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JUST PLAIN FILTHY

< Many books have been freed from censorship by courts, James Joyce’s Ulysses and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover being only two of the most noteworthy. Aycock, a North Carolina writer and librarian who has devoted much of his life to the freedom of literary access, argues that another case matters. In 1982, the Supreme […]

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FROM THE DEPTHS

In 1990, Sen. Ariana Peters of the United States Shifter Council encounters an unusual sinkhole in California. It exudes a silver, tendril-like substance that interacts with her directly and raises concerns about general public safety. The senator, prioritizing containment, authorizes the use of a substance called oblivion tincture to wipe locals’ minds and then relocate […]

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WAIST DEEP

Sylvia—along with her faithful girlfriend, Charlie—arrives at the lake house of her university friend Karen. The secluded weeklong vacation is intended to be a much-needed reunion of their old friend group, which also includes reserved Esben, wild Quince, and caring Gry, who’s also brought her husband, Adam. After the first day among the “quiet and […]

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RESOURCEFULNESS

Antonini, a software engineer with experience working in the financial and insurance industries (who also holds degrees in pharmacy and technology), lays out clear and practical advice to help readers adapt to uncertainty and overcome life’s challenges. Likening the human system to a computer, Antonini outlines her trademarked concept of the “Thrivegorithm”—the process the mind […]

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THOMAS JEFFERSON SURVIVES

“Jefferson survives.” These, it is said, were John Adams’ last words, as he died—as did Jefferson—on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That document, write historians Onuf and Cogliano in this distillation of their popular seminar for schoolteachers, was heavily edited by a committee of the Continental […]

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BLUNT INSTRUMENT

This winning first mystery from novelist and memoirist Bloom features an English professor turned private eye with the perfectly hard-boiled name of Dell Chandler and a charming, ironic, super cool narrative voice to match. She’s hired to investigate an untimely death at Cromwell University, a private college in a snooty area of Connecticut: A professor […]

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THE SUMMER OF DEATH

Williams, author of C.C. Pyle’s Amazing Foot Race (2007), specializes in oddball niche historical events that are often less amusing the closer they are examined. Our warming planet is breaking heat records, but many that remain unbroken date from 1936, a year whose meteorological quirks often attracted more attention than Hitler. The book opens in […]

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WHISTLER

Of a piece with her last three novels—Commonwealth (2016), The Dutch House (2019), and Tom Lake (2023)—Patchett’s latest explores the evolution of families over time, romantic secrets, and step-relationships, again giving these topics the wry and tender treatment that is distinctively hers. As it begins, Daphne Fuller’s attentive husband, Jonathan, notices that a man has […]

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THE OTHER BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

Perfect for readers who enjoy a good workplace drama as well as those who love old movies, Bock’s latest is set in the New York offices of a cable network called the Cinema Channel. In the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center, marketing director Amy Greene and her husband, Jack, also a […]

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BOOKSTORE GIRLS

Aki Kitamura is 27 and a full-time staff member at Pegasus Books. Recently married, she’s beautiful, hotheaded, stubborn, and unwilling to back down from her opinions. She landed the coveted job because of her grandfather’s ties to Pegasus Books, which doesn’t win her any friends at work. And she doesn’t get along with one of […]