Collection: Adult

Library of America launches a definitive collected edition of one of the most original and electric writers of our time with a volume gathering her five iconic books of the 1960s & 70s

Joan Didion's influence on postwar American letters is undeniable. Whether writing fiction, memoir, or trailblazing journalism, her gifts for narrative and dialogue, and her intimate but detached authorial persona, have won her legions of readers and admirers. Now Library of America launches its multi-volume edition of Didion's collected writings, prepared in consultation with the author, that brings together her fiction and nonfiction for the first time. Collected in this first volume are Didion's five iconic books from the 1960s and 1970s: Run River, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It As It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer, and The White Album. Whether writing about countercultural San Francisco, the Las Vegas wedding industry, Lucille Miller, Charles Manson, or the shopping mall, Didion achieves a wonderful negative sublimity without condemning her subjects or condescending to her readers. Chiefly about California, these books display Didion's genius for finding exactly the right language and tone to capture America's broken twilight landscape at a moment of headlong conflict and change.

Requiring minimal equipment--just scissors, glue, paper, and pens--collage is an accessible craft that offers limitless creative possibilities. Like meditation or journaling, making collage can be an avenue for self-reflection and artistic exploration. In Collage Your Life, artist and teacher Melanie Mowinski teaches a variety of core techniques including lettering, stamping, stenciling, transfers, and adhesive methods, and provides dozens of prompts to jumpstart the creative process and encourage crafters to explore the versatility of collage, such as: make a self-portrait; disrupt your routine instincts; incorporate text; assemble mementos from a trip; process anger or anxiety; collage with others; or try creating block-out poetry with pages from a magazine. Inspiring examples of the author's work along with that of other collage artists are featured throughout. Crafters, journaling fans, scrapbookers, and artists alike will find guidance and support for developing their own distinctive collage style, whether the goal is to create a visual record of daily experiences and special occasions or to expand a creative journaling practice.

A captivating memoir of one woman's long journey to late transition, as the trans community emerges alongside her.

"[An] achingly beautiful memoir." --Manuel Betancourt, The New York Times Book Review

"A universal and profound meditation on the price of authenticity." --Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She's Not There and Good Boy

Long before Laverne Cox appeared on the cover of Time, far removed from drag and ballroom culture, there were countless trans women living and dying as men, most of whom didn't even know they were trans. Diana Goetsch's This Body I Wore chronicles one woman's long journey to coming out, a path that runs parallel to the emergence of the trans community over the past several decades.

"How can you spend your life face-to-face with an essential fact about yourself and still not see it?" This is a question often asked of trans people, and a question that Goetsch, an award-winning poet and essayist, addresses with the power and complexity of lived reality. She brings us into her childhood, her time as a dynamic and beloved teacher at New York City's Stuyvesant High School, and her plunge into the city's crossdressing subculture in the 1980s and '90s. Under cover of night, crossdressers risked their jobs and their safety to give expression to urges they could neither control nor understand. Many would become late transitioners, the Cinderellas of the trans community largely ignored by history.

Goetsch has written not a transition memoir, but rather a full account of a trans life, one both unusually public and closeted. All too often trans lives are reduced to before-and-after photos, but what if that before photo lasted fifty years?

A beautifully-illustrated story about a girl who longs for magic in her life and learns that, on the inside, she already is what she wishes she could be. This lushly-drawn story has won an Eisner Award and a Harvey Award, and was voted one of the top 10 manga of the year in 2018 by the Japanese manga industry.

THE PRICE OF KNOWLEDGE

As the new trial comes to an end, one of Coco's rewards from Beldaruit the Wise is the story of Qifrey's past and how he came to desire the mysteries of magic. Feeling a connection with her own desire to save her mother, Coco departs for the source of all answers: the Tower of Tomes. But it is a perilous journey to make on her own, and the secrets held within could sway even the most virtuous of witches...

