Sara's Picks
Sara Luce Look-- Sara is a co-owner of Charis as well as the book buyer and general manager. She enjoys all kinds of fiction by women, lesbian mysteries, and books that push sexual and gender-bending boundaries. She also loves cookbooks, knitting books, young adult fiction and beautiful children's books.
Within a context of jazz, the end of Prohibition, and stifling gender expectations, Daughter of Providence is a gripping and seductive summer read. this story of loss and rediscovery will resonate with readers long after the final page.
Foreword by sisters Emily Deschanel (star of the TV series 'Bones') and Zooey Deschanel (film and TV actress)
Spork-Fed is a savvy, upbeat introduction to vegan cuisine written by sisters who know great food Flavor is the top priority in these easy-to-prepare recipes, many of them gluten-free.
Lambda Literary Award finalist
American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book
"Sweet, tender, and true!" - Laurie Halse Anderson
Jesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman's boots. She's the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She's vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend.
Anthony De Sa makes his fiction debut with this stunning collection of interlinked stories that explore the innocent dreams and bitter disappointments of the immigrant experience. Hailed as "tender and raw, morbid and surprisingly gentle" by the Vancouver Sun, Barnacle Love was a finalist for Canada's highly prestigious Giller Prize.
For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew--daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own.
Atta's novel charts the fate of two African girls, one born of privilege and the other a lower class "half-caste. One is prepared to manipulate the traditional system while the other attempts to defy it. The tale traces their unusual friendship into their adult lives, against the backdrop of tragedy, family strife, and a war-torn Nigeria. Winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature.
A fresh take on weeknight cooking from The Splendid Table's Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift
From acclaimed novelist Jonis Agee, whom The New York Times Book Review called -a gifted poet of that dark lushness in the heart of the American landscape, - The River Wife is a sweeping, panoramic story that ranges from the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 through the Civil War to the bootlegging days of the 1930s.
In the manner of W. G. Sebald's The Emigrants, Natives and Exotics follows three characters, linked by blood and legacy, as they wander a world scarred by colonialism.
Who ever heard of a girl glassblower?
In Mexico, where the sun is called el sol and the moon is called la luna, a little girl called Elena wants to blow into a long pipe...and make bottles appear, like magic.
But girls can't be glassblowers. Or can they?
A true story inspires the moving tale of a mule that played a key role in the civil rights movement-- and a young boy who sees history anew.
The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on SYFY
"The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this."
--George R.R. Martin
Miss Emily "Fido" Faithfull is a "woman of business" and a spinster pioneer in the British women's movement, independent of mind but naively trusting of heart. Distracted from her cause by the sudden return of a once-dear friend, the unhappily wed Helen Codrington, Fido is swept up in the intimate details of Helen's failing marriage and obsessive affair with a young army officer.
"When I was seven I told my father that I wanted to grow up to be invisible."
Lucas and Tessa have always had a close friendship. So it's no surprise when Lucas finally realizes his true feeling for Tessa and he asks her to Prom. What no one expected, especially Lucas, was for Tessa to come out as a lesbian-or for Tessa's decision to wear a tuxedo and escort her female crush to Prom, to spark a firestorm of controversy.
An unforgettable coming-of-age story and a luminous portrayal of a dramatic era of American history, Rebecca Chace's Leaving Rock Harbor takes readers into the heart of a New England mill town in the early twentieth century.
Bitter in the Mouth is a brilliant, virtuosic novel about a young woman's search for identity and the true meaning of family.
I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.
From the Booker Prize-winning, bestselling author of Possession a deeply affecting story of a singular family.
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Once a week, an eclectic group of women comes together at a New York City yarn shop to work on their latest projects--and share the stories of their lives...
An ambitious and powerful story about idealism, passion, and sacrifice, Eat the Document shifts between the underground movement of the 1970s and the echoes and consequences of that movement in the 1990s.
A National Book Award finalist, Eat the Document is a riveting portrait of two eras and one of the most provocative and compelling novels of recent years.
When Chickerella's new stepmother and stepsisters move in, life in the chicken coop takes a turn for the worse. This hilarious take on the classic fairy tale spoofs high fashion and other notions with good humor. Full color.
New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King takes us to a remote cottage in Cornwall in this gripping tale of intrigue, terrorism, and explosive passions that begins with a visit to a recluse code-named . . .
Winner of Persea's 2008 Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize for American Women Poets.
A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown, she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life.
The dazzling, award-winning debut in a series that delivers mystery, romance, suspense, and fascinating forensic detail.
