Best of
New-York

2019

Some Places More Than Others


Renée Watson - 2019
    Her wish comes true when her dad decides to bring her along on a business trip. She can't wait to finally meet her extended family and stay in the brownstone where her dad grew up. Plus, she wants to visit every landmark from the Apollo to Langston Hughes's home.But her family, and even the city, is not quite what Amara thought. Her dad doesn’t speak to her grandpa, and the crowded streets can be suffocating as well as inspiring. But as she learns more and more about Harlem—and her father’s history—Amara realizes how, in some ways more than others, she can connect with this other home and family.This is a powerful story about family, the places that make us who we are, and how we find ways to connect to our history across time and distance.

When Brooklyn Was Queer


Hugh Ryan - 2019
    No other book, movie, or exhibition has ever told this sweeping story. Not only has Brooklyn always lived in the shadow of queer Manhattan neighborhoods like Greenwich Village and Harlem, but there has also been a systematic erasure of its queer history—a great forgetting.Ryan is here to unearth that history for the first time, and show how the formation of Brooklyn is inextricably linked to the stories of the incredible people who created the Brooklyn we know today. Folks like Ella Wesner and Florence Hines, the most famous drag kings of the late-1800s; E. Trondle, a transgender man whose arrest in Brooklyn captured headlines for weeks in 1913; Hamilton Easter Field, whose art commune in Brooklyn Heights nurtured Hart Crane and John Dos Passos; Mabel Hampton, a black lesbian who worked as a dancer at Coney Island in the 1920s; Gustave Beekman, the Brooklyn brothel owner at the center of a WWII gay Nazi spy scandal; and Josiah Marvel, a curator at the Brooklyn Museum who helped create a first-of-its-kind treatment program for gay men arrested for public sex in the 1950s. Through their stories, WBWQ brings Brooklyn’s queer past to life.

Feast Your Eyes


Myla Goldberg - 2019
    When a small gallery exhibits partially nude photographs of Lillian and her daughter Samantha, Lillian is arrested, thrust into the national spotlight, and targeted with an obscenity charge. Mother and daughter’s sudden notoriety changes the course of both of their lives and especially Lillian’s career as she continues a life-long quest for artistic legitimacy and recognition. Narrated by Samantha, Feast Your Eyes reads as a collection of Samantha’s memories, interviews with Lillian’s friends and lovers, and excerpts from Lillian’s journals and letters—a collage of stories and impressions, together amounting to an astounding portrait of a mother and an artist dedicated, above all, to a vision of beauty, truth, and authenticity.ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Finalist

The Good Thieves


Katherine Rundell - 2019
    When Vita’s grandfather’s mansion is taken from him by a powerful real estate tycoon, Vita knows it’s up to her to make things right. With the help of a pickpocket and her new circus friends, Vita creates the plan: Break into the mansion. Steal back what’s rightfully her grandfather’s. Expose the real estate tycoon for the crook he truly is. But 1920s Manhattan is ever-changing and full of secrets. It might take more than Vita’s ragtag gang of misfits to outsmart the city that never sleeps. Award-winning author Katherine Rundell has created an utterly gripping tour de-force about loyalty, trust, and the lengths to which we’ll go for the ones we love.

A Matter of Will


Adam Mitzner - 2019
    But things have not been going as expected. He’s on the verge of being fired when he meets the devilishly mysterious and fabulously wealthy Sam Abaddon.Winning Sam’s business answers Will’s prayers, catapulting the young stockbroker into the privileged world of money and luxury. Not only that, but Will also has met his dream girl, ambitious attorney Gwen Lipton.All at once, it seems as if Will’s life couldn’t get any better.And it doesn’t.When Will witnesses a shocking act of violence, his charmed new existence is revealed to be a waking nightmare as the truth about his benefactor—and his own complicity in criminal conduct—becomes devastatingly clear. As the noose draws tighter, Will faces an impossible choice: feast upon the poisonous fruit of his bloody business or defy his patron and face dire consequences.Then again, maybe there’s a third option…

Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island


Jennifer Thermes - 2019
    It explores the ways in which nature and people are connected, tracking the people who lived on Manhattan from the Lenape Indians to Dutch settlers hunting for beaver pelts to early Americans and beyond, and how they've (literally) shaped the island (and vice versa). Jen Thermes highlights watershed moments where nature demanded action of New Yorkers--the Great Fire of 1835, the Great Blizzard of 1888, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In special sidebars, she closely traces specific threads of history and their lasting impact today--New York as a hub for immigration and the slave trade, for example. An epic volume that chronicles the rise of Manhattan through the lenses of geography, city planning, sociology, historiography, and more, Manhattan Maps is a groundbreaking format that will fascinate curious readers of all ages"--

Better Witch Next Time


Stephanie Damore - 2019
    It's the present day that trips her up. So when a missing persons case comes in, throwing her back to 1958 New York City, Vee sets off to solve it.But nothing about this case is what it seems.Rogue witches, power-hungry shifters, and friends who are anything but innocent send Vee on a supernatural chase that just might require more power than even this witch can summon. Can Vee solve the case before her time is up or will Irene Borstein remain missing forever?Dive in to the Witch in Time series and get lost in a great mystery today.Each book stands completely on its own, but you'll have more fun if you read them all together!

The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team


Matthew Goodman - 2019
    City College was a tuition-free, merit-based college in Harlem known far more for its intellectual achievements and political radicalism than its athletic prowess. Only two years after Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier--and at a time when the National Basketball Association was still segregated--every single member of the Beavers was either Jewish or African American. But during that remarkable season, under the guidance of the legendary former player Nat Holman, this unheralded group of city kids would stun the basketball world by becoming the only team in history to win the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year.This team, though, proved to be extraordinary in another way: During the following season, all of the team's starting five were arrested by New York City detectives, charged with conspiring with gamblers to shave points. Almost overnight these beloved heroes turned into fallen idols. The story centers on two teammates and close friends, Eddie Roman and Floyd Layne, one white, one black, each caught up in the scandal, each searching for a path to personal redemption. Though banned from the NBA, Layne continued to devote himself to basketball, teaching the game to young people in his Bronx neighborhood and, ultimately, with Roman's help, finding another kind of triumph--one that no one could have anticipated.Drawing on interviews with the surviving members of that championship team, Matthew Goodman has created an indelible portrait of an era of smoke-filled arenas and Borscht Belt hotels, when college basketball was far more popular than the professional game. It was a time when gangsters controlled illegal sports betting, the police were on their payroll, and everyone, it seemed, was getting rich--except for the young men who actually played the games.Tautly paced and rich with period detail, The City Game tells a story both dramatic and poignant: of political corruption, duplicity in big-time college sports, and the deeper meaning of athletic success.

Friends Forever: The One About the Episodes


Gary Susman - 2019
    But no sitcom has ever come close to the series that started it all, spawning iconic looks like "the Rachel" and timeless catchphrases like "How you doin'?" while creating a cultural sensation that catapulted the cast members to instant mega-stardom.Throughout the show's ten- season run, viewers watched Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler, and Joey navigate their twenties and thirties with unwavering friendship, determination, and, of course, plenty of sarcasm. Friends Forever takes fans back to the set where it all began with exclusive photos of the sitcom that won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, eleven People's Choice Awards, and a Golden Globe for Jennifer Aniston for Best Lead Actress in a Television Series. This fully illustrated episode guide will treat readers to nostalgic flashbacks of the top one hundred episodes and sneak peeks of how popularly referenced lines from the show came to be. Friends Forever also boasts new interviews with show creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman on how the show got its start and set designer John Shaffner who reveals his inspirations behind the iconic looks behind Monica’s and Rachel’s apartment and Central Perk.It's no wonder why the Friends cast was chosen by TV Guide readers as the Best Comedy cast of all time, while countless other publications such as Vanity Fair named the show one of the best sitcoms of all time.Fun, hilarious interactives include:Joey’s fake resume vs real oneCountdown to the funniest Thanksgiving foodsTrivia game Q&A from "The One with the Embryos" (Seriously, what is Chandler Bing’s job?)Follow Ross’s infidelity trail from "The One with the Morning After"Who’s that celebrity? A comprehensive guide to some of the most famous celebrity guest stars from all ten seasons

New York


A.C. Fuller - 2019
    One unthinkable crime. The Crime Beat, Episode 1: New YorkPerched on the soft tar of a New York City rooftop, a mysterious sniper fires a single round from a fifty caliber rifle. Five stories below, his target collapses on the marble steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dead.Crime reporter Jane Cole needs this story badly. Suspended NYPD cop Robert Warren is desperate to clear his name. They don't trust each other, but they make the perfect team. And as Cole and Warren track the killer, they uncover a plot so ruthless it shocks the conscience, a crime so expansive it will rock the world.Perfect for readers of Michael Connelly and fans of True Detective or Jack Ryan, The Crime Beat is your next bingeable series from bestselling author A.C. Fuller.  -----The Crime Beat is a nine-episode novella series, designed to be read in order and in its entirety. Although each episode tells a complete portion of the story, the nine novellas--read together--weave one unforgettable tale.

