Staff Picks: Adult

Back to Staff Picks


Staff Pick Badge
Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes By Travis Baldree Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250886088
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tor Books - November 8th, 2022

Orcs! Swords! Alchemy! Gnomes! And ooey-gooey chocolate croissants? Legends & Lattes is a surprising re-imagination as to what fantasy can be. Viv, a fearsome orc warrior, decides to stash her sword and start out on a new adventure: running a coffee shop. This story is full of lovely little moments in a fantastical world that are sure warm your cold, dead heart. But fair warning: it may also give you an overwhelming desire to cozy up in your favorite café with a hot beverage and a cinnamon roll the size of your head.

Heather


Staff Pick Badge
It Rides a Pale Horse By Andy Marino Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316629522
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Redhook - October 4th, 2022

I went into this book without reading any synopsis or reviews- totally blind. I was not expecting a dark, cosmic horror that felt like a modern take on H.P. Lovecraft. This book was fantastic. At one point, the world was literally shifting and merging things together, creating gruesome amalgamations and some strange body horror. If Lovecraft is your thing, I urge you to give this book a try.

Anna


Staff Pick Badge
This Is How You Lose the Time War By Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781534430990
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Gallery / Saga Press - March 17th, 2020

In this electrifying sci-fi adventure enemy agents Red and Blue seek to one-up each other in a centuries-long game of cat-and-mouse that plays out on battlefields and in London teashops. What neither agent could’ve predicted? The love that blooms when they begin a correspondence. With their precarious--yet fierce--love stringing Red and Blue together across time-strands, only one question remains: is their love and wit enough to keep them one step ahead of their enemies, or is the fight to be together the one battle they can’t win?

Jenna


Staff Pick Badge
The Last House on Needless Street By Catriona Ward Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250812643
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tor Nightfire - September 20th, 2022

Never in my life have I read a horror novel that kept me guessing as much as this one, and I read a lot of horror books. Ward has crafted a story that truly feels like peeling the layers of an onion as you get to know the characters. I was confused about who the true villain was until the very end of the book. If you're looking for something to absolutely give you chills, this is it.

Anna


Staff Pick Badge
Dead Silence By S.A. Barnes Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781250819994
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Tor Nightfire - February 8th, 2022

A haunted cruise ship in space. Yep, you read that right. This book has everything I love about both the ghost ship and haunted space tropes. It gave me the heebie jeebies in all the best ways, and I would definitely NOT recommend reading this one at night. I give it 10 out of 10 ghost astronauts.

Anna


Staff Pick Badge
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue By V. E. Schwab Cover Image
$26.99
ISBN: 9780765387561
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Tor Books - October 6th, 2020

When Addie wishes for independence she gets more than she bargains for. Addie is cursed to live forever and have no one remember her until one day a boy changes it all with three small words “I remember you." Schwab takes you on a masterful adventure over centuries as Addie tries to leave her mark. This book will have you crying, laughing, and clutching at your heart for the emotional journey that Addie lives through. Be careful what you wish for.

Jess


Staff Pick Badge
What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier #1) By T. Kingfisher Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781250830753
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tor Nightfire - July 12th, 2022

I am such a sucker for a reimagined classic, and Kingfisher's take on Poe's famous The Fall of the House of Usher is wonderful. Rarely do I come across horror novels with such witty and delightful characters. The dialoge made me want to sit down to tea with each person, but the creepy gothic atmosphere made me want to forgo the tea and run away screaming instead.

Anna


Staff Pick Badge
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) By Becky Chambers Cover Image
$20.99
ISBN: 9781250236210
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tordotcom - July 13th, 2021

Everything in the world is so hard, but A Psalm for the Wild-Built is such a warm-hearted balm. Sibling Dex (a traveling Tea Monk) and Mosscap (a sentient, “wild-built” robot) wrestle with hard existential questions about purpose and belonging, but the book is generous and patient. Psalm is a great reminder of how huge and full even a small life can be when it’s well-lived. (And don’t miss the follow-up, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy!)

