ODY New Books Collection

Next of Kin

"The youngest of five children, Gabrielle Hamilton took pride in her unsentimental, idiosyncratic family. She idolized her parents' charisma and non-conformity. She worshipped her siblings' mischievousness and flair. Hers was a family with no fondness for the humdrum. Hamilton grew up to find enormous success, first as a chef and then as the author of award-winning, bestselling books. But her family ties frayed in ways both seismic and mundane until eventually she was estranged from them all. In the wake of one brother's sudden death and another's suicide, while raising young children of her own, Hamilton was compelled to examine the sprawling, complicated root system underlying her losses. She began investigating her family's devout independence and individualism with a nearly forensic rigor, soon discovering a sobering warning in their long-held self-satisfaction. By the time she was called to care for her declining mother-the mother she'd seen only twice in thirty years-Hamilton had realized a certain freedom, one made possible only through a careful psychological autopsy of her family. Hamilton's gift for pungent dialogue, propulsive storytelling, intense honesty, and raucous humor made her first book a classic of modern memoir. In Next of Kin, she offers a keen and compassionate portrait of the people she grew up with and the prevailing but soon-to-falter ethos of the era that produced them. A personal account of one family's disintegration, Next of Kin is also a universal story of the emotional clarity that comes from scrutinizing our family mythologies and seeing through to the other side." -- Provided by publisher

Two Paths to Prosperity

"An exploration of the different economic trajectories of Europe and China in history based on differences in social organization."-- Provided by publisher

What to Eat Now

"An updated classic on nutrition and food, Marion Nestle's What to Eat Now is a straightforward and comprehensive guide to cutting through the marketing and half truths in order to make healthy, delicious, and sustainable food choices at the grocery store." -- Provided by publisher

What about the Bodies

"Three desperate lives are about to collide in Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a hard-edged, Rust Belt town. There, Carla, a single mom poised to finally break free from her cycle of poverty, must join with her son to hide the body of a classmate who died while with him. At the same time, Reed, an autistic young man, sets out on a journey to keep a deathbed promise. Along the way he'll encounter both kindhearted residents and a cold-blooded nemesis. And Liz, an aspiring musician on the cusp of a breakthrough, needs to quickly come up with the cash she owes a brutal ex-con. If she can't pay him, both her dream and her life will be in grave danger. In What About the Bodies, Edgar Award nominee Ken Jaworowski cements himself as a master of the small-town thriller. As these three compelling characters intersect, the novel ignites into a story filled with explosive twists, hair-raising chills, and boundless love." -- Provided by publisher

What a Time to Be Alive

"Some people move to the big city hoping to find themselves, but young Sickan Hermansson isn't leaving it up to chance. Twenty-one, friendless, without money but not without hope, Sickan's arrival at Stockholm University represents a new start. Her lonely childhood in a small southern town has left her utterly unprepared for intimacy: for friends, for sex, for love even. But Sickan is determined to build a new version of herself from the ground up, to make up for lost time. To simply be normal. Just as Sickan seems to be finding her first ever friends, in whose company she finally feels safe, she meets Abbe: beautiful, charming--and by some miracle he wants her too. Unlike Sickan, Abbe seems completely at ease in his own skin. A solid foundation then, on which to build a relationship? Maybe?" -- Provided by publisher

We Did Ok, Kid

In his powerful memoir We Did OK, Kid, Sir Anthony Hopkins reflects on his extraordinary life and career with honesty and heart. Growing up in a tough Welsh steel town, he struggled in school and was told he'd never succeed--until seeing Hamlet sparked a lifelong passion for acting. Hopkins recounts his journey from those humble beginnings to becoming one of the world's most celebrated actors, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from his iconic roles and encounters with legends like Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton. He also opens up about his battles with alcoholism, his path to sobriety, and the emotional struggles that shaped him. Filled with personal photos and deep insight, this memoir is a candid portrait of resilience, creativity, and redemption.

The Unveiling

"From the award-winning poet, playwright, and author of We Ride Upon Sticks and When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East, a genre-bending novel of literary horror set in Antarctica that explores abandonment, guilt, and survival in the shadow of America's racial legacy. Striker isn't entirely sure she should be on this luxury Antarctic cruise. A Black film scout, her mission is to photograph potential locations for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton's doomed expedition. Along the way, she finds private if cautious amusement in the behavior of both the native wildlife and the group of wealthy, mostly white tourists who have chosen to spend Christmas on the Weddell Sea. But when a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker and a group of survivors become stranded on a remote island along the Antarctic Peninsula, a desolate setting complete with boiling geothermal vents and vicious birds. Soon the hostile environment will show each survivor their true face, and as the polar ice thaws in the unseasonable warmth, the group's secrets, prejudices, and inner demons will also emerge, including revelations from Striker's past that could irrevocably shatter her world. With her signature lyricism and humor, Quan Barry offers neither comfort nor closure as she questions the limits of the human bonds that connect us to one another, affirming there are no such things as haunted places, only haunted people. Gripping, lucid, and imaginative, The Unveiling is an astonishing ghost story about the masks we wear and the truths we hide even from ourselves." -- Provided by publisher