Bill Cunningham: On the Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography


The New York Times - 2019
    "A dazzling kaleidoscope from the gaze of an artist who saw beauty at every turn."--Andr� Leon TalleyBill Cunningham's photography captured the evolution of style, of trends, and of the everyday, both in New York City and in Paris. But his work also shows that street style is not only about fashion; it's about the people and the changing culture.These photographs--many never before seen, others having originally appeared in The New York Times and elsewhere--move from decade to decade, beginning in the 1970s and continuing until Cunningham's death in 2016. Here you'll find Cunningham's distinctive chronicling of the 1980s transit strike, the rise of 1990s casual Fridays, the sadness that fell over the city following 9/11, Inauguration Day 2009, the onset of selfies, and many other significant moments.This enduring portfolio is enriched by essays that provide a revealing portrait of Cunningham and a few of his many fascinations and influences, contributed by Cathy Horyn, Tiina Loite, Vanessa Friedman, Ruth La Ferla, Guy Trebay, Penelope Green, Jacob Bernstein, and a much favored subject, Anna Wintour. More than anything, On the Street is a timeless representation of Cunningham's commitment to capturing the here and now."An absolute delight."--People

Park Avenue Summer


Renée Rosen - 2019
    While confidential memos, article ideas, and cover designs keep finding their way into the wrong hands, someone tries to pull Alice into this scheme to sabotage her boss. But Alice remains loyal and becomes all the more determined to help Helen succeed. As pressure mounts at the magazine and Alice struggles to make her way in New York, she quickly learns that in Helen Gurley Brown's world, a woman can demand to have it all.

Loving Liberty Levine


Colin Falconer - 2019
    But all Sarah really wants is what has come so easily to her sisters—a family of her own. Finally, in her new home, her dream comes true…but at a terrible cost. She names the baby girl Liberty after the great statue in the harbor that she saw when she first came to America.From struggling to raise Liberty in a Lower East Side tenement to building a fashion empire, the only constants in Sarah’s life are her love for her daughter and the terrible secret that she must keep. Sarah gives Liberty everything she has, but the truth cannot stay hidden forever. As Liberty grows to womanhood and the world prepares to go to war again, Sarah is asked to make one last impossible choice…

The Falconer


Dana Czapnik - 2019
    Seventeen-year-old Lucy Adler, a street-smart, trash-talking baller, is often the only girl on the public courts. At turns quixotic and cynical, insecure and self-possessed, Lucy is in unrequited love with her best friend and pick-up teammate Percy, scion to a prominent New York family who insists he wishes to resist upper crust fate.As she navigates this complex relationship with all its youthful heartache, Lucy is seduced by a different kind of life—one less consumed by conventional success and the approval of men. A pair of provocative female artists living in what remains of New York’s bohemia invite her into their world, but soon even their paradise begins to show cracks.

An Unorthodox Match


Naomi Ragen - 2019
    After years fruitlessly searching for love, marriage, and children, she decides to take the radical step of seeking spirituality and meaning far outside the parameters of modern life in the insular, ultraorthodox enclave of Boro Park, Brooklyn. There, fate brings her to the dysfunctional home of newly-widowed Jacob, a devout Torah scholar, whose life is also in turmoil, and whose small children are aching for the kindness of a womanly touch.While her mother direly predicts she is ruining her life, enslaving herself to a community that is a misogynistic religious cult, Lola’s heart tells her something far more complicated. But it is the shocking and unexpected messages of her new community itself which will finally force her into a deeper understanding of the real choices she now faces and which will ultimately decide her fate.An Unorthodox March is a powerful and moving novel of faith, love, and acceptance, from Naomi Ragen, the international bestselling author of The Devil in Jerusalem.

A Green Place to Be: The Creation of Central Park


Ashley Benham Yazdani - 2019
    The people needed a green place to be -- a park with ponds to row on and paths for wandering through trees and over bridges. When a citywide contest solicited plans for creating a park out of barren swampland, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted put their heads together to create the winning design, and the hard work of making their plans a reality began. By winter, the lake opened for skating. By the next summer, the waterside woodland known as the Ramble opened for all to enjoy. Meanwhile, sculptors, stone masons, and master gardeners joined in to construct thirty-four unique bridges, along with fountains, pagodas, and band shells, making New York's Central Park a green gift to everyone. Included in the end matter are bios of Vaux and Olmsted, a bibliography, and engaging factual snippets.

What Was Stonewall?


Nico Medina - 2019
    They rebelled in the streets, turning one moment into a civil rights movement and launching the fight for equality among LGBTQ people in the United States.

A New Home


Tania de Regil - 2019
    But what if your new home isn't anything like your old home? Will you make friends? What will you eat? Where will you play? In a cleverly combined voice -- accompanied by wonderfully detailed illustrations depicting parallel urban scenes -- a young boy conveys his fears about moving from New York City to Mexico City while, at the same time, a young girl expresses trepidation about leaving Mexico City to move to New York City. Tania de Regil offers a heartwarming story that reminds us that home may be found wherever life leads. Fascinating details about each city are featured at the end.

Shield of Protection


Dana Mentink - 2019
    He’s gone into hiding, and April’s the only link the drug runners have to him. NYPD K-9 Unit officer Declan Maxwell and his dog Storm will do anything to keep her safe. With danger stalking them, they’ll race to save her uncle without losing their lives in the process.

The Secret of Clouds


Alyson Richman - 2019
      Katya, a rising ballerina, and Sasha, a graduate student, are young and in love when an unexpected tragedy befalls their native Kiev. Years later, after the couple has safely emigrated to America the consequences of this incident cause their son, Yuri, to be born with a rare health condition that isolates him from other children. Maggie, a passionate and dedicated teacher agrees to tutor Yuri at his home, even though she is haunted by her own painful childhood memories. As the two forge a deep and soulful connection, Yuri's boundless curiosity and unique wisdom inspires Maggie to make difficult changes in her own life. And she'll never realize just how strong Yuri has made her—until she needs that strength the most....   A novel that will make readers examine what it means to live life with a full heart.

On Division


Goldie Goldbloom - 2019
    Her ten children range in age from thirteen to thirty-nine. Her in-laws, postwar immigrants from Romania, live on the first floor of their house. Her daughter Tzila Ruchel lives on the second. She and Yidel, a scribe in such demand that he makes only a few Torah scrolls a year, live on the third. Wed when Surie was sixteen, they have a happy marriage and a full life, and, at the ages of fifty-seven and sixty-two, they are looking forward to some quiet time together.Into this life of counted blessings comes a surprise. Surie is pregnant. Pregnant at fifty-seven. It is a shock. And at her age, at this stage, it is an aberration, a shift in the proper order of things, and a public display of private life. She feels exposed, ashamed. She is unable to share the news, even with her husband. And so for the first time in her life, she has a secret--a secret that slowly separates her from the community.Goldie Goldbloom's On Division is an excavation of one woman's life, a story of awakening at middle age, and a thoughtful examination of the dynamics of self and collective identity. It is a steady-eyed look inside insular communities that also celebrates their comforts. It is a rare portrait of a long, happy marriage. And it is an unforgettable new novel from a writer whose imagination is matched only by the depth of her humanity.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster


Marcus Samuelsson - 2019
    and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson, and get to know the food, history, music, and. . .most importantly . . .the people of an iconic neighborhood that Marcus knows as his home and the home of his Red Rooster restaurant.Special guests join Marcus each day of the week to cook, sip cocktails and make their Harlem our Harlem including Melba Wilson, Jelani Cobb, Bevy Smith, Kievin Young, for starters.For Wednesday, with writer Jenani Cobb, Marcus will recreate the short ribs he made for President Obama's fundraiser at the Red Rooster and discuss the significance of the first African American President. With food historian Jessica Harris, Marcus will discover the African and Southern roots of his ingredients. He'll make fried chicken with Harlem's very own Charles Gabriel and visit La Marqueta with Harlem native, Aurora Flores.You'll learn about Harlem's amazing history, diversity, and current vibrant life and the institutions that are the pillars of the neighborhood. . .the Apollo theater, the Studio Museum and the Schomburg Center. Writers Isabel Wilkerson and Nicholas Lehmann explain the Great Migration from the South that brought mac and greens, new voters and amazing creative talent to Harlem. And Dapper Dan talks about Harlem style.And like Red Rooster itself, music provides a foundation for each day. . .from El Barrio Night's Latin rhythms to Sunday's Teenage Gospel Choir.As an added bonus for Audible listeners, with purchase you'll receive recipes from 'The Red Rooster Cookbook that are featured in Our Harlem.©2019 Marcus Samuelsson Group LLC (P)2019

They Said It Couldn't Be Done: The '69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History


Wayne Coffey - 2019
    Things scarcely got any better for the ensuing six years--they were baseball's laughingstock, but somehow lovable in their ineptitude, building a fiercely loyal fan base. And then came 1969, a year that brought the lunar landing, Woodstock, nonstop antiwar protests, and the most tumultuous and fractious New York City mayoral race in memory--along with the most improbable season in the annals of Major League Baseball. It concluded on an invigorating autumn afternoon in Queens, when a Minnesota farm boy named Jerry Koosman beat the Baltimore Orioles for the second time in five games, making the Mets champions of the baseball world.     It wasn't merely an upset but an unprecedented, uplifting achievement for the ages. From the ashes of those early scorched-earth seasons, Gil Hodges, a beloved former Brooklyn Dodger, put together a 25-man whole that was vastly more formidable than the sum of its parts. Beyond the top-notch pitching staff headlined by Tom Seaver, Koosman, and Gary Gentry, and the hitting prowess of Cleon Jones, the Mets were mostly comprised of untested kids and lightly regarded veterans. Everywhere you looked on this team, there was a man with a compelling backstory, from Koosman, who never played high school baseball and grew up throwing in a hayloft in subzero temperatures with his brother Orville, to third baseman Ed Charles, an African-American poet with a deep racial conscience whose arrival in the big leagues was delayed almost a decade because of the color of his skin.     In the tradition of The Boys of Winter, his classic bestseller about the 1980 U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, Wayne Coffey tells the story of the '69 Mets as it has never been told before--against the backdrop of the space race, Stonewall, and Vietnam, set in an ever-changing New York City. With dogged reporting and a storyteller's eye for detail, Coffey finds the beating heart of a baseball family. Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Mets' remarkable transformation from worst to best, They Said It Couldn't Be Done is a spellbinding, feel-good narrative about an improbable triumph by the ultimate underdog.

