Cafe Collection

Not all reading is assigned. Looking for something new? Check these out!

Updated July 12, 2023
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After Sappho : a novel
Schwartz, Selby Wynn
Paper Book
"The first thing we did was change our names. We were going to be Sappho," so begins this intrepid debut novel, centuries after the Greek poet penned her lyric verse. Ignited by the same muse, a myriad of women break from their small, predetermined lives for seemingly disparate paths: in 1892,...
All the Lovers in the Night
Kawakami, Mieko
Paper Book
FINALIST for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction A BEST BOOK OF 2022 Oprah Daily・TIME Magazine・Washington Post・Publishers Weekly・Lit Hub Bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her...
Birnam Wood
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Financial Times, Slate, The Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, The TelegraphA...
Bliss montage
Ma, Ling
Paper Book
A National Indie Bestseller Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Story Prize, and a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize A Best Book of the Year at The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Houston Chronicle, Roxane...
Cassandra in reverse
Smale, Holly
Paper Book
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK from the author of the GEEK GIRL series, now on NETFLIX!  "Fascinating...witty...self-deprecating...We meet Cassandra on the worst day of her life. She's getting fired, her boyfriend dumps her, and her roommates hate her. On that same day, she...
Chain-gang all-stars
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION * A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from...
The Cloisters : a novel
Hays, Katy
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick "For fans of The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Secret History...The perfect mystery." --Jenna Bush Hager, Today In this...
The covenant of water : a novel
Verghese, Abraham
Paper Book
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in...
The crane husband
Barnhill, Kelly Regan
Paper Book
Nebula Award nominee for Best Novella World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Novella "If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would nominate Kelly Barnhill. "--Laura Ruby, two-time National Book Award finalist and author of Bone Gap...
Don't fear the reaper
Jones, Stephen Graham
Paper Book
A Locus Award Finalist December 12th, 2019, Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from...
Emily Wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries
Fawcett, Heather
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north in this "incredibly fun journey through fae lands and dark magic" (NPR), the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series. "A darkly gorgeous...
Everyone in my family has killed someone
Stevenson, Benjamin
Paper Book
Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club in this "utterly original" (Jane Harper), "not to be missed" (Karin Slaughter), fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery. "A witty twist on classic whodunits... Stevenson not...
The ferryman : a novel
Cronin, Justin
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying."--STEPHEN KING   From the author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia--where...
The first ladies
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows she becomes a celebrity, revered by titans of business and recognized by U.S. Presidents....
The furrows : an elegy : a novel
Serpell, Namwali
Paper Book
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award * One of the New York Times' Ten Best Books of the Year * Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize "A triumph."--New York Magazine From one of the most celebrated new voices in...
Ghost girl, banana : a novel
Wharton, Wiz
Paper Book
Set between the last years of the "Chinese Windrush" in 1966 and Hong Kong's Handover to China in 1997, a mysterious inheritance sees a young woman from London uncovering buried secrets in her late mother's homeland in this captivating, wry debut about family, identity, and the price of belonging...
The gifts : a novel
Hyder, Liz
Paper Book
"Remarkable...for fans of fantasy-inflected historicals such as Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent." --Publishers Weekly, STARRED review "A sumptuous reading experience." --BookPage It will take something extraordinary to show four women who they truly are... October 1840. A...
Good night, Irene
Urrea, Luis Alberto
Paper Book
This New York Times bestselling novel tells an exhilarating World War II epic that chronicles an extraordinary young woman's heroic frontline service in the Red Cross. "Urrea's touch is sure, his exuberance carries you through . . . He is a generous writer, not just in his...
The Grimkes : the legacy of slavery in an American family
Greenidge, Kerri K.
Paper Book
Sarah and Angelina Grimke--the Grimke sisters--are revered figures in American history, famous for rejecting their privileged lives on a plantation in South Carolina to become firebrand activists in the North. Their antislavery pamphlets, among the most influential of the antebellum era, are still...
The haunting of Alejandra : a novel
Castro, V.
Paper Book
A woman is haunted by the Mexican folk demon La Llorona in this "utterly terrifying and wholly immersive . . . story about generational trauma, colonization, systemic oppression, and the horror at the heart of motherhood" (Library Journal, starred review). "Castro is...
I have some questions for you
Makkai, Rebecca
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  Named a Best Book of 2023 by The Washington Post, People, USA Today, NPR, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, The Boston Globe, CrimeReads and more "A twisty, immersive...
