Leigh Bardugo

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

California

Ninth House

62a1c943-fd37-4b8d-ad16-f5a0d7e1f914-1

Richard Wrangham

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

How Cooking Made Us Human

The groundbreaking theory of how fire and food drove the evolution of modern humans

Ever since Darwin and The Descent of Man, the evolution and world-wide dispersal of humans has been attributed to our intelligence and adaptability. But in Catching Fire, renowned primatologist Richard Wrangham presents a startling alternative: our evolutionary success is the result of cooking. In a groundbreaking theory of our origins, Wrangham shows that the shift from raw to cooked foods was the key factor in human evolution. Once our hominid ancestors began cooking their food, the human digestive tract shrank and the brain grew. Time once spent chewing tough raw food could be sued instead to hunt and to tend camp. Cooking became the basis for pair bonding and marriage, created the household, and even led to a sexual division of labor. In short, once our ancestors adapted to using fire, humanity began. Tracing the contemporary implications of our ancestors' diets, Catching Fire sheds new light on how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. A pathbreaking new theory of human evolution, Catching Fire will provoke controversy and fascinate anyone interested in our ancient origins-or in our modern eating habits.

Catching Fire

234556c0-bc8c-40f6-ad19-cca513f5b871-1

Dinah Jefferies

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

AN ISLAND OF SECRETS. A RUNAWAY. AND A PROMISE...

A rebellious daughter

1925. Among the ancient honey-coloured walls of the tiny island of Malta, strangers slip into the shadows and anyone can buy a new name. Rosalie Delacroix flees Paris for a dancer's job in the bohemian clubs deep in its winding streets.

A sister with a secret

1944. Running from the brutality of war in France, Florence Baudin faces a new life. But her estranged mother makes a desperate request: to find her vanished sister, who went missing years before.

A rift over generations

Betrayals and secrets, lies and silence hang between the sisters. A faded last letter from Rosalie is Florence's only clue, the war an immovable barrier - and time is running out...


PRAISE FOR THE HIDDEN PALACE

"Completely swept me away to another place and time. Dinah is the queen of sumptuous settings, transporting the reader effortlessly from chocolate-box Devonshire to the cabaret clubs of 1920s Paris and war-torn Malta. A marvellous, multi-layered story, populated with characters to really care for"--HAZEL GAYNOR

"Dinah Jefferies wields her storytelling magic on the island of Malta . . . It's engrossing and sensual, full of the heat of the Mediterranean sun"--GILL PAUL

"Powerful, passionate and profoundly moving . . . this compelling mix of love and tragedy vibrates with warmth and pain, and captures the intense dislocation of war"--KATE FURNIVALL

"Sweeping and sumptuous with a gorgeously described sense of place. A marvellous adventure"--TRACY REES


PRAISE FOR DAUGHTERS OF WAR

"A wonderfully evocative and sensual writer"--SANTA MONTEFIORE

"A warm and engrossing tale of passion and courage. I loved it"--RACHEL HORE

"Love, grief, abandonment, betrayal and secrets ... I adored it"--LIZ NUGENT

The Hidden Palace (the Daughters of War, Book 2)

d91348be-3588-44b8-b03a-e8c6b2383bfa-1

Kevin Baker

A Novel

A novel on turn-of-the century New York, portraying its various faces. The cast includes a Jewish seamstress who rebels against her rabbi father to become a union organizer, an Irish-American senator who rules the city with the help of corrupt police, and Freud who gives his views on crass America. By the author of Sometimes You See It Coming.

