Michael Zadoorian
[isbn]
A sweet tale that looks at illness, aging, and end-of-life choices. Ride along with Ella and John for one last road trip to the end of the line where they decide their own fate. Both touching and funny.
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Temple Grandin, Richard Panek
[isbn]
Once again, Temple Grandin writes about what it's like to live with her brain, and the brains of other autistic people. This read is a lot more scientific rather than anecdotal, and in my opinion, it's exactly what the autism community and the loved ones of autistics need. There is physical scientific evidence that our brains are different and Dr. Grandin touches on the finest details. I will note that there is a bit of dated language, especially... (read more)
Recommended by Rin S.
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Marissa Meyer
[isbn]
Set in a city that had been torn apart by a war between heroes and villains, Nova is determined to prove that the villains aren't what the heroes have portrayed them to be. They're a group of anarchists who see the faults in the system, and believe they have a better way to run the city. This story is a fresh take on the classic superhero trope because we get to see the good and bad on both sides, and the dynamic, funny characters that make up a... (read more)
Recommended by Brianna B.
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Taylor Jenkins Reid
[isbn]
This book is reads like the best tell-all Rolling Stone story or episode of VH1's Behind the Music. Each member of the Six contribute their side of the story of the meteoric rise and sudden crash of an iconic 1970s rock band. The story is so real and so compelling, I found myself bereft at the end of the book, wishing for more stories and wanting to hear the music of this fascinating but, sadly, fictional band.
Recommended by Deana R.
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Calvin Gimpelevich
[isbn]
Effortlessly laying bare the intersections of oppression — Calvin Gimpelevich's Invasions conjures visions and possibilities that liberate even as they ache. Every story is a gem, but "Rent, Don't Sell" and "You Wouldn't Have Known" were so good they hurt: exploring gender, bodies, and minds in bold and groundbreaking ways.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Daniel Mallory Ortberg
[isbn]
Daniel Ortberg — perhaps most famous for cofounding the wry and side-splitting feminist website The Toast — brings us his deliciously subverted collection of classic fairy tales that turn gendered expectations on their head. Hilarious, dark, deeply intelligent — in short, unmissable.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Hanif Abdurraqib
[isbn]
A few days after I finished reading this book, I had a dream in which the author and I were discussing race relations while enjoying a concert here in Portland. Needless to say, this is a book that sticks with you.
Recommended by Deana R.
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Hanna Jameson
[isbn]
As the Doomsday Clock inches towards midnight, we are forced to consider what the end of the world will look like. For Jon it arrives as a series of increasingly terrifying news alerts: there have been multiple nuclear attacks around the world, starting with Washington, DC. Just prior to this he was eating breakfast at a hotel in Switzerland, not thinking about anything in particular, completely unaware of what was to come — isn’t that always the... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Olivier Bourdeaut, Regan Kramer
[isbn]
This book moved me in a way a book hasn't in years. There was something so raw and emotional in witnessing the mental illness of a parent through the eyes of a child, The innocence and intensity of the narrator's relationship with his mother is made all the more heartbreaking as throughout the telling he slowly comes to terms with the fact that as much as she loves him, she cannot always be there for him. Her realization of the same made for an... (read more)
Recommended by Rachel J.
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Anthony Horowitz
[isbn]
Magpie Murders was a magnificent masterpiece, and Anthony Horowitz's newest mystery is as
delicious as a fine bottle of wine... like the very expensive 1982 Château Lafite, the murder weapon
in The Sentence Is Death. Witty, enjoyable, and engrossing, Hawthorne and Horowitz are a
smashing duo!
Recommended by Adrienne C.
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Lars Kepler
[isbn]
With international acclaim comes Kepler's latest thriller, Stalker, a horrific and heart-pumping crime novel which follows a terrifying path of murders in Sweden. Prior to each murder, a tape is released to the Swedish National Crime Unit which begins the countdown to the killer's latest victim. Kepler's style is well-researched, describing the psychology behind stalkers in gruesome and uncomfortable detail, and following police... (read more)
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Cat Fitzpatrick
[isbn]
There is something about navigating your life and body while being trans that already suggests something fantastical and futuristic, and this earth-shattering collection of sci-fi and fantasy put together by the fabulous Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett throw us headfirst into a multiverse of delightful new possibilities, both past and future.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Samanta Schweblin
[isbn]
Chilling and eerie, Schweblin has created a bundle of stories showcasing strange interactions, odd mannerisms, and nightmarish circumstances that haunted the corners of my thoughts long after reading. The tone of her stories have a subtle horror that slowly reveals itself, but is not garish because she has found the most effective way to sprinkle it in. "Mouthful of Birds," "The Digger," and "The Heavy Suitcase of Benavides" were my favorites and... (read more)
Recommended by Brianna B.
