Now Trending – Books in the News – April 2025

Kristin
Kristin

Even Library staff can struggle to keep up with all the bookish news out there. From social media to local papers, books are a hot topic. In this monthly post we are highlighting some regional literary news and connecting you with our library collections so you can keep your finger on the pulse of Pittsburgh. Check out what was trending and topical this past month.

In the Catalog

That's How They Get You

That’s How They Get You

An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor

“From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a ground-breaking collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today.”

From the Catalog
Weird Black Girls

Weird Black Girls

Stories

Elwin Cotman

“From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black–a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.”

From the Catalog
The Road to the Salt Sea

The Road to the Salt Sea

A Novel

Samuel Oluwatosin Kolawole

“Able God works for low pay at a four-star hotel, where he must flash a smile for wealthy guests. When not tending to the hotel’s overprivileged clientele, he muses over self-help books and the game of chess. But Able’s ordinary life is upended when an early morning room service order leads him to Akudo, a sex worker involved with a powerful but dangerous hotel guest.”

From the Catalog
From Hoopla
The Secret Public

The Secret Public

How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream

Jon Savage

“A monumental history of the gay influence on popular culture, from the rise of Little Richard to the collapse of disco in 1979: award-winning author Jon Savage takes us on a fast and captivating journey through the history of pop music as seen through the eyes of queer artists.”

From the Catalog
From Hoopla
All Skate

All Skate

True Stories From Middle Life

Lori Jakiela

“From grade-school crushes to pandemic roller-skating disasters, from the dread of bathing suit season to the embrace of flawed and beautifully fragile bodies, from the uncomfortable joy of Swedish death-cleaning to the easy joy of holding on to the tiniest moments that matter, ‘All Skate’ is one woman’s testimony to the eternal powers of humor, love, and kindness.”

From the Catalog
The Boat-maker's Art

The Boat-maker’s Art

Shaheen Dil

“Shaheen Dil’s poems blossom with lush descriptions, from Kennywood, an amusement park in Pittsburgh, to Karimpur, a village in Bangladesh.”

From the Catalog
The Perks of Being A Wallflower

The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He’s a wallflower– shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes: trying to make friends, family tensions, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs and dealing with his best friend’s recent suicide.

From the Catalog
From Libby
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Jesse Andrews

“Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.”

From the Catalog
From Libby
From Hoopla