Kin: a Novel by Tayari Jones (2026)

29 Tuesday Sep 2026

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Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood.  Vernice leaves Honeysuckle at eighteen for Spelman College.  Annie takes a different path searching for her lost mother in perilous places. This is about friendship, sisterhood and the complexities of being a woman in the American South  

“Beautifully written and powerfully compelling. . . . Tayari Jones interrogates social injustice through the lens of personal relationships while exploring the ways in which it shapes those relationships, and she does this in language that is intimate, conversational, and musical all at once.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“Jones delivers a triumphant novel of two motherless girls from rural Honeysuckle, Louisiana, who follow very different paths into adulthood. . . . Throughout, Jones tells her protagonists’ stories with grace, humor, and pathos. Kin is a tour de force.” ­—Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

“Ambitious and accessible, emotionally challenging without pushing readers away. . . . Kin shows off Jones’s considerable skill through strong pacing and a plot that is emotionally taut without feeling unnecessarily dramatic. Without fail, Jones delivers a brilliant turn of phrase, at turns witty and insightful.” —Shelf Awareness

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When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin (Author) and Jon Polin (Afterword) (2026)

22 Tuesday Sep 2026

Posted by in Biography, memoir, Non-fiction

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In this powerful memoir, Rachel Goldberg-Polin tells the story of her son Hersh, one of the hostages kidnapped in Israel on October 7 and killed a year later. Rachel, her husband Jon, and their three children moved from the United States to Israel in the mid-2000s, and this book explores the lives of Rachel and her family before Hersh was taken, as well as the terrifying aftermath. This is an extremely sad book and a moving tribute from a mother to her son.

“Refined, precise and finely carved . . . When We See You Again brings the miracle of the everyday into sharp relief. It is a paean to pain; a difficult gift.”—The New York Times

“A searing . . . unflinching account of grief.”—Los Angeles Times

“An excavation of a mother’s grief for her only son.” —The Washington Post 

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The Calamity Club: A Novel by Kathryn Stockett (2026)

15 Tuesday Sep 2026

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I highly recommend listening to this one – available on Hoopla instantly, no waiting! It’s almost 30 hours long, but the time flew by, especially the chapters told from the perspective of 11 year old Margo Louise Lafleur. Meg stole the entire book for me with her funny, fierce, endearing personality.  

“Stockett’s vibrant follow-up to her bestselling 2009 novel, The Help, traces the intersecting lives of an exasperated older sister, a precocious orphan, and an enterprising woman in 1933 Mississippi. . . . By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this offers a memorable view into the impossible choices faced by women in the Great Depression.”—Publishers Weekly 

“Smart, funny, and driven by unforgettable characters whose opinions and actions leap off the page, this is a must-read.”—Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry 

“All three protagonists are compelling, but Meg is the star of The Calamity Club. She owes a debt to other smart, lonely girls of Southern literature—especially Frankie, from Carson McCullers’ “The Member of the Wedding”—but her voice is singular and laugh-out-loud funny. . . . Stockett deftly unites her three main characters for an ending that’s as cozy and satisfying as the chicken pot pies her characters keep making and eating.”—Minnesota Star Tribune

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Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton (2025)

09 Wednesday Sep 2026

Posted by in anecdotes, Biography, meaning of life, memoir, nature

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“Ms. Dalton has given us a portrait, both ephemeral and real, of a ‘creature of habit, set hours and favorite places, that walks so lightly on this earth, and that can be trusting on its own terms.’ She seems to share Hare’s traits of serenity, stillness and alertness to danger. It’s a testament to her skills of observation that the two reflect and enhance each other in unexpected, often remarkable ways.”—Wall Street Journal 

“An astounding debut memoir in which Dalton shows how a serene and long-misunderstood creature opened her eyes in many ways. It just might do the same for readers. . . . Soulful and gracefully written.” —Kirkus, starred review

“The best books make you rethink how you relate to the world. This is one of those books. Quietly profound, beautifully written, Hare is now lodged in my heart.”—Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring 

