Susan's Staff Picks

A little bit about Bookseller Susan: 

Susan is a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship recipient, a graduate of the GrubStreet Novel Incubator program, and a 2019 Tennessee Williams Scholar to the Sewanee Writers Conference. Her debut novel WINTER LOON won the Boston Authors Club 2018 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Fiction. Susan was born and raised in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana. She prefers literary fiction with lyrical writing, dreamy picture books, and poetry. Her favorite book of 2019 was INLAND by Tea Obreht and, so far, her favorite novel of 2020 is THE GLASS HOTEL by Emily St. John Mandel. You can find her on Twitter @esdeebernhard. She’d be happy to give you book recommendations there!

These are some of the books she loves!

How to Stop Time: A Novel By Matt Haig Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780525522898
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Penguin Books - June 11th, 2019

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library, “a quirky romcom dusted with philosophical observations….A delightfully witty…poignant novel.” (The Washington Post)

Soon to be a TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch

How many lifetimes does it take to learn how to live?


Pokko and the Drum By Matthew Forsythe, Matthew Forsythe (Illustrator) Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781481480390
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books - October 1st, 2019

Four starred reviews!
A Today Show Best Book of the Year
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019

From E.B.


The Lost Night: A Novel By Andrea Bartz Cover Image
$17.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780525574729
Published: Ballantine Books - January 7th, 2020

What really happened the night Edie died? Years later, her best friend Lindsay will learn how unprepared she is for the truth in this “impressive debut” (People) from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here.


Bedtime for Sweet Creatures By Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781492638322
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky - January 14th, 2020

Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year

Kirkus Best Book of the Year

Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

4 STARRED REVIEWS


The Wild Birds By Emily Strelow Cover Image
$17.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9781644282007
Published: Rare Bird Books - March 3rd, 2020

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction
Finalist for the Foreword INDIES 2018 Award for Best Fiction


The Wildlands: A Novel By Abby Geni Cover Image
$26.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9781619022348
Published: Counterpoint - September 4th, 2018

Named one of BuzzFeed's Best Fiction of 2018

"Geni's character–driven environmental thriller—think Silent Spring by way of Celeste Ng—centers on the survivors of a tornado that destroys an Oklahoma farm and kills the family's father." —O, The Oprah Magazine


Lovely Beasts: The Surprising Truth By Kate Gardner, Heidi Smith (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Kate Gardner, Heidi Smith (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9780062741615
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Balzer + Bray - September 18th, 2018

A stunning debut picture book that encourages kids to look beyond first impressions by sharing unexpected details about seemingly scary wild animals like gorillas, rhinoceroses, and more. 

Spiders are creepy. Porcupines are scary. Bats are ugly. Or are they...?


The Best-Loved Doll By Rebecca Caudill, Elliott Gilbert (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Rebecca Caudill, Elliott Gilbert (Illustrator)
$12.99
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780805054675
Published: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) - October 15th, 1997

Newbery and Caldecott Honor-winning children’s author Rebecca Caudill tells the timeless and charming story of the special relationship between a girl and her doll in The Best-Loved Doll, featuring illustrations by Elliott Gilbert.


Seven Brief Lessons on Physics By Carlo Rovelli Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780399184413
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Riverhead Books - March 1st, 2016

The New York Times bestseller from the author of The Order of Time and Reality Is Not What It Seems, Helgoland, and Anaximander

“One of the year’s most entrancing books about science.”—The Wall Street Journal


The Flicker of Old Dreams: A Novel By Susan Henderson Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780062686701
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Harper Perennial - March 13th, 2018

High Plains Book Award Winner for Fiction • Western Writers of America Spur Award Winner for Best Contemporary  Western Novel •  WILLA Literary Award Winner in Contemporary Fiction • Montana Book Award Honor Book


The Real Boat By Marina Aromshtam, Victoria Semykina (Illustrator) Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781536202779
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Templar - January 8th, 2019

Lyrical text and magical illustrations combine to create a modern fable with an important message about striving for what you want and escaping your comfort zone.


Heart Berries: A Memoir By Terese Marie Mailhot Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781640091603
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Counterpoint - April 9th, 2019

A powerful, poetic memoir of an Indigenous woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Band in the Pacific Northwest—this New York Times bestseller and Emma Watson Book Club pick is “an illuminating account of grief, abuse and the complex nature of the Native experience . . . at once raw and achingly beautiful (NPR).


The Affairs of the Falcóns: A Novel By Melissa Rivero Cover Image
$26.99
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780062872357
Published: Ecco - April 2nd, 2019

Winner of the 2019 New American Voices Award
Longlisted for the 
PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Longlisted for the 
Aspen Words Literary Prize


Sleep Like a Tiger Lap Board Book By Mary Logue, Pamela Zagarenski (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Mary Logue, Pamela Zagarenski (Illustrator)
$12.99
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9781328482648
Published: Clarion Books - January 15th, 2019

A magical bedtime story, honored as a Caldecott Honor Book.

In sincere and imaginative dialogue between a child and her kind and understanding parents, the little girl decides “in a cocoon of sheets, a nest of blankets,” she is ready to sleep, warm and strong, just like a tiger.


Sweety By Andrea Zuill Cover Image
$18.99
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780525580003
Published: Schwartz & Wade - March 26th, 2019

An Indie Next List Top 10 Pick!