The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World: The Twin Towers, Windows on the World, and the Rebirth of New York


Tom Roston - 2019
    The city was falling apart, and even the newly constructed World Trade Center threatened to be a fiasco. But in April 1976, a quarter-mile up on the 107th floor of the North Tower, a new restaurant called Windows on the World opened its doors—a glittering sign that New York wasn’t done just yet. In The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World, journalist Tom Roston tells the complete history of this incredible restaurant, from its stunning $14-million opening to 9/11 and its tragic end. There are stories of the people behind it, such as Joe Baum, the celebrated restaurateur, who was said to be the only man who could outspend an unlimited budget; the well-tipped waiters; and the cavalcade of famous guests, as well as everyday people celebrating the key moments in their lives. Roston also charts the changes in American food, from baroque and theatrical to locally sourced and organic. Built on nearly 150 original interviews, The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World is the story of New York City’s restaurant culture and the quintessential American drive to succeed.

Girl To City: A Memoir


Amy Rigby - 2019
    For anyone who ever imagined trying to make a life out of what they love.

Mr. Misunderstood


Sara Jane Stone - 2019
    The cars, the penthouse, the reputation for delivering women to that “Oh, yes, Gavin” moment… Yeah, I’m the bad boy billionaire who drives your fantasies. But I’ve traveled a long road to get here. And I played by the rules—the ones I wrote to guarantee I didn’t return to whom I was before. Until now. The pictures, the story—it’s my past coming back to haunt me. I’ve lost control. And to get it back, I need to change the story.So I asked my best friend and neighbor for help. Kayla agreed—if I support her growing pack of four-legged misfits. My life is under control again.Only I’m falling for my best friend. Now, my New York City apartment is full of rescued pups, my country retreat looks more like an animal sanctuary, and Kayla’s guarding her heart. And I’m running out of time to prove the girl next door belongs with the billionaire.

Trove: A Woman's Search for Truth and Buried Treasure


Sandra A. Miller - 2019
    In this eloquent, hilarious, sharply realized memoir, Sandra A. Miller grapples with the regret and confusion that so often accompanies middle age, and the shame of craving something more when she has so much already.In a very real way, Miller has spent her life hunting for buried treasure. As a child, she trained herself to find things: dropped hair clips, shiny bits of broken glass, discarded lighters. Looking to escape from her volatile parents and often-unhappy childhood, Miller found deeper meaning, and a good deal of hope, in each of these objects.Now an adult and facing the loss of her last living parent―her mother who is at once cold, difficult, and wildly funny―Miller finds herself, as she so often did as a little girl, pressed against a wall of her own longing. Her search for gold, which soon becomes an obsession, forces her to dredge up painful pieces of her past, confront the true source of her sorrow, and finally discover what it is she has been looking for all these years.

The Night Library


David Zeltser - 2019
    Soon, he's magically whisked away from his cozy home in the Bronx, and the two mighty lions show him the wonder of the library. There, the inquisitive Latino boy discovers the power of books and their role not only in his own life, but also in the lives of the people he loves.Raul Colon's gorgeous, rich art creates an immersive world in this book about books, which is sure to capture the imaginations of kids and adults and inspire them to grab their library cards and dive into the worlds of stories.

After the Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the '69 Mets


Art Shamsky - 2019
    When the 1969 season began, fans weren’t expecting much from “the Lovable Losers.” But as the season progressed, the Mets inched closer to first place and then eventually clinched the National League pennant. They were underdogs against the formidable Baltimore Orioles, but beat them in five games to become world champions. No one had predicted it. In fact, fans could hardly believe it happened. Suddenly they were “the Miracle Mets.” Playing right field for the ’69 Mets was Art Shamsky, who had stayed in touch with his former teammates over the years. He hoped to get together with star pitcher Tom Seaver (who would win the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the league in 1969 and go on to become the first Met elected to the Hall of Fame) but Seaver was ailing and could not travel. So, Shamsky organized a visit to Tom Terrific in California, accompanied by the #2 pitcher, Jerry Koosman, outfielder Ron Swoboda, and shortstop Bud Harrelson. Together they recalled the highlights of that amazing season as they reminisced about what changed the Mets’ fortunes in 1969. With the help of sportswriter Erik Sherman, Shamsky has written After the Miracle for the 1969 Mets. This is a book that every Mets fan—and every baseball fan—must own.

Snowfall in the City: The St. James Affair / Candlelight Christmas


Susan Wiggs - 2019
    James Affair Elaine St. James has it all—a thriving career as an elite Manhattan publicist, A-list best friends and a gorgeous, high-profile boyfriend her parents adore. But when Byron breaks up with her on Christmas Eve, Elaine is faced with the prospect of spending the holidays alone…until the man she loved long ago reappears, much like a ghost from Christmas past.Tony Fiore was everything her Upper East Side parents wanted Elaine to avoid—the Italian-American boy from Brooklyn was hardly an ideal match for their perfect socialite daughter. Despite their differences, they always found themselves together on Christmas Eve, ice-skating at Rockefeller Center. Until the year Tony failed to show up and broke Elaine’s heart. Now, seven years later, on another Christmas Eve, they might finally have a second chance at first love… Candlelight Christmas A single father who yearns to be a family man, Logan O’Donnell is determined to create the perfect Christmas for his son, Charlie. The entire O’Donnell clan arrives to spend the holidays in Avalon, a postcard-pretty town on the shores of Willow Lake, a place for the family to reconnect and rediscover the special gifts of the season. One of the guests is a newcomer to Willow Lake—Darcy Fitzgerald. Sharp-witted, independent and intent on guarding her heart, she’s the last person Logan can see himself falling for. And Darcy is convinced that a relationship is the last thing she needs this Christmas. Yet between the snowy silence of the winter woods and the toasty moments by a crackling fire, their two lonely hearts collide. The magic of the season brings them each a gift neither ever expected—a love to last a lifetime.

A Billionaire Boss's Proposal


Layla Holt - 2019
     Least of all Zeke. Billionaire Zeke would do anything for his beloved grandmother, including faking a romance just to make the holidays perfect for her. Not that he’s interested in romance. He has no time for that. He’s too busy with his investments company and besides, his heart is incapable of love – his first love left him a broken man. Isla Gordon has a short term plan. Work for the summer while healing a broken heart. Her long term plan is to save up, leave New York and run a quiet café in the small town where she grew up. That is until her new boss makes a preposterous proposition. If only he wasn’t so handsome…If only he did not make her heart do somersaults in her chest. Get this sweet romance now!

Beyond Redemption: Joker


Barbara Nolan - 2019
    Sounds easy until a chance meeting with a sexy, mystery woman screws with his plan. To make matters worse, his mystery woman hates all things biker, has a score of her own to settle, and their chance meeting turns out to be deliberate. Daisy is no stranger to the cruel underside of life, but now the con woman extraordinaire has transformed herself into one of Miami’s premier players. When her elaborate plan to pull herself out of the game goes awry, Joker comes to her rescue, and she sees that maybe this bad boy isn’t so bad. They decide to work together, and their passion escalates as they design her biggest con yet: pitting Daisy’s murderous boss against Joker’s vicious club president while trying to save his son. Joker and Daisy’s world twists and turns until neither one is sure who’s in control as they teeter on the edge of what they need and what they want.

The Not Wives


Carley Moore - 2019
    Stevie is a nontenured professor and recently divorced single mom; her best friend Mel is a bartender, torn between her long-term girlfriend and a desire to explore polyamory; and Johanna is a homeless teenager trying to find her way in the world.In the midst of economic collapse and class conflict, late-night hookups and long-suffering exes, the three characters piece together a new American identity founded on resistance--against the looming shadow of financial precarity, the gentrification of New York, and the traditional role of a wife.

A Booklover's Guide to New York


Cléo Le-Tan - 2019
    It is a book all about books. The book is an object in itself, designed as the ultimate little tome any book collector would love to acquire, layered with witty Pierre Le-Tan drawings, as well as photographs of some of the most precious bookish locations. Rediscover New York in the most fashionably literate way: whether you are in need of an exceptionally rare edition of your favorite novel (perhaps to be found in the dark and musty backroom of The Center for Fiction), or the most tranquil place to devour a short story on a wintry day (an empty underground food court in a Midtown skyscraper), or if you are looking to follow in the footsteps of a beloved author or novella character (like Capote's Grady and Clyde in Central Park Zoo), this will be your ultimate companion. Part guide, part sophisticated scrapbook and part desirable object, A Booklover's Guide to New York is an absolute must for any book-savvy person--the young bookworm or old scholar, the visiting tourist or homegrown New Yorker, the aspiring writer or doting parent.

Doctor's Secret


Lyz Kelley - 2019
    He’s over-the-top demanding and putting her family name at risk. If she can’t get him to see reason, the hospital operating room project—the robotic suite her family has funded—will fail.Garrett Branston is a workaholic with a sharp wit and irresistible charm—but his charm isn’t working on gorgeous McKenzie Carver. She might suggest he chill, but the attraction between them is anything but cold.When she tells him he needs some serious PR intervention and suggests a fake engagement to redeem his reputation, he agrees, as long as she’s the one to pose as his fiancee.But Garrett is still hiding something, and McKenzie fears his secrets will ruin everything her family has built.From the award-winning author of Blinded, download Doctor’s secret today and start falling in love.

Life Is Good: Wit & Wisdom of a Vermont Homesteader


Nancy Carey Johnson - 2019
    A wife, a mother of four boys, a guitar-playing singer/songwriter, a deli manager and baker, a gardener and hemp farmer, and a dog lover, her witty and wise observations about life in rural Vermont will by turns crack you up, make you think, and bring a tear to your eye.A relocated Brooklynite, in these delectable essays Nancy takes us on a tour of her life in Poultney, Vermont. With gentle, sometimes self-deprecating humor she points out the ways every day is filled with treasured moments and joy. She tells how she enjoys simple pleasures, like rising before the sun to drink tea from a Bright and Early Diner mug that was a gift from Aunty Luce or singing duets with the scarlet cardinal that lives outside her bedroom window. She describes her love of truck stop diners, pickles, kitchen dancing, household gadgets, and tools of life. And how finding cauliflower unexpectedly growing in the garden renews her faith.Read and savor these wry observations about human nature and rich musings on motherhood, moonshine, the nature of forgiveness, midlife, the passage of time, and friendship.

