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Books in the National Media August 2019 Books People are Talking About! |
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Yellow house by Sarah M. BroomA brilliant, haunting and unforgettable memoir from a stunning new talent about the inexorable pull of home and family, set in a shotgun house in New Orleans East. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue, Good Morning America, August 13 |
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Black Card by Chris L. TerryThe award-winning author of Zero Fade presents a darkly comedic exploration of American identity that follows the misadventures of a mixed-race punk rock musician who, in his attempt to prove his cultural worthiness, becomes implicated in a violent crime. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 18 |
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Reasons to be cheerful by Nina StibbeTaking a job as an assistant to an eccentric dental surgeon, 18-year-old Lizzie pursues a fantasy relationship with her crush before realizing that he is not quite as imagined. By the author of Man at the Helm. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue
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The world doesn't require you : stories by Rion Amilcar ScottThis collection of short stories, set in fictional Cross River, Maryland, includes the tales of a struggling musician who is God’s last son and a Ph.D. candidate whose dissertation about a childhood game sparks a riot in a once-segregated town. Featured in NPR Book Review, August 23 |
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nland : a novel by Téa ObrehtAn unflinching frontierswoman riding out the Arizona Territory drought of 1893 finds her life intertwined with that of a former outlaw whose ability to see ghosts has inspired a momentous expedition. By the New York Times best-selling author of The Tiger’s Wife. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 15, NPR's Weekend Edition, August 11, Entertainment Weekly, September issue |
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Chances are... : a novel by Richard RussoOne beautiful September day, three 66-year-old men convene on Martha’s Vineyard, friends ever since meeting in college, and must puzzle out a lingering mystery from the summer of 1971. By a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue |
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Drive your plow over the bones of the dead : a novel by Olga TokarczukWhen her neighbor turns up dead, and then other bodies turn up under strange circumstances, Janine, a recluse in a remote Polish village who prefers the company of animals over humans, inserts herself into the investigation, certain she knows whodunit. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 16 |
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The dearly beloved : a novel by Cara WallIn a novel that spans decades, two young couples' lives become intertwined when the husbands are appointed co-ministers of a venerable New York City church in the 1960s. A first novel. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue
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A pure heart : a novel by Rajia Hassib"A powerful novel about two Egyptian sisters--their divergent fates and the secrets of one family Sisters Rose and Gameela Gubran could not have been more different. Rose, an Egyptologist, married an American journalist and immigrated to New York City, where she works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gameela, a devout Muslim since her teenage years, stayed in Cairo. During the aftermath of Egypt's revolution, Gameela is killed in a suicide bombing. When Rose returns to Egypt after the bombing, she sifts through the artifacts Gameela left behind, desperate to understand how her sister came to die, and who she truly was. Soon, Rose realizes that Gameela has left many questions unanswered. Why had she quit her job just a few months before her death and not told her family? Who was she romantically involved with? And how did the religious Gameela manage to keep so many secrets? Rich in depth and feeling, A Pure Heart is a brilliant portrait of two Muslim women in the twenty-first century, and the decisionsthey make in work and love that determine their destinies. As Rose is struggling to reconcile her identities as an Egyptian and as a new American, she investigates Gameela's devotion to her religion and her country. The more Rose uncovers about her sister's life, the more she must reconcile their two fates, their inextricable bond as sisters, and who should and should not be held responsible for Gameela's death. Rajia Hassib's A Pure Heart is a stirring and deeply textured novel that asks what it means to forgive, and considers how faith, family, and love can unite and divide us". Featured on NPR Book Review, August 11 |
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Ask again, yes : a novel by Mary Beth KeaneWhen a violent event forcibly ends their romance, the son and daughter of two NYPD rookies reconnect years later and struggle to prevent the past from triggering another separation. By the author of Fever. Featured on Tonight Show, August 15
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A door in the earth by Amy WaldmanAn Afghan-American college student in California travels to a remote village in Afghanistan to work for a professor’s charitable foundation and, after surviving a horrific bombing, must side with either the villagers or the American soldiers. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue
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Trust exercise : a novel by Susan ChoiFalling in love while attending a competitive 1980s performing arts high school, David and Sarah rise through the ranks before the realities of their family dynamics and economic statuses trigger a spiral that impacts their adult lives. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue |
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Berta Isla by Javier MaríasA woman unknowingly navigates a growing estrangement with her Oxford-educated fiancé, whose secret encounter with a British-intelligence-services agent has derailed the life they planned together. By the author of The Infatuations. Featured in Washington Times, August 9 |
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The turn of the key by Ruth WareWhen a high-paying nanny job at a luxurious Scottish Highlands home culminates in her imprisonment for a child’s murder, a young woman struggles to untangle what really happened. By the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lying Game. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 10
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Lady in the lake : a novel by Laura LippmanA divorced reporter in racially torn 1966 Baltimore triggers unanticipated consequences for vulnerable community members while investigating the murder of an African-American party girl. By the Edgar Award-winning author of Sunburn. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue
