• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Alert

Update: Elevator outages, maintenance and upgrades at Central Library More Info

Alert

Storytimes Will “Take a Nap” through June 20 More Info

Home - Arlington County Virginia - Logo
MENUMENU
  • Join Now
  • My Account
    • Login
    • My Checkouts
    • My Holds
    • My Lists
    • My Reading History
    • About Borrowing
    • About Holds
    • About My Account
  • Hours & Locations
    • All Hours & Locations
    • Holiday Closings
  • News
    • Library News
    • Director's Blog
    • Get Email Updates
  • Contact Us

Arlington Public Library

MENUMENU
  • Search
  • Collections
  • Library Services
  • Events
  • Community Engagement
  • Join Now
  • My Account
    • Login
    • About Borrowing
    • About Holds
    • About My Account
  • Hours & Locations
    • All Hours & Locations
    • Holiday Closings
  • News
    • Library Blog
    • Get Email Updates
  • Contact Us

Collection

New June Releases

Post Published: June 8, 2026

Summer is officially here!

Whenever and wherever you’re reading—from vacation road trips and afternoons spent poolside, to sunny commutes and eating lunch outdoors—June has several great books to choose from.

Place your holds in the catalog on these new June book releases.

In the 1870s, LA only has 180 Chinese residents, and only 30 are women. Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See focuses on an unlikely friendship between three of them who are bound together by the terrifying violence of the real-life anti-Chinese massacre in 1871.

Lev AC Rosen’s Disaster Gay Detective Agency features four friends trying to solve a mystery after witnessing a murder that might have been committed by an ill-advised one-night stand. Told with multiple narrators, this mystery-thriller is full of laugh-out-loud humor and great characters.

Tucked away at Arlington Hall, the Traffic Processing Division sorted through and decoded foreign intelligence during WWII and the Cold War. This segregated office was staffed by Black people, mostly women, and was poorly ventilated, under-resourced and over-worked, but made invaluable contributions to America’s security. In Decoding the Devil, Sarah Valentine shines a spotlight on this long-overlooked chapter of Cold War history.

Sidewalk Nation by Michael Pollack examines the importance of sidewalks in determining a community's strength. Despite receiving very little funding or notice, they play an outsized role in everything from commerce to free speech, climate resilience to public health. Looking at over a dozen cities and towns in the United States, this book explores what’s working and what isn’t in this vital everyday resource.

Middle graders will be on the edge of their seats with Lydia Cooper is a Lie by Meaghan McIsaac. Lydia’s over-protective father has banned all social media, but when she sets up a secret account anyway, someone breaks into their home and they’re forced to go on the run. It turns out they’ve been living in a witness protection program and everything Lydia thought she knew is a lie, even her own name.

Teen fans of Taylor Swift can soon rejoice over the new anthology 13 Little Love Stories. 13 different YA authors take inspiration from a different song from Swift’s catalog to explore a wide range of relationships and feelings.

Place Your Holds Now!

AtoZdatabases: Find, verify and connect—all in one search!

Reconnect with someone, verify contact details or do a quick lookup with AtoZdatabases.

Looking to reconnect with someone, verify contact details or do a quick lookup? AtoZdatabases makes it easy.

Start at the homepage and select “Find a Person.” Search residential listings, business executives or both. Narrow by location or use reverse phone lookup. Flexible name matching (e.g., Jen/Jennifer/Jenny) helps you find the right person fast.

Great for:

  • Reconnecting with friends or relatives
  • Verifying contact information
  • Researching people and neighborhoods

With this powerful, but simple tool, AtoZdatabases helps you move from questions to answers in just a few clicks. Login now with your library card.

AtoZdatabases

More book lists to explore.

June is Pride Month. Explore Library Director Diane Kresh's 2026 Pride list and recent fiction by queer authors that have earned rave reviews.

Explore Library Director Diane Kresh's 2026 Pride list
Pride Guest List: Diane K's Picks
Explore recent fiction by queer authors that have earned rave reviews.
Best Recent Queer Fiction

June 8, 2026 by Library Communications Officer

New May Releases

Post Published: May 8, 2026

Spring cleaning?

We prefer spring reading. Luckily for us, May is bursting with great new releases just waiting to be added to your to-be-read pile.

Place your holds on our new monthly book releases in the library catalog.

