April 2021 Staff & Board Picks

Joe Grudeck is a living legend—a first-ballot Hall of Famer beloved by Boston Red Sox fans who once played for millions under the bright Fenway lights. Now, he finds himself haunted by his own history, searching for connection in a world that's alienated the true person behind his celebrity facade. He'll step back into the spotlight once more... Read more »

"This droll romp is a latter-day Miss Marple.” —Washington PostMurder leaps off the page when crime novelists begin to turn up dead in this intricate new novel by internationally best-selling author Elly Griffiths, a literary mystery perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Agatha Christie. The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart...

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel–an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and... Read more »

American Spy

“Part literary fiction, part spy novel, punctuated by black American history, Lauren Wilkinson’s debut novel crosses time periods and genres. This unflinching portrayal of a young black woman who becomes a Fed during the height of the Cold War is based on the true story of Thomas Sankara, known as “Africa’s Che Guevara.” Politics, illicit relationships, and family drama all converge in this tale of American history, disguised as a thriller, written like a memoir. Be brave. Be groundbreaking. Take risks. Live to see the consequences of your actions and to be bold another day.”

BrocheAroe, River Dog Book Co.

That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift. When I cried inconsolably through my first hour of life, my tears were her inspiration. Shaking her head sympathetically at Mother, the fairy touched my nose. "My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying, child." I stopped.... Read more »

Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. That's what it felt like for Keats in 1819. How about Autumn 2016? Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand-in-hand with hopelessness.... Read more »

Float Plan

“Whenever I pick up a romance novel, it’s generally because I want a happy ending — I want rainbows and heartthrobs, and for everything to turn out perfectly. Float Plan gives us way more than that. We are introduced to a character at her lowest point and through a self-imposed challenge, she ventures through comedy, heartbreak, defeat, and more. A completely lovely story! Also, now I need a sailboat...”

Miranda Atkins, A Little Bookish

A deeply-reported examination of why "doing what you love" is a recipe for exploitation, creating a new tyranny of work in which we cheerily acquiesce to doing jobs that take over our lives.

You're told that if you "do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." Whether it's working for "exposure" and "experience," or enduring poor... Read more »

Talking to Strangers

“Talking To Strangers is perfect on audio. It reads (listens) like a podcast including audio clips from interviews, etc.”

Jessica, Main Street Books Davidson

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

“In this literal master class on literature and writing, Saunders earnestly yet playfully dissects 19th-century Russian short stories to discover how they exude life to this very day, while highlighting methods any aspiring writer can employ. The huge bonus: reading the wondrous stories themselves, and experiencing Tolstoy’s authority, Chekhov’s humanity, and the joy and glory of Gogol.”

Mike Hare, Northshire Bookstore