This month on New Title Drop, Angela and Melanie swap moving stories, both memorable and challenging, while OPL staff gear up for the exciting transition to the new Central Library.
Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while preserving the original intent of the conversation. It is provided to improve accessibility and may not be a strictly verbatim record of the audio.
Transcript
[Musical Intro]
Angela: Hello and welcome to OPL's mini episode series, the New Title Drop, where we share titles coming out this month. I'm Angela and I'm here with Melanie, and we are two collection development librarians. Hi, Melanie.
Melanie: Hey. How's it going?
Angela: Pretty good.
Melanie: Good. So I know we're in the midst of moving out of the library administration building into our new central library. Well, we are kind of among all of the moving in the boxes and the things coming in and out of this building. I'd like to know what's the, like, biggest or most memorable move that you've had in your life?
Angela: That's a hard question. I don't know who came up with that.
Melanie: You did!
Angela: Oh, okay. o I have moved to Europe twice in my life, and both of those were pretty big moves. But the first one, I was 14, and so that was, that was really big for me because it was the first time that I was, well, not leaving home, but like, leaving home for so long and so far.
And I just remember I was so excited and getting on this, you know, really long flight. And just, you know, leaving it up to destiny, showing up in a country where I didn't speak the language at all. So that was definitely my biggest move and definitely one of my most memorable moves ever. It completely changed my life.
I lived there for a year, and it was an amazing, amazing experience. But yeah, I'm surprised how scared I was, you know, but I guess when people like, when people are young, they just fear less, like, now that would be so much harder than it was for me then. And yeah, it was, it was amazing how, like, I was like, yeah, I'm going to go do this. And I was very excited and it was a great experience.
Melanie: Nice. Mine. I have maybe like two. My like most memorable I guess was there was a summer in between college where I went to north… I drove myself to North Carolina from Nebraska and apartment sat for somebody else's apartment while they were gone somewhere. I don't even remember, but it was a friend of a friend, so I had only met her like, once.
And so I lived in Chapel Hill for a month. I know, but it's not a long time to say like that. You moved. But I got mail there, and I considered you get mail somewhere that you know that you've lived there. So, that was pretty cool because I was like, I was completely alone, just like by myself.
Which, again, is like, imagine doing that now. I don't know that I, that that's something I would choose to do. But then that same summer, the next part of the summer, I flew to Seattle and nannied and my cousins for like a month, month and a half or something like that. So I got to be on like both coasts for the summer, and that was really fun.
I do remember when I was young, the first house we ever lived in, we moved out of when I was nine, ten, something like that. And I remember me and my sister and my two cousins went into this, like, closet. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's like these doors opened and you had this like it was more like a storage unit kind of thing that led up to an attic.
But we huddled in there and we stayed in there while everybody was moving all the other things out. And, you know, the parents were busy doing stuff, and then they finally were like, oh, where are the kids go? And then they finally like, searched for us and found us. And we were like we don't want to move. Like we were like 18. And we're like, if they can't find us, we can't. We can't move.
Angela: Yeah, I did that too. This will come up later. But when I was a kid, I lived in El Paso and, I like, did not want to leave. And my family decided to move to Florida. And I was very unhappy about that decision. And to punish them, I didn't do it in when we were leaving, but when we got to Florida, I would constantly hide and wait to see how long it would take people to notice I was gone, as like as a punishment, which everyone was super busy and they were not punished by it at all.
Melanie: Oh, you go good, she's entertaining herself somewhere.
Angela: She's not making a, you know, a stink about having to live somewhere she doesn't want to live. So yeah, I, I also hit a lot during a movie that I did not want to happen.
Melanie: Good times. Well, I'm not necessarily tied into moving, but moving into March, do you have any titles coming up?
Angela: Absolutely. I'm really excited about this month. There's a lot of authors that I really enjoy reading that are coming out with books. So one of my favorite books that I've ever read in my life is, When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams. It is a difficult memoir exploring death and spirituality in a beautiful and loving way.
The Glorians: Visitations From the Holy Ordinary by Terry Tempest Williams
And she has a new book coming out this month called The Glory. And it is a memoir as well. And it does what she does best, and taking observation and turning it into existential magic. This book is being compared to the observational and hopeful tone of Walt Whitman, one of my favorite poets during the time of the pandemic she observes the things around her in the world that can ground her in a time of tumultuous unknowns, and finds the beauty found all around her, and the beauty that can lead to hope and a path forward. In the backdrop of the Red Rock desert in Utah and her time at Harvard during the pandemic teaching, she takes us through a path of deeper reflection into the insights of potential in difficult times.
