Jonathan Franzen

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Missouri

A Novel

Freedom

4fec4e93-ae45-437d-ad27-5a116e6e10ec-1

Danielle Steel

First Edition 
Rated a very respectable 3.9 out of 5 on Goodreads

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Maryland

"A ... novel about a young American woman who finds love and fulfillment in the course of her involvement with a Downton Abbey-style TV show in England"--

Beauchamp Hall

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#hardcover #fiction #saintmaybe #annetyler #baltimore #familylife #bestsellingauthor

Michigan

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

Kentucky

Elizabeth Castellano

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Florida

A Novel (Good Morning America Book Club)

GMA BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER • An outrageously funny debut novel about a woman who moves to a small beach town looking for peace, only to find herself in an all-out war with her neighbors. “Irreverent and unexpectedly tender, this story takes neighborhood feuding to new heights and finds beauty and reinvention in unlikely places." —Oprah Daily "Brings a tongue-in-cheek tone to the beach read genre."—TIME When Kathleen Deane’s husband, Tom, tells her he's no longer happy with his life and their marriage, Kathleen is confused. They live in Kansas. They’ve been married thirty years. Who said anything about being happy? But with Tom off finding himself, Kathleen starts to think about what she wants. And her thoughts lead her to a small beach community on the east coast, a town called Whitbey that has always looked lovely in the Christmas letters her childhood friend Josie sends every year. It turns out, though, that life in Whitbey is nothing like Josie’s letters. Kathleen’s new neighbor, Rosemary, is cantankerous, and the town’s supervisor won't return Kathleen’s emails, but worst of all is the Sugar Cube, the monstrosity masquerading as a holiday home that Kathleen’s absentee neighbors are building next door to her quaint (read: tiny) cottage. As Kathleen gets more and more involved in the fight against the Sugar Cube and town politics overall, she realizes that Whitbey may not be a fairytale, but it just might be exactly what she needed. Save What’s Left can best be described as the “un-beach read.” It pulls back the curtain on life in a beach town, revealing the true cost of a pretty view. Told from the candid and irreverent perspective of a newcomer turned local, this is a story of forgiveness, fortitude, and second chances.

Save What's Left

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#hardcover #fiction #bookclub #memoir #mentalhealth #california #charlesmanson #familylife 

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2021 by The New York Times, USA Today, Vulture, The Week, and more! “There’s some kind of genius sorcery in this novel. It’s startlingly original, hilarious and harrowing by turns, finally transcendent. Watkins writes like an avenging angel. It's thrilling and terrifying to stand in her wake.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather A darkly funny, soul-rending novel of love in an epoch of collapse—one woman’s furious revisiting of family, marriage, work, sex, and motherhood. Since my baby was born, I have been able to laugh and see the funny side of things. a) As much as I ever did. b) Not quite as much now. c) Not so much now. d) Not at all. Leaving behind her husband and their baby daughter, a writer gets on a flight for a speaking engagement in Reno, not carrying much besides a breast pump and a spiraling case of postpartum depression. Her temporary escape from domestic duties and an opportunity to reconnect with old friends mutates into an extended romp away from the confines of marriage and motherhood, and a seemingly bottomless descent into the past. Deep in the Mojave Desert where she grew up, she meets her ghosts at every turn: the first love whose self-destruction still haunts her; her father, a member of the most famous cult in American history; her mother, whose native spark gutters with every passing year. She can’t go back in time to make any of it right, but what exactly is her way forward? Alone in the wilderness, at last she begins to make herself at home in the world. Bold, tender, and often hilarious, I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness reaffirms Watkins as one of the signal writers of our time.

