BOOKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Whatever you enjoy, YPL has something for you.
Spotlight Books for Fall
Fiction
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell England, 1580: The Black Death creeps across the land, an ever-present threat, infecting the healthy, the sick, the old and the young, alike. The end of days is near, but life always goes on. A young Latin tutor—penniless and bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever. |
Memoir
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey A chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her former stepfather, and the moving, intimate story of a poet coming into her own in the wake of a tragedy At age nineteen, Natasha Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Grieving and still new to adulthood, she confronted the twin pulls of life and death in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma and now explores the way this experience lastingly shaped the artist she became. |
Non-Fiction
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day.
In Case You Missed It!
Spotlight Books for August
Fiction:
New fiction by authors J. Courtney Sullivan, James Lee Burke, Fiona Davis, and Brit Bennett.
Fiction:
New fiction by authors J. Courtney Sullivan, James Lee Burke, Fiona Davis, and Brit Bennett.
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Non-Fiction:
New non-fiction by Bonnie Tsui, Dan Hampton, and Sara Seager.
New non-fiction by Bonnie Tsui, Dan Hampton, and Sara Seager.
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New fiction by favorite authors:
John Grisham, David Baldacci, Ann Tyler, Sue Monk Kidd and more. Check out Echo Mountain by
local author Lauren Wolk or Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles, author of News of the World.
John Grisham, David Baldacci, Ann Tyler, Sue Monk Kidd and more. Check out Echo Mountain by
local author Lauren Wolk or Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles, author of News of the World.
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Also well-received newer voices, you might enjoy:
Sahar Mustafah, The Beauty of Your Face Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age |
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For biography fans:
Instead of watching baseball, you might try Lou Gehrig,: The Lost Memoir with a biographical essay. Or perhaps 24: Life stories and lessons from the Say Hey Kid by Willie Mays.
There’s also Pelosi by Molly Ball or The House of Kennedy by James Patterson, if you haven’t had enough of politics.
If you prefer your politics historical, try John Adams under Fire by Dan Abrams, about Adams’ attempt to get a fair trial for the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. If you like your politics fanciful, you could try Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, in which Hillary and Bill don’t get married and then what?
Instead of watching baseball, you might try Lou Gehrig,: The Lost Memoir with a biographical essay. Or perhaps 24: Life stories and lessons from the Say Hey Kid by Willie Mays.
There’s also Pelosi by Molly Ball or The House of Kennedy by James Patterson, if you haven’t had enough of politics.
If you prefer your politics historical, try John Adams under Fire by Dan Abrams, about Adams’ attempt to get a fair trial for the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. If you like your politics fanciful, you could try Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, in which Hillary and Bill don’t get married and then what?
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