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Harper C.: Five Book Friday: Uncanny Graphic Novels (0 comment)
We are in the thick of winter here in the Pacific Northwest, which means it's dark, damp, and chilly. Rather than escaping to stories with warmer, brighter climates, I personally want nothing more than to dive deep into gothic and uncanny fiction as the wind rattles my windows at night...
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  • Powell's Staff: New Literature in Translation: December 2022 and January 2023 (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)

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Staff Picks

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Collected Poems of W B Yeats Revised 2nd Edition

W B Yeats, Richard J Finneran [isbn]

The world is attractive — superficially and the deeper one goes. So much of the language, expressions, and conceptions we use today were developed gradually by humanity's thinkers, writers, and people in general, through arts and dialectic conversation. These Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats display the genesis of a writer honing in on the gripping narrative of perception from their early to ending days. It's a fascinating survey for those... (read more)
Recommended by Dana S.


Sailing Alone Around the Room New & Selected Poems

Collins, Billy [isbn]

Ever felt like a sailor coursing through the ocean of a day? Billy Collins put out four books of poetry before this one, with titles such as Questions About Angels, The Apple that Astonished Paris, and Picnic, Lightning, that are enough to get the imagination stirring. Some of his favorite poems have made it into the collection beside his new poems. This is the first collection that he put together after the passing of his... (read more)
Recommended by Dana S.


Invention of Morel

Bioy Casares, Adolfo [isbn]

This intricate, sun-soaked daydream of a novel influenced classic films like The Shining and Last Year at Marienbad, and Jorge Luis Borges and Octavio Paz both called it "perfect."
Recommended by Kai B.


Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson [isbn]

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson makes a good companion book. These poems fit between breaks, bus-stops, and long rides. Emily allows herself to write sincerely and seriously about the range of human experience, the quotidian, the emotive, and the transcendent. Perhaps the modern forerunner to contemporary poetry, she writes in quick beats that run parallel to the brevity of a moment. As with lives' instants, her poems come and go,... (read more)
Recommended by Dana S.


The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

Kj Charles [isbn]

If you like M/M historical romance and haven't discovered the wonder that is K. J. Charles, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is a great place to dive in. Joss Doomsday, head of a smuggling clan, meets Gareth Inglis, newly minted baronet. Gareth is a newcomer to Romney Marsh and discovers that life on the marsh is a whole different ball of wax than living in a city. Full of adventure, intrigue, and delicious banter, The Secret... (read more)
Recommended by Mary Jo S.


Secret Service of Tea & Treason

India Holton [isbn]

It takes a near genius to write a silly, frothy, comedic romance novel I can actually enjoyably read. India Holton's third entry in the Dangerous Damsels series was every bit as restoring as a strong cup of tea accompanied by shortbread. In other words, nearly perfect. Secret agents Alice and Daniel are sent on an undercover mission where they must pretend to be married. Flying houses, lots of explosions, and a generous helping of bonkers hijinks... (read more)
Recommended by Mary Jo S.


Pretty Much the Last Hardcore Kid in This Town

Brian S. Ellis [isbn]

The very specific detail of young people in place and time in these stories produces a magic universality. I've never been to Cape Cod, barely been to Massachusetts, but I've been inside these characters' experiences and lives. Language, dry humor, fabulous dialogue — time well spent in Brian Ellis' world.
Recommended by Doug C.


Symphony of Secrets

Brendan Slocumb [isbn]

Dr. Bern Hendricks has landed his dream job, authenticating a lost manuscript by his favorite musician.  While researching the piece of music by Frederick Delaney, Bern and his friend Eboni discover that the revered composer might not be the musical genius everyone believes him to be. I loved the alternating timelines, one modern and one during the jazz age, both populated with fascinating characters. As more secrets are uncovered and the drama... (read more)
Recommended by Jennifer H.


Date & Time

Phil Kaye [isbn]

Phil Kaye's collection gives back to us the nostalgia for 90's and early 2000s childhood along with moving reflections on the challenges of growing up mixed race in America. There were numerous poems here that I found myself saying "I had this conversation growing up"... or "I had these thoughts and did these things after watching Indiana Jones." A pleasant morning or early afternoon read that pairs well with an old movie, waffles, and a warm... (read more)
Recommended by Mahalik


Thirty Names of Night A Novel

Zeyn Joukhadar [isbn]

If you appreciate beautiful sentences, you'll be hard pressed to find words more lovely than Joukhadar's. This cross-generational tale is one of transition and migration, and it covers topics of queerness, loss, Islamophobia, ornithology and, of course, love. Layered and luminous, and too good to miss!
Recommended by Etan L.