I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness

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Melody Razak

"The saga of one family's trials through India's tumultuous partition-when Pakistan split from India-exploring its impact on women, what it means to be othered, and the redemptive power of family"--

Moth (ARC)

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North Dakota

Nothing to See Here

Marisa de los Santos

Massachusetts

Marisa de los Santos returns to the world of her beloved, bestselling novels Love Walked In and Belong to Me in an enthralling tale of sisterhood, sacrifice, and the enduring power of love. "Bring me the Northern Lights." Cornelia Brown is reeling from a terrifying act of violence when she gets word that her mother has been badly injured in an accident. Cornelia returns to Virginia, to the house she grew up in, and in the weeks that follow, she watches her mother Ellie struggle to recover, fluctuating between her usual crisp, can-do clarity and periods of delirium during which she seems haunted by a devastating loss from her past. In grief-stricken tones, Ellie begs Cornelia to bring her the Northern Lights, and despite her confusion at this mysterious plea, Cornelia vows to do so: "She was my mother and she wanted the Northern Lights; I was her daughter and would have given her anything, anything." With the help of her prickly sister, Ollie, Cornelia embarks on a mission to piece together the lost years of their mother's life: people, places, and events spanning Ellie's late teens through her mid-twenties. Cornelia and Ollie's quest takes them to unexpected places and into the worlds of strangers whose lives Ellie touched and irrevocably changed. As the sisters uncover truths about their mother's life--some beautiful, some ugly, some tragic--Cornelia herself begins to heal, to forgive herself, and to find her way back home. Alternating between two timelines--Cornelia's story in the present, and that of the young Eleanor Campbell in the 1960s--Watch Us Shine explores the complicated bonds between sisters, the impossible demands of motherhood, and the power of human love to save us again and again.

Watch Us Shine

632a0376-0e71-447d-8027-c032b2552283-0

Iowa

Allie Larkin

Withdrawn library book. Please see pictures. 

Ohio

When recently divorced Katie Ellis and her rescue dog Bark move back in with Katie's grandmother in Florida, she becomes swept up in a reunion of her grandmother's troupe of underwater performers--finding hope and renewal in unexpected places, in this sweet novel perfect for fans of Kristan Higgins and Claire Cook.

Aspiring costume designer Katie gave up everything in her divorce to gain custody of her fearful, faithful rescue dog, Barkimedes. While she figures out what to do next, she heads back to Florida to live with her grandmother, Nan.

But Katie quickly learns there's a lot she doesn't know about Nan--like the fact that in her youth Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside attraction show, swimming and dancing underwater with a close-knit cast of talented women. Although most of the mermaids have since lost touch, Katie helps Nan search for her old friends on Facebook, sparking hopes for a reunion show. Katie is up for making some fabulous costumes, but first, she has to contend with her crippling fear of water.

As Katie's college love Luca, a documentary filmmaker, enters the fray, Katie struggles to balance her hopes with her anxiety, and begins to realize just how much Bark's fears are connected to her own, in this thoughtful, charming novel about hope after loss and friendships that span generations.

Swimming for Sunlight

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Front cover has mild creasing along outside edge of front cover. Otherwise in excellent condition. See photos. 

Ian Bedloe's life is forever affected by an event that took place years before--the night, in 1967, when he told his older brother, Dan, that Dan's wife had been cheating on him and that the baby son Dan had come to love was not his own

From the creator of the comic strip “Cathy”. Hardcover book in like new condition with the exception of a slight report across the top front jacket cover.￼

Essays from the Grown-Up Years

From the creator of the iconic 'Cathy' comic strip comes her first collection of funny, wise, poignant, and incredibly honest essays about being a woman in what she lovingly calls 'the panini generation.'

As the creator of 'Cathy,' Cathy Guisewite found her way into the hearts of readers more than forty years ago, and has been there ever since. Her hilarious and deeply relatable look at the challenges of womanhood in a changing world became a cultural touchstone for women everywhere. Now Guisewite returns with her signature wit and warmth in this debut essay collection about another time of big transition, when everything starts changing and disappearing without permission- aging parents, aging children, aging self stuck in the middle.

With her uniquely wry and funny admissions and insights, Guisewite unearths the humor and horror of everything from the mundane (trying to introduce her parents to TiVo and facing four decades' worth of unorganized photos) to the profound (finding a purpose post-retirement, helping parents downsize their lives, and declaring freedrom from all those things that hold us back). No longer confined to the limits of four comic panels, Guisewite holds out her hand in prose form and becomes a reassuring companion for those on the threshold of "what happens next." Heartfelt and humane and always cathartic, Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault is ideal reading for mothers, daughters, and anyone who is caught somewhere in between.

Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault

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DeAnna Cameron

Homewrecker

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New Jersey

James Patterson

Chris Grabenstein

Pennsylvania

In this new highly-illustrated series from James Patterson, an extraordinary robot signs up for an ordinary fifth grade class... and elementary school will never be the same! It was never easy for Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez to fit in, so he's dreading the day when his genius mom insists he bring her newest invention to school: a walking, talking robot he calls E--for "Error". Sammy's no stranger to robots--his house is full of a colorful cast of them. But this one not only thinks it's Sammy's brother... it's actually even nerdier than Sammy. Will E be Sammy's one-way ticket to Loserville? Or will he prove to the world that it's cool to be square? It's a roller-coaster ride for Sammy to discover the amazing secret E holds that could change family forever... if all goes well on the trial run!

House of Robots

c339245e-8f79-4f78-b036-ea564c4f3d91-1

Elizabeth Acevedo

New York

"Sisters Matilde, Pastora, Camila, and Flor thought they knew each other well, until Flor-inspired by a documentary her daughter Ona made her watch-decides she wants a living wake, a party to bring her family and community together and celebrate the long life she's led, while she's still around to enjoy it. She's not ill, as far as anybody knows, but Flor does have a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. Has she foreseen her own death, or someone else's, or does she have other motives? She refuses to say. But Flor isn't the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband's infidelity, but she now must confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor's wake motivates this driven woman to attempt to solve her sibling's problems. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own: Yadi, reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were both still kids; and Ona, married for years and attempting to conceive. Ona must decide whether it's worth it to keep trying-in having a child, and in the anthropology research that's begun to feel lackluster. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, FAMILY LORE traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, the Dominican Republic and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo's inimitable voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces - one family's journey through their history helping them better navigate all that is to come"--

Family Lore

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Richard Russo

By Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls.

The lives of Jack and Joy Griffin always seem to come back to Cape Cod, where they honeymooned, as they experience the ups and downs of life, including the deaths of Jack's parents, the marriage of their daughter, and Jack and Joy's divorce.

SIGNED! That Old Cape Magic

f76ededc-b700-4cb8-bffa-71aea8b04cbd-1

Zoe Whittall

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

It's taboo to regret motherhood. But what would happen if you did? Shifting perspectives and time periods, The Spectacular is a multi-generational story exploring sexuality, gender and the weight of reproductive freedoms, from the author of The Best Kind of People

It's 1997 and Missy's band has finally hit the big time as they tour across America. At age twenty-two, Missy gets on stage every night and plays the song about her absent mother that made the band famous. The only girl in the band, she's determined to party just as hard as everyone else, loving and leaving someone in every town--until she's left stranded at the border because of a forgotten party favour.

Forty-something Carola is just surfacing from a sex scandal at the yoga centre where she has been living when she sees her daughter, Missy, for the first time in ten years--on the cover of a music magazine.

Ruth, eighty-three, is planning her return to the Turkish seaside village where she spent her childhood. But when her granddaughter, Missy, crashes at her house, she decides it's time the strong and stubborn women in her family find a way to understand one another again.

In this book, by turns sharp and provocative, Zoe Whittall captures three generations of very different women who struggle to build an authentic life in the absence of traditional familial and marital structures. Definitions of family, romance, gender and love will radically change as they seek out lives that are nothing less than spectacular. 

The Spectacular

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Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Mississippi

Tom Rachman

“An exotic touch of intrigue arises in THE ITALIAN TEACHER . . . deliciously ironic and deeply affectionate.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post A masterful novel about the son of a great painter striving to create his own legacy, by the bestselling author of The Imperfectionists. Conceived while his father, Bear, cavorted around Rome in the 1950s, Pinch learns quickly that Bear's genius trumps all. After Bear abandons his family, Pinch strives to make himself worthy of his father's attention--first trying to be a painter himself; then resolving to write his father's biography; eventually settling, disillusioned, into a job as an Italian teacher in London. But when Bear dies, Pinch hatches a scheme to secure his father's legacy--and make his own mark on the world. With his signature humanity and humor, Tom Rachman examines a life lived in the shadow of greatness, cementing his place among his generation's most exciting literary voices.