Ballerina Project


Dane Shitagi - 2019
    A brilliant collection of photographs that encapsulate the delicate majesty of ballerinas around the world: With over one million followers on Instagram, Ballerina Project has the largest network of fans in the world for ballet and has become an online phenomenon.• Featuring over 170 inspiring black and white and full-color photographs that beautifully capture the artistry, strength, and dedication of more than 50 accomplished ballerinas• Iconic locations across the globe including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, London, Rome, and Paris create a timeless backdrop for these remarkable portraits• Introductions by renowned principal ballerinas Isabella Boylston and Francesca Hayward are also included to provide a more exclusive reading experienceFans of San Francisco Ballet at Seventy-Five, Lois Greenfield: Moving Still, and Balancing Acts will also love the captivating imagery found within Ballerina Project.Dane Shitagi is a New York City-based photographer who created the Instagram phenomenon @ballerinaproject_This unique book is bound in pink satin cloth with gold foil stamping and a pink satin ribbon marker.Ballerina Project is an ideal gift for any aspiring ballerina or ballet photographer.

Life-Changing Money


Mike Slavin - 2019
     Jeff Case does what most people would never do, and thank God for that because it makes the world, and your community, a safer place. But before his world turned upside down, he had a different plan. Former soldier. Defender of the innocent. Case may have left a warzone, but he soon discovers that the streets of America are just as dangerous It was kill or be killed in combat, but Case is ready to turn his back on his military career and start a new life with his wife, Becky. During a final interview for his first civilian job, Case steps in to help a woman in danger. It is the catalyst that kickstarts the day from hell. A day that Case and Becky may not survive. If you liked Life-Changing Money, then check out Kill Crime. Start the adventure of a lifetime.

Last of the Name


Rosanne Parry - 2019
    Kathleen refuses to be parted from her only remaining relative, so she finds a job in domestic service for herself and her younger...sister. Danny reluctantly pretends to be a girl to avoid being sent to the children's workhouse or recruited as a drummer boy for the Union army. When he occasionally sneaks off to spend a few hours as a boy and share his rich talent for Irish dancing, he discovers the vast variety of New York's neighborhoods. But the Civil War draft is stoking tensions between the Irish and free black populations. With dangers escalating, how can Danny find a safe place to call home?

My Young Life


Frederic Tuten - 2019
    Determined to trade his neighborhood streets for the romantic avenues of Paris, he learned to paint and draw, falling in love with the process of putting a brush to canvas, and the feeling it gave him. At fifteen, he decided to leave high school and pursue the bohemian life he’d read about in books, a life of salons and cafes and “worldly women” from whom he could learn and grow. But, before he could, he would receive an extraordinary education, right in his own backyard.My Young Life is the story of those early formative years where, in the halls of Christopher Columbus High School, and later the City College of New York, Frederic would discover the kind of life he wanted to lead. As Tuten travels downtown for classes at the Art Students League, spends afternoons reading in Union Square, and discovers the vibrant scenes of downtown galleries and Lower East Side bars, he finds himself a member of a new community of artists, gathering friends, influences—and many girlfriends—along the way.Frederic Tuten has had a remarkable life, writing books, traveling around the world, acting in and creating films, and even conducting summer workshops with Paul Bowles in Tangiers. Spanning two decades and bringing us from his family’s kitchen table in the Bronx and the cafes of Greenwich Village and back again, My Young Life is an intimate and enchanting portrait of an artist’s coming-of-age, set against one of the most exciting creative periods of our time.

New York in Bloom


Georgianna Lane - 2019
    With sumptuous photography, the unexpected, softer side of New York is revealed by juxtaposing floral beauty with exquisite botanical details found in the city’s iconic architecture. Also included are field guides to locating and identifying common spring blooms, a list of recommended locations and vendors, and a tutorial on how to create your own New York–style floral bouquet. For anyone who loves New York City, flowers, and photography, New York in Bloom is a gorgeous gift and an essential addition to one’s library of fine books.

Her Secret Billionaire Neighbor


Flora Madison - 2019
    Everyone else took the financial incentive to leave... Everyone except one last, stubborn tenant. My plan? Make them an offer they can't refuse. But then I see her, and there's no way I'm kicking her out. Instead, I want to make her mine forever. But she hates me, the man attempting to take away her home. The only way to convince her to love me? I'm going to have to pretend to be someone I'm not. Make her fall for me. Then, I'll tell her the truth. Toni: I'm not going down without a fight. This is my home. Cash incentives are great, but what about the principal of displacement? Then, he appears. Tall, dark and unbelievably hot. And he's moving in downstairs to assess the future redesign of the building. Maybe he'll see that this place is worth saving, that it's history deserves to be preserved. It doesn't hurt that he's the most gorgeous man I've ever laid eyes on. I need someone else on my side in the fight to save my building. What could possibly go wrong? Her Secret Billionaire Neighbor is sweet and steamy short romance featuring a possessive OTT alpha billionaire who'll do anything to claim his curvy bbw heroine. It's the perfect one hour read when you're on the go or just need a high heat quickie romance to hold you over. If you love a new neighbor romance, this is the amazon kindle short reads (90 minutes) for you. **Sneak Peek Bonus Chapter of Possessive Teacher included!** **HEA guaranteed in this SAFE standalone romance with NO CLIFFHANGER!**

Slow Dancing at Sunrise


Jo McNally - 2019
    But Rendezvous Falls has changed since she’s been away. Her aunt Helen’s winery is in trouble. And she doesn’t trust the sexy, surly stranger working the vineyard as far as she can throw him.Luke Rutledge would do anything for Helen, who’s been like a mother to him. Revive the winery? Sure. Repair her property? No problem. Tolerate Helen’s infuriating, big-shot niece? Well…maybe. But as he and Whitney are forced to work together to rebuild the business, her chilly facade reveals a woman as complex and intoxicating as a fine merlot. Throw in a matchmaking book club hell-bent on happily-ever-after and it’s a potent cocktail.Love should never be calculated. But it doesn’t take Whitney’s math skills to see that this is adding to up to one tantalizing adventure…Don’t miss  When Sparks Fly , the next funny, heart-tugging romance in Jo McNally's Rendezvous Falls series centered around a matchmaking book club in Rendezvous Falls, New York. The Rendezvous Falls series Book 1: Slow Dancing at Sunrise Book 2: Stealing Kisses in the Snow Book 3: Barefoot on a Starlit Night Book 4: Love Blooms Book 5: When Sparks Fly

Son of Havana: A Baseball Journey from Cuba to the Big Leagues and Back


Luis Tiant - 2019
    In his white polyester uniform, with a barrel-chested physique and a Fu Manchu mustache, Tiant may not have looked like the lean, sculpted aces he usually faced off against, but nobody was a tougher competitor on the diamond, and few were as successful. There may be no more qualified 20th-century pitcher not yet enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.His big-league dreams came at a steep price--racism in the Deep South and the Boston suburbs, and nearly fifteen years separated from a family held captive in Castro's Cuba. But baseball also delivered World Series stardom and a heroic return to his island home after close to a half-century of forced exile. The man whose name--El Tiante--became a Fenway Park battle cry has never fully shared his tale in his own words, until now.In Son of Havana, Tiant puts his huge heart on his sleeve and describes his road from fields strewn with rocks and rubbish in Havana to the pristine lawns of major league ballparks. Teammates, opponents, family, and media also weigh-in--including a foreword by fellow Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski and the first in-depth interview ever with Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk on the magic behind these Boston batterymates.Readers will share Tiant's pride when appeals by a pair of U.S. senators to baseball-fanatic Castro secure freedom for Luis's parents to fly to Boston and witness the 1975 World Series glory of their child. And readers will join the big-league ballplayers for their spring 2016 exhibition game in Havana, when Tiant--a living link to the earliest, scariest days of the Castro regime--threw out the first pitch.

Believe: A Pop-Up Book of Possibilities


Robert Sabuda - 2019
    Throughout, phrases and images evoking potential (an acorn, an egg, a paper airplane) are answered by a glorious 3-D image on the following spread (a towering tree, a flock of birds, a rocket soaring upward). An ideal gift for graduates from kindergarten to college and beyond, Believe is the perfect way to celebrate life's passages and look forward to new horizons.

The Publisher's Dilemma: A Big City Tale of Privilege, Power and Murder


Darius Myers - 2019
    The police investigation that follows reveals Harris Simmons to be a place with dark secrets, predatory actors, and master abusers of power and privilege. And when the case is solved, it won't be quiet. It will be dramatic and change the company of Harris Simmons forever.

Rich Little Poor Girl: An Interracial Second Chance Romance


C.L. Donley - 2019
    Renown local designer Cynthia Gordon is a woman of humble beginnings-- starting out as a cafeteria worker at The Dvorak Group, a prestigious investment banking firm in the heart of Wall Street run by Solomon Dvorak. When she steals the heart of the CEO's handsome son and heir apparent Ben Dvorak, Solomon comes up with a plan to keep the girl from de-railing his plans for his son. Ten years later, Cynthia Gordon returns to settle the score, without getting her heart involved. Now that Ben is poised to take over the company after his father's illness, Ben is determined to find out what really happened all those years ago-- and ultimately how to win her back.

