Spring Book Preview Archives

The Sweet Spot

by Amy Poeppel

I'm a longtime Amy Poeppel fan; we've even enjoyed chatting with her in MMD Book Club about reading and writing funny books. She excels at writing big-hearted multigenerational family fiction. This focuses on an endearingly eccentric family that lives in a Greenwich Village brownstone and the titular neighborhood bar that operates in the basement. I googled and mapped my way through this book and so enjoyed zooming in for visuals on the book's very real locations. If you enjoyed Musical Chairs, this is very much in the same vein: delightfully chaotic with an absolutely soaring ending.

Gone Like Yesterday

by Janelle M. Williams

From the publisher: "A lyrical debut novel that asks what we owe to our families, what we owe to our ancestors, and what we owe to ourselves. Janelle M. Williams’s Gone Like Yesterday employs magical realism to explore the majestic and haunting experience of being a Black woman in today’s America."

Pineapple Street

by Jenny Jackson

From the publisher: "A deliciously funny, sharply observed debut of family, love, and class, this zeitgeisty novel follows three women in one wealthy Brooklyn clan."

The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents

by Lisa Damour

An urgently needed guide to help parents understand their teenagers’ intense and often fraught emotional lives—and how to support them through this critical developmental stage—from the New York Times bestselling author of Untangled and Under Pressure.

Stone Cold Fox

by Rachel Koller Croft

From the publisher: "A perfectly wicked debut thriller about an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country's wealthiest families."

The Porcelain Moon

by Janie Chang

From the publisher: "From the critically acclaimed author of The Library of Legends comes a vividly rendered novel set in WWI France about two young women—one Chinese, one French—whose lives intersect with unexpected, potentially dangerous consequences."

I Have Some Questions for You

by Rebecca Makkai

Jennifer Egan, author of Candy House says, "Part boarding school drama, part forensic whodunit, I Have Some Questions for You is a true literary mystery—haunting and hard to put down." I loved it for the narrative voice, which felt exactly right for this twisty and conflicted campus tale. At the story's opening, professional podcaster and erstwhile professor Bodie Kane is summoned back to her New Hampshire boarding school to teach a short course on podcasting for high school students. She tasks them with creating their own podcasts for the course, and—even though she knows she shouldn't—she pushes the students to create a true crime show investigating the long-ago murder of a Granby School student, who happened to be Bodie's roommate back then. Smart, timely, and unputdownable. I also recommend this on What Should I Read Next Episode #360: A high-stakes family reading competition.

Hello Beautiful

by Ann Napolitano

I utterly adored my first Napolitano read. (I remain too terrified of plane crash stories to read Dear Edward.) The author describes her homage to Little Women as "the story of one young man, four sisters, the secrets that threaten to shatter their family, and a love powerful enough to heal it.” I fell completely in love with the Padavano family, and enjoyed seeing how the characters grew and evolved over the decades and generations. The Chicago setting was also a lot of fun. (I did so much googling for places and locations!) Readers, there are A LOT of difficult things in these pages: it might break your heart, but know that ultimately, it's a redemption story.

Symphony of Secrets

by Brendan Slocumb

From the publisher: From the celebrated author of book club favorite The Violin Conspiracy: A gripping page-turner about a professor who uncovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time—that his music was stolen from a young Black composer named Josephine Reed. Determined to uncover the truth and right history’s wrongs, Bern Hendricks will stop at nothing to finally give Josephine the recognition she deserves."

Spring Book Preview

a gateway

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summer reading starts May 16th