KPL Best of 2024

"August, 1943. Fourteen-year-old Massimo is all alone. Newly orphaned and fleeing from Rome after surviving the American bombing raid that killed his parents, Massimo is attacked by thugs and finds himself bloodied at the base of the Montecassino. It is there in the Benedictine abbey's shadow that a charismatic and cryptic man calling himself Pietro Houdini, the self-proclaimed Master Artist and confidante of the Vatican, rescues Massimo and brings...

"Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she's a little quirky. But while she's made some strange mistakes over the years, it's not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (who she thinks is her husband) that she realizes something is amiss. With a mixture of curiosity and dread, Dingfelder starts contacting neuroscientists and lands herself in scores of studies. In the course of her nerdy midlife crisis, she discovers that she...

"Rendered in gorgeously carved wood blocks and buffeted with historical supplemental material, John Vasquez Mejias's The Puerto Rican War tells the story of the 1950 insurrection on the island that resulted in 38 deaths and a failed assassination attempt against President Harry S. Truman. Told as a fable, in which the leaders of the movement are visited by the ghosts of Michael Collins and Gandhi, this book showcases an important and often overlooked...

"This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong's cardinal rule. After all, there's a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you've worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie...the last thing you want is...

Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit lamenting yet another breakup with a girlfriend, decides to tag along on vacation with her shy friend Marian, who desperately needs to loosen up. Things quickly go awry when they accidentally rent the car some incompetent criminals are using for a drop. Pursued across state lines by goons, and aided by Jamie's ex, who is a cop, the two are oblivious to the happenings around them, their own developing feelings, and...

Hugo- and World Fantasy Award-winning writer G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy) and all-star artist Chris Wildgoose invite readers to experience love on the brink of extinction in their new ongoing high fantasy tour de force! In a dying world, only humans and orcs remain-mortal enemies battling for territory and political advantage. But when a group of fearsome ancient humanoids known as the Vangol arrive from across the sea,...

"The Carryx--part empire, part hive--have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin. Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the...

A former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak, Tashi's strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick, his former best friend, and Tashi's former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win?

Winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the prestigious André Bazin Prize from Cahiers du Cinema, both celebrating outstanding feature debuts, this enthralling work from Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Thien An is a reverie on faith, loss, and nature expressed with uncommon invention and depth. The sudden death of his sister-in-law brings unexpected responsibilities to Thien (Le Phong Vu), who is reluctantly tasked with bringing his five-year-old...

"When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming, the music playing are not figments of her imagination. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets. Then one night the mirror appears and Sonya glides through this looking glass, into the past - and sees a bride murdered on her...