Jonathan's Picks

$22.10
ISBN-13: 9780812992793
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Random House, 1/2012
This truly stunning literary dance puts a human face on the mind-bogglingly weird dystopia that is contemporary North Korea. It follows a young man's Dickensian adventures through covert military ops, star-crossed love, state intrigue, and with the Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il himself. Masterpiece.

Embassytown (Paperback)

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780345524508
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Published: Del Rey, 1/2012
Mieville is becoming the undisputed master of breathing gritty, visceral life into ingeniously mind-bending concepts. This may be his best: part political thriller, part chronicle of human/alien culture clash, part examination of the nature of language and thought, and one of the best science fiction novels of the last ten years.

The Flame Alphabet (Hardcover)

$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780307379375
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Published: Knopf, 1/2012
This devilishly inventive and quite disturbing "what if?" novel places an average family man into a world where language has become poisonous. It brings to mind Jose Saramago's "Blindness" and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" but with a more satirical, absurdist edge a la "Catch-22".

$27.95
ISBN-13: 9780385534956
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Doubleday, 11/2011
In 30 years, if we can manage to tear ourselves away from our virtual reality feeding tube chambers long enough to think back about when people wrote books, we'll remember Jonathan Lethem as one of the best of those old coots, as evidenced in this stellar collection of cultural essays. His piece on James Brown alone is worth the cover price!

Habibi (Hardcover)

$35.00
ISBN-13: 9780375424144
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Published: Pantheon, 9/2011
Thompson's long-awaited third graphic novel is a stunning achievement: a heartrending epic of the triumph of love over suffering in a mythical Middle East. His brush and ink work wonders as lyrical and moving as any prose by Marquez, Saramago, or Rushdie.

The Great Night (Hardcover)

$26.00
ISBN-13: 9780374166410
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Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 4/2011
Adrian makes this book feel wild, epic and almost out-of-control, but still precise and incredibly well crafted. A phantasmagorical reinvention of A Midsummer Night's Dream in contemporary San Francisco that is gorgeous, heartbreaking, sexy, magical and real.

Zero History (Paperback)

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780425240779
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Published: Berkley Trade, 8/2011
Gibson has perfected his own genre: cutting edge technology and social trends, downbeat, paranoid atmosphere, complex intrigue, and dryly humorous satire layered together with minimalist precision.

Pinocchio (Hardcover)

$29.95
ISBN-13: 9780867197518
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Published: Last Gasp, 4/2011
This brilliantly twisted take on the wooden boy's story is definitely for adults only: rich artwork and darkly funny satire that bring R. Crumb and Krazy Kat to mind.

Citrus County (Paperback)

$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781936365098
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Published: McSweeney's, 6/2011
A first rate novel of Southern adolescence painted in shades of deep purple and blood red-- a weeping willow with razors for leaves. Graham Greene's Brighton Rock collides with To Kill A Mockingbird in spectacular fashion!

$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781593764166
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Published: Soft Skull Press, 5/2011
This incredibly impressive debut story collection is guaranteed to surprise you with its nerve & originality, stuff your brain-belly with food for thought, and bust your guts wide open with wickedly funny satire. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders: grab this one!

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780312680534
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Published: Picador USA, 2/2011
Fans of the literary fantastic take note! This wondrous novel takes the bare bones of Shakespeare's Tempest and brilliantly spins them into a retro-futuristic, romantic tragedy crafted in beautifully poetic language. It's as if Salman Rushdie had novelized Terry Gilliam's movie, Brazil.

$29.99
ISBN-13: 9780061351327
Availability: Currently out of stock. Usually available in 1-3 days.
Published: It Books, 11/2010
An uncommon fusion of startlingly affecting images and precise, poetic writing, telling the utterly fascinating romantic biography of two scientific geniuses and the far-reaching effects of their work, from x-rays to electric guitars. A wondrous, poignant, and literally incandescent piece of work.

$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780982580813
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Published: Featherproof Books, 11/2010
A stellar story collection featuring psychic helmets, bizarre art, confusing emotions, narrative hijinks, dumb aliens, possible apocalypse, pain, sadness, hilarity, and love. Fans of the stories of George Saunders, Haruki Murakami, Steven Millhauser, or Jim Shephard shouldn't be disappointed.

