ASK AMY: This year, everybody needs a book on their bed

Article content continued

YA READERS: Danielle Kreger, Blue Bunny Books, Dedham, Massachusetts. (bluebunnybooks.com):

One of Us is Lying, by Karen M McManus is an edge-of-your-seat mystery that takes place in Bayview High school during detention. A tale of twists and turns that has the reader questioning the reliability of the characters and the secrets they keep.

The New Kid by Jerry Craft: A spot-on graphic novel. Jordan Banks is in seventh grade when he is sent to a rigorous private school and grapples with staying true to himself.

Adult Non-fiction, from Alex George, author of The Paris Hours, owner of Skylark Bookshop (skylarkbookshop.com), in Columbia, Missouri:

Wintering, by Katherine May: This is a deeply personal, quietly beautiful book, offering insight as to how we might think differently about low points in our lives.

The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay: Gay set himself the challenge of finding one thing that delighted him each day for a year. The result is a quirky, brilliant book: A guaranteed lifter of spirits.

Intimations: Six Essays, by Zadie Smith: Written during the pandemic, this small but powerful book shows Smith’s talents at their finest.

Adult Fiction: from Mark LaFramboise of Politics and Prose, in Washington, D.C. (politics-prose.com).

The Butterfly Lampshade, by Aimee Bender: This is a beautiful story of mental illness, the bonds of sisterhood, and the liveliness of a child’s imagination.

What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez: The story of a woman who is asked by an old college acquaintance to be with her when she takes her life, after a cancer diagnosis. This book bristles with life.

Elders: From Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona (changinghands.com):

Apeirogon, by Colum McCann: Two fathers, one Palestinian and one Israeli, have both lost their young daughters to violence, but have decided that reconciliation, not revenge, is what they needed to seek.

The Chair Rocks, by Ashton Applewhite: Lively, funny, and deeply researched, tracing Applewhite’s journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myths about late life.