Peak Picks Current Titles Book List
A complete list of current Peak Picks titles.
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Two Women Living Together
Adult Nonfiction. “Uninterested in marriage but feeling they'd outgrown living alone, [Hana & Sunwoo] opted to elevate their online friendship and move in together, when both were in their 40s. Though much of [their] arrangement sounds idyllic, they're blunt about navigating their divergent perspectives on debt and cleanliness, and how ‘the way we fought led to even more fights.’ They've always reconciled, however; as Hwang explains, ‘It is precisely because, as we grow older, we see more of the world's ugliness and meet more cynics and pessimists that we're intent on staying positive.’ This is a winning testament to the power of friendship." Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Vigil
Adult Fiction. “A ghost attempts to guide an unrepentant oil executive toward redemption and the afterlife in the staggering latest from Saunders. The story takes place over the course of one night, when the spirit of Jill Blaine descends to Earth and takes on human form at the home of K.J. Boone, her latest ‘charge.’ As opposed to the hundreds of others Jill has visited… the terminally ill Boone is uninterested in finding peace or reckoning with his misdeeds. As more of Boone's transgressions are revealed, Jill decides she hates him, and the novel barrels into gleefully absurd territory while posing weighty questions...” Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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When Trees Testify
Adult Nonfiction. “Plant biologist Montgomery…analyzes the historical and cultural roles of tree species that had particular significance to enslaved Africans in the U.S., as well as their descendants. The pecan tree was domesticated by an enslaved man, poplars were historically associated with lynchings, the willow bore medicinal bark, and cotton was the basis of an economy of enslavement. Oak trees, by their long lives, often became landmarks and gathering places, while sycamores marked the way for people escaping enslavement. Montgomery eloquently analyzes the cultural and historical strains in the Black South in this beautifully written work of history, natural history, and memoir.” Library Journal
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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A Guardian and A Thief
Adult Fiction. "Majumdar spins a luminous story of a family facing climate catastrophe and food scarcity in near-future Kolkata. It revolves around a mother known only as Ma, who manages a shelter between caring for her aging father and two-year-old daughter, Mishti. The three of them have obtained highly coveted ‘climate visas’ and are preparing to join Mishti's father in Ann Arbor, Mich… All is hopeful until the household is visited by a young thief named Boomba, who followed Ma home from the shelter suspecting (correctly) that she is siphoning food from her workplace. The plot thickens when Boomba makes off with the family's passports… As Ma and her family struggle to reclaim the passports, Majumdar unspools Boomba's backstory, crafting a complex antagonist who gradually gains the reader's sympathy. There's no clear-cut villain here, just people attempting to survive and protect their own.” PW
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Flesh
Adult Fiction. "Teenaged Istvâan lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. Shy and new in town, he is a stranger to the social rituals practiced by his classmates and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor--a married woman close to his mother's age…--as his only companion. But as these periodical encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that Istvâan himself can barely understand, his life soon spirals out of control... What follows is a rocky trajectory that sees Istvâan emigrate from Hungary to London, where he moves from job to job… At each juncture, his life is affected by the goodwill or self-interest of strangers. Through it all, Istvâan is a calm, detached observer of his own life, and through his eyes we experience a tragic twist on an immigrant ‘success story,’ brightened by moments of sensitivity, softness, and Szalay's keen observation.” - Publisher
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Best Offer Wins
Adult Fiction. “18 months and 11 lost bidding wars into house-hunting in the overheated Washington, DC suburbs, 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake gets a tip about the perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood, slated to come up for sale in one month. Desperate to escape the cramped apartment she shares with her husband Ian… Margo becomes obsessed with buying the house before it’s publicly listed… A little stalking? Harmless. A bit of trespassing? Necessary. As Margo infiltrates the homeowners’ lives, her tactics grow increasingly unhinged… You’ll root for her, even as you gasp in disbelief.” Publisher
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Family of Spies
Adult Nonfiction. “Kuehn debuts with a fast-paced account of the role her German family played as spies for the Axis powers during World War II. Kuehn learned that her Aunt Ruth, who was half-Jewish, became romantically involved with Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels. When Goebbels discovered her heritage, he sent the entire family to Hawai'i, where they supplied information that facilitated Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Kuehn's meticulously researched and well-written account is personal and deeply suspenseful, blending family memoir with World War II espionage intrigue.” Library Journal
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Overthinker's Guide to Making Decisions
Adult Nonfiction. “Your brain is wired to overthink decisions--not because something's wrong with you, but because you care deeply about making the right choice. The Overthinker's Guide to Making Decisions breaks new ground where ‘just trust your gut’ advice has failed you. Unlike traditional approaches that leave you stranded between endless analysis and vague intuition, this book provides a counterintuitive system that bypasses the overthinking loop entirely. This isn't about making perfect choices. It's about making aligned ones from a place of clarity instead of chaos.” Publisher
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Bog Queen
Adult Fiction. “When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she’s ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved. Flashing between… post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.” -- Publisher
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Enshittification
Adult Nonfiction. “This trenchant treatise from Doctorow explores how and why the internet has devolved into a wasteland of scams, ads, and surveillance. Platforms from Google to Apple to Facebook have deliberately worsened themselves, he argues−as their users ‘remain trapped in their rotting carcasses unable to escape’−by pursuing monopolistic goals including limited competition, regulatory capture, and diminished worker power, all of which has rendered these platforms not only too big to fail but ‘too big to care.’ The result is a razor-sharp yet subtly optimistic look at the soul-sucking state of the internet.” -- Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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