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AADL 2024 STAFF PICKS: WORDS
Books, audiobooks, graphic novels, comics, websites, and more:

ALYSE P. — PRODUCTION TECHNICIAN

High Vaultage
by Chris Sugden and Jen Sugden
(2024)
Chris and Jen Sugden, the creators of the Victoriocity podcast, have created a very fun world and cast of characters in their imaginings of a steampunk Victorian-era London where Queen Victoria is a steampunk monstrosity who is more machine than human. High Vaultage is their first novel and can be read as a standalone story by readers who haven’t heard the podcast, but the story follows the podcast’s protagonists, detective duo Clara Entwhistle and Inspector Archibald Fleet, as they investigate a series of crimes connected to the architects perpetually building the city of Even Greater London. While not the deepest plot, this sci-fi mystery has unexpected twists and turns, great world-building, and lots of absurd Douglas Adams-esque humor. {Website}

The Halloween Moon
by Joseph Fink
(2021)
Halloween-obsessed 13-year-old Esther Gold sneaks out for one last night of trick-or-treating but she soon feels like something is off. The full moon turns bright orange, all of the adults in town seem to be asleep, otherworldly children in tattered costumes roam the streets and younger siblings start to go missing—and to Esther, the night seems to be never-ending. This novel is middle-grade/YA coming-of-age fiction, but as a fan of Joseph Fink’s other work, such as Welcome to NightVale and The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home, I found The Halloween Moon to be a fun story with just the right amount of whimsically creepy Halloween monsters and mystery. {Website}

AMANDA S. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Jaws
by Peter Benchley
(1974)
I read this for the first time this past summer, and I’m mad that I didn’t read it sooner. Even if you’ve seen the movie 20 times like me, it’s worth a read. The audiobook is fantastic. {AADL}

Bite By Bite: Nourishments & Jamborees
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil   
(2024)
Another winner by this author. Nezhukumatathil is an essayist and poet, and this time the focus is food! Her gorgeous essays emit such a sense of memory and delight. She shares facts about foods while sharing personal stories related to them. It is one delicious book. {AADL}

You Like It Darker
by Stephen King 
(2024)
King released a new short story collection this year and it was actually good! It’s his best collection in a long while, and I’m not alone in that thought. I enjoyed all of the stories—and it’s at least worth reading for the little sequel to King’s 1974 novel Cujo. {AADL}

Slow Dance
by Rainbow Rowell
(2024)
I’ll read just about anything this author writes—she’s so talented—and this year she put out a new adult fiction book. Love stories aren’t my favorite, but she gets them so right. Read this one if you want an enjoyable will they/won’t they love story with so many great song references. (A few months ago I heard the author speak about the book and met her, and it was THE best.) {AADL}

Headshot
by Rita Bullwinkle
(2024)
A unique and wonderful book that really packs a punch. The writing is gorgeous, and you don’t have to like or understand boxing to enjoy this short novel. {AADL}

All Fours
by Miranda July
(2024)
The novel features a refreshing and mesmerizing look into the life of a middle-aged woman. I was delighted to see a steamy book that mentioned menopause so much! July reads the audiobook and I enjoyed that experience. {AADL}

AMANDA V. S. — GRAPHIC ARTIST

“The Tornado Auction”
Orange World and Other Stories
by Karen Russell
(2019)
{AADL}

The Secret Lives of Color
by Kassia St. Clair
(2017)
{AADL}

What Is a River? (picture book)
by Monika Vaicenavičienė
(2021)
{AADL}

Various Newsletters
Substack
I’ve found that I’m having a much nicer time on Substack as a social media platform because I’m able to really curate what I’m reading, and it feels so much less like a firehose of nonstop 200-characters-at-a-time of bite-size thoughts. So, I’ve been focusing mostly on the writers who focus on art and picture book illustrating/writing, as well as poetry, the environment, history, and current events. {Website}

ARTEMIS B. — DESK CLERK

Furia travesti: diccionario de la T a la T
by Marlene Wayar
(2021)
Marlene Wayar is an Argentinian sociologist and activist for transgender rights. Her book Furia travesti (which roughly translates to trans fury) is absolute magic. Through her own research and lived experiences, Wayar discusses the history of transgender justice in Argentina, presenting herself as both completely unreliable and the most trustworthy narrator possible. This book transformed the way that I think about gender and its role in our world, and it feels especially relevant in this historical moment. {Website}

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann (book) and Martin Scorsese (film adaptation)
(2017, 2023)
Both versions of this story are breathtaking (you can view the movie on Apple TV or Paramount Plus, or on a Delta flight like I did). David Grann is easily the most nuanced and gripping historical nonfiction storyteller I have ever read. He works with the Osage people to uncover and weave the stories of their systematic exploitation in an all-too-real murder mystery that has been largely written out of the dominant historical narrative. I cannot recommend this book enough. And Lily Gladstone is incomparable in the film version. {AADL}{Apple TV}{IMDB}

CHEYENNE F. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Poor Artists: A Quest Into the Art World
by Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad
(2024)
This is a very late entry, at the time of this writing I got this book two weeks ago and fully devoured it in a few days. Poor Artists is a surreal blend of art criticism served through a story of a young artist getting put through the contemporary "art world" wringer. The book consists of several vignettes based on real interviews with contemporary artists, tales of ghosts and zombies and other otherworldly creatures, and references to real contemporary art pieces and popular art world figures. It's honestly hard to explain, but it's a fun and thoughtful ride. {Website}

Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar
by Cynthia Carr
(2024)
This biography on Candy Darling, a Warhol Superstar, is one of the more thorough and thoughtful books on the late actress. {AADL}

Deliver Me
by Elle Nash
(2023)
While I don't shy away from "darker" books, I find it kind of hard to engage with horror novels. This year I decided to expand my reading preferences and found that this rather raw horror novel with control as the main theme was one of my favorites. Nash delivers a story that just feels gross and stifling, and despite everything I ended up still feeling sorry for the main character, who's truly just a woman trying to fit into a very restrictive and close-knit religious society. {AADL}

Brainwyrms
by Allison Rumfitt
(2023)
Another one of my favorite novels from my foray into horror was Brainwyrms, a body horror novel about obsession and pleasure. Cased within the extreme horror is a social commentary on the gender-critical movement currently amplifying in the U.K. due to being championed by several famous authors and writers. I think it's an incredibly smart book, but be warned it is also incredibly disgusting as far as body horror goes. Reader beware! {Website}

Cyberfeminism Index
by Mindy Seu
(2023)
The Cyberfeminism Index website is an amazing resource that catalogs various essays and interviews focusing on activism and the human self in the digital age. This book is very interesting, as it is a printed and slightly edited version of that website. This means that while everything is organized, the book contains abstracts and printed links to various essays that one would have to return to a computer to actually read. I think there's a lot to say about how this publication challenges the value of printed matter versus digital matter and the implications of putting a continuously updating resource list to print. I really appreciate having a physical copy of the index when I need to keep bookmarks on essays. {Website} {Website}

The Extreme Self
by Douglas Coupland, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Shumon Basar
(2021)
Keeping on the topic of technology, this bleak but somehow still fun graphic-novel-esque book takes a look at how the social-technological landscape has changed over the last few years. The format of this—mostly still images reminiscent of internet scrolling—allows for a lot of rather open-ended interpretations of the book that I find really interesting. I don't know if I agree with everything in it, but I know I had a lot of fun thinking about it. {Website}

The First Bad Man
by Miranda July
(2015)
I almost put this book down after the first two chapters. I picked it up after seeing it described as somewhat surreal and compelling but I wasn't quite getting that. I'm glad I finished though, because I found myself engrossed in this story of a repressed older woman entering an odd relationship with a volatile and angry young woman where their main similarity is they both want to be loved. {AADL}

Youth Mode: A Report of Freedom
by K-Hole
(2013)
After reading an interview on SSense with former members of the art collective K-HOLE about Youth Mode: A Report of Freedom, I was reminded of how great and still topical it is. This experimental trend forecast muses on the idea of uniqueness in fashion and subcultures collapsing onto itself, and what the next step will be when the "indie" scene eventually swallows itself whole. It's also where the term "normcore" came from, which is pretty cool. {Website}

Mornings in Jenin
by Susan Abulhawa
(2010)
I read this book earlier in 2024 after it was recommended to me by a friend, and throughout the year I've picked it back up several times. An oft-heartbreaking but also love-filled story of four generations of a Palestinian family affected by war and loss, this novel really captured my interest this year. I also really enjoyed how narratively experimental this book could be, as there are frequent shifts from narrators and tenses. {AADL}

