Past Staff Pick Archives

 

Please note: these titles are no longer discounted.  We just thought you might be curious about what our staff has recommended in the past; they're still great books.

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Incendiary: A Novel (Book Club Readers Edition) (Paperback)

By Chris Cleave
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781451618495
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster, 1/2011
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A vicious terrorist attack in the heart of London kills a woman's husband and son while she's at home having a complex but human moment of indiscretion. Despite her fidelity lapse, she is a good mother and a good wife and she becomes overwhelmed by grief; overwhelmed by the loss of her family - her husband and her child. In order to cope with her loss, she writes a letter (the form the book takes), and addresses the letter to Osama Bin Laden. With raw power and emotion, this young mother conveys her grief, loss, upset and rage, while slowly rebuilding herself in the wake of her new reality.

 

(Rebecca)

The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories (Penguin Ink) (Paperback)

By Angela Carter, Jen Munford
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780143119043
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 3/2011
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Angela Carter's spin on classic fairy tales and beasts is terribly dark and terribly sexy, and her language is both gloriously poetic and primal. If you long to transport yourself back a few hundred years and hear ribald, uncensored versions of the tales you thought you knew, you cannot ask for a better companion that her.

 

(Annie)

Lamb (Paperback)

By Bonnie Nadzam
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781590514375
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Other Press, 9/2011
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I found myself utterly absorbed in Bonnie Nadzam’s prose and honesty. This is more than your modern-day Lolita. Lamb made me think about my place as a woman in this world, and how the men in my life influence my heart. David Lamb might not be the greatest man in the world, but he is the most painfully human character that I have encountered in a long, long time. You might find yourself sympathizing with him--even empathizing.

 

(Krystal)

House of Leaves: The Remastered Full-Color Edition (Paperback)

By Mark Z. Danielewski
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9780375703768
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Pantheon, 3/2000
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This book is terrifying. And awesome. Go on, just pick it up and flip through it. See? Okay, so I pretty much always have no interest in being scared. But this book is worth it. A story within a story within a story, parts of which may be real or invented, and at the center, a family that wakes up to discover a hallway in their house that wasn't there before.

 

(Annie)

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 (Paperback)

By Hunter S. Thompson
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9780446698221
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 10/2006
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Watching the Republican race unfold while the country gears up for election year, I can’t help but think of the good doctor from time to time. This may be Thompson’s most scathing and oddly poignant volume, providing an addled insight to the fundamental rage of American politics. This is an outsider story and an underdog tale, fed through the Gonzo engine, that leaves the hero and readers wondering which end is up. The season is upon us, so buy the ticket.

 

(Jarrod)

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (Paperback)

By Amy Hempel, Rick Moody
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780743291637
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scribner, 9/2007
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Sometimes judge a book by its cover. Look at Amy Hempel in this photo. Wise. Loves Dogs. What more do you need to know? That her stories are achingly sad and beautiful and strange and surprisingly funny?

 

(Pat)

Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do (Paperback)

By Studs Terkel
$18.95
ISBN-13: 9781565843424
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: New Press, 1/1997
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You’ll be hard-pressed to find a journalist more truthful and straightforward than Studs Terkel. Working is a large collection of monologues, sculpted from numerous interviews Terkel conducted with everyday people about their everyday jobs. What you read is essentially what they’ve said. Working doesn’t give the working people a voice – it lets them use their own.

 

(Geo)

Disgrace (Paperback)

By J. M. Coetzee
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780140296402
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 11/2000
Other Editions of this Title
The story of a professor whose poor decisions drastically and irrevocably alter the course of his life, Disgrace is one of the most moving, devastating novels I've ever read. The writing is relentlessly intense and at times almost unbearably bleak, but don't let that stop you from reading this book. Reading Coetzee is a powerful, draining, and enlightening emotional experience that I absolutely recommend to anyone with a human soul.

 

(Pat)

Death and the Penguin (Paperback)

By Andrey Kurkov, George Bird
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781935554554
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Melville International Crime, 6/2011
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A bizarre post-Soviet novel that pairs a noir story with bleak humor and Russian existentialism. Viktor lands a gig writing preemptive obituaries for noted public figures in Kiev. As his subjects start dropping off, Viktor realizes that while money can be easy, it can also be dangerous. He must also find a means to care for his flat-mate Misha, a melancholic king penguin adopted from the local zoo. While day-to-day life becomes increasingly complicated, the concern Viktor and Misha share for each other remains the only constant in either of their lives. A great winter read with a sequel to boot!

 

(Jarrod)

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Paperback)

By Haruki Murakami
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780679775430
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 9/1998
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Whenever people ask me about my thoughts on this book, the first words out of my mouth are as follows: it changed my life. And I don't use those four words lightly. But Murakami's story of a married man, his relationship with his wife, the house cat, his community, his country, and war, changed my perception of what it means to be human. Murakami weaves past and present, civilian life and wartime trauma, in a flawless account of what happens when a sub-par and ordinary life gets completely turned upside-down. I promise--you'll question what matters to you after reading this book.

 

(Krystal)

Moon: A Brief History (Hardcover)

By Bernd Brunner
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780300152128
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Yale University Press, 11/2010
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My friends and I used to joke that the ultimate cocktail party would have invited the Apollo 11 mission crew. "So, Neil, you've been to the moon. What's that like?" Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the next best thing? Bernd Brunner's Moon is an hypnotic history of Earth's only natural satellite from the earliest gazers to the scientific discoveries made possible by moonlight, and it will probably make you a sought-after guest at cocktail parties.

 

(Brette)

Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Paperback)

By MariNaomi
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9780062009234
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial, 3/2011
Cartoonist/artist MariNaomi has created a chronological account of every boy and girl she’s ever kissed, including her elementary school years. Her stark black and white drawings and succinct dialogue make for a moving, funny read, and it made me want to go back and make a list of my own.

 

(Eleanor)

At Home Anywhere (Paperback)

By Mary Hoffman
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780898232509
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: New Rivers Press, 10/2010
An unassuming book in all ways, but give it your attention and it can surprise and move you like an unexpected encounter on a Brooklyn street. These characters are decidedly NOT at home, teetering off balance with no guarantee of how they'll land. The title story, about a man obsessed with the middle Eastern shops on Atlantic Avenue before and after 9/11, is a compassionate meditation on our attempts to connect, to belong, to explore, to understand ourselves and the Other, no matter how haphazard or misguided. Written by a Brooklyn author, these quiet stories strike close to home, and close to the bone.

 

(Jessica)

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (Hardcover)

By Barry Deutsch, Hansen Literary Agency
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780810984226
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harry N. Abrams, 11/2010
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It's not easy being a tomboy in an Orthodox Jewish community -- but then, is it ever? Eleven-year-old Mirka just wants to wield swords and fight dragons, but her challenges seem to be limited to learning to knit and dealing with the loss of her mother -- until the world of Jewish folktales starts to overlap with real life. A warm, funny, and universal story of family and the classic hero's quest, this graphic novel also offers a look inside a unique way of life, and the revelation that magic is almost always found in unexpected places.

 

(Jessica)

L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems (Paperback)

By Patricia Smith, Kevin Coval
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781608461516
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Haymarket Books, 9/2011
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A high-stakes collection of autobiographical poems about the author, combined with the re-imagined/remembered history of America's prodigal child and cultural thief, L-vis (Elvis). L-vis is a collage of Eminem, Vanilla Ice, of course Elvis Presley, any & all complicated, naive white protagonists who have used and misused black culture. Watch as L-vis & the author explore and stumble through the impossible nature of the skin & soul. An ancient and messy story. These are brave American racemusic poems.

 

(Angel)

Requiem for a Paper Bag: Celebrities and Civilians Tell Stories of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Found Items from Around the World (Paperback)

By Davy Rothbart
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9781416560548
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Touchstone, 5/2009
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The creator of Found Magazine (a magazine where people's lost letters, notes, grocery lists, birthday cards, napkin doodles, are published) has brought together the BEST found stories of luminary writers, musicians, artists, including Miranda July, Dave Eggers, Kimya Dawson and Jonathan Lethem in this collection that is not unlike a cross between a dumpster dive and a manifesto. Read this book for a glimpse into all the hidden treasure of the holy abandoned thing!

 

(Angel)

Meditations (Paperback)

By Marcus Aurelius, Gregory Hays
$10.00
ISBN-13: 9780812968255
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Modern Library, 5/2003
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Meditations is a trove of golden nuggets of introspective wisdom, philosophical in the purest sense. An eloquent stoic, Aurelius kept it together while his empire sustained a flood, a famine, and two wars. He is probably the original bearded hipster, but since Meditations is almost 1,850 years old, he totally pulls it off.

 

(Brette)

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 (Paperback)

By Michael Azerrad
$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780316787536
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books, 7/2002
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To a lot of casual observers my age, musically, the eighties seem like a kitschy neon wasteland - one decade-long Rick Roll. This book, however, is an argument for the eighties, a seminal document of the American underground just "left of the dial," a nostalgic artifact of punk ethos and DIY authenticity (Can there even be an underground now? Are there still dials?). From the acid-fueled freak-outs of the Butthole Surfers to Beat Happening's pie-baking parties, Azerrad covers a lot of ground and once you've dived in it's difficult to put the book down.

 

(Matt)

The Children's Hospital (Paperback)

By Chris Adrian
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780802143334
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grove Press, 10/2007
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I love a good tale of apocalypse. And I don't think it gets any better than this book. The world drowns, and all that seems to be left is a children's hospital, bobbing over the waves. Poetic and epic and full of mystery and wonder - but never forgetting how humans are not especially poetic or epic creatures - Adrian's book is riveting and thought-provoking, and most importantly, magical.

 

(Annie)

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Paperback)

By Bill Bryson
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9780767902526
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Broadway, 5/1999
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Ever say to yourself, "Gee, I love Walden but I wish it were funnier." Well, you're in luck. I hold a firm believe that Bill Bryson is currently the funniest person alive. His travel books make you actually laugh, possibly garnering you strange stares on the subway, but it is absolutely worth it. Not only is A Walk in the Woods funny and enjoyable in typical Bryson fashion, but it's perhaps his most thoughtful and, dare I say, philosophical book.

