April 2019 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. Death Threat
    by Vivek Shraya Canada
    Arsenal Pulp Press
    Apr 01, 2019
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / LGBTQ+ / General
    Hardback
    Death Threat
    by Vivek Shraya Canada
    Arsenal Pulp Press
    Apr 01, 2019
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / LGBTQ+ / General
    Hardback

    Finalist, Lambda Literary Award and Doug Wright Award

    In the fall of 2017, the acclaimed writer and musician Vivek Shraya began receiving vivid and disturbing transphobic hate mail from a stranger. Celebrated artist Ness Lee brings these letters and Shraya's responses to them to startling life in Death Threat, a comic book that, by its existence, becomes a compelling act of resistance. Using satire and surrealism, Death Threat is an unflinching portrayal of violent harassment from the perspective of both the perpetrator and the target, illustrating the dangers of online accessibility, and the ease with which vitriolic hatred can be spread digitally.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. When I Arrived at the Castle
    by Emily Carroll Canada
    Koyama Press
    Apr 26, 2019
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Horror
    Paperback / softback
    When I Arrived at the Castle
    by Emily Carroll Canada
    Koyama Press
    Apr 26, 2019
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Horror
    Paperback / softback
    Like many before her that have never come back, she’s made it to the Countess’ castle determined to snuff out the horror, but she could never be prepared for what hides within its turrets; what unfurls under its fluttering flags. Emily Carroll has fashioned a rich gothic horror charged with eroticism that doesn’t just make your skin crawl, it crawls into it.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. I Know Who You Are
    by Alice Feeney
    Flatiron Books
    Apr 23, 2019
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    I Know Who You Are
    by Alice Feeney
    Flatiron Books
    Apr 23, 2019
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback

    From the New York Times and international bestselling author of Sometimes I Lie comes a brand new, highly anticipated, dark and twisted thriller: I Know Who You Are.

    Meet Aimee Sinclair: the actress everyone thinks they know but can’t remember where from.

    Except one person.

    Someone knows Aimee very well.

    They know who she is and they know what she did.

    When Aimee comes home and discovers her husband is missing, she doesn’t seem to know what to do or how to act. The police think she’s hiding something and they’re right, she is—but perhaps not what they thought. Aimee has a secret she’s never shared, and yet, she suspects that someone knows. As she struggles to keep her career and sanity intact, her past comes back to haunt her in ways more dangerous than she could have ever imagined.

    In I Know Who You Are, Alice Feeney proves that she is a master of brilliantly complicated plots and killer twists that will keep you guessing until the final page.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Maiden, Mother, Crone
    by Gwen Benaway Canada
    Bedside Press
    Jun 11, 2019
    FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Transgender
    Paperback / softback
    Maiden, Mother, Crone
    by Gwen Benaway Canada
    Bedside Press
    Jun 11, 2019
    FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Transgender
    Paperback / softback

    Maiden, Mother, and Crone: Fantastical Trans Femmes is a new anthology of fantastical short fiction by trans women, curated by celebrated poet and author Gwen Benaway.

    Drawing on high fantasy and other genres of fantasy writing, Maiden, Mother, and Crone is the first anthology by trans femme authors to explore the realms of magic, supernatural beings, and alternate universes.

    Enter a universe of wonder where trans femmes are powerful heroines, sorceresses, and warriors fighting against dark forces in vivid magical worlds! Created by celebrated trans femme writers this anthology will transform the landscape of fantasy fiction and offer radical portals into excitement, danger, and transformation.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Miracle Creek
    by Angie Kim
    Sarah Crichton Books
    Apr 16, 2019
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Miracle Creek
    by Angie Kim
    Sarah Crichton Books
    Apr 16, 2019
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback

    Winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Novel
    A Time Best Mystery and Thriller Book of All Time

    The “gripping… page-turner” (Time) hitting all the best of summer reading lists, Miracle Creek is perfect for book clubs and fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng


    How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies?

    In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident.

    A powerful showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Chapter by chapter, we shift alliances and gather evidence: Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe?

    “A stunning debut about parents, children and the unwavering hope of a better life, even when all hope seems lost" (Washington Post), Miracle Creek uncovers the worst prejudice and best intentions, tense rivalries and the challenges of parenting a child with special needs. It’s “a quick-paced murder mystery that plumbs the power and perils of community” (O Magazine) as it carefully pieces together the tense atmosphere of a courtroom drama and the complexities of life as an immigrant family. Drawing on the author’s own experiences as a Korean-American, former trial lawyer, and mother of a “miracle submarine” patient, this is a novel steeped in suspense and igniting discussion.

