Tag: Publisher’s Weekly

November 2019 Book List

November 2019 Book List

I have a recurring dream. I am escorted to a well-appointed studio apartment with all the new books for the month piled on every available surface. I am given a key, a valet robot who can cook and clean, and an AI virtual presence to handle my business and social interactions. I can read as long as I like but I can’t take any books out of the apartment and if I leave I can’t come back in. Am I obsessed? Actually this is a dream that could turn into a nightmare. However if you could take books out into the world with you and if you could come and go as you please, it might just be perfect.

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern  F*

This is Pleasure: A Story by Mary Gaitskill F

On Swift Horses: A Novel by Shannon Pufahl F

Girl, Woman, other: A Novel by Berndine Evaristo F*

The Innocents: A Novel by Michael Crummay F

Find Me: A Novel by André Aciman F

The Revisioners: A Novel by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton F

The Confession Club: A Novel (Mason) by Elizabeth Berg F*

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson  F*

Mary Toft: or The Rabbit Queen: A Novel by Dexter Pullman  F*

Mysteries and Thrillers

The Lost Causes of Beale Creek: A Novel by Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal

Broken Glass (A Nik Pohl Thriller) by Alexander Hartung and Fiona Beaton

A Christmas Gathering by Anne Perry

Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens

The Family Upstairs: A Novel by Lisa Jewell

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark

The Siberian Dilemma 9 (The Arkady Renko Novels) by Martin Cruz Smith

An Equal Justice (David Adams) by Chad Zunker

A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci

36 Righteous Men by Steven Pressfield

Nonfiction

Vicksburg: Grant’s Campaign that Broke the Confederacy by Donald L Miller

Valley Forge by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

Acid for the Children: A Memoir by Flea, Patti Smith *

When the Earth Had Two Moons: Cannibal Planets, Icy Giants, Dirty Comets, Dreadful Orbits, and the Origins of the Night Sky by Erik Asphang

Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals can Transform our Lives and Save Theirs by Richard Louv

The Beautiful Ones by Prince

Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Years of the American Civil War by S. C. Gwynne

Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, the Berlin Wall and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Iain McGregor *

Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation by Michael Powell

The Great Pretender – The Undercover Mission that Changed our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan *

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

User Unfriendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the Way We Live, Work and Play by Cliff Kuang with Robert Fabricant

Why Are We Yelling: The Art of Productive Disagreement by 
Buster Benson

Don’t Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed its Founding Principles – and all of us by Rana Foroohar

Volume Central: Hearing in a Deafening World by David Owen.

Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Deep by Rivers Solomon and Daveed Diggs

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

Call Down the Hawk (The Dreamer Trilogy, Bk. 1 by Maggie Stiefvater

Star Wars – Resistance Reborn: The Rise of Skywalker by Rebecca Roanhorse

Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Fate of the Fallen (Shroud of Prophecy) by Kel Kade

New York Times Book Update

Oct. 4 th

The Topeka School by Ben Lerner F

Sarah Jane by James Sallis – Crime

Bloody Genius by John Sanford – Crime

Gallows Court by Martin Edwards – Crime 

The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin – Crime

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis F

Akin by Emma Donoghue *

Growing Things by Paul Tremblay – Short stories – Horror

The Cabin at the End of the Lane by Paul Tremblay – Horror

Sealed by Naomi Booth – Horror

Nonfiction

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion by Tom Segev

What was Liberalism? The Past, Present, and Promise of a Noble Idea by James Traub

The Stakes – 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy by Robert Kuttner

The Accusation by Edward Berenson

Scarred by Sarah Edmondson – Nxivm

Super Pumped by Mike Isaac (Uber)

The Anarchy by William Dalrymple

Oct. 11 th

Fiction

The Shadow King by Namwali Serpell

The Sweetest Fruits by Moneque Truong

A Pure Heart by Rajia Hassib

The World that We Knew by Alice Hoffman

A Man in Love by Martin Walser (Göethe)

The Shortlist – Love and War in European Fiction

Country by Michael Hughes

Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth

The Girl at the Door by Veronica Raimo

Nonfiction

Transaction Man by Nicholas Lemann

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

The Second Founding by Eric Foner

Beaten Down, Worked Up by Steven Greenhouse

Homesick by Jennifer Croft (Memoir)

Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas

We are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer

Syria Secret Library by Mike Thompson

A Polar Affair by Lloyd Spencer Davis (promiscuous penguins)

New York Times does Halloween but I don’t.

Nov. 1 st

The Old Success by Martha Grimes – Crime

Death in Focus by Anne Perry – Crime

Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay – Crime

The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney – Crime

Grand Union by Zadie Smith – Short Stories

The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott

Fiction

Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

Girl by Edna O’Brien

Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard

Lampedusa by Steven Price

Nonfiction

Edison by Edmund Morris – Bio.

To Build a Better World by Condoleezza Rice and Philip Zelikow

Sontag by Benjamin Moser – Bio.

Who is an Evangelical? by Thomas S. Kidd

The Immoral Majesty by Ben Howe

The Problem with Everything by Meghan Daum

The Economist’s Hour by  Binyamin Appelbaum

The Marginal Revolutionaries by Janek Wasserman

The Shortlist – 3 Memoirs by Famous Women

Inside Out by Demi Moore

Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews with Emma Walton Hamilton

Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie by Carly Simon 

Publisher’s Weekly

Oct. 7 th

Salt Show by Julia Armfield

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir by Nikki Grimes

Older Brother by Mahir Guven, trans. from French by Tina Kover Europa

American Radicals: How Nineteenth Century Protest Shaped the Nation by Holly Jackson

How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones

Passing: A Memoir of Love and Death by Michael Korda

Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation by Andrew Marantz

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

Cosmosknights: Book One by Hannah Templer

Commute: An Illustrated Memoir of Female Shame by Erin Williams

Oct. 14

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi trans. from Arabic by Marilyn Booth (Oman) F

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur 

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson NF

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha F – based on true case

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox Memoir

Music: A Subversive History by Ted Gioia History

One Hundred Autobiographies: A Memoir by David Lehman Memoir

The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, MD by Nicholas Meyer F

The First Cell: And the Human Cost of Pursuing Cancer to the Last by Azra Razer NF

Salvaged by Madeleine Roux Science Fiction Thriller

It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo trans. from Spanish by Elizabeth Bryer (Caracas, Venezuela) F

Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

Oct. 21

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg F *

The Peanut Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Gang, and the Meaning of Life – Edited by Andrew Blauner (Essays, Poems, Cartoons) (Valentines to Charles M. Schultz)

The Night Fire by Michael Connelly F

The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille Thriller *

Initiated: Memory of a Witch by Amanda Yates Memoir

Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren Biography *

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell Thriller

Edison by Edmund Morris Biography

The Promise by Silvina Ocampo trans. from Spanish by Suzanne Jill Levine and Jessica Powell F

The Fragility of Bodies by Sergio Olguin, trans. from Spanish by Miranda France, Bitter Lemon Crime

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (Franco, Madrid) F

Famous in Cedarville by Erica Wright F

Oct. 28

Blue Moon: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child F

The Lives of Lucien Freud: The Restless Years, 1922-1968 by William Feaver Biography

Overview: A New Perspective of Earth by Benjamin Grant Photos

Blood: A Memoir by Allison Moorer Memoir

Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right by Anne Nelson NF*

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada, trans from Japanese by David Boyd F

The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna by Mira Ptacin NF

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (humor) F

Nov. 4

The Movie Musical! by Jeanine Bassinger NF

The History of Philosophy by A. C. Grayling NF

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (“a contemporary page-turning winner”) F

In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Mava Machado (same sex domestic abuse) Memoir

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern F

The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel Jose Older F

The Arab of the Future 4: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1987-1992 by Riad Sattouf, trans. from Frenchy by Sam Taylor Autobiography *

The Siberian Dilemma by Martin Cruz Smith (Arkady Renko #9) by Thriller

Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop by Thomas Travisano Biography and Literary Study

October 2019 Book List

Here’s my October 2019 Book List compiled from the Amazon front page for books, NYT Books, and Publisher’s Weekly Tip Sheet. Fiction and political nonfiction are probably the winning categories on this list with the most contenders for our attention. If you like crime books NYT always gives good crime. And there are plenty of thrillers. I imagine myself sitting in a chair surrounded by stacks of books. As soon as I am done with one the next one is close at hand. Of course the needs of the human body must still be met but I do so reluctantly and wish for a robot to at least bring me foodstuffs to graze on. Hint: Don’t give in to a fantasy like this. Our bodies deteriorate if we sit all the time. You still need fresh air and walks in the park. This is what books read aloud for our listening pleasure are for. 