Survivor

Chuck Palahniuk [isbn]

My favorite Chuck Palahniuk title! A naive cult member becomes a religious icon and international celeb! A bit like Being There with an UNHINGED ending! 
Recommended by Adam B.


Girlhood

Melissa Febos [isbn]

Febos has this way of writing that will break you open and then make you feel whole again. These essays are vulnerable and authentic and so relatable. Gorgeously written and unafraid to shine a light into all the dark, hidden, neglected places — a must read. 
Recommended by Etan L.


Wolf in White Van

John Darnielle [isbn]

The title refers to "Backmasking": the idea that playing a record backwards reveals satanic messages. This mind-bending book unfolds backwards. Darnielle's words are honest and poignant and expressive. I love this book. Made my family read it!
Recommended by Lesley A.


Thousand Ships A Novel

Natalie Haynes [isbn]

A fantastic book that tells the tale of the war on Troy from the perspective of the women. With a witty narrator and unflinching stories from slaves to goddesses, this book was so compelling that I didn't want to put it down. 
Recommended by Lesley A.


The Anomaly

Hervé Le Tellier [isbn]

The #1 bestseller in France during the lockdown, and my favorite of that year! This dizzying, whip-smart novel blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller all in one. The ending stunned me. 
Recommended by Nan S.


Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry

Elizabeth Bradfield and Cmarie Fuhrman and Derek Sheffield [isbn]

Cascadia: the region that stretches from Southeast Alaska down to Northern California, and from the Pacific Ocean to parts of Idaho and Montana. Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry is exactly as promised. Various writers and artists, spanning style and content, share their love of the Cascadia region through illustrations, poems, and natural history.
Recommended by Corie K-B.


Metamorphosis A New Translation by Susan Bernofsky

Franz Kafka [isbn]

Whether this is your first time encountering this classic story, or you haven't read it since school, Bernofsky's new translation sizzles with humor and humanity often obscured in previous renderings. 
Recommended by Jubel B.


Crush

Richard Siken [isbn]

Siken's poetry gives me words for emotions I didn't know other folks felt. His artistic mastery of language, imagery, and visceral detail lends itself to hard-hitting, beautiful verse. Flip through, even if you're not a poetry person. You might like it!
Recommended by Carlee B


Weather

Jenny Offill [isbn]

Jenny Offill has a very distinct writing style, and once you settle in, it's intoxicating. "Weather" is a physical representation of uncertainty, but it also embodies hope and encourages us to keep pushing through. This thought-provoking novel makes a lovely companion for a day at the park! 
Recommended by Etan L.


Notes on an Execution

Danya Kukafka [isbn]

Recently recommended by the New York Times, this book is a searing portrait of complicated women caught in the web of a serial killer. 
Recommended by Nan S.


Creatures

Crissy Van Meter [isbn]

This debut was one of my favorite reads of 2020. The story isn't linear but mimics the flow of the ocean tide — memories crash over us in unexpected ways at unexpected times. Crissy is a beautiful writer and I can't wait to see what she does next! 
Recommended by Etan L.


Immortal King Rao

Vauhini Vara [isbn]

A great, twisty debut featuring a fascinating alternative history of tech and the internet in a dystopian world.
Recommended by Nan S.


Meant to Be Mine A Novel

Hannah Orenstein [isbn]

Are we in charge of our fate? Or is it written in the stars? If you knew someone was your soulmate, wouldn't red flags just be an obstacle you would overcome? I relate to Edie in choosing all the wrong partners but working so hard to overcome things you know in your heart you can't. 
Recommended by Sydney W.


Little Eyes

Samanta Schweblin [isbn]

This novel contemplates our relationship to technology in a very Black Mirror-esque way, and also explores human connection. It's eerie because it hits so close to home, and it left me with a creeping sense of unease. I love Schweblin's dark, otherworldly storytelling.
Recommended by Etan L.


Paper Girls: Volume 1

Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang [isbn]

Time-travel stories can be very tricky to get right, but in my opinion, Paper Girls blows it out of the water. It delivers strong female characters, a rich and compelling narrative, plus stunning visuals reminiscent of 80s genre films. So good! Bookseller Mia B.
Recommended by Mia B.