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel examines bodily autonomy, motherhood and aging when 77-year-old Pepper Mills moves into a retirement home, finds new love and shockingly gets pregnant.

When best friends Juniper and Mo end up on an unexpected dragon hunt, they learn the fearsome beast is actually a scared child and they must change tracks to find the real monster while battling their growing attraction in Máire Roche’s cozy Bromantasy.

Author and translator Sara Nović's new memoir, Mother Tongue, details her journey with deafness after gradually losing her hearing as a child and hiding her disability until college. She uses her own story to explore identity, discrimination, eugenics, education, adoption and more.

In The Lost Voices of Pompeii, historian and archaeologist Jess Venner draws on deep archaeological evidence to speculatively reconstruct the lives of seven people in Pompeii as they go about their day in the hours before Mount Vesuvius erupts.

When the Wisest of the Wise Witches proclaims Tessa to be the chosen one destined to save her people, Tessa is pretty sure they have the wrong person. She and her best friend are off to an adventure to find someone else for the job in Amy Sparkes’ humorous middle grade series opener, The Unchosen One.

Looking for her missing twin, Lehua travels to an ultra-exclusive resort where Ohia supposedly had an internship. When she’s stranded there by an incoming storm, Lehua discovers the resort is hiding a dark history and much darker secrets than she imagined in Keala Kendall’s teen horror novel, That Which Feeds Us.

Place Your Holds Now!

Got research? Start with Explora.

Access the new research tool Explora in the library catalog.

Whether you are conducting research for a school project or just looking to satisfy your curiosity about a topic of interest, Explora can help you achieve your goals.

Available for free through the Library, Explora offers reliable information on thousands of topics covering a wide range of subjects including art and music, literature, geography, history, science, technology, world cultures and more.

Explora

More book lists to explore.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander and Jewish American Heritage Month.

books to explore for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Best Recent Asian American Fiction
booklist-nationaljewishbookaward
Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award

May 8, 2026 by Library Communications Officer

New April Releases

Post Published: April 15, 2026

Our new April book releases are here.

T.S. Eliot famously wrote "April is the cruelest month," but with so many great books coming out, we have to disagree.

Whether you’re inside to hide from April showers or the pollen count, reading on the Metro on the way to a Nats game or enjoying the warmer weather to read outside, there’s plenty to choose from.

New book releases from Arlington Public Library.

In The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon, a sentient Roomba joins forces with the other appliances to thwart a plan by the Grid, an all-knowing AI network which controls homes, vehicles and daily life.

After losing her job in a butcher shop, the widowed Mrs. Shim uses her ability to stay unnoticed and her superior knife skills, as she pursues a new career as a killer-for-hire. But she’s a little too good. Her victims don’t notice her, but her rivals do in Mrs. Shim is a Killer by Kang Jiyoung, translated from Korean by Paige Morris.

Paul Stob’s Empire of Skulls traces the rise and fall of the Fowler family, who built an empire on the pseudoscience of reading the bumps on people’s skulls. Who cares that phrenology is utter nonsense when it taps into the core American belief that the self can be measured, understood and improved? But what lingers is the darker story of how that same hopeful message gets co-opted to justify racism and xenophobia.

London Falling looks at the death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler, who was living a double life as "Zac Ismailov," fictitious heir to a Russian oligarch's fortune, consorting with a slippery businessman and a violent gangland enforcer. The intimate tragedy of Brettler's grieving parents is set against a sweeping portrait of modern London as a city remade by dirty money, deregulation and an underworld that operates in plain sight. Critics are saying this may be Patrick Radden Keefe’s best book to date.

In 1986, all 11-year-old Genya wants is to pass the entrance exam for Kyiv's prestigious art school. Then the reactor at Chernobyl explodes. Genya's family evacuates the city, and her exam and her future are suddenly uncertain. Yevgenia Nayberg’s graphic memoir, Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters, captures her childhood memories of Soviet life for middle grade readers.

Growing up in France as the daughter of Hmong refugees, Vicky Lyfoung discovered that nobody, including herself, knew much about the Hmong people. Hmong: A Graphic History is her answer to that ignorance, tracing the history of the Hmong from their origins as nomadic mountain people in ancient China. The book traces centuries of displacement—from the French colonization to the wars that tore through Laos, the refugee camps and finally the diaspora that scattered Hmong communities across the world. This is an accessible, illuminating and deeply personal story for teen readers.