V, the author of The Vagina monologues and The Reckoning, states with The Glorias, Terry Tempest Williams has secured her place as one of our greatest living eco visionaries. This book is the culmination and crescendo of the devotional work of a lifetime deeply wise, poetic, necessary, brave, transporting and transcendent. And in its most anticipated books of 2026 the review Literary Hub states, there's nobody I trust more than Terry Tempest Williams to be able to braid the ordinary with the holy, the divine with the mundane.
She's someone who I've always been able to look to in the need of regaining a faith in the world, a trust in it. Williams points to small moments and poignant, poignant visions as a representation of our hope, our resilience, our bright and gleaming features. I know I need that now more than ever. This book is out on March 3rd.
Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Melanie: Nice. Okay, my first book is Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It comes out March 31st. This one had me at the line that it's for fans of Emily St. John Mandel. Well, that and the publisher's description that this is about an ambitious archeologist in pursuit of a rare artifact from an ancient civilization that would not only change her life, but potentially society at large.
Professor Amber Agnew has spent a decade trying to fund an expedition to unearth a lost empire. Just as she's about to finally give up hope on this dream, a former student reaches out to her, declaring they found an artifact that could be related. Amber makes the decision to risk everything to pursue this odyssey. That said, to either that, it said, will either make her name or ruin her.
Author Geraldine Brooks says Lily Brooks-Dalton's novels are rich literary feasts. They're also page turners with breathtaking twists as we follow her complicated, flawed protagonist on the hunt for an artifact that will change history. The ground of our own understanding constantly shifts and reforms itself. Ruins is a quest novel and a story of obsession. What is knowledge worth and what should you sacrifice to get it?
And Publishers Weekly says the adventure story is cunningly crafted, and Amber is a fascinating character prickly, ambitious and obsessive in her search for the truth. It adds up to a captivating mind bender.
The Star From Calcutta by Sujata Massey
Angela: OK, my next book is star from Calcutta by Sujata Massey, and it will be out on March 3rd. I have been wanting to delve into the series for a while. It is a mystery series that takes place in 1920s India. The covers are always so beautiful and I want to know what is going to happen. Generally, I don't recommend too many books that are part of a series on this podcast, but it is self-contained mystery, meaning it can be read without the background of the previous four books.
It does continue the character development, so you can start from book one as well. That's called the The Widows of Malabar Hill. The new release takes place in 1922, in Bombay. Perveen Mistry has just secured her biggest client yet as the only female lawyer of the city. Champa Films is a studio run by the biggest name in Indian cinema, a famous husband and wife team.
Rochana is a beautiful actress known for her stunts and all that. She will do on camera, but her previous studio is trying to get out of is trying to sue her for breach of contract. Perveen is excited to be part of this world as she takes on the case, but while she is at a special screening, a movie censor is murdered and Rochana is missing.
Perveen has to investigate in order to protect her clients, and she uncovers a dark undercurrent of motives. Can she unravel the case before she gets caught in the city web she has fallen into? Daniel Golden says the nature film industry is a great backdrop for this exciting mystery, with the burgeoning independence movement once again factoring into the exciting story along with Anglo prejudices, religious differences, patriarchal norms, and suppressed and sometimes not suppressed desires and The Economist's raves, Miss Massey develops wonderfully strong, endearing and thoughtful women who solve mysteries. Quick, quick, moving and suspenseful.
The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann
Melanie: And that sounds good. All right. My next one is The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann, comes out March 24th. This debut novel asks the question, what if Anne Boleyn woke up the day after her execution and took it upon herself to seek justice?
Angela: Oh, I want to read that.
Melanie: That's right. This story starts with an waking up in a coffin after having been executed based on charges of adultery, incest, and high treason, sewing her head back on okay. And yes, and then setting out to kill Henry the Eighth before he can marry Jane Seymour. Because if Jane gives birth to a son and daughter, Elizabeth will lose her lying in the throne.
She disguises herself as a commoner and travels around London with a friend, finding out more about the world she did not know. In what the publisher calls a fantastical journey through the wilds of England. In Tudor Tudor history, filled with danger and magic and steeped in Arthurian legend, The Beheading Game is a prescient reminder that mouthy women have always been punished.
Author Kat Dunn says it is a lyrical and audacious book. The Beheading Game pulls no punches in reimagining this well-known story. In turns vulnerable, furious, triumphant and moving. I never wanted to let go of the deeply human Anne that Leamon conjures, and Publishers Weekly says Lehmann offers deep character work, portraying Anne's early, self-righteous day invitation and discovery of her political savvy, and she successfully pairs a thrilling plot with a complex reflection on the limits of women's power.