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg *

The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy *

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson *

The Topeka School: A Novel by Ben Lerner *

Cilka’s Journey: A Novel by Heather Moss *

Sarah Jane by James Sallis *

Olive Again: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout

Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson *

Divide Me By Zero by Lara Vapnyer *

Mysteries and Thrillers

The Guardians: A Novel by John Grisham

Empire of Lies by Raymond Khoury

The Deserter: A Novel by Nelson DeMille

The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

The Butterfly Girl: A Novel by Rene Denfeld

Agent Running in the Field: A Novel by John le Carré

Ninth  House by Leigh Burdugo

Blue Moon: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

Sarah Jane by James Sallis

Nonfiction

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West by H. W. Brands

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

The End is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments, from Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses by Dan Carlin

Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress by Christopher Ryan *

On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey by Paul Theroux

Movies and Other Things by Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres

Letters from an Astrophysicist by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero by Christopher McDougall

Biographies and Memoirs

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones

Face It by Debbie Harry

Horror Stories: A Memoir by Liz Mair

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me by Adrienne Brodeur *

Homework: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton

Me: Elton John: Official Autobiography by Elton John

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox

I Will Never See the World Again: The Memoir of an Imprisoned Writer by Ahmet Altan

Edison by Edmund Morris

Beautiful on the Outside: A Memoir by Adam Rippon

Things We Didn’t Talk About When I was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco

Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper *

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Supernova Era by Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen

The Girl With No Face: The Daoshi Chronicles by M. H. Boroson

Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Salvaged by Madeline Roux

The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith

Steel Craw Saga by Paul Keueger

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse – Book One of the Thorne Chronicles by K. Eason

New York Times Book

Sept. 6

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie F – see my review on goodreads.com

Overthrow by Caleb Crain F

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa F

If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais F

The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan F

Travel Light, Move Fast by Alexandra Fuller Memoir

The Optimist’s Telescope by Bina Venkataraman NF

Audience of One by Gene Shteyngart NF

Learning from the Germans by Susan Neiman NF

Floating Coast by Bathsheba Demuth NF

Silver, Sword, and Stone by Marie Arana NF

First You Write a Sentence by Joe Moran NF

Karl Marx: Prophet of the Present by Shlomo Avineri Biography

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith Memoir

4 Books about CIA

Black Site: The CIA in Post-9/ll World by Philip Mudd NF

The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House by Nada Bakos with David Coburn NF

The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics that Helped America Win the Cold War by Antonio J. Mendez and Jonna Mendez with Matt Baglio NF

Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary, Armies, Operators, and Assassins by Annie Jacobsen NF

All the Powers of Earth: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 3 by Sidney Blumenthal NF

The Nature of Life and Death: Every Body Leaves a Trace by Patricia Wiltshire Autobiography

Our Dog: Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond by Alexandra Horowitz NF

Defending Israel: The Story of My Relationship with My Most Challenging Client by Alan M Dershowitz NF

Editor’s Choice

Human Relationships and Other Difficulties: Essays by Mary-Kay Wilmers Essays

Faber and Faber: The Untold Story by Tony Faber NF

The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine F

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk F

Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe F

The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing and Coming Out by William Dameron NF

And How Are You. Dr. Sacks? A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks by Lawrence Weschler Biographical Memoir

Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects by Ann Sverchup-Thygerson, trans. by Lucy Moffatt NF

Sept. 13

The Institute by Stephen King

Crime (4)

Heaven My Home by Attica Locke F

What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr F

Missing Person by Sarah Lotz F

Three Hours by Anders Roslund and Gorge Hellstrom, trans. by Elizabeth Clark Wessel F

We the Survivors by Tash Aw F

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman F

The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina NF

Inconspicuous Consumption by Tatiana Schlossberg NF

The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg by Eleanor Randolph NF

Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe NF

Love Falls on Us by Robbie Cory-Boulet NF

A Good Provider is One Who Leaves by Jason De Parle NF

Maoism: A Global History by Julia Lovell NF *

New Dystopian Novels

The Diver’s Game by Jesse Ball F *

The Warehouse by Rob Hart F *

The Nobody People by Bob Proehl *

Sept. 20

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood F *

Dominicana by Angie Cruz F *

A Door in the Earth by Alice Waldman F

Hard Mouth by Amanda Goldblatt F

Coventry by Rachel Cusk Essays

She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey NF

The Education of Brett Kavanaugh by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly NF

Gender and Our Brains by Gina Rippon NF

See Jane Win by Caitlin Moscatello NF

Nobody’s Victim by Carrie Goldberg NF

Consent by Donna Freitas NF

YA Crossover

Who Put This Song On? By Morgan Parker

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

American Royals by Katharine McGee

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

Sept. 27

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett F

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson F

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller F

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry F

Cold Storage by David Koepp F

Bottle Grove by Daniel Handler F

How to Be An Antiracist by Ibhram X Kendi NF

The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power NF

How the Other Half Learns by Robert Rondiscio NF

The Years that Matter Most by Paul Tough NF

The Geography of Risk by Gilbert Gaul NF

How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss NF

On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein NF

The Green New Deal: Why Fossil Fuel Civilization Will Collapse by 2028, and the Bold Economic Plan to Save Life On Earth by Jeremy Rifkin NF *

Oct. 4

The Topeka School by Ben Lerner F

How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss NF

Crime (4)

Sarah Jane by James Sallis

Bloody Genius by John Sanford

Gallows Court by Martin Edwards

The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin 

Cantoras by Carolina DeRobertis F

Akin by Emma Donoghue F *

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell NF

A State at Any Cost: The Life David Ben-Gurion by Tom Seger NF

What was Liberalism? The Past, Present and Promise of a Noble Idea by James Traub NF *

The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy by Robert Kuttner NF *

The Accusation by Edward Berenson NF

Scarred by Sarah Edmondson NF

Super Pumped by Mike Isaac NF

The Anarchy by William Dalrymple NF

Publisher’s Weekly

Sept. 6

Clear My Name by Paula Daly – Thriller

Animalia by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, trans. from French by Frank Wynne – F

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman “challenging but undoubtably brilliant”, 750 Pages, Short-listed for Man Booker Prize F *

The Institute by Stephen King F *

Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann NF *

Don’t Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane – rom com

Guest House for Young Widows: The Women of ISIS by Asadeh Moaveni NF *

Tinfoil Butterfly by Rachel Eve Moulton (horror) F *

A Season on Earth by Gerald Mumane F *

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker F *

The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir by Samantha Power NF

Ruby and Roland by Faith Sullivan F *

Sept. 13

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie – Thriller

Gamechanger by C. X. Beckett – Science Fiction

The Undying: A Meditation on Modern Illness by Anne Boyer – Memoir

Opioid Indiana by Brian Allen Carr F

Gallows Court by Martin Edwards – Mystery 

Think Black: A Memoir by Clyde W. Ford – NF *

The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester (based on a real story) F *

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke (Aryan Brotherhood storyline) – Mystery 

Wildhood: The Epic Journey from Adolescence to Adulthood in Humans and Other Animals by Barbara Natterson Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prscott (Women in the CIA) – F *

Pittsburgh by Frank Santoro – Memoir

Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick – YA 14+

Imagined Life: A Speculative Journey Among the Exoplanets in Search of Intelligent Aliens, Ice Creatures, and Super Gravity Animals by James Trefil and Michael Summers NF

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson “this is a wise, powerful, and compassionate novel” F *

Sept. 20

Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse F

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (currently reading) F *

Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming by Lászió Krasznahorkai, trans. from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet F *

The Shadow King by Manza Mengiste (“a slice of Ethiopian history”) F

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz Science Fiction

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett F

The Fool and Other Moral Tales by Ann Serre, trans. from French by Mark Hutchinson – Short stories

Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith – Dystopian F – YA

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith – Memoir

Rusty Brown, Part 1 by Chris Ware – Graphic Novel

Sept. 30

I Will Never See the World Again: The Memoir of an Imprisoned Writer by Ahamet Altan, trans. from Turkish by Yasemin Congar NF

A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes (Jamaica) F

The Shape of Night by Tees Gerritsen – Thriller

The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith – Fantasy

Qualifications: A Graphic Memoir in Twelve Steps by David Heatley (addicted to rehab) Memoir

Dry Country by Jake Hinkson F

Whisper of Shadow and Flame by L. Penelope – Fantasy

Sarah Jane by James Sallis F

Frankissstein by Jeanetter Winterson F *

Oct. 6

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield – Short stories

Ninth House by Leigh Burdugo – Fantasy

Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir by Nikki Grimes – Memoir in verse

Older Brother by Mahir Guven, trans. from French by Tina Kover F

American Radicals: How Nineteenth Century Protest Shaped the Nation by Holly Jackson NF *

Fake Bingo by Jac Jemc – Short Stories

How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones – Memoir

Passing: A Memoir of Love and Death by Michael Korda (wife with brain cancer) NF *

Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation by Andrew Marantz NF *

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia F *

Grand Union by Zadie Smith – Short stories

Commute: An Illustrated Memoir of Female Shame by Erin Williams – Memoir

September 2019 Book List

My September booklist is a bit late this month. No apologies because I am into reading Frederick Douglas: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight and, although it is not at all difficult to read, it is long and I have not had as much time to read (because I subscribed to Netflix, very naughty). I have been tempted away from print media for a while. But I will be back and I already have other books clamoring for my attention. Salman Rushdie has a new book and it is calling to me along with all the new fiction on the Amazon list this month. The New York Times Book Review has changed it’s format and I will have to get used to the new setup, so I did not include those books on this month’s list. I will have to get with the new program. 

