Battle of the Books 2024

After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, Amina al-Sirafi’s retires peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum.

A warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer.

Quite possibly the most heart-warming book you will ever read. Linus, a stuffy government worker, goes to inspect a foster-care situation with magical children deemed incredibly dangerous by someone (?) (the government probably) but he comes to learn that the kids, as well as their eccentric foster parent Arthur Parnassus, are a lot more than they seem.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of Feyi’s life and she’s almost a new person–an artist with her own studio and sharing a brownstone apartment with her best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the overwhelming desire Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits–his father.