Can’t say when the last time I read a book written by a seventeen-year old, but this memoir by a high school student was touching and well-written despite Nicolaia Rips' youth. Growing up in New York’s famed Chelsea Hotel gives one a head start, at least when it comes to knowing interesting characters.

The Chelsea’s fame reached its ascendency in the 60s and 70s with noteworthy residents:  Leonard Cohen, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Patsy Smith, who wrote her own memoir about it, Just Kids.

First Nicolaia describes how she came into being. Her mom was a globe-trotting artist, and her dad had zero interest in raising a child, but somehow the artist got pregnant, and the couple began a new way of life. Though not immediately.

While pregnant, her Mom traveled through Europe and along the Silk Road in Asia. Her dad, a non-practicing lawyer and writer, stayed in New York and added a psychiatrist’s office to his daily rounds of coffee shops. He also denied that he was the father, accusing a gay friend for parenting the child. However, once Nicolaia was born, he came around and warmly embraced being a dad, but still the family remained footloose, decamping for several years in Italy, and then roaming North Africa and India, before returning to NYC and the Chelsea Hotel. Read more about Trying to Float: Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel

This beautiful memoir had me weeping several times. The opening chapter describes in vivid detail the death of the author’s partner by drowning on a winter vacation to Jamaica. He died in the usual tranquil bay outside their cottage after he entered the wild surf to rescue their small son, Jake.

Decca, a Guardian journalist and author, noticed both her partner Tony and son flailing in the water. She ran to the beach, dove in and swam out to them, whereupon her partner passed their son to her and she swam back pulling her son by the chin. She assumed all was well, and that the morning would just provide an embarrassing story that they would later share about this vacation.

But when she turned to look over the bay, she noticed that Tony was much further out then he had been, and he was fighting both the waves and the current. She almost swam out to him, but a friend stopped her and pointed to three men who were already assisting Tony.

Decca felt reassured, but Tony kept flailing. The men pulled him in, and on the beach, white foam poured from his mouth. A local doctor bent over him, and felt his pulse, but Tony had died. It seemed unbelievable to Decca because most of the time he had not been underwater. This made her recall a conversation that they had shared at a party about how you could drown in a teaspoon full of water. Read more about All at Sea

Put on your robes, fasten your house tie (Hey to all my Ravenclaws!), and grab a few pumpkin pasties. We're going back to Hogwarts and it's about time. When we last left Harry, Ron, and Hermione they were dropping their children off at Platform 9 3/4 and, "All was well." Unfortunately for Harry and the gang, that wasn't the case for very long.

In this new story from J.K. Rowling writing with playwrights John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, Potter fans get to go back to the wizarding world. Our favorite trio is all grown up with families of their own, important positions in the Ministry of Magic, and newfound adult aches and pains. It's their children's generation who now take center stage. Quite literally, as this new story is a play. The show is currently running in London and will, hopefully, one day come to the US. Until then, we muggles can read the script. 

The Cursed Child is a much different story than the original Harry Potter novels, but with all the charm we've come to expect. Reading a script, for those who have never attempted, isn't all that different from reading a novel. It's more condensed since you're watching the action unfold rather than reading long descriptions, but readers will still find themselves immersed in the story Rowling is telling. It's a story of parent child relationships, friendship, redemption, and what it means to be the son of THE Harry Potter. This muggle was happy to check in on old friends and excited to find new favorite characters (I'm looking at you Scorpius Malfoy).

The holds list is long, but worth the wait. Maybe pick up the original novels on audiobook while you're waiting. Trust me, it's like experiencing the story again for the first time. The narrator, Jim Dale, is that good. And, for those of you who've already experienced The Cursed Child, make sure to stop by The Ground Floor and talk to me about it! I have some FEELINGS that cannot adequately be expressed right now. Because spoilers. Happy Reading!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, a dwarf, an elf, a smidgen, and a wizard start a fight in a tavern… no, well, that is how the saga of the mercenary band known as Rat Queens begins. As the title suggests, there is plenty of humor and magic throughout this volume, but the story does not shy from mature themes and there are frequent bouts of intense violence. Rat Queens also flows as though the reader is playing through a classic D&D campaign, and while this could be seen as a hindrance, in fact this allows the story to soar. Wiebe has managed to capture the essence of a D&D campaign and turn it into a rollickingly fun graphic novel. Suggested for mature readers who enjoy D&D and fantasy stories.

After a rather energetic disagreement in a local inn, all of the mercenary bands in the city of Palisade, including the Rat Queens, are assigned a quest as a form of ‘community service.’ What none of them know is that there is a group of assassins waiting for them at their destination. After narrowly surviving this attempt on their lives, and an unexpected (as well as brutal) battle with a troll, the Rat Queens have to figure out who wants to kill them and why. This mystery drives the story and as the unidentified forces opposing the Rat Queens coalesce, readers will be rewarded with an epic showdown.

A fun and novel take on a classic genre, Rat Queens is a brutal romp through a world fantasy readers will find instantly recognizable. Populated with a crew of tough-as-nails, diverse women and driven by excellent storytelling and gorgeous art, Rat Queens: Sass and Sorcery is a story that should not be missed.

Terry Tempest Williams writes passionately about our natural world in the tradition of Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopard, Annie Dillard, and Edward Abbey.

This book--timed to come out with the hundredth year anniversary of the National Park System--argues strongly about the necessity of keeping our park lands protected. It also reinforces why we need them in our modern world.

“Whenever I go to a national park, I meet the miraculous,” she writes in the opening section. She also says that our national parks “are blood. They are more than scenery, they are portals and thresholds of wonder.” Having just returned from Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, I heartily second that.

Although she has visited many parks, and some, over and over, she has chosen twelve to highlight here. And I love how she does it. Not only does she share personal anecdotes about each of the twelve, but she uses various formats to do so.  For example, in the Big Bend section, she includes journal entries she wrote while there. Through riffs, all on a color theme, she shares what she saw and experienced there. Read more about Happy Birthday, National Park Service, 100 Years!