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Mark Helprin
[isbn]
To me, Helprin doesn't so much write as seduce. His exquisite prose creates worlds and characters that are immediate and overwhelmingly romantic. I loved this story of a profoundly good man struggling with the wounds of his past to create, against all odds, a future for his family. And Paris! Ah Paris! Never has the city been so perfectly rendered.
Recommended by Kathi K.
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Chloe Benjamin
[isbn]
New York, 1969: Four siblings visit a psychic and learn the day they will die. They keep the dates secret from each other, but the psychic's prophecy affects each of them in very different ways. Brimming with insight and love, The Immortalists is sure to mesmerize.
Recommended by Mary Jo S.
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Luis Alberto Urrea
[isbn]
Luis Alberto Urrea is a gorgeous, empathetic, and playful writer. In this expansive portrait of a Mexican American family celebrating the lives and deaths of two of their oldest and most beloved members, Urrea's generosity, vision, and humor are fully revealed.
Recommended by Jill O.
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Kiese Laymon
[isbn]
Laymon has a voice that is singular and devastating in its honesty. I'm not in the business of claiming a book changed my life, but reading this book shifted something foundational. A truly outstanding memoir.
Recommended by Britney T.
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Willy Vlautin
[isbn]
Oh, Willy Vlautin, you're breaking my heart with this book! Horace has big dreams of becoming a boxing champion, but in order to achieve that, he must leave the safety and security of the Reese Ranch. The Reeses treated him like a son for years after Horace's mother discards him. But Horace has a long row to hoe; between his bouts of confidence, there lies deep despondency and an aching loneliness. Vlautin is able to flesh out these characters... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Cybil Lamb
[isbn]
Sybil Lamb's wild trans punk road novel is like nothing you've ever read. Based on her experience of being ruthlessly beaten and sustaining brain damage after being left for dead on the train tracks, I've Got a Time Bomb blurs reality to create a marvelous genre all her own.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Imogen Binnie
[isbn]
Nevada was the first trans novel from Topside Press that started a revolution of trans lit, starring a fully human and thoroughly pissed-off trans woman not afraid to make the same kind of dubious decisions all great literary characters get to make. Imogen Binnie writes with such life that you can feel the blood pumping through every page.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Katherine Dunn
[isbn]
Written originally as a writing lecture and published posthumously, On Cussing (by the beloved author of Geek Love) may be short but it’s far from sweet. Packed with history and advice on how to wield your foulest language like a true swordsman, On Cussing is a spicy, seductive read.
Recommended by Renee P.
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Amor Towles
[isbn]
Charming from start to finish, A Gentleman in Moscow, Towles’s story of a Russian aristocrat sentenced by the Bolsheviks to a lifetime of house arrest in the Metropol Hotel, is witty, philosophical, and subtly political. The almost insuppressible Count Rostov spends his captivity reading, forging deep and diverse friendships with the hotel’s staff and patrons, serving as head waiter in its famous Boyarsky restaurant, and even raising... (read more)
Recommended by Rhianna W.
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Amy Hempel
[isbn]
In Sing to It, stories told in just a handful of spare paragraphs glint like small precious stones, while others fill page after page with uncommonly brilliant prose, throwing the lid back on the treasure chest. This remarkable collection — Hempel's first in over a decade — was every bit worth the wait.
Recommended by Tove H.
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Margaret Atwood
[isbn]
I feel blasphemous saying this, but I think this edition of The Handmaid's Tale might actually be better than the original. The spare prose and harrowing details lend themselves well to the visual form, and the gorgeous illustrations perfectly capture the mood and tension of the story. Great for old fans and newbies alike!
Recommended by Leah C.
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Julie Dobrow
[isbn]
I grew up reading the poems of Dickinson. She was one of the first poets I fell in love with, and much of her work has shaped how I view and write about the world to this day. I knew that there had been turmoil on the road to getting her works published, but I never knew quite how much until now. This book is a must-read for any fan of Emily and her work.
Recommended by Rachel J.
