June 2025 Staff PicksLike this list

15 items

• Atmosphere

  a Love Story

  Reid, Taylor Jenkins,

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  In Reid's latest novel, set in Houston in the 1980s, Joan Goodwin has lived a relatively banal life. She's a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and spends most of her time with her niece Francis, but her easygoing days are no more…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Devils

  Abercrombie, Joe,

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  Alex is a street urchin, thief, pickpocket and liar, an all-around fraudster doing whatever it takes to survive life in the Holy City. So when a duke whisks her off the streets and tells her she is the long-lost heir to the Serpent Throne of Troy,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dream Count

  a Novel

  Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 1977-

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  Introspective and fast-paced, Adichie's latest novel, her first since 2013's Americanah, is a meditation on cultural divides between Africa and America, class, race, misogyny, and woke American academia. Narrated by four expatriate Nigerian women…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Esperance

  Oyebanji, Adam,

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  A murder in Chicago is nothing unusual. But when a father and baby are found dead of drowning in sea water hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, Detective Ethan Krol is confounded. As he starts to dig into what could have happened, his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Flesh

  a Novel

  Szalay, David,

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  As a teenager, Istvâan is seduced by a married, middle-aged woman who lives in his apartment complex in Hungary, a woman whom he helps with her groceries, but when his adolescent passions kick in, his life takes a dark turn. From there, his life…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hope Dies Last

  Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future

  Weisman, Alan,

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  This globe-trotting work of climate journalism from Alan Weisman (The World Without Us) reports on a variety of experiments and success stories in the struggle to adapt to a planet changing faster even than experts have long warned it would. It…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• How to Share An Egg

  a True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty /

  Reichert, Bonny,

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  A quiet, thoughtful memoir braiding together the author's relationships with food, writing, her father, and her father's Holocaust survival story. Reichert traces her childhood and coming of age in 1970s and 80s Edmonton, Ontario, and her adulthood…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Incandescent

  a School Story

  Tesh, Emily,

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  Walden is no stranger to fighting demons. A school full of magic-learning teens makes for an enticing target for all kinds of hungry creatures, and as the Director of Magic, it's her job to keep them at bay. When Walden finds herself fighting one…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Is a River Alive?

  Macfarlane, Robert, 1976-

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  Nature writer MacFarlane, drawing inspiration from his local springs near Oxford, sets off on three journeys around the world to explore the question posed by the book's title. (When he asked his young son if he thought rivers were alive, his son…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Julie Chan Is Dead

  a Novel

  Zhang, Liann,

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  Julie Chan is used to being mistaken for her identical twin, Chloe. Chloe is, after all, the famous one. Separated as babies, Chloe was adopted by a wealthy white couple while Julie wound up living with an irascible aunt. After college, Chloe…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Maine Characters

  a Novel

  Orenstein, Hannah,

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  Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster share two things, even if one of them doesn't know: spending summers at a family lake house - and sharing a father. Vivian has no idea of the secrets that her father's life holds, whereas Lucy has always been aware of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Matriarch

  a Memoir

  Knowles, Tina, 1954-

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  Knowles's memoir begins with a reflection on her early life and the core values instilled in her. Throughout the memoir, she reflects on her family life, the strength of kinship, and the complex blend of both the positive and difficult moments of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Nesting

  O'Donnell, Roisín,

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  The pressure builds in O'Donnell's excellent, propulsive debut as pregnant thirty-something Ciara tries to leave her controlling, emotionally abusive husband, Ryan, with the two small children she shares with him. After leaving her marriage with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Poets Square

  a Memoir in Thirty Cats

  Gustafson, Courtney,

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  When Gustafson moved into a new apartment in the Poet's Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, little did she know her life was about to change in profound ways. That's because she quickly discovers 30 feral cats living on the property. …Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Woodworking

  St. James, Emily,

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  Thirty-something Erica Skyberg is a teacher in rural South Dakota. Recently divorced from her best friend, she is growing weary from the cognitive dissonance of maintaining the facade of being a man. When Abigail Hawkes, a brash, 17-year-old and…Read moreRead more of this annotation