Every Spring & Autumn, we compile a list of staff recommendations including our books from personal reading lists as well as the book club group reads.
These books focus on global reads across a variety of genres—the books we think you should read next if you haven’t yet. We heartily recommend all of these & think you’ll love them as much as we do.
Happy reading!
ABOUT BETH, THE CLUB CO-FOUNDER
She devours science fiction & fantasy interspersed with scuba diving books, historical fiction, food-based books, detective novels, travel books, literature, & poetry. Beth possesses a penchant for Arthurian legends & stays on top of trends by amusing herself with tech/business reads.
Lyrical Poetry from Poland
“Gutorow is a wonderfully lyrical poet painting beautiful pictures with his words as you can see in the poem I included below from this collection.” - Beth
Nominated for the Nike Award, the Cogito Award, & the Gdynia Award.
In this triumphant collection, poet of the imagination Jacek Gutorow offers thirty-one gems that will help change our understanding of Polish poetry.
“His poems are meditative and beautiful, his diction fragile and clear...In short, it is a lovely book.” —Hey Small Press
“The ability of poetry to deal with nearly any topic and to tell little stories encapsulated in a few lines has long been a tradition of the Poles and an area they’ve displayed exceptional expertise. Gutorow has placed himself strongly within this tradition but in the most contemporary sense.” ―Gently Read Literature
From this collection:
“I fell in love with language again this evening.
The excess of reality had left me stranded.
The stairs with littered with phrases and headwind.
The clock struck reticent midnight.
I roamed from the forest of nouns to the valley of adverbs
and even farther, to the vast plateau of pronouns.
There, in a building of gold-yellow walls (matte latex),
mallows and loudly climbing roses were in charge.
Tracks like phrases that turn back upon themselves.
A beach was put together with a few words that hurt the eyes
with dirty foam. In the western sky a streak left behind by a rickety jet
and its commas beginning to fray.
But that was earlier,
before I again fell in love with language
that stood there mute in the wind.”
A Psychological thriller from New ZeAland
“Just a mind-f*** of a book & I adored it! Horribly sad in some parts, but so incredibly engaging & it kept me guessing for a long time.” - Beth
In this “outstanding psychological thriller” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) by the Edgar-nominated author of Joe Victim, a famous crime writer struggles to differentiate between his own reality and the frightening plot lines he’s created for the page.
Jerry Grey is known to most of the world by his crime writing pseudonym, Henry Cutter—a name that has been keeping readers on the edge of their seats for more than a decade. Recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of forty-nine, Jerry’s crime writing days are coming to an end. His twelve books tell stories of brutal murders committed by bad men, of a world out of balance, of victims finding the darkest forms of justice. As his dementia begins to break down the wall between his life and the lives of the characters he has created, Jerry confesses his worst secret: The stories are real. He knows this because he committed the crimes. Those close to him, including the nurses at the care home where he now lives, insist that it is all in his head, that his memory is being toyed with and manipulated by his unfortunate disease. But if that were true, then why are so many bad things happening? Why are people dying?
Hailed by critics as a “masterful” (Publishers Weekly) writer who consistently offers “ferocious storytelling that makes you think and feel” (The Listener) and whose fiction evokes “Breaking Bad reworked by the Coen Brothers” (Kirkus Reviews), Paul Cleave takes us down a cleverly twisted path to determine the fine line between an author and his characters, between fact and fiction.
Note: This book is also great on audio though the narrator is English, not a Kiwi (aka a New Zealander).
Creepy, funny flash fiction from peru
“The twisted humor with a touch of the macabre in this collection of flash fiction made me gasp & guffaw out loud with gleeful surprise. Truly a wonderful delight & very unique from any other book I read.” - Beth
Renowned writer, philologist, and critic Miguel Garcia Posada says of this book: “It’s not a stretch to consider it one of the most notable revelations of recent Latin American literature.”
A slim book, Grave Goods contains 98 pieces of flash fiction from one of Peru's best contemporary writers. While Fernando Iwasaki's stories—like all good horror stories—are intended to disconcert his readers, they are also often humorous in nature. Some re-create or re-envision urban legends, some come from dreams, and some are pure inventions of Iwasaki's remarkable mind.
