Kenn's Staff Picks

An embittered dog walker obsessed with a social media influencer inadvertently puts a curse on a young man—and must adventure into a mysterious dimension in order to save him—in this wildly inventive, delightfully subversive, genre-nonconforming debut novel about illusion, magic, technology, kinship, and the emergent future.

The year is 20__, and...

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST, VOGUE,  MARIE CLAIRE, READER'S DIGEST, AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

“A gripping read…Unabashedly queer, probing and unafraid…Exceedingly engaging.” –USA Today

“Sublimely weird, fluently paced, brazenly funny and gayer still, and it richly deserves to find readers.” –New York Times

From the author of... Read more »

If you enjoyed Minor Feelings, then you’ll love Crying in H Mart.

“This memoir is an unflinchingly honest portrayal of grief as well as a tender look at the complex relationship between a mother and daughter bridging generational and cultural gaps through the comforting creation of food. This book had me simultaneously sobbing and starving. A perfect read.”

LeeAnna, Blue Cypress Books

Devil House

“Playing with form, voice, and the reader's expectations of how a novel should operate; Devil House is a thrilling, bracing, and unmissable reading experience. Darnielle's latest novel begins straightforward enough - a true crime writer moves into a house where brutal murders took place to research his next project. With each passing chapter, the story morphs and expands; masterfully carried along by Darnielle's incredible writing and nuanced characters. Come for the satanic murder but stay for the fascinating exploration of what it means to the truth about the past.”

Caleb, Bookmarks

In the Dream House

“This is a spellbinding memoir that will stand the test of time. Carmen Maria Machado has crafted a memoir that turns the form on its head, that creates a stunning, chilling and winding narrative that stays true to the nature of human beings: complex and nuanced. The LGBTQ archive of intimate-partner violence needed this and helped pave a way for others to explore the violence in their queer relationships.”

Charlie, Green Apple Books

"Queer, dirty, insightful, and so funny" (Andrea Lawlor), this coyly revolutionary debut story collection imagines new origins and futures for its cast of unforgettable protagonists—almost all of whom are named Sarah.

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021 BY THE MILLIONS * OPRAH MAGAZINE * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * REFINERY29

In Sarahland, Sam Cohen... Read more »

Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a white American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details—language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was fifteen, her dynamic mother... Read more »

If you enjoyed The Power, then you’ll love The School for Good Mothers.

“This book was absolutely wild. Chan really makes you examine motherhood and how subjective it can be. With her fictional school and its excessive tactics, you wonder how you can judge mothers - is it possible to learn how to be a 'good' mother and what does 'good' even mean. Every moment of this book will stress you out a little (in a good way) and get you thinking.”

Kimi, Buttonwood Books and Toys

Nightbitch

“At once weird, darkly funny, moving, relatable, and deliciously messed up, Nightbitch is a rallying howl to women, and especially mothers, everywhere.”

Danielle Raub, Itinerant Literate Books

K. M. Szpara follows his explosive debut novel Docile with First, Become Ashes, a fantastic standalone adventure that explores self-discovery after trauma and outgrowing abusive origins over the course of an American road trip.


The Fellowship raised Lark to kill monsters.
His partner betrayed them to the Feds.
But Lark knows his magic is real, and...

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made... Read more »

Best Book of 2021 by Esquire
Book You Need to Read in 2021 by Harper’​s Bazaar

“Darkly funny and glitteringly satirical, The Atmospherians unforgettably takes aim at wokeness, wellness, and toxic masculinity.” —Esquire

This “edgy, addictive” (Kirkus Reviews, starred) satire about two best friends who form The Atmosphere—a cult designed to... Read more »

An irreverent and charming collection of deeply personal essays about the joys of low pop culture and bad taste, exploring coming of age in the 2000s in the age of Hot Topic, Creed, and frosted lip gloss—from the James Beard Award-nominated writer of the Catapult column "Store-Bought Is Fine”

Tacky is about the power of pop... Read more »

There There

“There There is the kind of book that grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go, even after you’ve turned the last page. It is a work of fiction, but every word of it feels true. Tommy Orange writes with a palpable anger and pain, telling the history of a cultural trauma handed down through generations in the blood and bones and stories of individual lives. He also writes with incredible heart and humor, infusing his characters with a tangible humanity and moments of joy even as they are headed toward tragedy. There There has claimed a permanent spot in my heart despite having broken it, or maybe because it did. I think this may be the best book I’ve ever read.”

Heather Weldon, Changing Hands

We Keep the Dead Close

“As much a journey for the writer as it is for the reader, this book solves a murder but leaves us with many unanswered questions. We Keep the Dead Close challenges us to question our assumptions as well as the paths we use to arrive at those assumptions. Delving into the academic culture of Harvard, the misogyny of the 1960s, and the burgeoning women’s rights movement, the story follows several threads, all of which have a significant impact on the life of Jane Britton, whose story is told with empathy, compassion, and five decades of curiosity.”

Camille Kovach, Completely Booked

WINNER, Amazon Canada First Novel Award; Lambda Literary Award; Firecracker Award for Fiction

Finalist, Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award

A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year

It's the dead of winter in Winnipeg and Wendy Reimer, a thirty-year-old trans woman, feels like her life is frozen in place. When her Oma passes away Wendy...

“A wild ride with a brilliantly cocky young protagonist who’s got the world wrapped around her finger. So propulsive you'll feel like you've been hypnotized.” — Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People

“Happy Hour feels like a breathless whisper at six in the morning when it’s too hot to sleep. Marlowe Granados is a fresh, exciting...

Pizza Girl

“Jean Kyoung Frazier’s Pizza Girl breathes honesty into narratives surrounding pregnancy and motherhood, and faces the desperate ambivalence that often accompanies these experiences but is left unspoken. We explore this through characters who cling to one another in an attempt to escape the disappointment and stresses of their own personal lives. Pizza Girl presents us with an important sentiment: You cannot outrun the fact that the people who created you will always be a part of you to some degree or another. But you can work to grasp the ways in which you manifest that into who you are as an individual.”

Jack Hawthorn, Raven Book Store

“This debut novel about an Irish expat millennial teaching English and finding romance in Hong Kong is half Sally Rooney love triangle, half glitzy Crazy Rich Asians high living—and guaranteed to please.” —Vogue 

AN ANTICIPATED BOOK FROM:
Vogue * Elle * O, the Oprah Magazine * Esquire * Harper's Bazaar * PopSugar * LitHub

An intimate, bracingly...

Iron Widow

“Bloodthirsty and tender, full of power, powerlessness, and determination, I could hear Wu Zetian roaring her vengeance call long after I finished this thrilling sci-fi masterpiece.”

Miriasha, Phoenix Books