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Our Staff Picks

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Favorite books by our beloved Darvill's staff

The Dutch House: A Read with Jenna Pick Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780062963673
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper - September 24th, 2019

A surreal and elegantly written portrait about the absurdity of war. A profound glimpse at the lengths in which a person might go to in hopes of escaping the madness. This book will follow you around like a ghost.

- Andy


Beneath a Scarlet Sky Cover Image
$14.95
ISBN: 9781503943377
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Lake Union Publishing - May 1st, 2017

I loved this book! Follow four young men as they move through life with some unimaginable difficulties that bond them forever. Characters you will never forget and miss terribly when you are done. A tribute to friendship.

- Sandie


The Giver of Stars: A Novel Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780399562488
Availability: Hard to Find
Published: Pamela Dorman Books - October 8th, 2019

The book reminds us of the weight our childhood and early relationships carry throughout our lives. In the Dutch House we follow and explore the lives of such different individuals passing through a home which seems untouched by time. We learn although some things never change, how we perceive and understand them is always open to interpretation.

- Alainah


Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781571313836
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Milkweed Editions - March 30th, 2021

Lovely collection of essays on flora, fauna, and family. Beautiful, sensitive writing. Her observations are a joy to read.

- Jenny


The Kennedy Heirs: John, Caroline, and the New Generation - A Legacy of Tragedy and Triumph Cover Image
$29.99
ISBN: 9781250174062
Availability: Hard to Find
Published: St. Martin's Press - June 11th, 2019

A fascinating read of an amazing family that has encountered more tragedy than seems possible. They are a dynasty committed to service and in so doing put themselves in uncompromising situations.

- Sandie


My Year of Rest and Relaxation Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780525522119
Availability: Hard to Find
Published: Penguin Press - July 10th, 2018

A bizarrely fascinating novel unlike anything I have ever read. Darkly comic and absurd. Highly Recommended!

- Susen


Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game Cover Image
By Karl Ove Knausgaard, Fredrik Ekelund, Don Bartlett (Translated by), Seán Kinsella (Translated by)
$16.00
ISBN: 9780374279837
Availability: Special Order
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - January 10th, 2017

I’ve always used major sporting event as markers to help me remember where I was and what I was doing at a given time. World Cup 2006 in Germany: next to Melissa in chemistry class, Edmonds. NBA Finals 2012, Lebron’s first title: university graduate, vacation in the Philippines. World Cup 2018 in Russia: Darvill’s Bookstore, Orcas Island. For Ekelund and Knausgaard, World Cup 2014, Brazil, produced this book. Their letters—reacting to, ruminating over, and celebrating Brazil 2014—will bring back memories both good and bad, of Tim Howard and Joe Hart. Like all good writing on the World Cup, this book will make you loathe the wait between tournaments.

- Max


The Library at Mount Char: A Novel Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780553418620
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Crown - March 15th, 2016

This is an insanely fun, genre bending piece of escapism. This book will leave you with a ton of what the f*** moments. So incredibly satisfying. One hell of a debut novel. I can’t wait for his next book.

- Andy


Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143109419
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - June 7th, 2016

A sweet, modern tale—an American heartland contribution to the wonderful canon of food novels… Complete with recipes! A great summer read.

- Andrea


My Own Country: A Doctor's Story Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780679752929
Availability: Special Order
Published: Vintage - April 25th, 1995

A thoughtfully written first hand account of the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. With compassion and grace Verghese writes of the lives of the people he met and worked with and the prejudices of those not understanding. This has been one of my favorite books for years.

- Jenny


Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9780393239379
Availability: Special Order
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - February 12th, 2019

This is a very readable work of serious history… A myth-shattering narrative of how the nation embraced “separation” of the races. Covering 50 years of history veteran Washington Post editor Luxenberg tells the story through the lives of three individuals who were the main characters in the civil rights struggle of the period. The book supplies deep fascinations background to the racial struggles we still grapple with today.

- Andrea


The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees Cover Image
$24.99
ISBN: 9780778307785
Availability: Hard to Find
Published: Park Row - April 2nd, 2019

In this moving memoir May shares the story of how her troubled childhood in 1970s California was mended by an unbreakable bond with her grandfather, an eccentric beekeeper who invited her into the secret world of bees. I loved the interactions between May and her grandfather and her descriptions of the bees.

- Jenny


This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community--a Life in Streetwear Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780374275792
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: MCD - June 25th, 2019

If you’re into, or have an interest in, any of the following: punk rock, entrepreneurship, skateboarding, fashion, branding, The Hundreds, Supreme, or NikeTalk, this book will be like catnip for you. This is a dollar-and-a-dream story; a DIY passion project by two law school students selling t-shirts that turned into a multi-million dollar business. Bobby writes of his life as a Korean-American kid in the suburbs of L.A., making a career through his loves of art and skateboarding, and what it’s like to have American Eagle try to steal from you and Tommy Hilfiger try to buy you. 

- Max


The Feral Detective: A Novel Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062859075
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ecco - August 27th, 2019

This is a weird and wild mystery that is also very funny. Compelling and terrifying!

- Susen


Ask Again, Yes: A Novel Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781982106980
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - May 28th, 2019

I couldn’t put this down! Great characterizations of people connected by blood and chance who experience a terrible tragedy and somehow find compassion and forgiveness in the end.

- Sandie


Disappearing Earth: A novel Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9780525520412
Availability: Hard to Find
Published: Knopf - May 14th, 2019

Set on the remote Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, this compelling novel begins with the disappearance of two young sisters, then introduces us to a string of female characters from this tightly woven community who are all impacted in some way by the disappearance. We meet most of them fairly briefly, but they are richly drawn and form a moving portrait of the culture and community of this fascinating place. A good read!

- Andrea


Asymmetry: A Novel Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781501166785
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Simon & Schuster - October 16th, 2018

An engaging and aptly named book… The book is divided into three unequal parts, each exploring, through well-told tales, the role of imbalance in our lives, cultures, and relationships. Good reading, beautifully drawn characters… A talented new writer!

- Andrea


Where the Crawdads Sing: Reese's Book Club (A Novel) Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780735219090
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - August 14th, 2018

A heartbreaking story of love, loss, and loneliness. Part mystery with exquisite attention to natural history. A beautiful book!

- Susen


Travels with My Aunt: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) Cover Image
By Graham Greene, Gloria Emerson (Introduction by)
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143039006
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Classics - September 28th, 2004

This book is a delight! Published in 1969, in some ways it may be outdated, nevertheless, it’s fun and humorous, and peculiar in the best of ways. A travel writer’s writer, Graham Greene is referenced as an inspiration by Pico Iyer, Paul Theroux, and the late Anthony Bourdain. Travels with My Aunt is a great entry point to the Greene canon.

- Max