Hi everyone, we're excited to share the 4 selections for the Spring Readalong, running March - May! We announce Readalong titles a month in advance to give everyone time to place library holds; head to the Seasonal Readalong page to see the Spring badge and the full selections (on the app: click Seasonal Readalong from the More menu. On desktop: click the purple "View Spring Picks" button underneath the "Winter 2026 Readalong" header).

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby: A mystery/thriller by the iconic S.A. Cosby, this story follows a Black and white father seeking vengeance for their two sons who were married and murdered in cold blood.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark: A steampunk fantasy set in Cairo in 1912, we follow Agent Fatma as she investigates a murder in a secret brotherhood and an ancient magic unleashing danger on the city.

When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill: A sapphic literary fiction set in 19th century Montreal, this is a coming of age tale following Marie and Sadie as they navigate their intense & passionate relationship through Montreal's high society (and brothels)

Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel: From the author of Kaikeyi, this is a reimagining of the story of Hindu goddess Ganga who is cursed to become mortal until she fulfills the terms of her curse.

Excited to read with everyone in the coming months!

Happy reading, Jennifer & Lucy

i've been pretty bothered by Kern's casual tone and cringey humor throughout this book. they have that snarky, condescending millennial "i have to speak through sarcasm" tone that just really does not mix well with this subject matter. i honestly find it pretty tone deaf, and this chapter is making me super uncomfortable

i do not like the positioning of Yahya Al-Sinwar next to movie scenes like Luke Skywalker getting his hand sliced off or the journalists luxuriating upon sweets with direct comparisons to The Hunger Games' Capitol. this is... real life. a real person's death. a real resistance fighter. i know that's the way that Kern tries to frame it; how when you zoom out, the film industry makes a mockery of resistance and revolution. but did that have to be framed using a real death, that had real footage (they even refer to it as a snuff film) broadcasted to the world? did Kern really have to insert their imagination into rewriting an ending to the footage, where Yahya Al-Sinwar escapes, is rescued by his allies? it just feels super icky

and then going on to talk about how Israel "made a mistake" in releasing this footage, saying verbatim "Whoops! Big ol' PR blunder!". i'm sorry why are we trivializing psychological warfare. just because Kern, and presumably the readers of this book, were horrified by this footage, doesn't mean it didn't work in perpetuating Israeli propaganda, in providing advertisement for Israel's warfare industry?

i'm also not convinced that US and Israeli media "scrambled" to get a hold on the narrative after the footage was released; it's very clear to me that the footage was released alongside the plan of propagandizing Yahya Al-Sinwar as a terrorist who had to be taken out "for democracy"