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The Beautiful Ones

Prince

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words—featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE GUARDIAN • NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD 

Prince was a musical genius, one of the most beloved, accomplished, and acclaimed musicians of our time. He was a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of “Uptown” to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of “Paisley Park.” But his most ambitious creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, one of the greatest pop stars of any era.

The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince—a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. The book is told in four parts. The first is the memoir Prince was writing before his tragic death, pages that bring us into his childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us through Prince’s early years as a musician, before his first album was released, via an evocative scrapbook of writing and photos. The third section shows us Prince’s evolution through candid images that go up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the book’s fourth section: his original handwritten treatment for Purple Rain—the final stage in Prince’s self-creation, where he retells the autobiography of the first three parts as a heroic journey.

The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring’s riveting and moving introduction about his profound collaboration with Prince in his final months—a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated—and annotations that provide context to the book’s images.

This work is not just a tribute to an icon, but an original and energizing literary work in its own right, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image—his undying gift to the world.

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Dylan on Dylan

Jeff Burger

In a 1969 conversation with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, Bob Dylan proclaimed, "I don't give interviews." But in truth, he has spoken at length with print publications large and small and with broadcast media around the world, given numerous press conferences, and even answered listeners' questions on call-in radio shows. Dylan can be as evasive and abstruse as he is witty; he can also be cranky and sarcastic. But in the right moments, he offers candid, revealing commentary about his groundbreaking music and creative process. These engrossing provide glimpses into the mind of one of the most important performers and songwriters of the last hundred years. 

Dylan on Dylan is an authoritative, chronologically arranged anthology of interviews, speeches, and press conferences, as well as excerpts from more than eighty additional Q&As spanning Dylan's entire career--from 1961 through 2016. The majority have not been previously anthologized and some have never before appeared in print. The material comes from renowned media outlets like Rolling Stone and TV's 60 Minutes and from obscure periodicals like Minnesota Daily, a student newspaper at Dylan's alma mater. Interviewers include some of the top writers of our time, such as Jonathan Lethem, Douglas Brinkley, and Mikal Gilmore, as well as musicians like Pete Seeger and Happy Traum. Introductions put each piece in context and, in many cases, include the interviewer's reminiscences about the encounter.

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Where Rivers Part

Kao Kalia Yang

"In the 1960s when Kalia's mother, Chue, was born, the US was actively recruiting Hmong Laotians to assist with CIA efforts in Laos's Secret War. By the time Chue was a teenager, the US had completely vacated Laos, and the country erupted into genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, who were perceived as traitorous for their involvement. Notably, from 1964-1973, Laos became victim to the heaviest bombardment by the United States against communist Pathet Lao, becoming the most heavily bombed country in history. Fearing vengeful soldiers looking to take their lives, Chue and her family quickly fled their village for the jungle, leaving all that they knew behind. Perpetually on the run, the family was often on the brink of starvation, and death loomed. During this tumultuous period, Chue met her husband, Bee, and unwittingly left her mother behind forever when she escaped to a refugee camp with his family, a mistake she would regret for the rest of her life. There, Chue, Bee, and their daughters lived in a state of constant fear and hunger until they finally made it to America. The determined couple enrolled in high school classes despite being in their late twenties and worked grueling factory jobs to provide for their family, yet most who meet Chue know nothing of her extraordinary resilience and traumatic past. In Where Rivers Part, told from her mother's point of view, Kao Kalia Yang unveils her mother's epic struggle towards safety and the important undocumented history of a time and place most US readers know nothing about, offering insight into America's Secret War in Laos with tenderness and unvarnished clarity. In doing so, she excavates the plight of many refugees, who suffer silently and are often overlooked as one of the essential foundations of this country. For readers of The Wild Swans by Jung Chang, The Spirit Catches You When You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, and those who flock to stories about survival during wartime, Where Rivers Part is not only a personal account of resilience and survival but also a powerful and transporting look into Laos's Secret War and the lived experiences of the Hmong people"--

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Little Big Bully

Heid E. Erdrich

Winner of the 2022 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry

In a new collection that is "a force of nature" (Amy Gerstler), renowned Native poet Heid E. Erdrich applies her rich inventive voice and fierce wit to the deforming effects of harassment and oppression.

Little Big Bully begins with a question asked of a collective and troubled we - how did we come to this? In answer, this book offers personal myth, American and Native American contexts, and allegories driven by women's resistance to narcissists, stalkers, and harassers. These poems are immediate, personal, political, cultural, even futuristic object lessons. What is truth now? Who are we now? How do we find answers through the smoke of human destructiveness? The past for Indigenous people, ecosystem collapse from near-extinction of bison, and the present epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women underlie these poems. Here, survivors shout back at useless cautionary tales with their own courage and visions of future worlds made well.

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The Lake Wobegon Virus

Garrison Keillor

Bestselling author and humorist Garrison Keillor returns to one of America's most beloved mythical towns, beset by a contagion of alarming candor.

A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a Keep America Truckin’ motorway and amusement park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year. Clint Bunsen and Elena the hometown epidemiologist to the rescue, with a Fourth of July Living Flag and sweet corn feast for a finale.
 
In his newest Lake Wobegon novel, Garrison Keillor takes us back to the small prairie town where for so long American readers and listeners have found laughter as well as the wry airing of our foibles and most familiar desires and fears—a town where, as we know, "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

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The Good Samaritan

Toni Halleen

A college professor is offered a chance at redemption--if he can figure out the right thing to do in this thoughtful psychological thriller from the author of The Surrogate.

Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is barely holding on. After the death of his toddler son, his wife divorced him, his teenage daughter abandoned him, and he lost a job he loved. Landing a rare tenure track position at a small college in southern Minnesota, he's trying to cope with the disaster his life has become.

While driving down an empty highway in the middle of nowhere one gloomy Sunday evening, Matthew gets caught in a hailstorm. Pulling off the road to find shelter, he spies a disturbing sight. Caught in the car's headlights is a child curled up beneath a plastic tarp. The boy is alive but unconscious, soaked to the bone and possibly hypothermic. Knowing an ambulance would take too long to reach them, Matthew impulsively puts the boy in his car, intending to get medical help.

On the way, the boy awakens and becomes agitated, begging Matthew not to take him to a hospital or to call the police. Matthew sympathizes with the panicked boy, who looks to be the same age his son would have been. Overcome by longing, grief, and a need to make sense of everything that's happened to him, Matthew makes a dangerous choice--risking everything for a chance to face his past, move on from the pain, and forgive both his family and himself.

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Peace Like a River

Leif Enger

A "reminder of why we read fiction to begin with" (San Francisco Chronicle), Peace Like a River is Leif Enger's extraordinary debut novel--a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world--with over one million copies sold
 

Raised on tales of cowboys and pirates, eleven-year-old Reuben Land has little doubt that miracles happen all around us, and that it's up to us to "make of it what we will." Reuben was born with no air in his lungs, and it was only when his father, Jeremiah, picked him up and commanded him to breathe that his lungs filled. Reuben struggles with debilitating asthma from then on, making him a boy who knows firsthand that life is a gift, and also one who suspects that his father is touched by God and can overturn the laws of nature.

The quiet Midwestern life of the Lands is upended when Davy, the oldest son, kills two marauders who have come to harm the family; unlike his father, he is not content to leave all matters of justice in God's hands. The morning of his sentencing, Davy-a hero to some, a cold-blooded murderer to others-escapes from his cell, and the Lands set out in search of him. Their journey is touched by serendipity and the kindness of strangers-among them a free spirit named Roxanna, who offers them a place to stay during a blizzard and winds up providing them with something far more permanent. Meanwhile, a federal agent is trailing the Lands, convinced they know of Davy's whereabouts.

With Jeremiah at the helm, the family covers territory far more extraordinary than even the Badlands where they search for Davy from their Airstream trailer. Sprinkled with playful nods to biblical tales, beloved classics such as Huckleberry Finn, the adventure stories of Robert Louis Stevenson, and the westerns of Zane Grey, Peace Like a River unfolds like a revelation.

 

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The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson

Ellen Baker



 

"A family secret, a DNA test, a journey as rich and colorful as the early-day circus itself. Through Cecily Larson's hidden life, Ellen Baker tenderly examines personal determination, lost love, family ties, and our innate need to discover our own truth." -- Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and Before and After

Orphan Train meets Before We Were Yours meets Water for Elephants in this compelling multigenerational novel of survival, love, and the families we make.

In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larson's mother reluctantly drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising to be back once she's made enough money to support both Cecily and herself. But she never returns, and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven, she is sold to a traveling circus to perform as the "little sister" to glamorous bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus, Cecily finally feels she's found the family she craves. But as the years go by, the cracks in her little world begin to show. And when teenage Cecily meets and falls in love with a young roustabout named Lucky, she finds her life thrown onto an entirely unexpected--and dangerous--course.

In 2015, Cecily is now 94 and living a quiet life in Minnesota, with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson. But when her family decides to surprise her with an at-home DNA test, the unexpected results not only bring to light the tragic love story that Cecily has kept hidden for decades but also throw into question everything about the family she's raised and claimed as her own for nearly seventy years. Cecily and everyone in her life must now decide who they really are and what family--and forgiveness--really mean.

Sweeping through a long period of contemporary history, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is an immersive, compelling, and entertaining family drama centered around one remarkable woman and her determination to survive.

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The Life We Bury

Allen Eskens

A USA Today bestseller and book club favorite!

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?

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Just for the Summer

Abby Jimenez

Instant #1 New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick!

This witty, slow-burn rom-com is the "ideal beach read." --Elle

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. It's a bonkers idea... and it just might work.

Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.



It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?



Named by Harper's Bazaar as one of the Top 10 Best Summer Romance Books of All Time!

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Tender Is the Night

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a friend's copy of Tender Is the Night, "If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God's sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of faith." Set in the South of France in the decade after World War I, Tender Is the Night is the story of a brilliant and magnetic psychiatrist named Dick Diver; the bewitching, wealthy, and dangerously unstable mental patient, Nicole, who becomes his wife; and the beautiful, harrowing ten-year pas de deux they act out along the border between sanity and madness. 
In Tender Is the Night, Fitzgerald deliberately set out to write the most ambitious and far-reaching novel of his career, experimenting radically with narrative conventions of chronology and point of view and drawing on early breakthroughs in psychiatry to enrich his account of the makeup and breakdown of character and culture. 
Tender Is the Night is also the most intensely, even painfully, autobiographical of Fitzgerald's novels; it smolders with a dark, bitter vitality because it is so utterly true. This account of a caring man who disintegrates under the twin strains of his wife's derangement and a lifestyle that gnaws away at his sense of moral values offers an authorial cri de coeur, while Dick Diver's downward spiral into alcoholic dissolution is an eerie portent of Fitzgerald's own fate. 
F. Scott Fitzgerald literally put his soul into Tender Is the Night, and the novel's lack of commercial success upon its initial publication in 1934 shattered him. He would die six years later without having published another novel, and without knowing that Tender Is the Night would come to be seen as perhaps its author's most poignant masterpiece. In Mabel Dodge Luhan's words, it raised him to the heights of "a modern Orpheus."

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The Sentence

Louise Erdrich

"Dazzling. . . . A hard-won love letter to readers and to booksellers, as well as a compelling story about how we cope with pain and fear, injustice and illness. One good way is to press a beloved book into another's hands. Read The Sentence and then do just that."--USA Today, Four Stars

In this New York Times bestselling novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman's relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention," must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

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The Lager Queen of Minnesota

J. Ryan Stradal

A National Bestseller!

"The perfect pick-me-up on a hot summer day." 
--Washington Post

"[A] charmer of a tale. . . Warm, witty and--like any good craft beer--complex, the saga delivers a subtly feminist and wholly life-affirming message."
--People Magazine

A novel of family, Midwestern values, hard work, fate and the secrets of making a world-class beer, from the bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Two sisters, one farm. A family is split when their father leaves their shared inheritance entirely to Helen, his younger daughter. Despite baking award-winning pies at the local nursing home, her older sister, Edith, struggles to make what most people would call a living. So she can't help wondering what her life would have been like with even a portion of the farm money her sister kept for herself.

With the proceeds from the farm, Helen builds one of the most successful light breweries in the country, and makes their company motto ubiquitous: Drink lots. It's Blotz. Where Edith has a heart as big as Minnesota, Helen's is as rigid as a steel keg. Yet one day, Helen will find she needs some help herself, and she could find a potential savior close to home. . . if it's not too late.

Meanwhile, Edith's granddaughter, Diana, grows up knowing that the real world requires a tougher constitution than her grandmother possesses. She earns a shot at learning the IPA business from the ground up--will that change their fortunes forever, and perhaps reunite her splintered family?

Here we meet a cast of lovable, funny, quintessentially American characters eager to make their mark in a world that's often stacked against them. In this deeply affecting family saga, resolution can take generations, but when it finally comes, we're surprised, moved, and delighted.

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Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

J. Ryan Stradal

“Stradal serves up another saga of food and family, hurt and healing, pitched between cliff-hanger moments. . . that make the pages fly.” —People

From the New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota, and the legacy of love and tragedy, of hardship and hope, that unites and divides them

Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed.

Ned is also an heir—to a chain of home-style diners—and while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?

In this colorful, vanishing world of relish trays and brandy Old Fashioneds, J. Ryan Stradal has once again given us a story full of his signature honest, lovable yet fallible Midwestern characters as they grapple with love, loss, and marriage; what we hold onto and what we leave behind; and what our legacy will be when we are gone.

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Lethal Prey

John Sandford

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces to track down a ruthless killer who will do whatever it takes to keep the past buried, in this latest thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.

Doris Grandfelt, an employee at an accounting firm, was brutally stabbed to death . . . but nobody knew exactly where the crime took place. Her body was found the next night, dumped among a dense thicket of trees along the edge of an urban park, eight miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite her twin sister Lara Grandfelt’s persistent calls to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the killer was never found.

Twenty years later, Lara has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Confronted with the possibility of her own death, she’s determined to find Doris’s killer once and for all. Finally taking matters into her own hands, she dumps the entire investigative file on every true crime site in the world and offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest. Dozens of true crime bloggers show up looking for both new evidence and “clicks,” and Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to review anything that might be a new lead.

