Brené Brown

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Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome—is the only path to more love, belonging, creativity, and joy. But living a brave life is not always easy: We are, inevitably, going to stumble and fall.

It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort.

Walking into our stories of hurt can feel dangerous. But the process of regaining our footing in the midst of struggle is where our courage is tested and our values are forged. Our stories of struggle can be big ones, like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, or smaller ones, like a conflict with a friend or colleague. Regardless of magnitude or circumstance, the rising strong process is the same: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth; and we live this process, every day, until it becomes a practice and creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives. Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process, Brown writes, that teaches us the most about who we are.

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write the ending. Look for Brené Brown’s new podcast, Dare to Lead, as well as her ongoing podcast Unlocking Us! Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome—is the only path to more love, belonging, creativity, and joy. But living a brave life is not always easy: We are, inevitably, going to stumble and fall. It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort. Walking into our stories of hurt can feel dangerous. But the process of regaining our footing in the midst of struggle is where our courage is tested and our values are forged. Our stories of struggle can be big ones, like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, or smaller ones, like a conflict with a friend or colleague. Regardless of magnitude or circumstance, the rising strong process is the same: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth; and we live this process, every day, until it becomes a practice and creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives. Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process, Brown writes, that teaches us the most about who we are. ONE OF GREATER GOOD’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR “[Brené Brown’s] research and work have given us a new vocabulary, a way to talk with each other about the ideas and feelings and fears we’ve all had but haven’t quite known how to articulate. . . . Brené empowers us each to be a little more courageous.”—The Huffington Post

Rising Strong

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Ruth Hogan

The Keep of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan tells the story of Laura, a woman who works for Anthony, an author, who leaves Laura his estate on one condition. Laura must try to reunite as many people with their lost items as she is able to. Anthony also wants to be reunited with his fiancée Therese who was killed in an accident years earlier.

Laura is divorced from Vince, a man she met in high school. Working for Anthony gave Laura purpose, but now that Anthony has died, Laura is unsure what to do. Laura is unaware that Anthony collected items he found for many years and kept them locked in his study. After Anthony passes away, Laura learns about the contents of the study. The thought of finding the people who lost the items is a daunting task, but Laura has help from Freddy, the gardener, and Sunshine, the girl who lives across the street.

Sunshine has a special gift for being able to sense the backstory of the belonging when she touches it. Some of the items cause Sunshine pain as she learns about the people. Sunshine helps to plan a ceremony to spread Anthony’s ashes and reunite him with Therese. As time passes, Laura begins to sense that Therese wants more. Laura begins to hear music playing on a gramophone, finds items relocated in the house, and discovers the door to Therese’s room locked from the inside. Laura, Freddy, and Sunshine all try to figure out how to make Therese happy and be reunited with Anthony.

Parallel to Laura’s story in the present, Eunice takes a job as an assistant to Bomber, a publisher. Eunice falls in love with Bomber. The two become very close, but Eunice knows there will never be more to their relationship because Bomber is gay.

Bomber has a tense relationship with his sister Portia who wants to be a writer. Bomber is frustrated by Portia’s writing style, finding it very derivative of famous novels. After Bomber’s father Godfrey dies, Bomber’s mother tells Bomber that she knows he is gay and wants him to be safe. As Bomber ages, he develops dementia like his father Godfrey had. Bomber is eventually put in a nursing home where Eunice continues to look after him. When Bomber tells Eunice he does not want to live anymore, Eunice helps Bomber to die.

Eunice loses Bomber’s ashes on the train to Bristol, which Anthony finds. Eunice visits Laura and is reunited with Bomber’s ashes. Eunice also gives Laura Therese’s communion medal, which Eunice found the day of her interview with Bomber, which was the same day that Therese was killed in an accident.

Therese’s ghost celebrates when the communion medal is returned. Eunice is able to spread Bomber’s ashes, having never thought it would be possible. Laura and Freddy get engaged and continue to run the website to reunite people with their belongings, along with Sunshine’s help. Laura decides to pursue her dream of becoming an author. She begins writing Anthony’s story of the lost items.

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A Novel

A charming, clever, and quietly moving debut novel of of endless possibilities and joyful discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our lives, and the surprising connections that bind us. Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles—Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September. Bone china cup and saucer—Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October. Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidently left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost. Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners. Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made. As the Keeper of Lost Objects, Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to rest? Full of character, wit, and wisdom, The Keeper of Lost Things is heartwarming tale that will enchant fans of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Garden Spells, Mrs Queen Takes the Train, and The Silver Linings Playbook.

