Cori's Picks

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In Nightfall By Suzanne Young Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9780593487587
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Delacorte Press - March 28th, 2023


 


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Under the Influence By Noelle Crooks Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781668004944
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Gallery Books - August 8th, 2023

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The Ferryman: A Novel By Justin Cronin Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780525619475
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Ballantine Books - May 2nd, 2023

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Inciting Joy: Essays By Ross Gay Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781643753041
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books - October 25th, 2022

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The Great Transition: A Novel By Nick Fuller Googins Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781668010754
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atria Books - August 15th, 2023

Everything All at Once: A Memoir By Stephanie Catudal Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9780063253131
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: HarperOne - May 30th, 2023

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The Farewell Tour: A Novel By Stephanie Clifford Cover Image
$29.99
ISBN: 9780063251137
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper - March 7th, 2023

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I Miss You When I Blink: Essays By Mary Laura Philpott Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781982102814
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atria Books - April 7th, 2020

I wanna be Mary Laura Philpott's best friend.  She has great insight, doesn't hold back, and has the perfectly charming amount of potty mouth that tells you she is keeping it real.  Through some of her college references, I quickly learned we were about the same age.  That made her even more relatable, and when you add in my fondness for the South, her essays were a treat from start to finish.  I dog eared so many pages to revisit and enjoy.  This is that perfect type of book to pick up when you are short on time.  You can read an essay or two as your time allows.


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Oona Out of Order: A Novel By Margarita Montimore Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250236616
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Flatiron Books - February 9th, 2021

With touches of the movies “Big” and “13 Going on 30” and the book “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” this story took me to unexpected places. Starting with Oona’s 19th birthday, her mental presence and consciousness continues aging chronologically while time leaping to different ages of her life each year. It was an imaginative and thought provoking read with more depth than anticipated. It left me with the simple but powerful reminder that we can be worried about our past and future, but all we have is right now. We can spend our time and energy fighting to change the imperfect and unwanted, or we can seize onto what life is offering us right now and make the most of our experiences. By living our lives instead of running away from them, we are shaping the journey of our existence and accepting that we will have both high and low points. It also left me thinking about who are the anchors who provide support, guidance, and continuity through my life? Beyond the deeper themes, this story had the perfect balance of comedic and dramatic moments and provides a lovely homage to New York City, music, and pop culture through the various decades we encounter alongside Oona. I also loved this as an audiobook.
 


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Rules for Visiting: A Novel By Jessica Francis Kane, Edward Carey (Illustrator) Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525559245
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - April 28th, 2020

“...one of the questions I most wanted to ask my friends was: Can I see an average day in your life right now? A real day, not one curated for social media or filled with the best activities to entertain a visitor. On the one hand, it’s a simple question. On the other, it’s almost too intimate. And it might be impossible, because the presence of a visitor changes a day, no matter how close the friends are.”

This quote encapsulates much of what this book is about.  I will start by saying this will be on my top reads of 2019.  It’s that good.  As a 40-something introvert who cherishes her friends but struggles with maintaining close contact over the miles, this story spoke to me on so many levels. I welcomed being invited into May’s intriguing, delightful, and acerbic mind.  There are many intricate threads woven together to provide insight into May’s past and present life.  May lives in her childhood house with her widowed father and works as the campus gardener at the local university.  May rewards us with lovely and insightful observations of her neighbors, small town life, and botany. I adored the lovely interludes where she shares her own plant knowledge as well as the tree sheets with descriptions and drawings that her father periodically leaves her. Beyond the funny bits, we also begin to understand May’s reluctance toward intimacy and observe her still sorting through her grief over her mother’s illness and death.  Unexpectedly awarded 30 days of leave by her employer, May decides to begin a quest to understand what friendship means for her, how to be a better friend, and reconnect with the four people she has identified as her closest friends.  May asks herself, what would have happened if The Odyssey’s Penelope had left?  What kind of traveler, friend and guest would she be?  Armed with hostess gifts, Emily Post’s guide to etiquette, and Grendel (her suitcase), May takes us on a journey that will fill your heart and make you laugh as she shares her funny, awkward, and mostly spot-on observations about 21st century connections and friendships. #fortnightfriends 
 


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The Stand By Stephen King Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780307947307
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor - August 7th, 2012

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Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel By Louise Penny Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9781250068736
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: St. Martin's Paperbacks - June 30th, 2015

With admittedly slow pacing at the beginning of this series, this series builds and will increasingly draw you in as you become enmeshed in an amazing cast of diverse characters and the enchanting world of Quebec. Penny continues to be brilliant in her intricate stories that involve a psychological study of human relationships and behavior, cultural history of Canada, food descriptions that will make you drool, the inside mind of artists and their world, oh and a murder mystery to be solved in each book.


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The City of Brass: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy) By S. A. Chakraborty Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062678119
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Voyager - July 3rd, 2018

These fantastical treats will take you on a satisfying adventure. The world building is approachable and easy to follow as you are swept away into the deserts of the Middle East with Nahri, a likeable and feisty rogue heroine, who made her living swindling the rich in Cairo until whisked away to a hidden but adjacent magical world filled with djinn, monsters and magical beings. The series is filled with political intrigue rooted in racial and religious tensions that build and build through multiple explosive showdowns.
 


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The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #1) By TJ Klune Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250217318
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Books - December 29th, 2020

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Chain Gang All Stars: A Novel By Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780593317334
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Pantheon - May 2nd, 2023

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Dead Silence By S.A. Barnes Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250778543
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Nightfire - January 24th, 2023

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A novel By Gabrielle Zevin Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780593321201
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Knopf - July 5th, 2022

Happy Place By Emily Henry Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780593441275
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Berkley - April 25th, 2023

Yours Truly (Part of Your World) By Abby Jimenez Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781538704394
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Forever - April 11th, 2023

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Nowhere for Very Long: The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life By Brianna Madia Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780063047990
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: HarperOne - April 11th, 2023

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) By Becky Chambers Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062444134
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Voyager - July 5th, 2016

 

 


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Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close By Aminatou Sow, Ann Friedman Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781982111915
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - July 6th, 2021

Dinosaurs: A Novel By Lydia Millet Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9781324021469
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - October 11th, 2022