A Peek at Peak Picks – late October to December

19 titles are joining Peak Picks through the end of 2023!

In adult fiction, National Book Award winner Alice McDermott provides a riveting account of women’s lives on the margins of the Vietnam War in Absolution; Jonathan Evison delivers a poignant story about a 102-year-old nursing home resident seeking love and redemption in Again and Again; Michael Cunningham explores the struggles of family life on the same date over three years before and during COVID in Day; Naomi Alderman (The Power) thrills with a tale of friends plotting a heist in an effort to save the world from greedy tech giants in The Future; Naoise Dolan delivers a sharply funny novel about Celine & Luke as they head towards their wedding, and the three friends who keep getting in the way, in The Happy Couple; E.J. Koh’s debut novel follows an unhappy South Korean couple whose struggles continue after they emigrate to the U.S. in The Liberators; Gabriel Bump’s innovative sophomore novel explores a Black couple’s attempt to form an underground utopia in Western Massachusetts in The New Naturals; Katherine Howe brings 18^th century piracy to life as she chronicles a young woman’s hunt for a Caribbean treasure in A True Account; Sigrid Nunez’s latest is a meditation on a solitary female narrator who reflects on contemporary life while caring for a parrot during COVID lockdown in The Vulnerables; and Lauren Grodstein, based on the archives of World War II survivors, delivers a heart-wrenching story of love and defiance in the Warsaw Ghetto in We Must Not Think of Ourselves.  

In adult nonfiction, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith ask whether we can settle space, whether we should settle space, and if we’ve really thought this through in A City on Mars; Stephanie Land picks up where Maid left off as she struggles with motherhood, hunger, and higher education to provide for herself and her family in Class; Dr. Nicole LePera’s latest helps people break cycles, find peace, and heal their relationships in How to Be the Love You Seek; TikTok-famous Jon Kung reexamines Chinese American food with 100 recipes from a third-culture kitchen in Kung Food; Douglas Preston presents jaw-dropping true stories of Egyptian burial chambers, prehistoric ruins, pirate treasure, bizarre crimes, and more in The Lost Tomb; Eden Dawn & Ashod Simonian deliver a cheeky insider’s guide to more than 125 outings in and around Seattle that inspire romance and adventure in The Seattle Book of Dates; and Dr. Fei-Fei Li debuts with a moving memoir of a scientist who comes of age as an immigrant and finds herself at the forefront of the AI revolution in The Worlds I See.

But wait, there’s more! Ali Hazlewood’s first young adult novel is a clever and swoonworthy tale of rival chess players who challenge each other on and off the board in Check & Mate; and Jillian & Mariko Tamaki reunite for their first adult graphic novel, which finds a childhood friendship threatened by a new queer friend as they embark on spring break in New York City in the emotionally resonant Roaming.

~posted by Frank B.