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

Dominicana: A Novel by Angie Cruz *

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie *

The Secrets We Kept: A Novel by Lara Prescott *

Gun Island: A Novel by Amitov Ghosh *

The World That We Knew: A Novel by Alice Hoffman *

The Water Dancer: A Novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates *

The Grammarians: A Novel by Cathleen Schine *

The Dutch House: A Novel by Ann Patchett *

Red at the Bone: A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson *

Opioid, Indiana: A Novel by Brian Allen Carr *

Mysteries and Thrillers

The Nanny: A Novel by Gilly Macmillan

The Institute by Stephen King

A Better Man (a Chief Inspector Gamache Novel) by Louise Penny

Land of Wolves (Walt Longmire Mystery) by Craig Johnson

The Secrets We Kept: A Novel by Lara Prescott

Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Anna Waterhouse

The Glass Woman: A Novel by Caroline Lea

Cold Storage: A Novel by David Koepp

The Chestnut Man: A Novel by Sören Sviestrup

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz

Biographies and Memoirs

Make it Scream, Make it Burn (Essays) by Leslie Jamison

Over the Top: A Raw Journey of Self Love by Jonathan Van Ness

The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor by Arthur Kleinman

High School by Sara Quin, Tegan Quin

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lesson Learned from 15 Years as CEO of Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by Jim Mattis, Bing West

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser

Prisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephanie Kinzer

Nonfiction

We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo

How to: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty, Dianné Ruz

Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garett M. Graff

Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime by Sean Carroll

Super Pumped: The Battle of Uber by Mike Isaac

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Last Ones Left Alive: A Novel by Sarah Davis-Goff

The Testaments: The Sequel to the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness) by Joe Abercrombie

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Publisher’s Weekly

Aug. 5th

Without a Prayer: The Death of Lucas Leonard and How One Church Became a Cult by Susan Ashline – NF

King of the Court by Travis Dandro – Memoir

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma – Memoir

The Wolf Wants In by Laura McHugh – Thriller

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silva Moreno-Garcia – F

City of Windows by Robert Pobi – Thriller

The Right Swipe (Modern Love #1 by Alicia Rei  – F

Say You Still Love Me by K A Tucker – F

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware – Thriller

The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán trans. From Sp. By Sophie Hughes

Aug. 12

Rule of Capture by Christopher Brown – Science Fiction Thriller

The Last Ocean: A Journey through Memory and Forgetting by Nicci Gerrard (dementia) NF *

Gods with a Little g by Tupelo Hassman – F *

Unbreak Me by Michelle Hazen – F – Romance

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee – YA *

Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America by Christopher Leonard – NF *

The Perfect Son by Lauren North – F

Inland by Téa Obreht

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa trans. from Japanese by Stephen Snyder – F

Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan by Alan Paul and Andy Aledort – NF

The Plateau by Maggie Paxson NF

The Retreat by Sherri Smith – Thriller

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk trans. from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones – F

Catfish Lullaby by A C Wise – Horror novella

Aug. 19

The Cruel Stars by John Birmingham – Science Fiction

The Second Biggest Nothing by Colin Cotterill – F

Coventry: Essays by Rachel Cusk – Essays

A Good Provider is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21stCentury by Jason De Parle – NF or based on a true story

Going Dutch by James Gregor – F

Tidelands by Phillippa Gregory – F

The Warehouse by Rob Hart – F

Meet Me in the Future by Kameron Hurley – Short Stories

The Whisper Man by Alex North – Thriller

The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott – Short Stories

Machine by Susan Steinberg – Thriller

This Poison Will Remain by Fred Vargas trans. from Frenchy by Siân Reynolds – Mystery

Aug. 23

Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat – Short Stores

From the Shadows by Juan José Millas trans. from Sp. By Thomas Bunstead and Daniel Hahn – F

A Better Man by Louise Penny – Mystery

The Ventriloquists by E R Ramzipoor – F

Gender and Our Brains: How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of Male and Female Minds by Gina Rippon – NF

Aug. 30

Unbreakable: The Woman Who Defied the Nazis in the World’s Most Dangerous Horse Race by Richard Askwith – NF

We the Survivors by Tash Aw – F

Women War Photographers from Lee Miller to Anja Niedringhaus by Anne-Marie Beckmann and Felicity Korn – NF

Dominicana by Angie Cruz – F *

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie – F *

The Art of Statistics: How to Learn From Data By David Spiegelhalter – NF

The Bone Fire by S D Sykes – Whodunit

Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes by Dana Thomas – NF

The Sweetest Fruits by Monique Truong

August 2019 Book List

From a Google Image Search – Books

Here is my list of books published in July, available in August. Lots of fiction, not as much nonfiction. If you are someone who loves crime books or thrillers and these kinds of books top your summer reading list then you are all set. There is also quite a bit of interesting science fiction and fantasy for you if that is your taste. And there are several good biographies and memoirs that were published recently. The ones that struck me when I read the summaries are starred. If you Google a book you will get a very short summary of what it’s about. Go to Amazon or your library for a longer description if you’re not sure what to pick. Don’t worry, you can’t keep up. Just dive in and carve out a little niche for yourself. Happy reading. 

Amazon

Best Books of August

Literature and Fiction

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

American Saint by Sean Gandert *

Chances Are…by Richard Russo *

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory *

Inland by Téa Obreht *

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christi Lefteri *

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokaczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones *

Summerlings by Lisa Howorth *

Gods with a little g by Tupelo Hassman

Mysteries and Thrillers

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin *

The Bitterroots by CJ Box

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Whisper Man by Alex North

The Last Widow (Will Trent) by Karin Slaughter

The Whisperer (13) (Inspector Sejer Mysteries) by Karin Fossum, Kari Dickson

True Believer (2) (Terminal List) by Jack Carr

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney

A Keeper by Graham Norton

Don’t Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokaczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Biographies and Memoirs

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

Idiot Wind: A Memoir by Peter Kaldheim

Alexander the Great: His Life and His Mysterious Death by Anthony Everitt

Barnum: An American Life by Robert Wilson

Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands by JohnClayton

Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan by Alan Paul, Andy Aledort

Nights in White Castle: A Memoir by Steve Rushin

The Sober Diaries: How One Woman Stopped Drinking and Started Living by Clare Pooley

Nobody’s Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers Pervs and Trolls by Carrie Goldberg

Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth

Nonfiction

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill, Dan Piepenbring

Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors by Edward Niedermeyer

Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects by Edward Posnett

The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains by Joseph Le Doux *

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi

The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator by Timothy Wineqard

The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by David Robson *

The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Woman Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott

The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier by Ian Urbina

Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z. Hossain

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? By Temi Oh

Blood of an Exile (Dragon of Terra by Brian Haslund)

Shrouded Loyalties by Reese Hogan

The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War) by R F Kuang

Cry Pilot by Joel Dane

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buston

Turning Darkness into Light by Marie Brennan

The Gossamer Mage by Julie E Gernada

The New York Times Book Review

Crime

Conviction by Denise Mina *

More News Tomorrow by Susan Richards Shreve *

The Island by Ragnar Jonasson

Finding Mrs. Ford by Deborah Goodrich Royce

Fiction

Last Day by Domenica Ruta *

Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson *

The Body in Question by Jill Ciment *

Nonfiction

The Guarded Gate by Daniel Okrent *

The Way We Eat by Bee Wilson *

Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero by Tyler Cowen

A Thousand Small Sanities by Adam Gopnik (defense of liberalism) *

The Buried by Peter Hessler

The Shortlist (books on mental illness)

The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia by Marin Sardy

Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness by Anne Harrington

Tyrannical Minds: Psychological Profiling, Narcissism, and Dictatorship by Dean Haycock *

Podcast 50 Best Memoirs – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/books/review/50-best-memoirs-past-50-years

July 12

Great Summer Reads

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by Pamela Dorman

The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore

The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess

The Travelers by Regina Porter

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kivok

Fiction

Clyde Fans: A Picture Book by Seth *

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Nonfiction

A Good American Family by David Maraniss

Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff

Running to the Edge by Matthew Futterman

The Making of a Justice by Justice John Paul Stevens

The Land of Flickering Lights by Michael Bennet

The Thirty-Year Genocide by Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi

July 19

Fiction

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead *

Crime

Knife by Jo Nesbo

The Shameless by Ace Atkins

The Body in the Wake (Faith Fairchild) by Katherine Hall Page

The Hard Stuff by David Gordon

Fiction

Mostly Dead Things by Kristin Arnett

A Philosophy of Ruin by Nicholas Mancussi

Lanny by Max Porter

The Shortlist (Story Collections)

Rain by Mia Couto

The Sun on My Head by Giovani Martins

Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana

Nonfiction

My Parents/This Does Not Belong to You by Aleksandar Hemon (Memoir)

Appeasement by Tim Bouverie (Neville Chamberlain)

The Crowded Hour by Clay Risen

July 26th

Recursion by Blake Crouch (alternate reality thriller)

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

The Need by Helen Phillips

The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

Empty Hearts by Juli Zeh

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin *

Publishers Weekly 

July 5

The Substitution Order by Martin Clark (legal thriller)

Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem by Daniel R Day (memoir)

Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch – F

Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking it all with the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier – NF

Ash Kickers (Smoke Eaters #2) by Sean Grigsby (Science Fiction/Fantasy)

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez (F) (Rom-Com+)

The Chain by Adrian McKinty (F) (thriller) *

The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America by Margaret O’Mara (NF)

