Staff Picks_0623

"Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, she's survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she's tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she's offered a job...

"In this riveting memoir, renowned mountaineer Lou Dawson shares a tumultuous coming-of-age journey, from the flatlands of Texas to the Colorado mountains, steeped in the counterculture revolution of the 1960s. Amidst the towering peaks, Lou discovers an enduring love for alpine sports: scaling cliffs, topping summits, skiing powder snow. However, as the avalanches fall and lifestyle choices veer, his pursuit of adrenaline becomes a poignant struggle...

5 stars

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era"-- "Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation's capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious...

"Alma Cruz ha decidido ponerle punto final a su carrera de escritora, pero teme acabar como su amiga, una exitosa novelista arrastrada a la locura por un libro que jamás terminó de escribir. Por eso, cuando hereda un modesto terreno en República Dominicana, se le ocurre sepultar allí sus decenas de manuscritos inconclusos. Quiere que descansen en paz en la misma tierra donde yacen sus raíces. Pero a diferencia de Alma, los protagonistas de sus...

4.6 stars

When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Gray's older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London's dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother.

"Donna Freitas has lived two lives. In one life, she is a well-published author and respected scholar who has traveled around the country speaking about Title IX, consent, religion, and sex on college campuses. In the other, she is a victim, a woman who suffered and suffers still because she was stalked by her graduate professor for more than two years. [...] In Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention, Donna Freitas delivers a forensic examination...

4.2 stars

Earth's population is divided between only two existing countries which cannot manage to cooperate in any way, until a distress signal arrives from Titan's first settler and neither can afford to rescue her on their own if they act separately. Ambrose wakes up on board with successfully reaching his sister the primary thought in his mind until he notices several strange circumstances: he doesn't remember the launch, the ship's OS is voiced by his...