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There there by Tommy OrangeA novel that grapples with the complex history and identity of Native Americans follows twelve characters, each of whom has private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Featured on Late Night, August 6 |
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The warehouse : a novel by Rob HartA darkly satirical thriller set in a near-future America wracked by violence, unemployment and climate change finds two employees of a world-saving global giant discovering their employers' true agenda. By the author of the Ash McKenna series. Featured in NPR Book Reviews, August 25 |
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Frankly in Love by David YoonTorn between his love for his white girlfriend and his sense of duty to the matchmaking parents who made hard sacrifices to move to the United States, a Korean American teen looks for solutions along with a friend who has a similar problem. A first novel. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue
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The Right Swipe by Alisha RaiCynical dating app creator Rhiannon Hunter must decide whether or not to give former pro-football player Samson Lima, who wooed her during one magical night and then disappeared, a second chance despite the fact that his in league with a business rival. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 5
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The secrets we kept by Lara PrescottA tale of spycraft, love and sacrifice inspired by the true story of Doctor Zhivago follows the efforts of two CIA agents to help publish Boris Pasternak’s censored masterpiece against a backdrop of Cold War politics in Moscow. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue |
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Going Dutch : a novel by James GregorEnmeshed with a straight woman, Anne, and increasingly romantically involved with successful lawyer Blake, 20-something gay graduate student Richard soon finds himself on a romantic and existential collision course—one that brings about surprising revelations. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue, NPR Book Review, August 23
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Gods with a little g by Tupelo HassmanA group of teen outcasts in an isolated town run by evangelicals band together when the woman who watches over them, Aunt Bev, becomes victim to both threats and violence because of her local business, the Psychic Encounter Shoppe. Featured in The Washington Post, August 17, NPR Book Review, August 18 |
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The need : a novel by Helen PhillipsA woman grapples with the complex dualities of motherhood—joy and dread, tenderness and anxiety—after confronting a masked intruder in her home. By the author of The Beautiful Bureaucrat. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue
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Game of snipers by Stephen HunterObsessively tracking a sniper with skills that match his own, Bob Lee Swagger teams up with the Mossad, the FBI and local law enforcement to identify the killer's next target. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Point of Impact. Featured in Washington Times, August 5 |
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The downstairs girl by Stacey LeeWhen the advice column she secretly writes becomes wildly popular, a young lady’s maid uses her influence to question her society’s fixed ideas about race and gender. By the award-winning author of Outrun the Moon. Featured in NPR Book Review, August 25
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Red at the bone by Jacqueline WoodsonAs Melody celebrates a coming of age ceremony at her grandparents’ house in 2001 Brooklyn, her family remembers 1985, when Melody’s own mother prepared for a similar party that never took place, in this novel about different social classes. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue |
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Hollow kingdom : a novel by Kira Jane BuxtonSensing something is wrong with his owner, a domesticated crow abandons the only life he ever knew to discover that humans are turning into zombies and must use knowledge gleaned from his TV-viewing to save them. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 10
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Akin : a novel by Emma DonoghueA retired New York professor’s life is thrown into chaos when he takes a young great-nephew to the French Riviera in hopes of uncovering his own mother’s wartime secrets. By the best-selling author of Room. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, September Issue
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Three women by Lisa TaddeoOffers a riveting account of the sex lives of three ordinary American women, based on nearly a decade of reporting. Featured in Entertainment Weekly, August issue |
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The outlaw ocean : journeys across the last untamed frontier by Ian UrbinaA Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter profiles the rampant criminal and exploitative activities of the world’s unmonitored ocean regions, uncovering a vast global network of industry corruption, piracy and trafficking. Illustrations. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 21 |
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Featured on Today Show, August 15 |
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Our women on the ground : essays by Arab women reporting from the Arab world by Zahra Hankir19 Arab women journalists speak out about what it's like to report on their changing homelands in this first-of-its-kind essay collection, with a foreword by CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour International media coverage of the Arab world and its many complex, interconnected conflicts is dominated by the work of Western correspondents, many of whom are white and male--meaning we see only one side of the story. But a growing number of intrepid Arab women, whose access to and understanding of their subjects are vastly different than their Western counterparts, are working tirelessly to shape more nuanced narratives about their homelands through their work as reporters and photojournalists. Their voices have rarely been heard on the international stage--until now. In Our Women on the Ground, nineteen of these women tell us, in their own words, about what it's like to report on conflicts that are (quite literally) close to home. From sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo to the impossibility of traveling without a male relative in Yemen, their challenges are unique--as are their advantages, such as being able to speak candidly with other women or gain entry to places that an outsider would never be able to access. Their daring, shocking, and heartfelt stories, told here for the first time, shatter stereotypes about Arab women and provide an urgently needed perspective on a part of the world that is often misunderstood. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 6 |