The Need by Helen Phillips (F) (crossover, thriller, sci-fi, literary)

The Toll by Cherie Priest (F) (‘Gothic tale’)

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renki (NF)

George Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David L Roll (NF)

Say Say Say by Lila Savage (F) *

Supper Club by Lara Williams (F) *

July 12

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone *

Native Tongue by Suzetter Haden Elgin *

Red Metal by Mark Greany and H Ripley Rawlings IV (F)

Greasy Bend by Kris Lackey (F) (2 investigations that connect)

Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler (F)

Four Men Shaking: Searching for Sanity with Samuel Beckett, Norman Mailer, and My Perfect Zen Teacher by Lawrence Shainberg (Memoir)

They Call Us Enemy by George Takei, et al

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (F) *

The Rage of Dragons (The Burning #1) (Fantasy)

July 19

Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher (F)

Desdemona and the Deep by CSE Cooney (F) (Fantasy/Sci Fi)

The Gomorrah Gambit by Tom Chatfield (F) (high tech thriller)

Jade War by Fonda Lee (F) (Fantasy)

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman (F) (Crime novel)

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCullock (NF)

Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty (F)

Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History and of the Outbreaks to Come by Richard Preston (NF)

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (F) (Crime) (forensic psychologist)

Glory and It Litany of Horrors by Fernanda Torres (F)

The Last Astronaut by David Wellington (F) (Space thriller)

July 26

Can Two Women Ever Be – Too Close by Natalie Daniels (F)

A Capitol Death by Lindsey Davis (F) (a Flavia Alba novel)

Smokescreen by Iris Johansen (F) (thriller)

God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss and Renewal in Middle America by Lyz Lenz (NF)

The Hound of Justice (The Janet Watson Chronicles) (F)

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen (F) (Fantasy)

July 2019 Book List

July 2019 Book List

If you are a fan of real space travel, there is a list of books related to the Apollo 11 moon landing, which happened around the same time as Woodstock, 50 years ago this year. I also found both interesting fiction and nonfiction available in June, enough titles to make me wish I could read faster. Print the list out, mark it up. Remember you can almost always find a summary on Amazon and at your library or your library’s web site. Some people get a lot of reading done in the summer. Happy 4 th of July.

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes  *

Deep River by Karl Marlantes

The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess  *

Stay and Fight: A Novel by Madeline Ffitch*

Very Nice: A Novel by Marcy Dermansky  *

The Great Unexpected: A Novel by Dan Mooney  *

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead  *

The Lager Queen of Minnesota: A Novel by J. Ryan Stradel

The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel by Claire Lombardo *

In the Full Light of the Sun by Clare Clark *

Mysteries and Thrillers

Lock Every Door: A Novel by Riley Sager

Lady in the Lake: A Novel by Laura Lippman

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

A Nearly Normal Family by M. T. Edvardsson

The Possession (The Anomaly Files) by Michael Rutger

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

The Friend: A Novel by Joakim Zander

The Need by Helen Phillips

Wanderers: A Novel by Chuck Wendig *

The New Girl (Gabriel Allon) by Daniel Silva *

Big Sky (Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson  *

Biographies and Memoirs

Stronghold: One Man’s Quest to Save the World’s Wild Salmon by Tucker Malarkey

Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem: A Memoir by Daniel R. Day

Hitler: A Life by Peter Longrich

This is Not a T-shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community – A Life in Streetwear by Bobbie Hundreds

The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison’s Ten-Year Road Trip by Jeff Guinn

Casting into the Light: Tales of a Fishing Life by Janet Messineo

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Elsinger, Steven Scott, illus. Becker – Memoir

The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing and Coming Out by William Dameron

George Marshall: Defender of the Republic  by David L. Roll

The Life of John F Kennedy Jr.: America’s Reluctant Prince by Steven M. Gillon

Nonfiction

Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It all with the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey through the Heart of America’s Fast Food Kingdom by Adam Chandler

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Killer of the 21stCentury by Maureen Callahan

The Last Leonardo: The Secret Lives of the World’s Most Expensive Painting by Ben Lewis

The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History and of the Outbreaks to Come by Richard Preston

Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein *

I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch by John Zada

Science Fiction and Fantasy

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

Wanderers: A Novel by Chuck Wendig  *

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep: A Novel by H. G. Parry

The New York Times Book Review

June 7

Fiction

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Loudermilk by Lucy Ives

Bakhita by Véronique Almi

Spring by Ali Smith

Crime

This Storm by James Ellroy

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

Murder in Bel-Air by Cara Black

The Body in the Castle Well by Martin Walker

The Shortlist

The Selected Works of Abdullah The Cossack by H. M. Naqvi

There’s a Word for that by Sloane Tanen

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe by Evan James

Nonfiction

The Queen by Josh Levin

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

Generation Wuss by Bret Easton Ellis

The Pandemic Century by Mark Honigsbaum

The Pioneers by David McCullough

Range by David Epstein

Gropius by Fiona MacCarthy

Moneyland by Oliver Bullough

June 14

Nonfiction

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

L.E.I.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated Female Byron by Lucasta Miller

The Death of Politics by Peter Wehner

The Right Side of History by Ben Shapiro

Clear and Present Safety by Michael A. Cohen and Micah Zinko

Women’s Work by Megan Stack

The Conservative Sensibility by George Will

Love Your Enemies by Arthur C. Brooks

The Case for Trump by Victor Davis Hansson

Fiction

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan

Where We Come From by Oscar Cásares

The Short List (from France)

Life of David Hockney by Catherine Cusset, trans. by Teresa Lavender Fagan

Exposed by Jean-Phillippe Blondel, trans. by Alison Anderson

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson, trans. by Molly Ringwald

June 21

50th Anniversary of Apollo 11

Hasselblad and the Moon Landing by Deborah Ireland

Apollo’s Legacy: Perspectives on the Moon Landing by Roger Launius

Shoot For the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11 by James Donovan

Apollo To The Moon: A History in 50 Objects by Teasel Muir-Harmony

Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise that Launched America Into the Space Age by Roger Stone and Alan Andres

American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by David Brinkley

One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission that Flew Us to the Moon by Charles Fishman

Nonfiction

The Plaza by Julie Satow

War and Peace by Nigel Hamilton  *

Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells by Pico Iyer

The White Devil’s Daughters by Julia Flynn Siler

Assad or We Burn the Country by Sam Dagher

Fiction

Original Prin by Randy Boyagoda

Orange World by Karen Russell (Short Stories)

Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen

Big Sky (Det. Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson  *

Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada

The Poison Thread by Laura Parcell

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

Children of the Ghetto by Elias Khoury

Walking on the Ceiling: A Novel by Aysegül Savas

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames *

All the Good Things by Claire Fisher

How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee

June 28

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner  *

The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

My Life as a Rat by Joyce Carol Oates

America Was Hard to Find by Kathleen Alcott

Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria

Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman  *

Nonfiction

Democracy May Not Exist But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone by Astra Taylor

The Problem of Democracy by Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein

The America: The Case for The Nation by Jill Lepore

Never Lovely So Real (Nelson Algren Biography) by Colin Asher

People, Power, and Profits by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Ill Winds by Larry Diamond. *

Spying of the South by Tony Horwitz

Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene

Bottle of Lies by Katherine Eban

Picnic Comma Lightning by Laurence Scott

Publisher’s Weekly

June 7

Elderhood, Redefining Aging, Tranforming Medicine, Reimaging Life by Louise Aronson (NF)

Bunny by Mona Awad (F)  *

Recursion by Blake Crouch (Thriller)

Honestly We Meant Well by Grant Ginder (F)

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Rosalie Lim (F)

The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason (Thriller)

The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History by Marc Stein (NF)

Paris, 7 A. M. by Liza Wieland (Based on life of poet, Elizabeth Bishop) (F)

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner (F)

The History of Living Forever by Jake Wolff (F)

June 14

The Body Lies by Jo Baker (F)

Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland

The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung (F) *

Roughhouse Friday: A Memoir by Jaed Coffin (F)

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone (Science Fiction). *

The Capital by Robert Menasse (F)

Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How It Will Watch Us All by Arthur Holland Michel (NF)

Conviction by Denise Mina (Thriller)

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda (Thriller)

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (F) (YA to Adult)

Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life by Darcey Steinke (NF)

June 21

Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast Food Kingdom by Adam Chandler (NF)

Happiness, As Such by Natalia Ginzberg, trans from Italian by Minna Zallman Proctor

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (F) *

The Maze of Transparencies by Karen An-hwei Lee.(F) *

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill with Dane Piepenbring (NF) (True Crime)

Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada, trans. from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai (puzzle mystery)

The Friend by Joakim Zander from Swedish by Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Thriller)

June 28

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21 st Century by Maureen Callahan (NF)

The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Vol. 4 by Neil Clarke (Science Fiction Short Stories)

Second Sight by Aoife Clifford (Crime Novel)

Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky (F)  *

Betrayal. In Time: A Kendra Donovan Mystery by Julie McElwain (F)

Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff by Anthony McCann (NF) Cliven Bundy and Son)  *

Maggie Brown and Others by Peter Omer (Character Sketches)

The Me I Used to Be by Jennifer Ryan (F)  *

Lock Every Door by Riley Sagar (Thriller)

The Public Option: How to Expand Freedom, Increase Opportunity, and Promote Equality by Genesh Sitaramen and Anne L Alstott (NF) (Favors public opinion)

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (F)  *

 

 

June 2019 Book List

June 2019 Book List

Summer months often see publishers offering readers plenty of treasures, perhaps to attract readers who have more time to read in the summer. Lots of good books on this June Book List. I tend to try to be reasonable about the number of books I add asterisks to, because I cannot possibly read everything. Books with asterisks are not my recommendations for everyone. They are my picks for me. Sometimes I wish I could be cloned and one version of me could happily spend all her time reading while the other version of me could do laundry, clean bathrooms, mop floors, cook meals, do dishes, and socialize. Alas another part of me hopes we never learn how to clone ourselves and accepts that I have to read when I can. I share my reviews on goodreads.com. (as Nancy Brisson) I also have a book blog https://nbrissonsbookblog.com

Please stop by.

