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WHAT ARE YOU GOING THROUGH

One of our recommended books is What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend brings her singular voice to a story about the meaning of life and death, and the value of companionship. A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with her guests, a stranger who seeks help comforting his elderly mother, a friend of her youth now hospitalized with terminal cancer. In each of these people the woman finds a common need: the urge to talk about themselves and to have an audience to their experiences.

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WITH OR WITHOUT YOU

One of our recommended books is With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt writes novels that expertly explore the struggles and conflicts that people face in their search for happiness. For the characters in With or Without You, it seems at first that such happiness can come only at someone else’s expense. Stella is a nurse who has long suppressed her own needs and desires to nurture the dreams of her partner, Simon, the bass player for a rock band that has started to lose its edge. But when Stella gets unexpectedly ill and falls into a coma just as Simon is preparing to fly with his band to Los Angeles for a gig that could revive his career,

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HIEROGLYPHICS

One of our recommended books is Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle

After many years in Boston, Lil and Frank have retired to North Carolina. The two of them married young, having bonded over how they both—suddenly, tragically—lost a parent when they were children. Now, Lil has become deter­mined to leave a history for their own kids. She sifts through letters and notes and diary entries, uncovering old stories—and perhaps revealing more secrets than Frank wants their children to know.

Meanwhile, Frank has become obsessed with the house he lived in as a boy on the outskirts of town, where a young single mother, Shelley, is now raising her son.

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HOW TO ARGUE WITH A RACIST

One of our recommended books is How to Argue with a Racist by Adam Rutherford

Race is not a biological reality.
Racism thrives on our not knowing this.

Racist pseudoscience has become so commonplace that it can be hard to spot. But its toxic effects on society are plain to see—feeding nationalism, fueling hatred, endangering lives, and corroding our discourse on everything from sports to intelligence. Even well-intentioned people repeat stereotypes based on “science,” because cutting-edge genetics are hard to grasp—and all too easy to distort. Paradoxically, these misconceptions are multiplying even as scientists make unprecedented discoveries in human genetics—findings that, when accurately understood, are powerful evidence against racism.

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THE MAGNETIC GIRL

One of our recommended books is The Magnetic Girl by Jessica Handler

In this gorgeously envisioned debut, set as the emergence of electricity and women’s desire for political, cultural, and sexual power electrified the country, a young woman’s rise to Vaudeville fame exposes secrets of her family’s past—and the keys to her own future.

In rural north Georgia two decades after the Civil War, thirteen-year-old Lulu Hurst discovers an obscure book by legendary Mesmerist Henrietta Wolf on her father’s shelf. After Lulu uses Wolf’s wisdom to convince a cousin she can conduct electricity with her touch, her father sees an opportunity. Her father’s lessons transform Lulu, once deemed gangly and indelicate,

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WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS

One of our recommended books is When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald

For fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Indie Next Selection by debut author Andrew David MacDonald When We Were Vikings is now in paperback.

Meet Zelda. She’s got a lot of things going for her: she has her first real job, a boyfriend who she just French-kissed, and is ready to forge her own destiny. While she may seem like your average twenty-one-year-old woman, she longs to be a real-life Viking hero.

On the fetal alcohol spectrum, Zelda sees the world a little differently. Prepare to fall in love with Zelda as she embarks on a quest of independence in When We Were Vikings.

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