“Magical, endearing. . . . Dalton’s memoir expands on the relatively little knowledge we have about this enchanting species, while also serving gentle commentary on the state of wildlife and the need to preserve their habitats. . . . A sweet and curious meditation on what we gain when we allow the natural world to teach us.” —BookPage, starred review

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Villa Coco: a Novel  by Andrew Sean Greer (2026)

14 Friday Aug 2026

Posted by in Fiction, Humor, Travel

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 Novels at Night choice for Sept 8, 2026, 7:00 pm @ Weston Public Library

Unable to travel this summer? Open these pages into a sun-drenched, Italian villa tucked back in the rampant vines and olive trees, rooms stuffed with art and possessions collected over a lifetime, populated by a host of one-of-a kind characters on a rollicking escapade that dazzles. Light and refreshing.

“Easy-breezy funny and charming . . . [Greer] has confected an airy champagne bubble of a book. . . The characters in this novel are loveable enough to live in your head for days afterward.”—Vox 

“Charming from start to finish . . . Seductively entertaining . . . [Villa Coco] feels itself like a proverbial box of chocolates—a treasure chest of surprises waiting to be sampled. . . . Greer’s novel is a Tuscan romp that overflows with sunshine and surprises while providing a deep meditation on growing up, growing old and navigating the many crossroads in between.”—BookPage (starred review) 

“What a beautiful book: an absolutely engrossing world full of golden sunlight and strange little secrets and anchovies and art. I feel like I’d recognize its glorious haphazard villa and determined Baronessa on sight.”—Holly Gramazio, author of The Husbands 

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Land: A Novel by Maggie O’Farrell

10 Monday Aug 2026

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, nature

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 A story of one family, their history, their continuous story of survival relying on each other, and with the land itself – some parts magical, some unexplainable but always richly connected and intertwined. Take your time and savor the language.   O’Farrell’s descriptive writing and fully developed characters brings 19th century Ireland to life. 

“A breathtaking hymn to the sanctity of natural spaces, operating on timescales both intimate and geological. I finished Land moved not only by the vivid lives of its human characters but the thrumming, gorgeous presence of its mosses, waters, winds, and skies.” —Daniel Mason, author of North Woods 

“Majestic. . . . O’Farrell’s prose is a gift: Her language is lush and muscular. . . . Land is a story of great losses—and greater power.” —BookPage (starred review) 

“A rich portrait of family life. . . . Land is a historical novel imbued with O’Farrell’s signature interest in absorbing family relationships. . . . O’Farrell’s writing is propulsive and luscious throughout.” —The New York Times 

“Land is filled with lush, almost fragrant prose. . . . Every word matters, though, which O’Farrell makes clear in the final 130 pages of this epic. . . . The last section of Land is the best thing I’ve read this year.” —Chris Hewitt, The Minnesota Star Tribune 

“Land is as visceral as a novel can get. It feels deeply and it tells deeply, both of nature and of the small tragedy of man. It’s rare to find a story so grand told with such a fine brush. Land read to me as ancient and brand-new all at once, and something best experienced by diving into it headfirst.” —Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep

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The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (2025)

03 Monday Aug 2026

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A scholar and an ancient knight are caught up in a magic spell that causes them to live their lives over and over again, reuniting each time. This is a beautifully written fantasy where it is the lady knight who saves the male hero.

“The Everlasting is razor sharp and designed to cut you deeply. You’ll be moved, you’ll probably cry, and by the end you’ll say thank you for delivering my suffering so beautifully…What exquisite agony, wonderfully delivered.” –NPR, Books We Love 

“No one writes about why we read quite like Alix Harrow…A wildly inventive, truly magical tour de force.” ―Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning, on The Everlasting 

“A beautiful novel about the stories that shape our lives and the divine and ordinary inevitability of love… If Una Everlasting stabbed me I’d die happy.”–Lex Croucher, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Gwen & Art Are Not In Love 

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John of John: a Novel (Oprah’s Book Club) by Douglas Stuart (2026)