 

(Geo)

The Golden Gate (Paperback)

By Vikram Seth
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780679734574
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 6/1991
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With the vocabulary of Nabokov and the rhyming skills of Shakespeare, Vikram Seth tells a tale of a young Californian couple during the early eighties - in 590 stanzas of rhyming tetrameter. It is insane, and unlike anything you have ever read or will ever read again.

 

(Eleanor)

Serena (Paperback)

By Ron Rash
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061470844
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ecco, 10/2009
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Serena may be one of my favorite novels to date. When I first started reading it, I couldn't put it down, and when I was finally forced to, it's all I wanted to talk about. Set in the North Carolina timber/logging industry in 1929, the novel is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, though you need to know nothing of the bard's work to appreciate this book. George and Serena Pemberton are two characters so corrupted by greed that they're loathsome, but their story is one that is so fascinating and tenuous, that you can't help but stick around to see what happens.

 

(Emily)

The Left Bank Gang (Paperback)

By Jason, Hubert
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9781560977421
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Fantagraphics Books, 8/2006
The Left Bank Gang is A Moveable Feast if Ernest, Scott, Gertrude, et al. were anthropomorphized animals instead of humans, drew comics instead of writing novels, and got involved in an Asphalt Jungle-esque heist-gone-bad. Of course, the world of Ernest Hemingway is a perfect fit for the Norwegian cartoonist Jason who is no stranger to hard-boiled minimalism and existential themes (his previous graphic novel Hey, Wait… is a sparse soul-crusher), and his comic timing and gift for visual gags are guffaw-inducing as ever here.

 

(Matt)

Travels with Charley in Search of America (Paperback)

By John Steinbeck
$11.00
ISBN-13: 9780140053203
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 1/1980
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The art of travel is, at its barest of bones, a challenge. There’s something comforting in the fact that, at 54 and already a Pulitzer Prize winner, John Steinbeck didn’t consider himself too accomplished to embark on a road trip across America accompanied only by his French poodle, Charley. What results are eloquent, poetic, sincere, and oftentimes hilarious thoughts on travel, country, and companionship.

 

(Geo)

Sula (Paperback)

By Toni Morrison
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781400033430
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 6/2004
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This may be the best book in the store. The first time I finished reading it, I just sat quietly & shook my head over & over. Toni Morrison! Who else illuminates the stories of everyday working class black folks as being some of the most powerful & enchanting stories of all, like you? It is a ringing accomplishment to make me feel like I both know everybody in the book yet am simultaneously amazed & nearly disbelieving of the magic & wisdom living in & surrounding them. Hello Sula Peace, I know you! Nel, you remind me of my sister! Eva! BoyBoy! Shadrock, you are like so many folks shuffling eternally through Brooklyn. How did you all fit in one book? How did you all fit in my heart? Please stay forever! Thanks!

 

(Angel)

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Paperback)

By Susanna Clarke
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781582346038
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Bloomsbury USA, 8/2005
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Every time I go on a long plane ride, I wish I hadn't yet read this book. It's the perfect big, fat novel to get lost in for hours or days. Clarke creates an incredibly rich world, set in the era of Jane Austen but peopled with the Fair Folk of English mythology, with gorgeously strange set pieces of enchantment and a breathlessly compelling story. Driving this action are the nebbish scientist Mr. Norrell and his rakish protege Jonathan Strange, who find themselves pressed into service to fight Napoleon and enduring unexpected crises in their private lives. Delicious reading for long flights or cozy winter evenings.

 

(Jessica)

The Secret History (Paperback)

By Donna Tartt
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781400031702
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 4/2004
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Warning: Do not begin this book if there is anything you have to do over the next two days. You will not do it. You will instead disappear completely inside of this story. The literary snob's version of a juicy page-turner. Full of Greek and Latin, sprinkled with orgies and murder.

 

(Annie)

River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West (Paperback)

By Rebecca Solnit
$17.00
ISBN-13: 9780142004104
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 3/2004
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The life of Eadweard Muybridge seems like a Western tall tale. Photographing the wilds of Yosemite, befriending a multi-millionaire railroad tycoon, innovating the worlds of photography and motion picture, coming to grips with your own genius, not to mention murdering your wife’s lover. Muybridge’s life shares the stage with its historical context, the morphing Wild West, in this unconventional bio by a truly great writer.

 

(Geo)

Last Night at the Lobster (Paperback)

By Stewart O'Nan
$13.00
ISBN-13: 9780143114420
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 10/2008
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(Alexis)

Remainder (Paperback)

By Tom Mccarthy
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780307278357
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 2/2007
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What would you do if you had millions of dollars? The man in this book tries to rebuild a past he can't quite remember. Literally. Buys an apartment building. Hires actors. This book is about nostalgia, about happiness, about what great lengths we'll go to to preserve and create them and how stubbornly they remain just out of our reach. It is so beautiful and bizarre and then so familiar, too.

 

(Annie)

All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost (Paperback)

By Lan Samantha Chang
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780393340563
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 9/2011
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I seem to be in the minority, but I LOVE "academic" fiction. I love it; I can't get enough of it, and Lan Samantha Chang's All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost is the perfect fix. Set on a fictional college campus in the Midwest (though some would say it's based on Chang's U of Iowa), two students are clamoring for the affections of a well-known poet and professor. One's motives are purely academic, while the other's less so. If you're a fan of Stoner by John Williams, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, or Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics, this is the book for you!

 

(Emily)

Under the Volcano (Paperback)

By Malcolm Lowry
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061120152
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 4/2007
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I thought this was going to be a straightforward read about the depths of alcoholism. Instead it’s a ponderous look at moral structure as told through a highly psychological narrative cocktail where past, present, and soused stream-of-consciousness monologues all swim together. Set over the course of the Day of the Dead in a small Mexican village, a retired, mescal-soaked British consul stumbles through the fiesta reeling in the aftermath of infidelity, betrayal, and guilt. Under the Volcano, like any night of serious drinking, proves that there is much to learn if the reader can hold it together and come out the other side.

 

(Jarrod)

Under Milk Wood: A Play for Voices (Paperback)

By Dylan Thomas
$11.95
ISBN-13: 9780811202091
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1/1954
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Dylan Thomas forsakes poetry and prose to give us a sublime combination of both in what he called “a play for voices.” The loose narrative is constructed only with the dreams and inner monologues of the inhabitants of a Welsh fishing village called Llareggub (that’s ‘bugger all’ backwards, folks). By occupying only the characters’ subconscious, he bypasses exposition and lays down a fully realized picaresque of town life. While the writing is playful, its effect can haunt. Read this aloud, even just under your breath--the musicality of the language is Thomas playing the tongue like an instrument.

 

(Jarrod)

The Invention of Morel (Paperback)

By Suzanne Jill Levine, Ruth L.C. Simms, Jorge Luis Borges
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9781590170571
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 9/2003
This book bends genre and plot so effectively that fellow Argentinean Jorge Luis Borges deemed it a masterpiece. Equal parts fugitive tale, love story, science fiction mystery, and a meditation on mortality. Through a surreal and tightly woven narrative Casares is able to entertain and provoke without ever being too easy or lofty. Imagine Robinson Crusoe as told by Philip K. Dick, Camus and Garcia Marquez. By the last 10 pages, Casares gently holds readers’ hearts and promptly proceeds to break them all to pieces, so that we might learn something new from putting them back together.

 

(Jarrod)

My Dog Tulip: Movie tie-in edition (Paperback)

By J.R. Ackerley, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781590174142
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 8/2010
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This book combines two of my favorite things: dogs and old men. J.R. Ackerley was your typical literary British curmudgeon (I picture him in a tweed suit throughout the entirety of the book) until he received Tulip as an unexpected gift. What follows is a wonderful story of unconditional love.

 

(Eleanor)

If Beale Street Could Talk (Paperback)

By James Baldwin
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780307275936
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 10/2006
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Blurbs on this book will tell you that it is like the sweet, sad blues, which is a nice comparison, but these blurbs do no justice to the power of Baldwin's prose. Judicious and hard-hitting, the words get you right in the gut, and you're left with a breathless "God damn," after every single paragraph.

 

(Brette)

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (Paperback)

By Lydia Davis
$20.00
ISBN-13: 9780312655396
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Picador, 10/2010
There are well over two-hundred stories in this collection and each one has something unique to offer. Lydia Davis is a devoted explorer of human neurosis and her characters are deeply, sometimes disturbingly revealing in a someone else thinks like this? kind of way. Though her style shifts constantly, Davis's stories maintain an intense emotional core, making this a truly haunting, unforgettable and brilliant book.

 

(Pat)

Brothers (Paperback)

By Yu Hua, Eileencheng-Yin Chow, Carlos Rojas
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780307386069
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor, 1/2010
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Two brothers growing up in rural China. One prospers and becomes a rich man with responsibility and property and a business. The other (our main character) has a much harder time. Spanning the Cultural Revolution, the characters either fall for or try to resist the push and pull of government, materialism, success, failure, and ultimately pit fiercely against each other. Highly comic (in ways that may or may not work for you, depending on your sense of humor), a bit dark, very true to human nature, I wish this guy would win the Nobel for literature some day, for the way he portrays life in China through a literary, yet accessible lens.

 

(Rebecca)

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (Paperback)

By Dava Sobel
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780802715296
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Walker & Company, 11/2007
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Dava Sobel's Longitude might not strike you as a gripping maritime narrative. After all, it hinges on a stodgy old watchmaker. But I think it is an extremely readable history that adds depth to the fact that the Queen's Navy pretty much ran the western world until the 20th century. I am always fascinated by humanity's quest to "figure it out," and I think if you give this one a chance, you'll find there is plenty of drama, adventure on the high seas, and intrigue.