Mrs. Brown, a 2nd grade teacher, just sat down to enjoy her lunch, when her door flew open with students shouting that two boys from her class said the 'N' word. What will the teacher, Mrs. Brown, do about it? Did the boys really say this word when their teacher is a Black teacher? What will happen to the boys? Or will the teacher help them to understand why we do not say the 'N' word?

From New York Times bestselling author Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body And Other Parties, In The Dream House) comes a story so horrifying you won't dare to forget!

There's something in the woods...

Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, has been on fire for years. The woods are full of rabbits with human eyes, a deer woman who stalks hungry girls, and swaths of skinless men. And the people of Shudder-to-Think? Well, they're not doing so well either.

When El and Octavia wake up in a movie theater with no memory of the last few hours of their lives, the two teenage dirtbags embark on a horrifying journey to uncover the truth about the strange town that they call home.

From critically acclaimed writer Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties) comes The Low, Low Woods, from the smash-hit lineup of the Hill House Comics library. Featuring stunning artwork by Dani (Lucifer), this volume collects The Low, Low Woods #1-6.

Reduce the systemic inflammation that hampers your health with this inspired collection of plant-based recipes!

Systemic inflammation can play a dangerous role in chronic diseases, many types of cancer, and even weight gain. The good news is that eating a plant-based diet is especially helpful for calming the immune system. The Plant-Based Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook delivers eighty plant-based recipes centered around foods known to fight against inflammation: ginger, turmeric, berries, garlic, citrus, and high-fiber foods such as legumes and whole grains.

Linda Tyler, the Gracious Vegan, draws inspiration from classic dishes and global cuisines, adding creative twists and ensuring a whole-food approach without highly processed ingredients. This book's recipes cover all meals and a delicious array of flavors, including:

• Breakfast grains, smoothies, hashes, scrambles, and beverages
• Main dishes and salads centered on vegetables, grains, and legumes
• Filling soups and stews
• Tasty desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth
• And so much more!

Easy-to-follow recipes, meal-planning ideas, and make-ahead tips combine to make eating more plants, especially anti-inflammatory superstars, feasible and delicious.

From the bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper comes the riveting story of a murder that shatters the picturesque calm of Amish country--and tests the heart and soul of the lawyer defending the woman at the center of the storm.

The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide--and for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own. Delving deep inside the world of those who live "plain," Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms. And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within--to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past reenters her life.

All Dr. Sloan Copeland needed was someone to watch her kids. What she found was the man of her dreams... After a nasty divorce and a thousand mile move, Dr. Sloan Copeland and her twin daughters are finally getting the hang of their new life in Los Angeles. When their live-in nanny bails with no warning, Sloan is left scrambling to find a competent caretaker to wrangle her smart, sensitive girls. Nothing less will do. Enter Rafe Whitcomb. He's all of those things, not to mention good-natured and one heck of a whiz in the kitchen. He's also tall, and handsome, and bearded, and ripped, and tatted, wrist to neck. It doesn't take long for the Copelands to invite Rafe into their home. Just as quickly, both Sloan and Rafe find themselves succumbing to a heady mutual attraction, neither of them wants to deny. With every minute they spend under the same roof, this working mom can't help but wonder if Rafe can handle all her needs... **This stand-alone romance is fluffy. So fluffy. It's fluff. Low. Angst. Fluff. featuring a large tatted, motorcycle riding ginger man, who bakes a mean bacon quiche and knows exactly how to wrangle clever six year olds while making their mom feel loved, loved, loved.** While RAFE is a stand-alone novel here's a suggested reading order to get you to this point SATED (Fit #3) (Meegan) SO SWEET (Daniella and Duke origin story) HAVEN (Meegan) WRAPPED (Meegan, Shae, Sarah) RAFE

"Queer, dirty, insightful, and so funny" (Andrea Lawlor), this coyly revolutionary debut story collection imagines new origins and futures for its cast of unforgettable protagonists--almost all of whom are named Sarah.