Readers will be delighted. It feels like this would be a great one to read this month, not only for Women's History Month vibes, but also because Six the Musical about six wives is Henry the Eighth, another rewriting of history is going to be at the Orpheum later this month, too. It's a really fun show.
Angela: It's all coming together, right? I don't know why, but as a kid, my mother loved this series in Spanish, about the Royals. And so she was obsessed with the history of it. And for some reason, I latched on to that story. Like I was really fascinated by it.
Melanie: It’s fascinating and like, you know, has fascinated people for centuries, too.
Angela: It also like, led to Queen Elizabeth, which is, you know. Amazing.
I have a confession to make. as so you're going to hear me say three times, this is one of my favorite authors in these books this month, because three of my favorite authors have books coming out. I'm so excited, I cannot wait. So the second one is Jenny Lawson. She is incredibly funny and witty and has shared her struggles with mental health and chronic illness on her blog and in her books.
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself by Jenny Lawson
And I have to say, although the subjects are serious, her books always make me laugh. And not just like chuckle, like outloud, like laugh. I have tears laughed in her reading her books. Many times she details her day to day life, which with so much, generosity of spirit, ridiculousness and joy while being unapologetic about the difficulties she encounters. In her upcoming book, How to Be okay When Nothing Is okay, she offers up some tips and tricks for how she moves forward with her struggles. She talks about how to move forward with creative endeavors. When you feel like giving up, and how to celebrate what is good. If you want to move through some of your mental blocks and the lack of motivation, she has a space full of humor and compassion, and it's a great place to start.
It's as if you're. It's as if your friend. You're funny, comforting, and wise best friend, the one who makes you feel like it's all going to be okay. Turn themselves into a book so that you could carry it everywhere and never let it go. That's what Jenny Lawson has done here. Nothing short of magic. According to Jennifer Pastiloff and Kate Baer says, when the world and your own brain tells you to give up, this book refuses to let you stay in the shadows. With her signature wit and compassion, Jenny Lawson takes readers through the trenches of being human. Her words are a mirror for the messy, beautiful parts of life. A reminder that even in the darkest moments, hope can still be found. This book will save lives. And Jennette McCurdy adds, I didn't expect a book about mental health tips to involve a prolonged subplot about trying to steal a human skull from a hospital. And yet, here we are. Jenny Lawson is a gift. Funny, weird, and the exact right amount of unhinged out on March 31st.
Melanie: Right now, here's time for my confession. I've never read a Jenny Lawson book. I know, I, I don't know how because it sounds amazing, all of them sound amazing, so I need to get on there.
Angela: Furiously Happy is my favorite one by far. But in in the last book I read by her, the story that made me cry laugh is about her. Like losing one shoe in elevators over and over again. And then, like, having to wait for the right elevator, wearing one shoe for the shoe to come back to her. It's just. I don't know how she. I don't know how her life keeps doing this.
Frida's Cook by Florencia Etcheves
Melanie: Makes for a good story. All right. My next book is Frida's Cook by Florencia Etcheves, comes out March 10th. This is another historical fiction, but this one with a very different vibe. It has parallel narratives, a multigenerational story. It's atmospheric, and it's about Frida Kahlo. Etcheves's first novel, published in English, starts in 1939, where 14 year old Nayeli leaves her small village and journeys to Mexico City.
She is spotted by Frida Kahlo in front of her home, and Frida, recently separated from Diego, takes her in, believing her to be the imaginary friend of her childhood. She becomes, as the title of the book suggests, Frida's cook, but the two form a close bond, one that the publisher says will shape the course of Nayeli's life and leave behind a secret buried in art.
The story jumps to 2018 Buenos Aires, where an elite granddaughter, Paloma, uncovers a mysterious painting after her grandmother's death. While trying to understand her grandmother's past, the publisher says Paloma uncovers a tale of passion, betrayal, and resilience that challenges everything she thought she knew about the one woman who raised her. A Kirkus review says the author throws herself into the story of the early Frida and Diego with abandon. She uses the already vivid details of the artists’ lives, but isn't afraid to branch out from them, hinting at ways in which Nayeli may have inspired her employer or to amp up the drama.
And a Library Journal review says readers will be rewarded with a rich historical fiction story of Frida Kahlo, layered with art, food and mystery.
Angela: Yay, I love that!
Melanie: Yeah, I'm excited for it.
El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory by Jazmine Ulloa
Angela: Okay, so I alluded to the fact that, I moved from El Paso when I was a kid, and so that's my next book, El Paso. It's called El Paso five Families and 100 Years of Blood Migration, Race and Memory by Jazmine Ulloa. Yeah, I was excited to see this book, of course, because it's part of my past.