 

(Brette)

Annie John (Paperback)

By Jamaica Kincaid
$13.00
ISBN-13: 9780374525101
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 6/1997
Other Editions of this Title
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(Brette)

The Moviegoer (Paperback)

By Walker Percy
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780375701962
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 4/1998
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Have you ever read a book that took the half-formed thoughts and ideas kicking around your own mind and articulated them with elegance and clarity and beauty? For better or worse, The Moviegoer did that for me. And it's so funny! And, of course, it's completely heartbreaking.

 

(Pat)

French Leave (Paperback)

By Anna Gavalda, Alison Anderson
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781609450052
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Europa Editions, 4/2011
Garance, a devilish French femme celibataire, knows just to get under the skin of her uptight sister-in-law. Put the two women in a small car together (along with Garance's older brother and sister) for hours, and chaos ensues. This is a chronicle of a typical family car trip, if only everyone in your family was witty and intelligent and fabulously snarky.

 

(Eleanor)

The Translation of Dr. Apelles (Paperback)

By David Treuer
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780307386625
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 2/2008
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I love it when stories have a twining. The two stories that weave together in this book are the contemporary one, following the scholarly, insular Dr. Apelles, and the work he is translating, in which two young beautiful Native American orphaned children are growing up and possibly falling in love while living on a Reservation. It is an 'old world, new world' story, told in an old fashioned but rich, fablistic way. As the two young characters find and grow toward each other in the translated text, Dr. Appelles is going through a growth and transformation of his own, involving him learning to like himself, which enables him to fall in love. The entire book respects the complexity of Native American life (both past and present), the complexity of love, sexuality, and finding ones mate, but with all those themes being a subtle undercurrent to an overarchingly beautiful novel.

 

(Rebecca)

Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell (Paperback)

By Charles Simic
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781590174869
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 7/2011
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As poet Charles affectionately describes, Joseph Cornell ‘could not draw, paint, or sculpt, and yet he was a great American artist.’ The life and works of an artist as unorthodox as Cornell requires an equally unorthodox biography. Part biography, part critical study, part love letter, part diary (both Cornell’s and Simic’s), and part poetry, this book is told the best way Cornell can be understood: by assemblage.

 

(Geo)

Await Your Reply (Paperback)

By Dan Chaon
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780345476036
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ballantine Books, 6/2010
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Have you ever received an email from an unknown person asking you to help tranfer his/her inheritance to a United States bank account for a cut of the money? Author Dan Chaon takes this wild premise and tells us the story of three individuals who knowingly (and unknowingly) get caught up in one of these scams. This is a powerful story about a seemingly all too common con.

 

(Emily)

Stevenson Under the Palm Trees (Hardcover)

By Alberto Manguel
$18.00
ISBN-13: 9781841955889
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Canongate U.S., 9/2004
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A perfect read for the summer. A little literary, a little mysterious, a little sweaty, tropical hypnagogic state inducing. Here, Manguel is a master writer at play.

 

(Alexis)

Billancourt Tales (Paperback)

By Nina Berberova, Marian Schwartz
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780811218337
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 7/2009
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Aside from Dubliners, this is the best short story collection I've ever read. And I just read it for the first time last May. And when I finished it, I immediately wanted to reread it, an impulse I never feel. Her stories are quiet yet not minimalistic, and they are packed with emotion so subtle, they avoid oversentimentality. In a word, they are masterful.

 

(Geo)

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti (Paperback)

By Rick Moody, Milton Rokeach
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781590173848
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Published: NYRB Classics, 3/2011
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This completely true story was a psychological case study conducted in the early 1960s. Milton Rokeach, a social psychologist, brought together three paranoid schizophrenics, all of different ages and backgrounds, to have daily meetings about identity. All three men believe they are Jesus Christ. The study is absolutely fascinating, with turns both touching and disturbing.

 

(Geo)

Valis (Paperback)

By Philip K. Dick
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780679734468
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 7/1991
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Along with being Dick's craziest, most psychedelic novel, VALIS is also his most personal and maybe his most mesmerizing. Supposedly based on an intense out-of-body experience that the author obsessed over throughout his final years, VALIS is in part comprised of Dick's private journals or, as he referred to it, his Exegesis. A truly wild ride, this novel is a perfect summer read if you've recently lost your mind.

 

(Pat)

The Magic Pudding (Hardcover)

By Norman Lindsay, Norman Lindsay, Philip Pullman
$18.95
ISBN-13: 9781590171011
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Published: NYR Children's Collection, 4/2004
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This is the silliest book I have ever read. The plot is outlandish, the dialogue is ridiculous, the main character is a Koala and all the other characters are even odder. Even worse, it is full of nonsense songs, which you will feel compelled to recite aloud. If you are not prepared to giggle until you are out of breath, stay far away from Norman Lindsay. If you are, I recommend sharing it with a like-minded silly friend.

 

(Jessica)

The Passage (Paperback)

By Justin Cronin
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780345504975
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Published: Ballantine Books, 4/2011
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Justin Cronin’s first two novels were quiet family stories, big on atmosphere, dialogue and small revelations. Then, at the prompting of his young daughter, he decided to write a book about “a girl who saves the world.” Result: The Passage, an enormous vampire apocalypse novel, a truly epic saga that had me breathless with suspense for the several days it took me to plow through it. It’s got all the best elements of the Dean Koontz thrillers I read as a teenager, but with the richness a truly literary writer can bring: intelligent dialogue, big human themes, even nuance. Smart escapist reading, and highly recommended.

 

(Jessica)

Miracle Fair: Selected Poems of Wislawa Szymborska (Paperback)

By Wislawa Szymborska, Joanna Trzeciak, Czeslaw Milosz
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780393323856
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 11/2002
Szymborska (say it aloud: Zim-bor-ska!) is one of the fierce and funny old ladies of poetry -- do not underestimate her, but do not feel like you must read her with poetic somberness. As a Polish poet who has seen some of the worst the 20th century had to offer, she's too wise not to poke fun, but she can also break your heart with an image, or crack open your head with her wit. This collection is my favorite of hers -- it is, in fact, something of a miracle.

 

(Jessica)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories (Paperback)

By Raymond Carver
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780679723059
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Published: Vintage, 6/1989
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What do we talk about when we talk about love? Raymond Carver's answer: terrifying obsession, alcohol, violence, longing, loneliness and misery. Carver's stark, beautiful language draws the reader into a slightly surreal world that's like ours only shrouded in darkness and mystery.

 

(Pat)

Racing Hummingbirds (Paperback)

By Jeanann Verlee
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780984251551
Availability: Limited Availability - Call Store for Details
Published: Write Bloody Publishing, 4/2010
If risk is the main ingredient of a true masterpiece than Verlee's Racing Hummingbirds claims the title of masterpiece countless times with both poise & puncture, poem after poem in this stampede of a debut collection. Divvied up into five fingers that ball into this book-fist: Lullaby, Metanoia, Butcher, Fireflies, & Lullaby Reprise, each section grants a particular space for the reader to bask, gallop, shiver, soar, & head-bang, depending on the poem. I want to become a teacher just so I can make this required reading. I want to anonymously mail copies of it to anyone I've ever wanted to kiss. I want to wallpaper my bedroom with the pages of this book.

 

(Angel)

I Capture the Castle (Paperback)

By Dodie Smith
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780312201654
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: St. Martin's Griffin, 3/1999
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What do you do if you're an intelligent, perceptive teenage girl and you live in a dilapidated castle in the English countryside with no company except for your vapid but beautiful older sister, your temperamental father, and your flighty stepmother? Keep a diary, of course. Cassandra Mortmain chronicles every day of Mortmain family life (selling furniture for food, dealing with her father's outbursts, desperate dalliances with the landlord's sons) with humor and grace.

 

(Eleanor)

The Silent Season of a Hero: The Sports Writing of Gay Talese (Paperback)

By Gay Talese, Michael Rosenwald
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780802777539
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Walker & Company, 9/2010
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By chance, I began reading pieces in this book when I was considering gifting it to someone, & was so struck by Talese's 'New Journalism' style that I ended up riveted. I am the FARTHEST THING from a sports fan, but I am a huge fan of fine writing & of narrative nonfiction. The description of the characters, the nuance in Talese's observations, & the 'left of center' perspective within each piece makes them come off the page. It's a 'trust me on this one' kind of read.

 

(Rebecca)

Green Is the New Red: An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege (Paperback)

By Will Potter
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780872865389
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: City Lights Publishers, 4/2011
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An up-to-date crash-course overview of the history of radical environmentalism as well as a study on the scare tactics that the government, the FBI, and several multi-million dollar corporations use against environmental activists, which share certain similarities with tactics used during McCarthyism and the Red Scare. This book is about the Green Scare – this book is at times scary, at times hopeful, and at all times important.

 

(Geo)

The Neverending Story (Paperback)

By Michael Ende, Ralph Manheim
$6.79
ISBN-13: 9780140386332
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Puffin, 1/1993
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Full disclosure: this story has an ending. The good news: it is way more satisfying than the movie (and its unfortunate sequels), a vivid fantasy that consumes its reader. From a musty attic to a color-changing desert and back to the Ivory Tower, The Neverending Story offers an escape that is at least long-lasting, if not unending.

 

(Brette)

The Wizard of Oz (Paperback)

By Salman Rushdie, Melvyn Bragg, Richard Maltby
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780851703008
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: British Film Institute, 5/1992
If you don't like The Wizard of Oz, you probably haven't seen it. For this, I am sorry. You should probably put down this delightful book, fess up and watch it. Otherwise, keep reading! This is a speedy little vehicle that races you behind the curtain and proves that there is just as much magic happening between the takes as there is when the film is rolling. Put yourself in Rushdie's capable hands, and let him show you one of the most important movies in cinematic history.

