The Staff Shelf: Bookmark It

When we walk into a bookstore, the first place we go is the staff recommendation shelves—it’s how you get a quick sense of the personality of the store. The very best bookstores are merely a reflection of the eclectic, deeply felt opinions of the book-lovers who work there. As part of our Interview with a Bookstore, we asked the staff at Bookmark It what they recommend.

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SLIDESHOW: Bookmark It Staff Shelf

: KIM (OWNER) RECOMMENDS: In addition to being an award-winning author of short stories (Flannery O’Connor Award) and poet (having been featured on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor), Phil is a local, beloved Professor of English at Rollins College (Winter Park, FL) and has been a long-time champion of the Central Florida literary community. Forty Martyrs follows the overlapping and quirky lives of the people of Tuscola, Illinois, a small Midwestern town, and will leave the reader looking at their seemingly normal neighbors with a raised eyebrow and just a hint of suspicion.

: KIM (OWNER) RECOMMENDS: Reading like a two-person performance staged on a one-room set, Olivay artfully distills the enormity of life in today’s tumultuous world down to an intimate level. A plot line mirroring today’s breaking news adds to the urgency of pace and you will find yourself untrusting even your own intuition as the story’s twists and turns unfold in unexpected ways.

: KAREN (MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: Midway through this graphic memoir, a counselor suggests Tom Hart externalize his anger. Hart responds, “I write and I draw-it–serves the same purpose.” Hart draws through all the stages as he grieves the death of his daughter. What he gives us is a beautiful expression of love and hope, as he tries to make sense of the tragedy. One of the best books I’ve ever read.

: KAREN (MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: This felt like returning to Maycomb with Scout and Jem—although the town is Monroeville, and the children Nelle (Harper Lee) and Tru (Truman Capote). G. Neri relied on written and oral histories for this fictionalized version of the childhood of Tru and Nelle. I’d recommend this to middle school and up, as well as Lee and Capote fans.

: JENN (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: This ultimate collection, containing stories from three decades of Williams’s writing plus 13 new pieces, spectacularly reveals her humor, her remarkable writing, and her flair for showing cause and effect in clever ways.

: JENN (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: Kelly Link’s newest collection is a treasure trove of mysteries, wonders, nightmares, and characters whose unusual worlds are a delight to discover. Through each story Link’s readers become privy to a new fully fleshed reality. One cannot help but submit to the dizzying whirlwind of her imagination.

: VANESSA (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: Loved this quirky, funny book. It’s a love story, a travel tale, and a family’s “history” set in the 1930’s, all about a couple on a mission to return their pet alligator to its home in Orlando. The story has a very Forrest Gump-like quality to it, and made me (briefly) want to buy an alligator.

: VANESSA (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: The story centers around two women whose paths cross in Florida in the 1960’s through the sale of a vintage automobile. From there the two stories divide. World War II plays a part in the story, but it is treated gently, in the same way it’s treated in The Sound of Music. I recommend this as an excellent beach read.

: RACQUEL (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: One of those books that will make you put off day-to-day tasks to read just one more chapter. It’s a YA psychological thriller that explores the complex nature of being a teenager and the inner workings of a cult. Parker delivers prose in an elevated yet accessible way.

: LISEL (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: The stories in 15 Views of Miami , all written specifically for this anthology, and linked—sometimes by a re-occuring character, a symbol, or a theme, are fantastically varied in their style and subject matter. A personal favorite of mine is “From the Desk of David J. Hernandez, Security Officer, Westland Mall”, a hilarious send-up of the suburban mall.

: LISEL (BOOKSLINGER) RECOMMENDS: “Refund”, a favorite in this gorgeously rendered collection of stories, is by turns heartbreaking and unexpectedly hilarious. As a young couple struggles for power in the midst of their crumbling relationship, they use their son as currency. Poissant shies away from easy answers and his complex characters demand our empathy and that we examine our own heart.

: LILY (VOLUNTEER) RECOMMENDS: A fun adventurous read about young love and romance, The Night We Said Yes is perfect for fans of John Green and Gayle Forman. It’s a story of friendship, romance, and finding your own dream.