Rani Shah

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Missouri

And Other Self-Care Rituals from Nature

A delightfully illustrated guide to harnessing the rhythms of nature for self-care. We could all learn a thing or two about living in balance from our friends in the plant and animal kingdom. Take, for example, the jellyfish, one of the most energy-efficient animals in the world, moving through the ocean by contracting and relaxing, with frequent breaks in between. Or the avocado tree, which can credit its existence to a mutually beneficial relationship with the pre-historic sloth, followed by some hungry, hungry humans and the advent of agriculture. And then there is the oyster, producing a pearl as the result of an immune response when a grain of sand invades her system. What better example exists of how adversity can produce something beautiful? We need look no farther than nature--from the habits of the porcupine to the sunflower to the wombat to the dragonfly--for small and simple things we can do to slow down, recharge, and living more thoughtfully, lovingly, and harmoniously. Wisdom From a Humble Jellyfish . . . is at once charming and scientific, packed with essential wisdom and practical tips worth borrowing from our plant and animal friends for life-changing self-care.

Wisdom from a Humble Jellyfish

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Jill Esbaum

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Gene Stratton-Porter Shares Her Love of Nature with the World

This lively STEAM picture book is about the life of Gene Stratton-Porter, a pioneering wildlife photographer and popular author from the late 19th and early 20th century, who showed the world the beauty of nature, especially birds, and why it was worth preserving. Gene Stratton-Porter was a farm girl who fell in love with birds, from the chickens whose eggs she collected to the hawks that preyed on them. When she grew up, Gene wanted nothing more than to share her love of birds with the world. She wrote stories about birds, but when a magazine wanted to publish them next to awkward photos of stuffed birds, she knew she had to take matters into her own hands. Teaching herself photography, Gene began to take photos of birds in the wild. Her knowledge of birds and how to approach them allowed her to get so close you could count the feathers of the birds in her photos. Her work was unlike anything Americans had ever seen before—she captured the true lives of animals in their natural habitat. A pioneering wildlife photographer and one of the most popular authors of the early 20th century, this bird girl showed the world the beauty of nature and why it was worth preserving.

Bird Girl

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Viet Thanh Nguyen

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thahn Nguyen and illustrator Minnie Phan comes an unforgettable story of a Vietnamese American girl whose life is transformed by a wildfire. When Simone is awakened by her mom as a wildfire threatens their home, it is the beginning of a life-changing journey. On their way to take shelter in a high school gym, the family passes firefighters from a prison unit battling the fire. Simone’s mom tells her that when she was a girl in Viet Nam, she was forced to evacuate her home after a flood. Joined by other children sheltering in the gym, Simone, a budding artist, encourages everyone to draw as a way to process their situation. After a few days, Simone and her mom are able to return to their home, which is fortunately still standing, and her outlook has changed. As Simone begins creating a piece of art with one of her new friends from the shelter, she realizes that they too can be firefighters, dreaming and working for a more sustainable future. With a poetic, haunting family story by esteemed author Viet Thahn Nguyen and gorgeous art from Vietnamese American illustrator Minnie Phan, this powerful tale introduces an unforgettable young heroine who awakens to a new role fighting for her community and for the future of the planet.

Simone

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Tina Fey

Great condition, spine hasn’t been cracked 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy. (Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)

Bossypants

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Janelle Monáe

Great condition. Pages at the bottom have been discolored by the sun

And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

In The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, activist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums, exploring how different threads of liberation--queerness, race, gender plurality, and love--become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape...and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms. Whoever controls our memories controls the future. Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts--as a means of self-conception--could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who'd convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate. That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free. Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it's like to live in such a totalitarian existence...and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor--and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place--The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.

The Memory Librarian

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Juliet Escoria

Excellent condition, spine hasn’t been cracked

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

"For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Juliet the Maniac is a worthy new entry in that pantheon of deconstruction ... Dazzling."—NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW A cult-favorite stylist holds nothing back in this darkly funny, unromantic look at the underbelly of coming-of-age and its brutal trials… Juliet is a typical teenage girl—a little beast. Lingering just underneath Southern California’s sunny, sandy beach culture, one young woman struggles to survive herself as she hurtles through the mid 90’s and tries to make sense of her on-and-off relationship with recovery. Juliet knows she should be poised for success. She knows her honors English teacher shouldn’t be changing her grades from F's to C's out of pity, knows she shouldn’t be snorting coke and chain-smoking at the Palms, knows she shouldn’t be hallucinating shadowy, Joan-of-Arc-like messages from God. But there is something dark and violent inside of her fourteen-year-old heart that makes it impossible for Juliet to stop self-destructing. The two forced hospitalizations didn’t help her, neither did the outpatient facility for gay, depressed art kids—maybe Redwood Trails therapeutic boarding school will? Through her Didion-esque lens, Escoria captures the brutality of girlhood—its fleeting, toxic friendships, the monstrous ways anger transforms, and the constant feeling of being close to normal, but not normal at all.

