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Dear BookBrowsers—

"We can work our way through problems by telling stories better, at times, than by writing philosophical treatises," Chris Robichaud says in a 2017 article in Wired. Robichaud is an ethicist at Harvard who teaches a course on dystopia in fiction and philosophy. Fiction allows us to walk through doors that might otherwise never even be opened. We don't have to live through an experience, we can read about it instead. And because we are not personally affected by the outcome, we can turn it in our hands and see the many perspectives that created it.

The door that dystopian fiction opens reveals more than an experience; it illuminates our world a little – or a lot – more than we can presently see. It shines a light on a future time and place, while often wrestling with issues that are relevant today. In this way, even though dystopian fiction is often bleak and frightening, it can also be strangely comforting. We can look at what might happen in the future and perhaps deal with it now.

In this issue we review two dystopian novels that examine immigration and the concept of a wall. John Lanchester's aptly titled The Wall explores the dangers of climate change and how an environmental apocalypse can foster tribalism and an us versus them mentality. We Set the Dark On Fire by Tehlor Mejia is about the privileged and the impoverished, and the wall that divides them as seen through the point of view of one young woman who comes from one side but disguises herself as the other. Pair those with Susan Meissner's The Last Year of the War, a novel about a German American girl whose life is changed when she and her immigrant family are sent to an internment camp during World War II, to contrast an historical look at immigration with the dystopian ones.

Just as we can learn from history, we can learn from the future. Robichaud goes on to say: "We can't look at dystopias as merely some bad slippery slope argument... Rather, they challenge us: What are the values in this dystopia, and what do they say about our values right now?"

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Dear BookBrowsers—

A humpback whale calf was recently found in the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. It was quite a distance away from the ocean – about 50 feet – which is strange enough, but the fact that it was that far north in February was stranger still. How did a whale end up so off course? Researchers don't have the answer. Was it sick and fell behind its pod? Did it lose its mother and then lose its way? Was it chased by a predator? (There aren't many creatures that hunt humpback whales, but killer whales do.)

Most likely we will never know. The question remains captivating though. The idea of straying from an expected course is especially fascinating. The myriad external and internal circumstances, decisions, and reasons are compelling. The tension between the safety of a predictable routine and the danger of the unknown is universal.

Books are built on that precise tension – and we've got many for you to choose from in this issue!

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss is a coming of age story set against a psychologically-taut historical reenactment trip, Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagen explores two girls forging new paths as they find their own voices, Sugar Run by Mesha Maren examines a young woman's desperate desire to find her way back to normal after making a devastating choice when she was a teenager, and The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox centers on a mysterious murdered man. Who is he? What happened to him? (Questions identical to the ones about the humpback whale!)

These stories – and the others in this issue – will take you down unexpected roads and into the complex minds of characters, and they will keep you in that taut place between familiar and strange.

Happy reading!

Davina

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Dear BookBrowsers—

Valentine's Day is just a few steps behind us, and although there is most definitely a fence to be wobbling on in terms of whether the holiday is a sweet excuse to remind the people close to you that you love them or a full-blown advertising ploy to coerce people into spending money, it does focus the conversation on love which is welcome on any day of the year.

And what is one of the best ways to have that conversation? You know what we think: reading books!

Love appears in all shapes and sizes in this issue. From The Falconer, by Dana Czapnik, which is about a blossoming sense of self-love as a teenage girl comes of age in a 1990s pre-feminist era, to Elizabeth McCracken's Bowlaway, a whimsical novel that centers around a bowling alley and the metaphor of love as a fragilely balanced emotion, susceptible to being knocked over but also always standing back up again and again, to The Lost Man, by Jane Harper, that explores sibling love against the backdrop of a family mystery.

Our paperbacks are no different. Love and loss are at the center of The Friend by Sigrid Nunez about a woman who has to come to terms with the death of her friend and mentor and forge a new relationship and new sense of responsibility as she is tasked with taking care of his dog. There is love between friends in Sadness is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher, about an Israeli boy who befriends Palestinian twins; and in A State of Freedom, Neel Mukherjee explores the complex love of country.