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Helen Phillips
[isbn]
Maybe it is due to a lack of sleep or perhaps it's the creep of parental anxiety, but Molly sometimes worries she is losing her mind. She has these moments, increasingly frequent and always disorienting, where everything feels slightly off — it is undeniable, but unprovable. It feels like a climax to the weirdness when a masked intruder breaks into her home and hands her a note, but it is only the beginning of a reality-defying ordeal. Like J.... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Zadie Smith
[isbn]
What begins as a simple story of friendship between two young girls becomes more complex as they grow up and the differences in their upbringing become increasingly clear. Zadie Smith's Swing Time is an utterly amazing novel, introducing to readers some of the more likable and relatable characters of her auspicious career and dazzling us with her understated and intelligent narration.
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Matt Burgess, Matthew Burgess
[isbn]
Like you perhaps, I'm in the habit of being especially tough on a book in its early going. If it doesn't draw me in or make a valid case for itself, I will set the book aside with only a slight twinge of regret. But with Uncle Janice, I started reading and before I knew it, was on page 100. Matthew Burgess is a born storyteller, and this book is the real deal. It's funny, varied, believable, and thoroughly impressive. Highly recommended,... (read more)
Recommended by Bart K.
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David Simon
[isbn]
Before he created HBO's The Wire, David Simon was a journalist on the murder beat in Baltimore. There, he embedded with a homicide unit for a year. In Homicide, he tells that unit's story through the lives of its officers. It's both a riveting mystery and a brilliant analysis of society, crime, and justice in the United States. The Wire gave viewers a municipal civics lesson in the guise of fiction, but... (read more)
Recommended by Bart K.
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Cameron Awkward Rich
[isbn]
Cameron Awkward-Rich conjures universes in a line that usually require whole books. His slim memoir/theory/myth is an attempt to make sense of the fragmented self and its relation to both the objectification and trauma of navigating cultural narratives and treatment of blackness and transmasculinity, and the result is a powerful and necessary tour de force.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Alex Michaelides
[isbn]
Whoa! This book. Brilliant! So psychological and immensely engaging. Criminal therapist Theo Faber puts on his detective hat to unravel why Alicia Berenson has not spoken a word
in the six years since she shot her husband. Compelling read.
Recommended by Adrienne C.
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Lily King
[isbn]
Exotic, intimate, and beautifully written. I have long been an admirer of Margaret Mead, and in my eyes Lily King has done justice to imagining part of Mead's life in a way that really places you in the environments and situational quandaries she encountered. This novel aches to be read by anyone who craves a book that, in addition to portraying moving, complicated characters, will completely take and hold their attention from start to finish.
Recommended by Aubrey W.
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Mady G, JR Zuckerberg
[isbn]
As welcoming as it is informative, this joyful guide celebrates both the questions you may have and the answers you might find. Read this book to approach a sometimes thorny topic without shame or shade.
Recommended by Keith M.
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Torrey Peters
[isbn]
Some people are afraid trans people are going to destroy civilization as we know it, and here Torrey Peters brazenly responds, "So what if we did?" What would happen if we released a virus that made everyone stop producing hormones, a world where everyone gets to understand what it means to choose? Infect Your Friends and Loves Ones is the radical and deeply honest trans dystopia that rises from these seeds: a raging novella seething... (read more)
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Halle Butler
[isbn]
Like a millennial Ignatius J. Reilly, Millie is brilliant, indolent, and chronically misanthropic. She wastes her days underperforming at a soulless temp job and loses her nights to fruitless plans for self-improvement. Not much happens in this nihilistic vortex of a novel, but it doesn’t even matter. It is incredibly enjoyable to lose oneself in Halle Butler’s vitriolic stream of consciousness as she rails against complacency, mindless... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Bryan Washington
[isbn]
For those who spent their childhood Sundays at church, Lot is a symbol of God's capriciousness; for those who didn't, the word can refer to a quantity, a space, a fate — it depends on the context. The ambiguity and flexibility of the title suits these tales of struggle. As they navigate the bigotry that is so ingrained in American culture and fight against the infinite indignities and frustrations that are inevitable to poverty, these characters... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Kai Cheng Thom
[isbn]
Author Kai Cheng Thom has a problem with the easily consumable trans narratives that cis people love so much, wherein trans people suffer through the trials and tribulations society inflicts like angelic sacrificial lambs. In her stunning Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, she delivers us the cure. It's a memoir/not-memoir, featuring pantheons of trans goddesses as deeply complex as they are beautiful, knife fights in the name of fallen... (read more)
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Marcy Dermansky
[isbn]
Like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, this book has unexpectedly jagged edges beneath the surface. At first glance, it seems like an unusually well-written and juicy social drama — and it is that. But Marcy Dermansky weaponizes her wit and it quickly becomes apparent that her acute observations serve a higher purpose than mere amusement. She captures our current era with terrifying and ferocious accuracy for a story that made me laugh... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Casey Cep
[isbn]
Furious Hours, a matryoshka of mysteries, is perfect for readers seeking true crime as compelling and sensitive as I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. After assisting Truman Capote in his research for In Cold Blood, Harper Lee found the inspiration for her second book. She spent years pursuing the strange case of a reverend who got away with murder, the man who shot him in front of hundreds of witnesses, and the lawyer... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Colson Whitehead
[isbn]
A novel which stands unique from anything I've read, The Intuitionist is at face value about the workers who inspect and correct elevators. Anything but simple or humdrum, Colson Whitehead explores class politics, race, and the effect of public outcry through the simple premise of a mysterious occupation. Newcomers to Whitehead will get a proper taste for his wit and intelligence as a writer who concerns himself with powerful allegories.