When one of the bloggers locates the murder weapon, Lucas and Virgil begin to uncover vital details about the killer’s identity. But what they don’t know is the killer lurks in plain sight, and with the true crime bloggers blasting every clue online, the killer can keep one step ahead. As the nation maneuvers the detectives closer to the truth, Lucas and Virgil will find that digging up Doris’s harrowing past might just get them buried instead.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder: Deluxe Collector's Edition

Joanne Fluke

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Joanne Fluke’s bestselling culinary capers, a deluxe collectors’ edition featuring sprayed edges with stenciled artwork, designed endpapers, reversible dust jacket, foil stamped cloth binding, and a brand new recipe!

No one cooks up a delectable, suspense-filled mystery quite like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke’s dessert-baking, red-haired heroine whose gingersnaps are as tart as her comebacks, and whose penchant for solving crimes—one delicious clue at a time—has made her a bestselling favorite. And it all began on these pages, with a bakery, a murder, and some suddenly scandalous chocolate-chip crunchies. Featuring a bonus short story and brand new, mouthwatering recipes, this new edition of the very first Hannah Swensen mystery is sure to have readers coming back for seconds . . .

Hannah already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother’s attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden’s most popular bakery. But once Ron LaSalle, the beloved delivery man from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery with Hannah’s famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, her life just can’t get any worse. Determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, she sets out to track down a killer. But if she doesn’t watch her back, Hannah’s sweet life may get burned to a crisp.

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Something Wicked

David Housewright

In David Housewright's next hardboiled mystery Something Wicked, Rushmore McKenzie, who promised to retire after his last nearly-fatal case, gets talked into doing an old friend a favor involving a castle, a family fighting over an inheritance, and at least one mysterious death.

Rushmore McKenzie was a detective with the St. Paul, Minnesota PD until unlikely events made him first a millionaire and then a retiree. Since then, he's been an occasional unofficial private investigator - looking into things for friends and friends of friends - until his most recent case put him into a coma and nearly into a coffin. Now, at the insistence of his better half Nina Truhler, he is again retired.

That is, until a friend of Nina finds herself in dire straights and in desperate need of a favor. Jenness Crawford's grandmother owned the family castle - a nineteenth century castle that has been operating as a hotel and resort for over a hundred years. Since her grandmother's death, the heirs have been squabbling over what to do with it. Some want to keep it in the family and running as a hotel. Some want to sell it and reap the millions a developer will pay for it. And Jenness is convinced that someone - probably in the latter group - killed her grandmother. A conclusion with which the police do not agree. Now McKenzie finds himself back in action, trapped in a castle filled with feuding relatives with conflicting agendas, long serving retainers, and a possible murderer. And if McKenzie makes one wrong move, it could be lights out.

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Purgatory Ridge

William Kent Krueger

When mayhem descends on a tiny logging town, former sheriff Cork O’Connor is called upon to investigate a murder in this “wonderful page-turner” (The Denver Post) that “prolongs suspense to the very end” (Publishers Weekly) by Edgar Award-winning author William Kent Krueger.

Not far from Aurora, Minnesota (population 3,752), lies an ancient expanse of great white pines, sacred to the Anishinaabe tribe. When an explosion kills the night watchman at wealthy industrialist Karl Lindstrom’s nearby lumber mill, it’s obvious where suspicion will fall. Former sheriff Cork O’Connor agrees to help investigate, but he has mixed feelings about the case. For one thing, he is part Anishinaabe. For another, his wife, a lawyer, represents the tribe. 

Meanwhile, near Lindstrom’s lakeside home, a reclusive shipwreck survivor and his sidekick are harboring their own resentment of the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that danger, both at home and in Aurora, lurks around every corner…

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Last Summer on State Street

Toya Wolfe

Named a Best Book of Summer by Good Housekeeping, Chicago Magazine, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, Chicago Tribune, Veranda, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, and more!

“[A] powerful novel.... Tragic, hopeful, brimming with love, Wolfe’s debut is a remarkable achievement.”—New York Times Book Review

For fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Brit Bennett, a striking coming-of-age debut about friendship, community, and resilience, set in the housing projects of Chicago during one life-changing summer.

Even when we lose it all, we find the strength to rebuild.

Felicia “Fe Fe” Stevens is living with her vigilantly loving mother and older teenaged brother, whom she adores, in building 4950 of Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes. It’s the summer of 1999, and her high-rise is next in line to be torn down by the Chicago Housing Authority. She, with the devout Precious Brown and Stacia Buchanan, daughter of a Gangster Disciple Queen-Pin, form a tentative trio and, for a brief moment, carve out for themselves a simple life of Double Dutch and innocence. But when Fe Fe welcomes a mysterious new friend, Tonya, into their fold, the dynamics shift, upending the lives of all four girls.

As their beloved neighborhood falls down around them, so too do their friendships and the structures of the four girls’ families. Fe Fe must make the painful decision of whom she can trust and whom she must let go. Decades later, as she remembers that fateful summer—just before her home was demolished, her life uprooted, and community forever changed—Fe Fe tries to make sense of the grief and fraught bonds that still haunt her and attempts to reclaim the love that never left.

Profound, reverent, and uplifting, Last Summer on State Street explores the risk of connection against the backdrop of racist institutions, the restorative power of knowing and claiming one’s own past, and those defining relationships which form the heartbeat of our lives. Interweaving moments of reckoning and sustaining grace, debut author Toya Wolfe has crafted an era-defining story of finding a home—both in one’s history and in one’s self. 

"Toya Wolfe is a storyteller of the highest order. Last Summer on State Street is a stunning debut."—Rebecca Makkai, New York Times bestselling author of The Great Believers

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Wandering in Strange Lands

Morgan Jerkins

"One of the smartest young writers of her generation."--Book Riot

From the acclaimed cultural critic and New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing--a writer whom Roxane Gay has hailed as "a force to be reckoned with"--comes this powerful story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration, and the displacement of black people across America.

Between 1916 and 1970, six million black Americans left their rural homes in the South for jobs in cities in the North, West, and Midwest in a movement known as The Great Migration. But while this event transformed the complexion of America and provided black people with new economic opportunities, it also disconnected them from their roots, their land, and their sense of identity, argues Morgan Jerkins. In this fascinating and deeply personal exploration, she recreates her ancestors' journeys across America, following the migratory routes they took from Georgia and South Carolina to Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California. 
 

Following in their footsteps, Jerkins seeks to understand not only her own past, but the lineage of an entire group of people who have been displaced, disenfranchised, and disrespected throughout our history. Through interviews, photos, and hundreds of pages of transcription, Jerkins braids the loose threads of her family's oral histories, which she was able to trace back 300 years, with the insights and recollections of black people she met along the way--the tissue of black myths, customs, and blood that connect the bones of American history. 
 

Incisive and illuminating, Wandering in Strange Lands is a timely and enthralling look at America's past and present, one family's legacy, and a young black woman's life, filtered through her sharp and curious eyes.
 


 

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Invisible Child

Andrea Elliott

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “vivid and devastating” (The New York Times) portrait of an indomitable girl—from acclaimed journalist Andrea Elliott

“From its first indelible pages to its rich and startling conclusion, Invisible Child had me, by turns, stricken, inspired, outraged, illuminated, in tears, and hungering for reimmersion in its Dickensian depths.”—Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Atlantic, The New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, Library Journal

In Invisible Child, Pulitzer Prize winner Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction, and the threat of foster care. Out on the street, Dasani becomes a fierce fighter “to protect those who I love.” When she finally escapes city life to enroll in a boarding school, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family, and yourself?

A work of luminous and riveting prose, Elliott’s Invisible Child reads like a page-turning novel. It is an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family and the cost of inequality—told through the crucible of one remarkable girl.  

Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize • Finalist for the Bernstein Award and the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award • Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize

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Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream

Blair Imani

A powerful illustrated history of the Great Migration and its sweeping impact on Black and American culture, from Reconstruction to the rise of hip hop.

Over the course of six decades, an unprecedented wave of Black Americans left the South and spread across the nation in search of a better life--a migration that sparked stunning demographic and cultural changes in twentieth-century America. Through gripping and accessible historical narrative paired with illustrations, author and activist Blair Imani examines the largely overlooked impact of The Great Migration and how it affected--and continues to affect--Black identity and America as a whole.

Making Our Way Home explores issues like voting rights, domestic terrorism, discrimination, and segregation alongside the flourishing of arts and culture, activism, and civil rights. Imani shows how these influences shaped America's workforce and wealth distribution by featuring the stories of notable people and events, relevant data, and family histories. The experiences of prominent figures such as James Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), Ella Baker, and others are woven into the larger historical and cultural narratives of the Great Migration to create a truly singular record of this powerful journey.

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Ordinary Girls

Jaquira Díaz

One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping

“There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.” —Julia Alvarez 

In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age.

While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.

Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.

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The Yellow House

Sarah M. Broom

Winner of the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction

A New York Times Bestseller

Named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review

Named one of the "10 Best Books of 2019" by the New York Times Book Review, Seattle Times, Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Tribune, and Slate

Named a Best Book of 2019 by the Washington Post, NPR's Book Concierge, NPR's Fresh Air, the Guardian, BookPage, New York Public Library, and Shelf Awareness

Named a Best Memoir of the Decade by LitHub

A brilliant, haunting and unforgettable memoir from a stunning new talent about the inexorable pull of home and family, set in a shotgun house in New Orleans East.

In 1961, Sarah M. Broom's mother Ivory Mae bought a shotgun house in the then-promising neighborhood of New Orleans East and built her world inside of it. It was the height of the Space Race and the neighborhood was home to a major NASA plant--the postwar optimism seemed assured. Widowed, Ivory Mae remarried Sarah's father Simon Broom; their combined family would eventually number twelve children. But after Simon died, six months after Sarah's birth, the Yellow House would become Ivory Mae's thirteenth and most unruly child.

A book of great ambition, Sarah M. Broom's The Yellow House tells a hundred years of her family and their relationship to home in a neglected area of one of America's most mythologized cities. This is the story of a mother's struggle against a house's entropy, and that of a prodigal daughter who left home only to reckon with the pull that home exerts, even after the Yellow House was wiped off the map after Hurricane Katrina. The Yellow House expands the map of New Orleans to include the stories of its lesser-known natives, guided deftly by one of its native daughters, to demonstrate how enduring drives of clan, pride, and familial love resist and defy erasure. Located in the gap between the "Big Easy" of tourist guides and the New Orleans in which Broom was raised, The Yellow House is a brilliant memoir of place, class, race, the seeping rot of inequality, and the internalized shame that often follows. It is a transformative, deeply moving story from an unparalleled new voice of startling clarity, authority, and power.

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Life and Other Love Songs

Anissa Gray

“Musical in structure—the octaves rise when the music calls for it; truths are revealed by the invisible beats of this gorgeous, rich story” –Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful (Oprah’s Book Club Pick)

“Riveting, rhythmic, transcendent...a stellar family saga.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

Named a Most Anticipated Book by Time ∙ Essence ∙ Real Simple ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ Atlanta-Journal Constitution ∙ The Root ∙ SheReads ∙ Atlanta Magazine ∙ Zibby Mag
 
A father’s sudden disappearance exposes the private fears, dreams, longings, and joys of a Black American family in the late decades of the twentieth century, in this page-turning and intimate new novel from the author of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls.

It’s a warm, bright October afternoon, and Ozro Armstead walks out into the brilliant sunshine on his thirty-seventh birthday. At home, his wife Deborah and daughter Trinity prepare a surprise celebration; down the street, his brother waves as Oz heads back to his office after having lunch together.
 
But he won’t make it to the party or even to his briefcase back at his desk. He's about to disappear.
 
In the days, months, and years to follow, Deborah and Trinity look backward and forward as they piece together the life of the man they love, but whom they come to realize they might never have truly known.
 
In a gripping narrative that moves from the Great Migration to 1970s Detroit and 1990s New York, we follow the hopes, triumphs, losses, and secrets that build up and tear apart an American family.

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The Forgotten Girls

Monica Potts

Talented and ambitious, Monica Potts and her best friend, Darci, were both determined to make something of themselves. How did their lives turn out so different?

The Forgotten Girls is much more than a memoir; it’s the unflinching story of rural women trying to live in the most rugged, ultra-religious, and left-behind places in America.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick 

Growing up gifted and working-class poor in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. The girls bonded over a shared love of reading and learning, even as they navigated the challenges of their tumultuous family lives and declining town—broken marriages, alcohol abuse, and shuttered stores and factories. They pored over the giant map in their middle-school classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape. In the end, Monica left Clinton for college and fulfilled her dreams, but Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not.

Years later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Potts discovered what she already intuitively knew about the women in Arkansas: Their life expectancy had dropped steeply—the sharpest such fall in a century. This decline has been attributed to “deaths of despair”—suicide, alcoholism, and drug overdoses—but Potts knew their causes were too complex to identify in a sociological study. She had grown up with these women, and when she saw Darci again, she found that her childhood friend—addicted to drugs, often homeless, a single mother—was now on track to becoming a statistic.

In this gripping narrative, Potts deftly pinpoints the choices that sent her and Darci on such different paths and then widens the lens to explain why those choices are so limited. The Forgotten Girls is a profound, compassionate look at a population in trouble, and a uniquely personal account of the way larger forces, such as inheritance, education, religion, and politics, shape individual lives.

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An American Summer

Alex Kotlowitz

2020 J. ANTHONY LUKAS PRIZE WINNER

From the bestselling author of There Are No Children Here, a richly textured, heartrending portrait of love and death in Chicago's most turbulent neighborhoods.

The numbers are staggering: over the past twenty years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire. What does that do to the spirit of individuals and community? Drawing on his decades of experience, Alex Kotlowitz set out to chronicle one summer in the city, writing about individuals who have emerged from the violence and whose stories capture the capacity--and the breaking point--of the human heart and soul. The result is a spellbinding collection of deeply intimate profiles that upend what we think we know about gun violence in America. Among others, we meet a man who as a teenager killed a rival gang member and twenty years later is still trying to come to terms with what he's done; a devoted school social worker struggling with her favorite student, who refuses to give evidence in the shooting death of his best friend; the witness to a wrongful police shooting who can't shake what he has seen; and an aging former gang leader who builds a place of refuge for himself and his friends.
Applying the close-up, empathic reporting that made There Are No Children Here a modern classic, Kotlowitz offers a piercingly honest portrait of a city in turmoil. These sketches of those left standing will get into your bones. This one summer will stay with you.

