Sunday, February 1

BOOKS

Silent Book Club: A Time To Get Away From It All
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BOOKS

Silent Book Club: A Time To Get Away From It All

It’s a guilt-free way to block out time in your schedule to do nothing but read. Shhhh! Silent book clubs are in session all across the United States. According to an Aug. 12 National Public Radio report on the subject, Guinevere de la Mare co-founded the Silent Book Club organization with Laura Gluhanich in 2012 because the two were annoyed by the demanding imperatives of traditional book clubs. In chroniclebooks.com’s “How to Start a Silent Book Club,” de la Mare offered: “It’s a guilt-free way to block out time in your schedule to do nothing but read. It’s the gift of stepping away from the computer and the god-awful news for a couple of hours to simply relax with a book.” SBC currently recognizes 70 active chapters (no book pun intended). Rules are loose and simple: ‒ Arrive...
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A Thriller Of Deception, Betrayal, And Vengeance, The New Girl
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A Thriller Of Deception, Betrayal, And Vengeance, The New Girl

Now you see her. Now you don’t. THE NEW GIRL. A thriller of deception, betrayal, and vengeance. She was covered from head to toe in expensive wool and plaid, the sort of stuff one saw at the Burberry boutique in Harrods. She carried a leather bookbag rather than a nylon backpack. Her patent leather ballet slippers were glossy and bright. She was proper, the new girl, modest. But there was something else about her … At an exclusive private school in Switzerland, mystery surrounds the identity of the beautiful raven-haired girl who arrives each morning in a motorcade fit for a head of state. She is said to be the daughter of a wealthy international businessman. In truth, her father is Khalid bin Mohammed, the much-maligned crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Once celebrated for his daring social a...
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From The Number-One New York Times Best-Selling Author Of The Martian – An Incredible New Science-Based Thriller
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From The Number-One New York Times Best-Selling Author Of The Martian – An Incredible New Science-Based Thriller

Project Hail Mary (Unabridged) By Andy Weir A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this incredible new science-based thriller from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Martian. Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ...
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The Final Novel Of One Of America’s Most Beloved Writers
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The Final Novel Of One Of America’s Most Beloved Writers

A Penguin Classic The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers—a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American.” Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous ...
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Do You Love Soapy Historical Dramas? You Need Taylor Jenkins Reid
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Do You Love Soapy Historical Dramas? You Need Taylor Jenkins Reid

Do you love soapy historical dramas, but are getting tired of Regency fashion and world wars? You need Taylor Jenkins Reid. The author follows up her dishy love letter to ‘70s rock, Daisy Jones & the Six, with a beachside melodrama set over one August weekend in 1983. Even though her failed marriage is all over the tabloids, supermodel Nina Riva feels obliged to throw her annual blowout party. All three of Nina’s siblings are dealing with romantic baggage, too—including a love triangle involving both of her brothers. Reid also flashes back to the whirlwind 1950s romance of the pack’s parents—teenage waitress June and aspiring rocker Mick Riva—and tracks them through the implosion of their marriage. And we’re treated to vignettes of the bad behavior of guests at the Riva’s boozy-drug...
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E L James Revisits The World Of Fifty Shades With A Deeper And Darker Take On The Love Story
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E L James Revisits The World Of Fifty Shades With A Deeper And Darker Take On The Love Story

Relive the sensuality, the romance, and the drama of Fifty Shades Freed through the thoughts, reflections, and dreams of Christian Grey. E L James revisits the world of Fifty Shades with a deeper and darker take on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the globe. You are cordially invited to the wedding of the decade, when Christian Grey will make Anastasia Steele his wife. But is he really husband material? His dad is unsure, his brother wants to organize one helluva bachelor party, and his fiancée won't vow to obey… And marriage brings its own challenges. Their passion for each other burns hotter and deeper than ever, but Ana's defiant spirit continues to stir Christian's darkest fears and tests his need for control. As old rivalries and resentments endanger ...
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Golden Girl Is A Beach Book Unlike Any Other
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Golden Girl Is A Beach Book Unlike Any Other

In this moving romantic fantasy, an author gets the chance to rewrite her own story over the course of one golden summer. Divorced novelist Vivi was killed in a hit-and-run, but she isn’t quite finished with life on earth. In the afterlife, she’s given three chances to influence the world she’s leaving behind. Should she use them to help her struggling adult children? To hide evidence of her own youthful indiscretion? Elin Hilderbrand fills Vivi’s story with romance, nostalgia, and heartwarming lessons about the importance of letting go. Plus there’s all the sun-drenched Nantucket beauty we expect from the beach-read queen. More than just a sweetly sentimental diversion, Golden Girl is the kind of book you tell all your friends about as soon as you’re done. Every product/service is sel...
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Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s ‘Unlikeable’ West-Coast Girls
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Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s ‘Unlikeable’ West-Coast Girls

Girlhood misery, bullying and beauty combine for Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s ‘unlikeable’ west-coast girls. With the post-menopausal generation reappraising what it means to be an older woman, the sheen of youth has become exposed. Women are told to fear the ageing process, but the truth is, I would not return to my teenage years, nor would any of the women I know. The worst part of growing older is watching the next generation go through it all again. Female bullying is central to Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s fourth book, West Girls, which aligns the misery of girlhood with the tyranny of conventional beauty. Weaving interconnected stories around a revolving cast of characters growing up in Western Australia, the novel cracks open the toxic power dynamics between a privileged huddle of “...
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The Rise And Fall Of The Romance Writers Of America — The Inside Story
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The Rise And Fall Of The Romance Writers Of America — The Inside Story

Inside the rise and fall of one of the world’s most powerful writing groups. The Romance Writers of America, once the world’s largest and most powerful authors’ association, filed for bankruptcy on May 30, 2024. In its filing, the nonprofit blamed “disputes concerning diversity, equity and inclusion” for its membership declining by a jaw-dropping 80%. With just 2,000 members left, the organization finds itself unable to pay US$3 million in hotel commitments for future conferences. I’ve spent a decade studying romance publishing, and I believe the rise and fall of the Romance Writers of America shows how quickly organizations can collapse if they don’t serve the needs of all their members. This debacle could serve as a warning to universities, companies and other groups now abolishi...
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W.E.B. Du Bois’ ‘The Philadelphia Negro’ Offers Lasting Lessons On Gentrification In Philly’s Historically Black Neighborhoods, On Its 125th Anniversary
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W.E.B. Du Bois’ ‘The Philadelphia Negro’ Offers Lasting Lessons On Gentrification In Philly’s Historically Black Neighborhoods, On Its 125th Anniversary

On its 125th anniversary, W.E.B. Du Bois’ ‘The Philadelphia Negro’ offers lasting lessons on gentrification in Philly’s historically Black neighborhoods. Society Hill, where Sixers star Joel Embiid recently put his penthouse condo on the market for US$5.5 million, has long been one of Philadelphia’s most exclusive neighborhoods. It’s a distant cry from what the neighborhood looked like 125 years ago when sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois published “The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study.” The book examines in meticulous detail the social conditions of thousands of Black Philadelphians living in what was then called the Seventh Ward, a neighborhood that overlaps present-day Society Hill. We are sociologists and scholars of Du Bois whose research covers gentrificat...
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