Mindy

Mindy (she/her)

Mindy's approach to picking books is like that song lyric that is all, 'I know a little bit about a lot of things, but I don't know enough about YOU'. And 'you' being history, or sci-fi/fantasy, or cookbooks, or memoirs, or mysteries...


 

She and Her Cat: Stories By Makoto Shinkai, Naruki Nagakawa, Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translated by) Cover Image
$24.00
ISBN: 9781982165741
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Atria Books - November 22nd, 2022

"I've been having the hardest time finishing books lately, but this one I picked up and blew through in one sitting. Sweet, melancholy, and charming, these four interconnected vignettes about cats and their owners spotlight the day-to-day joys and sorrows that make up a life. Refreshing and poignant palate cleanser, take as needed!"


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Oh No, the Aunts Are Here By Adam Rex, Lian Cho (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Adam Rex, Lian Cho (Illustrator)
$16.99
ISBN: 9781797207940
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Chronicle Books - May 23rd, 2023

So I love my family and all, but my god I felt this in my BONES. The delightful and hilarious chaos of being descended on by well-meaning, quirky aunties en masse is so relatable, the art is lively and colorful, and the long-suffering of the protagonist is so funny. And it's also inspiring to us future-weirdo-elders. I look forward to the day I declare my arrival at family gatherings with a dramatic, "OH NO, THE AUNT IS HERE."


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The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder By David Grann Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780385534260
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Doubleday - April 18th, 2023

"At heart, I am but a simple girl, with simple needs, and that is to read about desperate, scurvy-ridden men pushed to their extremes, clinging to the shreds of "civilization", and with nothing but the burning, gasping need to survive to buffer against a superbly hostile alien world, all while I sup tea from the comfort of my couch. Grann tells the story of a ship's crew on a fool's errand for British imperialism, struck by disaster and riven by resentment and dissent. And then, he tells of what happens after, when the meager remainders of the crew return to England. It's a story of hubris and determination, and of the cruel consequences of imperialism and greed, told in riveting, literary fashion. Anyways, down with empire and take your Vitamin C."


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A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast By Dorthe Nors Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781644452097
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Graywolf Press - November 1st, 2022

Each line of these essays is so dense with meaning and beauty, the North Coast recounted in such a way as to feel both alien and intimate, the meditations on time and identity piercing. Take your time with Nors' writing-- the melancholy, the nostalgia, the aching beauty, the haunted, almost spectral quality of the area joins her writing in a way that lingers with you long after reading the last page.


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The Mermaid of Black Conch: A novel By Monique Roffey Cover Image
$26.00
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9780593534205
Published: Knopf - July 12th, 2022

A love story with a bittersweet but hopeful ending, told in a lyrical, fairy-tale style. Beyond the magical moments of curses, mermaids, and storms of fish is a tale of the brutal things humans can do to each other, as well as the way they can help each other heal. I loved this book from the first word to the last page.


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Make, Sew and Mend: Traditional Techniques to Sustainably Maintain and Refashion Your Clothes By Bernadette Banner Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9781645674863
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Page Street Publishing - May 17th, 2022

A passing (theoretical) interest in embroidery became a deep, dark Youtube-algorithm-fueled spiral during the pandemic, and I emerged on the other side squinting, dazed, and convinced that I should quit all the things to apprentice on Savile Row. I came to my senses pretty quickly, and compromised by picking up this book, which is informative, straightforward, and lets you pretend you're totally ready to cut and measure and sew your own snazzy outfit from your living room, but more practically walks you through the much more attainable goal of patching a hole in your shirt or sewing on a button. And look-- fast fashion is provably terrible for the world on several levels, so learning to take care of the clothes you have so they last longer, or DIY your own on-trend outfit is kind of an awesome way to stick it to certain companies whose names rhyme with Bold Davy, Tara, or Per-Never Plenty-Won.


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The Ex Talk By Rachel Lynn Solomon Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593200124
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Berkley - January 26th, 2021

This was such a charming read! It's enemies-to-lovers set in the world of Pacific Northwest public radio and podcasts, with two leads who are equally vibrant. I stayed up way past my bedtime to read this and didn't regret it at all. Also, I wish the fictional Ex Talk radio show was a real show -- what an excellent premise.