Userlands: New Fiction From the Blogging Underground
edited by Dennis Cooper
(2007)
As I continued my journey to go through Dennis Cooper's bibliography, I found this collection of several short stories edited by him and was immediately charmed. Each story has a connection to blogs and the internet as it existed in the 2000s, whether it be explicitly in the text or through the author's connection to blogging. I'm drawn to how uneven this collection is, there's some interesting and very brutal short stories in between unrealized ideas and some half-baked poetry. I know I'm not selling this very well, but I think from a writing standpoint even the unsuccessful stories have some merit. I also reread this collection several times despite all that, so this is a glowing review honestly. {Website}

CHRISTOPHER B. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

My Stupid Intentions
by Bernardo Zannoni
(2023)
Everyone may compare this to Watership Down because it's told from the perspective of sentient animals. But this is much more brutal and electrifying. Archy is a marten (think weasel) with an abusive mother, a maimed foot, and a mad love for his own sister. The animals in this story waver between civilized behavior and their inescapable bestial nature. Religion and love provide more confusion than clarity to the characters as they try to navigate the meaning of their pointless lives. Also, heartbreaking. {AADL}

Zátopek: When You Can't Keep Going, Go Faster!
by Jan Novák
(2020)
I'm a sucker for Olympic come-from-behind stories. There's nothing better than an athlete from a small country taking home a gold medal. Emil Zátopek from Czechoslovakia was a tireless runner who dominated long-distance running by mastering his own will on the track and overcoming the Soviet Czech authorities off the track. Zátopek was known for his catchphrase "Today, we die a little" as well as his grimace of pain when running. When he went to the Olympics in 1952, he had never run a marathon professionally but entered the race and won! {AADL}

Orwell's Roses
by Rebecca Solnit
(2021)
Solnit weaves themes of roses, Orwell's life and works, and the passing of time into this wonderful collection of linked essays. Of all the ideas she explores here, the role of beauty and joy in the face of horror and despair is the one that will stay with me forever. I'm so late to the Solnit party and wish I had discovered her much sooner. {AADL}

How the Word Is Passed
by Clint Smith
(2021)
Smith deftly examines modern attitudes towards slavery and history and how collective memory is shaped. He looks squarely at the Lost Cause myth, Jefferson's horrible relationship with slavery, New York City's complicity in the slave trade, and much more. The whole book is structured like a travelogue as Smith stops at Angola Prison, Whitney Plantation, Galveston Island, Gorée Island, and other places of significance, each with its own lesson on slavery's legacy and the importance of understanding history. Deeply illuminating. {AADL}

Houses With a Story
by Seiji Yoshida
(2023)
This is a slim coffee table book full of the kinds of illustrations we used to dream of when we were 10 years old. Yoshida has painted watercolors of fantastical houses (Forgotten Orphan's Castle, the train of the Diesel Sisters, the WWII tank of the Secluded Information Broker, etc.) and depicts them in cutaway views. Arrows point to where the food is kept, where secret rooms are or any other special features of each house or its inhabitants. These are wonderful settings for your daydreams. If you loved the book Gnomes and all the cutaway views of life underground, you will love this too.{AADL}

Rat Time
by Keilor Roberts
(2019)
I can't believe I just discovered Keilor Roberts, only to find out she may be all done drawing. In Rat Time, she portrays her life and strange thoughts in six-panel stories. Her minimalist, scrawling images and her characters' lack of expression are the funniest things I've seen in a long time. In a strip about trying to resist eating so much cake, she ends with the line, "The most disgusting thing I ever did was to express Crooky's anal glands. If only I could associate that memory with eating sugar." {AADL}

Rates of Exchange
by Malcolm Bradbury
(1983)
Almost 35 years after a friend's recommendation, I found this book through MeLCat. It's the fictional story of a linguistics professor and his trip to the made-up Eastern European country of Slaka. Some readers see the depiction of Slaka as mean-spirited, but I loved the cultural clash between the professor's expectations and the Soviet reality of Slakan life. The book is quite funny at first and I kept reading the lines of dialogue in Borat's voice. Then the tone switches as the professor falls in love with a blacklisted writer. It's a jumble of impressions and emotions and captures so well the off-kilter feeling of being alone in an unfamiliar country. {MeLCat}

CHARLIE H. — DESK CLERK

Walking Practice
by Dolki Min
(2023)
An intense, visceral story of a shapeshifting alien stranded on Earth, trying to remain undetected by humans while also desperately needing them to survive. {AADL}

CRYSTA C. — DESK CLERK

Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials
by Marion Gibson
(2024)
This was not only a fascinating trip through history but around the world as well. There were episodes in U.S. history that I had never heard of before. {AADL}

Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist
by Jennifer Wright
(2023)
As the saying goes, what a woman! I had never heard of Madame Restell or, really, the history of abortion in the 19th century. She may have been quite the character, but her methods seem to have been sound, and there is a lot to learn from her even today. {Libby}

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson
(2020)
This book casts (no pun intended) the U.S. in a different light that actually makes a lot of sense of our complicated history and how it relates to our current climate. An engrossing read. {AADL}

Abroad in Japan: Ten Years in the Land of the Rising Sun
by Chris Broad
(2023)
The first book by popular YouTuber Chris Broad. I've been a fan of Chris's YouTube channel, Abroad in Japan, for a few years now, and it was great to learn about what brought him to Japan, his first meeting with channel favorite Natsuki, and the origins of some of the oft-repeated phrases on the channel such as "like a magic." Whether or not you are familiar with Chris and his channel, this book is an excellent look at life in the more rural side of Japan that isn't often shown or talked about. A fun and easy read. {AADL}

A Dark and Drowning Tide
by Allison Saft
(2024)
If you love magic, fairy tales, and sapphic romance, this is the book for you. Incredibly atmospheric with a main character who is incredibly hard on herself and probably suffering from PTSD. I would read more books set in this world should they be written. {AADL}

Bride
by Ali Hazelwood
(2024)
Another romantasy that was cute and really fun to read. {AADL}

Lava Red Feather Blue
by Molly Ringle
(2021)
A contemporary same-gender retelling of Sleeping Beauty (a prince this time!) set on a hidden island in the Pacific Ocean with modern conveniences like cars and cell phones and ancient antagonists like fairies and curses. {AADL}

The Secret of the Lady's Maid
by Darcie Wilde
(2023)
This is the seventh book in the Rosalind Thorne mysteries, one of my absolute favorites. I did not know until this book was released last year that Darcie Wilde is a local author! And because these books are so popular, I wasn't able to get my hands on this one until this year. I devoured it! {Libby}

Funny Story
by Emily Henry
(2024)
I have yet to read a disappointing book by Emily Henry. I found the romance in this one particularly charming. {AADL}

Blue Flag, Volumes 1-8
by Kaito
(2020-2021)
This manga series is a realistic view of high schoolers first coming to terms with their various sexualities, romantic and interpersonal relationships, and what it means to grow up. No spoilers, but there is a happy ending! {AADL}

DANI G. — BOOK PRO

Innkeeper Chronicles (series)
by Ilona Andrews
(2013)
This book series found me in a roundabout way. One of my friends creating a character for our Dungeons and Dragons group mentioned a character from book two or three as being her inspiration for her character. It wasn't long after that I found myself devouring this novella series over the weekend. It is a cozy fantasy romance series centered on an Inn that is a waystation for people to stay on Earth as they pass through the solar system. The Innkeeper is a person who gets their magic from the Inn, and they ensure that it stays a neutral, welcoming place for people to pass through. But keeping it a secret from the surrounding suburb or nosy neighbors is a tough job, especially when one of the neighbors is also a magical being. It's honestly so fun and the books are short, fast-paced reads. {AADL}{Website}

Funny Story
by Emily Henry
(2024)
I read pretty much every Emily Henry novel that comes out. They are perfect for book slumps, and quick summer reads. The main man in this story is so Nick Miller coded in the best ways. Is it a perfect book? No, but when you read it when you need a pick-me-up or a change of pace, it gets pretty close. {AADL}

Murderbot Diaries
by Martha Wells
(2017)
This is my husband's favorite book series, and so I have been working my way through it. I'm such a sucker for found family in books like this, and interesting takes on robots and their autonomy. I think if you enjoyed A Pslam for the Wildbuilt by Becky Chambers or maybe even movies like I Robot or Ex Machina, then you should give this series a go! {AADL}

ELLE B. — LIBRARIAN

Jade City
by Fonda Lee
(2017)
There’s twists. There’s turns. There’s family drama. There’s turf war. There’s an approachable magic system. There's it is in our catalog —> {AADL}

The Charm Offensive
by Alison Cochrun
(2021)
Can you imagine if the star of The Bachelor fell in love with not one of his contestants, but his handler???? Alison Cochrun did. This book is a funny yet gentle tale about learning to be true to oneself, supporting those around you, and finding love (of course!) {AADL}

