Sophie Littlefield

Lauren Gershell

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Wisconsin

A Novel

Julia Summers seems to have it all- a Fifth Avenue apartment, a successful husband, and two adorable children attending the best private school in the city. She relishes wielding influence over her well-heeled girlfriends . . . but her star appears to be fading. That's why, when stranded in Manhattan for the summer as the entire Upper East Side flees to the Hamptons, Julia is on the hunt for the next big thing--the hot, new fad that will put her back on top. Enter Flame, the new elite fitness craze. Seductive and transformative, Flame is exactly what Julia needs--and demure, naive instructor Tatum is her ticket in. Turning Tatum from giggly blonde to trendy guru proves hard work. Yet Julia's triumphant comeback at summer's end doesn't quite go as planned, and when things suddenly get ugly--and even deadly--she realizes she may have been in way over her head. And Tatum, waiting in the wings, begins to grasp just how much power her newfound stardom holds . . . Then, with Julia's life already spiraling out of control, her husband is arrested for fraud and bribery. As her so-called friends turn their backs on her, and Tatum pursues her own agenda, Julia is forced to rethink everything she knew about her world to reclaim her perfect life. But does she even want it back?

That's What Frenemies Are For

f801913f-11e2-40af-92be-1f1d53ed7685-1

Carolyn Huynh

For fans of Jonathan Tropper, KJ Dell'Antonia, and Kevin Kwan, this "sharp, smart, and gloriously extra" (Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee) debut follows a family of estranged Vietnamese women--cursed to never know love or happiness--as they reunite when a psychic makes a startling prediction.

Everyone in Orange County's Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed.

It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage for true love--so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons.

Oanh's current descendant Mai Nguyen knows this curse well. She's divorced, and after an explosive disagreement a decade ago, she's estranged from her younger sisters, Minh Pham (the middle and the mediator) and Khuyen Lam (the youngest who swears she just runs humble coffee shops and nail salons, not Little Saigon's underground). Though Mai's three adult daughters, Priscilla, Thuy, and Thao, are successful in their careers (one of them is John Cho's dermatologist!), the same can't be said for their love lives. Mai is convinced they might drive her to an early grave.

Desperate for guidance, she consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. This prophecy will reunite estranged mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins--for better or for worse.

A multi-narrative novel brimming with levity and candor, The Fortunes of Jaded Women is about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family. It shows how Vietnamese women emerge victorious, even if the world is against them.

The Fortunes of Jaded Women

e416d37c-6ef6-4ec0-887e-a54cc6eb40b5-1

Peter Geye

A writer and former ski jumper facing a terminal diagnosis takes one more leap--into a past of soaring flights and broken family bonds



A brilliant ski jumper has to be fearless--Jon Bargaard remembers this well. His memories of daring leaps and risks might be the key to the book he's always wanted to write: a novel about his family, beginning with Pops, once a champion ski jumper himself, who also took Jon and his younger brother Anton to the heights. But Jon has never been able to get past the next, ruinous episode of their history, and now that he has received a terrible diagnosis, he's afraid he never will.

In a bravura performance, Peter Geye follows Jon deep into the past he tried so hard to leave behind, telling the story he spent his life escaping. It begins with a flourish, his father and his hard-won sweetheart fleeing Chicago, and a notoriously ruthless gangster, to land in North Minneapolis. That, at least, was the tale Jon heard, one that becomes more and more suspect as he revisits the events that eventually tore the family in two, sending his father to prison, his mother to the state hospital, and placing himself, a teenager, in charge of thirteen-year-old Anton. Traveling back and forth in time, Jon tells his family's story--perhaps his last chance to share it--to his beloved wife Ingrid, circling ever closer to the truth about those events and his own part in them, and revealing the perhaps unforgivable violence done to the brothers' bond.

The dream of ski jumping haunts Jon as his tale unfolds, daring time to stop just long enough to stick the landing. As thrilling as those soaring flights, as precarious as the Bargaard family's complicated love, as tender as Jon's backward gaze while disease takes him inexorably forward, Peter Geye's gorgeous prose brings the brothers to the precipice of their relationship, where they have to choose: each other, or the secrets they've held so tightly for so long.