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When I Sing, Mountains Dance: A Novel By Irene Solà Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781644450802
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Graywolf Press - March 15th, 2022

"Surreal and strange, and delights in contrasting a world so wonderfully, gleefully indifferent with deeply human experiences. It's about a tiny Catalan mountain village, the ghosts that haunt its forests and meadows, and the people who live and die and love there."


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All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler By Rebecca Donner Cover Image
$32.00
ISBN: 9780316561693
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown and Company - August 3rd, 2021

"Immediate and engrossing-- this biography about an American woman in the resistance movement in Berlin reads like a tense, slow-burn thriller. Donner deftly weaves her great-aunt's story with the complex context of pre-war Germany and the rise of Hitler. The writing is succinct and fast-paced, the cast of characters vividly fleshed out on the page. Guys, it's just really really good."


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Fadeout (A Dave Brandstetter Mystery #1) By Joseph Hansen, Michael Nava (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Joseph Hansen, Michael Nava (Foreword by)
$15.00
ISBN: 9781681990460
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Soho Syndicate - January 11th, 2022

'This is really an unexpected jewel of a book. The central mystery of the disappearance and suspected death of a minor radio celebrity is solid enough, but it's Hansen's protagonist that draws the reader in emotionally. His insurance investigator has all the hardnosed cynicism and tenacity of his peers in noir, but also a tender vulnerability, as a gay man struggling with the loss of a longtime lover. The brief ruminations on grief and love and longing are that much more moving, interspersed as they are in such a compact and spare story." 


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Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation By Erika Krouse Cover Image
$28.99
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9781250240309
Published: Flatiron Books - March 15th, 2022

"I inhaled this book in a single sitting, and immediately started telling friends about it. It's a memoir, but written in a compelling, narrative way that felt like literature. The sense of characterization is so weighty, the plot crafted like a novel, with parallel themes, and the pacing was tense and lean. Anyways, I enjoyed this. Can't wait for this to be a moody Showtime mini-series with sardonic voiceovers and balletic, vaguely sinister scenes of college football games."


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The Butchers' Blessing By Ruth Gilligan Cover Image
$16.95
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9781951142742
Published: Tin House Books - November 16th, 2021

A melancholy but fiercely resilient story of how the old ways can dissipate under the pressure of "modernity" but endure in the most unexpected ways, and how "progress" can both devastate the familiar, and yield new opportunity. 


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Sea State: A Memoir By Tabitha Lasley Cover Image
$27.99
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9780063030831
Published: Ecco - December 7th, 2021

Tense, melancholy and compelling-- Lasley's memoir tracks the way her research into the lives of offshore oil riggers goes wildly awry when she falls into a relationship with one of her subjects. Lasley charts the way the boundaries between professional and personal can thin and slip, and the consequences that emerge when they collapse entirely.


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Boyfriend Material (London Calling) By Alexis Hall Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781728206141
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Sourcebooks Casablanca - July 7th, 2020

I'll admit I wasn't expecting too much-- mostly I was looking for light and casual to pass the time, and instead ended up clutching this in my hands, crying laughing through the whole of it. It's a straight-forward fake-dating, disaster-meets-upright personality romcom, but Hall's writing is seamlessly funny and goes down easy. The cast of characters buffeting the central couple are also unusually delightful-- there's a certain benignly chaotic character named Alex Twaddle that I'd like to bottle up and use as a pick-me-up for hard times.


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Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A. By Eve Babitz, Matthew Specktor (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Eve Babitz, Matthew Specktor (Introduction by)
$16.95
ISBN: 9781681370088
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: NYRB Classics - August 30th, 2016

I could reread this classic collection of... essays? Stories? Whimsies? a hundred times and not get sick of it. The disorientation of Palm Springs! The giddy joys of the Santa Ana winds! Love, and all the ways it can arrive and depart your life! Babitz writes about Los Angeles, but with a light-hearted, true-sighted observation about its quirks of geography and people that rings sincere with humor and affection. Babitz, as much a character in these sketches as any of the figures she writes of, is a funny and keen narrator that takes you through the particularly weird and wonderful world of 1960s Los Angeles.


