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This recording is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library and Labyrinth Books. The author discusses his new memoir "Dad, Love, Me" with Amy Jo Burns followed by a book signing.

About the Book (from the publisher):
Written in the form of a letter to his ailing father, this debut memoir from the bestselling author of "The Silver Linings Playbook" explores the complicated burden of caring for an abusive parent who is dying—here is Matthew Quick’s most personal and potent work to date.

On the surface, Matthew Quick seemed to have it all—a loving wife, a thriving career as a novelist, and a beautiful home. He’d traveled all over the world advocating for mental health awareness, standing before crowds as a success story. But secretly, he was depressed and some days, he didn’t want to live.

Years earlier, when he first told his father he wanted to be a novelist, the response was immediate and brutal: “Idiot!” That voice—angry and belittling—would echo through Quick’s mind for years. He channeled his pain into his debut novel, "The Silver Linings Playbook," crafting a complex father-son dynamic drawn straight from his own life. The book became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Still, the approval Quick longed for never came. His father remained cold and withholding. The deeper the rift between them grew, the deeper Quick sank into anxiety and addiction.

In this book, Quick takes readers deep into his psyche, as he wrestles with both his own mental health and his father’s cognitive decline. A health scare finally forces Quick to get sober, but then, overcome by creative paralysis, writer’s block threatens to end his career. The blank page is unbearable. As his desperation for healing peaks, Quick turns to a Jungian analyst he nicknames “Zeus.” In the safety of analysis, as Quick’s repressed pain and shame surface, he finally cracks. Just as he is putting himself back together, his father is diagnosed with dementia.

Suddenly, the clock is ticking. If there is ever going to be reconciliation, it has to happen now. Quick and his wife pack up their lives in coastal North Carolina, drive eight hours, and move into a house just around the corner from Quick’s parents, on an island right outside of Beaufort, South Carolina. There, as his father slips further and further away, Quick races to make a healing connection.

"Dad, Love, Me" is Quick’s raw, vulnerable, and deeply moving account of what it means to forgive a parent who never really knew how to love you. It’s about wounds that never fully heal, and the power of showing up anyway. This beautifully brave and life-affirming memoir is a must read for anyone who has been starved of love but wants to keep loving anyway.

About the Author:
Matthew Quick is the New York Times bestselling author of "The Silver Linings Playbook"—which was made into an Oscar-winning film—and eight other novels, including "We Are the Light," a main selection of the Book of the Month Club. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention, was an Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a #1 bestseller in Brazil, a Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis 2016 (German Youth Literature Prize) nominee, and selected by Nancy Pearl as one of Summer’s Best Books for NPR. The Hollywood Reporter has named him one of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. Matthew lives with his wife, the novelist Alicia Bessette, in Beaufort, South Carolina.

About the Moderator:
Amy Jo Burns is a frequent presence at Princeton Public Library literary events. Her new novel, "Wait for Me," is the Today Show Read With Jenna pick for March 2026. She is the author of three other books, including "Cinderland," "Shiner," and "Mercury," which was a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and an Editor’s Choice selection in The New York Times. A western Pennsylvania native, she lives in New Jersey with her family.

This event was recorded on July 21, 2026.

This recording is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library, Morven Museum & Garden and Labyrinth Books.

The authors discuss and sign copies of "A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams" at this annual event featuring refreshments, giveaways and more. Tickets are $20 and include a copy of the book.

A popular library tradition since 2016, the annual Summer Reading Soirée features sparkling beverages, sorbet, sweet treats, as well as door prizes and giveaways. Attendees have the opportunity to mingle with library staff and fellow book lovers, share favorite recent reads and discover new titles to add to their summer reading lists. The soirée also offers a chance to stroll through the beautiful grounds of Morven Museum & Garden.

About the Book (from the publisher):
In time for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams—wife of one president and mother to another—whose wit, willpower, and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic.

In the heart of revolutionary Boston, Abigail Adams raises her children amid riots, blockades, and the outbreak of war. While her husband, John Adams, rises from country lawyer to nation-builder, often away for years at a time, Abigail builds her own independence—managing their farm, making lucrative investments, amassing savings, battling plague and loss, and defending their home. Unafraid to speak her mind, she famously offers fearless political counsel, urging John to “remember the ladies” in the new government. Through it all, she becomes his most trusted confidante and indispensable ally.

When peace is secured, Abigail steps onto the world stage—exchanging ideas with Thomas Jefferson in the French countryside, navigating court life as the wife of the Minister to Great Britain, and presiding over the parlor politics of the early American republic in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Even after her husband’s presidential administration, she continues battling political foes and working behind the scenes to advance her family, secure independence for the women in her life, and ensure a better life for the next generation of Americans.

From war-torn streets to the chandeliered halls of power, A Founding Mother is the unforgettable story of a woman ahead of her time—one whose voice, vision, and valor still resonate powerfully today.

About the Authors:
Stephanie Dray is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. Her award-winning work tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. She lives near the nation’s capital with her husband, cats, and history books.

Laura Kamoie is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from the College of William and Mary and published two nonfiction books on early America.

Previous books co-written by the authors include the New York Times bestselling novels "America’s First Daughter" and "My Dear Hamilton."

This event was recorded on July 08, 2026.

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Historian and author Jeffrey A. Denman presents his new book, "Philadelphia Quakers and the American Revolution."

About the book (from the publisher):
Discover the history of Philadelphia's Quakers as they rose to power and prosperity and fell into peril.