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The South Side

Natalie Y. Moore

**One of Buzzfeed's 18 Best Nonfiction Books Of 2016**

A lyrical, intelligent, authentic, and necessary look at the intersection of race and class in Chicago, a Great American City

In this intelligent and highly important narrative, Chicago-native Natalie Moore shines a light on contemporary segregation in the city's South Side; with a memoirist's eye, she showcases the lives of these communities through the stories of people who reside there. The South Side shows the impact of Chicago's historic segregation - and the ongoing policies that keep the system intact.

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Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side

Lee Bey

Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side is the first book devoted to the South Side’s rich and unfairly ignored architectural heritage. With lively, insightful text and gallery-quality color photographs by noted Chicago architecture expert Lee Bey, Southern Exposure documents the remarkable and largely unsung architecture of the South Side. The book features an array of landmarks—from a Space Age dry cleaner to a nineteenth-century lagoon that meanders down the middle of a working-class neighborhood street—that are largely absent from arts discourse, in no small part because they sit in a predominantly African American and Latino section of town better known as a place of disinvestment, abandonment, and violence. 

Inspired by Bey’s 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial exhibition, Southern Exposure visits sixty sites, including lesser-known but important work by luminaries such as Jeanne Gang, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Eero Saarinen, as well as buildings by pioneering black architects such as Walter T. Bailey, John Moutoussamy, and Roger Margerum. 

Pushing against the popular  narrative that depicts Chicago’s South Side as an architectural wasteland, Bey shows beautiful and intact buildings and neighborhoods  that reflect the value—and potential—of the area. Southern Exposure offers much to delight architecture aficionados and writers, native Chicagoans and guests to the city alike.

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Ghosts in the Schoolyard

Eve L. Ewing

“Failing schools. Underprivileged schools. Just plain bad schools.”

That’s how Eve L. Ewing opens Ghosts in the Schoolyard: describing Chicago Public Schools from the outside. The way politicians and pundits and parents of kids who attend other schools talk about them, with a mix of pity and contempt.

But Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures—they’re an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together.

Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented wave of school closings. Pitched simultaneously as a solution to a budget problem, a response to declining enrollments, and a chance to purge bad schools that were dragging down the whole system, the plan was met with a roar of protest from parents, students, and teachers. But if these schools were so bad, why did people care so much about keeping them open, to the point that some would even go on a hunger strike?

Ewing’s answer begins with a story of systemic racism, inequality, bad faith, and distrust that stretches deep into Chicago history. Rooting her exploration in the historic African American neighborhood of Bronzeville, Ewing reveals that this issue is about much more than just schools. Black communities see the closing of their schools—schools that are certainly less than perfect but that are theirs—as one more in a long line of racist policies. The fight to keep them open is yet another front in the ongoing struggle of black people in America to build successful lives and achieve true self-determination.

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Split Decision

Ice-T

Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Ice-T unveils a compelling memoir of his early life robbing jewelry stores until he found fame and fortune—while a handful of bad choices sent his former crime partner down an incredibly different path.

Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s, earning acclaim for his music before going on to enthrall television audiences as Odafin “Fin” Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But it could have gone much differently.

In this “poignant and powerful” (Library Journal, starred review) memoir, Ice-T and Spike, his former crime partner—collaborating with New York Times bestselling author Douglas Century—relate the shocking stories of their shared pasts, and how just a handful of decisions led to their incredibly different lives. Both grew up in violent, gang-controlled Los Angeles neighborhoods and worked together to orchestrate a series of jewelry heists.

But while Ice-T was discovered rapping in a club and got his first record deal, Spike was caught for a jewelry robbery and did three years in prison. As his music career began to take off, Ice made the decision to abandon the criminal life; Spike continued to plan increasingly ingenious and risky jewel heists. And in 1992, after one of Spike’s robberies ended tragically, he was sentenced to thirty-five years to life. While he sat behind bars, he watched his former partner rise to fame in music, movies, and television.

“Propulsive” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), timely, and thoughtful, two men with two very different lives reveal how their paths might have very well been reversed if they made different choices. All it took was a split decision.

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AIA Guide to Chicago

American Institute of Architects Chicago

Chicago’s architecture attracts visitors from around the globe. The fourth edition of the AIA Guide to Chicago is the best portable resource for exploring this most breathtaking and dynamic of cityscapes. The editors offer entries on new destinations like the Riverwalk, the St. Regis Chicago, and The 606 as well as updated descriptions of Willis Tower and other refreshed landmarks. Thirty-four maps and over 500 photos make it easy to find each of the almost 2000 featured sites. A special insert, new to this edition, showcases the variety of Chicago architecture with over 80 full-color images arranged chronologically. A comprehensive index organizes entries by name and architect.

Sumptuously detailed and user friendly, the AIA Guide to Chicago encourages travelers and residents alike to explore the many diverse neighborhoods of one of the world’s great architectural destinations.

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Bronzeville Nights: On the Town in Chicago’s Black Metropolis

Steven C. Dubin

Bronzeville was once America's most vibrant Black community―next to Harlem. Nightclubs, dance halls, rialtos, and jazz and blues joints lined the streets of Chicago's South Side. Not much is left. A few sound recordings, memories passed down from generation to generation, and―until now―only a handful of photographs.

Bronzeville Nights brings it back, with dozens of photos and mementos recently found in a cache gathered by Lonnie Simmons, a jazzman of renown who played these clubs and also roamed Bronzeville with a camera.

Simmons snapped Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horn and Billie Holiday. He photographed Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jr. and Redd Foxx.

And he captured images of astonishing acrobats, howling entertainers, stunning dancers―and drag queens. His never-before published pictures tell an unknown story of lavish life during the segregated 1940s and 50s when African Americans frequented these vibrant clubs.

Bronzeville Nights is a treasure box. Souvenir photo folders from the Rhumboogie Club, postcards from the Palm Tavern and matchbook covers from the Grand Terrace. And it's the story of Lonnie Simmons himself, who ran away from his South Carolina home at age 16 so he could play saxophone for Fats Waller and Ella Fitzgerald before making Bronzeville his home.

Simmons' photos―seen for the first time―exude glamour, swagger and coolness. His images record a time and place that was destroyed more than half a century ago. A place that has never before been reconstructed in pictures. These photos revive this extraordinary social and cultural arena.

It's a world that Steven C. Dubin, author of six books including New York Times Notable Book Arresting Images, and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Margo Jefferson reexamine, explore and explain in exhilarating text.

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Bronzeville

Maren Stange

A powerful collection of never-before-published WPA images of black Chicago's defining moment. In the 1940s, the federal government sent a group of gifted photographers across the United States to record and publicize conditions in cities, towns, and rural areas that were the destination of an unprecedented migration. Two of these photographers, Russell Lee and Edwin Rosskam, spent time on Chicago's South Side, eventually producing over a thousand documentary images of Bronzeville's life. This unprecedented coverage of a black urban communitythe only significant collection of photographs of black Chicago during this pivotal erahas largely gone unpublished. Now, in over 100 handsome full-page black-and-white photographs of bustling city streets and sidewalks, prosperous middle-class businesses, thriving cabarets, as well as dirt-poor migrants from the deep South, this stunning tribute captures the vitality of a city whose burgeoning black population produced a vibrant and sophisticated culture. With original essays on the migration and the photography project, and contemporary commentary by Richard Wright and others, Bronzeville is a unique and visually arresting evocation of one of the defining moments in American cultural history. 120 black-and-white photographs.

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The Warmth of Other Suns

Isabel Wilkerson

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S FIVE BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY 
 
“A brilliant and stirring epic . . . Ms. Wilkerson does for the Great Migration what John Steinbeck did for the Okies in his fiction masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath; she humanizes history, giving it emotional and psychological depth.”—John Stauffer, The Wall Street Journal

“What she’s done with these oral histories is stow memory in amber.”—Lynell George, Los Angeles Times
 
WINNER: The Mark Lynton History Prize • The Anisfield-Wolf Award for Nonfiction • The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize • The Hurston-Wright Award for Nonfiction • The Hillman Prize for Book Journalism • NAACP Image Award for Best Literary Debut • Stephen Ambrose Oral History Prize 
 
FINALIST: The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction • Dayton Literary Peace Prize 
 
ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times USA Today Publishers Weekly O: The Oprah Magazine Salon Newsday The Daily Beast
 
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker The Washington Post The Economist Boston Globe San Francisco Chronicle Chicago Tribune Entertainment Weekly Philadelphia Inquirer The Guardian The Seattle Times St. Louis Post-Dispatch The Christian Science Monitor
 
In this beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson presents a definitive and dramatic account of one of the great untold stories of American history: the Great Migration of six million Black citizens who fled the South for the North and West in search of a better life, from World War I to 1970.
 
Wilkerson tells this interwoven story through the lives of three unforgettable protagonists: Ida Mae Gladney, a sharecropper’s wife, who in 1937 fled Mississippi for Chicago; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, and Robert Foster, a surgeon who left Louisiana in 1953 in hopes of making it in California.
 
Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous cross-country journeys by car and train and their new lives in colonies in the New World. The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable, and riveting work, a superb account of an “unrecognized immigration” within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is a modern classic.

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The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

Jeff Hobbs

*Now a major motion picture—Rob Peace—starring Jay Will, Mary J. Blige, and Chiwetel Ejiofor*

*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, and more* The New York Times bestselling account of a young African-American man who escaped Newark, NJ, to attend Yale, but still faced the dangers of the streets when he returned is, “nuanced and shattering” (People) and “mesmeric” (The New York Times Book Review).

When author Jeff Hobbs arrived at Yale University, he became fast friends with the man who would be his college roommate for four years, Robert Peace. Robert’s life was rough from the beginning in the crime-ridden streets of Newark in the 1980s, with his father in jail and his mother earning less than $15,000 a year. But Robert was a brilliant student, and it was supposed to get easier when he was accepted to Yale, where he studied molecular biochemistry and biophysics. But it didn’t get easier. Robert carried with him the difficult dual nature of his existence, trying to fit in at Yale, and at home on breaks.

A compelling and honest portrait of Robert’s relationships—with his struggling mother, with his incarcerated father, with his teachers and friends—The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace encompasses the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love. It’s about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds—the ivy-covered campus of Yale University and the slums of Newark, New Jersey, and the difficulty of going from one to the other and then back again. It’s about trying to live a decent life in America. But most all this “fresh, compelling” (The Washington Post) story is about the tragic life of one singular brilliant young man. His end, a violent one, is heartbreaking and powerful and “a haunting American tragedy for our times” (Entertainment Weekly).

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The Other Wes Moore

Wes Moore

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the governor of Maryland, the “compassionate” (People), “startling” (Baltimore Sun), “moving” (Chicago Tribune) true story of two kids with the same name: One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison.

The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.

In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. 

Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?

That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.

Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

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A New View of Bronzeville

Bernard C. Turner

A New View of Bronzeville provides a portrait of an important Chicago neighborhood with a historical perspective. Readers will learn how Bronzeville was settled and grew to become a center for African American culture and economy. This revision incorporates changes of urban renewal and features new color photos of landmarks, murals, and important places and spaces. A great read for anyone who loves Chicago.

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An Eighth of August

Dawn Turner Trice

From the author of the highly acclaimed Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven, a new novel about the strong ties and haunting memories that bind family and friends in a small town. 
Narrated by a chorus of voices, An Eighth of August tells the story of a Midwestern community that celebrates the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation year after year. Celebrants from come near and far to pay tribute to the rich heritage of the former slaves who settled the Illinois town. But along with the festivities come painful memories and long-buried resentments, and while this year’s celebration is no different, it will offer up its own particular brand of freedom to one extended family and the wonderfully eccentric white woman whose life becomes entwined with their own. Wavering between the devastating and the uplifting, An Eighth of August is ultimately an enduring and exuberant novel.

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Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven

Dawn Turner Trice

In 1975 Tempestt Saville and her family are chosen by lottery to "move on up" to Lakland: one square mile of rich, black soil carved out of a Chicago ghetto, cradling sparkling apartment towers and emerald lawns, where the elite black professionals live in privilege, secure behind a ten-foot-tall, ivy-covered, wrought-iron fence. This generation of blacks, only once removed from salt pork, fatback, and biscuits, now dines on caviar and escargot. Within the confines of the fence sits an idyllic community with every amenity, including its own section of Lake Michigan that flows the aqua blue of dreams - its brilliance sometimes helped along by food coloring. Whatever lies outside the fence - whatever the world tells black people they can't do or be - doesn't apply to the residents of Lakeland. But what is shut out by those gates is another matter entirely: 35th Street, where the lure of loud music, housing projects, and row upon row of battered brownstones and dilapidated stores provides eleven-year-old Temmy with a more intriguing landscape. Here the saved and the sinners are both so "done up" you can't tell one from the other: Alfred Mayes, the oily street preacher and self-admitted connoisseur of "fine young thangs, " whose line is as smooth as honey and whose looks are twice as sweet and Miss Jonetta, a former lady of the evening who knows everyone's story, and whose own history is as long and dark as 35th Street. Before a month has passed at Lakeland, Temmy will witness a death, cause an arrest, and start a chain of events that will send 35th Street up in flames.

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The Complete Modern Pantry

America's Test Kitchen

Busy home cooks can create exciting meals straight from the pantry with this unique cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen.

Cook more, shop less, and improvise like a pro with over 350 recipes and tricks for making the most of ingredients you already have on hand.

Flexibility should be in every cook’s arsenal—sometimes you can’t always get to the supermarket. This invaluable cooking resource from America’s Test Kitchen shows cooks how to make use of their pantry by thinking in categories. The recipe is the blueprint—you focus on what the ingredients do, not just what they are.