Timothy


Staff Pick Badge
The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel (A Thursday Murder Club Mystery #1) By Richard Osman Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781984880987
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Penguin Books - August 3rd, 2021

Solving cold murders is not your typical retiree pastime; however for Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron, it’s the highlight of the week at Coopers Chase retirement village. When a local homicide sends the Thursday Murder Club crime-solving in real time, this quick-witted group of senior citizens will use all their cunning to solve their most thrilling case yet. Filled with dry humor and unique characters, this murder mystery is one of the best and certainly the funniest I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Anastasia


Staff Pick Badge
Recursion: A Novel By Blake Crouch Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781524759797
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Ballantine Books - March 10th, 2020

Black Mirror fans, this is for you. As soon as I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down. Blake Crouch has created a novel that deals with matters of human relationship and of the heart while also not losing any of his masterful, approachable high sci-fi. I haven't fell so in love with a book in such a long time and the ending STILL has me thinking about it at least once a month.

Jess


Staff Pick Badge
When Women Were Dragons: A Novel By Kelly Barnhill Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780385548229
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Doubleday - May 3rd, 2022

Set in the ‘50s, When Women Were Dragons is a story about misogyny and, most of all, how keeping quiet about it won’t change anything. During the Mass Dragoning of 1955, tons of women just up and left their jobs, families, and lives when they -poof- turned into dragons. Barnhill has crafted an extremely powerful story about rising up and speaking out, which could not be more timely.

Anna


Staff Pick Badge
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner) By Hernan Diaz Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780593420317
Availability: Backordered
Published: Riverhead Books - May 3rd, 2022

Hernan Diaz’s fantastic second novel opens with a novel-within-a-novel—Bonds by the fictional author Harold Vanner—about a reclusive millionaire and his wife. The following sections refract, reflect, reframe, and undermine that novel and one another, as we learn about the people and events that inspired Vanner. Trust is a kaleidoscopic portrait of American wealth and the individuals who hoard it, full of unreliable narrators and mysteries that deepen even as they’re solved.

Timothy


Staff Pick Badge
The Hurting Kind By Limón Ada Cover Image
$24.00
ISBN: 9781639550494
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Milkweed Editions - May 10th, 2022

Ada Limón’s poetry is some of my favorite to recommend to long-time poetry lovers and new poetry readers alike. Her newest collection is no exception. Reckoning with living in a world where suffering and joy, beauty and loss are all held together in the palm of the same hand, The Hurting Kind, is the kind of book that found me right when I needed it most. I hope it meets you wherever you are too.

Claire


Staff Pick Badge
Book Lovers By Emily Henry Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593334836
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Berkley - May 3rd, 2022

It’s a yearly occurrence for Henry to capture my heart with her books–and Book Lovers certainly did. From both the nods to–and subversions of–movie tropes, to the references to the literary world that backdrop Charlie and Nora’s slow unraveling of each other, I was as head over heels for them as they were for each other. A tender love story full of all the banter you could wish for, paired with the joy found in cherishing your partner’s dreams.

Jenna


Staff Pick Badge
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle #2) By Nghi Vo Cover Image
By Nghi Vo
$15.99
ISBN: 9781250786135
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tordotcom - December 8th, 2020

The story-telling cleric Chih encounters three shape-shifting tiger sisters one heart-pounding night and--while avoiding getting eaten--gleans the love story of the tigress Ho Thi Thao and her human wife Scholar Dien. Chih shares their version of the legendary story, while the tiger sisters share their version. Full of stunning prose, sweeping romance, captivating storytelling, and an interesting narrative of truth that this series is known for.

Jenna


Staff Pick Badge
A Year & Other Poems By Jos Charles Cover Image
$22.00
ISBN: 9781571315472
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Milkweed Editions - March 15th, 2022

Jos Charles' last book, feeld, was the first time I ever thought, "I want to memorize this whole book so it's always nearby." Her new book, a Year & other poems, is just as astounding, the poems charged like the moment before static shock, documenting losses, fears, and longings both personal and collective. Time pulses irrevocably in the daybook that is the long title sequence. I remain deeply moved by how carefully and intentionally Charles selects and places each syllable on the page, and by how that care extends to us as readers.

