19 new books to savor this week.
Available at indies bookstores and local libraries everywhere!
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Phil Klay, Uncertain Ground
(Penguin Press)
“An introspective collection of essays … Klay’s reassuring voice offers truth, hope, and ways forward during a challenging, polarized period in America.”
–Booklist
Maggie Shipstead, You Have a Friend in 10A
(Knopf)
“In this follow-up to her Booker short-listed Great Circle, Shipstead displays luminous, exacting language as she demonstrates her flair for creating distinctive characters who deal more or less successfully with what life has handed them.”
–Library Journal
ed. Eliza Smith and Haley Swanson, Sex and the Single Woman
(Harper Perennial)
“Each essay offers a unique perspective … themes of both friendship and trauma are threaded throughout the collection, which is mostly respectful to its source material but unafraid of calling out many of its outdated notions.”
–Kirkus
Emma Straub, This Time Tomorrow
(Riverhead)
“Straub is an expert chronicler of social mores and the inner lives of her (mostly) bourgeois characters, and here she delivers a surefire bestseller.”
–Oprah Daily
Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, His Name is George Floyd
(Viking)
“This multifaceted and exceptionally informative account is both a moving testament to Floyd and a devastating indictment of America’s racial inequities.”
–Publishers Weekly
Audrey Magee, The Colony
(FSG)
“[The Colony] contains multitudes—on families, on men and women, on rural communities—with much of it just visible on the surface, like the flicker of a smile or a shark in the water.”
–The Times
Putsata Reang, Ma and Me: A Memoir
(MCD)
“Familial ties and the scars of war are exquisitely examined in this luminous debut from journalist Reang … This story of survival radiates with resilience and hope.”
–Publishers Weekly
Candice Millard, River of the Gods
(Doubleday)
“Candice Millard has earned her legions of admirers. She is a graceful writer and a careful researcher, and she knows how to navigate a tangled tale.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Paige Clark, She Is Haunted
(Two Dollar Radio)
“In turns devastating and hilarious, Clark’s exceptional debut collection cuts right to the emotional core of its characters and their conflicts in stories that examine Asian identity, familial relationships, climate anxiety, and gender with an astonishing sense of nuance and clarity.”
–Publishers Weekly
Eimear Ryan, Holding Her Breath
(Mariner)
“Holding Her Breath does not feel like a debut novel; it shows the deft assurance of someone who has spent years training for this … A sparsely written, emotionally affecting coming of age story.”
–The Irish Times
James Spooner, The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere.
(Harper)
“Spooner, the filmmaker behind the Afro-Punk documentary and festivals, debuts with a graphic memoir as abrasive and revelatory as his chosen music.”
–Publishers Weekly
Alexander Maksik, The Long Corner
(Europa)
“[A] scathing satire … Readers will revel in the riotous upending of a self-absorbed personality.”
–Publishers Weekly
Cindy House, Mother Noise
(Scribner)
“A powerful, brilliant exploration of motherhood and its inextricable links to the other selves comprising a mother; those pieces that society doesn’t accept as part of the entrenched narrative about the meaning and purpose of motherhood.”
–Library Journal
Tsering Yangzom Lama, We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies
(Bloomsbury)
“Lama debuts with the heartfelt and magical saga of a Tibetan family’s love, sacrifice, and heritage.”
–Publishers Weekly
Naheed Phiroze Patel, Mirror Made of Rain
(Unnamed Press)
“Patel’s gut-wrenching debut offers a looking glass into the luxurious homes of Indian high society in Kamalpur, Mumbai, and New Delhi.”
–Publishers Weekly
William Brewer, The Red Arrow
(Knopf)
“Thought-provoking and stirring … A notably bookish effort, a heady, inventive novel with intelligent things to say about mental illness, perception, creativity and psychedelic drugs.”
–The San Francisco Chronicle
Kwame Onwuachi, My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef
(Knopf)
“One man’s unique gastronomic journey proves universally appealing in this hearty collection.”
–Publishers Weekly
Selma Blair, Mean Baby
(Knopf)
“If you thought you knew Selma Blair, think again.”
–Marie Claire
Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, The Office BFFs
(Dey Street)
“A smart, sweet look from inside The Office about how the show spawned enduring friendships and unexpected careers.”
–Kirkus
