Adult

I read a lot of African-American authors this past month for Black History Month, and I turned to Hughley to see the humor in the pain that is in the black community. Like all great comedians, he uses humor to address the very serious issues that shape the minority experience in this country.

Autobiography of the queen of television comedy. Whenever I feel down, I watch The Price Is Right or I Love Lucy, and everything seems better in the world. Lots of great anecdotes in this book.

In this thrilling sequel to the bestselling novella by Chizmar and little-known author Stephen King, an adult Gwendy is summoned back to Castle Rock after the mysterious reappearance of the button box. Second in a trilogy – the pages practically turn by themselves!

In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well.

Traveling from Iran to North Korea, from the Dalai Lama’s Himalayas to the ghostly temples of Japan, brilliant travel writer Iyer brings together a lifetime of explorations in search of “paradise.”

A wildly entertaining, feel-good memoir of an Irish-American New Yorker and former U.S. marine who embarked on a courageous, hare-brained scheme to deliver beer to his pals serving Vietnam in the late 1960s. Not shocking that Hollywood had to make this amazing true story into a movie.

A friend gifted four of Brilliant’s books of Pot Shots to me, and I’m hungry for more. These brilliant cartoons with wise sayings of 17 words or less are sure to bring a smile to your face – or at least make you think.

A fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity – a new conception of time – he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar. Poetic tale connecting the art and science of Einstein.

One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang are walking home from school when they discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed in this gripping novel.

I have been a fan of Sivers’s TED talks for years, and this quick read made me a disciple! I dog-earred so many pages, as this book is loaded with practical wisdom that will serve anyone. The perfect holiday gift! Oh - and don't follow the Amazon link on this one. Buy it at https://sive.rs/a, and all the money goes to charity.

A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future. This book will resonate with anyone who has ever fought loneliness.

I know Steve Martin doesn’t need me promoting his book, but I just devour anything he produces. One of my favorite comedians, Martin chronicles his life in movies with hilarious effect.

A hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, filled with nuggets for grammatical nerds like me.

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. The son/brother/husband/father of strong women, I’m always looking for strong female protagonists who change the world. Wonderfully written.

Guilty pleasure: Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. I must confess that I am a huge Ralph Macchio fan (he is awesome in My Cousin Vinny, too). This autobiography provides red meat for fans like me, as the book mostly centers on the original Karate Kid film itself, focusing on the reason that the characters and themes have endured in such a powerful way and how these personal experiences have impacted Macchio's life. Easy, satisfying reading.