basketball player!" or "A fireman!" or "A cook!" and then ten to fifteen years later those same kids are shrugging their shoulders while saying, "Not sure. Maybe something in accounting?" What happened? When did we lose the courage to find our true calling and not just settle for what make sense in today's workforce, or what our parents pushed us toward? Career Courage is meant to help you conquer your fears, shed misguided ideas, and muster the strength to let go of a safe job and stage your next act. Whether you're a college grad contemplating choices or a seasoned professional seeking new directions, this guidebook poses tough questions about motivation, confidence, character, risk tolerance, and more. The answers will power your journey forward as you learn to: Clarify what really matters Express your point of view Build strong relationships and a robust network Think like an entrepreneur Prioritize a truly fulfilling life Starting or changing careers can be a scary, soul-searching process. Career Courage will give you the strength and guidance you need to break free from your fears and find fulfillment in the workforce.

When you find the career that fits your personality, you'll discover that the work hours you once begrudged with every fiber of your being now bring you tremendous satisfaction and success. Is your job just a way to pay the bills? Are you a drudge Monday through Friday only so you can be more yourself on Saturday? It doesn't have to be this way! Never before in history has there been such an eclectic variety of money-making opportunities and cutting-edge vocations than there are in today's marketplace. There is no need to settle! Career Match contains the ten-minute self-assessment that can change your life. After a simple quiz to determine your personality style, turn to the corresponding chapter that reads as if it was written just for you and discover what ideal work options there are for you. In this invaluable resource for all personalities, you will learn how to: Identify career choices that will exhilarate you; Recognize the type of work environment and boss you need to thrive; Learn to leverage your natural strengths; Customize and speed your job search. This second edition has been updated to include trending new careers in areas such as gaming, web design, alternative energy, cybersecurity, food science, and more. Whether you are a recent graduate looking for direction or a burned-out veteran seeking new inspiration, Career Match will help you match who you are with what you're meant to do—with a success rate vastly greater than that of your typical match maker!

Chick-fil-A's former HR operations manager helps you create a work life you love from recruitment to retirement, including how to prepare and interview for jobs, develop strong relationships, keep a job, and grow your career.

There are so many vital questions when it comes to building a résumé today, but only one way to be assured you're getting the right answers—by asking a hiring expert. Building your résumé should be one of the easier parts to the job interview process, but it's actually becoming one of the most stressful aspects. What kind of résumé will spark the employer's interest? Which kind most often get passed over? How far back are we supposed to go? How can we best explain those time gaps in between jobs? Are the rules different for online résumés? Scott Bennett has hired hundreds of people in a variety of industries, and he knows firsthand the insights that will catch an employer's eye, as well as what dangers to avoid if you want to survive the first cut. Learn how to craft clear, compelling, targeted résumés and cover letters that actually work! In The Elements of Résumé Style, you will be provided: More than 1,400 action words, statements, and position descriptions that help sell your skills and experience Hundreds of words, phrases, and vague claims to avoid Advice for handling employment gaps, job-hopping, and requests for salary history and requirements Sample résumés, response letter, inquiry letter, informational interview request letter, references, Surprising tips for acing the interview In today's competitive environment, competition is intense no matter the field or position. The often overlooked first hurdle to jump over is no doubt the résumé. The time-tested tools in The Elements of Résumé Style will make sure yours stands out—helping to get you the job you deserve!

Service members find that transitioning from active duty into the civilian sector can be abrupt, with mission demands leaving little time to prepare for new careers. Transitioning without guidance, resources, and proven strategies has left thousands of veterans sitting on the sidelines of civilian employment. Business is a diverse field, with many subcategories to pursue and many routes available to fulfill career goals and achieve success. Designed to help personalize the experience while guiding readers through the breadth of available options, those interested in pursuing a career within the business realm or as a business owner will find Boots to Business to be a valuable reference guide. Whether new to a career field or pursuing a civilian career similar to the occupational specialty you held in the military, this book offers helpful information for planning, preparing, and executing your transition.

