The Staff Shelf: BookPeople

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 BookPeople what they recommend.

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SLIDESHOW: BookPeople Staff Shelf

: WIL (BOOKSELLER) RECOMMENDS: This debut was an incredible find for me. She has an original style that’s so emotionally compelling. A Beijing cab driver, tormented and intrigued by anonymous packets of letters left in his cab by a stranger who claims to have spent numerous, intimate past lives with him over 1,500 years. Each incarnation paints and portrays life in China like you’ve never imagined, using China’s folklore, treacherous Imperial harems and stark, daily horror of suspicion during the communist takeover.

: JULIE (MARKETING DIRECTOR) RECOMMENDS: Why had I never read Lucia Berlin before?! I’m a big fan of short stories and an even bigger fan of short fiction written by women. If you love Grace Paley, read this. Her stories often give voice to working class characters, which has found her compared to Raymond Carver, as well. I’m thrilled to have this new writer’s perspective on my shelf. And how’s this for legend (courtesy of her Wikipedia page): ‘Lucia died in her home in Marina del Rey, on her birthday, with one of her favorite books in her hands.’

: CASSIE (GIFTS BUYER) RECOMMENDS: An amazing portrait of friendship, love, life, and loss. The writing is poetic and pitch-perfect. The story itself is so lovely, engrossing, and heart-breaking in the best way. I actually don’t want to say too much for fear of over-selling it. I think that if you read the first couple of lines it will be hard to not finish the whole book right then and there.

: SCOTT (MYSTERYPEOPLE CRIME FICTION COORDINATOR) RECOMMENDS: Austin author Mark Pryor goes down a much darker path than usual with this Austin-set stand alone featuring Dominic, charismatic lawyer, musician, and sociopath. When Dominic gets pulled into a crime that goes wrong, he has to depend on his skill and lack of scruples to pull him out. Cross Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley with Richard Stark’s Parker and you’ll get some idea of how good this book about a bad man is.”

: MOLLY (BOOKSELLER) RECOMMENDS: Kovály’s vision of 1950s Prague is marked not only by terror, but by shame and humiliation as well. Her heroine must be both fearless and shameless to get even close to achieving her goals, but this is a Soviet noir, so don’t count on a happy ending. Do, however, count on beautiful, intricate, and bleak noir from a master of the genre.

: JIM (DEPUTY OF EVENTS AND PUBLICITY) RECOMMENDS: Rarely does a collection of stories, and coruscatingly well crafted ones like this, weave an intricate balance of struggle, familial affliction with a diversity deserving of accolades. Ruiz-Camacho’s debut is laudable in scope and the breadth of emotion of the character’s lives altered by a family-tree rooted in atrocity is literally breathtaking. He will undoubtedly be on the radar for years to come, and we need to be sure to celebrate the appearance of an author as creatively endowed as Antonio.

: JAN (SECOND FLOOR INVENTORY MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: Novik draws on a vast tradition of German and Polish folk lore and tales to craft a story that is half fantasy, half horror that creeps thorny tendrils off the page and into your brain–grabbing your attention and your time (oh, so much time! I lost an entire day inside this story). Wicked queens, good witches, living statues, less-than-honorable knights, exorcisms, corrupted spellbooks–Novik folds all of this and more into a beautifully written tale of human suffering and love.

: DEMI (KIDS INVENTORY & MARKETING MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: This is a sweet follow up to Austin author’s first picture book, Little Owl’s Night. Little Owl loves the world at night and the world during the day. But will her ever show Bear the moon?

: JOHN G (BOOKSELLER & MIDDLE GRADE SPECIALIST) RECOMMENDS: Reading Circus Mirandus reminded of the first time I read Charlie Bucket’s tour of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory or Harry Potter’s first visit to Diagon Alley. Author Cassie Beasley paints an elaborate picture of this marvelous circus filled with the most amazing sights and wonders. You’ll feel like you’re walking through the circus grounds. Anyone of any age will enjoy this extraordinary book and believe in magic.

: ELLEN G. (SCHOOL OUTREACH) RECOMMENDS: Even ho-hum ordinary lives can have moments of pure extraordinary. Such as it is for Mikey, a decidedly non-Chosen One. His needs are simple — tell a girl he’s in love with her, pass calculus, and hope the school doesn’t blow up before graduation. Mikey’s life gets complicated by his OCD flare ups, his family teetering on the brink, a best friend who may or may not be some sort of cat god, never mind the zombie deer taking over his town. This book has it all – teenage angst, unrequited love, graduation woes, boy bands, cats, mental illness, and of course, zombie deer.