Berlin Library Urges Folks To Read Books About Social Media

Press release from the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library:

BERLIN, CT — The Berlin-Peck Memorial Library is challenging local readers to explore various books on various topics as part of its "All Year Reading Challenge" in 2025.

One of those topics is to read a book about social media, which dominates the everyday lives of those young and old.

Featuring a mix of fiction and non-fiction, these books explore how social media shapes our lives, relationships, and society.

Recently, the library — located at 234 Kensington Road — listed all of the works available at the library that deal with the topic of social media.

They include:

Non-Fiction: Society and Culture

Pixel Flesh
How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women

Ellen Atlanta

A generation-defining exposé of toxic beauty culture-from Botox and Instagram filters to lip flips and editing apps-and the realities of coming of age online We live in a new age of beauty With advancements in cosmetic surgery, walk-in treatments, augmented reality face filters, photo editing apps, and exposure to more images than ever, we have the ability to craft the image we want everyone to see We pinch, pull, squeeze, tweeze, smooth and slice ourselves beyond recognition But is our beauty culture truly empowering? Are we really in control? In Pixel Flesh, Ellen Atlanta holds a mirror up to our modern beauty ideal, as well as the pressure to present a perfect image, to live in an age of constant comparison and curated feeds She weaves in her personal story with others’ to reconfigure our obsession with the cult of beauty and explore the reality of living in a world of paradoxes|we know our standards are unhealthy, but understand it’s a way to succeed We resent social media but continue to scroll We know digital beauty is artificial, but we still strive for it From Love Island to lip filler, blackfishing to the beauty tax, Pixel Flesh is a fascinating account of what young women face under a dominant industry Nuanced, unflinching, and razor sharp, this book unmasks the absurdities of the standards we suddenly find ourselves upholding, and acts as a rallying cry and a refusal to suffer in silence, forming the definitive book about what it truly feels like to exist as a woman today

Breaking The Social Media Prism
How To Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing

Christopher Bail

This book examines how social media functions like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible It challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside ourselves

The Death Of Truth
How Social Media And The Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen And Demagogues The Weapons To Destroy Trust And Polarize The World–And What We Can Do About It

Steven Brill

A best-selling author documents how facts–shared truths–have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally, and how belief in ‘alternative facts’ and conspiracy theories have destroyed trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts

Filterworld
How Algorithms Flattened Culture

Kyle Chayka

Chayka comes a timely history and investigation of a world ruled by algorithms, which determine the shape of culture itself From coffee shops to rental apartments to social media posts the world round, a sleek and deceptively simple aesthetic has come to predominate It’s in the neon signs and exposed brick of an Internet cafe in Nairobi or the skeletal, modern furniture of an Airbnb in Portland These designs are easy to identify, but even more crucially, they photograph well In their simplicity and studied airiness, these images fit seamlessly into the Instagram grid But this aesthetic is only one small aspect of a broader program of curation that is determined by the algorithm–a network of mathematically determined choices that ramify into the development of city grids and music playlists alike To have our tastes, behaviors, and emotions governed by computers, does nothing short of call the very notion of free will into question Over the last decade, Kyle Chayka has studied the homogeneity of this curation of reality Working as a contributor for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Republic, he has traveled to Berlin, Reykjavik, and Los Angeles tracing the algorithm’s lineage In Filterworld, Chayka lucidly examines how this deeply filtered aesthetic–spanning digital and physical spaces–creates an uncanny blend of work, home, and social life As the algorithm determines our choices, other important questions arise|What happens when shareability supersedes messiness, innovation, and creativity–the very nature of being human? What does the notion of choice mean when the available options have been so carefully arranged for us? Filterworld offers a way out Kyle Chayka shows us how to disconnect from the tyranny of the algorithms that continue to override our sensibilities, and inform even our most intimate, real-world interactions Most importantly, he shows us how to reclaim our individual freedom

The Chaos Machine
The Inside Story Of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds And Our World

Max Fisher

The gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions The companies’ founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone

The Anxious Generation
How The Great Rewiring Of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic Of Mental Illness

Jonathan Haidt

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s, with rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rising sharply The author lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time, and then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this rewiring of childhood has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood

Broken Code
Inside Facebook And The Fight To Expose Its Harmful Secrets

Jeff Horwitz

A behind-the-scenes look at the manipulative tactics Facebook used to grow its business, how it distorted the way we connect online, and the company insiders who found the courage to speak out

