New Castle County Staff Picks - January 2026

Updated January 5, 2026
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The Land in Winter
Miller, Andrew
Paper Book
⭐ Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025 ⭐ ⭐ Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2025 ⭐ ⭐ Winner of the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2025 ⭐ A book of the year for the Independent, Guardian,<...
The pretender
Harkin, Jo
A sweeping historical novel in the vein of Hilary Mantel and Maggie O'Farrell set during the time of the Tudors' ascent. The Pretender tells the story of Lambert Simnel, who was raised in obscurity as a peasant boy to protect his safety, believed to be the heir to the throne occupied by...
Dream state : a novel
Puchner, Eric
"Dream State is a delight...An exquisitely rendered novel about the vagaries of fate, and friendship, and love." --Alice McDermott, National Book Award winner and author of Absolution Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws' lake house in...
Sweet Heat
Babalola, Bolu
BOLU BABALOLA IS... "A queen of romantic comedy." - Oprah Daily * "Incisively funny." - Entertainment Weekly * "A really great romance writer." - Quinta Brunson, Harper's Bazaar * "Keeping the hope for true love alive and enjoyable." -Shondaland * "A rom-com expert." - New York Times ...
Some Bright Nowhere A Novel
Packer, Ann
AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK "Extraordinary. Books like this are why I love reading. This novel about marriage and friendship and life and dying is a marvel." --Elin Hilderbrand "Profound and moving and real."--Andrew Sean Greer "...
Wreck
Newman, Catherine
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK · INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Wreck is a delight. What an absolute joy to be reunited with Rocky and her family, the characters we all fell in love with in Sandwich. Newman's prose is laugh-out-loud funny. It...
The savage, noble death of Babs Dionne
Currie, Ron, Jr.
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Vulture, BookPage, Publishers Weekly, and Real Simple * A WSJ Best Mystery Book of 2025 * A 2025 NPR Book We Love "Terrific in-your-face crime story, featuring the unlikeliest drug family you've ever met. It's like the...
Songs for other people's weddings : a novel
Levithan, David
Paper Book
From award-winning, bestselling author David Levithan and beloved, acclaimed singer-songwriter Jens Lekman comes a charming, tender novel about an unlucky-in-love wedding singer trying to find the right words to save his relationship J is an accidental wedding singer. Unlike...
A guardian and a thief
Majumdar, Megha
Dianaworld : an obsession
White, Edward
Paper Book
Over the last forty years, the mythology of Princess Diana has turned the woman who was born Diana Spencer into a symbol for almost anything. From a harbinger of Brexit populism, an all-American consumer capitalist, and the savior of the British aristocracy, to a catalyst for #MeToo and--in the...
Paper girl : a memoir of home and family in a fractured America
Macy, Beth
An Instant National Bestseller . Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award . One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025 . Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Vanity Fair "There couldn't be a timelier book . . . searingly poignant, essential ....
A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck
Elmhirst, Sophie
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER & ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2025 ALSO NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2025 BY NPR, VOGUE, TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, AND MORE "This is nonfiction that...
1929 : inside the greatest crash in Wall Street history-- and how it shattered a nation
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "It is one of the best narrative histories I've read." --The Wall Street Journal A New York Times Notable Book of 2025 * One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025 * Named a BEST BOOK OF 2025 by The Washington...
Awake : a memoir
Hatmaker, Jen
Paper Book
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPRAH DAILY, GOODREADS, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "I can't imagine any woman reading this without feeling seen, inspired, and totally empowered." --Mel Robbins * "A MASTERPIECE, you...
Gandolfini : Jim, Tony, and the life of a legend
Bailey, Jason
Paper Book
A deeply reported, perceptive, and celebratory biography of beloved actor James Gandolfini from a prominent critic and film historian Based on extensive research and original reporting, including interviews with friends and collaborators, Gandolfini is a detailed and...
History matters
McCullough, David G.
Paper Book
In this posthumous collection of thought-provoking essays--many never published before--Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and bestselling author David McCullough affirms the value of history, how we can be guided by its lessons, and the enduring legacy of American ideals. ...
Is a river alive?
Macfarlane, Robert
Paper Book
From the celebrated writer, observer and naturalist Robert Macfarlane comes a brilliant, perspective-shifting new book, which answers a resounding "yes" to the question of its title. At the heart of Is a River Alive? is a single, transformative idea: that rivers...
Three or more is a riot : notes on how we got here, 2012-2025
Cobb, Jelani
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * From one of the definitive journalists of this era--acclaimed historian, Pulitzer Prize finalist, staff writer at The New Yorker, and Dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism--comes a kaleidoscopic, real-time portrait of the turbulent...

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