February 2019 Booklist
There is no clear pattern in the books available this February, most of which were published in January. Topics are varied. Fiction seems to have made a comeback. Fiction titles outnumber nonfiction. Plenty of crime offerings and some thrillers that look quite interesting. There is even an offering from a daughter whose mom was a numbers runner. I am still working on Churchill: A Walk with Destiny by Andrew Roberts, which has me immersed in British politics, and right now in World War II. This is a great book but very long and I have not been able to set aside good time for reading. However, this book is well worth the investment in time that it takes to read the over 1,000 pages. Churchill is a fascinating political figure and, given his contributions to bucking up Britain, which had to fight Germany almost alone until America finally entered the war, he was a true hero in Britain. In fact he should be remembered as a hero by all of us, because Hitler didn’t win and we owe that to Churchill and the people of the UK.
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Literature and Fiction
The Cassandra: A Novel by Sharma Shields
The End of Loneliness: A Novel by Benedict Wells
Golden Child: A Novel by Claire Adam
The Age of Light: A Novel by Whitney Scharer
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
Lost Children Archive: A Novel by Valeria Luiselli
The Study of Animal Languages: A Novel by Lindsay Stern
Finding Dorothy: A Novel by Elizabeth Lells
The Night Tiger: A Novel by Yangsze Choo
Enchantée by Gia Trelease
Mystery and Thriller
American Spy: A Novel by Lauren Wilkinson
Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds: The First Official Stranger Things Novel by Gwenda Bond
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Early Riser: A Novel by Jasper Fforde
Stalker: A Novel (Joona Linna) by Lars Kepler
The Next to Die: A Novel by Sophie Hannah
Never Tell: A Novel by Lisa Gardner
The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler
The Moroccan Girl: A Novel by Charles Cumming
Biographies and Memoirs
Wise Guy: Lessons from a Life by Guy Kawasaki
Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston
Jimmy Neurosis: A Memoir by James Oseland
The Unwinding of the Miracles: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything that Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams
Wild Bill: The True Story of America’s First Gunfighter by Tom Clavin
No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger: The Deadliest Animal in History by Dane Huckelbridge
Figuring by Maria Popova
Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap by Judy Goldman
Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
Daniel Morgan: An Inexplicable Hero by James Kenneth Swisher
Nonfiction
Drug Warrior: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo and the Rise of America’s Opioid Crisis by Jack Riley
The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, A Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film by W. K. Stratton
Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances that Flow through Our Lives by Mark Miodownik
Parkland: Birth of a Movement by Dave Cullen
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
Nature’s Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present by Philipp Blom
How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency by Akiko Busch
Good Kids, Bad City: A Story of Race and Wrongful Conviction in America by Kyle Swenson
The Shape of Life: One Mathematician’s Search for the Universe’s Hidden Geometry by Shing-Tung Yau, Steve Nadis
Underground: A Human History of the World’s Beneath Our Feet by Will Hunt
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
Polaris Rising: A Novel: The Consortium Rebellion by Jessie Mihalik
Early Riser: A Novel by Jasper Fforde
Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken Liu
A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers by Charlie Jane Anders, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Charles Yu, Victor LaValle, and John Joseph Adams
The New York Times Book Review
Jan. 6th
Crime
The New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
The Burglar by Thomas Perry
No Sunscreen for the Dead by Tim Dorsey
Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones
North of Dawn by Nuruddin Farah
Poetry
The Flame by Leonard Cohen
Nonfiction
Born to Be Posthumous by Mark Dery
The Future of Capitalism by Paul Collier
Never Home Along by Rob Dunn
The War Before the War by Andrew Delbanco
Fault Lines by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E Zelizer
Nonfiction Shortlist (Topic-Food)
The Bread and the Knife: A Life in 26 Bites by Dawn Drzal
Crave: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Christine S. O’Brien
Kitchen Yarns by Ann Hood
Jan. 13 th
Fiction
Sugar Run by Mesha Maren
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg
Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Nigeria)
The Shortlist – 2 Japanese Writers
The Frolic of the Beasts by Yukio Mishima, trans. by Andrew Clare
The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka, trans. by Ginny Tapley Takemore
Nonfiction
Anne Frank’s Diary in Graphic Form by Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Duped by Abby Ellin
An Unlikely Journey by Julián Castro
The Breakthrough by Charles Graeber
Jan. 20 th
Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley
Unquiet by Linn Ullmann
The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
Restoration Heights by Will Medearis
Nonfiction
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
The Birth of Loud by Ian Port
Breaking and Entering by Jeremy Smith
Bluff City by Preston Lauterbock
Prisoner by Jason Rezaian
The Shortllist
Nervous States: Democracy and the Decline of Reason by William Davies