The Lions at Night


Jessica M. Boehman - 2019
    By night, they have been known to go on adventures inspired by the books their favorite librarian reads to them. In Jessica Boehman’s debut wordless picture book the lions take a late-night subway ride to the wild and wonderful Coney Island, where the two lions fit right in as they indulge in some nostalgic New York City-style fun. Will the lions make it back to their perches at the library before dawn? And will anyone notice they have been gone?

The Chelsea Girls


Fiona Davis - 2019
    From the dramatic redbrick facade to the sweeping staircase dripping with art, the Chelsea Hotel has long been New York City's creative oasis for the many artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, and poets who have called it home—a scene playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead are determined to use to their advantage. Yet they soon discover that the greatest obstacle to putting up a show on Broadway has nothing to do with their art, and everything to do with politics. A Red scare is sweeping across America, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has started a witch hunt for Communists, with those in the entertainment industry in the crosshairs. As the pressure builds to name names, it is more than Hazel and Maxine's Broadway dreams that may suffer as they grapple with the terrible consequences, but also their livelihood, their friendship, and even their freedom. Spanning from the 1940s to the 1960s, The Chelsea Girls deftly pulls back the curtain on the desperate political pressures of McCarthyism, the complicated bonds of female friendship, and the siren call of the uninhibited Chelsea Hotel.

Hotel Chelsea: Living in the Last Bohemian Haven


Colin Miller - 2019
    Clarke, Andy Warhol, William S. Burroughs, Janis Joplin, Eugene O'Neill, Rufus Wainwright, Betsey Johnson, R. Crumb, Thomas Wolfe, Jasper Johns--these are just a few of the figures who at one time occupied one of the most alluring and storied residences ever: the Chelsea Hotel. Born during the Gilded Age and once the tallest building in New York, the twelve-story landmark has long been a magnet for artists, writers, musicians, and cultural provocateurs of all stripes.In this book, photographer Colin Miller and writer Ray Mock intimately portray the enduring bohemian spirit of the Chelsea Hotel through interviews with nearly two dozen current residents and richly detailed photographs of their unique spaces. As documented in Miller's abundant photographs, these apartments project the quirky decorating sensibilities of urban aesthetes who largely work in film, theater, and the visual arts, resulting in deliriously ornamental spaces with a kitschy edge. Weathering the overall homogenization of New York and the rapid transformation of the hotel itself--amid recent ownership changeovers and tenant lawsuits--residents remain in about seventy apartments while the rest of the units are converted to rentals (and revert to a hotel-stay basis, which had ceased in 2011).For the community of artists and intellectuals who remain, the uncertain status of the hotel is just another stage in a roller-coaster history. A fascinating portrait of a strand of resilient bohemian New Yorkers and their creative, deeply idiosyncratic homes, Hotel Chelsea is a rich visual and narrative document of a cultural destination as complicated as it is mythical.

The Queen of All Poisons


B.J. Magnani - 2019
    Lily Robinson is a brilliant physician with an encyclopedic knowledge of all toxins and poisons, and a penchant for stilettos. In an unforeseeable twist in her life, the United States Government appeals to her patriotism--and her knowledge of how to kill without bloodshed, to rid the world of threats to our nation. Emotionally blunted and flawed, she struggles to move between assassin and healer, yet still able to fulfill her competing objectives. Now asked to assassinate a terrorist threatening New York City, she quickly realizes the Russians have already released a deadly toxin in a surprisingly innocuous medium.

prettycitynewyork: Discovering New York's Beautiful Places


Siobhan Ferguson - 2019
    Pretty tree-lined avenues, cute shops, and serene getaways do not immediately come to mind for this cosmopolitan city, but they are there. Acclaimed Instagrammer Siobhan Ferguson, author of prettycitylondon, now turns her discerning eye to the Big Apple itself. Travel along with her as she uncovers the hidden gems—the sweet, secluded alleys, the fantastic markets, the artisan boutiques—that New York has to offer, and reveals the beautiful, the quaint, and the downright pretty scattered among the urban landscape of the world's most famous city. Stunning photographs alongside fantastic tips to take your own pictures and create a prettycitynewyork experience for yourself make this the perfect book for visitors on foot and armchair travelers alike.

The Ghost of Dunlow Manor


Paige Timothy - 2019
    John needs an escape, and Nate, her personal assistant, thinks that a trip to a real castle in England will be just the thing. What neither of them planned on, though, was to encounter an actual ghost. Lady Catherine Dunlow hates the idea of sharing her castle with tourists and does everything she can to chase them out, much to the amusement of her roguish suitor. But when her two newest guests stumble upon a mystery surrounding her death, she decides to let them stay. With an eternal fate in the balance, Nate and Alexis must move quickly to bring the killer to light before Catherine is trapped forever. This novella was originally published in the Sweet and Sassy Anthology: Castle Collection.

Dear Jane


Marina DelVecchio - 2019
    In writing letters to Jane, Kit Kat discovers a connection to literature that saves her life. Dear Jane is about family, love, forgiveness, and the power of a good book.

The Stowaway


Glynnis Campbell - 2019
    A notorious Scottish rake becomes an unwitting stowaway on a ship bound for America, until a spirited young botanist restores his reputation, and he becomes the only one who can save her from a twisted fate.Amateur botanist Charlotte de Ware couldn't be more excited about sailing with her orchid collection from Scotland to New York to visit kin for Christmas. When she stumbles upon a dashing stowaway on the ship, she refuses to let the captain throw him overboard. But she soon questions her charity when she learns that the stowaway surgeon is a notorious rake.Travis Jameson never meant to go to America. But his controversial medical studies have made him a dangerous target, and his friends spirit him aboard a packet ship for his own safety. He finds adventure on the ship and love in the charming yet unattainable lass who comes to his aid. But when they reach their destination and must part ways, a terrible secret and a twist of fate reverses their fortunes, and it's up to the tarnished scoundrel to save the desperate young miss.THE STOWAWAYPrequel novella for California LegendsThese are chronicles of the Old West--of the native people who lived on the land for generations and the pioneers who came from all over the world in search of riches…the struggle to survive in a land without laws…the strange bedfellows that resulted from the clash of cultures…and the common language of the heart that spoke of a love more precious than gold.

Gravemould and Ectoplasm


Barbara Hambly - 2019
    Recently arrived in New York in the closing years of World War One, Lydia Asher and her friend, the "recovering" vampire Don Simon Ysidro, attempt to solve a puzzle that begins with a fraudulent seance, and rapidly veers into revolution and murder.

Know Yourself: A Book of Questions


Irene Smit - 2019
    This whimsical illustrated collection presents a wonderfully unexpected way to learn more about yourself, a friend, or a loved one. Best of all, there are no right answers—only the imperative to stay curious, stay honest, and stay open.

Woodstock: 50 Years of Peace and Music


Daniel Bukszpan - 2019
    This nostalgic release features beautiful, full-color photographs that bring the event back to life, sharing insights on how the festival is still making an impact on pop culture.

Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch


Alexandra Jacobs - 2019
    Rollicking but intimate, it tracks one of Broadway’s great personalities from her upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to her fateful move to New York City, where she studied alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte. We accompany Elaine through her jagged rise to fame, to Hollywood and London, and across her later years, when she enjoyed a stunning renaissance, punctuated by a turn on the popular television show 30 Rock. We explore the influential—and often fraught—collaborations she developed with Noël Coward, Tennessee Williams, and above all Stephen Sondheim, as well as her courageous yet flawed attempts to control a serious drinking problem. And we see the entertainer triumphing over personal turmoil with the development of her Tony Award–winning one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, which established her as an emblem of spiky independence and Manhattan life for an entirely new generation of admirers.In Still Here, Alexandra Jacobs conveys the full force of Stritch’s sardonic wit and brassy charm while acknowledging her many dark complexities. Following years of meticulous research and interviews, this is a portrait of a powerful, vulnerable, honest, and humorous figure who continues to reverberate in the public consciousness.

We Were Beautiful


Heather Hepler - 2019
    The doctors tell her she was lucky to survive. Her therapist says it will take time to heal. The police reports claim there were trace amounts of alcohol in her bloodstream. But no matter how much she tries to reconstruct the events of that fateful night, Mia's memory is spotty at best. She's left with accusations, rumors, and guilt so powerful it could consume her.As the rest of Mia's family struggles with their own grief, Mia is sent to New York City to spend the summer with a grandmother she's never met. All Mia wants to do is hide from the world, but instead she's stuck with a summer job in the bustling kitchens of the cafe down the street. There she meets Fig--blue-haired, friendly, and vivacious--who takes Mia under her wing. As Mia gets to know Fig and her friends--including Cooper, the artistic boy who is always on Mia's mind--she realizes that she's not the only one with a painful past.Over the summer, Mia begins to learn that redemption isn't as impossible as she once thought, but her scars inside run deep and aren't nearly so simple to heal ... especially when Mia finally pieces together her memories of the night Rachel died.

All the Greys on Greene Street


Laura Tucker - 2019
    Twelve-year-old Olympia is an artist—and in her neighborhood, that's normal. Her dad and his business partner Apollo bring antique paintings back to life, while her mother makes intricate sculptures in a corner of their loft, leaving Ollie to roam the streets of New York with her best friends Richard and Alex, drawing everything that catches her eye.Then everything falls apart. Ollie's dad disappears in the middle of the night, leaving her only a cryptic note and instructions to destroy it. Her mom has gone to bed, and she's not getting up. Apollo is hiding something, Alex is acting strange, and Richard has questions about the mysterious stranger he saw outside. And someone keeps calling, looking for a missing piece of art. . . .Olympia knows her dad is the key--but first, she has to find him, and time is running out.

