“The Future We Choose: the Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis.” The book offers two scenarios for the planet’s destination in 30 years. One, should we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate targets, and the other the transformation of the world to have net-zero emissions. Contained is an argument to meet the climate crisis head-on and what needs to happen.

A secretary in 1970’s Mexico City leads a dull life compared to the beautiful art student who lives next door. The novel “Velvet Was the Night” moves into classic noir territory when the neighbor goes missing under mysterious circumstances. Hear a review of the new work by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Annette Gordon-Reed grew up in Texas. In her book “On Juneteenth” she brings together American history, her family chronicle and a historian’s view of the path for the nation that started in Galveston Texas on June 19th, 1865.

This week on “All About Books” a monumental biography of the writer Sylvia Plath that focuses on her literary and intellectual achievements. “Red Comet: the Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath” by Heather Clark

Inspired by her work at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Dr. Alison Pearce Stevens has written a book about the Ashfall Fossil Beds suitable for younger readers. Hear an interview with the author of “Rhinos in Nebraska” a new book of engaging science writing interesting to older readers too.

A novel based on the life of one of the first female African American doctors in the country, “Libertie” by Kaitlyn Greenidge. It’s the story of a young girl born in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn attempting to find a place where she can fully be herself.

17-year old Lilly is a Chinese American girl growing up in San Francisco’s China Town. In the novel “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” 1950’s America during the Red Scare is not a safe place for a Chinese girl like Lily to fall in love with another girl. Hear a review of Malinda Lo’s new novel

Each of the 3 characters is in a different stage of life and each is struggling with loss. “A Town Called Solace” by Mary Lawson is a novel that patiently follows small-town lives.

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, it’s the true story of a murder on a South Dakota Indian reservation, and the unforgettable native woman who becomes obsessed with solving it. “Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country” by Sierra Crane Murdoch

It’s a poetic novel of rural, small town life. “Zorrie” by Laird Hunt, is the life story of woman born in Depression-era Indiana and a powerful portrait of longing and community of the American Midwest