Pisces A Novel

Melissa Broder [isbn]

Broder's work is in its own level of weird. With acerbic prose, a freakishly unlikeable and self-destructive protagonist, and a grotesque but alluring love interest, The Pisces is a book that stuck in my brain long after finishing.
Recommended by Kyra R


Revenge of the Scapegoat

Caren Beilin [isbn]

By far the weirdest book I've ever read! Let go of reality, open your mind, and let Beilin take you along for a wild ride! 
Recommended by Etan L.


The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle #1)

Benjamin Percy [isbn]

If you're looking for very well-written escapism, this sci-fi book is for you! Debris from a comet turns a dying Minnesota town into a violent, crazed, weird, greedy boom town. Percy is a successful superhero comic writer. It shows. 
Recommended by Nan S.


The Oppermanns

Lionel Feuchtwanger and Lion Feuchtwanger [isbn]

This novel describes in real time the relentless disintegration of German humanism and the insidious manner in which Nazism penetrates German society.
Recommended by Nan S.


All's Well

Mona Awad [isbn]

Follow a theater professor as she struggles to prevent her chronic pain from consuming her. Miranda is presented with a way to inflict rather than receive pain, and is driven mad with her new power. Awad is an expert in creating an all-consuming narrative.
Recommended by Kyra R


Painted Bird

Jerzy Kosinski [isbn]

Very good! Rated: scarring! We've all read disturbing books but this one is burned in my mind. An abandoned child tries to survive in the depraved chaos of WWII Europe. 
Recommended by Adam B.


Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic

Alice Hoffman [isbn]

The beginning of the most wonderful series. The matriarch of the Owens women finally gets her own story. I loved it.
Recommended by Sydney W.


Sirens & Muses

Antonia Angress [isbn]

A poignant debut that examines art and wealth from the perspectives of several unsure but ambitious artists. 
Recommended by Kyra R


Pizza Girl

Jean Kyoung Frazier [isbn]

Tender and messy, this coming-of-age story will slice right to the center of your heart. It's a quirky tale sprinkled through with loneliness and obsession — one you dough-n't want to miss! Order a pizza (you'll need one!) and settle in for the ride.
Recommended by Etan L.


North American Lake Monsters Stories

Nathan Ballingrud [isbn]

In this horror-adjacent collection, Ballingrud sets up unique premises, intriguing characters, and white-knuckle tension in nearly every story. What happens when people in dire straits are faced with unimaginable horrors? Find out if you're not chicken!
Recommended by Adam B.


Tides

Sara Freeman [isbn]

Visceral, introspective, and washed through with grief, this little novel is hauntingly beautiful. Freeman's prose is sparse, yet charged with emotion. At its heart, it's the story of a woman learning to put herself back together. Try it if you like Jenny Offill or Rachel Cusk. 
Recommended by Etan L.


Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris [isbn]

Sedaris at his candid and mischievous best! "I'll Eat What He's Wearing" still brings a little smile and snort/chuckle when I think of it.
Recommended by Adam B.


Grown Ups A Novel

Emma Jane Unsworth [isbn]

This book is just a ton of fun. It's realistic and problematic and witty and feels much like a car crash you can't look away from. All the characters feel like people you know in real life, and the social commentary is 100% on point. A quick, delightful read.
Recommended by Etan L.


Idaho A Novel

Emily Ruskovich [isbn]

I'm glad I read this book. Beautiful writing, unique and engaging story, but nearly prohibitively sad! A rural couple reels from and tries to make sense of tragedy. So good, and so sad. 
Recommended by Adam B.


Witch King

Martha Wells [isbn]

The always intriguing, inventive, and fun Martha Wells gives us a fabulous fantasy tale and hours of reading pleasure and adventure. 
Recommended by Doug C.


Axioms End Noumena 01

Lindsay Ellis [isbn]

An action-packed, first-contact novel from video essayist Lindsay Ellis, Axiom's Edge dispenses with "E.T. is good, if we could JUST understand them" and instead wrestles with questions of whom we can trust, whether humans or aliens. I'm eagerly awaiting the second installment in the series.
Recommended by Anne R.


Brood

Jackie Polzin [isbn]

This novel is very aptly titled. It is a book about chickens, yes, but it is also a broody little book about life. It is subtle and thoughtful and quietly funny but also sad. Polzin ruminates on motherhood and partnership and the trajectory of one's life and loneliness. It reminds me of Jenny Offill in the best way. I loved it! 
Recommended by Etan L.


