Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

When cartographer Nell Young’s father is murdered, she discovers that an old map he said was worthless, and was the source of their estrangement, is actually something of great importance. Her investigation into the map’s origins leads her on a wild, dangerous adventure. This is perfect for fans of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore!

Natural-born healer Emma Starling returns to her small New Hampshire hometown when her father becomes sick with a mystery illness. There she contends with a missing childhood friend, her brother’s recovery from substance addiction, her parents’ fractured marriage, her father’s ghosts, and so much more. Yes, I know, I talk about this book a lot, but it’s because it’s SO GOOD. This is the new John Irving novel you’ve been waiting for.

Do you like stunning dystopian novels with lots of secrets, continuation of family legacies, science, Arctic settings, plagues, spaceships, love and loss, and talking pigs? Then look no further, because this gorgeous gut-punch of a book will floor you. Seriously, I may never get over reading this book.

And this is one of the most perfect, gorgeous novels I’ve ever read. Leah is on a routine submarine expedition, but when her sub doesn’t resurface, her wife Miri is adrift. But then Leah’s sub finally returns many weeks later without explanation, and the two will never be the same.

And this is for fans of fantastic fantasy! (Say that three times fast.) Inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, a young girl who grows up on the moon goes on a quest to save her mother from the ruthless Celestial Emperor.

This is a great read for fans of Andy Weir. It’s a darkly humorous story about Mickey, an expendable aboard a spaceship. As an expendable, when there’s a dangerous task to be done, he has to do it. And he dies. A lot. And then a new version of Mickey is created. Unfortunately, due to an error, there are now two of him at once, and it might cost him everything, for good, forever.

It’s about Elizabeth Zott, a young woman working to become a scientist in the sexist world of academia in 1960s California. Eventually, she finds herself a reluctant television star, where she tries to teach other women to become self-reliant and stick it to the patriarchy. (I really loved this book, but I have to admit that I disagree with the light tone of the publisher description. It is dazzling, and funny in places, but there is a lot of trauma in this one.)

And as much as I have enjoyed the novels of Emily St. John Mandel, I think this one might be my favorite! It takes place one hundred years in the past to three hundred years in the future. There’s a young man in the Canadian wilderness, an author on a book tour at the end of the world, a moon colony, and more. It’s so, so amazing. (Heads up that there are minor spoilery characters from The Glass Hotel, but you don’t have to have read it to enjoy this one.)

And true crime fans, mark this one down now! When Rachel Rear was young, her mother remarried. Her stepfather had had a daughter who had gone missing and was presumed dead before he met Rear’s mother, so she only knew her stepsister Stephanie through stories. This is a heart-punching investigation by Rear years later into the mystery of the sister she never knew, and a decades-long unsolved crime.

Do you like beautifully-written novels where you can’t quite figure out what is happening but you are happy to have read them? Then look no further! This is about the interviews with the crew aboard the Six-Thousand Ship. They take on a shipment of unusual cargo and document their feelings about it. I didn’t really understand this book, but by gum, I freaking loved it!

If you knew that detectives would verify what you write in your online dating profile, would it change your mind about what you wrote? Would you be less likely to use the service? That’s a question I pondered as I enjoyed this excellent novel. Claudia Lin is an amateur sleuth for an online dating agency. When one of her clients goes missing, she disobeys protocol to investigate on her own. But what she discovers is a lot more sinister than she expected.