 

(Brette)

Love in Infant Monkeys: Stories (Paperback)

By Lydia Millet
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781593762520
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Published: Soft Skull Press, 9/2009
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Each of the ten stories in this book centers on a relationship between an animal and a famous person. In “Sexing the Pheasant”, Madonna experiences remorse after shooting a bird on a hunting excursion; in “Chomsky, Rodents”, Millet gives us a piercingly funny portrait of Noam Chomsky and a lab rat. “People love their pets,” she writes in another story, “but the love is tinged with sadness. Because the love is for a pet, they are ashamed of this. They want the love to seem as small as a hobby so no one will have to feel sorry for them.” Millet’s prose is full of these moments—sad, surprising, and memorable—that remind us of our debt to the animal world.

 

(Katie)

Leaving the Atocha Station (Paperback)

By Ben Lerner
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781566892742
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Published: Coffee House Press, 9/2011
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Acclaimed poet Ben Lerner has written a marvelous novel of ideas about a young poet dubious of his own authenticity while on a fellowship in Spain. Adam Gordon has never had what he calls “a profound experience of art”, but is all too familiar with “the profound experience of the absence of profundity”. The narrative follows his (often clumsy) attempts to accumulate profound experience as he navigates Madrid, relationships, and the inner workings of his own overmedicated mind. The result is a darkly hilarious and moving account of a poet’s coming of age in unsettling times.

 

(Katie)

You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake (Paperback)

By Anna Moschovakis
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781566892506
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Published: Coffee House Press, 2/2011
“Dear Reader,” Moschovakis writes, “Your documentary is prize-winning.” The four long poems in this book deal with everything from modern industrialism to the human struggle against war and genocide, yet Moschovakis’s language is never didactic or dry; instead, it embraces the complexity of our human hearts and minds. Part poetic experimentation, part journal intime, and part cultural study, this book is full of intelligence, humor, and joy.

 

(Katie)

Eucalyptus (Paperback)

By Murray Bail
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780312427313
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Published: Picador, 8/2007
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Set on a farm in the Australian countryside, a widowed father is raising his daughter. Almost like a fairytale (without reading like one), the father plants hundreds of different kinds of eucalyptus trees on their property, and as she comes of age, he announces he will only let her marry the man who can name them all. Her beauty and allure attract suitors, none of whom can live up to his challenge or even capture her interest, until she meets one man who is not there as a suitor but is discovered on their property, and intrigue ensues as he slowly wins them both over. Beautiful and literary in tone and style, this has been a favorite of mine for many years - it has staying power.

 

(Rebecca)

Tree of Smoke (Paperback)

By Denis Johnson
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780312427740
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Published: Picador, 9/2008
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This is a book you finish and say, "Damn! That was a novel!" It's a great big book that centers on the Vietnam War. Over the course of two decades, you watch each character's destiny shaped and contorted, not by the forces of history, but by the choices you've watched him or her make. Sharp, funny dialogue keeps the pages turning, though you'll want to linger, as the themes are huge. There's a trippiness to it, too, that sneaks up on you in a powerfully absurd way.

 

(Drew)

Prizes: Selected Short Stories (Paperback)

By Janet Frame
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781582436203
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Published: Counterpoint, 12/2010
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Despite what the summer dress and sandals on the cover might lead you to believe, this book is not to be taken lightly. Prizes is a collection so intense and plaintive in its longing that it would be impossible to read all in one sitting. Some of the stories in this anthology were originally published while Frame was in an insane asylum, and saved her from a scheduled lobotomy when the collection won a prestigious literary award. There is no writer with whom I can compare Janet Frame; her stories are unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Start with 'Two Sheep', on p. 96.

 

(Eleanor)

Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright (Paperback)

By Steven Millhauser
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780679766520
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Published: Vintage, 4/1996
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This novel combines gorgeous descriptions of suburban childhood with hilarious literary satire to create a reading experience as unique as it is engrossing. The conceit? Eleven-year-old literary genius Edwin Mullhouse has died mysteriously, and his best friend Jeffrey Cartwright, in his grief, composes a biography of Edwin’s brief life as a great American writer. This book is funny, insane and intense, with characters that will live in your head for years.

(Drew)

Museum of Accidents (Paperback)

By Rachel Zucker
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781933517421
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Wave Books, 10/2009
I was not entirely sure what to do with this collection of poetry when I first started reading it, BUT this is one of the reasons that I like Museum of Accidents so much. It's beautiful in its intensity and raw in subject matter. I love the way the poems take up space and own the page, and I think some of you might love Zucker's writing too.

 

(Natalie)

Once Is Not Enough (Paperback)

By Jacqueline Susann
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780802135452
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Published: Grove Press, 12/1997
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This follow-up to Valley of the Dolls is the perfect beach read, here to help you through the summer (even if you're not going to the beach). This book is shameless, exciting, and wonderfully bad. It's the story of January, a privileged beauty for whom no man can match her big time movie producer father. It takes place on the beaches of LA, the best clubs in NY, and the streets of Europe, all told in Jacqueline Susann's famous plugged-in sixties style. This is like the Hostess cupcake of books and I loved every single second of it- even (especially?) the really stupid parts.

 

(Daryl)

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Paperback)

By James Hogg, Karl Miller
$12.00
ISBN-13: 9780141441535
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Published: Penguin Classics, 3/2007
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I was coaxed (easily) to read this for fun by a favorite teacher of mine. It was delightfully subversive to my burgeoning tastes. I read it a second time some years later and was again enthralled. Moral corruption, religious fanaticism and shape shifting all wrapped up in an extraordinarily clever metafiction old enough to avoid any postmodernist pretense.

 

(Alexis)

Like You'd Understand, Anyway (Paperback)

By Jim Shepard
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780307277602
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 8/2008
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Although these stories are immediately notable for their disparate settings, ranging from ancient Greece to modern day Texas, it's Shepard's ability to craft deeply human, effortlessly relatable characters that m ake this collection truly remarkable. There's no doubt that the man is wildly smart and his stories are obviously extensively researched, but this book is never daunting and never feels like a history lesson (I hated history). Read this if you want something smart, dark, funny and sad.

 

(Pat)

To Hell with Cronje (Paperback)

By Ingrid Winterbach, Elsa Silke
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781934824306
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Open Letter, 9/2010
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A beautiful and absurd novel of war. Winterbach's almost terse clarity defies the very symbolism of her vision. Does that even make sense? Is that the point? Start over at the beginning.

 

(Alexis)

The New Clean (Paperback)

By Jon Sands
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781935904267
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Write Bloody Publishing, 5/2011
In The New Clean you are right alongside this author---who feels more like a best friend, than your best friend does. The poems know the joy of Brooklyn, like "Each sidewalk from here to Atlantic-Pacific Billy jeans at your feet". They know the stark longing of the spirit like, "the smooth scratch of Etta James' high notes screaming, You won't catch me, but you will never finish running". They know the impossible beauty of the universe like, "Yo sky, I want to stab gravity!". Praise this endlessly gorgeous book. Praise humankind & the ability to story-tell, to fertilize our present with our future & past!

(Angel)

The Hamlet (Paperback)

By William Faulkner
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780679736530
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 10/1991
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I was so thrilled when I discovered this book! Way more accessible than The Sound and the Fury or Absalom! Absalom! this novel reminds us why we still read Faulkner after all these years: the visceral power of his characters. The plot charts the rise of the evil Snopes family in the town of Frenchman’s Bend, and — like the Bible — it reads like an epic soap opera.

(Drew)

Tinkers (Paperback)

By Paul Harding
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781934137123
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Bellevue Literary Press, 1/2009
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Paul Harding is like that beloved indie band that got big (I swear, I totally loved this book before it won the Pulitzer Prize). Unlike bands though, there’s no excuse to shun it now that it’s gotten mainstream recognition; Tinkers remains the most mind-blowingly gorgeous & brilliant short novel I have ever read. It traces the stories of a father and son through New England winters, epileptic epiphanies, and the moments of death, in crystalline sentences you’ll want to reread over and over. Pick it up, find some quiet and immerse yourself.

(Jessica)

Knuckleheads (Paperback)

By Jeff Kass
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780982797518
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dzanc Books, 5/2011
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Freshly plucked cherries, smooth Iced coffee & abundantly awesome short story collections are really the major reasons to kick up one’s heels & celebrate every spring & summer. This spring & summer ain't no different. Let Jeff Kass's debut collection of spectacular feats, Knuckleheads, inform & flood your everyday life. With sturdy & tremendous control, tender & alarming grace, these stories will gallop through you and lift you out of your sandals.

(Angel)

The Stone Diaries: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)

By Carol Shields, Penelope Lively
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780143105503
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Classics, 10/2008
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I read this the year it came out in hardcover (1993), chose it as my staff pick when I worked at my very first bookselling job (Borders), and it didn't sell a single copy. Then it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, vindicating my taste! A domestic novel with quiet strength, this is written as if it were an autobiography, with the main character narrating the lives, deaths, marriages and motherhood that mark her throughout her life, beginning with her mother's death during childbirth. She struggles through all these life chapters, to find happiness and her own life's true purpose. Meditative, thoughtful, worth reading.

(Rebecca)

Dope (Paperback)

By Sara Gran
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780425214367
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley Trade, 2/2007
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Until I read this book, I hadn’t thought about how rare it was to hear a female voice in noir fiction. After I met Joe, the heroine of this dark and addictive little story of drugs, violence and exploitation of various kinds, I felt a little angry that I hadn’t met more like her – especially because it’s not entirely clear she makes it out of the story alive. The classic hardboiled pleasures and horrors of the genre are here, written with a fierce intelligence that renders them more relevant and more moving than is quite typical.

 

(Jessica)

Araboolies of Liberty Street (Paperback)

By Sam Swope, Barry Root
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780374303907
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 4/2001
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The Araboolies of Liberty Street is one of my favorites to hear at bedtime. Whether or not you're based in the suburbs, you're bound to appreciate the zany neighbors who add some much needed perspective to a quiet community.

