“Summer reading” can be an uptight concept in the world of literary opinion pieces and book promotion, but here’s something that’s the opposite of uptight: kicking back with a good novel on a balmy summer afternoon . So let’s not think about this too much, okay? These are just a few of the books hitting shelves this season that the Literary Center staff think deserve a place in your beach bag this season. Or in your backseat. or in your air-conditioned apartment. let’s say… in your hand, but you know, summer.
Sloane Crosley, Cult Classic MCD, June 7
You are reading: Good books to read this summer
In Crosley’s second novel, Lola is out to dinner with some ex-coworkers when she chances upon an ex-boyfriend, an interaction that forces her to question her current relationship with “Boots” and her upcoming nuptials. her the next night she meets another ex-boyfriend. and then another! Her former co-workers are involved in the scheme, part of a cult with a plan to manipulate Lola’s romantic past to help her discover her future.
It’s a little wacky, sure, but in Crosley’s sharp, humorous prose we get real insight into love and relationships, turning the suspense of who’s behind it into a meditation on what it means to be in love and the hope of endings. happy. . It’s also a great New York City novel. I’ll read anything sloane crosley writes, of course, but the cult classic is for everyone. -emily firetog, deputy editor
leila mottley, nightcrawling knopf, June 7
At just 19 years old, Mottley has written the next great Oakland novel. In this raw debut, teen Kiara and her little brother have been alone ever since their single mom had a nervous breakdown, the rent on their tiny apartment has just doubled, and Kiara is forced to work in sex to make ends meet. . At an age when she should be discovering who she is, Kiara is forced to be the breadwinner and matriarch of her family, all the while coming into contact with corrupt police and trying to survive in a country that offers no roadmap on how to do it. then.
love for oakland seeps through these pages: love for the idea, love for what it’s supposed to be, and love that takes into account the complexity of what it is now, a city with a notoriously violent police force and broken. , a city of high-speed gentrification, a city that expels those who made it what it was. holding both sides of this coin is its own work of art, not to mention everything else that happens in this gripping novel. -julia hass, contributing editor
kali fajardo-anstine, woman of light one world, June 7
the debut of kali fajardo-anstine, the short story collection sabrina & corina, was something of a sensation upon its release in 2019. national book award finalist, the pen/robert w. Bingham Award, and History Award, and the winner of an American Book Award, immediately established the Denver native as one of the leading chroniclers of the Latinx and Native American experience in the American West. His first novel, a multi-generational magical realist historical epic, delivers on the promise of that stellar collection.
chronicling five generations of an indigenous chicano family in the region we now know as colorado and new mexico, mujer de luz centers on luz “little light” lopez, a tea leaf reader and part-time laundress who He must navigate 1930s Denver in it after his brother, the snake charmer Lothario, is mugged and driven out of town by a white mob. As Luz’s relationship with an arson lawyer complicates a budding romance with a sweet young musician, her visions of her ancestors’ origins grow more intense. this is a lush and superbly executed work of historical fiction, a thrilling and intimate family saga, and a powerful indictment of the white violence that warped the American West. -dan sheehan, editor-in-chief of bookmarks
j. m. miro, ordinary monsters flatiron, June 7
x-men meets a league of extraordinary gentlemen in j.m. miro’s imaginative victorian novel. a strange institute, run by the powerful and mysterious dr. Berghast is busy collecting orphans from around the world, each with their own special powers. but someone else wants the talented kids too, and has some gaiman level minions to help him out. Come for the world building, stay for the train fight! -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
rebecca rukeyeser, seaplane on final approachdouble day, June 7
although the idea of exploring the world… through books! it’s one that always makes me think of the wing posters in my elementary school library, I can’t deny that there is something enormously satisfying about reading a book that evokes a place, particularly one I’ve never been, with tenderness and specificity . Such is the great pleasure in Rebecca Rukeyser’s debut novel, which captivated me with both its take on the Kodiak desert and its exploration of sleaze. (Sleaze, you might guess, flourishes in the heat, but you’d be wrong: cold is sleahier.)
The novel follows Mira, a recent high school dropout on a quest to complete her unified theory of sleaze and win the affections of an Alaskan fisherman while spending the summer in a remote Alaskan resort surrounded by flora. , wildlife, and sex lessons, with all their tensions, ambiguities, ugliness, and, of course, sleaze.