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021 BY THE MILLIONS * OPRAH MAGAZINE * LAMBDA LITERARY * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * REFINERY29 * COSMO * THE ADVOCATE * ALMA * PAPERBACK PARIS * WRITE OR DIE TRIBE * READS RAINBOW

In Sarahland, Sam Cohen brilliantly and often hilariously explores the ways in which traditional stories have failed us, both demanding and thrillingly providing for its cast of Sarahs new origin stories, new ways to love the planet and those inhabiting it, and new possibilities for life itself. In one story, a Jewish college Sarah passively consents to a form-life in pursuit of an MRS degree and is swept into a culture of normalized sexual violence. Another reveals a version of Sarah finding pleasure--and a new set of problems--by playing dead for a wealthy necrophiliac. A Buffy-loving Sarah uses fan fiction to work through romantic obsession. As the collection progresses, Cohen explodes this search for self, insisting that we have more to resist and repair than our own personal narratives. Readers witness as the ever-evolving "Sarah" gets recast: as a bible-era trans woman, an aging lesbian literally growing roots, a being who transcends the earth as we know it. While Cohen presents a world that will clearly someday end, "Sarah" will continue.

In each Sarah's refusal to adhere to a single narrative, she potentially builds a better home for us all, a place to live that demands no fixity of self, no plague of consumerism, no bodily compromise, a place called Sarahland.

The most joyful emanation produced by a colony of bees is known as the "song of increase"--declaring that the hive is flourishing and the bees are happy in its abundance. Song of Increase takes us inside the world of the honeybee to glean the wisdom of these fascinating creatures with whom humanity has shared a sacred bond for millennia.

Within these pages is a bee-centric approach to living with honeybees, rather than advice for simply maximizing the products they provide. Jacqueline Freeman takes us beyond traditional beekeeping and offers a way to work in harmony with honeybees for both their good and ours. "Our way is one of kind observation," she explains, "where we create supportive homes and fields for bees to live in, as well as tend the heartfelt relationships we form by being together."

Song of Increase focuses on hidden aspects of apiculture that lead us naturally to more sustainable practices. Freeman illuminates the unity consciousness that guides every action in the colony and how this profound awareness can influence the way we see both the natural world and ourselves. Each chapter presents a wealth of information about the life of bees, including Freeman's personal insights and direct teachings received from the bees themselves.

Contents Include:

I. The Song of Unity: How Bees See Themselves, Their Colony, and the World
II. The Song of Belonging: The Sacred Work of the Queen, Drones, Maidens, and Pips
III. The Song of Communion: How Bees Create a Perfect Home
IV. The Song of the World: The Communion of Bees and Flowers
V. The Song of Increase: The Blessings of the Swarm and the Ascension of a New Queen
VI. The Song of Abundance: The Generosity of Bees
VII. The Song of Sharing: How We Can Help Our Bee Friends

A Leopard-Skin Hat may be the French writer Anne Serre's most moving novel yet. Hailed in Le Point as a "masterpiece of simplicity, emotion and elegance," it is the story of an intense friendship between "the Narrator" and his close childhood friend, Fanny, who suffers from profound psychological disorders. A series of short scenes paints the portrait of a strong-willed and tormented young woman battling many demons, and of the narrator's loving and anguished attachment to her. Anne Serre poignantly depicts the bewildering back and forth between hope and despair involved in such a relationship, while playfully calling into question the very form of the novel. Written in the aftermath of the death of the author's little sister, A Leopard-Skin Hat is both the celebration of a tragically foreshortened life and a valedictory farewell, written in Anne Serre's signature style.

Dear (never-been-quite-over-you) Crush,

It's been a few years since we were together,

but I can't stop thinking about the time we almost...

Wren Roland has never been kissed, but he wants that movie-perfect ending more than anything. Feeling nostalgic on the eve of his birthday, he sends emails to all the boys he (ahem) loved before he came out. Morning brings the inevitable Oh God What Did I Do?, but he brushes that panic aside. Why stress about it? None of his could-have-beens are actually going to read the emails, much less respond. Right?

Enter Derick Haverford, Wren's #1 pre-coming-out-crush and his drive-in theater's new social media intern. Everyone claims he's coasting on cinematic good looks and his father's connections, but Wren has always known there's much more to Derick than meets the eye. Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about the infamous almost-kiss that once rocked Wren's world.