From the author of WOLF CAMP comes the story of a charming, mushroom-loving, headgear-wearing, totally awkward naked mole rat who is looking for like-minded peeps.


Red Clocks: A Novel By Leni Zumas Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316434782
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Back Bay Books - October 2nd, 2018

In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every embryo.

Five women. One question. What is a woman for?


The Book of M: A Novel By Peng Shepherd Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062669612
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - June 25th, 2019

Brad Thor's Summer 2018 Fiction Pick for THE TODAY SHOW!

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Elle • Refinery29PopSugar Verge


The Late Bloomers' Club: A Novel By Louise Miller Cover Image
$16.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9781101981245
Published: Penguin Books - July 23rd, 2019

“A downright delightful read. . . [with] everything you want from a small town summer read: sweetness, charm, and a side of romance.” HelloGiggles

A delightful novel about two headstrong sisters, a small town's efforts to do right by the community, and the power of a lost dog to summon true love


Black Light: Stories By Kimberly King Parsons Cover Image
$15.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780525563501
Published: Vintage - August 13th, 2019

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

“The stories in Black Light are grimy and weird, surprising, utterly lush. . . . I loved every moment of this book.” —Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties


Tap Out: Poems By Edgar Kunz Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781328518125
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Ecco - March 5th, 2019

"Charts the gritty, physical terrain of blue-collar masculinity."New York Times New & Noteworthy
 “Kunz arrives with real poetic talent.”The Millions, “Must Read Poetry”

"[A] gritty, insightful debut." —Washington Post


Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story By Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator) Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781626727465
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Roaring Brook Press - October 22nd, 2019

Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
A 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor Winner

“A wonderful and sweet book . . . Lovely stuff.” —The New York Times Book Review


Tap Out: Poems By Edgar Kunz Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781328518125
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Ecco - March 5th, 2019

"Charts the gritty, physical terrain of blue-collar masculinity."New York Times New & Noteworthy
 “Kunz arrives with real poetic talent.”The Millions, “Must Read Poetry”

"[A] gritty, insightful debut." —Washington Post


Inland: A Novel By Téa Obreht  Cover Image
$27.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780812992861
Published: Random House - August 13th, 2019

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife returns with “a bracingly epic and imaginatively mythic journey across the American West” (Entertainment Weekly).


Dept. of Speculation (Vintage Contemporaries) By Jenny Offill Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780345806871
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - October 7th, 2014

From the acclaimed author of Weather comes a slim, stunning portrait of a marriage--a beguiling rumination on the mysteries of intimacy, trust, faith, knowledge, and the condition of universal shipwreck that unites us all.

ONE OF THE 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW


Standard Deviation: A novel By Katherine Heiny Cover Image
$17.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780804173162
Published: Vintage - April 17th, 2018

An uproarious novel from the celebrated author of Single, Carefree, Mellow about the challenges of a good marriage, the delight and heartache of raising children, and the irresistible temptation to wonder about the path not taken.

"Heart-piercing and, crucially, very funny." The New York Times


Leaving Lucy Pear: A Novel By Anna Solomon Cover Image
$16.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9781101981764
Published: Penguin Books - June 27th, 2017

“From the first page, I was under Anna Solomon’s spell.—Sue Monk Kidd

From the author of The Book of V., a novel chosen as a must-read book by TIME Magazine, InStyle, Good Housekeeping, The Millions, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and BookPage


Back Talk: Stories By Danielle Lazarin Cover Image
$16.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780143131472
Published: Penguin Books - February 6th, 2018

“Beautifully crafted . . . the sentences in these stories are living and seamless, as if Lazarin had run her hand over them until they became smooth and gleaming with the evidence of her touch.” —Carmen Maria Machado, The New York Times Book Review


A B See By Elizabeth Doyle, Elizabeth Doyle (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Elizabeth Doyle, Elizabeth Doyle (Illustrator)
$8.99
ISBN: 9781481436991
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Little Simon - July 21st, 2015

A beautifully illustrated, graphic alphabet book with a fun search-and-find twist.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s in a single letter? Everything in A B See!

Because hidden in each graphic letter are tiny troves of ABC treasures waiting to be found by sharp-eyed readers. Can you find the apple, arrow, and armor in the letter A?


The Green Road: A Novel By Anne Enright Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9780393352801
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - May 3rd, 2016

One of the Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

"With language so vibrant it practically has a pulse, Enright makes an exquisitely drawn case for the possibility of growth, love and transformation at any age." —People


Let's No One Get Hurt: A Novel By Jon Pineda Cover Image
$26.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780374185244
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - March 20th, 2018

“An inventive and powerful coming of age story about the search for community and all the ways our ties to one another come undone. Jon Pineda has a poet’s eye for the details of this vivid, haunting landscape, and he brings it blazingly to life.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation


The Round House: National Book Award Winning Fiction By Louise Erdrich Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062065254
Availability: Available from Warehouse
Published: Harper Perennial - September 24th, 2013

Winner of the National Book Award • Washington Post Best Book of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book


Everything Here Is Beautiful By Mira T. Lee Cover Image
$26.00
Currently Unavailable
ISBN: 9780735221963
Published: Pamela Dorman Books - January 16th, 2018

‟A tender but unflinching portrayal of the bond between two sisters.” —Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere

“There's not a false note to be found, and everywhere there are nuggets to savor. Why did it have to end?” O Magazine