27 Monday Jul 2026

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“Stuart showcases his impressive gift for characterization in this perceptive and propulsive story of a tight-knit community of Gaelic-speaking sheep farmers and weavers on the remote Scottish Isle of Harris . . . Stuart’s deeply humane character work extends beyond father and son to their neighbors, including a sensitive middle-aged bachelor who belongs to John’s book club and cries while discussing Wuthering Heights. Stuart continues his winning streak with this brilliant novel.“—Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

“Douglas Stuart brilliantly weaved a layered, compelling and yet so intimate a story of identity, what it means to belong, and the courage to claim your own truth.”—Oprah Winfrey

“One of 2026’s literary triumphs.”—Boston Globe

“Powerful and surprising . . . [A] moving, suspenseful, completely-worth-your-time new novel . . . John of John is a stick of dynamite waiting to go off in your hand, the steadily intensifying story of a fractured trio . . . Stuart is not just a very good writer but an immensely skilled storyteller . . . one of the many pleasures of John of John—a title that eventually blossoms to reveal about five different meanings, all interesting—is that Stuart doesn’t let on until the very end whether he is writing toward hope or toward tragedy. Until he reveals the answer, he wants you to stay in the room with these difficult people, to try to puzzle them out, to watch them wage impossible struggles, and to wish them well.”—Mark Harris, The New York Times Book Review 

“An immersive experience . . . Seamlessly, relationships are revealed, secrets divulged. As always, Stuart’s prose is a joy to read and get lost in. He conveys both the beauty and the isolation of the Hebridean setting while illuminating the lies we tell ourselves in order to cope.“—Booklist (starred review)

“The central question of the book, facing all the main characters, is whether it’s possible to inhabit the place one calls home as one’s genuine self. Stay or go? Life or death? With his gift for creating vibrantly specific characters and settings, Stuart again taps profound human truth.“—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Skylark: a Novel by Paula McLain

20 Monday Jul 2026

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I thought I had read every WW II story there is, but I hadn’t ever heard about this one.

“A resounding elegy of love, courage, and defiance. Paula McLain melds two timelines and one city into the kind of story you think about long after you’ve finished reading. Mysterious and haunting and timeless. I loved it.”—Ariel Lawhon, New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River

“Readers will be enthralled by McLain’s vivid storytelling, engaged with her memorable cast of characters, and enraged at the cruelties humans have exacted on one another throughout history.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“An enthralling plunge into deep layers of Paris history, both beautifully written and breathtakingly suspenseful. I could not put it down.”—Helen Simonson, New York Times bestselling author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

“Paula McLain is a story alchemist. In Skylark, she saturates our imaginations with the colorful threads of two distinct timelines. Artfully crafted and poetically rendered, this is the kind of historical fiction I live for—stories where the past acts as a mirror for the modern milieu.”—Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely?

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I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney (2025)

13 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in Comedy, Fiction, meaning of life, United States

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Just announced – this title has been chosen for the global LIBBY reads. What that means is that from July 9-23 2026 readers worldwide can check out this title with no waitlists or holds in the Libby app?

The author is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker magazine’s Shouts & Murmurs column. “Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.” – Libby Reads

“I See You’ve Called in Dead is a riotously funny, poignantly introspective novel that dives headfirst into the absurdity of existence. Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who gets everything wrong—including accidentally publishing his own death notice. From botched blind dates to philosophical musings about life and death, Bud grapples with love, legacy, and the existential (and satirical) weight of being alive. —Weike Wang, author of Rental House 

“Kenney’s touching, provocative novel . . . alludes to the idea that life’s richness comes from spending time with people you love, and that those relationships are built on mutual respect, truth, and love. A touching ode to the people who make life worth living.”—Kirkus Reviews 

“A wake up call to embrace and celebrate life, I See You’ve Called in Dead is replete with essential elements that make a work of fiction great: heart, humor, intelligence and emotional depth.”—BookTrib 

“Razor-sharp, darkly comedic, and emotionally piercing. With the satirical bite of Richard Russo’s Straight Man, the introspection of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, and the reinvention of Andrew Sean Greer’s Less, Kenney’s vivid prose transforms the mundane into unexpected hilarity.”—Booklist (starred review) 

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