Staff Picks

Homer's Odyssey re-re-retold as a "what if..." A brilliantly conscious restructuring of the classic that will resonate with fans of Borges and Calvino who will immediately fall under Mason's post-modern spell. Great bedside book: brief chapters offer alternative narratives that reimagine the epic story of Odysseus and his long journey home after the fall of Troy. ideal for the reader more likely to take his literature in thought-provoking sips rather than swallows.

2010 Pulitzer for Fiction: this bantam-weight paperback delivers a heavyweight punch. Harding's poetic, precise prose explores the nature of nature, death, time, consciousness, and memory in this rich, understated debut. A quiet and complex elegy: a brilliant mosaic of a book to be savored and re-read.

Rejoice! Fans of Garcia-Aguilera's muggy Miami, drenched in Cuban culture have waited 9 long years for the return of P.I. Lupe Solano. "Bloody Twist" is set just two years after the previous "Bitter Sugar" and seamlessly reacquaints us with Lupe and Garcia-Aguilera's unique take on South Florida. Café con leche and Cubano sold separately.

Before "Doc Ford" there was Randy White. This collection of travel essays recounts Randy's adventures from a time when his bylines could be seen in Outside magazine and his fictional work was just developing. Although his material includes such extreme locales as Alaska and the Peruvian mountains, and even a short piece on the Navy SEALs, Randy keeps the machismo in check and draws compelling, unassuming yet exotic vignettes.