Today, most Americans are working in the gig economy—mixing together short-term jobs, contract work, and freelance assignments. Learn how to embrace the independent and self-sufficient world of freelance! The Gig Economy is your guide to this uncertain but ultimately rewarding world. Packed with research, exercises, and anecdotes, this eye-opening book supplies strategies—ranging from the professional to the personal—to help you leverage your skills, knowledge, and network to create your own career trajectory. Corporate jobs are not only unstable—they're increasingly scarce. It's time to take charge of your own career and lead the life you want, one immune to the impulsive whims of an employer looking only at today's bottom line. Start mapping out your place in the gig economy today!

Intern Talk not only guides students in the pursuit of professional opportunities, it also offers a somewhat novel approach to achieving a lifetime of professional success. It all starts in college, but this book will support students off campus and into their chosen professional fields. It provides explicit, practical tips on how to select and prepare for interviews—and follow up. From crafting the ideal (one page) résumé to advice on how to network effectively (It's not about you!), Intern Talk provides the tools and techniques we all need to find the perfect opportunity, paid or unpaid.

Mind Your Own Mortgage empowers homeowners to shop for a mortgage as if it were a commodity—as easy as buying a gallon of gas—and enables them to eliminate their mortgage debt by revealing inside information used to keep them enslaved to the mortgage industry. Mind Your Own Mortgage changes the game—putting you in charge: Shop with confidence—an exclusive system helps you make decisions based on the best price; Identify slick sales gimmicks and lender manipulation; Refinance only when it makes sense for you—not for the mortgage company; Eliminate your mortgage in record time—so your retirement years include retirement. Stocked with compelling real-life scenarios, budgeting tips, and handy financial tools, Mind Your Own Mortgage is a timely wake-up call for homeowners and a candid decree that the American dream is still possible—if we dramatically rethink the way we finance our homes.

For decades, top scientists in colleges and universities pursued a clear path to success: enroll in a prestigious graduate program, conduct research, publish papers, complete the PhD, pursue postdoctoral work. With perseverance and a bit of luck, a tenure-track professorship awaited at the end. In today's academic job market, this scenario represents the exception. As the number of newly conferred science PhDs keeps rising, the number of tenured professorships remains stubbornly stagnant. Only 14 percent of those with PhDs in science occupy tenure-track positions five years after completing their degree. Next Gen PhD provides a frank and up-to-date assessment of the current career landscape facing science PhDs. Nonfaculty careers once considered Plan B are now preferred by the majority of degree holders, says Melanie Sinche. An upper-level science degree is a prized asset in the eyes of many employers, and a majority of science PhDs build rewarding careers both inside and outside the university. A certified career counselor with extensive experience working with graduate students and postdocs, Sinche offers step-by-step guidance through the career development process: identifying personal strengths and interests, building work experience and effective networks, assembling job applications, and learning tactics for interviewing and negotiating—all the essentials for making a successful career transition. Sinche profiles science PhDs across a wide range of disciplines who share proven strategies for landing the right occupation. Current graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, mentors, and students considering doctoral and postdoctoral training in the sciences will find Next Gen PhD an empowering resource.

A damaged young man meets an enigmatic waitress in a Tokyo café, and they embark on a journey that will change everything ... an emotive speculative literary novel set in a near-future Japan. It's our world, but decades into the future ... an ordinary world, where cars drive themselves, drones glide across the sky, and robots work in burger shops. There are two superpowers and a digital Cold War, but all conflicts are safely oceans away. People get up, work, and have dinner. Everything is as it should be... Except for seventeen-year-old John, a tech prodigy from a damaged family, who hides a deeply personal secret. But everything starts to change for him when he enters a tiny café on a cold Tokyo night. A café run by a disgraced sumo wrestler, where a peculiar dog with a spherical head lives, alongside its owner, enigmatic waitress Neotnia... But Neotnia hides a secret of her own - a secret that will turn John's unhappy life upside down. A secret that will take them from the neon streets of Tokyo to Hiroshima's tragic past to the snowy mountains of Nagano. A secret that reveals that this world is anything ordinary – and it's about to change forever...

A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel—and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes ... Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family. So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse. Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.

