Powell's Staff Picks

Pure Colour is a galaxy of an audiobook: explosive, celestially bright, huge, and streaked with beauty. It is a contemporary bible, an atlas of feeling, and an absurdly funny guide to the great (and terrible) things about being alive. Sheila Heti is a philosopher of modern experience, and she has reimagined what a book can hold.

Here we are, just... Read more »

“Georgia Pritchett is a singularly hilarious person. Her book is a delightful and perfect reflection of her. Its tenderness sneaks up on you and really packs a punch. What a magnificent read!”—Julia Louis DreyfusJenny Lawson meets Nora Ephron in this joyful memoir-in-vignettes on living—and thriving—with anxiety from a multiple Emmy... Read more »

The Sentence

“The Sentence is a ghost story, although it is as comforting as it is haunting. It’s an intimate picture of bookselling, and of bookselling during a pandemic and social justice reckoning, set in Erdrich’s own store in Minneapolis. Its heroine, queer Indigenous ex-con Tookie, is so alive she leaps right off the page—gritty, passionate, and human. Louise Erdrich is a natural storyteller and fabulous narrator—warm and sincere, with perfect timing. This is a book about connection in every way possible. It’s funny and enraging and heartwarming all at once.”

Mary, Raven Book Store

If you enjoyed Save Me the Plums, then you’ll love Taste.

“Such a deal! You get beloved actor Stanley Tucci's droll wit; family memories; stories of decades of New York's food scene; reminiscences of iconic Italian settings; mouth-watering recipes -- including his carefully enunciated, accurate pronunciations of all the ingredients! Another bonus of the audio of Tucci's Taste: you can chop and boil and grate while listening!”

Cheryl, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza

Wandering in Strange Lands

“In Wandering in Strange Lands, Morgan Jerkins brings us along on her journey to learn about her ancestors and herself. This fascinating ethnography leads Jerkins down paths she anticipated and, perhaps most interestingly, down unexpected ones. As she learns more about where and whom she came from, she confronts her image of herself and grapples with some of the truths she finds. Jerkens’s journey takes us first to the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia, home of the Gullah Geechee people, and then to Louisiana and its Creole people. In both places, she learns much about her mother’s and father’s families. From there, we travel to Oklahoma where Jerkins explores connections between Native Americans and African Americans, searching for information about the claims in her family of Native American ancestry. And finally, we land in Los Angeles, where Jerkins’s research culminates in a thoughtful and insightful examination of what it means to be Black in the United States. The history, the people, the insight, and the implications of the information in this book make it not only incredibly interesting, but also a significant contribution to our understanding of cultures and connections in the United States.”

Nancy, Raven Book Store

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

If you enjoyed An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed, then you’ll love Fight Night.

“Narrated by nine-year-old Swiv, this darkly humorous novel highlights the delightful relationship between Swiv, her fighter of a mum, and her fiery Grandma. I laughed out loud throughout the entire audiobook, and Toews' fresh and unique writing really endeared me to the characters.”

Olivia, Author's Note

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

Furious Hours

“In Cold Blood and To Kill a Mockingbird kept me up reading all night as a teen, and I can now add Furious Hours to the list of couldn’t-put-it-down tomes. I was enthralled, educated, and awestruck by Casey Cep’s well-researched and masterfully written true-crime account of a rural minister, his lawyer, and his killer. Thankfully, Cep discovered and brought to light what surely could have been Harper Lee’s second bestseller. Now…off to get a good night’s rest!”

Beth Stroh, Viewpoint Books

Long Bright River

“At the heart of this sleek police noir is a family decayed and ravaged by drug addiction. And make no mistake, LONG BRIGHT RIVER does have a heart. Although it is full of twists and turns and has a who-done-it element that will blow your mind at every second, it is also an examination of family, motherhood, and inherited trauma that is both bone- chillingly accurate and almost heartwarming in its cautious optimism. We follow a police officer in Philadelphia named Mickey who is desperate to find her drug addicted sister, Kacey, after she disappears off the streets and a string of addicted women turn up murdered. Will Mickey get to her sister before it's too late? It's clear Moore had her finger to the pulse of this country at the time of writing it; it's eerie to see the foreshadows to today that crept their way into the narrative that I'd wager are both conscious and subconscious on Moore's part. This book begins as you'd expect but concludes in ways impossible to see coming. Perfect for cold, rainy nights and red wine, LONG BRIGHT RIVER is a listen I guarantee will stay with you days if not weeks after you finish.”