Place Your Holds Now!

Explore the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) collection at Central Library.

Explore the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) collection at Central Library.

The 2026 MLB season has officially started. Explore the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) collection at Central Library. Dive into player statistics, historical records, rare publications and deep research that baseball fans and historians love.

Whether you're tracking the evolution of the game or exploring local baseball history, SABR offers a rich trove of insights you won’t find anywhere else.

This resource is available exclusively at Central Library and cannot be accessed remotely or from any other branch location. Visit us in person to take full advantage of this exciting collection and celebrate the start of a new season!

SABR Collection

More book lists to explore.

April is National Poetry Month and Arab American Heritage Month.

Book composite of two book covers for National Poetry Month.
Best Recent Poetry
Book composite of two book covers for Arab American Heritage Month.
Arab American Book Award Winners

April 15, 2026 by Library Communications Officer

New March Releases

Post Published: March 13, 2026

March brings fresh reads—perfect for both warm and chilly spring days.

"March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb," as the saying goes. So far, we’ve already had snow and several perfect spring days. Luckily, no matter what the weather is doing, there are great books coming out this month to enjoy.

Composite of 10 book covers.

The "Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub" journeys the universe, housing all sorts of paranormal guests. When it lands on earth, it gets stuck due to the planet's lack of magic. Josie, a single mother and down on her luck, moves in with her son. Suddenly, they find themselves at home among vegan zombies, faeries and gargoyles. The hotel might be what Josie needs to restart her life, and she might be what the Inn needs to restart its magic. Elizabeth Everett’s Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel is a delightful romance with a great cast of characters.

Kaede loves classic crimes stories but needs her grandfather’s help to solve real-world mysteries. During her visits, she brings him clues, maps and diagrams, and they work to solve the puzzle. His Lewy body dementia gives him realistic hallucinations that can help him find the solutions despite the heartbreaking reality of his ailing health. Tender and bittersweet, My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi, translated by Louise Heal Kawai, is full of references to classic crime novels and is the first in a bestselling series in Japan.

The entertaining Dangerous Shore details the work of the civilians defending the East Coast during WWII. From the civilian pilots patrolling the waters to detect U-boats and guide rescue ships, to the mob bosses keeping spies off the docks, to the scientists breaking codes and developing new technology, Sara Vladic introduces a little-explored side of the American home front. Full of vivid detail, it introduces a wide cast of characters showing how involved and complex the effort was up and down the coast.

Sportswriter Simon Kuper has attended almost every world cup since Italy's in 1990. Mixing cultural history with memoir, World Cup Fever reflects on three decades' worth of tournaments and how they have grown and changed. Weaving game recaps and interviews with sharp observations about politics, globalization and identity, Kuper is always looking for the heart of soccer in the more recent tournaments that have been full of scandal. Delightful and engaging, it’s essential reading in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup.

On April 18, 1906, Cora makes her way down to the docks, only for the earth to split open and trap her underground with Chi, a girl she just met. As the girls free themselves and make their way back to the surface, they reunite with Cora’s friend Oliver, but the trio must dodge fires, crumbling buildings and looters as they desperately try to reunite with their families. Jennifer A. Nielsen’s Magnitude is a gripping and thrilling middle grade adventure about surviving the Great San Francisco Earthquake.

Teen readers will want to pick up the darkly humorous and page-turning thriller Most Likely to Murder by Lish McBride. When last year’s yearbooks arrive at Meadowvale High, someone has changed the superlatives for the senior class. Initially written off as a tasteless prank, students become worried when a guidance counselor labeled "Most Likely to Sleep with the Fishes" ends up dead in a local lake. Rick and his best friend Martina, labeled "Homecoming’s Cutest Corpses," team up with other threatened students to find the killer. But just because the body count is mounting doesn’t mean you don’t still have homework.

Place Your Holds Now!

March into something new with Universal Class!

Graphic of a woman ho;ding a camera with the shutter facing the viewer straight ahead.

Universal Class is an easy way to explore a new hobby or build a fresh skill. With more than 500 self‑paced online courses, you can learn something practical, creative or just plain fun. All on your own schedule and from almost any device.

