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Staff Picks - Todd
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Lover of literary fiction and creative nonfiction. Hiker, backpacker, and travel bug-bitten daydreamer. Fearless photographer and daredevil grub-maker in the kitchen. An intrepid experimentalist in the art of making up nonsense songs. The guy who will cross the busiest intersection in town just to pet a cute dog. A great big dork, pretty much.
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$16.00
ISBN: 9780143131878
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - January 16th, 2018
A classic of the Harlem Renaissance, scrutinizing color-consciousness and prejudice within the black community-- quite a bold move at the time of its 1929 publication. Vivid, energetic, and ultimately quite haunting. --Todd
$26.00
ISBN: 9781476753867
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - January 16th, 2018
I'm not the type who uses the phrase, "a rollicking read" very often, but this true-life adventure tale fits the bill. Billy Gawronski was the flesh-and-blood embodiment of chutzpah, and his story will keep you well-stocked with thrills. --Todd
$16.95
ISBN: 9780375708442
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - April 25th, 2000
A scathing examination of suburban conformity in the 1950s, delivered with painful insight and a touch of dark humor, thanks to the characters' continued self-rationalizations as the American Dream burns down around them. There's a cold beauty to this novel which makes it a deeply engrossing read. --Todd
$14.95
ISBN: 9781590171998
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: New York Review of Books - June 20th, 2006
William Stoner is an ordinary man living quite an ordinary life, yes, yet it is all so captivating thanks to the absolute purity of Williams's writing. The depth of feeling is just enormous. I adore this novel. --Todd
$24.95
ISBN: 9781631493119
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Liveright Publishing Corporation - September 5th, 2017
A deeply personal memoir paying tribute to a cherished cousin, yes, but also a searing condemnation of the War on Drugs and its most egregious consequence, mass incarceration. It's a painful, penetrating read, but worth the time. --Todd
$26.95
ISBN: 9781631490514
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Liveright Publishing Corporation - July 11th, 2017
Absolutely brilliant reportage-- it's a riveting work of true crime investigation, yes, but this is also a tale of love come unhinged and a country in decline. I tore through this in record time, truly. --Todd
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062431783
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - May 30th, 2017
By turns heartbreaking, infuriating, and illuminating, this collection of essays offering testimony to the consequences of occupation of Gaza and the West Bank boasts an impressive roster of writers and a broad range of topics and themes. Thoughtful, impassioned reporting and sensitive portraiture make this a deeply compelling read. --Todd
$17.00
ISBN: 9781439168905
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - December 13th, 2016
I'll devour a good travel memoir like some folks will attack a slice of gourmet chocolate cake, and this is easily one of the best I've ever read in the genre. A savvy mix of personal experience, history lesson, and sociopolitical analysis, the storytelling at play here is a joy to encounter and does a lovely job of capturing the many charms of South America. --Todd
$28.60
ISBN: 9780374178055
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - April 4th, 2017
Profound psychological insight and a laser-precise sense of introspection make this memoir a genuine stunner-- rarely have issues surrounding class, debt, and poverty been addressed with such candor and grace. Intense, yes, but so very worth it in the end. --Todd
$26.00
ISBN: 9780226444185
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: University of Chicago Press - March 23rd, 2017
Oh, what a delight to read: a highly-entertaining chronicle of the legendary "Siberian fox study", in which scientists were able to domesticate those gorgeous-but-generally-wary creatures within a relatively small number of generations. Anyone interested in genetics or ethology will find the account totally fascinating. --Todd
$19.00
ISBN: 9780374536725
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl - January 17th, 2017
A thorough-- and thoroughly absorbing-- investigation into the bizarre decades-long practice by North Korea of kidnapping foreign nationals and "re-programming" them, delivered in a heartrending narrative. I lost count of how many times I cried out, "What?!" in astonishment. --Todd
$28.00
ISBN: 9781328663795
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Houghton Mifflin - March 7th, 2017
A bit like staring into the abyss and being unable to pull one's eyes away from it all, this account of rampant, systemic methamphetamine use by the Nazis is both totally captivating and terrifying. It's a tale of addiction quite unlike any other. --Todd
$15.00
ISBN: 9781101906743
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hogarth Press - October 17th, 2017
A harrowing inquiry into how we preserve our humanity in the face of unspeakable violence and horror, rendered in tight, controlled detail and sombre poetic tones. For all its unfliching focus on bones, blood, and bodies, Kan’s riveting storytelling concerns itself most with the human spirit, offering tremendous sensitivity and insight. A tense, vital work.--Todd
$15.00
ISBN: 9780679745662
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - March 29th, 1994
Dazzlingly brilliant reportage, recollections, and riveting tales from the master stylist-- the range of subjects and characters presented is a true marvel, but their greatest strength is the intimacy with which he recounts it all. Superb work. --Todd
$16.00
ISBN: 9781501130458
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - June 14th, 2016