Dreamland

9fbe902b-71a9-4d9d-a382-e19642f10069-1

Stephen Yafa

Why Eating Wheat Can Improve Your Health

A Pollan-esque look at the truth about wheat, with surprising insights on the advantages of eating the world’s most contested grain You owe it to your mind and body to step away from the gluten-free frenzy long enough to do what’s best for your own personal health. Once you separate fad from fact you’ll quickly discover the answer: whole grains, including wheat. Most recently, a Harvard School of Public Health long-term study that followed 117, 500 men and women over a 25-year span revealed that people who eat a whole grain-rich diet lower their risk of cardiovascular disease by 20 percent, and increase their lifespan at least 6 percent. No other food produces similar results. As for the gluten found in wheat, rye and barley—at most six out of a hundred of us have any real problem with it, and less than one percent of us, with celiac disease, cannot tolerate it in any form. So why has wheat become the new asbestos? Why are the shelves of every grocery store and supermarket in America heaped high with gluten-free products? That’s what Stephen Yafa sets out to discover in Grain of Truth—a book drawn in part from personal experience that is as entertaining as it is informative. After hundreds of interviews with food scientists, gluten-sensitive individuals, bakers, nutritionists, gastroenterologists and others, he finds that indeed there is indeed a culprit. But it’s not wheat. It’s not gluten. It’s the way that grain is milled and processed by large industrial manufacturers and bakeries. That discovery spurs him to search out growers, millers and bakers who deliver whole wheat to us the way it was meant to be: naturally fermented, with all parts, bran, germ, and white endosperm intact. Yafa finds a thriving local grain movement gaining strength across the country, much as the organic movement did a few decades back. And as he apprentices with local artisan bakers and make his own sourdough breads at home he learns something that few of us know: naturally fermented over two days, as opposed to four hours in commercial bakeries, whole wheat is easily digested by the vast majority of us, including many who consider themselves gluten-sensitive. The long fermentation processing method breaks down these bulky gluten proteins into tiny fragments while slowing the conversion rate of starch to sugar in our bloodstream. Along the way Grain of Truth challenges many common myths. Yafa shows us the science that proves a gluten-free diet doesn’t lead to weight loss and that it isn't healthier in any way. He counters common assumptions that modern wheat has been genetically manipulated to contain more gluten, and he point out that despite much web chatter to the contrary, there is no GMO wheat. Those are only some of the reasons that Grain of Truth offers a badly needed fact-based response to anti-wheat hysteria. It also offers an ingredient in short supply these days—common sense, measured out with just enough savvy and substance to make you reconsider what's best for you—and to help you find a healthy answer in real, delicious food. For readers of Salt Sugar Fat and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Grain of Truth smoothly blends science, history, biology, economics, and nutrition to give us back our daily bread.

Grain of Truth

e87cf4b1-7615-48f2-b49b-0ff0efed6fc8-1

Robin Roe

Some markings on covers and top of pages, shown. Scuffing on the corners. 

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what's really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives. First-time novelist Robin Roe relied on life experience when writing this exquisite, gripping story featuring two lionhearted characters.

A List of Cages

6f341dd6-f226-453b-a8b0-9d0a7c49f9a2-1

Kevin Kwan

Some smudging on back cover, light warping on the first few pages, pictured. 

Envisioning a summer vacation in the humble Singapore home of a boy she hopes to marry, Chinese American Rachel Chu is unexpectedly introduced to a rich and scheming clan that strongly opposes their son's relationship with an American girl.

Crazy Rich Asians

b0581f49-2de9-458f-a276-b15e03d995e8-1

Barbara Kingsolver

Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

The Bean Trees

10c121ee-7945-4181-b4b3-f103357ec7d6-1

Eric Lindstrom

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Everyone has secrets. Everyone is a secret. Parker Grant is a junior in high school who loves to run, has great friends, and isn't afraid to speak her mind--especially when it comes to how stupid some people can be around a blind person like her. The only topic to avoid is how Parker feels about the boy who broke her heart in eighth grade... who has just transferred to her school. And as long as she can keep giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn't cried since her dad's death three months ago, she'll be just fine. Right? Combining a fiercely engaging voice with true heart, debut author Eric Lindstrom's Not If I See You First sheds light on the metaphorical blind spots that are a part of life, whether you're visually impaired or not.