The Ski Jumpers

703f5f52-9fdd-4cb6-8a5e-f19b1a239cb4-1

Vanessa Siddle Walker

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools

"In the epic tradition of Eyes on the Prize and with the cultural significance of John Lewis's March trilogy, an ambitious and harrowing account of the devoted black educators who battled Southern school segregation and inequality"--

The Lost Education of Horace Tate

f641a89f-4316-45f9-8785-a9b6213ebcc0-0

Patrick Ness

Friendship, masculinity, sex--Anthony Stevenson has a lot of questions. Is it different for boys who like boys? A poignant and frank story filled with meta-humor by renowned author Patrick Ness.

Anthony "Ant" Stevenson isn't sure when he stopped being a virgin. Or even if he has. The rules aren't always very clear when it comes to boys who like boys. In fact, relationships of all kinds feel complicated, even with Ant's oldest friends. There's Charlie, who's both virulently homophobic and in a secret physical relationship with Ant. Then there's drama kid Jack, who may be gay and has become the target of Charlie's rage. And, of course, there's big, beautiful Freddie, who wants Ant to ditch soccer, Charlie's sport, and try out for the rugby team instead. Ant's story of loneliness and intimacy, of unexpected support and heart-ripping betrayal, is told forthrightly with tongue-in-cheek black-bar redactions over the language that teenagers would actually use if, you know, they weren't in a story. Award-winning author Patrick Ness explores teen sexuality, friendship, and romance with a deft hand in this structurally daring, illustrated short novel.

Different for Boys

0b9cb6e4-ef05-4f70-b8cd-bbd51c4daede-1

Joseph A. Michelli

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SUCCESS! You already know the Starbucks story. Since 1992, its stock has risen a staggering 5,000 percent! The genius of Starbucks success lies in its ability to create personalized customer experiences, stimulate business growth, generate profits, energize employees, and secure customer loyalty-all at the same time. The Starbucks Experience contains a robust blend of home-brewed ingenuity and people-driven philosophies that have made Starbucks one of the world's “most admired” companies, according to Fortune magazine. With unique access to Starbucks personnel and resources, Joseph Michelli discovered that the success of Starbucks is driven by the people who work there-the “partners”-and the special experience they create for each customer. Michelli reveals how you can follow the Starbucks way to Reach out to entire communities Listen to individual workers and consumers Seize growth opportunities in every market Custom-design a truly satisfying experience that benefits everyone involved Filled with real-life insider stories, eye-opening anecdotes, and solid step-by-step strategies, this fascinating book takes you deep inside one of the most talked-about companies in the world today. For anyone who wants to learn from the best-and be the best-The Starbucks Experience is a rich, heady brew of unforgettable user-friendly ideas.

The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary

65fdb2ca-4288-4e72-b011-9a1e12cd4eb6-1

Jim Collins

Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Good to Great

de450267-67ca-40fa-adbb-cc2b2bab4d82-1

Georgia Pritchett

Adventures in Anxiety

"Georgia Pritchett is a singularly hilarious person. Her book is a delightful and perfect reflection of her. Its tenderness sneaks up on you and really packs a punch. What a magnificent read!"--Julia Louis Dreyfus Jenny Lawson meets Nora Ephron in this joyful memoir-in-vignettes on living--and thriving--with anxiety from a multiple Emmy Award-winning comedy writer whose credits include Succession and Veep. When Georgia Pritchett found herself lost for words--a bit of a predicament for a comedy writer--she turned to a therapist, who suggested she try writing down some of the things that worried her. But instead of a grocery list of concerns, Georgia wrote this book. A natural born worrywart, Georgia's life has been defined by her quirky anxiety. During childhood, she was agitated about the monsters under her bed (Were they comfy enough?). Going into labor, she fretted about making a fuss ("Sorry to interrupt, but the baby is coming out of my body," I said politely). Winning a prestigious award, she agonized over receiving free gifts after the ceremony (It was an excruciating experience. Mortifying). Soul-baring yet lighthearted, poignant yet written with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, My Mess Is a Bit of a Life is a tour through the carnival funhouse of Georgia's life, from her anxiety-ridden early childhood where disaster loomed around every corner (When I was little I used to think that sheep were clouds that had fallen to earth. On cloudy days I used to worry that I would be squashed by a sheep), through the challenges of breaking into an industry dominated by male writers, to the exquisite terror (and incomparable joy) of raising children. Delightfully offbeat, painfully honest, full of surprising wonders, and delivering plenty of hilarious, laugh-out-loud moments, My Mess Is a Bit of a Life reveals a talented, vulnerable, and strong woman in all her wisecracking weirdness, and makes us love it--and her--too.

