October Staff Picks

 

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.

Staff Pick Badge
Player Piano: A Novel By Kurt Vonnegut Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780385333788
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: The Dial Press - January 12th, 1999

"Kurt Vonnegut's debut novel is a stunning parable of class warfare and the fate of a mankind subjected to pure bureaucracy. Set in a fully automated utopia, the machines make all the decisions, leaving people free to spend their days servicing the machines. When this punch card paradise fails to provide those ineffable, human concerns, which computers cannot comprehend, a conspiracy of merrymaking saboteurs confront society's binary operating system, if only for something worthwhile to do for only a little while." -Steven


The Hexologists By Josiah Bancroft Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316443302
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Orbit - September 26th, 2023

A great mix of the fantasy and mystery genres. Hoping this is the start of a fun new series! Perfect for fans of more modern fantasy worlds and unique world building." -Will


She and Her Cat: Stories By Makoto Shinkai, Naruki Nagakawa, Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translated by) Cover Image
$24.00
ISBN: 9781982165741
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
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!" -Mindy


Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir By Dolly Alderton Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062968791
Availability: Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial - February 9th, 2021

"For two decades of her life, Dolly Alderton lived wildly and dysfunctionally, drinking heavily, going out until all hours of the night, and bouncing from fling to fling. But despite her riotous and chaotic lifestyle, she clearly did something right, because never have I read a memoir written by someone so young with quite so much wisdom and poise. She is sharp, sparkling, simultaneously hilarious and tender. Reading this book felt exactly like what Dolly loved best: Sitting on the couch in a pile of your best girlfriends on Sunday morning, gabbing about everything that went wrong (and right) the night before." -Eileen


The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale By Jon Klassen, Jon Klassen (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Jon Klassen, Jon Klassen (Illustrator)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781536223361
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Candlewick - July 11th, 2023

"SO WEIRDLY HEARTWARMING. A folktale retelling for both children and adults, a little girl finds a good friend in a skull. The awesome illustrations give the story a creepy and distant feel. Give this a read before Halloween. "I enjoyed this story", said Otilla. "I did too", said the skull." -Nicole


Friday Black By Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781328911247
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Mariner Books - October 23rd, 2018

"This captivating, witty, and macabre dystopian short-story collection is a must-read. Numerous urgent "what ifs?" are unpacked with electric humor and a brilliantly engaging narrator. Themes like Blackness, accountability, complacency, American folly, and surrealism are prevalent, handled with precision and empathy. My favorite short story is either “Zimmer Land” or the titular story "Friday Black", which pulls from the annual capitalist day of stampede inducing sales. "Zimmer Land" is about a theme park whose white patrons get to enact—or as it is marketed "problem solve"—their fantasies. In other words, these racist white patrons are encouraged by the amusement park to act out their violent desires against people of color they find threatening. 

If your interest is piqued, I highly recommend dashing over here to buy this and Adjei-Brenyah's newest book, Chain-Gang All-Stars." -Em


The Complete Emily the Strange: All Things Strange By Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner, Brian Brooks, Buzz Parker (Illustrator), Ryan Hill (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner, Brian Brooks, Buzz Parker (Illustrator), Ryan Hill (Illustrator)
$29.99
ISBN: 9781506722016
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Dark Horse Books - February 23rd, 2021

"Since the '90s, Emily the Strange has been incomparable representation for the odd, spooky girls (and gays and theys). This collection of graphic novels, originally published in the early '00s, follows thirteen year old evil-scientist Emily as she experiments with golems, potions, and all things creepy-crawly (with the help of her many black cats). You'll find yourself falling in love with the irreverent, cynical, spooky lens with which Emily views the world. For fans of Edgar and Ellen, Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Buy this book for all the weirdos in your life!" -Jerakah


The Talisman: A  Novel By Stephen King, Peter Straub Cover Image
$20.99
ISBN: 9781501192272
Availability: In stock at Brooklyn or Jersey City -- click for more details
Published: Scribner - April 17th, 2018

"Like all great adventures, this too begins in desperation and ends in hope. Oracles both of this world and not guide the way, friends come and go, enemies are vanquished, and perseverance finds a way. A swashbuckling epic told by masters of the art, this story propels itself ever onward towards a tempestuous crescendo as astonishing as it is inevitable." -Steven