Timothy


Staff Pick Badge
A Dangerous Place By Chelsea B. Desautels Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781946448866
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Sarabande Books - October 19th, 2021

This debut poetry collection recounts seismic shifts–a cancer diagnosis following the birth of her child–with searing honesty and gorgeous lyricism. DesAutels’ poems follow illness, recovery, motherhood and all the life that happens amid such earth-shaking moments. Throughout the collection, DesAutels shifts between the dangerous, the familiar and where they intersect, be it in the natural world, the home, or within the body itself. In addition to being stunningly written, the whole collection is at once a gut punch and a healing song, and a journey well worth embarking on.

Claire


Staff Pick Badge
Wow, No Thank You.: Essays By Samantha Irby Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525563488
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - March 31st, 2020

Irby brings a reality to what we call life. Each chapter forms its own essay, revolving around Irby’s love interests (failed and flourishing), her body (and its odd mechanisms of reminding her it’s working…or not), and her humor (which despite the ups and downs, stays hilariously consistent). Irby’s compassion for the human experience is tucked neatly into all this, centering her insecurities in a way that can only lead to compassion for our ridiculous little moments that make up this life.

Carolyn


Staff Pick Badge
What Is Otherwise Infinite: Poems By Bianca Stone Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781951142971
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tin House Books - January 18th, 2022

In poems that reference "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Virginia Woolf with the same ease as noise music and Star Trek, Bianca Stone's latest collection looks at the dark things that live in us all—shame, doubt, addiction—and reminds us that even Christ spent "forty days in the desert / with what he thought was the Devil / but was really just himself." Here’s the moral questioning of Dante and Milton updated with a contemporary gallows humor about the twin existential fears of climate change and capitalism. "That's purgatory, baby."

Timothy


Staff Pick Badge
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law By Mary Roach Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9781324001935
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - September 14th, 2021

As thrilling as it is to think about wildlife in the city, the sad fact is that it highlights how humans encroach on the natural habitats and habits of the wild ones. Science writer Mary Roach’s new book for adults, Fuzz, looks at the disruption and danger caused by the two worlds converging. In her wildly entertaining manner, she reports on the chaos that ensues ‘when nature breaks the law’. But whose law? The law of nature? The law of science? The law of humankind?

Collette


Staff Pick Badge
The Heroine with 1001 Faces By Maria Tatar Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9781631498817
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Liveright - September 14th, 2021

Folklorist Maria Tatar explores the role of female characters and archetypes from our best known and oft-repeated stories, drawing from ancient tales to modern literature, re-tellings, and social movements. Surveying texts spanning from The Odysseyto Madeline Miller’s Circe, this fascinating read invites us to reengage with and reimagine the heroines we thought we knew, and how their stories shape our world.

Claire


Staff Pick Badge
On Animals By Susan Orlean Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9781982181536
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster - October 12th, 2021

The introduction is titled “Animalish”: my new favorite adjective! This lively collection of essays by Susan Orlean explores human/animal relationships. Although I picked it up for the animal side of the story, I was blown away by her observations about humans. From backyard chicken farmers to show-dog breeders, from hoarders to conservationists, she covers them all with grace and humor. A thought provoking book that will inspire you to take a closer look at your own animalish universe.

Collette


Staff Pick Badge
Light From Uncommon Stars By Ryka Aoki Cover Image
$26.99
ISBN: 9781250789068
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Tor Books - September 28th, 2021

A tender, unflinching story about three unexpectedly intertwined women: one runaway trans girl, a former violinist who sold her soul to a demon, and an alien who’s new to Earth. Katrina is struggling to find her place in the world, but with help from her violin instructor, she’ll find her voice – if Shizuka doesn’t sell Katrina’s soul to hell. Filled with the magic of music and good donuts, romance, and found family, this is a defiantly joyful novel.

Jenna


Staff Pick Badge
The Book of Delights: Essays By Ross Gay Cover Image
$24.95
ISBN: 9781616207922
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Algonquin Books - February 12th, 2019

I love Ross Gay's writing so much. The prose pieces in The Book of Delights are delightful, but they're also complicated, profound, funny, sad, and so much more. A lot like life. Poet Ross Gay avoids saccharine, Hallmark-style sentimentality and finds the gritty, wonderful depths of delight, gratitude, and joy. Ross Gay's books are my answer to most unanswerable questions.

