Jenn's Picks

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (Hardcover)

By Jeanette Winterson
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780802120106
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Grove Press, 3/2012
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A raw and decidedly courageous memoir. This is Winterson's finest work in years.

It Chooses You (Hardcover)

By Miranda July
$24.00
ISBN-13: 9781936365012
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: McSweeney's, Irregulars, 11/2011
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In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I have not yet finished this book. However, after picking it up last night in the store, I was compelled to take it home and stay up all hours reading (which I did). Exploring the pleasures and perils of procrastination and the need to connect with others, July captivates her reader with her understated humor and sensitivity. This is just as good (if not better) as her previous collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You.

NOTE: I finished it! Awesome all the way through. 

Citrus County (Paperback)

By John Brandon
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781936365098
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: McSweeney's, 6/2011
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I debated for a long time whether I should write a review for Citrus County as two other staff members here have already written one. But, NO! I MUST! Darkly humorous and terribly addictive, Brandon convinces us to love some deeply disturbed teenagers and their equally disturbed teacher when we really probably shouldn't. This was hands-down the best book I read all summer (and I did read some awfully good books).

The Curfew (Paperback)

By Jesse Ball
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780307739858
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Vintage, 6/2011

Grimly humorous, fast-paced, and surprisingly lyrical at times, Ball has created an Orwellian universe which discusses the transformative power of art and will turn your mind inside-out (in a good way) by the end.

NOTE: After reading The Curfew, I felt compelled to read Ball's other two novels, The Way Through Doors and Samedi the Deafness. Both were just as excellent, if not better. No wonder he was the winner of the Paris Review's Plimpton Prize and a finalist for The Believer Book Award! 

Bossypants (Paperback)

By Tina Fey
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9780316056878
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Reagan Arthur / Back Bay Books, 1/2012
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Tina Fey is obviously humorous, but she's also very, very smart. Her incisive look at the world of comedy (and women's role in it) is as insightful and revealing as it is entertaining.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Paperback)

By David Mitchell
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780812976366
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2/2011
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While this book does start slowly, you are undoubtedly rewarded if you stick with it. One ultimately feels completely transported to Japan at the turn of the 19th century and becomes immersed in the life of the sometimes cowardly, sometimes courageous, but always honest Jacob DeZoet.

Just Kids (Paperback)

By Patti Smith
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780060936228
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Ecco, 11/2010
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Simply and elegantly written, Smith delivers her story about two artists who essentially redefine what it means to be passionate. I always had a feeling Patti Smith might be my hero. Now I know she is.

Up and Down (Hardcover)

By Oliver Jeffers, Oliver Jeffers
$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780399255458
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Philomel, 12/2010
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This incredibly sweet book tells the story of a boy and his penguin buddy who desperately wants to fly. I think I might have purchased this for every family member under the age of 6 this Christmas.

The Passion (Paperback)

By Jeanette Winterson
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780802135223
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Grove Press, 8/1997
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Winterson skillfully blends fantasy, fact, and an odd sense of Modernism to create a surreal love story which alternates between Venice and Napoleon's France. Throughout the story, the narrator states, "I am telling you stories. Trust me." And, ultimately, we do.

Never Let Me Go (Paperback)

By Kazuo Ishiguro
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781400078776
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Vintage, 3/2006
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The students at Hailsham had always been told they were special, they just didn't know in what way. I am hesitant to call this "fantasy" as many things seem real here.

Children of the Sun (Paperback)

By Max Schaefer
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781593762971
Availability: Currently out of stock. Usually available in 1-3 days.
Published: Soft Skull Press, 8/2010
An interesting, though often disturbing, look at the relationship between sexuality and violence in the Neo-Nazi culture. Some things are a bit, um, raw . . . but it's certainly an enlightening read.
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