Aya’s Pick

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

This series of short horror/sci-fi stories grapples with human nature and fictionalizes dystopian aspects of modern society. Each Twilight Zone-esque vignette has its distinctive feel and theme, leaving enough ambiguity and open-endedness to be deeply thought-provoking. Simultaneously relatable and bizarre, these stories invite us to sit with the uncomfortable.

Caitlin’s Pick

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Orbital invites you to travel to the international space station through the perspective of six astronauts, and offers a tantalizing and existential illustration of what it is like to be in space. Beautiful writing, with one particularly visceral scene that made my stomach drop as though I were actually the one floating above Earth, tethered to a space craft. 

Danny’s Pick

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalid

I was going to choose The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, which had both a gripping narrative and, for me, served as an exploration of the calamities that are produced by alienation and atomization. But then I recently finished Rashid Khalidi's The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, which offers an extremely accessible history of the conflict in Palestine, and both widened and depended my understanding of the roots of the current catastrophe. I cannot recommend it enough.

Meg’s Pick

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

I found Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo to be her most compelling and complex novel yet. The way the rhythm of grief flowed through her characters and her sincere portrayal of their painful yearnings for connection made for a viscerally stinging reading experience. And nobody writes dialogue like Rooney. Pick this one up if you’re in the mood to embrace messy, tender humanness.

Nick’s Pick

The Exhausted of the Earth by Ajay Singh Chaudhary

The Exhausted of the Earth is an essential commentary about our current political moment, the false solutions that permeate our discourse, and a path forward for uniting social movements and organized labor to protect against the worst impacts of climate catastrophes to come.

Sherri’s Pick

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin

Imaginative, thought-provoking, complex, and weird. I loved being immersed in the rich and deeply textured world that Le Guin created and feeling like a participant rather than an observer. This book invites reflection on community and connection to the land in an unexpected and masterful way.