The Italian Teacher

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#hardcover #myfirstrodeo #girldad #stoneystamper #familystories #fatherhood #familylife #shortstories #nonfiction 

Georgia

How Three Daughters, One Wife, and a Herd of Others Are Making Me a Better Dad

A heartwarming collection of stories that reveal the ups, downs, and delights of being a family man, from a guy who never dreamed of being one. This work will inspire those just starting out with families to hang in there, and for those well beyond the child raising years, it will be a poignant reminder of the enduring goodness of family.

My First Rodeo

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Jeff Kemp

Tony Dungy

Maine

Three Strategies for Turning Your Trials into Triumphs

Every Trial Is an Opportunity to Flourish In football, a blitz is an all-out attack. Defenses use them to force the quarterback into a mistake and create mayhem and destruction. But by its nature the blitz also creates an opportunity for the quarterback and his team, as it leaves holes in the defense. What looks like the worst play can become the best. During a life "blitz," when everything seems like it's collapsing--financially, relationally, spiritually, or physically--if you take initiative you can do more than just survive. You can grow, succeed, and advance. In Facing the Blitz, Jeff Kemp shares lessons he's learned through all kinds of life blitzes, both personal and professional. Discover how life is about transformation and being others-oriented; having the right mind-set can turn unnecessary fear and misery into courage and joy. No matter who you are--men, women, sports fans, business leaders, etc.--this book is about the things that matter in your life. Don't end up flat on your back when trouble comes. Learn to seize opportunities to flourish and grow. Includes end-of-chapter questions for assessment and application. Find out more at www.facingtheblitz.com. "This book will make a difference in your life. You'll want to read, digest, and reread it. I hope you share it with friends to help them through their own difficulties and to strengthen their important teams, from family to business to sports."--Tony Dungy, author of Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance Facing the Blitz is a gem full of wisdom and hope and practical advice for anyone who fears suffering and difficulty. It's easy to read, remember, and use. Amazing!"--Pat Lencioni, president, The Table Group; bestselling author of The Advantage and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team "Former NFL quarterback Jeff Kemp knows well that blitzes can knock you flat on your back--but if you're prepared, you can beat the blitz for a huge play. In Facing the Blitz, Kemp transforms this on-field knowledge into real-life wisdom, teaching you how to beat the blitzes in your life and turn them into victories."--William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education and host of the nationally syndicated talk show Morning in America "Every one of us will be confronted by seemingly insurmountable odds at some point. Facing the Blitz provides solid, biblical advice for confronting life's most difficult challenges."--Jim Daly, president, Focus on the Family "As a quarterback, Jeff Kemp knows the blitz well and gives us preparation and training for life's blitzes."--Darrel Billups, ThD, executive director, National Coalition of Ministries to Men "A must-read. My hope is that, by reading this book, we all may be better equipped to deal with tough situations and emerge stronger and wiser from the experience."--Mike Holmgren, former head coach, Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers "Jeff is a man of deep faith, love, and leadership. He's as prepared to face the blitz as well as anyone I know--and I'm not talking about just when he was an NFL quarterback. Read, learn, and apply. Valuable lessons for life's greatest challenges."--Jim Nantz, CBS sportscaster "With time-honored wisdom, Jeff leads the reader past the pitfalls of defeat and depression into a broad, spacious place of hard-won contentment and, yes, even joy."--Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center "Jeff Kemp's Facing the Blitz is a game-changer for every man. Suit up and read this book--it's game time!"--Dr. Dennis Rainey, president and CEO, FamilyLife

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Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

Danielle Steel

Beauchamp Hall

Anne Tyler

Saint Maybe

Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

Elizabeth Castellano

Save What's Left

Claire Vaye Watkins

I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness

Melody Razak

Moth (ARC)

Kevin Wilson

Nothing to See Here

Marisa de los Santos

Watch Us Shine

Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

Allie Larkin

Swimming for Sunlight

Anne Tyler

Saint Maybe

Cathy Guisewite

Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault

DeAnna Cameron

Homewrecker

Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

James Patterson; Chris Grabenstein

House of Robots

Elizabeth Acevedo

Family Lore

Richard Russo

SIGNED! That Old Cape Magic

Zoe Whittall

The Spectacular

Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

James Patterson; Chris Grabenstein

House of Robots

Tom Rachman

The Italian Teacher

Stoney Stamper

My First Rodeo

Jeff Kemp; Tony Dungy

Facing the Blitz