| FICTION |
| Recommended by Ann
Tommy Orange follows his Pulitzer finalist debut There There with Wandering Stars, a novel that both lives up to the first book’s promise and exceeds it.
Wandering Stars is our First Editions Club selection this month! Scroll to the bottom of this post to read more about it. |
| Recommended by Lindsay
I’m so delighted Cristina Henríquez is back with a new novel! Her latest, The Great Divide, is set around the construction of the Panama Canal. This novel is such an incredible testament to what great historical fiction can do–by looking at the intersecting lives of the workers, doctors, activists, and citizens of Panama, Henríquez gives us an entirely new perspective on this chapter of history. |
| Recommended by Jennifer
A deep and powerful walk through the Great War, this beautifully crafted story shows us the ties that bind when the world is falling apart. |
| Recommended by Ashby
Ocean’s 8 meets Crazy Rich Asians. Three friends each want something different: escape a wedding, get cosmetic surgery, and freeze eggs. How? Stealing the safe where wedding guests will deposit monetary gifts. They recruit a crew and form a plan but there are mishaps along the way. Favorite character? Michelangelo who makes perfect knock-off designer handbags and is enlisted to make a replica of the safe. |
| Recommended by Jenness
Anita de Monte is a young, vibrant Latina artist whose life is cut short by her abusive, egotistic artist husband. His star rises as hers fades into obscurity. Until… Twenty years later, Raquel is an intelligent, driven art history student facing the same sexism and racism, as well as an overbearing boyfriend. Both women relate their compelling stories which eventually intertwine in a cathartic, incredible finale.
Also loved by Ashby! |
| Recommended by Lindsay
I adored this debut from Flora Carr! The Tower takes place during Mary Queen of Scots’ imprisonment in a remote Scottish castle, where she is joined only by enemies and a select group of attendants. What follows is an immersive and propulsive story of perseverance and the bonds that save us. |
| Recommended by Patsy
Devastating and hard to put down, this collection of three interrelated stories of the residents of Sam Dent, NY, explores the dark undercurrents of divisiveness in a community. Great reading and rich food for thought in an election year. I heartily recommend. |
| Recommended by Tara
Lex Croucher is back with another legendary regency romp. Emily Laurence is sent in her sister’s place to be the governess at Fairmont House, but trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes. Trouble is loosely inspired by The Sound of Music. Readers will delight in the subtle nods to The Sound of Music as well as the queer and feminist twist that Lex Croucher is known for. |
| Recommended by Jenness
The return of a ne’er-do-well local to his Irish township ignites a slow-burn thriller in Tana French’s latest. Bouncing between three well-drawn main characters, the narrative never veers far from the secrets, obligations, rivalries, and resentments that flourish in small communities. |
| Recommended by Jennifer
Academic rivals Carmilla and Laura are unprepared for their chemistry in their poetry class nor the bloody malice that haunts the school halls. |
| Recommended by RJ
You will never look at a disintegrating horse the same way again. |
| Recommended by Jennifer
A sapphic gothic novel, Thirst follows the footsteps of an ancient vampire searching for meaning and peace through the centuries in Buenos Aires. This is the perfect moody read. |
| Recommended by Chelsea
A sweet, warm romance about basketball, families, and living in your honesty. Kelly does such a wonderful job of writing characters exploring their identities and truths – both Julie and Elle captured my heart from the first chapters. I eagerly look forward to what Kelly does next.
Also loved by Katie! |
| Recommended by Rachel
The Book of Love is the epitome of good fantasy. Link bends the rules of the world we know, bringing in Gods, deals with devils, boys named David Bowie, and all sorts of monsters, but we still recognize the spirit of this world deep in our souls. The characters are not names on a page but lives captured in magic, preserved in their perfect, flawed forms, forever. |
| Recommended by Ashby
A book of umami. What if someone could perfectly recreate a meal from your past?. Vividly. Not just food. Time. Place. People. Conversations. This father-daughter team does just that. A half-finished meal when the woman ran from a marriage proposal. The everyday udon a wife made her husband. In solving the mystery and making the meal, they bring something unique to clients. It brings food memories flooding back. |
| Recommended by RJ
A horror-tinged fantasy novella about a nightmarish forest and a woman desperate to save two children lost inside. The tension remains high throughout the entire story, with a conclusion you won’t forget. Perfect to read in one sitting. |
| Recommended by Maddie
Oh my god I loved this book. I want to be Hera’s best friend. I want to hang out and listen to Taylor Swift with her while we complain about our jobs and muse about what our futures might look like. And then I want to grab her by the shoulders and yell at her to get her life together. Gray’s writing is refreshing and real and seriously funny. I will be singing this book’s praises for the rest of time. |
| Recommended by Cheryl
If you are looking for a good southern rom-com of two women who meet and fall in love at a hot chicken restaurant in a small Tennessee town, then this is the book for you! It is so funny with its witty remarks that you honestly cannot read it with a full bladder. This debut novel is a hoot and half!