 

(Brette)

Pop Gun War (Paperback)

By Farel Dalrymple
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9781569719343
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Dark Horse Comics, 7/2003
This rough and gorgeous fantasia of Brooklyn is probably my favorite comic book of all time. A boy with stolen wings, a dwarf who becomes a giant, a bespectacled fish, and other even more unlikely characters wander through the dreamscape, their motives as complicated and familiar and unresolved as real life. Pop Gun War might remind you of the lyrics of your favorite indie band, or certain days wandering in unfamiliar neighborhoods, or a particularly unforgettable dream.

 

(Jessica)

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (Paperback)

By Mary Gordon, Brian Moore
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781590173497
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 6/2010
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NYRB puts out the kind of classics that they would have made you read in school, if your school had been cool and had wanted you to enjoy yourself. This is the story of Judith Hearne, a spinster in genteel Irish society with a secret life, and of her would-be suitor who's hiding a secret of his own. Her story is at once endearing and embarrassing, the plot satisfying if not heartbreaking. Brought down not only be her pride but by the circumstances arranged for her, Judith Hearne is complexly sympathetic, a woman suffering in pre-feminist world.

 

(Daryl)

Self-Help (Paperback)

By Lorrie Moore
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780307277299
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 3/2007
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Yeah, I know you already love Lorrie Moore, but if you haven't read the stories in Self Help, then you haven't seen her really show off. Each story plumbs a different kind of relationship, with the ferocious insight and depth of feeling you're used to. In Self Help, however, you get the impression she's showboating her skills, often with a kind of wink. My favorite story is How: when the well-intentioned idiot boyfriend asks his sanctimonious girlfriend what supercilious means, I want to kiss Lorrie Moore on her awesome, genius mouth.

(Daryl)

Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies (Paperback)

By Laura Esquivel
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780385420174
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor, 10/1995
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Born on the kitchen table, Tita, the youngest of the De La Garza sisters, is the maven of the kitchen; people not only love her food, but can taste her emotions. Like Water for Chocolate has a little magic, a little romance, and a lot of delicious recipes. Esquivel writes a cast of rich characters and creates a plot that makes for a great escape.

(Natalie)

Housekeeping (Paperback)

By Marilynne Robinson
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780312424091
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Picador, 11/2004
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This is a quiet, powerful novel by a master wordsmith. Two sisters are being raised by a succession of family members after their mother commits suicide. They live in a house their grandfather built out west in a scrappy mountain town that has deep history, beginning with a train plummeting into the lake as it crossed over the long rickety bridge into town, killing their grandfather in the process. As the narrator grows up, she walks (teeters on, and eventually teeters over) the line between belonging and drifting. One of the most phenomenal books I've read in ages.

(Rebecca)

There's a Nightmare in My Closet (Paperback)

By Mercer Mayer
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780140547122
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Puffin, 5/1992
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There’s a whole new crop of books about monsters who turns out to be not so scary, but this classic is the granddaddy of them all. Mercer Mayer’s pacing is impeccable, his nightmares are both conceivably scary and goofily hilarious, and his brave but compassionate hero could teach us all a thing or two about what to do with nightmares. A perfect read-aloud, whether or not you’re a kid concerned about what might be lurking.

(Jessica)

Love Warps the Mind a Little (Paperback)

By John Dufresne
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780393330953
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 1/2008
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Main character Laf has a sort of a 'nearing 40 crisis' and quits his job, leaves his wife, moves in with his mistress, taking only a typewriter and his dog with him. What follows is the inane, comedic story of Laf's attempts at the literary life. Laf was angling for a more 'responsibility-free' life, but instead the reader finds themselves, along with Laf, in a more serious, deeper story of love and care (while remaining humorous) as Laf's girlfriend becomes sick and he grows into a caregiver's role.

(Rebecca)

Underworld (Paperback)

By Don DeLillo
$17.95
ISBN-13: 9780684848150
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scribner, 7/1998
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I am constantly pulling this novel off my shelf to reread favorite passages. The book begins with a dazzling panoramic account of a famous 1951 Giants-Dodgers game, and then moves through forty years of American paranoia and longing with a Miles-Davis-like jazziness. It hits every note just right. DeLillo breathes life into historical figures like Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, J. Edgar Hoover and Lenny Bruce, who are major characters in the novel, in addition to DeLillo’s large fictional cast. It also has the best scenes of ’70s New York this side of Annie Hall.

(Drew)

The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing (Paperback)

By Darina Al-Joundi, Mohamed Kacimi, Marjolijn de Jager
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781558616837
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 3/2011
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Set in war-ravaged Lebanon during the 80s,The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing is a violent account of what it was like to come of age during war, but more than that, what it was like to come of age as a young Arab woman. Raised in a secular family, and by a father who encouraged his daughters to live an unorthodox existence as women, Al-Joundi writes an illuminating account of the cost of living life as a liberated young woman.

(Natalie)

Chainbreaker Bike Book: A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance (Paperback)

By Shelly Lynn Jackson, Ethan Clark
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780977055739
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Microcosm Publishing, 11/2007
Friends, biking weather is upon us. For some rusty types, a tune-up is on the agenda. You can drop your bike at the shop, or you can get this book, a collection of Chainbreaker zines, and Do It Yourself. This is no technical manual for those looking to convert their frames, but if you want to get familiar with the machinery of a ride with 32 inch rims, this is a fun way to start. D-I-Why not?

(Brette)

Never Breathe a Word: The Collected Stories of Caroline Blackwood (Paperback)

By Caroline Blackwood
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781582437071
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Counterpoint, 2/2011
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Admittedly, I have a weakness for brassy, dramatic grand dames, so Caroline Blackwood (once the muse of Robert Lowell and Lucien Freud - that's his painting of her on the cover!) was a natural choice. However, I wasn't prepared for the tenderness & longing of the stories here. Touchingly theatrical, these are stories of privileged women on the verge, told with grit and acid and, yes, a sense of humor. If you're into bawdy women who'll have a stiff drink and simultaneously laugh and cry, DARLING you'll ADORE Never Breathe a Word.

(Daryl)

The Life and Opinions of DJ Spinoza (Paperback)

By Eugene Ostashevsky, Eugene Timerman
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780981552101
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ugly Duckling Presse, 10/2008
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One famous German philosopher once wrote to another that after Auschwitz, there could be no poetry. In The Life and Opinions of DJ Spinoza, Linguistics are dismantled like tinker toys and it is up to the great Spinoza to put them back together. Eugene Ostashevsky (formerly of Eastern Europe, longtime darling of Ugly Duckling Presse) forces barbaric poetry into philosophical axioms and the result is absurdly illogical, and lyrically compelling.

 

(Brette)

Bayou (Paperback)

By Jeremy Love
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9781401223823
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Zuda, 6/2009
In Love’s richly drawn version of the American South in the 1930s, the boundary between everyday life and myth is permeable, and all the fairy tales are homegrown. The Devil at the crossroads (and worse), Cotton-Eyed Joe, Br’er Rabbit, and the odd blues-singing giant of the title, live just on the other side, and a little girl’s efforts to free her wrongly accused father bring the two worlds together. Collected from an original webcomic, this is the first volume of the most spellbinding comic I’ve read in ages.

(Jessica)

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Paperback)

By Alison Bechdel
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780618871711
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 6/2007
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Fun Home was my first introduction to graphic novels, and to be honest, I am scared that I might have ruined my graphic novel experience for anything else that I pick up afterward -yes, this book is just that good. A biographical account about Bechdel and the double life of her father, this story is funny, odd, and takes a look at the many layers of family relationships.

(Natalie)

An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (Paperback)

By Cesar Aira, Chris Andrews, Roberto Bolano
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9780811216302
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 5/2006
Do I have a thing for diaristic narratives that span barren landscapes? Apparently. This one is gratifying in its sublimity and astonishing in its horror.

 

(Alexis)

Three Delays (Paperback)

By Charlie Smith
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061859458
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial, 6/2010
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I was blown over by this book. I'd find myself thinking about it long after setting it down; absentmindedly considering a passage as I went about some task. Charlie Smith's writing is wild and sprawling and his narrator, Billy, is an unforgettable loser. Basically a love story, it's not a book that can be easily summed-up in a few sentences. Suffice it to say, you should read this.

(Pat)

Hazel's Amazing Mother (Paperback)

By Rosemary Wells
$5.99
ISBN-13: 9780140549119
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Puffin Books, 10/1992
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Hazel’s mother is a hero amongst mothers, as mothers are heroes amongst humanity. She is badder than any bully, wiser than the wind, and more than a match for any day’s predicaments. I use this book’s title as shorthand to tell my own mother how much I love her; it makes a great gift for your mother, or any child who needs (or has) someone amazing.

(Jessica)

The Fran Lebowitz Reader (Paperback)

By Fran Lebowitz
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780679761808
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 11/1994
Fran Lebowitz is one mortal who is far from mere. These irreverent essays convey all the attitude of a New York walk, while Fran lounges in bed well after 3 pm, chain smoking and making remarkably poignant observations about modern life.

(Brette)

The Glen Rock Book of the Dead (Paperback)

By Marion Winik
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9781582436340
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Counterpoint, 12/2010
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Marion Winik has not had an easy life. But this book, a memoir told through chapters about all of the people in the author's life who are now dead, never lapses into self-pity or sentimentality, only wistful recollection and candid reflection. Winik doesn't romanticize anyone, be it her late husband or a neighbor she barely knew, but somehow manages to make all of their lives seem essential.

(Eleanor)

The Sheriff of Yrnameer (Paperback)

By Michael Rubens
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780307455147
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 8/2010
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The Sheriff of Yrnameer reads like The Magnificent Seven as written by Douglas Adams, with Han Solo as the hero. It punches all the right buttons for a space opera / romantic comedy / postmodern sitcom / sly satire on commercial culture. The recurring gags become like inside jokes with old friends, and the ending, though I expected it to be enjoyably predictable, was genuinely (and enjoyably) surprising.