Extremely Online
The Untold Story Of Fame, Influence, And Power On The Internet

Taylor Lorenz

For over a decade, Taylor Lorenz has been the authority on internet culture, documenting its far-reaching effects on all corners of our lives Her reporting is serious yet entertaining and illuminates deep truths about ourselves and the lives we create online In her debut book, Extremely Online, she reveals how online influence came to upend the world, demolishing traditional barriers and creating whole new sectors of the economy Lorenz shows this phenomenon to be one of the most disruptive changes in modern capitalism By tracing how the internet has changed what we want and how we go about getting it, Lorenz unearths how social platforms’ power users radically altered our expectations of content, connection, purchasing, and power Lorenz documents how moms who started blogging were among the first to monetize their personal brands online, how bored teens who began posting selfie videos reinvented fame as we know it, and how young creators on TikTok are leveraging opportunities to opt out of the traditional career pipeline It’s the real social history of the internet Emerging seemingly out of nowhere, these shifts in how we use the internet seem easy to dismiss as fads However, these social and economic transformations created a digital dynamic so unappreciated and insurgent that it ultimately created new approaches to work, entertainment, fame, and ambition in the 21st century Extremely Online is the inside, untold story of what we have done to the internet, and what it has done to us

Because Internet
Understanding The New Rules Of Language

Gretchen McCulloch

A linguistically informed look at how our digital world is transforming the English language Language is humanity’s most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before The programmers behind our apps and platforms decide how our conversations are structured, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed What’s more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch our language evolve in real time Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another She explains how the year you first accessed the internet determines how you talk online; how ~sparkly tildes~ became widely recognized as sarcasm punctuation; whether emoji are replacing words; and why internet dialects like doge, lolspeak, and snek are linguistically significant Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who’s ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from It’s the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that’s a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are

Momfluenced
Inside The Maddening, Picture-Perfect World Of Mommy Influencer Culture

Sara Petersen

The private work of mothering has turned into a public performance The message is simple|we’re all just a couple of clicks away from a better, more beautiful experience of motherhood–while momfluencers hawk essential oils, parenting manuals, baby slings, and other sponsored content These are businesswomen–churning out their lives as content on a daily basis Peterson interviews prominent momfluencers and pop culture analysts to explore this online glorification of the ideal mama|a dream tangled up in whiteness, capitalism, and the heternormative nuclear family.

Likewar
The Weaponization Of Social Media

P.W. Singer, Emerson T Brooking

Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet Terrorists livestream their attacks, “Twitter wars” produce real world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations The result is that war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones P W Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mind bending questions that arise when war goes online and the online world goes to war They explore how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 14 billion citizens What can be kept secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the truth or bury it? And what role do ordinary people now play in international conflicts? Delving into the web’s darkest corners, we meet the unexpected warriors of social media, such as the rapper turned jihadist PR czar and the Russian hipsters who wage unceasing infowars against the West Finally, looking to the crucial years ahead, LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of our networked world

Writing On The Wall
Social Media — The First 2,000 Years

Tom Standage

From the papyrus letters that Roman statesmen used to exchange news across the Empire to the advent of hand-printed tracts of the Reformation to the pamphlets that spread propaganda during the American and French revolutions, Tom Standage chronicles the increasingly sophisticated ways people shared information with each other, spontaneously and organically, down the centuries With the rise of newspapers in the nineteenth century, then radio and television, “mass media” consolidated control of information in the hands of a few moguls However, the Internet has brought information sharing full circle, and the spreading of news along social networks has reemerged in powerful new ways Writing on the Wall reminds us how modern behavior echoes that of prior centuries — the Catholic Church, for example, faced similar dilemmas in deciding whether or how to respond to Martin Luther’s attacks in the early sixteenth century to those that large institutions confront today in responding to public criticism on the Internet Invoking the likes of Thomas Paine and Vinton Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet, Standage explores themes that have long been debated|the tension between freedom of expression and censorship; whether social media trivializes, coarsens, or enhances public discourse; and its role in spurring innovation, enabling self-promotion, and fomenting revolution

Influenced
The Impact Of Social Media On Our Perception

Brian Boxer Wachler

This book unpacks what happens to our brains and our behaviors each time we click ‘Like’ or even just scroll for new content on social media Through interviews with top influencers, the latest studies, and pop-culture anecdotes, and Dr Boxer Wachler’s own expertise as both a scientist and an influencer himself, he reveals how influence works