Also loved by Katie! |
| Recommended by Katie
A breathtaking new release from Tia Williams (Seven Days in June). A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a gorgeous love story 100 years in the making. Set in Harlem, the story follows Ricki and Ezra, a florist and a musician in a race to undo a hundred-year-old curse. Full of found family with a tinge of magical realism, this is a fantastic pick for lovers of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. |
| Recommended by Rachel
A quiet yet thrilling dystopia exploring memory, grief, and time travel. The Other Valley is a gem of a novel with a most unique set up. Imagine endless valleys, each with the same exact town, but one direction goes 20 years into the future, and the other 20 years into the past. Now mix in humans with their greed and complexities, and you end up with a prophetic and meditative novel. |
| Recommended by Natalie
Everyone thinks Lucy murdered her best friend. Including Lucy. When a handsome podcaster begins investigating the case, Lucy starts to question her past and what really happened that night her friend died. Perfect for fans of Sharp Objects and What Lies in the Woods. For an extra treat listen to the audiobook which is produced to sound like a real true crime podcast! |
| Recommended by Katie
The Friendship Study centers around two sexy little sad MCs who sign up for a research study that’s trying to figure out why millennials can’t make friends. While the study doesn’t allow for any hanky panky, Jesse and Lulu’s chemistry quickly has them finding creative workarounds. If you love a good hurt/comfort trope Jesse and Lulu will be your 2024 couple of the year. This book is SO good. |
| Recommended by Sydney
Help Wanted follows the fictional lives of a logistics team working for a big box superstore. I know that sounds terribly boring, but this would be a fantastic read for anyone who has ever worked in retail or customer service. The interpersonal dynamics of ordinary people doing ordinary things is what makes this novel something special. |
| Recommended by Jenness
Greta and Valdin are siblings in Auckland, NZ, and have the enviable, easy-going relationship that makes you want to join their family. In fact, I loved the characterizations of every one of their quirky, supportive family and friends (including their Maori mom and Russian dad). The writing is delightfully witty, interesting, smart, and real, as you follow along through ups and down. It’s just a really great book. |
| Recommended by Maddie
A book that flows so effortlessly and is so easy to read from start to finish, you’ll not even get the chance to notice how impressively smart it is until you look up from the last page. A story about a woman who wakes up one morning with sudden hearing loss, The Hearing Test reads like a whisper in your ear—steady and contemplative, subtly and gently commanding your attention. |
| NONFICTION & POETRY |
| Recommended by Cat
Leslie Jamison seems incapable of shying away from the parts of herself that many of us find hard to look at. Those that struggle, fail, and feel shameful. I was captivated by the ways in which this memoir about divorce and single motherhood turns difficult moments and emotions into something full of resilience, framing them in such a way that I was continuously reminded that it is in the imperfect that life happens. |
| Recommended by Jake
A deft and illuminating account of the Blaxploitation genre, Odie Henderson’s book is destined to become the definitive text on the subject. Giving equal weight to objective criticism and subjective experience, the result is a delightfully enthusiastic combination of both. Covering movies from Shaft to Foxy Brown and everything in between, this is one of the most entertaining film history books ever written. |
| Recommended by Rachel
This BEAUTIFUL book takes a look at Queer representation in classic Greek mythology! From Apollo and Hyacinthus to Sappho to Socrates, Hewitt explains the mythos in perfect depth, and Hall’s illustrations add the perfect luscious imagery. |
| Recommended by Cat
I adore Sloane Crosley’s candor and disturbing sense of humor. If those two things combined with talking about loss and grief sound like good time to you then grab this book. Within one month, Sloane’s apartment is broken into, some heirloom jewelry is taken and then her best friend commits suicide. What follows is her circuitous journey to try and make sense of the two very different events. |
| Recommended by Chelsea
Don’t be distracted by Laithland’s sarcasm, wit, and snark – this book is a refreshing, informative look at parenting. I found her approach to be extremely relatable and really appreciated the actionable steps and ideas that were in each chapter. Laithland strikes the perfect balance between practical and anecdotal, and I highly recommend this to parents at any stage. |
| Recommended by Andy
The Library of America has collected 72 of Breslin’s columns which essentially tell the history of the later part of the twentieth century. The struggle for Civil Rights, Vietnam, Trump, Son of Sam, and the murder of John Lennon are just of few of the topics that Breslin lent his unique perspective to. Who would have thought to cover the assassination of JFK through the eyes of the man who dug his grave – Breslin would. |
| CLASSICS & BACKLIST |
| Recommended by Jake
A new take on the classic murder mystery, Fortune Favors The Dead combines whodunnits, classic noir, and locked room enigmas to make something spectacularly new. Following private detectives Pentecost and Parker, their first case together sees them investigating a seemingly impossible murder whose solution just might be supernatural. Fast paced and whip smart, this is a breath of fresh air for the genre. |
| Recommended by Sarah
