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!
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The Mighty Red
NEW FOR OCTOBER! Adult Fiction. "Erdrich follows the folks of the Red River Valley of North Dakota - the original home to the Ojibwe, the Dakota, and the Metis - in a captivating tale of love and everyday life amid environmental upheaval and the 2008 financial crisis. Crystal hauls sugar beets on the Geist family farm and counts her pennies while her partner, Martin, a failed actor who moonlights as a traveling arts teacher, spends money on impractical delights like salsa dancing. They share a daughter, Kismet, 18, who's reviled at her high school for being a goth until Geist scion Gary falls in love with her. Erdrich excels at the slow simmer, and once again she delivers a deliciously seductive masterwork." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Model Home
NEW FOR OCTOBER! Adult Fiction. "'My life is a dark woods with a slasher in the midst,' says Ezri Washington Maxwell, the protagonist of this eerie horror novel from Solomon. Ezri, a highly educated, Black, autistic, intersex single parent, grew up in a predominantly white Texas suburb. Though they have doggedly tried to escape their background, they and their two sisters are forced by the deaths of their parents to reconvene in the family home in a classic haunted house setup...[T]he dazzling atmospherics and sharp-toothed point about race in America will draw readers in." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Polostan
NEW FOR OCTOBER! Adult Fiction. "Stephenson launches a new series with this tremendously entertaining novel. It tells the story of Dawn Rae Bjornberg, born in the early years of the twentieth century in America to an anarchist family and raised (briefly) in Russia by a staunch Leninist, growing up to become a spy for the KGB. The book weighs in at slightly more than 300 pages, but there is so much rich detail, so many beautifully crafted characters, and so epic a story, that it feels somehow much larger than its page-count. Stephenson is a truly gifted writer, with a writing style unlike any other..." -Booklist
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Revenge of the Tipping Point
NEW FOR OCTOBER! Adult Nonfiction. "'Rereading The Tipping Point, Gladwell writes, made him realize 'that I still do not understand many things about social epidemics.' Refining and deepening his and our understanding of the spread of customs, mores, and practices, Gladwell emphasizes...'overstories', illustrating them with twisting and turning tales of, for example, how the word holocaust came into general usage (surprisingly, via TV)...and how widespread social engineering 'has quietly become one of the central activities of the American establishment.' Fans of the original will learn much from Gladwell's thoughtful, carefully written reconsideration." Kirkus
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Shred Sisters
NEW FOR OCTOBER! Adult Fiction. "Lerner traces the impact of mental illness on a pair of sisters in her moving debut novel. Amy, the narrator, describes herself as studious and highly motivated compared to her wild and beautiful older sister, Olivia, who frequently engages in risky or outright illegal behavior...As the sisters grow up, Ollie's misbehavior poses greater dangers, not only for herself, but also for their parents and for Amy's friendships, romantic relationships, and even her career...part of Lerner's skilled approach to narrative lies in subtly depicting the destigmatizing of mental illness and the evolution of treatment during the period from the sisters' childhood in the 1970s through the 1990s." -Publishers Weekly,
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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What Goes With What
NEW FOR OCTOBER! Adult Nonfiction. "Julia Turshen is a home cook's best friend. Known for her simple, no-frills, yet utterly satisfying recipes - as well as her authentic, relatable, problem-solving approach - hers are the cookbooks we all turn to when we want to know what else we can make with some ground turkey, or if we can pull off dessert with a few basic pantry ingredients. In essence, we look to Julia when we want to know What Goes with What: to understand how we can transform the seemingly boring contents of our fridge into an exciting meal." Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Book and Dagger
NEW FOR SEPTEMBER! Adult Nonfiction. "At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today's CIA, was quickly formed - and...suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work - and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story...that reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the world." Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Colored Television
NEW FOR SEPTEMBER! Adult Fiction. "Jane, the daughter of an interracial couple, is on a one-year sabbatical from her creative writing professorship. She's trying to finish her sprawling, long-languishing second novel, a 'mulatto War and Peace.' When her editor reacts to the manuscript with confusion, Jane questions her commitment to an art form that, in her view, has been superseded by prestige television...Concealing her plan from her husband..., Jane successfully pitches an idea for a biracial comedy to...a Black TV showrunner looking for 'diverse content,' and is plunged into the shark-filled waters of Hollywood creators." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Creation Lake
NEW FOR SEPTEMBER! Adult Fiction. "The narrator of Kushner’s fourth novel goes by Sadie, though her real name - like much of her identity - is clouded in mystery. She works undercover to undermine environmental activists, formerly for the U.S. government, but since a case went sideways, she's gone freelance. Now, she's been commissioned by unnamed 'contacts' to disrupt...a small farming cooperative in southwestern France. As she enters their world, she processes their enthusiasm, their philosophy, and their paranoia, which escalates as a national minister plans a visit to the region, upping the stakes." Kirkus
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Empusium
NEW FOR SEPTEMBER! Adult Fiction. "September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at… a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day...Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone - or something - seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize...that they have already chosen their next target." Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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