What Your Neighbors Are Reading

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Sarah G says, "This is a compulsively readable whodunnit with themes of gender identity and beekeeping. Picoult and Boylan are both terrific writers and their collaboration is seamless."

Bad Vibes Only: (and Other Things I Bring to the Table) by Nora McInerny
In essays that revisit her cringey past and anticipate her rapidly approaching, early middle-aged future, McInerny lays bare her own chaos, inviting us to drop the façade of perfection and embrace the truth: that we are all—at best—slightly unhinged. Socrates claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Bad Vibes Only is for people who have taken that dictum a bit too far—the overthinkers, the analyzers, the recovering Girl Bosses, and the burned-out personal brand—reminding us that a life worth living is about more than just “good vibes.”

Creepy Crayon! by Aaron Reynolds
Jasper Rabbit has a problem: he is NOT doing well in school. His spelling tests? Disasters. His math quizzes? Frightening to behold. But one day, he finds a crayon lying in the gutter. Purple. Pointy. Perfect. Somehow…it looked happy to see him. And it wants to help. At first, Jasper is excited. Everything is going great. His spelling is fantastic. His math is stupendous. And best of all, he doesn’t have to do ANY work! But then the crayon starts acting weird. It’s everywhere, and it wants to do everything. And Jasper must find a way to get rid of it before it takes over his life. The only problem? The creepy crayon will not leave.

A Place in the World: Finding the Meaning of Home by Frances Mayes
Though Frances Mayes is known for her travels, she has always sought a sense of home wherever she goes. In this poetic testament to the power of place in our lives, Mayes reflects on the idea of home, from the earliest imprint of four walls to the startling discoveries of feeling the strange ease of homes abroad, friends’ homes, and even momentary homes that spark desires for other lives. Her musings are all the more poignant after so many have spent their long pandemic months at home. From her travels across Italy—Tuscany, of course, but also Venice and Capri—to the American South, France, and Mexico, Mayes examines the connective tissue among them through the homes she’s inhabited.

Give This Book Away! by Darren Farrell
Prepare to open a very special book—a book that you read, but that you don’t keep. That’s right. This book isn’t destined for a pile in your room. It’s not going to gather dust on a bookshelf. This book is for you to read and enjoy, and then to give away. Yes, away, to someone you've never spoken to before. So, who are you going to pick? The next person you pass on the street? Someone sitting alone on a bench? A kid at the park? Who knows—maybe you'll even make a new friend! Here is a one-of-a-kind picture book that brilliantly introduces the act of giving—quite literally—in a concrete way for kids to understand, and reveals how good it feels when you do.

When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
From Belinda: "Wiley Cash's newest book affected me so profoundly that I contacted the author to discuss it. Set in a North Carolina coastal town in the 1980s, I was instantly caught up in a murder investigation with Sheriff Winston Barnes as he worked to piece together the puzzling crime scene and get to the truth. Through his skilled use of spare dialogue and sparse clues, the author deftly guides Sheriff Barnes in his reluctant quest to reveal the rot of racism in his community, spread by those who embrace its hate and destruction, and to acknowledge the despair and fury of those who are targets of that hate. A stunning plot turn rendered me aghast but, ultimately, led me to an unflinching understanding of the anguish, despair and devastation that are inevitably reaped from racism, bigotry and hate. A must read, the lasting effects of When Ghosts Come Home refuse to let go, and will remain with me for quite some time."

The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Todd says, "Mr. McCarthy's done it again! This brilliant new novel follows Bobby Western as he gets swallowed up in the mystery of an airplane crash and its missing passenger. Meanwhile, there's another mystery for the reader to unravel in the form of hallucinatory interludes from the perspective of Bobby's sister. These two disparate sections combine to create a novel unlike almost anything Cormac McCarthy has ever written! P.S. Look for the companion novel, Stella Maris, set to be released this December!

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left the family when he was nine years old without a trace. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, his family's life has been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic.

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date. But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
From Emma: "Lucrezia de'Medici is only 15 when she's married off to the Duke of Ferrara, and barely 16 when she realizes he intends to have her killed. Lucrezia is thrust into a world of honey-covered lies and manipulation, where her husband's sisters vie for her favor, her husband is kind one moment and volatile the next, and everyone waits for her to produce an heir. And if she can't... This is the best historical fiction I've read in years - an absolute must-read!"

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. It’s the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
In Go-To Dinners, Ina shares her strategies for making her most satisfying and uncomplicated dinners. Many, like Overnight Mac & Cheese, you can make ahead and throw in the oven right before dinner. Light dinners like Tuscan White Bean Soup can be prepped ahead and assembled at the last minute. Go-to family meals like Chicken in a Pot with Orzo and Hasselback Kielbasa will feed a crowd with very little effort. And who doesn’t want to eat Breakfast For Dinner? You’ll find recipes for Scrambled Eggs Cacio e Pepe and Roasted Vegetables with Jammy Eggs that are a snap to make and so satisfying. Ina’s “Two-Fers” guide you on how to turn leftovers from one dinner into something different and delicious the second night.