Staff Picks

If you like murder mysteries and fantasy, this book might be right up your alley. The characters are well-rounded and the world building feels truly unique, both of which support an intricate and satisfying mystery. If you prefer audio over text, the audiobook version has a top-notch narrator. I can't wait for more mysteries with Ana Dolabra and Dinios Kol!

 

Publisher's description:

In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible. Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home. At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective. As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

 

The Secret History explores the world of a prestigious and exclusive fine arts school in New England and the exacerbating circumstances that drive a group of Classics students to commit murder. The novel is pensive and brooding, with the tendency to wax poetic, yet still be highly engaging.

 

Publisher description:

Richard Papen had never been to New England before his nineteenth year. Then he arrived at Hampeden College and quickly became seduced by the sweet, dark rhythms of campus life--in particular by an elite group of five students, Greek scholars, worldly, self-assured, and at first glance, highly unapproachable.

Find The Secret History in our online catalog

One of the best books I read in 2020, but I feel it still hasn't gotten its due. Billy Ray Belcourt is a stunning queer, indigenous poet, philosopher, and scholar. It's an earth-shattering poetic memoir with resistance and radical joy at its core. For those to "whom utopia is a rallying cry."

 

Publisher description:

The youngest ever winner of the Griffin Prize mines his personal history in a brilliant new essay collection seeking to reconcile the world he was born into with the world that could be. For readers of Ocean Vuong and Maggie Nelson and fans of Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot, A History of My Brief Body is a brave, raw, and fiercely intelligent collection of essays and vignettes on grief, colonial violence, joy, love, and queerness.

 

 

 

There are many tropes in horror that speak to queer people in (often contradictory) ways. This collection of essays guides us through favorites such as The Exorcist, Jennifer's Body, and Get Out to explore the reasons why such a dark film genre can attract such a diverse and marginalized community.

 

Publisher's description: Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world. Twenty-five narrative essays by contemporary LGBTQ writers reflecting on queerness in horror film, from Hitchcock to Halloween.

 

In this deliciously good fantasy graphic novel, Basil and her friends navigate the pressures of attending a magiculinary boarding school. This book contains amazing LGBTQ+ representation and an adorable romance that will make you hungry for a snack while reading! Cozy up with this book!

 

Publisher's description: 

Basil Eyres and Arabella Oregano are both students of cooking with magic at Porta Bella Magiculinary Academy, and although the two are instantly smitten with each other, Arabella has a secret with the potential to throw Basil's future aspirations into jeopardy.

Find Basil and Oregano in our online catalog. 

Rose is a good girl. Finishing high school in small town Montana, she never even thinks about straying from her path--because when she does, flies pour from her mouth and she sees hideous grinning demons following her. But she has no idea where her quest for answers will end up...

 

Publisher's description: From beloved internet icon Chuck Tingle, Camp Damascus is a searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community face in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down. Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold. Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed "most effective" gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy. And they'll scare you straight to hell.

 

Clark has lived the same day (September 19th) for 309 days, over and over and over nothing changes. On day 310, someone new shows up in his Trigonometry class and breaks Clark out of his monotony. Is Beau the key to getting to September 20th? Can they figure it out before day 365?

 

Publisher's description: 

For some reason, Clark has woken up and relived the same monotonous Monday 309 times. Until Day 310 turns out to be…different. Suddenly, his usual torturous math class is interrupted by an anomaly—a boy he’s never seen before in all his previous Mondays. When shy, reserved Clark decides to throw caution to the wind and join effusive and effervescent Beau on a series of “errands” across the Windy City, he never imagines that anything will really change, because nothing has in such a long time. And he definitely doesn’t expect to fall this hard or this fast for someone in just one day. There’s just one problem: how do you build a future with someone if you can never get to tomorrow?

Find If I See You Again Tomorrow in our online catalog. 

Lampooning tech startups, self-improvement movements, and capitalism itself, this dark comedy follows two gifted con artists pursuing their American dream. But even as they grown an empire, they can't escape one simple truth: when you're doing something for love, your first mark is always yourself.

 

Publisher's review: At seventeen, Ezra Green doesn't have a lot going for him: he's shorter than average, snaggle-toothed, internet-addicted, and halfway to being legally blind. He's also on his way to Last Chance Camp, the final stop before juvie. But Ezra's summer at Last Chance turns life-changing when he meets Orson, brilliant and Adonis-like with a mind for hustling. Together, the two embark upon what promises to be a fruitful career of scam artistry. But when they try to pull off their biggest scam yet--Nulife, a corporation that promises its consumers a lifetime of bliss--things start to spin wildly out of control.