July Staff Picks!
"The General Theory of Walkability explains how, to be favored, a walk to satisfy four main conditions: it must be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting." --Jeff Speck, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
This summer heat is driving everyone indoors or to the water! If you're traveling this summer or just waiting out the heat indoors, check out our July Staff Picks for your next great read!
Recommended by Alisa
War of the Foxes by Richard Siken
"The enormity of my desire disgusts me": Silken's poetry is a desperate fever dream of love and loathing. His poems speak to feelings you'd never admit aloud and haunt for weeks after. My favorites from this collection are "Self Portrait Against Red Wallpaper," "Turpentine," and "Birds Hover the Trampled Field."
Recommended by Andrew
The Rainbow by Yasunari Kawabata
The Rainbow is the story of two stories in post-WWII Japan learning to navigate their new world. Momoko and Asako, from different mothers, with different lifestyles and different obsessions. Will they find what they are looking for? Written almost like haiku. If you like a beautiful story and equally beautiful and simple language this is the novel for you.
Recommended by Anna
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
A modern-day Smart House full of grief and fear, Moreno's debut novel is wild and sad and so scary. A horror with so much heart it hurts to read. Go in blind; I promise it's worth it.
Recommended by Babette
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
The first book in a spellbinding trilogy set in medieval Russia, tells the story of Vasya, a girl who is blessed--or cursed--with the ability to see the household spirits that her family once believed in. Stunning prose, a talking horse, and an achingly beautiful SLOW-burn romance make this a must-read for any fantasy/folklore lover.
Recommended by Chloe
Heaven's Official's Blessing: Tian Guan CI Fu (Novel) Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu and Zeldacw
The first time Xie Lian ascended into heaven, he was the 17-year-old ruler and darling of his kingdom. The second time he ascended, he was banished in mere minutes. 800 years later, he ascends for a third time, only to be the laughingstock of the gods. Everyone's favorite danmei recounts the tale of this fallen prince and his mysterious companion the ghost king.
Recommended by Elisabeth
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
In this set of funny-but-bleak, loosely-linked short stories, a downtrodden young man drinks and drugs his way across the Midwest. Denis Johnson approaches these subjects--addiction, violence, cruelty, folly--with a big heart and impeccable style; every word is so perfect and precise without it seeming like he even had to try to make it so.
Recommended by Jordan
The Serpent & the Wings of Night: Book 1 of the Nightborn Duet by Carissa Broadbent
The Hunger Games meets vampires in this heart-wrenching, epic fantasy romance of dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue. For the romantasy readers out there this one's for you.
Recommended by Kris
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
A cottagecore sapphic romance with tea, books, dragons, AND the book has sprayed edges? Do I really need to say more?
Recommended by Llalan
The Tree Doctor by Maria Mutsuki Mockett
A woman struggles to care for her aging mother while living far away from her family during a pandemic. An arborist cares for her garden and trees and also introduces her to desires and needs she didn't know she had. A surprisingly lush, sexy, thoughtful read.
Recommended by Sara
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (Tenth Anniversary Edition) by Jeff Speck
It may not feel like walking weather right now, but a sustainable future will definitely require more creative urban spaces! Learn about how our cityscapes and car-centric culture affect out housing availability. environment, communities, and mental health. A must-read for any urban policy work, or anyone simply interested in our collective future. [Note: walkability also = full accessibility!]
Recommended by Seth
The Book of Hermetica: The Three Essential Texts: The Corpus Hemeticum, The Emerald Tablet, the Kybalion by Hermes Trismegistus and the Three Initiates
They don't teach alchemy in school like they use to! This book is perfect for me to instruct my son.
Recommended by Seth
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Revised) by Heloise and Peter Abelard
Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Boy is castrated. Boy and girl join monastic orders. Boy and girl write letters to each other for the rest of their lives. This is the classic love story.
Recommended by Kris
Night on the Galactic Railroad & Other Stories from Ihatov by Kenji Miyazawa
This collection of three beautiful stories of dreamers and lovers all with a dream-like quality to the stories, is a wonderful read for anyone who might be in a reading slump or looking for a palate cleanser.
Recommended by Jordan
That's Not My Name by Megan Lally
She thought she had her life back. She was wrong. It was a mistake to trust him.
Recommended by Elisabeth
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
The debut novel of this Brazilian writer--written when she was 22!--is experimental, internal, basically mystical, not like anything else. You could draw a line between her and any number of weird, women authors writing today; she's mom.
Recommended by Babette
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman
An angel and a demon team up to avert the apocalypse, because while they might be in favor of Armageddon in theory, they've grown quite fond of Earth. Featuring a teenage Antichrist and an enemies-to-allies storyline that has me in a chokehold, the book is a hilarious masterpiece from start to finish.
Recommended by Author's Corner*
Talking at Night by Claire Daverly
A heartbreaking tale of missed opportunity, Talking at Night is a coming-of-age in its truest form; filled with longing and tenderness, it is unputdownable. Highly recommend for fans of Normal People and One Day.
*The Inner Loop's Author's Corner supports local authors' independently published books by spotlighting them across all our programming and through community collaborations.
Recommended by Alisa
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
Bloody, strange, and folksy. If transmasculine horror with a monstrous romance subplot sounds up your alley, this book is for you. The atmospheric historical setting and slow buildup of tension makes for a read that feels much longer than its few pages.
Recommended by Author's Corner*
Litany of Saints: A Triptych by Diana Rojas
A slow, seizing cancer, a middle child's silence, a cache of buried guns... if our secrets make us sinners, can keeping another's make us a saint? The characters in this triptych are unforgettable, as are their stories, which in the end is their salvation--and ours.
*The Inner Loop's Author's Corner supports local authors' independently published books by spotlighting them across all our programming and through community collaborations.
Recommended by Patrick
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
"If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind would he not have done so by now?"
Relentlessly brutal, yet undeniably poetic, Blood Meridian subverts the righteousness of "manifest destiny" within U.S. history, as well as the mythos of law, order, and morality in the American West.