Folktales and spirits animate this lively and unforgettable coming-of-age tale of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters in Brooklyn grappling with their mother’s illness, their father's infidelity, and the truth of their family's past. Sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father’s violence and their mother’s worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home. But the sisters, like their parents, must come together to answer to something more ancient and powerful than they know—and reckon with a family secret buried in the past. A tale told from the perspective of a mischievous narrator, featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is set in a world as alive and unpredictable as Helen Oyeyemi’s. Telling of the love between sisters who don’t always see eye to eye, this extraordinary debut novel is a celebration of the power of stories, asking, What happens to us when our stories are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?

A young librarian and an old curmudgeon forge the unlikeliest of friendships in this charming, feel-good novel about one misfit book club and the lives (and loves) it changed along the way. Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another. Anxious, Sloane tracks the old man down only to discover him all but bedridden...and desperately struggling to hide how happy he is to see her. Wanting to bring more cheer into Arthur's gloomy life, Sloane creates an impromptu book club. Slowly, the lonely misfits of their sleepy town begin to find each other, and in their book club, find the joy of unlikely friendship. Because as it turns out, everyone has a special book in their heart—and a reason to get lost (and eventually found) within the pages. Books have a way of bringing even the loneliest of souls together...

Return to the enchanting world of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London in this sequel by Garth Nix, bestselling master of teen fantasy, where once again a team of booksellers must fight to keep dangerous magic under cover before the stuff of legends destroys our world. New York Times bestseller! There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity that inhabits the ancient hot spring. This time trouble comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger, requiring a desperate rescue attempt from his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, and art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage. The map takes the trio to a place separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery and guarded by monstrous living statues. But this is only the beginning. To unravel the secrets of a murderous Ancient Sovereign, the booksellers must investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths. If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.

This heart-stopping novel, set in Post WWII Britain in 1947, follows the coming of age and maturity of former wartime operative Elinor White—veteran of two wars, trained killer, protective of her anonymity—when she is drawn back into the world of menace she has been desperate to leave behind. A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government. The private, quiet "Miss White" as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a "grace and favor" property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor's war work had been, or that their mysterious neighbor is haunted by her past. It will take Susie, the child of a young farmworker, Jim Mackie and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White's icy demeanor—but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie. Yet in her quest to uncover the truth behind the family's pursuit of Jim, Elinor unwittingly sets out on a treacherous path—yet it is one that leads to her freedom.

In & This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Nyokabi's world unravels after her brother Baraka's death by suicide. When an eccentric auntie gives Nyokabi a potion that sends her back in time to when Baraka was still alive, it becomes her only goal to keep him that way. Nyokabi learns that storytellers may be the carriers of time, but defying the past comes with its own repercussions.

For decades the UN and the Russian military have navigated a tense interstellar Cold War. Lieutenant Kalina Sokolova is aide to Counter-Admiral Kasparov, the major strategist for the Russian Navy. She is also an elite spy working for the UN. She is tasked with watching the Counter-Admiral, and assassination is not out of the question. Solitaire Yeung is a corsair, a scavenger, a pirate. In the heart of a destroyed Russian battleship, his salvage crew makes an explosive discovery: the brain of the ship's top secret artificial intelligence. And against their better judgment, they take it and run. The UN wants it, and the Russians want it back, but they're not the only ones hunting it. An even more powerful foe grows in the darkness of space. Now all of humanity has to fight to survive...

What happens when every wish you make is immediately granted by God? If you could use the power of music to travel through time? If your body was the battleground for a strange, alien invasion? In this, his debut collection in English, Israeli author Nir Yaniv shows his remarkable versatility, collecting stories from over a decade of writing and a wide range of the fantastic. In turns humorous, lyrical, profound – but always entertaining – these are the haunting tales of an author at the height of his power.

Eugen Bacon's work is deemed cheeky with a fierce intelligence in text that's resplendent, delicious, dark and evocative. The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories imbues the same lushness in a writerly language that is Bacon's own. This peculiar hybrid of the untraditional, the extraordinary within, without and along the borders of normalcy will hypnotise and absorb the reader with tales that refuse to be labelled. The stories in this collection are dirges that cross genres in astounding ways. Over 20 provocative tales, with seven original to this collection, by an award-winning African Australian author.

