Our Monthly Picks January 2024

A finalist for both the National Book Award and the Booker Prize, this stunning novel—based on actual historical events—will leave readers breathless with its gorgeous prose and unforgettable characters. Harding brings Apple Island to life with his lush descriptions; this place, this story will live on in readers’ minds for years to come.

Meet Paul on our Poured Over podcast.

An important book that will teach you how to reassess your own belief system while engaging with others and encouraging them to do the same. It’s a difficult thing to do, but with Adam Grant’s guidance, it can get a bit easier.

Kelly Link is a master of the short story, and this is just another display of that mastery. Ranging from unexpected fairy realms to weed dispensaries run by cats, Link yet again reminds readers that when wielded as well as she wields it, weird is a very powerful and very enjoyable tool.

Armchair detectives, this book has your name on it. Disappearances, unsolved murders, justice — this thriller has it all. As with a true crime podcast, there’s no lack of wanting to hear and read such stories. Unpleasant, likely so, but when well written, as is the case of All Good People Here, we are allowed to skate that line of imagination and reality. Because don’t all of us just really want it to work out in the end?

Meet Ashley and her co-author, Alex Kiester, later this month on our Poured Over podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts or on B&N’s YouTube channel.

Fans of Five Total Strangers and 14 Ways To Die will find a similarly propulsive thriller in That’s Not My Name. This is a page-turning YA about a teen trying to remember who she is, all while the situation around her spirals. It’s gripping, it’s quick, it’s a certified rollercoaster.

A delightfully quirky story of wordplay and mystery by Beth Lincoln, this book celebrates individuality and is certain to become an instant classic as soon as readers meet the Swift family. A sparkling debut, The Swifts is the perfect read for fans of Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl, and The Mysterious Benedict Society, full of mischief, mayhem, and mystery.