The seaplane on final approach is, like all great coming-of-age stories, a perfect blend of deep, dark humor, sadness, and (of course), teenage excitement. it’s also a love letter to the specific wilderness of a place: “god’s own country,” as the owner of the lavender island lodge puts it. Whether the place belongs to god or something more seedy, in rukeyser’s hands, his strange magic cast a spell on me. -jessie gaynor, senior editor
jessi jezewska stevens, the visitors and other stories, June 7
Our systems have been crashing for a while, all around us; it has become increasingly clear that what we call an apocalypse, which we imagine through some bleak near-future filter, has already begun. what you make of our slow-motion decline really just depends on where you look, and for jessi jezewksa stevens, much of our ongoing and impending dystopia is clearly visible in the very recent past.
Set in a semi-fictional version of the aftermath of the 2008 housing collapse, as Zuccotti Park begins to fill with radical possibilities, visitors tell the story of C., a former art star whose (very) brief encounter with artistic acclaim (and the money that comes with it) has left her empty and adrift, spending days in her money-losing art supply store, and most nights in conversation with a gnomish garden gnome who can or not be completely in your head. (And who seems to be working on a systems novel of their own?)
In conjunction with the real-life Occupy movement, manifesting on the fringes of visitors in reaction to the greed-induced mortgage crisis of 2008, a fictional “terrorist” group begins to take credit for several attacks on a large scale. infrastructure, accelerating assaults on a network already overwhelmed by the insatiability of late capitalism.
and this is where the visitors stand apart from a particular kind of arid systems novel: as his semi-fictional world frays at every edge, we stay close to c., a deeply written character who could be any of us : Beset by the strains of debt, anxious about the decisions made and the decisions to come, yet filled with all the rich longing, desire, and tenderness that renews our humanity, even in the worst of times. how C. she admits to herself: “one can at least be relieved that oneself is not a grid and therefore not a target.” -jonny diamond, editor in chief of lit hub
werner herzog, tr. michael hoffmann, twilight world penguin press, June 14
There’s no way I’d miss out on reading the first novel written by the incredible director (and Mandalorian villain) Werner Herzog. the theme seems to be exactly what would inspire it: the “absurd but epic” true story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island alone for twenty-nine years after World War II ended, unaware that the fighting had stopped . Herzog loves oddballs and eccentric mavericks, and he brings Onoda’s unusual campaign to life with the kind of inquisitive, thoughtful, and mystical perspective only he can have. the twilight world is a dream from which it is difficult to wake up and difficult to leave behind. -olivia rutigliano, crimereads associate editor
geraldine brooks, horse Viking, June 14
prepare to cry for a million years! I was a horseman for twelve years until a serious accident prevented me from following him to the same level, but even if you are not like me and have not spent your entire childhood, adolescence and adulthood thinking about horses, you will not be able to contain yourself while reading this elegant story about three generations of people inspired by the story of America’s greatest racehorse, who was raised by an enslaved boyfriend in antebellum Kentucky and cared for by a Union Army soldier before embarking on an even greater journey. this is a novel about love, anger, passion and justice, unbridled and overflowing. -olivia rutigliano, crimereads associate editor
marcy dermansky, hurricane girlknopf, June 14
The titular hurricane girl is on the run from her movie producer boyfriend when a hurricane completely destroys their house. Her nimbyist neighbor won’t leave her alone on the wreckage, she’s got a head injury from a cameraman who was weirdly nice to her cats even though he smashed a glass vase over her head, and she’s really not sure what to do next. , ok? ? but she will find out, gloriously and completely, in this ode to escapism and reinvention. -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
thuân, tr. nguyễn an lý, Chinatown new addresses, June 21
chinatown is like nothing you’ve read; the best comparison i can think of is ducks, newburyport, but this stream of consciousness novel is only 184 pages long, and it’s best consumed in one sitting, because that’s how it’s told. sitting on a stuck train (under threat of an abandoned package in the subway station) with her young son, our narrator delves into her past. In memory of her, we are taken to communist Hanoi (where she grew up), Leningrad (where she went to school) and France (where the frame of this story takes place).
