A note from Laura: a number of blockbuster hit books over the last decade have been historical novels that follow women's stories. Many of these books fictionalize the lives of real women, and others delve into intriguing historical periods. Here are a few titles you might like if you enjoy character-centered historical fiction:

Black in the Middle: an Anthology of the Black Midwest, ed. Terrion Williamson, 977.04 BLA
The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez, Aaron Bobrow-Strain, 972.1 BOB *
The Yellow House, Sarah Broom, 814 BRO *
The Heritage, Howard Bryant, 306.483 BRY
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates, 305.8 COA *ª
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, 970.004 DUN *ª
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, Cathy Park Hong, 305.4895 HON
I Am Not Your Negro, DVD 323.1196 IAM
Survival Math, Mitchell S. Jackson, 305.8 JAC
Wandering in Strange Lands, Morgan Jerkins, 305.89 JER ​*ª

Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi, 305.8 KEN *
Conditional Citizens, Laila Lalami, 323.6 LAL ª
Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon, 305.89 LAY *ª
​The Making of Black Lives Matter, Christopher J. Lebron, 305.896 LEB
Brown White Black, Nishta Mehra, 305.8 MEH
Dying of Whiteness, Jonathan Metzl, 362.1089 MET *
So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo, 305.8 OLU *ª
Finding Latinx, Paola Ramos, 305.8 RAM
Just Us: an American Conversation, Claudia Rankine, 305.896 RAN

Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad, 305.809 SAA *ª
My Vanishing Country, Bakari Sellers, 328.73 SEL *ª
​No Human Is Illegal, J.J. Mulligan Sepulveda, 325.73 SEP
Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream, Mychal Denzel Smith, 973.933 SMI
A More Beautiful and Terrible History, Jeanne Theoharis, 323.1196073 THE
​The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, David Treuer, 970.004 TRE *ª
Caste, Isabel Wilkerson, 305.5 WIL ​*ª

You may also have interest in the lists Policing, Justice, and Prisons and Fiction on Race in the United States.

The Sellout, Paul Beatty, F BEA *
The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett, F BEN *ª
The Gone Dead, Chanelle Benz, F BEN *
Everywhere You Don’t Belong, Gabriel Bump, F BUM *
Days of Distraction, Alexandra Chang, F CHA *
Ring Shout, P. Djeli Clark, SF CLA
The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans, F EVA
Sabrina & Corina, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, F FAJ *
​Get Out, DVD GET
You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson, YA F JOH *ª
The Other Americans, Laila Lalami, F LAL *ª
Destroyer, Victor LaValle, GN LAV
Bluebird, Bluebird, Attica Locke, M LOC HIG-1 *ª
​

Deacon King Kong, James McBride, F MCB *ª
John Woman, Walter Mosley, F MOS *
New Waves, Kevin Nguyen, F NGU
Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid, F REI *ª
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, YA F THO *ª
On Earth, We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong, F VUO *ª
Family Trust, Kathy Wang, F WAN *ª
Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward, F WAR *ª
Memorial, Bryan Washington, F WAS *ª
The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead, F WHI *ª
American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson, F WIL *ª
Another Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson, F WOO *ª
Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu, F YU *

The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander, 364.973 ALE *ª
Citizen Outlaw, Charles Barber, 359.1 BAR
A Knock at Midnight, Brittany K. Barnett, 340.092 BAR
American Prison, Shane Bauer, 365.973 BAU *ª
Doing Justice, Preet Bharara, 347.73 BHA *ª
Accused!: The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys, Larry Dane Brimner, YA 345 BRI
The Line Becomes a River, Francisco Cantú, 363.285 CAN *ª
​The Central Park Five, DVD 364.15 CEN
Supreme Inequality, Adam Cohen, 347.7326 COH
Decarcerating America, Ernest M. Drucker, 364.6 DRU
​Locking Up Our Own, James Forman, 364.6 FOR *
Guilty Until Proven Guilty, DVD 364.9 GUI
The Second Chance Club, Jason Matthew Hardy, 364.62 HAR

You may also have interest in the lists Race and Racism in the United States and Fiction on Race in the United States.

