June 2024 Staff PicksLike this list

17 items

• 2020

  One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed /

  Klinenberg, Eric,

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  Klinenberg, renowned author of groundbreaking books such as "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago" (2002) and "Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life"…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Annie Bot

  a Novel

  Greer, Sierra,

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  Recent divorcée Doug needs someone in his life, so getting Annie, a custom-built robot companion, seems like a natural fit. Annie is so lifelike that it would be hard to tell her apart from a real human. She's been designed to serve her master in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cahokia Jazz

  a Novel

  Spufford, Francis, 1964-

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  This rich alternative history tale takes place in the 1920s in a big city called Cahokia on the Mississippi River. It's packed with so many resounding and seemingly accurate details that you'll be swept into the daily life and politics of a place…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Feeding Ghosts

  a Graphic Memoir

  Hulls, Tessa, 1984-

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  Taking nine years to complete, with an extensive amount of research and travel, Tessa Hulls's graphic memoir weaves together three generations of family history, delving into the stories of Hulls's Chinese grandmother Sun Yi, her mixed-race mother…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fruit of the Dead

  a Novel

  Lyon, Rachel, 1983-

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  This contemporary retelling of the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone alternates narration between eighteen-year-old camp counselor Cory and her mother Emer, who runs an agricultural NGO. With no college acceptances or internships to look forward…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Grief Is for People

  Crosley, Sloane,

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  Sloane Crosley experienced two profound losses within a short amount of time. The first loss: someone broke into her home and stole valuable jewelry. The second loss: her best friend Russell committed suicide. Over the course of Grief is for People,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Hope This Finds You Well

  a Novel

  Sue, Natalie,

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  An opportunity to get ahead at the administrative job Jolene Smith has been at for eight years comes up right as rumors about layoffs swirl around the office, and she decides to take the chance to turn her life around, make friends at work, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Last Murder at the End of the World

  Turton, Stuart,

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  For 90 years on a remote island, a small team of scientists and a group of everyday people live, work, and play together in harmony. Their lives are not particularly complicated save for their reliance on a barrier that keeps a deadly fog from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Long Island

  a Novel

  Tóibín, Colm, 1955-

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  In this sequel to Toibin's Brooklyn, two decades have passed, and Eilis is living with her husband Tony and his extended Italian-American family on Long Island in the mid-70s. They have two teenage children, a boy and a girl. In the opening chapter,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Oye

  a Novel

  Mogollon, Melissa,

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  A laugh-out-loud comedy that may also bring you to tears, this debut novel by Melissa Mogollon takes a fresh approach to dialogue structure with a series of phone calls from Luciana to her older sister, Mari, who is away at college. Luciana did not…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Paradise Problem

  Lauren, Christina,

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  What would you do for $100 million? Anna Green would do a lot, but truthfully, she would be happy to just sell a few of her paintings, cover her dad's medical bills, and not have to work two jobs as she's been doing for the past few years. Liam…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Perfume & Pain

  a Novel

  Dorn, Anna,

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  Astrid has found success as a mid-list author in LA, but her harsh demeanor is starting to negatively affect her career, resulting in her being "lightly" cancelled. Amidst her large collection of perfumes and being in a career time-out, Astrid…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Silver Bone

  a Novel

  Kurkov, Andreǐ,

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  Ukrainian writer Kurkov's mystery series opener is set in Kyiv in 1919. After watching his father murdered in the street and having his ear severed by Russian Cossacks, Samson Kolechko returns to his family's apartment, and he finds two Red Army…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Whale Fall

  O'Connor, Elizabeth, 1991-

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  This slender debut novel captures a slice of life on a Welsh Island around the dawn of WWII from the point of view of Manod, a bright 18-year-old girl who is at the precipice of adulthood at a charged moment in time. Life is changing on her island.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Woodworm

  Martínez, Layla, 1987-

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  Translated from Spanish, Woodworm follows dual perspectives of a granddaughter and a grandmother against the backdrop of a haunted house in La Mancha. Due to a decades-long family curse, the house in which our narrators reside demands both sacrifice…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• You Get What You Pay for

  Essays

  Parker, Morgan,

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  "Becoming a person, forming an identity, has been a sham assignment from the start," writes Parker in the opening essay. In this candid and compelling collection, she wrestles with the human necessity and particular difficulties of this assignment…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• You Should Be So Lucky

  a Novel

  Sebastian, Cat,

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  Cat Sebastian knows how to break your heart and then put it back together again in the most beautiful way, as she does for both her protagonist and readers of this beautiful story of love, loss, and learning to love again. Coming out of the fog of…Read moreRead more of this annotation