New Releases | December 6, 2022

Looking for your next great read? We're here to help! Each week, our marketing team—Dylan Schleicher (DJJS), Gabbi Cisneros (GMC), Emily Porter (EPP), and Jasmine Gonzalez (JAG)—highlights four newly released books we are most excited about. 

Book descriptions are provided by the publisher unless otherwise noted.

This week, our choices are:

Between Light and Storm: How We Live with Other Species by Esther Woolfson, Pegasus Books (EPP) 

Beginning with the very origins of life on Earth, Woolfson considers prehistoric human-animal interaction and traces the millennia-long evolution of conceptions of the soul and conscience in relation to the animal kingdom, and the consequences of our belief in human superiority. She explores our representation of animals in art, our consumption of them for food, our experiments on them for science, and our willingness to slaughter them for sport and fashion, as well as examining concepts of love and ownership. 
 
Drawing on philosophy and theology, art and history, as well as her own experience of living with animals and coming to know, love, and respect them as individuals, Woolfson examines some of the most complex ethical issues surrounding our treatment of animals and argues passionately and persuasively for a more humble, more humane, relationship with the creatures who share our world. 

 
Bring It On: The Complete Story of the Cheerleading Movie That Changed, Like, Everything (No, Seriously) by Kase Wickman, Chicago Review Press (JAG) 

Gabrielle Union, Kirsten Dunst, and Eliza Dushku have all risen to fame since their performances in the original cheer classic, but boldface names like Solange Knowles, Rihanna, Hayden Panetierre, Ashley Tisdale, and more also appeared in Bring It On films. The first-time director who helmed the movie, Peyton Reed, now has multiple Marvel smash hit films under his belt. 
 
Not bad for a movie that almost didn’t get greenlit in the first place—but went on to win the box office its opening weekend, gross more than $90.45 million worldwide, and spawn a half-dozen sequels, a Tony-nominated musical, and a whole new genre of female-led films. 
 
With the support of the filmmakers and producers, author and pop culture expert Kase Wickman accessed Universal's archives and conducted new interviews with cast, crew, and more for a full reveal of all the stories fans will love in this complete history and examination of the legacy of the greatest cheerleading movie almost never made. 

Solace: Life, loss and the healing power of nature by Catherine Drea, The O'Brien Press (GMC) 

Solace is that feeling of calm and comfort, that sense of peace that is all around us when we are open to finding it. 
 
Writer and photographer Catherine Drea explores the solace to be found in nature and creativity. She reflects on loss, the cycle of life and the healing power of family and community. She muses on the joy of finding a place to call home, the escape that travel brings and the exhilaration of plunging into our waters – all the while embracing the therapeutic power of observing the ordinary and the everyday. 
 
With the passing seasons, her camera captures fleeting moments in nature – the light and lie of the land with its precious wildlife: among them sentinel robins, elusive Irish hares and serene swans. 
 
Solace is quite simply a balm for the soul.  

This Beauty: A Philosophy of Being Alive by Nick Riggle, Basic Books (DJJS) 

You didn’t choose to live this life, in this body, in these conditions—this delicate and difficult life. Yet when you consider that your existence is fleeting, an inspired sense of urgency can spring forth. Say you often hike with a friend. One day, they propose that you skydive instead. You’re wavering, and they insist: Come on. You only live once! And soon you’re flying through the air. Why embrace a life you did not choose? 

In This Beauty, philosopher Nick Riggle explores the beauty of being alive by investigating the things we say to inspire ourselves and each other: seize the day, treat yourself, you only live once. These clichés are at best vague, at worst stupid. They imply that you should do something wild with your life because your life is precious, a little like saying you should go swimming with your grandfather’s watch because it is irreplaceable. 

Drawing on insights from aesthetics and his experiences as a professional skater and new father, he develops the thought that beauty—the beauty of this day, this body, this moment, these people—can make life worth embracing, worth engaging with and amplifying as beautiful. Insightful and deeply humane, This Beauty is a searching inquiry into the mystery of life’s beauty and a call to create and share it.