Non-Fiction: Guides and Self Help

Logged In And Stressed Out
How Social Media Is Affecting Your Mental Health And What You Can Do About It

Paula Durlofsky

Studies show that the average American is spending more than 10 hours a day in front of their screens Too often, bad feelings from social media interactions linger, negatively affecting our off-line lives and worsening already present mental health issues Instead of demonizing social media by taking a one-note, “digital detox” approach, Logged In and Stressed Out recognizes social media is not, itself, the problem–it’s how we use it that needs examining

Growing Up In Public
Coming Of Age In A Digital World

Devorah Heitner

The definitive book on helping kids navigate growing up in a world where nearly every moment of their lives can be shared and compared With social media and constant connection, the boundaries of privacy are stretched thin Growing Up in Public shows parents how to help tweens and teens navigate boundaries, identity, privacy, and reputation in their digital world We can track our kids’ every move with apps, see their grades within minutes of being posted, and fixate on their digital footprint, anxious that a misstep could cause them to be “canceled” or even jeopardize their admission to college And all of this adds pressure on kids who are coming of age immersed in social media platforms that emphasize “personal brand,” “likes,” and “gotcha” moments How can they figure out who they really are with zero privacy and constant judgment? Devorah Heitner shows us that by focusing on character, not the threat of getting caught or exposed, we can support our kids to be authentically themselves Drawing on her extensive work with parents and schools as well as hundreds of interviews with kids, parents, educators, clinicians, and scholars, Heitner offers strategies for parenting our kids in an always-connected world With relatable stories and research-backed advice, Growing Up in Public empowers parents to cut through the overwhelm to connect with their kids, recognize how to support them, and help them figure out who they are when everyone is watching

The Opt-Out Family
How To Give Your Kids What Technology Can’t

Erin Loechner

Discover a new and hopeful path forward as you consider your family’s approach to social media, screen time, and technologyWe’ve all heard the mind-boggling statistics about technology and social media use The numbers don’t lie; our obsession with smartphones and social media is slowly eroding the very essence of our homes and families We see it We feel it We know it So what do we do about it? Spoiler alert|Forget parental control apps, time limits, or reward charts This revolutionary path takes us into the heart of the beast itself|the social media algorithm Former social media influencer and trailblazer Erin Loechner has seen the perks and pitfalls of social media usage, and she knows how to hack the strategies of tech wizards and platform experts so you can borrow their billion-dollar playbook to engage your family in meaningful ways away from screens The Opt-Out Family is packed with eye-opening research and startling insights, as well as practical encouragement and creative ideas to transform your family’s relationship with today’s ever-evolving technology As a result, you will|Experience more quality time with your children that doesn’t revolve around screens, Create healthy habits as a family that will set your children up for success in the future, Discover what your kids actually need from you, and learn how to delight and engage them better than a device can And, ultimately, establish true and lasting influence within your own four walls–and far beyond; The Opt-Out Family unlocks a world where genuine connections flourish and technology takes a backseat It’s time to reclaim your home and build a tech-free family culture that’s stronger than your Wi-Fi signal

In Real Life
Love, Lies & Identity In The Digital Age

Yaniv Schulman

From the host of the MTV show Catfish comes a guide about how to connect with people authentically in today’s increasingly digital world The book explores relationships in the era of social media and the pressing issue of connectivity versus genuine connection The author provides advice about living and loving in the era of social media

Kill Reply All

Victoria Turk

How do you reply to your colleague’s weird email? What would Emily Post say about your Tinder profile? And just how do you know if you’re mansplaining? In this irreverent journey through the murky world of digital etiquette, WIRED’s Victoria Turk provides an indispensable guide to minding our manners in a brave new online world, and making peace with the platforms, apps, and devices we all love to hate The digital revolution has put us all within a few clicks, taps and swipes of each other But familiarity can breed contempt, and while we’re more likely than ever to fall in love online, we’re also more likely to fall headfirst into a raging fight with a stranger or into an unhealthy obsession with the phones in our pockets If you’ve ever encountered the surreal, aggravating battlefields of digital life and wondered why we don’t all just go analog, this is the book for you

