March 2020 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. A Good Neighborhood
    by Therese Anne Fowler
    St. Martin's Press
    Mar 10, 2020
    FICTION / Family Life / General
    Hardback
    A Good Neighborhood
    by Therese Anne Fowler
    St. Martin's Press
    Mar 10, 2020
    FICTION / Family Life / General
    Hardback

    INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * One of NPR's Best Books of 2020

    "A provocative, absorbing read."
    People

    “A feast of a read... I finished A Good Neighborhood in a single sitting. Yes, it’s that good.”
    —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light

    In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son, Xavier, who’s headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans—a family with new money and a secretly troubled teenage daughter—raze the house and trees next door to build themselves a showplace.

    With little in common except a property line, these two families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers.

    A Good Neighborhood
    asks big questions about life in America today—what does it mean to be a good neighbor? How do we live alongside each other when we don't see eye to eye?—as it explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending love in a story that’s as provocative as it is powerful.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. Baby Food in an Instant Pot
    by Jennifer House Canada
    Robert Rose
    Sep 01, 2020
    COOKING / Baby Food
    Paperback / softback
    Baby Food in an Instant Pot
    by Jennifer House Canada
    Robert Rose
    Sep 01, 2020
    COOKING / Baby Food
    Paperback / softback

    Short on time and sleep? Need baby food in an instant? Try baby food in an Instant Pot!

    For new moms and dads it's not always easy to prepare nutritious homemade baby food. The most popular and bestselling kitchen appliance of the last several years, the Instant Pot, will be a parent's new best friend and new favorite kitchen sidekick because of how quickly and easily it can help to get healthy and delicious food into the mouths of little ones -- even the picky ones.

    Here, parents will find everything they need to know to ensure that their baby's nutrient needs are being met, prevent choking, and handle picky eating. Included in the book are 125 balanced recipes for babies and toddlers at every age and stage of development. Recipes include 50 purées, 25 finger foods and 50 family-friendly recipes along with tips on storage times, serving fresh or freezing, and nutritional benefits of individual ingredients. The book even includes sample meal plans, tips on storage in the fridge and freezer, and frequently asked questions with answers from a pediatric dietitian.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. An Embarrassment of Witches
    by Sophie Goldstein
    Top Shelf Productions
    Mar 03, 2020
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Contemporary Women
    Paperback / softback
    An Embarrassment of Witches
    by Sophie Goldstein
    Top Shelf Productions
    Mar 03, 2020
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Contemporary Women
    Paperback / softback
    A coming-of-age urban fantasy set in a world full of animal familiars, enchanted plants, and spell-casting that explores the mundane horrors of breakups, job searches, and post-graduate existential angst.

    Life after college isn't turning out exactly as Rory and Angela had planned. Rory, recently dumped at the gate of her flight to Australia, needs to find a new life path ASAP. What do you do with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Southeast Asian Spellcraft? Maybe her cute new housemate Guy is the answer she's looking for (spoiler alert: he isn't).

    Meanwhile, Angela is buckling under the pressure of a high-stakes internship in a cutting-edge cryptopharmocology lab run by Rory's controlling mother, who doesn't know Rory is still in town... and Angela hates keeping secrets.

    An Embarrassment of Witches is the story of two childhood friends learning how to be adults--and hoping their friendship can survive the change.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. You Are Not Alone
    by Greer Hendricks
    St. Martin's Press
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Paperback / softback
    You Are Not Alone
    by Greer Hendricks
    St. Martin's Press
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Paperback / softback

    THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

    One of Newsweek's Most Anticipated Books of 2020
    One of SheReads Most Anticipated Books of 2020
    One of PopSugar's Most Anticipated Books of 2020
    One of HelloGiggles’ Most Anticipated Books of 2020
    One of Marie Claire’s Best Fiction by Women in 2020
    One of Woman’s Day’s Best Fiction Books Coming Out in 2020

    The electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US and AN ANONYMOUS GIRL return with a brand new novel of psychological suspense, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

    Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely.

    Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better.

    Shay would die for them to like her.
    She may have to.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. How a Woman Becomes a Lake
    by Marjorie Celona Canada
    Hamish Hamilton
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    How a Woman Becomes a Lake
    by Marjorie Celona Canada
    Hamish Hamilton
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Shortlisted for the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novel

    From the Giller-nominated author of Y comes How a Woman Becomes a Lake, a taut, suspenseful novel about the dark corners of a small town, and the secrets that lurk within...


    It's New Year's Day and the residents of a small fishing town are ready to start their lives anew. Leo takes his two young sons out to the lake to write resolutions on paper boats. That same frigid morning, Vera sets out for a walk with her dog along the lake, leaving her husband in bed with a hangover.

    But she never returns. She places a call to the police saying she's found a boy in the woods, but the call is cut short by a muffled cry. Did one of Leo's sons see Vera? What are they hiding about that day? And why are they so scared of their own father?

