Marissa's Staff Picks


Showing 1 - 15 of 15  There are a total of 85 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The rules of attraction"
Star rating for The rules of attraction
Average Rating:
3 stars
Book cover for "A tip for the hangman"
Star rating for A tip for the hangman
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Christopher Marlowe, a brilliant, aspiring playwright, is pulled into the duplicitous world of international espionage on behalf of queen and country. A many-layered Elizabethan thriller combining state secrets, mystery, and romance worthy of Marlowe's own, timeless works"--
Book cover for "As I lay dying"
Star rating for As I lay dying
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
At the heart of this 1930 novel is the Bundren family's bizarre journey to Jefferson to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Faulkner lets each family member--including Addie--and others along the way tell their private responses to Addie's life. As I Lay Dying is the harrowing, darkly comic tale of the Bundren family's trek across Mississippi to bury Addie, their wife and mother, as told by each of the family members--including Addie herself.
Book cover for "Paint it black"
Star rating for Paint it black
Book cover for "First time for everything"
Star rating for First time for everything
Author:
Description:
"An unflinchingly honest, wickedly funny, and heartfelt debut about a down-on-his-luck gay man working out how he fits into the world, making up for lost time, and opening himself up to life's possibilities. Danny Scudd is absolutely fine. He always dreamed of escaping the small-town life of his parents' fish and chip shop, moving to London, and becoming a journalist. And, after five years in the city, his career isn't exactly awful, and his relationship...
Book cover for "Olga dies dreaming"
Star rating for Olga dies dreaming
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
"It's 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro "Prieto" Acevedo, are bold-faced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan's powerbrokers. Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the 1%, but she can't seem to find her own...until...
Book cover for "The lottery and other stories"
Star rating for The lottery and other stories
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
Collects short stories by Shirley Jackson, including "Like Mother Used to Make," "Afternoon in Linen," "A Fine Old Firm," as well as "The Lottery."
Book cover for "First grave on the right"
Star rating for First grave on the right
Series:
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. It's her job to convince dead people to go into the light. But when these people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice.
Book cover for "Beloved"
Star rating for Beloved
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved." Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things begin to happen. Set in rural Ohio several years after the Civil War, this profoundly affecting chronicle of slavery and its aftermath is Toni Morrison's greatest novel, a dazzling achievement, and the most spellbinding reading experience of the...
Book cover for "The complete stories"
Star rating for The complete stories
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two short story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime -- Everything that Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find."--Back cover.

11. 1984

Book cover for "1984"
Star rating for 1984
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities. Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."...
Book cover for "A thread of grace"
Star rating for A thread of grace
Average Rating:
4 stars
Book cover for "Last exit to Brooklyn"
Star rating for Last exit to Brooklyn
Average Rating:
4 stars
Book cover for "The Joy Luck Club"
Star rating for The Joy Luck Club
Author:
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:

Four Chinese women, drawn together by the shadow of their past, meet in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and to "say" stories to each other. Nearly 40 years later, one of the women has died, and her daughter arrives to take her place. However, the daughter never expected to learn of her mother's secret lifelong wish—and the tragic way in which it has come true. The revelation creates among the women an urgent

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Book cover for "Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children's crusade"
Star rating for Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children's crusade
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes "unstuck in time" after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Slaughterhouse-Five

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