Fleeing political upheavals in England for settlement in the New World, Quakers rose to unprecedented economic and political power in the Pennsylvania colony. However, the failure of the Quaker-dominated government to provide for defense in the wars from the 1730s into the 1760s was the beginning of their downfall. By the Revolution, their fortunes had waned, and they were brutally suppressed by their political foes. Seventeen influential Friends and three others were exiled to Virginia without so much as a hearing, and Quaker farms and businesses were subject to depredations. Labeled dissenters by Loyalist and Patriot alike, they stood their ground, alone and isolated.

Through the words of those who were there, author and historian Jeff Denman vividly describes the precipitous rise of the Philadelphia Quakers and their fall during the American Revolution.

About the author:
Jeff Denman is a graduate of the University of Maine (BS) and the University of Connecticut (MA) and was a U.S. history and world geography teacher in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is the author of several articles on U.S. history and coauthor of "Greene and Cornwallis in the Carolinas: The Pivotal Struggle of the American Revolution, 1780–1781" and "John Quincy Adams, Reluctant Abolitionist."

Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This event was recorded on June 22, 2026.

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Patrice Nganang writes about his vibrant, animated youth in Cameroon, a period of upheaval and change in the country’s history and in his life. An extraordinary chronicle of youth that evokes the paradoxes of modern Africa—complex, contradictory, and full of conflict, tragedy, and joy.

"Scale Boy" is a memoir that brings great brightness and joy to the tumultuous years of discovering oneself and one’s community; though there are moments of danger and confusion in his story, Nganang aims to present a new vision of a young Black African man’s coming-of-age.

About the Author:
Patrice Nganang is a Cameroonian writer, author of more than 15 books including the novel "Dog Days" for which he won the Marguerite Yourcenar Literary Award and the Black African Literary Grand Prize. He is head of the Department of African, African American and Caribbean Studies (Africana) at the State University of New York, Stony Brook where he teaches literary and cultural theory.

About the Moderator:
Colby Cedar Smith is an award-winning poet, novelist, and educator, and the author of two novels in verse: "The Siren and the Star" and "Call Me Athena." Her work has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a Cybils Award Poetry Finalist, a Goodreads Choice Best Poetry nominee, a Kids’ Book Choice nominee, Independent Publisher Book Award winner, a Nautilus Award winner, a Michigan Notable Book, and a winner of the Midwest Book Award for YA Fiction. Colby has also been a recipient of the New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship in Poetry.

This event was recorded on June 7, 2026.

This recording is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library and jaZams. YA author K.L. Walther discusses her latest novel, "The Summer of Second Chances," with the library's Teen Advisory Board.

About the book:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "The Summer of Broken Rules" comes another incredible summer romance about holding onto memories, making new ones, learning to let go, and unexpectedly falling in love.

Olivia Lupo feels stuck. All her friends have gone on to their first year of college while she's still at home with her family. There's a good reason though, her beloved grandmother, Annie, has dementia, and Olivia can't bear the thought of being so far from home when Annie needs her the most.

So when her stepmother asks the family to spend three weeks of the summer on Martha's Vineyard, Olivia plans to say no...until she discovers an old box Annie filled with photos and memories from her own time there. Olivia decides to follow in her grandmother's footsteps and spend some time on the island that Annie describes as magical.

When she arrives, she meets Connor, a boy from her past who really wants to be a part of her present... and future. Olivia's never thought about forever with someone until meeting Connor...and it scares her. How can she make plans when all she wants to do is keep close to her grandmother before she's gone forever? As she recreates the memories Annie made a lifetime ago, she has to decide if she's finally willing to give someone her heart, just when she needs it the most.

About the author:
K.L. Walther was born and raised in the rolling hills of Bucks County, Pennsylvania surrounded by family, dogs, and books. Her childhood was spent traveling the northeastern seaboard to play ice hockey. She attended a boarding school in New Jersey and went on to earn a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia. She is happiest on the beach with a book, cheering for the New York Rangers, or enjoying a rom-com while digging into a big bowl of popcorn and M&Ms.

This event was recorded on May 17, 2026.

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Great Game Lab director Andrés Martinez discusses the convergence of footballing in this talk based on his book "The Great Game: A Tale of Two Footballs and America’s Quest to Conquer Global Sport."

The United States is the only major nation on earth that can't compete against others in its favorite spectator sport because no one else plays it. But as the world's game of football keeps growing in popularity in the United States and the nation prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the two footballing worlds are converging.

In "The Great Game," Andrés Martinez looks at how a generation of sporting billionaires, tech and media conglomerates, women players propelled by Title IX, computer game enthusiasts, and immigrants have sought to end America's sports isolationism--not by continuing to expand the reach of “their” games, but by turning their country into an unexpected power in the other, international, football. It's a story of America's changing cultural customs and demography, as well as a tale of shifting business philosophies driven by technology. Sport has become an ever more massive industry, its economic value soaring thanks to its unique ability to still bring together audiences in the tens of millions on a regular basis and a growing appreciation for its “soft” yet impactful branding power.

About the Author:
Andrés Martinez is co-director of the Great Game Lab at Arizona State University, where he also teaches at the Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a fellow at the New America think tank. He has been a business reporter, editorial writer, and editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a series of editorials on global trade. He has also written extensively on sport and globalization for the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Time, Reuters, the Washington Post, and Reforma.

This event was recorded on May 13, 2026