Customer Comments

This book is unlike anything else I've read, in the best way. It is beautiful and haunting, and has not left me, days later. Machado's writing is rich and fills you up, and has moments of perfectly encapsulating pieces of what it's like to be a woman in the world. This is queer feminist horror at its finest, and I cannot recommend it enough.

This is my favorite kind of non-fiction book: A deep dive into a subject I know only a little about, that really builds the background and history and details enough for you to fully appreciate what's going on. This book isn't just about the most expensive bottle of wine, it's about how wine auctions came to be, what built the momentum and the price, the storing of wine that dictates whether a bottle that is over a century old will be drinkable, the detective work involved in trying to verify an old bottle of wine is not a fake - with some fascinating side bars into fraudulent wine - along with some wine history, some american history, and, of course, wine tasting. A fascinating read from start to finish that will have you looking at the bottles on your shelf a little differently.

This book is a must read in today's data-driven world. It breaks down how bias in current practices get encoded into algorithms that are complicated, opaque, and continue and increase the same biases, but now under the guise of of objective computer equations. From predictive policing and projected recidivism rates to standardized testing as a tool in grading teachers, it explores how and why entrusting these calculations to computers continues and even amplifies the existing biases and blind spots to uphold existing systems of oppression and discrimination. It's a fascinating read, with advanced concepts broken down into easy to understand language, with ideas of how to improve the systems we're relying on more and more.

Oh, this book. My heart. It's beautiful and sweet, and I love it. The actual plot is a little thin, but the plot is not the reason to read it - the writing, the characters, the world. It's an enchanting, delightful, magical way to spend an afternoon. It's a lovely, beautiful novella on longing, belonging, magic, and home, and should not be missed.

I soaked in this book like you do in a bath. The language is gorgeous, the world detailed and deep, the story engrossing, heartbreaking, and beautiful. Jemisin is writing some of the very best fantasy currently, and her world building is well thought out, and a refreshing and far overdue departure from the standard euro-centric setting. It's going to be a fight at my house when the sequel comes out, to see who gets to read it first. I can't recommend this one enough.

It is no wonder this book one the 2015 Hugo Award for best novel. It's just the right mix of actual science and sci-fi science, and weaves its three settings together wonderfully, such that by the time you reach the third, you feel you already know it (I wish I could say more, but it's too good to spoil!) And, like the best science fiction, it says loads about humanity just through telling the story. I can hardly wait until the next book comes out.

What a delightful, romantic book! Li Lan is a proactive, competent, clever protagonist with whom it's delightful to spend so much time. The Chinese afterlife setting was interesting and refreshing, the romances sweeping, the danger exciting.

This is a lyrical, beautiful, and utterly heartbreaking book. It's magical and enchanting, and very starkly real at the same time, touching on modern day tragedies through a near-future African setting. It is not always an easy read, but it is a deeply engrossing and worthwhile one.

This is the only gem setting book you will ever need. I've been making jewelry for years, and this has types of settings I've never heard of, along with clear, well-photographed step-by-step instructions on how to make each one. This book is absolutely invaluable to anyone who wants to add stones or gems to their work. The book also keeps up a constant stream of beautifully photographed finished work of many different styles - it's lovely both to see the different settings 'in action' as well as to just be inspired by the wide variety of gorgeous jewelry. Each setting covered (have I mentioned there are a lot? Because there are a lot) also has a diagram breakdown from several angles, to make clear size requirements as it relates to the stone being set - really useful for an at-a-glance reference while working, to save yourself some costly mistakes. I'm so excited to try out some new settings I haven't done before! This is a must have for jewelers and metalworkers.

This book is gorgeous! A ton of color photographs of really unique and different boxes and lockets, which show a wide and inspiring range of uses for the skills in this book. At first glance, it seems to skew more heavily towards photographs of finished pieces, but look more closely - it's packed with information and how-to, just laid out in such a way as to always show you lovely finished pieces along side the work in progress shots. It's a great coffee table book, as well as a valuable addition to a jewelrymaker's library. The wide variety of hinges and clasps demonstrated here open up a whole world of movement and dimension for metalworkers. Highly recommended!

This is a must-have book for any metalworkers or jewelry makers. It is the bible on how to do foldforming, which is a beautiful and unique technique. This book is a wonderful balance of step by step how-to instructions and science explanations of why and how metal work hardens, with plenty of encouragement to experiment and absolutely gorgeous full color photographs. This book is just stunning, and one even people who don't work with metal would enjoy looking through. Charles Lewton Brain is the first to record these techniques and is considered the inventor of the method, and he has done an amazing job with this book. This should be a staple in any metalworker's library. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Even better than the first! Sal grows into a more forceful and fascinating person after the events of the first book, and the players on both sides of the war get a lot more complicated. The fact Mira Grant can make the other side in the battle for the fate of humanity sympathetic is a real feat, and one that makes the reader heavily invested from start to finish, through all the twists and turns. The ending will leave you waiting impatiently for book 3.

