Joe Biden

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Florida

A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose

The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller “Promise Me, Dad is a brisk, often uplifting read, a consequence of its author’s congenital jollity and irrepressible candor.” - Vanity Fair A deeply moving memoir about the year that would forever change both a family and a country. In November 2014, thirteen members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past forty years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor fifteen months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. "Promise me, Dad," Beau had told his father. "Give me your word that no matter what happens, you’re going to be all right." Joe Biden gave him his word. Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden’s extraordinary life and career. Vice President Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America, and Iraq. When a call came from New York, or Capitol Hill, or Kyiv, or Baghdad—“Joe, I need your help”—he responded. For twelve months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama. Writing with poignancy and immediacy, Joe Biden allows readers to feel the urgency of each moment, to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop. This is a book written not just by the vice president, but by a father, grandfather, friend, and husband. Promise Me, Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose, and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.

Promise Me, Dad

7368e5b5-edc5-45c1-8046-52156354b5c2-1

Massachusetts

A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood

"An unparalleled achievement, a work of shattering, almost unbearable radiance. I did not stop crying throughout. For Mills. For my young self. For all of us who have lived and continue to live in that pitiless abyss of childhood abuse. To read this courageous book is to be transformed utterly by Mills's empathy, resilience, and grace. Mark my words: Chosen is destined to be a classic because this is a book that will save lives."
--Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

At thirteen years old, Stephen Mills is chosen for special attention by the director of his Jewish summer camp, a charismatic social worker intent on becoming his friend. Stephen, whose father died when he was four, places his trust in this authority figure, who first grooms and then molests him for two years.

Stephen tells no one, but the aftershocks rip through his adult life, as intense as his denial: self-loathing, drug abuse, petty crime, and horrific nightmares, all made worse by the discovery that his abuser is moving from camp to camp, state to state, molesting other boys. Only physical and mental collapse bring Stephen to confront the truth of his boyhood and begin the painful process of recovery--as well as a decades-long crusade to stop a serial predator, find justice, and hold to account those who failed the children in their care.

The trauma of sexual abuse is shared by one out of every six men, yet very few have broken their silence. Unflinching and compulsively readable, Chosen eloquently speaks for those countless others and their families. It is a rare act of consummate courage and generosity--the indelible story of a man who faces his torment and his tormentor and, in the process, is made whole.

Chosen

2cbebac5-395a-433f-bffe-4ec079cfc8ea-1

Tricia O'Neill-Politte

Autographed by the author.

Has your child ever come home crying? Has your friend called you in the middle of the night upset over a loss? Lovingly illustrated, The Magic Heart is a little book for anyone whose heart has been hurt.  Give it to a child, a friend or yourself to learn how the kind Heart bravely overcomes the hurts of life. You don't need ruby red slippers or a long red cape. The Magic is inside each of us

Maryland

Has your child ever come home crying? Has your friend called you in the middle of the night upset over a loss? Lovingly illustrated, The Magic Heart is a little book for anyone whose heart has been hurt. Give it to a child, a friend or yourself to learn how the kind Heart bravely overcomes the hurts of life. You don't need ruby red slippers or a long red cape. The Magic is inside each of us. (It always has been.) This book just reminds us.

The Magic Heart (Autographed Copy)

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Ex-library copy, stamped, stickered, and plastic covered. No page markings or blemishes otherwise.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Michigan

A Novel

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A compulsively readable and electrifying debut about an ambitious young female artist who accidentally photographs a boy falling to his death—an image that could jumpstart her career, but would also devastate her most intimate friendship. Lu Rile is a relentlessly focused young photographer struggling to make ends meet. Working three jobs, responsible for her aging father, and worrying that the crumbling warehouse she lives in is being sold to developers, she is at a point of desperation. One day, in the background of a self-portrait, Lu accidentally captures on film a boy falling past her window to his death. The photograph turns out to be startlingly gorgeous, the best work of art she’s ever made. It’s an image that could change her life…if she lets it. But the decision to show the photograph is not easy. The boy is her neighbors’ son, and the tragedy brings all the building’s residents together. It especially unites Lu with his beautiful grieving mother, Kate. As the two forge an intense bond based on sympathy, loneliness, and budding attraction, Lu feels increasingly unsettled and guilty, torn between equally fierce desires: to use the photograph to advance her career, and to protect a woman she has come to love. Set in early 90s Brooklyn on the brink of gentrification, Self-Portrait with Boy is a provocative commentary about the emotional dues that must be paid on the road to success, a powerful exploration of the complex terrain of female friendship, and a brilliant debut from novelist Rachel Lyon.

