Cori's Picks

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

Ring of Solomon By Aden Polydoros Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781335428639
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Inkyard Press - February 21st, 2023

Staff Pick Badge
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.


Staff Pick Badge
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.
 


Staff Pick Badge
Utopia Avenue: A Novel By David Mitchell Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780812997439
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Random House - July 14th, 2020

Spectacularly ambitious and intricate homage to the late 1960’s music and counterculture scene. Moving amongst different band members’ experiences and perspectives, each chapter title overlaps as a song title, and in turn provides the story that inspired the writing of each of their songs. How often will you get to travel around London, England, and beyond while experiencing the creation, rise, and fall of a fictional band you wish had actually existed?
 


Staff Pick Badge
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 
 


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

Staff Pick Badge
Red at the Bone: A Novel By Jacqueline Woodson Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780525535287
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Riverhead Books - September 1st, 2020

How did she manage to create this gorgeous family saga in less than 200 pages? Told through a chorus of five different voices, family members fill in the puzzle of their lives piece by piece and generation by generation. Told out of sequence, we learn how these lives intersected, arrived in Brooklyn, and navigated their way through the racial complexities of the 20th and 21st centuries. We experience how they face timeless issues of family, love, identity, race, and class. The poetic language along with full audio cast makes for a moving and spell-binding listen.
 


Staff Pick Badge
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.


Staff Pick Badge
The City of Brass: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy) By S. A. Chakraborty Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062678119
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
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.
 


Staff Pick Badge
Finding Beauty in a Broken World By Terry Tempest Williams Cover Image
$18.95
ISBN: 9780375725197
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Vintage - October 6th, 2009

Staff Pick Badge
The House in the Cerulean Sea By TJ Klune Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250217318
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Books - December 29th, 2020

Staff Pick Badge
Anxious People: A Novel By Fredrik Backman Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781501160837
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Atria Books - September 8th, 2020

At its simplest, we could just say this is a story about the human condition. Backman’s wry and deceptively simple storytelling provides us an exquisite and astute study of the little complexities that fills our lives with joy and pain. Through his rich story exploring second chances, missed opportunities, and unintended consequences, he captures the essence of what it means to be human and the complexities of navigating relationships with each other by exploring what we say and do not say to one another. The audio version is absolutely spectacular. The narrator brings each character to life with unique and spot-on personalities that I cannot imagine creating myself in my head. Her delivery of the dialogue and story is spot on and kept me laughing throughout.


Staff Pick Badge
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue By V. E. Schwab Cover Image
$26.99
ISBN: 9780765387561
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Books - October 6th, 2020

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything By Raquel Vasquez Gilliland Cover Image
$19.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781534448636
Published: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers - August 11th, 2020

Staff Pick Badge
Lore By Alexandra Bracken Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781484778203
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Disney-Hyperion - January 5th, 2021

Staff Pick Badge
The Chicken Sisters By KJ Dell'Antonia Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780593085141
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - December 1st, 2020

Staff Pick Badge
Firekeeper's Daughter By Angeline Boulley Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250766564
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) - March 16th, 2021

Staff Pick Badge
We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence By Becky Cooper Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9781538746837
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Grand Central Publishing - November 10th, 2020

Staff Pick Badge
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close By Aminatou Sow, Ann Friedman Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9781982111908
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: Simon & Schuster - July 14th, 2020

Staff Pick Badge
Picnic In the Ruins By Todd Robert Petersen Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781640093225
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Counterpoint - January 5th, 2021

Staff Pick Badge
One Last Stop By Casey McQuiston Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781250244499
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: St. Martin's Griffin - June 1st, 2021

 

What a magical and creative tale! It’s a lovely combination of mystery, queer love story, and found family all wrapped up with the perfect amount of magical realism.I t was an addictive read that I did not want to put down. A fun and diverse cast of characters took this story to the next level. For me, a love story has to be nuanced and works best when filled with an endearing cast of odd-ball characters who are relatable and hilarious. In particular, I loved how it explored the value of taking a leap forward and letting go of your past. It also reminds us that in order to chase our dreams and happiness we might have to be vulnerable even with the risk of not knowing how it will all work out. It is hard to give my only critique without spoilers, but I would say the last part of the book seemed a little unnecessary. I would have been content for it to end when August finally gets her happily ever after moment at Billy’s.


Staff Pick Badge
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev By Dawnie Walton Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781982140168
Availability: Usually Ships in 2-5 Days
Published: 37 Ink - March 30th, 2021