The Keeper of Lost Things

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Daisy Pearce

Teenager Edie Hudson was nobody's little darling, which made vanishing all too easy. Two decades later, she's been forgotten by everyone except her mother, Samantha.

And the person who knows what happened to her.

Samantha has had a long time to remember, and to regret. Having seen how little her daughter mattered to the community in the months following her disappearance, she wonders if Edie was lost before she was even gone. Or was it guilt, not indifference, that made the locals turn a blind eye? When she meets Frances, she at last starts to hope for answers.

Because Frances is obsessed with the mystery too, after finding a photo of her husband with the girl who disappeared.

What really happened all those years ago? And just how dangerous could it be to find out?

A missing girl. A loving mother who never gave up. A betrayed wife who doesn't know who to trust. Teenager Edie Hudson was nobody's little darling, which made vanishing all too easy. Two decades later, she's been forgotten by everyone except her mother, Samantha. And the person who knows what happened to her. Samantha has had a long time to remember, and to regret. Having seen how little her daughter mattered to the community in the months following her disappearance, she wonders if Edie was lost before she was even gone. Or was it guilt, not indifference, that made the locals turn a blind eye? When she meets Frances, she at last starts to hope for answers. Because Frances is obsessed with the mystery too, after finding a photo of her husband with the girl who disappeared. What really happened all those years ago? And just how dangerous could it be to find out?

The Missing

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Jodi Picoult

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated—she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, “Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance” (Stephen King). Every expectant parent will tell you that they don’t want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they’d been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of “luckier” parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it’s all worth it because Willow is, funny as it seems, perfect. She’s smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health. Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow’s illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life? Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Handle with Care is an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.

Handle with Care

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Lauren Greenfield

Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Follow the story of four women fighting one of the deadliest mental illnesses at the Renfrew Center. 

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Critically acclaimed for "Girl Culture" and "Fast Forward," Greenfield continues her exploration of contemporary female culture with "Thin," a groundbreaking photographic exploration of eating disorders.

Thin

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Audrey Clare Farley

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America

For readers of Hidden Valley Road and Patient H.M., a harrowing exploration of violence against children and its psychological and political consequences, from the author of The Unfit Heiress. In 1954, researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health set out to study the genetics of schizophrenia. When they got word that four 24-year-old identical quadruplets in Lansing, Michigan, had all been diagnosed with the mental illness, they could hardly believe their ears. Here was incontrovertible proof of hereditary transmission and, thus, a chance to bring international fame to their fledgling institution. The case of the pseudonymous Genain quadruplets, they soon found, was hardly so straightforward. Contrary to fawning media portrayals of a picture-perfect Christian family, the sisters had endured the stuff of nightmares. Behind closed doors, their parents had taken shocking measures to preserve their innocence while sowing fears of sex and the outside world. In public, the quadruplets were treated as communal property, as townsfolk and members of the press had long ago projected their own paranoid fantasies about the rapidly diversifying American landscape onto the fair-skinned, ribbon-wearing quartet who danced and sang about Christopher Columbus. Even as the sisters' erratic behaviors became impossible to ignore and the NIMH whisked the women off for study, their sterling image did not falter. Girls and Their Monsters chronicles the extraordinary lives of the quadruplets and the lead psychologist who studied them, asking questions that speak directly to our times: How do delusions come to take root, both in individuals and in nations? Why does society profess to be "saving the children" when it readily exploits them? What are the authoritarian ends of innocence myths? And how do people, particularly those with serious mental illness, go on after enduring the unspeakable? Can the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood help the deeply wounded heal?

Lauren Selby

@lsellbee

Books Listed

Following

Followers

Brené Brown

Rising Strong

Ruth Hogan

The Keeper of Lost Things

Daisy Pearce

The Missing

Jodi Picoult

Handle with Care

Lauren Greenfield; Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Thin

Audrey Clare Farley

Girls and Their Monsters

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Brené Brown

Rising Strong

Ruth Hogan

The Keeper of Lost Things

Daisy Pearce

The Missing

Jodi Picoult

Handle with Care

Lauren Greenfield; Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Thin

Audrey Clare Farley

Girls and Their Monsters

Get The App