Staff Picks
By Green Apple Books
By Green Apple Books
The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories
Danielle Evans
$27.00 $24.84Wow. Danielle Evans is a massively talented writer. I was blown away with how masterfully each story was composed, with bursting and unexpected circumstance and character. I love Evans' eye for detail. Each story is deeply felt and, while serious at times, she also writes with a wonderful sense of humor. I also loved her thoroughly modern and relatable characters. One of my favorite books of the year. —Kar
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
V. E. Schwab
$26.99 $24.83In 1714, a girl makes a deal with the devil. Wanting nothing more than to see the world beyond her small French village, she gains immortality at the cost of being forgotten by all who encounter her. In 2014 NYC, someone remembers her. The most sweeping and literary of Schwab's extensive canon, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue reflects on the ways love and art leave an immortal mark on the world. A totally immersive, emotional, and unforgettable journey for fans of historical fiction, literary fiction, fantasy, and romance alike. —CRL
Big Girl, Small Town
Michelle Gallen
$16.95 $15.59Every time I put this book down, I couldn't wait to pick it back up again. I was already entertained by Majella's goings on at the chip shop—I didn't know to expect a murder mystery and a realistic and informative story of the far-reaching affects of the troubles in Ireland. Not to mention what dark comedy comes from a small town and a main character who likes few people. — Kar
A Burning
Megha Majumdar
$25.95 $23.87This novel shows us how speaking against oppression can be made to look like terrorism. It shows us how easy it is to be seduced by the promised of politicians and become complicit in their crimes. It shows us how survival is work we do every day. A Burning is a powerful, polyphonic novel, both critical and enveloping, with some truly chilling moments set amid rising heat. Majumdar will move you. —Kar
Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo
$17.99 $16.55With a thriller-like compulsion and spine-chilling tone, this dark academic fantasy is thematically more sinister than Bardugo's (brilliant + beloved) Grisha series. Set in the dark underbelly of Yale's secret societies (Bardugo's alma mater!) Ninth House creates a contemporary fantasy world that is mind-blowingly immersive and also a lens through which to examine privilege, elitism, and trauma. —CRL
The Book of Disquiet: The Complete Edition
Fernando Pessoa
$24.95 $22.95"For the first time—and in the best translation ever—the complete Book of Disquiet, a masterpiece beyond comparison"
Of Walking in Ice: Munich-Paris, 23 November-14 December 1974
Werner Herzog
$19.95 $18.35In November 1974, Werner Herzog received word of the imminent death of film historian Lotte Eisner. He resolved to walk from Munich to be at her side in Paris, in the faith that by essaying this trek, 'our Eisner mustn't die, she will not die, I won't permit it'; furthermore, that 'when I'm in Paris she will be alive. She must not die. Later, perhaps, when we allow it.' -- Spiros
The Leopard
Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
$16.95 $15.59If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change" is the keynote paradox propounded by Tancredi Falconeri to his uncle, Prince Fabrizio Salina, as the young impoverished nobleman goes to join the Garibaldini to fight for an independent Sicily and a unified Italy. Don Fabrizio is taken aback; he, after all, lives his life on a Copernican paradigm, with himself at the center of the universe. Tancredi is representative of a Darwinian world, with his ability to adapt to changing circumstances, such that we modern readers, unlike the prince, are occasioned no surprise when Tancredi renounces the sans culottes for a position of power in the new regime. Tancredi rises to ever greater heights, while Don Fabrizio is left in melancholy contemplation of the passing of an old order which he knows was unworthy of mourning. This is an absolutely wonderful, elegiacal work, leavened throughout with moments of great humor. -- Spiros
We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction
Joan Didion
$35.00 $32.20I moved to San Francisco when I was 18 and quickly discovered the most amazing bookstore I had ever been to (spoiler it was Green Apple). I'll never forget the sense of discovery I had on that first trip and the joy I had after finding Joan Didion's beautiful behemoth of collected writings We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live. It was the feeling of the rest of your life opening up before you with possibility. -- Emily
The Lover
Marguerite Duras
$12.95 $11.91This is probably (and when I say probably I really mean definitely) my favorite book of all time. Haunting, sparse, beautiful, The Lover chronicles the lifespan of an affair from its tumultuos beginning to its inevitable end. Somehow I always find myself coming back to this book. It is that first love you always remember, never quite get over. -- Emily
Last Night in Montreal
Emily St John Mandel
$15.95 $14.67I love this book!! Mandel's writing will cast a spell on you. This is the story of a girl unable to stay in one place and the pain of trying to love someone in flight. I'm sure you will be as entranced with this book as I was. -- Emily
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Herman Melville and Tony Millionaire
$20.00 $18.40
A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube
Patrick Leigh Fermor
$16.95 $15.59"This beloved account about an intrepid young Englishman on the first leg of his walk from London to Constantinople is simply one of the best works of travel literature ever written."
