Staff Picks

Sarah Jaffe’s Work Won’t Love You Back is an incredible, necessary read that helped me make sense of what I have experienced throughout my entire adult working career, and what I experienced as part of the union bargaining team negotiating a new contract for Powell’s workers. The love of labor that modern workplaces are designed around is not a sustainable way to build a life — it positions the individual to feel at fault when the work is not fulfilling, to blame themselves when the work does not pay them enough to live, and to feel guilty or greedy when advocating for better working conditions. Jaffe’s impeccably written, well-researched book is required reading for anyone who cares about what they do, and anyone who wants to make the world a better place.

Need some queer anger? There's plenty to be mad about, right? Well, this is a work to stoke your passion. It certainly did mine. A collection of poetry, with a mini-zine essay sandwiched in the middle, this innovative work also features poems in envelopes and a pop-out waterfall poem. With fabulous illustrations by the author, The Queer Revolt: Poetry for Revolution is a little zine bursting with heart, creativity, and some well-justified queer rage. Brought to you by The Poet Heroic founder and author of Dear God I'm a Faggot and Happy LGBTQ Wrath Month, Timothy Arliss OBrien.

This book is one of my favorite works of fiction. However, stating that has earned me more than one concerned glance over the years. The thing about this book is, even sixty years after its publication, it is something that many young girls, and young people in general, still relate to. Truly the most wonderful thing about this novel is its truth and vulnerability, both of which are often the reason people turn away from it. It is meant to be raw, and honest, and vulnerable, as most of Sylvia’s work is, and sitting with that can open your eyes to the world around you and leave you feeling much less alone when you’re struggling. I truly cannot recommend this book enough.

Unanimously voted "Best Book I've Read," Garcia-Marquez created an entire world which at times feels more real and magical than our own. Follow the triumphs and tragedies of the Buendia family from the beginnings of civilization to the end! 

Wharton's moody story contains an accident in the winter snow, a bitter wife, a young houseguest, and a startling love triangle which shouts out loud: "Be careful what you wish for." These things add up to a perfect slice of irony, and one of my very favorite classics. Fabulous!

One of the most overlooked classics, this novel is the gorgeous and harrowing story of the immigrant experience in America. Based partially on family history, Rolvaag imbues his story with poignancy and brilliance.

Debbie Harry may not take herself that seriously, but she deeply respects the creative process. In her memoir, she explains how the bygone friendships and locales of ’70s New York inspired her and helped make Blondie rock-and-roll superstars.

Times are tough. All any of us needs is a cool, slightly older friend who will hand us a bowl of cereal and let us pet their cat while they impart their wisdom and affirmation onto us. Fortunately, such a remedy has arrived in the form of merritt k. and Charlotte Shane (cat and cereal not included). Equal parts familiar and challenging, this beautiful, hand-printed pamphlet features discussion of sex work, monogamy, plastic surgery, the paradox of choice, and those awful Tinder dates that morph into gender therapy. Read this book, mark it up, then pass it along to someone you love.

This coming-of-age tale is Michael Chabon's first novel. Foreshadowing the themes of his later books, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh explores the complicated pathways of sexuality and the power of relationships with friends, family, and lovers. Both comical and tragic, Chabon's debut book will assuage the doubts of any readers experiencing intense transition in their lives.

Tom Franklin uses his own humorous life events — but gives them a dark spin — in order to plot this suspenseful novel. Two teen boys, best friends as children, become estranged after a girl goes missing. Decades later, when another girl disappears, they confront each other as men: one a police officer, and the other under a lifelong cloud of suspicion. Franklin knows how to ratchet up the tension and dread, and this book is humming with both. He absolutely deserves his reputation as one of the best Southern Gothic writers today.

Leave it to Michael Chabon to take the Jews directly from WWII and plunk them into what could best be described as Yiddish noir — set in Alaska. In this wacky tale, Jews were temporarily relocated to Sitka, Alaska, where they created a new world for themselves following the 1948 collapse of Israel. Now, 60 years later, their enclave is about to revert to Alaskan control. Into this setup, which is equal parts absurd and poignant, Chabon introduces a broken-down cop, a murder mystery, a chess playing junkie, and a criminal gang of Hasidim. All combined, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is fiercely imaginative, roaringly entertaining, and surprisingly profound.

I loved this memoir. Josh goes from being a famous-in-Japan drag queen, known for his use of live goldfish as part of his costume, to living with his crack-addicted male escort boyfriend. His hilarious, self-deprecating style of writing reminds me of David Sedaris, but his unusual experiences are all his own.  

Reasons to read Coraline: It's spooky, it has a fantastic fictional cat, and Coraline is clever, brave, and snarky.

Reasons to love Coraline: All of the above.

In The Poisonwood Bible, a Baptist missionary takes his family to the Belgian Congo in the late '50s, endangering the lives of his wife and four daughters. Alternating between the voices of the mother and daughters, Kingsolver successfully paints the emotional depth of their predicament and the insanity of the father and his deranged beliefs.

The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot is one of my favorite books. Fascinating. Amazing! Physics, swamis, waves, and particles. Extremely readable.

This book does an excellent job conveying both the complexities of childhood and the intricacies of a social movement. I found myself inhaling this book because I was captivated by the personalities and struggles of the main characters. Their story was enhanced beautifully by the backdrop of the Black Panthers and a California summer. 

The quick-witted humor of Terry Pratchett, driven by the nonsense of the mundane, collides seamlessly with the picturesque darkness of Neil Gaiman, where the mundane reveals itself to be secretly fantastic, in this modern comedic fantasy about a demon, an angel, and the antichrist — who is an 11-year-old boy named Adam — and his loyal hellhound, Dog.

The death of her teenage sister sends 13-year-old Nico, along with her parents, into a gigantic tailspin. All three are shocked into immobility and pain, and turn to dangerous diversions. Nico finds herself submitting uncomfortably to the strange requests of her sister's boyfriend. Francine Prose is a writer of epic proportions, and she turns this seemingly depressing story into an exquisite, spare, quiet coming-of-age tale that will stay with you.

Christopher Moore is one of the most reliably funny writers around, but this is one of the few books I've ever reread. Moore merges some disparate threads from earlier novels (the angel Raziel from Lamb, Pine Cove from The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove) and produces a laugh-out-loud funny Christmas parody, complete with zombies. Definitely a must-read!

This is a hauntingly written young adult novel, that is called "a true story imagined." It takes place in Corvallis, Oregon, in the early 1900s, weaving a strong tale of the town being taken over by a cult and its frightening consequences.