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New and recommended books that take on social issues
Updated February 9, 2024
RPL Staff
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Jackal : a novel
Adams, Erin E.
Paper Book
RECOMMENDED BY GILLIAN FLYNN ON THE TODAY SHOW * A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she's not the first--and she may not be the last. . . . "I read this thriller that is Get Out meets The Vanishing Half<...
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Stay with me
Adebayo, Ayobami
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book The New York Times' Critics' Top Books of the Year Named a Best Book of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, National Public Radio, The Economist, Buzzfeed, Paste Magazine, Southern Living, HelloGiggles, and Shelf...
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Homeland elegies : a novel
Akhtar, Ayad
Paper Book
This "profound and provocative" work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced and American Dervish followsan immigrant father and his son as they search for belonging--in post-Trump America, and with each other (Kirkus Reviews). "Passionate, disturbing,...
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In every mirror she's Black : a novel
Akinmade Åkerström, Lola
Ebook
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The power : a novel
Alderman, Naomi
Paper Book
In this stunning bestseller praised as "our era's Handmaid's Tale," a fierce new power has emerged--and only women have it (Washington Post). In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around...
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Mother ocean father nation : a novel
Batsha, Nishant
Audiobook
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The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world as she helps build a world-class collection. But...
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The vanishing half
Bennett, Brit
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE * VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR New York Times<...
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Alone with you in the ether : a love story
Blake, Olivie
Paper Book
From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, comes a literary, intimate study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone with You in the Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as...
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0101816023275
CAR
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY WOMAN'S DAY, NEWSDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BUSTLE, AND BOOK RIOT! "[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking." --Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You<...
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Birnam Wood
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Financial Times, Slate, The Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, The TelegraphA...
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Greenwood : a novel
Christie, Michael
Paper Book
A magnificent generational saga that charts a family's rise and fall, its secrets and inherited crimes, from one of Canada's most acclaimed novelists Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize * "A rugged, riveting novel . . . This superb family saga will satisfy fans of...
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Under color of law
Clark, Aaron Philip
Paper Book
" The murder of a police recruit pins a black LAPD detective in a deadly web where race, corruption, violence, and cover-ups intersect in this relevant, razor-sharp novel of suspense. Black rookie cop Trevor "Finn" Finnegan aspires to become a top-ranking officer in...
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The new wilderness : a novel
Cook, Diane
Paper Book
A Washington Post, NPR, and Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year * Shortlisted for the Booker Prize "More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced -- a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really...
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Blacktop Wasteland A Novel
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * NPR's Best Books of the Year * BookPage's #1 Mystery and Suspense of the Year * Sun Sentinel's #1 Best Mystery of the Year "I loved Blacktop Wasteland...[A] fast-paced,...
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How not to drown in a glass of water
Cruz, Angie
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE · A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK · REVIEWED ON THE FRONT COVER From GMA BOOK CLUB PICK and WOMEN'S PRIZE FINALIST Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana, an electrifying new novel about a...
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What strange paradise
El Akkad, Omar
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the widely acclaimed, bestselling author of American War--a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. "Told from...
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The sentence : a novel
Erdrich, Louise
Paper Book
"Dazzling. . . . A hard-won love letter to readers and to booksellers, as well as a compelling story about how we cope with pain and fear, injustice and illness. One good way is to press a beloved book into another's hands. Read The Sentence and then do just that."--USA Today, Four Stars ...
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If I survive you
Escoffery, Jonathan
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION. Finalist for the 2023 Pen/Faulkner Award, the DUBLIN Literary Award, the Southern Book Award, and the Gordon Burns Award. Nominated for the 2022 National Book...
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Swimming back to Trout River : a novel
Feng, Linda Rui
Paper Book
A lyrical novel set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution that follows a father's quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughter's momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls "one of the most beautiful debuts I've read in years." "A beautifully...
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Unsettled ground
Fuller, Claire
Paper Book
At fifty-one years old, twins Jeanie and Julius still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation in the English countryside. The cottage they have shared their entire lives is their only protection against the modernizing world around them. Inside its walls, they make music, and in its...
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Of women and salt
Garcia, Gabriela
Paper Book
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Abundance : a novel
Guanzon, Jakob
Paper Book
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction A wrenching debut about the causes and effects of poverty, as seen by a father and son living in a pickup Evicted from their trailer on New Year's Eve, Henry and his son, Junior, have been reduced to living out of...
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Transcendent kingdom
Gyasi, Yaa,
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! * Finalist for the WOMEN'S PRIZE Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama...
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This other Eden : a novel
Harding, Paul
Paper Book
In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island where they can make a life together. Over a century later, the Honeys' descendants and a diverse group of neighbors are desperately poor, isolated, and often hungry, but nevertheless protected from the...
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The marsh queen
Hartman, Virginia
Audiobook
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Open throat
Hoke, Henry
Paper Book
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction. One of the Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023. One of The New York Times' 10 Best California Books of 2023. Longlisted for the Mark...
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The gifted school
Holsinger, Bruce W.
Paper Book
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Wise and addictive... The Gifted School is the juiciest novel I've read in ages... a suspenseful, laugh-out-loud page-turner and an incisive inspection of privilege, race and class." -J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Friends...
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The book of mother : a novel
Huisman, Violaine
Paper Book
Longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize A New York Times Notable Book A Library Journal Best Book of 2021 A "marvelous...superbly effective" (The New Yorker) debut novel about a young woman coming of age with a dazzling...
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The house of Eve
Johnson, Sadeqa
Paper Book
1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that...
