Staff Picks
By Green Apple Books
By Green Apple Books
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
V. E. Schwab
$26.99 $25.10In 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 $15.76Every 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
Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo
$17.99 $16.73With 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
$27.95 $25.99"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 $18.55In 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
$18.00 $16.74If 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; Introduction by John Leonard
Joan Didion
$40.00 $37.20I 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
$15.00 $13.95This 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
$17.00 $15.81I 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
$21.00 $19.53
A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube
Patrick Leigh Fermor
$16.95 $15.76"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
$17.00 $15.81eileen emotive evocative empathetic embittered enigmatic entirely excellent -- FS
The Dakota Winters
Tom Barbash
$16.99 $15.80barbash shines a light on a wired/paranoid nyc circa 1980 reads like a breeze that chills you -- FS
Bastard Out of Carolina (Anniversary)
Dorothy Allison
$19.00 $17.67The 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 $20.46This 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
$19.99 $18.59Considered 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 $18.55Nothing 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 $12.97Of 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
