Bookmark the Blog


THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH

One of our recommended books is The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Now available in paperback, this 2015 National Book Award finalist and instant New York Times bestseller is a stunning debut novel about grief and wonder.

Everyone says that it was an accident… that sometimes things “just happen”. But Suzy won’t believe it. Ever. After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory—even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy’s achingly heartfelt journey explores life,

read more

THE VISITORS

In the tradition of Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks,

Simon Sylvester brings an ancient myth to life

with this lush, atmospheric coming-of-age tale.

Nobody comes to the remote Scottish island of

Bancree, and seventeen-year-old Flora can’t wait

to move to the mainland when she finishes school.

So when a mysterious man and his daughter, Ailsa,

move into isolated Dog Cottage, Flora is curious.

What could have brought these strangers to the island?

Meanwhile, several of the men on Bancree have disappeared,

read more

WELCOME TO BRAGGSVILLE

From the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of Hold It ’Til It Hurts comes a dark and socially provocative Southern-fried comedy about four UC Berkeley students who stage a dramatic protest during a Civil War reenactment—a fierce, funny, tragic work from a bold new writer.

Welcome to Braggsville. The City that Love Built in the Heart of Georgia. Population 712

Born and raised in the heart of old Dixie, D’aron Davenport finds himself in unfamiliar territory his freshman year at UC Berkeley. Two thousand miles and a world away from his childhood,

read more

GIRLS LIKE US

A 2015 Schneider Family Book Award Winner

With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world.

Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high school’s special ed program, but they couldn’t be more different: suspicious Quincy faces the world with her fists up, while gentle Biddy is frightened to step outside her front door. When they’re thrown together as roommates in their first “real world” apartment, it initially seems to be an uneasy fit. But as Biddy’s past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience that no one should have to go through alone,

read more

FOOD WHORE

Full of wit and mouth-watering cuisines, Jessica Tom’s debut novel offers a clever insider take on the rarefied world of New York City’s dining scene in the tradition of The Devil Wears Prada meets Kitchen Confidential.

Food whore (n.) A person who will do anything for food.

When Tia Monroe moves to New York City, she plans to put herself on the culinary map in no time.

But after a coveted internship goes up in smoke, Tia’s suddenly just another young food lover in the big city.

read more

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH

After seeing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, fourteen-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent to live with Kevin’s grandfather. In this peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods.

Determined to stop the massive mountaintop removal operation that is plundering the town’s heritage, Kevin’s grandfather attempts to rally the citizens against the “company” and its powerful owner. When Buzzy witnesses a brutal hate crime, a sequence is set in play that tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in a struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.

read more