(Jessica)

Animalia (Paperback)

By Graeme Base
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780140559965
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Puffin Books, 10/1996
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Detailed drawings depict delightful Darwinian dreamscapes as the author applies awe-inspiring alliteration to his amazing anecdotes. A favorite book of mine growing up that I've recently rediscovered, Animalia proves beyond a doubt that even as a child I had impeccable taste.

(Pat)

My American Kundiman (Paperback)

By Patrick Rosal
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780892553303
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Persea Books, 11/2006
A Kundiman is, traditionally, a kind of Filipino song of unrequited love. True to the title, in his second full-length collection of poetry Patrick Rosal weaves myth, memory, song, & identity into a garnish of love songs that plead with & challenge the American experience while exploring & illuminating the American-Immigrant identity. Each poem serenades & guides the lucky reader through the multiple, ever unfolding shades & flavors of freedom & longing.

(Angel)

Bringing the Shovel Down (Paperback)

By Ross Gay
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780822961352
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1/2011
"Because longing is a greenhouse, and there are more greenhouses in the body than all the names of God" ---- It's really difficult to read a sentence like that, & than continue with my day. It's even more difficult to read a sentence like that & not break something, in excitement & wonder. There are many, many moments, in this collection that make my arms, legs, & heart fling around of their own accord. Yes, this book is so glory-filled that it makes me inadvertently harm people. Buy your loved ones helmets & wrap your china in bubble wrap, but definitely buy this book and let your whole mighty self go!

(Angel)

The Jokers (Paperback)

By Anna Moschovakis, James Buchan, Albert Cossery
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781590173251
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 5/2010
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Elevating laziness to literary art takes a certain amount of effort. Albert Cossery lived his ethos, but also managed to produce a handful of cripplingly funny and satirical works. The Jokers features a lineup of layabouts who scheme to undermine their buffoonish governor. Cossery delights in the anarchic and successfully recasts the world from the "have" and "have-nots" to the "haves" and the "who-cares."

 

(Alexis)

Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America (Paperback)

By Linda Lawrence Hunt
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781400079933
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor, 1/2005
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Can I tempt you with a lively biography of a woman, buried in America's history, who you've never heard of? In 1896 an anonymous challenge was put forth-someone was willing to pay $10,000 to a woman if she walked across the country without keeping more than $5 on her person. Cash-strapped Helga Estby rose to the challenge in order to earn money to care for her eight children, and walked with one of her daughters, all the way from the state of Washington to New York City.

(Rebecca)

The Prophet (Hardcover)

By Kahlil Gibran
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780679440673
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Knopf, 2/1995
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Twenty-six pieces of beautiful prose on various topics from love and marriage, joy and sorrow to reason and passion. It's spiritual and enlightening, and for the past 11 years, every time I read it I always take something new away from it.

(Nicole)

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed (Paperback)

By John Vaillant
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780393328646
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 5/2006
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A riveting portrait of a man whose conflicted intimacy with the natural world leads him down a complicated path, but also a compelling history of the great Northwest and the hyper-masculine lumberjack culture that lives on.

(Alexis)

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (Paperback)

By ZZ Packer
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781573223782
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Riverhead Trade, 2/2004
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Truthful, funny, easy to relate to and real, Packer's collection of short stories bursts with well developed characters and sharp observations. I really, really wish she would write a novel or at least another assortment of literary jewels.

(Natalie)

Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (Hardcover)

By Cornel West
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9781401921866
Availability: Limited Availability - Call Store for Details
Published: Hay House, 11/2008
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Hope on a Tightrope is a collection of essays from one of America's most popular black intellectuals. Speaking on courage, faith, family, music, leadership and other subjects, Mr. West delves into the heart of each matter with total compassion and grand integrity.

(Nicole)

Madeleine Is Sleeping (Paperback)

By Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
$13.00
ISBN-13: 9780156032278
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 11/2005
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Entrancing and enchanting. Strange and somnambulant. Revelatory and restrained.

 

(Alexis)

All About Love: New Visions (Paperback)

By bell hooks
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780060959470
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks, 1/2001
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A great antidote to the one zillion relationship books that reinforce gender roles and patriarchy, All About Love attempts to examine the components in which humans learn to "love" based on potentially detrimental ideals in our society that can make relationships operate and exist in dysfunction. However, hooks doesn't leave her readers feeling hopeless, instead she presents small tools in which bonds can be repaired and/or cultivated healthily.

(Natalie)

These Are the Breaks: A Collection of Prose (Paperback)

By Idris Goodwin
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781935904144
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Write Bloody Publishing, 3/2011
Why did I spend the morning in bed, bellowing laughter, deeply sighing, & ignoring the clock? Because Idris Goodwin, your book is so, so good. Because although this is your debut collection of essays and poetic prose, it's obvious that you were born plotting to unleash this upon the world. From your complete abandonment of stale, normative ideas, to your unyielding allegiance to truth telling. your collection is brimming with honest & hilarious critique, rich with a paramount understanding of American/Hip Hop culture.

(Angel)

Disquiet, Please!: More Humor Writing from The New Yorker (Paperback)

By Henry Finder, David Remnick
$18.00
ISBN-13: 9780812979978
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Modern Library, 3/2010
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E.B. White on sex? Dorothy Parker on the trials of being a lady? Simon Rich on the brains of chickens? An anthology of hilarious greats and a great resource for new writers, Disquiet Please is a collection of the funniest essays of recent years from the New Yorker. Enjoy the work of writers you already know and find some new favorites.

(Daryl)

Model Home (Paperback)

By Eric Puchner
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780743270496
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scribner, 9/2010
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Model Home is a dark comedy about post-2000 'family values' and cruel coincidence. You will fall in love with both Lyle, the painfully self-conscious and wickedly cynical sixteen-year-old (after reading her 'hate list') and Jonas, the odd, precocious eleven-year-old (after a scene involving an all-orange outfit and a visit to the beach). One of the best books I read last year, Model Home is full of sharp dialogue and scenes that made me laugh aloud while reading.

(Eleanor)

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (Mass Market Paperback)

By Sarah L. Delany, Amy Hill Hearth, A. Elizabeth Delany
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780440220428
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dell, 9/1994
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My grandfather is hard of hearing and my grandmother never sits still long enough for us to have an informative historical conversation. Even though this book was required reading for me at some point long ago, the Delany sisters make it seem like you’re having an intimate conversation over a cup of tea in their kitchen while they dish their long and rich personal histories. If Greenlight had required reading, I would assign this book.

(Brette)

Hooway for Wodney Wat (Paperback)

By Lynn Munsinger, Helen Lester
$6.99
ISBN-13: 9780618216123
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Sandpiper, 5/2002
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This book will be a comfort to anyone who (like me) has ever had trouble pronouncing their “R”s and wanted to hide their head inside their jacket every time someone asked them to say “Rabbit”. The way that Wodney Wat (or Rodney Rat) triumphs over the bully Camilla Capybara is a wonderfully silly and poignant story, a joy to look at and a joy to read out loud.

 

Jessica)

Desert Solitaire (Paperback)

By Edward Abbey
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780671695880
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Touchstone, 1/1990
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Beautiful, fierce, passionate. While I’ve read other nature writing books over the years that I’ve dearly loved, this one remains top of the category for me. Published in the 1960s, but just as relevant today as when it was written, it is the perfect blend of personal, introspective narrative, and observational writing with a keen naturalistic eye. So whether you’re an urban dweller, or an out of town rural visitor, treat your soul to this book – you won’t regret it.

 

(Rebecca)

The Sea (Paperback)

By John Banville
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9781400097029
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 8/2006
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The Sea wins my "never-could-have-imagined-how-good-it-was-no-matter-what-anyone-said" award. Haunting, still, disintegrating & gorgeous. With meticulous attention to detail & shape as it relates to memory, Banville illuminates the ever miraculous & shifting world of grief. Most people have shared favorite songs that provide a soundtrack of love with friends & lovers, but with the arrival of this book into my world, came my first & most cherished shared favorite novel.

 

(Angel)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Hardcover)

By Sherman Alexie
$18.99
ISBN-13: 9780316013680
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 9/2007
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Alexie has a gift for being both brilliantly funny and achingly sad. This ability is in full force throughout his first and so far, only young adult novel. If you're not a fan of the genre, I urge you to keep an open mind. Alexie's semi-autobiographical story of being an awkward kid growing up on a Spokane Indian reservation completely changed my perception of what a young adult book can achieve.

(Pat)

Angry Black White Boy (Paperback)

By Adam Mansbach
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781400054879
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Three Rivers Press, 3/2005
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Macon Detornay, a White middle-class college student living in NYC, hates White America. He wears shirts that sport Malcolm X. He wears "4-29-92", the date of the Rodney King assault verdict, tattooed on his bicep. When he begins robbing White passengers in the cab he drives, the chase for a "black assailant" launches forth, with Macon outing himself as the culprit & demanding a "Day of Apology" for the entirety of Black America. This is painfully hilarious & sharp. It will enter your system like spiked water.

(Angel)

Wigs on the Green (Paperback)

By Nancy Mitford
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780307740854
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 8/2010
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A daring commentary on Nancy's semi-autobiographical ties to British Fascism, Wigs on the Green has been long out of print, but still throws a satirical slap. Two conniving men of leisure in the quest for convenient and lucrative marriages, several bored and ambitious young ladies and a couple of distinguished and aging parental figures try to cast the comedy of manners. But beneath the flippant narrative there is horror that history cannot forget, which is why this book has been out of print since 1935.

(Brette)

Orlando: A Biography (Paperback)

By Virginia Woolf
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780156701600
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 10/1973
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I reread this after a decade or so and it still manages to thrill me. Unlike her more temporally focused novels this paean to her friend and lover Vita Sackville-West is delightfully subversive as it crosses genders and centuries.

 

(Alexis)

The Street of Crocodiles (Paperback)

By Bruno Schulz, Celina Wieniewska, Jerzy Ficowski
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780140186253
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Classics, 3/1992
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Schulz' prose reminds me of Chagal; lucid yet swirling. Schulz had a sharp eye for the paradox of miracles: bear witness to the rhetoric of his stark-raving loon of a father, the muddled beauty of cockroaches and the brightest of winter nights.

