A delightful, endlessly browseable history that explores the culture that the Beastie Boys came from as well as their creations and legacy.  It's mostly written by Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz -- the loss of Adam Yauch in 2012 and the surviving members' evident love for him lend this project weight and poignancy -- with some excellent contributions from pals & associates including Luc Sante, Amy Poehler and Andre Leon Talley (who hilariously eviscerates the group's many "interesting" fashion moments). 

Following the trails of two story-lines, Kingsolver explores a family in our current time struggling with the way they are suddenly unmoored by the loss of tenure and a job; and another family, about a hundred years earlier, in which a science teacher is demonized by religious leaders of the community after teaching Darwinism.  Kingsolver draws you into these lives until you understand how things have changed yet they're also exactly the same.  Just as we are on the verge of a new age of discovery and knowledge, we are once again pulled back into a safe place, a world where we'd rather go on as we are, collectively creating a toxic political and environmental climate. 

 

 

 

Those Who Knew by Idra Novey 

This story of Lena and her abusive relationship with Victor, who has since become a very public figure,  is very timely in the age of #MeToo. Weighing the pros and cons of speaking out against a previous assault -- along with the suspicion of a second woman who may have been murdered by him -- makes this novel both a thriller and a commentary on our time.