Peak Picks Current Titles Book List
New titles from the Peak Picks collection that are currently in rotation. Stop by any branch to see what's available today!
-
Abundance
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Nonfiction. "Klein, a New York Times columnist, and Thompson, an Atlantic staffer, lean to the left, but they aren't interrogating the usual suspects. Aware that many conservatives have no interest in their opinions, the authors target their own side's 'pathologies.' Liberal leadership has ensnared itself in a web of well-intentioned yet often onerous 'goals, standards, and rules.' Instead, they envision 'a politics of abundance' that would remake travel, work, and health. This won't happen without 'changing the processes that make building and inventing so hard.' Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges." Kirkus
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View Abundance -
Close to Home
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Nonfiction. "Conservation biologist Hanson, [who] lives in the Pacific Northwest...writes that readers who assume a backyard consists of weeds, shrubbery, rodents, local birds, and bugs are in for a surprise. Assisted by a local tree surgeon, Hanson struggles high up a backyard Douglas Fir and discovers an unnerving new environment. In the opposite direction, any patch of ground holds as much life below the surface as above, so soil may be the richest biome on the planet. Far from the first natural history of the backyard, but a good one." Kirkus
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View Close to Home -
The Dream Hotel
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Fiction. "Lalami delivers a stirring dystopian tale of dwindling privacy and freedom in the digital age. In the late 2030s, Sara T. Hussein, 38, a Muslim American art archivist, is detained by officials from the Risk Assessment Administration, who claim data recorded by her Dreamsaver implant, which was originally developed to treat sleep apnea, predicts she will murder her husband. She's held at a repurposed elementary school for 'observation,' which stretches on for nearly a year... This surreal story feels all too plausible." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View The Dream Hotel -
Everything Is Tuberculosis
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Nonfiction. "YA author Green writes that he became 'obsessed' with tuberculosis after a chance meeting at a Sierra Leone hospital with a charming young patient, Henry Reider, who was sick with drug-resistant TB. Green weaves Henry's moving story of illness and recovery together with a social history of the disease, explaining that tuberculosis once killed rich and poor indiscriminately, but after the late-19th-century advent of germ theory, it became a 'disease of the poor and marginalized.' Green contends that, today, injustice...is the 'root cause' of all tuberculosis, and urges that since 'we are the cause... we must also be the cure.'" Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View Everything Is Tuberculosis -
The Paris Express
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Fiction. "A French anarchist targets a passenger train in the taut latest from Donoghue, which is inspired by a true story. On Oct. 22, 1895, Mado Pelletier boards the express from Granville to Paris with a homemade bomb in tow. Born into poverty, she's furious over the plight of the working class, which is made all the more plain to her by the arrangement of the train's carriages: first-class passengers are placed at the center of the train to cushion the blow in the event of a crash. But as the locomotive speeds toward Paris, Mado meets her fellow passengers and questions whether she can follow through with her plan." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View The Paris Express -
The River Has Roots
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Fiction. "The Hawthorn family has tended the magical willows on their land for generations, providing songs of thanks in exchange for the trees' power. The residents of the town of Thistleford, sitting near the edge of Faerie, know that sisters Esther and Ysabel Hawthorn continue to provide according to the ancient agreement, and the two sisters are as much tied to each other as they are to their enchanted trees. However, love and life can still bring the possibility of taking one, or both, away from each other. El-Mohtar's poetic prose brings the magic of language and song to life...with two women who use songs to show the world their truths." Library Journal
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View The River Has Roots -
Stag Dance
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Fiction. "In this electrifying collection of three stories and a novella from Peters, trans characters explore desire, identity, and love. 'Infect your Friends and Loved Ones,' the postapocalyptic opener, follows patient zero in Seattle during a pandemic that halts humans' production of sex hormones. In 'The Chaser,' an evocative coming-of-age tale, a boarding school junior forms a secret relationship with his femme roommate, Robbie. The funny yet heart-wrenching title novella, set sometime during the primacy of steam engines and written in the style of a tall tale, may be Peters' best work yet. It's a marvel." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View Stag Dance -
Sucker Punch
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Nonfiction. "Slate journalist Koul follows up her 2017 collection One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter with a sharp companion volume that reflects on body image, the dissolution of her marriage, and her mother's cancer. The most powerful piece, 'A Close Read,' describes Koul's complicated feelings about reconnecting with a college friend who raped her to get his thoughts on an essay she had published about their relationship. Probing and strikingly candid, this is another winner from Koul." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View Sucker Punch -
Sweet Farm!
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Nonfiction. "As a beet farmer, [Yeh is] rooted in sweetness, and her latest cookbook confirms that her smile isn't saccharine - it's pure sugar, and she dishes up everything from classics to her signature 'desserts for breakfast' and some decidedly non-veggie-centered salads. Standouts are her rose shortbread delight and the 'overachiever' versions of her cookie-and-candy-bar salads. Yeh shows readers that magic happens even in messiness if folks measure out their favorite staples and mix things up, as in her one-bowl any-butter bars." Library Journal
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View Sweet Farm! -
The Tears of Things
NEW FOR MARCH! Adult Nonfiction. "How do we live compassionately in a time of violence and despair? What can we do with our private disappointments and the anger we feel in such an unjust world? In his most personal book yet, Richard Rohr turns to the writings of the Jewish prophets, revealing how some of the lesser-read books of the Bible offer us a crucial path forward today. Drawing on a century of biblical scholarship and written in the warm, pastoral voice that has endeared Rohr to millions, The Tears of Things...paves a path of enlightenment for anyone seeking a compassionate way of living in a hurting world." Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: On order
View The Tears of Things