Colored Television: A Novel

A dark comedy about making it as an artist, racial identity, Hollywood, selling out, family – all wrapped together in a brilliant, chaotic, and very compelling package.

Peggy: A Novel

Peggy Guggenheim hive, rise up! All three of us! Before she became one of the most prolific art collectors of the twentieth century, Peggy was a key figure in the Bohemian world of interwar Europe–Peggy offers the full scope of her formative years. My fellow nerds will love the cameos from artists and writers, but this sumptuous novel is really for anyone who wants a story about a complicated, trailblazing woman.

The Palace of Eros: A Novel

A sensual and beautiful queer retelling of Eros and Psyche. I fell in love with De Robertis’s writing with Cantoras and have been eagerly anticipating what they would do next. The Palace of Eros is a worthy addition to the world of Greek mythology and reimagining. I am more than a little obsessed.

The Empress of Cooke County

1960s. Small town Tennessee. Posey is never satisfied. She sees herself as the empress. 20 years have passed since getting pregnant after a fling with a married doctor. He wants nothing to do with her so she marries Vern. Determined to win the doctor, Posey hosts the high school reunion in her new mansion. Her daughter, Callie Jane, has to figure out how to escape Posey. Vern too. Will Posey get what she deserves?

The Housekeeper’s Secret: A Novel

This novel of navigating secrets takes the reader from a secluded house in Northern England to the trenches of WWI. A housekeeper wonders who she can trust. A man with a hidden past seeks answers. This is a story of letting go, moving on, and recreating oneself wrapped in a sweeping romance.

Madwoman

What does it really mean to have the perfect life—the perfect marriage, the perfect family—if even the people who are closest to you don’t know the truth about your past? In Madwoman, Clove is trying the best she can to forget her childhood of abuse, but when her mother resurfaces after over a decade, she must come to terms with the fact that she can’t run from the past forever.

There Are Rivers in the Sky: A Novel

A tale so beautifully written, across centuries, with three main characters, that is finely threaded together by one single drop of water.

Haunted Ever After

If you’ve ever found yourself longing for a spooky beach read, this is it! Set in a quiet beach town, Haunted Ever After brings all of the deliciously warm ambiance that comes from a seaside setting while also balancing the paranormal element of meddling ghosts.

Hera: A Novel

Zeus sucks. This book is fabulous. What else is there to say, really?

The Life Impossible: A Novel

Responding to a student who feels everything is impossible after losing his mother, a retired math teacher tells him her story. She moved to Ibiza after inheriting a house from a little-remembered colleague. There she was transformed by a phosphorescent source in the sea.

For Eva

For those of us who love a clever twist on Pride and Prejudice, Davis has given us a wild love story set in the hair-band era. It has a little bit of Nashville, a lot of LA, and a whole lot of smoking indoors. I adored all the characters, and it really transported me. I was young and carefree again – and had bangs.

The Naturalist’s Daughter

Two women in Australia, a century apart, are connected by a scientific sketchbook. When a librarian arrives at a country house to collect the donation and finds the donor deceased, the mystery of the sketchbook and its original owner begins to unravel. This is an immersive historical novel with beautiful descriptions of the countryside and strong characters.

Blue Sisters: A Novel

Three siblings come together a year after their sister died from fentanyl to sift through her belongings before their childhood apartment is put up for sale. This novel explores family dynamics, love, and the way loss is handled differently by each member of the family.

Hum: A Novel

When a novel is set in the near future, is it still called “dystopian”? How much are we willing to allow AI into our lives in the name of simplicity, safety, and health, and what do we exchange in return? A device-free weekend in unspoiled nature turns into an adventure, away from the robot “hums”, the “woom” retreats, and “bunnies” on children’s’ wrists. Fans of 1984 and The Circle will love Helen Phillips’ latest.

Haunted to Death (A Domestic Partners in Crime Mystery #3)

Engrossing mystery with fun characters and a witty 1st person narrator. JP and Peter are partners in life and on a renovation reality TV show. In the third season and third in this series, they take on a supposedly haunted house acquired by an indie rockstar. Is the house haunted by the beauty queen who fell to her death? Or was she pushed? Or is it an elaborate scheme to make everyone think the house is haunted?

Clickbait: A Novel

If you are looking for the next darkly comedic novel about a train wreck of a main character with an unhinged vibe, give this one a shot. After messing with journalistic ethics and being disgraced in a previous reporting job, a newly- divorced Natasha gets demoted to write excruciatingly stupid clickbait articles, while developing an obsession with her new roommate and former fling.

In a League of Her Own: A Novel

“Women have no business in baseball.” Effa Manley, the only woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, disagreed. This novel tells the fascinating story of her life as a team owner, activist, and socialite.

I’ll Have What He’s Having

Farzan was ready to give up on love, until he went out to a restaurant and started getting wined and dined by the cute sommelier, David. Little did he know, David thought Farzan was a well-renowned food critic. From that first “date,” I fell in love with David and Farzan. Both wanting love, but not wanting to get hurt and both dealing with their changing career paths. I loved every part of this book!