no matter where her mind wanders, it always returns to thuy, the father of her child whom she hasn’t seen in many years. Within their relationship and the way she reflects in the eyes of others (especially her parents), the conflicts between China and Vietnam develop. but she is consumed with missing him. the layered stories here are incredibly effective. the way she has been stuck on the train reflects the way she has been stuck in her life. plus, you’re so willing to immerse yourself in her memories, but you also occasionally come back to the present: is there a bomb in the subway and when is it going to explode? this lingering threat is like sleight of hand: you don’t expect it when her memories and desire deal the real blow. -katie yee, associate editor
samantha allen, patricia wants to hug zaring, June 28
had high hopes for this one: bachelor meets creature feature? Yes please, and Samantha Allen complied: I devoured it in one sitting (a decision I regretted the next day when I wanted to continue reading, but I’ll definitely be visiting again, preferably while in the Pacific Northwest). Highlights: The final four women in the final season of The Catch, a super-popular reality show that progresses with the help of a jaded crew, are transported to the remote and mysterious Otter Island to compete for their incredibly mediocre prize. , jeremy. but what should have been a luxurious night of glamping turns into a bloody nightmare… and then something else. Part satire, part light-hearted horror, part lesbian love story, I had as much fun reading this as Allen clearly did while he was writing it. a delightful and surprising summer game that I sincerely hope gets the big screen treatment. -Eliza Smith, Special Projects Editor
lydia yuknavitch, push riverhead, June 28
See Also: Best Picture Books of 2018 to Bring the World a Little Closer | Kirkus Reviews
thrust is yuknavitch’s first novel since joan’s book (a bold, dystopian reimagining of joan of arc!) took the world by storm in 2017, and fans will be pleased to learn that her character-building powers worlds are in full force here. in this realm there are carriers, people touched with the ability to travel through time using objects of importance. although this story is mixed with elements of magic, it also echoes our recognizable reality, namely with its grim police presence and its depiction of a raging planet. how can we escape? how can we save ourselves?
In a fictional town, a carrier girl named laisve stumbles upon an object that awakens the lives of a memorable cast of characters: from an artist to an accused murderer. This is where we see Yuknavitch’s talents as a storyteller ignite. (seriously, go read his most recent book, verge, or at least this story in that collection). As we walk through these seamlessly interconnected tales, we are reminded again and again how powerful voices from our past can be in helping. guide us into the future. -katie yee, associate editor
elisa albert, human blues avid reader press, July 5
feminism has failed us. what was promised to women has not been fulfilled: there does not seem to be a real and tangible route to “having it all”. I haven’t seen enough written about what happens when you want a family and a life of your own, but human sadness is a good start. The story centers on Aviva Rosner, a singer-songwriter who yearns for a baby in addition to her lauded music career, and who pours her angst and longing into her fourth album. Told in chapters on Rosner’s menstrual cycles, the novel does an exciting job of writing through womanhood, the complexities of womanhood, and what it means to get what you want, or what you thought you wanted. -julia hass, contributing editor
chinelo okparanta, harry sylvester bird seafaring books, July 12
Okparanta’s satirical novel follows a decade in the life of Harry Sylvester Bird, a young white man who is convinced he is black. Harry’s parents are racist, bordering on cartoonish evil, and the world is an alternate current reality, including covid protocols like vaccination checkpoints. After graduating from high school, Harry, now a G-Dawg, fully accepts his black identity and leaves his small, backwater town for New York. He troublesomely attends college on a white supremacist scholarship and later falls in love with Maryam, a student from Nigeria. Okparanta weaves an uncomfortable narrative through its truths: the limits of the alliance, the way white supremacy is embedded in every gesture. is an ambitious book that sheds light on the worst parts of our current cultural moment, a kind of masochistic romp around racism. -emily firetog, deputy editor
leyna krow, fire season viking, july 12
Fire Season is a fiery visit to the American West, a novel about three opportunistic figures who converge in the aftermath of the Great Spokane Falls Fire of 1889: a con man, a bank manager, and a woman who can see the figure. sparks fly when they collide with each other, and it’s not long before their latent tensions, attractions, and conflicts lead to a conflagration most might not see coming, and from whose ashes most will never rise again. -olivia rutigliano, crimereads associate editor
shaky alex, half outlaw blackstone publishing, july 12
