Make room in your TBR pile for these 20 books coming out today.
The Bangles gave the world Manic Monday, and now, dear reader, it is New Book Tuesday. (Can we make that a thing? #newboosday) Here we’ve got the latest from Helen Macdonald, Ali Smith, Daisy Johnson, Joy Harjo, Erin Brockovich, and more. Happy reading!
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Helen Macdonald, Vesper Flights
(Grove Press)
“…dazzling … Embarking on her own vesper flights but with her eyes trained on animals, Ms. Macdonald reminds us how marvelously unfamiliar much of the nonhuman world remains to us, even as we continue to diminish it.”
–The Wall Street Journal
Ali Smith, Summer
(Pantheon)
“As the characters of Summer entwine, like branches over a road, I had the feeling that no novelist has come closer to describing the particular sad informed madness of our times.”
–The Boston Globe
Daisy Johnson, Sisters
(Riverhead)
“Johnson is adept at giving the sisters’ mythic closeness a 21st-century twist … The book is shot through with horror, keeping the tension at a fever pitch.”
–The Guardian
Jason Diamond, The Sprawl
(Coffee House Press)
“…his cultural criticism is consistently astute. This is a smart, enjoyable study that will be particularly appreciated by other suburban expats.”
–Publishers Weekly
Eugenia Cheng, x + y
(Basic Books)
“…a rare combination of precision, passion and optimism. Whether via math or just clear and rigorous thinking, knotty issues benefit from discussions like this.”
–The Asian Review of Books
Maria Dahvana Headley, Beowulf
(MCD)
“Her version is altogether brilliant.”
–Kirkus
Judith Schalansky, tr. by Jackie Smith, Inventory of Losses
(New Directions)
“With this collection of illuminating meditations on fact and fiction, Schalansky cements her reputation as a peerless chronicler of the fabulous, the faraway, and the forgotten.”
–Publishers Weekly
Vicki Laveau-Harvie, The Erratics
(Knopf)
“She has a poet’s gift for language, a playwright’s sense of drama and a stand-up comic’s talent for timing.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Joy Harjo (ed.), When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through
(W. W. Norton)
“Across centuries, regions, languages, and styles, this well-crafted anthology is perfect for Native American poetry courses and anyone looking to expand their knowledge of indigenous literature.”
–Publishers Weekly
Carole Stivers, The Mother Code
(Berkley)
“Stivers’s sweeping, cinematic debut raises probing questions about the nature of family and human connection … painful, provocative, and ultimately infused with hope.”
–Publishers Weekly
Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm
(Basic Books)
“An exemplary history that gives a nuanced view of a society long reduced to a few clichés.”
–Kirkus
Héctor Tobar, The Last Great Road Bum
(MCD)
“The vividly realized particulars of his restless journeys are offered in Tobar’s remarkable novelization of Sanderson’s real life, his adventures and misadventures.”
–Booklist
Jonas Hassen Khemiri, tr. by Alice Menzies, The Family Clause
(FSG)
“Depicting his characters’ perceptions of one another, and themselves, Khemiri points to universal truths: in this and any family, roles change over time, and, with any luck, so do the people in them.”
–Booklist
Edward O. Wilson, Tales from the Ant World
(Liveright)
“The world-renowned ant expert cleans out his desk, which—no surprise—contains many gems.”
–Kirkus
Erin Brockovich, Superman’s Not Coming
(Pantheon)
“With scientific conclusions that cannot be denied and riveting reports from the trenches, Superman’s Not Coming will resonate strongly with anyone concerned about this important topic.”
–Booklist
Christina Baker Kline, The Exiles
(Custom House)
“Filled with surprising twists, empathetic prose, and revealing historical details, Kline’s resonant, powerful story will please any historical fiction fan.”
–Publishers Weekly
Brian Stelter, Hoax
(Atria)
“Brian Stelter of CNN has produced a well-sourced portrait of the symbiotic relationship between president and presenters.”
–The Guardian
Frank Huyler, White Hot Light
(Harper Perennial)
“Huyler returns with more interesting, largely stand-alone stories from his work in an ER in Albuquerque … The title aptly describes the illumination Huyler brings to patient care—and to writing about it.”
–Kirkus
Harold Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press
(Dutton)
“… a lively, deeply researched history of the roller-coaster relationships between presidents and journalists, from George Washington to Donald Trump.”
–The Washington Post
Carl Hiaasen, Squeeze Me
(Knopf)
“This exuberant elegy for Florida’s paved-over paradise performs the near miracle of making us laugh even as we despair.”
–Kirkus