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

The Stationery Shop: A Novel by Marjan Kamali

The Travelers: A Novel by Regina Porter

Patsy: A Novel by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Ask Again, Yes: A Novel by Mary Beth Kane

The History of Living Forever: A Novel by Jake Wolff

On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel by Ocean Vuong

Mrs. Everything: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner *

The Porpoise: A Novel by Mark Haddon

City of Girls: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert *

Mystery and Thriller

Joe Country (Slough House) by Mick Herron

The Sentence is Death: A Novel by Anthony Horowitz

Recursion: A Novel by Blake Crouch

Keep You Close: A Novel by Karen Cleveland

Murder in Bel-Air (An Aimeé Leduc Investigation) by Cara Black

One Night at the Lake: A Novel by Sarah Galley

The Darwin Affair: A Novel by Tim Mason

This Storm: A Novel by James Ellroy

Rogue Strike (A Jake Keller Thriller) by David Ricciardi

The Summer We Lost Her by Tish Cohen

Biographies and Memoirs

Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier by Mark Kram Jr.

We Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson by Bruce Conforth, Gayle Dean Wardlow

The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un by Anna Fifield

And Then It Fell Apart by Moby

Naturally Tan: A Memoir by Tan France

The Beautiful No: Tales of Trials, Transcendence and Transformation by Sheri Salata

Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West by John Faliaferro

My Parents: A Introduction/This Does Not Belong to You by Aleksandar Hermon

On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real and Listening Hard by Jennifer Pastiloff, Lydia Yuknavitch

Formation: A Woman’s Memoir of Stepping Out of Line by Ryan Leigh Dostie

Nonfiction

Outrages: Sex, Censorship and the Criminalization of Love by Naomi Wolf

The Ice at the End of the World: A Epic Journey into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner

William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll by Casey Rae

Eyes in the Eye: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and Now it Will Watch Us All by Arthur Holland Michel

Underland: A Deep Journey by Robert Macfarlane

The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 by Dorian Lynskey

Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History by Peter Houlahan

More Fun in the New World, The Unmaking and Legacy of La Punk by John Doe, Tom DeSavia

VC: An American History by Tom Nicholes (Venture Capital)

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghose Ship, a Killer and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen

Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

Fall, or Dodge in Hell: A Novel by Neal Stephenson *

War (House War) by Michelle West

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry *

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone *

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

The Lesson: A Novel by Cadwell Turnbull *

Magic for Liars: A Novel by Sarah Galley

The Outside by Ada Hoffmann

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford

The New York Times Book Review

May 3

Fiction

The Flight Portfolio: A Novel by Julie Orringer

Henry, Himself by Stewart O’Nan

Oksena Behave by Maria Zuznetsova

Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick

The Spectators by Jennifer duBois

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

Homeland by Fernando Aramburu

Nonfiction

Firefighting by Ben S. Bernanki, Timothy F. Geithner and Henry M. Paulson Jr.

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs

So Much Longing in So Little Space: The Art of Edvard Munch by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Martin Buber: A Life of Faith and Dissent by Paul Mendes-Flohr (Bio)

The Lost Gutenberg by Margaret Davis

Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe by Sheri Berman *

Crime

The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone *

Black Mountain by Laird Barron

The Unquiet Heart by Kaite Welsh

The Woman in the Blue Cloak by Deon Meyer

May 10

Nonfiction

Our Man (Bio of Richard Holbrooke) by George Packer *

Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb *

Leap of Faith by Michael J. Mazarr (Why Iraq War)

Fall and Rise by Mitchell Zuckoff (9/11) *

Beeline by Shalini Shankar

The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez by Aaron Bobrow-Strain

The Second Mountain by David Brooks *

The Shortlist

Blueprint by Nicholas Christakis

Humanimal by Adam Rutherford

Genesis by E.O. Wilson

Fiction

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Revolutionaries by Joshua Furst (60’s)

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

The Binding by Bridget Collins

May 17

Nonfiction

Furious Hours by Casey Cep

Who Brooklyn was Queer by Hugh Ryan

The Body Papers by Grace Taluson

Mother is a Verb by Sarah Knott

Sea People by Christina Thompson (Polynesia)

Endeavor by Peter Moore (Polynesia)

The Golden Age by Ian Kershaw

The Heartland by Kristine L. Hoganson

Nanaville by Anna Quindlen (True Short Stories)

Fiction

Not by Bryan Washington (Short stories)

The Parisian by Isabella Hammad *

Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum

The Ash Family by Molly Dektar

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza (from Argentina)

May 24

Nonfiction

The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson *

Sissy by Jacob Tobia

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen

The Player’s Ball by David Kushner

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

The Impeachers by Brenda Wineapple

Upheaval by Jared Diamond

The Last Job by Dan Bilefsky

Ghosts of Gold Mountain by Gordon H. Chang

Fiction

Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif *

Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg

The Farm by Joanne Ramos *

Shortlist (new French fiction)

The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal

Waiting for Bojangles by Olivier Bourdeaut

Hold Fast Your Crown by Yannick Haenel

May 31

Fiction

The Poison Bed by Elizabeth Fremantle

Dream Sequence by Adam Fould

Prince of Monkeys by Nnamdi Ehirim

The Fox and Dr. Shimamura by Christine Wunnicke

Westside by W. M. Akers

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Throw Me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness

Dawson’s Fall by Roxana Robinson

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper

Thomas and Beal in the Midi by Christopher Tilghman

The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin

Nonfiction

Mr. Know-it-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder by John Waters

How to Become a Federal Criminal by Mike Chase (reviewer says ‘very funny’)

How to Build a Boat by Jonathan Gornall

Boom by Michael Shnayerson

Becoming Dr. Seuss by Brian Jay Jones

K by Tyler Kepner

Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery

The Regency Years by Robert Morrison *

Bitcoin Billionaires by Ben Mezrich (‘the Winklevii)

Hotbox by Matt and Ted Lee

Cult of Dead Cow by Joseph Menn (hacking)

Funny Man by Patrick McGilligan (Mel Brooks)

Land of the Ozarks by Bill Geist

The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara

Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light by Peter Schjodahl

The Drama of Celebrity by Sharon Marcus

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee

Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century by Lorene Cary *

How to Forget by Kate Mulgrew *

Broadway, Balanchine and Beyond by Bettijane Sills

Dancing with Merce Cunningham by Marianne Preger-Simon

Out of the Shadows by Walt Odets

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

Publisher’s Weekly

May 3

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (F) (YA)

The Assassin of Verona by Benet Brandreth (F)

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (Science Fiction) (Short stories) *

The Law of the Skies by Gregoire Courtois, trans. from French by Rhonda Mullens (F)

The Archive of Alternate Endings: A Novel by Lindsey Drager (F)

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna (F) *

The Buried: An Archeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler (NF)

Calm Seas and Prosperous Voyage by Bette Howland (Short Stories)

China Dream by Ma Jian, trans. from Chinese by Flora Drew (F)

The Flight Portfolio: A Novel by Julie Orringer (F)

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and The End of the American Century by George Packer (NF) *

Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Paler (NF)

May 10

The British are Coming: The War for America: Lexington to Princeton Volume One of the Revolution Trilogy by Rick Atkinson *

The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver (F)

Dream Sequence by Adam Foulds (F)

A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism by Adam Gopnik (NF) *

Once More We Saw Stars: A Memoir by Jason Greene (Memoir)

Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif (F) *

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (F)

Dream Within a Dream by Patricia MacLachlan (YA)

The Satapur Moonstone: A Mystery of 1920’s India by Sujata Massey (F)

The Obsoletes by Simeon Mills (F)

Lanny by Max Porter (F)

No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder (NF)

Message from the Shadows by Antonio Tabucchi, trans. from Italian by Anne Milano (Short Stories)

May 17

Gather the Fortunes by Bryan Camp (Fantasy)

Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman (F)

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins (F)

Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers (Short Stories)

The Island by Ragnar Jónasson (Thriller)

Deception Cove by Owen Laukkanen (F)

Necessary People by Anna Pitonisk (F)

The Organs of Sense by Adam Ehrlich Sachs (F)

The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record by Jonathan Scott (NF)

Einstein’s War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I by Matthew Stanley (NF)

The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug by Steffanie A Strathdee, Thomas Patterson (NF)

May 24

Supernavigators: The Astounding New Science of How Animals Find Their Way by David Barrie (NF)