A great sci-fi-ish thriller. Set in the near future, a biotech firm has given most people tailored tapeworms, which supply all of their medication needs... until things start going wrong. It's an incredibly clever take - nothing so simple as worms bursting out of peoples' chests - and very creepy. A really fresh take on the body horror and mistrust in the zombie genre, with an increasingly complicated enemy. I want to say more in praise of it, but I can't without giving too much away! You'll have to give it a read.

Magical realism meets political satire in this beautiful book. Race, gender, politics, revolution, religion, and more all come together in this story that feels plenty grounded with just a touch of fairytale to take away the heavy bitterness a more literal take on the subject would have. I really can't recommend it enough - the prose is rich and beautiful, the story inspiring and heartbreaking, funny and biting, sad and hopeful. My next visit to Powell's will be to find more by this author.

First off, this is a great scifi book, and it does what the best science fiction does: makes you really think about the world we're in now, and our perceptions and prejudices. The language and culture of the main character is not one that differentiates between genders, leading her to refer to everyone by female pronouns as a general rule. I was surprised, delighted, and occasionally shocked how much my perceptions of different characters changed in the story upon having someone else point out that a given character was male. It was a wonderful play on my preconceptions, without getting preachy or pointed. It was a lovely bit of world building, and made the main character's POV appropriately interesting and foreign while still allowing a lot of sympathy from the reader. I can't recommend it enough.

Terrifying! In a world where seeing the wrong thing can drive you mad, every window is covered, and every step outside is taken while blindfolded. Malerman's writing is descriptive and rich, and made all the more frightening because so much of it is about sounds only, leaving it up to the characters and the reader to wonder just how bad it could be. I devoured this book in a single sitting, and still feel a little creeped out by it. Very atmospheric, deeply creepy, and a great twist on various end of the world scenarios. Highly recommended. Just read it during the day...

A beautiful novel of parallel stories of the different paths a life can take. Beautiful, sweet, tragic, and occasionally heartbreaking, I devoured this book in one sitting. While not a large part of the book, the bits dealing with dementia are well done and touching, while also not shying away from the realities. I loved the ups and downs of both lives, and that neither was just happy or sad, and that life was unfair and kind and sad and beautiful and above all complicated. Highly recommended, and a lovely read-alike to Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson.

Just what you need to get ready for Showtime's upcoming season 3 of Twin Peaks! 25 years after the series aired, Brad Dukes' extensive interviews are a great way to revisit the show and get some delightful behind the scenes stories. And I do mean extensive - they interview not just the main cast (with the exception of Lara Flynn Boyle), but set designers, directors, even the actors who played the parts in the in-series soap opera "Invitation to Love." As someone who became a fan of Twin Peaks well after it originally aired, these interviews were a tremendously fun way to learn about how the show was received at the time, and what it was like to make something so groundbreaking. It's a great read to enjoy with some cherry pie and some damn fine coffee.

There's no real plot to this, and I found I didn't mind. Auri is a delightful character to spend some time with (far more, I think, than Kvothe, in fact), and the feel one gets for the character over this short novella is worth the brief investment it takes to read it. The writing has some beautiful turns of phrase that stick with you, and the story, plot or no, is enchanting.

Oh my goodness, this is a must for English majors and other fans of classic literature. Lovingly teasing both classic characters such as Jane Eyre as well as authors and poets from Cormac McCarthy to Edgar Allan Poe, this book is just a laugh out loud delight from start to finish. It just gets funnier each time you read it.

The world building is fantastic - a world split into different Ages, so what we know of as New England is in the 1800s, while most of Europe is in the middle ages - and I would happily read more about just that. The plot was a little less intriguing, but Sophia is a great YA heroine who is clever and capable.

A neat twist on the zombie theme, and I was pleased that very little of the plot happened because a character was stupid (a too-common occurrence, particularly in zombie stories - 28 Weeks Later, I'm looking at you). It's not horror, though it has some tense scenes, and the book walks a fine line between emotional intimacy and mystery and tension. It may not start out as your thing, but give it a chance to pick up steam and you'll stick through it to the fantastic ending.

Beautifully written story about a woman reliving her own life over and over, and the different possibilities that reveals. The narrative voice has a sly sense of humor that keeps things fresh and makes you laugh in some unexpected places, and the writing is gorgeous and had me teary-eyed in others. A lovely, hopeful book, and highly recommended.

Beautiful and sweet exploration of what it means to leave your homeland and your people, and start somewhere new and strange.

A great mystery/thriller with twists and turns and without the violent misogyny that tends to dominate the genre. Kept me up late at night wanting to finish one more chapter, and pushing it on my friends so I have people to discuss it with. Loved it!

Beautiful and strange - reminded me a bit of China Mieville's earlier works. Great world building that happens creatively around the edges of a strange, beautiful, and slightly tragic story.