Visualize a dish starting with what’s in your pantry, fridge, or freezer. Then substitute, swap, and combine to build the meal up:

Bulk and bases: grains, beans, and other starchy foods are a solid foundation
Long storage vegetables: use go-to staples like potatoes and garlic, even frozen veggies
Proteins: items like eggs, tinned fish, tofu, and cured meat anchor the meal
Toppings: creamy and rich, or crispy, crunchy, and chewy—these always transform a dish
Acidic and pickled foods: brighten everything up
Umami: flavor-enhancing condiments and seasonings add depth to food
Hot and smoky elements: spices, chiles, and sauces enliven your mea
Sweet and tart flavorings: balance out anything that’s salty, bitter, sour, or hot
DIY Pantry items: make your own blends and toppings

Whether you’re a home cook who wants to get more creative, or are budget and waste-conscious, or even just pressed for time on a weeknight, America’s Test Kitchen will show you how to improvise with confidence.

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The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook

America's Test Kitchen

Plant-based eating is easy, budget-friendly, and inclusive with these 500+ crowd-pleasing recipes you can make vegan or vegetarian!

This award-winning book from America’s Test Kitchen offers their best tips for preparing vegetables and plant-based meats, boosting flavor and nutrition, and stocking your pantry with healthy staples.


Plant-based cooking means different things to different people. ATK’s diverse, modern plant-based cookbook offers foolproof recipes you can tailor to suit your own needs—whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or simply curious about eating less meat. Inside you’ll find:

 

 

  • 500+ plant-based recipes inspired by cuisines around the world
  • Vegan and vegetarian variations for each recipe, with easy ingredient swaps
  • Overview of modern plant-based eating, including meat and dairy alternatives
  • Simple strategies for grocery shopping and storage
  • ATK-approved techniques and tips for maximizing vegetables, boosting flavor, and meeting nutritional needs
  • Irresistible dishes from breakfast (Rancheros with Avocado, with either tofu or eggs) to mains (Green Gumbo, Mushroom Bolognese) to sides (Vindaloo-Style Sweet Potatoes) to desserts (No-Bake Cherry-Almond Crisp, using coconut oil or butter)


These recipes take their inspiration from cuisines around the world that are rich with boldly flavored dishes that feature vegan and vegetarian protein sources. So from building a plant-centric plate to cooking with plant-based meat and dairy, you’ll find everything you need here to create varied, satisfying meals everyone will love.

 

 

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Feeding Littles Lunches

Megan McNamee, MPH, RDN

75+ simple and delicious ideas for packed school lunches and snacks for kids of all ages, from the New York Times bestselling authors of Feeding Littles and Beyond.

In a lunch packing rut? Megan McNamee and Judy Delaware, the founders of Feeding Littles, are here to help with the ultimate lunch box resource. Feeding Littles Lunches is complete with 75+ lunches that are quick to assemble, safe and easy for kids of all ages to eat, and balanced in nutrients for growth, learning and play. Each lunch idea is easily modified for nine of the most common allergens and includes tips for picky eaters, plus vegetarian swaps and “I Can’t Even” tips to make lunch packing even easier. Feeding Littles Lunches is not a recipe book because, let’s face it, most parents don’t want to spend hours packing lunches. Rather, it’s an inspo book with a full-page photo for every lunch, meant to be used with your child as a visual reminder for delicious and easy new ideas that you can assemble from simple ingredients.
 
Feeding Littles Lunches also includes a lunch packing formula to help you plan your own lunches, grocery lists, tips for dealing with cafeteria and school settings, picky eating, food safety, and more! With creative and approachable lunches like Chicken Salad with Mini Brioche Toasts, Sun Butter Banana Roll-Up “Sushi-Style,” Build-Your-Own Naan Pizza, Leftover Burger Mini Sliders, Pesto Turkey Wrap Rounds, and more, you’ll bring joy back to lunchtime.

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Love Real Food

Kathryne Taylor

The path to a healthy body and happy belly is paved with real food--fresh, wholesome, sustainable food--and it doesn't need to be so difficult. No one knows this more than Kathryne Taylor of America's most popular vegetarian food blog, Cookie and Kate. With Love Real Food, she offers over 100 approachable and outrageously delicious meatless recipes complete with substitutions to make meals special diet-friendly (gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free) whenever possible. Her book is designed to show everyone--vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters alike--how to eat well and feel well.

With brand-new, creative recipes, Taylor inspires you to step into the kitchen and cook wholesome plant-based meals, again and again. She'll change your mind about kale and quinoa, and show you how to make the best granola you’ve ever tasted. You'll find make-your-own instant oatmeal mix and fluffy, naturally sweetened, whole-grain blueberry muffins, hearty green salads and warming soups, pineapple pico de gallo, healthier homemade pizzas, and even a few favorites from the blog. Of course, Love Real Food wouldn't be complete without plenty of stories starring Taylor's veggie-obsessed, rescue dog sous-chef, Cookie! Taylor celebrates whole foods by encouraging you not just to "eat this," but to eat like this. Take it from her readers: you'll love how you feel.

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Mooncakes and Milk Bread

Kristina Cho

 

 

2022 JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER * Baking and Desserts

 

 

2022 JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER * Emerging Voice, Books

ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker Magazine, The New York Times

ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time Out, Glamour, Taste of Home

Food blogger Kristina Cho (eatchofood.com) introduces you to Chinese bakery cooking with fresh, simple interpretations of classic recipes for the modern baker.

Inside, you'll find sweet and savory baked buns, steamed buns, Chinese breads, unique cookies, whimsical cakes, juicy dumplings, Chinese breakfast dishes, and drinks. Recipes for steamed BBQ pork buns, pineapple buns with a thick slice of butter, silky smooth milk tea, and chocolate Swiss rolls all make an appearance--because a book about Chinese bakeries wouldn't be complete without them

In Mooncakes & Milk Bread, Kristina teaches you to whip up these delicacies like a pro, including how to:

  • Knead dough without a stand mixer
  • Avoid collapsed steamed buns
  • Infuse creams and custards with aromatic tea flavors
  • Mix the most workable dumpling dough
  • Pleat dumplings like an Asian grandma

 

This is the first book to exclusively focus on Chinese bakeries and cafés, but it isn't just for those nostalgic for Chinese bakeshop foods--it's for all home bakers who want exciting new recipes to add to their repertoires.

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Smitten Kitchen Keepers

Deb Perelman

The long-awaited new book from the best-selling and beloved author of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and Smitten Kitchen Every Day—a collection of essential recipes for meals you'll want to prepare again and again, from Cozy Chicken and Dumplings to Fettuccine with White Ragú, and from Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies to Strawberry Summer Stack Cake.

Deb Perelman is the author of two best-selling cookbooks; one of the internet's most successful food bloggers; the creator of a homegrown brand with more than a million Instagram followers; and the self-taught cook with the tiny kitchen who obsessively tests her recipes to make sure that no bowls are wasted and that the results are always worth the effort.

Here, in her third book, Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files, Perelman gives us 100 recipes (including a few favorites from her site) that aim to make shopping easier, preparation more practical and enjoyable, and food more reliably delicious for the home cook.

What's a keeper?

 

 

  • a full-crunch cucumber salad you'll want to make over and over again for lunch

 

 

  • a tomato and corn cobbler that tastes like summer sunshine
  • an epic deep-dish broccoli cheddar quiche that even quiche skeptics love
  • a slow-roasted chicken on a bed of unapologetically schmaltzy croutons
  • a butterscotched apple crisp that will ruin you for all others
  • perfect spaghetti and meatballs, better than ever
  • Deb's ultimate pound cake, one to redeem all the sleepy ones you've eaten over the years


These are the fail-safe, satisfying recipes you’ll rely on for years to come—from Perelman’s forever files to yours.

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Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes

Jessie Sheehan

Jessie Sheehan's lickety-split recipes, dynamic personality, and kitchen savvy advice have made her a beloved food personality on social media. In Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy, she relies on the same assemble-in-minutes-with-everyday-ingredients mandate that has become her calling card, but now ventures into new flavor territory. Eschewing marshmallow creme in favor of pimiento cheese, Sheehan bakes up scrumptious, savory treats that are perfect for a snack board ("girl dinner," anyone?), offer sustenance for game night, and can easily stand in for lunch or grace the table at brunch. Think Hot Pepper Jelly and Cream Cheese Stuffed Muffins, Smash Burger Hand Pies with Cheese, Pepperoni Pizza Galette with Ricotta, or some Butter Crackers with Melty Cheese and Sour Pickles. With classic snackable style, Sheehan also provides a few "shortcut" staples, like Magic Melted Butter Pie Dough and Quickest (yet Tastiest) Caramelized Onions. Fun, playful, and exceptionally delicious recipes, accompanied by gorgeous photographs, make this a must-have book for 2024 and beyond.

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Snacking Bakes

Yossy Arefi

60 accessible, anytime recipes for delectable cookies, cakes, brownies, and bars that need only one bowl and easy-to-find ingredients, from the award-winning author of Snacking Cakes

Snacking Bakes is packed with Yossy’s trademark crave-worthy sweet-and-salty, ooey-gooey excellence—all without the fussiness and dish pile-up in the sink.”—Jenny Rosenstrach, New York Times bestselling author of Dinner: A Love Story

A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Good Housekeeping, Epicurious, Library Journal

Instantly satisfy your cravings with a collection of sweet and savory bakes that are delicious and easy to make. Trusted baker Yossy Arefi promises simple recipes that require minimal effort with big rewards. Almost every treat can be made in under one hour, in one bowl, and with no fancy ingredients or equipment—leaving you with less time in the kitchen and more time for snacking! Its approachable, crowd-pleasing style makes it the perfect introduction to baking too, even for kids. 

Yossy covers all the baked-good bases with recipes that feature a wide range of enticing flavors (even savory!) and are each accompanied by gorgeous photography shot by Yossy herself. 

• Cookies: Magical Peanut Butter Cookies, Monster Cookies, New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies, Blueberry Cornmeal Cookies, Fudgy Sesame Oat Cookies, Snack Attacks, Banana Brownie Cookies
• Bars, Brownies, and Bark: Triple Chocolate Olive Oil Blondies, Blueberry Swirl Blondies, Coconut Cookie Bark, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars, Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Ginger Cherry Oaties
• Cakes and Loaves: Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Cake, Spiced Applesauce Crumb Cake, Brown Sugar Peach Cake, Peanut Butter  Jam Cake, Everything Bagel Biscuit Bread

An expansive companion to Snacking Cakes, Snacking Bakes will satisfy family and friends, bakers and non-bakers alike, with its creative, appealing, and simple delights.

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What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking

Caroline Chambers

RECIPES FOR BUSY PEOPLE WHO LOVE GOOD FOOD

With three little boys less than two years apart and a packed schedule as an online creator, Caroline Chambers often doesn't feel like cooking. Can you relate? When you just can't motivate yourself in the kitchen, this is the book you should reach for.

Inspired by Caro's wildly popular Substack newsletter of the same name, What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking is brimming with efficient recipes that take the guesswork out of dinner--in fact, each one is a complete meal: protein, veg, starch, done! The recipes are organized by the amount of time they take to cook, so whether you have 15 minutes to throw together Peanutty Pork and Brussels or a little bit longer to simmer Turkey Bolognese with Sneaky Veggies, dinnertime is totally doable. On top of that, Caro gives you more ways to choose, so you can search by protein (Chicken thighs waiting in the fridge? Make White Chicken Chili. Nothing but beans in the pantry? Cannellini Caprese with Burrata is it!) or mood (Tomato Farrotto is perfect for a cozy craving, and Crunchy Honey Harissa Fish Tacos are an excellent way to show off). Most importantly, these recipes include Caro's famously extensive swaps, riffs, tips, shortcuts, and more to be sure they work best for you, helping you save money, improvise, and even learn a thing or two. They don't compromise quality or flavor--and they deliver every time. With as few ingredients, steps, and, of course, dirty dishes as possible, dinner awaits!

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Rebel Girls Cook

Rebel Girls Inc

With 100 kid-tested recipes, the first cookbook from the creators of the New York Times bestseller Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls empowers beginning cooks and young rebel chefs-in-training to take charge in the kitchen.

Ever wanted to whip up a fun breakfast with your family on Saturday mornings? Struggled to find simple meals that your kids could cook on their own? Wanted to encourage creativity around food and cooking? This truly kid-friendly cookbook shares tips, tricks, and stories to excite young people 8 and up in the kitchen.

Rebel Girls Cook will guide your kid, whether a seasoned chef or first-time cook, through more than 100 kid-tested recipes, from quick weekday breakfasts to show-stopping desserts—with plenty of vegan and vegetarian options, too. Peppered throughout are fun culinary history facts and advice and charming anecdotes from celebrity chefs like Ali Slagle and Priya Krishna. Rebel girls everywhere will get a boost to their confidence and a feeling of accomplishment after trying new techniques and recipes in the kitchen.

Some recipes that'll wow friends and family:

 

  • Mini German Pancakes
  • Chickpea Tuna Melt
  • Mushroom Onigiri

 

  • Buffalo Chicken Salad
  • Cháo Gà (Vietnamese Chicken and Rice Porridge)
  • Grandma Pizza
  • Australian Fairy Bread
  • Fruit Paletas
  • Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl Banana Bread


With a mixture of doable recipes, helpful photography, and fun illustrations, Rebel Girls Cook will build any young person's skills and confidence in and outside of the kitchen.

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Pastry Workshop

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

"Do you love to bake and decorate? Do you enjoy making treats for friends and family? Perhaps you dream of a career as a baker. This book can help you get started! Read about the history of pastry. Learn about the ingredients, tools, and techniques you'll need for succeess in the kitchen. Then try a few fun and challenging recipes to learn basic skills and develop your own twists on traditional recipes. You'll be amazed at the many ways you can express your creativity in the kitchen" --adapted from back cover.

