BOOKS/MUSIC/MOVIES
Staff Picks
Nobody loves books more than our experts. Browse and filter hundreds of their favorites.
Summer 2019 Picks for Adults49 Books Found
"All the Real Indians Died Off"
Twenty popular myths about Native Americans, including "Indian Casinos Make Them All Rich" and "The United States Did Not Have a Policy of Genocide," are debunked in this concise and well-researched book.
Staff Pick by Crystal Chen, Woodstock
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Kingsolver is not only witty and charmingly wise, but a caring and dedicated locavore who transforms her family's relationship to food by sourcing almost entirely from their own land. A delicious read for summer!
Staff Pick by Suzanne Lipkin, Library for the Performing Arts
Bowlaway
A sweeping saga of candlepin bowling in New England. Bertha Truitt is a quirky, wonderful character, and oddball scenes underpin McCracken's solid writing.
Staff Pick by Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market
Bunny
Part academic satire, part horror novel, part... I don't even know what, exactly. Awad made this send-up of an MFA program into a terrifying, trippy thrill ride that defies categorization.
Staff Pick by Gwen Glazer, Readers Services
Chasing American Monsters
Perfect for fans of the X-Files and Seanan McGuire's InCryptid Series, Offutt gleefully covers the monsters of every state in America.
Staff Pick by Aidan Flax-Clark, Public Programs
Choose
This book serves as a prequel to the author's first book, Ask. You will learn the tools and step-by-step methodology that help you analyze and choose your market before starting your business.
Staff Pick by Helena Escalante, Business Library
Dirty John and Other True Stories of Outlaws and Outsiders
You don't need to be a fan of Goffard's true-crime podcast to fall under his book's spell. I devoured it in under 24 hours and almost missed my subway stop.
Staff Pick by Kate Fais, Bloomingdale
Do It Scared
Even the most successful people get scared when doing new things. This book will share how to develop and embrace a winning mindset that will enable you to build your best life and stop feeling stuck.
Staff Pick by Helena Escalante, Business Library
Doc, Donnie, the Kid, and Billy Brawl: How the 1985 Mets and Yankees Fought for New York’s Baseball Soul
A great summer read for baseball fans! In the summer of '85, as Tears for Fears was topping the charts with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," the Mets & the Yankees were trying to rule the back pages of NYC newspapers.
Staff Pick by Joe Pascullo, Grand Central
Echo North
Echo makes a deal with a talking wolf to save her father's life, but it soon becomes apparent that her own life is at risk. Filled with enchantment and danger, this book will charm fans of fairy-tale retellings.
Staff Pick by Althea Georges, Muhlenberg
The Final Cut
If you're a fan of Ocean's 8, jewel heists, and high-stakes drama, this novel will keep you happily entertained. Even better, it's the first in a series—Coulter & Ellison's "A Brit in the FBI."
Staff Pick by Kate Fais, Bloomingdale
Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest
A warm, poetic ode to A Tribe Called Quest and the musical era when they came up. Abdurraqib deftly blends history, pop and underground culture, and personal experience. Perfect for fans of the 33 1/3 series.
Staff Pick by Sasha Jones, Roosevelt Island
Good Morning, Midnight
How does a woman who has lost faith in living begin again? She stumbles through the streets, shops, bars, and cheap hotels of 1930s Paris. For fans of The Lover by Marguerite Duras or Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan.
Staff Pick by Jessica Cline, Picture Collection
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
Through discussions with her son, husband, parents, and friends, Mira Jacob and her new graphic memoir gracefully, hilariously, and movingly dissect difficult questions about race, love, immigration, and sexuality.
Staff Pick by Aidan Flax-Clark, Public Programs
The Honey Bus
For fans of Cheryl Strayed or Tara Westover. Lessons learned from her grandfather’s bees help a young woman make sense of a lonely and confusing childhood.
Staff Pick by Maura Muller, Volunteer Office
How to Love a Country
A beautiful collection of accessible, culturally conscious poetry that offers hope for our collective future.
Staff Pick by Crystal Chen, Woodstock
The Hunting Party
A group of friends celebrate New Year’s Eve in the Scottish Highlands. But unbeknownst to them, one of them is a killer. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
Staff Pick by Tabrizia Jones, Sedgwick
In West Mills
A story of small-town secrets and the people who keep them—and betray them—set in a black community in rural North Carolina between the '40s and the '80s. This is Winslow's debut, and I can't wait to read whatever comes next.
Staff Pick by Aidan Flax-Clark, Public Programs
Inappropriation
A coming-of-age tale set in a private school in Sydney, Australia, that deftly skewers the shallowness of high school cliques and the platitudes of identity politics. Freiman creates a raucous cast of characters who collide at odd angles.
Staff Pick by Sherri Machlin, Mulberry Street
The Invited
Everyone's heard of haunted house stories, but what about a house that becomes haunted as it's built? A creepy ghost story set in Vermont. Twisty and suspenseful.
Staff Pick by Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market
The Library Book
Investigating the L.A. Central Library fire of 1986 causes Orlean to meditate on the value public libraries have contributed to societies throughout history. Required reading for library lovers.
Staff Pick by Charlie Radin, Inwood
Magical Negro
Dizzying and urgent, with themes including pop culture, systemic racism, and feminism.
Staff Pick by Lynn Lobash, Readers Services
Manhattan Projects: The Rise and Fall of Urban Renewal in Cold War New York
An examination of the trials and tribulations of urban renewal as it related to the Cold War. Zipp avoids a simple narrative, instead offering a nuanced explanation of controversial legacies in public planning.
