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Best Fiction Books
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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa GyasiISBN: 9780525658184
Publication Date: 2020
Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience seeking answers for her family. A deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief--a novel about faith, science, religion, love.
Emory owns copies in print and via Overdrive.
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Empire of Wild by Cherie DimalineISBN: 9780062975942
Publication Date: 2020
A fable inspired by the traditional Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou--a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of native people's communities. Joan has been searching for her missing husband, Victor, for nearly a year--ever since that terrible night they'd had their first serious argument hours before he mysteriously vanished. Her Métis family has lived in their tightly knit rural community for generations, but no one keeps the old ways . . . until they have to. That moment has arrived for Joan. Her life, and those of everyone she loves, depends upon it.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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The Pull of the Stars by Emma DonoghueISBN: 9780316499019
Publication Date: 2020
In Dublin, 1918, a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love. In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue once again finds the light in the darkness in this new classic of hope and survival against all odds.
Emory owns several print copies.
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Utopia Avenue by David MitchellISBN: 9780812997439
Publication Date: 2020
The strangest British band you've never heard of. Emerging from London's psychedelic scene in 1967, and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss and guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet, Utopia Avenue embarked on a meteoric journey from the seedy clubs of Soho, a TV debut on Top of the Pops, the cusp of chart success, glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and San Francisco during the autumn of '68. Can we really change the world, or does the world change us?
Emory owns several print copies.
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Survivor Song by Paul TremblayISBN: 9780062679161
Publication Date: 2020
A riveting novel of suspense and terror. In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers racing through the pages . . . and shake them to their core.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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If I Had Your Face by Frances ChaISBN: 9780593129463
Publication Date: 2020
A riveting debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossible standards of beauty, after-hours room salons catering to wealthy men, ruthless social hierarchies, and K-pop mania. Together, their stories tell a gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal, in which their tentative friendships may turn out to be the thing that ultimately saves them.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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Lakewood by Megan GiddingsISBN: 9780062913197
Publication Date: 2020
A startling debut about class and race, evokes a terrifying world of medical experimentation. All Lena has to do is participate in a secret program--and lie to her friends and family about the research being done in Lakewood. As the truths of the program reveal themselves, Lena learns how much she's willing to sacrifice for the sake of her family.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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The Mountains Sing by Que Mai Phan NguyenISBN: 9781616208189
Publication Date: 2020
Tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of family, set against the backdrop of the VietNam War. Brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope. The author is a celebrated Vietnamese poet and their first novel in English.
Emory owns a copy in print and online via Proquest.
Best Nonfiction
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A Furious Sky by Eric Jay DolinISBN: 9781631495274
Publication Date: 2020
A vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, such as Benito Vines, a nineteenth-century Jesuit priest whose innovative methods for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives, and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past. A story of a changing climate.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson; Johnson, George MISBN: 9780374312718
Publication Date: 2020
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years. This young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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Minor Feelings by Cathy Park HongISBN: 9781984820365
Publication Date: 2020
A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness and the struggle to be human. Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection, will change the way you think about our world.
Emory owns several print copies.
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Until the End of Time by Brian GreeneISBN: 9781524731670
Publication Date: 2020
Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning--Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.
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Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. SlaghtISBN: 9780374228484
Publication Date: 2020
"A terrifically exciting account in the Russian Far East studying Blakiston's fish owls, huge, shaggy-feathered, yellow-eyed, and elusive birds that hunt fish by wading in icy water." --Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, in Kirkus Through this rare glimpse into the everyday life of a field scientist and conservationist, testifies to the determination and creativity essential to scientific advancement and serves as a powerful reminder of the beauty, strength, and vulnerability of the natural world.
Emory owns a print copy in Woodruff.