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The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

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The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
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Thou shalt read this book for laughs, tears, awesome sibling dynamics, romance, and a comedy of errors. This one’s healing, hopeful, and all about learning how to accept and embrace yourself with a little help from the important people in your life.

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes, (List Price: $18.99, Balzer + Bray, 9780063060234, May 2022)

Reviewed by Julie Jarema, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Racebook by Tochi Onyebuchi

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Racebook by Tochi Onyebuchi
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I’m SMASHING that “like” button on Racebook, Onyebuchi’s foray into essay collection, all centered around the hot button topic of the internet. Onyebuchi talks about Xbox live chats, the edgy-older-siblingness of Sonic the Hedgehog (sorry y’all; my allegiance lies with Shadow), and Facebook content moderation, all to the end of deciphering just what role the internet plays in the last thirty years of cultural history. Most striking about this collection is the refreshing way that Onyebuchi does not unilaterally dismiss the internet, instead acknowledging the good that the web has offered us. I love essay collections that don’t have easy answers, and this one sure doesn’t have one, but it left me thinking deeply about my own interfacing between my “self” and my “internet self” in a way that has shaped my fall already. If you, too, have distinct memories of choosing the perfect MCR lyric for your AIM away message, or teaching yourself HTML to code a glittery monstrosity of a Geocities, Neopets, or Myspace page, this collection will speak to your soul. And even if you don’t have those nostalgia glasses, still take a dip – I promise you’ll find something new here anyway.

Racebook by Tochi Onyebuchi, (List Price: $27, Roxane Gay Books, 9780802166258, October 2025)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai

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Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai
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Gotta admit: after reading the Warning on page one, I almost put this one on the back burner. Twenty pages into the main story, however, I was swept away by an incredibly ardent undertow. The paragraph/sentences were in no way as overwhelming as the Warning. If anything, these “sentegraphs” felt more like I was pulling the string of a Mattel “Farmer Says” See-N-Say, bouncing from character to character with such flawless fluidity that I occasionally had to come up for air, take a five-minute break, then dive right back in. Wonderfully exhausting.

Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, (List Price: $29.95, New Directions, 9780811226646, December 2025)

Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

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The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
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Fracture the Ultimate Protagonist into a trio of sisters broken? [no], incomplete? [definitely not] um… imperfect in their own uniquely saw-toothed, imperfectious ways [sure], so that the collective “We” can see Ourself reflected back in all three [well, at least here and there in their constellated phases and crenelated stages throughout the three decades of documentation on display]. In walks an unreliable author that does his best to wedge himself into their story, creating a highly entertaining 600-page back-and-forth bout of I-Said/I-Said [scattered throughout, there’s plenty of a He Said where there shoulda been a She Said and vice versa]. Is this a therapeutic breakthrough for the author, or just a fun headtrip he’s created for the reader to make their own self discoveries? Let’s say it’s both [this ticket’s a two-way, but it’s your call if/when the return voyage even happens].

The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, (List Price: $30, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374618896, June 2025)

Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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A Spoonful of the Sea by Hyewon Yum

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A Spoonful of the Sea by Hyewon Yum
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A quiet, warm tale of seaweed soup, of haenyeo divers, of birthdays, of mothers and daughters. Hyewon Yum’s story and illustrations are a celebration of motherhood and the deep connection between women and nature, all through the tradition of birthday miyeokguk. A Spoonful of the Sea is perfect to share on birthdays, between mothers and daughters, and amongst families for whom mealtime is the most important part of the day.

A Spoonful of the Sea by Hyewon Yum, (List Price: $18.99, Norton Young Readers, 9781324053699, September 2025)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

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Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen
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A graphic novel that this former overachiever wished they had in high school. A gentle reminder that we all grieve in different ways, that burnout does not define us, and that we can build ourselves back up after burnout with community, friends, and compassion. When Angelica (or to her close friends and family, Jelly!) begins messaging local theatre mascot Per the Bear and then takes an internship with the theatre for their winter production featuring Per, she doesn’t know what to expect. But what she ends up with is kindness, and maybe a little bit of magic. A completely precious re-telling of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” that is sure to leave you feeling warm and cozy.

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen, (List Price: $24.99, Random House Graphic, 9780593125472, October 2025)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Heart the Lover by Lily King

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Heart the Lover by Lily King
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Another poignant work from Lily King, who has tremendous talent for authentically capturing the emotional reality of her protagonists over decades. In Heart the Lover, King shows us how our hearts vividly remember the way long-ago things felt, even when our minds have mixed up or forgotten the factual particulars. If you’ve ever been in love–especially if you’ve ever been deeply in love with a soul-match but were too young to consider a lifelong go of it–this book will be especially meaningful for you. Like Writers & Lovers, Heart the Lover is a delicious, aching, and deep-digging story that will hit home for all readers, but perhaps with more gravity for English majors and creative writers. Seeking catharsis regarding romantic entanglements of your early adulthood? This one’s for you.