Homebodies : a novel
Denton-Hurst, Tembe
Paper Book
"[A] sharp, charming and passionate debut." --New York Times Book Review A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Elle, USA Today, Bustle, Ebony, Harper's Bazaar, PopSugar, New York Post, The Skimm, and The Millions. A Best Book of 2023 by Marie Claire, Esquire, Vogue, them,...
Homecoming : a novel
Morton, Kate
Paper Book
The highly anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Clockmaker's Daughter, a sweeping novel that begins with a shocking crime, the effects of which echo across continents and generations Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a...
House of cotton
Brashears, Monica
Paper Book
FINALIST for the 2024 NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * NPR BEST BOOK OF 2023 * An enchanting Black Southern gothic debut, perfect for readers of Mexican Gothic... "Fresh, haunting...In her roller-coaster ride of a gothic debut novel, Monica Brashears upends expectations at...
How to deal with idiots (and stop being one yourself)
Rovere, Maxime
Paper Book
Idiocy is all around us: whether it's the uncle spouting conspiracy theories, the colleagues who repeat your point but louder, or the commuters who still can't count two metres, our lives are beset by idiots. But what is the answer to this perpetual scourge? Maxime Rovere is a philosopher who has...
How to sell a haunted house
Hendrix, Grady
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Wildly entertaining."-The New York Times "Ingenious."-The Washington Post New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that...
Hula : a novel
Hakes, Jasmin 'Iolani
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Summer by Harper's Bazaar and ELLE * Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award Winner * HONOLULU Magazine's Book of the Year About Hawai`i "Stunning . . . An intricately built novel that spans decades, moving in and out of a collective voice, while also telling...
I'm no philosopher, but I got thoughts : mini-meditations for saints, sinners, and the rest of us
Chenoweth, Kristin
Paper Book
Aristotle. Socrates. Descartes. And now, Chenoweth. (How about some women, am I right?) From television actress, Broadway star, and New York Times bestselling author Kristin Chenoweth comes I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts, an inspiring high-design, colorful book featuring...
Liar, dreamer, thief
Dong, Maria
Paper Book
Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn't a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms-like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children's book bleed into...
The librarian of burned books : a novel
Labuskes, Brianna
Paper Book
For fans of The Rose Code and The Paris Library, The Librarian of Burned Books is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war. 
Life in five senses : how exploring the senses got me out of my head and into the world
Rubin, Gretchen
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. "Life in Five Senses invites us into the seismic shift toward a life grounded...
Master slave husband wife : an epic journey from slavery to freedom
Woo, Ilyon
Paper Book
Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography "A rich narrative of the Crafts, an enslaved couple who escaped from Georgia in 1848, with light-skinned Ellen disguised as a disabled white gentleman and William as her manservant, exploiting assumptions about race, class, and...
Natural beauty : a novel
Huang, Ling Ling
Paper Book
Our narrator is the youngest student at the Conservatory. She produces a sound from the piano no one else does, employing a special technique she learned from her parents - also stunningly talented musicians - who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her...
Nothing Special
Flattery, Nicole
Paper Book
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER AND TIME From the author Sally Rooney called "bold, irreverent, and agonizingly funny," a wildly original coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl working at Andy Warhol's Factory in 1960s New York.
Now is not the time to panic : a novel
Wilson, Kevin
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of the Year by: Time * Kirkus Reviews * USA Today * Entertainment Weekly * Garden & Gun * Vox * Atlanta Journal-Constitution A Most Anticipated Book of Fall from: Associated Press * Atlanta Journal-Constitution * BookPage * Book Riot * The...
Orphan bachelors : a memoir : on being a confession baby, Chinatown daughter, baa-bai sister, caretaker of exotics, literary balloon peddler, and grand historian of a doomed American family
Ng, Fae Myenne
Paper Book
CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS GOLD MEDAL WINNER FOR NONFICTION  Winner of the 2024 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing in Nonfiction  From the bestselling and award-winning author of novels Bone and Steer Toward Rock, Fae...
Pathogenesis : a history of the world in eight plagues
Kennedy, Jonathan
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "gripping" (The Washington Post) account of how the major transformations in history--from the rise of Homo sapiens to the birth of capitalism--have been shaped not by humans but by germs "Superbly written . . . Kennedy seamlessly weaves...
The peacock and the sparrow : a novel
Berry, I. S.
Paper Book
BEST FIRST NOVEL WINNER: Edgar Awards * International Thriller Writers Awards * Barry Awards A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker * NPR * The Diplomatic Courier During the Arab Spring, an American spy's final mission goes dangerously awry...
