Staff Picks by Tag

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The Marriage Portrait: A novel By Maggie O'Farrell Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780593320624
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Knopf - September 6th, 2022

13 Years old and now engaged to marry your recently deceased sisters fiancé. What could go wrong? Lucrezia de'Medici must leave her family home, and will be expected to bear an heir for Alfonso of Ferrara. He is loving and attentive, and life is pleasurable, until its not. Who is he really? She tells us from chapter 1 that he wants to kill her. A fascinating historical spin. O'Farrell does not disappoint!


Review by Jenny

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Finding Me: An Oprah's Book Club Pick By Viola Davis Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9780063037328
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: HarperOne - April 26th, 2022

Achingly honest and open to the world, Davis takes you from her broken childhood to her triple crown of acting awards. Always searching to be accepted, she learns to accept herself first. Her realities are tough to read, but Davis hides behind nothing. She doesnt focus on the fame and fortune, but on the tough grind required to reach her goals.  


Review by Jenny

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Little Rabbit By Alyssa Songsiridej Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9781635578690
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - May 3rd, 2022

Just some of the most beautiful writing about relationships. I couldn't put this one down. Sexy, tense, and layered. If you've been eyeing this one but haven't picked it up, this is your sign to do so now. 


Review by Rosa

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Patricia Wants to Cuddle By Samantha Allen Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781638930044
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Zando - June 28th, 2022

Hard to put down! Very readable like chips are very eatable; you can't have just one. It tickled my behind-the-scenes of the Bachelor itch and hit me in my PNW heart. Allen really brought out the stops for this horror comedy with just the right amount of camp and believability. Come on, this lady sasquatch just wants to cuddle. 


Review by Emily

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Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic By Eliza Smith, Haley Swanson Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780063071339
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Harper Perennial - May 17th, 2022

I'm so glad this amalgamation of the editors' and writers' work of re/unlearning Helen Gurley Brown's 1962 Sex and the Single Girl is alive and waiting for readers. The source text, while titillating for its time, is very much outdated for our time so these writers expand past the white, heteronormative, cisgendered, ablebodied, monogamous way of sex and relationships clogging up the information pipeline for single women. These essays do more than just advise you to be sexy for the sake of a man. Female pleasure, queer dating, transitioning, polyamory, celibacy, IVF, not getting married, not having kids - it tackles so much and is definitely worth your time. 

 


Review by Emily

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The School for Good Mothers: A Novel By Jessamine Chan Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781982156121
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books - January 4th, 2022

Holy cow, this book is fantastic! It's beautiful and terrifying and brilliant. When Frida has one very bad day, she is in danger of losing her baby daughter. To regain her parental rights, Frida is enrolled in "The School for Good Mothers".

This is absolutely my favorite book of 2022.

I am in awe of the story Chan spins as it provides a profound insight into just how far we'll go for our children. The book is astonishing, fast-paced, and deeply moving.

 


Review by Haley

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If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English: A Novel By Noor Naga Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781644450819
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Graywolf Press - April 12th, 2022

Inventive, powerful, thought-provoking. Each sentence is as beautifully and thoughtfully rendered as an entire poem. I loved everything about this book and cannot stop talking about it!


Review by Lily

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White on White: A Novel By Aysegül Savas Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780593330517
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Riverhead Books - December 7th, 2021

Reading this was like trying to catch your balance while roaming a cliffside. The unnamed narrator allows you to easily imagine yourself experiencing the events as they unfold eerily before you. 

 


Review by Lily

Review by Lily

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The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir By E. J. Koh Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781951142278
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Tin House Books - January 19th, 2021

As children, it is so difficult to understand the decisions our parents make, or how they love us. Koh’s rediscovery and subsequent translation of her mother’s letters is the rediscovery of a mother’s love. The interspersed memories provide a hard-hitting perspective, but it is balanced by such lyrical delivery. 


Review by Madison

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