Mexico City, 1988. Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said "I love you" with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, discovers how to cast spells using music, and with her friends Sebastian and Daniela will piece together their broken families, and even find love... Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father's funeral, reviving memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? Is there any magic left?

A heartfelt, romantic novel in which a young woman who only fosters dogs discovers an abandoned puppy and finally starts to open herself up to love again... Once inseparable as children and romantically entwined as young adults, Caroline Buchanan and Maximillian Abbot are now virtual strangers. It might be Caro's fault—considering she abruptly ended their engagement—but she had good reasons. After their devastating breakup, she stayed in North Carolina, building a quiet, cozy life, while Max went to New York City. In the fourteen years since, Caro has experienced more than her share of heartache and loss. She rarely lets anyone in, not even the steady stream of rescue dogs she fosters. When Max returns to town for the summer at the behest of his grandmother, Caro must finally face their past because she keeps running into Max, and old feelings come rushing back. Shortly after Max arrives, Caro finds a puppy, alone and shivering in a thunderstorm. She takes the dog in, planning to find her the perfect new family. But at a time when her life is in turmoil, this new furry friend—who she names Frankie—unexpectedly becomes her anchor. As she opens her heart to the sweet, cuddly canine, Caro begins to wonder if she could love Max again, too. Max and Frankie feel like home and she can't bear to say goodbye to either of them. But secrets, both old and new, are still lingering and Max hasn't completely forgiven her for breaking his heart all those years ago. Will this be a summer of second chances or are they bound to make the same mistakes twice?

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a tale of dragons, and Fallen angels—and also kissing, sarcasm and stabbing. Lunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit. But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters. Asmodeus is thrilled by the murder investigation; Thuan, who gets dragged into the political plotting he'd sworn off when he left, is less enthusiastic. It'll take all of Asmodeus's skill with knives, and all of Thuan's diplomacy, to navigate this one—as well as the troubled waters of their own relationship... A sparkling standalone book set in a world of dark intrigue.

A "magnificent" and "magical" fever dream of a novel that interweaves the coming-of-age of a 1970s Korean-American boy grappling with his identity and the impact of intergenerational trauma Growing up outside a US military base in South Korea in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Insu—the son of a Korean mother and a German father enlisted in the US Army—spends his days with his "half and half" friends skipping school, selling scavenged Western goods on the black market, watching Hollywood movies, and testing the boundaries between childhood and adulthood. When he hears a legend that water collected in a human skull will cure any sickness, he vows to dig up a skull in order to heal his ailing Big Uncle, a geomancer who has been exiled by the family to a mountain cave to die. Insu's quest takes him and his friends on a sprawling, wild journey into some of South Korea's darkest corners, opening them up to a fantastical world beyond their grasp. Meanwhile, Big Uncle has embraced his solitude and fate, trusting in otherworldly forces Insu cannot access. As he recalls his wartime experiences of betrayal and lost love, Big Uncle attempts to teach his nephew that life is not limited to what we can see—or think we know. Largely autobiographical and sparkling with magical realism, Skull Water is the story of a boy coming into his own—and the ways the past haunts the present in a country on the cusp of modernity struggling to confront its troubled history. As Insu seeks the wisdom of his ancestors, what he learns, he hopes, will save not just his uncle but himself.

The year is 1998: Titanic just won six Oscars, boy bands are dominating MTV’s airwaves, and like any other teenager Jess Flynn is just trying to survive high school. Between a crush on her childhood best friend, overprotective parents, and her sister’s worsening health, the only constant is her hometown of Swickley, which feels smaller by the day. Jess is resigned to her small-town life, until the day she discovers a mysterious device with an apple logo, causing her to question everything and everyone she’s ever known. As more cracks appear in Jess’s world, she faces a choice: can she live the rest of her life knowing it’s a lie, or should she risk everything for the truth? A fast-paced, mind-bending YA thriller packed with ’90s pop culture references and perfect for fans of Riverdale, This Is Not the Jess Show will keep readers guessing until the very end.

