Ruth's Picks

Having and Being Had (Hardcover)

By Eula Biss

$26.00

ISBN: 9780525537458

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Published: Riverhead Books - September 1st, 2020

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In this collection of luminous short essays, Eula Biss mines the minutiae of everyday life to understand her precarious relationship with wealth. Much like Maggie Nelson, Biss embraces contradiction and is unafraid to draw from a wide array of fields-- art, philosophy, history, and economics, to name a few. This might just be my favorite non-fiction book of the year.

Let Me Tell You What I Mean (Hardcover)

By Joan Didion

$23.00

ISBN: 9780593318485

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Published: Knopf - January 26th, 2021

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A new Didion collection? Yes, please. From the Monica Lewinsky scandal (a genuinely fresh take) to a fierce defense of Hemmingway's posthumously published novel (he didn't consent to it's publication!), to thoughtful musings on the life of a writer, these essays are a master-class in great writing.

Leaving the Atocha Station (Paperback)

By Ben Lerner

$16.95

ISBN: 9781566892742

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Published: Coffee House Press - August 23rd, 2011

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This novel follows Adam, a self-doubting stoner poet on scholarship in Madrid. He is equal parts riotously funny and frustratingly unmotivated. Coincidentally, these are all descriptions that apply to me, which might be why this is one of my favorite books of all time. Or maybe it's because it's gorgeously written? Either way, read it.

Bad Behavior: Stories (Paperback)

By Mary Gaitskill

$17.00

ISBN: 9781439148877

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Published: Simon & Schuster - July 21st, 2009

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Mary Gaitskill is the QUEEN of character description. Her sentences snap with wit and specificity, and every page or two you'll hit a line that captures the human condition so precisely... its magic. Here's one: “At times she had thought that this was the only kind of connection you could have with people—intense, inexplicable and ultimately incomplete.” 

These stories are not for the faint of heart--some are graphically sexual in a way that Gaitskill has become famous for--but she handles even the most intimate encounters masterfully, and they always have a purpose. The best way to read this collection is cover to cover; you won't want to skip a single story. If you like Ottessa Moshfegh, you'll love Gaitskill!

Sweetbitter (Vintage Contemporaries) (Paperback)

By Stephanie Danler

$16.00

ISBN: 9781101911860

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Published: Vintage - April 4th, 2017

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If you're looking for a gritty, sexy book to get lost in, Sweetbitter is for you. The main character, Tess. moves to New York City at 21 and gets hired at an upscale restaurant where she is quickly swept up in the chaotic, seductive world of its staff. If you've ever worked in the restaurant business, you'll appreciate Danler's spot-on descriptions of restaurant hierarchies and kitchen drama. And her descriptions of food are just... *chef's kiss*.

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (Hardcover)

By Anne Helen Petersen

$26.00

ISBN: 9780358315070

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Published: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - September 22nd, 2020

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This book transformed, enraged, devastated, and comforted me as a 22-year-old on the cusp of the millennial generation (born 1998). Petersen's methodical dissection of the economic and cultural odds stacked against this generation is intensely researched and entirely accessible. I especially enjoyed the way she broke down how historical trends, like the decline of labor unions and the rise of temp work, brought us to the economic position we're in today.  I recommend this book to anyone who thinks millennials are lazy or entitled, and of course to millennials themselves. It really changed my view of the world.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Ocean Vuong

$26.00

ISBN: 9780525562023

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Published: Penguin Press - June 4th, 2019

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This intricately woven novel is written in the form of an immigrant boy's letter to his illiterate mother. It touches on themes of war, PTSD, race, immigration, queerness, and the violence of American masculinity. I believe the greatness of this book can only be fully understood by sampling some of its best passages, so here's one:

“You once told me that the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil and still it holds nothing. The eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty.”  

Ocean Vuong is a poet first, and it shows. This is the best novel I read in 2019. If you love his writing, check out his collection of poetry, "Night Sky With Exit Wounds."

Space Struck (Paperback)

By Paige Lewis

$15.95

ISBN: 9781946448446

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Published: Sarabande Books - October 8th, 2019

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Paige Lewis's poems are always doing a thousand things at once: reveling in the wonders of the natural world, calling attention to the strangeness of our contemporary condition, capturing the anxiety that underlies all of our lives, making us giggle at clever puns. One of her lines is "I have never written the word 'doom,' but nothing else fits," and it has always haunted me, especially in our pandemic-world. Another stanza I love: "I'm almost positive I've got what it takes to be a saint/ because I've stopped breaking what I can't afford,/ and if I look up for long enough, everyone looks up." Oh, and fun fact: when Paige Lewis got married to her partner, Kaveh Akbar, they had a poetry-themed wedding. Okay, I'm done gushing. Now buy the book!

Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir (Hardcover)

By Rebecca Solnit

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ISBN: 9780593083338

Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability.

Published: Viking - March 10th, 2020

"When I read, I ceased to be myself, and this nonexistence I pursued and devoured like a drug." Though Rebecca Solnit has always written at the intersection of the personal and political, this is her first entirely personal memoir, and I believe it is her best work yet. It tackles issues of sexual violence, representation, and voice as they arise in her life. Particular emphasis is placed on her 20s, when Solnit was discovering herself as a writer and coming to understand all the ways the world erases and discredits the voices of women. I finished this book feeling validated and seen-- as a woman, a writer, and politically active young adult.

In the Dream House: A Memoir (Hardcover)

By Carmen Maria Machado

$26.00

ISBN: 9781644450031

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Published: Graywolf Press - November 5th, 2019

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This memoir is truly unprecedented in scope, content, and style. Each chapter rarely extends longer than 1 page and explores a different facet of an abusive queer relationship through the lens of a different literary trope (stoner comedy, noir, déjà vu, etc.). As in her critically acclaimed book of short stories, Her Body and Other Parties, Machado's strength lies in her ability to create suspense and horror out of domestic life, especially women's lives. I finished this book feeling awe-struck.