books 2025

Othello

William Shakespeare • 1993

<b>The authoritative edition of<i> Othello </i>from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.</b><br><br>In <i>Othello</i>, Shakespeare creates powerful drama from a marriage between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona that begins with elopement and mutual devotion and ends with jealous rage and death. Shakespeare builds many differences into his hero and heroine, including race, age, and cultural background. Yet most readers and audiences believe the couple’s strong love would overcome these differences were it not for Iago, who sets out to destroy Othello. Iago’s false insinuations about Desdemona’s infidelity draw Othello into his schemes, and Desdemona is subjected to Othello’s horrifying verbal and physical assaults.<br> <br> This edition includes:<br> -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play<br> -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play<br> -Scene-by-scene plot summaries<br> -A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases<br> -An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language<br> -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play<br> -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books<br> -An annotated guide to further reading<br> <br> Essay by Susan Snyder<br> <br> The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare • 2010

The Do-Over

Lynn Painter • 2023

Sixteen-year-old Emilie, stuck in a cosmic Groundhog/Valentine's Day nightmare where she discovers her family is splitting up and her boyfriend is cheating on her, decides to embark upon The Day of No Consequences, but when her repetitive day suddenly ends, she must face the consequences of her actions.

Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel

Casey McQuiston • 2019

The Cheerleaders

Kara Thomas • 2019

"Sharp, brilliantly plotted, and totally engrossing."--KAREN M. MCMANUS, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying<br/><br/>"A crafty, dark, and disturbing story."--KATHLEEN GLASGOW, New York Times bestselling author of Girl In Pieces<br/><br/>"A little bit Riverdale and a little bit Veronica Mars."--RILEY SAGER, bestselling author of Final Girls<br/><br/>A Goodreads Best Young Adult Book of the Year Nominee<br/><br/>From the author of The Darkest Corners and Little Monsters comes an all-new edge-of-your-seat thriller set in upstate New York about an eerie sequence of seemingly unrelated events that leaves five cheerleaders dead.<br/><br/>There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.<br/><br/>First there was the car accident--two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica's sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they'd lost.<br/><br/>That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it's not that easy. She just wants to forget.<br/><br/>Only, Monica's world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad's desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn't over. Some people in town know more than they're saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.<br/><br/>There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn't mean anyone else is safe.<br/><br/>More Praise for Kara Thomas:<br/><br/>"Gripping from start to finish . . . with twists that left me shocked."--VICTORIA AVEYARD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen<br/><br/>"You'll be up all night tearing through the pages."--BUSTLE<br/><br/>"This deliciously deceptive thriller...is a must-have."--SLJ

Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel

George Saunders • 2018

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE<br/><br/>The “devastatingly moving” (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented<br/><br/>One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • One of Paste’s Best Novels of the Decade<br/><br/>Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, USA Today, and Maureen Corrigan, NPR • One of Time’s Ten Best Novels of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book • One of O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of the Year<br/><br/>February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.<br/><br/>From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.<br/><br/>Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?<br/><br/>“A luminous feat of generosity and humanism.”—Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review<br/><br/>“A masterpiece.”—Zadie Smith

Blindness

José Saramago • 2013

A stunningly powerful novel of humanity's will to survive against all odds during an epidemic by a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.<br> An International Bestseller  • "This is a shattering work by a literary master.”—Boston Globe<br>  A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of our worst appetites and weaknesses—and humanity's ultimately exhilarating spirit.<br> "This is a an important book, one that is unafraid to face all of the horror of the century."—Washington Post<br><br> A New York Times Notable Book of the Year<br> A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year

Not Quite Dead Yet

Holly Jackson · 2025