An utterly delightful and surprising family drama—think Moonstruck and My Big Fat Greek Wedding set in New Jersey—about a boisterous, complicated Italian family determined to help their widowed mother find a new boyfriend. Lively widow Varina Palladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s, when small businesses thrived and most residents were Italian, but its population is getting younger and the Palladinos are embracing the change. What Varina's not embracing, much to her ninety-two-year-old mother's dismay, is dating. Running Palladino's Italian Specialties grocery, caring for her mother, and keeping her large, loud Jersey Italian family from killing one another takes up all of Varina's energy anyway. Sylvia Spini worries about her daughter Varina being left all alone when she dies. Sylvia knows what it is to be old and alone, so when her granddaughter, Donatella, comes to her with an ill-conceived plan to find Varina a man, Sylvia dives in. The three men of the family—Dante, Tommy, and Paulie—are each secretly plotting their own big life changes, which will throw everyone for a loop. Three generations of Paladinos butt heads and break one another's hearts as they wrestle with their own Jersey Italian love stories in this hilarious and life-affirming ode to love and family.

Rahim is a suburban kid like any other, a "good kid." Chilling with his boys, hearing the legends of "Immortal Al," the greatest gangster who ever lived, it's hard not to get starry eyed and soon, Rahim starts dreaming of becoming a kingpin, idolizing his local gangsters in the hopes of climbing their ranks. But his friends joke that he's all talk and no action. Until one day, when he sees an opportunity to prove himself... but how far will he take it before there's no turning back? All Talk is a modern, urban graphic novel exploring the toxic nature of "street cred" and the role it plays in the lives of vulnerable young men.

A Broken People's Playlist is set to the soundtrack of life, comprised of twelve music-inspired tales about love, the human condition, micro-moments, and the search for meaning and sometimes, redemption. It is also Chimeka Garricks's love letter to his native city, Port Harcourt, introducing us to a cast of indelible characters in these loosely interlocked tales. There is the teenage wannabe-DJ eager to play his first gig even as his family disastrously falls apart—who reappears many years later as an unhappy middle-aged man drunk-calling his ex-wife; a man who throws a living funeral for his dying brother; three friends who ponder penis captivus and one's peculiar erectile dysfunction; a troubled woman who tries to find her peace-place in the world, helped by a headful of songs and a pot of ginger tea. Infused with the author's resonant and evocative storytelling, each page holds "the depth of a novel"; a character, a moment that will—like a favorite song—long linger in the heart and mind.

Straight from the cutting room floor of The Nacelle Company's hit documentary series on The History Channel comes The Center Seat companion book, full of content that almost made it in! From the complete and uncut Leonard Nimoy interview that is widely believe to be his last, to Kirstie Alley's only official interview on her Trek experience, this sweeping history of Star Trek covers everything from its origins with Lucille Ball and Desilu Studios to the real reason Enterprise was cancelled. If you're looking for a comprehensive exploration of the full legacy of Star Trek told in the words of those who made it, look no further than The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek.

From the author of The Mythology Class comes the long-anticipated sequel! It's been two decades since the former classmates first met, and the ensuing years have brought their share of changes. Kubin's strength is weakening with each passing day; Lane's telepathy is gone; Rey and Misha are nowhere to be found; and the bonds that once held them together are slowly crumbling under their misfortune. Thrown into the mix is Nicole and Kubin's daughter, Marilag, who has grown distant from her. To add to the problems, doubts about Enkanta's true purpose are mounting. Nicole, once the heart of the group, now senses a dark spell settling over them, her young daughter included. What the former classmates don't realize is that a new band of visitors is about to arrive from a magical realm. Will these visitors provide a portal to an enchanting new world or usher in a new age of evil? And will the classmates still be up to the challenge?