if you were a fan of sons of anarchy but really wished there was a biracial female narrator who would put her own spin on toxic masculinity and bigotry, then half outlaw is the book for you. and me. I really enjoyed this book. Shaky Alex’s orphaned protagonist was raised by her outlaw biker uncle and his crew, but she resembles her Mexican father and never felt fully accepted by the casually racist biker club (the author wrote Half Outlaw in part to explore their own biracial identity). After the death of her uncle, she is called back to the club for one last grieving trip, and she must reexamine her complicated relationships with the men who raised her, imperfectly but lovingly. -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
teddy wayne, the great man theory bloomsbury, july 12
reading teddy wayne’s latest novel, about a 40-something father, adjunct, and writer of cultural commentary that no one wants to read much, is sometimes painful. As a character, Paul evokes pity, irritation, and sometimes grudging identification. Still, for all the awkwardness, I loved the big man theory, both because of Wayne’s knack for dark humor and because his plot falls so satisfyingly into place. As Paul, a self-proclaimed Luddite with a newly acquired habit of writing lengthy internet comments on a liberal news site and obsessively checking his tastes (while teetering on the brink of the intellectual dark web), he falls deeper into despair. Political impotence and tough gig economics, he devises a plan to cement his legacy, make his daughter proud, and save America (maybe). -jessie gaynor, senior editor
zain khalid, living brothergrove press, July 12
how do you begin to describe the intricate web that zain khalid has woven in his wonderful debut? This story takes us from New York City to Saudi Arabia and touches on themes of family, queer desire, capitalism, identity, and the unimaginable things we might do to survive. On the surface, Brother Alive is a family epic about three foster brothers who live above a mosque on Staten Island: Dayo, Iseul, and Youssef (our guide for much of this trip). Their guardian, Imam Salim, pushes them to excel, but secrets from his past force him to keep them at a distance.
There is another very important figure worth mentioning: the eponymous brother, a sort of imaginary friend who accompanies our narrator throughout his life. (from brother, he says, “when we acquire the language, we are the first word of each other”). he takes the form of various creatures, and feeds on memories and literature. (Sometime, if on a winter’s night an Italo Calvino traveler is referred to as “a book of beginnings, the way a child’s life might feel like.” love of language is a gift to Throughout this novel; Zain Khalid crafts each line with care and a masterful sense of command.) Even in the first section of the novel, in the glow of the main characters’ youth, the brother’s presence casts a shadow over everything . what exactly is brother, you may be wondering. you’ll have to read to find out; The truth is wilder than you can imagine. but what i will say is that, unknown to youssef at the time, the brother relates it to the sordid past of imam salim and the story of what happened to his biological parents.
Although this novel spans generations and continents, what is perhaps most surprising is the intense intimacy that is also present. the bond between the three children is presented here so realistically; their banter, their warmth, and their mutual obligation jump off the page. Most of the novel is also framed as a story told to Youssef’s niece (and the second section, a break in the narrative, is a letter to the children of Imam Salim). there is an incredible generosity and tenderness in the narration. -katie yee, associate editor
elizabeth hand, hokuloa roadmulholland, july 19
if the lost had been written by jane and paul bowles, with some input from stephen king, then it might read something like hokolua trail. I suppose I could have called it a tropical version of glitter, given the setting: An out-of-work builder from Maine takes a job as a live-in caretaker at a remote Hawaiian estate owned by reclusive and eccentric billionaire tech is out of his element, far from any help, and mysterious things keep happening…but is it all in his admittedly messed up head, or is the land itself rejecting him? -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
silvia moreno-garcia, the daughter of doctor moreau del rey, july 19
If there are two things I love in this world, it’s the contemporary reimaginings of Victorian-era horror and sci-fi, and the playful mixes of genres in literature. Thank God, So, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of 1970s Mexico City noir Velvet Was the Night and postcolonial Mexican Gothic romance, who puts her chameleon-like powers over H.G. wells’ 1896 “exercise in juvenile profanity”.
A thrilling fable of imperialism and exploitation, Dr. Moreau’s Daughter is the story of Carlota Moreau, a 19th century young woman living on a ranch in northern Yucatan with her beloved mad scientist father and his “hybrids.” —part human, part animal, raised to eventually work on dr. Moreau’s wealthy and increasingly impatient patron, Hernando Lizalde. father, daughter, alcoholic caretaker montgomery and hybrids coexist in (relative) harmony until the arrival of the patron’s spoiled son, eduardo, who falls in love with carlota.
