September 27, 2022, 10:44am
Pull on your cozy reading sweats already! This week, we’re getting new books by Namwali Serpell, Kate Atkinson, Annie Proulx, Hua Hsu, and more.
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Namwali Serpell, The Furrows
(Hogarth Press)
“Its ambiguities and enigmas add up to not more eddying confusions but to a stark reminder that the only reasonable response to grief is ‘life life life.’”
–The Washington Post
Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety
(Doubleday)
“Shrines of Gaiety revolves around this grimy power struggle, and yet is—outwardly at least—Ms. Atkinson’s airiest creation to date. A feather-light confection of intersecting dramas that recalls the antic comedies of P.G. Wodehouse, the novel has it all.”
–The Wall Street Journal
Annie Proulx, Fen, Bog and Swamp
(Scribner)
“Proulx’s concern for the future of life on earth as the planet warms is acute, while her inquiry into the watery places where peat is found balances alarm and despair with wonder and affirmation of nature’s ability to rebound.”
–Booklist
Hua Hsu, Stay True
(Doubleday)
“Masterfully structured and exquisitely written. Hsu’s voice shimmers with tenderness and vulnerability as he meticulously reconstructs his memories of a nurturing, compassionate friendship.”
–Kirkus
Kamila Shamsie, Best of Friends
(Riverhead)
“…sophisticated and poignant … A quiet, moving portrait of two lifelong friends.”
–Kirkus
George Prochnik, I Dream with Open Eyes
(Counterpoint)
“…thoughtful, if sometimes challenging … the intellectual tapestry he weaves is complex and variegated.”
–Shelf Awareness
Andrzej Szczypiorski, tr. Klara Glowczewska, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
(Grove)
“There are accidental heroes and inadvertent villains, surprising and unexpected switches that lend the book its extraordinary originality.”
–Los Angeles Times
Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing
(Vintage)
“A grim, disturbing novel of family drama and mental illness, yet a bizarrely funny glimpse into one woman’s mind.”
–Shelf Awareness
Jonathan Coe, Mr. Wilder and Me
(Europa)
“A beautiful, bittersweet novel that is itself crying out for the silver screen treatment … sheer delight.”
–Scotsman
Elias Canetti, I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I Am Whole
(Picador)
“Varied and powerful, this is a great introduction to Canetti’s work.”
–Publishers Weekly
Stephanie Lacava, I Fear My Pain Interests You
(Verso)
“It’s the liquid flush of the voice undulating beneath the veneer of the book’s punky mask that drew me in.”
–The Brooklyn Rail
Kim Hye-Jin, tr. Jamie Chang, Concerning My Daughter
(Restless Books)
“Kim is unsparing in her depictions of the indignities of old age, the corrosiveness of homophobia, and the piercing loneliness that comes from living in a culture of silence … A heavy but tentatively hopeful look at the struggle for intergenerational understanding through one mother’s eyes.”
–Kirkus
Bojan Louis, Sinking Bell: Stories
(Graywolf Press)
“Louis’s prose carries his poetic sensibility with a decided rhythm and resonant detail, and the narrators achingly convey their outsider status. The result is immersive and powerful.”
–Publishers Weekly
Melanie Chisholm, The Sporty One: My Life as a Spice Girl
(Grand Central)
“Spice Girls fans will eagerly devour this, but even those who are unfamiliar with the group will appreciate Chisholm’s compassion and introspection.”
–Publishers Weekly
Kate Summerscale, The Book of Phobias and Manias
(Penguin)
“Exquisitely detailed and consistently insightful, this is an entertaining guide to humanity’s compulsions.”
–Publishers Weekly