Brutes

Dizz Tate [isbn]

An incredible debut novel that swirls around the sinister, mesmerizing undertow of girlhood. The story is mythic and startling; the writing is lush and moving and strange. I loved every second of this book. (Also: check out that cover!!)
Recommended by Kelsey F.


There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

Kikuko Tsumura and Polly Barton [isbn]

Deliciously odd and all too relatable. A young woman's quest for an "easy" job (close to home, little thinking, preferably sitting) intersects with the surreal, the suspicious, and (maybe, hopefully) the meaningful. Unlike some workdays, I never wanted this book to end.
Recommended by Sarah R.


Seven Steeples

Sara Baume [isbn]

If you've ever wanted to run away to the mountains — this one' s for you. Quiet, intimate, and atmospheric, it's the story of a couple (and their dogs) who move to the middle of nowhere and slowly recede into the landscape. I loved it. 
Recommended by Etan L.


Altered States

Sarah Shin, Ben Vickers, Francesca Gavin [isbn]

Specializing in experimental writing on all things esoteric and mystical, UK-based Ignota Press is one of my favorite small presses to have emerged in the last few years. This book is one of their latest offerings: an anthology of writing on the unknowable reaches of consciousness (think: the occult, the psychedelic, the panpsychic) that will introduce you to a treasure trove of some of the most thrilling contemporary voices writing between the... (read more)
Recommended by Alexa W.


In Memory of Memory

Maria Stepanova [isbn]

One of the best books I've read on the paradoxes of memory: how it eludes us even as we draw close to it; how trauma both obscures and sharpens it; how its gaps can trouble us into grief as much as they stir up possibilities for creative processing. Composed of an absorbing assemblage of essay, memoir, family letters, and talismanic objects, Stepanova's familial testament to Jewish life and survival across the war-torn histories of Russia and... (read more)
Recommended by Alexa W.


Orwells Roses

Rebecca Solnit [isbn]

Reading this book (an analysis of the life of one of the most prolific writers and anti-fascists of the twentieth century, from a woman whom I consider to be one of the most insightful writers of the 21st), I came to understand a truth at the core of Orwell's writing, as well as that of my own disaffection: any movement, whether political or otherwise, that refuses the promise of peace and joy to its adherents, is not a movement worth struggling... (read more)
Recommended by CJ H.


The Sun Walks Down

Fiona McFarlane [isbn]

This story of a lost child in nineteenth-century Australia and the people who go looking for him is riveting, beautiful, and wise. I don’t know how to better say it: this is literature at its best.
Recommended by Keith M.


Big Swiss

Jen Beagin [isbn]

This book is a wild ride; it is full of lines so funny that you will be compelled to text them out of context to your friends while you read. But Jen Beagin is also doing something more profound that will keep resonating long after you finish.
Recommended by Keith M.


Couplets: A Love Story

Maggie Millner [isbn]

In Couplets, Maggie Millner has written a highly structured, accessible book about the fluidity and restraint of relationships and sexuality. These rhyming couplets interspersed with prose meditations thrilled me. I've never read a book quite like this one before. 
Recommended by Adam P.


Our Share of Night

Mariana Enriquez and Megan McDowell [isbn]

Our Share of Night is a brutal epic of a horror story. It's simultaneously a family drama and an occult nightmare; a coming-of-age story and a journey into darkness. Yet, Enriquez never loses sight of her characters' intimate realities as traumatized and grieving people. I'm in awe of how much I cared about these characters, and how they've stuck with me long after reading the final page. I can't recommend this one enough!
Recommended by Mar S.


Morning Star

Karl Ove Knausgaard, Martin Aitken [isbn]

A dazzling meditation on death in the 21st century, this novel is filled with characters that will enchant, horrify, and excite you. Knausgaard walks the fine line of belief with all the grace of a master. A book no one should miss.
Recommended by Mug


The Wall

Marlen Haushofer and Shaun Whiteside [isbn]

A woman is plunged into the bitter heart of isolation after a mysterious event separates her from the whole of humanity. It's not simply the imaginative premise, the beautiful depictions of care amongst animals, or the political underpinnings of this novel that make it one of the most important and criminally unrecognized books of the 20th century, but some ineffable linguistic quality particular to the experience of a woman (and mother) trying... (read more)
Recommended by Nadia N.