  • Creative arts like drawing, photography, knitting and writing
  • Hands‑on hobbies including gardening, baking and DIY home projects
  • Personal growth courses on mindfulness, organization and goal‑setting
  • Professional skills from computer basics to business communication

All courses include video lessons, assignments and optional certificates of completion. First time users must create an account to access Universal Class.

Universal Class

More book lists to explore.

Composite of 2 book covers.

Celebrate Pi (π) Day, March 14, with a delicious list of pie (🥧) books.

We're Here For Pie
Composite of 2 book covers.

Library Director Diane Kresh shares her picks for Women's History Month.

Diane Kresh's 2026 Picks

March 13, 2026 by Library Communications Officer

Remembering Civil Rights Icon, The Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson

Post Published: February 17, 2026

Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson (1941–2026), a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, leaves behind a monumental legacy of advancing equality, dismantling oppressive systems and amplifying voices of the underserved.

Photo of Rev. Jesse Jackson (second from the right) speaking at a press conference, 1979, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-U9-37985- 14, photograph by Marion S. Trikosko
Rev. Jesse Jackson (second from the right) speaking at a press conference, 1979, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-U9-37985- 14, photograph by Marion S. Trikosko

In 1965, the year after his college graduation, Jackson marched with Dr. King and others at Selma to demand Black voting rights. He was with Dr. King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain.

Jackson went on to found the organizations Operation PUSH in 1971, a tool to improve the economic conditions of Black communities, and the National Rainbow Coalition during his first presidential campaign in 1984, which sought equal rights for all Americans.

In 1996, both organizations merged to become the Rainbow Push Coalition. The diverse alliance of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and LGBTQIA+ people sought to protect, defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields and to promote peace and justice around the world.

Poster with headline “Vote Jesse Jackson '84 for president.”, 1984, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-42733

Poster with headline “Vote Jesse Jackson '84 for president.” Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-42733

In the 1980s, Jackson ran twice for president (1984 and 1988) and paved the way for other democratic candidates, galvanizing both Black and White voters from diverse spectrums.

Jackson’s campaign and civil rights work would eventually pave the way for a more progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the election of the first Black president Barack Obama.

He led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care.

In 2008, during a victory speech by former President-elect Barack Obama at Chicago’s Grant Park, Jackson was caught on camera with tears in his eyes. He later explained “… that he was thinking about all those who made it possible and who were not there. People like Ralph Abernathy, Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer… those in the movement in the South.”

Discover more about Jackson’s legacy and life from our collections.

Video segment featuring the late Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Video segment featuring the late Rev. Jesse Jackson addressing the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

eCollections

  • Access Video On Demand
  • Speeches (video)
  • EBSCO reference materials
  • JSTOR Image collection
Composite featuring Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Barack Obama on the book covers.

Civil Rights History Book List

Discover the work and life of Rev. Jesse Jackson and many other civil rights icons.

February 17, 2026 by Library Communications Officer

New February Releases

Post Published: February 5, 2026

Discover new releases to boost your Winter Reading.

January ended with snow and ice, but these new books coming out in February give us something to look forward to, regardless of the weather.

Composite of 10 book covers.

Amie Teller has been stuck in a time loop, reliving September 17 every day for two years. But one day she wakes up, and it’s actually tomorrow. As she struggles to remember how to face a new day, she learns that her neighbor was murdered yesterday. As someone who knows that day better than anyone, she’s determined to solve the case in Katie Siegel’s "Out of the Loop."

In 1920s Montreal, Agnes Aubert runs her cat shelter with meticulous care and has absolutely no tolerance for magicians. But the only space she can afford contains a covert magic shop in the basement, run by an infamous and irritating magician who’s also allergic to cats. As they face a police investigation and a threat that could destroy the city, they must form an uneasy truce and Agnes needs to decide how much chaos, and love, she can let into her life in "Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter" by Heather Fawcett.

From a 19th century maker of handmade playing cards to one of the most influential entertainment companies in the world, Nintendo’s story is anything but conventional. "Super Nintendo" by Keza MacDonald traces the company’s evolution through the people, ideas and games that reshaped how the world plays. Part cultural history, part love letter to play, this energetic and deeply researched history captures how a quirky company built on experimentation and risk-taking came to enchant generations of players and continues to shape what games can be.