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The last story of Mina Lee
Kim, Nancy Jooyoun
Paper Book
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Riveting and unconventional, The Last Story of Mina Lee traces the far-reaching consequences of secrets in the lives of a Korean immigrant mother and her daughter Margot Lee's mother is ignoring her...
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Like wind against rock : a novel
Kim, Nancy S.
Paper Book
A novel of explosive family secrets, regret, and all the little decisions that shape our lives and make us who we are. At the age of thirty-nine, Alice Chang suddenly finds herself living in the last place she expected: her mother's house. But in the face of divorce, eviction, and...
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Demon Copperhead : a novel
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post...
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Rabbits for food
Kirshenbaum, Binnie
Paper Book
Master of razor-edged literary humor Binnie Kirshenbaum returns with her first novel in a decade, a devastating, laugh-out-loud funny story of a writer's slide into depression and institutionalization. It's New Year's Eve, the holiday of forced fellowship, mandatory fun,...
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Whalefall : a novel
Kraus, Daniel
Paper Book
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR The Martian meets 127 Hours in this "astoundingly great" (Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically...
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The leftover woman : a novel
Kwok, Jean
Paper Book
Recommended by The New York Times * Elle * Good Morning America * TIME * People * New York Post * Real Simple * Goodreads * LibraryReads * and many more! An evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different...
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Severance
Ma, Ling
Paper Book
Maybe it's the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma's offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance. "A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both...
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The deluge
Markley, Stephen
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book "This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting." --Stephen King From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future...
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Sorrow and bliss : a novel
Mason, Meg
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction! "Brilliantly faceted and extremely funny. . . . While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realized that I wanted to send it to everyone I know." -- Ann Patchett The...
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The god of good looks : a novel
Mc Ivor, Breanne
Paper Book
An NPR best book of the year and recommended by Oprah Daily, Good Housekeeping, Zibby Mag, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, and Katie Couric Media! "A summer read with bite."--NPR Disgraced model-writer Bianca Bridge can't stand hotshot makeup maven Obadiah Cortland. And he lets her know the...
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Migrations A Novel
McConaghy, Charlotte.
Paper Book
* INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Amazon Editors' Pick for Best Book of the Year in Fiction "Visceral and haunting" (New York Times Book Review) · "Hopeful" (Washington Post) · "Powerful" (Los Angeles Times) · "Thrilling" (TIME) ·...
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The fortune men
Mohamed, Nadifa
Paper Book
BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST * Based on a true event, this novel is "a blues song cut straight from the heart ... about the unjust death of an innocent Black man caught up in a corrupt system" (Walter Mosley, best-selling author of Devil in a Blue Dress). In Cardiff, Wales in...
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Scarlet in blue : a novel
Murphy, Jennifer
Paper Book
For Blue Lake's entire life, she and her mother, Scarlet, have been on the run from HIM the man who Scarlet, a talented and enigmatic painter, insists is chasing them. But now, at fifteen years old, Blue has begun to resent the nomadic life that once seemed like an adventure, increasingly unsure...
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Our missing hearts : a novel
Ng, Celeste
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller * A New York Times Notable Book * Named a Best Book of 2022 by People, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and Oprah Daily, and more * A Reese's Book Club...
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Sunshine nails
Nguyen, Mai
Paper Book
A Real Simple Must-Read Book of Summer 2023 "Mai Nguyen has proven herself to be a real standout." --Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author A tender, humorous, and page-turning debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family in Toronto who will do...
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The confession of Copeland Cane : a novel
Norris, Keenan
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION"A significant new voice in fiction, Norris has written what may be one of the defining novels of the era..." --BuzzFeed One of Publishers Weekly's Best Novels of the Summer ∙ One of...
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The Dutch house : a novel
Patchett, Ann
Paper Book
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick | A New York Times Book Review Notable Book | TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post; O:...
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Bewilderment A Novel
Powers, Richard.
Paper Book
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He's also about to be expelled from...
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We are not like them : a novel
Pride, Christine
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Named a Best Book Pick of 2021 by Harper's Bazaar and Real Simple Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall by People, Essence, New York Post, PopSugar, New York Newsday<...
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Afterparties Stories
So, Anthony Veasna.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK WINNER OF THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBTQ FICTION Named a Best Book of the Year by: New York Times * NPR * Washington Post * LA Times * Kirkus Reviews...
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Valerie, or, The faculty of dreams : amendment to the theory of sexuality
Stridsberg, Sara
Paper Book
A fever dream of a novel--strangely funny, entirely unconventional--Valerie conjures the life, mind, and art of American firebrand Valerie Solanas In April 1988, Valerie Solanas--the writer, radical feminist, author of the SCUM Manifesto and would-be assassin of...
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Night of the living rez
Talty, Morgan
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection New England Book Award Winner, Fiction A Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction, The Story Prize, B&N Discover Book Prize A New York...
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Where the forest meets the stars
Vanderah, Glendy
Paper Book
An Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller, and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist. In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again. After the loss of her mother and her own...
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White horse
Wurth, Erika T.
Paper Book
"This ghost story is a perfect example of new wave horror that will also satisfy fans of classic Stephen King." --Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic Erika T. Wurth's White Horse is a gritty, vibrant debut novel...
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O beautiful : a novel
Yun, Jung
Paper Book
A New York Times Editors' Choice Book From the critically-acclaimed author of Shelter, an unflinching portrayal of a woman trying to come to terms with the ghosts of her past and the tortured realities of a deeply divided America. Elinor Hanson, a...
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Land of milk and honey
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Award Longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary...
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