Staff Picks – April 2021 – this is a bookblog

April has showered us with a plethora of great new books! Here are several of our booksellers’ recent favorites.

by Sandra Salsbury

I was a quiet child who was prone to having more imaginary friends than real ones. This beautiful book deeply spoke to that child and told her that it was okay – wonderful even! – to have both. With impeccable, delicate illustrations that melt my heart, this is a tender story about friendship and doing the right thing, even if it’s hard sometimes. I connected immediately with the protagonist Roland and fell absolutely in love with his friend Milton. I know everyone else will, too.
— Amy

Broken (in the best possible way)

by Jenny Lawson

If you’ve ever lost the shoe on your foot, struggled with depression, or said the weirdest possible thing to a stranger, this is a book for you. Jenny Lawson knows how to make us laugh and cry, despite our insecurities, despite the insurance companies. Above all, Jenny Lawson knows how to make us feel more human than ever.
—Syd

Bruised

by Tanya Boteju

Daya relies on her tough exterior to push down the trauma of losing both her parents in a tragic car accident, throwing herself (literally) into skateboarding and using the bruises and sore muscles to distract from difficult feelings. As her emotional pain becomes harder to control, she hopes to up her bruise game in roller derby. What she finds instead is undersanding, friendship, support, and a new definition of strength.
— Kim

Caul Baby

by Morgan Jenkins

Centered around the Melancons women and their crumbling brownstone in Harlem during the late 1990’s. Everyone knows (and whispers about) the women for their secret caul, a thin layer of extra skin that protects its bearer. Some believe. Some do not. It’s not a public discussion. That is, until Laila Reserve, who is desperate for a baby, loses yet another pregnancy, very publicly, after attempting to buy a piece of caul from the Melancons. The neighborhood witnesses her breakdown. Can you sell anything that is yours? To anyone? (At any price?) Can you refuse? We are taken through the next 20 years of this Harlem neighborhood as their families grieve loss and question tradsition. They stand together in Black motherhood, push forward in ambition, face gentrification, and feel the painful tearing apart of family that is the unique destruction from generations of secrecy. This is a gorgeous novel of feminist folk magic.
— Amy

Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story
Remaking a Life from Scratch

by Erin French

Founder of the unique and wildly successful Lost Kitchen restauerant, Erin French provides a brutally honest narrative of the determination, against all odds, to build a distinctive restaurant in rural Maine. This is a page-turning memoir that reads like a novel. An amazing story!
— Mary

I’m Waiting for You
and other stories

by Kim Bo-Young

Melancholy leads to hope. Isolation leads to connection. Rebellion leads to understanding. In this collection of science fiction novellas, South Korea’s Kim Bo-Young uses the eternal expanse of the universe to ask and contemplate the most intimate of human questions. A compelling and delightful read.
—Rod

The Night Always Comes

by Willy Vlautin

Second chances are hard to come by. Lynette has worked her ass off to save enough money to buy her family’s home. When the bottom falls out of her plan, we watch her increasing desperation to find another way. Haunted by past events that keep crawling into the light, Lynette’s determination is something to behold. Gritty, realistic fiction for fans of Ottessa Mosfegh and Raymond Carver (also Breaking Bad).
— Beverly

The Upstairs House

by Julia Fine

A white-knuckle commentary on the taboos of new motherhood, but in turn also a ghost story of sorts with fear and desire always bubbling just beneath the surface. I truly cared and worried for these characters until the end and beyond. Fine’s powerful and acerbic voice shines a light that is oftentimes blinding.

This book was actually pretty difficult for me in the beginning as a mother, so there may be some trigger warnings there (post partum, mental health etc). But after the first 2 chapters it really took off for me. Shirley Jackson-y at times but very much its own thing. Definitely kept my heart in my throat and a blistering page-turner.
— Karly

When the Stars Go Dark

by Paula McClain

This will get your heart racing! Missing persons detective Anna Hart is on the run from her own life. While grieving in Mendocino, she gets involved in a missing person case which might or might not be related to an unsolves crime from when Anna was a teen. Can she solve the crime? This psychological thriller explores the effects of trauma on individuals and communities.
—Shirley

And finally, a small collection with a musical theme…

Booksellers Christine and Sally were chatting recently and realized they were both reading (and loving!) books that had been dubbed as “this year’s Daisy Jones and the Six.” Readers have loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s “Daisy Jones” since it debuted in 2019, and it seems that publishing reps are eager to help Daisy’s fans find their next favorite book.

Enter Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton. Mary Jane, like Daisy Jones, is coming of age in the 1960s/70s, in a world of “drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Opal & Nev, like Daisy Jones, is told as an oral history, crafted from snippets of interviews and “editors notes” from the novel’s characters. Two books as different from each other as they are from “Daisy Jones,” yet all united by a spirit of self-discovery and young women’s empowerment through music.

Mary Jane

by Jessica Anya Blau

I went into Mary Jane cautiously; Daisy Jones and the Six had been such a fun summer read that I doubted this could hold up. I was wrong. Daisy was fun, Mary Jane is going to stay with me for a lot longer.

Set in the mid 70s, 14-year-old Mary Jane becomes the summer nanny for Dr. and Mrs. Cone who live down the street. At first, she is aghast at how they live — messy, unconcerned with appearances, and never cooking meals. But as the summer goes on, she falls in love with the whip-smart 5-year-old, becomes friends with Dr. Cone’s rock star patients, and starts to envision a life different from the one she’s seen her parents live. The book is full of life, fun, love, and music. I can’t wait for it to release in May so I can start gleely shoving it into people’s hands!
— Christine

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

by Dawnie Walton

When Opal, a young Black woman from Detroit, starts performing with Neville Charles, a British musician still waiting to hit it big, both of their lives are changed forever. Four decades later, after Nev has gone on to a successful solo career and Opal has faded into obscurity and cult popularity, journalist Sunny Shelton seeks out the duo to tell the story of their unlikely partnership and the 1971 rock festival performance that left their drummer (and Sunny’s father) dead. Opal, Nev, and Sunny are joined by an exquisite cast of supporting characters (I swear Virgil LaFleur will be portrayed by Titus Burgess in the inevitable future film adaptation), and the full-cast audiobook is a particular treat.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a novel intimiately grounded in real music history. Recommended pairing: Hanif Abdurraquib’s A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance — an intimate, personal reflection on Blackness, art, and survival.
— Sally