Jesus Son

Denis Johnson [isbn]

No one can write a sentence better than Denis Johnson. This book is for those who love the power of the written word and those who believe that those who are lost and in need of help are no less beautiful for that fact.
Recommended by Mug


Another Way to Split Water

Alycia Pirmohamed [isbn]

Elk in tall grass; a door of glacial water; ghosts in a canopy of pine trees. Such images refract, double, and pool across this aqueous debut collection – a work of deep memory (and counter-memory) whose “rivering toward the light” returns its readers always to the ever-entangled multiplicities of language and selfhood. A diviner of intimate ecological attention, Pirmohamed is a revelation and one of my favorite poets writing today.  
Recommended by Alexa W.


After

Vivek Narayanan [isbn]

Whatever purpose is served by a small well of water is naturally served in all respects by a large lake. The large lake, or ocean, of the Ramayana is reflected upon and responded to in After by Vivek Narayan, with lots of play on form and even language. The reader will encounter heartfelt expressions, the influence of timeless characters, and longing for connection. 
Recommended by Dana S.


Raven Tower

Ann Leckie [isbn]

I think The Raven Tower might have ruined every other fantasy book I'll ever read in the future. Incredible, thought-provoking world-building combined with one of the most memorable narrators I've ever encountered, and a Hamlet-esque plot of deception and revenge...??? I'm still starstruck. How did you do it, Ann Leckie??
Recommended by Nicole S


Idol, Burning

Rin Usami and Asa Yoneda [isbn]

As someone who has participated in fan circles on the internet, reading this book felt like looking at my reflection in a funhouse mirror. Idol Burning is a signal flare of online culture in the modern age, written so clearly and strikingly by an author who must have lived through it, too; must have grown up raised on the internet to experience how it can define your life, blur the lines between real and pretend, isolate a person as much... (read more)
Recommended by Nicole S


Lungfish

Meghan Gilliss [isbn]

God, the language in this book is worth luxuriating in. Lungfish is the debut novel from Meghan Gilliss, a promising author who’s also worked as a bookseller and a librarian, something that feels reflected in the deeply considered way she layers words and stories. The novel’s protagonist, Tuck, is a mother who finds herself essentially squatting in an old family home on an island in Maine, left with little-to-no money to feed herself,... (read more)
Recommended by Kelsey F.


Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman

Bob Kaufman, Devorah Major, Neeli Cherkovski [isbn]

Used to be you couldn't throw a rock in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco without hitting someone who had a Bob Kaufman story.  Those days may be gone but Kaufman's legacy as arguably the one true genius of Beat poetics gets a shot in the arm with this long overdue collection. Improvisatory, visionary, anarchistic; anguished, defiant, and funny as hell, Kaufman's poetry is a Black American surrealist cry against the constraints of... (read more)
Recommended by Tony W


Every Man a King: A King Oliver Novel

Walter Mosley [isbn]

There's no writer like Walter Mosley and no protagonists like his creations: Easy Rawlins, Leonid McGill, and now Joe King, returning in a new era noir, facing tough moral choices, and pulling the reader — you — up close and into every fraught moment.
Recommended by Doug C.


Whereas: Poems

Layli Long Soldier [isbn]

Challenging, but wonderfully revolutionary in both content and form. Long Soldier shreds and scatters the language of American colonialism, combining the scraps with shards of Lakota and sculpting them onto the page with a masterful freedom.
Recommended by Kai B.


Exes & Os

Amy Lea [isbn]

As a fellow hopeless romantic, I really enjoyed getting to follow Tara's quest for a happily ever after. There's something really wonderful about being yourself and figuring out that you're worthy of a great love, especially as you confront all of your past... mistakes. It's a true quirky, funny, smart, steamy, slow burn that you're bound to enjoy. This one goes out to all of the women who have ever been called a "crazy ex-girlfriend" by their... (read more)
Recommended by Katherine M.


Empty Wardrobes

Maria Judite de Carvalho [isbn]

A short, powerful novel about the lives of four Portuguese women and the ways that a man's whims can tumble apart everything they've carefully constructed. An excellent translation from Margaret Jull Costa; I blew through this one.
Recommended by Kelsey F.


