If there is anything we love more than reading books... it's talking about them! Scroll down to see what books we are raving about this month.
"What are concrete poems? These are poems composed of words, letters, colors, and typefaces, in which the shape of the poem plays a central role in both design and meaning. Interested? Behold! Ghost Of by Diane Khoi Nguyen. Working with photographs that her brother left behind (from which he cut himself out before taking his own life), themes like grief, healing, and longing are pertinent. Nguyen grapples with what and who remains. Nguyen tries to bridge the living with the dead, her brother's death a focal point of the poems." -Em
"Kenny Shopsin was a cantankerous, foul-mouthed, loquacious philosopher king who owned and operated an iconic Greenwich Village diner for the better part of forty years. Both his temper and his generosity were the stuff of legend, and his food wasn't half bad either. Distilled from his 900-plus item menu, these hundred or so recipes (accompanied by long-winded and genuinely funny stories and complaints) encapsulate the Shopsins General Store ethos - that food should be personalized, easy to make, and delicious." -Steven
"In this dark, experimental novel, Selah Saterstrom explores the Southern town of Beau Repose as a self destructive, strung out teenager, fascinated by the everyday grotesque of her community. After she is forced into rehab and private school, she ends up studying theology in Scotland, where the similarities to her dead-end hometown ignite a different kind of lonely, homesick fire within her. As she grapples with the destruction she left behind as a teenager, she returns to Beau Repose, ready to reckon with her own twisted legacy." -Jerakah
"Following the badass space marine from her early life to her ultimate end and beyond with her family line. This was an excellent entry into the Aliens universe that all fans should grab!" - Will
"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." -Mindy
"In Cassandra at the Wedding, Cassandra takes some time away from her studies to either prevent or attend her twin sister’s wedding (at first, she doesn’t seem sure which one it is herself). The awkward reunion of an estranged, confused, uncomfortably perceptive family ensues. Dorothy Baker’s sentences, funny and dark, seem to step on their own toes, but it works! The central question is: how much of the truth can one person handle? Baker’s attempt at an answer is a mumblecore masterpiece." -Susie
"Ultimate enemies to lovers in a dark Irish mafia romance. Attempted murder, to pure hatred, to arranged marriage.... to power couple? The fairytale I live for." -Nicole
"What a charming and incredibly well-written little read. Sy Montgomery makes every encounter with the natural world fascinating, even interactions with seemingly personality-less fish. (Spoiler alert: It turns out nearly every individual animal has a unique personality.) This was a quick read and such a welcome break from the heaviness of every day life." -Eileen
"I prefer poetry that is irreverent, funny, and embracing of the times---much like Tayi Tibble’s debut collection, Poukahangatus. The title is a Māori word of her creation meant to echo and evoke Pocahontas. (Tibble explains that the word has no literal translation, but "pou" in te rao Maori means pillar or pole and "kaha" power or strength. This coming-of-age book charmingly depicts life as a 21st-century Maori woman, drawing on memories of clubbing, childhood, family, and more. Notable poems inside include "Vampire versus Werewolves", "LBD" and "A Sugar Daddy is Essentially an Arts Patron". Happy reading." -Em