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Frosting & Icing Workshop

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

This how-to book provides readers with information they need to get started on a career in dessert decorating. Included are the history and cultural significance of frosting and icing; kitchen tools, terms, and techniques; how to become a dessert decorator; and career paths in the dessert decorating industry. Step-by-step recipes help readers practice cooking skills and apply what they've learned. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

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Fast Food Workshop

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

This how-to book provides readers with information they need to get started on a career in the fast-food and fast-casual industries. Included are the history and cultural significance of fast food; kitchen tools, terms, and techniques; how to become a fast-food professional; and career paths in the fast-food and fast-casual industries. Step-by-step recipes help readers practice cooking skills and apply what they've learned. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

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Farm to Fork Workshop

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

This how-to book provides readers with information they need to get started on a career as a chef in the farm to fork movement. Included are the history and cultural significance of sourcing foods locally; kitchen tools, terms, and techniques; how to become a chef; and career paths as a farm to fork chef. Step-by-step recipes help readers practice cooking skills and apply what they've learned. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

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Catering Workshop

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

This how-to book provides readers with information they need to get started on a career in catering. Included are the history and cultural significance of catering; kitchen tools, terms, and techniques; how to become a caterer; and career paths in catering. Step-by-step recipes help readers practice cooking skills and apply what they've learned. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

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Bread Workshop

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

This how-to book provides readers with information they need to get started on a career in baking. Included are the history and cultural significance of breads; baking tools, terms, and techniques; how to become a baker; and career paths in baking. Step-by-step recipes help readers practice baking skills and apply what they've learned. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

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The Complete Small Plates Cookbook

America's Test Kitchen

This complete guide to the wonderfully diverse world of small plates offers practical ways to make spreads that can be sumptuous or streamlined

Making a satisfying array of small plates at home is all about putting the right pieces together. Balance hearty anchor dishes with creative nibbles and bites such as gussied up vegetables, crispy bar snacks, dressed-up cheeses, and more. This collection of recipes is achievable and low-stress, with helpful make-ahead advice and presentation tips. A robust introduction offers suggestions for pairings, taking ease, prep, flavor, and serving temperature into consideration. Planning is key, which we show you how to do with our Game Plan strategies with every recipe, and a useful appendix to turn to when you need.

 

 

  • Bar snacks: For cocktail parties, make small, satisfying morsels such as Smoky Shishito Peppers with Espelette and Lime
  • Nibbles, Little Bites, Heartier Bites: Pair hearty dishes like Pinchos Morunos with littler bites like Fennel, Orange, and Olive Salad, Stuffed Pickled Cherry Peppers, and Southern Cheese Straws, along with store-bought nibbles such as olives and cheese
  • Fully make-ahead: Make many recipes (Pork-Ricotta Meatballs) a day or more ahead of your gathering for fussfree and efficient entertaining
  • Perfect pairings: Balance fresh dishes like Scallops with Asparagus and Citrus Salad with rich Carciofi Alla Giudia
  • One-bite sweet treats: End your evening sweetly with Chocolate–Lemon Truffles or Turkish Stuffed Apricots with Rose Water and Pistachios


Mix and match proteins, deconstruct salads, fry dumplings, make tempting dessert bites. Vegetable Pakoras with Shashlik and Spinach Squares? Yes, please.

 

 

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That Cheese Plate Wants to Party

Marissa Mullen

It’s time to party! This how-to guide will turn any gathering into a cheese-filled opportunity for connection and self-care—from the bestselling author of That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life, “the grande dame of cheese boards” (USA Today).

“The ultimate party planning guide . . . You’re going to love this cookbook I am obsessed with.”—Gina Homolka, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Skinnytaste Cookbook

If you’re in the mood to celebrate life, anything can be a party. There’s nothing like the positive energy of being together, a festive atmosphere, and the spark of laughter and conversation—around the cheese plate, of course. But a party doesn’t have to be a big event; it can just be a mindset. The very act of making a cheese plate builds space for creativity and settles you into a self-care mood, and now, Marissa Mullen takes the art of mindful plating to the next level by turning self-care communal.  

Featuring forty new cheese boards for parties of all kinds, thoughtful drink pairings, color themes, floral arrangement tips, tablescape ideas, playlists, and cheesy party games, this is the ultimate party planning guide. From cheese platters themed around holidays and special events, to dishes like gooey fontina dip and lush buffalo mozzarella caprese, and clever creations like the Thanksgiving Charcu-turkey and the Birthday “Cheese Cake,” these communal meals celebrate the way we connect with each other, and take cheese boards from a dish to a lifestyle. After all: That Cheese Plate Wants to Party.

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Trejo's Cantina

Danny Trejo

A cantina-style celebration of Mexican food and drink, entertaining, and Hollywood culture in 100 recipes for nachos, tacos, and Danger Dogs plus cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks from the legendary actor, restaurateur, and author of the acclaimed Trejo's Tacos

The cantina is the place where families, friends, and colleagues gather to celebrate. In Trejo’s Cantina, beloved actor and restaurateur Danny Trejo shares recipes for snacks and drinks that celebrate his traditions and spirit. Along with mouthwatering recipes that make all people feel welcome, from plant-based (Vegan Tamales) and vegetarian (Fight Night Nachos; Mexican Grilled Caesar) to meaty faves (Chorizo Smash Burgers; Tijuana-Style Birria), there are also dozens of inventive takes on classic cocktails including spicy Margaritas and Oaxacan “Moscow” Mules as well as dozens of thirst-quenching non-alcoholic drinks such as Agua Frescas (Pineapple, Guava Lime, Mango), a Tamarind Fizz, and a Cacao Chile Smoothie.

Danny includes helpful tips like how to build a booze-free bar, how to master the tamale, how to mix-and-match salsas, and much more. He also reminisces about his upbringing in Los Angeles, from barhopping with uncles on Olvera Street to his memories of sneaking into movie theaters to cool off and watching films wide-eyed and inspired.

Danny’s approach to entertaining is accessible, celebratory, and empowering to cooks of all skill levels. Trejo’s Cantina, at its heart, is about living to the fullest, and about how no matter what happens, you need to eat well, drink with gratitude, and celebrate life.

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100 Morning Treats

Sarah Kieffer

Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by NPR, Epicurious, Library Journal, and more, and a Best Cookbook of Spring 2023 by Bon Appetit, Forbes, and more.

From Sarah Kieffer, the beloved baker behind the bestselling 100 Cookies and Baking for the Holidays, and the popular Vanilla Bean Blog, here are 100 recipes for perfect starts to the day.

One hundred morning treats to start your day with smiles: These baking projects will bring delight to your family breakfast, a Sunday brunch or bake sale, a morning at the office, or kids' soccer practice. Whatever your preference alongside your morning cup of coffee or tea--sweet or savory, buttery or flaky, hot off the griddle or taken to go--you'll find a recipe for it here, from coffee cakes to danishes, doughnuts, scones, quick breads, quiches, and muffins galore!

Filled with more than 120 inspiring photographs, including how-tos for doughs and shaping, and instructions for prepping the night before and baking in the morning, 100 Morning Treats is truly a cookbook for all bakers and a must-have for lovers of 100 Cookies and Sarah's inventive recipes.

ACCOMPLISHED AUTHOR: Sarah Kieffer is the beloved blogger behind The Vanilla Bean Blog, past winner of Saveur Reader's Choice Best Baking & Desserts Blog. Her pan-banging cookie technique went viral on the New York Times website. The author of three cookbooks, she has been featured by Food52, The Today Show, Mashable, The Kitchn, America's Test Kitchen, Huffington Post, and more. Sarah also has international reach, having worked with brands like Le Creuset, Betty Crocker, Lodge, Mauviel 1830, Nordicware, Icelandic Provisions, Valrhona, Kerrygold, and more.

DELICIOUS SUCCESS: With more than 130,000 copies sold, 100 Cookies is a resounding success, and the seasonal follow-up, Baking for the Holidays, is beloved by bakers nationwide. 100 Morning Treats returns to another year-round baking book with a variety of accessible, reliable, delicious recipes for a wide range of home cooks. Praise for Sarah's previous books:

100 Cookies:
"Sarah Kieffer is the one who broke the Internet with her pan-banging cookies, large, chocolate-rich, and rippled like sandbars. And this book offers plenty of bangers, with a whole chapter of crinkly treats for those who like to make some noise on the way to dessert. Baking them all could be your winter challenge."
-The Boston Globe

"Kieffer's book is a baker's baking book, but it's also completely unpretentious. There are cookies for when you just want a good cookie, and more ambitious recipes for when you want to attempt palmiers or break out a culinary torch."
--Food & Wine

Baking for the Holidays:
"In this cheerful collection, Kieffer, founder of The Vanilla Bean Blog, shares dozens of sweet recipes perfect for the holiday season. . . . Avid holiday bakers should put this on their wish list."
--Publishers Weekly

SARAH IS KNOWN FOR MORNING BAKES: Sarah got her start baking morning treats in the coffee shops in which she worked. Her very first cookbook, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book, had an entire chapter on morning baking that was well received and well loved. Her readers have been asking for this very book--and now here it is!

GREAT GIFT: With anyone-can-do-it recipes, this is a perfect anytime gift (birthday, Valentine's Day, Easter, housewarming, etc.) alongside a cute apron or baking product. Package this book together with 100 Cookies and Baking for the Holidays to create an adorable 3-in-1 set for a lucky baker in your life.

Perfect for:

  • Home bakers of all levels
  • Fans of Sarah Kieffer's blog, Instagram, or previous cookbooks
  • Owners of Dorie's Cookies, Dessert Person, Snacking Cakes, or Pastry Love
  • Early birds who like to bake
  • Shoppers looking for a hostess or housewarming gift for bakers and breakfast lovers
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The Complete Beer Course

Joshua M. Bernstein

A completely revised, updated, and repackaged second edition of the 2013 bestselling beer guide.



First published in 2013, The Complete Beer Course has helped thousands of beer enthusiasts navigate the vast and often confusing world of beer. Bernstein is back to serve up a second round of insights. He introduces readers to must-know breweries, craft beers, and the industry's rising stars. Each chapter is devoted to a specific beer style and teaches readers how to taste and evaluate a wide selection, especially new beers gaining popularity such as sours and nonalcoholic varieties. Additionally, readers will find up-to-date information on the pandemic's effects on the beer world, expanded coverage of international beers, and the author's top picks for any beer-drinking occasion. If your knowledge of IPAs is a little hazy, then this guide is for you.



Fans of Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer or The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth, who are looking for the most up-to-date information on the world of beer, will find just what they need in this book. Perfect for beer fans everywhere--from casual beer drinkers to homebrew enthusiasts--The Complete Beer Course is the ultimate beer book and makes a great gift for dads, bartenders, or anyone else looking to level up their beer knowledge.

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Baking Yesteryear

B. Dylan Hollis

The #1 New York Times Bestseller

A decade-by-decade cookbook that highlights the best (and a few of the worst) baking recipes from the 20th century

Friends of baking, are you sick and tired of making the same recipes again and again? Then look no further than this baking blast from the past, as B. Dylan Hollis highlights the most unique tasty treats of yesteryear.

Travel back in time on a delicious decade-by-decade jaunt as Dylan shows you how to bake vintage forgotten greats. With a big pinch of fun and a full cup of humor, you'll be baking everything from Chocolate Potato Cake from the 1910s to Avocado Pie from the 1960s.

Dylan has baked hundreds of recipes from countless antique cookbooks and selected only the best for this bakebook, sharing the shining stars from each decade. And because some of the recipes Dylan shares on his wildly popular social media channels are spectacular failures, he's thrown in a few of the most disastrously strange recipes for you to try if you dare.

A few of Dylan's favorites that are going to have you licking your lips and begging for more include:
● 1900s Cornflake Macaroons
● 1910s ANZAC Biscuits
● 1930s Peanut Butter Bread
● 1940s Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
● 1950s Tomato Soup Cake
● 1970s Potato Chip Cookies

Baking Yesteryear contains 101 expertly curated recipes that will take you on a delicious journey through the past. With a larger-than-life personality and comedic puns galore, baking with Dylan never gets old. We'll leave that to the recipes.

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Royal Icing Cookies

Morgan Beck

Craft stunning sweet treats

 

 

Royal icing cookie decoration is the perfect, delicious craft to take any occasion to the next level. Royal Icing Cookies has everything you need to know to make 83 delightful cookie designs, from simple and cute, to complex and stunning. With reliable and delicious cookie dough and icing recipes, you'll always feel confident when it's time to start decorating. Explore various piping, layering, texture, and coloring techniques to make anything, from furry pet portraits to elegant bridal motifs. Sweeten your next social gathering with cookie design sets that will make you everyone's favorite guest!

 

 

 

 

  • Learn 45+ techniques to decorate royal icing cookies with a professional finish, from lettering to 3D texture

  • Cookie designs range from classic holiday and party favorites to versatile themes like florals, witches, plants, outer space, and books

  • Dream up your own cookie sets using the inspiration and design chapter, and bake the perfect cookie every time using Morgan Beck's tried-and-true recipe

 

 

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Brilliant Bites

Maegan Brown

WOW your family and friends with miniature versions of all their favorite foods! These 75 appetizers are easy to shop for and prepare, for effortless, kid-friendly entertaining.
 
In Brilliant Bites, Maegan Brown (aka The BakerMama)—the best-selling author of Beautiful Boards—has created and curated visually exciting and deliciously enticing finger foods for parties and special occasions, breakfast and brunch, everyday snacks and meals, dessert, and her specialty—holiday-themed bites.

Designed to be simple from start to finish, these perfectly portioned apps contain minimal, easy-to-find ingredients, can be enjoyed in one or two bites, and require no plates or utensils—so shopping, eating, and cleanup are a cinch. You’ll have time to relax and enjoy the little things…and bites.

Whatever the occasion, these munchies will have everyone oohing and aahing and begging for more. After all, who can resist cute food? Offering a perfect mix of classic comfort foods and clever concoctions, you’ll be coming back to this essential entertaining reference again and again.

With a stunning photo for each recipe, the bites include:

 

 

  • Eggs Benedict Bites
  • Muffins with Mom Mini Muffins Many Ways
  • Charcuterie Board Cracker Bites
  • Ramen Bites
  • Bacon Mac ’n’ Cheese Jalapeno Bites
  • Banana Split Bites
  • Birthday Cake Cookie Bites with Party Hats
  • Strawberry Shortcake Bites
  • And much more!


Including 11 Savvy Sips—creative cocktails and mocktails to pair with your appetizers—these easy-to-make recipes can be enjoyed alone or mixed and matched to suit the occasion.
 
