Readers’ Choice: The Top 10 Most Shelved Books in October

October 26 2018
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These are the 10 “most shelved” books on Off the Shelf right now.

Home Fire
by Kamila Shamsie

Isma accepts an invitation to pursue her dreams in America, but she can’t stop worrying about the younger siblings she leaves behind: Aneeka, her beautiful but headstrong sister living in London, and Parvaiz, her brother who disappeared and submitted himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. Then the son of a powerful political figure enters the picture, pushing both families to a breaking point. HOME FIRE is an incredible story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences.

Add these ‘5 Best Books’ to your shelf today.

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Home Fire
Kamila Shamsie

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MENTIONED IN:

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The Last Equation of Isaac Severy
by Nova Jacobs

Perfect for fans of MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE, Nova Jacobs's charming debut follows Hazel, a young bookstore owner who receives a letter from her adopted grandfather. The catch? He's dead. But, it seems the once-famous mathematician has one final equation to share with her—if only she can figure out where it's hidden. Told in clues, this novel is witty, fun, and has the perfect amount of suspense to keep you turning the pages.

Political climate got you down? Read these books to keep your spirits up.

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The Last Equation of Isaac Severy
Nova Jacobs

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Heads of the Colored People
by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Longlisted for the National Book Award, Nafissa Thompson-Spires’s stunning collection of short stories examines the concept of black identity in this so-called post-racial era. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body.

Put these on your TBR after you’ve seen The Hate U Give.

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Heads of the Colored People
Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction and Kirkus Prize Finalist

Calling to mind the best works of Paul Beatty and Junot Díaz, this collection of moving, timely, and darkly funny stories examines the concept of black identity in this so-called post-racial era.

A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes.

Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous—from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through notes in their kids’ backpacks, to the young girl contemplating how best to notify her Facebook friends of her impending suicide—while others are devastatingly poignant—a new mother and funeral singer who is driven to madness with grief for the young black boys who have fallen victim to gun violence, or the teen who struggles between her upper middle class upbringing and her desire to fully connect with black culture.

Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body. Boldly resisting categorization and easy answers, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is an original and necessary voice in contemporary fiction.

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Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee

In this page-turning saga, which was recently shortlisted for the National Book Award, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in twentieth-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew. It all begins in the early 1900s when teenaged Sunja realizes she is pregnant. Discovering her lover is married, Sunja refuses to be bought and instead accepts an offer of marriage from a sickly minister passing through, abandons her home, and ultimately rejects her son’s powerful father.

Celebrate National Reading Group Month with these book club reads.

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Pachinko
Min Jin Lee

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'Salem's Lot
by Stephen King

One of the most ambitious and terrifying novels about the undead ever written, ’SALEM’S LOT explores what would happen if vampires existed in our modern world. When a young man returns to his hometown, he quickly realizes that it’s harboring something dark and evil. Can a small, insular town survive, or is it—and the rest of the country—doomed?

Never read a Stephen King novel? Check out these King recommendations for every kind of reader.

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'Salem's Lot
Stephen King

One of the most ambitious and terrifying novels about the undead ever written, ’SALEM’S LOT explores what would happen if vampires existed in our modern world. When a young man returns to his hometown, he quickly realizes that it’s harboring something dark and evil. Can a small, insular town survive, or is it—and the rest of the country—doomed?

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MENTIONED IN:

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The Favorite Sister
by Jessica Knoll

Jessica Knoll returns with a new novel about two sisters who join the cast of a reality TV series along with three other hyper-successful women. But no one ever expected the season to end in murder…A blisteringly paced thriller, THE FAVORITE SISTER explores the invisible barriers that prevent women from rising up the ranks in today's America and offers a scathing take on the relentless pressure to stay young, relevant, and salable.

Read these books for lit squad goals.

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The Favorite Sister
Jessica Knoll

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MENTIONED IN:

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Startup
by Doree Shafrir

Keep thoughts of work at bay with this delightful debut novel about a $600 million-dollar app idea and the three people who get caught in the cross fires as things don't go as planned. STARTUP is a highly entertaining novel about youth, ambition, money, and technology's inability to hack human nature.

What book should you read based on your zodiac sign? Find out here.

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Startup
Doree Shafrir

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Turtles All the Way Down
by John Green

John Green’s heart-wrenching novel does the same, following 16-year-old Aza, whose thoughts sometimes seem louder than the world around her, and her “Best and Most Fearless Friend” Daisy as they pursue a mysterious billionaire, telling their story with compassion and clarity.

Calling all This Is Us fans! You’ll love this reading list.

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Turtles All the Way Down
John Green

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Foe
by Iain Reid

In Iain Reid’s psychological thriller FOE, a couple’s quiet, isolated life is upended when a man in a suit visits them at their secluded home. The strange man informs them that the husband has been randomly selected to participate in the OuterMore program which will take him very far away—and that's only the start of the strange events that unravel this couple's marriage.

Hopeless book lover? Shameless TV junkie? These books are just for you.

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Foe
Iain Reid

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Paris by the Book
by Liam Callanan

It was Henry David Thoreau who said, "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." Is this what fictional novelist Robert Eady had in mind in PARIS BY THE BOOK? Did he disappear to Paris while secretly working on a manuscript set there? His wife, Leah, is uncertain, but she's willing to fly her family to France using the hidden plane tickets she discovers while looking for him. There she and her daughters find a surprise career as booksellers while they search for clues and wonder about Robert's fate.

You won't be able to resist these books about books.

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Paris by the Book
Liam Callanan

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Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri

Navigating between the Indian traditions they’ve inherited and the modern world, the characters in this Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. These finely wrought stories of deft cultural insight fully display Jhumpa Lahiri’s enormous talent as a storyteller.

Looking for book recommendations? This former bookseller has got you covered.

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Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri

10 Books to Read in the Back of a Tuk-Tuk

I love India so much that I cannot wait to go back. At this very moment, I am struggling against the desire to pack some lightweight clothing into a suitcase and head to Kerala, where I spent the better part of a week while traveling abroad in 2012. Here are a few of the stories I return to when I’m longing for a jasmine flower tucked behind my ear and a seat at an old friend’s table on the streets of Cochin.

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Where They Found Her
by Kimberly McCreight

WHERE THEY FOUND HER may have an evocative, leaf-filled cover, but life is not so idyllic in this suburban tale that sets its course off the discovery of a dead, abandoned infant near a university. Three women in the community—a new arrival and freelance writer, a PTA president, and a young high school dropout—tell this story of secret lives, buried pasts, and unexpected connections.

Dig into this list of fall reads and fall activities.

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Where They Found Her
Kimberly McCreight

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MENTIONED IN:

Readers’ Choice: The Top 10 Most Shelved Books in October

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