Some Assembly Required, Arin Andrews, YA 306.76 AND *
Becoming an Ally to the Gender-Expansive Child, Anna Bianchi, Parents' +155.33 BIA
A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns, Archie Bongiovanni, YA GN BON
Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender, YA F CAL *ª
Pet, Akwaeke Emezi, YA F EME *ª
This Is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel, F FRA *ª
How to They/Them, Stuart Getty, 306.76 GET
George, Alex Gino, +F GIN *ª
I Am Jazz!, Jessica Herthel & Jazz Jennings, ++ HER *

Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe, GN KOB *
Beyond Magenta, Susan Kuklin, YA 306.768 KUK *
Something that May Shock and Discredit You, Daniel M. Lavery, 814 ORT *
Julián Is a Mermaid, Jessica Love, ++ LOV *
When Aidan Became a Brother, Kyle Lukoff, ++ LUK
Tomorrow Will Be Different, Sarah McBride, 306.768 MCB
Dark and Deepest Red, Anna-Marie McLemore, YA F MCL *ª
Redefining Realness, Janet Mock, 306.768 MOC
The Bold World, Jodie Patterson, 306.874 PAT *ª
Who Are You? The Kid's Guide to Gender Identity, Brook Pessin-Whedbee​, +305.3 PES

Ana on the Edge, A.J. Sass, +F SAS 
Apsara Engine, Bishakh Som, GN SOM
She/He/They/Them: Understanding Gender Identity, Rebecca Stanborough, +305.3 STA
Fairest, Meredith Talusan, 305.3 TAL
Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas, YA F THO *
It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book about Gender Identity, Theresa Thorn, +305.3 THO *
Beyond the Gender Binary, Alok Vaid-Menon, YA 305 VAI *

A note from Laura: As gender identity has become a much more freely-discussed topic, more books on the subject have been published. This updated list includes many authors who are transgender and nonbinary, and more resources for readers of all ages who are exploring their own gender identity.

Meet Me in Atlantis, Mark Adams, 398.234 ADA
The Map Thief, Michael Blanding, 364.1628 BLA *
A History of the World in 12 Maps, Jerry Brotton, 911 BRO
Where the Animals Go, James Cheshire, 591.479 CHE
Cielo, DVD 520 CIE
The Routes of Man, Ted Conover, 388.1 CON
The Family Tree Historical Atlas of American Cities, Allison Dolan, 911.73 DOL
Soundings, Hali Felt, 526.092 FEL
Atlas Obscura, Joshua Foer, et al., 910.202 FOE
On the Map, Simon Garfield, 912.09 GAR
The Island of Lost Maps, Miles Harvey, 025.82 HAR

Historical Atlas of the American West, Derek Hayes, 978 HAY
Maphead, Ken Jennings, 912 JEN
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, Alberto Manguel & Gianni Guadalupi, 809.933 DIC
Ride the Divide, DVD 796.62 RID
The Longest Line on the Map, Eric Rutkow, 388.1 RUT
How the States Got Their Shapes, Mark Stein, 973 STE
Sealand, Dylan Taylor-Lehman, 990 TAY
This Land Is My Land, Andy Warner & Sophie Louise Dam, GN WAR
The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner, LP 910.4 WEI *ª
The Map that Changed the World, Simon Winchester, 550.92 WIN ª

Spirit Run, Noé Álvarez, 796.425 ALV *ª
#NotYourPrincess, ed. Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale, YA 971 CHA
Rebel Poet, Louis V. Clark III, 811 CLA
Trickster, Matt Dembicki, YA GN TRI *
Empire of Wild, Cherie Dimaline, F DIM *
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, 970.004 DUN *ª
Original Local, Heid E. Erdrich, 341.597 ERD 
The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich, F ERD *ª
Our History Is the Future, Nick Estes, 978.004 EST ª
Crooked Hallelujah, Kelly Jo Ford, F FOR *

A Note from Laura: Here's a follow-up to the award-winning fiction list, this time focusing on GENRE FICTION! 