Whatever you choose from this treasure trove of entertaining ideas, it is guaranteed to make a big impression on your friends and family.

Discover even more inspiring food presentation ideas from The BakerMama in Beautiful Boards and Spectacular Spreads.

 

 

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The Chocolate Chip Cookie Book

Katie Jacobs

From cookie dough milkshakes to chocolate chip cheesecake to the classic recipe that started it all, The Chocolate Chip Cookie Book offers all the tips, tricks, photos, and recipes you need to bake the cookie of your dreams.

Whether you're creating a cozy self-care treat, a celebration for loved ones, or the perfect gift for any occasion, chocolate chip cookies speak to the heart. In The Chocolate Chip Cookie Book, artist and cookie expert Katie Jacobs offers 100 recipes for every gift-giving season and reason, from fancy dinners to lunchbox goodies.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Book offers:

  • 100 recipes, from basic to "Wow, you made this?"
  • Icons that help you identify difficulty levels, tools used, and food sensitivities
  • Delicious vegan, paleo, dairy-free, and gluten-free recipes
  • The secrets and science behind why the same cookie recipe can result in vastly different cookies
  • Gorgeous and helpful photos from the author, who is a contributing photographer for Southern Living, O, Martha Stewart Living, and the Hallmark Channel

Full of chocolate chip cookie how-tos, this beautifully detailed book is for experts, experimenters, and amateurs alike. Add to your baking expertise and dessert inspirations as you discover the cookie of your dreams.

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Snacking Bakes

Yossy Arefi

60 accessible, anytime recipes for delectable cookies, cakes, brownies, and bars that need only one bowl and easy-to-find ingredients, from the award-winning author of Snacking Cakes

Snacking Bakes is packed with Yossy’s trademark crave-worthy sweet-and-salty, ooey-gooey excellence—all without the fussiness and dish pile-up in the sink.”—Jenny Rosenstrach, New York Times bestselling author of Dinner: A Love Story

A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Good Housekeeping, Epicurious, Library Journal

Instantly satisfy your cravings with a collection of sweet and savory bakes that are delicious and easy to make. Trusted baker Yossy Arefi promises simple recipes that require minimal effort with big rewards. Almost every treat can be made in under one hour, in one bowl, and with no fancy ingredients or equipment—leaving you with less time in the kitchen and more time for snacking! Its approachable, crowd-pleasing style makes it the perfect introduction to baking too, even for kids. 

Yossy covers all the baked-good bases with recipes that feature a wide range of enticing flavors (even savory!) and are each accompanied by gorgeous photography shot by Yossy herself. 

• Cookies: Magical Peanut Butter Cookies, Monster Cookies, New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies, Blueberry Cornmeal Cookies, Fudgy Sesame Oat Cookies, Snack Attacks, Banana Brownie Cookies
• Bars, Brownies, and Bark: Triple Chocolate Olive Oil Blondies, Blueberry Swirl Blondies, Coconut Cookie Bark, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars, Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Ginger Cherry Oaties
• Cakes and Loaves: Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Cake, Spiced Applesauce Crumb Cake, Brown Sugar Peach Cake, Peanut Butter  Jam Cake, Everything Bagel Biscuit Bread

An expansive companion to Snacking Cakes, Snacking Bakes will satisfy family and friends, bakers and non-bakers alike, with its creative, appealing, and simple delights.

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The Cookie That Changed My Life

Nancy Silverton

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The eagerly anticipated baking bible from America's most respected authority: 100+ recipes for cookies, cakes, breads, breakfast pastries, and much more.

A Best Book of the Year: NPR, Los Angeles Times, Epicurious


"Nancy Silverton baked a brioche so perfect that it brought Julia Child to tears...Nancy showed us how to strip away the extras and spotlight the essentials. She’s still doing that and we’re all still learning from her." —Dorie Greenspan, author of Dorie's Cookies

Nancy Silverton made her reputation as the original pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck's restaurant Spago. Biting into a particularly delicious peanut butter cookie one day, she and had an epiphany: every single thing we bake should taste this good. And so she decided to return to her roots, and set to work perfecting the rest of the American baking canon.

From Lattice-Topped Apple Pie to Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting (the secret? Carrot puree) to Cornbread (is it too much to ask that it actually taste like corn?), she shares recipes for the platonic ideals of our most beloved baked goods.

Alongside the classics—Lemon Bars, Key Lime Pie, Layered Buttermilk Biscuits—Silverton includes a handful of her own inventions: Double-Decker Chocolate Cookies (double the fun!), Iced Raisin Bars (a better fig newton), and Chocolate Brandy Cake (chocolate and brandy!)—all sure to become future classics. With more than a hundred perfected recipes, The Cookie That Changed My Life is a veritable encyclopedia of the very best things to bake.

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Single AF Cocktails

Ariana Madix

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Celebrate reality television star and beloved bartender Ariana Madix’s journey from heartbreak to empowerment with 60 high-drama cocktails that are as strong and inspiring as she is.
 
When Ariana Madix famously discovered her partner was unfaithful, the incident—known as Scandoval—captivated audiences worldwide. She has now reclaimed her power, channeling her pain into a resounding statement of strength and resilience in Single AF Cocktails, a collection of alluring drinks that follow the trajectory of a relationship that starts beautifully but ends in disaster.
 
The newly solo Ariana serves up her own recipes and perspective in a unique exploration of the stages of a doomed relationship. In her own words, Ariana takes back the narrative of her very public breakup while inspiring others to find inner strength in their own troubles. Each drink tells part of the story from her point of view, from when she first met her ex, through the insidious affair and its painful aftermath, and to her present state, coming out the other side, stronger than before.
 
Cleverly categorized into relationship-inspired sections—Honeymoon Phase, Betrayal, Devastation, Resilience, and Ad Astra—Single AF Cocktails offers a range of boozy concoctions for whatever your mood, from when you feel like burning it all down to when it’s time to rally your ride-or-die squad. You’ll find recipes like Rumors, with dark crème de cassis that floats on top of the drink before bleeding into the spirits below, the way lies may find their way into your relationship, or We Ride at Dawn, a big, bold mezcal margarita that’s equal parts power and healing.
 
Full of stunning, powerful photography and never-before-told stories, Single AF Cocktails is a singular experience for the reader as they ride the rollercoaster of Ariana’s story alongside her. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer to Ariana’s world, Single AF Cocktails promises a captivating and cathartic experience for all.

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Hebridean Baker: at Home

Coinneach MacLeod

International bestselling author The Hebridean Baker shares stories and adventures alongside his best selection of recipes yet. Be whisked away to his island home where he brings delightful dishes to fill your kitchen with Hebridean Hygge. With songs, stories and beautiful photography that will inspire your next visit to the Hebrides.

Fàilte! I'm Coinneach, and this is my Hebridean home...

In my kitchen, flavors become stories, bakes become family favorites and recipes are shared with friends from across the islands. Join me where the rolling hills of the Hebrides meet the rolling pins of my kitchen! For this book, I travelled from Islay, via Barra, Uist, Berneray and Harris before arriving home to Lewis. I've shared recipes and stories that have been handed down through the generations, bakes that celebrate the flavors of Scotland and simple dishes that you can whip up from your store cupboard ingredients.

The Hebridean Baker at Home is filled with comforting cakes and bakes from his Double Dram Cake to Marmalade Shortbread, Fern Cake to Ecclefechan Tarts. Alongside delicious, hearty savory dishes, including Leek Bread & Butter Pudding and Salmon Wellington, which are served up with a chapter full of Celtic recipes and signature Christmas bakes.

Fasten your apron, switch the oven on, and prepare to embark on an adventure that will transport you to the heart of the Hebrides from your very own kitchen. Welcome to my home. Welcome to my kitchen.

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How to Taste Coffee

Jessica Easto

Home coffee-making authority and author of Craft Coffee: A Manual introduces you to the wide world of coffee flavor

Have you ever purchased coffee based on delectable flavor notes--strawberry jam, milk chocolate, hazelnut--only to find none of it in your cup? It's a common experience among coffee lovers.

These days, high-quality coffee can taste all kinds of ways, thanks to roasting techniques that help draw out the qualities of the bean. In addition to that characteristic coffee taste, you really can find hints of fruit, chocolate, and nuts in your cup--all it takes is a little knowledge, a little practice, and the ability to slow down and savor.

That's where How to Taste Coffee comes in. With the same accessible, no-shame approach she took in Craft Coffee, bestselling author Jessica Easto explains why flavor notes are not always as straightforward with coffee as they are with other beverages, such as wine, beer, and spirits. You'll learn how our senses perceive coffee, what creates and affects coffee flavor, and how to practice your sensory skills, using the same tools and resources as coffee professionals.

With nineteen exercises designed to help you identify and talk about what you're tasting, you'll come away with a more developed palate, an improved ability to choose coffee you're going to love, and a better understanding of the astounding complexity contained within these tiny beans.

A must-read for any lover of coffee, How to Taste Coffee inspires readers to taste widely and sip consciously, with more appreciation, more discernment, and a greater sense of wonder.

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Bake Smart

Samantha Seneviratne

New York Time's "The Best Cookbooks of 2023"

Bon Appetit's "The Best 23 Cookbooks: Fall 2023"

Eater's "The 16 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2023"

Tasting Table's "27 Cookbooks We're Looking Forward To In Fall 2023"

NY Mag's "The Best Fall Cookbooks, According to Our Kitchen and Dining Writer"

Simply Recipe's "These 12 New Cookbooks of Fall 2023 Make the Best Gifts"

Oprah Daily's "The Best Cookbooks for Holiday Pie Inspiration"

 

 

Critically acclaimed baking expert and media star Samantha Seneviratne dispels common baking myths and fears--and shares 100 of her favorite irresistible recipes.

 

 

Star baker Samantha Seneviratne wants to tell you the baking secrets of industry pros: You can soften butter in a microwave in seconds, without melting it. Don't bother sifting flour. No stand mixer? No problem--you can mix it by hand. Test the doneness of a cake without toothpicks (who actually has those?). Make a custard with a dump and stir method. Tempering schmempering.

Break free from common baking myths, fears, and unnecessarily fussy procedures, with Bake Smart, filled with Sam's tips and warm reassurances plus 100 stunning, mouth-watering recipes that are surprisingly achievable for any home baker. Chapters are organized by main baking ingredient (Butter; Sugar; Eggs; Flour, Nuts & Cocoa; and Yeast), each starting with a quick intro to break down the fundamentals of baking, as well as core recipes--like Basic Custard, Any-Nut Frangipane, and Rough Puff Pastry--that are easy to master and return to again and again.

And each chapter includes recipes for delicious, modern-yet-timeless sweets:

  • Stuffed S'more Cookies
  • Lemony Hibiscus Doodles
  • Raspberry Rye Balsamic Tart
  • Burnt Caramel Basque Cheesecake
  • Caramelized Banana Cream Cornflake Tart
  • Passion Fruit and Pineapple Upside Down Cake
  • Gianduja Rugelach
  • Maple Tahini Chocolate Skillet Cake
  • Big and Fluffy Lemon and Orange Buns
  • Chocolate Sesame Swirl Bread
  • Linzer Cookies
  • Apricot Cardamom Buns
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Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: A Cocktail Recipe Book

Toni Tipton-Martin

Discover the fascinating history of Black mixology and its enduring influence on American cocktail culture through 70 rediscovered, modernized, or celebrated recipes, by the James Beard Award–winning author of Jubilee.

A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Food Network, Good Housekeeping, Garden & Gun, Epicurious, Vice, Library Journal

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice spotlights the creativity, hospitality, and excellence of Black drinking culture, with classic and modern recipes inspired by formulas found in two centuries’ worth of Black cookbooks. From traditional tipples, such as the Absinthe Frappe or the Clover Leaf Cocktail, to new favorites, like the Jerk-Spiced Bloody Mary and the Gin and Juice 3.0, Toni Tipton-Martin shares a variety of recipes that shine a light on her influences, including underheralded early-twentieth-century icons, like Tom Bullock, Julian Anderson, and Atholene Peyton, and modern superstars, such as Snoop Dogg and T-Pain.

Drawing on her expertise, research in historic cookbooks, and personal collection of texts and letters, Toni Tipton-Martin shows how these drinks have evolved over time and shares the stories of how Black mixology came to be—a culmination of generations of practice, skill, intelligence, and taste.

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Jang

Mingoo Kang

In the first book on the subject in English, South Korea's best chef shows readers how to cook with jangs--the sauces that are the essential building blocks of all Korean cuisine. In the 60 home-cook-friendly dishes, he demystifies jangs while showing how they can be used to make both Korean and Western dishes more delicious. * Named a Best New Cookbook of Spring 2024 by Eater and Epicurious

Like butter in French cooking or olive oil in Italian, jangs are the soul of Korean cuisine. These umami sauces are found in every meal, from soups and stews, to salads, marinades, and even desserts, adding depth and complexity to every dish. The foundation of the three main jangs--gochujang, doenjang, or ganjang--is simple. Soybeans, water, and salt are dried, aged, and fermented in earthenware pots, extracting flavor from their environment and slowly blossoming into intensely flavored jangs. Few understand these ingredients better than chef Mingoo Kang, who has dedicated his Seoul restaurant to the exploration of jangs. In his first cookbook, Kang expertly weaves jangs' history and methods into 60 accessible recipes to bring the sauces to life. Dishes like Fish Dumplings and Gang-Doenjang Bibimbap showcase the sauces' traditional Korean roots, while Western-inspired recipes like Doenjang Crème Brulee and Ssamjang Cacio e Pepe reinvent favorite meals. Through artisan profiles, sidebars, and step-by-step photographs, Jang uncovers one of the culinary world's best-hidden secrets.

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Anything's Pastable

Dan Pashman

The innovative James Beard Award-winning podcaster who changed the way you think about pasta shapes with his invention of the viral sensation cascatelli now does the same for pasta sauces in this fun and charmingly obsessive cookbook, which includes a foreword from bestselling author J. Kenji López-Alt.

When Sporkful podcast host Dan Pashman launched cascatelli, a new pasta shape he invented that he designed to hold tons of sauce, stay on the fork, and be incredibly satisfying to bite into, it went viral and was named one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of the Year. VICE called him "a modern pasta legend."