TIMOTHY


Staff Pick Badge
The House in the Cerulean Sea By TJ Klune Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250217318
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Tor Books - December 29th, 2020

“I couldn’t put this book down” is a phrase used so often, we barely blink at it. But to be caught in the pages of a book and never want to leave really is a rare and powerful magic. The House in the Cerulean Sea bestowed that level of enchantment on me. This endearing and entertaining story has everything I want in a comforting fantasy read: whimsy, a cast of misfit characters, a smidge of mystery, a dash of romance, and a whole lot of heart.

CLAIRE


Staff Pick Badge
Thousand Star Hotel By Bao Phi Cover Image
By Bao Phi
$16.95
ISBN: 9781566894708
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Coffee House Press - July 4th, 2017

Local author! Local press! Bao Phi's poems are frank and affecting. I admire the tenderness with which he writes about the joys and challenges of being a man and raising a daughter—especially in America, especially as a Vietnamese American. If you want to read more poetry, this book is an excellent place to start.

TIMOTHY


Staff Pick Badge
The Left Hand of Darkness: 50th Anniversary Edition By Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell (Foreword by), Charlie Jane Anders (Afterword by) Cover Image
By Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell (Foreword by), Charlie Jane Anders (Afterword by)
$17.00
ISBN: 9780441007318
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Ace - July 1st, 2000

Le Guin is one of the greatest American writers of the last century and this is one of her many masterpieces. Like all of her best work, it takes some “what if?” questions—especially about gender and culture—to their logical endpoints, while also simply telling a very good story. I don’t have enough space here to explain how much I love this book.

TIMOTHY


Staff Pick Badge
Transcendent Kingdom: A novel By Yaa Gyasi Cover Image
$27.95
ISBN: 9780525658184
Availability: Unavailable to Order
Published: Knopf - September 1st, 2020

Gifty is a brilliant neuroscientist who was raised evangelical, studying reward-seeking behavior in mice. As she cares for her mother who struggles with depression, she confronts issues of race, grief, addiction, mental illness, immigration, religion, and faith, all through the lens of her own experiences and her Ghanaian-American family in Alabama. Completely different from Gyasi’s debut Homegoing, but just as stunning and epic in its depth and the array of subjects it so eloquently tackles.

Drew


Staff Pick Badge
Crooked Hallelujah By Kelli Jo Ford Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780802149121
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Grove Press - July 14th, 2020

Reading each chapter in Ford’s sparkling debut, with its shifting points of view, is like sifting through a box of old, faded photos. In her story of four generations of Cherokee women, we see how home, both the place and the people within, forges bonds strong enough to withstand all manner of struggle and disappointment. There is little romanticism here, but the book at its core is a real love story.

Katie


Staff Pick Badge
Memorial: A Novel By Bryan Washington Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780593087275
Availability: Unavailable to Order
Published: Riverhead Books - October 27th, 2020

Benson and Mike are in a complicated, possibly-failing relationship when Mike’s mother Mitsuko arrives for a visit from Tokyo, and a day later he leaves to say goodbye to his dying and estranged father in Osaka. After meeting for the first time, Benson and Mitsuko are stuck living together in a small apartment in Houston. Through the alternating perspectives of Benson and Mike, Washington lovingly explores the changing and sometimes challenging relationships between partners, parents and their adult children, and friends. The cities of Houston and Osaka are so present they are almost characters, and I loved the descriptions of food and cooking throughout. This book has stayed with me in the best way.

Drew


The Starless Sea: A Novel By Erin Morgenstern Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781101971383
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Anchor - August 4th, 2020

This beautiful novel is a story within a story, looping back on itself through time. These stories are protected by those who are willing to give their lives for them, and many have. Zachary is searching for these stories and the door to their sanctuary without even knowing it. His door is waiting for him, and with the help of two strangers, he becomes part of a world he knows nothing about. Yet it has been speaking to him his whole life.