My Mess Is a Bit of a Life

e7b0b56d-16c1-40fa-b14d-3d45d5c1bdd1-1

Julie Schumacher

Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary."

Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms.

Dear Committee Members

86682bc7-ffd7-41e3-a9fc-8e2ccee5daa6

Howard Schultz

Joanne Gordon

How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul

Describes how the CEO of Starbucks gained new insights into leadership upon resuming his position eight years after stepping down, a comeback he accepted to restore the company's performance and sustainability values.

Onward

d923f802-1074-4c27-8322-a8cd399ac48a-1

Lee Crutchley

Oliver Burkeman

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

A Creative Workbook

Author and illustrator Lee Crutchley brings his lively interactive approach to a little-discussed but very common issue: the struggle with depression and anxiety. Through a series of supportive, surprising, and engaging prompts, HOW TO BE HAPPY (OR AT LEAST LESS SAD) helps readers see things in a new light, and rediscover simple pleasures and everyday joy…or at least feel a little less sad. By turns a workbook, trusted friend, creative outlet, security blanket, and secret diary, the pages of this book will offer solace, distraction, engagement, a fresh perspective, and hopeful new beginnings—for readers of all ages and walks of life.

How to Be Happy (or at Least Less Sad)

ea48ee73-d91d-450b-99c7-f9d0934f9b86-1

Mark Haddon

Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

4b8df1ef-f128-454b-bf44-9d29fbc9c02b-1

Jhumpa Lahiri

Brothers Subhash and Udayan pursue different lives--Udayan in rebellion-torn Calcutta, Subhash in a quiet corner of America--until a shattering tragedy compels Subhash to return to India, where he tries to heal family wounds.

The Lowland

413ad8f8-093f-4533-b146-0471c05a3d69-1

Joyce Carol Oates

Stories

Zero-sum games are played for lethal stakes in these arresting stories by one of America’s most acclaimed writers. A brilliant young philosophy student bent on seducing her famous philosopher-mentor finds herself outmaneuvered; diabolically clever high school girls wreak a particularly apt sort of vengeance on sexual predators in their community; a woman stalked by a would-be killer may be confiding in the wrong former lover; a young mother finds herself increasingly captivated by her infant. In the collection’s longest story, a much-praised cutting-edge writer cruelly experiments with “drafts” of his own suicide. In these powerfully wrought stories that hold a mirror up to our time, Joyce Carol Oates has created a world of erotic obsession, thwarted idealism, and ever-shifting identities. Provocative and stunning, Zero-Sum reinforces Oates’s standing as a literary treasure and an artist of the mysterious interior life.

Zero-Sum

ef11137c-57ae-46f3-8ee5-b74610eb4ec8-1

Bill Keaggy

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Grocery Lists Lost and Found

If we are what we eat, then this book reveals deep truths about the average American (not to mention more mundane truths like a surprising number of people enjoy onions, and for most people, mayonnaise is very, very difficult to spell). Milk, Eggs, Vodka is a celebration of the humble grocery list. Almost anyone will find themselves engrossed in this voyeuristic look into everyday life--less than healthy lists, lists for parties, lists with personal and often odd annotations on them...and the list of lists goes on. Besides over 150 found lists, the book also includes short essays on collecting, shopping, eating, and list making. Some of the lists will even include recipes that can be made from the ingredients on the list!

Milk Eggs Vodka

41f745cb-9f6c-44cb-83e4-6171ef5a7540-1

Annemarie Vaccaro

Brian McCoy

Delight Champagne

Michael Siegel

Business & Economics

Using a Decision-Making Framework with Contemporary Student Affairs Case Studies

Decisions Matter

a648bcc1-539e-4bc7-8c93-92ea8bedb9ea-1

Alicia Fedelina Chávez

Informing Our Lives, Informing Our Practice

Identity and Leadership

c4293051-e693-4a2e-8b1f-cd441f084c31-1

Edwin M. Bridges

Brian D. Bridges

Planning and Saving for a Worry-Free Retirement from Academe

"In The Prudent Professor, Edwin Briges, profesor emeritus of Stanfod, has provided a guide to investment success. Targeted to members of the academic community, the book draws on his own carfeul research and long personal experience in building, and protecting, his retirment funds. He describes where he went right, avoiding potholes, and where he went wrong, falling into them."-John C. Bogle, Founder, The Vanguard Group. "The short concise chapters provide both the rationale and methodology to identify your personal goals at each stage of your life; and the simple steps needed to achieve them, with an emphasis on keeping the cost of investment down to increase lnog-term returns."-Nicolet V. Evans, President, the Financial Planning Corporation of McLean, and Past President, National Capital Area Financial Planning Association.

