When it comes to forthcoming books, the Powell’s Book Buying team are the ones to look to for recommendations. They know what they’re talking about, and they were kind enough to put together this list of 21 books they can’t wait to read this summer (and one coming out this fall that they really can’t wait for), with topics that range from “the California Vivian Maier” to engineered environments to the Children of God cult to magic tutorships to Norwegian fairy tales. Take our word for it: you’ll want to trust their recommendations and put in your preorders now.
Leah B.'s Picks
Leah buys books for the art and craft sections. She is getting better at keeping her houseplants alive.
Art Escapes: Hidden Art Experiences Outside the Museum (June 2022)
by Edited by gestalten and Grace Banks
I want to step into the cover of this book. What you’re looking at is one of Yayoi Kusama’s iconic pumpkins sitting serenely at the end of a dock in Japan. Seeing this object in the conventional space of the museum is one thing, but encountering it outside those walls, in nature, the experience becomes something completely different. Art Escapes features pieces from all from all over the world, and is indeed a wonderful escape for art lovers.
Kali: Artographer (September 2022)
by Len Prince
Joan Archibald is being called “the California Vivian Maier.” Her work was locked in a shed for over 40 years, and only discovered recently after her death. Archibald abandoned her life as a 1960s Long Island housewife to start over in in Malibu as Kali. Once there, she created an enormous body of work — primarily photographic prints and polaroids that she altered and transformed into what I can only call psychedelic visions. Saturated in color, blurred to a dream state, the self-portraits in particular are simultaneously haunting and enchanting.
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Kim T.'s Picks
Kim is one of the children’s book buyers and adult nonfiction buyers. She loves spending time with her family and their sweet Australian Shepherd.
This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You (September 2022)
by Ogi Ogas and Susan Rogers
I’ve often wondered why my unique musical tastes are so very different from friends or relatives. Why don’t the emotions of a specific song or musical artist evoke the same feelings as someone similar to myself? Susan Rogers, award-winning professor of cognitive neuroscience, explores this concept and explains our unique “listening profile” based on our brain’s natural responses to any song. Roger's background as Prince’s chief engineer for the album Purple Rain and the lively narrative make this a fascinating read.
Garlic and the Witch (September 2022)
by Bree Paulsen
The sequel to the utterly charming Garlic and the Vampire from last September follows our main character, Garlic, as she flies to the Magic Market to find the right ingredient for a vegetarian blood substitute for the friendly Count. Bree Paulson’s palette of warm autumn colors and lots of humor make this a great slightly-spooky-but-not-too-scary read for ages 8 and up.
Adventure Game Comics: Leviathan (August 2022)
by Jason Shiga
My family and I are such big fans of 2010’s Meanwhile, with seemingly endless adventures written and illustrated by the great & creative mind of Jason Shiga. This new adventure in a medieval fantasy setting features monsters, wizards and castles! Hundreds of different adventures and endings with tubes from different panels leading to another panel or number to choose another option. There are even some blank boxes to fill in on your own. Perfect for ages seven and up and offers hours of entertainment!
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Corie K-B.’s Picks
Corie is our sciences and tech buyer, and a self-proclaimed DNA nerd.
Magic of Mushrooms: Fungi in folklore, science and the occult (August 2022)
by Sandra Lawrence
All hail the glory of mushrooms! Quite possibly the most beautiful and important resource in the natural environment, mushrooms have been treasured since the dawn of humans. The Magic of Mushrooms walks us through the practice and lore of the mighty fungus, showing us how people have treasured, been fascinated by, and misused the mushroom throughout history. The illustrations are beautiful as they speak to the magical influence the mushroom has always brought to our lives.
Textured Art: Palette Knife and Impasto Painting Techniques in Acrylic (September 2022)
by Melissa McKinnon
Summer and early fall for me is a time to enjoy the outdoors, especially as it pertains to my back garden. While I usually leave the painting crafts for the confined, wet, and windy months we have here in the Pacific Northwest, I recently came across Textured Art: Palette Knife & Impasto Painting Techniques in Acrylic. Forget the rain and wind of winter — this summer I move outdoors with my acrylics and modeling paste and bring my garden to full-on textured glory. As far as craft projects go, acrylic paints, a basic canvas and an assortment of palette knives are a budget-friendly and low-risk venture. I imagine beautiful fields of textured lavender in my future, and I can't wait!
Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment (September 2022)
by Grady Hillhouse
The engineered environment is all around us and pretty much impossible to escape. While we live so dependently on these systems, we take for granted the profound benefits engineering bring to our lives. In Engineering in Plain Sight we get a front-row view of what it takes to run our cities and a better understanding of the systems around us. With clear illustrations and layman-friendly writing, we get an opportunity to explore (and comprehend) our world.
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Jen H.'s Picks
Jen buys books for the mystery and sports sections. Her three favorite things are books, cats, and basketball.
The Bullet That Missed: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery
by Richard Osman
I absolutely love the Thursday Murder Club series. Four pensioners living in a retirement community in the English countryside meet every Thursday to discuss unsolved crimes. Once they make friends with a local police constable and her boss, they start putting their detecting skills to work in the real world. The charming characters, the clever plots with just the right amount of twists and the idyllic setting, make this series one of my new favorites. I cannot wait to read about the next case these smart and sassy seniors investigate. While this is the third in the series, you do not need to have read the previous installments to enjoy this one.
Amari and the Great Game (August 2022)
by B. B. Alston
Amari and the Night Brothers is one of my new favorites for young readers and I am thrilled that book two will be available soon. Alston has created a fun and fresh supernatural world populated with imaginative creatures and a great hero in Amari. In this installment, Amari is looking forward to summer camp at the Bureau where she will be a Junior Agent and learn more about her magical abilities when an unauthorized time freeze stirs up anti-magician feelings in the supernatural world. Will Amari be able to use her talents to change peoples’ minds about magicians like her? I look forward to finding out!
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Deana R.'s Picks
Deana buys for Religion, Cooking, Gardening, Agriculture, and Sustainable Living. She is an avid home cook, amateur theologian, prolific crafter, and voracious consumer of genre fiction. Somewhere in her spare time, she’s managed to raise two kind, intelligent human beings and numerous cats.
Uncultured (September 2022)
by Daniella Mestyanek Young
A gripping memoir of a woman born to a high-ranking family in the Children of God cult. Escaping the cult at 15 and later joining the US Army, she is left to grapple with the similarities of military life to the cult indoctrination she survived as a child.
Just Like Home (July 2022)
by Sarah Gailey
Coming home is always scary, but never more so than in Gailey’s newest book. Returning to her childhood home to care for her mother, Vera Crowder. I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s a serial killer in the past, a creepy artist in the present, and a house full of secrets and monsters.
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Doug C.'s Picks
Doug buys graphic novels for Powell's, writes rarely published fiction, and lives with a wonderful spouse and a ridiculous dog.
Wash Day Diaries (July 2022)
by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith
Here is a great idealization of making the specific and everyday something that can resonate with us all. Here is a reason to read, and to specifically read graphic novels — to be allowed into lives and worlds other than our own. This book loves its characters and it loves its readers.
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Madeline S.’s Picks
Madeline is one of our children’s book buyers, with a focus on YA and middle grade; she also buys world languages and some adult nonfiction. In high school, she was voted “most likely to randomly give an inspirational speech.”
A Venom Dark and Sweet (August 2022)
by Judy I. Lin
I devoured (slurped?) the first book in this brilliant, imaginative debut duology from Judy I. Lin. Inspired by her Taiwanese and Chinese heritage, the magicians of Lin’s world are master teamakers, shénnóng-shi, whose brews can compel honesty, heal or harm, and more. I was thrilled to learn I’d only have to wait five months for the sequel to learn the fates of teamaker Ning, exiled princess Zhen, formerly banished prince Kang, and the kingdom of Dàxi. If you’re looking for a unique fantasy read, pick up A Magic Steeped in Poison and join me in counting down the days until the release of A Venom Dark and Sweet!
