Adult

I intend to take some great trips and eat outstanding food this summer, and I had to grab a copy of this travelogue for foodies. Bourdain was such a gifted writer, and it pains me that we lost such a remarkable human being. RIP, Tony.

A beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the Midwest finds his once-promising writing career is in the doldrums. Told in a series of hilarious letters of recommendation the professor is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce. Each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits and passive-aggressive strategies.

Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don't know much about timing itself. Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work and succeed. Very readable narrative packed with irresistible stories and practical takeaways that give readers compelling insights into how we can live richer, more engaged lives. I’ve already implemented several of the ideas – beginning with prioritizing lunch and siestas!

So, what do you think? What else? What else? This dynamic duo will help any leader learn to ask questions and shut up. Profound, simple truths.

The story of one woman's journey to discover the father she never knew and a love she never thought possible.  

Excuse the pun – a “thought-provoking” examination of how the brain deals with change and how anyone can improve their ability to solve problems and generate new ideas.

From the physically and mentally taxing sport of chess boxing to the psychological battlefield that is the rock-paper-scissors championship, to the underground world of illegal jart throwing, sportswriter Reilly subjected himself to both bodily danger and abject humiliation in order to personally find the world's strangest sporting event. Chronicling his adventures as only he can, he enters a world of bizarre characters, fierce competition, and exotic locals – with stops in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, England, and even a maximum security prison at Angola, Louisiana – and the result is a laugh-out-loud book perfect for any sports fan.

For Dorothea Cassidy, Thursdays were special – the one the vicar’s wife could call her own. But one Thursday it was the day she would be strangled. As the small town of Otterbridge prepares for its summer carnival, Inspector Stephen Ramsay begins a painstaking reconstruction of Dorothea's last hours to crack the case. The third book of the Inspector Ramsay series.

Timpf shows why much of the way people talk about sensitive subjects is wrong, as too often they push themselves into unnecessary conflicts when they should bond over commonalities. Hilariously and movingly, Timpf argues that those subjects are actually the most important to joke about.

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.