Sam's Picks

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

The beloved, award-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a Michael Chabon masterwork, is the American epic of two boy geniuses named Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay. Now with special bonus material by Michael Chabon.

A “towering, swash-buckling thrill of a book” (Newsweek), hailed as Chabon’s “magnum opus”...

A brilliant, unforgettable, and long-awaited novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki

“A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.”

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before... Read more »

Love in the Time of Cholera

“I am a hopeless and dedicated romantic who believes in beauty and kindness above all things. Magical realism + florid language + the knowledge that your true love is worth waiting for, no matter what the battles ahead. This book is as timely as it ever was.”

Jeremy, Tattered Cover

Lauren Groff's acclaimed debut novel The Monsters of Templeton was short-listed for the Orange Prize. Her second novel, Arcadia opens in the late 1960s with a group of young idealists forming a commune in western New York State. Into this group is born Bit, who grows into a quiet, distant man. Over the course of 50 years, Bit witnesses the... Read more »

Other Words for Home

“Jasmine Warga's verse beautifully illustrate the struggles and heartache when starting a new life. Through the eyes of a young Syrian girl we learn the hopes and dreams not so unlike any other kid. We learn the conflicts faced when moving to a new country and trying to create a home in America. A great listen!!”

Emma, Content

If you enjoyed The Underground Railroad (Television Tie-in), then you’ll love The Yellow Wife.

“The Yellow Wife was a fantastically written historical fiction novel. We follow Pheby Dolores Brown, a young woman who grew up on a plantation the daughter of the healer woman and the master. I love that Johnson's inspiration for the book came from a real woman, Mary Lumpkin. Lumpkin was a light skinned Black woman married to a prolific white slave trader. The two raised their family on "the Devil's Half Acre" just three blocks from the capitol building in Richmond, VA. After encountering the site with her children, Johnson began to imagine what Mary's life was like among so much death and carnage, especially being a Black woman herself. Johnson weaves a fantastic tale that pulls at heartstrings and has you questioning white history and race. Beautifully narrated by the indomitable Robin Miles, this was a highly engrossing listen that I highly recommend to historical fiction fans.”

Kimi, Buttonwood Books and Toys

The Girl with the Louding Voice

“This year is overflowing with phenomenal debuts — including this one from Abi Daré. It tells the story of Adunni, a young girl in Nigeria whose dreams and ambition focus in on one thing: education. In a city where girls like her are looked down upon and considered unworthy, she comes to find that change can begin with even the smallest of voices. This story is the kind that makes you itch: you’ll ache for Adunni, bristle at the people who treat her so unjustly, and yearn for her to succeed. This is a stunning, important, and fascinating first novel.”

Lindsay Howard, Lark and Owl Booksellers

If you enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea, then you’ll love Red, White & Royal Blue.

“This book is so much more than a captivating romance—it's a bubble bath, a warm hug, a delicious dessert, a catharsis full of feeling and hope and queer joy that still makes me cry and laugh even as I've reread it 10+ times! The audiobook is skillfully narrated, and de Ocampo does far better British and Texan accents than my brain could come up with on its own reading the book in print. Recommended for listeners no matter your gender identity or orientation, but this truly is chicken soup for the queer soul.”

Miriasha, Phoenix Books

Homegoing

“AN EXCELLENT LISTEN. ”

Julia, The Bookloft

If you enjoyed Red at the Bone, then you’ll love The Vanishing Half.

“Brit Bennett’s haunting second novel is carried on the shoulders of a robust cast of characters—namely, Stella and Desiree Vignes, twin sisters born in 1940s Louisiana, Black but pale as can be. Soon after running away to New Orleans, they separate for the first time in their lives. Stella begins passing every day as a white woman; Desiree marries a dark-skinned man and has an ever darker daughter. Decades pass, and children leave home, wondering about where they came from just as much as where they’re going. But some secrets aren’t meant to be kept. As if Bennett’s rich storytelling wasn’t enough, I was absolutely hooked by the Black trans joy represented in this book. A future classic.”

Mary, Raven Book Store

A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land.

In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo...

A compelling dual-narrated tale from Jennifer Latham that questions how far we've come with race relations.

Some bodies won't stay buried.

Some stories need to be told.

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of... Read more »