Wanted: Billionaire's Wife


Susannah Erwin - 2019
    After all, marriage is just like business: a negotiation between two parties who have a mutual investment in a future outcome. Or so Luke thinks...The only problem? Beautiful, captivating Danica is distracting him from his goal. When all three candidates she chooses fall through, Luke realizes the perfect partner is the one he's been working with all along. Danica agrees to play along and they get married, but their passion quickly makes a mess of everything. Soon Danica won't settle for anything less than love and walks away. Will Luke realize his mistake and chase after her to seal the deal for real before it's too late?From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire--welcome to the lives of the American elite.Love triumphs in this uplifting romance, part of the Titans of Tech series: Book 1: Wanted: Billionaire's Wife Book 2: Cinderella Unmasked Book 3: Who's the Boss Now?

Archie 1000 Page Comics Party


Archie Superstars - 2019
    This volume collects 1000 pages of iconic Archie comic stories, featuring the same mix of wild humor, awkward charm and genuine relatability that has kept Archie and the gang popular with kids and families for over 75+ years.

Don't Be a Tourist in New York: The Messy Nessy Chic Guide


Vanessa Grall - 2019
    Following her first best-selling book Don't be a Tourist in Paris, Vanessa Grall has taken on New York, teaming up with local New York writers and explorers Luke J Spencer, Francky Knapp and Scott Walker to create the ultimate compendium of unique ideas and off-beat addresses. This book can wake up your inner explorer; tap into your curiosity and help you to discover all five boroughs like a roaming detective; a seeker of stories and collector of local secrets. Over the past decade, Grall's distinct style and curation has already helped inspire and guide over a million monthly readers on Messy Nessy Chic, the cult online magazine that became a bona fide lifeline for the internet's most curious minds. Guidebooks are often organized by borough, or by the times of day, or categorized by activities that tourists are expected to do. But as you'll start to realize, Messy Nessy Chic doesn't travel by the rules. These chapters are created around a person's mood and the cards that life has dealt us on any given day. Because when you wake up in New York City, a new adventure awaits...

Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011–2019


Natasha Stagg - 2019
    Composed of essays and stories commissioned by fashion, art, and culture magazines, Sleeveless is a scathing and sensitive report from New York in the 2010s. During those years, Stagg worked as an editor for V magazine and as a consultant, creating copy for fashion brands. Through these jobs, she met and interviewed countless industry luminaries, celebrities, and artists, and learned about the quickly evolving strategies of branding. In Sleeveless, she exposes the mechanics of personal identity and its monetization that propelled the narrator of Surveys from a mall job in Tucson to international travel and internet fame.

The Districts: Justice and Power in New York City


Johnny Dwyer - 2019
    In Manhattan, a hedge fund portfolio manager misrepresents his company's assets to investors. At JFK International Airport, a college student returns from Jamaica with cocaine stuffed in the handle of her suitcase. These are just a few of the stories that come to life in this comprehensive look at the Southern District Court in Manhattan, and the Eastern District Court in Brooklyn--the two federal courts tasked with maintaining order in New York City. Johnny Dwyer takes us not just into the courtrooms but into the lives of those who enter through its doors: the judges and attorneys, prosecutors and defendants, winners and losers. He examines crimes we've read about in the papers or seen in movies and television--organized crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, corruption, and white-collar crime--and weaves in the nuances that rarely make it into headlines. Brimming with detail and drama, The Districts illuminates the meaning of intent, of reasonable doubt, of deception, and--perhaps most importantly of all--of justice.

Unbreak Me


Maria Vickers - 2019
    That was the plan, but through a cruel twist of fate the night before their three-year anniversary, Tex Davis lost the one man he would ever love, Memphis King. A year has passed and he still hasn’t been able to move on. Everyone tells him it’s time, but what do they know? Memphis was his partner in love and life. Losing him, broke Tex. Tex has been given an opportunity to move from New York to Seattle. His friends and family are encouraging him to take it, but he has already decided to decline the offer because that would mean leaving Memphis behind. Then something happened. Whether it be fate or something else, Memphis came back to him. Tex’s first love is supposed to help him move on, but not even Memphis can bring himself to force Tex to let him go. Is it so wrong to want to spend forever with the person you loved most? Both hearts are begging to be unbroken. Tagline: Two broken hearts, one wandering soul.

Brooklyn: The Once and Future City


Thomas Campanella - 2019
    In Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, Thomas J. Campanella unearths long-lost threads of the urban past, telling the rich history of the rise, fall, and reinvention of one of the world's most resurgent cities.Spanning centuries and neighborhoods, Brooklyn-born Campanella recounts the creation of places familiar and long forgotten, both built and never realized, bringing to life the individuals whose dreams, visions, rackets, and schemes forged the city we know today. He takes us through Brooklyn's history as homeland of the Leni Lenape and its transformation by Dutch colonists into a dense slaveholding region. We learn about English �migr� Deborah Moody, whose town of Gravesend was the first founded by a woman in America. We see how wanderlusting Yale dropout Frederick Law Olmsted used Prospect Park to anchor an open space system that was to reach back to Manhattan. And we witness Brooklyn's emergence as a playland of racetracks and amusement parks celebrated around the world.Campanella also describes Brooklyn's outsized failures, from Samuel Friede's bid to erect the world's tallest building to the long struggle to make Jamaica Bay the world's largest deepwater seaport, and the star-crossed urban renewal, public housing, and highway projects that battered the borough in the postwar era. Campanella reveals how this immigrant Promised Land drew millions, fell victim to its own social anxieties, and yet proved resilient enough to reawaken as a multicultural powerhouse and global symbol of urban vitality.

A Mouse for the Duke


Lynn Landes - 2019
    There’s no time for courting. He’s put all his energy, money and time into his custom furniture line. Declan is unprepared for the ultimatum given to him by his grandfather, the owner of Sheridan Furniture. Marry by Christmas or lose his inheritance! London Taylor works as a lady’s maid by day, while secretly playing the stock market. Becoming “the mouse” was necessary to get the job. Everyone warned her that Tessa Hubbard was horrible to work for, but the job came with perks. It was supposed to be a simple thing. Wear a disguise, work hard and secretly play the stock market. When London overhears a plot, she is forced to make a choice that will alter the path of her life. This is a heartwarming tale of two people trying to trust the Lord to guide their path, and along the way find a love worth fighting for.

Life's Accessories: A Memoir (and Fashion Guide)


Rachel Levy Lesser - 2019
    A scarf, a pair of earrings, a bag, even a fleece pair of socks—each contains the elements that put together the story of a life. Life’s Accessories is a funny, sad, touching, relatable, shake-your-head-right-along-as-you-laugh-and-wipe-away-tears, coming-of-age memoir. In fourteen essays, Lesser tackles sensitive issues like anxiety, illness, and loss in a way that feels a bit like having a chat with a good friend. Out of the stories comes solid life—and fashion—advice. About far more than just a hair tie, a bracelet, or a belt, Life’s Accessories is a window into the many ways in which Lesser has come to understand life—in all of its beauty, its joys, its sorrows, its heartaches, its challenges, and its absurdity.

Impresario of Castro Street: An Intimate Showbiz Memoir


Marc Huestis - 2019
    Marc Huestis' showbiz memoir is an entertaining and personal retelling of his coming out in the streets of San Francisco in the early ’70s, his relationship with Harvey Milk, his award-winning early AIDS documentary work, and 20 years of memorable experiences and behind the scenes secrets of screen icons—including Debbie Reynolds, John Waters, Patty Duke, and Tony Curtis—honored at his grand singular extravaganzas at the world-renowned Castro Theater. With nearly 100 color photos. "Marc Huestis is the master of a universe you're gonna love, a small stretch of turf in San Francisco that is as crazy, funky, glamorous, flamboyant and eccentric as he is." - Bruce Vilanch

Tortellini at Midnight: And Other Heirloom Family Recipes from Taranto to Turin to Tuscany


Emiko Davies - 2019
    He served it along with spumante and a round of tombola, and sparked a trend; up until the 1970s, you could find tortellini at midnight on New Year's Eve in the bars around the Tuscan town of Fucecchio.This is just one of the heirloom dishes in this collection, for which Emiko Davies has gathered some of her favorite family recipes. They trace generations that span the length of Italy, from the Mediterranean port city of Taranto in the southern heel of Puglia to elegant Turin, the city of aperitif and Italian cafe culture in the far north and, finally, back to Tuscany, which Emiko calls home. Tortellini at Midnight is a book rich with nostalgia, with fresh, comforting food and stunning photography. It is a book that is good for the soul.

Staten Island Stories


Claire Jimenez - 2019
    But with Staten Island Stories, Claire Jimenez shines a spotlight on the imagined lives of the islanders. Inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, this collection of loosely linked tragicomic short stories travels across time to explore defining moments in the island's history, from the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash and the New York City blackout to the growing opioid and heroin crisis, Eric Garner's murder, and the 2016 presidential election.

Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York


Carl Suddler - 2019
    Black youths are perceived to be older and less innocent than their white peers. When it comes to incarceration, race trumps class, and even as black youths articulate their own experiences with carceral authorities, many Americans remain surprised by the inequalities they continue to endure. In this revealing book, Carl Suddler brings to light a much longer history of the policies and strategies that tethered the lives of black youths to the justice system indefinitely.The criminalization of black youth is inseparable from its racialized origins. In the mid-twentieth century, the United States justice system began to focus on punishment, rather than rehabilitation. By the time the federal government began to address the issue of juvenile delinquency, the juvenile justice system shifted its priorities from saving delinquent youth to purely controlling crime, and black teens bore the brunt of the transition.In New York City, increased state surveillance of predominantly black communities compounded arrest rates during the post-World War II period, providing justification for tough-on-crime policies. Questionable police practices, like stop-and-frisk, combined with media sensationalism, cemented the belief that black youth were the primary cause for concern. Even before the War on Crime, the stakes were clear: race would continue to be the crucial determinant in American notions of crime and delinquency, and black youths condemned with a stigma of criminality would continue to confront the overwhelming power of the state.

