The subtitle of this book is “A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots.” In this reclaiming, the author finds many surprises. The Great Migration occurred from 1916 to 1970, a time when six million black people migrated from the rural south to the mid-western, western, and northe…

“The Honey-Don’t List,” by Christina Lauren, is a fun romantic comedy! Carey and James are geniuses at home design, a dynamic assistant duo who work for Melissa “Melly” and Rusty Tripp.

Ben Macintyre immediately brings readers into the world of betrayal and treason in his Cold War thriller-biography “The Spy and the Traitor.”

Sarah Tomp’s young adult book “The Easy Part of Impossible” is the tale of 17-year-old Ria (Victoria) Williams. She is a young lady with ADHD who has been diving since she was very young. Her parents enrolled her in diving as an outlet for her energy. They eventually invested financially to …

Let me say this: Jonathan Hickman is going places, and he’s taking the X-Men with him. The 12 collected comics that comprise the graphic novel “House of X/ Powers of X” is a smart, entertaining update of the X-Men’s entire history.

All hail the red, white and blue—and all hail “The Next President, the Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents,” by Kate Messner. This flag-waver offers educational facts in a most entertaining way, beginning with President George Washington right through the Presi…

I enjoy reading books such as “The Book of V.” by Anna Solomon. They inspire me to research characters from history about whom I may know very little.

Vera's break-out novel, “The Taste of Sugar,” is set in 19th century Puerto Rico. It follows the shifting fortunes of the Vicente Vega family as it perseveres amid colonial Spanish tax hikes, drought, devaluation of the peso, succeeded by the cruel and callous U.S. occupation after the Spani…

This romantic comedy by Martha Waters is set in Regency England during the early 1800s. It’s the hilarious story of a young Aristocratic English couple. This delightful book is full of intentional misdirections; fake accidents and illnesses designed to gain attention.

In “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art,” James Nestor offers a truly eye-opening read about the human body. Reading this book changed how I think about how the way I breathe, my sleep patterns, and even the amount of chewing I do in a typical day. It turns out I may have underemphasized m…

“I am white. I’ve spent years studying what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet is deeply divided by race. This is what I have learned: any white person living in the United States will develop opinions about race simply by swimming in the water of our culture.”

It's the summer after freshman year in college for Mariam and she is looking forward to working and hanging out with her best friends: irrepressible and beautiful Ghazala and religious but closeted Umar. Then a shocking photo of Ghaz appears on a billboard in Times Square, and Mariam and Uma…

“The Last Summer of Ada Bloom,” by Martine Murray, is a novel in which everyone has a secret and by the end everyone matures and comes of age.

When Loretha Curry is reminded by her mother that she, Loretha, is 69-years-old, her mother, age 86, jauntily tells her it’s “all downhill from here.” Loretha, recovering from a recent traumatic life-changing event, luckily discovers after a year of struggles that it’s not too late to emerge…

New York Times reporter Walter Thompson-Hernández has forcefully portrayed a group of African men and women, the Compton Cowboys, who continue a centuries-old tradition of working as black cowboys. The author spent a year chronicling the lives of 10 black riders who have maintained the small…

Fans of “The Selection” by Kiera Cass were eagerly anticipating the author’s new book, “The Betrothed.” Using elements from her previous books, “The Betrothed” deals with royalty in a new fantasy world. While her previous book was a dystopian love story, this one delves into the realm of fantasy.

“The Coyotes of Carthage,” by Steven Wright, is a contemporary, character-driven, political novel dealing with timely issues. The narrative was inspired by the 2010 Supreme Court landmark decision, Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission that permits corporations to anonymously financ…

Ask the average U.S. citizen whether “the people” rule and “most would find the idea somewhat quaint,” writes Lawrence Lessig in his latest book “They Don't Represent Us,” a timely book for Election Day 2020.

Gail Goodwin’s book, “Old Lovegood Girls” refers to the main characters in this novel about lifelong friendship. In 1958, two young women entering Lovegood College meet and remain in each other’s lives until the death of one 41 years later. At first the roommates, Feron and Merry, seem to ha…

“The Poppy Wife,” by Caroline Scott, is a poignant book about a search for answers, where that search can lead us and why we need answers in the first place.

Now more than ever we need some humor and inspiration. Readers of all ages will get a heady dose of both with “That’s Life,” a book that helps us roll with the punches when life threatens a knockout.

Former Secret Service Special Agent Evy Poumpouras has written an illuminating self-help book about how to live fearlessly. Poumpouras has been battle tested; she has “walked the walk” as a U.S. Secret Service agent for 12 years. She believes that fear (“and it’s crazy cousin, panic”) can ca…

The author of “The Other Madisons,” by Bettye Kearse, is an eighth generation direct descendant of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States. The president and his wife Dolley Madison did not have children of their own, but James fathered a child by Coreen, a slave and half-si…

“Thorn” was originally published in 2012 and was recently republished by HarperTeen because an editor fell in love with it. After reading this fantasy, it is easy to see why.

“Because it’s there,” was British mountaineer George Mallory’s response to a reporter’s question, “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” Mallory lost his life in an attempt to reach Everest’s summit in 1924. His body was recovered from the mountain 75 years later.

