Adult

The Only Good Indians

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The Only Good Indians (Hardcover)

By Stephen Graham Jones
$21.59
ISBN: 9781982136451
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Gallery / Saga Press - July 14th, 2020

 

Stephen Graham Jones draws on Blackfeet culture (and the myriad ways in which indigenous culture exists in the modern United States) to create a masterful horror novel about guilt, grief, and revenge. These characters are haunted, both figuratively and literally, by both tradition and the ways they've broken from it. And the prose is just gorgeous (and gory--this is the most beautiful book I've ever read that also made me cringe, set it aside, and sleep with the lights on. I'm wary around motorcycles now!).

Kate

A Year in Nature

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A Year In Nature: A Memoir of Solace (Paperback)

By Clare Walker Leslie
$19.96
ISBN: 9781733653435
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Green Writers Press - May 7th, 2020

 

Cambridge resident Clare Walker Leslie’s latest book is a selection from the nature journals she has kept for many years arranged to follow our year-long journey around our Sun. With her keen eye for observation and delightful sketches and watercolors she inspires us to slow down enough to savor the world around us.

 

Dale

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

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The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (Hardcover)

By Zen Cho
$15.99
ISBN: 9781250269256
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor.com - June 23rd, 2020

 

First, I was arrested by the cover; seriously, what a beautiful cover. Then I was taken in by the story, a relatively simple plot of smuggling contraband from point A to point B, but the addition of the nun Guet Imm to the smuggling party led by Lau Fung Cheung (but really by his second, Tet Sang), unravels the simple plot spectacularly. Because then the novella sneaks up on you with commentary on gender, honor, religion, and, ultimately, love. A genuinely fun and immersive read.

 

Meaghan

The Death of Vivek Oji

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The Death of Vivek Oji: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Akwaeke Emezi
$21.60
ISBN: 9780525541608
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Riverhead Books - August 4th, 2020

 

The way these characters and this family unfold around you is both exhilarating and tender. There's a feeling of both incredible momentum and a peaceful stillness that should be at odds with each other in one book, yet they dovetail together to celebrate the mingled beauty and terror of life and mortality, in particular one life: that of the unique and wonderful and tragic Vivek Oji.

Leila

Real Life

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Real Life: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Brandon Taylor
$20.80
ISBN: 9780525538882
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Riverhead Books - February 18th, 2020

 

Real Life begins when Wallace, a graduate student at a predominantly white Midwestern University, decides to join his friends for an outing at the lake. Hyperobservant, intelligent, and depressed, Wallace has entered academia to earn a PhD in biochemistry—and to erase his past as a queer, black child in the rural south. Instead, over the course of a weekend, Wallace’s life unravels with the urgency and horror of a social thriller. Told with precision and nuance, Real Life,portrays the looming forces of racism and academic isolation alongside the sharpness of hidden personal trauma.

 

Justin, Writer in Residence for Adults

The Tradition

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The Tradition (Paperback)

By Jericho Brown
$13.60
ISBN: 9781556594861
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Copper Canyon Press - April 2nd, 2019

 

Jericho Brown came highly recommended. Between a Pulitzer prize and the rave reviews of a friend with excellent taste (Cafe Zing's very own Nicky!) I went into this collection with major expectations, and they were all exceeded. Jericho's words have burrowed into my brain, and I'm happy to have them.

 

Caleb

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