While these are some of the better known awards, this is only a small number of the many genre awards out there. Many are awarded by writers' groups, and others by writers' conventions, panels, publishers, and private organizations. Most of these awards have multiple categories, often based on length or subgenre, and thus award multiple prizes per year. I encourage you to seek out awards lists on your own, to find one that gels with your reading style OR to explore new books beyond your usual fare!

Here, you'll see what's on our shelves from the last 10 to 15 years of the Spur Awards, Christy Award, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Agatha Award, Anthony Award, and Edgar Award.

Click Read More ------->>

A note from Laura: I love poetry, and I was delighted to hear that Louise Glück has received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. Glück’s work touched me as a young woman and inspired me as a writer. From our shelves, you can read her 2006 work, Averno. You can place holds for her other works in LINKcat.

Over the last few years, I’ve worked to expand the contemporary poetry collection at Monroe Public Library, with an eye toward the diversity of voices currently writing. Here are some poets for you to consider. Take a look next time you’re at the library!

A Fortune for Your Disaster, Hanif Abdurraqib, 811 ABD
How to Love a Country, Richard Blanco, 811 BLA
The Tradition, Jericho Brown, 811 BRO
How to Be an Indian in the 21st Century, Louis V. Clark III, 811 CLA *
Pagan Virtues, Stephen Dunn, 811 DUN
Electric Arches, Eve L. Ewing, 811 EWI
Averno, Louise Glück, 811 GLU
An American Sunrise, Joy Harjo, 811 HAR
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, Terrance Hayes, 811 HAY
Hold, Bob Hicok, 811 HIC
Ledger, Jane Hirshfield, 811 HIR

Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky, 811 KAM *
No Matter the Wreckage, Sarah Kay, 811 KAY
The Death of Sitting Bear, M. Scott Momaday, 811 MOM
The Tiny Journalist, Naomi Shihab Nye, 811 NYE
Dog Songs, Mary Oliver, 811 OLI *ª
Pale Colors in a Tall Field, Carl Phillips, 811 PHI
Citizen, Claudia Rankine, 811 RAN *
Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh, 811 ROR
The Best of It, Kay Ryan, 811 RYA
Come Closer and Listen, Charles Simic, 811 SIM
Don’t Call Us Dead, Danez Smith, 811 SMI
Life on Mars, Tracy K. Smith, 811 SMI
Monument, Natasha Trethewey, 811 TRE

Merchants of Truth, Jill Abramson, 071.3 ABR
Fantasyland, Kurt Andersen, 973 AND *
The Smear, Sharyl Attkisson, 070.4 ATT
The Art of Logic in an Illogical World, Eugenia Cheng, 160 CHE
Storm Lake, Art Cullen, 071.77 CUL
Calling Bullsh*t, Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin D. West, 149.73 BER
Biased, Jennifer L. Eberhardt, 303.385 EBE *ª
The First, Stanley Fish, 323.44 FIS
The Information, James Gleick, 020.9 GLE *ª
Debunk It!, John Grant, YA 121 GRA *
50 Popular Beliefs that People Think Are True, Guy P. Harrison, 149.73 HAR
The Presidents vs. the Press, Harold Holzer, 070.4 HOL

The Death of Truth, Michiko Kakutani, 306.2093 KAK *ª
Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi, 305.8 KEN *ª
News Literacy, Michelle Luhtala and Jacquelyn Whiting, 306.42 LUH
Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds, Nancy Moses, 364.1635 MOS
Everyday Bias, Howard J. Roth, 303.385 ROS
Breaking News, Alan Rusbridger, 070.92 RUS
Whose Story Is This?, Rebecca Solnit, 814 SOL
The Encyclopedia of Misinformation, Rex Sorgatz, 001.96 SOR
Hoax, Ian Tattersall and Peter Névraumont, 001.9509 TAT
Bunk, Kevin Young, 001.95 YOU *