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Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation By Michael Powell Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780525534686
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Blue Rider Press - June 29th, 2021

A spare and tender glimpse into the world of high school basketball as experienced on a Navajo reservation. It goes beyond the highs and lows of sports, and introduces you to an entire community, their worries and triumphs, sorrows and moments of joy.


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Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire #1) By Yoon Ha Lee Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781781084496
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Solaris - June 14th, 2016

"If you like clever (and math-y) world-building, big bombastic space battles, resilient protagonists who are just Doing Their Best to Survive Difficult and Politically Complex Situations, and also dead military geniuses who aren't quite dead, check this out."


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Felix Ever After By Kacen Callender Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062820259
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Balzer + Bray - May 5th, 2020

"This story brings does such a great job of portraying the many anxieties of a high school teen, from gender identity to grades to family relationships to first love. The author has a lovely sense of empathy and compassion for the characters, which is really lovely to read."


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Heart Berries: A Memoir By Terese Marie Mailhot Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781640091603
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Counterpoint - April 9th, 2019

"Searing, electrifying, and devastating at times, Mailhot's memoir is brief but packs a punch. And though reading about her difficult coming of age and her struggles with motherhood and mental health is painful, there's also a sense of defiance and triumph that rings through her writing."


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The Wild Laughter: Winner of the 2021 Encore Award By Caoilinn Hughes Cover Image
$24.95
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9781786077806
Published: Oneworld Publications - July 28th, 2020

"Hughes' tale of two Irish brothers and their ailing father is brilliantly written, with scenes that slide seamlessly between hilarity and heartbreak, profanity and poetry, hope and devastation. This is a story about willing and unwilling sacrifices, and making choices in the face of society, family, and your own best interests, set against a spare but evocative rural Ireland in the early 2000s. I laughed, I cried, and I will never look at magnets in the same way ever again."


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Mexican Gothic By Silvia Moreno-Garcia Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9780525620785
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Del Rey - June 30th, 2020

"A proper, juicy gothic tale with the requisite decrepit manor full of rot and creepy inhabitants, a sharp heroine, and a good thick layer of supernatural horror, all set against 1950s rural Mexico. Straightforward and solidly written, there's a sprinkle of sweet romance, a dash of social commentary, and a whole lot of unsettling fungi. Settle yourself in for a slow-building unease that mounts to a wildly raucous crescendo. This book gave me nightmares, in the best way."


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Bestiary: A Novel By K-Ming Chang Cover Image
$27.00
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9780593132586
Published: One World - September 29th, 2020

"Reading this is a visceral experience-- in Chang's story, the body and all its changes and functions are as key to the narrative as the complex family relationships depicted. At times bewildering and hilarious, and other times fierce and bittersweet, this is a story that shows you all the complex love and rage, resentment, and hope that form the bonds between mothers and daughters."


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Hench: A Novel By Natalie Zina Walschots Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062978578
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow - September 22nd, 2020

"If you've ever thought about the bureaucracy cranking away behind the superheroic/villainous world, here it is. Anna's day-to-day is not so different from ours-- she's just trying to pay the bills, crunch some data in her Excel sheets, and maybe lock down a date or two. Except, her boss is a supervillain, and the data she's crunching is all about knocking down those pesky superheroes a peg or two-- via social media. Naturally, things get out of hand. This is fun and fast, and is an entertaining counternarrative to the more common superpowered stories out there."


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Six Four: A Novel By Hideo Yokoyama, Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (Translated by) Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781250160003
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Picador - February 6th, 2018

"One of my favorite mysteries ever-- when you begin reading, it's unclear whether this is even a mystery. The pages are filled with tense character drama and office intrigue, all while the central mystery lingers and haunts the background. Compelling and immersive, this book is so much more than a straightforward mystery. Trust in Yokoyama's storytelling; it is absolutely worth it."


