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Week of September 22, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of September 22nd include INTERMEZZO, an exquisitely moving story about grief, love and family --- but especially love --- from Sally Rooney; GOING HOME IN THE DARK by Dean Koontz, a novel about childhood fears and buried secrets that threaten to be unearthed when hometown horrors come back to haunt; H. W. Brands' AMERICA FIRST, which recounts the fierce debate over America's role in the world in the runup to World War II through its two most important figures --- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who advocated intervention, and his isolationist nemesis, aviator and popular hero Charles Lindbergh; SHE-WOLVES, in which award-winning historian Paulina Bren tells the propulsive story of how women infiltrated Wall Street from the swinging '60s to 9/11; and the paperback original FAMOUS by Blake Crouch, a darkly comedic psychological suspense novel about a man who goes to terrifying extremes to adopt his celebrity doppelgänger's life.

Week of September 15, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of September 15th include THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO MURDER by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White, a locked-room whodunit in which three very different American novelists become prime suspects when a famous writer is found dead in the book-lined study of a remote Scottish castle; Rumaan Alam's ENTITLEMENT, a riveting tale for our new gilded age --- a story that confidently considers questions about need and worth, race and privilege, philanthropy and generosity, passion and obsession; KEEPING THE FAITH by Brenda Wineapple, the dramatic story of the 1925 Scopes trial, which captivated the nation and exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today; and the paperback original MIDNIGHT BURNING, Paul Levine's gripping thriller featuring Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin, who are determined to thwart a Nazi scheme involving an armed insurrection and the assassinations of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Week of September 8, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of September 8th include THE MEDICI RETURN, the 19th installment in Steve Berry's series starring Cotton Malone, who is on the hunt for a forgotten 16th-century Pledge of Christ, a sworn promise made by Pope Julius II that evidences a monetary debt owed by the Vatican; Haruki Murakami's THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS, which is a love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for our peculiar times; BONE OF THE BONE, a searing and insightful volume of the brilliant and provocative essays that established Sarah Smarsh as one of the most important commentators on America’s class problem; and the paperback original THE GRAVE ARTIST, the second entry in Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado's series featuring Homeland Security Investigations agent Carmen Sanchez and her partner, security expert Jake Heron, who uncover chilling evidence pointing to a serial killer who has taken evil to the next level.

Week of September 1, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of September 1st include YOU LIKE IT DARKER, a collection of 12 short stories from the legendary Stephen King that delves into the darker part of life --- both metaphorical and literal --- many of which have never been published before; THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE by Matt Haig, a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning, filled with wonder and wild adventure; BATTLE MOUNTAIN, C. J. Box's 25th Joe Pickett thriller that finds outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski off the grid and out for revenge; WE'RE ALONE, a collection of exceptional essays that traces a loose arc from Edwidge Danticat’s childhood to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent events in Haiti; and the paperback original PLEASE DON'T LIE by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt, a stylish and twisty thriller in which a young woman heads to the Adirondacks with her new husband for a fresh start --- but the past won’t let her go.

Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger

A few nights before Halloween, as Cork O’Connor gloomily ruminates on his upcoming birthday, he receives a call from his son, Stephen, who is working for a nonprofit dedicated to securing freedom for unjustly incarcerated inmates. Stephen tells his father that decades ago, as the newly elected sheriff of Tamarack County, Cork was responsible for sending an Ojibwe man named Axel Boshey to prison for a brutal murder that Stephen is certain he did not commit.

August 23, 2025

August is a month where what’s happening depends on where you live. Some of the country is back in school --- cue cute kids in first-day-of-school outfits with their chalkboard dreams on social media. Others are trudging home from camp with dirty laundry and heading to family summer vacation.

As I live in the New York area, I think of September as the month for a mini-reset. It does not bring the resolutions of January, but there are renewed goals. One might be “never miss book group” or “be sure to read the book.”

Garrett M. Graff, author of The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb

The building of the atomic bomb is the most audacious undertaking in human history: a rush by a small group of scientists and engineers in complete secrecy to unlock the most fundamental power of the universe. Even today, 80 years later, the Manhattan Project evokes boldness, daring and the grandest of dreams: bringing an end to World War II in the Pacific. THE DEVIL REACHED TOWARD THE SKY is the panoramic narrative of how ordinary people grapple with extraordinary wartime risks, sacrifices and choices that will transform the course of history. Drawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, diaries and transcripts from across the US, Japan and Europe, Garrett M. Graff masterfully blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown.

Katherine Faulkner, author of The Break-In

Alice, a professional mother of one, is hosting a playdate with friends at her upscale London home when a disturbed man breaks in. With her child in the next room, Alice panics and kills him --- an act later ruled to have been in self-defense. Everyone tries to encourage Alice to move on with her life. But with strange comments appearing online, a mysterious phone call telling her all is not as it seems, and her husband, nanny and friends behaving strangely, Alice finds herself drawn to the mystery of who her intruder really was. As she digs deeper, she discovers a trail of dark secrets that spiral closer to home than she ever could have imagined.

Fannie Flagg, author of Something to Look Forward To: Fictions

Fannie Flagg once said that what the world needs now is a good laugh. And that is what she gives us in these warmhearted, always surprising stories about people who are finding clever ways to deal with the curveballs life sometimes throws at us. Velma in Kansas, a loving great-grandmother, struggles to bridge generational gaps with her family. We cheer for Helen, in Ithaca, New York, who takes an audacious course of action when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. In Bent Fork, Wyoming; in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; in Tucson, Arizona; and in towns and cities all across America, people figure out inventive ways to overcome obstacles to happiness. And in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Special Agent Frawley is studying the mysteries of being human from an original perspective.

Sharon Kurtzman, author of The Lost Baker of Vienna

In 2018, Zoe Rosenzweig is reeling after the loss of her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. She becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to her family during the war. Vienna, 1946: Chana Rosenzweig has endured the horrors of war to find herself, her mother and her younger brother finally free in Vienna. But freedom doesn’t look like they’d imagined it would, as they struggle to make a living and stay safe. Despite the danger, Chana sneaks out most nights to return to the hotel kitchen where she works as a dishwasher, using the quiet nighttime hours to bake her late father’s recipes. Soon, Chana finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle, torn between the black-market dealer who has offered marriage and protection, and the apprentice baker who shares her passions. How will Chana balance her love of baking against her family’s need for security?

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