Susan Rogers, an iconic record producer turned neuroscientist, will help you listen to music in ways you never have before. I found so many things to appreciate about songs I would have previously written off as “just not my taste.” This is a fun and enlightening read for any music nerd! |
| Recommended by Mac
Stephanie McCarter revitalizes the feminist themes of Ovid’s masterpiece in a way that is beautiful and approachable – for anyone wanting a more refreshing take on this classical work. |
| Recommended by Kathy
This one slipped by me 13 years ago. Set in the Asian neighborhoods of Seattle and the Japanese internment camps during and after WWII, it tells the story of young love that lasts a lifetime against all odds. It’s not often that historical fiction is both educational and heartwarming. This book is both. |
| Recommended by Hannah P.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I, a longtime lover of her poetry, am now even more deeply devoted to the church of Mary Oliver after reading her magical essays. These breathtaking pieces on writing, the wild beauty of the natural world, and great literary figures make for a powerful and tender reading experience. I’m not kidding when I say this book literally healed me! |
|
By Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange became a major voice in American fiction with his first novel There There. It was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and won the American Book Award. It wasn’t just that people were reading this book, they were talking about it, studying it, teaching it. The most amazing part of all is that this enormous success neither finished Tommy Orange off nor waylaid him for a decade. In the face of universal celebration, he did something miraculous: he wrote a second book that’s even better than the first.
Wandering Stars begins with a bright flash of happiness that represents life as it was, as it might have stayed, before diving headlong into the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. Jude Star survives but is left starving, voiceless, and utterly bereft. This mass murder is the engine of destruction that will define all the generations going forward, even when they no longer remember Jude or know the details of what happened. The novel follows the characters to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, through displacement and addiction and poverty, as well as love, determination, and the bonds of family. It holds the thread of Jude Star until it meets the characters of There There who are, in this present day, struggling to recover from Orvil Redfeather’s shooting.
Wandering Stars reexamines the history of our country through the stories of the people who endured it, and seeks to explain why so much suffering put in motion more than a hundred and fifty years ago continues to shape the lives of people today. The result is this complex, heart-stopping, beautiful book.
When you’ve finished, be sure to read the acknowledgments. Here’s the last line, “Big thanks to Kaveh Akbar, for trading pages the whole way through, for being a bandmate and dear friend in ways I never knew I needed.” I love to think of these two great books being made together by two great friends.
Enjoy,
Ann Patchett
More about our First Editions Club: Every member receives a first edition of the selected book of the month, signed by the author. Books are carefully chosen by our staff of readers, and our picks have gone on to earn major recognition including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Plus, there’s no membership fee or premium charge for these books. Build a treasured library of signed first editions and always have something great to read! Makes a FABULOUS gift, too.
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By Natasha Siegel
It is 1666, one year after plague has devastated England. Young widow Cecilia Thorowgood is a prisoner, trapped and isolated within her older sister’s cavernous London townhouse. At the mercy of a legion of doctors trying to cure her grief with their impatient scalpels, Cecilia shows no sign of improvement. Soon, her sister makes a decision born of desperation: She hires a new physician, someone known for more unusual methods. But he is a foreigner. A Jew. And despite his attempts to save Cecilia, he knows he cannot quell the storm of sorrow that rages inside her.
David Mendes fled Portugal to seek a new life in London, where he could practice his faith openly and leave the past behind. Still reeling from the loss of his beloved friend and struggling with his religion and his past, David is free and safe in this foreign land but incapable of happiness. The security he has found in London threatens to disappear when he meets Cecilia, and he finds himself torn between his duty to medicine and the beating of his own heart.
Facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, David and Cecilia must endure prejudice, heartbreak, and calamity before they can be together. The Great Fire is coming—and with the city in flames around them, love has never felt so impossible.
Praise for the book:
“Set in 17th-century London, this sumptuous romance tells the story of two star-crossed lovers drawn together under tumultuous circumstances. . . . Narrated in alternating points of view and featuring diversity along multiple axes, including religion and LGBTQIA+ identity, this lyrically written and utterly romantic novel from [Natasha] Siegel will appeal to readers of historical fiction and epic love stories.”—Library Journal, starred review
The Love, Parnassus box is a monthly subscription box for romance readers curated by the experts at Parnassus Books. Each month you will receive a first edition book (which is sometimes signed), a letter from the author, a custom sticker, and a bookmark to track your reading. The Love, Parnassus selection will focus on debut and new-to-you romance authors. Set up a subscription for yourself or buy a gift membership for your favorite romance reader for 3, 6, or 12 months. |
Musing 