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Peter Rock
[isbn]
A young man and a mysterious young widow spend their evenings swimming in Lake Michigan, until she disappears. Years later, the narrator reconstructs their relationship with the help of photographs, texts, and other remnants of that period, seeking answers in this unsettling, semiautobiographical novel from one of Portland’s best writers.
Recommended by Matt K.
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Mona Awad
[isbn]
Getting into the MFA program at Warren University was supposed to transform her life, but Samantha hates it there. She hates the sinister slant of the golden afternoon light, she hates her dingy apartment and the flasher who hangs around outside, she hates the rumors of random beheadings in the downtown area. But she hates the Bunnies most of all. Privileged, vapid, and unbearably perky, the only other members of her fiction writing class have... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Candice Carty Williams
[isbn]
Queenie is exhausted. It’s not just that her boyfriend wants to take a “break” and now she needs to find a new place to live. Or that subsequently her work performance has suffered and her boss has definitely noticed. It’s more than the creeping anxiety and the panic that threatens to overwhelm her. It’s all of those things together, alongside a daily barrage of microaggressions. She is a strong young woman struggling to stay afloat and I rooted... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Maria Gainza
[isbn]
Maria Gainza has written an alchemic masterpiece. Autofiction is joined with art history, and the abrupt transitions are exhilarating rather than disorienting. Optic Nerve is the product of a keen eye and a fearless pen.
Recommended by Keith M.
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Stephen Chbosky
[isbn]
This coming-of-age story absolutely shines. Charlie is your average teenager trying to navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence, yet he's so much more than that. Recognizing something special in Charlie, a teacher feeds him literature and tries to guide him into growth and maturity. Charlie has a bit more on his plate than he knows what to do with, however. Chbosky manages to dodge stereotypes while mining his characters for the real... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Diane Setterfield
[isbn]
A carefully executed fairy tale about lost girls, found girls, and society’s relationship to the science and magic of these things, Once Upon a River is rife with symbolism that embraces tradition as it simultaneously breathes new and unexpected bodies of life into it. What exactly are the messages we carry about women’s roles in society, and are we able to change those without disrupting the familiar and sacrosanct? If so, Diane... (read more)
Recommended by Aubrey W.
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Paul Kingsnorth
[isbn]
A genius work of fiction blended with history from a writer who knows how to unveil the beauty that lies within tragedy. The invented "shadow tongue" that this is told in not only serves to bring the reader into the sensations and realities of the time period, it is an astonishingly lyrical work in itself.
Recommended by Aubrey W.
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Lucy Foley
[isbn]
A New Year's Eve weekend at a remote lodge in Scotland is the perfect getaway for Miranda and all her old college friends. When the weather takes a turn and the friends are stuck with no way in or out, tensions flare. Yes, they were friends in college, but were they really? Is it just convenience that has the group getting together once a year? Do they even really like each other? Drinking, drugs, and isolation fan the flames of anger that strain... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Dave Eggers
[isbn]
Two men pave a road linking a country after a civil war. The road is straight and unblemished, but their path in Eggers’s driving narrative is full of bumps and blind curves. The question is: What is the endpoint of a road paved with indifferent intentions?
Recommended by Keith M.
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Max Porter
[isbn]
Lanny is a marvel — an extraordinary mythological examination of childhood and a gorgeous prose extravaganza of voices and narratives. Max Porter somehow captures the deep magic and blunt prosaic rhythms of life in the same sentences. Completely unique and utterly worthwhile.
Recommended by Jill O.