More of This World or Maybe Another is a collection of award-winning short fiction about four outsiders whose unruly lives intersect on the back streets of New Orleans from writer Barb Johnson. Funny and haunting by turns, Johnson’s unforgettable characters are driven by something fragile and irresistible, a sputtering drive to love and be loved, in these “stunning stories .
A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton.
The bestselling novel that follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war, from the author of The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union Army, it is a question his commanders have answered for him: on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle, who is plotting to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
"Coyote is an important literary voice, blending a keen sense of gay identity and community with a refreshing appreciation for the goodness at the heart of some straight people."--Out
Farms have fences. People have boundaries. Mine began crumbling the day I knelt behind a male sheep, reached between his legs, and squeezed his testicles. This took place one blustery November day when I joined other shepherd-wannabees for a class on the basics of raising sheep. I was there with my partner Melissa, the woman I'd lived with for twelve years, because we were going to start a farm .
A crime lost to time. A secret buried deep. One book unlocks an unimaginable truth. Salem, Massachusetts, 1681. Fear and suspicion lead a small town to unspeakable acts. Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1991. A young woman is about to discover that she is tied to Salem in ways she never imagined.
Taking us back to a time that is half history, half myth and wholly magical, bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni gives voice to Panchaali, the fire-born heroine of the Mahabharata, as she weaves a vibrant retelling of an ancient epic saga.
Kayla Dean, junior feminist and future journalist, is about the break the story of a lifetime. She is auditioning for the Lady Lions dance team to prove they discriminate against the not-so-well endowed. But when she makes the team, her best friend and fellow feminist, Rosalie, is not happy.
The country bunny attains the exalted position of Easter Bunny in spite of her responsibilities as the mother of twenty-one children.
"The Age of Dreaming is a masterpiece of the sort that doesn't just seduce the reader--it leaves you transformed. Nina Revoyr deserves to be counted among the top ranks of novelists at work today."--Jerry Stahl, author of I, Fatty
"This is a riveting, wise, and gorgeous novel."--Mary Yukari Waters
In a snow covered village, while children all sleep,
the Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher, lands with a leap
All the sprinkles he snitches, it's his Christmas fun,
but without sprinkles the baking cannot be done
The villagers panic, but says Little Nat,
"I'll track down the Snitcher wherever he's at "
From the author of the #1 bestselling The Time Traveler's Wife, a spectacularly compelling novel--set in and near Highgate Cemetery in London, about the love between twins, men and women, ghosts and the living.
Val and Chloe don't fit in at their fancy private school in Manhattan. Together, they ditch school, visit cemeteries and thrift shops and have sleepovers during which they confide all their secret thoughts. Lately, Val has all kinds of questions. Especially about sex. So Val turns to the two people who have always given her the most honest answers possible: her mother and Chloe.
An elegant, heartwarming story about the profound connections between people and animals
In this enchanting and darkly imaginative debut novel full of myth, magic, romance, and mystery, a Princeton freshman is drawn into a love triangle with two enigmatic brothers, and discovers terrifying secrets about her family and herself--a bewitching blend of Twilight, The Secret History, Jane Eyre, and A Discovery of Witches.
"PULITZER PRIZE IN LETTERS: BIOGRAPHY FINALIST""NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRLE AWARDS AUTOBIOGRAPHY FINALIST"
There's a strange smell in the air and Kind Dog is determined to sniff out where it's coming from. But when he sets off with Ant and Bee, he can't find the source of the smell anywhere.
"If Hermione Granger had been an American who never received an invitation to Hogwarts, this might have been her story." --People
"A gutsy, wise memoir-in-essays from a writer praised as 'impossible to put down'"--People
From the author of the acclaimed genre-bending Black Wave comes this moving personal essay collection about the trials and triumphs of shedding your vices in order to find yourself.
Set on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a suspenseful page-turning saga of love, murder, and the true meaning of faith from the author of the acclaimed The Liar’s Diary.
"A book to be savored." --DEBORAH MADISON, author of The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
"Laughing with Tod at her loves and disasters will make you laugh at your own, and keep cooking." --ANNA THOMAS, author of Love Soup and The New Vegetarian Epicure
Fresh talent CJ Hauser makes her literary debut with The From-Aways, an irreverent story of family, love, friendship, and lobsters, in the tradition of J. Courtney Sullivan’s Maine and Richard Russo’s Empire Falls.
If you received a letter from your older self, what do you think it would say? What do you wish it would say?
That the boy you were crushing on in History turns out to be gay too, and that you become boyfriends in college? That the bully who is making your life miserable will one day become so insignificant that you won't remember his name until he shows up at your book signing?
Princess Nina is an extraordinary princess. She is smart, curious, sweet and also a bit wild. One day the king and queen decide they have to go looking for a suitable prince for princess Nina.