Bookshelf

(Mendota Heights, Minn.: North Star Editions, 2021) 

This middle-grade novel is a thoughtful exploration of allyship, family, and love that resonates with readers of all ages. It tells the story of Maisie, a young artist who must decide not only if saving her family’s struggling art shop is worth it, but if she can forgive her parents for past mistakes. The author studied creative writing at Hamilton and began drafting the book as part of her senior thesis. The novel won an Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY). 

(Newbury, Mass.: Sparrow Press, 2022)

The author shares her heart-wrenching story of growing up in a family of wealth but lacking in love and support. As one reviewer noted, “Artist Helen Morse’s gripping and revealing memoir, The Difficult Girl, is an astonishing story of the improbable survival of a sensitive child exposed to generational horrors, success, privilege, and abuse, all behind the gilded walls of a story F. Scott Fitzgerald’s characters Gatsby and Daisy might relate to.”

(Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Publishing, 2022)

According to the publisher, the book explores “the proliferation of food-themed television shows, documentaries, and networks; the booming popularity of celebrity chefs; unusual, exotic, decadent, creative, and even mundane food trends; and cultural celebrations of food, such as in festivals and music.”

(New York: Ballantine Books, 2022)

A young woman returns home to care for her dying father whose brain disease has awakened strange hallucinations. As she faces her dad’s illness and other family issues, the protagonist also finds herself dealing with the mysterious disappearance of her best friend from high school. According to the publisher, “Set against the backdrop of a small town in the throes of a very real opioid crisis, Unlikely Animals is a tragicomic novel about familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrecting that which had been thought irrevocably lost.”

(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2022).
In 1739, Bordeaux’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest for the best essay addressing the following question: “What is the physical cause of the Negro’s color, the quality of [the Negro’s] hair, and the degeneration of both [hair and skin]?” The academy’s members were interested in obtaining essays that solved the riddle of Africans’ distinctive physical traits. More broadly, they wanted to know who is Black and why, and what being Black signified.

(New York: Orchard Books/Scholastic, 2022)

Can you count to zero? The author of 16 books for kids takes readers on a wild animal safari counting one wallaby, two tuna, three thrushes, four frogs, but absolutely zero zebras. Kids will realize the infinite possibilities of counting what is and isn’t on the page. This colorful book is filled with charming illustrations by Julien Chung.

(New York: Bloomsbury, 2021).
The Court of Thorns and Roses series continues with this latest adult fantasy novel from the best-selling author who also brought us the popular Throne of Glass series. According to the publisher, “Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance — and healing — in each other’s arms.”

(Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Blackwell, 2021)
Part of the Blackwell Guides to Classical Literature series, this book “explores the language of Latin poetry while helping readers understand the socio-cultural context of the remarkable period of Roman literary history in which the poetry was composed. With an innovative approach to this important area of classical scholarship, the authors treat elegy alongside lyric as they cover topics such as the Hellenistic influences on Augustan poetry, the key figures that shaped the elegiac tradition of Rome, the motifs of militia amoris (‘the warfare of love’) and servitium amoris (‘the slavery of love’) in Latin love elegy, and more,” according to the publisher.

(Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2021)
According to the publisher, “Over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, the increasing accuracy and legibility of cartographic projections, the proliferation of empirically based chorographies, and the popular vogue for travel narratives served to order, package, and commodify space in a manner that was critical to the formation of a unified Britain. In tandem with such developments, however, a trenchant anti-cartographic skepticism also emerged. This critique of the map can be seen in many literary works of the period that satirize the efficacy and value of maps and highlight their ideological purposes.”

The author, an associate professor of English at Hofstra University, argues that our understanding of the production of national space during this time must also account for these sites of resistance and opposition to hegemonic forms of geographical representation, such as the map.

(Seattle: ChangeStart Press, 2020)
According to the publisher: “This book shines a light on an under-reported issue — senior leadership neglect in preparing the bosses to whom they delegate the task of managing the organization’s people. Some funny, some sad, and some inspirational true stories of worker experiences clearly reveal the impact of management behavior on individual and team engagement.”

By introducing readers to bad and ugly bosses, as well as exemplary ones, the author analyzes why managerial competence is so urgent at a time when the workplace and the workforce are changing and evolving. Now more than ever, bosses must be equipped with essential human relations skills and the ability to nurture talent and provide a safe environment for fostering innovation and creativity.