    Recommended by Erin Morgenstern, Jean Kwok, Jennifer Weiner, Scott Turow, Laura Lippman, and more--Miracle Creek is a brave, moving debut from an unforgettable new voice.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. I Was Their American Dream
    by Malaka Gharib
    Clarkson Potter
    Apr 30, 2019
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Contemporary Women
    Lexile measure GN490L
    Paperback / softback
    I Was Their American Dream
    by Malaka Gharib
    Clarkson Potter
    Apr 30, 2019
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Contemporary Women
    Lexile measure GN490L
    Paperback / softback
    “A portrait of growing up in America, and a portrait of family, that pulls off the feat of being both intimately specific and deeply universal at the same time. I adored this book.”—Jonny Sun

    “[A] high-spirited graphical memoir . . . Gharib’s wisdom about the power and limits of racial identity is evident in the way she draws.”—NPR

    WINNER OF THE ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews

    I Was Their American Dream is at once a coming-of-age story and a reminder of the thousands of immigrants who come to America in search for a better life for themselves and their children. The daughter of parents with unfulfilled dreams themselves, Malaka navigated her childhood chasing her parents' ideals, learning to code-switch between her family's Filipino and Egyptian customs, adapting to white culture to fit in, crushing on skater boys, and trying to understand the tension between holding onto cultural values and trying to be an all-American kid.

    Malaka Gharib's triumphant graphic memoir brings to life her teenage antics and illuminates earnest questions about identity and culture, while providing thoughtful insight into the lives of modern immigrants and the generation of millennial children they raised. Malaka's story is a heartfelt tribute to the American immigrants who have invested their future in the promise of the American dream.

    Praise for I Was Their American Dream

    “In this time when immigration is such a hot topic, Malaka Gharib puts an engaging human face on the issue. . . . The push and pull first-generation kids feel is portrayed with humor and love, especially humor. . . . Gharib pokes fun at all of the cultures she lives in, able to see each of them with an outsider’s wry eye, while appreciating them with an insider’s close experience. . . . The question of ‘What are you?’ has never been answered with so much charm.”—Marissa Moss, New York Journal of Books

    “Forthright and funny, Gharib fiercely claims her own American dream.”Booklist

    “Thoughtful and relatable, this touching account should be shared across generations.”– Library Journal

    “This charming graphic memoir riffs on the joys and challenges of developing a unique ethnic identity.”– Publishers Weekly
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. Trust Exercise
    by Susan Choi
    Henry Holt and Co.
    Apr 09, 2019
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Trust Exercise
    by Susan Choi
    Henry Holt and Co.
    Apr 09, 2019
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback

    WINNER OF THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER

    “Electrifying” (People)
    “Masterly” (The Guardian) “Dramatic and memorable” (The New Yorker) “Magic” (TIME) Ingenious” (The Financial Times) "A gonzo literary performance” (Entertainment Weekly) “Rare and splendid” (The Boston Globe) “Remarkable” (USA Today) “Delicious” (The New York Times) “Book groups, meet your next selection" (NPR)

    In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts,” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed—or untoyed with—by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley.

    The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls—until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true—though it’s not false, either. It takes until the book’s stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place—revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.

    As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Susan Choi's Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Empress of Idaho
    by Todd Babiak Canada
    McClelland & Stewart
    Apr 30, 2019
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    The Empress of Idaho
    by Todd Babiak Canada
    McClelland & Stewart
    Apr 30, 2019
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Bestselling and award-winning author Todd Babiak returns with an immersive and affecting story about a teenager's fascination with an enigmatic new woman in town whose past is catching up with her.

    Monument, Colorado, July 1989. Fourteen-year-old Adam Lisinski is mesmerized the moment Beatrice Cyr steps into his life. Adam has a lot going for him: he's hoping to be a starter on his high school football team, he has a fiercely protective mom, a girlfriend, and a part-time job at Eugene's Gas Stop, where he works with his best friend. But he neglects everything that matters to him after Beatrice, his neighbour's enigmatic new wife, comes to town. Soon he finds himself alone with her--in the change room at Modern You, a clothing store on Second Street; in the back row of the theatre at Chapel Hill Cinema; in the front seat of her truck. He's confused about who she is, what she wants, and where she comes from. Adam is desperate, caught between wanting to spend time with Beatrice--whose past is catching up with her--and lying to everyone he cares about. The guilt overwhelms him. And when Beatrice convinces Adam's mom to quit her job and partner in a risky real estate venture, he has to do something before everything spins further out of control. The plan he comes up with tests his courage and leads him to an unshakable truth about loyalty and love.

