Ready to get rec’d? It’s a Sunday, so that answer could go either way. I promise it’ll be a relaxing, lazy recommendation day.
For those of you who are new to either the site or this feature, welcome! I’m Amanda and I have an assortment of book related jobs. These are a few books that I’ve recommend to readers outside SBTB in the last couple weeks.
Come see what I recommended! And, if you’d like to share your own recommendations that you’ve given to people in your life, or even strangers, I’ve love to hear about them!
-
The 22 Murders of Madison May
Someone came into the bookstore looking for a sci-fi thriller. Spoiler: we didn’t have it in store. However, I was able to convince them on this time travel murder mystery instead.
From the critically acclaimed author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon comes mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality.
I love you. In every world.
Young real estate agent Madison May is shocked when a client at an open house says these words to her. The man, a stranger, seems to know far too much about her, and professes his love–shortly before he murders her.
Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a midsize New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May’s shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he vanishes.
Soon, Felicity senses her entire universe has shifted. No one remembers Madison May, or Felicity’s encounter with the mysterious man. And her cat is missing. Felicity realizes that in her pursuit of Madison’s killer, she followed him into a different dimension–one where everything about her existence is slightly altered. At first, she is determined to return to the reality she knows, but when Madison May–in this world, a struggling actress–is murdered again, Felicity decides she must find the killer–and learns that she is not the only one hunting him.
Traveling through different realities, Felicity uncovers the opportunity–and danger–of living more than one life.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
-
The Kissing Bug
Granted, I get why people may not want to read about infectious diseases right now, but I found this mix of memoir, science, and history.
Growing up in a New Jersey factory town in the 1980s, Daisy Hernández believed that her aunt had become deathly ill from eating an apple. No one in her family, in either the United States or Colombia, spoke of infectious diseases, and even into her thirties, she only knew that her aunt had died of a rare illness called Chagas. But as Hernández dug deeper, she discovered that Chagas—or the kissing bug disease—is more prevalent in the United States than the Zika virus. Today, more than three hundred thousand Americans have Chagas.
Why do some infectious diseases make headlines and others fall by the wayside? After her aunt’s death, Hernández begins searching for answers about who our nation chooses to take care of and who we ignore. Crisscrossing the country, she interviews patients, epidemiologists, and even veterinarians with the Department of Defense. She learns that outside of Latin America, the United States is the only country with the native insects—the “kissing bugs”—that carry the Chagas parasite. She spends a night in southwest Texas hunting the dreaded bug with university researchers. She also gets to know patients, like a mother whose premature baby was born infected with the parasite, his heart already damaged. And she meets one cardiologist battling the disease in Los Angeles County with local volunteers.
The Kissing Bug tells the story of how poverty, racism, and public policies have conspired to keep this disease hidden—and how the disease intersects with Hernández’s own identity as a niece, sister, and daughter; a queer woman; a writer and researcher; and a citizen of a country that is only beginning to address the harms caused by Chagas, and the dangers it poses. A riveting and nuanced investigation into racial politics and for-profit healthcare in the United States, The Kissing Bug reveals the intimate history of a marginalized disease and connects us to the lives at the center of it all.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Kissing Bug by Daisy Hernandez
-
The Mystery of Henri Pick
Last time, we had a few comments about wanting more works in translation. What luck that I hand sold this one to a customer on Thursday! They wanted some light fiction for a friend and who doesn’t love books about books.
The delightful first title in a new collaboration with Channel 4’s Walter Presents: a fast-paced comic mystery enriched by a deep love of books
In the small town of Crozon in Brittany, a library houses manuscripts that were rejected for publication: the faded dreams of aspiring writers. Visiting while on holiday, young editor Delphine Despero is thrilled to discover a novel so powerful that she feels compelled to bring it back to Paris to publish it.
The book is a sensation, prompting fevered interest in the identity of its author – apparently one Henri Pick, a now-deceased pizza chef from Crozon. Sceptics cry that the whole thing is a hoax: how could this man have written such a masterpiece? An obstinate journalist, Jean-Michel Rouche, heads to Brittany to investigate.
By turns farcical and moving, The Mystery of Henri Pick is a fast-paced comic mystery enriched by a deep love of books – and of the authors who write them.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos
-
Subpar Parks
This book started as an instagram account, where an artist would create travel posters based on poor reviews of national parks. It’s now a gorgeous art book and something a lot of people are buying for holiday gifts for their traveling friends and family.
Based on the wildly popular Instagram account, Subpar Parks features both the greatest hits and brand-new content, all celebrating the incredible beauty and variety of America’s national parks juxtaposed with the clueless and hilarious one-star reviews posted by visitors.
Subpar Parks, both on the popular Instagram page and in this humorous, informative, and collectible book, combines two things that seem like they might not work together yet somehow harmonize perfectly: beautiful illustrations and informative, amusing text celebrating each national park paired with the one-star reviews disappointed tourists have left online. Millions of visitors each year enjoy Glacier National Park, but for one visitor, it was simply Too cold for me! Another saw the mind-boggling vistas of Bryce Canyon as Too spiky! Never mind the person who visited the thermal pools at Yellowstone National Park and left thinking, “Save yourself some money, boil some water at home.”Featuring more than 50 percent new material, the book will include more depth and insight into the most popular parks, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Acadia National Parks; anecdotes and tips from rangers; and much more about author Amber Share’s personal love and connection to the outdoors. Equal parts humor and love for the national parks and the great outdoors, it’s the perfect gift for anyone who loves to spend time outside as well as have a good read (and laugh) once they come indoors.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Subpar Parks by Amber Share
I’ll be picking up that Amber Share. My favorite bad park review was from the woman who was appalled that the animals weren’t locked up at night in Yellowstone.
Sadly The Kissing Bug isn’t available on Kindle this side of the pond. It sounds very interesting tho.
Thanks Amanda! I want to read ALL of these, but especially the Max Barry. Was just explaining some of the plot of his Company to a colleague a few weeks ago (we were getting new office chairs and I remembered the bit about chair-hoarding from the book.)
I’ve been getting into Jeffe Kennedy’s latest series about wizards and familiars. Very angsty, but the main characters communicate all the time, none of that bottled-up sturm und drang. Mainly, I’m loving it for the worldbuilding that has situates capitalism (with lots of sexy intellectual property discussions!) within a magical medieval-ish setting.
I tested as a false positive for Chagas when donating blood many years ago and I’m now on the band list because of it since there is no cure for it. The bugs have made it to the US, mostly in the bottom two-thirds, but I’ve not found anywhere that says that the harsh winters will prevent the spread to northern states considering they are very adaptable.