For more than a decade, Joseph Stalin waged a relentless, secret war against his most dangerous rival: the exiled revolutionary Leon Trotsky. In "The Death of Trotsky," Josh Ireland traces the global manhunt that followed Trotsky from Europe to a guarded compound in Mexico City, where the long pursuit ended in August 1940, with a single, devastating blow from an ice pick. Moving between Moscow, Paris and Mexico, Ireland reconstructs the deadly game of cat and mouse through a vivid cast of spies, artists, idealists and operatives, culminating in an unforgettable portrait of the Soviet agent who infiltrated Trotsky’s inner circle and carried out the assassination.

Henrietta Wood was born enslaved and emancipated as an adult, only to be kidnapped and sold back into bondage. When she was once again emancipated at the end of the Civil War, she sued the man who kidnapped her and won the largest reparations ever awarded to a formerly enslaved person in the United States. Combining Selene Castrovilla’s free verse text with Erin K. Robinson’s striking illustrations, "Twice Enslaved" is an illuminating biography for middle grade readers.

When Persepolis is abruptly removed from Chicago Public School classrooms and libraries, students at one high school are quick to recognize the bitter irony of banning a book about life under censorship. Inspired by the real 2013 CPS controversy, this powerful graphic novel follows an ensemble of teens as they grapple with the order, investigate how it happened and decide whether and how to resist. The teen graphic novel "Wake Now in the Fire" by Jarrett Dapier and illustrated by AJ Dungo captures the transformative power of collective action and the stakes of defending intellectual freedom.

Place Your Holds Now!
Painting of the first U.S. president George Washington.

Celebrate George Washington’s birthday month with a premier resource from The University of Virginia Press. "The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition" unites five series and Washington’s complete diaries; 83 volumes of scholarship in one searchable platform. Browse content by date, author or recipient. Follow linked cross‑references and delve into the documents that shaped the early United States as we celebrate Arlington 250.

George Washington Papers

More Book Lists to Explore

Composite of two book covers.
Get In The Olympic Spirit
Composite of two book covers.
Recent Italian Fiction

February 5, 2026 by Library Communications Officer

Great Books You Might Have Missed in 2025

Post Published: December 4, 2025

Looking for a great book? We're here to help!

Arlington readers know that every month sees more amazing books released than they can possibly keep up with! In 2025, nearly 2,500 books received a starred review.

Arlington fell in love with some of those books critics raved about, but with so many to choose from, some inevitably flew beneath our radar.

The books are sorted into subcategories: fiction, nonfiction, graphic, detective, science fiction and fantasy teen, elementary/middle grade and picture books/early readers. And much like browsing the library’s shelves, you're sure to find something unexpected and delightful!

To see which books Arlington readers checked out the most this year, check out our companion list: Arlington's Top Reads in 2025.

Browse Full Lists in the Library Catalog

Complete List
Fiction List
Nonfiction List
Detective List
Sci Fi and Fantasy List
Graphic Novel List
Picture Books / Early Readers List
Elementary / Middle Grade List
Teen List

December 4, 2025 by Library Communications Officer

Arlington’s Top Reads in 2025

Post Published: December 4, 2025

Skip to... Expand

Top 20 Reads ↓

Top eResources ↓

What did Arlington readers check out this year?

2025 was another excellent year for Arlington readers with over 3.6 million checkouts.

Arlington's reading choices span a wide array of genres, including cookbooks, romance novels, biographies and picture books. We listened to eAudiobooks, read on our phones and stacked paper books on our nightstands. Still, certain titles stood out as particularly popular.

Here is a breakdown of the most popular adult, kids and young adult titles.

Composite of 10 book covers.

Two titles had more than 4,000 checkouts this year:

  1. "Onyx Storm" by Rebecca Yarros
  2. "The Women" by Kristin Hannah

The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros was a big hit with all three titles in the top ten.

Emily Henry had two titles this year with "Funny Story" and "Great Big Beautiful Life."

"The Women," "Funny Story" and "Iron Flame" are on the list for the second year in a row while "Fourth Wing," "Remarkably Bright Creatures" and "Demon Copperhead" are in their third year of being one of Arlington’s most popular reads!

"Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas is one of the most popular teen reads for the third year in a row, but the rest of the top five are all books from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, with "Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" keeping its position at number one.

Just like last year, our younger readers couldn’t get enough of "Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney!

We’re excited to see what books Arlington will fall in love with in 2026.