This is not a book of gore. Rather, the majority of these stories are creepy with touches of humor and twists at the end that will make you gasp or laugh in surprise and shock. It takes true talent to convey a solid micro-story and these are incredibly rich and well written for all their brevity. The author leaves much to the imagination which somehow adds more to the story and ups the creep factor.
A unique cyberpunk/urban fantasy mash-up from south africa
“I adored the combination of modern-day cyberpunk novel meshed with urban fantasy. It was also a breath of fresh air to read a dystopian book that wasn’t the same old US/UK author writing about the usual dystopian view, but instead the story focused on an alt Johannesburg.” - Beth
Lauren Beukes’ Arthur C Clarke Award-winning novel set in a world where murderers and other criminals acquire magical animals that are mystically bonded to them.
Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. When a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, Zinzi’s forced to take on her least favorite kind of job—missing persons.
Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives—including her own.
poignant, authentic fiction by a trans author from canada
”This isn't the type of book I usually like—a far cry from my normally action-packed sci fi & fantasy reads—but it touched me, giving me a different & necessary perspective. This book is complex, authentic, poignant, & sometimes horribly sad. However, it’s an important book especially if you never read anything by a trans author. Here are 9 other books by global trans authors if the one below doesn’t appeal to you.” - Beth
Winner, Lambda Literary Award; Amazon Canada First Novel Award; Firecracker Award for Fiction; A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year
It's the dead of winter in Winnipeg and Wendy Reimer, a thirty-year-old trans woman, feels like her life is frozen in place. When her Oma (grandmother) passes away, Wendy receives an unexpected phone call from a distant family friend with a startling secret: Wendy's Opa (grandfather)—a devout Mennonite farmer—might have been transgender himself. At first she dismisses this revelation, but as Wendy's life grows increasingly volatile, she finds herself aching for the lost pieces of her Opa's truth.
But this isn’t a story about her Opa. It’s a slice-of-life story about Wendy. Alternately warm-hearted and dark-spirited, desperate and mirthful, Little Fish explores the winter of discontent in the life of one transgender woman as her past and future become irrevocably entwined.
“I have never felt as seen, understood, or spoken to as I did when I read Little Fish. Never before in my life. Casey remains one of THE authors to read if you want to understand the interior lives of trans women in this century.” —Meredith Russo, author of If I Was Your Girl
“A touching and beautiful novel.” —The Independent (UK)
ABOUT Mia, THE CLUB CO-FOUNDER
She reads for pleasure, but also to expand her mind often preferring literature, memoirs, & philosophical books. Mia also likes to dabble in historical fiction & biographies.
A heartwarming, quirky read from Japan
“Time travel never gets old! It is a fascination of many. This book’s empathetic characters warmed my heart with their unique stories.” - Mia
A quirky, sigh-inducingly satisfying read that is now an international bestseller
If you could go back, who would you want to meet?
In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time.
Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. But time travel isn’t so simple, and there are rules that must be followed. Most important, the trip can last only as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold.
Heartwarming, wistful, mysterious and delightfully quirky, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s internationally bestselling novel explores the age-old question: What would you change if you could travel back in time?
“An affecting, deeply immersive journey into the desire to hold onto the past. This wondrous tale will move readers.” —Publishers Weekly
“Perfect for anyone who wants to feel connected right now.” —Book Reporter
Note: We’ve also found the book to be great on audio.
AN enchanting read from new zealand by a maori author
“I really loved reading about the gender roles & family dynamic in this story. The struggles & triumphs of the main character kept me wondering how this book would end.” - Mia
An international bestseller & winner of the New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award written by a multiple-award winning Maori author
Eight-year-old Kahu craves her great-grandfather's love and attention. But he is focused on his duties as chief of a Maori tribe in Whangara, on the East Coast of New Zealand—a tribe that claims descent from the legendary “whale rider.” In every generation since the whale rider, a male has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir—there's only Kahu. She should be the next in line for the title, but her great-grandfather is blinded by tradition and sees no use for a girl.
Kahu will not be ignored. And in her struggle she has a unique ally: the whale rider himself, from whom she has inherited the ability to communicate with whales. Once that sacred gift is revealed, Kahu may be able to re-establish her people's ancestral connections, earn her great-grandfather's attention, and lead her tribe to a bold new future.