Self-Portrait with Boy

46a96444-6c92-45b6-b2e1-601924dc69e0-1

Anne Tyler

Louisiana

Saint Maybe is the rich and absorbing story of a young man's guilt over his brother's death and his struggle to atone for the wrong he feels he has done. On a quiet street in Baltimore in 1965, seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe lives with his family in an "ideal, apple-pie household," enjoying the comfort of family traditions and indulging in all the usual dreams of the future. Until one night, when Ian's stinging words to his brother bring tragedy -- and from that careless moment on nothing can ever be the same. Anne Tyler takes us along Ian's painful and poignant quest for forgiveness, from the Church of the Second Chance to Ian's gratifying, solitary work as a carpenter. Raising the three children that are thrust on him, he finds himself amazed, drowning in family and duty. Then, out of the very heart of the domestic clutter, a light begins to flash.

Saint Maybe

70fedf72-3e3b-4414-bcc3-37c78be34a8c-1

Alabama

#hardcover #love #memoir #grief #cancer #mourning #nonfiction #marriage #bookclub #healing




Washington

A Memoir

An inspiring memoir of life, love, loss, and new beginnings by the widower of bestselling children's author and filmmaker Amy Krouse Rosenthal, whose last of act of love before her death was setting the stage for her husband's life without her in a column in the New York Times. On March 3, 2017, Amy Krouse Rosenthal penned an op-ed piece for the New York Times' "Modern Love" column --"You May Want to Marry My Husband." It appeared ten days before her death from ovarian cancer. A heartbreaking, wry, brutally honest, and creative play on a personal ad--in which a dying wife encouraged her husband to go on and find happiness after her demise--the column quickly went viral, reaching more than five million people worldwide. In My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me, Jason describes what came next: his commitment to respecting Amy's wish, even as he struggled with her loss. Surveying his life before, with, and after Amy, Jason ruminates on love, the pain of watching a loved one suffer, and what it means to heal--how he and their three children, despite their profound sorrow, went on. Jason's emotional journey offers insights on dying and death and the excruciating pain of losing a soulmate, and illuminates the lessons he learned. As he reflects on Amy's gift to him--a fresh start to fill his empty space with a new story--Jason describes how he continues to honor Amy's life and her last wish, and how he seeks to appreciate every day and live in the moment while trying to help others coping with loss. My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me is the poignant, unreserved, and inspiring story of a great love, the aftermath of a marriage ended too soon, and how a surviving partner eventually found a new perspective on life's joys in the wake of tremendous loss.

My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me

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Joseph Luzzi

What Dante Taught Me about Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love

In the aftermath of a heartbreaking tragedy, a scholar and writer uses Dante's Divine Comedy to shepherd him through the dark wood of grief and mourning--a rich and emotionally resonant memoir of suffering, hope, love, and the power of literature to inspire and heal the most devastating loss.

Where do we turn when we lose everything? Joseph Luzzi found the answer in the opening of The Divine Comedy: "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood."

When Luzzi's pregnant wife was in a car accident--and died forty-five minutes after giving birth to their daughter, Isabel--he finds himself a widower and first-time father at the same moment. While he grieves and cares for his infant daughter, miraculously delivered by caesarean before his wife passed, he turns to Dante's Divine Comedy for solace.

In a Dark Wood tells the story of how Dante helps the author rebuild his life. He follows the structure of The Divine Comedy, recounting the Inferno of his grief, the Purgatory of healing and raising Isabel on his own, and then Paradise of the rediscovery of love.

A Dante scholar, Luzzi has devoted his life to teaching and writing about the poet. But until he turned to the epic poem to learn how to resurrect his life, he didn't realize how much the poet has given back to him. A meditation on the influence of great art and its power to give us strength in our darkest moments, In a Dark Wood opens the door into the mysteries of Dante's epic poem. Beautifully written and flawlessly balanced, Luzzi's book is a hybrid of heart-rending memoir and critical insight into one of the greatest pieces of literature in all of history. In a Dark Wood draws us into man's descent into hell and back: it is Dante's journey, Joseph Luzzi's, and our very own.