The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
(2012)
Read this book and probably cry, too. Then watch the comically bad 2004 movie Troy and appreciate this book all the more. {AADL}

Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s
by Sarah Ditum
(2024)
This eye-opening examination of the tabloid’s treatment of women in the 2000s will make you reassess your own biases and challenge you to look closely at the lasting impression those years had on our culture and society at large. {AADL}

Love, Theoretically
by Ali Hazelwood
(2023)
There’s not much to say other than Ali Hazelwood just knows how to write a good romance. Plus women in STEM?? Gimme more. Oh wait, SHE DID. {AADL}

Light From Uncommon Stars
by Ryka Aoki
(2021)
I picked up this book knowing nothing about it and have no regrets. This one kept me on my toes from start to finish. I laughed. I cried. I went to outer space. {AADL}

Braiding Sweetgrass
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
(2013)
A beautiful blend of natural science and indigenous wisdom. This is a book to read (or listen to) slowly to ensure you take it all in. Everyone should read this book and then go outside. {AADL}

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
by Aimee Nazhukumatahil
(2020)
There is something so simple and so beautiful about taking flora or fauna from this wild world and applying knowledge about it to the human experience. I’d recommend reading a chapter with your morning coffee/tea/Diet Coke and ruminating on it throughout the day. {AADL}

The Magic Fish
by Trung Le Nguyen
(2020)
This GORGEOUS graphic novel is one stunning example how fairytales can cross language barriers and bring people together. {AADL}

The Fifth Season
by N.K. Jemisin
(2015)
This is on my short list of favorite books I’ve read this year. This fantasy novel powerfully weaves the lives of three women together during a time of cataclysmic upheaval. {AADL}

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
by Lori Gottlieb
(2019)
This therapist's journey of going to therapy hits all the right notes. Also ... go to therapy. {AADL}

ELLEN L. — DESK CLERK 

Holler Rat
by Anya Liftig
(2023)
For those pondering whether or not to read Hillbilly Elegy, or, for those like me who have read it and closed the book feeling unfulfilled, I offer you Anya Liftig's Holler Rat as an alternate and refreshing perspective. Growing up with one foot in the Appalachian region and another in affluent Connecticut, Lifitg's memoir is a refreshing perspective of living in the chasm between these two extremes of upbringing, moving from stories of her childhood summers in the hills of eastern Kentucky, to the beginnings of her adult life at Yale and beyond. This memoir is dark yet gut-punch hilarious, full of brief interludes recounting the author's performance art, and there is no soapbox heralding that life in a certain region is something that one needs to escape that many other memoirs about life in Appalachia suggest. I have been recommending this book to everyone this year, but I especially recommend Holler Rat to anyone looking for a small window into the true complexities of life in Appalachia. {AADL}

A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Becky Chambers
(2021)
I don't remember the last time I read anything from the sci-fi genre before I was recommended this book, but now it is one of the only genres of fiction I read. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a utopian solarpunk novella that searches for the answer to philosophical questions through a beautifully pleasant and cozy story. There isn’t much of traditional action as one would expect from a fiction piece, but that is a feature of the Solarpunk genre in general. There isn’t really anything we would usually describe as “conflict,” so conflict revolves around the main characters’ philosophical discussions and personal anxieties (sorry to everyone expecting an epic laser-blaster-filled, humans-vs.-evil-robots battle). I look forward to reading the sequel, A Prayer for the Crown Shy! {AADL}

ELI — LIBRARY DIRECTOR

Neal Stephenson
Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell
(2019)
A sort-of-sequel to 2011's terrific REAMDE featuring cameos from many other Stephenson families, Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell explores the idea of a digital afterlife. While it's a hackneyed sci-fi staple, it's rare to see an imagining of how such a thing got started and how it impacted society. The world inside the simulation is pretty dull, but what was happening outside in the "real" world of the book kept me turning the pages. {AADL}

EMILY H. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

The Believer: Encounters With the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle
by Sarah Krasnostein
(2022)
This is probably my favorite book I’ve read all year. I went into it thinking it would be somewhat dry reportage on why people believe things that most others don’t (e.g., aliens, ghosts, etc.). Instead, it is a series of intertwined stories about people who have no connection except Krasnostein’s eminently humanizing writing. She works hard to understand people who would be easy to dismiss. You feel a deep empathy with some of them by the end of the book, while others alienate both Krasnostein and us through their instance of the superiority of their beliefs. In both cases, The Believer is a testament to the power of viewing someone across the divide of belief and choosing to see their full humanity anyway. If you’re looking for factual essays on mass delusion or cognitive biases, this book will be a disappointment. It does not have an overarching narrative or lesson. But I’m glad it turned out not to be what I expected because it was better than I could have predicted. Read it for the experience rather than the information to be extracted from it. {AADL}

The Vegan Chinese Kitchen
by Hannah Che
(2022)
This is an excellent introduction to plant-based Chinese cuisine. It has taught me more about the history of Chinese food and cooking techniques than any other cookbook I’ve read and all the recipes I have tried in it are delicious. (I am a convert to cooked lettuce! It’s amazing!) While the fake meat industry in the U.S. has only started hitting its stride in the past few years, Chinese cooks have been doing the “impossible” by creating fake meats out of wheat and soy protein for over a millennium. And then there are the wonders of tofu, which was never intended to be a substitute for meat and has a proud history of being a delicious food in its own right. In essays interspersed with recipes throughout the book, Che talks about her own journey as a vegan and changing views towards plant-based eating in contemporary China, as well as some touching stories about her family. If you’re new to cooking Chinese food at home, you will need to seek out some ingredients to make most of the recipes. Fortunately, we live in an area with multiple Chinese grocery options, and finding most of the ingredients in the book is not difficult. {AADL}

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
by Zoë Schlanger
(2024)
In 1973, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird published The Secret Life of Plants, a wildly popular book that made some wild claims about plant sentience. The book had pop culture appeal but drew harsh criticism from the scientific community—so much so that any research into what might be called “plant intelligence” was stymied for decades. Fifty years later, journalist Zoë Schlanger began to follow the work of scientists quietly making mind-blowing discoveries about how plants grow, communicate, and defend themselves against threats. While plants may not have neurons, they demonstrate abilities to adapt to their surroundings in real time that can’t be called anything but intelligent. This book is both a compelling tale about the intelligence of plants and a cautionary tale about how intellectual prejudices can stifle scientific research. {AADL}

What It Is
by Linda Barry
(2008)
Barry was already a legend in the world of underground comics when she made this hybrid memoir/instruction manual. She tells how her childhood of poverty and abuse almost killed her creative spirit and how she saved it. The book is centered on Barry’s concept of the Image—memories and ideas that live not just in our minds, but are experienced with our whole body. Art, in Barry’s conception, is created out of images and anyone can tap into images with just a little work. Even if you’re not interested in the exercises, What It Is is worth reading as a memoir of creativity. A great companion to the book is this hour-long talk that Barry gave at the Stamps School of Design. I was charmed from start to finish. {YouTube} {AADL}

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
(1886)
I never would have picked this book up, except that it was assigned reading for a class I was teaching as a graduate student over a decade ago. We all know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—one is good, the other is bad, but they’re actually the same person who changes form via a potion. I had never thought this book was worth reading because I already knew the “spoilers." But I was wrong: It has merits that go far beyond the big revelation. The way Stevenson constructs the tale is ingenious and the last few pages are breathtaking, even when you know what’s going to happen. This summer I reconnected to it by reading the entirety of it out loud to a person who was recovering from surgery. It’s less than 100 pages, so a great choice for a read-aloud. Save it for rainy, spooky evenings. {AADL}

GRETCHEN T. — BOOKSHELVER/PROCESSOR

Animorphs: The Graphic Novel
by Katherine Applegate
(2020)
I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to revisit a series I really loved when I was younger, and the graphic novels currently being released are a great way to do that. The visuals (probably along with age and experience) added a lot to the stories for me: It's so clear that these are kids that are in way over their heads trying to buy time while off-planet backup arrives to deal with an alien invasion. Between the designs of the alien creatures, the way certain scenes are rendered, and the fact that the visual medium allows the story to lean much more into the sci-fi horror elements, I think this is a great adaptation of the original series, and I can clearly see the groundwork for some of the more nuanced issues on topics like war and propaganda that the series delves into in later installments. This is a definite recommendation for the fellow nostalgic adult as well as for bigger kids who can handle the scary and sometimes gross situations and are beginning to grapple with complicated questions about the world, their place in it, and what they can do to make it better. {AADL}