Conner, BookBar

Mobituaries

“I love obituaries. All kinds of obituaries--big newspapers, small local newspapers, long ones, short ones, serious ones, and snarky ones. And Mo Rocca is my obituary soul mate. Whether you read this book in print or listen to Mo read it as an audio book, you "hear" his tone, inflection, and genuine adoration for the art of the obituary. I recommend this book often, even to non-obituary readers because after this, you WILL become one. ”

Rebecca, Rediscovered Books

How to Hide an Empire

“A hilarious sparkler of historical quirks burns down to a dangerous fuse of tampering, territory, and transnational economics in this history of the USA not as the nation you just pictured, but as the complete global network of Americans, many without the rights the Lower 48 believe in, most segregated into cells of power that occasionally overheat. Explosive. Narrator Luis Moreno delivers both bitter reality and hilarious asides with a tone of candor and clarity: A+”

Nialle, The Haunted Bookshop

Presenting an original audiobook performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring the cast of the National Theatre's 2018 Broadway revival.

In this production, adapted especially for the listening experience, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and the entire cast recreate their acclaimed performances from the 2018 Tony Award-winning National... Read more »

An international bestseller!

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sorcery of Thorns and An Enchantment of Ravens comes a thrilling, “dark coming-of-age adventure” (Culturess) about a teen girl with mythic abilities who must defend her world against restless spirits of the dead.

The spirits of the dead do not rest.

Artemisia is training... Read more »

A New York Times Critics’ Best Nonfiction Book of 2021
Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Biography

From a gifted young writer, the story of his quest to reclaim his family’s apartment building in Poland—and of the astonishing entanglement with Nazi treasure hunters that follows 

Menachem Kaiser’s brilliantly told story, woven from improbable... Read more »

If you enjoyed A Children's Bible, then you’ll love Leave the World Behind.

“Riveting! I hurried through this apocalyptic novel about two families thrown together during an earth shattering event. Alam builds tension even during a relaxing family day at the beach and expertly paces the reader through idle, dreamy stages and amps up the speed during stressful times. A thought-provoking study of humanity.”

Melanie, The Well-Read Moose

This audiobook is read by the author.

Dan Saladino's Eating to Extinction is the prominent broadcaster’s pathbreaking tour of the world’s vanishing foods and his argument for why they matter now more than ever

Over the past several decades, globalization has homogenized what we eat, and done so ruthlessly. The numbers are stark: Of the roughly six... Read more »

A Thousand Ships

“If you ever found yourself wondering 'where are the women?' in the mythos and antiquity you've been presented, A Thousand Ships is for you. In fact, it's undeniably important for ALL who study Greek history and myth from the single lens we're often given. Impeccably researched, Haynes gives the women of the Trojan War back their agency and their voices in a series of interconnected stories that are near impossible to put down. Calliope's interludes are especially perfect, each of her chapters a necessary perspective that lends more to the original than one might ever imagine.”

Britt, Second Star to the Right

Brown Girls

“Told in the collective voice of the women of color of Queens, Brown Girls reads like poetry, with each chapter packing a powerful punch as we drop in on scenes in the girls' lives as they grow up, move away, and return to their home borough. This is one of those perfect books that goes down equally well as a one-sitting read or one that's doled out a chapter at a time. I've never read anything like this utterly compelling debut novel (and I've never been to Queens, let alone any other borough in New York), but reading this book still felt like coming home. ”

Kate, Bookmarks

An urgent manifesto and a dramatic memoir of awakening, this is the story of revolutionary love.

Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize • “In a world stricken with fear and turmoil, Valarie Kaur shows us how to summon our deepest wisdom.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love
 
How do we love in a time of rage? How do we fix a broken... Read more »