East of the Sun, West of the Moon (August 2022)
by Jackie Morris
This gorgeous reissue of a 2010 title features one of my favorite artists (Morris, last year’s The Unwinding) retelling and illustrating my favorite fairy tale. Similar to the story of Cupid and Psyche, this Norwegian story features a young woman undertaking a classic hero’s journey, and Morris’s dreamy illustrations bring her journey to life. Fairy tale fanatics will be curious to know that the story here takes on a new ending, and while I’m quite partial to the original, I love the choices Morris makes in her storytelling. Her final pages left me with chills.
Demon in the Wood
by Leigh Bardugo
Fans of the Grishaverse (and its Netflix adaptation of Shadow and Bone) should be sure to pick up Bardugo’s first graphic novel entry to the series: Demon in the Wood, finally illuminating the backstory of the complicated, compelling villain the Darkling. Illustrated by fantastically talented newcomer Dani Pendergast, this prequel will serve as an interesting entry point for new Grishaverse readers as well.
BONUS: Greywaren (October 2022)
by Maggie Stiefvater
This one is further out on the horizon, but when I think of books that I’m eagerly anticipating, it makes the top of the list. The final entry in Stiefvater’s Dreamer trilogy (set in the same world as her masterful Raven Boys quartet) promises a clash between the dreamers and those who hunt them, with the fate of magic, the natural world, and maybe even life as we know it at stake. This trilogy reads as Stiefvater’s ode to the power of art, and once I have my hands on it, I’m going to be torn between tearing through it as quickly as possible and slowing down to savor every perfectly-chosen word.
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Mary Jo S’s Picks
Mary Jo buys literature, science fiction, and horror. She firmly believes in the redemptive power of strong tea.
Thank You for Listening (August 2022)
by Julia Whelan
Julia Whelan returns with her second novel, Thank You For Listening, which is every bit the gift that her work as audiobook narrator is. The novel focuses on two audiobook narrators, Sewanee and Brock, and the story of their relationship. Whelan’s dialogue, pacing, and sense of humor are topnotch. This is a standout offering amid a sea of rom-coms.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (August 2022)
by Sangu Mandanna
Okay, so you’ve read all of TJ Klune, Becky Chambers, T. Kingfisher — but there has to be something else, right? You are in luck, because The Secret Society of Very Irregular Witches is exactly the book you need. Mika is a South Asian witch who is mysteriously summoned to a house hidden in the countryside to tutor three young girls in controlling their magic. Found family, a cranky librarian, and a car whose interior magically expands are just a few of the delights to be found.
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Ryan V.W.’s Picks
R.V.W. is the buyer for history and social science. Any free time they have is devoted wholly to Dungeons & Dragons and scotch whisky.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (August 2022)
by Wizards RPG Team
Young Ryan always loved science-fiction/fantasy mashups. He-Man, Thundarr the Barbarian, and the 1980 Flash Gordon movie were among my favorite pieces of media. Anything that mixed swords, wizards, and lasers were going to get my attention. When the Spelljammer campaign setting first debuted in 1989 I was hooked from the start. Unfortunately for young Ryan, TSR stopped producing Spelljammer material right before they were purchased by Wizards of the Coast. The folks at WotC have teased us with the occasional Spelljammer monster showing up in an adventure or manual, but true Spelljammer fans have been out of luck. Until now! Wizards of the Coast is giving us the motherlode of Spelljammer material. This box is stuffed with everything you will need to take your 5th Edition campaign to the stars. My current players are too young to know what Spelljammer is. I can’t wait to take them to whole new worlds.
Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America (September 2022)
by Pekka Hämäläinen
The longstanding historical narrative of the European conquest of the Americas has been a theme of inevitability. Though they resist admirably, Native peoples were destined to fail. As with all the myths our modern world is built upon, the reality is much more nuanced. When Europeans arrived, they encountered nations and cultures that didn’t just disappear. The peoples of the Americas took centuries to conquer, and maps from the time were often based more on imperial desires than actual control. Indigenous Continent changes the historical perspective from those who would have and eventually won to those who had and never stopped fighting to hold on to what was theirs.
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For more recommendations, check out the
buyers' desk picks for spring 2022 and our booksellers'
2022 midyear roundup.