Bookseller Recommendations
Books to Read This October
Happy October everyone, and welcome back to another round of recommendations from our lovely booksellers at Village Books. There’s a little bit of spooky, a little bit of brainy, and something in here for anyone looking for their next read:
For those who would jump off a cliff if all their friends were doing it too,
If you're up late stumbling in the streets of Ketterdam, you may be unlucky enough to stumble upon the Crow Club. And within this dark, damp crevice of the city, you may lose a game of cards or misplace your wallet, but no matter the circumstances, you will certainly leave poorer than when you first arrived. The Crow Club is home to The Dregs, one of Ketterdam’s many gangs, run by those eager to take back what the city stole from them. When Kaz Brekker, the gang’s unofficial leader, is offered 30 million kruge to carry out a heist on the Fjerdan military capital, he must put together the perfect team to pull it off. An unlikely alliance is formed – a runaway son, a sharpshooter, a spy, a stubborn witch, a witch hunter, and an infamous thief – the six will set out to defy all odds or die trying.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo could not be described as a pillar of great literature, but it's truly a perfect duology in my eyes. The plotting, world-building, humor, and character relationships are only a few of the things that make this book so remarkable. Slowly, without my noticing, these characters carved out a space in my heart, and they have been held up there ever since. Even though I first read this book four years ago, I still regret not picking it up sooner. I hope that you take my advice and not wait a second longer. As it is filled with magic, trickery, dangerous plots and brilliant disguises, Six of Crows is perfect for the Halloween season, and it will stay with you long after your jack-o-lanterns rot.
No mourners,
Kaycie
Spooky, not Scary, and absolutely adorable, this is the perfect Halloween Book for Scaredy Cats!
Based on a Germanic folk tale, Jon Klassen's The Skull follows a young girl who runs away from home. She befriends a polite skull who lets her live with him so long as she carries him around the house -- but the skull has his own dark past to escape from ... Told with simple text and gorgeous illustrations, The Skull is a gentle and wryly funny story that is perfect for kids transitioning from picture books to chapter books -- and adults will appreciate the quietly subversive message about independence, friendship, and breaking free from the past. If you run away from home this fall, make sure you find a friendly skull to chill with!
- Sonny
As someone who doesn’t normally read books in this realm of Sci-Fi, I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort genres to pick this one up!
It was a much needed break from my usual that I didn’t realize I needed. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers is an optimistic read following a road trip between an unlikely duo–a monk and a robot–in a post-apocalyptic world that’s found its way back to a sense of peace and balance.
This book is for the people who are looking to take a break from the hustle and bustle of reality. For when you need a relaxing breath and decompress session. It’s a book for those who might feel a little lost, or stuck in limbo. Within it, Chambers creates a cozy, wholesome, hopeful, and tender ambiance in the world of our characters, reminding me of Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. So light your favorite candles and set yourself up with a hot cup of tea, and set the tone for your next fall read!
- Elle
A novel that explores the burden of possibility…
Set in a parallel version of the United States á la "The Man in the High Castle", but instead imagining that the South had seceded from the Union around WWII and formed its own theocracy, Catherine Lacey's Biography of X deftly avoids losing the reader in a miasma of historical fact-creating, keeping the focus squarely on the two women whose lives its narrative circles: the artist X, and her widow. Her widow is writing a 'corrective biography', see, and in doing so ruptures the earth around herself.
This book turns away from the idea of genre as a room with four walls, instead building a sprawling castle of biography and quest narrative and love story and historical drama and send-up of high-brow artistry. Garth Greenwell wrote in a review of the book that "Biography of X is a profound novel about love and what it can license, about the toll -- and maybe the con -- of genius." The toll of 'genius' on others, the toll it takes to uphold the con, the con of the idea of genius even existing, etc. It is this spirit of the book that sticks with me most strongly after reading it: the constantly turning kaleidoscope with society's love of the genius at the center. The book tells us nothing, not really. It just invites us to look.
Read if you liked Emma Copley Eisenberg's Housemates, The Loft Generation by Edith Schloss, or laying on your belly on the carpet to read the encyclopedia as a child while pretending to drink coffee.
- Mo