Splendid Liberators

"A new history of the Spanish-American War, spanning the US adventures and misadventures in Cuba and the Philippines, and paying particular attention to unsung characters such as Frederick Funston and David Fagen." -- Provided by publisher

Positive Tipping Points

"This book identifies the positive tipping points that can help us avoid the worst from damaging tipping points. It takes the reader on a journey through understanding how tipping points happen, showing how tipping points have transformed human societies in the past, and facing up to the profound risks that climate tipping points pose to us all now. Then, it offers hope and empowerment in a series of uplifting examples of social and technological changes that started small but are already spreading rapidly to transform our societies to a more sustainable state. It identifies the positive tipping points that are still needed, the forces that are opposing them, and the actions that can trigger them, showing how we can all play a part in triggering positive tipping points that accelerate us out of the climate crisis."-- Publisher's website

Pick a Color

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa follows Ning, a retired boxer working under the name Susan at a nail salon. Over the course of a single day, the novel depicts her interactions with coworkers and clients while exploring themes of identity, labor, memory, and social class. As Ning reflects on her past and navigates the dynamics among the other workers, the story examines the contrast between her inner life and the expectations placed upon her.

Palaver

Ten years after leaving Houston, a young man living in Tokyo is surprised when his mother shows up unannounced for Christmas. Estranged and burdened by old wounds, they struggle to reconnect amid the bustle of city life, the quiet companionship of a cat, and memories that stretch from Jamaica to Texas. As each learns to see the other anew, their journey reveals how love--messy, imperfect, and deeply human--can bridge even the widest divides.

Oxford Soju Club

"The natural enemy of a Korean is another Korean. When North Korean spymaster Doha Kim is mysteriously killed in Oxford, his protégé Yohan Kim, disguised as Junichi Nakamura, chases the only breadcrumb given to him in Doha's last breath: 'Soju Club, Dr. Ryu.' In the meantime, Yunah Choi, a CIA agent acting under the alias of Seonhye Park, spots an opportunity to finally make progress in her investigation of the North Korean spy cell. As she makes her move, she begins to see that her own country has a different plan, putting her own ambitions in jeopardy. At the centre of it all is the Soju Club, the only Korean restaurant in Oxford owned by Jihoon Lim. As different factions move in on Yohan to capture him, Yunah and Yohan are prepared to fight to the bitter end to protect their own truths, all the while grabbing a drink at the Soju Club."-- Provided by publisher

A Murderous Business

"There can be a blurry line between what is ethical and what is legal. Margot Baxter Harriman took the reins of B&H Foods after her father passed. It's not easy being a business woman in 1912, but she is determined to continue what her grandparents started decades ago, no matter what it takes. So when Margot finds Mrs. Gilroy, her father's former assistant, dead in the office with a half-finished note confessing to nebulous misdeeds at B&H, she seeks out help from a very discreet, private investigator to figure out what's going on. Her company, and her good name, are at stake if scandal breaks ... and she could lose everything, including her freedom. Loretta "Rett" Mancini has run her father's investigation operation since he started becoming increasingly forgetful. When Margot offers her the chance to look into the potential scandal with B&H, she jumps at it. But the more the two dig in, the more it becomes clear that Margot's company may be too far lost...and someone is willing to kill them both to keep things quiet." -- Provided by publisher

Ludwig Wittgenstein

"According to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), philosophy is a 'battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.' This audacious idea changed the way many of its practitioners saw their subject. In the first biography of Wittgenstein in more than three decades, Anthony Gottlieb evaluates this revolutionary idea, explaining the evolution of Wittgenstein's thought and his place in the history of philosophy. Wittgenstein was born into an immensely rich Viennese family but yearned to live a simple life, and he gave away his inheritance. After studying with Bertrand Russell in Cambridge, he wrote his famous Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus while serving in World War I. He then took several positions as a primary-school teacher in rural Austria before returning as a fellow to Cambridge, where a cult-like following developed around him. Wittgenstein worked not only as a philosopher and schoolteacher, but also as an aeronautical engineer in Manchester and as an architect in Vienna. Gottlieb's meticulously researched book traces the itinerant and troubled life of Wittgenstein, the development of his influential ideas, and the Viennese intellectual milieu and family background that shaped him." -- from the inside front flap

Kant

"Immanuel Kant revolutionized philosophical method and decisively shaped modern politics. Three hundred years after Kant's birth, Marcus Willaschek brings together the German idealist's life and thought, examining the personality who changed the course of intellectual history as well as the substance and enduring importance of his ideas." --provided by publisher

Girl Dinner

"Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, is beautiful, high-achieving, and respected. Sophomore Nina Kaur knows being accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after 18 months at home with her newborn daughter. When invited to be The House's academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all. As Nina and Sloane get drawn deeper into the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs, and they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power."-- Provided by publisher of the large print edition.

