Like most quote-unquote “literary” books that I read, I read Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen for book club. I haven’t liked a lot of the book club books; personally, I think whomever choses the books for Barnes and Noble could do a loooooot better. I’ve actively liked maybe three of their picks in the last three/three-and-a-half years. Every time I start a new one, I’m trepidatious. Is this going to be something great like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow or The Vanishing Half, or is it going to be torturous experience like Florence Adler Swims Forever or Matrix? Other Birds landed somew ..read more

You wouldn’t know it from how late this review is compared to this novel’s October 4 release date, but I was massively excited to read The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera. Silvera is one of my favorite writers, and even though I would rather have had the last book of the Infinity Son trilogy, I was pretty psyched for this one. I preordered it so that I would get the nifty hourglass, and I got the chance to sit in on a chat that Silvera did with Barnes and Noble booksellers. Usually the author talks are over my head, but I have a reputation for being a massive Adam Silvera fan (and, mo ..read more

To be totally honest, the premise of Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain didn’t really catch me. Setting-heavy fiction isn’t something that particularly appeals to me, and the witchy small-town Louisiana setting is a major selling point of this one. Still, I had to read it for work so I did. Considering that the last two books I had to read for work were All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Dark and Shallow Lies had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it did. It’s fine, but it’s nothing to wr ..read more

Since I work at Barnes and Noble I try to make a point of reading at least one of their monthly picks. I don’t always do it, but when I do I tend to go for the young adult choice because that’s both my section at work and because it’s what I read by choice. I occasionally go into it reluctantly, like last month when I made a rare foray into horror. This month, though, the book already appealed to me: it’s a fantasy novel full of magic and magic that touts a nonbinary love interest and has some beautiful cover art. I don’t know if All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue would have made it ..read more

Can someone please check on whomever chooses the book club reads for Barnes and Noble? I hope they’re okay. Because you can only pick so many stories about doom, despair, and sexual abuse before it becomes a disturbing pattern. Noah Hawley’s Anthem is yet another immensely depressing, psychologically scarring book that—while well-written and thoughtful—tricked me into thinking I hate reading. Listen: I like fiction that asks me to reflect on the real world. I like stories to have a point to make or a moral thesis or an interesting observation about humanity. What I don’t like is when a book i ..read more

Several years ago, spurred on by a multitude of positive reviews by book bloggers, I took a chance on The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I specifically remember picking the book up, reading the first few pages, thinking this doesn’t seem like my thing, and then buying it anyway. It often takes me a bit to get into my favorite books, and I had seen rave reviews from people whose opinions I nearly always agreed with, so I figured it was worth the shot despite my not-so-hot first reaction to the cover and first three pages. It was definitely worth the shot. It ended up bei ..read more

I heard a lot of great things about The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune before I read it. My sister-in-law recommended it to me. I saw it compared to The Umbrella Academy. A coworker told me that it’s like a more-diverse Harry Potter. V.E. Schwab wrote a blurb for it. Barnes & Noble picked it as the fiction novel of the month for January. So clearly this was one I needed to read. What’s it about? Linus Baker is a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He’s been there for years, and since he has a reputation for keeping his head down and falling in line, he is se ..read more

This cover–designed by Aurora Parlagreco and illustrated by Ana Hard–is the best part of the novel. The second best part? The graphic novel chapter, drawn by Samantha Richardson. Shannon Hale’s Kind of a Big Deal should have been my perfect book. It’s about a Broadway-loving girl whose amazing high school life led her to believe she’d make it big in the real world; when she doesn’t, she moves to a small town and stumbles across a bookstore with magical books that literally suck her into their pages. If that wasn’t written specifically for me (or people like me, whatever) I don’t know what was ..read more

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas was Barnes and Noble’s teen book club choice for October, which means I’ve been seeing it everywhere. It’s gotten very good reviews, it’s got a very interesting cover, and the summary sounded really interesting so I figured I’d pick it up whenever it became available at the library… which thankfully didn’t take too long. A/ I’m not actually associated with the teen book club, which I have mixed feelings about. I love YA a lot more than books targeted towards adults, which means that the books that I do read for work rarely interest me all that much whereas the Y ..read more

Patrick Ness is one of my all-time favorite writers. A Monster Calls is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and I am endlessly amazed by Ness’ creativity and pure talent. All his books are extremely different (The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a hilarious meta take on fantasy; And the Ocean Was Our Sky is essentially Moby Dick from the whales’ perspective; Release is at once a contemporary coming-of-age and a fantasy retelling of Mrs. Dalloway; and A Monster Calls is about a young boy making sense of his mother’s imminent death), but they’re all absolutely amazing. I’ll read literally anythi ..read more