In a Dark Wood

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#hardcover #grief #fiction #friends #contemporary #realisticfiction #youngadult #ya 

Pennsylvania

"Originally published in paperback by Black & White Publishing, Edinburgh, in 2019."

The Year after You

48b3138b-8ebe-4b0d-8561-c736c00c8f32-1

#hardcover #middlegrades #youngadult #fiction #babysitting #sids #grief 

Virginia

For readers who love The Thing About Jellyfish and Counting By 7s, Lolo's Light is a deeply honest middle grade novel about grief, redemption, and life as a kid facing both.



This is a truth about growing up: Once in your life, sometime after your first memory but before you can drive a car, something is going to happen to you that doesn't happen to anyone else you know. It might be something good. It might be something bad, or special, or funny, or shocking. For Millie, it's something really sad. Lolo, her neighbors' infant daughter, dies unexpectedly, suddenly, inexplicably, on the night Millie babysits.



It's not Millie's fault. There's nothing she could have done. And there's nothing she can do now.



So how does she go on?



She does what you'll do. She finds her way.



This poignant and profound coming-of-age story portrays a tragic experience of responsibility and its poisonous flip side: guilt. Emotional and important, this is an honest and empathetic portrait of a girl at her most vulnerable--a mess of grief, love, and ultimately, acceptance--who must reckon with those most difficult of demons: death . . . and life.



A GREAT WAY TO UNDERSTAND DIFFICULT FEELINGS: Coming to terms with one's responsibility for things both our fault and not is a universal experience that can be difficult to process, particularly when grief is involved. Millie offers a great blueprint for young readers who don't understand the surrounding emotions and need help working through them.



A MAIN CHARACTER KIDS WILL LOVE: Millie makes mistakes as she navigates grief. It's often not pretty, but it is very relatable. The author's honest portrayal of this experience will resonate with young readers, whether grieving or not.



Perfect for:



Middle grade readers

Educators and librarians

Parents looking for books on loss or grief

Lolo's Light

2bf41c18-e88f-447d-b1b0-a8e47cea689b-1

#hardcover #nonfiction #biography #fiction #autobiography #bestsellingauthor #chelseahandler #comedian #humor #grief 

Oregon

... and You Too!

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The funny, sad, super-honest, all-true story of Chelsea Handler’s year of self-discovery—featuring a nerdily brilliant psychiatrist, a shaman, four Chow Chows, some well-placed security cameras, various family members (living and departed), friends, assistants, and a lot of edibles A SKIMM READS PICK • “This will be one of your favorite books of all time.”—Amy Schumer In a haze of vape smoke on a rare windy night in L.A. in the fall of 2016, Chelsea Handler daydreams about what life will be like with a woman in the White House. And then Donald Trump happens. In a torpor of despair, she decides that she’s had enough of the privileged bubble she’s lived in—a bubble within a bubble—and that it’s time to make some changes, both in her personal life and in the world at large. At home, she embarks on a year of self-sufficiency—learning how to work the remote, how to pick up dog shit, where to find the toaster. She meets her match in an earnest, brainy psychiatrist and enters into therapy, prepared to do the heavy lifting required to look within and make sense of a childhood marked by love and loss and to figure out why people are afraid of her. She becomes politically active—finding her voice as an advocate for change, having difficult conversations, and energizing her base. In the process, she develops a healthy fixation on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and, through unflinching self-reflection and psychological excavation, unearths some glittering truths that light up the road ahead. Thrillingly honest, insightful, and deeply, darkly funny, Chelsea Handler’s memoir keeps readers laughing, even as it inspires us to look within and ask ourselves what really matters in our own lives. Praise for Life Will Be the Death of Me “You thought you knew Chelsea Handler—and she thought she knew herself—but in her new book, she discovers that true progress lies in the direction we haven’t been.”—Gloria Steinem “I always wondered what it would be like to watch Chelsea Handler in session with her therapist. Now I know.”—Ellen DeGeneres “I love this book not just because it made me laugh or because I learned that I feel the same way about certain people in politics as Chelsea does. I love this book because I feel like I finally really got to know Chelsea Handler after all these years. Thank you for sharing, Chelsea!”—Tiffany Haddish

Life Will Be the Death of Me

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#hardcover #youngadult #ya #grief #drama 

California

"Sixteen-year-old Jo must decide whether to trust her estranged father or the grandparents who raised her but hid the truth about the way her mother died when Jo was only two"--

Accidental

464f4f6b-4514-4a02-9ef2-543bb0ba83c3-1

Uprooted following the death of their father, nine-year-old Vinnie and her five-year-old brother, Mason, cope in different ways--one in silence--but both with the help of Lupe, the flip-flop girl.

