July 2020 Staff PicksLike this list

17 items

• The Address Book

  What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

  Mask, Deirdre,

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  Addresses empower and isolate, while street names often commemorate and describe. This remarkable and highly original book takes readers on an exciting journey covering historical events and fascinating people through this lens of street names and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• All Adults Here

  Straub, Emma,

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  When a family matriarch experiences a moment that underscores her own mortality, she starts to reflect on the kind of mother she has been to her now-adult children and how the decisions she made affected each of their lives. Her three children are…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Beach Read

  Henry, Emily,

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  When two former college rivals, polar opposites who are both published authors, end up spending the summer in neighboring beach houses, a deal is struck: whoever gets their next manuscript published first wins. Augustus Everett writes literary…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Rosy

  a Mother's Story of Separation at the Border

  Pablo Cruz, Rosayra,

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  In this powerful page-turner, we hear the story of the crisis on the border directly from two mothers: Rosy, a Guatemalan refugee separated from her young children and placed in ICE detention, and Julie, an American mother who, like many, was…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The City We Became

  Jemisin, N. K.,

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  Every city in the world has a heartbeat, a pulse, a rhythm all its own. But what keeps that city moving and breathing? What protects it from threats, both existential and physical? In NK Jemisin's latest, New York City is finally taking its first…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Devolution

  a Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre

  Brooks, Max,

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  Highly recommended for fans of Brooks's previous World War Z, his latest novel tracks the battle between a small eco-friendly village called Greenloop and the monsters that stalk them from the woods. Greenloop is normally an idyllic escape from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Godshot

  a Novel

  Bieker, Chelsea,

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  In this dark debut, narrated by a 14 year-old, Lacey May has been abandoned by her alcoholic mother and is in the grasp of a religious cult headed by the manipulative Pastor Vern. In the drought-stricken community of Peaches, California, congregants…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Homie

  Poems

  Smith, Danez,

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  Smith's dazzling latest collection is another standout of recent poetry. Whether celebrating black and queer culture, mourning lost friends, raging against racism, exploring life with HIV, or singing in praise of a best friend, Smith wields a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Jane Austen Society

  Jenner, Natalie,

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  In a small English village in the post-WWII years, Jane Austen's final home (the author died over a century before) attracts occasional visits from devotees traveling through the region, but otherwise the estate is gradually dispersing under…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Love Story of Missy Carmichael

  Morrey, Beth,

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  Missy Carmichael is a 78 old woman with little contact with the world around her. She sits alone in her spacious home in London thinking about her estranged children and walks the park reminiscing about her husband and their marriage. However, due…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mexican Gothic

  Moreno-Garcia, Silvia,

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  Noemí is a carefree university student and socialite in 1950s Mexico City when she receives an urgent letter from her newlywed cousin, Catalina. Catalina claims she is being poisoned by her new husband and that the family's manor house is haunted.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Pizza Girl

  a Novel

  Frazier, Jean Kyoung,

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  This debut novel follows an unnamed narrator who is eighteen, pregnant, and most notably a pizza delivery driver in Los Angeles. Coping with the loss of her father, Pizza Girl spirals inward, closing herself off from her overwhelmingly supportive…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Some Assembly Required

  Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, From Ancient Fossils to DNA

  Shubin, Neil,

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  Author Shubin provides an overview of how evolution occurs in his latest work of popular science. Drawing on both fossil records and DNA patterns, scientists have enough data to put together a good picture of how life evolves. From Darwin's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Take a Hint, Dani Brown

  a Novel

  Hibbert, Talia,

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  Danika is a nerdy, audacious PhD student who's given up on love, and Zafir is a romance-reading ex-rugby player. When a flirtatious encounter unexpectedly gets caught on camera and goes viral, they decide to start a fake relationship. Each has their…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Vanishing Half

  Bennett, Brit,

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  In Bennett's excellent latest (after her celebrated debut, The Mothers), two identical twin sisters hail from Mallard, a rural Lousiana town of light-skinned African Americans that takes on an almost mythical quality. Restless Desiree coaxes the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Wife and the Widow

  White, Christian,

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  In the start of this stellar Australian crime novel, Katie Keddie arrives at the airport to pick up her husband John from a business trip, only he doesn't show up. After contacting his place of work, Katie discovers that John hasn't been there in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Wow, No Thank You

  Essays

  Irby, Samantha,

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  If you're not already familiar with Samantha Irby, prepare yourself for some real talk. Self-deprecating humor and brutal honesty are Irby's bread and butter. The 18 essays in Wow, No Thank You are similar to her popular blog posts complete with ALL…Read moreRead more of this annotation