The Prudent Professor

e320d7c1-a534-4942-be62-df2856b061a3-1

Kate Cavett

Oral Histories of Saint Paul's Historic Black Community

"Stories told through the eyes of Saint Paul's historic Rondo community illuminate the northern urban Black experience during the first half of the twentieth century. We glimpse the challenges of racism and poverty and share the victories of a community that educated its children to be strong, find personal pride, and become the next generation of leaders in Minnesota and beyond"--

Voices of Rondo

599a9b7b-3c83-4dbe-bd98-c4fdae544110-1

Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts

K. R. Hobbie

Ted LeValliant

Marcel Theroux

There ought to be a law against making laws this wacky! But since there isn't, why not have fun with the silliest statutes, looniest lawsuits, and dumbest decisions on record?

Who ever thought a law book would be funnier than a joke book? Well it is--just take a look at these: Children under the age of seven can't attend college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Anyone flying over Maine should remember: it's illegal there to step out of the plane while it's in the air. And why can't the chicken cross the road in Quitman, Georgia? Because it's "fowl" criminal behavior. That's just the beginning, because this collection also uncovers some of the most incredible, unbelievable lawsuits, government grants, and court verdicts. For example, the United States Navy spent $792 for a designer doormat. A psychic sued doctors because she lost her "aura" after a brain scan. Each fact is stranger than the one before!


Wacky Laws, Weird Decisions, and Strange Statutes

00114b14-254e-4b55-9f55-414921e1c703-1

Alexander Tilney

From "a dazzling new voice in American fiction" (Jennifer Egan), a finely drawn portrait of American privilege and a subtle exploration of class, race, and tradition.



St. James is an exclusive New England boarding school known for grooming generations of leaders. Ben Weeks is a true insider -- his ancestors helped found St. James, his older brother taught him all the slang, and he's just won a national championship in squash.


But after fourteen long years of waiting, Ben arrives at school only to find that the reality of St. James doesn't quite match up with his imaginings. At the same time, his new roommate, Ahmed Al-Khaled, the son of a fabulously wealthy Emirati sheik, can't navigate the unspoken rules of New England blue bloods. Even as Ben and Ahmed struggle to prove themselves in the place they have revered for so long, each of them must face losing it forever.


Tender, sharp, and evocative, The Expectations is a compelling novel about the pain and treachery of adolescence, and the difficulty -- wherever one finds oneself -- of truly belonging.

The Expectations

d7a17d17-5036-4882-a105-4665cf5943ca-1

Susan Segrest

The Totally Unauthorized Celebrity Sex Game

A book of salaciously funny celebrity sex scenarios, for anyone who has ever entertained creative fantasies about Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, or the Dalai Lama. In the tradition of "If. . ., " Segrest's humor book parlor game is a great way to share laughs and get to know friends in ways one never expected.

Who Would You Do?

fa4b3da5-66dd-4db6-90fb-086fbd1717cf-1

Michael Perry

A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace

Visiting Tom

2564682d-872a-4fa9-b725-d7a9be42553d-1

Chris Pegula

Frank Meyer

The Ultimate Dad's Guide to Surviving the First Two Years

Dude, you're a dad now!

Picking up where From Dude to Dad left off, author and founder of the popular Diaper Dude parenting brand Chris Pegula dives into the first two years of parenting and furthers his deeply held belief that you don't have to lose yourself when you become a father.

Once again written in Pegula's everyman voice and filled with humorous takes on fatherhood from the front lines, the book is an easy-to-read resource for new dads, combining hard-won lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid, and practical advice from a dude who hasn't lost his identity (or his sanity).

Filled with useful information, hilarious stories of dad madness, a little psychology and science, and engaging sidebars, Diaper Dude covers everything from bonding, babyproofing, and when you'll have sex again to toddlerhood, tantrums, and tag-teaming with your partner to cover all the bases while staying (somewhat) sane.

**Winner, Family Choice Award!
**Winner,National Parenting Product Award!

Diaper Dude

4834da88-483d-4d9e-8beb-d789558d9b4a-1

Timmy

Browse by categories

Sophie Littlefield; Lauren Gershell