From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:
Hardcover
Hench: A Novel by Natalie Zina Walschots (Morrow, $27.99, 9780062978578). "Hench is absolutely terrific! Walschots has found a fresh, original, feminist angle on the tropes of superheroes and supervillains in this smart, lively novel. Anna is barely subsisting from temp job to temp job--even supervillains need someone to do their data entry--when she becomes collateral damage in a superhero's intervention. Injured and jobless, she fights back by collecting data on the negative effects caused by superheroes. As Anna's research goes viral, she's tapped for a new job with the supervillain, giving her an opportunity to use her skills to fight back against the so-called forces of good. Very highly recommended!" --Carol Schneck Varner, Schuler Books, Okemos, Mich.
Hardcover: An Indies Introduce Title
Dancing With the Octopus: A Memoir of a Crime by Debora Harding (Bloomsbury, $27, 9781635576122). "Debora Harding pulls off a new kind of memoir here and keeps you continually on the hook. Written in short chapters, Harding describes growing up in the 1970s with a tough-love mother and a father she absolutely adores. Come along as the author sorts out her mother's abuse and her father's willful compliance, centering it all around a horrific random crime perpetrated against her at the age of 14. Seriously thought-provoking, beautifully written, and redemptive. If you like memoirs, this one is fantastic." --Peggy Mulqueen, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, N.C.
Paperback
Things in Jars: A Novel by Jess Kidd (Washington Square Press, $17, 9781982121297). "Set in Victorian England, Things in Jars feels like a Sherlock Holmes story, if Holmes had been a woman. You can't help but love Bridie Devine, a strong-willed, chain-smoking woman who has clawed her way from life as an orphaned thief to a highly sought-after detective often consulted by Scotland Yard. Bridie's newest case, though, is proving difficult and incredibly strange. Not only will it force her to confront someone from her past who she thought was dead, she'll also team up with an actual ghost as she solves a fantastical crime. Highly imaginative, Things in Jars is a fun and immersive read." --Jamie Southern, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, N.C.
For Ages 4 to 8
The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl (Knopf, $17.99, 9781984893369). "What makes a home? In this beautiful picture book, Wahl explores the emotional arc of moving. But her story goes beyond the simple act of packing and leaving: A child and father are pushed out of their home due to gentrification, and their family is just the two of them. Small details, such as the records the child and father rock out to when they need to dance and scream out their emotions, will captivate readers. Though a subject many authors have dealt with, The Blue House offers a creative, alternative way of looking at moving, one with clear Pacific Northwest details and a family we don't often see on the page. Warm, welcoming, and lovely!" --Marika McCoola, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, Mass.
For Ages 9 to 12
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Dial Books, $17.99, 9781984815682). "Wow, wow, WOW. This book handles so many intense, difficult topics--addiction, sexual abuse, foster care, mental health, consent, poverty--in a sensitive, age-appropriate way. I can't express how perfectly Kimberly Brubaker Bradley walks the line of telling the truth about these situations without ever getting explicit or unnecessarily graphic. I am astounded at how gracefully and carefully this story is laid out. Everyone everywhere should read Fighting Words." --Tory Hall, Chapters Books & Gifts, Seward, Neb.
For Teen Readers
Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston (Quirk Books, $18.99, 9781683691938). "I devoured this book in one perfect sitting. I relished every bit of Rosie and Vance's hard-won romance, every cozy moment in the library, and the Howl's Moving Castle references. There's just nothing out there quite like the Once Upon a Con series; it's geeky, witty, and genuinely comforting." --Anna Bright, One More Page Books, Arlington, Va.
[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]
