If you enjoyed the “Lessons in Chemistry“, here are some more books and authors you might like!

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / Gabrielle Zevin

A modern love story about two childhood friends, Sam, raised by an actress mother in LA’s Koreatown, and Sadie, from the wealthy Jewish enclave of Beverly Hills, who reunite as adults to create video games, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives, from the New York Times best-selling author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

Put on hold

Malibu rising / Taylor Jenkins Reid

Set against the backdrop of the Malibu surf culture of the 1980s Malibu Burning follows the daughter of a famous singer who, once she finds fame, must grapple with the fact that her father abandoned her and her siblings when they were young.

Put on hold

Hello beautiful / Ann Napolitano

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household. But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?

Put on hold

Take my hand / Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench. Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients, India and Erica, are children-just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at the door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them. Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten. Because history repeats what we don’t remember.

Put on hold

Pineapple Street / Jenny Jackson

Darley, the eldest daughter in the Stockton family, has never worried about money. The product of generational wealth and capitalist success, Darley renounced her inheritance when she married Malcolm, a first generation Korean American with a lucrative job in banking. Sasha, Darley’s new sister-in-law, has come from more humble origins, and her hesitancy about signing a pre-nup has everyone worried about her intentions. Georgiana, newly graduated from Brown and proud to think of herself as a “do-gooder,” has enough money from her trust that she’s able to work for a pittance at a not-for-profit, where she has started a secret love affair with a senior colleague. But when a scandal derails Malcolm’s career, leaving Darley financially in the lurch, when Sasha glimpses the less-than-attractive attributes beneath the Stockton brood’s carefully-guarded façade, and when Georgiana discovers her boyfriend is married and still in love with his wife, they must all come to terms with what money can’t buy–the bonds of love that can make and unmake a family. Rife with the indulgent pleasures of affluent WASPS in New York and full of recognizable if fallible characters (and a couple of appalling ones!), it’s about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, about the haves and have-nots and the nuances in between, and the insanity of first love–Pineapple Street is a scintillating, wryly comic novel of race, class, wealth and privilege in an age that disdains all of it.

Put on hold

The only woman in the room / Marie Benedict

Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich’s plans while at her husband’s side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis…if anyone would listen to her.

Put on hold

 Her hidden genius / Marie Benedict

Rosalind Franklin knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture-one more after thousands-she can unlock the building blocks of life. Never again will she have to listen to her colleagues complain about her, especially Maurice Wilkins who’d rather conspire about genetics with James Watson and Francis Crick than work alongside her. Then it finally happens-the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what happens next, Rosalind could have never predicted. Marie Benedict’s next powerful novel shines a light on a woman who died to discover our very DNA, a woman whose contributions were suppressed by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind.

Put on hold

The woman with the cure / Lynn Cullen

She gave up everything – and changed the world. A riveting novel based on the true story of the woman who stopped a pandemic, from the bestselling author of Mrs. Poe. In 1940s and ’50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one’s life is untouched by this disease that kills or paralyzes its victims, particularly children. Outbreaks of the virus across the country regularly put American cities in lockdown. Some of the world’s best minds are engaged in the race to find a vaccine. The man who succeeds will be a god. But Dorothy Horstmann is not focused on beating her colleagues to the vaccine. She just wants the world to have a cure. Applying the same determination that lifted her from a humble background as the daughter of immigrants, to becoming a doctor–often the only woman in the room–she hunts down the monster where it lurks: in the blood. This discovery of hers, and an error by a competitor, catapults her closest colleague to a lead in the race. When his chance to win comes on a worldwide scale, she is asked to sink or validate his vaccine–and to decide what is forgivable, and how much should be sacrificed, in pursuit of the cure.

Put on hold

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Bride Covey disappears in the shore, under unknown circumstances or reasons. A flash drive will change the life of Eleanor Bennett, years later.

Nov 1st/ Hulu/ Put on hold

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The story of Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Nov 2nd/ Netflix/ Put on hold

Unicorn Academy by Julie Skyes

When a dark force threatens to destroy Unicorn Island, a brave teen and her five schoolmates must rise up to protect their beloved magical academy.

Nov 2nd/ Netflix/ Put on hold 

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne

A woman seeks revenge against the man who kidnapped her mother.

Nov 3rd/ Theatres/ Put on hold

Find a Way by Diana Nyad

It tells the remarkable true story of athlete Diana Nyad who, at the age of 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach, commits to achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.

Nov 3rd/ Netflix/ Put on hold 

Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley

(Priscilla)

When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend.

Nov 3rd/ Theatres/ Put on hold 

The Fighter by Michael Farris Smith

(Rumble Through the Dark)

In the dark landscape of the Mississippi Delta, a bare knuckle cage fighter seeks to repay his debts in a final, desperate attempt to salvage the family home of his dying foster mother.

Nov 3rd/ Theatres

Invincible

(season 2)

An adult animated series based on the Skybound/Image comic about a teenager whose father is the most powerful superhero on the planet.

Nov 3rd/ Amazon/ Put on hold 

The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton

 

In the 1870s a bunch of rich American girls are trying to find a posh English husband during the London debutante season.

Nov 8th/ Apple/ Put on hold 

The Killer by Matz byLuc Jacamon

 

After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.

Nov 10th/ Netflix

Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey

A man living in the 23rd Century works at a remote “lighthouse” in space that serves as a beacon to help passing ships.

 

Nov 12th/ MGM+

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

 

Following the roots and evolution of racist concepts in the United States in order to understand today’s society.

Nov 15th/ Netflix/ Put on hold 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Coriolanus Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute during the 10th Hunger Games.

Nov 17th/ Theatres/ Put on hold 

Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley

A 20-something Toronto indie rocker’s adventures in getting and keeping jobs, avoiding being kicked out of his apartment, and surviving encounters with the seven evil exes of the new girl in town on whom he has a crush.

Nov 17th/ Netflix/ Put on hold 

Bedtime for Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

(Family Switch)

 

When a chance encounter with an astrological reader causes the Walkers to wake up to a full body switch, can they unite to land a promotion, college interview, record deal and soccer tryout?

Nov 30th/ Netflix/ Put on hold