Reading is our joy and our purpose. Here are the books that have lifted and inspired us in recent weeks.
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Beautiful World, Where Are You
Three friends in their late-twenties, their recent, layered histories and anxieties in-tune to contemporary human life on earth, including: the injustice of our world’s economic model, the destruction of our climate and natural resources, the ease with which one feels disconnected and hopeless, make a stunning discovery– by way of their rich conversations, personal failings, and yes, grippingly graceful and explicit, physical intimacies–of the precise location of actual beauty in this world, that is: within, between and around us, in our honest, vulnerable relationships to one another and to the horrible, beautiful world itself. I cherished so much about this book. – Joanna
TBH I have no reason to read horror a novel. I have never even seen a slasher movie. But Wow. Jones is spectacular at what he does in this book, reversing the troupe of women in the ‘slasher’ narrative by creating a truly badass and compelling female protagonist. This book is insanely scary, a step more violent than Stephen King, and I am highly recommending it as this year’s Halloween go-to book for adults. – Cheryl
Humans are the scariest creatures of all, and Mary Roach is amazing. FUZZ is a detailed account of life in the animal wild and how humans impact and engage with it. Roach travels the world to bring insight to the compatibility and the culpability we share with the other species on our planet, and I now have a new understanding of my role as a member of the animal kingdom thanks to this amazing book. – Cheryl
What if the concept of having everything that the culture you inhabit tells you is desirable: a comfortable apartment in your country’s urban center, a kind (if inattentive) life partner, two miraculously curious and loving children, & access to all items and services that indicate a desired class status–shifts suddenly (though not entirely unexpectedly, much like any actual earthquake on the island of Japan) upon your falling into a new intriguing, authentic, and uplifting relationship? Emily Itami investigates this particular Fault Line with extraordinary grace, intelligence and humility. I loved everything atmospheric and thematic about this book, but it was the keen voice of its narrator that sits with me still. – Joanna
The merging of the world’s largest social media, search engine, and e-commerce tech companies would be an impossible premise to stomach if not for this book’s hilariously crafted scenes and service as profound parable, not to mention its author’s choice in active remedy to our impending digital overload and economic dysfunction by insisting this particular book be encountered only at physical, independent bookstores. I recommend it in all/any of its various, brilliant, beautiful book jacket designs that can (likewise) only be chosen from at your local indie. –Joanna
Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch
As per usual, Rivka Galchen does not disappoint: Witty, sly, simultaneously satirical and sincere.
Katharina is a proud, smart, decent woman living in 17th century Germany during a plague. Widowed, she raised three children, one of whom happens to be Johannes Kepler, Imperial Mathematician and early charter of the stars and planets. She’s a good-natured busybody who offers tinctures and poultices for whatever may ail her neighbors, and she adores Chamomile, her cow. And she’s been accused of being a witch.
Based on actual letters and court documents, Galchen’s telling of Katharina’s tale is one of corruption, mob mentality, fearmongering, and governmental incompetence. On the nose, yes, but even so, Katharina is a crackerjack and a charming companion. Highly recommend. – Anne
After being placed in a special-needs class because of her gradual grasp of a second language, 7 year-old Qian teaches herself English by way of numerous ubiquitous American children’s books: Clifford, Shel Silverstien, The Babysitter’s Club among many. Teaching herself English is the precursor to her time in America, full of sacrifice and struggle, and Qian remembers much in detail: the shouting at the dinner table, the uniformed officers at the fancy building, the first gift she was given in the Beautiful Country, the sweatshops, her mothers illness and lack of healthcare, the hot feeling in her stomach each time a friend pulled out money to buy something she couldn’t afford, practicing the phrase over and over again “I was born in this country”. She recounts the hunger she felt in America and the fear to attach herself to anyone or anything. Her account is both honest and harshly critical of the literal Chinese Translation of America as Beautiful Country—Syd
One of my favorite books of the year. The writing made me feel like I was floating serenely through the story, but the emotional ride is nonetheless layered, intense and breathtakingly beautiful. Crying in the H Mart is an ode to human connections–fractured and whole, and to the memory that pieces us each together. A simple and profound life meditation that I simply loved. – Cheryl
After the passing of his grandmother, Michael is ripped from his home in Trinidad and sent to live with his very religious aunt in Canada, surrounded by mostly white families. He longs for the vibrant culture and community of Trinidad as he takes us through each era of his life. The presence of his biological parents is at first distant, then a direct burden. Finally, upon closing the door on them for good, they become a part of how Antonio takes an honest account of his life and his actions.
Throughout the memoir, we come to know several versions of Antonio, each one representing a different musical persona, each one leading him down a path of self-discovery. I loved getting to meet each different version of Antonio, and I greatly related to the idea that each different nickname we have is carried by a different persona that exists within us. The nostalgia that Antonio has for his home in Trinidad leaks through every part of the book, entirely encompassing us in the emotions and tragedies that Antonio takes with him from one place to the next. – Syd
A delicious, pulpy, Hitchcockian slow burn of a novel that had me feeling as if I had entered a neurotic fun house. The portrait of a wealthy socialite with the wheels falling off… though Feito doesn’t play her cards all at once. She methodically picks and pulls at each tiny seam until what is left reflected in the mirror makes you gasp in shocked delight!
Beneath her mint-green gloves, Mrs. March has the familiar, visceral underpinnings of all classic thrillers, but Feito’s delightfully biting prose breathes sylish, provocative life–and sometimes even humor– into a story of psychological unraveling.
For fans of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, Hitchcock, Ira Levin, and all that weird jazz 🙂 – Karly
This book has me waiting with impatient excitement for its Book #2. I’m really picky about urban fantasies, especially centering werewolves, and this one was so beautifully complex, queer and intriguing, I couldn’t put it down. There is intricate social commentary on race and police brutality, a plethora of deep queer characters and relationships, and a handful of plot lines that don’t seem related until they begin to converge at the end, in an epic world-expansion moment. I can’t wait to see where this goes next. – Gideon
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