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Siri Hustvedt
[isbn]
Siri Hustvedt is at her considerable best when writing about art (in her novels or her essays), and Memories of the Future plays to all her strengths: women in art, multiple texts and voices, desire, and mystery. As brilliantly imagined and beautifully written as The Blazing World, Hustvedt's new work continues to shape her towering achievement in American fiction.
Recommended by Jill O.
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Ursula K. Le Guin
[isbn]
Le Guin is undoubtedly one of the greatest sci-fi and fantasy authors of our time. In this, her first volume in the Earthsea series, readers are introduced to Ged, a young wizard. Flawed by his pride, Ged unwittingly draws a shadow from the world beyond and must journey across Earthsea's archipelago to save himself from utter destruction. Read the series that has inspired thousands and discover for yourself the magic of Earthsea.
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Lisa See
[isbn]
An epic journey from Shanghai to Los Angeles frames this amazing tale from Lisa See. Sisters May and Pearl Chin survive and triumph over stark injustice and unspeakable horror. Complete with family secrets, tragedy, forbidden love, and a long history of female oppression, Shanghai Girls is a journey no one should take, but everyone should read. Stunning.
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Jasper Fforde
[isbn]
For me, there are different levels of book enjoyment, to wit...
Level 3: Oh, there's that book. Reckon I'll read a few pages.
Level 2: I look forward to reading that book when I have a chance.
Level 1: I am MAKING TIME for this book, and will read it at any opportunity, even carrying it with me to appointments in the hope that I will find myself waiting in a lobby somewhere with nothing to do but a chance... (read more)
Recommended by Bart K.
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Valeria Luiselli
[isbn]
An exceptionally timely book about child migration and the life-or-death decisions made at the U.S.-Mexican border, while also a poignant story about a blended family trying to figure out how they fit into each others' lives. A haunting, beautiful, important work.
Recommended by Mary S.
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T Greenwood
[isbn]
T. Greenwood's Keeping Lucy tells the story of a woman fighting for her children and her own life. Set perfectly on the cusp of the women's liberation movement, this is a story about women: how they help each other, how they care for each other, how they are the bedrock of family and friendships. Ginny's daughter, Lucy, is born with Down syndrome, and is spirited away to an "Institute for the Feeble-Minded." Conspiring together on this... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, Lia Miternique
[isbn]
These comics are filled with the reasons I love Chelsea’s writing. The dark humor that tells the truth, the small detail that fills in the whole, and the sad realization that it’s all too real to be a metaphor. Cain mastered plot and story a long time ago, but she fills the story now with the exact amount of all the other things that surprise and delight my reading jones.
Recommended by Doug C.
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Margaret Atwood
[isbn]
This retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest has been carefully wrought for modern audiences. With the same strangeness of Shakespeare's play, the reimagined Prospero deals with his exile from the stage by directing his own version of The Tempest within prison walls. Humorous and fantastical, Hag Seed will delight those familiar with and new to the capstone of Shakespeare's career.
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Elizabeth Gilbert
[isbn]
City of Girls has everything I hope for in historical fiction: well-researched period details, gargantuan personalities, and more sex than I ever found in my history textbooks! With her trademark exuberance and wit, Elizabeth Gilbert vividly evokes the glitz, grit, and clamor of New York City in the 1940s. At the bright center of it all is Vivian Morris, a proper young woman itching to be anything but. She rushes headlong into all the... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Helen Oyeyemi
[isbn]
Gingerbread begins as a somewhat standard family story, but promptly unfolds into an imaginative tale of a mother and daughter's long family history, at the center of which is an inherited gingerbread recipe. Don't miss this satisfying, unconventional story by award-winning author Helen Oyeyemi.
Recommended by Kim S.
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Mitchell Jackson
[isbn]
Combining scholarship and personal history, and writing with his uniquely brilliant voice, Mitchell Jackson takes on the struggles, consequences, and even responsibilities that spring from growing up with the inherited burden of poverty and marginalization. Survival Math is a gorgeously crafted memoir and, in its wider scope, a downright important book.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Colson Whitehead
[isbn]
I was completely floored by this deeply moving book. I cannot imagine that I will read a finer novel this year.
Recommended by Keith M.
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Miriam Toews
[isbn]
A horrific discovery prompts the women of two families to gather in secret and do something unheard of in their isolated, patriarchal community: choose. I read this stunning, disquieting tale — all the more disquieting for its genesis in real events — with my heart in my throat.
Recommended by Tove H.