Ghost Signs: Clues to Downtown New York's Past


Frank Mastropolo - 2019
    These "ghost signs" hold the secrets of businesses and products that vanished decades ago. Clues to our jobs, schools, places of worship, cafes, and concert halls lurk in their faded outlines. Journalist and television producer Frank Mastropolo brings more than 100 of these signs to life through insightful commentary on the history of downtown's distinct neighborhoods and the eclectic businesses that anchored them during the first half of the 20th century. The collection offers an important and timely look at New York City's rich economic and social fabric, especially today, when long-established businesses are rapidly being priced out of their neighborhoods.

We The Youth: Keith Haring's New York Nightlife


Dave Haslam - 2019
    In 'We The Youth: Keith Haring's New York Nightlife', the second book in his Art Decades series, Dave Haslam explores how the nightlife and music of rundown downtown areas of New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s were formative influences on the life and art of Keith Haring.

The Ghost in Apartment 2R


Denis Markell - 2019
    But you know what's worse? He left behind an angry ghost in his room!With the help of his friends Nat and Gus, Danny interviews everyone his Brooklyn neighborhood to find out about spirits. Is it an Arabian ghoul? A Korean gwishin? A Polish haunting? Maybe the answer lies with Danny's own bubbe and her tales of a dybbuk, a Jewish mythological ghost. Regardless of its origins, what does the spirit truly want? And can Danny manage to bring the phantom to rest?

White Shoe: How a New Breed of Wall Street Lawyers Changed Big Business and the American Century


John Oller - 2019
    But by the year 1900, a new type of lawyer was born, one who understood business as well as the law. Working hand in glove with their clients, over the next two decades these New York City "white shoe" lawyers devised and implemented legal strategies that would drive the business world throughout the twentieth century. These lawyers were architects of the monopolistic new corporations so despised by many, and acted as guardians who helped the kings of industry fend off government overreaching. Yet they also quietly steered their robber baron clients away from a "public be damned" attitude toward more enlightened corporate behavior during a period of progressive, turbulent change in America.Author John Oller, himself a former Wall Street lawyer, gives us a richly-written glimpse of turn-of-the-century New York, from the grandeur of private mansions and elegant hotels and the city's early skyscrapers and transportation systems, to the depths of its deplorable tenement housing conditions. Some of the biggest names of the era are featured, including business titans J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, lawyer-statesmen Elihu Root and Charles Evans Hughes, and presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.Among the colorful, high-powered lawyers vividly portrayed, White Shoe focuses on three: Paul Cravath, who guided his client George Westinghouse in his war against Thomas Edison and launched a new model of law firm management--the "Cravath system"; Frank Stetson, the "attorney general" for financier J. P. Morgan who fiercely defended against government lawsuits to break up Morgan's business empires; and William Nelson Cromwell, the lawyer "who taught the robber barons how to rob," and was best known for his instrumental role in creating the Panama Canal.In White Shoe, the story of this small but influential band of Wall Street lawyers who created Big Business is fully told for the first time.

Bowery Mission: Grit and Grace on Manhattan's Oldest Street


Jason Storbakken - 2019
    The Bowery has long been one of New York City's most notorious streets, a magnet for gangsters, hucksters, and hobos. And despite sweeping changes, it is still all too often the end of the road for troubled war veterans, drug addicts, the mentally ill, the formerly incarcerated, and others generally down on their luck. Against this backdrop, for 140 years, Christians of every stripe have been coming together at the Bowery Mission to offer hearty meals, hot showers, clean beds, warm clothes - and, for thousands of homeless over the years, the help they need to get off the streets and back on their feet.Jason Storbakken, a recent Bowery director, retraces that colorful history and profiles some of the illustrious characters that have made the Bowery an iconic New York institution. His book offers a lens through which to better understand the changing faces of homelessness, of American Christianity, and of New York City itself - all of which converge daily at the Bowery Mission's red doors.

How Emily Saved the Bridge: The Story of Emily Warren Roebling and the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge


Frieda Wishinsky - 2019
    It is thanks to Emily Warren Roebling that the bridge was finished at all.Emily was not an engineer, but she was educated in math and science. She married Washington Roebling, the chief engineer of the famous bridge. When Washington became ill from decompression sickness, Emily stepped in, doing everything from keeping the books, to carrying messages for her husband, to monitoring the construction of the bridge. She was the first person to cross the Brooklyn Bridge when it opened.Emily, who went on to study law among many other accomplishments, is an inspiration to all, as demonstrated through Frieda Wishinsky’s informative and engaging text and Natalie Nelson’s distinctive collage illustrations. Speech bubbles revealing imagined dialogue add a playful note to this historical account, which includes fascinating facts about the Brooklyn Bridge and a further reading list.

Spring and Autumn Annals: A Celebration of the Seasons for Freddie


Diane di Prima - 2019
    ... Diane di Prima is one of the greatest writers of her generation, and this book offers a window into its lives."--Chris Kraus"Diane Di Prima's Spring and Autumn Annals arrives as a long-lost charm of illuminated meditations to love, life, death, eros and selflessness. An essential 1960s text of visionary rapaciousness."--Thurston Moore"[Freddie Herko] wished for a third love before he died; and what a love is in this book's beholding, saying, and release. Di Prima's dancing narrative, propelled and circling at the speed of thought, picking up every name and detailed perception as a rolling tide, fills me with gratitude for the truth of her eye. Nothing gets past it, not even the 'ballet slippers letting in the snow.'"--Ana Bozičevic"A masterpiece of literary reflection, as quest to archive her dancer friend's life, to make art at all costs and the price dearly paid. ... di Prima's poetic memoir of the artist journey is a triumph. A must read and reread for years to come."--Karen Finley"A Beat poet's journal following the suicide of her closest friend encompasses many seasons and cycles of life and death. ... With evocative detail and introspective insight, she writes of that loss and the feeling of being turned loose, occasionally unmoored, struggling to create art through years of living in barely habitable apartments. ... A useful document for scholars of the Beat generation."-- Kirkus Reviews In the autumn of 1964, Diane di Prima was a young poet living in New York when her dearest friend, dancer, choreographer, and Warhol Factory member, Freddie Herko, leapt from the window of a Greenwich Village apartment to a sudden, dramatic, and tragic death at the age of 29. In her shock and grief, di Prima began a daily practice of writing to Freddie. For a year, she would go to her study each day, light a stick of incense, and type furiously until it burned itself out.Later, di Prima would take up this stream-of-consciousness manuscript and make it into something for others to read. The result is an eloquent ode to her friend; to the constellation of writers, artists, and revolutionaries who made up their community; and to the chaos and struggle of lives lived fully in the pursuit of personal and artistic goals while the world around them hurtles toward changes that will soon upend everything.The narrative ranges over the decade from 1954--the year di Prima and Herko first met--to 1965, with occasional forays into di Prima's memories of growing up in Brooklyn. Lyrical, elegant, and nakedly honest, Spring and Autumn Annals is a moving tribute to a friendship, and to the extraordinary innovation and accomplishments of the period. Masterfully observed and passionately recorded, it offers a uniquely American portrait of the artist as a young woman in the heyday of bohemian New York City.

If I Can Make It Here


Jamie Rose - 2019
    She needs a change, and a big one at that. Coming into her late 20s, she finally finds the courage to pull herself out of a boring 9-to-5 life in Texas and launch the exciting new career she’s always dreamed about. Thanks to a little chutzpah and some quick thinking, she has landed an internship working in film publicity in New York City. It’s her favorite city in the world, concrete jungle where dreams are made…or crushed. The prospect is both exciting and intimidating for a woman with an ambitious work ethic and a pesky anxiety problem. What could possibly go wrong? As Madeline goes behind the velvet ropes of movie premieres and celebrity press tours, she finds out what really happens after the cameras flash. Navigating her way through splashy scandals, inflated egos, romantic entanglements, and impossible office demands has her catching her breath behind one too many bathroom stall doors. The hectic and fast-paced reality that is her new life has her questioning whether or not she has what it takes to stick it out. She decides it is up to her and her alone to make it in New York City. As the saying goes, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere…right?

Floyd Harbor: Stories


Joel Mowdy - 2019
    The twelve linked stories in Joel Mowdy's first book take place in and around Mastic Beach, a community on New York's Long Island that's close to the wealthy Hamptons but long afflicted by widespread poverty. Mostly in their teens and early twenties, the characters struggle to become independent in various ways, ranging from taking typical low-paying jobs—hotel laundry, janitorial, restaurant, and landscaping work—to highly ingenious schemes, to exchanging sexual favors for a place to stay. A few make it to local community colleges; others end up in rehab or juvenile detention centers. However loving, their parents can offer little help. Those who are Vietnam veterans may suffer from PTSD; others from the addictions that often come with stressful lives.Neighborhoods of small bungalows—formerly vacation homes—with dilapidated boats in the driveways hint at the waterways that open up close by. The beauty of the ocean beach offers further consolation, as does the often high-spirited temperament of youth. Joel Mowdy brings to his affecting collection both personal experience and a gift for discerning and lingering on the essential moments in his characters' stories. He intimately and vividly illuminates American lives that too seldom see the light.

Lady Tigers in the Concrete Jungle: How Softball and Sisterhood Saved Lives in the South Bronx


Dibs Baer - 2019
    Some woke up to it at home, and others dodged it on the way to school. Vicious physical fights broke out in classrooms, hallways, and bathrooms. These girls filed their fingernails into sharp points because they had to be ready to go at any time. Then a new coach joined the ranks at Mott Middle, and a new program began: girl's softball.  Coach Astacio offers the girls the time and attention they need to take their first steps to success. As they learned to throw, hit and field, they also dealt with the foul balls life threw at them: abuse, fractured homes, and violence wherever they looked. But the biggest challenge they faced was learning to think and act like a team, not just a bunch of fierce girls against each other—and the world. Lady Tigers in the Concrete Jungle is the incredible true story that captured the hearts of millions when they were invited to appear on Ellen earlier this year.  The Lady Tigers were invited onto the field at Yankee Stadium where the Yankees honored Coach Astacio with “Coach of the Year” at their Hispanic Heritage Month Community Achievement Awards in September 2017. But beyond the headlines, this is a story of a self-selected community coming together with faith, courage, and new-found values to overcome fear, violence, and crippling doubt.These girls have ushered in a new confidence and pride not only in themselves, but in their school, the faculty, and their friends. And while not all of them have continued down this new path, many are now the first in their families to go to college and are beginning to see how being a Lady Tiger will always be a part of their lives.

