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The year has been bad, but the books will be good.

Staff Pick: Sleepless by Sarah Vaughn, Leila Del Duca, and Alissa Sallah

Recommended by Amy

Sleepless follows Lady Pyppenia who is left to navigate the throne changing hands and several assassination attempts after her father, the king, dies. The only person on her side is Cyrenic, a knight who has forsaken sleep in order to stay a constant guardian for Poppy. This book is lush, and romantic, and why don't I have book two already?!

What mattered was that I—this well-behaved, compliant young woman—was writing from deeper, darker places, reservoirs of anger I’d always denied were there.

#fb

“If the children are our best hope for changing the world, how do you speak to them directly without their parents getting in the way?”

Staff Pick: God Save Texas

Recommended by Ashley

As a native Texan, I felt an obligation to read this heartbreaking, radically political, and at times hilarious book. However, it not only addresses the lone star state, but instead uses Texas as a lens onto America as a whole. Texas is at a crossroads and the next move could change the course of America.

Now that we’ve officially reached the midpoint of 2018, it’s time to celebrate the best books we’ve read so far — i.e., our favorite fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published betw…

In “This Little Art,” Kate Briggs, a translator of Roland Barthes, ponders the challenges and mysteries of rendering an author’s words in a foreign language.

#barthes #roland

Staff Pick: Red State Blues - Stories from Midwestern Life on the Left

Recommended by Annie:

In the post-election scramble to understand the "forgotten people" of the Midwest and Rust Belt, many more Americans were forgotten - including those who have long fought for progressive values in places like Missouri and Ohio, and those members of the working class who are not white men. This collection spotlights the complex political stories lived out every day, in places that elude blanket statements about the middle of the country. While I grew up in rural western Pennsylvania (an experience I explore in the second piece in this book), that doesn't mean I instinctively understand the politics of Wisconsin or Michigan - but I understand them a little better after reading this book.

Staff Pick: Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag

Recommended by Anna

Sontag is a theoretical genius in the field of vision and its images; here, she takes on empathy and humanity amidst the media that bombard and form us-- the photographs that inform, saturate, overwhelm, and, perhaps, ultimately, numb us. Among what she plumbs: Has reality itself been too confused with the sensational? Can we turn from persons as easily as we turn the channel? Have our emotional processes evolved with technology, able to sincerely address the true suffering of others, projected into our social awareness at inhuman velocity? A short read that makes you think.

Staff Pick: The Desert and Its Seed by Jorge Barón Biza, translated by Camilo Ramirez

Recommended by Nefertiti

Jorge Barón Biza's storytelling is captivating: dark, bitter, and deceptively plain. Translated and published in English for the first time, this Argentinian classic follows our narrator as he cares for his mother - the victim of an acid attack - through the graphic disintegration of her flesh, and the subsequent attempts at its reconstruction. Taking place first in his native Argentina, then in Milan, Biza finds both humor and introspection in the absurd, the violent, and the traumatic.

Staff Pick: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Recommended by Shuchi

I fell in love with the tenacious, melancholy, endearing, and funny Keiko. The Convenience Store Woman turns without you realizing, from a story of a lonely, odd woman to sly social commentary to an inimitable and unforgettable novel.

We asked the folks at Brookline Booksmith, Harvard Book Store, Porter Square Books, and Trident Booksellers & Cafe for their recommendations.

#local

Essays from Zadie Smith, Arnhem from Antony Beevor and novels from Julian Barnes, Sarah Perry, Pat Barker, Rachel Cusk … and Bill Clinton. Place your book orders now

#books #poetry #biography #autobiography and memoir #fiction

Staff Pick: The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson

Recommended by Joell

My best friend told me she hugged this book when she finished so I felt compelled to pick it up. Acclaimed graphic novel artist, Leia Birch Briggs discovers her one tequila-fueled night with an anonymous Batman has found her pregnant. Now Leia must figure out how to tell her deeply-rooted Southern family while handling the mystery that is unraveling alongside her grandmother’s health. In the vein of “Fried Green Tomatoes,” Jackson spins a tale rich with humor, grace, and boundless love.

Leïla Slimani’s best-seller explores the dark relationship of a mother and her babysitter.

When he was nine, Javier Zamora came to the United States alone. Memories of the trek have come back to him as poetry.

Obama had some "extra time" on his hands this year

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