Love is in the air – and between the pages of this bouquet of books we have gathered for you!

Happy reading!

Davina

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Dear BookBrowsers—

The days are finally getting longer, and the light is lingering further into the evening. It's not a lot different than it was only a few weeks ago, but enough to signal to the birds that spring is coming. In our back yard, they dart and dive in unison and then land in a tree together where they eat and chatter for a minute or two before taking off once again.

Light does that. It brings hope which, in turn, brings change. Stories do that too. They are like windows and doors, opening onto new roads. These roads, in turn, lead readers to new places and people and ideas.

This issue is filled with light. Yūko Tsushima's Territory of Light (See? Light!) is a slim novel that packs a big punch. Told in twelve loosely related stories, it explores one year in the life of a single Japanese mother raising her young daughter. When Death Becomes Life is Joshua Mezrich's debut memoir about his work as an organ transplant surgeon. Weaving history and science and personal stories together, he offers a glimpse inside a profession that delivers miracles every day. Deep Creek by Pam Houston is a collection of personal essays exploring the Colorado ranch she calls home. Hard won – after a long and painful childhood – she lets us in to understand the vital quality of landscape. The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye is a historical novel that begins with Alice, running away from Harlem, with a fresh bullet wound and a bag of counterfeit money. Why is she running and what is her history? Told in both the present and the past, we learn the answers to these questions and more.

So open the doors and windows of these books – and so many more – and let in the light! You might just hear some bird songs too!

Happy reading!

Your editor,
Davina

PS: Talking of bird song, a couple of days ago, I shared a beautiful image on our Facebook page of a bird singing in weather so cold that you can see its song! I've pinned it to the top of our Facebook page so its easy to see.

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Dear BookBrowsers -

The award-wining poet Mary Oliver died last week. She wrote with a simple style, but her poems are deceiving. At first glance they are about geese, a tree, a whale – Oliver certainly believed in the power of nature and its relentless ability to forge connections – but pause and read again and a deeper meaning comes into focus.

It could be argued that each of Oliver's poems are a piece of her life story, small enough to fit into the palm of a hand. In less than 100 words, in a dozen stanzas, in one page of a book, she gives us a window into her views of the world. But she wrote essays too, which are more straightforward glimpse into who she was. In Upstream: Selected Essays she writes:

"In this universe we are given two gifts: the ability to love, and the ability to ask questions. Which are, at the same time, the fires that warm us and the fires that scorch us."

These two foundations – passion and curiosity – are at the heart of all great memoir writing. They allow us to illuminate dark spaces, decipher mysterious texts, and embrace others. In fact, all great nonfiction writing has these qualities, and we've got a stellar collection right here!

A Mind Unraveled by journalist Kurt Eichenwald tells the story of his experience growing up and living with epilepsy. John Carryrou's Bad Blood investigates a multi-billion-dollar tech company that was built on a foundation of lies. And in Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages, Gaston Dorren examines twenty of the most common languages, focusing on unique details that he feels are significant to each. Finally, in Inheritance, Dani Shapiro takes us on a journey to the truth that begins with the shocking discovery that she is not related to the man she thought was her biological father.

Passion and curiosity – all of these nonfiction titles are brimming with both. And we've got fiction overflowing with them too! As Mary Oliver says in Wild Geese:

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese – harsh and exciting.

And we offer these books to your imagination too.

Your editor,
Davina

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Dear BookBrowsers -

We celebrate the new year in many different ways around the world.

We do it with food: in Spain it's considered good luck to eat twelve grapes at midnight, one for each month of the year. Apples dipped in honey promise a sweet year to come in the Jewish new year. Eating pork and black-eyed peas, a custom which has its origins in the southern part of the U.S., is supposed to bring good luck. While in Holland, oliebollen, round doughnuts symbolizing coming full circle, are served--I gorged on half a dozen freshly cooked ones this New Year's Eve at a Dutch friend's house, and highly recommend them!