Not If I See You First

1560aa66-a791-4e11-8fe3-219747780050-1

Whitney Scharer

"Rapturous and razor sharp all at once, The Age of Light fearlessly unzips anything we might know of Lee Miller as model and muse and recasts her as artist, free thinker and architect of a singular and unapologetic life. This novel sparks on every page." --Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin A captivating debut novel by Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light tells the true story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse. "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," she declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. As they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever. Lee's journey of self-discovery takes took her from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from inventing radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to stay true to herself while also fulfilling her artistic ambition--and what she will have to sacrifice to do so. Told in alternating timelines of 1930s Paris and the battlefields of WWII, this sensuous, richly researched and imagined debut novel brings to light the life of a fearless, original artist--a woman whose name and art should be known by everyone.

The Age of Light

4a2072ab-85a4-482b-88a5-5de63b18b824-1

Celeste Ng

Wear on covers and minor warping on first thirty pages. 

The #1 New York Times bestseller! Now a Hulu original series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. “I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting.” —Jodi Picoult “To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” —Reese Witherspoon “Extraordinary . . . books like Little Fires Everywhere don't come along often.” —John Green From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned—from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren—an enigmatic artist and single mother—who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town—and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs. Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood—and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster. Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more... Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more.

Little Fires Everywhere

f2984b2d-8d71-44fb-8aaa-2b364dd987e6-1

Stephanie Butland

The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae

4ff4c48f-cfed-4a54-9d76-e735d6c61460-1

Abi Daré

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK! “Brave, fresh . . . unforgettable.”—The New York Times Book Review “A celebration of girls who dare to dream.”—Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers (Oprah’s Book Club pick) Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and recommended by The New York Times, Marie Claire, Vogue, Essence, PopSugar, Daily Mail, Electric Literature, Red, Stylist, Daily Kos, Library Journal, The Everygirl, and Read It Forward! The unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself, The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path, Adunni never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build the future she chooses for herself – and help other girls like her do the same. Her spirited determination to find joy and hope in even the most difficult circumstances imaginable will “break your heart and then put it back together again” (Jenna Bush Hager on The Today Show) even as Adunni shows us how one courageous young girl can inspire us all to reach for our dreams…and maybe even change the world.

The Girl with the Louding Voice

8bad0a55-bb5b-488d-9a4d-d8c67f8c36d5-1

Pencil markings inside cover from secindhand bookstore. Light wear on corners. 

The Household Guide to Dying

05c57133-996d-4450-8730-424a805c8a4e-1

Fannie Flagg

Wear on dust jacket and some staining on lower part, pictured. Book was purchased by me secondhand and has a blacked-out label inside added by previous owner, pictured. 

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Captures the humorous and complex realities of ordinary people living in Elmwood Springs, Missouri, including Neighbor Dorothy, a radio hostess, her son Bobby, the Oatman Family gospel singers, and hotshot salesman Hamm Sparks.

Standing in the Rainbow

8e2a50c6-c63f-4172-92b8-5349a5501f22

John Berendt

Some pen markings (pictured) and wear on dust cover. 

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city is certain to become a modern classic.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

d47e1857-ce5e-405f-b308-cc09ddff6100-1

Tom Bissell

Has an ex library stamp, and some dog-earing on the pages, pictured. Minor stocker residue on back cover. 

Why Video Games Matter

In Extra Lives, acclaimed writer and life-long video game enthusiast Tom Bissell takes the reader on an insightful and entertaining tour of the art and meaning of video games.
nbsp;
In just a few decades, video games have grown increasingly complex and sophisticated, and the companies that produce them are now among the most profitable in the entertainment industry. Yet few outside this world have thought deeply about how these games work, why they are so appealing, and what they are capable of artistically. Blending memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage, Extra Lives is a milestone work about what might be the dominant popular art form of our time.

Extra Lives

f4401324-0b2a-4d0e-ac1f-7c337fa462c7-1

Ender's Shadow

Lisa Brennan-Jobs

Warping on dust cover, and some smudging. Stamp on top of pages from being ex-library.

