Outlandish October Staff Picks

The Lincoln Highway

“Like so many other Amor Towles fans, I’ve been impatiently awaiting his next novel, so I delved right in and didn’t totally emerge until a few days later! As always with his work, it’s immersively readable and his word crafting is such a pleasure. What’s happening in the characters’ lives is chaotic and unsettled, but Towles’ writing is as crisp and precise as ever. I was immediately impressed with how distinctive and age/time-appropriate each of the characters’ voices is--right from the start. Most of the characters are young people, kids really, and their choices and actions are life-altering and often heartbreaking. But there’s lots of humor and amusement as well in following their physical, emotional, and moral journeys. A delightful and satisfying read. ”

Shirley, Watermark Books

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

“I don’t know about everyone else, but I, for one, am really excited that vampires are making a comeback. I think they’re such a fun trope in pretty much every genre, and this was no exception. True to the Grady Hendrix style, this book was the perfect campy, slightly off-kilter, and moderately gory suburban horror story I didn’t know I needed.”

Kendall, Brilliant Books Audio

Oh William!

“What a book! Stroud's plain language conveys deep truths. Lucy, a woman in her sixties, looks back at her life through the experience of helping her ex-husband, with whom she is still close, come to terms with his own past. I loved how she captured nuances of relationships over time and their ever changing dynamics. My favorite fiction book I've read this year.”

Amy, A Great Good Place for Books

Severance

“Candace Chen is a first-generation Chinese millennial immigrant who tries to make a life in New York City by succumbing to the role of the office drone who helps create cheap bibles. But when Shen Fever—a plague that causes its victims to perform a rote task until death—hits, only a few survive, including Candace. She soon finds herself in a cult-like band of other survivors heading to the Midwest while also trying to come to terms with her past and the unknowns of her future. With dark humor, sharp intelligence, and compassion, Ling Ma has written a well-constructed, biting satire of capitalism and a moving glimpse into the roles of memory, place, and identity in a life.”

Kelsey Westenberg, The Dial Bookshop

Bewilderment

“An homage to the heartbreaking Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, this intimate story of a grieving father and his troubled son is an intelligent and touching story of tragedy and hope.”

Genevieve, A Great Good Place for Books

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help... Read more »

Songbirds

“Enlightening, poignant novel about young women from poor countries who leave home to work abroad in hope (usually dashed) of a better life.”

Georgia, Bookstore1Sarasota

If you enjoyed Girl, Woman, Other, then you’ll love Sankofa.

“Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa is the story of Anna, an African British woman who never knew her father. Anna discovers clues to her African father's identity only after her mother dies. This is fortuitous. What follows as Anna acknowledges and accepts her father, a man with a vast reputation and many secrets, is the healing and melding of Anna's two identities and a new beginning. A master storyteller, Onuzo's third novel is an epic story of belonging and identity.”

Rachel, Avid Bookshop

If you enjoyed Hamnet, then you’ll love Matrix.

“Absolutely amazing. The audio book is perfectly narrated by Adjoa Andoh. Her singular voice brings each of the characters to life, channeling their personalities, quirks, accents, etc. Marvelous job. Powerful and elegantly written by Groff. I loved this book so much I am tempted to start it all over again.”

Kristine, Buttonwood Books and Toys

If you enjoyed Big Little Lies, then you’ll love Apples Never Fall.

“Does anyone else have vivid memories of when and where they were reading books? For me, the most powerful sensations occur with audiobooks and the narrators that read them. Caroline Lee expertly narrates all of Liane Moriarty's books. I can still remember her crisp, hilarious Australian accent when I was moving into my first NYC apartment. It was The Husband's Secret, my second Moriarty but first in audiobook. I was absolutely hooked, not just by the compelling and crazy story (which I will always swear is increased tenfold in audiobook format!) but the HUMOR that Lee gets behind her words. Now, I'm once again moving apartments. Lee's voice hooked me from the beginning of Apples Never Fall and had me giggling at almost every sentence. Even the most mundane of statements turns into pure comedy with Lee's willowy and wavering Australian accent which gives perfect characterization to Joy and her family throughout this tense tale. Though you will definitely hate (or at least want to slap) every one of these characters at some point, Moriarty wows once again with her newest book. A highly enjoyable listen, I recommend this to anyone who likes thrillers with different angles (touches of humor and sass). It would be an especially good book to fill up a car ride or help aid a move (coming from personal experience).”