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Katherine Howe
[isbn]
Connie moves into her grandmother's house to ready it for sale. She stumbles upon an ancient key with a tiny piece of paper rolled up inside it which reads: "Deliverance Dane." The search for the meaning of this phrase leads Connie to witches, hangings, a bit of romance, a little supernatural phenomenon, and an elusive spell book. Katherine Howe is an art historian and her own ancestors include Elizabeth Howe and Elizabeth Proctor, both of whom... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Adam Foulds
[isbn]
Although he doesn't even know she exists, Henry and Kristin actually have a lot in common. A famous actor, he is a brooding Tabula rasa — more clockwork than orange — a curiously contradictory person losing himself in better and better roles. And she: lonely, odd, too easily given to intimacies, she is his biggest fan. She shares Henry's preoccupation with himself (although hers is an obsession) and they are both similarly detached from the world... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Jo Baker
[isbn]
She hasn't really felt safe in London since the attack. So when she is offered a job teaching creative writing at a small university in the countryside, she takes it without hesitation. But she soon discovers that her new home isn't the escape she'd hoped for: the village is isolated, desolate when darkness falls, and her new job is a nightmare of inefficient bureaucracy. It isn't until she meets her students, however, that she feels that... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Jeff Vandermeer
[isbn]
After finishing the last page of this book (the final volume of the Southern Reach trilogy), I savored the moment... and was then tempted to start reading the series over again from the start. What new discoveries awaited me now that I had a gist of where its eerie, compelling story line goes? Acceptance differs from the preceding books in that, as Area X expands inexorably into the "real world," there are three narratives to follow.... (read more)
Recommended by Bart K.
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Takashi Hiraide, Eric Selland
[isbn]
A couple in Tokyo have a different perspective on cats and the lives they lead because of a small visitor named Chibi. The description of the setting and Chibi's little soul are so vivid that I felt like I was in their house with them. This is an awesome addition to the beautiful cat literature out there. I highly recommend this read for anyone who enjoyed The Travelling Cat Chronicles or I Am a Cat.
Recommended by Rin S.
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Martine Fournier Watson
[isbn]
It was Rene Denfeld’s endorsement that lured me to this book, and author Martine Fournier Watson’s dazzling, fine-tuned prose that kept me there. This story of a small town blindsided once by the disappearance of a child, and again by the arrival of a mysterious stranger, is captivating, peculiar, and expertly crafted. And also — impossibly — a debut novel. I’m eager to see what else Watson dreams up.
Recommended by Tove H.
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Thompson Walker, Karen
[isbn]
The narrator in this dystopian story is sweet but knowing, an introverted middle school girl having to navigate a world slowly falling apart. It is her voice that carried me through, that drew me in and made it all real. There are no false notes in this book, just the genuine life of a girl trying to get by and grow up.
Recommended by Doug C.
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Justin Kuritzkes
[isbn]
This is not a book about Justin Bieber. It's the memoir-in-progress of a pop superstar who caught his big break as a tween after his dad/manager strategically released an amateur video showcasing his vocal skills. So it's not not a book about Justin Bieber either. Famous People is both a pitch-perfect roman à clef and a thought-provoking meditation on celebrity culture: What is it like to be seen but rarely known? Does the... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Anonymous, Sarah Miller
[isbn]
This is not a regular choose-your-own-adventure story. The tale is a parallel between an abusive relationship and a giant ant alien invasion. No matter which path you pick, you relive the same scenarios over and over again. What a great read for someone who has been in a codependent, abusive relationship. This is also a great lens into what it's like for someone who hasn't experienced this kind of relationship. It accurately portrays the... (read more)
Recommended by Rin S.
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Elliott Chaze
[isbn]
Imagine that Raymond Chandler had a nephew named Ellliott who hung around Chandler's LA digs, gleaning noir lore from the master. Said nephew then writes his own novel — but instead of having a tarnished knight like Philip Marlowe as the protagonist, he writes about a mercurial prison escapee who's capable of, well, virtually anything. No spoilers here — suffice it to say that Elliott Chaze's dialogue is hard-boiled, sometimes brutal, and often... (read more)
Recommended by Bart K.
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Timothy Arliss OBrien
[isbn]
I've read many other stories written in verse before, but in most of them, the individual poems aren't really standalone pieces like in this work. You can open this collection at any point and find a short, intriguing, thought-provoking poem, but when read together, they slowly unfold the mystery of one woman's life, delving into a psychological exploration of her mental health and her questioning of reality. It's a stimulating literary trip,... (read more)
Recommended by Nicholas Y.