We do it with drinks: there is the traditional champagne which is served in many parts of the world, but with a twist in Russia where they write down their wishes for the year, then burn the paper, put the ashes in their glass and drink it down.

And we do it with rituals too: In Japan, bells are rung 108 times to symbolize the cleansing of every one of the human passions and desires. In Chile and some other parts of Latin America, yellow underwear is worn to bring happiness and good fortune. Scotland has a ritual called first footing; a specifically chosen person – traditionally a dark haired, tall man – walks across each threshold of the houses in a neighborhood, carrying ceremonial gifts to bring good luck and prosperity.

Whether it's with food or drink or gifts or rituals we turn over a new leaf as we step into the new year.

And how about turning over the pages of a new book too? We've got a lot to share with you!

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is a grim but comedic examination of two sisters and their sibling rivalry, as told through the eyes of one sister who is trying to hide the other sister's murderous secrets. Told through the points of view of each member of the Delesalle family, News of Our Loved Ones by Abigail DeWitt tells the multi-faceted story of a family that lives in a small French city occupied by the Nazis and the ways it is caught in the crossfire of World War II. Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River opens with an injured stranger bursting into an inn with a drowned girl clutched in his arms. But just as she is about to be proclaimed officially dead, the little girl comes back to life. Who is she? And who is she connected to in this town? And finally, Tasha Suri's debut fantasy Empire of Sand is centered around Mehr, a woman who evolves from a being someone who bows to the will of others into a powerful, independent person running an entire empire.

So, ring in the new year with these page-turning books, as well as the ten others that we review in this issue; plus author interviews, book discussions and more!

Happy reading!

Your editor,

Davina Morgan-Witts

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Dear BookBrowsers—

It’s that best of time again! The time when we stand still for a minute, turn back around and take a look at what has unfolded over the course of the year. It feels like the blink of an eye, doesn’t it? From January until now? Don’t you wish you could somehow slow it down?

There’s a theory about time passing called the perceptual theory of time which offers that it seems to speed up as we get older because we continually evolve our perception of the world. Specifically (according to psychologist Robert Ornstein), our sense of the speed of time is determined by how much information our minds are absorbing. The more we take in, the slower time seems to pass. This is why children tend to sigh and exclaim Aren’t we there YET? over and over again. They are taking in so many details that they perceive the ticking of time as endless. So how do we adults reclaim some of that leisurely pace?

One way is by reading really good books that engage our minds with dynamic story-lines, empathetic characters and fascinating details. Reading a book demands that we sit still and focus because there is so much rich information inside its pages.

And here we are in December. Turned and gazing back at the year. We’re sure you’ve read a bunch of great books over the last 11 months, but if you missed some, if you want to slow down time in this last month of the year, then we suggest you take a look at our best of list.

Educated by Tara Westover receives our best non-fiction award and was also our overall highest rated book. This memoir explores Westover’s childhood in a survivalist family and her quest to leave to find education and herself in the process. Circe, Madeline Miller's follow-up to The Song of Achilles receives our best fiction award. It's an epic story about family, rivalry and a celebration of strong women. Our best debut novel award goes to Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which is a heartbreaking coming of age story mixed with the suspenseful tale of a possible murder. And finally, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone gets our best young adult fiction award. The first in a series, this West African-inspired fantasy explores one girl’s fight to bring magic back to her world before it is too late.

These four title together with the next sixteen highest rated books form our 2018 Top 20. We also reprise our twelve "best books for book clubs in 2019" and roundup eight of the best author interviews from the year.

Thanks for reading!

Your editor,
Davina Morgan-Witts


About the Awards
BookBrowse's Best of the Year awards are an excellent barometer of great reading. The awards are particularly noteworthy because voting is only open to BookBrowse subscribers - so no vote stuffing by rabid fan bases; and instead of just voting for a book (which favors the most widely read books) subscribers rate each book they've read that is on the shortlist, and the winners are the books with the highest overall rating. Such considered selection results in truly outstanding books being feted every year. 2018 is no different in that regard. Over 6,000 votes were cast this year. If you took part in the voting - thank you! More about the awards.

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