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Category: –Staff Picks

--Staff Picks

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

You may know author John Green from popular YA books like Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, and Turtles All the Way Down, or his more recent adult nonfiction book The Anthropocene Reviewed. Now, in his 2025 release Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green writes about an infectious disease–a disease that is curable, yet […]

--Staff Picks

“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen remembers what her father taught her. Hunt, hide, and don’t get caught. She’s been caring for her small family ever since he died in a mining accident and her mother fell into a catatonic depression. But no district child in Panem can hide from the Reaping, and this year her little sister Prim […]

--Staff Picks

“Kneecap” by Rich Peppiatt

“Kneecap” is a new film about the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, from Belfast. I had never heard of the group prior to watching this movie. Actually, I had no idea what the film was about–I had just heard it was good. “Kneecap” stars the three actual members of the group Kneecap, and tells the story […]

--Staff Picks

The Jellyfish by Boum

The Jellyfish, translated from French and written by Montreal-born writer Boum, follows 20-something Odette as they start to experience the sudden appearance of a jellyfish in their eye. They visit the optometrist only to be told that they have a jellyfish in their eye and there’s nothing to be done. Soon, they have two. Then […]

--Staff Picks General

Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller is a rich retelling of the story a relatively minor character in Greek myth, Circe, the solitary sorceress who is best known for transforming Odysseus’ sailors into swine. The novel follows Circe’s journey from a misunderstood, and presumably feeble, daughter of the Titans to a self-empowered and formidable goddess exiled on the […]

--Staff Picks

“Gideon the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir

Does anything truly stay dead? At the far edge of the cosmos ruled by the Emperor sits the Ninth House, a lonely planet of dwindling life. It is the responsibility of the necromancer heir to the House to save it, but the Reverend Daughter, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, can’t do that alone, no matter how much she […]

--Staff Picks

“Empire of Shadows” by Jacquelyn Benson

Empire of Shadows by Jacquelyn Benson is the gripping first book in the Raiders of the Arcana series, set in a world where history and magic intertwine. The story follows Ellie Mallory, an ambitious archaeologist who has had to fight for her education as a woman in 1898 London.  When Ellie discovers a powerful artifact […]

--Staff Picks

“The Autumnal” By Daniel Kraus

Kat Somerville never thought she’d come back to the small New England town where her estranged mother lived, but after her sudden death it turns out she left Kat the house in her will. Along with her young daughter, Sybil, Kat makes the move to Comfort Notch, New Hampshire, at first just to clear out […]

--Staff Picks

“Unreal Unearth” by Hozier

Irish singer-songwriter Hozier’s third studio album metaphorically aligns the artist’s experience isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic with Dante’s descent into the nine circles of Hell as depicted in his “Inferno.” Sixteen tracks map out the singer’s journey, from the moody, ethereal beginning of Purgatory with “De Selby Part 1”, to the powerful, devotional love ballad […]

--Staff Picks

“Love & Whiskey” by Fawn Weaver

Jack Daniel is a household name, but Nathan “Nearest” Green, Daniel’s mentor and first master distiller, was obscure for much of the company’s history. Born into slavery, Green was instrumental in developing the distilling process for the iconic brand, and his descendants are employed by Jack Daniel Distillery to this day. Love & Whiskey chronicles […]