Time is the Thing a Body Moves Through: An Essay by T. Fleischmann (Essay)

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery)

Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne (Romance) *

Dark Site by Patrick Lee (F)

Austentatious: The Evolving World of Jane Austen Fans by Holly Luetkenhaus and Zoe Weinstein (NF)

May 31

A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book by John Barton (NF)

Exposed by Jean-Phillippe Blondel (F) *

This Storm by James Ellroy (F)

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (F) *

Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (on Pride and Prejudice) (F)

Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane (NF)

Out of the Shadows: Reimaging Gay Men’s Lives by Walt Odets (Memoir)

Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin (F)

Aug. 9 – Fog by Kathryn Scanlan (F) *

Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer and his Restless Drive to Save the West by John Taliaferro (NF)

Love They Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor’s Struggle for Home in Rural America by Ayaz Virji with Alan Eisenstock (NF)

In West Mills by De ‘Shawn Charles Winslow (F)

 

 

 

 

 

May 2019 Book List

May 2019 Book List

Don’t judge a book by its title. If you paste the title or type it into Google or Amazon you can get a nice brief summary of the book. I have marked some books that I like with an asterisk. This does not mean that you will like these titles best. I sometimes get a brief description of a book as I am compiling this list but I don’t do a search about every book. Keep your eyes open and you will begin to hear which new books create a buzz on people’s reading lists that is reflected on the internet. If you don’t pay any attention to book talk and like to pick your own selections just dip in and start reading. Summer is coming. Some people get lots of reading done in summer, perhaps on vacations. (Probably not if you have young children.) So many good books, so little time.

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum

Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna: A Novel by Juliet Grames

Walking on the Ceiling: A Novel by Aysegul Savas

Correspondents by Tim Murphy *

The Guest Book: A Novel by Sarah Blake

The Farm: A Novel by Joanne Ramos

Like Lions: A Novel by Brian Panowich

A Job You Mostly Won’t Know How to Do: A Novel by Pete Fromm

The Confessions of Frannie Langton: A Novel by Sara Collins

Mystery and Thrillers

Little Darlings: A Novel by Melanie Golding

Like Lions: A Novel by Brian Panowich

The Paris Diversion: A Novel by Chris Pavone

The Road to Grantchester by James Runcie

The Night Before: A Novel by Wendy Walker

Cari Mora: A Novel by Thomas Harris

The Rationing: A Novel by Charles Whellan

The Last Time I Saw You: A Novel by Liv Constantine

The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver

The Satapur Moontstone (A Perveen Mistry Novel) by Sujata Massey

Biographies and Memoirs

Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption by Ben Mezrich

The Apology by Eve Ensler

No Walls and the Recurring Dream: A Memoir by Ani DiFranco

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the America Century by George Packer

The Deer Camp: A Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land that Healed Them by Dean Kulpers

Nothing’s Bad Luck: the Lives of Warren Zevon by C M Kushins

Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations Hallucinations, and Observations by Craig Ferguson

How to Forget: A Daughter’s Memoir by Kate Mulgrew

Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark

Nonfiction

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption by Ben Mezrich

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax

The Darkest Places: Unsolved Mysteries, True Crimes, and Harrowing Disasters in the Wild by the Editors of Outside Magazine

The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Hotel Marmont by Shawn Levy

Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis by Jared Diamond *

Moneyland: The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule in the World by Oliver Bullough *

The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics that Helped America Win the Cold War by Antonio J Mendez, Jonna Mendez *

Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life is What You Make It by Adam Savage

Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon H. Chang

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Last Tango in Cyberspace: A Novel by Steven Lotter

Breach (An Analog Novel) by Eliot Peper

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

The New York Times Book Review

April 5th

Fiction

Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad

The Blind Worm in the Labyrinth by Veeraporn Nitiprapha

The Volunteer by Salvatore Scibona

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Kaddish.com by Nathan Englander “Like a JDate for the Dead”

Nonfiction

Skeleton Keys by Brian Switek

Horizon by Barry Lopez

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young (Essays)

Coders by Clive Thompson *

Solitary by Albert Woodfox *

The Club by Leo Damrosch *

The Empire and the Five Kings by Bernard-Henri Lévy

Gullible Superpower by Ted Galen Carpenter

April 12th

Fiction

The River by Peter Heller *

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

The Altruists by Andrew Ridker (Humor)

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

River of Fire by Quirrtulain Hyder

The Alarming Palsy of James Orr by Tom Lee

Nonfiction

Charged by Emily Bazelon

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl

Hale by Marc Weitzmann

The Last Stone by Mark Bowden (True Crime)

The Lion’s Den by Susie Linfield (Essay)

All You Leave Behind by Erin Lee Carr

April 19th

Nonfiction

Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert a Caro, Private Eye

Falter by Bill McKibbens

Running Home by Katie Arnold *

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T. Kira Madden

The Beneficiary: Fortune, Misfortune, and the Story of my Father by Janny Scott

The Absent Head by Suzannah Lessard

Ben Hecht by Adina Hoffman

The Notorious Ben Hecht by Julien Gorbach

Fiction

The Club by Takis Würger

Outside Looking In by T C Boyle

A Wonderful Stroke of Luck by Ann Beattie *

Little Boy by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Minutes of Glory by Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Short Stories)

Naamah by Sarah Blake

Crime

Neon Prey by John Sandford

Who Slays the Wicked by C S Harris

Lights! Camera! Puzzles! By Parnell Hall

The Missing Corpse by Sorcha McDonagh

Fiction

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

Make Me a City by Jonathan Carr

The Shortlist

That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung

Sing To It by Amy Hempel (Short Stories)

Aerialists by Mark Meyer

April 26th

Nonfiction

The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Webb

Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich

Unbecoming by Anuradha Bhagwati

American Messiahs by Adam Morris

What You Have Heard is True by Carolyn Forché

Greek to Me by Mary Norris

What Blest Genius by Andrew McConnell Scott

Shakespeare’s Library by Stuart Kells

Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Biased by Jennifer L Eberhardt

Fiction

A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin

The New Me by Halle Butler

Publisher’s Weekly

April 5th

Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud (Short Story)

Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon (NF)

Working: Research, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A Caro (Essays)

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi (F)

Confessions of an Innocent Man: A Novel by David R Dow (F)

Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza (F)

The Parisian: A Novel by Isabella Hammad (F) *

Freedom’s Detectives: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane (NF)

Helen Oxenbury: A Life in Illustration by Leonard S Marcus (NF)

Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi (NF)

Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Stories by Maxim Osipov, trans. from Russian by Boris Dralyuk, Alexandra Fleming and Anne Marie Jackson (Short Stories)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (NF)

Tombland by C J Sansom (F)

The Octopus Museum by Brenda Shaunghnessy (Short Stories)

Fame Adjacent by Sarah Skilton (F)

April 12th

Never a Lovely So Real: The Life and Work of Nelson Algren by Colin Asher (Bio)

Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells by Pico Iyer (Memoir)

Nest of the Monarch by Kay Kenyon (3rd in a series) (F)

Falter: Has the Human Gene Begun to Play Itself Out by Bill McKibben (NF)

Hacking Life: Systematized Living and It’s Discontents by Joseph M Reagle Jr. (NF)

Alice’s Island by Daniel Sánchez Avévalo, trans. from Spanish by the author

Eating the Sun: Small Musings on a Vast Universe by Ella Frances Sanders (NF) *

Clyde Fans by Seth (Graphic Novel)

Flowers Over the Inferno by Ilaria Tati, trans. from Italian by Eken Oklap (Crime novel)

The Polyglot Lovers by Lina Wolff, trans. from Swedish by Saskla Vogel (F) *

April 19th

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein (F) *

Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan, trans. from Korean by Janet Hong (Short Stories)

Sisters and Rebels: A Struggle for the Soul of America by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall (Triple Bio)

The Heartland: An American History by Kristin L Hoganson (NF)

Bitter by Francesca Jakobi (F)

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (F) “the novel loses steam”

Hawk Parable by Tyler Myles (F)

Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse (Fantasy)

Appendix Project: Talks and Essays by Kate Zambreno (Essays)

April 29 th

Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Marlo Benedetti, trans. from Spanish by Nick Caistor (F)

The Global Age: Europe 1950-2017 by Ian Kershaw (NF) *

The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation by Matthew McGough (True Crime)

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon (F)

Star by Yukio Mishima, trans. from Japanese by Sam Bett (F)

The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern by Robert Morrison (NF)*

Waste Tide by Chen Qinfan, trans. from Chinese by Ken Lui (F) *

The Ardlamont Mystery: The Real-Life Story Behind the Creation of Sherlock Holmes by Daniel Smith (NF)

A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas (F)

Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Michael Zuckoff (NF)

 

 

 

 

April 2019 Book List

books upright big

My April 2019 Book List is part of my ongoing attempt to keep track of new and interesting titles as they are released by publishers. Although I would like to read every title I cannot because of time constraints and financial ones. Some titles I include for others who might use these lists, such as the books about baseball which are on this month’s list. I have placed an asterisk next to books that sound especially to my taste. I may not stick with my original choices. Sometimes readers provide feedback that makes a title more desirable and moves it up in my priorities. Tempting to sit in a comfy chair surrounded by piles of books and just read, but I understand that sitting for long periods of time can rob you of your mobility. Thank goodness you can read at the gym or even in the park. Enjoy!