A highly entertaining stroll down memory lane, albeit with a serious message: contemporary Hollywood takes far fewer risks than it did only a few decades ago. It's a wildly fun, snarky read, but with an activist's heart, tackling racism, sexism, and other -isms with wit and passion.--Todd
$16.00
ISBN: 9781101910160
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - August 23rd, 2016
Exquisitely rambling and lyrical, dreamlike prose peppers this elegiac mediation on the pursuit of a meaningful life through art. Fueled by endless mugs of black coffee and musings on creative obsessions, it feels like less of a memoir and more like a series of leisurely cafe chit-chats...and it's time well-spent.--Todd
$15.95
ISBN: 9780393352801
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - May 3rd, 2016
An absorbing tale of the Madigan family of rural County Clare, Ireland-- four adult siblings, all struggling to come to terms with the their never-satisfied mother. As always, Enright's portrayal of the knotted complications of family love is pitch-perfect, and her prose manages to be both lyrical and sharp as freshly-buffed blades. --Todd
$16.95
ISBN: 9781400076192
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor Books - April 11th, 2006
A "day in the life" yarn in the purest sense of the word: McEwan's masterful account of a neurosurgeon's rather eventful 24 hours dazzles with frightening clarity and smart, fluid prose. Considered a weighty commentary on the post-9/11 world when it was released over a decade ago, it remains a potent mirror to a very anxious modern society.--Todd
$15.95
ISBN: 9780307275431
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - May 16th, 2006
Dystopian novels are a dime a dozen at this point, but for me this one is a true standout, offering a savage take on alienation and estrangement in an uncaring world. Beautifully bleak and meticulously-plotted, it all feels so chillingly convincing...which makes it all the more disturbing.--Todd
$16.00
ISBN: 9781944853020
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Outpost19 - September 1st, 2016
A heady mix of hilarity and heartbreak, Freeze's stories forge a gloriously odd, wonderfully unpredictable journey into landscapes of loss, disappearances, and regret-- think Rick Moody with a sprinkle or two of George Saunders. Whip-smart, affecting stuff. --Todd
$17.00
ISBN: 9780812982626
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade - August 7th, 2012
A hideously beautiful, chilling triumph of imagination-- part thriller, part dystopian nightmare, part love story, rendered with both a mammoth sense of heart and a flair for terrifying detail. Unforgettable storytelling, addictive even in its most somber of moments. --Todd
$18.00
ISBN: 9780374515362
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Noonday Press - January 1st, 1971
No hyperbole here-- O'Connor gave us some of the most potent, penetrating fiction of the past century. Bizarre, bare-knuckled prose that unsettles and provokes, her short stories are simply dazzling in their mastery of tragedy and irony. Darkness never felt so beautiful. --Todd
$14.00
ISBN: 9780345806567
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - September 12th, 2013
A moving and exquisitely-tangled tale of death and desire, delivered with immeasurable sensitivity and pitch-perfect detail. How Baldwin was ever able to distill so much passion and warts-and-all authenticity into this slim little volume might always remain one of life's greatest mysteries....A vital, brutally-honest masterwork. --Todd
$14.99
ISBN: 9780062248459
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - July 29th, 2014
I've always been a sucker for cross-generational tales of intertwined lives and the unexpected glues which hold them together, but sometimes they sadly feel contrived. Not so with Van Booy's dazzling story of random acts of kindness and mercy and their unexpected ramifications; this is a restrained, poetic message brimming with love and wonder. --Todd
$15.99
ISBN: 9780061120152
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - April 10th, 2007
Simultaneously horrific and blindingly beautiful, Lowry's masterwork of alcoholic annihilation-- set against the backdrop of the Day of the Dead in Mexico-- charges along with frightening intensity and wild-eyed, feverish delivery. Highly challenging, yes, and occasionally uncomfortable, but definitely worth it. --Todd
$15.00
ISBN: 9780316715973
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books - July 1st, 2002
Gritty, bloody-knuckled snapshots of broken households and lonely souls in rural Appalachia-- these studies of the long-term effects of grinding poverty were written with keen psychological insight and an occasionally surprising tenderness. Vivid, evocative language, too. --Todd
$20.00
ISBN: 9780140286014
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - June 1st, 2001
Ah, I do love a good meander, and exquisite essayist Solnit leads us on a great number of lovely ones in this collection of meditations on the best way of keeping the feet busy. Drawing from a wowing range of inspirations and disciplines, this savvy cultural history quite often tickles the noggin in delightfully unexpected ways. --Todd
$18.65
ISBN: 9781782271482
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Pushkin Press - May 5th, 2015
Tales of Longing and Liberation, by Stefan Zweig. True mastery of the short story form-- Zweig's delicately-nuanced, pitch-perfect explorations into heartbreak and exile wield a quiet but mighty power. Gorgeous writing with an enormous heart and a tremendous amount of psychological insight. Fun fact: Zweig delivered a eulogy at Sigmund Freud's funeral; the two were friends and mutual admirers. --Todd
$15.95
ISBN: 9780679744719
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - December 1st, 1992
A raw, bloody, teeth-baring powerhouse of a novel-- Baldwin spares us no punches in his desperate vision of post-war New York and the boozing, swinging, quarreling cast of artists and dreamers at the story's core. Bubbling and boiling away with racial, sexual, and socioeconomic tensions, there's a white-hot current of relentlessness that, frankly, makes this pretty much unputdownable. --Todd