Brooklyn Bankster


Lance Morcan - 2019
    The problem is no-one knows who the hell Bill Hogan is. Does he even exist?All is not what it seems in this fast-paced, short story.

The Salty Rose: Alchemists, Witches, & A Tapper In New Amsterdam


Beth M. Caruso - 2019
    In New England, John Tinker, merchant and assistant to a renowned alchemist and eventual leader of Connecticut Colony, must come to terms with a family tragedy of dark proportions, all the while supporting his mentor’s secret quest to find the Northwest Passage, a desired trading route purported to mystically unite the East with the West. As the lives of Marie and John become intertwined through friendship and trade, a search for justice of a Dutch woman accused of witchcraft in Hartford puts them on a collision course affecting not only their own destinies but also the fate of colonial America.

Cooperative Lives


Patrick Finegan - 2019
    Carnegie Hall and Central Park at your feet. Three hundred units. Thirty-two full-time employees. Five hundred neighbors. You’ve hit the big time. Joined the elite. But what do you know about them, the neighbors? Have you ever met them? Really engaged with them? Or do you gaze down in the elevator, the same way you do on the subway and the street? Oh sure, you’ve heard a famous writer lives on the fourteenth floor, a retired US senator on the eighteenth. You’ve witnessed so many Broadway impresarios glide through the lobby you’ve lost count. But what about your real neighbors – the couple in 7H, for instance, or the family in 8B? Did you know they once harbored the most wanted fugitive in America? No? It was in the papers for weeks; nearly tore the co-op apart. Even that famous writer on fourteen got involved. And all because an M7 bus side-swiped a resident-shareholder while turning down Seventh Avenue. You’re busy? Oh, I’m sorry. Just thought you should know something about the co-op’s history. And buy more insurance, lots more; I’ve got a friend named Stanley. FROM THE PREFACE: It is perhaps unorthodox to declare a story which transpired 6-8 years ago in the country’s largest metropolis historical fiction but labelling it otherwise would be a deception. The election of a bilious talk show host to the world’s highest office, the NSA-sponsored surveillance, cataloging and storage of millions of Americans’ phone logs and recordings, the petulant, self-imposed withdrawal of Great Britain from the EU, the global contagion of anti-immigrant nationalism – no pundit could have predicted these developments in 2013. And no one would have believed him. I intended this book as a work of contemporary fiction. It described, I think accurately, the city and world I lived in. Just six years have elapsed since its completion, but I might as well have described ancient China. The world and New York City of 2013 no longer exist. I hereby present, for better or worse, the world’s most contemporary historical novel.

On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City


Evan Friss - 2019
    Never has it taken to the streets without controversy: 1819 was the year of the city's first bicycle and also its first bicycle ban. Debates around the bicycle's place in city life have been so persistent not just because of its many uses--recreation, sport, transportation, business--but because of changing conceptions of who cyclists are.In On Bicycles, Evan Friss traces the colorful and fraught history of cycling in New York City. He uncovers the bicycle's place in the city over time, showing how it has served as a mirror of the city's changing social, economic, infrastructural, and cultural politics since it first appeared. It has been central, as when horse-drawn carriages shared the road with bicycle lanes in the 1890s; peripheral, when Robert Moses's car-centric vision made room for bicycles only as recreation; and aggressively marginalized, when Ed Koch's battle against bike messengers culminated in the short-lived 1987 Midtown Bike Ban. On Bicycles illuminates how the city as we know it today--veined with over a thousand miles of bicycle lanes--reflects a fitful journey powered, and opposed, by New York City's people and its politics.

The Martin Chronicles


John Fried - 2019
    Girls get under his skin in ways he never noticed before. His cousin Evie, who used to be Marty's closest confidante--the one who taught him the right way to eat a pizza and how to catch tadpoles--has grown up into a stranger, mysterious and unpredictable. Marty and his best friends once inhabited fantasy worlds of their own making, full of cowboys and cops and robbers, where the heroes always won the day. But now, as neighborhood kids are attacked on their walk to school, they find themselves wanting to play a new game that better prepares them for real life.As life changes quickly and Marty feels less secure with himself, the difference between games and reality, friend and foe, and right from wrong becomes much more difficult to distinguish. At the same time, this new world offers possibilities as exciting as they are frightening.This poignant debut perfectly captures the intense emotion, humor, and earnestness of young adulthood as Marty, age eleven to seventeen, navigates a series of life-changing firsts: first kiss, first enemy, first loss, and, ultimately, his first awareness that the world is not as simple a place as he had once imagined.

I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going: The Art Scene and Downtown New York in the 1980s


Peter McGough - 2019
    Set in New York's Lower East Side of the 1980s and mid-1990s, it is also a devastatingly candid look at the extreme naivet� and dysfunction that would destroy both their lives.Escaping the trauma of growing up gay in Syracuse and being bullied at school, McGough attended art school in New York, dropped out, and took jobs in clubs, where he met McDermott. Dazzled by McDermott, whom he found fascinating and worldly, McGough agreed to collaborate with him not only on their art but also in McDermott's very entertaining Victorian lifestyle. McGough evokes the rank and seedy East Village of that time, where he encountered Keith Haring, Rene Ricard, Kenny Scharf, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Jacqueline and Julian Schnabel, among many others. Nights were spent at the Ninth Circle, Danceteria, and Studio 54; going to openings at the FUN Gallery; or visiting friends in the Chelsea Hotel. By the mid-1980s, McDermott & McGough were hugely successful, showing at three Whitney Biennials, represented by the best galleries here and abroad, and known for their painting, photography and "time experiment" interiors. Then, overnight, it was all gone. And one day in the mid-1990s, McGough would find that he, like so many of his friends, had been diagnosed with AIDS.I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going is a compelling memoir for our time, told with humor and compassion, about how lives can become completely entwined even in failure and what it costs to reemerge, phoenix-like, and carry on.

NYC Walks: Guide to New Architecture


John Hill - 2019
    This portable, easy-to-use guide directs readers to the city's newest architectural gems, all completed in the 21st century with some still under construction. Divided into ten 1- to 3-mile walks that extend from Columbia University through lower Manhattan and across to Brooklyn and Queens, this guidebook highlights over 150 buildings, popular destinations like the High Line and Lincoln Center, and trendy locations such as Williamsburg and the Bowery. Led by author John Hill, these tours are highly informative, engaging, and filled with fascinating insights and details. Maps and numerous photographs make this guide the perfect companion for anyone visiting New York City, architecture buffs, and those wishing to better know the city they call home.

The Long Ride


Marina Budhos - 2019
    Josie Rivera. Francesca George. Three mixed-race girls, close friends whose immigrant parents worked hard to settle their families in a neighborhood with the best schools. The three girls are outsiders there, but they have each other.Now, at the start seventh grade, they are told they will be part of an experiment, taking a long bus ride to a brand-new school built to mix up the black and white kids. Their parents don't want them to be experiments. Francesca's send her to a private school, leaving Jamila and Josie to take the bus ride without her.While Francesca is testing her limits, Josie and Jamila find themselves outsiders again at the new school. As the year goes on, the Spanish girls welcome Josie, while Jamila develops a tender friendship with a boy--but it's a relationship that can exist only at school.

Water is for Fighting Over: and Other Myths about Water in the West


John Fleck - 2019
    In recent years, newspaper headlines have screamed, “Scarce water and the death of California farms,” “The Dust Bowl returns,” “A ‘megadrought’ will grip U.S. in the coming decades.” Yet similar stories have been appearing for decades and the taps continue to flow. John Fleck argues that the talk of impending doom is not only untrue, but dangerous. When people get scared, they fight for the last drop of water; but when they actually have less, they use less. Having covered environmental issues in the West for a quarter century, Fleck would be the last writer to discount the serious problems posed by a dwindling Colorado River. But in that time, Fleck has also seen people in the Colorado River Basin come together, conserve, and share the water that is available. Western communities, whether farmers and city-dwellers or US environmentalists and Mexican water managers, have a promising record of cooperation, a record often obscured by the crisis narrative. In this fresh take on western water, Fleck brings to light the true history of collaboration and examines the bonds currently being forged to solve the Basin’s most dire threats. Rather than perpetuate the myth “Whiskey's for drinkin', water's for fightin' over," Fleck urges readers to embrace a new, more optimistic narrative—a future where the Colorado continues to flow.

Howl


Micah Hales - 2019
    She needs to get home to continue her search for her younger brother, Kyel, who has been missing for over three months. However, on the night of her great escape, Celia makes an incredible discovery: she can talk to animals.    Suddenly, Celia is catapulted into the wildest adventure of her life. Slipping away from camp each night, she befriends a wily cast of woodland animals. Along with a spunky, new camp friend named Violet, the motley crew joins Celia in her search for Kyel. But when the nightly expeditions push Celia beyond her physical and emotional limits…things don’t go as planned. At all.   Will Celia solve the mysteries of the forest wonderland and begin the difficult task of facing her own reality? The fate of her friends’ lives, not to mention her own, now depend on it.  “Both poignant and hopeful, a beautifully calibrated coming-of-age tale that deals thoughtfully with grief and recovery.” – Kirkus Review