“A profoundly enchanting story that will hold [you] in its grip right up to its tender conclusion.” —Curled Up
Speculative fiction from a member of the Turtle Mountain Band, a tribe of the Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwe & Chippewa)
“Strong women, interesting storyline, & just the right amount of reality vs. dystopian fiction for my taste.” - Mia
Louise Erdrich, the NY Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author paints a startling portrait
The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself affecting every living creature on earth while woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. 32-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.
Though she wants to tell her parents, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand her and her baby’s origins. As Cedar goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate, fueled by a swelling panic about the end of humanity.
There are rumors of martial law, of Congress confining pregnant women. Of a registry, and rewards for those who turn these wanted women in. Flickering through the chaos are signs of increasing repression: a shaken Cedar witnesses a family wrenched apart when police violently drag a mother from her husband and child in a parking lot. The streets of her neighborhood have been renamed with Bible verses. A stranger answers the phone when she calls her adoptive parents, who have vanished without a trace. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of informants and keep her baby safe.
Future Home of the Living God is a startlingly original work from one of our most acclaimed writers: a moving meditation on female agency, self-determination, biology, and natural rights that speaks to the troubling changes of our time.
“Masterful…a breakout work of speculative fiction…enters the realm of The Handmaid’s Tale…A suspenseful, profoundly provoking novel of life’s vulnerability and insistence…with a bold theme, searing social critique, and high-adrenaline action.” —Booklist
“Smart and thrilling…Erdrich’s storytelling is seductive.” —Vanity Fair
AN enthralling family saga from Ethiopia journeying into the US
“As a nurse, I loved the clinical descriptions in the writing. The story also encompassed the full range of emotions one goes through in life. I loved every character—they were brought to life by the author’s words & descriptions.” -Mia
A sweeping, emotionally riveting novel with over 1 million copies sold—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
Moving from Addis Ababa to NYC and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.
“A masterpiece. . . Verghese expertly weaves the threads of numerous story lines into one cohesive opus. The writing is graceful, the characters compassionate and the story full of nuggets of wisdom.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Lush and exotic. . . Shows how history, landscape and accidents of birth conspire to create the story of a single life. . . . Verghese creates this story so lovingly that it is actually possible to live within it for the brief time one spends with this book. You may never leave the chair.” —LA Times
“Absorbing, exhilarating. . . . If you’re hungry for an epic . . . open the covers of Cutting for Stone, [then] don’t expect to do much else.” —The Seattle Times
A surreal novel from a Peruvian Nobel Prize-winner
“I love a book with struggles and existential crisis—this book fits the bill in a way I did not expect. Heart-wrenching scenarios with a dash of dark humor thrown in.” -Mia
Written by the 2010 Nobel Prize winning author & “Peru's best novelist—one of the world's best.” —The New Yorker
In a remote Andean village, three men have disappeared. Peruvian Army corporal Lituma and his deputy Tomás have been dispatched to investigate, and to guard the town from the Shining Path guerrillas they assume are responsible. But the townspeople do not trust the officers, and they have their own ideas about what forces claimed the bodies of the missing men. To pass the time, and to cope with their homesickness, Tomás entertains Lituma nightly with the sensuous, surreal tale of his precarious love affair with a wayward prostitute. His stories are intermingled with the ongoing mystery of the missing men.
Death in the Andes is an atmospheric suspense story and a political allegory, a panoramic view of contemporary Peru from one of the world's great novelists.
“Remarkable . . . a fantastically picturesque landscape of Indians and llamas, snowy peaks, hunger, and violence.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Meticulously realistic descriptions of this high, unforgiving landscape and the haunted people who perch there . . . merge into a surreal portrait of a place both specific and universal.” —Time
About julie jacobs, Moderator
She dislikes gratuitous gore, graphic romance, & cowboy-type westerns, but she’ll read nearly anything if there’s a strong storyline to support it.
Since her multiple sclerosis diagnosis forced her reliance on (& appreciation for) audiobooks, you can rely on the fact that each of the books below will also be great on audio.