As she explores her attraction to Eduardo and struggles against the gilded cage her father has built for her, Carlota also begins to question the morality of the not-so-good doctor’s experiments. This sublime hybrid of historical, speculative, and gothic fiction might just be Moreno-Garcia’s best yet. -dan sheehan, editor-in-chief of bookmarks
liska jacobs, the pink hotelmcd, july 19
This is the perfect book to recommend to all your hospitality friends! and also the perfect book. I went through it like a California wildfire: an apt comparison, given the novel’s setting in a luxury hotel beset by fires everywhere. As the hotel descends into a Roman-style bacchanal, protesters fill the streets, smoke fills the skies, and those who live and work in the hotel must choose between grotesque hedonism and leaving in disgust. -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
barbara bourland, the strength of such a beautydutton, july 19
I would describe this as my year of rest and relaxation if it were written from the perspective of grace kelly or lady di. A former Olympian, his body wracked from overtraining, meets the handsome heir to a small kingdom and becomes his flushed girlfriend. Soon, her bridal bliss turns into a waking nightmare, as her husband and mother-in-law conspire to control every dollar in the kingdom and every moment of the new princess’s life. -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
jon raymond, denial simon and schuster, July 26
Imagine a world in which a global protest movement brought all oil executives and lobbyists to a Nuremberg-like trial, condemning them and ridding the world of our dependence on fossil fuels. Although the results of devastating climate change still exist – cyclones, mega-fires, Venice under water – the criminals are behind bars. Or, in Jon Raymond’s cinematic thriller, most are.
One of them, Robert Cave, is hiding in Mexico, and journalist Jack Henry is going to find him. But an unexpected friendship causes Jack to question individual morality and punishment, and the nature of justice itself. there are a lot of recent novels that imagine the climatic disaster that will befall us and the destruction of social contracts. But Raymond’s version of climate change, the victory of the guilty over the repercussions and the possible healing of the planet, reinforces the fact that the most important crisis facing humanity is human nature itself. -emily firetog, deputy editor
dwyer murphy, an honest living viking, july 26
I don’t like reading books on the computer, or any kind of screen really, but I made my first exception so I could read an honest life as soon as possible. Not only is it written by the great dwyer murphy, in whose esteemed company I have had the pleasure of working for a number of years (there’s your disclaimer), but it’s also about all my favorite things: rare booksellers, old books, private investigators , publications -millennium brooklyn, sotheby’s auction house cafe (previously upstairs but now in the basement), new york antiquarian book fair, shameless imposters, roberto bolaño…the list goes on. I had a feeling he’d enjoy it anyway.
but, even after reading with delight dwyer’s witty prose on our site for three years, i wasn’t prepared for how much fun his first novel would be. this is a novel, a soft, timeless, thoughtful and melancholy novel, that must be read to be believed. it’s a controlled and collected mystery, with narration that follows the beat of the classic pi noir voice without making it a joke or a cliché. The best thing about this is that it’s a love letter to new york city, little new york, its nooks and crannies, the secluded secret landmarks and the vibrant hole in the wall spots that hide in plain sight. . And it’s about the characters who live there: we met so many charming, whimsical but lifelike characters that I sometimes felt like I was rereading the Pickwick papers. It’s a novel about exploring new york while digging into the inside of it, getting to know it, but also clinging to it.
See Also: Does Amy Die in Heartland?
Our protagonist notices that countless small shops have come and gone, but lovingly remains in those that have remained in some way, and tries (as dwyer does with all his efforts) to keep them alive. the central mystery is great, but its overall sensibility is so tremendous that he would have enjoyed it as much if it were a meandering travelogue where nothing remotely mysterious happened. -olivia rutigliano, crimereads associate editor
amina akhtar, kismet thomas & haberdashery, August 2
I’m a huge fan of amina akhtar’s cult classic debut, #fashionvictim, based on akhtar’s experience working in the world of fashion magazines. Her second novel deals with the Sedona wellness industry (Amina Akhtar is now based in Arizona) and also includes a slight supernatural touch that is perfectly integrated into the suspense arc as a whole. In Kismet, a young desi girl follows her mentor #livelaughlove from new york to sedona, befriends a group of ravens and also solves some murders. someone is killing extremely annoying people in this book, and readers may find themselves actively rooting for the killer. -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
emma seckel, the wild hunt tin house, august 2nd
I never knew ravens could be so creepy, but emma seckel schooled me in her richly imagined first novel. Every year on the first of October, the ravens arrive three at a time, so many that islanders off the coast of Scotland board up their houses for 30 days, instruct their children not to run under any circumstances (attracts birds), and celebrate the mechanical departure of the ravens on the first of November.
