David Cederholm

Job: Library Assistant II, Allied Gardens / Benjamin Library, San Diego Public Library

He recommends: “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” by Michael Chabon (Random House, 2000; 639 pages)

In 1940, Joe Kavalier and Samuel Clay take the comic book world by storm in Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It is an incredible saga of how a young Jew, with dreams of becoming the next Houdini, escapes from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and unites with his American cousin in New York City. Together they embark upon an “amazing adventure” in the nascent comic book industry. Set against a backdrop of the United States’ entry into World War II and swirling rumors of concentration camps in Europe, the duo team up to create captivating superheroes who burst from the page with provocative detail, symbolically coming to life and destroying the Nazi menace. This was a “golden era,” and this book — part adventure, part love story, part family saga — captures it eloquently. This work is a triumph and the best that this humble reviewer has read in quite some time.

Sage Cristal

Job: Bookseller, UC San Diego Bookstore She recommends: “Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession” by Rachel Monroe (Scribner, 2020;

288 pages)

I’ve always been slightly embarrassed of my love for the macabre. Growing up, I was told that nice girls don’t stay up till dawn reading about serial killers and following updates on the latest murder trials. That shame I felt for my obsession with true crime finally melted away after reading Rachel Monroe’s “Savage Appetites.” Monroe presents four roles within the sphere of crime — detective, victim, defender and killer — and then illustrates these roles through true stories of four women who are driven by their fascination with crime. Each story is enthralling and resonated with me on some level or another. Although these stories gave me goosebumps, I ultimately found comfort in Monroe’s analysis that made my love for the abnormal feel more normal.

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