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Haben : the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard Law by Haben GirmaDocuments the incredible story of the first deaf and blind graduate of Harvard Law School, tracing her refugee parents’ harrowing experiences in the Eritrea-Ethiopian war and her development of innovations that enabled her remarkable achievements. Featured on Today Show, August 5
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Featured in The Washington Post, August 16, NPR's Fresh Air, August 20 |
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River of fire : my spiritual journey by Helen PrejeanAn activist nun known for campaigning to end the death penalty describes her spiritual journey from a person who prayed for God to solve the problems of the world to someone who works to transform social injustices herself. Featured on NPR's Fresh Air, August 12 |
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Featured on The Daily Show, August 7 |
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Finding Zsa Zsa : the Gabors behind the legend by Sam StaggsA biographer, film historian and Gabor family friend reveals that, behind the headlines, is a true story more dramatic, fabulous, and surprising than the Gabors' self-styled legend indicates. Featured in The Washington Post, August 19 |
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River of fire : my spiritual journey by Helen PrejeanAn activist nun known for campaigning to end the death penalty describes her spiritual journey from a person who prayed for God to solve the problems of the world to someone who works to transform social injustices herself. Featured on NPR Author Interviews, August 12 |
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How to be an antiracist by Ibram X KendiA best-selling author, National Book Award-winner and professor combines ethics, history, law and science with a personal narrative to describe how to move beyond the awareness of racism and contribute to making society just and equitable. Featured on NPR Author Interviews, August 13, CBS This Morning, August 12 |
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They called us enemy by George TakeiThe iconic actor and activist presents a graphic memoir detailing his experiences as a child prisoner in the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, reflecting on the hard choices his family made in the face of legalized racism. Featured on Late Night, August 12
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The mosquito : a human history of our deadliest predator by Timothy C. WinegardFollows the history of the nefarious and pesky mosquito and its impact on humanity throughout the ages and around the globe, explaining how the tiny insect influenced the results of wars, colonization and the modern world order. Illustrations. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 12 |
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Consent : a memoir of unwanted attention by Donna FreitasThe university lecturer and author of The Body Market chronicles her toxic relationship with her mentor, an acclaimed professor whose unwanted abusive attentions transformed her life and compelled her advocacy work. Featured in Wall Street Journal, August 18
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Featured on NPR Book Review, August 5 |
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A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the U.S., informed by her tribal history and connection to the land. Featured on NPR Book Reviews, August 14
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Is there still sex in the city? by Candace BushnellA group of female friends navigates the ever-modernizing phenomena of midlife dating and relationships between The Village and Manhattan’s Upper East Side. By the critically acclaimed author of Sex and the City. Featured on Good Morning America, August 6
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Featured in NPR Book Review, August 27
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In the Country of Women : A Memoir by Susan StraightThe award-winning author of Highwire Moon presents a narrative social history and tribute to the indomitable women ancestors of husband Dwayne Sims’ family, whose resilient spirits were shaped by slavery, Jim Crow racism and abusive relationships. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 7 |
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Featured on NPR's Fresh Air, August 8
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Trick mirror : reflections on self-delusion by Jia TolentinoA New Yorker writer presents nine original essays examining the fractures at the center of culture today, offering insights into the conflicts, contradictions, incentives and changes related to the rise of toxic social networking. Featured on NPR Author Interviews, August 6 |
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Featured on NPR Author Interviews, August 15 |
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Featured on NPR Book Review, August 13
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Into the planet : my life as a cave diver by Jill HeinerthA renowned cave diver and expert consultant presents a firsthand account of a trailblazing career spent exploring the hidden depths and sunken caves of the world’s oceans, detailing the field’s important scientific and historical discoveries. Featured on NPR's Fresh Air, August 19
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Featured in Washington Times, August 1
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Featured on Today Show, August 20 |
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When I was white : a memoir by Sarah ValentineA coming-of-age memoir traces the author’s childhood as a white girl in the suburbs of Pittsburgh before she discovered that her father was a black man, a revelation that transformed her sense of identity and raised questions about family choices. Illustrations. Featured on NPR Book Review, August 8 |
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Featured on NPR's Author Interviews, August 20 |
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Inheritance : a memoir of genealogy, paternity, and love by Dani Shapiro"The acclaimed and beloved author of Hourglass now gives us a new memoir about identity, paternity, and family secrets--a real-time exploration of the staggering discovery she made last year about her father, and her struggle to piece together the hiddenthe story of her own life" Featured on Today Show, August 19 |
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Harford County Public Library
1221-A Brass Mill Rd Belcamp, Maryland 21017 410-273-5600
hcplonline.org
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