Fiction: Thrillers and Domestic Fiction

The List

Yomi Adegoke

Ola Olajide, a celebrated journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is set to marry the love of her life in one month’s time Young, beautiful, and successful–she and her fiance Michael are considered the “couple goals” of their social network and seem to have it all That is, until one morning when they both wake up to the same message|”Oh my god, have you seen The List?” It began as a crowdsourced collection of names and somehow morphed into an anonymous account posting allegations on social media Ola would usually be the first to support such a list–she’d retweet it, call for the men to be fired, write article after article Except this time, Michael’s name is on it Compulsively readable, wildly entertaining, and filled with sharp social insight, The List is a piercing and dazzlingly clear-sighted debut about secrets, lies, and the internet Perfect for fans of Such a Fun Age, Luster, and My Dark Vanessa, this is a searing portrait of these modern times and our morally complicated online culture

Follow Me

Kathleen Barber

From the author of Are You Sleeping-soon to be an Apple TV series-comes a cautionary tale of oversharing in the social media age

The Personal Assistant

Kimberly Belle

A hugely popular social media influencer, Alex relies on her personal assistant AC to help her manage each day, but when a controversial post goes viral, AC goes missing, and a woman is murdered, Alex finds herself thrust into the spotlight with no one left to trust

We Had To Remove This Post

Hanna Bervoets

To be a content moderator is to see humanity at its worst–but Kayleigh needs money So she takes a job working for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention Her task|review offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and decide which need to be removed It’s grueling work Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens, evaluating them with the platform’s ever-changing moderating guidelines Yet Kayleigh is good at her job, and she finds in her colleagues a group of friends–even a new girlfriend–and for the first time in her life, her future seems bright But soon the job seems to change them all, shifting their worlds in alarming ways How long before the moderators’ own senses of right and wrong begin to bend and flex?

Unfollow Me

Charlotte Duckworth

You can’t stop watching her Violet Young is a hugely popular journalist-turned-mummy-influencer, with three children, a successful husband and a million subscribers on YouTube who tune in daily to watch her everyday life unfold Until the day she’s no longer there But one day she disappears from the online world — her entire social media presence deleted overnight, with no explanation Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to Violet? But do you really know who Violet is? Her fans are obsessed with finding out the truth, but their search quickly reveals a web of lies, betrayal, and shocking consequences”–provided by publisher

All We Ever Wanted

Emily Giffin

After the daughter of a single father becomes a victim due to a social media photograph taken by her son, Nina Browning, a member of Nashville’s elite, must make a difficult choice when she finds herself relating more to the single father than to her husband and her wealthy community

The Nature Of Disappearing

Kimi Cunningham Grant

Emlyn doesn’t let herself think about the past How she and her best friend, Janessa, barely speak anymore How Tyler, the love of her life, left her half dead on the side of the road three years ago Her new life is simple and safe She lives alone in her Airstream trailer and works as a fishing and hunting guide in scenic Idaho Her closest friends are the community’s makeshift reverend and a handsome Forest Service ranger who took her in at her lowest But when Tyler shows up with the news that Janessa is missing, Emlyn is propelled back into the world she worked so hard to forget Janessa has become a social media star, documenting her #vanlife adventures with her rugged boyfriend She hasn’t posted lately, though, and when Emlyn realizes the most recent photo doesn’t match up with its caption, she reluctantly teams up with Tyler to find her old friend As the two trace Janessa’s path through miles of wild country, Emlyn can’t deny the chemistry still crackling between them But the deeper they press into the wilderness, the more she begins to suspect that a darker truth lies in the woods–and that Janessa isn’t the only one in danger

People Like Her

Ellery Lloyd

To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life To one of Emmy’s obsessive followers, she’s the woman that has everything but deserves none of it As Emmy’s moral compass veers wildly off course, she becomes vulnerable to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family — adapted from jacket

City Of Likes

Jenny Mollen

Megan Chernoff is a talented but unemployed copywriter in an identity crisis after the birth of her second child Seeking a fresh start, she and her family move to New York City, where she meets Daphne Cole-a gorgeous, stylish, well-known momfluencer To Meg’s surprise and delight, Daphne shows an inordinate amount of interest in Meg, showering her with compliments, attention, gifts, and all the perks that come with having a massive digital platform Before she knows it, Meg finds herself immersed in Daphne’s world-hobnobbing at exclusive power mama supper clubs, partaking in fancy wellness rituals, and reveling in the external validation she gets from her followers who grow daily by the thousands Her friendship with Daphne, as well as the world she’s been granted access to, is intoxicating and all-consuming But is it authentic? When Meg realizes she’s losing track of what matters most-her relationship with her sons and her husband-the deep cracks in Daphne’s carefully curated facade are finally exposed It’s up to Meg to find her way back to her real life But first she must determine what “real” even means

