Staff Picks

the importance of donuts to a full and healthy life,
which baby is the cutest baby in the whole wide world
(HINT: he is somewhere on this page),
that Greenpoint is awesome, and that letterpress stationery is amazing.

Things the WORD staff does not always agree on:

which are better: cats or dogs,
whether the G train is maliciously inept or just accidentally so,
and which book is the best in the whole store.

So we each have our own page of staff picks!

 
Christine, owner
Most recent staff pick: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Holy. Crap. This book is amazing. The most interactive experience I've had reading a novel. The language is genius, and the structure will blow your mind.

 
Stephanie, manager
Most recent staff pick: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. It would be foolish for most authors to feature A Wrinkle in Time in their own books—few are the equal of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic, so why invite the comparison? But When You Reach Me is one of those few books. It is easily one of the best middle-grade novels I have read in years, with fantastic characters and a plot that’s like running up a hill and then sledding down the other side. I was so astonished by it that I started reading it again right after I finished it, thinking that there was no way that it was as clever and fantastic as it seemed. But it was—and it is!

Kelly, events coordinator
Most recent staff pick: This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson. Johnson's enthusiasm for information professionals led her to conduct detailed and creative research on an industry in constant transition. The result is a terrific and timely primer on the challenges & joys of librarianship in an increasingly digital and info-glutted world. And I'm not just saying that because I'm in grad school to get an MLIS! This is a great read for anyone who does, well...just about anything....or has ever used a library card!

Anna, bookseller
Most recent staff pick: Kraken by China Mieville. Enough crazily inventive s*** for a dozen-novel series. A supervillain condemned to life as a sentient tattoo; a teleporting mage/Star Trek nerd whose spells (unnecessarily) duplicate the look and sound of the Enterprise's transporters; dueling apocalypses, including one hailed by an unexpectedly fearsome ferret cult.

Adrian, the world's only illiterate bookseller
Most recent staff pick: All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Nikki McClure. Whenever we're feeling down, we read this book. McClure's woodcut illustrations are sweeping and gorgeous, and Rylant's text is a bit of sunshine and hope. We give it to all our new baby friends.