Staff Picks

Becca: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu - "A brilliant collection of intersecting stories set in the near future exploring a plague and its impacts on society, gutting and cathartic."

Margaret: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue - "This book was like The Office if it was all about a well intentioned woman in her 30s with crippling social anxiety who accidentally got unfettered access to her co-workers emails. It's full of complex characters, antics, and a meaningful exploration of the relationships we build with the people around us!"

Julie: The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope

Roberta: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Ellen: Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley. "Very stylish story about the small things that make huge impacts in people's lives. Hadley gets better and better."

June 2024

Chris: The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

Julie: Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Becca: What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

Katherine: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Margaret: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Roberta: Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Ellen: On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen

Philip: Dying Fall by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

May 2024

Chris: The Wager by David Grann - "A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by the author of Killers of the Flower Moon."

Leslie: Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy

Julie: The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone 1932-1940 by William Manchester

Roberta: Long Ago in France by M.F.K. Fisher - "M.F.K. Fisher, American food writer and memoirist recounts her experiences living in France in a time gone by."

Becca: The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo - "A historical, atmospheric, horror set in the Appalachian wilderness. When trans nurse arrives to administer vaccines and assist with births he is met with a tight-knit hyper conservative church, and something unexpected lurking in the woods"

Connie: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - "It is a book to savor about a Russian aristocrat imprisoned in a luxury Moscow hotel during the most tumultuous decades of Russian history. It is so well written and the main characters manner and charm is irresistible."

Ellen: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith - "The whole series are dark and engaging mysteries with a private detective and his beautiful partner on the knife edge of danger at every turn, pretty fun beach reads. Some of you might know the writer by a different name, and another well known series of books that rhymes with 'Dairy Blotter'."

Katherine: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

April 2024

Chris: The Hunter by Tana French

Becca: Weyward by Emilia Hart

Katie: Don't Look at Me Like That by Diana Athill

Julie: Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by Jozsef Debreczeni

March 2024

Chris: Terry Hayes The Year of the Locust

Julie: Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price

Ellen: Barracoon : The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston - "Less than 100 years ago, which is incredible in itself, Zora Neale Hurston interviewed the last person alive to tell about being captured in Africa and brought in bondage across the Atlantic. First person histories are invaluable and this one is a must read."

February 2024

Roberta: The Slip : The New York City Street that Changed American Art Forever by Prudence Peiffer

Katie: Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers by Emma Smith

Julie: The Four Horsemen: the conversation that sparked an atheist revolution by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennet. - "In this compact little masterpiece, the authors discuss religion, culture, spirituality, and what it means to live an ethical life."

Ellen: Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski - "A sultry modern day noir suspense tale of a theater critic in New York who makes lots of bad decisions on the way to solving a crime."

Katherine: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Ery: They Called Me a Lioness Ahed Tamimi

Philip: Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrrell - "It is a four book extravaganza. But worth the read."

January 2024

Philip: Living Sunlight:How Plants Bring the Earth to Life by Molly Bang - "It is a children's book that everyone should read. It is about how earth, and all living things on it, exist. Awesome."

Chris: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray - "A portrait of contemporary Ireland, a tragicomic family saga."

December 2023

Chris: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang - "A send-up of the publishing industry and contemporary mores."

Roberta: The Caliph's House by Tahir Shah

Ellen: When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut - "History and fable, a winding narrative of pure genius."

Becca: Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey - "A detective is hired to investigate a murder at her twin sister's campus--a boarding school for the magically gifted. Otherworldly, atmospheric, and unputdownable. "

Leslie: Handmade Scandinavian Christmas by Hege Barnholt

Philip: A Walk Through the Year by Edwin Way Teale. "He walks through Nature each day of the year. Beautifully, poetically written, it is my single most favorite book."

Ery: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake - "A fascinating look at recent science studying interactions between fungi and other life forms that show a still mysterious world of inter-species communication and cooperation."

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