Adult

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the 20th century --- and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. A semifinalist for the National Book Award, DUKE peels away countless layers of Ellington’s evasion and public deception to tell the unvarnished truth about this creative genius.

Pat Conroy's great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. While the publication of THE GREAT SANTINI brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal.

The questions have haunted our nation for half a century: Was the President killed by a single gunman? Was Lee Harvey Oswald part of a conspiracy? Did the Warren Commission discover the whole truth of what happened on November 22, 1963? Philip Shenon, a veteran investigative journalist who spent most of his career at The New York Times, finally provides many of the answers.

When a new toy shop’s opening goes terrifyingly awry, Samuel Johnson must gather a ragtag band of dwarfs, policemen, and very polite monsters to face down the greatest threat the Multiverse has ever known --- not to mention assorted vampires, a girl with an unnatural fondness for spiders, and highly flammable unfriendly elves.

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful Internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime --- even as life beyond work grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

Back in the day --- 17 years ago, to be exact --- Helen Fielding and her thirtysomething, potty-mouthed, diary-keeping singleton practically invented Chick Lit. There was a sequel in 1999, then nothing. Now our desperate, ditzy heroine is back, still obsessing over her weight and still looking for love.

BECOMING MR. OCTOBER is a revelatory self-portrait of baseball icon Reggie Jackson at the height of his public fame and private anguish. Filled with anecdotes about the notorious “Bronx Zoo” Yankees of the late 1970s and bluntly honest portrayals of his teammates and competitors, this is baseball history as can be told only by the man who lived it.

Troubled young actor Nelson lands a starring role in a revival of The Idiot President, a legendary play by his hero. The tour across his South American country whisks him out of the shelter of the city and across a landscape he has never seen. With each performance, Nelson grows closer to his fellow actors until, during one memorable performance, a long-buried betrayal surfaces to force the troupe into chaos.

Dex is relieved when Rachel agrees to help him write a letter to a mail-order bride, but her lessons leave him wondering if the bride he’s been searching for has been here all along. LOVE BY THE LETTER is a companion novella to A BRIDE FOR KEEPS, Melissa Jagears's full-length debut novel available in October. Included here is an extended sneak peek at A BRIDE FOR KEEPS.

Miranda Woodruff, star of the homebuilding TV show "From the Ground Up," has built a perfect --- but fake --- life for herself onscreen. When a handsome reporter starts shadowing Miranda's every move, all his digging into her personal life brings him a little too close to the truth --- and to her. Will the life she's built come crashing down when she falls in love for real?