An essential collection of stories about Peruvian families/immigration
“Every one of these short stories was worth two reads! Get a sample from Levar Burton who shared the story ‘Republica and Grau’ from this collection for free here.” -Julie
Longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction
An urgent, essential collection of stories about Latin American families, immigration, broken dreams, LA gang members, and other tales of high stakes journeys
Betrayal. Family secrets. Doomed love. Uncertain futures. Migration. In Daniel Alarcón’s hands, these are transformed into deeply human stories with high stakes. In "The Thousands," people are on the move and forging new paths; hope and heartbreak abound. A man deals with the fallout of his blind relatives' mysterious deaths and his father's mental breakdown and incarceration in "The Bridge." A gang member discovers a way to forgiveness and redemption through the haze of violence and trauma in “The Ballad of Rocky Rontal.” And in the tour de force novella, "The Auroras", a man severs himself from his old life and seeks to make a new one in a new city, only to find himself seduced and controlled by a powerful woman. Richly drawn, full of unforgettable characters, The King is Always Above the People reveals experiences both unsettling and unknown, and yet eerily familiar in this new world.
“Alarcón is an empathic observer of the isolated human, whether isolated by emigration or ambition, blindness or loneliness, poverty or war. His stories have a reporter's mix of kindness and detachment, and his endings land like a punch in the gut. His purpose isn't to approve or condemn, or to liberate. He's writing to show us other people's lives, and in every case, it's a pleasure to be shown.” —NPR
"Showcases his talent as a master storyteller. In 10 vivid, captivating stories, Alarcón explores family relationships, secrets, betrayal, hope, love, heartbreak, immigration, forgiveness, and redemption." —Buzzfeed
“Dynamic novelist and journalist Alarcón delivers a collection of loosely affiliated short stories, each buzzing and alive…Alarcón’s gift for generating real, tangible characters propels readers through his recognizable yet half-real worlds.” —Booklist
INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE & THE TEACHINGS OF PLANTS from a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation
“Beautiful teaching about listening to & learning from the earth itself.” - Julie
A New York Times, Washington Post, & LA Times bestseller, & named a “Best Essay Collection of the Decade” by Literary Hub among other accolades
In increasingly dark times, we honor the experience that more than 350,000 readers in North America have cherished about the book—gentle, simple, tactile, beautiful, even sacred.
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
“I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual.” —The NY Times
One of the most influential philosophical works from a french algierian nobel prize-winner
“While philosophies come in & out of relevance, some exceptional pieces include the 1939 essay on Iran as well as the timeless essays on ‘The Artist and His Time!’” - Julie
Written by a Nobel Prize-winning author
“Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one's consciousness, making of every image a privileged place.”
One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought.
Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the writings of Kafka, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, these philosophical essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning.
With lyric eloquence, Albert Camus brilliantly posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal existence, and the possibility of life lived with dignity and authenticity.
a diverse snapshot of Indigenous Australia from AN Aboriginal perspective
“A 5-star read for me. It really gives insight into a sort of parallel colonial nation’s race issues & native culture.” - Julie
Winner, Small Publisher Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards
Childhood stories of family, country and belonging…
What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart—sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect.
This groundbreaking collection will enlighten, inspire and educate about the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia today.
Contributors include: Tony Birch, Deborah Cheetham, Adam Goodes, Terri Janke, Patrick Johnson, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Latimore, Celeste Liddle, Amy McQuire, Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Miranda Tapsell, Jared Thomas, Aileen Walsh, Alexis West, Tara June Winch, and many more.
”Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia is a mosaic, its more than 50 tiles—short personal essays with unique patterns, shapes, colours and textures—coming together to form a powerful portrait of resilience.” —The Saturday Paper
”... provides a diverse snapshot of Indigenous Australia from a much needed Aboriginal perspective.” —The Saturday Age
“Black Australia is a patchwork—there is no homogenous black culture or experience. Adequately capturing the essence of hundreds of nations is no easy feat, but Heiss has pulled together an incredible bunch of voices that reflect the humour, intelligence, strength and diversity of Aboriginal people.” —Nayuka Gorrie, Feminist Writers Festival
“Taken together, the diversity exhibited by these fifty pieces shatters that myth [that there is only one narrowly defined way to be and look Aboriginal]. One hopes for a sequel.” —Australian Book Review