Eileen
Ottessa Moshfegh
$16.00 $14.72eileen emotive evocative empathetic embittered enigmatic entirely excellent -- FS
The Dakota Winters
Tom Barbash
$16.99 $15.63barbash shines a light on a wired/paranoid nyc circa 1980 reads like a breeze that chills you -- FS
Bastard Out of Carolina
Dorothy Allison
$18.00 $16.56The OG Hillbilly Elegy, but way better. beautiful & sad, and so worth it for the awareness of U.S. class issues. -- Sara
While Standing in Line for Death
Caconrad
$22.00 $20.24This book is bonkers good. Imagine the edge most contemporary poets try hard to force not sounding contrived and hyperbolic. Imagine then what the emotive quality might actually be if one poet allowed the reader in with true courage. Conrad is notoriously brave, always 100% themselves, and clearly an outlier genius in modern American poetry. Famous for their somatic exercises, Conrad delivers a truly bright and bewildering collection. -- Nick
Leviathan Wakes
James S. A. Corey
$16.99 $15.63Considered the 'Game of Thrones' of space (but I like it more). Taking place in the near future, in a colonized solar system, political factions are at odds, complicated notions of identity fuel this epic space opera - the story is compelling, the problems facing the characters feel real, but the context of everything remains speculative, fantastic - a band of heroes, anti-heroes, thugs, corporate control - and long, great, vast distances. -- Nick
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
Svetlana Alexievich
$19.95 $18.35Nothing I can say will do this justice. Nothing. One of the most unbelievable books you will read this year. Incredibly moving, poignant, even topical. This book won the Nobel Prize in Lit, because of Alexievich's journalism, which doesn't happen often, but what stands out to me, beyond content that will absolutely envelop you, is the masterful translation and editing. 20 years of oral history fieldwork, as much research, and an approach to voice that rivals any oral history I've ever read. It's the best book you'll read on Chernobyl ever. Poetic, direct, unadorned. This will humble, make you question, maybe cry in public. -- Nick
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
Stephen Greenblatt
$13.95 $12.83Of all of the books that have come out trying to explain the last few years, Tyrant is hands down my favorite. It is also a very good piece of literary criticism. I should warn you that Stephen Greenblatt is not unbiased...but then neither was Shakespeare. -- Martin
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Ken Liu
$17.99 $16.55These are some of the best short stories I've recently read. And while you may be thinking 'but I don't like science fiction', these stories transcend genre in the way very few writers are able to do. And so far, there is not a single story in this collection that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. If you are in any way a fan of well written short stories, then I cannot recommend this collection highly enough. -- Martin
Eggshells
Caitriona Lally
$16.98 $15.62So many reasons to love this book. Great writing, interesting narrator , and the best literary stroll around Dublin since Joyce. -- Martin
Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco
Gary Kamiya
$18.00 $16.56There have been many histories written about the transformation of San Francisco from a muddy hamlet of 800 people in 1848 into one of the world's great metropolises. What makes this one special is Kamiya's synthesizing of the personal memoir with a walking tour of the historic, the geographic and the geologic, all rolled together in a witty and accessible style. Kamiya not only obviously spent countless hours deep in the library stacks doing diligent research, but he must also have worn out several pairs of shoes walking the far-flung corners, alleys, dirt paths and hills of San Francisco. Along the way he points out the little remnants of the past--buried stream beds and old trails that became our modern roads; local characters past and present; spots where the old has been replaced by the new without being completely erased. Even if you think you know all you need to about this cool gray city of love, Gary Kamiya will surprise you with his passionate mash note to San Francisco. -- KPR
The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime
Jason Turbow and Michael Duca
$16.95One of the best insider baseball books I've ever read. Based on interviews with hundreds of players from the last 50 years of baseball, along with great historical anecdotes, The Baseball Codes reveals the unseen game: what offenses cause a pitcher to intentionally hit a batter; what recourse that batter has; what's ok and what's not ok when it comes to stealing signs; how to properly celebrate an accomplishment without earning the ire of the opposing team; what actually constitutes 'running up the score'; what is proper decorum for a rookie in the clubhouse. Best of all, the authors are both local, so many of the tales involve the Giants. -- KPR
The Seas
Samantha Hunt
$19.95 $18.35The ethereal novel drips fog, walks a line between the real and mythical, and will leave you wanting to talk about it with someone else. Buy one for you AND one for your literary pal. It's mysterious but full of yearning; set in a very particular coastal town but universal; lyrical but still page-turning. -- Pete
Tenth of December: Stories
George Saunders
$17.00 $15.64This short story collection is the perfect marriage of head and heart. The stories are sometimes witty or quirky, but always deeply rooted in empathy. Some of them have stuck with me for YEARS. Even if you don't normally read short fiction, this will be a balm for your soul. -- Pete
Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler
$18.00 $16.56Nudge is a terrific book for anyone interested in how we make choices, public policy, politics and behavioral science. The way that governments and companies frame choices affects our behavior and well-being, often on a subtle level. A 'nudge': if Americans defaulted to donating organs upon death (with an option to opt out, of course) thousands of lives would be saved annually. -- Pete
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
Flannery O'Connor
$15.99 $14.71Whatta me and Harold Bloom have in common? Nothin', I thought. I was wrong! We both love Flannery O'Connor. A Good Man Is Hard To Find hilights her amazing talents -- for dialogue and dialect, for proporiety contrasted with the ghastly, and a rather dark sense of humor. -- Jeff
Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon
Bronwen Dickey
$16.00 $14.72A much-needed exposé of the fallacy of breed-specific legislation. Research shows that a dog's appearance and ancestry frequently don't coincide, and that dogs are classified as 'pit bulls' by the media solely because they bit someone. Contains many cute pictures and a few sad ones. Very highly recommended. -- Jeff
Sabrina
Nick Drnaso
$27.95 $25.71The first graphic novel long listed for the Man Booker Prize has no synopsis on its cover. To tell you it follows the community of people closely (and not-so closely) affected by the disappearance of a woman, Sabrina, would suggest nothing of what it says about desensitization to violence and discerning fact from fake news in the internet era. The simple line art invites readers to speculate into its ambiguities while reflecting a pervasive feeling of dullness on the outside and screaming on the inside. Unnerving in the best way. -- Casey
The Octopus Museum: Poems
Brenda Shaughnessy
$25.00 $23.00"This collection of bold and scathingly beautiful feminist poems imagines what comes after our current age of environmental destruction, racism, sexism, and divisive politics."