Night of the Living Cat
by Hawkman
(2022)
Stay with me here: a mostly by-the-numbers zombie apocalypse story, but the outbreak is cats, and they're carrying a contagion that turns people who touch them into cats. The gritty art style and common zombie tropes and cliches juxtaposed with the adorable and oftentimes extreme silliness of the entire "the apocalypse but with cats" situation is pitch-perfect. The moment that a character lamented the fact that they were condemned to live in a world where they couldn't love cats or squeeze their toe beans anymore, I was all in. If you're a cat person or have ever enjoyed a cat meme, please at least try the first volume. {AADL}

Killers of a Certain Age
by Deanna Raybourn
(2022)
This novel was a ton of fun. It's probably a little predictable if you're a frequent mystery reader, but this is the sort of mystery where you care more about the characters' interactions and inner worlds than you do the plot. We don't see a lot of older women getting to act out spy or action tropes, and yet here they are, trying to figure out who's been sent to assassinate them after they retire from their agency with some flashbacks of them working when they were in their prime. If you like the film Red starring Bruce Willis, it's comparable in tone and content, but with many more jokes about menopause. {AADL}

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea
by Rebecca Thorne
(2022)
I've been loving the cozy fantasy trend, and this novel was no exception. The stakes in Thorne's novel are closer to those of a more conventional fantasy novel compared to titles like Legends & Lattes, but the more epic plot is more of a side focus compared to the romance between our two leads. Most of our narrative weight is placed on the very flawed Reyna and Kianthe as they navigate a relationship upgrade, move to a new city, and start a bookshop and tea store, but you still get some fantasy world politics and dragons if that's the sort of thing you can't have a fantasy story without. {AADL}

HALEY Y. — DESK CLERK

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
by Noor Naga
(2022)
This experimental novel tells the story of a tumultuous romance between an Egyptian American woman and an Egyptian man and the devastating aftermath of their relationship. Told in three parts and from two different perspectives, this thought-provoking piece challenges the reader to reflect on power and class dynamics, and the explicitly harmful and implicitly violent effects that these dynamics can have on an individual. {AADL}

Annihilation
by Jeff VanderMeer
(2014)
I'm definitely behind the times with this one, but I'm very glad that I finally picked it up. There is so much more to this ecological sci-fi/horror than I was expecting, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy and its surprise fourth novel, Absolution. {AADL}

Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power
by Leah Redmond Chang
(2023)
In Young Queens, Leah Redmond Chang skillfully weaves together the stories of Catherine de' Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary Queen of Scots. Before I picked up this book, I didn't know much about these women or the times in which they lived. Chang explains the complicated politics and events that were happening throughout Europe during this time in a way that is easy to follow. {AADL}

HEIDI M. — ARCHIVES LIBRARIAN

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir
by Curtis Chin
(2023)
Readers in the know will recognize landmarks in 1980s Detroit and Ann Arbor, and what it feels like to grow up gay and finally come out. The family restaurant, which welcomed everybody from drag queens to Mayor Coleman Young, is the perfect window into Chin's extended family and the surrounding community. {AADL}

To Shape a Dragon's Breath
by Moniquill Blackgoose
(2023)
Like most fantasy books, there's a bit of a learning curve to become familiar with place names and concepts, but readers join protagonist Anequs in this journey because she is leaving her home island for the first time to attend a school among Anglish people and must learn their culture in order to save her dragon's life. {AADL}

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date
by Ashley Herring Blake
(2023)
This LGBTQ+ romance is the third in the Bright Falls series, and it's a fun read that I found more emotionally compelling than the previous books. Feelings of anxiety and worthlessness threaten to keep main characters Iris and Stevie locked into their routines unless they are brave enough to choose a different path. {AADL}

The Locked Room
by Elly Griffiths
(2022)
If you like Louise Penny or Laurie R. King, I'd recommend the Ruth Galloway mystery series, which is set on the coast of Norfolk, England, and features a forensic archaeology professor who works with local police to identify bones during murder investigations. This second-to-last book finds Ruth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic (so beware if you're not ready to revisit lockdown, even fictionally). {AADL}

ISH H. — BOOK PRO

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
by Natasha Pulley
(2015)
Set in Victorian London and war-torn Japan, filled with magic, mystery, and gentle love, Pulley will take you on an unexpected beautiful journey. This is the best book I've read in a very long time. {AADL}

Gender: Your Guide
by Dr. Lee Airton
(2018)
If you're reading this and you're cis, that is your gender happens to match the gender you were assigned at birth, then this book is for you. It's a wonderful primer that breaks down terms and explains the full gender landscape. It also provides helpful examples you can practice to do your part to build more inclusive and safe spaces for those of us (like me) who aren't cis. {AADL}

JOE K. — BOOK PROCESSOR

City of Last Chances
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
(2022)
I saw this book while shelving and thought it had a cool cover. Super glad I picked it up. This is definitely my favorite fantasy of the year and possibly my favorite of all time. {AADL}

True Grit
by Charles Portis
(1968)
A commanding classic. {AADL} 

The Golden Age (L'âge d'or), books 1 & 2
by Roxanne Moreil (author), Cyril Pedrosa (author, illustrator)
(2018-2020)
A comic book that I found this year while shelving. It has a super cool throwback art style and a compelling story of internal conflict and revolution. {AADL} {MeLCat}

Middlemarch
by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
(1872)
A super-cool co-worker recommended this book to me, and it came through big time. Not a book I would have read ordinarily, but I really loved it, and now I won't stop telling people to read it. {AADL}

Human Acts
by Han Kang
(2014)
I feel that every adult should read this book. An extremely emotional and tragic fiction based on the events of the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea. {AADL}

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer
by Fredrik Backman
(2015)
An emotionally gripping story of a grandfather dying of Alzheimer's and his relationship with his grandson, written by the "man in the middle." {AADL}

JOSH H. — DESK CLERK

Compound Fracture
by Andrew Joseph White
(2024)
Quickly becoming one of my favorite horror writers out there, Andrew Joseph White’s new book, Compound Fracture, does not miss. Miles Abernathy’s family has had a blood feud with the Davies ever since his pro-union miner great-great-grandfather Saint was killed by a Davies. Raised in a pressure cooker of fear, anger, injustice, and hatred toward Sheriff Davies, Miles jumps at the chance to expose his wrongdoings. Except it all goes wrong, and instead of being the hero, Miles is sent to the hospital after being beaten within an inch of his life by Sheriff Davies’ son. Not only is Miles recovering from this but he is also suddenly seeing the ghost of Saint everywhere and trying to figure out how, exactly, to get revenge on Davies. An absolutely brutal read that even got me frightened, I highly recommend it for its nuanced takes on morality and social issues (including trans rights and disability), but I also caution for frank brutality, gore, transphobia towards the main character, and addiction issues. Only read if you’re ready for an intense ride. {AADL}

The Prospects
by KT Hoffman
(2024)
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not really one for romance books. I’m usually bored, frustrated, or just plain confused about why I’m supposed to be rooting for these characters. So it was surprising when I found myself enjoying and rooting for Gene and Luis’ sweet rivalry in KT Hoffman’s debut novel, The Prospects. It was refreshing to read a romance between a gay Romanian Jewish trans man MC and a very anxious Latino love interest, both of whom have flaws and face serious pressures as minor league baseball players looking to make it big. And there’s no miscommunication trope—just other very messy issues. Bonus points for the exploration of the ins and outs of baseball if you’re a big baseball fan like me. Go Tigers! {AADL}

Witch Hat Atelier
by Kamome Shirahama
(2016- )
Witch Hat Atelier is, without a doubt, one of the most gorgeous manga I’ve ever read. Kamome Shirahama’s shading and paneling work are beyond belief, and both are used to expand on the series’ themes by evoking 17th-18th century fairy tale prints and weaving in subtle imagery. Coco’s introduction to magic begins from a thrilled naivete, but it quickly becomes apparent that because of the way witch society is set up, she will be constantly fighting an uphill battle against a gated community determined to keep its secrets—even if the tools they have could drastically improve the lives of non-witches. {AADL}

Hiraeth: The End of the Journey
by Yuhki Kamatani
(2020-2022)
If Yuhki Kamatani has zero fans, I am no longer on Earth. They’re known for emotionally complex character arcs and serious explorations of what it means to be alive (and what that means to individual people—there is no one absolute, right answer). Hiraeth follows these themes closer than any of their previous works, with junior high student Mika pursuing death to join her friend in the afterlife and getting pulled into an adventure with a god traveling to the afterlife and an immortal man, Hibino. The art and imagery are beautiful, tying in perfectly with the hard-hitting questions about grief, suicide, and the will to survive. Unfortunately, there are no English physical copies, but it is available online or in other languages in physical format. Warnings for suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal ideation. {Website}

