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Must-Read Books April 2024
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| American Spirits by Russell BanksThe last book by the late great Russell Banks offers three gritty, character-driven tales set in rural Sam Dent, New York, where his acclaimed novel The Sweet Hereafter took place. The elegiac stories explore a kidnapping, the loss of family land, and problems with new neighbors. Read-alikes: Richard Russo's novels; Mariana Enriquez's Things We Lost in the Fire. |
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| Paper Cage by Tom BaragwanathLorraine Henry, a white policeman's widow, works as a police records clerk in a small New Zealand town rife with drugs and racial tension. When a part-Māori relative is one of three Indigenous children who go missing and the cops aren't all that concerned, Lorraine investigates. First published in New Zealand in 2022, this gritty, suspenseful debut novel has "a truly crackling mystery" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl GonzalezIn the 1980s, up-and-coming artist Anita de Monte is married to Jack, an established white artist, when she dies after a suspicious fall. In the 1990s, Brown University student Raquel Toro researches a project on Jack while starting her own relationship with a wealthy white man. This Reese's Book Club pick presents a witty, thought-provoking look at art, race, class, and gender. Read-alike: Hernan Diaz's Trust. |
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Table for two : fictions
by Amor Towles
The New York Times best-selling author shares six stories based in New York City, which consider the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters, and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood, told from seven different viewpoints, which stars the indomitable Evelyn Ross.
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2054 : a novel
by Elliot Ackerman
Set 20 years after the events of the New York Times best-selling 2034 the fate of American democracy is threatened by tech visionary in the Amazon rainforest who uses a breakthrough in AI to assassinate the president.
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Good material : a novel
by Dolly Alderton
After a bad breakup, Andy desperately tries solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship with Jen in order to win her back, in the new novel by the New York Times best-selling author of Everything I Know About Love.
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| The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. RozanIn 1924 London, unexpected events lead quiet academic lecturer Lao She to team up with larger-than-life Judge Dee Ren Jie to figure out who's killing Chinese immigrants who served in France during the Great War. For fans of: Sherlock Holmes; intricately plotted mysteries with a strong sense of place. |
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| There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif AbdurraqibIn his lyrical and engaging latest, MacArthur Fellow and Carnegie Medal winner Hanif Abdurraqib (A Little Devil in America) explores his relationship to basketball and the role it has played throughout his life -- including having a front-row seat to the rise of LeBron James. For fans of: Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated by Shea Serrano. |
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| Latinoland: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority by Marie AranaNational Book Award finalist and inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress Marie Arana (Silver, Sword, and Stone) explores the history and politics of Latine identity in the United States in her incisive and accessible latest. Further reading: Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity by Paola Ramos; Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gomez. |
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Languishing : how to feel alive again in a world that wears us down
by Corey L. M. Keyes
Building on decades of research, a sociologist explores the concept of languishing, which wears away our sense of purpose, its impact on our well-being and its societal roots, offering a comprehensive guide to understanding and addressing this pervasive condition.
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| Grief Is For People by Sloane CrosleyNovelist and essayist Sloane Crosley's (Cult Classic) moving and darkly humorous memoir chronicles how she navigated the grief of losing her best friend to suicide in 2019. Try this next: Molly by Blake Butler. |
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| Whiskey Tender: A Memoir by Deborah Jackson TaffaIn her thought-provoking debut named a Most Anticipated Book by Elle, The New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, Deborah Jackson Taffa, a member of the Quechan (Yuma) and Laguna Pueblo, recounts her fraught coming of age in the 1980s as a "Native girl in a northwestern New Mexico town where cowboys still hated Indians." Try this next: Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land by Toni Jensen. |
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| A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah FaizalDespite humble beginnings, Arthie Casimir gained power collecting the secrets of influential humans and vampires frequenting her teahouse. Arthie's scheme to infiltrate vampire society and overthrow the colonizing monarchy will thrill fans of heist novels and found family. This fast-paced fantasy opens a duology. |
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Watch out for the lion!
by Brooke Hartman
Warning readers who dare to open this book that there is a lion hiding inside, this surprising story helps them discover what is REALLY lurking in the pages of this hilarious interactive adventure.
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Don't Want to Be Your Monster
by Deke Moulton
Adam and Victor are brothers who have the usual fights over the remote, which movie to watch and whether or not it's morally acceptable to eat people. Well, not so much eat . . . just drink a little blood. They're vampires, hiding in plain sight with their eclectic yet loving family. Everything changes when bodies start to appear all over town, and it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for the family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it's too late?
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Mary Riley Styles Public Library
120 N. Virginia Ave, Falls Church, Virginia 22046 703-248-5030 (TTY 711) www.mrspl.org
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