We Burn Daylight: A Novel

Follow two young people discovering life and love in the context of a cryptic religious group gathering in Waco, Texas. This insightful fictionalization of the real-life Branch Davidians consists of multiple perspectives, including a podcaster. Johnston allows plenty of space for readers to empathize with this unique cast of characters. For fans of Geraldine Brooks, Stephen King, and true-crime podcasts.

‘Til Heist Do Us Part

Simi’s bestie Chloe comes over with bleach when Simi calls thinking she killed someone. That’s the first chapter in the follow-up action-packed-rom-com-thriller. Premise? Simi has to return the diamond necklace. Problem? She doesn’t have it. The men? Mr. X wants it back. Jack helped steal it but is Simi’s ex. Lastly, Detective Garcia who is extremely good-looking but will arrest her if he catches her.

Men Have Called Her Crazy: A Memoir

If you’re looking to find a scathing tell-all about her celebrity ex, you won’t find it here. Instead you will find an incredibly vulnerable, funny, heart wrenching look at what it is like to be a person. This book made me feel not so alone.

Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America’s Largest Meatpacking Company

This is an entirely brutal, entirely necessary look into the heartbreaking reality of the thousands of workers at Tyson Foods. Driver does a fantastic job reporting on the countless people who are forced to work every day in inhumane conditions, including so many who died of COVID being forced to work unsafely during the height of the pandemic. This book is so important, and I hope it gets the readership it deserves.

The Art of Gothic Living: Dark Decor for the Modern Macabre

Perfect for anyone who wants their living room to look like a vampire den.

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me

Patrick Bringley has been a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for over a decade. He has watched and protected and pondered art at all times of the day, with all types of people, and in all seasons of life. His memoir not only shares the daily rhythms of life in such a job, but also explores the inexplicable ability of art to heal the soul. (If you were a Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler kid, you will really love this one!)

The Wren, the Wren: A Novel

A father abandons his sick wife and two children. This is the story of that sick wife and those two children. Anne Enright has stunning prose, and beautifully explores the lasting impacts of familial trauma through generations. This novel made me want to hug my mom.

Peyton Place

This book became a classic almost as soon as it was published in 1956. Lots of forbidden topics like premarital sex, incest, and abortion drive the story in this small town in Maine. I hid this from my mother and the nuns when I was in middle school! A story of mores and morals, and lots of sex. Amazing how much of it still rings true – treat yourself to see what the fuss was all about and why it was banned almost everywhere.

The Lady Vanishes

Hitchcock turned White’s novel into a thrilling film. Suspense and intrigue set on a train in the 1930s. Socialite Iris Carr meets Miss Froy, then Miss Froy disappears. No one will admit to having seen her; anyone starting to believe Iris is given evidence she is delusional. Adamant about Miss Froy’s existence, Iris is determined to find her. This book reminds us that White was held up like Sayers and Christie.

Lonesome Dove: A Novel

Encompassing love and loss, tragedy and farce, Lonesome Dove is as close as the novel gets to achieving complete perfection. And don’t be intimidated by its length, as very few books utilize their size so efficiently and effectively. Following an epic cross-country cattle drive and the plethora of fully-formed characters that see it through, this is the kind of novel that you never forget.

Done and Dusted: A Rebel Blue Ranch Novel

If you love Yellowstone and romance then this is the book for you! Emmy, a champion barrel racer, comes back home to her family’s ranch after a horrible injury. Things begin to get hot and heavy when she starts falling for her brother’s best friend, Luke. I could not put this book down!

Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger: A Memoir

I picked up this memoir in anticipation of Donovan’s upcoming talk with renowned baker, Anne Byrn and was immediately taken with Donovan’s story and her incredible culinary journey. It felt like a long conversation, on the porch, in the summer with your incredibly cool older sister who has baked you a ton of snacks and is providing you the sagest of wisdom.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I will never not love Christopher John Francis Boone’s voice. He is a boy who loves numbers and certainty and animals, yet cannot grasp human emotion. Here is a masterful meditation on love and family, wrapped surprisingly in a story about the mysterious death of a neighbor’s dog. I first read this book in one day and physically held it to my heart after the final page.

First Editions Club: September Selection

Colored Television: A Novel

You know what I love about Jane Austen? Her novels work as comedy, as literature, as romance. You can read Emma on the beach or you can write your dissertation on it. Either way, the book holds up, because more than anything, it shrewdly observes the intricate dance of human nature—who we are and what we desire. And, if that weren’t enough, the writing is divine.

If I were looking for a worthy predecessor to Jane Austen, my first stop would be Danzy Senna. I read Colored Television with so much pleasure. The book is fun! I laughed out loud at Jane’s quest to fulfill her goals, and cringed at her miscalculations. Even as she was doing the wrong thing, I continued to root for her, in much the way I rooted for Austen’s Emma. But in the months that passed after I finished Colored Television, I kept thinking about it. How had Senna made these people so indelible? How had they taken up permanent residence in my head? It’s because Jane’s desire to live the life she had envisioned for herself is a universal condition. It’s because the pacing and structure are as tight as the very best piece of television, while also reaching the heights of the very best piece of literature.

Enjoy.

Ann

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.

Love, Parnassus: September Selection

I’ll Have What He’s Having