KATIE D.W. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Somewhere Beyond the Sea
by TJ Klune
(2024)
TJ Klune is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. I was a bit hesitant about it, since I loved the original so much and was afraid that the sequel wouldn’t live up to it. Those fears were baseless, and I loved this one just as much as the original. There are plenty of laughs and heartwarming moments to balance out the darker and more challenging aspects of the book. I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book on Libby. Daniel Henning, the narrator, gives each character a voice and life of their own {AADL}

Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting
Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem
by Roseanne A. Brown
(2022) (2023)
This series is part of the “Rick Riordan presents” collection of books. The stories are based on Ghanaian folklore and follow 12-year-old vampire slayer Serwa Boateng. The plot is fast-paced and there is plenty of action. There are a few scary and suspenseful moments, but nothing too intense. The second book in the series moves a little slower and introduces more of an internal struggle for Serwa, but the plot is still engaging. I’m excited to read the third book in this series when it’s released next year. I liked listening to the audio version of these books to learn the proper pronunciation of the Ghanaian words included. {AADL}

The Guncle Abroad
by Steven Rowley
(2024)
My book club read the first book in this series, The Guncle, and enjoyed it so much that we voted to read the sequel when it was released. This book takes place five years after the events of the original. Patrick (the Guncle) is on a trip through Europe with his niece and nephew. There are plenty of funny moments as well as heartwarming ones. The book continues to deal with the theme of moving on from loss and does so in a compassionate and sensitive way. Steven Rowley reads the audio version of this book and does a great job! {AADL}

Parasol Protectorate series
by Gail Carriager
(2009-2012)
I am a big fan of steampunk and so I practically devoured this entire series. The worldbuilding is detailed enough to be interesting, but not too overwhelming. The series takes place in an alternate Victorian London, where supernatural creatures (werewolves, vampires, and ghosts) are a (mostly) accepted part of British society. The story and the characters are a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. I also read and enjoyed The Finishing School series and The Custard Protocol series, which take place in the same universe as the Parasol Protectorate series and share some characters. However, I liked this one the best. {AADL}

EILEEN W. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Big
by Vashti Harrison
(2023)
Everything about this picture book is GORGEOUS, particularly the art, which manages to be vivid while still possessing a striking softness. I'm delighted, but not surprised it won the Caldecott this year. When the baby is young, being called "big" is praise. But as she grows up, people use "big" to hurt her and treat her differently. Eventually, she learns not to make herself small but to make more room for herself.  {AADL}

A Blue Kind of Day
by Rachel Tomlinson, illustrated by Tori-Jay Mordey
(2022)
A simple, poignant picture book narrative about a kid, Coen, going through an episode of depression, and how his family supports him and allows him to listen to what his body needs. The kind of book we all need, not just kids. {AADL}

The Café at the Edge of the Woods
by Mikey Please
(2024)
In this picture book, Rene has worked incredibly hard to open her own restaurant and has some elevated ideas about food ... but no customers. That is until her one and only employee (a waiter by the name of Glumfoot) goes out and finds one for her: an ogre who'd prefer "pickled bats that smell like farts" to truffle stew and cheddar tart with chopped artichoke heart. Rene (after a meltdown) perseveres, determined to do her best and keep making the food she wholeheartedly loves, but it'll take the help of Glumfoot to market it to her new monstrous clientele. A lively art style and a fun read for foodie adults with enough kid humor ("fried poops" anyone?) to keep kids delighted and engaged. {AADL}

We Don't Eat Our Classmates!
by Ryan T. Higgins
(2018)
It's Penelope Rex's first day at school in this picture book. And she may have just eaten her classmates. Because children taste delicious. Her teacher makes Penelope spit them all out, but now no one wants to be friends with her. Yes, it's a book about empathy, but the visuals and punchy humor appeal to my (somewhat dark) adult sense of humor. {AADL}

Bride
by Ali Hazelwood
(2024)
After three wildly successful contemporary romance novels about women in STEM, I was curious to see if Hazelwood's foray into paranormal romance would flop or fly. Turns out, Bride was even better than I could imagine. Like her other heroines, Misery (yes, her given name is Misery) is erudite and whip-smart, this protagonist just happens to be a blood-drinking vampire about to be married off to a werewolf in a glorified hostage exchange. While some might think that she's made a career of being the hostage that keeps the peace between the three facets of society (human, vampire, and werewolf), she'd prefer to have just stayed disguised as a human, a white hat hacker with a nice mundane cover job. But little is as it seems, and I'm delighted to report that I did not see all of the twists coming. I'd recommend Bride for Hazelwood fans and romantasy fans of all stripes. {AADL}

Fall of Ruin and Wrath
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
(2023)
Romantasy readers are incredulous when I say I like Fall of Ruin and Wrath better than I liked ACOTAR, but it's true. I sincerely hope the rest of this devastating fantasy romance series (which isn't out yet :sobbing-emoji: ), is as good as this first book that caused me to stay up reading way beyond my bedtime. {AADL}

Magic Claims
by Ilona Andrews
(2024)
If you were sad that the magic and action Kate Daniels saga steeped in myth and folklore ended at book 10 with Magic Triumphs, fear not: Kate and Curran are back. Magic Triumphs was the end of the series that the author duo (Ilona Andrews is the pen name for the husband-wife team Ilona and Andrew Gordon, if you hadn't heard) had under contract with their traditional publisher, but on their own, they started releasing continuation short stories and novellas dubbed the "The Wilmington Years" beginning with the novella Magic Tides (same Kate, new location). Only the "short" aspect of this endeavor quickly went by the wayside (yay!). The newest addition, Magic Claims, is a full novel. The story makes a pivot that suggests that the "quiet" Wilmington Years are over and Kate & Curran are about to set up a different lifestyle: they're doing some titular claiming of land ... will that land become Shinar? A Kingdom for Kate? A second Keep for Curran? These are the questions that make me really excited about this book and the ones to come. But in this story, we also get to see some AWESOME prehistoric North American animals, which reminds me that Curran's beast form is based on an actual gray prehistoric North American lion. If you haven't read any Kate Daniels books, I recommend going back to the beginning, Magic Bites, rather than starting here; Magic Bites is possibly the worst book in the series, but it is the beginning. If you like urban fantasy action books, well-written fight scenes, fantasy worlds with post-apocalyptical flavoring, dashes of romance, and the amazing slow reveal of a deep deep backstory over multiple novels, pick up these books—you'll be completely hooked by book three. {AADL}

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
by Deya Muniz
(2023)
A funny and sweet graphic novel full of cheese puns and self-discovery. When Camembert's father (who is in poor health) realizes Cam isn't interested in marrying a man, he suggests she disguise herself as a man to inherit his estate. And though Cam tries to keep a low profile, she ends up falling for Crown Princess Brie. Ostensibly for teens, but adults will love this one too. {AADL}

EMILY M. — LIBRARIAN

Greta & Valdin
by Rebecca K. Reilly
(2024)
Young adult siblings Greta & Valdin are both trying to find their way in the world. Unusual family dynamics, lovable characters, neurodivergence, queerness, and the opportunity to learn about a culture I'm less familiar with (in this case, Aboriginal Australians)—this book had it all for me. It made me laugh, it made think, it made me tear up, and I read it over the course of two days. {AADL}

KIM G. — DESK CLERK

Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends
by Crysta K Coburn and Kay Gray
(2024)
Look, I'm going to toot my own horn, OK? I co-wrote this book with another desk clerk and long-time partner in paranormal. We covered just about every inch of Ypsilanti looking for ghosts, and boy did we find them! This book is a healthy mix of history and haunts, with some true crime and UFOs thrown in for good measure! If you're into local history, or any aspect of the paranormal (especially in our community), this is the book for you! {AADL}

Love and Other Conspiracies
by Mallory Marlowe
(2024)
It's like this book was written for me specifically. It's got cryptids, UFOs, ghosts, and Marlowe really knows her stuff! The research is so well done and so thorough! It's also set in Los Angeles, where I'm from. I swear, it's like I psychically told this author that I needed this book. And her characters are nerdy and insecure and willing to learn! It's just the perfect book for those who are into the paranormal, and like to escape into romance books, too. {AADL}

Not in Love
by Ali Hazelwood
(2024)
It's no surprise I'm in love with Ali Hazelwood books. This one hits differently and perhaps even harder than some of her others. This is the first dual POV novel of hers, and it only strengthens her already incredible writing. Getting to see the insecurities, miscommunications, and deep personal thoughts of both Rue and Eli intensified the emotions in this one tenfold. Hazelwood really knows her issues! And she writes everyone as sympathetic; even when I don't agree with a character's actions, I know why they acted the way they did. Honestly, the only downside was that the main love interest has the same name as the AADL director! {AADL}