Of course, there are always great books that don’t get the buzz and popularity and sometimes are overlooked.

Curious about the other excellent releases you might have missed this year? We have a curated list of Great Books You Missed in 2025 to help you find some hidden gems in our catalog.

Always free. Always open. Always reading!

Your favorite eCollection resources

The library’s digital collections had a standout year in 2025, with patrons turning to eCollections more than ever. From books and newspapers to online courses and career tools, these platforms have become part of everyday life for readers and learners across the Arlington community.
Composite of ten eResource logos and graphics.
Libby remains the favorite for eBooks, audiobooks and magazines, while PressReader connects patrons to newspapers and magazines from around the world. One in four titles read on PressReader were international titles and in languages other than English, underscoring its role as a vibrant hub for global perspectives. Across all of our magazine platforms, patrons most enjoyed reading The New Yorker, The Economist, The Atlantic, People and Consumer Reports.

Learning platforms saw strong engagement as well. O’Reilly and LinkedIn Learning offered courses in artificial intelligence, technology, business and creative skills. Patrons especially enjoyed diving into top courses "WordPress: Ecommerce, Project Management Foundations" and "Pre-investing: Before Investing in Real Estate," and "Writing: The Craft of Story"—all designed to sharpen professional skills or introduce new hobbies and opportunities to online learners.

Mango Languages kept language learners busy with sessions in everything from Spanish to Japanese to American Sign Language, often right from their phones.

Specialized eCollections played an important role.

Value Line gave investors reliable financial research, Consumer Reports guided smart shopping decisions and Bookflix made reading fun for families by pairing children’s books with engaging videos. News lovers stayed informed with full access to the Washington Post Digital and Global Newsstream.

We welcomed several new eCollections this year. You can stream films and series through Access Video On Demand: Master Collection and Biblio+, explore American and global cuisines with AtoZ Food America, AtoZ World Food, and Eat Your Books and dive into research using AtoZ Databases and Social Explorer.

Career seekers will find guidance and opportunities in Vault Career Intelligence. With more than 70 eCollections available, there’s something for everyone.

Arlington's Top 10 eResources In 2025

December 4, 2025 by Library Communications Officer

New November Releases

Post Published: November 6, 2025

We're grateful for authors and stories.

This November, we express our gratitude for the imagination and dedication of authors who give us stories to enjoy.

Composite consisting of ten book covers.

Marisa Kashino’s "Best Offer Wins" skewers the local real estate market in a twisted and darkly humorous novel of domestic suspense. After being outbid 11 times in 18 months for various houses in the D.C. area suburbs, Margo’s getting desperate. When she hears of a wonderful house that will soon hit the market, she’ll stop at nothing to get it.

Nils knows today is his last day on earth, but still goes to work as a ferry operator. As the passengers embark, he sees they are all ghosts from his past. Sailing his route through the Norwegian fjords for the final time, he waits for the ghost of his recently deceased wife in the wistful and quiet story "The Ferryman and His Wife" by Frode Grytten and translated by Alison McCullough.

While trying to negotiate a lighter sentence by returning stolen art from previous heists, an officer tells thief Myles Conner that only a Rembrandt would save him. So, while out on parole, Conner steals a Rembrandt in an audacious daytime theft from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Anthony M. Amore’s "The Rembrandt Heist" gets into all the action and intrigue of a story that’s stranger than fiction.

In 1834, David Ruggles opened the first Black bookstore in the U.S., selling abolitionist literature and creating a place for Black people to gather and learn. It’s a template many Black bookstores to come would follow, despite harassment from the FBI and IRS, racism, gentrification and a shifting publishing marketplace. "Black-Owned" by Char Adams traces the history of the Black bookstore and the role those bookstores have played in their communities.

Middle grade readers will want to check out "How to Free a Jinn" by Raidah Shah Idil. When Insyirah and her mother move from Australia to Malaysia to take care of her ailing grandmother, Insyirah learns the women in her family can see jinn. As she gets used to life in a new place, she must also confront an evil spirit haunting her new school in this energetic adventure that blends family, mythology and faith.

