11 new books to be grateful for this week.
Today brings us new titles from A.S. Byatt, Ann Patchett, Mario Vargas Llosa, Haruki Murakami, and more! What a line-up! We’re grateful for new books and the people who had a hand in crafting them, this week and all weeks.
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A.S. Byatt, Medusa’s Ankles
(Knopf)
“…the short story format suits her beautifully … She favors adjective-spangled cascades of images, excavates the dictionary for rare specimens, and sends iambs and anapests cavorting across the paragraphs.”
–Kirkus
Ann Patchett, These Precious Days
(Harper)
“Sincere but never simplistic, generous without being cloying, and accessible rather than anodyne, These Precious Days feels at once bracing and comforting … Aspiring and experienced writers alike will find many nuggets of wisdom, helpful advice, and fascinating backstage stories here.”
–The Boston Globe
Mario Vargas Llosa, tr. Adrian Nathan West, Harsh Times
(FSG)
“Vargas Llosa has constructed a compelling and propulsive literary thriller, deeply informed by his experience as a public intellectual and a practicing politician.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Haruki Murakami, tr. Philip Gabriel, Murakami T
(Knopf)
“This lively peek into his collection provides some surprising insights into the humble, real Murakami. A playful, witty, nostalgic journey with an acclaimed novelist.”
–Kirkus
Roberto Calasso, tr. Tim Parks, The Book of All Books
(FSG)
“In Calasso’s signature style, he retells Bible stories, mostly from the Old Testament, emphasizing the themes of separation and sacrifice that tie the stories together … Despite the scholarly trimmings, the individual retellings will have wide appeal. Readers with any level of biblical knowledge will benefit from Calasso’s far-ranging insights.”
–Publishers Weekly
Fatima Daas, tr. Lara Vergnaud, The Last One
(Other Press)
“Vergnaud’s translation deftly handles these tender, delicate vignettes, and honours the intercalation of Arabic words and wordplay that Daas interweaves in her spare narrative … The Last One is a novel that challenges what constitutes faith and its validity.”
–Asymptote
Kei Hiruta, Hannah Arendt & Isaiah Berlin
(Princeton University Press)
“As Mr. Hiruta, a research fellow at Oxford, shows in Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin: Freedom, Politics and Humanity, the hitherto unexplored relationship between these two giants is fascinating not just for its simmering acrimony but because, as a pair, they are as much alike as they are antipodes.”
–The Wall Street Journal
Edward Sorel, Profusely Illustrated
(Knopf)
“A colorfully entertaining self-portrait conveyed through pithy prose and vital artwork.”
–Kirkus
Jonathan Gottschall, The Story Paradox
(Basic Books)
“Fresh insights about the ways we understand reality.”
–Kirkus
Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The City of Mist
(Harper)
“…for the legion of fans of this mesmerizing storyteller, The City of Mist will not disappoint.”
–BookPage
James Andrew Miller, Tinderbox
(Henry Holt)
“There’s enough animosity, jealousy, score-settling and killing gossip in Tinderbox, James Andrew Miller’s mountainous new oral history of HBO, to fill an Elizabethan drama.”
–The New York Times
