1. All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks.
The renowned scholar, cultural critic and feminist skewers our view of love as romance by exploring a path to love that is sacred, redemptive and healing. She offers a proactive ethic for a society bereft of care, compassion and unity by asking “what is love?”
2. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.
A hilarious and heartbreaking memoir of a Nickelodeon star with an overbearing stage mother determined to control every aspect of her life. When the dream comes true, life becomes ever more unmanageable. Only after her mother dies can she embark on recovery. An inspiring story told with candor and dark humor.
3. Love in the Time of Time’s Up edited by Christina Sneed.
Sixteen authors explore what it means to be a woman in the era of Me Too and Time’s Up. From the groves of academia and the elevators of corporate America, these stories offer a blend of humor and horror, heartache and rueful recrimination.
4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
A reclusive Hollywood icon enlists Monique, an unknown reporter, to write the story of her life: glamor, scandal and the seven husbands. The ambitious Monique uncovers a life that intersects with her own in tragic and irreversible ways.
5. The Marsh Queen by Virginia Hartman.
Loni, an accomplished artist, is summoned back to small town Florida on a potentially dangerous quest to confront family secrets about her father’s death. At the same time, the simple charm of a local man threatens to pull her further away from her world.
6. She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harrassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
The untold story of the two New York Times investigative journalists who broke the story of Harvey Weinstein. Starting in 2017, after years of rumors, they began interviewing actresses and employees, tracking down a web of secret payouts and nondisclosure agreements. Their journey tells the story of the power of truth.
7. Do Everything: The Biography of Frances Willard by Christopher H. Evans.
The story of one of the most prominent women’s rights activists of the late 18th century. An Evanston resident, she founded the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, campaigning for prohibition, suffrage and Christian socialism. Evans tells her story and investigates why, despite crafting a culture of women’s leadership, her legacy has been eclipsed by subsequent generations of feminist reformers.
8. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy.
A salvage diver, haunted by fear and loss, finds the remains of a sunken plane. With the black box and a body missing, he faces a conspiracy beyond his comprehension. He’s shadowed by the legacy of his father, an inventor of the atom bomb, and by the love of his sister. A novel of science and morality. The first of two companion novels, the next to be published in December..
9. Suspect by Scott Turow.
Pinky has almost gained respectability as a P.I. when she and her boss, Rik, dive into a twisted scandal to clear a female police chief. They hope the case will propel them into the legal big leagues. Pinky must unravel not only the criminal and police underworlds, but also the dark secrets of those closest to her.
10. Lucy By the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.
In the early days of the pandemic, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and longtime friend, William. Then it’s just Lucy, William and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea. They will not emerge unscathed.
