Staff Picks

Created on February 17, 2022, 4:05 pm

Last Updated January 4, 2023, 3:34 pm

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After a huge fight with her mom Sam is sent back in time to the 90s where she comes face to face with her mom as a teenager. Its a heartfelt look at the intergenerational dynamics between grandmother and mother and daughter with a fun time travel twist. - Chrysalis C
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After being murdered, Lou is cloned and dropped back into her life with her husband and baby. She tries to pick things back up where she left off, but there are too many unexplained things about her pre-clone life to ignore. A twisty mystery with a touch of sci-fi - Michelle M
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For Thien, childhood memories of fleeing Vietnam and the stresses of living in a refugee camp in Thailand are intermingled with the joys of food, friendships, and family. When his family resettles in America, Thien's subsequent struggles are balanced by moments of hope. - Emily L
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If you like a hint of magical realism and a taste of Western then James' The Bullet Swallower is for you. In 1895 bandito Antonio tries to avenge the death of his brother while in 1965 grandson Jaime tries to come to terms with family history. - Karen G
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Award-winning actress Viola Davis describes her journey from poverty and abuse to stardom. In an honest and straightforward way, Davis shares her love for acting and how she persevered against industry biases to develop the self-love needed to catapult her to the top. - Phaedra B
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An accessible approach to breathing delivers advice on the most basic of human needs by linking together medical science, archaeology, faith practices, and history. Uniquely, it gives tips for anyone AND fun "don't try this at home" story-telling. - Kathryn O
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At the heart of this terrifying haunted house novel are two mysteries, featuring generational trauma and how it affects relationships between African American mothers and daughters. It begs the question: Can a house be evil, or is it made that way from its inhabitants? - Holley M
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A fascinating take on a morally fraught question: how do we approach the art of people who do horrible things? Author Claire Dederer wrestles with whether audiences can (or should) separate their love of a given work from their horror at the deeds of its creator. - Laura B
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Enchantee volume 1
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Camille must care for her siblings after losing their parents to smallpox. She uses her family's forbidden dark magic to make money and to swindle the French aristocrats. But soon the Revolution begins and her secrets are uncovered, putting herself in danger. - Janet O
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The crimes at the center of the story are compelling but the way Daunis navigates loss, relationships (with family and friends), betrayal, hockey, and staying true to her culture and beliefs in hard times will keep you turning the pages all the way to the end. - Chrysalis C
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Rating things on a five star scale is a popular way to convey experience. John Green uses this scale to rate the geological age we currently inhabit. Beautifully written essays cover a range of topics from the song "Auld Lang Syne" to the QWERTY Keyboard to Diet Dr. Pepper. - Lisa N
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Spoiler alert volume 2
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An impulsive actor with a heart of gold plus a burned out ER therapist assigned to babysit him should equal disaster. But in this steamy, banter-filled romance, opposites attract as Alex and Lauren see beyond hard situations and surface impressions to find true love. - Jennie R
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Akata series volume 1
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Fans of magical realism will enjoy the world created in this first installment of "The Nsibidi Scripts." Sunny, a 12 year old albino girl living in Nigeria, discovers she not only has magical abilities but is a key member to protect the world from a new threat. - Lisa N
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The Hawthorne family seems to have it all, but when eldest daughter Angela starts the college admission process determined to follow in her father's footsteps at Harvard, things begin to unravel in this darkly funny exploration of the downside of the race to the top. - Keren J
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This is a sobering and exciting collection from native Hawaiians, writing about their land; a subtle reminder that the place where you took that amazing family vacation may also be the site of a corporate-backed coup, military testing, and devastating environmental racism. - Charlotte M
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We know the U.S. has territories like Puerto Rico and Guam, but how often do Americans think about sharing a nation with people beyond the continental states? Immerwahr shows us how deeply empire-building drives U.S. history, in obvious and less obvious ways. - Charlotte M
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A fascinating collection of essays about examining memory and injury through the lens of time. A great read for anyone who wants to learn more about Sarah Polley's career as an author, director and actor, or has struggled through excavating the foundations of their own life. - Alex Z
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Series
Empyrean volume 1
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The first book in an exciting new fantasy adventure series in which dragons choose to bond with humans, unleashing dangerous magical talents, in order to protect their shared lands against an encroaching enemy. - Alex Z
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A playful satire of the human world as seen through feline eyes. Our narrator watches his master’s foibles (napping all afternoon instead of working on a promised piece of writing) with the quizzical air of one perched above the rest. Elegant and often hilarious. - Theodore R
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A woman recounts the lives she has lived in the shadow of self-destruction and pleasure. Early 20th-century Paris, through Rhys' eyes, appears as endless temptation of drink, relations, and scrappiness. Deserving of its status as a masterpiece of Modernist literature. - Theodore R
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