Such A Bad Influence

Olivia Muenter

Hazel Davis is drifting|she’s stalled in her career, living in a city she hates, and less successful than her younger sister @evelyn, a lifestyle influencer Evie came of age on the family YouTube channel after a viral video when she was five Ten years older and spotlight-averse, Hazel managed to dodge the family business–so although she can barely afford her apartment, at least she made her own way Evie is eighteen now, with a multimillion-dollar career, but Hazel is still protective of her little sister and skeptical of the way everyone seems to want a piece of her|Evie’s followers, her YouTuber boyfriend and influencer frenemies, and their opportunistic mother So when Evie disappears one day during an unsettling live stream that cuts out midsentence, Hazel is horrified to have her worst instincts proven right As theories about Evie’s disappearance tear through the internet, inspiring hashtags, Reddit threads, and podcast episodes, Hazel throws herself into the darkest parts of her sister’s world to untangle the truth After all, Hazel knows Evie better than anyone else doesn’t she?

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Onyi Nwabineli

After growing up with her life being chronicled and monetized by her entrepreneurial step-mother, Anuri escapes as a young adult but vows to fight the cycle of abuse and save her younger sister from a similar fate

Aesthetica

Allie Rowbottom

At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity Now, at 35, she works behind the cosmetic counter at the “black and white store,” peddling anti-aging products to women seeking physical and spiritual transformation She too is seeking rebirth She’s about to undergo the high-risk, elective surgery Aesthetica, a procedure that will reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures, returning her, she hopes, to a truer self Provided she survives the knife But on the eve of the surgery, her traumatic past resurfaces when she is asked to participate in the public takedown of her former manager/boyfriend, who has rebranded himself as a paragon of “woke” masculinity in the post-#MeToo world With the hours ticking down to her surgery, she must confront the ugly truth about her experiences on and off the Instagram grid Propulsive, dark, and moving, Aesthetica is a Veronica for the age of “Instagram face,” delivering a fresh, nuanced examination of feminism, MeToo, and mother-daughter relationships, all while confronting our collective addiction to followers, filters, and faux realities

Fiction: Romance

Instamom

Chantel Guertin

In this #funny, #wise, #emotionally compelling look at modern love and finding your true path, a proudly kid-free influencer meets the ultimate #dealbreaker It’s the influencer’s golden rule|know your niche Kit Kidding has found hers on Instagram, where she gets paid to promote brands and share expertly curated posts about her fun, fabulous, child-free life Kit likes kids just fine, but she passionately believes that women who choose not to become mothers shouldn’t have to face guilt Or judgment Or really hot chefs who turn out to be single dads Will MacGregor is aggravating, sexy, persistent, averse to social media and definitely a bad idea As soon as Kit learns his parenting status, she vows to put their scorching one-night stand behind her and move on But Will and Kit are thrown together on an Instagram campaign, and the more time she spends with him–and his whip-smart, eight-year-old daughter, Addie–the more difficult it is to stay away, much less sustain what Will so cleverly calls her “Resting Beach Face” Kit’s picture-perfect career path is suddenly clashing with the possibility of a different future–messy, complicated and real Which life does she truly want? And will love still be waiting by the time she figures it out?

Exes And O’s

Amy Lea

A romance novel-obsessed social media influencer revisits her exes on her hunt for true love in this romantic comedy Romance book connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different men-all of whom dumped her because of her “stage-five clinger” tendencies Nevertheless, Tara is determined to find The One The only problem? Classic meet-cutes are dead, thanks to modern dating apps So Tara decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship Love just isn’t his thing When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees But Tara’s journey is leading him to discover his own new chapter The more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self To claim their happily ever after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection?

