Staff Recommendations
Leigh
The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler From one of the undisputed kings of hard-boiled detective fiction, this Philip Marlowe book remains one of my favorite crime stories. Readers will enjoy the quick plot and seamless narrative as they reconnect with historic Los Angeles. The Big Sleep is a great way to break into the mystery genre or simply to reengage. I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys classic Hollywood films or early 20th century crime fiction. 
Hickory Dickory Dock
Agatha Christie Without a doubt this title remains my favorite Agatha Christie novel. Set in a student hostel, it, like so many of her books, contains layer after layer of intrigue and commentary about basic human nature, including a fascinating discussion of kleptomania. Hercule Poirot never disappoints as the protagonist and this volume also gives more page time to his every efficient secretary Miss Lemon. A must read for crime fiction fans. 
Beached in the Hourglass
Ethan Fischer A wonderful collection of poems by a very familiar name in Shepherdstown. It was my pleasure to have Ethan as a professor at Shepherd and from him I learned so much about literature and writing. This collection is funny, yet serious, wonderfully brilliant, but also accessible to those who are not poetry fans. Beached in the Hourglass truly belongs on every bookshelf. Katie
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
Elisabeth Tova Bailey A woman with a debilitating infection so extreme that she can hardly turn onto one side without experiencing excruciating pain is gifted a pet snail. The snail, likely the only pet she could care for in her state, becomes the focus of her attention. What follows is approximately two-hundred pages of the narrator’s bed ridden meditations mixed with scientific tidbits about snails. This book was gifted to me by a stranger when I was in a chaotic state, and I really needed the motivation to sit still enough and be quiet enough to hear the sound of a wild snail eating. 
Homesick for Another World
Ottessa Moshfegh When I read the first short story in this collection, “Bettering Myself,” I got to the end and didn't want to read the next story, because I didn't think it would be possible to connect with a character more than I already had. Yet, when I read “Mr. Wu,” I loved him just as much, and again, didn't think it was possible for Moshfegh to keep it up. But every story was like that, up to the very last one, “A Better Place,” which took on a completely different kind of homesick for a completely different kind of world. I loved every place Moshfegh created and I felt for every character. This is a new favorite for sure, and I can’t wait to read her new novel “My Year of Rest and Relaxation.” |
Kendra
Midnight Chicken Ella Rosbridger
I read this book, lovingly, with wonder and deep appreciation. It’s the cookbook I wish I had written. It’s food as love, for all those quiet and noisy, desperate and joyous moments we need to celebrate. 
Aunt Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
Mario Giordano Poldi is a charismatic German with a thing for cops in uniforms. She’s also a depressed alcoholic who moves to Sicily with the intention of drinking herself to death, with a sea view, of course. A missing statue, a murder, and a certain commisario may just change her mind. Elizabeth
Salt to the Sea
Ruta Sepetys Salt to the Sea tells the story of the largest maritime disaster you've likely never heard of. It's a novel of historical fiction, told in multiple first-person narratives, giving it a haunting quality of many voices and verses of the same song. It's the winter of 1945 and millions of people from thousands of little towns and villages in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and East Prussia are fleeting from the advancing Russian troops. Children, mothers, old people, sick ones, on foot, trains, horse-drawn carts and bicycles, are making their way to the last evacuation points on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Boarding the Wilhelm Gustloff, they hope for rescue on a ship to safety. In a tragedy of unimaginable scale, the ship is torpedoed by the Russians... She sinks taking an estimated 9,000 people with her to the bottom of the frigid Baltic Sea off the coast of Poland. Ruta Sepetys tells this story of courage and hope alongside cruelty and despair, through the eyes of four young people from different countries. It's a powerfully crafted tale of a tragedy six times deadlier than the Titanic. Eileen
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered
Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff A cathartic and warmly moving dual memoir by two best friends, Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered tackles the origin story of the authors’ shared obsession with true crime. Smartly woven with self deprecating humor and brazen personal revelation, Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff let you into the intimate worlds of their latchkey upbringings in 1980s California, along the way offering a humorous and feminist perspective on how to stay alive. 
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong A stunning confessional and heartbreaking letter from a son to his mother who cannot read, Vuong’s fiction debut is a breathtaking examination of race, masculinity, and the fraught love of a family. 
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Ottessa Moshfegh A darkly funny, deeply contemplative exploration of the throes of grief and depression, Moshfegh presents a wonderfully unlikable woman rooted in existential misery and privilege in the year 2000 in New York City. Woven with the tensions of the new millennium, avant-garde art, and unregulated and experimental pharmaceuticals, Moshfegh poses the question: could someone sleep for a year? If so, who would they become when they awoke? |
William
Spinning Silver
Noami Novik As elegant and artful as snow, Spinning Silver weaves familiar fairy tales into a tapestry of fur and fire’s warmth and winter’s bite. At once a story of the power of will and women, and the dangers of money, greed, and the supernatural, Naomi Novik’s latest book is a delight that draws you in and holds you fast. 
Circe
Madeline Miller At first, I didn’t know how to put into words how I feel about Circe. Now, I know that I adore it. In some of the smoothest, most silken prose, Miller weaves together Greek myths and legends into a single sinuous tapestry of a woman who grows from child to witch through trauma and torment, bearing witness to the might, magic, and majesty of the mortal and divine. What truly makes this a wonderful book is that it not only witnesses it all, it shows Circe’s imperfections as well. She is amazing in her growth, her emotion, and her ability to be flawed. I loved this story for so many reasons, but most of all because it was about a person who felt real, and that made every page as magical as the myths within them. 
Seraphina
Rachel Hartman Seraphina’s tale is one of tragedy, brilliance, and the absolute magic of music and emotion. The princess’ new music instructor, Seraphina, is new to the court of a kingdom still wrathful over a war with the neighboring dragons. As intrigue, assassination, and secrets grow like weeds, she’s drawn ever deeper into a mess of politics she’d rather have absolutely nothing to do with. Seraphina is pure gold. Heartfelt, emotional, and smart; Seraphina reaches out and fills you with joyous excitement and the thrill of fear, meanwhile pulling off an at once satisfying and intriguing conclusion. Even more, it is a unique and fascinating take on the oft trod mythology of dragons, while still focusing on a genuinely intelligent, clever, and skillful character that will keep you cheering every step of the way.
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