Harvey Knight's Odyssey is the latest book in Nick's deepening catalog of jocular misery Solarism is a religion that acknowledges there is a balance of light and dark in the Universe. But while Solarists believe it is possible to achieve a state of Pure Light by exposing themselves to the rays of the sun (or tanning beds on cloudy days), the Forces of Dark conspire against them and send hooded Shadow Men to eliminate the Light. Subsequently, Solarists must kill these Shadow Men. It's the only way. When a thief infiltrates the sacred chambers of the Solarists, Assistant-to-the-Master Harvey Knight must test the strength of his beliefs in order to restore order. Or maybe he's plotting to overthrow the leader and make the religion his own. Either way, it's an odyssey. Nick Maandag has been making bone-dry hilarious comics for years, exploring the ridiculousness of human vanity and beliefs. He approaches each comic with the understanding that we are all desperate to be seen and find the most outrageous ways to make that happen. Few cartoonists elicit belly laughs the way Maandag does.

Moses Ose Utomi's debut novella, The Lies of the Ajungo, follows one boy's epic quest to bring water back to his city and save his mother's life. Prepare to enter the Forever Desert. A Library Journal Best Book of the Month! They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies? In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue when you turn thirteen, to appease the terrifying Ajungo Empire and make sure it continues sending water. Tutu will be thirteen in three days, but his parched mother won't last that long. So Tutu goes to his oba and makes a deal: she provides water for his mother, and in exchange he will travel out into the desert and bring back water for the city. Thus begins Tutu's quest for the salvation of his mother, his city, and himself. The Lies of the Ajungo opens the curtains on a tremendous world, and begins the epic fable of the Forever Desert. With every word, Moses Ose Utomi weaves magic.

From the author of the sensational bestseller The Lost Apothecary comes a spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead. 1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D'Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike. Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister's death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. With shared determination, the women find companionship that perhaps borders on something more. And as they team up with the powerful men of London's exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves... Written with intoxicating suspense and sultry prose, The London Séance Society is an entrancing tale that blurs the lines between truth and illusion, and reveals the grave risks women will take to avenge the ones they love.

You may not realize it, but many essential therapeutic techniques can be accessed right in your own kitchen. In Mind over Batter, licensed therapist and master baker Jack Hazan guides you through 75 simple, healing recipes that can help you tap into whatever you might be going through that day. Inspired by the Syrian and Middle Eastern baked goods he grew up with, along with his take on classic American desserts, recipes are organized into themed chapters based on common life moments and needs. In need of connection? Make some Pesto Pull-Apart Bread to share with your loved ones. Looking for a way to release some anxiety? Knead away your stress with a Chocolate Babka Crunch. Simply in need of some self-care? Whip up a single-serving indulgence like a Devil's Food Mug Cake. Throughout each chapter are invaluable exercises and "quick sessions" that connect baking processes to the evidence-based therapy tools Jack Hazan uses in his practice every day.

A humorous, high fantasy Cheers, Quests Aside is a rollicking adventure where Dungeons & Dragons meets It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia! Welcome to Quests Aside Known to all, both far and wide! A skeleton, an apprentice mage, and an exiled princess walk into a bar... for another shift at Quests Aside, the local watering hole run by once legendary, now retired, adventurer Barrow. When the King privately explains that he plans to shut the place down, Barrow must find a way to hold onto his business, the friendships, and the family he's built around it. It's always sunny in the realms!

One of America's finest reporters and essayists explores the powerful currents beneath the roiled waters of a nation coming apart. An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence. Across the country, men "of God" glorify materialism, a gluttony of the soul, while citing Scripture and preparing for civil war—a firestorm they long for as an absolution and exaltation. Lies, greed, and glorification of war boom through microphones at hipster megachurches that once upon a time might have preached peace and understanding. Political rallies are as aflame with need and giddy expectation as religious revivals. At a conference for incels, lonely single men come together to rage against women. On the Far Right, everything is heightened—love into adulation, fear into vengeance, anger into white-hot rage. Here, in the undertow, our forty-fifth president, a vessel of conspiratorial fears and fantasies, continues to rise to sainthood, and the insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, killed on January 6 at the Capitol, is beatified as a martyr of white womanhood. Framing this dangerous vision, Sharlet remembers and celebrates the courage of those who sing a different song of community, and of an America long dreamt of and yet to be fully born, dedicated to justice and freedom for all. Exploring a geography of grief and uncertainty in the midst of plague and rising fascism, The Undertow is a necessary reckoning with our precarious present that brings to light a decade of American failures as well as a vision for American possibility.

