For more titles by Big Red authors, peruse our previous round-ups<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you published a book you’d like to submit? Scroll down for details!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And did you know that Cornell has an online book club? Check it out!<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alli Frank \u201992<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The novel<\/a> is the fifth work of woman-oriented fiction from Frank and her coauthor. Its title character is an empty-nester and Princeton alum who\u2019d begrudgingly followed her husband from New York to California for the sake of his career two decades earlier. Now, he has announced he\u2019s leaving her, declaring: \u201cIt\u2019s not me, it\u2019s you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s perspective) in the breakup scene, when she learns her husband is expecting a baby with his younger girlfriend:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs Thomas rakes his hands through his hair, it hits me that some other woman has been running her hands through it too. It\u2019s so unfair that his salt-and-pepper hair looks sexy, whereas mine costs me $300 quarterly to cover up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The coauthors\u2019 previous books<\/a> include The Better Half<\/em>\u2014released by actor Mindy Kaling\u2019s imprint\u2014and Never Meant to Meet You<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suzanne Mettler, PhD \u201994<\/strong> & Trevor Brown, PhD \u201925<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy have Americans living in different places come to experience politics as a battle between \u2018us\u2019 and \u2018them\u2019?\u201d says the book’s publisher, Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the press describes, its authors \u201cargue 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\u2014and has become organized through a pernicious rural-urban division.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div> Mettler is the John L. Senior Professor<\/a> of American Institutions; Brown is a postdoc at Johns Hopkins who\u2019ll join the University of Oregon faculty in fall 2026. In their book<\/a>\u2014subtitled The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy<\/em>\u2014they explore the dangers of political polarization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the New York Times<\/em>, political columnist Ezra Klein writes that while closing the divide won\u2019t be easy, \u201cit begins with understanding it and taking seriously the resentments that fuel it.\u201d And, he says, Mettler and Brown\u2019s new book \u201cis the best place I\u2019ve found to start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vicki Johnson \u201901<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This business guide<\/a> offers (per the subtitle) a \u201cformula for winning dream jobs, awards, and elite opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s penned by Johnson, a former government major in Arts & Sciences who founded ProFellow<\/a>, a curated database of fellowships, grad schools, and awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Topics include forming a winning mindset, becoming memorable to a selection committee, having timely goals, crafting a mutually beneficial pitch, and effectively using detail.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d she writes in the introduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut this fear is just the result of not having a framework to compellingly answer the question \u2018Why you?\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elena Brower \u201992<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest from the Human Ecology alum<\/a> was published by Shambhala, a small press specializing in books and courses on Buddhism, yoga, mindfulness, and wellness. It offers<\/a> practices and thought exercises aimed at encouraging self-discovery and self-inquiry, as well as abstract artwork by the author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat if the most important work of your life isn\u2019t something you chase\u2014but something you uncover, slowly, in stillness?\u201d says the publisher. <\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cWhat if your presence is the greatest offering you can make to the world? This book is an invitation to come home to yourself\u2014gently, honestly, and with great love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brower\u2019s previous books include Art of Attention<\/em>\u2014which has been translated into seven languages\u2014and the bestselling journals Practice You<\/em> and Being You<\/em>. A former textile designer who has taught yoga and meditation for more than a quarter-century, she also hosts the Practice You<\/em><\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diana Skelton \u201986<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt 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,\u201d writes the publisher, an independent press based in the U.K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Skelton\u2014herself an antipoverty activist who has worked for the U.N.\u2014offers a biography<\/a> of Rabagliati, whom she knew personally and professionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI met Mary in 1986, and lost her when she died in 1992,\u201d Skelton writes. \u201cIn 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\u2019t succumbed to cancer at the age of 50. What I didn\u2019t realize was that much of what she actually did accomplish was hidden from view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A double major<\/a> in history and in Russian and Soviet studies on the Hill, Skelton is an editor of the Journal of Poverty and Social Justice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarah Matt \u201904<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Trained as a surgeon, the CALS alum<\/a> also holds an MBA, and segued into a career as a health technology strategist, author, and speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her book<\/a>, subtitled The Definitive Guide to Breaking Geographic Barriers Through Technology<\/em>, parses how today\u2019s tech can best be harnessed to make healthcare more accessible for people around the globe\u2014from leading U.S. hospitals to under-resourced facilities in developing countries.<\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cI\u2019ve worked in operating rooms, free clinics, and startup war rooms. I\u2019ve helped build platforms used by millions and walked patients through care plans written in a language they didn\u2019t speak. I\u2019ve been a surgeon, a strategist, a tech exec, and a street medic,\u201d she writes in the preface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Every role taught me something different. The failures all pointed to the same truth. Access is not only about technology. It\u2019s also about design, trust, and execution. The tools matter, but only if they reach the people who need them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To submit your book for consideration, email cornellians@cornell.edu<\/a>. Please note that to be included, books must be recently published by a conventional publisher<\/strong>\u2014not self published, pay-to-publish, publish on demand, partner-published, or similar\u2014and be of interest to a general audience. Books not featured will be forwarded to Class Notes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Published February 16, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n This month\u2019s featured titles include a novel on midlife reinvention, a look at the urban-rural divide, and a guide to mindfulness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":9782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-66398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Run-for-Your-Life-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Run For Your Life, Callie Kingman<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRural Versus Urban<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/rural-vs-urban-A.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/pitch-your-potential-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Pitch Your Potential<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHold Nothing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/hold-nothing-A.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/joyful-revolution-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Joyful Revolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Borderless Healthcare Revolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/borderless-healthcare-A.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"