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The Food Of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island By Cathy Erway Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780544303010
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harvest - March 24th, 2015

"While hunkering down the past year, I found myself facing a dilemma-- no longer could we take a casual jaunt into Flushing or Chinatown for a taste of Taiwan, but man did I want black pepper buns, oyster noodles, and three-cup chicken with a vengeance. Cathy Erway's book came to the rescue with recipes that were easy to follow alongside beautiful photos of the island itself. Best of all, the dishes tasted right! This cookbook might be the one that's gotten the most use in my kitchen this past year."


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Crying in H Mart: A Memoir By Michelle Zauner Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9780525657743
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Knopf - April 20th, 2021

"Zauner's memoir about her mother and coming to terms with her passing is painful, illuminating, poignant, and relatable on so many levels. It's equally resonant as a testimonial of the Asian American and immigrant experience and the power of food as a bridge between generations and distances, as nourishing for the soul as it is for the body. I read this in one sitting late 2020, and immediately called my mom to tell her I loved her, and ask for her braised pork recipe."


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Desert Oracle: Volume 1: Strange True Tales from the American Southwest By Ken Layne Cover Image
This item is currently unavailable and can not be ordered.
ISBN: 9780374139681
Availability: Out of Print
Published: MCD - December 8th, 2020

"Weird, meditative, a little wry, this collection of essays highlights the journey that open-ended questions send you on, rather than the ultimate answer. The mix of local history with urban legends, of facts and rumors evokes such a nostalgia, in a way, for one's hometown-- for the stories that we tell one another in the school yards and parking lots of our youths. It just feels like a book meant to be read in moments of quiet solitude, under cover of a wide open sky."


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Missionaries: A Novel By Phil Klay Cover Image
$28.00
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9781984880659
Published: Penguin Press - October 6th, 2020

"This isn't "just a book about war", but an incredible feat of meticulous research and insight on war, violence, and foreign soldiers abroad. Set in Colombia, this book attempts the daunting task of tracing the intricate balances of power in that region, and then the fallout that occurs when outside forces attempt to take action in a world they don't understand. Klay's writing, clear-eyed, sober, empathetic, and immersive, carries this book to its grim and tragic conclusion."


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Howl's Moving Castle (World of Howl #1) By Diana Wynne Jones Cover Image
$11.99
ISBN: 9780061478789
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Greenwillow Books - April 22nd, 2008

"Forget the movie-- this book is just as magical and wonderful, but also sharper, wittier, and a touch darker. Sophie is my favorite type of fantasy heroine: blunt, cranky, and ruthlessly practical, or so she likes to believe, while the wizard Howl is ridiculous, melodramatic, and only competent through extreme lack of trying. It's a madcap adventure that both embraces the fairytale tropes and lovingly sends them up. Absolutely one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors."


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Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us: A Novel By Joseph Andras, Simon Leser (Translated by) Cover Image
By Joseph Andras, Simon Leser (Translated by)
$18.95
Out of Stock - Not Available
ISBN: 9781788738712
Published: Verso Fiction - February 23rd, 2021

"Based on the true events leading up to the trial and execution of Fernand Iveton, Andras dives deep into the complex, contradicting, and entangled issues of colonialism and identity. At times brutal and spare, and others vivid and tender, this brief but resonant book lingers in your mind after you've turned the last pages."


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In: A Graphic Novel By Will McPhail Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780358345541
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Mariner Books - June 8th, 2021

In. has that gentle melancholy cut and balanced with a very relatable contemporary sensibility. The themes surrounding loneliness and trying to make connections to those around you are grounded by McPhail's exquisite sense of humor and his wonderfully understated yet expressive artwork. Simple, funny, and touching.


84, Charing Cross Road By Helene Hanff Cover Image
$15.00
ISBN: 9780140143508
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Penguin Books - October 1st, 1990

These collected letters between a witty, fast-talking New York screenwriter and a proper London bookseller is a charming portrait of the kind of true friendship that springs up between readers, even if they never meet in person. More than a set of fun, quirky correspondences, it's also a glimpse into the realities of post-war daily life in London, and a character sketch of a wonderfully funny woman, one who'd rather write to a total stranger across the Atlantic for her books than cross south of 14th Street.