April 2022 eBook Staff PicksLike this list

20 items

• Black Cloud Rising

  a Novel

  Wright Faladé, David, 1964-

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  Based on a true story, this excellent historical fiction is about Richard Etheridge, a formerly enslaved young man from Roanoke Island who enlists for a mission in the U.S. Army during the middle of the Civil War. Starting slowly, with scenes from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Cold Cases

  St. James, Simone,

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  Shea Collins barely escaped abduction as a child, and it led to a lifetime fascination with crime and a refusal to ever ride in a car again. Shea copes by writing in her blog, and when she crosses paths with Beth Greer, the notorious Lady Killer,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Form and Emptiness

  Ozeki, Ruth, 1956-

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  Ozeki's warm, soulful novel follows 14-year-old Benny and his mom, Annabelle, as they navigate an increasingly angry, chaotic world. Benny and Annabelle are both reeling from the recent loss of Benny's father, Kenji, to a freak accident. Benny's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Booth

  a Novel

  Fowler, Karen Joy,

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  The Booths were an early American dynasty of acting talents who enjoyed a fair amount of celebrity - and some scandal - in their day, but were eventually tarnished by infamy when John Wilkes betrayed their pro-Union family and assassinated Abraham…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Christie Affair

  Gramont, Nina de,

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  Nan O'Dea is a woman on a mission: to seduce Archie Christie and get him to marry her. Of course, this means separating him from his wife, author Agatha Christie, who is somewhat known as a writer, but hasn't yet become a household name. This is the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Disorientation

  Chou, Elaine Hsieh,

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  Eighth year Ph.D. candidate Ingrid Yang is begrudgingly writing her dissertation on the late famous Chinese American poet Xiao-Wen Chou when she discovers something alarming about his past. An academic scandal begins to emerge as Ingrid and her best…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• In Love

  a Memoir of Love and Loss

  Bloom, Amy, 1953-

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  In this short memoir by acclaimed novelist Bloom, she details a tragic yet beautiful love story. When her husband Brian was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he ultimately decided to pursue assisted suicide. Bloom resisted but ultimately acceded to his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Kaiju Preservation Society

  Scalzi, John, 1969-

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  Laid off from a soulless job, Jamie works delivering food in New York City when an old acquaintance suggests going to work for an "animal rights organization" called KPS. Little does Jamie realize that the "animals" involved are all of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lemon

  Kwŏn, Yŏ-sŏn, 1965-

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  The body of 18-year-old Kim Hae-on is discovered in a park. No motive for this "High School Beauty Murder," as it becomes known, can be identified. The primary suspects are Shin Jeongjun, a wealthy classmate who gave Hae-on a ride in his car that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mickey7

  a Novel

  Ashton, Edward (Science fiction writer),

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  Mickey Barnes is an expendable. His job is to do all the things that are too deadly for people or robots to perform. His mind and body have been copied, and he is recreated every time he dies. The narrator is the seventh version of Mickey. One day,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Moon Witch, Spider King

  a Novel

  James, Marlon, 1970-

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  Sogolon's mother dies in childbirth and she is seen as a curse upon her family. Eventually, abused and mistreated by many, the cursed girl grows into her true power. As the almost centuries-old Moon Witch, she matches wits with the Aesi, a powerful…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Paradox Hotel

  a Novel

  Hart, Rob (Fiction writer),

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  The Paradox Hotel is an original blend of sci-fi and mystery set in a hotel full of rich and powerful guests as they come and go on their time travel excursions. January Cole is an ex-time travel cop who is now head of security for the hotel. She…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Red Carpet

  Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy

  Schwartzel, Erich,

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  This fascinating work of business journalism explores China's relationship to the Hollywood entertainment industry, but its findings have clear parallels to many other business sectors (tech, manufacturing, etc.), making this a recommended read not…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Scoundrel

  How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free

  Weinman, Sarah,

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  Weinman (The Real Lolita) once again sheds new light on crimes of the past in her absorbing latest. The subject of the book is Edgar Smith, who was convicted of killing 15-year-old Victoria Zielinski and sentenced to death. Sixty years later in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Stolen Focus

  Hari, Johann,

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  If interrupted, it takes a person an average of 23 minutes to get back to the same level of focus they had before they were disturbed. Johan Hari, the New York Times best-selling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections, provides an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Sundial

  Ward, Catriona,

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  Rob has a seemingly normal life as an English teacher with a husband and two daughters. When her teenage daughter Callie starts exhibiting disturbing behavior, like making artwork out of roadkill and trying to poison her sister, Rob decides it's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Swimmers

  Otsuka, Julie, 1962-

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  Otsuka's lyrical latest is a meditation on aging, memory, and the fleeting moments that make up a life. The opening section is voiced by the collective we, a group of regulars who swim at an underground pool in a suburb of Southern California. The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Verifiers

  Pek, Jane,

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  How can you really know that the people you meet online are who they say they are? How can you let yourself fall for someone if you don't even know if you can trust them? These are the questions that everyone with an online dating profile has to ask…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Vladimir : A Novel

  Jonas, Julia May

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  The unnamed narrator of Jonas's timely, funny novel is a quietly acerbic literature professor in her late fifties. When her philandering husband John (department chair at the same college) is petitioned to be removed from his post by seven women who…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Don't Know Ourselves

  a Personal History of Modern Ireland

  O'Toole, Fintan, 1958-

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  Beginning at the pivotal year 1958, his birth year, Irish Times columnist O'Toole's brilliant, comprehensive, and illuminating memoir lays bare the many circumstances surrounding Ireland's frenetic and frequently troubled lurch into modern, Western…Read moreRead more of this annotation