November Staff Picks from CLP – Squirrel Hill

Laura’s pick – Mount Vengeance is legendary. For most, it’s an adventure, or a quest to prove themselves worthy of fame and glory. For Ainsworth Gladsly, it’s the perfect thesis material. Ainsworth is an ambitious research fellow and up-and-coming historian, finally ready to make his mark on the world. When his supervisor learns of the rumored Misnich Inn at the foot of Mount Vengeance, she sends Ainsworth to be the first to document the exploits of the bold adventurers who seek to face the perils of the mountain and the dragon said to inhabit it.

Heidi’s pick – All families are messy. Some are disasters. Natalie Walker is the reason her older brother and sister went to prison over 15 years ago. She fled California shortly after that fateful night and hasn’t spoken to anyone in her family since. Now, on the same day her boyfriend steals her dream job out from under her, Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer saying her estranged mother has died and left the family’s historic Santa Cruz house to her. Sort of. The only way for Natalie and her siblings to inherit is for all three adult children to come back and claim it–together.

Megan’s pick – Cameron wants only to complete her costume portfolio in peace, but when a trip to the local comic shop results in a hostile reception from a male employee, she returns disguised as a boy at her twin brother’s suggestion and finds herself drafted into a D&D campaign.

Jen’s pick – A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original , Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.

Allison’s pick – Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity…until now.

Allison’s pick – What do you do when you’re too gay for Pakistan, too Pakistani to be gay in America, and you’re ashamed of your body everywhere? As a young child in Lahore, Pakistan, Komail Aijazuddin knew he was different. Aijazuddin began to believe his only chance at a happy, meaningful life would be in America–the land of the free, the home of the gays. But the hostility of a post-9/11 world and society’s rejection of his art, his desires, and his body caused him to reexamine his idea of the American Dream.

Salem’s pick – Olive is desperate to get close to Theo–really, really close. She’s always struggled to connect with people. And now she’s in her thirties, single, and so flustered by relationships that she secretly records her conversations, hoping to decipher social cues and find a way to be less alone. Arresting and immersive, Open Wide explores the complexities of intimacy, love, and consent, as universal human impulses bleed into the surreal.

Salem’s pick – When Dark Lord Kazimir Blackrose kidnaps Lady Arabella for a forced marriage, he expects an obedient, trembling bride. What he gets is a knife to the throat and a furious woman with demands of her own. He may need her heroic bloodline to achieve ultimate dominion, but she’s not about to make this easy for him.

Ana’s pick