“Grief, my mother once told me, is love’s most honest expression. The last and hardest aspect of truly, truly caring for someone. She said it at her own mother’s funeral rites, tears in her eyes even as she tried to comfort a boy too young to understand why he was so sad, why his grandmother…
Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood
“I should start dating again. Should I start dating again? Yeah. I should. Except that . . . men. No, thank you.” As an environmental engineer, Mara knows all about the delicate nature of ecosystems. They require balance. And leaving the thermostat alone. And not stealing someone else’s food. And other rules Liam, her detestable big-oil lawyer of…
Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite
“Trouble is, when you tell people the system is good because it’s different than people, some people hear: The system is more important than people. And then they act accordingly. And someone who doesn’t deserve it gets hurt.” A wild baby appears! Dorothy Gentleman, ship detective, is put to the test once again when an…
Stuck With You by Ali Hazelwood
“And I’ve been scared, scared like never before, that I’d hurt you.” He lifts his hand. Curves it around my cheek. “That I’d left you in some—any kind of pain. That I couldn’t make amends. Which, let me tell you, is no fun when you know in your lizard brain that you’re about five minutes…
The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi
Nagi Hayakawa is facing an impossible choice. With only a few years left to live, should she marry the man she loves? Desperate for advice from her mother, who died years ago, she reserves a table at the Chibineko Kitchen. When she takes her first bite of the miso-marinated tofu and rice, the resident kitten…
Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire
“What am I driving at? At this idea: that no one colonizes innocently, that no one colonizes with impunity either; that a nation which colonizes, that a civilization which justifies colonization—and therefore force—is already a sick civilization, a civilization which is morally diseased, which irresistibly, progressing from one consequence to another, one denial to another,…
Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood
“Caring what others think is a lot of work, and—with a handful of exceptions—I’m not a huge fan of work.” Hannah’s got a bad feeling about this. Not only has the NASA aerospace engineer found herself injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station—but the one person willing to undertake the hazardous rescue mission…
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.“ In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a…
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
“Who gets to be an American? What does an American look like?” Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day,…
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
“Run away with me. You like tea. I like books. Care to open a shop and forget the world exists?” All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna…
The Great Book Wyrm 