Flip-Flop Girl

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#friendship #wisconsin #families #divorce #grief #lakes #childrensstories #american #boys #hardcover 

Spencer thought the house might be haunted.

Mitch knew it wasn't. And he knew why.

The whole time Spencer and Mitch hung out together at Bird Lake that summer, there were secrets keeping them apart.

And maybe a secret knowledge keeping them together, too--together like members of the same tribe. Like friends.

Bird Lake Moon

c364d8e3-2c31-47dc-aadb-aa1bc080051b-1

Angie Smith

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Pieces of a Life Made Whole

Discusses the forgiving nature of God and asserts that no one's imperfections are too numerous for Him to turn into good.

Mended

f366fb18-eecb-4230-997b-b6a9235b5e86-1

New York

Velocity

Sigrid Nunez

Colorado

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A beautiful book … a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love." —Wall Street Journal "A penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory...Nunez has a wry, withering wit." —NPR "Dry, allusive and charming…the comedy here writes itself.” The New York Times A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them. Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.

The Friend

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Named one of 31 of the Best New Books You Should Read This Spring by Popsugar When a young widow's reclusive life in a charming beach town is interrupted by a surprise visitor, she is forced to reckon with dark secrets about her family, her late husband, and the past she tried to leave behind. Lauren Adelman and her high school sweetheart, Rory Kincaid, are a golden couple. They marry just out of college as Rory, a star hockey player, earns a spot in the NHL. Their future could not look brighter when Rory shocks everyone-Lauren most of all-by enlisting in the U.S. Army. When Rory dies in combat, Lauren is left devastated, alone, and under unbearable public scrutiny. Seeking peace and solitude, Lauren retreats to her family's old beach house on the Jersey Shore. But this summer she's forced to share the house with her overbearing mother and competitive sister. Worse, a stranger making a documentary about Rory tracks her down and persuades her to give him just an hour of her time. One hour with filmmaker Matt Brio turns into a summer of revelations, surprises, and upheaval. As the days grow shorter and her grief changes shape, Lauren begins to understand the past-and to welcome the future.

The Husband Hour

6e7416e0-f08f-431a-b3e8-ed5eefb938b6-1

Stephane Gerson

A Family Story

In this piercing memoir, a father maps the contours of his grief and explores how his family navigates the unthinkable loss of eight-year-old Owen.

On a day like any other, on a rafting trip down Utah's Green River, StUphane Gerson's eight-year-old son, Owen, drowned in a spot known as Disaster Falls. That same night, as darkness fell, StUphane huddled in a tent with his wife, Alison, and their older son, Julian, trying to understand what seemed inconceivable. "It's just the three of us now," Alison said over the sounds of a light rain and, nearby, the rushing river. "We cannot do it alone. We have to stick together." Disaster Falls chronicles the aftermath of that day and their shared determination to stay true to Alison's resolution. Gerson captures the different ways of grieving that threatened to isolate each of them in their post-Owen worlds and then, with beautiful specificity, shows how he and Alison preserved and reconfigured their marriage from within. Blending family history (including the ogood deatho of his father, which offers a very different perspective on mortality) and the natural history of the river, he provides an expansive, unflinching meditation on loss, our responsibilities toward our children, and the stories we tell ourselves in the wake of traumatic events. Slowly, inexorably, Gerson writes his way back to Owen, straight to the singularity that cleaved his life into before and after, creating a portrait of grief iridescent in its fullness, and unexpectedly consoling.