Amazon

Literature and Fiction

Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney *

The Parisian by Isabella Hammad *

Roar by Cecilia Ahem (Short stories)

Lights All Night Long: A Novel by Lydia Fitzpatrick *

Boy Swallows Universe: A Novel by Trent Dalton *

The Girl He Used to Know: A Novel by Tracy Garvis Graves

Courting Mr. Lincoln: A Novel by Louis Bayard

Stay Up with Hugo Best: A Novel by Erin Somers *

Outside Looking In: A Novel by T.C. Boyle *

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Mysteries and Thrillers

I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney

Odd Partners: An Anthology, Mystery Writers of America, Alison Brennan, et al

Redemption (Memory Man series) by David Baldacci

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline

The Mother-In-Law: A Novel by Sally Hepworth

Miracle Creek: A Novel by Angie Kim

Metropolis (A Bernie Gunther Novel) by Philip Kerr

The Better Sister: A Novel by Alafair Burke

Confessions of an Innocent Man by David R. Dow

The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugone

Biographies and Memoirs

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl

Some Stories: Lessons from the Edge of Business and Sport by Yvon Chouinard

Colin Powell: Imperfect Patriot by Jeffrey J. Matthews

Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen

Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement by Rich Karlgaard

Women of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell

The Honey Bees: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees by Meredith May

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

Autumn Light: Seasons of Fire and Farewells by Pico Iyer

Women’s Work: A Reckoning with Work and Home by Megan K. Stack

Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, The Life of Ernie Banks by Ron Rapoport

The Light Years: A Memoir by Chris Rush

Notes From a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi, Joshua David Stein

Nonfiction

The Last Stone: A Masterpiece of Criminal Interrogation by Mark Bowden

The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story by Aaron Bobrow-Strain

Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World’s Riskiest Business by Matt Lee, Ted Lee

The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon by Basil Hero

Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe by Steven Strogatz

American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy on the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley

Everything in it’s Place: First Loves and Last Tales by Oliver Sacks

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes what We See, Think and Do by Jennifer Everhardt, PhD

Shakespeare’s Library: Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature by Stuart Kells

Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen by Mary Norris

The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive and Fall by Mark W. Moffett

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Luminous Dead by Caillin Starling

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World: A Novel by C. A. Fletcher

(and a number of series that have added new volumes)

New York Times Book Review

March 8

Nonfiction

An American Summer by Alex Kotlowitz

Nobody’s Looking at You by Janet Malcolm

Good Kids, Bad City by Kyle Swenson

Nature’s Mutiny by Philipp Blom

El Norte by Carrie Gibson

Fiction

The Wall by John Lanchester *

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

Cherokee American by Margaret Verble *

New and Noteworthy

The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter

A Desert Harvest by Bruce Berger

Who Killed My Father by Edouard Louis

Max Havelaar, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli

8 New Books Recommended by Editors this Week

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

Nervous States: Democracy and the Decline of Reason by William Davies *

Mamas Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves by Frans de Waal

The White Book by Han Kang

The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison

Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa

The Heavens by Sandra Newman

March 15th

Fiction

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

Elsewhere Home by Leila Aboulela

House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

Nonfiction

I.M. by Isaac Mizrahi (Memoir)

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson

Ten Caesars by Barry Strauss

Figuring by Maria Popova

Truth in Our Times by David McCraw

The Impossible Climb by Mark Synnott

The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin

The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges by Aatish Taseer

March 22

Fiction

The Parade by Dave Eggers

The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib (eating disorders)

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray (eating disorders)

The Silk Road by Kathryn Davis

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Nonfiction

First: Sandra Day O’Connor by Evan Thomas

The Mastermind by Evan Ratliff

Savage Feast by Boris Fishman (Memoir)

Survival Math by Mitchell S. Jackson

Ten Drugs by Thomas Hager

The Chief by Joan Biskupic (Life of John Roberts)

Zora and Langston by Yuval Taylors

Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman (memoir)

Spies of No Country by Matti Friedman

In a Different Voice by Carol Gilligan

March 29

If you search and find this issue of the NYT’s Book Review you will find a link to a list of 100 Notable Books of 2018.

Fiction

The Old Drift by Nomwali Serpell *

Memories of the Future by Siri Hustvedt *

The Women’s War by Jenna Glass

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

The Promise of Elsewhere by Brad Leithauser

Latest Horror Fiction

The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan

A People’s Future of the United States, ed. By Victor LaValle, John Joseph

The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Bickering Family Novels

White Elephant by Julie Langsdorf

Little Faith by Nikolas Butter

A Weekend in New York by Benjamin Moskovitz

Nonfiction

Doing Justice by Preet Bharara *

Thin Blue Lie by Matt Stroud

Putin’s World by Angela E. Stent

The Age of Disenchantment by Aaron Shulman

Bending Toward Justice by Doug Jones

Foursome by Carolyn Burke *

America’s Jewish Women by Pamela S. Nadell *

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young (memoir)

Publisher’s Weekly Tip Sheet

10 Books Coming Up for Spring

Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Disappearing Earth: A Novel by Julia Phillips

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

I Am God: A Novel by Giacomo Sartori

The Age of Light: A Novel by Whitney Scharer

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

House of Stone: A Novel by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

American Spy: A Novel by Lauren Wilkinson

March 1

Ancestral Night: White Space, Book 1 by Elizabeth Bear * – F

Lovely War by Julie Berry – YA

Little Faith by Nickolas Butler – F

A Fire Story by Brian Fies – Graphic Memoir

Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family by Mitchell S. Jackson – Memoir

An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz – NF

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzi * – NF

The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag, trans. from Swedish by Ebba Segerberg – Mystery

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara – Biography

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi * – F

That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the 11th Hour by Sunita Puri * – NF

The Volunteer by Salvatore Scibona “this is a bold, rewarding novel” * – F

Solitary by Albert Woodfox with Leslie George * – Memoir

March 8

Wolf Pack by C. J. Box (A Joe Pickett Novel) – F

Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future by Kate Brown – NF

American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal by William J. Burns – NF

If, Then: A Novel by Kate Hope Day – F

See You in the Piazza: New Places to Discover in Italy by Frances Mayes  * – NF

The Selected Works of Abdullah The Cossack by H. M. Naqvi (Karachi) * – F

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Aahaimbo Owour -Kenyan woman discovers Chinese heritage * – F

The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story by Cara Robertson – NF

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson – NF

March 15

A Town Called Malice by Adam Abramowitz – F

Doing Justice – A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law by Preet Bharara – NF

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams * – F

The Scar: A Personal History of Depression and Recovery by Mary Cregan – Memoir

Leaving Richard’s Valley by Michael DeForge – Graphic Novel

Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World by Lyndell Gordon – Biography

Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead by Bill Griffith – Graphic Bio

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley – Science Fiction

Memories of the  Future by Siri Hustvedt – F

White Shoe: How a New Breed of Wall Street Lawyers Changed Big Business and the American City by John Oller – NF

The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000 Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds by Caroline Van Hemert – NF

Lot by Bryan Washington – Short Stories

March 22

The Workshop and the World: What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us About Science and Authority by Robert P. Crease – NF

The Club: Johnson, Boswell and the Friends Who Shaped An Age by Leo Damrosch – NF

Murder by the Book: The Crime that Shocked Dickens’s London by Claire Harman – True Crime

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob – Graphic Memoir

A Change of Time by Ida Jessen, trans. from Danish by Martin Aitken * – F

The Other Americans: A Novel by Laila Lalami * – F

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell – “this is an astonishing novel” * – F

Coders: The Making of a New Art and the Remaking of the World by Clive Thompson – NF

Guantanamo Kid: The True Story of Mohammed El-Gharani – Graphic Narrative – NF

The American Agent: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear – F

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays by Damon Young – NF

March 29

Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison – “underlain with formidable erudition”  * – NF

The Last Stone: A Masterpiece of Criminal Investigation by Mark Bowden – True Crime

Gravity’s Century: From Einstein’s Eclipse to Images of Black Holes by Ron Cowen – “both a learning experience and a pleasure to read” – NF

Boy Swallows Universe: A Novel by Trent Walton –“an outstanding debut” – F

Diary of a Dead Man on Leave by David Downing – Thriller

Lost and Wanted by Neil Freudenberger – F

Is This How You See Me? by Jaime Hernandez – F

K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches by Tyler Kepner – NF

Loch of the Dead by Oscar de Muriel – Victorian mystery

Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen by Mary Norris – NF

Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks by Ron Rapoport – NF

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling – F

How Change Happens by Cass R. Sunstein – NF

Women Talking by Miriam Toews – F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2019 Book List

book with glasses by Inc.

March 2019 Book List

I slipped and fell on my icy driveway, and after just getting a manicure too (which I rarely indulge in). My productivity declined in a fog of muscle relaxers that were a bit too mild for the job for the three weeks it took for my back to recover. When your body fails you, however temporarily, you begin to understand all the trendy talk about a mind-body connection. I had to fit my blogging in when I was functional, but my brain was not exactly firing on all cylinders. All of this is my excuse for why this book list is so late. The dog did not eat my homework; I blame this one on winter. Hope you find some good books in here. It looks very promising.

