Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature


Angus Fletcher - 2021
    And the writers we revere—from Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and others—each made a unique technical breakthrough that can be viewed as both a narrative and neuroscientific advancement. Literature’s great invention was to address problems we could not solve: not how to start a fire or build a boat, but how to live and love; how to maintain courage in the face of death; how to account for the fact that we exist at all. Wonderworks reviews the blueprints for twenty-five of the most significant developments in the history of literature. These inventions can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui, while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. They can be found throughout literature—from ancient Chinese lyrics to Shakespeare’s plays, poetry to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and crime novels to slave narratives. A “refreshing and remarkable” (Jay Parini, author of Borges and Me: An Encounter) exploration of the new literary field of story science, Wonderworks teaches you everything you wish you learned in your English class, and “contains many instances of critical insight....What’s most interesting about this compendium is its understanding of imaginative representation as a technology” (The New York Times).

The Grief We’re Given


William Bortz - 2021
    How are we to learn to grieve when it feels unrelenting? How are we to adore and memorialize small moments of appreciation? How are we to shape our grief into something worth celebrating, and begin to understand the grief we give?

New Girl


Paige Harbison - 2012
    So here I am, the new girl at Manderley, a true fish out of water. But mine's not the name on everyone's lips. Oh, no.It's Becca Normandy they can't stop talking about. Perfect, beautiful Becca. She went missing at the end of last year, leaving a spot open at Manderley— the spot that I got. And everyone acts like it's my fault that infallible, beloved Becca is gone and has been replaced by not perfect, completely fallible, unknown Me.Then, there's the name on my lips— Max Holloway. Becca's ex. The one boy I should avoid, but can't. Thing is, it seems like he wants me, too. But the memory of Becca is always between us. And as much as I'm starting to like it at Manderley, I can't help but think she's out there, somewhere, watching me take her place.Waiting to take it back.

Creative Journaling: A Guide to Over 100 Techniques and Ideas for Amazing Dot Grid, Junk, Mixed-Media, and Travel Pages


Renee Day - 2020
     With 52 projects, from crafting colorful pages for dot grid, junk, mixed-media, and travel journals to making your own washi tape, tabs, and paper, you’ll soon have the best-looking journals around. Author Renee Day of the popular Instagram @thediyday takes you on an artistic adventure, guiding you with step-by-step photos and instruction, as you learn how to incorporate amazing DIY ideas into your daily planning! You’ll learn to work with a variety of materials—acrylic paint, brush pens, stencils, stamps, 3D gloss gel, scrap paper, and more—as you personalize your stuff, making things uniquely you.  Going beyond basic tools, this stunning book offers tips, tricks, and creative ways to transform journals and hardcover books into treasured keepsakes, including:Ornamental letteringPersonalized habit trackersColorful calendarsDecorative headers and cover pagesCustomized productivity and bucket listsInspiring artworkGratitude logsUnique planning pagesEven if you have a limited amount of time or supplies, you can create eye-catching journal layouts. It’s time to get creative!

Let It Out: A Journey Through Journaling


Katie Dalebout - 2016
    Maybe your career isn’t what you thought it would be . . . or your relationships aren’t what you had hoped. Perhaps you have a grand vision for your life but not the smallest clue on the steps to get there. Whether you’ve read the entire self-help section of the bookstore in vain or feel completely stuck on where to begin, you wish you had someone to hold your hand and guide you.You do. And it’s only a blank page away.In Let It Out, millennial blogger, speaker, and podcast host Katie Dalebout shares the transformative practice that will rocket your life to the next level—journaling. Discovering in her darkest hours that a journal is the greatest tool in finding your purpose, healing yourself, and creating the life you most desire, Katie has assembled the remarkable tools and insights that will elevate your life and get you “unstuck”—for good.And don’t worry—you don’t need to be a writer! Journaling is simply a method of coaching yourself through your “stuff” and letting it out on the page, unclogging your mind from years of destructive thoughts. In doing so, you step into a position of unsurpassed clarity.Packed with journaling exercises, prompts, and techniques that can be done anywhere and in any order, this interactive guidebook offers you a new way to navigate your daily life, cope with stress, and create exciting, permanent change. Divided into seven sections covering everything from clearing clutter to finding presence to cultivating abundance to moving beyond fear, this book will be your new best friend and coach anytime you seek clarity or crave solace.Simply grab a pen, open your journal, and prepare to let it out.

Belle's Tale


Mallory Reaves - 2017
    Despite her fears, she befriends the castle's enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast's hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince inside. This manga explores Belle's innermost thoughts as she learns that true beauty comes from within.

Heaven's Design Team, Vol. 1


Hebi-Zou - 2017
    Funny, interesting, and full of useful information, this series answers questions such as, “Why can’t unicorns exist?”, “What makes an animal taste delicious?”, “What’s the most powerful creature in the ocean?”, and, “Bird versus snake: who would win?” You won’t believe it’s a manga series when you read up on the featured animals in the included encyclopedia entries. Heavenly Design Team will make your next trip to the zoo or aquarium 100 times more fun!

