Seattle Staff Faves 2023: Fiction
Every year we ask our staff across the system for their favorite books published in a given year. Enjoy this variety of fiction staff favorites, with annotations by staff members or as noted. (Created November 2023)
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Mimosa
"I looove Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni so I was so excited for another great graphic novel about queer adults navigating life when its TOUGH." --McCall O.
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: All copies in use
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The Collected Regrets of Clover
"Clover Brooks is a death doula. She provides an empathetic and comforting presence as she guides her clients peacefully through the end of their lives. To honor each person, she compiles their last words into three journals: “Advice,†“Confessions,†and “Regrets.†However, as comfortable as she feels with the dying, Clover has always felt awkward with everyone else and keeps others at arm’s length. That changes when she takes on a new client, a new neighbor is determined to be friends, and a possible love interest arrives, and Clover has to confront whether she has learned anything from collecting those final words." (Booklist)
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Maroons
"The pandemic of Syndrome H-8 continues to ravage the city of Detroit and everyone in Dune's life. In Maroons, she must learn what community and connection mean in the lonely wake of a fatal virus." (NoveList Plus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Vampires of El Norte
"When the US attacks Mexico in 1846, Nena, a healer striving to prove her worth, and Néstor, a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros, find their reunion overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh." (NoveList Plus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Haunting of Alejandra
"Struggling with a darkness that threatens to consume her, Alejandra discovers she, like the women in her family before her, is being haunted by La Llorona, the vengeful and murderous mother of Mexican Legend, and must summon everything she's inherited from her foremothers to banish this demon forever." (NoveList Plus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Birnam Wood
"Founder of the guerrilla gardening group Birnam Wood , which plants crops in neglected spots like roadsides and untended parks, Mira Bunting sees an opportunity following a major landslide; beyond the rumble, they can create a huge, sustainable farm on abandoned land. The only problem: billionaire Robert Lemoine wants the land to build a bunker. " (Library Journal)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Survivalists
"When Aretha learns that her new boyfriend's housemates have doomsday-prepper leanings, it seems quirky but understandable. Aaron took refuge atop a bureau as Hurricane Sandy's waters rose, and when his household/coffee-roasting enterprise was burglarized at gunpoint, the Black residents knew they couldn't rely on cops. Who wouldn't want to be prepared after that?" (Booklist)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
"Pirates AGAIN! Demons AGAIN! Magic AGAIN! This time set in the Indian Ocean at the start of the Crusades, this reunited/found family tackles deadly religious persecution and keeping the magic and mortal worlds separate. " --McCall O.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Saha
"Feels like an updated 1984, except I actually liked it. Deals with strict control a nation has over its citizens in a late capitalist world. By the author of "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982."" --Eliza E.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Carmilla
"Inspired by the gothic novel that started the vampire genre and layered with dark Chinese folklore, this queer, feminist murder mystery graphic novel is a tale of identity, obsession and fateful family secrets." (NoveList Plus)
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: All copies in use
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