Annie Fairfax has been cursed by the finfolk—vengeful creatures that live beneath the waves and were responsible for the shipwreck that killed her parents. Annie is a young female head of the whaling company that her village depends on for survival. Responsibility weighs heavily on her shoulders while the curse is getting worse. There might be a cure, but the cost may be too high in "Break Wide the Sea" by Sara Holland. Teen readers will be drawn in by this roiling and atmospheric tale blending horror, folklore and love.

Place Your Holds Now!

More Book Lists to Explore

Composite of two book covers.
Indigenous Peoples Month Guest List
Composite of two book covers.
Veterans Guest List

November 6, 2025 by Library Communications Officer

New October Releases

Post Published: October 13, 2025

The Spooky Season Is Here 👻

The nights are getting longer and whether you’re celebrating spooky season or the start of cozy season, it’s the perfect time to curl up with a blanket and a good book. 

Composite of 10 book covers.

Set in 2075 New York, the queer cyberpunk dystopian thriller "Local Heavens" by K. M. Fajardo retells "The Great Gatsby," showing the timelessness of its themes of wealth, class, loss and the damage careless people can cause while going after their desires.

You’d think that bargaining with a shadowy figure for a promotion would be standard at a workplace like Dark Enterprises, but while Colin does get promoted, he also unleashes an ancient evil. Mark Waddell’s "Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World" sees Colin trying to save the world because there are a few things he likes about it—his best friend, the new guy he’s been seeing, and of course, his new job. Welcome to Night Vale meets The Office in this darkly humorous horror satire that doesn’t skimp on the romance or action.

The college years often include bad grades, worse boyfriends, questionable fashion choices, late-night parties and learning who you really are. All of this is further complicated if you’ve already won the Nobel Peace Prize and are a global figure for surviving the death threats that haven’t gone away. "Finding My Way" by Malala Yousafzai is a candid and dynamic memoir as she confronts a public image that’s impossible to live up to and learns who she actually is, on her own terms.

November 10 marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes shipwreck immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot. "Gales of November" by John U. Bacon is an absorbing and in-depth look at the wreck, as well as the importance and dangers of sailing on the Great Lakes. Most importantly, he introduces readers to the 29 men lost when she went down, their lives on board and on shore and the loved ones they left behind.

Allan Wolf and Jose Pimienta’s middle grade novel, "Vanishing of Lake Peigneur" tells the dramatic story of when a routine drilling operation on Louisiana’s Lake Peigneur went very, very wrong, creating a giant whirlpool and draining the entire lake away into the salt mines underneath. Narrated by the lake itself and detailing the lives of the people caught in the chaos, this is a gripping introduction to a little-known environmental disaster.

Beauty content creator Lyric plans to spend the holiday season continuing to build her platform and get the most out of her latest brand collaboration. When a spur-of-the-moment photo with new classmate, Juniper, goes viral, the girls decide to make the most of the moment and start fake dating for the clicks (and the accompanying money, which will fund their respective post-high school plans). But the line between reality and social media blurs quickly in "I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," Mariama J. Lockington’s slow-burn teen Christmas romance.

Place Your Holds Now!

More Book Lists to Explore

Composite of 2 book covers.
Best Recent Latine Fiction
Composite of 2 book covers.
Latine Horror

October 13, 2025 by Library Communications Officer

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

News

Place your holds in the catalog on these new June book releases.

New June Releases

Summer is officially here! Whenever and wherever … ... about New June Releases

Read More News
See More Service Updates

Center for Local History

Three men writing on squares of the AIDS Quilt.

New: Explore 2,800+ Arlington Courier Photos

Explore more than 2,800 photos of local life in … ... about New: Explore 2,800+ Arlington Courier Photos

Read More Local History

Director’s Blog

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Director’s Message: National Poetry Month

I Hear America April is National … ... about Director’s Message: National Poetry Month

More Director's Blog

Footer

About Us

  • Mission & Vision
  • Charlie Clark Center for Local History
  • News Room
  • Get Email Updates

Administration

  • Policies
  • Library Staff
  • Job Opportunities
  • Propose a Program or Partnership

Support Your Library

  • Friends of the Library
  • Giving Opportunities
  • Donating Materials
  • Volunteer Opportunities

Our Mission

We champion the power of stories, information and ideas.

We create space for culture and connection.

We embrace inclusion and diverse points of view.
























Download the Library App

Download the Library App

Arlington County | Terms & Conditions | Accessibility | Site Map
· Copyright © 2026 Arlington County Government ·