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Timothy Arliss OBrien
[isbn]
This collection of poetry and creative short prose is destined to be one of my favorite reads of 2019 and probably of all time. This book is uplifting, yet dark, whimsical, yet hard-hitting. O'Brien uses a variety of written forms, like poetry, essay, lists, prayers, daydreams, even a recipe, to tell his story as an LGBTQ+ individual working through his struggles with Christian faith, his trauma from conversion therapy, and his own battles with... (read more)
Recommended by Nicholas Y.
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Irvine Welsh
[isbn]
The boys from Trainspotting are back for one last caper. Dead Men's Trousers is a terrific last hurrah, full of the action and the gallows humor that made Trainspotting such a hit.
Recommended by Deana R.
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Leni Zumas
[isbn]
Red Clocks will make you angry, and if it doesn't, then you're reading the book wrong. Red Clocks is a story that sounds too familiar (wow, the government is trying to police women's bodies AGAIN), but is somehow fresh (so many new laws that are all so awful and dehumanizing). You will become attached to the characters because they remind you of your sister, or your aunt, or your best friend. Heck, sometimes they'll even remind... (read more)
Recommended by Katherine M.
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Rawi Hage
[isbn]
I was enthralled while reading this remarkable book. It reminded me in spirit of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, but it has its own story and voice. The novel follows the son of an undertaker living through the years of the civil war in Lebanon, a protagonist you immediately feel empathy for and soon see through his eyes. This book is the kind of gem that compels me to read.
Recommended by Doug C.
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Torrey Peters
[isbn]
Torrey Peters is not interested in explaining her trans narratives to cis audiences, and she smashes headfirst into the messy realities that comes with the societal shame of gender dysphoria in this vicious novella about the tensions for a sissy between the fantasies of forced feminization and the less sexy path of transitioning. The Masker gives off sparks as you read, and it's a goddamn marvel.
Recommended by Cosima C.
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Andrzej Sapkowski
[isbn]
Originally published in Poland in the 1990s, this series gained popularity in the U.S. with the release of the sequel/continuation video game series and the subsequent publications of the novels starting in the late 2000s. While this series includes many common fantasy tropes, most akin to A Song of Ice and Fire and the Brothers Grimm, it manages to set itself apart with two words: family and destiny. Experience a book series where the good guys... (read more)
Recommended by Mike H.
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Sadie Jones
[isbn]
On the surface, it seems benign, even banal: a young couple on the verge of burning out decide to take a few months off work to travel. But their unexpected brush with violence in the first scene sets the tone for the rest of the book. After, the story proceeds uneasily, slithering towards a fixed point of shocking brutality. There is a discomfiting feeling of inevitability to it all, as though it never could have ended any other way. I've read... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren P.
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Charlie Jane Anders
[isbn]
I don't usually read sci-fi, but I will read ANYTHING Charlie Jane Anders writes. She is constantly breathing new life into old genres, and writes characters so well you immediately feel like you know them. This book, her newest, is incredibly moving and thought-provoking — I can't stop thinking about it!
Recommended by Leah C.
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Toni Morrison
[isbn]
Morrison’s forceful, eloquent speeches on globalization, race, and literary criticism made me envious of her generations of lucky students. This is a thoughtful book, to be savored for its wisdom and fierce commitment to justice.
Recommended by Lucinda G.
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Ross Gay
[isbn]
Never was a book so aptly titled. Ross Gay brings small wonders and beautiful memories to life, while also meditating on race, class, and gender. In these times of nearly constant bad news, reading this book was, well, a delight!
Recommended by Leah B.
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Sophia Shalmiyev
[isbn]
Lyrical and raw, Mother Winter is Sophia Shalmiyev’s exploration of leaving Russia with her father at age 11, and of her relationship with her absent mother. Filled with hard-won insight, Shalmiyev’s prose is both searing and meditative.
Recommended by Mary Jo S.
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Michael Chabon
[isbn]
Chabon uses a memoir-ish format to tell the story about his grandparents' often-turbulent marriage. Or, at least, that's what he says he's doing. Our narrator is Chabon's grandfather, who painstakingly retells the story of his complicated and troubled marriage. Addressing issues of mental illness, the love of science, death, grief, marriage, and the toll on family when one member is mentally ill, Chabon does a wonderful job. His prose is... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Amit Chaudhuri
[isbn]
Returning to the city of his youth, Amit Chaudhuri encounters sights and shopkeepers both familiar and unknown. Those more mundane memories are punctuated by Amit’s recollections of his old friend, who is being treated for a long-standing substance abuse problem, and by the city’s collective trauma from a recent terrorist attack. Friend of My Youth is an autofiction kaleidoscope, examining how cities, friendships, and artists change over... (read more)
Recommended by Keith M.
