Every month we let you know what we’ve been reading and our monthly recommendations. You’ll get to see new titles with fabulous reviews from the Bay Books team. We’re sure you’ll love these fantastic books just as much as we do. We recommend a wide range of genres and themes. So get ready to explore more books!
Tina’s Picks
The Best American Short Stories 2025 edited by Celeste Ng and Nicole A. Lamy and The Best American Essays 2025 edited by Jia Tolentino
I love these “Best American …….” series of books. They remind me of my university days, which to me is a great memory. One of my freshman English professors assigned stories from the previous year’s “The Best American Short Fiction Stories” as part of our reading assignments. I loved it as much as I loved the Reader’s Digest Book Series. Both give you a snapshot of the author’s talents and of the story. Pick one of these up and enjoy a short little story each night before bed. Much better than television!
The Night We Became Strangers by Lorena Hughes
Imagine being alive when H.G. Wells dramatized on radio the novel “The War of the Worlds” and sent America into a panic. Now imagine eleven years later, another radio station in Ecuador adapts the show and once again, there are catastrophic consequences. Based on a true story, this novel describes those events through the eyes of two young journalists who were directly impacted by this radio prank. I can’t even imagine!
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham
I first learned about this book at a book festival where the author introduced it to the attendees. This untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spy craft, helped turn the tide of the war and ultimately, transform American higher education. I was fascinated but even more fascinated to learn many times ‘spies’ are recruited from the American Library Association’s conference because librarians have the deep research skills needed as well as the ability to work alone. More respect for your librarians is needed but pick up this book and learn why first! Well written and documented.
Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer
Married for over forty years, Claire decides to stop treatment for cancer and spend her
remaining time in hospice. Her husband assumes he will be the one to care for her as
he has been for the past eight years but no, he is shocked when she tells him she would
rather be looked after by her two best friends. Her wish is to be surrounded by female
energy, laughter, chatter, and tears which forces her husband, Eliot, to confront his
inadequacies as a caregiver and husband. Author Packer examines thoroughly Claire’s
motivations and the impact this decision has on her family, including two adult children.
Such an interesting read!
Wendy’s Picks
Flesh by David Szalay
Winner of the 2025 Booker Prize and one of my top reads from the past year, the author
was reportedly inspired to write this novel based on his time living between Hungary
and England, and the dramatic social and economic divides he personally witnessed
across modern Europe. At the center of the story is an introverted Hungarian man,
Istvan. The novel opens when Istvan is an awkward 15-year-old and finds himself
coerced into an affair with a lonely 42-year neighbor woman, with whom he misguidedly
falls in love. The affair ends, of course, and in a scuffle with the woman’s husband, the
husband falls down a set of stairs. Istvan’s entire life is shaped by these traumatic
experiences – and others – throughout his lifetime. The prose is minimalist, its impact
profound. I cannot stop thinking about this book and looking for people who have read it
so that we can discuss! So much to unpack here, including the title itself, which points
not only to the erotic/sexual nature of man, but also the fragile and bleak (doomed?!)
human condition. This is a fast and deeply thought-provoking read. Put it on your list.
Good Things by Samin Nosrat
If you are a fan of the author’s wildly successful first cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat; or
even if you are unfamiliar with the endearing Chef Nosrat, you will LOVE the 125+
recipes in this beautiful publication – a collection of her favorite things to prepare for
those she loves. Recipes range from simple comfort food to multi-dish menus for dinner
parties. In Nosrat’s words, “Recipes, like rituals, endure because they are passed down
to us – whether by ancestors, neighbors, friends, strangers on the internet, or me to
you!”
Becky’s Picks
Flint Kill Creek: Stories of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates
Oates has put together a dark collection of stories, recent and reconsidered, that blend
psychological tension with the macabre. She excels at creating a sense of unease,
often grounding her stories in seemingly ordinary settings that gradually reveal hidden
voices of moral ambiguity. The characters are complex and often haunted. Each story
charts its own unpredictable path into darkness.
The collection offers a gripping mix of suspense and introspection – a good choice for
readers who like slow burning literary thrillers.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Theo of Golden follows Theo, an elderly man who arrives in the small town of Golden,
Georgia as he visits a small coffee shop where the walls are covered with portraits of
the people of Golden. He begins to buy and give portraits to their subjects, fostering
deep connections and transforming lives. With each exchange, a friendship is born, and
a life altered.
Generosity, community and the invisible thread of kindness makes this a delight to read.
Karin’s Pick
True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen by Lance Richardson
This immersion into Peter Matthiessen’s long and far-ranging life allows us to grasp the depth of his intellectual inquiries, the depth of his involvement with causes he believed in, and the depth of his emotional involvement with the many, many people and places with which he became involved. Richardson’s well-written and well-researched biography of this complicated, at times difficult, but always fascinating man, allows us to trace Matthiessen’s’s evolution from Yale student, to co-founder of the Paris Review, to becoming a writer’s writer.
The only American writer to win the National Book Award in both Fiction and Nonfiction, Peter Matthiessen’s wide-ranging interests over his long writing career resulted books such as Far Tortuga, At Play in the Fields of the Lord, and The Snow Leopard. He traveled the world in order to research multifaceted topics, and then with clarity and passion, developed them into books that pondered humankind’s desecration of the natural environment; or allowed us to accompany him in his search for transcendence through Buddhism; or involved us with complex people faced with complex situations, actual or fictive.
If you love any of Matthiessen’s writing, this biography will provide an interesting and absorbing backstory about the writer behind it.
Grace’s Pick
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
…And God bless you, Kurt Vonnegut. A 1965 pre-cursor to the more widely-known Slaughterhouse-Five, this satirical gem details the life of Eliot Rosewater, the eccentric and typically intoxicated philanthropist at the helm of the multimillion-dollar Rosewater Foundation. Surrounded by a society tinged with greed, hypocrisy, and individuals with heftier wallets than hearts, Eliot decides to use his family fortune to help humanity—no matter how absurd, seemingly trivial, or inordinately colossal humanity’s problems might be.
A humanitarian in his own right, Vonnegut has readers look outward and inward with this funny, poignant, and sometimes downright-insane novel, leading us to wonder how we might go about navigating such a world. Eliot’s answer, in a roundabout way, is something for us all to aspire to, in this day and age:
“There’s only one rule that I know of: God d*** it, you’ve got to be kind.”
