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Category: –Staff Picks

--Staff Picks

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Just in time for Shark Week. Have you read the book that started it all? Before the iconic movie there was this book published in 1974 and written by Peter Benchley. If you can get past the egregiously dated language and attitudes of the 1970s, this book makes entertaining beach reading or can help extend […]

--Staff Picks

“Mississippi Masala” by Mira Nair

Jay and Kinnu are a Ugandan couple of Indian descent living happily in Kampala with their daughter, Mina. In 1972, amid anti-Indian sentiment, Idi Amin orders all Indians out of the country, giving them 90 days to leave. Heartbroken, Jay, Kinnu, and Mina travel to England, and ultimately, a small town in Mississippi. Now present […]

--Staff Picks General

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Tress enjoys an uncomplicated life on a tiny island called The Rock that’s situated in the Emerald Sea where she works as a cleaner, collects cups, and is close with the local duke’s son, Charlie. The Duke does not approve, so he secretes Charlie away to find him a suitable wife, but returns with a […]

--Staff Picks Teens

Imogen, Obviously

Becky Albertalli’s latest title follows high school senior Imogen and her discovering her bi-sexuality. Imogen has always been a staunch ally, her sister and best friends are queer. She’s up to date on all the queer media and attends her school’s GSA meetings. She’s straight with a capital S. Then she goes to visit her […]

--Staff Picks

“The Wedding Banquet” by Ang Lee

Wai-Tung (Winston Chao) is a gay Taiwanese man who lives in New York with his white American partner, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein). Constantly urged by his traditional parents to settle down with a nice woman, Wai-Tung decides to embark on a marriage of convenience with his tenant Wei-Wei (May Chin), who is in need of a […]

--Staff Picks Teens

“While You Were Dreaming” by Alisha Rai

This YA novel, based loosely on the plot of the 1995 film “While You Were Sleeping,” follows 17-year-old Sonia Patil as she makes plans to finally get noticed by her crush.  Instead, he faints into a canal and Sonia jumps in to save him.  When a video of the rescue goes viral, she can only […]

--Staff Picks General

“Motherthing” by Ainslie Hogarth

Abby Lamb has found the love of her life in Ralph. But when they have to move into her mother-in-law’s home to take care of Ralph’s depressed mother, Laura, she has to act as the intermediary in their codependent relationship. But then Laura takes her own life and starts to haunt Abby and Ralph in […]

--Staff Picks

Yellowjackets

Showtime’s Yellowjackets is about a high school girls soccer team in 1996 whose plane crashes in the wilderness on their way to nationals. Stranded for 19 months, the girls must find ways to survive. Also, there might be something…supernatural out there? The show also takes place 25 years later and shows some of the girls […]

--Staff Picks

Feel the Bern: A Bernie Sanders Mystery by Andrew Shaffer

Crash Robertson, newly hired intern to Senator Bernie Sanders, finds herself tasked with keeping the iconic senator on track as they travel back to Vermont, where he is scheduled to give speeches, meet with constituents, and serve as Grand Marshall at the Champ Days Parade in Crash’s hometown on Lake Champlain. Soon after their arrival, […]

--Staff Picks General

“Drunken Master” by Yuen Woo-ping

Drunken Master, a classic Hong Kong martial arts movie, was directed and action choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping, who would go on to choreograph the fight scenes in films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Kill Bill; and the Matrix movies. Jackie Chan stars as Wong Fei-hung, a cocky, rude, and belligerent rising talent in his […]