But as Dan was flooded with pictures of what people were making with his pasta, he was disappointed to see how limited the dishes were: tomato sauce, meat sauce, mac and cheese, over and over. A few party animals made pesto.

So Dan set out to revolutionize people's conceptions of pasta sauces, just as he did with pasta shapes. He traveled across Italy and worked with an all-star team of recipe developers in the US to create a new kind of pasta sauce cookbook for people bored with the old standbys. That's why there's no 3-hour marinara recipe or fresh pasta made from scratch in this book. No photos of nonnas caked in flour or the hills of Tuscany. Instead it's time to show the world--Anything's Pastable.

Here you'll enjoy dishes inspired by a range of ingredients and cuisines:

  • Kimchi CarbonaraCacio e Pepe e Chili CrispKeema BologneseMapo Tofu CascatelliShakshuka and ShellsSmoked Cheddar and Chicken Manicotti "Enchiladas"Linguine with Miso Clam SauceShrimp and Andouille Mac and Cheese

 

Lesser-known Italian pasta dishes with a twist:

 

  • Spaghetti all'Assassina (spicy pasta pan fried until charred and crispy crunchy)Ciceri e Tria (chewy fresh pasta with crispy fried pasta in a light chickpea broth)Cavatelli with Roasted Artichokes and Preserved LemonCreste di Gallo with Fava Beans and Dandelion GreensPasta Frittata

 

Fun and delicious concoctions that may--or may not--be how they do it in Italy:

 

  • Spinach Artichoke Dip Lasagna PinwheelsPasta Pizza (the "crust" is fettucine fused together)Roman Cafeteria Hot Dog Pasta Salad with Canned Veggies

 

With an incredible array of recipes, Dan showcases the limitless pastabilities when you really know how to use your noodle.

 

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Italian Snacking

Anna Francese Gass

From mid-morning coffee break spuntini to aperitivi happy-hour bites, explore the culture of Italian snacks and street foods in this mouthwatering cookbook.

Italian food has captivated our taste buds for centuries. Combining simplicity and creativity, it enchants with an alchemy of high-quality ingredients, recipes tied to the specialties of each region, and the experience of being at the table. There is an entire category of smaller bites--spuntini--meant to be enjoyed at in-between-meal moments of the day. This snack cookbook by Italian food expert Anna Francese Gass introduces the American audience to the complete range of spuntini culture, with recipes drawn from all across the country. She shares recipes for spuntini di meta mattina (mid-morning snacks often enjoyed with a second--or third--coffee); merenda, the cherished after-school treat for children (that also offers adults a way to stave off hunger before dinner); and aperitivi, delightful early-evening Italian appetizers meant to be enjoyed with drinks. Also included is a chapter of delicacies from Italy's robust culture of street food (the one instance where Italians might eat on the go). Studded with gorgeous photography of both finished dishes and Italian food markets, cafes, bars, and pasticcerie, this book will elevate your snacking game to the Italian ideal.



With simple yet creative recipes made from quality ingredients, this Italian cookbook brings the same small plate ethos of books like Snacking Cakes and Brilliant Bites to the spuntini, aperitivi, and street food specialtiesthat define Italy's delightful snacking culture.

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Nourish

Gisele Bündchen

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • World-renowned model and wellness advocate Gisele Bündchen presents 100 delicious and approachable recipes based on everyday ingredients. The cookbook focuses on kickstarting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle while finding balance and intention.
 
Superstar model and philanthropist Gisele Bündchen believes wellness begins with food. At home she chooses lean, healthy proteins and nutrient-rich vegetables; she also believes in eating with flexibility (pizza night with the kids!). This means recipes that are gluten free and rely on body-fueling ingredients like almond flour, avocado oil, and dates.
 
In her cookbook, Gisele provides thoughtful guidance on how to create a routine filled with positive intention, nourishing food, and gratitude to support a healthy lifestyle. The first part of her cookbook walks readers through adjusting to this new mindset and offers practical guidance. Many of the recipes include suggestions for light and hearty pairings, as well as tips for making meals “kid friendly”:
 
Everyday Fruits: Papaya-Almond Smoothie; Acai Bowls; Banana Ice Cream
Breakfast + Breads: Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo); Veggie Frittata; Coconut Milk Two Ways
Salads: Steak Salad; Beet and Arugula Salad with Herby Goat Cheese
Soups: Sneeze-Be-Gone Soup; Ramen-Style Soup with Vegetables
Everyday Vegetables: Summer Rolls with Ginger-Cashew Dipping Sauce; Pizza Night; Pesto Chicken Wrap
Favorite Proteins: Grilled Ribeye with Chimichurri; Sheet Pan Squash and Chickpeas; Chicken Meatballs
Crunchies + Condiments: Maple-Harissa Cashews; Tamari Dressing 3 Ways
Sweets: Pecan Bars; Banana Dream Pie; Carrot Muffins
 
From breaking cycles to journaling and setting intentions, minimizing waste, meal planning, and preparing healthful meals for your kids, Nourish is as much about living with mindfulness as it is about cooking.

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The Ikaria Way

Diane Kochilas

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Diane Kochilas' new cookbook that brings the plant-based cuisine of Ikaria to your dinner table.


Ikaria is an island in Greece where people live to a ripe old age, sometimes living well past 100. Diane Kochilas, host of the television series My Greek Table, is a daughter of Ikaria. The Ikaria Way is her latest cookbook and is filled with easy, contemporary recipes rooted in her background and steeped in the ancient Greek traditions of plant-based cuisine.

As Diane says, Greeks are almost vegan, but they’d never call themselves that. The array of plant-based dishes in the Greek diet is unsurpassed anywhere else in the Mediterranean. Diane’s pantry, and the one she suggests for readers, is culled from the traditions of the Mediterranean and is full of ingredients that have long given food its flavor: herbs, olive oil, nuts, and more. The recipes in The Ikaria Way are simple, almost entirely plant-based, prepared with real food and almost nothing processed, save for the occasional can of tomatoes. Readers will love meze like smoked eggplant with tahini and walnuts or baked chickpeas and pumpkin patties. There are wonderful salads combining strawberries and asparagus and robust mains like white bean stew with eggplant.

The Ikaria Way brings the healthy-eating recipes of an ancient island to readers everywhere. It is destined to take its place alongside Diane’s other books on the shelves of all good home cooks who want healthy eating and robust, delicious flavors on the same plate.

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Something Sweet

Lindsay Grimes

An expert blogger in the world of baking shares 100+ recipes from her signature repertoire for gluten-free desserts.

Spanning cookies, cakes, cupcakes, brownies, bars, pies, crisps, and no-bake treats including fudge and ice cream, this tantalizing collection will inspire home bakers of all ages everywhere. Lindsay Grimes—creator of the blog The Toasted Pine Nut, author of Cauliflower Power, and founder of a line of baking mixes, Good & Gooey—shares 100 of her fabulous recipes for desserts that just happen to be gluten free.

With interest in gluten-free food and home baking at an all-time high, Lindsay’s personal expertise and collection of goodies—which include cakes, cookies, fun projects for kids, and non-bake treats—bring a fresh perspective to this popular subject. Her signature recipes—like brownie brittle ice cream sandwiches, birthday crunch crumble, sweet oat fig galette, cherry pie shortbread bars—are accessible and tantalizing, sure to become new everyday favorites.

100+ RECIPES: Gluten-free recipes that will appeal to bakers of all levels looking for health-conscious inspiration

LEARN FROM AN EXPERT: Expert advice and tips from the creator of The Toasted Pine Nut blog

DELICIOUS, EASY & UNIQUE: Recipes are accessible and feature innovative flavors, modern ingredients, and striking presentations

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Indulge

Valerie Bertinelli

 

 

Beloved actress and New York Times bestselling author Valerie Bertinelli returns with her most indulgent cookbook yet; a collection of 100 recipes to nourish the body and the soul.

 

 

When Valerie Bertinelli turned 60, she said "Enough already!" and ended her battle with the scale for good. She stopped punishing herself for missing goals or slipping at mealtimes. She stopped counting calories. She stopped thinking of certain foods as good or bad. She quit saying no and began saying yes, finally learning how to enjoy the pure pleasure of being alive.

In short, she learned how to indulge.

With this cookbook, Valerie shares her secrets for indulging in the kitchen so her fans can start living their best, most fulfilling lives too. Whether it's splurging on some fresh produce at the farmer's market, cooking an extravagant steak dinner for one, or serving up an ice cream sundae bar at a dinner party, this book is a reminder that indulging can take many shapes and forms.

It will be full of delicious recipes for any hour or occasion, like:

  • Fancy Tea Sandwiches
  • Baby Kale with Crispy Garlic
  • Sausage and Olive Cheese Bites
  • Filet Mignon with Béarnaise Sauce
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter Dates

Written in her familiar, unflinchingly honest style, this cookbook is a direct line to Valerie; fans will turn to it again and again when they want to spoil themselves or someone else. It's a warmhearted permission slip to enjoy food, and more importantly, enjoy life.

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PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking

Carleigh Bodrug

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

Save money, reduce food waste, and eat healthier than you ever have before with this highly anticipated cookbook from New York Times bestselling author and social media sensation, Carleigh Bodrug.

Spinning off of Bodrug's wildly popular Scrappy Cooking social media series, the cookbook is packed with over 150+ whole-food, plant-based recipes that show the reader how to make the most of the food they have in their fridge and pantry with easy and approachable vegan recipes anyone can make.

Transform radish tops into pesto, broccoli stems into summer rolls and wilting greens into smoothie cubes... But that's not all. The book will equip readers with not only the tools to make the most of their scraps, but use up just about any vegetable, grain or bean from their fridge and pantry in the flexible Kitchen Raid Recipes, or cross reference commonly wasted foods like stale bread from a "Got This, Make That" index so these items can be used up in the easiest and most delicious way possible.

Scrappy Cooking not only puts the focus on eating a diet that's more conscious for our environment (and our wallets) but our health as well. Every recipe in the book is vegan, almost entirely oil free, and focuses on whole, plant-based foods that are good for our bodies and the planet. Get ready for recipes like The Whole Darn Squash (Pasta), Skillet Lasagna, One Pan Orzo Casserole, Vodka Penne With Broccolini, Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Chickpea Pot Pie, Orange Peel Chickn', Loaded Tortilla Bowls, Sheet Pan Tacos with Carrot Top Chimichurri, Rebel "Ribs", Veggie Masala Burgers, Palak "Paneer", Vegan Meaty Hand Pies, We-Got-the-Beet Chips, Pickle-Mania Chips, Cornmeal Biscuits, Bang Bang Broccoli-cious Steaks...and more!

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Come Hungry

Melissa Ben-Ishay

 

 

From Melissa Ben-Ishay--the co-founder of Baked by Melissa and creator of the viral Green Goddess Salad--comes an irresistible, veggie-packed cookbook with over 100 flavorful, nourishing recipes to inspire you to eat delicious meals that make you feel great.

 

 

When Melissa Ben-Ishay, the co-founder and CEO of bite-size cupcake empire Baked by Melissa, posted her vegan Green Goddess Salad on TikTok, it became a viral sensation. The recipe exploded online, gaining over 25 million views, landing Melissa on the TODAY Show, and inspiring fans like Cardi B and Lizzo to make their own version of the salad.

After the success of the Green Goddess Salad, Melissa continued to share her finely chopped, vegetable-focused recipes and inspired millions of fans to eat more greens with her flavorful, fresh creations. The meals all highlight Melissa's food philosophy: if you get your nourishment from mealtime, you can absolutely indulge in dessert every day, just like she does.

In Come Hungry, Melissa shares her favorite everyday recipes and tips for creating nourishing, delicious meals the whole family will love. With flavorful ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, Melissa encourages home cooks of all levels to cook outside of their comfort zones and reveals her go-to techniques for creating the perfect bite. Packed with colorful, craveable recipes, Come Hungry offers a wide range of simple dishes for any diet, including:

  • Mediterranean Grain Salad
  • Coffee Shop Sesame Chicken Salad
  • Crunchy Ramen Slaw with Grilled Ribeye
  • Green Veggie Pizza
  • Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake

From her grandmother's kitchen in the Catskills to her in-laws' home on the Mediterranean, Melissa features recipes inspired by meals that have shaped her as a cook and promote a veggie-packed way of eating, from mouthwatering toasts topped with leftovers to filling a pita with flavorful small plates. Ultimately, each and every recipe encourages creativity in the kitchen and invites the reader--as Melissa's family says to guests on their way for dinner--to come hungry.

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Big Bites

Kat Ashmore

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the creator of Kat Can Cook comes 110 simple, nourishing, mostly gluten-free recipes that are big on flavor and reimagine the concept of “healthy food.”

Kat Ashmore’s mission is to empower hungry readers everywhere to feed themselves and their loved ones well and have fun doing it. Rather than focusing on restriction or deprivation, she asks: What can we add to our plates? After she turned to TikTok for a creative outlet, her series of big, meal-in-a-bowl salads, known affectionately as “Hungry Lady Salads,” went viral on social media, and she found a likeminded community of home cooks who wanted to fall in love with cooking again.

In Ashmore's debut cookbook, she shares 110 wholesome, comforting mostly gluten-free recipes that are full of flavor, nourishment, and fun—and meant to be devoured in big bites! With her signature personality and joy, this cookbook is a celebration of nature and seasonality and encourages home cooks to rethink familiar ingredients. From Hungry Lady Salads and weeknight dinners to snacks and desserts, Big Bites shares recipes for

• Breakfasts: Avocado Toast with Hot Honey; Goat Cheese Fried Eggs
• Snacks: Burrata with Roasted Grapes; 5-Minute Tzatziki
• Hungry Lady Salads: Shaved Caesar Salad with Fennel and Crispy Chickpeas; Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Sesame Date Dressing
• Weeknights: Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon; One-Pot Pasta with Chicken Sausage + Broccoli
• Sunday Suppers: The Ultimate Beef Meatloaf with Caramelized Onions and Horseradish; Crispy Cod Cakes with Tartar Sauce
• Veggies + Sides: Salt and Vinegar Smashed Potatoes; Parmesan Roasted Zucchini
• Desserts: Orange Ricotta Company Cake; Extra Fudgy Avocado Brownies
• Secret Weapons: Quick Pickled Red Onions; Any-Green Sauce

Bring joy back into your kitchen with Kat Ashmore and Big Bites!