And as a child I had a beautiful experience there. But when I moved away, I was still a child, so I felt like I never really got to know the city or its historical roots. Did you know that El Paso has been called the Ellis Island of the South?
Melanie: I don't think I did.
Angela: I had never heard that. Like I'd lived there so long. And I never heard that, this book tracks the history of the city through five families, through the Mexican Revolution, Mexican repatriation, through shifting immigration laws and the drug war. She includes her own family in this tale as the border town to Juarez. So much of the turmoil between Mexico and the US gets captured in the city, and it's not spoken about regularly in history classes.
This chronicle gives life to the people of the place and the meaning of shifting cultural topographies. The use of family stories is a wonderful way to create a history full of humanity and real consequences of the difficulties that hit the area. It is also a reminder that there is so much there to love and appreciate.
Héctor Tobar says El Paso is the magical and tragic crossroads at the center of North America, and in Jazmine Ulloa’s, a beautiful and impactful storytelling. We see it evolve from a frontier town to a fraught urban center. Its streets and alleys, the setting of epic historical encounters and culture defining social movements. At last, the greater border city in the desert has a book it deserves.
Oscar Cásares, adds Jazmine Ulloa’s stunning book is, at its core, an origin story, one filled with tales of revolution, uprising, displacement, rioting, rampage and mass migration. In the five families portrayed here, their yearning to be heard and understood is surpassed only by the sense of hope and reimagining that comes from living between two countries and cultures.
El Paso will amaze you with what it reveals about this iconic border city that has been both in plain sight and never truly seen until now. Out on March 3rd.
Melanie: It sounds fascinating. I like the idea that it's about the city, but then specifically like these following five families. Like that's a very good narrative.
Angela: Yeah, I love that narrative arc. And she's a journalist. And so I find a lot of like historical books that are written by journalists have very good like, storytelling arcs. So I'm, I'm really excited for this.
You With the Sad Eyes: A Memoir by Christina Applegate
Melanie: You have a lot of reading to do this month. My last one is called You With the Sad Eyes. This is Christina Applegate’s memoir coming out March 3rd, beginning her life in the acting world and a commercial at three months old, Christina Applegate went from child stardom to an Emmy Award winning actress in her so far, five decades long career, including married with children, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Classic Anchor Man, and Dead to Me. Journaling since she was ten, she returns to some of those stories and brings the reader into a side of her not seen even by some those that are closest to her. Intimate and vulnerable, she covers her life coming of age in Hollywood, a tumultuous home life in 1970s Laurel Canyon, and her memorable roles. Then in 2021, while filming Dead to Me, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and largely confined to a bed.
In her own words, she says, I truly believe that books can make people feel less alone. That's why I'm doing this. You with the Sad Eyes won't be some big violin scratching for my life, but it will be real. It will be filled with the ups and downs, the humor and grief of life. USA today calls it an honest and darkly funny memoir. And Harper's Bazaar, so this will be a refreshing and unflinching addition to your celebrity memoir collection.
Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane by Lindy West
Angela: Oh that's nice. Okay, so the last author I have to rave about today is Lindy West. West came into consciousness with the book and TV show shrill, and since I read that book, I have tried to read everything by her. I can find her unwavering honesty and wit make the formula for exactly the kind of nonfiction I love. In this new memoir, Wes talks about having a post shrill breakdown and trying to find herself again after the trajectory of her career and her changing feelings about marriage and life.
And she hits an incredible low when she should be feeling the opposite. She decides to go on a road trip to recalibrate. The road trip is this book a ride into expectations about success and, the image the public has of you and who you are? West’s humor and honesty present a nuanced view into what it means to heal and find yourself again after a big change. Samantha Irby says Lindy is doing the kind of naked self-examination that most people are too chickenshit to do, even under the guidance of a trained therapist, and somehow also manages to make it hilarious. All killer, no filler. And Suleika Jaouad calls this Lindy West's funniest, fiercest tender excavation yet. A road trip through rock bottom revelation and the wild relief of reimagining what a life can hold.
Every chapter is a gut punch wrapped in a cackle. I didn't read this book so much as inhale it, and by the end I felt braced, bolstered, cracked open, and stitched back together. Out on March 10th.
Melanie: A gut punch wrapped up in a cackle.
Melanie: So all the titles mentioned can be found in the list in our episode description. Stop by on the first Tuesday of every month to hear about new books coming out dropping that month. That's our episode. Thanks for joining us for our new title drop March 2026.
[Musical outro]
The Book Drop | OPL’s Podcast
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