Adult

PEDIGREE is a memoir, written in 2005 and now translated from the French, by Patrick Modiano, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize for literature. The book focuses on Modiano’s first 21 years, from 1945 to 1966, and includes ruminations on events he has explored in his fiction --- from his father’s shady business dealings during and after World War II to the years Modiano spent in boarding schools, and the books and films that shaped him as writer.

Jep Robertson, the youngest son of Duck Commander Phil Robertson, and his wife, Jessica, open up about their personal trials, their early years together, and the challenges that might have destroyed them both had the grace of God not intervened. Jep describes being molested as a child and his reluctance to tell anyone until only a few years ago, his downward spiral into drug and alcohol abuse, and the eventual intervention of his family. Jessica shares about the difficult failure of her first marriage while still a teenager and the hurt that came along with it, much of it from the church.

For a young generation where many have said "count me out,” a church community represents a complicated relationship of both longing and apathy. In SEARCHING FOR SUNDAY, noted author Rachel Held Evans exposes her own thorny relationship with the church, articulating the concerns, frustrations and hopes of many peers. Find the beginnings of a roadmap back to church and the resurrection that awaits when we are willing to begin again.

Every week, millions of devoted fans tune in to or download "This American Life," "The Moth," "Radiolab," "Planet Money," "Snap Judgment," "Serial," "Invisibilia" and other narrative radio shows. Using personal stories to breathe life into complex ideas and issues, these beloved programs help us to understand ourselves and our world a little bit better. Each has a distinct style, but every one delivers stories that are brilliantly told and produced. OUT ON THE WIRE offers an unexpected window into this new kind of storytelling --- one that literally illustrates the making of a purely auditory medium.

One day, the preschool office calls and says Janie needs to come in to talk about her four-year-old son, Noah. And life as she knows it stops. For Jerome Anderson, life as he knows it has stopped. A deadly diagnosis has made him realize he is approaching the end of his life. He spent his life searching for that something else. And with Noah, he thinks he's found it. Soon Noah, Janie and Anderson will find themselves knocking on the door of a mother whose son has been missing for eight years --- and when that door opens, all of their questions will be answered.

Beginning with the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, AND I STILL RISE explores the last half-century of the African American experience. More than 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the birth of Black Power, the United States has both a black president and black CEOs running Fortune 500 companies --- and a large black underclass beset by persistent poverty, inadequate education and an epidemic of incarceration. Harvard professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. raises disturbing and vital questions about this dichotomy.

By Winston Churchill’s own admission, victory in the Second World War would have been “impossible without her.” Until now, however, the only existing biography of Churchill’s wife, Clementine, was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story, revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR’s initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain’s close relationship with America. It also provides a surprising account of her relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt and their differing approaches to the war effort.

Kateryn Parr, a 30-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives --- King Henry VIII --- commands her to marry him. Despite being a leader of religious reform and the first woman to publish in English, Kateryn cannot save the Protestants, under threat for their faith, and Henry’s dangerous gaze turns on her. The traditional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy. The punishment is death by fire, and the king’s name is on the warrant.

Mother’s Rest is a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes Reacher for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal. Before long, Reacher is plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco, and ultimately back to Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine.

On the morning of August 31, 1984, in the South Central section of Los Angeles, three armed men broke into a house, brutally murdering two women and two young boys. The victims were Ebora Alexander, Dietra Alexander, Damani Garner and Damon Bonner --- the mother, sister and nephews of retired All-Pro cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers Kermit Alexander. In his own words, Kermit finally shares the full story of what happened to his loved ones and the aftermath of that tragic day.