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YET HERE I AM

Early on in his memoir, Capehart, best known as a commentator for MSNBC and as an editorial writer for the Washington Post, writes of being known among his Southern cousins as “Mr. Peabody,” the bookishly bespectacled cartoon dog. “And I was a little ‘funny,’” he adds. “That was the gentler f-bomb used for someone believed […]

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AND THE TREES STARE BACK

Five years ago, in 1984, Viktoria made a horrible mistake—during a moment of distraction, she let her 5-year-old sister disappear in the bog behind their house, a place where such events are common. Now Anna has returned, but she hasn’t aged. She can’t explain where she’s been, and the bog seems to call her back. […]

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The Things They Didn’t See

It’s the start of summer, and Jill’s family has decided to celebrate by going on their annual boating trip to Lake Koda. The day starts with laughter as the kids soak in the sun, water ski, and build sandcastles. All seems perfect, and after lunch at their favorite cove, the group splits up for a […]

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IN THE WORLD OF WHALES

Unlike most kids’ nonfiction about cetaceans, this book focuses on just one meaningful episode, an extraordinary encounter between a whale pod and humans. In 2014, freedivers Fred Buyle and Kurt Amsler floated among sperm whales in the Azores and, noticing that a calf had been born mere minutes earlier, photographed and filmed the animals. This […]

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MURDER ON SEX ISLAND

Marie Jones was a social worker from Staten Island, but that was before she transformed herself into a private investigator, got a divorce, and moved to Manhattan. When she wears a blond wig, fake teeth, and red lipstick, she’s Luella van Horn, a glamorous detective capable of locating any lost dog. But then she gets […]

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THE HOUSE ON CHAMBERS ROAD

Libby Casey, who runs a design business, is inexplicably drawn to a colonial house for sale. She thinks moving there may be the change she needs, as she’s still in the home where she lived with her beloved husband, Ray, who died only 18 months earlier. She’s not at her new home for long before […]

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AI AND DECEPTION

For readers who might be hazy on the general differences between concepts like weak vs. generative AI or what often-heard terms like deepfakes or natural language processing might mean, Mooney lays out the basics in simple, low-tech language. But when it comes to specific examples or details of technology or technique, this work is less […]

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WOODPECKER

The author became enthralled with woodpeckers at the tender age of 8 or 9 after spying one through his kitchen window; it’s a good bet that readers will grow equally enamored with the intriguing little creatures as well. That’s due to both Bannick’s encyclopedic knowledge of the birds and the often-lyrical prose he uses to […]

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BLUE RIDGE CALLING

College dropout Sam became obsessed with supernatural lore following the death of their mother. Sage, who’s grounded in science and reason, has little patience for ghost stories. Their childhood friend Kora, who mourns the family’s loss as if it were her own, joins Sage’s search without hesitation. Alongside them are Kora’s new maybe-girlfriend, Hunter; Kora’s […]

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FROM MALICE TO ASHES

As the story opens, it’s 1941, and the residents of Soviet-occupied Lithuania are receiving news that the German army is going to invade. University student Leva Koslowski and her younger brother, Al, decide to flee the country, because although Soviet control had been horrible, the Germans are rumored to be much worse. The pair head […]