Most Ardently
by Gabe Cole Novoa
(2024)
I love every Remixed Classic I have read. And this one is at the top of my list so far. Oliver is so fully fleshed out and so relatable, and this book is a great, easy way to learn about how some people feel about their bodies, their genders, their expressions, and their struggles. Most Ardently is cozy, comfortable, familiar, and yet kept me page-turning to see how Novoa changed the story, and to stay within Oliver's presence just a little longer. I cannot express how much I love this book! {AADL}

The Mothman Prophecies (audiobook)
by John A. Keel
(2002)
It's no secret that I am into the paranormal. And despite the subject being ghosts, or Bigfoot, or aliens, a lot of the writing is dry, formulaic, or just too... textbook-ish. But Keel has always known how to capture the interest of a reader and keep them until the last page. And this narrator, Craig Wasson, carries Keel's personality through perfectly. If you were ever curious about where Mothman came from, or what that whole Point Pleasant thing is about, I highly recommend you start here. {Chirp}

LILY W. — PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATE

Clear
by Carys Davies
(2024)
Want a read-it-in-a-day novella that’s weird and tender and very queer? Of course you do! Historical fiction at its best, this plot hinges on the interesting (if niche) history of the Scottish Highland clearances and the development of the Presbyterian Church. I especially liked the split perspective between the three main characters: John Ferguson, a minister; Ivar, a Nordic island hermit; and Mary, John’s irrepressible wife. Both melancholy and surprisingly hopeful, this is perfect for fans of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These or Rosalie K. Fry's The Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry. {AADL}

The Swifts: A Gallery of Rogues
by Beth Lincoln and Claire Powell
(2024)
If you missed the first Swifts book last year, it's time to get caught up on this stellar new middle-grade mystery series. With an inclusive cast of quirky characters, twisty puzzles, and heaps of witty wordplay, it's perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket or Blue Balliett. In this second installment, Shenanigan Swift and her boisterous family set off to Paris to meet their French relatives and investigate a series of international art heists. But of course, things are not what they seem, and before long the Swifts are juggling a couple of dead bodies, double-crossing cousins, and a century-old secret with the power to topple the Swift legacy. Equal parts funny, sweet, and politically astute, I think A Gallery of Rogues might be even better than Lincoln's debut. {AADL}

The Best Poems of Jane Kenyon
by Jane Kenyon
(2020)
The all-time best poems from one of my all-time favorite poets. This is the perfect slim book to carry in your purse for a month, pulling out anytime you need a quick dose of beauty. I particularly recommend "Having It Out With Melancholy" and "September Garden Party." {AADL}

Brooms
by Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall
(2024)
Imagine if A League of Their Own were set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi. Now add witches. That's Brooms! A beautiful graphic-novel rendition of the classic underdog sports story. Walls explores racism, Chinese immigration, trans identity, and the history of Native boarding schools, but these heavy topics are all sandwiched in an essentially joyful, magical story of friendship and overcoming the odds. I'll be honest—the epilogue made me cry. I love to see women succeed! {AADL}

America Redux: Visual Stories From Our Dynamic History
by Ariel Aberg-Riger
(2023)
The history book I wish I'd had as a teenager. With gorgeous collage art and short, readable chapters, I love the way this book presents the American story. Breaking from a more traditional chronological presentation, Aberg-Riger instead highlights the tangled web of relationships between events throughout time. Learn about everything from the struggle for Hawaiian sovereignty to jazz music in Japanese internment camps. Aberg-Riger's incisive tone occasionally reveals personal bias but her commitment to uncovering forgotten stories makes this a must-read. {AADL}

LOREN B. — DESK CLERK

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book Two
by Emil Ferris
(2024)
{Website}

Sophie's Squash Go to School
by Pat Zietlow Miller and Anne Wilsdorf
(2016)
{AADL}

Life After Whale
by Lynn Brunelle and Jason Chin
(2024)
{AADL}

LUCY S. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Martyr!
by Kaveh Akbar
(2024)
{AADL}

Ghosts
by Dolly Alderton
(2021)
{AADL}

Orbital
by Samantha Harvey
(2023)
{AADL}

Beautyland
by Helen-Marie Bertino
(2024)
{AADL}

A Psalm for the Wild Built
by Becker Chambers
(2021)
{AADL}

James
by Percival Everett
(2024)
{AADL}

The Partition Project
by Saadia Faruqi
(2024)
{AADL}

Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway
by Emma Fink
(2022)
{AADL}

Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life
by Nell Greenfieldboyce
(2024)
{AADL}

The Narrows
by Anne Petry
(1953)
{AADL}

Piglet
by Lottie Hazell
(2024)
{AADL}

The Best American Food Writing 2024
edited by Padma Lakshmi
(2024)
{AADL}

Garbage Night
by Jen Lee
(2017)
{AADL}

The Book of Love
by Kelly Link
(2024)
{AADL}

Chain Gang All-Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
(2023)
{AADL}

The Wrong Way Home
by Kate O’Shaunessy
(2024)
{AADL}

Margo’s Got Money Troubles
by Rufi Thorpe
(2024)
{AADL}

The Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza
by Mosab Aba Toha
(2022)
{AADL}

Ash’s Cabin
by Jen Wang
(2024)
{AADL}

MATT M. — DESK CLERK

There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History
by Rory Carroll
(2023)
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Margaret Thatcher and the IRA battled to change the future of the British Isles, but both had very different goals where that future was concerned. In There Will Be Fire, Carroll interweaves the history of the Troubles, the IRA, Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power, and the many people and decisions that may have caused the United Kingdom as we know it to look very different. This book left me with a real appreciation for the role coincidences, timing, and sheer luck play in shaping the stories of history. {AADL}

Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided The South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune
by Keith Thomson
(2022)
In the 1680s, a crew of soon-to-be-famous pirates set off to wreak havoc on the forts and fortunes of the Spanish Empire, getting into plenty of trouble, danger, and drama balanced with fortunate happenstances, lucky escapes, and all the other ups and downs that result from living a pirate’s life. Keith Thomson keeps you reading this true historical account as if it were an adventure novel, wondering if the law will ever catch up with the pirates, or if they will escape with their plunder after all. {AADL}

PAT S.-F. — DESK CLERK

The Baby-Sitters Club
by Raina Telgemeier
(2015)
{AADL}

The Tea Dragon Society
by Katie O’Neill
(2017)
{AADL}

A Kind of Paradise
by Amy Rebecca Tan
(2019)
{AADL}

The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
(1978)
{AADL}

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
by Kate DiCamillo
(2013)
{AADL}

Enola Holmes series
by Nancy Springer
(2006)
{AADL}

Delilah Dirk series
by Tony Cliff
(2013)
{AADL}

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath
by Moniquill Blackgoose
(2023)
{AADL}

Deacon King Kongi
by James McBride
(2020)
{AADL}

A Novel Disguise
by Samantha Larsen
(2023)
{AADL}

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
(2023)
{AADL}

Symphonies of Beethoven
by Robert Greenberg
(2001)
{AADL}

PHINEAS I. — DESK CLERK

Gormenghast
by Mervyn Peake 
(1950)
The centerpiece of the Gormenghast trilogy (preceded by Titus Groan, followed by Titus Alone), chronicling the rise to power of Steerpike (a villain par excellence) and the meandering lives of the castle’s inhabitants. Peake has a prosaical style quite unlike any other. He might linger upon a single drop of dew only to follow its course as it is scooped up on the wing of a hawk that flies high above the world, revealing the sprawling labyrinthine excess of the titular castle—a character in its own right. It is a very beautifully written book, dense with descriptions and little moments that stun you with their vividity. By the book’s end you will no doubt only remember a few, but the impression of Gormenghast as a place will linger with you. {AADL}

Stations of the Tide
by Micael Swanwick
(1991)
A surprisingly rich book for its size—baroque in a hanging Spanish moss and moldering clapboard church way. The novel is coarse in a way that lends a rough kind of life to the characters and their world. It is a masterful example of how to construct a broader world with bits and dribbles of information rather than explicit explanations. The dialogue between science and the occult manages to be engaging, even if not particularly innovative. It is also surprisingly funny and has a very pleasing ending. {AADL}

The Prague Cemetery
by Umberto Eco
(2010)
Eco retreads many of his favorite themes—conspiracy, memory, the occult—in this book but does so in a refreshingly new manner. The protagonist is a repulsive figure, but in a way that pulls the reader along through the text and serves to display the various pieces of history, which are numerous and fascinating. (Everything in this book, save for the protagonist himself and his actions, are historical facts, more or less). Eco overturns 19th-century Europe and exposes an underbelly of manufactured conspiracy, using his protagonist to make literal the connections between the various great conspiracies of the age. Eco also effectively communicates the way states use conspiracy as tools for their own ends. A good book if you enjoy reading about Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Italian Unification, the French Second Empire, or the Taxil Hoax. {AADL}