But according to Celtic legend, these aren’t just any ravens, but carnage, ancient creatures known to carry the souls of the dead. and in the solemn days after the second world war, the killings are more numerous and aggressive than ever. When a young islander goes missing, Leigh Welles, who harbors a great deal of guilt over feeling worthless during the war and a great deal of grief after the recent death of her father, is joined by widowed RAF pilot Iain Mactavish, too. guilt-ridden and reeling from war—to investigate. a poignant historical novel haunted by folklore and reality alike, best enjoyed during the slow slide from summer to fall. -Eliza Smith, Special Projects Editor
alejandro zambra, tr. megan mcdowell, bonsai penguin books, August 2
bonsai has already been praised around the world. The debut novel by the brilliant Alejandro Zambra, was originally published in 2006 and deservedly attracted attention. Now republished by Penguin Books in a new translation by Megan McDowell, this is the perfect time to find out (or rediscover) it. Not a single word is wasted in this powerful and elegantly told story, which retraces some episodes in the lives of Julio and Emilia, two young women who fall in love in college, bonding over their love of literature and discussion, and then withdraw. . of the lives of others.
this is the story of a love story, but more specifically, it is the story of all the moments that happen around and after the conclusion of an adventure: the doubts, the distance, the passage of time that feels normal and not normal all at once. A short, shocking story about all the imperceptible ways lovers change each other (and the ways they don’t), this book is unforgettable. -corinne segal, senior editor
tess gunty, the hutch knopf, August 2
in vacca vale, indiana, a poisoned corner of the midwest, where chemical remnants of an abandoned auto plant have seeped into a town’s water and into the bodies of its residents, the denizens of an apartment complex dubbed the hutch try to get ahead. At the center of the story is Blandine, an unusually intelligent young woman who is fascinated by the writings of the mystics, but is a high school dropout; She lives with three children who, along with Blandine, have outgrown foster care. (Unsurprisingly, all the boys are obsessed with her.)
The four are surrounded by a diverse cast of characters, from a new mother to a content moderator on a memorial website for the deceased and others; their private anxieties, longings, and fumblings toward connection propel the story forward. gunty writes with such compassion for her characters as they build their lives and assert their agency in a country that completely ignores them and, in particular, blandine’s brilliantly fierce curiosity about the world kept me moving throughout the film. history; she is a warrior, an intellectual force, a young woman who refuses to lose her power. this is a beautiful human story skilfully told. -corinne segal, senior editor
emi yagi, diary of a void Viking, August 9
As walker caplan wrote in our roundup of the most anticipated books of 2022, emi yagi’s diary of a void has “one of the funniest premises I’ve heard about all year” and, fortunately, the premise it’s worth it. tired of making coffee and cleaning up after her co-workers, mrs. single 34 years old. shibata makes a spontaneous announcement that she is pregnant (which one of us). Suddenly, her team stops expecting the most trivial tasks to fall to her, leaves work early (that is, a decent hour of 5 p.m.), and even makes a new circle of friends at an aerobics class for her. pregnant. .
this last one is where this story really shined for me: yagi captures shibata’s loneliness and the community afforded him by “getting in tune” with his married peers in such a keen way that, reading along , you’re on pins and needles. to find out what will happen as this false pregnancy runs its course. (you won’t get any spoilers from me!) -eliza smith, special projects editor
julian barnes, elizabeth finch knopf, August 16
Barnes’s reputation precedes him as an immersive and gentle storyteller, someone transfixed by humanity, the mystery at the core of personality, and more importantly, the fallibility of memory and history. In typical Barnesian fashion, Elizabeth Finch’s narrator, Neil, can trace the origin of his persona, the turning point of his life, to a season in his youth. In this case, he’s a class he took with the larger-than-life, Elizabeth Finch, or EF, as we know her. she is a stoic and imposing teacher who leaves her mark on the minds of all who enter her sphere, with nods to the flower of miss jean brodie, the new barnes novel revolves around this woman, what we know about her, which we will never know.
Perhaps one of Barnes’ most personal novels, he draws almost direct quotes from his 2016 obituary of his friend and real-life novelist, Anita Brookner, as he describes Ef, a Brookner understudy, whom Barnes admired, respected, and never really understood. elizabeth finch is a questioning of what it means to make a study of another person, to love someone, to be changed by someone, and to realize that we may never have known them at all. -julia hass, contributing editor
lauren acampora, the hundred waters grove, August 23
the paper wasp by lauren acampora, was one of my favorites of 2019. it was one of the most surprising and suspenseful novels I remember reading. it’s weird in a way that feels elemental and necessary, as well as sad, scary and exciting. I’m delighted to report that her latest novel, Las Cien Aguas, manages to be completely different from the paper wasp and, at the same time, just as exciting.