 

(Brette)

Middlemarch (Paperback)

By George Eliot
$11.00
ISBN-13: 9780141439549
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Classics, 3/2003
This is a "literary canon" novel to be read NOT read because you feel like you ought to, but because it is a rich and astonishing experience. Eliot's 19th century story of love and money, unlike those of Austen or James, is interested in the inner lives of servants, tradespeople, second sons and clergymen, as well as title-holding ladies and gentlemen, and is devastatingly insightful about their motivations and failings. The result is a full and fascinating picture of a community made of human beings that is as illuminating of our time as of its own.

(Jessica)

The Fixer (Paperback)

By Bernard Malamud, Jonathan Safran Foer
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780374529383
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 5/2004
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I'm really just discovering Malamud, & oh man, was I blown away by The Fixer. At first you think its a story about the hardships of Jews in Tsarist Russia. Then you think maybe it’s a hilarious farce of mistaken identity. Then, as the story expertly unfolds, you realize that it’s an existential study of freedom & human need. Malamud is so brutal; there were times when I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. I'm recommending this book to everyone.

(Daryl)

The Cloud Atlas (Paperback)

By Liam Callanan
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780385336956
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dial Press Trade Paperback, 8/2004
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Set with the beautiful Alaskan landscape as backdrop, this atmospheric book, with rich character development, narrates the story of a little known piece of WWII history – the improbable balloon bombs the Japanese sent across the waters to land on America’s Western coast, and the soldiers (following one in particular) that were dispatched to diffuse & cover up their existence, so that Americans would not feel terrorized by them. It would all sound magical and fanciful if it weren’t actually part of history.

(Rebecca)

Up Jump the Boogie (Hardcover)

By John Murillo
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9780981913148
Availability: Limited Availability - Call Store for Details
Published: Cypher Books, 2/2010
John Murillo's first collection of poetry Up Jump the Boogie is a high-speed magic fest, a sweet syrup, an honest and thick forest. With its quicksilver giants, its soft and hardworking hands, its punk-proof swagger, this book had my hands in the air in hallelujah to its sorcery! It's the perfect poetry book to gift a budding lover of words with. Get them addicted to books, and the joy that comes with having libraries as friends too.

 

(Angel)

Ironweed (Paperback)

By William Kennedy
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780140070200
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2/1984
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For Francis Phelan, Albany is the place where past and present meet. Ironweed follows Francis around his home town for a few days, much like the ghosts with whom he must make peace. The narrative moves quickly but it takes heavy steps. A fast and satisfying read that finds a balance in the humanity between good and evil, light and dark, and life and death.

 

(Brette)

 

The Beat of Urban Art: The Art of Justin Bua (Paperback)

By Justin Bua
$24.99
ISBN-13: 9780061734991
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Design, 5/2009
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An awesome coffee table book full of original urban artwork depicting BUA's life, work and the rise of hip hop. There are sketches, paintings and photographs with many explanations of the stories behind the pieces.

(Nicole)

Invisible Cities (Paperback)

By Italo Calvino
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780156453806
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 5/1978
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The premise: Marco Polo and Kublai Khan are conversing in Khan's palace. Marco Polo describes to the emperor the many fantastic cities that make up his kingdom while Khan gradually notices the patterns in these descriptions. Invisible Cities is a one-of-a-kind, poetic, philosophical work that, like all Calvino's novels, pushes the boundaries of fiction.

 

(Pat)

The Quick and the Dead (Paperback)

By Joy Williams
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780375727641
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 1/2002
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In this very strange, dark but also funny novel, we are presented with the wild backdrop of the desert and how it mirrors the lives of three young girls, Alice, Corvus and Annabel. Aside from some really gorgeous writing (my copy of the book is underlined and starred with sentences that I love) Williams is able to capture and credit the astute observations of teenagers when life continues to be unpredictable.

(Natalie)

Southland (Paperback)

By Nina Revoyr
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781888451412
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Akashic Books, 4/2008
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Set in LA's Crenshaw district, a once racially mixed community, Southland tells the story of Jackie Ishida, a young Japanese-American woman who learns that her grandfather bequeathed his store to a young black man, Curtis Martindale. However, Curtis died during the Watts riots in 1965, found dead in her grandfather's store along with three other boys. Revoyr provides an interesting historical account on the Crenshaw district while commenting on near "truths" about race, nationality and the idea of the "other." (Natalie)

South of the Border, West of the Sun (Paperback)

By Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780679767398
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 3/2000
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Having read quite a few of Murakami's novels, I found South of the Border, West of the Sun to be both his most subtle and his most affecting. Although like virtually all of Murakami's work the book contains elements of mystery, at its core this is a novel about the terrifying power of human obsession. It's deeply involving, unnerving and eerily relatable.

(Pat)

Moomin Book One: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip (Hardcover)

By Tove Jansson
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9781894937801
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Drawn and Quarterly, 10/2006
Lucky us, to live in an era when this odd little cultural artifact of 1950s Finland has been so beautifully reissued, so we can enjoy the delight that is Jansson's Moominland. The episodic plots may remind you of Rocky & Bullwinkle, and the Moomins are surely an influence on Jeff Smith's Bone comics, but Moomin and his family & neighbors are unique creatures, full of ideas, desires, and quirks both innocent and devious. This book is perfect for the precocious child, or the grownup who has never really grown up.

<

(Jessica)

The Light Princess (Paperback)

By George Macdonald, Maurice Sendak
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780374444587
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 8/1984
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One of the most original, and one of my all-time favorite fairy tales, the ‘light princess’ is cursed at birth by an aunt, who bestows upon her a ‘lack of gravity’. This means she not only laughs at everything and takes nothing seriously, she also…floats. It wrecks havoc on life at the castle, and it takes the determined love of one particular prince to bring her back down to reality. Read on to find out what he goes through to win her heart.

 

(Rebecca)

Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Triptych (Paperback)

By Rose-Myriam Rejouis, Val Vinokur, Edwidge Danticat
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780812976922
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Modern Library, 7/2010
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I had never heard of Marie Vieux-Chauvet, and I do not remember exactly how I was so fortunate to stumble across this collection of three, very well written stories. Her commentary, through fiction, on race, gender and class provides not only a historical look at Haiti, but also how the remnants of colonialism, and the one-time occupation of Haiti by the U.S., affect a society and its ability to shape an identity.

 

(Natalie)

Teeth (Paperback)

By Aracelis Girmay
$13.00
ISBN-13: 9781931896368
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Curbstone Books, 6/2007
No one does what Aracelis Girmay does. With sound, with imagery, with movement, and with heart she fills the poems themselves with all the complexity of what it means to be a human being. All of the tremendous joy, the apocalyptic sorrow, and otherworldly hope. All of this, she boldly achieves with unwavering flexibility, and grace. When I read this book, I feel like I'm surrounded by family. Be astonished, be ready to celebrate, be grateful for this book.

 

(Angel)

Crooked House (Mass Market Paperback)

By Agatha Christie, David Horovitch
$6.99
ISBN-13: 9780312981662
Availability: Limited Availability - Call Store for Details
Published: Macmillan Audio, 8/2002
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Agatha Christie is my guilty literary pleasure -- I read her books over and over again. I have a theory that there are really some subtle and sophisticated things going on in there about racial, cultural, and generational stereotypes and their subversion... but I read them for the fun of the puzzles, of course. Crooked House is one of my favorites, one of the darkest and most surprising. Bet you won't guess who did it.

 

(Jessica)

Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits (Paperback)

By Barney Hoskyns
$19.99
ISBN-13: 9780767927093
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Three Rivers Press, 5/2010
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Tom Waits fans tend to be obsessive. If you fall into this camp, you'll no doubt relish the opportunity to read Lowside of the Road, Barney Hoskyns' incredibly thorough, detailed, and painstakingly researched biography of the one-of-a-kind songwriter. However, I urge even the casual fan not to be intimidated by the length of Hoskyns' account of rock music's most acclaimed and least understood genius.

(Pat)

Sea and Sardinia (Paperback)

By D. H. Lawrence, Mara Kalnins, Jill Franks
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780141180762
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Classics, 10/1999
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Mired in continental ennui, Lawrence and his wife, the Queen Bee, leave perfectly pleasant Sicily for the untamed, rocky hills and guarded glances of Sardinia. While traversing the craggy lengths of this ancient island they encounter and engage with the strange and distinctive people of Sardinia all while lamenting the frustrations of modern travel and deep cultural divides. A hilarious and charming travelogue, The Sea and Sardinia intimately describes the author as well as the place.

(Alexis)

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime (Hardcover)

By Bob Shea, Bob Shea
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9781423113355
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hyperion, 9/2008

 

Do you know a small monster who goes at everything in the day with gusto? This dinosaur is not the scientific prehistoric kind -- he's an adorable toothy guy who encounters a pile of leaves, boring grownup conversations, and tooth brushing with irresistible ROARS. The only thing that can defeat the dino is sleepiness, making this a great bedtime book as well as a very interactive reading experience.

(Jessica)

Dialect of a Skirt (Paperback)

By Erica Miriam Fabri
$18.00
ISBN-13: 9781934909102
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hanging Loose Press, 11/2009
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With these gaudy and decadent poems that spoon each other and you for eighty-eight pages, this collection is the best kind of lover. Littered with vivid images of strings of white pearls, smooth vowels fluttering out of a lipstick-colored mouth, and strong and luscious tigers, let this book be the sassy and gorgeous big sister you look up to. It is the tremendous heart that forgives with every beat. This debut collection of poems is everything you never knew you couldn't live without.

(Angel)

My Custom Van: And 50 Other Mind-Blowing Essays that Will Blow Your Mind All Over Your Face (Paperback)

By Michael Ian Black
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9781439153536
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Gallery Books, 7/2009
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If you're a fan of the absurd comedy of Stella, The State, or Wet Hot American Summer, then Michael Ian Black's book of "essays" is guaranteed to please. Although the book may appear juvenile, I challenge you not to enjoy essays such as "What I Would Be Thinking If I Were Billy Joel Driving to a Holiday Party Where I Knew There Was Going to Be a Piano." It's not deep, and it won't make you a better person for having read it, but it will make you laugh.

