lisa RECOMMENDS:

Make believe comes alive when you begin to imagine what it would be like if you were an elephant. You might remember the best places to go, or how to splash fountains of water over your back, creating a rainbow of joy. This timely and beautiful children’s book explores the complexity and compassion of these enormous and enormously fascinating creatures. Beautifully simple and compelling illustrations complete this gem. 

lori RECOMMENDS:

Kristen Radtke’s new and magnificent hybrid work is at once an illustrated memoir and a fascinating study on the under-appreciated effects of loneliness on the human body and mind. Moreover, it is a work of breathtaking empathy for the human condition. Perhaps in no other time in modern history has it been more important for us to understand our individual and collective loneliness and how we can rebuild the human connections that sustain us. Radtke’s writing is heartfelt and questioning, and her drawings bring a wonderful vitality and resonance to the text. SEEK YOU is the book that we need now—a relevant and poignant tribute to the “skin hunger” innate in all of us.

nancy RECOMMENDS:

KLARA AND THE SUN is one of my favorite books I have read this year. Set at some vague time in the not so distant future, Klara is the Artificial Intelligence friend of a young woman named Josie. The complex and beautiful friendship that develops could only be crafted by a master storyteller such as Kazuo Ishiguro. (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) Although the story line sounds unusual, I recommend you try this for its unexpected and sensitive beauty. And then please come see me in the store so we can discuss it.

Tyler RECOMMENDS:

In his fourth book of poetry, Mark Bibbins documents the life of a close friend and their battle with AIDS during New York in the 1980’s and 90’s. Composed as one long poem, the work breaks in elegiac sequences, threaded with anecdotes both bleak and humorous. Bibbins references Mary Jo Bang’s prize-winning collection ELEGY as a foundation for his own: “Come on stage and be yourself, / The elegist says to the dead.” And we’re soon immersed in the self of Bibbin’s companion as lines unravel and sculpt a concrete grief. Consider the opening of the book, “As a house burns sparks / land on the roofs / of houses nearby / Some of them will also burn / Some of them will not.” It is with this precision and at times deceptive plainness that powers 13TH BALLOON forward. A book meant to be read in one sitting. Surely to be one of the best of the year.

Tom RECOMMENDS:

A time traveling literary romance that is well worth your while. Beautifully written, epicly composed, this is a delicious feast of words, and one of my favorite books to come from 2019. Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone wrote a phenomenal book that I will read and reread. A little bit of sci-fi, a little bit of history, with a generous helping of sass and brilliant character driven storyline, this book is slated to be a modern classic for Science Fiction readers.

kyle RECOMMENDS:

This is Kate Elizabeth Russell's debut novel. This story of a love affair, or what at least one of the people involved might describe as that, is complex and compelling -- one of this season's big buzzy novels that proves worthy of all that hype and attention. Its mix of desire, dread, suspense, and surrender will give you chills of every kind. I'm still on my way to the finish. How on earth is Russell going to resolve this?