Love At First Like

Hannah Orenstein

Eliza Roth and her sister Sophie co-own a jewelry shop in Brooklyn One night, after learning of an ex’s engagement, Eliza accidentally posts a photo of herself wearing a diamond ring on that finger to her Instagram account beloved by 100,000 followers Sales skyrocket, press rolls in, and Eliza learns that her personal life is good for business So she has a choice|continue the ruse or clear up the misunderstanding With mounting financial pressure, Eliza sets off to find a fake fiance Fellow entrepreneur Blake seems like the perfect match on paper And in real life he shows promise, too He would be perfect, if only Eliza didn’t feel also drawn to someone else But Blake doesn’t know Eliza is “engaged”; Sophie asks Eliza for an impossible sum of money; and Eliza’s lies start to spiral out of control She can either stay engaged online or fall in love in real life Written with singular charm and style, Love at First Like is for anyone growing up and settling down in the digital age

Girl Gone Viral

Alisha Rai

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a hot guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire episode with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae is the new hashtag-du-jour The problem? Katrina craves a low-profile life, and going viral threatens the peaceful world she’s painstakingly built Besides, #CafeBae isn’t the man she’s hungry for With the internet on the hunt for #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh – bodyguard, friend and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina’s ever seen – comes to the rescue and whisks her away to his family’s home Alone in a remote setting with the object of her affections? It’s a recipe for romance But after a long dating dry spell, Katrina isn’t sure she can trust her instincts when it comes to love – even if Jas’s every look says he wants to be more than just her bodyguard

First Comes Like

Alisha Rai

Beauty expert and influencer Jia Ahmed has her eye on the prize|conquering the internet today, the entire makeup industry tomorrow, and finally, finally proving herself to her big opinionated family She has little time for love, and even less time for the men in her private messages–until the day a certain international superstar slides into her DMs, and she falls hard and fast There’s just one wrinkle|he has no idea who she is The son of a powerful Bollywood family, soap opera star Dev Dixit is used to drama, but a strange woman who accuses him of wooing her online, well, that’s a new one As much as he’d like to focus on his Hollywood fresh start, he can’t get Jia out of his head Especially once he starts to suspect who might have used his famous name to catfish her

Siri, Who Am I?

Sam Tschida

A young woman wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital with amnesia and a head wound and must work backward, using her Instagram account, to piece together her identity

Fiction: Speculative and Science Fiction

The Candy House

Jennifer Egan

The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis” Bix is 40, with four kids, restless, desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing” memory It’s 2010 Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”–That allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others-has seduced multitudes But not everyone In spellbinding interlocking narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also extraordinarily moving, a testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for real connection, love, family, privacy and redemption In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters” who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,” those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles-from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter and a chapter of tweets If Goon Squad was organized like a concept album, The Candy House incorporates Electronic Dance Music’s more disjunctive approach The parts are titled|Build, Break, Drop With an emphasis on gaming, portals, and alternate worlds, its structure also suggests the experience of moving among dimensions in a role-playing game The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away Egan takes to stunning new heights her “deeply intuitive forays into the darker aspects of our technology-driven, image-saturated culture” (Vogue) The Candy House delivers an absolutely extraordinary combination of fierce, exhilarating intelligence and heart

The Circle

Dave Eggers

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world–even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Hank Green

The Carls just appeared Coming home from work at three am, twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship — like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor — April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world — everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires — and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity, and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us

Crosstalk

Connie Willis

Science fiction icon Connie Willis brilliantly mixes a speculative plot, the wit of Nora Ephron, and the comedic flair of P G Wodehouse in Crosstalk– a genre-bending novel that pushes social media, Smartphone technology, and twenty-four-hour availability to hilarious and chilling extremes as one young woman abruptly finds herself with way more connectivity than she ever desired In the not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage And Briddey Flannigan is delighted when her boyfriend, Trent, suggests undergoing the operation prior to a marriage proposal– to enjoy better emotional connection and a perfect relationship with complete communication and understanding But things don’t quite work out as planned, and Briddey finds herself connected to someone else entirely– in a way far beyond what she signed up for It is almost more than she can handle– especially when the stress of managing her all-too-eager-to-communicate-at-all-times family is already burdening her brain But that’s only the beginning As things go from bad to worse, she begins to see the dark side of too much information, and to realize love– and communication– are far more complicated than she ever imagined

Version Zero

David Yoon

Max, a data whiz at the social media company Wren, has gotten a firsthand glimpse of the dark side of big tech When he questions what his company does with the data they collect, he’s firedthen black-balled across Silicon Valley With time on his hands and revenge on his mind, Max and his longtime friend (and secretly the love of his life) Akiko, decide to get even by rebooting the internet After all, in order to fix things, sometimes you have to break them But when Max and Akiko join forces with a reclusive tech baron, they learn that breaking things can have unintended–and catastrophic–consequences

This press release was produced by the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.