Juliet the Maniac

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Jeremy P. Bushnell

"A supernatural mystery—part Stranger Things, part Enola Homes, but very much itself... This book is way, way over the top—and is sure to delight its intended audience." -- firstCLUE Stranger Things meets the Golden Age of Detective fiction in a rollicking supernatural detective thriller that introduces Artie Quick, a sales assistant at Filene’s in Boston, who moonlights as an amateur detective. The year is 1909, and Artie Quick—an ambitious, unorthodox and inquisitive young Bostonian—wants to learn about crime. By day she holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s; by night she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA's Evening Institute for Younger Men. Eager to put theory into practice, Artie sets out in search of something to investigate. She's joined by her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston's occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Together, their journey into mystery begins on Boston Common—where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies—but soon Artie and Theodore uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed. Will Theodore ever manage to pull off a successful spell? Is Artie really wearing that men's suit just for disguise or is there something more to it? And what chance do two mixed-up young people stand up against the greatest horror Boston has ever known, an ancient, deranged evil that feeds on society's most vulnerable?

Relentless Melt

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Kennedy Ryan

Never read, excellent condition. Spine hasn’t been cracked

"Real, raw, magnificent--Before I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read." --Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author



Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn't solve or save everything.



It couldn't save their marriage.



Yasmen wasn't prepared for how her life fell apart, but she's is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they're always drawn back to each other, and now they're beginning to wonder if they're truly ready to let go of everything they once had.



Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another...and then more. It's hot. It's illicit. It's all good--until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?



Award-winning and bestselling "powerhouse" author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime (USA Today).

Before I Let Go

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Carolyn Huynh

For fans of Jonathan Tropper, KJ Dell'Antonia, and Kevin Kwan, this "sharp, smart, and gloriously extra" (Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee) debut follows a family of estranged Vietnamese women--cursed to never know love or happiness--as they reunite when a psychic makes a startling prediction.

Everyone in Orange County's Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed.

It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage for true love--so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons.

Oanh's current descendant Mai Nguyen knows this curse well. She's divorced, and after an explosive disagreement a decade ago, she's estranged from her younger sisters, Minh Pham (the middle and the mediator) and Khuyen Lam (the youngest who swears she just runs humble coffee shops and nail salons, not Little Saigon's underground). Though Mai's three adult daughters, Priscilla, Thuy, and Thao, are successful in their careers (one of them is John Cho's dermatologist!), the same can't be said for their love lives. Mai is convinced they might drive her to an early grave.

Desperate for guidance, she consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. This prophecy will reunite estranged mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins--for better or for worse.

A multi-narrative novel brimming with levity and candor, The Fortunes of Jaded Women is about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family. It shows how Vietnamese women emerge victorious, even if the world is against them.

The Fortunes of Jaded Women

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Emma Straub

Excellent condition. Small blemish to some pages, noticeable from top when book is closed. Signed by author on a book plate

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A PARADE BEST BOOK of 2020 * A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOK of 2020 A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! "In a time when all we want is hope, it’s a beautiful book to reach for." -Jenna Bush Hager A warm, funny, and keenly perceptive novel about the life cycle of one family--as the kids become parents, grandchildren become teenagers, and a matriarch confronts the legacy of her mistakes. From the New York Times bestselling author of Modern Lovers and The Vacationers. When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she'd been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence? Astrid's youngest son is drifting and unfocused, making parenting mistakes of his own. Her daughter is pregnant yet struggling to give up her own adolescence. And her eldest seems to measure his adult life according to standards no one else shares. But who gets to decide, so many years later, which long-ago lapses were the ones that mattered? Who decides which apologies really count? It might be that only Astrid's thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most. In All Adults Here, Emma Straub's unique alchemy of wisdom, humor, and insight come together in a deeply satisfying story about adult siblings, aging parents, high school boyfriends, middle school mean girls, the lifelong effects of birth order, and all the other things that follow us into adulthood, whether we like them to or not.