    Told from shifting perspectives, How a Woman Becomes a Lake is a compelling, lyrical novel about family, new beginnings, and costly mistakes, and asks, what do you do when the people who are meant to love you the most, fail?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. Overdose
    by Benjamin Perrin Canada
    Viking
    Mar 31, 2020
    HEALTH & FITNESS / Health Care Issues
    Hardback
    Overdose
    by Benjamin Perrin Canada
    Viking
    Mar 31, 2020
    HEALTH & FITNESS / Health Care Issues
    Hardback
    NATIONAL BESTSELLER

    SHORTLISTED for the 2021 BC Book Awards' George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature

    SHORTLISTED for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, for both the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes

    SHORTLISTED for the 2021 J. W. Dafoe Book Prize

    SHORTLISTED for the 2020 Lane Anderson Award

    Overdose is a necessary and searching investigation into a devastating epidemic that should never have happened. Benjamin Perrin painstakingly shows that it need not continue if we, as a society, heed the evidence.”
    —Gabor Maté M.D., author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction

    An astonishing and powerful look at the ongoing opioid crisis


    North America is in the middle of a health emergency. Life expectancies are declining. Someone is dying every two hours in Canada from illicit drug overdose. Fentanyl has become a looming presence—an opioid more powerful, pervasive, and deadly than any previous street drug.

    The victims are many—and often not whom we might expect. They include the poor and forgotten but also our neighbours: professionals, students, and parents. Despite the thousands of deaths, these victims have remained largely invisible.

    But not anymore. Benjamin Perrin, a law and policy expert, shines a light in this darkest of corners—and his findings challenge many assumptions about the crisis. Why do people use drugs despite the risk of overdosing? Can we crack down on the fentanyl supply? Do supervised consumption sites and providing “safe drugs” enable the problem? Which treatments work? Would decriminalizing all drugs help or do further harm?

    In this urgent and humane look at a devastating epidemic, Perrin draws on behind-the-scenes interviews with those on the frontlines, including undercover police officers, intelligence analysts, border agents, prosecutors, healthcare professionals, Indigenous organizations, activists, and people who use drugs. Not only does he unveil the many complexities of this situation, but he also offers a new way forward—one that may save thousands of lives.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. Coming Up for Air
    by Sarah Leipciger
    House of Anansi Press
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Coming Up for Air
    by Sarah Leipciger
    House of Anansi Press
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback

    A lyrical, powerful, and richly textured novel about three lives that intertwine across oceans and time.

    On the banks of the River Seine in 1899, a young woman takes her final breath before plunging into the icy water. Although she does not know it, her decision will set in motion an astonishing chain of events. It will lead to 1950s Norway, where a grieving toy-maker is on the cusp of a transformative invention, all the way to present-day Ottawa Valley in Canada, where a journalist, battling a terrible disease, risks everything for one last chance to live.

    Taking inspiration from a remarkable true story, Coming Up for Air is a bold, richly imagined novel about the transcendent power of storytelling and the immeasurable impact of every human life. The legacy of the woman at its heart touches the lives of us all today, and this book reveals just how.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The City We Became
    by N. K. Jemisin
    Orbit
    Mar 24, 2020
    FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary
    Hardback
    The City We Became
    by N. K. Jemisin
    Orbit
    Mar 24, 2020
    FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary
    Hardback
    An instant NYT Bestseller!

    Four-time Hugo Award-winning author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, the first book in The Great Cities Duology, a crackling tale of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City. "A glorious fantasy." —Neil Gaiman


    In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.

    In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her.

    In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.

    And they're not the only ones.

    Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six.

    One of TIME Magazine's 100 Best Fantasy Books of all time
    One of TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020
    One of Vanity Fair's 15 Best Books of 2020
    One of Amazon's Best Books of 2020



    The Great Cities Duology
    The City We Became
    The World We Make

    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. Recollections of My Nonexistence
    by Rebecca Solnit
    Viking
    Mar 10, 2020
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
    Hardback
    Recollections of My Nonexistence
    by Rebecca Solnit
    Viking
    Mar 10, 2020
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
    Hardback
    Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography
    Longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing

    An electric portrait of the artist as a young woman that asks how a writer finds her voice in a society that prefers women to be silent


    In Recollections of My Nonexistence, Rebecca Solnit describes her formation as a writer and as a feminist in 1980s San Francisco, in an atmosphere of gender violence on the street and throughout society and the exclusion of women from cultural arenas. She tells of being poor, hopeful, and adrift in the city that became her great teacher, and of the small apartment that, when she was nineteen, became the home in which she transformed herself. She explores the forces that liberated her as a person and as a writer--books themselves; the gay community that presented a new model of what else gender, family, and joy could mean; and her eventual arrival in the spacious landscapes and overlooked conflicts of the American West.

    Beyond being a memoir, Solnit's book is also a passionate argument: that women are not just impacted by personal experience, but by membership in a society where violence against women pervades. Looking back, she describes how she came to recognize that her own experiences of harassment and menace were inseparable from the systemic problem of who has a voice, or rather who is heard and respected and who is silenced--and how she was galvanized to use her own voice for change.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Deacon King Kong (Oprah's Book Club)
    by James McBride
    Riverhead Books
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / African American & Black / General
    Hardback
    Deacon King Kong (Oprah's Book Club)
    by James McBride
    Riverhead Books
    Mar 03, 2020
    FICTION / African American & Black / General
    Hardback
    Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction

    Winner of the Gotham Book Prize

    One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year"

    Oprah's Book Club Pick

    New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

    Named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and TIME Magazine

    A Washington Post Notable Novel

    From the author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year.


    In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.

    The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

    As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

    Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.


    View this title on BNC CataList

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