Conservation scientist Lauren Oakes traces the decline of the yellow-cedar tree in this description of her 6-year Ph.D. research project on climate change. “In Search of the Canary Tree” begins in 2010 when Stanford student Oakes begins to investigate and record the decline of the Callitrops…

Harlan Coben, a prolific writer of mystery thrillers, picks up from where he left off in his previous book, “Run Away.” One of the main characters is Hester Crimstein, renowned lawyer.

Joanna Cotler scores with a book about how contagious moods can be — bad or good. In “Sorry (Really Sorry)” the barnyard’s in a snit, all because of a Holstein that’s cranky because she has dirty hooves.

The title of “Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor,” by Layla Saad, is designed to make you uncomfortable. It intends to get under your skin and make you feel anxious. Because those who are negatively affected by the system of White Supremacy ex…

“Unworthy Republic” is an unflinching chronicle of the confiscation of millions of acres of homelands belonging to Native Americans and the expulsion and deportation of more than 80,000 of them to unknown territories west of the Mississippi River.

“Recipe for a Perfect Wife” offers a dual narrative between two women who lived 60 years apart. The novel switches between Alice, a modern day woman, and Nellie, a 1950’s housewife. Although it is a predictable read, it is an entertaining book.

“A Hundred Suns,” by Karin Tababe, is a psychological thriller that you won’t be able to stop reading. It’s chocked full of intrigue,, manipulation, lies and deceit. Initially, you are not sure who is doing what to whom. Who does one trust? What are the ulterior motives? There are also secre…

Born Abel Paisley, in Jamaica in 1936, Abel has lived for years as Stanford Solomon, the name by which his American wives and children know him. He is an old man dying in Harlem when the story opens. As the title suggests, ghosts from his past float in and out of “These Ghosts Are Family,” b…

While the people of the world are sheltering at home, bored and frustrated, overwhelmed with our unexpected change in circumstances and dreaming of escape, Jennifer Weiner is taking us to the beach. Once again, the New York Times best selling author has delivered a page turner with “Big Summ…

Birder Robert Tougias chronicles his year-long observations of the birdlife at his backyard feeders and 3-acre woodlot on Berry Lane in southeastern Connecticut. “It is an account of my awareness—seeing, thinking about, and appreciating the living habitat, nature, and most specifically birds....”

Lois Lowry, a giant in children’s literature, rises to even greater heights with “On the Horizon,” a compact novel in verse.

“Bone Crier’s Moon,” by Kathryn Purdie, has a very unique premise, one I hadn’t read before. I approached the book thinking it was going to be another fantasy, a mix of others in the genre I’d previously read. But I actually was transported into a very interesting book that kept me engrossed…

“On Swift Horses,” has an interesting, original story line, one that I hadn’t experienced before. It’s is a “queer” historical fiction novel set in the American west in 1956, a a story full of love, secrets and gambling. The book implies a lot instead of coming right and telling you what is …

“Every Reason We Shouldn’t,” by Sara Fujimura, is a young adult read that addresses some of the commitments and sacrifices needed to fulfill dreams. The book stresses how family responsibility and expectations, as well as how friends impact our dreams.

Ohioan Eliese Goldbach has written an engrossing memoir of her working-class life as union card carrier “#6691: Utility Worker” in a Cleveland steel mill. Twenty-nine-year-old Goldbach begins her 3-year period of earning her livelihood as a steelworker in the spring of 2016.

I was hesitant to read “The Glass Hotel,” Emily St. John Mandel’s most recent novel. After all, the last book I read by her, “Station Eleven,” has haunted me more and more over the last few weeks. However, while this new book is indeed haunting, it is not about a global pandemic or its fallo…

First-time novelist and naval architect Martin Dumont strikes a melancholy note in his novel “Schrödinger’s Dog.”

Reviewed by Samantha Hymer, East Central College.

Ana is 14-years-old in 16 CE (Common Era). She lives in Sepphoris, a region of Israel. The closest village is Nazareth. At age 15, she married Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph.

Will Storr’s “The Science of Storytelling” might well have been called “The Psychology of Storytelling.” Storr uses his study of modern psychology to craft a remarkable book that attempts to answer the question, “What make this particular story so good?”

Marie Mutsuki Mockett joins a crew of itinerant custom harvesters in the summer of 2016 as they begin their journey to southern Texas to harvest the ripened wheat and then slowly crawl northward to Idaho as the crops mature.

The contemporary novel “A Good Neighborhood,” by Therese Anne Flowler, is a saga of domestic drama. It’s about two very different families living next door to each other The book touches on class, race, teen love and the environment.

Maya Seale has been invited to participate in the filming of a documentary to mark the 10-year anniversary of a trial that generated national media attention. Seale was one of the 12 jurors in the case. On trial was a young African-American teacher accused of murdering one of his students, t…

I thought I would be reading about the current economy when I selected this book. Wrong! Then, when I discovered the subject matter, I wondered if I would be disparaged by readers for commenting about this eloquent feminine manifesto from a male point of view. Nevertheless, I have taken the …

“The Adventurer’s Son,” a memoir, focuses on a family who traveled the world seeking adventure. They live for wilderness-hiking, exploring and camping, live in Alaska and participate in back country endurance races, such as ski racing over hundreds of miles. The family has participated in ic…