This month, I picked up 4 books I’m really excited about–one from B&N, and the other three from a really cool local used bookstore I found the other day. Seriously, it was amazing–I can’t resist any bookstores that have separate science fiction and fantasy sections. That always bodes well for a book-hunting trip. So here’s what I found:

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders — this is one of the books I’m most excited to read this year. The first B&N I went to hadn’t put it on the shelves yet, but I was able to find it at another location. I’m intrigued by the premise of two friends taking different paths to study science and magic, then reuniting to (possibly?) save the world.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood — Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite writers, and I’ve been wanting to reread this book ever since I checked it out from my high school library. It’s disturbing and engrossing, like all of her books, and has a profound feminist impact.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank — dystopian/post-apocalyptic reads are one of my favorite genres, and this comes highly recommended from a friend. It focuses on small-town life after a nuclear holocaust and was written in the 1950’s.

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro — I’m currently reading Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, and I love his writing style that focuses heavily on the unreliable nature of memory. This book’s plot revolves around a detective attempting to solve the mystery of the disappearance of his parents that occurred when he was a child.