The Corner That Held Them
by Sylvia Townsend Warner
(1948)
A novel that fully exploits prose as a format, letting time ebb and flow so that sometimes an afternoon lasts a chapter and at other times 12 years pass in a sentence. The book chronicles the story of a medieval convent and its nuns, their trials, squabbles, victories, and secrets. It finds beauty in unexpected places and explores the various serendipitous mysteries, accidents, misinterpretations, and aborted plans that make up life. There really is no plot to speak of and this is by design. It is a very beautifully written book. {AADL}

Foreigner
by C. J. Cherryh
(1994)
In none of her novels does Cherryh write your typical science fiction protagonist, and Foreigner's Bren Cameron is no different. An intermediary between humans and the alien atevi, he spends most of the novel in the power of others, his job being to interpret and interconnect, not to act. Most of the book is spent waiting for things to happen, trying to determine what exactly is happening, and mulling over whether communication has really happened and whether motives and meaning have truly been understood. A tangible anxiety pervades the story as a consequence. It would be negligent not to mention that the atevi are somewhat Orientalist, at least in terms of how they are poised in comparison to the humans, but Cherryh keeps it nuanced. Well worth a read, along with the following three books: Invader, Inheritor, and Precursor. {AADL}

The King of Elfland’s Daughter
by Lord Dunsany
(1924)
While Dunsany’s short stories will always be closer to my heart, the King of Elfland’s Daughter is a book that embodies such a melancholic fairy tale atmosphere that I would be remiss not to mention it. Dunsany is able to capture a certain ethereal magic in his prose, at times funny, at times enchanting. For all their simplicity, the characters possess subtle personalities that are revealed over the course of the novel. It is a pleasant and memorable read from the beginnings of a bygone century. {AADL}

PHOEBE H. — DESK CLERK

The Crane Wife
by CJ Hauser
(2022)
I read this book because multiple people put it on their staff picks last year, and I really enjoyed it! However, it’s been so long since I’ve read it that I can’t remember anything about it, just that I liked it. Do with that what you will. {AADL}

Lunar New Year Love Story
by Gene Luen Yang
(2024)
{AADL}

Notes on Grief
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
(2021)
Yes, yes, yes.
{AADL}

Here After
by Amy Lin
(2024)
This memoir is a bit tragic, so it may not be for everyone. The author’s husband dies at the age of 32, and this book chronicles the author’s deep, intense grief. What I like about memoirs is how they serve as windows and mirrors. Grief memoirs in particular are a reminder that when there is a loss, oftentimes, if we’re lucky, there is a rush of love from those around us to help fill it in. {AADL}

Hear Me
by Kerry O’Malley Cerra
(2022)
Hear Me follows a 12-year-old girl who is losing her hearing, and is fighting with her parents who want her to get cochlear implants so her life can go back to “normal.” It’s a beautiful look into what “normal” is to different people, and a fun coming-of-age story about a girl and her best friend, her crush, and her brother going off to college. I really enjoyed this one. {AADL}

The Dallergut Dream Department Store
by Miye Lee
(2024 in the U.S.)
This book was a pure, fun delight. There were no bad vibes, and it was just magical and fun. The only problem I had with it was that I wanted more of it, to stay in that world longer. Apparently, there is a sequel, but it hasn’t been published in the U.S. yet, which is a BUMMER. {AADL}

Halfway There
by Christine Mari
(2024)
A graphic novel memoir about being half Japanese, half American, about identity and finding yourself. As a mixed baby myself, I like reading books like these. I feel like we’re all searching for a story similar to ours, to see ourselves reflected and feel less alone, but all of our stories are unique and never quite the same. {AADL}

REENA P. — DESK CLERK

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
by C.L.R. James
(1938)
A materialist history of the Haitian Revolution. C.L.R. James is very clear-eyed about uncovering the history of the slave trade, the horrors that colonialism inflicted on the island of San Domingo, and the rise of L'Ouverture as the leader of the ensuing revolt. Very seminal and relevant work for gaining a critical understanding of Caribbean history and politics. {AADL}

Rhinoceros
by Eugene Ionesco
(1959)
Drunkard Berenger wakes up from a bender to find out that the people of his town are slowly becoming rhinoceroses. An absurdist play exploring the rise of fascism, Ionesco writes both with humor and deadly precision. {MelCat}

RICH RETYI — COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING MANAGER

I switched from podcasts to audiobooks in 2024 and I'm as shocked as you about how many hours I spend each week doing chores around the house and listening to things.

Old Man’s War
The Android’s Dream
Starter Villain
by John Scalzi
(2005), (2006), (2023)
Do you ever read something so good that the reptile part of your brain floods you with a jealous ooze because you didn’t think of that idea? Probably never could? John Scalzi makes me feel that way a lot and it’s pretty great. {AADL}

Tender Is the Flesh
by Augustina Bazterrica
(2020)
If you made it through this, you're made of stronger stuff than me. I listened to this audiobook while trimming, prepping, and smoking the first brisket of my life and the combo helped me abandon this book halfway through. If you finished it, let me know how it ends! {AADL}

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
by Hanif Abdurraqib
(2024)
Loved it. Wish I could listen to the audiobook again for the first time. {AADL}

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
by K.J. Parker
(2019)
If you like books where people solve seemingly insurmountable problems (The Martian, Whalefall) and have a moderate tolerance for unlikeable protagonists—hey, hey! {AADL}

ROOSEVELT R. — DESK CLERK

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems From Gaza
by Mosab Abu Toha
(2022)
{AADL}

The Sentence
by Louise Erdrich
(2021)
{AADL}

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
by R.F. Kuang
(2022)
{AADL}

Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
by Maria Bamford
(2023)
{AADL}

Life Ceremony
by Sayaka Murata
(2022)
{AADL}

A Guest in the House
by E.M. Carroll
(2023)
{AADL}

A Series of Unfortunate Events
by Lemony Snicket (narrated by the author and Tim Curry)
book on CD
{AADL}{MCLS}

SHANNON O. — DESK CLERK

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of the Princess Bride
by Cary Elwes
(2014)
If you love The Princess Bride, this book is for you. This is the second time that I listened to this book. Cary Elwes is the reader and does a great job and most of the original actors speak in parts of the audiobook. As You Wish is about the filming of the movie and Cary Elwes (Westley) shares many great stories about that time. If you’ve ever noticed that Westley is limping on the top of the hill before Buttercup pushes him down the hill, you will find out why in this book. {AADL}

The Golden Spoon
by Jessa Maxwell
(2023)
This debut novel was a very entertaining read and kept me interested the entire time. The setting is a British style cooking show on a remote estate of the main host, Betsy. For the first time ever, she has a co-host who doesn’t get on so well with everyone. There are tensions and then the bakers are sabotaged every so often (e.g., sugar in the bin labeled salt). Then, someone ends up dead and there are many twists and turns so that you don’t know who the murderer is until the end. {AADL}

The Fury
by Alex Michaelides
(2024)
Lana is an ex-movie star and has a house on a Greek island and every year invites a small group to her house. The narrator, Elliott, is an unreliable narrator, so you don’t truly know what is going on until he gives you more information as the book goes on. The people that are invited this year all have reasons not to like Lana and then there is a dead body and they have to figure out who did it. This is the second book by the author that I have read and it did not disappoint. {AADL}

Black River Orchard
by Chuck Wendig
(2023)
This is a horror book and I don’t normally read horror (beyond Stephen King), but I liked this one. There is an apple orchard in this small town, and this year, it is growing special apples. Most of the town (with just a few exceptions) start eating these apples and at first, they get stronger, more vital, heal better, and just are better all around. But to keep these effects, they have to keep eating the apples. The effects of these apples are not as good as they seem. The few people that don’t eat the apples see the changes in everyone and know it is not a good thing. The tensions build until the very explosive end. {AADL}

Freaking Romance, Volume 1
(2023)
Freaking Romance, Volume 2
(2024)
by Snailords
This manga was originally on Webtoons and is now produced in book form in two volumes. A woman moves into an apartment and finds out it is haunted. There is a man who is a ghost that she can see walking around the apartment. Then, alternately, you see a side where the man is the inhabitant and the woman is the ghost. They eventually start talking and you find out why they think the other person is the ghost. This story has lots of twists and turns, and I really enjoyed the whole story. {AADL} {AADL}

Double Indemnity
by James M. Cain
(1943)
So, even though I love noir and have watched many noir movies and have read many noir books, I had never seen the Double Indemnity movie until earlier this year. (It is a great movie and you should watch it). However, the movie prompted me to read the book, which I had also never read. The wife, Phyllis, falls for an insurance salesman, Walter, and he falls for her. They make a plan to kill her husband so they can get the insurance money and run away together. However, like all things noir, things don’t go as planned.