Whatever. Wren's no longer a closeted teenager; he can survive this. But as their hazy summer becomes consumed with a special project that may just save the struggling drive-in for good, Wren and Derick are drawn ever-closer...and maybe, finally, Wren's dream of a perfect-kiss-before-the-credits is within reach.

A feel-good summer LGBTQIA+ New Adult RomCom, perfect for fans of Red White & Royal Blue, Boyfriend Material, and What If It's Us.

'A glittering rush of sugar-sweet enchantment' Stephanie Garber, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Curse for True Love

In the darkness of night, magic awaits...

Nottingham, 1906

Marietta Stelle longs to be a ballerina but, as Christmas draws nearer, her dancing days are numbered - she must marry and take up her place in society in the New Year. But, when a mysterious toymaker, Dr Drosselmeier, purchases a neighbouring townhouse, it heralds the arrival of magic and wonder in Marietta's life.

After Drosselmeier constructs an elaborate theatrical set for her final ballet performance on Christmas Eve, Marietta discovers it carries a magic all of its own - a magic darker than anyone could imagine. As the clock chimes midnight, Marietta finds herself transported from her family's ballroom to a frozen sugar palace, silent with secrets, in a forest of snow-topped fir trees. She must find a way to return home before she's trapped in Everwood's enchanting grip forever.

In the darkness of night, magic awaits and you will never forget what you find here...

Tropes:
Finding the magic of Christmas
❤️ True love
☃️ Festive fun!

Your favourite authors have fallen under the magical spell of Midnight in Everwood:

'The perfect winter fairy tale' Sarah Morgan, The Christmas Escape

'A deliciously dark retelling of The Nutcracker' Jennifer Saint, Atalanta

'Sumptuous and spellbinding' Heidi Swain, Underneath the Christmas Tree

'Beautifully spun and wildly imagined' Cari Thomas, Threadneedle

'Enchanting! The perfect Christmas treat' Veronica Henry, Christmas at the Beach Hut

Readers LOVE Midnight in Everwood:

'Transported me to a magical world' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'A great winter read' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'A story in which you can lose yourself' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'I was drawn into this book from the very first page' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'A must-read for the Christmas season' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'Enchanting and full of wonderful adventure' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'Will sweep you off your feet' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

'A fairy tale for grown-ups and absolutely perfect for Christmas' ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

As the hottest bodyguard on Security Force Omega, Oscar Oliveira has no trouble finding a warm body at any odd hour. But he's ready for more.

And for the first time in this ex-pro boxer's life, he just got rejected. For a kiss.

Oscar's friends warned him not to fall for the straight guy, but flirty, sexy-as-hell Jack Highland made that difficult. Now Jack has Oscar's sweatshirt. His belt. His bandana. And Oscar seriously wants them back.

As for Jack - well, Jack wants a lot of things. But for the first time in this confident filmmaker's life, he's absolutely 100%... confused. Add another ultra-complication in a sea of complicated: Enter Charlie Cobalt.

The enigmatic famous one that Oscar is sworn to protect wants his own show, and he's asked Jack to film it. A Charlie-centric docuseries will force Oscar & Jack to share the same air again.

Option 1: Ignore each other. Option 2: Flirt, aw yeah. And act like the rejection never happened. Option 3: Confront each other about the rejected kiss.

With options on the table and their romantic lives unsettled, both Jack & Oscar are concerned about why Charlie wants his own show. And the longer filming lasts, the more tumultuous their personal & professional worlds become.

Chaos reigns when you're around the Cobalts, and Jack & Oscar are swept up among the most destructive one.

The Beauty of Your Face tells a uniquely American story in powerful, evocative prose. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter--radicalized by the online alt-right--attacks the school. As Afaf listens to his terrifying progress, we are swept back through her memories, and into a profound and "moving" (Bustle) exploration of one woman's life in a nation at odds with its ideals.