(Pat)

Rent Girl (Paperback)

By Michelle Tea, Laurenn McCubbin
$24.95
ISBN-13: 9780867196207
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Last Gasp, 8/2004

"I am trying to give you a landscape, a crumbled map." An illustrated memoir that is a very R-rated glimpse into the paradox of prostitution, Rent Girl narrates Michelle Tea's experience in an industry that both empowers and denies autonomy. It is not a beautiful story, and it does not glorify the sex industry. Instead of panels, Lauren McCubbin gives readers portraits that complement a narrative that neither glorifies nor pities; it is simply an honest testimonial.

Nightmare Alley (Paperback)

By Nick Tosches, William Lindsay Gresham
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781590173480
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 5/2010
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Nightmare Alley lifts the tent flaps and instantly takes readers into the gripping world of Carny Ten-in-Ones and Vaudeville Two-A-Nights. Gersham's writing hustles on a steady cadence and the story of smooth talking Stan Carlisle reads like a serving of pulp with a generous shot of Noir. But Nightmare Alley is no gimmick; it glares into the trade of silver tongues and fast hands serving a dose of bottled family secrets and laying out a grim fortune with the cards.

(Brette)

Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Paperback)

By Salman Rushdie
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780140157376
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 11/1991
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All Rushdie novels have a certain sense of wondrous play, but this is by far my favorite (and most accessible) of all his books. Magic and play intersect in this book which is set in a city so sad that it has forgotten its own name.

(Rebecca)

Southland (Paperback)

By Nina Revoyr
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781888451412
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Akashic Books, 4/2008
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Set in LA's Crenshaw district, a once racially mixed community, Southland tells the story of Jackie Ishida, a young Japanese-American woman who learns that her grandfather bequeathed his store to a young black man, Curtis Martindale. However, Curtis died during the Watts riots in 1965, found dead in her grandfather's store along with three other boys. Revoyr provides an interesting historical account on the Crenshaw district while commenting on near "truths" about race, nationality and the idea of the "other."

(Natalie)

Sea and Sardinia (Paperback)

By D. H. Lawrence, Mara Kalnins, Jill Franks
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780141180762
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Classics, 10/1999
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Mired in continental ennui, Lawrence and his wife, the Queen Bee, leave perfectly pleasant Sicily for the untamed, rocky hills and guarded glances of Sardinia. While traversing the craggy lengths of this ancient island they encounter and engage with the strange and distinctive people of Sardinia all while lamenting the frustrations of modern travel and deep cultural divides. A hilarious and charming travelogue, The Sea and Sardinia intimately describes the author as well as the place.

(Alexis)

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey (Paperback)

By Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780802136886
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grove Press, 7/2000
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This is the holy grail of musicology from the DJ perspective! Studying the art and culture of DJs and music from House, Techno, Reggae, Hip Hop, Disco, Northern Soul, Funk, and R&B, it is a must read for any music afficionado.

(Nicole)

Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Paperback)

By Salman Rushdie
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780140157376
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 11/1991
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All Rushdie novels have a certain sense of wondrous play, but this is by far my favorite (and most accessible) of all his books. Magic and play intersect in this book which is set in a city so sad that it has forgotten its own name.

(Rebecca)

Punk Farm (Paperback)

By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780440417934
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dragonfly Books, 5/2010
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This is one of the best read-aloud books of recent years. the farm animals' cheerful punk anarchy will resonate with grown-up rockers, as well as little kids who like things LOUD. You'll never hear "Old MacDonald" the same way again.

(Jessica)

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (Hardcover)

By Norton Juster
$9.99
ISBN-13: 9781587170669
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Chronicle Books, 12/2000
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What more can I say: This is a playful take on romance, and math (...?) A straight and narrow line falls head over heels for a frivolous dot but she only has eyes for a squiggle. The line has to prove his prowess and woo her with his mathematical feats, proving to the dot that he's not just a line. He's also got angles that can become squares, triangles, hexagons, parallelograms and so much more. All played out via math. Do you think he wins her over? Would it win you over?

(Rebecca)

Library Book, The: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools (Paperback)

By Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi
$30.00
ISBN-13: 9781568988320
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Princeton Architectural Press, 3/2010

 

A pictorial exploration of New York City public school libraries via the Robin Hood foundation, this book is a celebration of how we must never forget to invest in our children, their education, and how we must always encourage children to read. It has the best dang dedication I've seen in ages: "For New York City, whose subways are mobile reading rooms."

(Rebecca)

Lighthead (Paperback)

By Terrance Hayes
$18.00
ISBN-13: 9780143116967
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 3/2010
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Oh man, if you were looking for a collection of poems that have nothing to do with each other and seemingly should not be in the same book... or perhaps, if you were in any way trying to feel underwhelmed, or indifferent -- you should find a book that isn't Lighthead by Terrance Hayes. With a healthy marriage of history, fun, and light, the poems in this book summon a rich dialogue between each other, as well as the reader. I recommend this book. I recommend this book with a side of rooftop and wine.

(Angel)

B Is for Bad Poetry (Hardcover)

By Pamela August Russell
$9.95
ISBN-13: 9781402767876
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Sterling, 10/2009
Do NOT be fooled by the title! This is a fantastic book of poetry. Pamela August Russell writes with Dorothy Parker’s wit and Richard Brautigan’s soul. Often times you’ll find yourself fiercely shifting from laughing out loud to trying to keep from sobbing. Russell has such a sharp and subtle style that will cut you deep. I’ve found that these poems will follow me around after I’ve put the book down. They’ll wait until I’ve almost forgotten them, and then, suddenly, like a poltergeist, I will be moved, again.

(Jade)

The Raw Shark Texts (Paperback)

By Steven Hall
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781847671745
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Canongate U.S., 4/2008
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Mind-bending/surreal/witty/heartbreaking/intellectual/action-packed/romantic. Steven Hall set out to write a novel that would combine all genres into one book, and he has done this well. The Raw Shark Texts follows a man with no memory being stalked by a shark made out of words – and from there it gets weird. No matter what you like in a good novel, you’ll find it in this one. Perfect to discuss with a friend.

(Jade)

Einstein's Dreams (Paperback)

By Alan Lightman
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781400077809
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Published: Vintage, 11/2004
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In a small town in Switzerland, Einstein sat & thought for hours. It was in this place of deep imagination where he envisioned experiments dealing with time & light, which would eventually lead to his famous theory of relativity. The chapters in this book are based on the dreams one would imagine Einstein had after a long day of thought experimenting. Written in a poetic, but easy to understand language, Lightman paints portraits of towns where time operates differently.

(Jade)

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son (Paperback)

By Michael Chabon
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061490194
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial, 5/2010
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Chabon shares insights, memories and questions about manhood in this collection of essays. He writes on a broad range of subjects, from the evolution of Lego to the experience of divorce. He's unashamed of his nerdiness, and the book is full of trivia and funny anecdotes, but also has a depth of feeling. The essays in Manhood for Amateurs are very fun to read.

(Daryl)

Wait Until Spring, Bandini (Paperback)

By John Fante
$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780876855546
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial, 6/2002
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This brutal story of an Italian bricklayer tempering his passions while trying to support his family during the great Depression is beautifully drawn by John Fante, whose writing style is clean and hypnotizing. You'll love this book for the characters: I especially loved Arturo, the youngest son, fiercely focused on his school crush. The characters' appetites are drawn dynamically by a brilliant, sensitive writer.

(Daryl)

Finding the Open Road: A Guide to Self-Construction Rather than Mass Production (Hardcover)

By Mike Marriner
$17.95
ISBN-13: 9781580087216
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ten Speed Press, 4/2005
Finding the Open Road is about discovering whether or not you are on the right path in your life. Through a series of interviews with a variety of sources who love what they do (Hugh Hefner, Larry King, a DJ, editors, a chef, a poet laureate, an astrophysicist, and Pulitzer Prize-winners), we learn a rule that is reiterated throughout the book: Do what you love & you'll be amazed at the things that follow.

(Nicole)

The Adderall Diaries (Paperback)

By Stephen Elliott
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781555975708
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Graywolf Press, 9/2010
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A ballsy memoir that is both a true crime story, and an introspective study of sex, addiction, and the mind. Elliot, if not always surefooted, is courageous in this hypnotic story that tries to find the line of demarcation between reality and delusion.

(Daryl)

Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not (Paperback)

By Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780786886968
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hyperion Books, 5/2004
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Don't let the disappointing cover fool you: this book is cool made by cool people meant to be enjoyed only by the incredibly cool (just kidding!). It's written by the Strangers with Candy team and it does not disappoint: it's bizarre and kitschy and hilarious in a way that makes you feel sorry for people who read it too fast to get all of it. MAJOR BONUS: Photos by designer Todd Oldham- look for more than one featuring Stephen Colbert as an under-dressed lady.

(Daryl)

Pieces for the Left Hand: Stories (Paperback)

By J. Robert Lennon
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781555975234
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Published: Graywolf Press, 3/2009
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At first glance the stories in this collection appear to be quaint and tidy - they're all set in small towns and only a paragraph or two long. But the bleak and matter-of-fact narration and dialogue turn these stories into wonderful creepiness.

(Eleanor)

Lake Overturn (Paperback)

By Vestal McIntyre
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061671265
Availability: In the Warehouse Now - Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial, 7/2010
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This is the best straight-up novel I have read in a long, long time. It has no structural tricks, no supernatural elements, no experimental language -- just incredibly perfect writing about ordinary people, a symphony of life in small town America. The characters are so well-observed that I sometimes felt embarrassed to have seen them so intimately; between them they embody nearly every social issue you can think of, but they are never less than simply, heartbreakingly human.

(Jessica)