The Hundred Waters follows Louisa, a former model and artist, who now lives in a wealthy and staid Connecticut town while raising her 12-year-old daughter Sylvie and running the town’s sleepy arts center. she and her daughter become enamored with the teenage son of a new couple in town, an artist and climate activist who seems handsome and sinister. questions about the pursuit of art, stagnation, youth and aging, and how to exist on a planet that is increasingly made up solely of emergencies, are based on the wealth (no pun intended) of the characters in Sylvie and Louisa. and, as in the paper wasp, you can’t miss Acampora’s descriptions of the strangeness of works of art. -jessie gaynor, senior editor
rasheed newson, my government wants to kill me flatiron, August 23rd
you don’t want to miss my government wants to kill me, the debut novel by rasheed newson, producer and writer of such acclaimed series as bel-air, the chi and narcos. This novel is a powerful story about Trey, a young black gay man in 1980s New York City as he comes of age personally and politically. Newson’s writing is crisp and clear, witty and riveting, the kind of prose that grabs you so fast you’ll miss your subway stop (and I did). do you like footnotes? if so, then this is the book for you: extremely thoughtful and intelligent on narrative, thematic, and formal levels, revealing meaning in every possible place, my government wants to kill me is a tour-de-force. -olivia rutigliano, crimereads associate editor
ella king, bad fruit astra house, august 23rd
bad fruit occupies that liminal space between psychological thriller and horror, beautifully written and incredibly disturbing. In this exuberantly venomous story, we follow a teenage girl on the cusp of freedom from her tyrannical mother. things take a turn for the supernatural when she gains access to intergenerational memories and finally she begins to understand her family’s strange behavior. Perfect for those who enjoyed Natsuo Kirino’s underrated hodgepodge of suspense and body horror, Grotesque. -molly odintz, senior editor at crimereads
abdulrazak gurnah, later lives riverhead books, August 23
When Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel Prize in 2021 for his “uncompromising and compassionate insight into the effects of colonialism and the fate of refugees in the chasm between cultures and continents,” American readers rushed to buy his books; they found very little to buy, as many were out of stock, and publishers were soon running to correct the problem. Now Afterlives, which was published by Bloomsbury in the UK in 2020, is coming to the US via Riverhead.
Afterlives is a panoramic look at several generations of a family as they navigate the changing political climate in East Africa (present-day Tanzania), beginning with the era of German colonization through World War II. We are introduced to Ilyas, who was kidnapped as a child and forced to serve with the German forces, and his sister, Afiya, who, after Ilyas was kidnapped and her parents died, lived with another family who abused her and kept her forced to work. when ilyas returns, he takes his sister to live in a nearby town, where she settles with some friends while he voluntarily returns to the german army. It is in that city that Afiya meets Hamza, reeling from her time serving with the same strength: the two fall in love and build a life together.
This is a look at the impossible choices and violence a community faces as the savage force of colonization rips apart its social fabric; Gurnah’s deep insights into history and his keen narrative eye make this a fascinating and moving read. -corinne segal, senior editor
emma donoghue, shelter little brown, August 23
Did living in the 21st century get you down? Would you like to be able to disappear, even for a few hours, into an older, simpler, purer way of life? Well, there’s nothing purer than an extraordinarily inhospitable island off the west coast of Ireland, inhabited only by a massive colony of puffins and three meager 7th-century monks. In this brilliantly realized and utterly captivating new novel from Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue (The Room, The Wonder), a pious traveling scholar-priest named Artt has a dream that tells him to seek out a faraway island, isolated from sin. and the laziness of the modern world, on which to build a monastery. Taking with them minimal provisions (“god will provide”) Artt and a pair of bewildered but loyal new disciples—the bumbling but teenage sailor Trian and the battered, late convert Cormac—set off in a currach, with nothing but faith as their compass, to discover what we now know as skellig michael (where, if you remember, bearded old luke skywalker lives in one of those endless new star wars movies).
donoghue’s detailing of the island’s rugged geography and the methodical subsistence work of its dogged new butlers is masterful, almost hypnotic, but it is the author’s quietly devastating depiction of the conflict between faith and survival, obedience and self-preservation. , which drives this extraordinary novel. -dan sheehan, editor-in-chief of bookmarks
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