I Made an Accident: Collages and Poems

Kevin Sampsell [isbn]

A fantastic new book of collage and poetry, with images carefully crafted like graffiti tags in their juxtaposition of the serious and humorous, the jarring and the beautiful, melded with poems of stark truths and whimsical absurdity splashing about the pages.
Recommended by Nicholas Y.


The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1)

Becky Chambers [isbn]

Becky Chambers' vision of a time when humanity takes its place among a bustling galactic diaspora is so hopeful and funny and gentle that it makes the future look good. Far and away from the technology-and-politics hard scifi of my youth, I was tripping over myself to get to the next book in the series just to keep spending time with her characters. A world worth getting lost in!  
Recommended by SitaraG


What I Talk About When I Talk about Running

Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel [isbn]

A meditation on the disciplines of running and writing. Murakami reflects upon what he draws on, and his motivation and passion for both. His memoir subtly intersects his development and current undertaking of these pursuits. He insightfully contemplates the synthesis of body and mind. If you like running, if you like Murakami, you should buy this book!
Recommended by Jack M


Cunning Folk

Adam Nevill [isbn]

Brutal folk horror from the author of The Ritual — an English family buys a "fixer-upper" surrounded by ancient woods. It comes with THE WORST NEIGHBORS EVER.
Recommended by Miranda T.


Mouse & His Child

Russell Hoban [isbn]

Two clockwork toy mice, fused at the hands, set out to become "self-winding," finding cruelty and kindness in equal measure. Poignant, darkly funny, and not just for kids.
Recommended by Miranda T.


White Cat, Black Dog

Kelly Link [isbn]

Kelly Link is hands-down, no-questions-asked, one of my favorite working authors today. I remember when a friend gave me her collection, Magic for Beginners, my freshman year in college, like Link’s writing was a secret she only wanted to share with a select few. But I’m so lucky she shared with me, because her stories have become a constant for me. I’m obsessed with these stories: as twisted and weird and hilarious as I’ve come to... (read more)
Recommended by Kelsey F.


Rabbit Hutch

Tess Gunty [isbn]

This book is an incredible, kaleidoscopic, strange, intense, hilarious book, told in a series of stories that swirl around a young woman named Blandine and the semi-rundown building where she lives. The characters are so incredibly, intimately rendered, I've been thinking about them ever since I finished the book, wondering what they might be up to now.
Recommended by Kelsey F.


The Once and Future King

T H White [isbn]

A brief obsession with knights, magic, and the round table led me to White's classic and it delivered on every front. His characters are hilarious, tragic, and romantic, the writing is absolutely beautiful, and his creativity breathes new life into all the old Arthurian stories and mythology. Meditative, lyrical, and so warmly written that I laughed and cried in equal measure. Best in front of a fireplace. 
Recommended by SitaraG


Stoner

John Edwar Williams [isbn]

Reading this book is like watching your emotionally repressed dad cry. A moving portrait of a quiet academic life, Stoner left my head ringing like a struck bell for days after I put it down.
Recommended by Kai B.


Dream Work

Mary Oliver [isbn]

The perfect selction of poems to reflect and ponder with as we approach the new year! This book was good for my soul and I like that the primary theme was nature. 
Recommended by Erica B.


Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung

Nina Maclaughlin [isbn]

This book is written with beautiful prose, its stories giving us the other side of Ovid's Metamorphoses. It's not an "easy" read — these women are full of fury and rage and sorrow. How could they not be? Their physical transformations are the outcome of actions not their own. Wake, Siren is one of my favorite mythology retellings. I highly recommend it.
Recommended by Charlotte S.


Judas Goat

Gabrielle Bates [isbn]

I’ve been looking forward to a full collection from Gabrielle Bates ever since reading her poem ‘The Dog’ (published a few years ago in The Offing) whose stoic oscillations between brutality and tenderness left me quietly awed and curious for more. Now 'The Dog' serves as the opening poem to her outstanding debut Judas Goat, a rightful overture to a book of granular intensity and wrestling across its weighty core... (read more)
Recommended by Alexa W.


LaserWriter II

Tamara Shopsin [isbn]

I’m positive that Tamara Shopsin reached directly into my heart and pulled this book out of my combined desires for fiction that is odd, scrappy, and deliciously niche and to know things that are odd, scrappy, and deliciously niche. A coming-of-age set inside the legendary nineties indie Mac repair shop Tekserve. It’s wistful fiction and fascinating history. I’m old enough for floppy discs to have been on my school supply lists — only just — and... (read more)
Recommended by Sarah R.


