Monthly Pop Picks Digest – December 2025

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

In 1919, as civil and social unrest grips the country, there is a little corner of America, a place called Harlem where something special is stirring. Here, the New Negro is rising and Black pride is evident everywhere … in music, theatre, fashion and the arts. And there on stage in the center of this renaissance is Jessie Redmon Fauset, the new literary editor of the preeminent Negro magazine The Crisis. W.E.B. Du Bois, the founder and editor of The Crisis, has charged her with discovering young writers whose words will change the world. Jessie attacks the challenge with fervor, quickly finding sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen, who becomes one of her best friends. Under Jessie’s leadership, The Crisis thrives, the writers become notable and magazine subscriptions soar.

The Sable Cloak by Gail Milissa Grant

An eye-opening, atmospheric novel set in the South and Midwest during the time of Jim Crow that reveals a little-known part of American pre-civil rights history of Black intrigue and power. In the South, justice is swift and absolute. Jordan Sable, a prosperous undertaker turned political boss, has controlled the Black vote in St. Louis for decades. Sara, his equally formidable wife, runs the renowned funeral establishment that put the Sable name on the map. Agile and pragmatic, she is known for the careful, deliberate way in which she powders, dresses, and embalms the community’s dead. Together, in a true partnership built on trust, mutual respect, and a shared vision for a better future, they have pushed through several obstacles in order to create a legacy for their children through a business that serves as a source of unity and stability for their friends and neighbors.

In This Economy? by Kyla Scanlon

An illustrated guide to the mad math and terrible terminology of economics, from one of the internet’s favorite financial educators. The stuff you really need to know about how the economy works? It’s pretty simple. Yes, even if you were bored to tears in economics class, or if you’re cross-eyed from reading painfully convoluted–or straight-up misguided–financial commentary. In this particularly disorienting era, many have turned to a young economic analyst named Kyla Scanlon for answers. Now, Scanlon is writing a definitive, approachable guide to the key concepts and mechanics of economics and the most common myths and fallacies to steer clear of. Through her trademark blend of creative analogies, clever illustrations, refreshingly lucid language–and even quotes from poetry, literature, and philosophy–she answers questions such as: What is Fed cred, Fed flexing, and Fedspeak?

The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy by James Patterson and Vicky Ward

The murders of four innocent college students attending the University of Idaho left us all with so many questions. Now, after more than 300 interviews, James Patterson and prize-winning journalist Vicky Ward finally have the answers. We know what it was like to live in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022, the day of the cold-blooded killings. We know what the local police and FBI did right. And what they did wrong. We’ve learned so much about the four heartbroken families—the Mogens, Goncalveses, Kernodles, and Chapins. And we have the backstory for Bryan Kohberger, brilliant grad student, loner, apparent incel–now indicted and facing trial.

2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf

The definitive, inside story of the most tumultuous and consequential presidential campaign in our history “The whole world was against me, and I won,” said Donald Trump in an exclusive interview, ten days before his second inauguration. Nearly four years after Trump’s first turbulent presidency concluded in a violent attempt to overturn the election, he made a political comeback on a scale that stunned the nation. How did the first U.S. president to become a convicted felon regain control of the White House? And at what cost? In 2024, award-winning reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf bring us the definitive and explosive account of how Trump and his advisers overcame a dozen primary challengers, four indictments, two assassination attempts, and his own past mistakes to defeat the Democrats, and pave the way for a second term that would be far more aggressive and ruthless than the first. Drawing on extraordinary access to the Trump, Biden, and Harris teams, 2024 takes readers beyond the speeches, rallies, and debates to reveal the innermost workings of the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns.

Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop

A young detective investigating crimes of the uncanny will learn that bargains can change your fate-for good or ill-in this darkly enthralling fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Others and The Black Jewels series. Words have power. Intentions matter. Most people come to Destiny Park for entertainment. They come to have their cards read to tell them a bit about their future. They come to walk through a beautiful park and to eat in the hotel’s restaurant. They come in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Arcana, the paranormal beings who rule the Isle of Wyrd. But some people come to make a bargain with the Arcana-to change their fate. And some people come for dark purposes. When Detective Beth Fahey is sent to Destiny Park to inquire about a “ghost gun,” she will begin a strange journey, where she must learn to navigate the Arcana’s unforgiving laws and dangerous attractions.

The Dinner Party by Viola van de Sandt

‘I remember everything that happened in those three minutes at the beginning of the evening, him and me in the kitchen. That, and what happened at the end: the knife, and what I did with it.’ Franca left the Netherlands behind to start her new life in England with Andrew. Andrew, whose parents lived in South Kensington but had a flat their son could ‘borrow’ nearby. Andrew, an old-fashioned British gentleman, who encourages her not to work but to instead focus on her writing. Andrew who suggests a dinner party with his colleagues to celebrate their big upcoming launch. A dinner party that Franca must plan and shop and cook and clean for. A dinner party during a heatwave, when the fridge breaks, alcohol replaces water and an unexpected guest joins their ranks. A dinner party where everything she once was and everything she now is comes together and she feels like she might implode.

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

New York Times bestselling author Sarah Beth Durst invites you to her new standalone novel nestled on a far-away island brimming with singing flowers, honey cakes, and honeyed love. The hardcover edition features beautiful sprayed edges. Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes–at least until she’s ready to sail home.

His Face is the Sun by Michelle Jabes Corpora

Four strangers connected by a forgotten oracle must work together to save their divided kingdom from destruction amidst the brewing conflict and struggle for the pharaoh’s throne.

The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill

A whimsical and healing novel about a trans man in New York who–almost 30, laid off, broke–moves back to his small Illinois hometown, walks into the bookstore he worked at in high school . . . and slips through time to come face-to-face with his pre-transition, teenage self.