Fair Doses

"How vaccines became the world's most powerful and widely distributed health intervention, and the inside story of the challenging race to deliver COVID-19 vaccines globally. Fair Doses is a story of vaccines: how they came about, why they are important, and how they have been made globally available--although our quest for vaccine equity is still ongoing. In this fascinating deep dive into vaccines, Dr. Seth Berkley, an internationally recognized infectious disease epidemiologist and public health leader, offers an inside view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond. COVID-19 was a lesson about the devastation a novel virus can bring on our world. When the first signs of the spread of this new infection appeared, Berkley co-created COVAX, a global initiative aimed at ensuring equitable COVID vaccine distribution. The COVAX team had to navigate vaccine nationalism, vaccine diplomacy, intentional disinformation, political forces, and the conflicting incentives of vaccine companies in its race against the virus. In record time, the group organized 193 countries, built the world's largest portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, raised more than $12 billion, and delivered two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 146 countries. Future pandemics are an evolutionary inevitability, and future global response needs to be much faster and more equitable. Drawing from his personal experience, Berkley lays out a bold vision of preparedness that will help the global community take advantage of rapid advancements in science to make our world safer from infectious diseases." -- Provided by publisher

Death and the Gardener

A man sits by his father's bedside and reports radically and gently until a final winter morning. His father was one of that generation of tragic smokers born right after the World War II in Bulgaria, who clung to the snorkels of their cigarettes. A rebel without a cause, he knew how to fail with heroic self-deprecation. The garden he created out of a barren village yard first saved him, then killed him. It remains his living legacy: peonies and potatoes, roses and cherry trees - and endless stories. But without him, his son's past, with all its afternoons, began to quietly crack. Because the end of our fathers is the end of a world.

Blue Jerusalem

"We think we know all there is to know about Britain's Second World War. We don't. This radical re-interpretation of British history and British Conservatism between 1939 and 1945 reveals the bold, at times utopian, plans British Conservatives drew up for Britain and the post-war world. From proposals for world government to a more united Empire via dreams of a new Christian elite and a move back to the land, Blue Jerusalem reveals how Conservatives were every bit as imaginative and courageous as their Labour and left-wing opponents in their wartime plans for a post-war world. Bringing these alternative visions of Britain's post-war future back to life, Blue Jerusalem restores politics to the centre of the story of Britain's war. It demonstrates how everything from the weapons Britain fought with to the theatres in which the fighting took place and the allies Britain chose were the product of political decisions about the different futures Conservatives wanted to make. Rejecting notions of a 'People's War' that continue to cloud how we think of the Second World War, it explores how the Tories used their control of the home and battle fronts to fight a deeply Conservative war and build the martial, imperial, and Christian nation that many of a Conservative disposition had long dreamed of. A study of political thinking as well as political manoeuvre, Blue Jerusalem goes beyond an examination of the usual suspects--such as Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain--to reveal a hitherto lost world of British Conservatism and a set of forgotten futures that continue to shape our world." -- Provided by publisher

Against the Machine

"In Against the Machine, "furiously gifted" (The Washington Post) novelist, poet, and essayist Paul Kingsnorth presents a wholly original--and terrifying--account of the technological-cultural matrix enveloping all of us. With masterful insight into the spiritual and economic roots of techno-capitalism, Kingsnorth reveals how the Machine, in the name of progress, has choked Western civilization, is destroying the Earth itself, and is reshaping us in its image. From the First Industrial Revolution to the rise of artificial intelligence, he shows how the hollowing out of humanity has been a long game--and how your very soul is at stake. It takes effort to remain truly human in the age of the Machine. Writing in the tradition of Wendell Berry, Jacques Ellul and Simone Weil, Kingsnorth reminds us what humanity requires: a healthy suspicion of entrenched power; connection to land, nature and heritage; and a deep attention to matters of the spirit. Prophetic, poetic, and erudite, Against the Machine is the spiritual manual for dissidents in the technological age." -- Provided by publisher