July 2025 Staff PicksLike this list

18 items

• The Antidote

  Russell, Karen, 1981-

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  Russell's atmospheric second novel, a historical fiction/magical realism mashup set in Dust Bowl era Nebraska, opens with the Black Sunday dust storm of 1935, which has covered the frontier town of Uz in a thick layer of dust. We meet the Antidote,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Awakened

  a Novel

  Osworth, A. E.,

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  If you wake up with magical powers, you won't be receiving an invitation via feathered friend to an otherworldly university. In the post-Harry Potter world of Awakened, a title which refers to how one finds themselves with powers one morning without…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Boat Baby

  a Memoir

  Nguyen, Vicky,

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  NBC news anchor, Vicky Nguyen, shares her journey from war refugee to Today Show correspondent in a loving tribute to her parents Huy and Liên. Vicky, born Yén, was just a baby when her parents escaped Vietnam by boat under the cover of night. The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Detective Aunty

  a Novel

  Jalaluddin, Uzma,

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  When Kausar's adult daughter is accused of murder, she rushes to her side, reluctantly returning to a Toronto fraught with painful memories. Ostensibly in Toronto to help her daughter manage her home and take care of her granddaughters, Kausar can't…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dinner With King Tut

  How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations

  Kean, Sam,

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  In previous books, Sam Kean made subjects like the periodic table and brain science accessible to the average reader. In his latest, he explores how experimental archaeology is giving archaeologists, anthropologists and scientists greater insights…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Director

  a Novel

  Kehlmann, Daniel, 1975-

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  This surprisingly engaging biographical fiction focuses on an unlikely subject, the Austrian film director G.W. Pabst. Early in his career Pabst was considered a peer of the more famous German Expressionists Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau, but the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Emperor of Gladness

  a Novel

  Vuong, Ocean, 1988-

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  Ocean Vuong's first novel since On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous features a cross-generational friendship between a boy who wants to die and a woman who is close to death. Hai, a young Vietnamese American boy, is ready to jump from the bridge when a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Exit Zero

  Stories

  Bertino, Marie-Helene,

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  Each of the twelve stories in award winning author Marie-Helene Bertino's collection is surreal and reminiscent of a fever dream, yet also somehow intriguing and warm. This collection dabbles within genres like sci-fi and fantasy and includes a wide…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fearless and Free

  a Memoir

  Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975,

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  Dictated by the groundbreaking Josephine Baker and published in French in 1949, her memoir is only newly available in English. And the book has everything: celebrity gossip and sexual scandal, WWII espionage, civil rights history, reflections on the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Ghostwriter

  a Novel

  Clark, Julie, 1971-

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  In Clark's novel, two of the Taylor children were found dead in their family home fifty years ago. The remaining son, Vincent, has never been able to shed the notoriety of the murders, and now it's come home to his estranged daughter. Olivia has…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Girls Who Grew Big

  Mottley, Leila, 2002-

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  Adela is a young 16 years old when her conservative parents banish her from their home after finding out she's pregnant. Adela is used to training competitively as a swimmer in her comfortable home and suddenly finds herself living in her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Her Majesty's Royal Coven

  a Novel

  Dawson, Juno,

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  The oracles of the Her Majesty's Royal Coven are increasingly concerned about a prophetic Sullied Child, who they fear will awaken the demon Leviathan and bring about terrible destruction. When Helena, the High Priestess of HMRC, finds a boy named…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Knight and the Moth

  Gillig, Rachel,

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  Six is an orphan who traded ten years of service to the cathedral for a place to live and comfortable life. She and her fellow diviners are regularly drowned to be able to see omens and predict the future for supplicants. However, their service is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mood Machine

  the Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist

  Pelly, Liz,

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  Pelly, a music journalist, spent years interviewing current and former employees of the Swedish-based music/audio streaming behemoth Spotify, and in this debut she shares her disturbing conclusions. It's common knowledge that musicians earn less…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Spent

  a Comic Novel

  Bechdel, Alison, 1960-

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  In Spent, a fictional graphic memoir, Bechdel successfully melds her life's work as a lauded graphic memoirist with her earlier work on the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. The erudite Bechdel uses Marx's Das Kapital as a framework for exploring…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Starving Saints

  a Novel

  Starling, Caitlin,

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  In a besieged castle that is days from running out of food, three women toil as they starve. The King's alchemist, the excommunicated nun Phosyne, seeks isolation while grasping for a magical solution to the castle's predicament. The loyal knight…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tilt

  a Novel

  Pattee, Emma,

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  On her first morning of maternity leave, frazzled, 37 weeks pregnant, and smarting from a fight she had with her husband the night before, Annie finds herself in the warehouse of her local Ikea, arguing with a sales associate. Married to the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• When the Wolf Comes Home

  Cassidy, Nat, 1981-

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  After an especially grueling day at work, Jess, a struggling actress turned waitress, comes home to find a small boy cowering in the bushes outside her apartment complex. An act of kindness catapults the insecure Jess, who is still actively grieving…Read moreRead more of this annotation