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Taste of Home Bakeshop Classics

Taste of Home

Life is sweet. Celebrate it! Taste of Home Bakeshop Classics makes it easy. Discover the best recipes and the step-by-step techniques every home cook needs to treat the coffee klatsch, fill the cookie jar, bake up golden breads and master holiday-worthy pies … all with recipes approved by the pros at the Taste of Home Test Kitchen.

Whip up sumptuous layer cakes, insanely decadent brownies, bakery-level Danish and cute cake pops almost too special to eat. They’re all at your fingertips with Bakeshop Classics.

 

  • 240+ Beloved Sweets. Discover the ultimate round-up of craveable treats, from macarons and smash cakes to vintage long johns and upside-down cakes.
  • 300 Gorgeous Color Photos. Find full-color photos and helpful step-by step preparation images throughout.
  • Short & Sweet Icon. Dozens of shortcut dishes made easier with store-bought ingredients are highlighted with this at-a-glance icon.
  • Best Birthday Ever. This bonus chapter is brimming with dozens of sweet sensations for anyone’s big day! Ice cream cakes, birthday cake shooters, and even adorable children’s treats.
  • Nostalgic Seasonal Sweets. Create new memories with your children as you revisit vintage Christmas candies, autumn’s best caramel apples in the fall and the fruity summer classics everyone adores.
  • Café Beverages. Pumpkin Spice Latte, Chai Tea and Creamy Irish Coffee are just some of the coffeehouse specialties you’ll find here. Saving money and dazzling friends has never been easier!
  • QR Codes. Simply scan the codes to watch the Taste of Home Test Kitchen staff put together some of the country’s most popular dishes. Bake with confidence as you follow their lead.
  • Nutrition Facts with Every Recipe. Because it’s important to know what you’re serving family and friends, we’ve included a complete set of nutrition facts with every recipe, plus diabetic exchanges where applicable.


CHAPTERS
Cookies, Brownies & Bars
Cakes & Cupcakes
Pies & Tarts
Pastries
Cheesecakes & Custards
Daily Breads
Muffins & Scones
Coffee Cakes & Sweet Rolls
Cafe Beverages
BONUS: Best Birthday Ever
Nostalgic Seasonal Sweets

 

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The Noom Kitchen

Noom

The only official Noom cookbook! Easy, healthy, nutritious recipes for achieving your health goals deliciously!

Noom is a global phenomenon—their digital health and weight management program has helped millions lose weight and feel better by focusing on the psychology of food and behavior change. The Noom Kitchen—follow-up to Noom’s bestselling book The Noom Mindset—offers spectacularly delicious recipes that make serving health-forward foods easy for cooks of all skill levels. The majority of the recipes focus on using “green foods”, nutritionally dense ingredients that fill you up without weighing you down. With selections like Saucy Pizza-Stuffed Chicken Breast, Spinach & Feta “Hot Pockets,” and Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, The Noom Kitchen applies Noom’s trademark approach to nutrition to help readers:
-Put a healthy twist on favorite foods like french fries, pizza, and dessert
-Cook meals and snacks designed to be portable and storable so you can eat well on-the-go
-Learn new techniques for boosting the nutrient density [and decreasing the caloric density] of any meal

These recipes will appeal to dedicated Noom users and new readers alike, providing accessible culinary guidance for anyone looking to kick-start their health and wellness in the kitchen.

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5 Ingredients Mediterranean

Jamie Oliver

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Jamie's most popular cookbook goes Mediterranean in this mouth-watering follow-up

This edition has been adapted for the US market.

5 Ingredients Mediterranean is everything people loved about the first book, but with the added va-va-voom of basing it on Jamie's lifelong travels around the Mediterranean.

With over 125 utterly delicious, easy-to-follow recipes, it’s all about making everyday cooking super-exciting, with minimal fuss – all while transporting you to sunnier climes.
You'll find recipes to empower you to make incredibly delicious food, but without copious amounts of ingredients, long shopping lists or loads of cleaning up. 65% of the recipes are meat-free or meat-reduced, and all offer big, bold flavor.

With chapters including Salads, Soups and Sandwiches, Pasta, Vegetables, Pies and Parcels, Seafood, Fish, Chicken and Duck, Meat, and Desserts, you’ll find something for every day of the week, and every occasion.

Dishes include:

· Tender smoky eggplant
· Epic prawns & beans
· Rogue ratatouille risotto
· Sizzling squid
· Island salad
· Herby steak & crispy potatoes
· Easy fig tart
· Jools’ chocolate dreams

It's a real celebration of hero Mediterranean flavors and ingredients – quick and easy recipes for exciting everyday cooking.

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Yellowface

R. F. Kuang

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

"Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences... Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American--in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena's a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song--complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

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Summer Reading

Jenn McKinlay

When a woman who’d rather do anything than read meets a swoon-worthy bookworm, sparks fly, making for one hot-summer fling in New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay's new rom-com.

For Samantha Gale, a summer on Martha’s Vineyard at her family’s tiny cottage was supposed to be about resurrecting her career as a chef, until she’s tasked with chaperoning her half-brother, Tyler. The teenage brainiac is spending his summer at the local library in a robotics competition, and there’s no place Sam, who has dyslexia, likes less than the library. And because the universe hates her, the library’s interim director turns out to be the hot-reader guy whose book she accidentally destroyed on the ferry ride to the island.

Bennett Reynolds is on a quest to find his father, whose identity he’s never known. He’s taken the temporary job on the island to research the summer his mother spent there when she got pregnant with him. Ben tells himself he isn't interested in a relationship right now. Yet as soon as Sam knocks his book into the ocean, he can’t stop thinking about her.

An irresistible attraction blossoms when Ben inspires Sam to create the cookbook she’s always dreamed about and she jumps all in on helping him find his father, and soon they realize their summer fling may heat up into a happily ever after.

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Dead of Winter

Darcy Coates

USA TODAY BESTSELLER * JULY 2023 LIBRARYREADS SELECTION

Eight strangers. One killer. Nowhere left to run.

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.

Don't have enough scary books on your shelves?

More bestselling horror from Darcy Coates:

  • From Below
  • Gallows Hill
  • The Haunting of Ashburn House
  • The Haunting of Blackwood House
  • The Haunting of Rookward House
  • The House Next Door
  • The Folcroft Ghosts
  • Hunted
  • The Haunting of Gillespie House
  • Parasite
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None of This Is True

Lisa Jewell

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.


Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

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Happiness Falls

Angie Kim

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • When a father goes missing, his family’s desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another in this thrilling page-turner, a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis from the award-winning author of Miracle Creek.

OPRAH DAILY’S #1 NOVEL OF THE YEAR • A WASHINGTON POST, BOOKPAGE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, NEW YORK POST, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, BOOK RIOT, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY, CRIMEREADS, AND SHE READS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Belletrist Book Club Pick •
Finalist for the New American Voices Award • “This is a story with so many twists and turns I was riveted through the last page.”—Jodi Picoult

“A brilliant, satisfying, compassionate mystery that is as much about language and storytelling as it is about a missing father. I loved this book.”—Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“I fell in love with the fascinating, brilliant family at the center of this riveting book.”—Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful


“We didn’t call the police right away.” Those are the electric first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing.

Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.

What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance. Full of shocking twists and fascinating questions of love, language, and human connection, Happiness Falls is a mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry. With all the powerful storytelling she brought to her award-winning debut, Miracle Creek, Angie Kim turns the missing-person story into something wholly original, creating an indelible tale of a family who must go to remarkable lengths to truly understand one another.

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The Quiet Tenant

Clémence Michallon

NATIONAL BEST SELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR • GMA BUZZ PICK • “A bravura feat of storytelling...daring and completely satisfying.” —James Patterson, #1 best-selling author

A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM: HIS 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, HIS GIRLFRIEND—AND THE ONE VICTIM HE HAS SPARED

"Intelligent and suspenseful." —Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World

“All…of the expected suspense and psychological tension, but offering a story about women—the ones who didn’t know the evil that lurked within, the ones who tried to placate or fight but still perished, the ones who might actually survive. Haunting but never prurient…truly unforgettable.” — Alafair Burke, author of The Wife


Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.

When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

Told through the perspectives of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily, The Quiet Tenant explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life—and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back. Both a searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, The Quiet Tenant is an electrifying debut thriller by a major talent.

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The Ferryman

Justin Cronin

“Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.”—STEPHEN KING
 
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia—where the truth isn't what it seems.

Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera’s lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh. 

Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process—and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he’s been dreaming—which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.

Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group—known as “Arrivalists”—who may be fomenting revolution. 

Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized—and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.

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The Secret Hours

Mick Herron

A gripping spy thriller from the bestselling author of Slow Horses, about a disastrous MI5 mission in Cold War Berlin—an absolute must-read for Slough House fans.

Set in the MI5 world of Slow Horses, now an Apple Original series from Apple TV+ starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.


Two years ago, a hostile prime minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating “historical over-reaching” by the British Secret Service. Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so.

But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain.

Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history.

The Secret Hours is a dazzling entry point into Mick Herron’s body of work, a standalone spy thriller that is at once unnerving, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny. It is also the breathtaking secret history that Slough House fans have been waiting for.

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What You Are Looking for Is in the Library

Michiko Aoyama

A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

A WASHINGTON POST BEST FEEL GOOD BOOK OF 2023

For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a charming, internationally bestselling Japanese novel about how the perfect book recommendation can change a readers' life.

What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo's most enigmatic librarian. For Sayuri Komachi is able to sense exactly what each visitor to her library is searching for and provide just the book recommendation to help them find it.

A restless retail assistant looks to gain new skills, a mother tries to overcome demotion at work after maternity leave, a conscientious accountant yearns to open an antique store, a recently retired salaryman searches for newfound purpose.

In Komachi's unique book recommendations they will find just what they need to achieve their dreams. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is about the magic of libraries and the discovery of connection. This inspirational tale shows how, by listening to our hearts, seizing opportunity and reaching out, we too can fulfill our lifelong dreams. Which book will you recommend?

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And Finally

Henry Marsh

From the bestselling neurosurgeon and author of Do No Harm, comes Henry Marsh's And Finally, an unflinching and deeply personal exploration of death, life and neuroscience.

As a retired brain surgeon, Henry Marsh thought he understood illness, but he was unprepared for the impact of his diagnosis of advanced cancer. And Finally explores what happens when someone who has spent a lifetime on the frontline of life and death finds himself contemplating what might be his own death sentence.

As he navigates the bewildering transition from doctor to patient, he is haunted by past failures and projects yet to be completed, and frustrated by the inconveniences of illness and old age. But he is also more entranced than ever by the mysteries of science and the brain, the beauty of the natural world and his love for his family. Elegiac, candid, luminous and poignant, And Finally is ultimately not so much a book about death, but a book about life and what matters in the end.

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Berlin

Bea Setton

A New York Times Editor’s Choice

“Cinematic and confessional—electric.” —The New York Times

“Written in funny, punchy vignettes perfect for consumption between U-Bahn stops, and a few hours in the presence of Daphne Ferber pay generous spiritual dividends.” —The Washington Post

“A compelling, raw, and thrillingly strange outsider tale of loneliness and deception. Setton is a wonderful writer who, with this sharp debut, adds to the great canon of contemporary anti-heroines.” Mona Awad, author of Bunny

A wickedly insightful, darkly funny novel in which a young woman in the grip of an existential malaise moves to a new city for a fresh start but her attempt at reinvention doesn’t quite go to plan


When Daphne arrives in Berlin, the last thing she expects is to run into more drama than she left behind. Of course, she knew she'd need to do the usual: make friends, acquire lovers, grapple with German and a whole new way of life. She even expected the long nights gorging alone on family-sized jars of Nutella, and the pitfalls of online dating in another language. The paranoia, the second-guessing of her every choice, the covert behaviors? Probably come with the territory.

But one night, when Daphne is alone in her apartment, something strange, unnerving and entirely unexpected intervenes, and life in bohemian Kreuzberg suddenly doesn't seem so cool. Just how much trouble is Daphne in, and who – or what – is out to get her?

Channelling the modern female experience with razor-sharp observation and a trenchant wit, Berlin announces Bea Setton as an electrifying new voice for her generation.

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The Lock-up

John Banville

Mystery
A must-read mystery to curl up with this fall

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER*
A New York Times Editors' Choice

Booker Prize winner and "Irish master" (The New Yorker) John Banville's most ambitious crime novel yet brings two detectives together to solve a globe-spanning mystery

In 1950s Dublin, Rosa Jacobs, a young history scholar, is found dead in her car. Renowned pathologist Dr. Quirke and DI St. John Strafford begin to investigate the death as a murder, but it's the victim's older sister Molly, an established journalist, who discovers a lead that could crack open the case.

One of Rosa's friends, it turns out, is from a powerful German family that arrived in Ireland under mysterious circumstances shortly after World War II. But as Quirke and Strafford close in, their personal lives may put the case--and everyone involved--in peril, including Quirke's own daughter.

Spanning the mountaintops of Italy, the front lines of World War II Bavaria, the gritty streets of Dublin and other unexpected locales, The Lock-Up is an ambitious and arresting mystery by one of the world's most celebrated authors.

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Old God's Time

Sebastian Barry

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

Named a Best Book of 2023 by the New Yorker, Washington Post, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews

“You should be reading Sebastian Barry. [He] has a special understanding of the human heart.” The Atlantic


“A prose stylist of near-miraculous skill. . . Barry reaches deep into the messenger bag of mystery fiction and turns the whole business inside out . . . marvelous.” The Washington Post

“An unforgettable novel from one of our finest writers.” —Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain


From the five-time Booker Prize nominee and 2018-2021 Laureate for Irish Fiction, a virtuosic, profound novel exploring love, memory, grief, and long-buried secrets


Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return of his family: his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe. But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

A beautiful, haunting novel in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God's Time is about what we live through, what we live with, and what may survive of us.

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