The Staff Shelf: The Strand

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, the staff at The Strand shared what they recommend you read.

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SLIDESHOW: The Strand Staff Shelf

: MAYA (KIDS) RECOMMENDS: Greenglass House is a classic-style mystery reminiscent of E. Nesbit’s Three Children and It, and L.M. Boston’s Children of Green Knowe. The characters are vivid and enchantingly mysterious. You’ll love the plot twists! Read while sipping cocoa or while wearing funny socks in a secret garden!

: AMANDA (VISUAL MERCHANDISE) RECOMMENDS: Abandonitis n.- an inflamed sensitivity to/fear of abandonment; seeing it in all things (small or large); feeling completely separate, other (even with others around). This is one of the many aspects of grief that Roland Barthes captures so brutally in Mourning Diary. I have never read anything that encapsulates the suffering of grief with such directness and authenticity. Read it.

: BRIANNE (MARKETING MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: Everyone’s got Ferrante Fever and I promise you, it’s not without warrant. My Brilliant Friend is nothing short of brilliant. Ferrante’s writing is as fierce as it is elegant, as razor sharp as it is oddly soothing. This is a book you will read in an afternoon but will stay with you for a lifetime. Ferrante displays the finest moments of female friendship, including the support, love, and wisdom yet doesn’t shy away from showing all of the bitter envy and tension that develops between close women. This is a book to share with your sisters, mothers, aunts, and above all else: your boyfriends.

: CYNTHIA (MAIN FLOOR) RECOMMENDS: This book is about various incidents involving sympathy or a lack thereof. I was impressed with Ofri and her admission of times where she didn’t feel enough for a patient. It’s a good insight to the emotional problems doctors experience, through the eyes of someone who wants things to improve.

: CALE (MAIN FLOOR MANAGER) RECOMMENDS: Not since Pulphead have I read such a raw and unflinching non-fiction collection. This one is very different. Mr. Russell not only exposes the reader to a cavalcade of characters’ inner workings, but also his own. Featuring personal essays tucked between a far ranging variety of subjects, this collection is completely absorbing and completely rewarding. A. MUST. READ.

: BILLY (BUYER) RECOMMENDS: In communion, these three move fluidly between time and space, awake and dream, and possibly life and death, to a plane beyond our understanding. They speak to and from the soul and our crude bodies no longer matter. In reading their words, we have an opportunity to brush against that place beyond any we have known and it offers us sweet nourishment, if only for a brief moment.

: SKY (MAIN FLOOR) RECOMMENDS: A fascinating and moving portrait of 1930’s Europe. Fermor walked from Holland to Istanbul at 19 and recalls his trip many years later, losing none of his youthful verve and curiosity. Will make you yearn to travel!

: EMILY (EVENTS DIRECTOR) RECOMMENDS: Kim Gordon writes like she’s painting: places and people become layered to utterly specific, gripping depths and moods, such that the reader feels the need to reach out, to hold the page up and consider it like a piece of visual art. Not to mention, Kim’s book is one of the bravest, most unapologetic, and beautiful personal histories I’ve read in a long time. No character in the cast of her life, including herself, is spared the mirror.

: COLIN (COMICS BUYER) RECOMMENDS: The superheroes have been with us for over 75 years now. They’ve already been to our future, and have brought back with them new dreams and wonderment that we are using to build our tomorrow with. Supergods brings that strange and often surreal history of superheroes in the most intelligent and entertaining read I’ve ever encountered on the subject. And who better to write this book then Grant Morrison, an author who’s credits include all the greats; Batman, Superman, the X-men and many more. Bordering on history, sociology and sometimes auto-biography, Supergods is an amazing introduction and stunning tribute to the most enduring genre to come out of the 20th century.

: MIGUEL (VISUAL MERCHANDISE) RECOMMENDS: Pop music. Situationism. Mystery. Guy Deboro. Illuminati. Sex. Love. S.I. Molly Metro. Conspriacy. Man, this is a trippy read! Disabato blends all genres and the outcome is a mischievous play on pop culture references that will keep the pages turning. If you are into mysteries, philosophy and cartography, get this!

: STELLA (CHILDREN’S MANAGER & BUYER) RECOMMENDS: Jacqueline Woodson has been telling the stories of others for her entire career. With this one, she tells her own story of growing up in the South and moving to the East Coast in the 70s. A wonderful read whether you’ve made a big move of your own, overcome adversity of any kind, experienced love and gratitude for your friends and family, or all of the above.