All Things New


Lauren Miller - 2017
    No one at school knows about the panic attacks, the therapy that didn't help, the meds that haven’t worked. But when a severe accident leaves her with a brain injury and visible scars, Jessa’s efforts to convince the world that she’s okay finally crumble—now she looks as shattered as she feels. Fleeing from her old life in Los Angeles, Jessa moves to Colorado to live with her dad, where she meets Marshall, a boy whose kindness and generous heart slowly draw Jessa out of her walled-off shell and into the broken, beautiful, real world—a place where souls get hurt just as badly as bodies, and we all need each other to heal.ALL THINGS NEW is a love story about perception and truth, physical and emotional pain, and the messy, complicated people we are behind the masks we put on for the world, perfect for fans of ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES and THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.

My Perfect Sister


Penny Batchelor - 2020
    Does a faded photograph in her sister’s old room hold the key to the past?Desperate for clues, she delves deeper in search of the truth. But is it safer to be kept in the dark? Annie is about to find out…

Be More Keanu


James King - 2020
    He's the internet's boyfriend. The poetic petrolhead. The guru on a surfboard. Part samurai, part samaritan. He is, very simply, 'The One'.'James has been my movie guru for years and now he's my spiritual guru too! From now on I'm going to ask myself: 'What would Keanu do?'Jo WhileyIn this hilarious book of pocket philosophy, film critic and Keanu fan James King reveals what makes Mr Reeves so special. He unpacks iconic films from the Bill & Teds to the John Wicks, as well as the star's own free-spirited life, showing us why the great man with the great hair has all the answers.And how everyone can #bemorekeanu.'A handsome, cool, enigmatic Gen X’er who never seems to age, James King is the perfect man to write about Keanu Reeves.'Stephen Merchant

Late in the Day


Tessa Hadley - 2019
    Thirty years later, Alex and Christine are spending a leisurely summer’s evening at home when they receive a call from a distraught Lydia: she is at the hospital. Zach is dead.In the wake of this profound loss, the three friends find themselves unmoored; all agree that Zach, with his generous, grounded spirit, was the irreplaceable one they couldn’t afford to lose. Inconsolable, Lydia moves in with Alex and Christine. But instead of loss bringing them closer, the three of them find over the following months that it warps their relationships, as old entanglements and grievances rise from the past, and love and sorrow give way to anger and bitterness.The lives of two close-knit couples are irrevocably changed by an untimely death in the latest from Tessa Hadley, the acclaimed novelist and short story master who “recruits admirers with each book” (Hilary Mantel).

Empty Bottles Full of Stories


R.H. Sin - 2019
    Sin and Robert M. Drake. What are you hiding behind your smile? If those empty bottles that line the walls of your room could speak, what tales would they spill? So much of your truth is buried beneath the lies you tell yourself. There’s a need to scream to the moon; there’s this urge to go out into the darkness of the night to purge. There are so many stories living inside your soul, you just want the opportunity to tell them. And when you can’t find the will to express what lives within your heart, these words will give you peace. These words will set you free.

For the Love of Friends


Sara Goodman Confino - 2021
    To her friends, she’s reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is…well, she’d rather not talk about it. To keep her sanity, Lily needs a safe place to vent.And so her anonymous blog, Bridesmania, is born. The posts start pouring out of her: all the feels about mom-zillas, her vanishing bank balance, the wicked bridesmaids of the west, high-strung brides-to-be, body-shaming dress clerks, bachelorette parties, and Spanx for days, not to mention being deemed guardian of eighty-eight-year-old Granny (who enjoys morning mimosas in the nude) for her brother’s destination wedding.So far the blog has stayed anonymous. But as everyone knows, few things online remain secret forever…When all is said and done, can Lily help all five couples make it to happily ever after? And will her own happy ending be close behind?

Voiceless


E.G. Wilson - 2017
    Vox Pox—a man-made malady that’s been terrorizing the city for months. Resilient, Addy fights to survive. To not be silenced. But then her brother, Theo, is infected as well.Desperate for any information that might help cure Theo, Addy follows Maunga into a newly developed virtual psychoreality simulator and discovers a conspiracy deeper than she’d ever imagined. How far will she go to save her brother?“A stunning debut from a fresh force in young adult fiction. With swift, deft prose set in a fantastic future, Wilson finds her voice in Voiceless.”—Tosca Lee, New York Times bestselling author

Ignite the Sun


Hanna Howard - 2020
    Luckily for everybody in the kingdom, Siria Nightingale is headed to the heart of the darkness to try and restore the light--or she will lose everything trying.Sixteen year-old Siria Nightingale has never seen the sun. The light is dangerous, according to Queen Iyzabel, an evil witch who has shrouded the kingdom in shadow.Siria has always hated the darkness and revels in the stories of the light-filled old days that she hears from her best friend and his grandfather. Besides them, nobody else understands her fascination with the sun, especially not her strict and demanding parents. Siria's need to please them is greater even than her fear of the dark. So she heads to the royal city--the very center of the darkness--for a chance at a place in Queen Iyzabel's court.But what Siria discovers at the Choosing Ball sends her on a quest toward the last vestiges of the sun with a ragtag group of rebels who could help her bring back the Light... or doom the kingdom to shadow forever.