A Memoir

A NEW YORK TIMES AND NEW YORKER TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR "Beautiful, literary, and devastating."--New York Times Book Review * "Revelatory."--Entertainment Weekly * "A masterly Silicon Valley gothic."--Vogue *"Mesmerizing, discomfiting reading... A book of no small literary skill."--New Yorker * "Extraordinary... An aching, exquisitely told story."--People * "The sleeper critical hit of the season."--Vulture A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR NPR, AMAZON, GQ, VOGUE (UK), BUSTLE, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND INDIGO Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents―artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs―Lisa Brennan-Jobs's childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa's father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he'd become the parent she'd always wanted him to be. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is a poignant coming-of-age story from one of our most exciting new literary voices. Praise for Small Fry "An intimate, richly drawn portrait... The reader of this exquisite memoir is left with a loving, forgiving remembrance and the lasting impression of a resilient, kindhearted and wise woman who is at peace with her past."--San Francisco Chronicle "A heartbreaking memoir, beautifully rendered...It's a love story for the father that she had, flaws and all... A wise, thoughtful, and ultimately loving portrayal of her father."--Seattle Times

Small Fry

790768dd-4260-4fb2-a9d5-55d098b2e084-1

Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Lucia Graves

Definitely a secondhand find, wear shown in pictures

The Shadow of the Wind

25806ca4-55e1-46b4-ad9f-d3cf1648dde1-1

Older copy, pages are slightly yellowed from age. Light markings, pictured. 

Raised on a planet at the remote edge of the universe, the daughter of Arthur Dent sets out on a transgalactic quest to find the planet of her ancestors

Mostly Harmless

72c163b4-76ed-452a-b015-846608798713-1

Sticker residue left over on the back cover from prior owner attempting to remove a price sticker. Pictured in second photo. 

Lydia Netzer, the award-winning author of Shine Shine Shine, weaves a mind-bending, heart-shattering love story that asks, "Can true love exist if it's been planned from birth?" Like a jewel shimmering in a Midwest skyline, the Toledo Institute of Astronomy is the nation's premier center of astronomical discovery and a beacon of scientific learning for astronomers far and wide. Here, dreamy cosmologist George Dermont mines the stars to prove the existence of God. Here, Irene Sparks, an unsentimental scientist, creates black holes in captivity. George and Irene are on a collision course with love, destiny and fate. They have everything in common: both are ambitious, both passionate about science, both lonely and yearning for connection. The air seems to hum when they're together. But George and Irene's attraction was not written in the stars. In fact their mothers, friends since childhood, raised them separately to become each other's soulmates. When that long-secret plan triggers unintended consequences, the two astronomers must discover the truth about their destinies, and unravel the mystery of what Toledo holds for them--together or, perhaps, apart. Lydia Netzer combines a gift for character and big-hearted storytelling, with a sure hand for science and a vision of a city transformed by its unique celestial position, exploring the conflicts of fate and determinism, and asking how much of life is under our control and what is pre-ordained in the heavens in her novel How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky.

How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky

4ce3e412-1bd0-493b-94f9-43d7c6050aef-1

Before being born, all humans visit the magical Shop Before Life to decide who they will become on Earth. Faythe accepts a once-in-a-prelifetime opportunity to become Apprentice at the Shop, and must discover its ancient secrets in order to save it-and all future humans-from destruction.

The Shop Before Life

3b3871ce-b3e2-428c-8807-993b69b7a6da-1

Third book in the Flora series. Used to love these growing up! #adventure #youngadult #ya #heroine #fantasy

How a Girl of Spirit and a Red Dog Confounded Their Friends, Astounded Their Enemies, and Learned the Importance of Packing Light

Determined to find her true mother, Flora Fyrdraaca, accompanied by her red dog, embarks on a journey filled with magical encounters, pirate battles and unexpected romance. 15,000 first printing.

Browse by categories