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Juliet Lapidos
[isbn]
Talent follows a graduate student of English who’s fallen behind schedule on her dissertation and is finding it difficult to motivate herself to finish. When she meets the niece of a writer famed for his abrupt halt to publishing, she finds a perfect case study. Written with flair, Lapidos offers humor and insight in a novel that can either be read briskly or be endlessly diagrammed and analyzed. Reader’s choice!
Recommended by Keith M.
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Ta Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay, Yona Harvey
[isbn]
This graphic novel is an excellent addition to the Black Panther story. It provides context for many of the moving parts in the Black Panther plot. And Roxane Gay is a talented writer in any medium!
Recommended by Junix S
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Morgan Parker
[isbn]
Morgan Parker’s newest collection is going to shake you to your core. While her work continues to explore black womanhood, this collection is an acute examination of the anger, pain, and rawness that comes from being a black woman in America — not just now, but over time as it has revolved more than it has evolved. This time, Parker turns the lens outward on the societal gaze and influences on black womanhood just as much as she reflects... (read more)
Recommended by Kate L.
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Cormac McCarthy
[isbn]
Haunting and intensely descriptive, Cormac McCarthy's The Road lingers with you like the smell of a strong cigar. A prize winner and arguably McCarthy's most renowned title, The Road obsessively describes the apocalypse after an environmental disaster. You won't put it down, or forget about the experience traveling along with this father-son duo.
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Tayari Jones
[isbn]
What happens to a marriage when it is reduced to correspondence and brief supervised encounters? Told in letters, with vibrant narration, An American Marriage is the gut-wrenching story of Roy and Celestial, who have just begun building a life together when Roy is falsely convicted of a crime.
Recommended by Lucinda G.
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Anne Carson
[isbn]
If the goal of poetry is to reflect life, then Anne Carson's desolate and descriptive The Autobiography of Red is great poetry. This novella, written in verse, reveals many ways a heart can break. The tale of Geryon and Herakles is well worn, a tattered page in the book of mythology. But Carson sparks the tale anew, turning Geryon into a likable if unknowable monster who falls in love with Herakles, resulting in heartache and ruin.... (read more)
Recommended by Alex Y.
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James Baldwin
[isbn]
Any James Baldwin novel should be mandatory reading for concerned citizens of today. In Go Tell It on the Mountain, Baldwin explores the history of the hold evangelism has had on the black community. Navigating the complex emotions of different characters, Baldwin shares hidden relationships with Christianity and the question of God. This novel is ideal for the existentialist, the radical, and the curious. While it asks more questions... (read more)
Recommended by Alex Y.
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Charlotte Shane and Merritt K
[isbn]
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... (read more)
Recommended by Kyan F.
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Paul Tremblay
[isbn]
One sign of a successful book is how much you think about it after turning its last page. On that count, Head Full of Ghosts is a resounding success. I've thought of this book many times since finishing it... often on rainy dark nights, when I wonder how in the world the author wove such a believable young narrator in with a story that seems straightforward at first, but becomes increasingly creepy and meta. So yeah, I still think about... (read more)
Recommended by Bart K.
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Han Kang
[isbn]
Spare, observant, beautiful. The White Book is a profound meditation on the presence in our lives that an acutely felt absence can hold.
Recommended by Keith M.
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Keith Rosson
[isbn]
If someone told you to braid together three disparate story lines (let's say, the reincarnated soul of Joan of Arc's executioner, a washed-up alcoholic artist, and a sudden rash of ghostly appearances), could you do it? Could you do it without sounding like an idiot? Keith Rosson can — magnificently.
Rosson's characters are so layered and well-defined, they absolutely hum with realism, even when they're talking to ghosts, or... (read more)
Recommended by Dianah H.
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Marlon James
[isbn]
Tracker has a nose: he can find anyone. But when he takes a job to locate a missing child, he ends up as part of a splintered fellowship running headfirst into a conspiracy of magic and kings. James’s meditative prose delivers a gripping fantasy adventure rooted in African mythology and history.
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Elizabeth Mccracken
[isbn]
I'm so happy Elizabeth McCracken is back! As always, in this new novel she excels at place-building, characterization, and crafting wonderful language — her sentences stick with you long after turning the last page. This reminded me of many of my favorite things, from John Irving to the Gilmore Girls... I didn't want it to end.
Recommended by Leah C.
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