Peak Picks Current Titles Book List
New titles from the Peak Picks collection that are currently in rotation. Stop by any branch to see what's available today!
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Everyday Cake: 45 Simple Recipes for Layer, Bundt, Loaf, and Sheet Cakes
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Nonfiction. “A humble slice, square, or wedge of homemade cake never fails to delight and here you'll find forty-five simple recipes to make any day feel a bit special. Using ingredients that are readily available, these cakes are unfussy yet sweetly indulgent. Recipes are arranged using pans most of us already have in our kitchens: round, square, loaf, rectangle, sheet, and bundt. Flavors include warm spices, herbs and flowers, and sweet essences, plus chocolate, fruit, nuts, and seeds.” The author serves as the culinary director at Book Larder, Seattle's only cookbook shop. Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: On order
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The Last White Man
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Fiction. “One morning, a man wakes up to find himself transformed. Overnight, Anders’s skin has turned dark, and the reflection in the mirror seems a stranger to him. At first he shares his secret only with Oona, an old friend turned new lover. Soon, reports of similar events begin to surface. Across the land, people are awakening in new incarnations, uncertain how their neighbors, friends, and family will greet them. From the author of Exit West, a story of love, loss, and rediscovery in a time of unsettling change.” Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Many Daughters of Afong Moy: A Novel
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Fiction. “From the author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet comes a powerful novel about the love that binds one family of women across generations. Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living. As Seattle's former poet laureate, that's how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental breakdowns into her art. …[W]hen her daughter begins revealing similar tendencies, Dorothy seeks to waylay the consequences of inherited trauma by engaging in a radical therapy that connects her with brave women ancestors .” LJ & Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain Is Different and How to Understand Yours
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Nonfiction. “Prat, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, covers the nature of the human brain in her lively and informative debut. She argues that ‘every brain really is unique’ and that nature and nurture combine to make people who they are. She describes the brain's two sides, for example, as remarkably lopsided, and breaks down the cocktail of neurotransmitters and how they work. There are also ‘assessments’ for readers to examine how their brains have been influenced by their experiences. This work of popular science sets itself apart.” Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Seattle From the Margins: Exclusion, Erasure, and the Making of A Pacific Coast City
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Nonfiction. “From the origins of the city in the mid-19th century to the beginning of World War II, Seattle's urban workforce consisted overwhelmingly of migrant laborers who powered the seasonal, extractive economy of the Pacific Northwest. Though the city benefitted from this mobile labor force that consisted largely of Indigenous peoples and Asian migrants, municipal authorities, elites, and reformers continually depicted these workers and the spaces they inhabited as…impediments to urban progress. By uncovering the historical presence of marginalized groups…, Megan Asaka offers a deeper understanding of Seattle's complex past.” Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: On order
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Sewing Love: Handmade Clothes for Any Body
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Nonfiction. “Sewing is positioned as self-care in this uplifting step-by-step guide. As she writes, ‘sewing fundamental-ly shifted my attitude toward myself... I created clothes that felt good to wear and made me feel beautiful--and sewing became an act of kindness and nurturing.’ The real gold comes in an in-depth section that teaches readers how to create and customize their own patterns based on their personal measurements by drafting paper pattern pieces and sewing up a muslin to test them out. This guide to garment sewing is a must-read for crafters of all levels.” Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: On order
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Shutter
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Fiction. “Diné forensic photographer Rita Todacheene doesn't just take good pictures, she helps solve cases for the Albuquerque police force with insights gleaned from the ghosts of crime victims, whom she can see and hear. More curse than gift, her ability to confer with the otherworld has driven her from the reservation, where it's regarded with suspicion, and has wrecked her personal life. Now an especially angry ghost won't leave Rita alone, sending her on a mission of vengeance that could get her killed. Diné writer/filmmaker Emerson's debut is at once a thriller, a horror story, and a portrait of growing up on the reservation;’” – Library Journal
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide
NEW FOR AUGUST! Adult Nonfiction. “Thrasher has long studied the racialization and policing of HIV. Here he transfers that understanding to a new realm, showing that COVID-19 does not affect all people equally. Those…in the virus's sights include essential workers, with occupations ranging from healthcare to grocery clerking to transportation; those in more crowded communities; those without health insurance or jobs; older people viewed as expendable; and people with disabilities that put them at special risk. Members of this ‘viral underclass’ are more likely to be infected and less likely to survive, which ultimately reveals deep fractures in our society.” Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Acts of Violet
NEW FOR JULY! Adult Fiction. A decade ago, magician Violet Volk managed a remarkable stunt onstage: she vanished, never to be seen again. But Violet has never been forgotten, and now the host of a podcast about her is angling to interview her quiet sister, Sasha. With the spotlight's constant glare and disturbing incidents like sleepwalking disrupting her life, Sasha decides that she herself must discover the truth about Violet… Following Montimore’s best-selling debut, Oona Out of Order. ‘Acts of Violet is an utterly original, propulsive story of fame, deception, and forgiveness that will make you believe in magic.’” – Library Journal & Publisher description
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir
NEW FOR JULY! Adult Nonfiction. “Poet and essayist Sánchez tallies the ‘triumphs, disappointments, delights, and resurrections’ of her life in this raw and sensuous memoir in essays. Since coming into the world as a ‘suicidal fetus’ Sánchez has experienced despair and wonder intensely. These dueling states become the through line to lyrical musings that, though blunt in their candor (‘I called a suicide hotline, but no one answered, which I didn't know was a thing’), are leavened by the author's great wit and compassion. The result is another satisfying addition to Sánchez's deeply moving body of works.” – Publishers Weekly
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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