Disaster Falls

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Heather Stang

A Guided Journal for Navigating Loss with Compassion and Mindfulness

A guided journal with writing prompts, meditations and practices to transform the heartache and pain of grief and loss into love and resilience, the mindful way. Grief is a natural reaction to loss and the mourning process can be a difficult and stressful experience. Time alone does not heal our wounds—it is what we do with our time that matters. But in the wake of devastating loss, how and where do you begin? One way is through grief journaling which can help you record and process your experience of grief. With the support of grief and mindfulness expert Heather Stang, From Grief to Peace offers the writing space, guidance, and freedom to express your feelings without judgment. Explore your heart’s story fearlessly, transform grief roadblocks into green lights, and write a thank-you letter to your inner strength and courage. Mindful journaling prompts, tips, and practices allow you to tap into your natural resilience and find the meaning you need to thrive. In turn you will learn and grow through your grief journey.

From Grief to Peace

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Texas

After walking for three weeks from London's Heathrow Airport, Alec Hudson arrives at Fiona Edwards's farmhouse B&B in the mountains of North Wales to scatter his late wife's ashes on a remote peak and finds the promise of new love at midlife with Fiona, but their growing feelings are complicated when he encounters Fiona's ailing and reclusive husband on his quest. 50,000 first printing.

The Long Walk Home

6d58d1b7-8e6d-4168-952c-5ee79a43f887-1

Karen Raney

A stunning debut novel about a teenage girl and her mother as they grapple with first love, family secrets, and tragedy.

Maddy is sixteen. Smart, funny, and profound, she has loyal friends, a mother with whom she's unusually close, a father she's never met, devoted grandparents, and a crush on a boy named Jack. Maddy also has cancer. Living in the shadow of uncertainty, she is forced to grow up fast.

All the Water in the World is the story of a family doing its best when faced with the worst. Told in the alternating voices of Maddy and her mother, Eve, the narrative moves between the family's lake house in Pennsylvania; their home in Washington, DC; and London, where Maddy's father, Antonio, lives. Hungry for experience, Maddy seeks out her first romantic relationship, finds solace in music and art, and tracks down Antonio. She continually tests the depths and limits of her closeness with her mother, while Eve has to come to terms with the daughter she only partly knows, in a world she can't control.

With unforgettable voices that range from tender to funny, despairing to defiant, this novel illuminates the transformative power of love, humor, and hope.

All the Water in the World

01d196f1-edbf-4173-9d63-5f91ae1aa8d1-1

Meg Woodson

Marjorie Holmes

A mother’s moving story of her daughter’s last great adventure 

A mother's moving story of her daughter's last journey through hospitalization with cystic fibrosis to glory. A spiritual journey through a mother's grief and pain told in an unforgettable way.

Turn It into Glory

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Sarah Nicole Smetana

This voice-driven coming-of-age YA novel is perfect for fans of Katie Cotugno and Playlist for the Dead. Susannah Hayes has never been in the spotlight, but she dreams of following her father, a former rock star, onto the stage. As senior year begins, she’s more interested in composing impressive chord patterns than college essays, certain that if she writes the perfect song, her father might finally look up from the past long enough to see her. But when he dies unexpectedly, her dreams—and her reality—shatter. While Susannah struggles with grief, her mother uproots them to a new city. There, Susannah realizes she can reinvent herself however she wants: a confident singer-songwriter, member of a hip band, embraced by an effortlessly cool best friend. But Susannah is not the only one keeping secrets, and soon, harsh revelations threaten to unravel her life once again. Set against the scintillating landscape of Southern California, The Midnights is an evocative coming-of-age debut about loss, creativity, and finding your voice while you’re still finding yourself.

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Joe Biden

Promise Me, Dad

Stephen Mills

Chosen

Tricia O'Neill-Politte

The Magic Heart (Autographed Copy)

Rachel Lyon

Self-Portrait with Boy

Anne Tyler

Saint Maybe

Anne Tyler

Saint Maybe

Jason B. Rosenthal

My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me

Joseph Luzzi

In a Dark Wood

Nina de Pass

The Year after You

Liz Garton Scanlon

Lolo's Light

Chelsea Handler

Life Will Be the Death of Me

Alex Richards

Accidental

Katherine Paterson

Flip-Flop Girl

Kevin Henkes

Bird Lake Moon

Angie Smith

Mended

Kristin McCloy

Velocity

Sigrid Nunez

The Friend

Jamie Brenner

The Husband Hour

Stephane Gerson

Disaster Falls

Heather Stang

From Grief to Peace

Will North

The Long Walk Home

Karen Raney

All the Water in the World

Meg Woodson; Marjorie Holmes

Turn It into Glory

Sarah Nicole Smetana

The Midnights