The Rage of Dragons (The Burning #1)

Evan Winter [isbn]

A rich world filled with wonder plays host to a brutal story of revenge, star-crossed love, and struggle. Winter paints an all-too-real portrait of what it's like when even the most humble dream meets an unjust reality. You'll struggle to tell if your heart is racing from the action poured across the page or from the frustration welling up from every character. 
Recommended by Matthew B.


Adventure Zone The Eleventh Hour

Clint McElroy, Carey Pietsch, Griffin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Justin McElroy [isbn]

The McElroys' brilliant graphic novel adaptation of their beloved podcast (with fantastic artwork by Carey Pietsch) has finally caught up to my favorite arc, and it was well worth the wait! In the vein of Groundhog Day or Palm Springs, our heroes have found themselves caught in a time loop on their most recent (Wild West-inspired) quest, and we begin to see a number of glimpses into the larger series' plot. I laughed, I teared... (read more)
Recommended by Madeline S.


Liar, Dreamer, Thief

Maria Dong [isbn]

 Like seeing movement from the corner of your eye, only for there to be nothing when you turn your head, Liar, Dreamer, Thief defies any one genre. Katrina Kim is a 24-year-old woman whose life is spiraling out of control; her job sucks, her compulsions make even the simplest of tasks arduous, her apartment's a disaster, she’s stalking her coworker, and her parents disowned her. She’s losing her already tenuous grip on reality, unable to... (read more)
Recommended by Charlotte S.


Dream Builders

Oindrila Mukherjee [isbn]

In this panoramic view of a new city in India, Oindrila Mukherjee creates an exhilarating polyphonic novel. This is a book that has so much to say, and skillfully gives voice to a multitude of characters to say it.
Recommended by Keith M.


Sam

Allegra Goodman [isbn]

Allegra Goodman follows Sam from girlhood to adulthood, taking the reader on a journey that would seem incredible, if it didn’t seem so incredibly true. This book is a marvel of skilled writing and unparalleled empathy.
Recommended by Keith M.


Homage to Catalonia Down & Out in Paris & London

George Orwell [isbn]

Down and Out is the book I revisit when I find myself spending a lot of time walking around the city without much more than a tote bag full of half-thought-out ideas and vehement ideals. Orwell assures you can make it if you don't have much more than that, and he was a smarter man than I am: I'll take his word for it. Meanwhile, Homage to Catalonia is the book I revisit when I want to learn about how to drunkenly use 1930's... (read more)
Recommended by CJ H.


Natural Beauty

Ling Ling Huang [isbn]

When does the pursuit of beauty cross the threshold into body horror? Why is female body horror often dismissed as innocuous? Is it because women spend their entire lives being told to contort and conform their bodies into a desired shape, no matter the personal cost? This novel is a biting examination of wellness culture, consumerism, otherness, and beauty standards. Huang takes on these topics in a wonderfully plotted, whirlwind of a nightmare... (read more)
Recommended by Charlotte S.


Spear

Nicola Griffith [isbn]

A fascinating and lush retelling of Arthurian legend that feels as true and strange, as lofty and immediate, as queer (in every sense of the word) as a myth should be — I devoured this book and it haunted me wonderfully.
Recommended by Claire A.


Sensory Life on the Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology

Rebecca Ollerton [isbn]

Reading this was so eye-opening for me. As a mother to a child on the spectrum, I absolutely devoured this book. Reading about firsthand experiences has really helped me to try and understand and empathize with my child. This is an amazing anthology.
Recommended by Rose H.


How to Not Be Afraid of Everything

Jane Wong [isbn]

Lives up to the title! Informed by her Chinese heritage, PNW local Jane Wong is a master of the poetics of food, and this decadent haunted banquet of a collection only inspires more hunger for all the joy and pain of living.
Recommended by Kai B.


Disappearing Earth

Julia Phillips [isbn]

Both a mystery and lyrical, character-driven exploration of a tightly-knit community on the remote Siberian peninsula Kamchatka. Each chapter is told from a different perspective — I loved how this illuminates not only the mystery of who committed the crime the book revolves around, but the mysteries of the bonds of family, community, nation, and time. 
Recommended by Claire A.