A girl with undocumented family members goes viral after saving her crush's life in disguise. It's a classic story: girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy finally notices girl when he sees her in a homemade costume. At least, that's what Sonia Patil is hoping for when she plans to meet her crush at the local comic-con in cosplay. But instead of winning her crush over, Sonia rescues him after he faints into a canal and, suddenly, everything changes. Since she was in disguise, no one knows who the masked do-gooder was ... but everyone is trying to find out. Sonia can't let that happen—her sister is undocumented, and the girls have been flying under the radar since their mother was deported back to Mumbai. Sonia finds herself hiding from social media detectives and trying to connect with her crush and his family. But juggling crushes and a secret identity might just take superpowers. Can Sonia hide in plain sight forever?

Let this book be a celebration of queerness, Blackness, and love. Let these words be a modern church, these poems a holy space. Rising star and spoken word poet Jae Nichelle debuts her luminous thoughts in God Themselves, a new collection of stirring poetry. Nichelle taps into her experiences of growing up in the South as a queer Black woman to courageously confront the effects of a forced religion and the inherent dangers of living life in a female body. God Themselves is divided into three equally moving sections: Everything, Everywhere, and Love. Nichelle braids her wisdom—as seen in the poem "What to Do When There's Nothing You Can Do"—and witty generational humor—seen in "Sanctity: An Exposé"—into every poem. If you've ever contemplated who, what, and where God is, find comfort in these words.

How far would you go to find The One? A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you'll be matched with your perfect partner—the one you're genetically made for. That's the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love. Now five very different people have received the notification that they've been "Matched." They're each about to meet their one true love. But "happily ever after" isn't guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others... A word-of-mouth hit in the United Kingdom, The One is a fascinating novel that shows how even the simplest discoveries can have complicated consequences.

What actually is quantum physics? If you can answer that questions without bullsh*tting the person standing next to you in the bookstore, you can stop reading right now. But although most of us don't actually understand quantum physics, we know that it's mystical and awesome, and if we understood it we'd probably be rich and beautiful and happy, right? After all, there are plenty of people out there trying to sell you quantum crystals to align your quantum energy with your quantum destiny. Can they all be wrong? Spoiler: yes. Yes, they can. There is no such thing as quantum crystals. Sorry! Luckily, as pseudo-science takes over the internet and it's getting harder and harder to separate alternative facts from real science, Chris Ferrie (an actual quantum physicist!) is here to explain quantum physics in a way that makes sense, so you can see the hucksters and bullsh*tters coming from a mile away—and school them in what quantum entanglement actually is (it has nothing to do with your romantic life). If you f*cking love science and want to be slightly less dumb than you were when you woke up this morning, Quantum Bullsh*t is the truly out-of-this-world book for you.

The spellbinding new novel about an embattled young woman's coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan. Leila Aboulela has been praised for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, colonizer and colonized. In River Spirit, Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who—against the odds and for a brief time—gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice. When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they're taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power - the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam - Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur'an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything each of them is striving for - love, freedom, safety – is all on the line in the fight for Sudan. Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela's latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion – to a cause, to one's faith, and to the people who become family.

A wry, moving debut novel about a pair of unforgettable siblings and a love triangle of sorts—one with math as its beating heart. Meet Art and Mimi Brotherton. Devoted siblings and housemates, they're bound together by the tragic death of their parents. Mathematical genius Art relies on logic, while Mimi prefers to follow her heart. When Mimi decides she needs more from life than dutifully tending to her brilliant brother, she asks for his help to find love. Art agrees, but on one condition: that she find her soulmate using a strict mathematical principle. Things seem promising, until Mimi meets Frank: a romantic, spontaneous stargazer who's also a mathematician. Despite Mimi's obvious affection for the quirky Frank, Art is wary of him from their very first encounter. As Art's mistrust of Frank grows, so do Mimi's feelings, and the siblings' relationship is brought to a breaking point. Something about Frank doesn't quite add up, and only Art can see it ... The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything is a tender, intelligent and uplifting novel about brothers and sisters, true love in all its forms, and how the answers to life's biggest questions follow a logic of their own.