Kimi, Buttonwood Books and Toys

in her new standalone poetry collection, flower crowns & fearsome things, bestselling & award-winning poetess amanda lovelace explores the complexity of femininity through alternating wildflower & wildfire poems.
within these pages, you will find that each of us has the ability to be both soft & fierce at the same time. there is... Read more »

Firekeeper's Daughter

“This story of a young woman roped into a federal investigation of a drug ring tearing her Ojibwe community apart is riveting and sorrowful. Daunis is an 18 year old non-enrolled Ojibwe with plenty of ambition and skills and won't see a clear path to her future that doesn't involve working in her community. This book moved me in so many ways but Daunis' connection to her elders and their traditions really drove this plot. While her parents' choices keep her from acceptance and death seems to haunt her, Daunis stays focused on her values: preserving and protecting the Ojibwe way of life for the next 6 generations. I loved how Boulley wove the Anishinaabe language, traditions and teaching into this story without spelling it all out for non-Native readers. This book tells the story of some of the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) and helps us connect with the stories more personally.”

Jessica, BookBar

If you enjoyed The Need, then you’ll love Nightbitch.

“It seems like a lot of my favorite novels lately are about feminism and the anxieties of motherhood (weird, perhaps, for someone who doesn't have--or want--kids . . . or maybe this is exactly why I'm drawn to them). There's The Push by Ashley Audrain, which is a Gillian Flynn-level thriller about postpartum depression and the whole nature vs. nurture debate. Then there's The Need by Helen Phillips, a cerebral, surreal venture into the all-consuming nature of motherhood, both suffocating and euphoric. And of course there's The Upstairs House by Julia Fine, which brings in hallucinations (or are they?) of everyone's favorite bedtime story author (Margaret Wise Brown) to depict a severe case of postpartum depression. But if you're looking for a book about motherhood that can make you both cackle and grimace, that can make you both queasy and delighted--a book that awakens that whole mess of contradictions that is 21st century motherhood--the book you want to read is Nightbitch. This utterly bananas novel is the story of a young, formerly working, now stay-at-home mother who believes she is turning into a dog. This premise is as hilarious, as gross, as delightful and disturbing as you think it is. And with it, Yoder explores the most feral instincts of motherhood, along with the selfishness that yearns to come out from under the all-encompassing selflessness of caretaking. It's one of those books that's just too weird not to read, and one that won't let you go once you start.”

Rachel, The Book Table

Shirley Jackson’s deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family takes readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, macabre humor, and gothic atmosphere.

Six years after four family members died suspiciously of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods—elder, agoraphobic sister Constance;...

Read more »

Empire of the Vampire

“In the vein of The Name of the Wind, a vampire hunter recounts his life to his executioner. This epic dystopian fantasy is dark and seductive. The violence! The expletives! The smut! What’s not to love?”

Leah Atlee, Bright Side Bookshop

A haunting novella from the uncannily imaginative author of the national bestsellers Swamplandia! and Orange World: the story of a deadly insomnia epidemic and the lengths one woman will go to to fight it.

Trish Edgewater is the Slumber Corps' top recruiter. On the phone, at a specially organized Sleep Drive, even in a supermarket parking lot:... Read more »

From the author of The Witch Boy trilogy comes a graphic novel about family, romance, and first love.

Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finishhigh school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group... Read more »

The Woman They Could Not Silence

“As this country waged war against slavery, a quiet heroine fought for the rights of women. A must read for all!”

Fran Ziegler, Titcomb's Bookshop

Cheap fashion has fundamentally changed the way most Americans dress. Stores ranging from discounters like Target to fast fashion chains like H&M now offer the newest trends at unprecedentedly low prices. Retailers are pro­ducing clothes at enormous volumes in order to drive prices down and profits up, and they've turned clothing into a... Read more »

From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo and two-time Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall comes a fantastical meditation on fate, love, and the power of words to spell the world.

We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home.

In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the... Read more »