A quitter's paradise : a novel
Chang, Elysha
Paper Book
A Michelle Obama's Reach Higher Summer Reading List Pick * An NPR Critics Summer Pick * A Good Morning America Pick of the Month * A Good Reads Big Buzz Debut * A Tertulia Staff Pick of the Month * An Electric Literature Best Novel of 2023 "Compelling ....
River sing me home
Shearer, Eleanor
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother's gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children and piece her family back together is a "celebration of motherhood and female resilience" (The Observer). ...
Silver Nitrate
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film--and awakens one woman's hidden powers. ...
The skin and its girl : a novel
Cypher, Sarah
Paper Book
A young, queer Palestinian American woman pieces together her great-aunt's secrets in this "enchanting, memorable" (Bustle) debut, confronting questions of sexual identity, exile, and lineage.   "As beautifully detailed as a piece of Palestinian embroidery, this...
Skull water
Fenkl, Heinz Insu
Paper Book
"A fascinating story of a young mixed-race man caught between two cultures, not knowing what to keep and what to leave behind."--James McBride, author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store A "magnificent" (Ha Jin), "mesmerizing" (James McBride), and "magical" (Marie Myung-Ok...
Someone else's shoes
Moyes, Jojo
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "Very few authors have the power to make you laugh on one page and cry on the next. Moyes is one of them." --The New York Times A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new...
The stolen heir : a novel of Elfhame
Black, Holly
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! An Instant #1 Indie Bestseller! Return to the opulent world of Elfhame, filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires, with this first book of a captivating new duology from the...
The survivalists : a novel
Cauley, Kashana
Paper Book
In the wake of her parents' death, Aretha, a habitually single Black lawyer, has had only one obsession in life - success - until she falls for Aaron, a coffee entrepreneur. Moving into his Brooklyn brownstone to live along with his Hurricane Sandy - traumatized, illegal-gun-stockpiling, optimized...
The talk
Bell, Darrin
Paper Book
Winner of the NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Graphic Novels Winner of an Alex Award from the American Library Association Winner of the Libby Award for Best Comic/Graphic Novel of the Year Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Nonfiction ...
The twenty : a thriller
Holland, Sam (Novelist)
Paper Book
A relentless serial killer thriller loosely based on the real-life Smiley Face Killer--for fans of Harlan Coben crime thrillers and the blood-curdling fiction of Thomas Harris! "Some authors spook you. Some authors unnerve me. Very few authors frighten you--but very few authors are...
Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers
Sutanto, Jesse Q.
Paper Book
A USA Today bestseller Edgar Award Winner for Best Original Paperback Audie Award Winner for Mystery Libby Award Winner for Best Mystery A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by...
Victory city : a novel
Rushdie, Salman
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries--from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie Salman...
Wade in the water : a novel
Nkrumah, Nyaneba
Paper Book
"An impressive debut. Emotionally honest with lyricism and charm to spare, Nyani Nkrumah's Wade in the Water depicts in riveting detail a racially charged Mississippi town, the secrets it holds, and the precious heart and soul of a young girl deserving love."--Diane McKinney-Whetstone, author of...
We are the light
Quick, Matthew
Paper Book
*"A treasure of a novel...read it and be healed." --Justin Cronin * "Beautifully written and emotion-packed." --Harlan Coben * From the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook--made into the Academy Award-winning movie starring Jennifer...
The weaver and the witch queen
Gornichec, Genevieve
Paper Book
The lives of two women--one desperate only to save her missing sister, the other a witch destined to become queen of Norway--intertwine in this spellbinding, powerful Viking Age historical fantasy novel from the acclaimed author of The Witch's Heart. Oddny and Gunnhild meet...
The weeds
Smith, Katy Simpson
Paper Book
A Best Book of the Year at The New Yorker A Must Read at The Boston Globe, Literary Hub, The Millions, and Garden & Gun "[A] lyrical incisive novel . . . [about] a changing climate, the invisibility of women's work, and the...
The wishing game : a novel
Shaffer, Meg
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children's author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner's life in this absorbing and whimsical novel....
The woman who climbed trees : a novel
Smriti Ravindra
Paper Book
"A stunning chronicle of an Indian woman's coming-of-age... This is electrifying."--Publishers Weekly, starred review "Is this a ghost story" Meena asked the barber's wife who told the tale. "I don't want to hear scary stories one night before I marry."  "Not all...
Yellowface : a novel
Kuang, R. F.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences... Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she...

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