Amazon

Fiction

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

The Wall: A Novel by John Lanchester

The Old Drift: A Novel by Namwali Serpell

The Altruists by Andrew Ridker

A Woman is No Man: A Novel by Etaf Rum

The Parade by Dave Eggers

Daisy Jones and the Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself: A Novel by William Boyle

Little Faith by Nickolas Butler

The River: A Novel by Peter Heller

Mysteries and Thriller

The Lost Night: A Novel by Andrea Bartz

Wolf Pack (A Joe Pickets Novel) by C. J. Box

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

The Terminal List: A Thriller by Jack Carr

Run Away by Harlan Coben

The River by Peter Heller

Unto Us a Son Is Given (Guido Brunetti) by Donna Leon

The Border: A Novel (Power of the Dog) by Don Winslow

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Cemetery Road: A Novel by Greg Iles

Biographies and Memoirs

Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War by Samantha Seiple

The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000 mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds by Caroline Van Hemert

Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution by Amber Tamblyn

Good Talk: A Memoir on Conversation by Mira Jacobs

I.M.: A Memoir by Isaac Mizrahi

Too Much is Not Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthood by Andrew Rannells

Magic is Dead: My Journey into the World’s most Secretive Society of Magicians by Jan Frisch

The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life by Mark Synnott

No Happy Endings: A Memoir by Nora McInerny

First: Sandra Day O’Connor by Evan Thomas

Nonfiction

The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World by Paul Morland

The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity by Amy Webb

The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book’s Five Hundred Year Odyssey by Margaret Leslie Davis

An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by Alex Kotiowitz

The Human Network: How Your Social Position Determines Your Power, Beliefs, and Behaviors by Matthew O. Jackson

Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11 by James Donovan

Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone by Brian Switek

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves by Frans de Waal

Horizon by Barry Lopez

All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality and Solving Crimes by Sue Black DBE FRSE

The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Giant Superbug by Steffanie Strathdee, Thomas Patterson

Science Fiction and Fantasy

One Way by S.J. Morden, Bk. 1

No Way by S.J. Morden, Bk. 2

Winter World by A.G. Riddle

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Women’s War by Jenna Glass

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Municipalists: A Novel by Seth Fried

The New York Times Book Review

Feb. 8

Fiction

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, 1stvolume, Dark Star Trilogy by Marlon James

Same, Same by Peter Mendelsund

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

I Am God by Giacomo Sartori

Nonfiction

Unexampled Courage by Richard Gergel

The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams

A Bright Future by Joshua Goldstein and Staffan A. Qvist

Maid by Stephanie Land

An Indefinite Sentence by Siddharth Dube

The Short List – Einstein’s Legacy

Einstein’s Shadow by Seth Fletcher

Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes by Chris Impey

Breakfast with Einstein: The Exotic Physics of Everyday Objects by Chad Orzel

New and Noteworthy

The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman

Only in New York by Sam Roberts

Jimmy Neurosis by James Oseland

The Missing Pages by Heghnar Zietlian

The Wild Bunch by W. K. Stralton

9 Books Recommended by Editors

Notes from a Black Woman’s Diary: Selected Works of Kathleen Collins by Kathleen Collins

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib

As Long as We Both Shall Live by JoAnn Choney

The Plotters by Un-Su Kim, trans. by Sara Kim-Russell

Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee

Antisemitism: Here and Now by Deborah E. Lipstadt

Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why it Matters Now by Alan Rusbridger

Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts by Jill Abramson

The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash

Political Tell-Alls

Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in Trump’s White House by Cliff Sims

Let Me Finish by Chris Christie

The Threat: How the FBI protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump by Andrew McCabe

Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law by Preet Bharrara

Feb. 15

Fiction

Landfall by Thomas Mallon

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken

The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Nonfiction

All the Lives We Never Lived by Katharine Smyth

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

Wild Bill by Tom Calvin

Lady First by Amy Greenberg

Walk This Way by Geoff Edgers

The Short List – 5 Essay Collections by Women of Color

Womanish: A Grown Black Woman Speaks on Love and Life by Kim McLarin

Notes from a Black Woman’s Diary: Selected Works of Kathleen Collins by Nina Lorez Collins

Brown White Black: An American Family at the Intersection of Race, Gender, Sexuality and Religion by Nishta J. Mehra

Black is the Body: Stories From My Grandmother’s Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard

Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottam

Blockchain Tech

Blockchain and Law: The Rule of Code by Primavera De Filippi and Aaron Wright

The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust by Kevin Warback

Crime

Stalker by Lars Kepler

Careless Love by Peter Robinson

The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

New This Week – Audio Books

Atomic Marriage by Curtis Sittenfelf

The Stranger Inside by Laura Benedict

Power Moves by Adam Grant

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini

The Last Days of August by Jon Ronson

9 New Books We Recommend

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham

Nobody’s Looking at You: Essays by Janet Malcolm

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring by Richard Gergel

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything that Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams

An Indefinite Sentence: A Personal History of Outlawed Love and Sex by Siddharth Dube

Einstein’s Shadow: A Black Hole, a Band of Astronomers, and the Quest to see the Unseeable by Seth Fletcher

Feb. 24

Nonfiction

How to Disappear by Akiko Busch

Silence by Jane Brox

Separate: The Story of Plessy v Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation by Steve Luxemberg

Notes on a Shipwreck by Davide Enia

If We Can Keep it by Michael Tomasky

Sleeping with Strangers by David Thomson

Shortest Way Home by Pete Buttigieg

Fiction

The Cassandra by Sharma Shields

Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman

Leading Men by Christopher Castellani

New Fantasy Fiction

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyon (Series – Chorus of Dragons

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

Fiction

Wella and Hesper by Amy Feltman

Coming of Age Overseas

What Hell is Not by Alessandro D’Avenia

99 Night in Logas by Jamil Jan Kochai

March 1

Nonfiction

Mama’s Last Hug by Frans de Waal

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

Empires of the Weak by J.S. Sharman

The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison

The Third Pillar by Raghuram Rajan

Memoirs of Love and Loss

How to Be Loved by Eva Hagberg Fisher

Joy Enough by Sarah McColl

The Art of Leaving: A Memoir in Essays by Ayelet Tsabari

Fiction

The White Book by Han Kang

Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa

Zuleikha by Guzel Yakim

Crime

The Border (last in a trilogy) by Don Winslow

Unto Us a Son is Given (Guido Brunetti) by Donna Leon

A Friend is a Gift Yourself by William Boyle

Cemetery Road by Greg Iles

Fiction

The Heavens by Sandra Newman

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

NYT’s article – Sabra Embury, a writer, asks authors to draw 10 second drawings of rabbits (bunnies). Not a book, but fun to check out.

www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/books/sabra-embury.html

A few books recommended by editors

The Threat by Andrew McCabe

Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval by Saidiya Hartman

Sleeping with Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire by David Thomson

Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman

Publishers Weekly Tip Sheets

Feb. 4

Stalin’s Scribe: Literature, Ambition, and Survival: The Life of Mikhail Sholokov by Brian J. Boeck NF

Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson NF

Europe: A Natural History by Tim Flannery 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 NF

What We Did: A Novel 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 F – short story anthology

The Ruin of Kings: A Chorus of Dragon’s, Book 1, by Jenn Lyons F

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken F

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides F

Magical Negro by Morgan Parker F

I Am God by Giacomo Sartori F

The Age of Light by Whitney Sharer F

Off Season by James Sturm F, graphic novel

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang NF, essays

The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber F

Feb. 11

The Pianist from Syria: A Memoir by Aeham Ahmad NF, Memoir

Leading Men by Christopher Castellani F

The Night Tiger by Yongsze Choo F

Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving by Caitlyn Collins NF

Parkland by Dave Cullen NF

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts F

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli F

Rag by Maryse Farrar F, short stories

Honey in the Carcase by Josip Novakovich F

The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir, trans. from Icelandic by Victoria Cobb F

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima, trans. from Japanese by Geraldine Harcourt F

American Spy by LaurenWilkinson F

Feb. 18

Trump Sky Alpha by Mark Doten F

Where Oblivion Lives by T. Frohock F

In the Dark by Cara Hunter F

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr NF

The Darkest Year: The American Homefront, 1941-1942 by William K Klingaman NF

Broken Stars (Anthology) edited and trans. from the Chinese by Ken Liu F, science fiction short stories

American Heroin by Melissa Scrivner F

Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II by Adam Mako NF

Nobody’s Looking at You: Essays by Janet Malcolm NF, essays

The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America edited by Nikesh Shukla, NF, essays

Feb. 25

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin F

The Very Best of the Best: 25 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozios F, short stories

After She’s Gone by Camilla Grebe, trans. from Swedish by Elizabeth Clark Wessel F

Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement by David K Johnson NF

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe NF

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie F

Mother Country by Irina Reyn F

PTSD by Guillaume Singelin “This is a glorious meditation on the lingering horrors of war.” F

Hot Protestants: A History of Puritanism in England and America by Michael P Winship NF

 

You can find my book blogs at:

https://thearmchairobserver.com/(both books and politics)

https://nbrissonbookblog.com/  (book blogs only)

on Goodreads.com as Nancy Brisson

 

February 2019 Book List

book with glasses by Inc.

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.

Amazon

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