    By turns riveting and tender-hearted, The Empress of Idaho is a story about the vulnerability and confusion of adolescence at the moment when it slams against adulthood. It's an unforgettable portrait of a boy's difficult coming of age.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. No Country for Old Gnomes
    by Kevin Hearne
    Del Rey
    Apr 16, 2019
    FICTION / Fantasy / Action & Adventure
    Hardback
    No Country for Old Gnomes
    by Kevin Hearne
    Del Rey
    Apr 16, 2019
    FICTION / Fantasy / Action & Adventure
    Hardback
    Go big or go gnome. The New York Times bestselling authors of Kill the Farm Boy welcome you to the world of Pell, the irreverent fantasy universe that recalls Monty Python and Terry Pratchett.

    “A complete delight, as fluffy and fun as The Lego Movie and as heartfelt as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”—Locus

    War is coming, and it’s gonna be Pell.

    On one side stand the gnomes: smol, cheerful, possessing tidy cardigans and no taste for cruelty.

    On the other side sit the halflings, proudly astride their war alpacas, carrying bags of grenades and hungry for a fight. And pretty much anything else.

    It takes only one halfling bomb and Offi Numminen’s world is turned upside down—or downside up, really, since he lives in a hole in the ground. His goth cardigans and aggressive melancholy set him apart from the other gnomes, as does his decision to fight back against their halfling oppressors. Suddenly Offi is the leader of a band of lovable misfits and outcasts—from a gryphon who would literally kill for omelets to a young dwarf herbalist who is better with bees than with his cudgel to an assertive and cheerful teen witch with a beard as long as her book of curses—all on a journey to the Toot Towers to confront the dastardly villain intent on tearing Pell asunder. These adventurers never fit in anywhere else, but as they become friends, fight mermaids, and get really angry at this one raccoon, they learn that there’s nothing more heroic than being yourself.

    In No Country for Old Gnomes, Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne lovingly tweak the tropes of fantasy and fairy tales. Here you’ll find goofy jokes and whimsical puns, but you’ll also find a diverse, feminist, and lighthearted approach to fantasy that will bring a smile to your face and many fine cheeses to your plate.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Lost and Wanted
    by Nell Freudenberger
    Knopf
    Apr 02, 2019
    FICTION / Friendship
    Hardback
    Lost and Wanted
    by Nell Freudenberger
    Knopf
    Apr 02, 2019
    FICTION / Friendship
    Hardback
    New York Times Best Seller
    Named a Best Book of 2019 by Vogue and NPR's Maureen Corrigan

    "Freudenberger's brilliant and compassionate novel takes on the big questions of the universe and proves, again, that she is one of America's greatest writers." --Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less

    An emotionally engaging, suspenseful new novel from the best-selling author, told in the voice of a renowned physicist: an exploration of female friendship, romantic love, and parenthood--bonds that show their power in surprising ways.


    Helen Clapp's breakthrough work on five-dimensional spacetime landed her a tenured professorship at MIT; her popular books explain physics in plain terms. Helen disdains notions of the supernatural in favor of rational thought and proven ideas. So it's perhaps especially vexing for her when, on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday in June, she gets a phone call from a friend who has just died.

    That friend was Charlotte Boyce, Helen's roommate at Harvard. The two women had once confided in each other about everything--in college, the unwanted advances Charlie received from a star literature professor; after graduation, Helen's struggles as a young woman in science, Charlie's as a black screenwriter in Hollywood, their shared challenges as parents. But as the years passed, Charlie became more elusive, and her calls came less and less often. And now she's permanently, tragically gone.

    As Helen is drawn back into Charlie's orbit, and also into the web of feelings she once had for Neel Jonnal--a former college classmate now an acclaimed physicist on the verge of a Nobel Prize-winning discovery--she is forced to question the laws of the universe that had always steadied her mind and heart.

    Suspenseful, perceptive, deeply affecting, Lost and Wanted is a story of friends and lovers, lost and found, at the most defining moments of their lives.
    View this title on BNC CataList

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