$19.99
ISBN-13: 9781595823564
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Published: Dark Horse Comics, 9/2009
A complex, emotional slice of Americana told with spare, natural writing and gorgeous, flowing, watercolored drawings. Kindt creates a multi-layered portrait of a strange and tragic life seen through the eyes of three women, punctuated with some truly heart-stopping and memorable images.

$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781553654926
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Published: Douglas & McIntyre, 4/2010
Fantastic collection of literary futurism! A wild ride through strange and entertaining "what if" scenarios guided by great writers like Yann Martel, Douglas Coupland, William Gibson, Sheila Heti and Pasha Malla. Freaky, fun, and thought provoking...

Sunnyside (Paperback)

$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780307454980
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Published: Vintage, 5/2010
A fantastic addition to the epic Americana novel tradition. Vivid characters and deeply researched settings bring a fascinating time period to life. Gold is a wiz at turning historical figures into fiction; in this case Charlie Chaplin and a host of other silent film era folks rub shoulders with other, strictly fictional characters to paint a lush, multi-layered portrait of America between the Wars. Fans of E.L. Doctorow (Ragtime, Billy Bathgate), T.C. Boyle (The Road To Wellville), William Boyd (Any Human Heart, The New Confessions), and of course Gold's fantastic first novel, Carter Beats The Devil, should not pass this one up.

The City & The City (Paperback)

$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780345497529
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Published: Del Rey, 4/2010
Wow. This deserves praise just for being unique. One of those books that will live or die for the reader depending on how interesting you find the central conceit of the story: a city where every square inch of real estate is divided up into two separate, yet intermingled, nations. It's hard to explain, but just imagine two countries, somewhat hostile to each other, sharing the same space, yet forbidden to interact, or even acknowledge each other's existence in any way, lest they bring the wrath of the mysterious enforcers of this strange system: Breach. It's a brilliant set-up for a neo-noir police/murder mystery. Reminded me of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union (another high concept detective story). It also bears traces of Kafka's paranoid existential dread and the mind-bending concepts of Phillip K. Dick's Sci-fi novels. I'd recommend this book to anyone who thinks they'd like a dark, moody mystery with a thought-provoking twist to it.

Asterios Polyp (Hardcover)

$29.95
ISBN-13: 9780307377326
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Published: Pantheon, 7/2009
This gorgeously designed graphic novel unfolds like literary origami! Follow a lovably pompous art snob through love, failure, comeuppance, and redemption. It's sharply observant, acidly funny, yet still humane and bursting with bold colors and sweeping lines.

The Gone-Away World (Paperback)

$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780307389077
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Published: Vintage, 8/2009
A rambunctious comic adventure tale that brims with life as it tells of two longtime buddies in a world gone mad. Inventive, clever, funny and exciting. . ., imagine Mad Max as envisioned by John Irving, or a British Hunter S. Thompson doing a post-apocalyptic romp!

$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780385521734
Availability: On Our Shelves Now, please click the title for each location availability
Published: Spiegel & Grau, 9/2008
A gut-bustingly funny satire of father/son relationship problems taken to outrageous extremes. At once a comic adventure and a melancholy rumination of family and growing up. Reminded me of John Irving's best novels.

The Somnambulist (Paperback)

$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061375392
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Published: Harper Paperbacks, 1/2009
A cracking good old-timey thriller! This Victorian comedy/fantasy/murder-mystery is like Arthur Conan-Doyle collaborating with Michael Chabon on the script for a Tim Burton movie. Dark and quirky!

The Domino Men (Paperback)

$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061671418
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Published: Harper Paperbacks, 4/2010
Barnes completes a knockout one-two punch with this stand alone story set in the same mystery, monster, and mayhem-filled London as his debut, The Somnambulist, only set in modern day this time. Spine-tingling fun for fans of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore comics, or Tim Burton movies.

BodyWorld (Hardcover)

$27.95
ISBN-13: 9780307378422
Availability: Currently out of stock. Usually available in 1-3 days.
Published: Pantheon, 4/2010
This innovative, visually dazzling book is a true graphic novel. It presents a dense, fantastical world of the future where weird science and the perils of youth collide in a stunning satire of love, sex, freedom and control. Fearless, funny and thought provoking.