Our Monthly Picks January 2025

Shortlisted for the National Book Award and lauded for his exacting poetic prose, Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is poignant, darkly comic, smart and sharp. Here, readers meet Cyrus Shams, a young man weighing the mysteries of art, family and martyrdom while working on a collection of poetry. This life-affirming story of addiction, love and loss is a great fit for fans of Tommy Orange and James McBride.

Centered on a single mother’s encounter with a bizarre case of a traumatic brain injury and a serial killer on the loose, She’s Not Sorry takes readers on a terrifying chase to catch an elusive murderer and get to the bottom of his plans — before she winds up being his next victim. Cunning, clever and bingeable, this is perfect for fans of Nita Prose and Alice Feeney.

T. Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead) takes readers into a dazzling, moss-covered fantasy world where princesses get trapped in towers and fairies kidnap babies from their beds. When a knight comes across a tower housing a centuries old curse, he’s set on breaking it — and ruining everything Toadling has devoted her life to guarding. Thornhedge is the very example of a fractured fairytale: glittering, gruesome and endlessly enchanting.

Practical, comprehensive and essential, Your Brain on Art is ripe with insight. From painting to dancing to writing and so much more, art is a necessary tool for life, and Your Brain on Art gives us a brand-new way of seeing the world and ourselves. If you ever wanted to truly understand what art can do for the world, let this book be your guide.

This D&D group is all fun and games until Quinn realizes she has a crush — and there’s nothing she can do about it. She joined this campaign determined to make friends, not to fall for a cute co-member while they’re both under a strict no-dating-within-the-group rule. Feel-good, cozy and sweet, Dating and Dragons is perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Ali Novak.

There’s something off about this funhouse — and these best friends are on the case. Sarah, Hannah and West know how to outsmart any escape room, and they’re determined to make the local abandoned funhouse their next conquest — except, they quickly realize not everything is as it seems. A wicked fun adventure story with a tender core, get your sleuthing on and join the journey to uncover decades old secrets in Lindsay Currie’s latest.