All Adults Here

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Gina Rushton

Procreation in the Age of Uncertainty

A bold feminist investigation into the mother of all questions; whether or not to become a parent in these turbulent times. Should we become parents? This timeless question forces us to reckon with who we are and what we love and fear most in ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world as it is now and as it will be. When Gina Rushton admitted she had little time left to make the decision for herself, the magnitude of the choice overwhelmed her. Her search for her own “yes” or “no” only uncovered more questions to be answered. How do we clearly consider creating a new life on a planet facing catastrophic climate change? How do we reassess the gender roles we have been assigned at birth and by society? How do we balance ascending careers with declining fertility? How do we know if we’ve found the right co-parent, or if we want to go it alone, or if we don’t want to do it at all? To seek clarity on these questions, Rushton spoke to doctors, sociologists, economists, and ethicists, as well as parents and childless people of all ages and from around the world. Here, she explores and presents policies, data, and case studies from people who have made this decision—one way or the other—and shows how the process can be revelatory in discovering who we are as individuals. Drawing on the depth of knowledge afforded by her body of work as an award-winning journalist on the abortion beat, Rushton wrote the book that she needed, and we all need, to stop a panicked internal monologue and start a genuine dialogue about what we want from our lives and why.

The Parenthood Dilemma

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Jane Wong

In the late 1980s on the Jersey shore, Jane Wong watches her mother shake ants from an MSG bin behind the family's Chinese restaurant. She is a hungry daughter frying crab rangoon for lunch, a child sneaking naps on bags of rice, a playful sister scheming to trap her brother in the freezer before he traps her first. She is part of a family staking their claim to the American dream, even as this dream crumbles. Beneath Atlantic City's promise lies her father's gambling addiction, an addiction that causes him to disappear for days and ultimately leads to the loss of the restaurant.



In her debut memoir, Wong tells a new story about Atlantic City, one that resists a single identity, a single story, as she writes about making do with what you have--and what you don't. What does it mean, she asks, to be both tender and angry? What is strength without vulnerability--and humor? Filled with beauty found in unexpected places, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City is a resounding love song of the Asian American working class, a portrait of how we become who we are, and a story of lyric wisdom to hold and to share.



Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City

782d2861-c4d4-4e0f-9460-c3b4ea78a11b-1

Terry McMillan

Used to be a library book. Had a small library sticker on the first page. First page also has some minor discoloration. Front cover has slice through 1/3 of the cover

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - After a sudden change of plans, a remarkable woman and her loyal group of friends try to figure out what she's going to do with the rest of her life--from Terry McMillan, the bestselling author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale "McMillan brings her signature wit and wisdom to It's Not All Downhill From Here."--O: The Oprah Magazine Loretha Curry's life is full. A little crowded sometimes, but full indeed. On the eve of her sixty-eighth birthday, she has a booming beauty-supply empire, a gaggle of lifelong friends, and a husband whose moves still surprise. True, she's carrying a few more pounds than she should be, but Loretha is not one of those women who think her best days are behind her--and she's determined to prove wrong her mother, her twin sister, and everyone else with that outdated view of aging wrong. It's not all downhill from here. But when an unexpected loss turns her world upside down, Loretha will have to summon all her strength, resourcefulness, and determination to keep on thriving, pursue joy, heal old wounds, and chart new paths. With a little help from her friends, of course.

It's Not All Downhill from Here

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Lydia Millet

Used to be a library book. Has a large “discard” stamp on the first page along with a library sticker. Has some minor indentations on the cover along the spine 

An indelible novel of teenage alienation and adult complacency in an unraveling world.

A Children's Bible

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Amir Ahmadi Arian

Used to be a library book, has a “discard” stamp and library sticker on first page. Some minor indentations on the cover along the top of the spine 

"An unprecedented view of modern day Iran from one of its own sons, award-winning Iranian author, Amir Ahmadi Arian, told directly to the American reader. A powerful and harrowing psychological portrayal of an individual struggle against the state written in the tradition of The Stranger and 1984, THEN THE FISH SWALLOWED HIM is an urgent exposé of how power can bend reality and the people forced to live within its parameters"--

Then the Fish Swallowed Him

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Rivers Solomon

Basically new, never read. Has some dents at the top and bottom covers of the cover along the spine. 

A triumphant, genre-bending breakout novel from one of the boldest new voices in contemporary fiction Vern—seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised—flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes. To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future—outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it. Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction.

Sorrowland

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Naomi Jackson

Was a previous library copy. Has come minor indentations on the top and bottom cover along the spine along with a small sticker on the first page. A few pieces of the library tape is visible 

This lyrical novel of community, betrayal, and love centres on an unforgettable matriarchal family in Barbados. Two sisters, ages ten and sixteen, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados (where the family has lived for centuries) after their mother can no longer care for them. This tautly paced coming-of-age story builds to a crisis when the father they barely know comes to Bird Hill to reclaim his daughters, and both must choose between the Brooklyn they once knew and loved and the Barbados of their family.

The Star Side of Bird Hill

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Chinelo Okparanta

Inspired by her mother s stories of war and Nigeria s folktale traditions, Under the Udala Trees is Chinelo Okparanta sdeeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly"

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