Heart the Lover by Lily King, (List Price: $28, Grove Press, 9780802165176, September 2025)

Reviewed by Janet Geddis, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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An Oral History of Atlantis by Ed Park

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An Oral History of Atlantis by Ed Park
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One thing I’ve learned from his first two books: Ed Park’s up to something. Just what it is, well that’s for the reader to stumble upon and, for me at least, love every bungling minute of. Just like the Mississippi river appears still on the surface, blanketing torrents that swallow swimmers and spit them out 25 miles downriver, don’t be fooled by his simplistic jokey style (and also kick your shoes off if you fall overboard). He’s up to something. Often oddly self-referential, often levelheadedly off-kilter, often softened by its own bite, these humorous shorts will come back to you the next day to make you say “hey, wait… ha.”

An Oral History of Atlantis by Ed Park, (List Price: $28, Random House, 9780812998993, July 2025)

Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun

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One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun
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A sad book that makes you feel starry-eyed and sweet doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong, and if it did, do you even want to read right? Bringing romantic realism and magical realizing to the table, Shadows gives us love in the time of gentrification, at a pace somewhere between meandering and stopping-to-look-for-the-rose-smell, sparking the part of your brain that releases the morose and dreamy warm fuzzies. Also, unruly shadows: Gotta keep an eye on those.

One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, (List Price: $16.95, Erewhon Books, 9781645661450, July 2025)

Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie

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The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie
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Personally, after venturing down a winding reading road lined with exits exclusively featuring deviant deeds and disastrous outcomes, I like to treat myself to the occasional Summer House. Here in particular, is a coming-of-age respite occupied by a young architect-in-training apprenticing under the tutelage of his hero, whose firm avoids the Tokyo summer heat by retreating to the titular volcano-side cottage. The well-known awkwardness of being thrown into the hip kids’ arena is instantly squelched by a cast of welcoming coworkers, each with their own scenic, hikable memory lanes. Not to say this is a completely drama-free chillax tract, but look: it inspired a “chillax” from this curmudgeon, frankly, a Lloyd Wrightean feat.

The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie, (List Price: $18.99, Other Press, 9781635425178, June 2025)

Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

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Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
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My skin feels like it’s buzzing and purring after having finished this book. Groff’s writing is very often quite breathtaking at the sentence level, so much so that I was occasionally forgetting to notice how masterfully she was setting up an intricate and many-layered plot. Lotto, Mathilde, and the other characters jump off the page so vividly, it’s hard for me to imagine they aren’t really out there, living their fierce and complicated lives. Five stars.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, (List Price: $18, Riverhead Books, 9781594634482, September 2016)

Reviewed by Janet Geddis, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Millie Fleur Saves the Night by Christy Mandin

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Millie Fleur Saves the Night by Christy Mandin
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The dark might seem scary, but the dark is full of wonderful, magical, important things, from night-blooming plants to nocturnal creatures. Millie Fleur La Fae loves them all, but her town of Garden Glen isn’t as keen as she is on inviting the dark into town. But, what might happen if we turn off our lanterns and join Millie Fleur in the dark of her moon garden? Millie Fleur Saves the Night is a gorgeously written and illustrated tale of embracing the wonders of the dark, from the moon to the stars, from raccoons to bats. A perfect book to pair with a full moon hike at a local park or preserve!

Millie Fleur Saves the Night by Christy Mandin, (List Price: $18.99, Orchard Books, 9781339023373, July 2025)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

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Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
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I am beginning to love the way mycologists view the world—there is a particular exuberance, I believe, that comes along with understanding just how interconnected the world is. Kaishian’s brilliant Forest Euphoria finds joy down in the soil with mushrooms, snails, cicadas, and snakes; it revels in the air with crows; it glides through water with eels. As she celebrates the inherent queerness of the life around us—and how it helped her find herself—Kaishian rejects dominant categorizations and binaries and reveals our world in technicolor—richer and more magical and deeply connected than any science textbook would have you believe. With a lyrical, reverent tone, the writer implores us to look deeper and keep our minds open, to learn from the life around us to value and love all beings.

Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, (List Price: $30, Spiegel & Grau, 9781954118904, May 2025)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez

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Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez
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Driving out of Hileah, FL into the muggy yet lush Everglades, down Alligator Alley, Ingrid comes closer and closer to a reunion with her childhood best friend (and somewhat frenemy) Mayra in a labyrinth house, deep in the swamp. What follows in Nicky Gonzalez’s Mayrais a haunting hallucination as the house shifts and changes, history becomes blurred, and memory becomes hazy, all told through the story structure of horror. Mayra has shades of the Southern gothic, but ultimately crafts its own uniquely Florida gothic. This fan of Shirley Jackson devoured this.

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez, (List Price: $28, Random House, 9780593731550, July 2025)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

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Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
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Confession: Until less than a decade ago, I thought TB was an illness of the past, an affliction that no longer debilitated or killed in any significant way. Wrong. It took having a friend with deep expertise in TB for me to learn that millions are impacted and/or killed by TB (even if in the US, we’re sheltered from it). It took John Green‘s book for me to begin to grasp the magnitude and urgency of the situation. This is an exceptional book.

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green, (List Price: $28, Crash Course Books, 9780525556572, March 2025)

Reviewed by Janet Geddis, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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