Staff Pick by Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park
The Miracle Equation
A simple but powerful tool to reframe your thinking. Inspiring and motivating stories of success to turn dreams and aspirations into reality.
Staff Pick by Helena Escalante, Business Library
The Mother-in-Law
A page-turning family drama about a mother-in-law found dead of apparent suicide, but dark family secrets may reveal otherwise. Someone is hiding something.
Staff Pick by Nanor Pogosian, Pelham Bay
Murder at the Breakers
Emma—cousin of the Vanderbilts and an aspiring journalist—solves crimes at all of the best "cottages" in Gilded Age Newport, Rhode Island. Perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen.
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
My Fantoms
A haunting record of pure evil and desire. Angels and demons often appear in the stories, and it's not always clear what distinguishes one from the other. Recommended for anyone looking to overcome a complacency of taste.
Staff Pick by Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park
No Visible Bruises
A sobering examination of America's silent epidemic of domestic violence. Snyder examines the root causes, why no one wants to talk about it, and what we can do as a society to help stop the cycle of violence.
Staff Pick by Vanessa Carrasco, Parkchester
Normal People
Essentially a will-they-or-won't-they story, but the characters suffer and inflict so much damage as they come of age. They are so sympathetic that you won't want the book to end.
Staff Pick by Lynn Lobash, Readers Services
The Odyssey
Even if you've already read Homer's classic, this translation is essential. The first English transition in regular meter, Wilson's interpretation is spring-like in its beauty and briskness.
Staff Pick by Grace Yamada, Mulberry Street
Outline
Densely worded yet a joy to read, Outline is a series of conversations that provide a window into love, maturity, and creativity. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a story that goes beyond the call of plot-related duty.
Staff Pick by Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park
The Paris Wedding
Rachel, just a small-town girl from the Australian outback, attends the wedding of her first love in Paris along with her best friend, two feuding neighbors, and a suitcase full of home-sewn couture.
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
The Power of Sprinkles
A six-tiered rainbow cake filled with colorful sprinkles and covered in cream cheese frosting is totally doable with this easy-to-follow book. I promise.
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
Queenie
Queenie Jenkins goes on a journey of self-discovery and affirmation when she struggles with relationships and social issues. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
Staff Pick by Tabrizia Jones, Sedgwick
Ready Player One
Video games are the future, and one gamer will inherit a billionaire's fortune. All you need to beat it is the knowledge of '80s pop culture. Are you ready to play?
Staff Pick by Joelis Matos, Throg's Neck
Red, White & Royal Blue
Alex (the son of the president of the United States) and Henry (a British prince) have to make fake Instagram-able friends after a diplomatic snafu. Surprisingly turns into something more. This might be the most entertaining book you'll read all summer!
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
Regicide and Revolution: Speeches at the Trial of Louis XVI
Come for the original speeches written by luminaries of the French Revolution; stay for Walzer's unique insight into the politics of their day.
Staff Pick by Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park
Savage Conversations
Reading this this book is like getting kicked in the head.
Staff Pick by Grace Yamada, Mulberry Street
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
A thoughtful and fascinating exploration of the Troubles of Northern Ireland, the disappearance of a mother of 10 in 1972, and an infamous IRA bomber who tries to make peace with her past.
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
Severance
Candace, the narrator of this morbidly funny dystopian novel, is confronted by bizarre and epic misfortune ranging from the fluidity of her relationships, a strange disease called "Shen Fever," to unwilling complicity in the cruelties of the labor market.
Staff Pick by Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park
Snotgirl
Inside the charmed yet chaotic life of Lottie Person, social media influencer and murder suspect.
Staff Pick by Grace Yamada, Mulberry Street
Soft Science
This dazzling, incisive poetry collection shrewdly investigates the nebulous in-between spaces of identity and humanity, framed in the context of cyborgs and Turing tests.
Staff Pick by Crystal Chen, Woodstock
Soon the Light Will Be Perfect
This debut novel is narrated by an unnamed 12-year-old boy in the middle of a desperate summer in a poverty-stricken town in Vermont. Devastating, beautiful, worth it.
Staff Pick by Gwen Glazer, Readers Services
Tenements, Towers, & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City
Did you ever wonder what every version of NYC's street cleaning-mobile looked like? Julia Wertz draws them all (and so much more) in this fun exploration of New York City history.
Staff Pick by Benjamin Sapadin, Morris Park
Unmarriageable
In modern-day Pakistan, school teacher Alys Binat has sworn to never marry... until an encounter with the inscrutable Mr. Darsee makes her reconsider. A fun spin on Pride and Prejudice.
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
The Valedictorian of Being Dead
Fans of the early days of online journals will recognize Heather B. Armstrong as Dooce, one of the original bloggers. Her voice is just as compelling as ever, and her journey into an unconventional treatment for depression will take you right back to blogging's heyday.
Staff Pick by Gwen Glazer, Readers Services
Why Liberalism Failed
A daring look into American culture that hazards to understand the right and left as a part of the same phenomenon in its emphasis on liberties rather than shared values.
Staff Pick by Andrew Fairweather, Seward Park
The Winter Sea
Visiting Scotland for research, a novelist's mind slips back in time to 1708 and finds a young woman who is caught up in a Jacobean plot to help the exiled James Stewart reclaim his crown. Perfect for fans of Outlander.
Staff Pick by Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
Women Talking
A singularly powerful, challenging, heart-wrenching read that was described as the "Mennonite #MeToo novel."
Staff Pick by Aidan Flax-Clark, Public Programs
Additional Information
Many of these titles are available in talking book, large print, and braille formats. Learn more about library materials and services for patrons with print disabilities.