Staff Picks by Tag

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Starling House By Alix E. Harrow Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781250799050
Availability: Coming soon - available for pre-order now
Published: Tor Books - October 3rd, 2023

Almost no one who has been the Master of Starling House through the centuries has been born a Starling. They became one through choice, a voice in their head, a home in their dreams, Starling House called to them all. To become Master is a contract with the house itself, to be given a home in exchange for giving their life to protect the community from the unspeakable horror that hunts Eden, KY. Now the house calls to Opal, raised in its shadow, with the promise of a home for her brother and herself. But for a new Master to assume responsibility, the old one must die, and what if HIS face also haunts her dreams and calls to her heart?


Review by Deborah

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Bloom By Delilah S. Dawson Cover Image
$22.99
ISBN: 9781803365756
Availability: Coming soon - available for pre-order now
Published: Titan Books - October 3rd, 2023

It begins as a sweet, playful romance. Rosemary and Ash have a thing going–whatever that may mean. As an assistant professor, Rosemary is good with words, while Ash is an artisan who makes everything by hand. Everything is syrupy sweet until it becomes acrid. As a horror novel, you know that something sinister lurks around the corner, bubbling right under the surface, but you’re not quite sure what it is that is itching at the back of your mind until it drenches you like a bucket of ice. This is perfect for those who are allured by the thrill and the sense of dread that slowly spreads through your veins until it consumes you.


Review by Lauren

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The Wall By Marlen Haushofer, Shaun Whiteside (Translated by), Claire Louise-Bennett (Afterword by) Cover Image
By Marlen Haushofer, Shaun Whiteside (Translated by), Claire Louise-Bennett (Afterword by)
$16.95
ISBN: 9780811231947
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: New Directions - June 21st, 2022

A woman vacationing in the Austrian mountains awakes one morning to find herself cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible wall. With only a dog for company, she must learn to live off the land; hunting, farming and scouting for supplies all while maintaining her sanity. The prose of this translated work is straightforward and somewhat bleak, touching on themes of identity, women's "worth" and the importance (or not) of physical appearance. Haunting and beautifully original, this is a book I'll be thinking about for a long time.


Review by Jade

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Study for Obedience: A novel By Sarah Bernstein Cover Image
$22.95
ISBN: 9781039009066
Availability: Out of stock, usually available in 3-10 days
Published: Knopf Canada - August 22nd, 2023

Bewitchingly claustrophobic and uncomfortable, wrapped in a sensuous blanket of sophisticated and eerie prose. Nothing felt real yet Bernstein's perception of the most basic human emotions is stunning and oddly the most real thing I've ever read. 

 


Review by Sofia

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Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel By Satoshi Yagisawa, Eric Ozawa (Translated by) Cover Image
By Satoshi Yagisawa, Eric Ozawa (Translated by)
$16.99
ISBN: 9780063278677
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Harper Perennial - July 4th, 2023

Utterly charming and simply sweet. A wonderful tale of the joy of reading and the community found among the shelves of well-loved and oft neglected books.  


Review by Sofia

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An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures By Clarice Lispector, Stefan Tobler (Translated by), Sheila Heti (Afterword by), Benjamin Moser (Series edited by) Cover Image
By Clarice Lispector, Stefan Tobler (Translated by), Sheila Heti (Afterword by), Benjamin Moser (Series edited by)
$15.95
ISBN: 9780811232210
Availability: Out of stock, usually available in 3-10 days
Published: New Directions - May 3rd, 2022

The beauty of this little book is that you'll be confused as you are comforted by Lispector's dense but sensical ramblings and yearning akin to no other. Clarice's mind is a mystery but a beautiful one at that. 

 


Review by Sofia

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Shark Heart: A Love Story By Emily Habeck Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9781668006498
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books - August 8th, 2023

Such a strong and ambitious and creative debut. Habeck made me fully believe in this world where a shark or reptile or zebra mutation is just as typical but cutting as a cancer diagnosis. She combines playwriting and poetry with prose that’s familiar but fresh and exciting. I will be thinking about and loving these characters for a long time.

 


Review by Emily

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How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures By Sabrina Imbler Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780316540537
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Little, Brown and Company - December 6th, 2022

Are you scared of what lies below the surface? Don't be! Or do. I don't know your life. But Imbler is able to make the creatures that live there so reachable (you'll learn something!) while not reaching too far to liken them to their own life (you'll feel something) on their mission toward identity, love, beauty, community, survival. We're more alike than we seem. 

This is like the nonfiction equivalent to Our Wives Under the Sea.


Review by Emily

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The Formation of Calcium By M. S. Coe Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781943679157
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Spurl Editions - March 29th, 2023

Easily seduced by tales of outliers or a wicked protagonist, this book's promise of a woman's "ill-fated transformation" was beyond irresistible.

Mary Ellen (or is she Dedee? or maybe Natalie?) crept under my skin and made me squirm, squirm, squirm.


Review by Wes

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The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance By Dan Egan Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9781324002666
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - March 7th, 2023

Perhaps the greatest environmental catastrophe you've never heard of, Dan Egan details our tumultuous relationship with phosphorus over the years.

From its discovery through human waste in labs, to its destruction of our waterways during the 50's and 60's due to our need to be sudsy clean, up to our current crisis with agriculture's obsession with it.

The Devil's Element is concise, easily readable, and compelling. A lovely delight!


Review by Zack

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