-Anna


The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle #1) By Patrick Rothfuss Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780756405892
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: DAW - April 7th, 2009

The Name of the Wind is one of my top-five favorite fantasy novels. After our protagonist Kvothe suffers a violent tragedy in childhood he commits his life to finding the perpetrators, mythical beings the rest of the world does not believe exist. Along the way his many adventures and challenges distinguish him as the greatest wizard the world has ever known, he himself becoming the stuff of legend. It is the first of a fun and fantastic series, make sure to grab book two (The Wise Man's Fear) as well! 

Kristen


Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel By Gail Honeyman Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780735220690
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - June 5th, 2018

I'll be honest, I initially found this book a bit off-putting. Eleanor, this story's recluse heroine, is quite socially idiosyncratic. But as you stick with Eleanor's blunders and maladaptive tendencies, clues about why Eleanor seems to be such an unusual human begin to fit together. The result is a deeply funny ode to emerging from the depths of loneliness and opening one's heart.                                     

Kara


Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories By Kelly Barnhill Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781616209247
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Algonquin Books - March 12th, 2019

Barnhill masterfully expands from her typical work in this eclectic collection of eerie stories. Ranging from the tale of a widow's love affair with a Sasquatch to the life of a girl destined to be a revolutionary pirate; these stories are some of the most imaginative I've read. An extraordinary mix of fantasy, magical realism, science fiction and folk-inspired stories, this book would be a versatile gift. 

-Kara


Full Throttle: Stories By Joe Hill Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062200693
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - September 8th, 2020

Joe Hill has written everything from novels to comic books, but he really hit the nail on the head with this collection of short stories. Ranging from supernatural to horror, each story is exquisitely crafted to be wholly different from the last. Some are shocking, some sad, and some sent shivers down my spine. This collection would be perfect for that person on your list who doesn’t mind getting a little spooked.

Anna


Movies (And Other Things) By Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres (Illustrator)
$25.00
ISBN: 9781538730195
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Twelve - October 8th, 2019

Do you have an uncle/cousin/friend who you simply CANNOT shop for because they like movies but no one watches DVDs in 2019? This is the book for you! Find out the answers to questions you never knew you had in a set of illustrated essays for the ages. This book would be rated R for language and H for hilarious. “We do great with the ‘don’t normally read books’ crowd.” -Shea Serrano 

Linda


Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury By Sigrid Nunez, Peter Cameron (Afterword by) Cover Image
By Sigrid Nunez, Peter Cameron (Afterword by)
$15.95
ISBN: 9781593765828
Availability: Unavailable to Order
Published: Soft Skull - August 6th, 2019

Sigrid Nunez, winner of the National Book Award (2018 ‘The Friend), is the perfect author to bring to life the small period of time during which Leonard and Virginia Woolf lived with the encroaching danger of Nazi Germany and hosted a marmoset named Mitz—first as a sickly guest, then as a constant companion to Leonard. I’m always curious about the private lives of famous authors and Leonard and Virginia Woolf are such an iconic writing couple. In the early 1900’s they were the ring leaders of the ‘Bloomsbury Group’ of writers and artists. They created their own publishing company: Hogarth Press and mentored young whippersnappers such as T.S. Eliot. This book, culled from diaries, biographies and autobiographies gives us a snapshot of a truly likable couple who maintain rigorous writing/editing schedules but make room for the niceties of Sussex, England circa 1930. This is the minutiae of the worst pet in the world (Mitz) and her fierce attachment to Leonard. Virginia’s acerbic asides are hilarious, weirdly intimate and endearing.

Collette


Lab Girl By Hope Jahren Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781101873724
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Vintage - February 28th, 2017

I got this book as a gift a few years ago and couldn't put it down till I finished it. This is a compelling and inspiring account of a woman making a path in STEM, and Hope Jahren's story of perseverance and passion masterfully mixes memoir and science. In fact, her clear, clever explanations of biology just might have made me contemplate changing my career and becoming a botanist. 

Paige


The Power By Naomi Alderman Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316547604
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Back Bay Books - January 8th, 2019

It's like Handmaid's Tale; except this time, women have all the power. A modern science fiction that is so perceptive and relevant, it is hard to distinguish from reality. It starts with an innocent playground fight, then escalates to a national emergency due to all the cases of injured men. Some of these altercations are involuntary; yet, once some women discover they have the power, they seek vengeance.

