Staff Picks

"The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this [...] symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his [...] podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet -- from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu -- on a five-star scale." --

Twelve-year-old Sunny Nwazue, an American-born albino child of Nigerian parents, moves with her family back to Nigeria, where she learns that she has latent magical powers which she and three similarly gifted friends use to catch a serial killer.

"Many people first encounter Hawai'i through the imagination--a postcard picture of Hula girls, lu'aus, and plenty of sun, surf, and sea. While Hawai'i is indeed beautiful, Native Hawaiians struggle with the problems brought about by colonialism, military occupation, tourism, food insecurity, high costs of living, and the effects of climate change. In this brilliant reinvention of the travel guide, artists, activists, and scholars redirect readers...

"Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, and actor Sarah Polley's Run Towards the Danger explores memory and the dialogue between her past and her present These are the most dangerous stories of my life. The ones I have avoided, the ones I haven't told, the ones that have kept me awake on countless nights. As these stories found echoes in my adult life, and then went another, better way than they did in childhood, they became lighter and easier to...

Like an Edenic Adam birthed from the clay, our narrator rises to his feet from the muck―reborn, or something like that. Unbeknownst to him, he’s on a desperate search for Harmada, the capital city of an unnamed nation and the land of his former glory. Told using Noll’s characteristic fragmented logic and spirited prose, Harmada traces the life of this nameless man on a voyage that takes him from aimless outcast to revered director of avant-garde...

"The diaries of a remarkable young woman who was determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with cystic fibrosis and a rare superbug--from age fifteen to her death at the age of twenty-five. Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory Smith grew up to be a determined, talented young woman who inspired others even as she privately raged against her illness. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments...

Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark! A Vagrant, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beaton, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta's oil rush—part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment...

In a powerful memoir, identity theft expert Betz-Hamilton tells the shocking and unsettling story of her family, betrayal, and deceit. Convinced that the thief had to be someone they knew, Axton and her parents completely cut off the outside world, isolating themselves from friends and family. Small-town Indiana in the early '90s. Betz-Hamilton's parents both had their identities stolen; their credit ratings were ruined. The family changed all of...