July 2018 Staff PicksLike this list

18 items

• Air Traffic

  a Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America

  Pardlo, Gregory,

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  Pro tip: when a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet turns to prose, you know you're in for some particularly fine writing. At the core of Pardlo's family history is the impact of the air traffic controllers strike of 1981, which knocked his brilliant,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bearskin

  McLaughlin, James A.,

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  When Rice Moore discovers a bear carcass on the grounds of the remote forest preserve in the Appalachians where he has recently been hired as caretaker, his world turns upside down. Rice had been looking forward to quietly observing the local flora…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of M

  Shepherd, Peng,

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  Zero shadow day is an astronomical phenomenon that happens every year in areas of the world that fall between the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer. The sun becomes so aligned with the land that shadows briefly seem to disappear. This is the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Boys of Fairy Town

  Sodomites, Female Impersonators, Third-sexers, Pansies, Queers, and Sex Morons in Chicago's First Century

  Elledge, Jim, 1950-

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  An overdue history of Chicago’s queer community from the days of Towertown to the "post pansy panic" instigated by J. Edgar Hoover, Boys of Fairy Town takes the reader on a journey into a long overlooked slice of Chicago history. The stories are…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Cabin at the End of the World

  a Novel

  Tremblay, Paul,

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  In a remote New Hampshire cabin, 7-year-old Wen and her dads are enjoying a peaceful getaway when four strangers emerge from the woods with oddly coordinated clothing and shoddily-constructed tools - or are they weapons? Leonard, their presumed…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Damnation Island

  Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th-century New York

  Horn, Stacy,

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  In 1839, New York City had a problem: what to do with the growing numbers of poor and mentally-ill people living in its city. Its prison population, too, was increasing at an astounding rate, with people often imprisoned for relatively minor crimes…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dear Mrs. Bird

  a Novel

  Pearce, A. J. (Amanda-Jane),

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  Emmeline Lake volunteers as a telephone operator with the Auxiliary Fire Service in 1940s London during the start of the German bombing raids. She secretly dreams of being a war correspondent, though, and when she gets the chance to apply for a job…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Death of Mrs. Westaway

  Ware, Ruth,

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  After her mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver when she was eighteen, Harriet Westaway took over her mother’s tarot reading booth on Brighton Pier and borrowed some money from a kindly stranger. Three years later, a loan shark is leaning on her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• God Save Texas

  a Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State

  Wright, Lawrence, 1947-

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  Chances are you have strong feelings about the Lone Star State. Acclaimed journalist Wright (The Looming Tower, Going Clear) understands all too well. He proves himself an ideal guide to his home state in this entertaining and highly informative…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Great Believers

  Makkai, Rebecca,

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  Chicago, 1985: Yale Tishman is the director of a new art gallery at Northwestern University and just hitting his stride when he loses his friend Nico to AIDS. Nico is not the first, nor will he be the last of Yale’s circle to succumb as the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• How Hard Can It Be?

  Pearson, Allison, 1960-

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  The big five-oh is around the corner for Kate Reddy. After taking several years off to put motherhood and her family first, Kate is about to re-enter the workforce while wearing Spanx. Her children are impossible teenagers with unstable hormones and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• How to Walk Away

  Center, Katherine,

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  Margaret has always had a fear of flying, but when her soon-to-be fiancé wants to take her flying for what she thinks will be the night of her engagement, she gives in to his persuasion. What turns out to be a life altering decision ends up not only…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Kiss Quotient

  Hoang, Helen,

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  Immensely funny, outrageously sexy and surprisingly sweet, Hoang's debut romance novel follows Stella, a successful and wealthy professional with very little experience in relationships who decides to hire someone to teach her the ropes in and out…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation

  Moshfegh, Ottessa,

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  Moshfegh, whose last novel Eileen was nominated for a Booker Prize, offers up an unsettling, darkly humorous novel. The unnamed narrator, a recent college graduate living off her parents' inheritance in New York City, attempts to voluntarily…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Our Kind of Cruelty

  Hall, Araminta,

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  Hall upends the trend of psychological suspense with domestic settings and female unreliable narrators by offering readers a male narrator, both unreliable and obsessive, in her unsettling and dark novel. Verity ends her long-term relationship with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Pisces

  a Novel

  Broder, Melissa,

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  On one level, this book's description may make it sound like an edgy, fantastical romantic comedy: woman spends nine years writing her dissertation on Sappho. Woman breaks up with long-time boyfriend. Woman has a breakdown that involves her coming…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Social Creature

  a Novel

  Burton, Tara Isabella,

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  Burton’s debut is a twisty, clever psychological thriller with a focus on the dark underbelly of female friendship and social media. 29-year-old Louise is working three jobs and living in Brooklyn when she meets charismatic and affluent Lavinia, a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Summer Wives

  Williams, Beatriz,

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  Winthrop Island is located off Long Island Sound, and every summer the Families return to the island, where for three months, they live side by side but don't mix with the year-round residents – except when they do. Eighteen-year-old Miranda…Read moreRead more of this annotation