A Book You've Been Meaning to Read

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty -- a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre -- took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life's work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age...

"Chantha Nguon recounts her life as a Cambodia refugee who lost everything and everyone--her house her country, her parents, her siblings, her friends--everything but the memories of her mother's kitchen, the tastes and aromas of the foods her mother made before the dictator Pol Pot tore her country apart"-- Provided by publisher.

"Actor-dancer Alyson Stoner's revelatory and incisive memoir-from family violence and betrayal, to eating disorders and religious trauma-may begin in Hollywood, but its chilling relatability will resonate with anyone navigating identity, privacy, purpose, and mental health in a digital age. Raised on soundstages and studio lots from the time they were six, shuffling between auditions for Disney Channel, Cheaper by the Dozen, or a Missy Elliott music...

"A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum"-- Provided by publisher. Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother's plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father's life in America was...

"A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family's displacement across four countries, Kantika--"song" in Ladino--follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way--a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure and motherhood....

"A gorgeously illustrated debut graphic memoir about belonging, identity, and making a home in the remote American West"-- Provided by publisher.

"Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. When she's fired from her job and her novel is rejected by yet another publisher, her dreams are crushed, so she decides to write something just for herself: a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the ruins of human civilization. She calls it 'Rusted Robots'. Zelu does not realize...

"Her mission: find the Lost City of the Moon in the Amazon rainforest. His mission: protect the holy temple...and his heart. While her mentor may be the world's most badass archaeologist, the only thing bad about Dr. Miriam Jacobs are her corny jokes. But when Miri is charged with leading an unmapped expedition through the Amazon for the fabled Lost City of the Moon, she finally has her chance to prove to Dr. Mejía that she's capable-and hopefully...