The Free Society in Crisis: History of Our Times by David Selbourne
Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left by Philip K. Howard
Jan. 29 th
Nonfiction
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
The World According to Fannie Davis by Bridgett M. Davis (A daughter writes about her mother – a number’s runner)
In My Mind’s Eye: A Thought Diary by Jan Morris
Help Me by Marianne Power
Aristotle’s Way by Edith Hall
The Longest Line on the Map by Eric. Rutkow
Russell Baker books (Mr. Baker just passed)
So This is Depravity
Growing Up (Pulitzer Prize)
The Good Times
Book of American Humor
The Upside-Down Man
The Norton Book of Light Verse
Fiction
Hark by Sam Lipsyte
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Silmani
The Falconer by Dana Czapnick
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
The Shortlist – History in Fiction
The Churchill Woman by Stephanie Barron
The Eulogist by Terry Gamble
The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn
Mad Blood Stirring by Simon Mayo
Feb. 1 st
Best Winter Thrillers
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
As Long As We Both Shall Live by JoAnn Chaney
The Plotters by Un-Su Kim
Watching You by Lisa Jewell
The Current by Tim Johnston
The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Fay
Crime Fiction
Tombland by C. J. Sansoms
The Black Ascot by Charles Todd
The Suspect by Fiona Barton
The Murder Pit by Mick Finlay
Fiction
Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li
The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander
The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash
The Spirit of Science Fiction by Roberto Bolaño
The Shortlist – 4 novels
Golden Child by Claire Adam
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
The Patricide of George Bejamin Hill by James Charlesworth
Talent by Juliet Lapidos
Publisher’s Weekly
Jan 7 th
New Iberia Blues: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke – F
Thick: and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cotton – NF
Burned: A Story of Murder and Crime that Wasn’t by Edmund Humes – NF
The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai by Ha Jin – NF
Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones – F
Wanderer by Sarah Léon, trans. from the French by John Cullen – F
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss – F
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma – F
How to Date Men When You Hate Men by Blythe Roberson – NF with humor
Mouthful of Birds by Samantah Schweblin, trans. from the Spanish by Megan McDowell – SS
Looker by Laura Sims – F
The Drowning by J. P. Smith – Thriller
Slayer by Kiersten White – F
Jan 11 th
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders – Science Fiction
Big Bang by David Bowman – F
The Breakline by James Brabazon – Thriller
Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely by Andrew S. Curran – NF
No Sunscreen for the Dead by Tim Dorsey – Crime novel
Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life by Edith Hall – NF
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal (Pride and Prejudice Pakistani-style) – F
Last Night in Nuuk by Naviaq Komeliussen, trans. from the Danish by Anna Halager – F
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee – F
Hark by Sam Lipsyte – F
Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer – YA – F
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro – NF
Unquiet by Linn Ullmann – F
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay – F
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson – F
Jan. 18 th
The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander – F
The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty – Fantasy
The Current by Tim Johnston – Thriller
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land – Memoir
The Alarming Palsy of James Orr by Tom Lee – F
Camelot’s End: Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party by Jon Ward – NF
The Magic Feather Effect: The Science of Alternative Medicine and the Surprising Power of Belief by Melanie Warner – NF
The Nowhere Child by Christian White – F
Last Boat of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution by Helen Zia – NF
Jan. 25 th
Golden Child by Claire Adam – F
The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan – SS
The Prisoner of Limnos by Lois Mc Master Bujold – F – Series
Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen – F
Deep Creek: Finding Hope I the High Country by Pa Houston – Essays
Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz – Orphan X – F
The Plotters by Un-Su Kim, trans from the Korean by Sora Kum-Russell – Thriller
We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin – F
Feb. 1 st
Stalin’s Scribe: Literature, Ambition, and Survival: The Life of Mikhail Soloknov by Brian J. Boeck – Bio
Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson – NF
Europe: A Natural History by Tina Flannery with Luigi Boitani – NF
El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America by Carrie Gibson – NF
Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk by Amy S Greenberg – Bio
What We Did by Christobel Kent – F
A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction From 25 Extraordinary Writers, edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams – SS
The Ruin of Kings: A Chorus of Dragons, Bk. 1 by Jenn Lyons – Fantasy
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken – F
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – F
I Am A God by Giacomo Sartori, trans. from the Italian by Frederika Randall – F
The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer – F
Off Season by James Sturm – Graphic Fiction
The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by EsméWeijun Wang – NF
The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber – F
So Many Books, Choose Wisely 