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Fans of The Essex Serpent will love this immersive historical novel of furtive fossil-quarrying, a lively Scottish family, an audacious book of natural history proposing that species change over time, and a woman with secrets seeking answers. The whole story quietly crackles with curiosity, the mysteries of inheritance, and the possibilities of uncovering and understanding the past. -Ruth
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Cara’s job is to visit other Earths. Her qualifications: you can’t visit parallel worlds where you have a living doppelganger, and Cara’s life on the margins ensured that in most versions of Earth, she’s already dead. It’s a little Mad Max: Fury Road, a little Long Earth. Fiercely intelligent, intricately plotted, yet maintains the pace of a thriller without getting tangled in a cast of repeat characters across multiple worlds – exploring the full potential of choices, circumstances, and who one person can be. -Ruth
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Sheer silly, bawdy, Bard-y nonsense of the highest caliber and lowest brow. One need not have read any previous adventures of Moore’s cunning fool Pocket to enjoy his latest escapade, based VERY loosely on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. -Ruth
When Joan's long-missing husband mysteriously surfaces preaching in a revival tent in a parking lot, she is baffled by his claim the he is not her husband and that he has no idea who she is. In her quest to spark his memory and bring him home she runs afoul of an old curse and a sinister businessman who could bring her life, and those of everyone she cares about, crashing down around her. This compulsively readable modern-day fable seamlessly blends First Nations mythology with immersive storytelling. The characters feel incredibly real and the story has the flavor of a cautionary tale told by your eccentric auntie over a game of cards and a pitcher of margaritas. – Jessica
As a lifelong insomniac, I am perpetually in search of anything that will help me drift off in a timely manner. This surprisingly soporific collection of cozy vignettes fits the bill perfectly. Full of richly written moments in which to lose yourself and interspersed with recipes and meditations, this book is like a collection of mini vacations. I also highly recommend checking out the author's podcast if you find that visualization exercises help you to relax. – Jessica
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Something about this year makes time-travel stories particularly fun escape reading. It’s 1970 and teenage Peter is seeing a therapist because he believes that he’s a 65-year-old man from the year 2020. Peter makes the best of his odd situation by joining a band and copyrighting hit songs from the future, while trying to solve the riddle of how he can get back home, or whether that future only exists in his head, or whether it still exists at all when 1970 turns out not exactly as he thinks he remembers. A fast read with good what-ifs. -Ruth
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I was so happy to see this series completed! Samantha Norman is Ariana Franklin's daughter, and their writing style is similar enough to make this posthumous finale almost seamless. I also love the way Henry II is portrayed in this story--the author is clearly a fan of Henry and his attempts to bring about a system of justice that excluded the influence of the church. – Kate
Music lovers won’t want to miss this funny, brilliant, and utterly absorbing novel about the serendipitous formation of a psychedelic rock band. It’s a story about transmuting life into art and making a living at it, and the creative chemistry and humor of four vivid personalities, steeped in the music scene of 1960s London and California (with many entertaining cameos). David Mitchell’s books all connect into one sprawling meta-novel, but Utopia Avenue stands on its own as an entry point into the Mitchell Cinematic Universe. – Ruth
The tribal authorities can’t prosecute felonies and the Feds won’t take an interest in anything short of murder, so the only justice available for some crimes is to hire Virgil Wounded Horse to beat the daylights out of the bad guys. Excellent mystery/thriller – your classic hardboiled noir detective story with the twist that it’s set on the Rosebud reservation and steeped in Lakota history and culture. Think crime fiction for Louise Erdrich fans.
Speaking of Erdrich – her command of language and depth of characters puts her among the very best of American novelists. Her latest historical fiction set in Lakota territory is based on her grandfather’s quest to hold on to their traditional lands and is a vivid portrait of a Native American community in the 1950s. – Ruth
The astonishing sequel to Muir’s 2019 debut Gideon the Ninth. This book is a chaotic puzzle box that easily surpasses its predecessor. The main character Harrow faces multiple threats from within and without while in the company of the undying Emperor of the Nine Houses. – Justice
Even supervillains need office staff, and Anna is a gig-economy data-analyst hench – until she’s injured in a superhero raid on her boss. Laid off and disabled, she runs the numbers on superheroes’ collateral damage and finds the “good guys” mostly just have better PR. Thus begins a hilarious quest to thwart superheroes by any means, and the start of Anna’s career as a wicked-smart supervillain who might save the world. -Ruth
A dark and surrealist piece chronicling titular protagonist Piranesi’s twofold efforts to chronicle the seemingly infinite and labyrinthine House he’s spent his whole life in and help the only other human he has ever known unearth what they claim to be a ‘Terrible and Forbidden Knowledge.’ – Justice
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A wildly inventive near-future speculative-fiction satirical vortex of American dystopia and Alaskan weirdness that reads like Tom Robbins crossed with Ken Kesey. Interested parties (friends? foes?) bust our protagonist Gloomy out of the Ted Stevens Federal Penitentiary in an elaborate scheme to find a missing nuclear warhead near Cold Storage, AK. It’s darker and weirder than your usual John Straley, but it’s not boring. -Ruth
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Becky Farwell’s knack for numbers salvaged her dad’s business and got her a job at City Hall right out of high school. Her competence and attention to detail make her indispensable – the only one who understands the town’s finances. No one knows that Becky has “found” enough forgotten money to launch a secret life as a fine art collector, outplaying the city slickers at their own game. She patches up the budget with her earnings, intending to pay the small town back properly when she’s parlayed her collection into big money, but high-stakes art sales are risky business, and philanthropy is no replacement for integrity. An entertaining read which somehow occupies a point between The Goldfinch and Parks & Rec. – Ruth
(Mary Ann recommends it as an audiobook on Libro.fm!)