Books Your February 2026 Reads Stories You May Like Cornellians-in-Chief? A Roundup of Big Red Presidential Hopefuls Better Living Through Landscape Architecture In a Posthumous Memoir, Famed Prof Recalls a Turbulent Childhood This month’s featured titles include a novel on midlife reinvention, a look at the urban-rural divide, and a guide to mindfulness For more titles by Big Red authors, peruse our previous round-ups. Have you published a book you'd like to submit? Scroll down for details! And did you know that Cornell has an online book club? Check it out! Run For Your Life, Callie Kingman Alli Frank ’92 The novel is the fifth work of woman-oriented fiction from Frank and her coauthor. Its title character is an empty-nester and Princeton alum who’d begrudgingly followed her husband from New York to California for the sake of his career two decades earlier. Now, he has announced he’s leaving her, declaring: “It’s not me, it’s you.” That shock, combined with a health scare, forces Callie to reflect on her life and reassess her dreams for the future. As the authors write (from Callie’s perspective) in the breakup scene, when she learns her husband is expecting a baby with his younger girlfriend: “As Thomas rakes his hands through his hair, it hits me that some other woman has been running her hands through it too. It’s so unfair that his salt-and-pepper hair looks sexy, whereas mine costs me $300 quarterly to cover up.” The coauthors’ previous books include The Better Half—released by actor Mindy Kaling’s imprint—and Never Meant to Meet You. Rural Versus Urban Suzanne Mettler, PhD ’94 & Trevor Brown, PhD ’25 “Why have Americans living in different places come to experience politics as a battle between ‘us’ and ‘them’?” says the book's publisher, Princeton University Press. As the press describes, its authors “argue that political polarization is not just about red states and blue states, or coastal elites who alienate those in fly-over country. Instead, polarization permeates every region and every state—and has become organized through a pernicious rural-urban division.” Mettler is the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions; Brown is a postdoc at Johns Hopkins who’ll join the University of Oregon faculty in fall 2026. In their book—subtitled The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy—they explore the dangers of political polarization. In the New York Times, political columnist Ezra Klein writes that while closing the divide won’t be easy, “it begins with understanding it and taking seriously the resentments that fuel it.” And, he says, Mettler and Brown’s new book “is the best place I’ve found to start.” Pitch Your Potential Vicki Johnson ’01 This business guide offers (per the subtitle) a “formula for winning dream jobs, awards, and elite opportunities.” It’s penned by Johnson, a former government major in Arts & Sciences who founded ProFellow, a curated database of fellowships, grad schools, and awards. Topics include forming a winning mindset, becoming memorable to a selection committee, having timely goals, crafting a mutually beneficial pitch, and effectively using detail. “The competitive process of applying and advocating for your selection will inevitably trigger your deepest fears that you are not good enough to be chosen for the opportunities you have your heart set on,” she writes in the introduction. “But this fear is just the result of not having a framework to compellingly answer the question ‘Why you?’ Because we are not taught an effective framework in grade school or college, we apply an idea of what might work and are left to wonder why it sometimes works but often fails.” Stories You May Like Cornellians-in-Chief? A Roundup of Big Red Presidential Hopefuls Better Living Through Landscape Architecture Hold Nothing Elena Brower ’92 The latest from the Human Ecology alum was published by Shambhala, a small press specializing in books and courses on Buddhism, yoga, mindfulness, and wellness. It offers practices and thought exercises aimed at encouraging self-discovery and self-inquiry, as well as abstract artwork by the author. “What if the most important work of your life isn’t something you chase—but something you uncover, slowly, in stillness?” says the publisher. “What if your presence is the greatest offering you can make to the world? This book is an invitation to come home to yourself—gently, honestly, and with great love.” Brower’s previous books include Art of Attention—which has been translated into seven languages—and the bestselling journals Practice You and Being You. A former textile designer who has taught yoga and meditation for more than a quarter-century, she also hosts the Practice You podcast. Joyful Revolution Diana Skelton ’86 “At the age of 20, Mary Rabagliati quit a secretarial job in London to move to an emergency housing camp in France without running water or any sanitation facilities,” writes the publisher, an independent press based in the U.K. “It was 1962 when, amongst that bleak squalor and deprivation, she began a lifelong commitment to anti-poverty work and fighting for the human rights of people on the margins of society, working towards a vision that no one should have to live a life trapped by poverty.” Skelton—herself an antipoverty activist who has worked for the U.N.—offers a biography of Rabagliati, whom she knew personally and professionally. “I met Mary in 1986, and lost her when she died in 1992,” Skelton writes. “In those six years, our conversations made a lasting impact on my own life choices. Later on, I missed her, and often wondered what she would have gone on to accomplish if she hadn’t succumbed to cancer at the age of 50. What I didn’t realize was that much of what she actually did accomplish was hidden from view.” A double major in history and in Russian and Soviet studies on the Hill, Skelton is an editor of the Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. The Borderless Healthcare Revolution Sarah Matt ’04 Trained as a surgeon, the CALS alum also holds an MBA, and segued into a career as a health technology strategist, author, and speaker. Her book, subtitled The Definitive Guide to Breaking Geographic Barriers Through Technology, parses how today’s tech can best be harnessed to make healthcare more accessible for people around the globe—from leading U.S. hospitals to under-resourced facilities in developing countries. “I’ve worked in operating rooms, free clinics, and startup war rooms. I’ve helped build platforms used by millions and walked patients through care plans written in a language they didn’t speak. I’ve been a surgeon, a strategist, a tech exec, and a street medic,” she writes in the preface. "Every role taught me something different. The failures all pointed to the same truth. Access is not only about technology. It’s also about design, trust, and execution. The tools matter, but only if they reach the people who need them.” To submit your book for consideration, email cornellians@cornell.edu. Please note that to be included, books must be recently published by a conventional publisher—not self published, pay-to-publish, publish on demand, partner-published, or similar—and be of interest to a general audience. Books not featured will be forwarded to Class Notes. Published February 16, 2026 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Students Undergrad Entrepreneur Wants Fellow Students to Sleep in Comfort Students Popular Course Offers Life Lessons from Faculty Dream Team Cornelliana In this Spooky Season, a Look Back at Rulloff—Ithaca’s Infamous Rogue