Seattle Staff Faves 2023: Fiction
Every year we ask our staff across the system for their favorite books published in a given year. Enjoy this variety of fiction staff favorites, with annotations by staff members or as noted. (Created November 2023)
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Girl Juice
"Originally a webcomic, this book is about friendship and being young and dumb and having roommates. Benji Nate, author of "Catboy", is always so so so so funny and they never disappoint. " --Eliza E.
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: Available
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The Terraformers
"Environmental Rescue Team ranger Destry and her mount, Whistle, are hard at work keeping the planet of Sask-E and its ecosystems in balance. When they discover a secret community of people who should be long dead hidden under a volcano, they’re forced to confront tough questions about the capitalist corporate money controlling the planet." (Booklist)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Schuss
"Stacey Evans wants only one thing: to be the best alpine ski racer she can be. Everything else—like her sweet and ultra-supportive best friend, and hot-but-vapid girlfriend—is just a bonus. Fresh from a medal at her first Olympics, Stacey knows she can only get better and is firmly focused on the future, and totally not thinking about how she's kind of a little in love with that sweet, ultra-supportive best friend..." (Publisher)
Format: eBook
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Tauhou
"Tauhou envisions a shared past between two Indigenous cultures, set on reimagined versions of Vancouver Island and Aotearoa that sit side by side in the ocean. Each chapter in this innovative hybrid novel is a fable, an autobiographical memory, a poem." (Publisher's description)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Mrs. S
"Taking up the antiquated role of "matron" at an elite English boarding school, a woman is unsure of her role, her accent and her body until she has a passionate, illicit affair with Mrs. S, the headmaster's wife, but as summer fades, a choice must be made." (NoveList Plus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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A Grandmother Begins the Story
"This kaleidoscopic novel tells the stories of five generations of women in one Canadian Metis family, some living and some speaking from the afterlife, interspersed with the narrative of bison returing to their former grazing lands and other unexpected perspectives." --Andrea G.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Sun and the Void
"Set in a madeup world with colorful Latin American undertones, this sapphic fantasy follows two women from different backgrounds in a quest to rediscover themselves and where they belong. Reina, half noraziel, desperately seeks her sorceress grandmother’s approval after a youth spent as an outcast because of her parentage. Eva, half valco, wants to escape her wealthy family’s disapproval due to her unknown father and her affinity to geomancy. Both seek salvation through the arrival of a dark deity who promises great power to whoever frees him while a comet is visible in the sky." (Booklist)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Queen of Dirt Island
"The generations of Aylward women of Nenagh, County Tipperary, are tenacious and fiercely loyal. They have survived famine, death, poverty, gun-runners, and men who are either dead or useless and all the while have ignored the whispers of their neighbors. As granddaughter Saoirse navigates teenage pregnancy and a bitter family rift over a potential land grab, deep family darkness and suffering are revealed. Can Saoirse mature fast enough to survive this turbulence?" (Library Journal)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Lady Tan's Circle of Women
"Somehow this was my first Lisa See book?! She is truly a master of historical fiction. In this novel, set in 15th century China, Tan Yunxian is born into an elite family and pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable for a woman of her class by pursuing medical knowledge, specifically so she can help the many women inside her family's compound." --Andrea G.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Berlin
"Daphne Ferber, 26, a London-raised Oxford graduate from a wealthy French family, settles into a new life as an expat in Berlin. With no need to work, Daphne structures her life around German classes, endless runs through city parks, and late-night eating binges. While her motives for moving to Berlin are initially unclear, her charming narration gradually becomes more obviously unreliable." (Publishers Weekly)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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