Beth


The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father By Kao Kalia Yang Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781250131881
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (Subject to Availability)
Published: Picador - May 9th, 2017

This book sat on top of my “to read” pile for three years before I finally picked it up. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did. Yang’s duet with her father is a lyrical, yet unvarnished recounting of their family’s journey from Laos to the United States and their ensuing years in the Twin Cities. Both beautiful and thought-provoking, The Song Poet is an essential read for all Minnesotans.

Katie


The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition (Earthsea Cycle) By Ursula  K. Le Guin, Charles Vess (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Ursula K. Le Guin, Charles Vess (Illustrator)
$59.99
ISBN: 9781481465588
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Gallery / Saga Press - October 30th, 2018

Whether you’re well-acquainted with the world of Earthsea or are visiting for the first time, the 50th anniversary omnibus edition of Le Guin’s classic fantasy series is a must-own. Immerse yourself in a realm where magic springs from truth, names hold great power, and dragons are capable of far more than breathing fire. Handsome new illustrations, personally selected by the author, will further engage your imagination along the way.

Rachel


Virgil Wander By Leif Enger Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780802147127
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Grove Press - August 20th, 2019

A host of characters makes for a most colorful tale of life in hard-times Greenstone, MN. Virgil Wander, proprietor of the failing Empress Theater, takes the ride of a life in his old Pontiac as he plunges over a cliff into the frigid lake below.
Barely surviving, Virgil finds a new path in life—a rebirth, if you will. Because of the friends he never knew he had, the “soft old heads-down” version of Virgil is on extended leave, discovering new roads. Come along for the ride! Amen.

Ellen


A Key to Treehouse Living By Elliot Reed Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781947793590
Availability: Unavailable to Order
Published: Tin House Books - September 18th, 2019

In a story for the literature lover you know, William Tyce gifts us with a glossary of his young life. From ABSENCE to JELLYBEANS, each entry is a puzzle piece introducing and developing key figures in his story: a gambling uncle, a
balloon-chasing best friend, and a missing father. Follow Will as he grows up and embarks on a journey downriver to find his father. The tale woven throughout is built through clear-eyed prose and the startling and earnest insights of its protagonist.
Through it all, William learns of the power language has to shape and define the world around him.

Paige


Meet Me at the Museum: A Novel By Anne Youngson Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9781250295170
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Flatiron Books - August 6th, 2019

Dear Tina, Dear Kristian...their letters share all that seems important when “the time ahead and the time behind is more or less in balance.” Theirs are thoughts of plans never fulfilled. And yet, we readers are comforted in the elegance of their
penned correspondence. (Aren’t we all in need of someone we care for?) The museum is open every day. As curator of the museum, Kristian invites Tina to “please come!” Join in on this memorable romance between two strangers, one from East Anglia, the other from Denmark. There is an enormity in the might-have-been!

Ellen


Staff Pick Badge
The Left Hand of Darkness: 50th Anniversary Edition By Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell (Foreword by), Charlie Jane Anders (Afterword by) Cover Image
By Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell (Foreword by), Charlie Jane Anders (Afterword by)
$17.00
ISBN: 9780441007318
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Ace - July 1st, 2000

Le Guin is one of the greatest American writers of the last century and this is one of her many masterpieces. Like all of her best work, it takes some “what if?” questions—especially about gender and culture—to their logical endpoints, while also simply telling a very good story. I don’t have enough space here to explain how much I love this book.

TIMOTHY


The Glass Castle: A Memoir By Jeannette Walls Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780743247542
Availability: Usually Ships from Wholesaler in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - January 17th, 2006

This book has stayed with me for years. Walls impeccably recounts the story of growing up with her unique, nomadic family. Jeanette’s mother was an artist who encouraged the four Walls children to be independent, so she could focus on painting. Her father was an exceptionally brilliant man who taught them about physics, philosophy and geology, but became reckless and abusive when drinking. Thus, the Walls family would run away from their problems, always hoping to build a better life in their self-designed Glass Castle. At its core, this is a heartbreaking story of family and resilience.

Kara