I did some research and realized the book was loosely written about a true case where “a 1927 murder perpetrated by Ruth Snyder, married to Albert Snyder, and her lover Henry Judd Gray, who colluded with an insurance agent to obtain a $45,000 policy with a double-indemnity clause without Albert's knowledge and then have him murdered.” The book is well-written and stands up to the test of time. If you like classic noir, then this book might be to your liking. {AADL}

A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion
by Ron Hansen
(2011)
After watching and then reading Double Indemnity, it was brought to my attention this book existed and it is also about the 1927 murder, but this fictional book is much more true to the details of the real case than Double Indemnity was. I very much enjoyed this book. It almost reads like nonfiction, but it is historical fiction. {AADL}

You Like It Darker
by Stephen King
(2024)
This is the newest short-story collection by Stephen King. It is a collection of dark storylines and some are horror, but some are more suspenseful. There are a dozen stories, and plot-wise, they run the gamut and are all very different. I enjoyed the stories and if you like Stephen King, you should like this book. {AADL}

The Maid
by Nita Prose
(2022)
This is a debut novel, and it is entertaining and well-written. Molly is on the spectrum and works as a maid at a high-end hotel and loves what she does. Her gran (as Molly calls her) passed away a few months before and her gran raised her since she was a young child. She is struggling to live life without her gran when there is a dead body found in one of the hotel rooms and she is a suspect. Her fellow co-workers help her figure out who truly killed the guest, and along the way, finds out who she can trust and who she can’t. She also finds things out about herself along the way and to see her grow is a wonderful thing. {AADL}

The Mystery Guest
by Nita Prose
(2023)
This is the sequel to The Maid, and it is just as good as the first one. This book is set a year or two later, and there is a famous author that is going to speak at the hotel that Molly works at. When he is about ready to start the speech he is going to give, he drops dead in front of everyone in the room. We also find out that her gran used to be a maidservant in the past for the author who has died. The rest of the book is figuring out who killed him and how along with furthering the characters that we’ve come to enjoy from the first book. I look forward to the third book that comes out next year. {AADL}

Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt
(2022)
This is a great book, and one of the better books that I have read in a while, but it is a hard book to describe. There are three main characters and each chapter is from the point of view of one of the characters. There is an older woman who helps clean the aquarium at night in the town where she lives. There is a 30-year-old man who has troubles in life and decides to find who he thinks is his dad and who he’s never known. Then there is an octopus that lives at the aquarium and likes to sneak out of his tank and is very intelligent. Eventually, these three characters converge. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the whole book is just a great story. {AADL}

The Fear
by Natasha Preston
(2022)
This summer, I discovered Natasha Preston, and I have read about eight of her thriller/horror books. They are teen books and are quick, but very entertaining reads. There is almost constant action and suspense throughout each book. This book is about a meme that goes out on social media that asks, “What is the worst way to die?” The teens in town start answering the question and then start dying that way. The whole book leads to who is killing them and why. {AADL}

The Haunting
by Natasha Preston
(2023)
Penny is no longer with her boyfriend, Nash, but not by choice. Nash’s father was convicted of several murders and is now in prison for the last year, so Penny’s family didn’t want her around the son of a serial killer. One year later, while the father is still in prison, people start getting killed in the same fashion as one year before. Nash and his sister, Grace, are looked at as suspects just because their father is a convicted murderer. But there is a race against time to find out who is doing the killing now so people can stop dying. {MCLS} {MCLS}

Dark Matter
by Blake Crouch
(2016)
This book was very intriguing. In the opening sequence, Jason is with his wife and son in the kitchen and his wife encourages him to go to a celebration for his friend who just won a major science award. He goes and celebrates with him and leaves the bar and is attacked, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped by an unknown person. Jason wakes up in a medical facility with several people in white coats around him, and they are asking him how he is doing and what memories he has of his experience. Jason has no idea what they are talking about or who these people are. He also no longer has a wife and child. There are lots of twists and turns, and he spends the rest of the book trying to go home. {AADL}

SHERLONYA ZOBEL — DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Gone With the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
(1936)
It is a wild experience to read Gone With the Wind in 2024, a book that I had avoided for decades despite having heard it mentioned plenty as a culturally significant work in many a college class. Tressie McMillan Cottom argued in a TikTok (you can say that, right? argued in a TikTok), that the book is full of racial, gender, and class coding as it tells a story of the postbellum American South. I tried to satisfy my curiosity by listening to podcasts about the book, but that just convinced me to surrender to the rabbit hole. Nearly 50 hours of audiobook later, I came away from the book both with both an understanding of how so many people before me had become enraptured by this book and also the reminder that one shouldn't necessarily listen to old books in the car with young children. In other words, in the space of moments one can go from "Oh, OK, I can see the appeal of Rhett Butler" to "Yikes! What in the slur is going on here?!?" {AADL}

Road to Tara: The Life of Margaret Mitchell
by Anne Edwards
(2014)
Like her fame-making book, Margaret Mitchell's life and legacy reminds me of a Rorschach inkblot. It looks different depending on the point of view. This biography is the first biography of Mitchell that I've consumed but likely won't be my last. It's a great chaser to Gone With the Wind. {MeLCat}

The Wrath to Come
by Sarah Churchwell
(2022)
In The Wrath to Come, Sarah Churchwell argues that there is a pretty direct line between the portrayal of the Reconstruction during Gone With the Wind and some of the political divides that we see today. For me, the idea that continues to dance around in my head is how stories—how they're constructed and how they're told—are woven into and ultimately become a part of history. {Website}

Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
by Thomas Brothers
(2014)
I can't even remember what made me focus on Louis Armstrong this year, but I am glad that I encountered Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. Born very early in the 20th century and making it into the 1970s, Louis Armstrong is one of those figures whose long life tells not only his story but a story of American culture. {AADL}

TOBY Z. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Grouse Hunting Strategies
by Frank Woolner
(1970)
In my observation, outside of the four major North American sports, the next most written about sport is fly fishing. Full of heavyweights like Ernest Hemingway and stalwarts like John Gierach, fly fishing literature can be funny, contemplative, verbose, and idyllic. However, Frank Woolner’s Grouse Hunting Strategies gives even Hemingway a run for his money. The entire book is not for everyone, and Woolner’s views on conservation and wildlife management deserve a critical eye, but if you’ve ever wondered what it would sound like if Frasier Crane waxed poetic about upland bird hunting, then this is as close as you’ll get. {MeLCat}

Undiscovered Country
by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule
(2024)
It’s 50 years into the future. Sometime before, the United States of America removed itself from the rest of the world completely. Like, gone. Now the U.S. is allowing an envoy inside its walls for the first time in decades. Undiscovered Country follows this envoy as it attempts to discover just what America has become. It’s not what you’re thinking at all. {AADL}

VANESSA K. — BOOKSHELVER/PROCESSOR

How to Draw Manga: Basics and Beyond
by Ryo Katagiri et al.
(2019)
Potentially the most useful book I have discovered for learning to draw in manga style. The book features a ton of illustrations of the various body parts and shapes from different perspectives and offers helpful tips from artists who have illustrated manga professionally. This was the first art book that I believe made sense to me. However, as with all art books, I do believe mileage may vary. For context, I started taking an online drawing class and supplemented the knowledge with instructional YouTube videos, so I admit to having a little knowledge before checking out this book. {MeLCat}

MARISA H. — LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

Godfather Death
by Sally Nicholls
(2023)
A man seeks an honest man to be his son's godfather in this reimagined tale from the Brothers Grimm. While the tale is excellently told, the illustrations of Júlia Sardà make this book. {AADL}

Bog Myrtle
by Sid Sharp
(2024)
I love a good folktale, and this one made me laugh out loud. Sid Sharp’s art is cute and perfect for the tone. {MeLCat}

Revelator
by Daryl Gregory
(2021)
Ghostdaddy is the God of the Mountain who protects the Birch family. They care for it and it protects them. It only communicates through communion with Birch women, while Birch men write down the “revelations.” It’s a slow burn and I loved it. The audiobook is also amazing and anchors the book in the Appalachians thanks to the voice actor Reagan Boggs. {AADL} {Libby}

“Summer Solstice: An Essay”
by Nina MacLaughlin
(2020)
This short book of essays meditates on “summer.” When does it start, when does it end, what feelings and memories does it evoke? It offers some calm and time to reflect on the world around us as time passes. I’ve been saving its companion, Winter Solstice (2023) to read on this year’s winter solstice. {Godine} {Godine} {MeLCat}

More AADL Staff Picks:
➥ 2023
➥ 2022
➥ 2021
➥ 2020
➥ 2019
➥ 2018
➥ 2017
➥ 2016