Diving Into the Wreck Poems 1971 1972

Adrienne Rich [isbn]

Rich's poems make me feel so seen, so enlivened, so empowered to pay better attention to the world and my place in it. They are simultaneously lush and spare — exact — and so lucid both in terms of their clear-eyed perception and the brilliant light they give to gender, sexuality, power, and so much else. Winner of the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry, this is a collection that rewards rereading year after year. 
Recommended by Claire A.


Essential Neruda Selected Poems

Pablo Neruda [isbn]

This is a wonderful introduction to and a beautiful distillation of the work of Nobel Prize–winning poet Pablo Neruda. His poems express such loving, honest, awestruck attention to the world with dizzying beauty and powerful clarity of vision. This book spans forty years of Neruda's career and features translations by multiple scholars and poets, which provides a really interesting sense of his poetics. I love that this edition includes the... (read more)
Recommended by Claire A.


Historian

Elizabeth Kostova [isbn]

This literary mystery is a nested puzzle-box that keeps opening and opening. I love what a slow burn it is and how seriously it takes its premise — what if a real historian really inherited an ancient book that had led to ruin for its previous owners? The seemingly fantastical elements are grounded in real history. Deeply creepy, deeply satisfying. 
Recommended by Claire A.


The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century

Josh Cook [isbn]

A book about books by a fellow indie bookseller? Sold. What’s more, the bookseller is Josh Cook, whose 2021 chapbook, The Least We Can Do, has been not-so-quietly making the rounds among indie booksellers since its release, prompting much-needed reflection and conversation about the ideas afforded space on our shelves. I’m eager to see Cook expand on that topic and more in The Art of Libromancy, and to chat about it with the... (read more)
Recommended by Tove H.


Least We Can Do White Supremacy Free Speech & Independent Bookstores

Josh Cook [isbn]

This insightful pamphlet from a fellow indie bookseller grapples with the role that independent bookstores play in platforming, legitimizing, and providing a revenue stream for white supremacists and other dangerous ideologues. A small book that asks some big and necessary questions, and urges its reader to do the same.
Recommended by Tove H.


If Not Winter: Fragments of Sappho

Sappho, Anne Carson [isbn]

Of Sappho's fabled nine books of lyrics, only one poem remains intact. The rest are punctuated by blank spaces, words, and phrases sacrificed to time. Many translators have attempted to fill these absences with language; Carson prefers to honor the scraps. Her translation is brilliant and incisive, each word a precious jewel magnified by empty space. Missing words are signified by brackets, an invitation for the reader to join in the iterative... (read more)
Recommended by Nadia N.


As Meat Loves Salt

Maria McCann [isbn]

What a gut punch of a book. God how I loved it. As Meat Loves Salt is grimy and greasy and bloody; where love (lust?) and violence are written with the same amount of passion and dedication. This book is incredibly immersive — I could practically taste and smell 17th-century England while I was reading, and it totally swept me away. If you're looking for a book with a twisty and toxic queer relationship — or a psychological portrait of... (read more)
Recommended by Nicole S


Pothos

Rosa Campbell [isbn]

I'll never forget how it felt to read this verdant meditation on grief, houseplants, and queer home-making for the first time — how moved I was by its warmth and brilliance, how I read it all in a single afternoon even as I wished it wouldn't end. With Pothos as her debut, Scotland-based writer Rosa Campbell reveals herself to be a thrilling and vital new voice, as well as a generous guide towards the small things that can save us. 
Recommended by Alexa W.


When We Cease to Understand the World

Benjamin Labatut [isbn]

Spellbinding, illuminating, imaginative. The sort of book that imbues the everyday with a wash of light. Labatut defies genre, taking creative liberties in charting the relationship between scientific discovery, madness, and mutually assured destruction. Sure to keep you up at night, perhaps in the garden, pondering the existence of black holes while replicating them in the earth below...
Recommended by Nadia N.


The Story of the Hundred Promises

Neil Cochrane [isbn]

A trans- and queer-centered homage to Beauty and the Beast! This book is wonderfully imaginative, lushly written, and just a downright joy.
Recommended by Gigi L.


How High We Go in the Dark

Sequoia Nagamatsu [isbn]

My *goodness*, this book. Set aside any misgivings you might have about reading a pandemic novel during a pandemic. These gracefully interconnected narratives have their roots in familiar territory, but their branches arc and sprawl beyond the world we know into the far reaches of Sequoia Nagamatsu’s imagination. The result is an immersive, tender, life-affirming book that left me both wonderstruck and — much to my surprise — comforted.
Recommended by Tove H.


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