Archives of "The BookBrowse Review": Reviews, previews, back-stories, news

Dear BookBrowsers,

This big middle-of-summer issue features a fascinating array of nonfiction, including the latest from humorist David Sedaris, the witty autobiographical essay collection The Land and Its People, which touches on the now well-known Swahili phrase "hakuna matata," among many other subjects; The Book of Birds by author Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris, a loving tribute to endangered avian species; and Liaquat Ahamed's 1873, a work of economic history (stay with us!) that brings a fresh perspective to yesterday's and today's world.

We also have the best recent fiction to revive your summer reading list, starting with Tom Lin's scintillating Babylon, South Dakota, focusing on a Chinese immigrant family weathering strange happenings related to the construction of an American military facility on their farmland. Another wildly imaginative novel is Mad Eden from Morgan Thomas, whose timely and non-traditional narrative revolves around a queer couple's joyful existence in a Florida cabin as they battle an anti-trans agenda, and sprinkles in intriguing references to other literature, such as poetry by Victoria Chang and Lucie Delarue-Mardrus. Pool House, acclaimed YA author Mary H.K. Choi's adult fiction debut, follows a broke middle-aged actress and her tense relationship with her daughter. Allie Rowbottom's sophomore offering Lovers XXX spotlights a complex female friendship against the 1980s adult film industry. In Ethan Joella's '70s-set The Top of the World, a fatally ill teenager lives his last days to the fullest in the Poconos. And for something more lighthearted, try Paul Rudnick's The Tuxedo Society, a fun romp about a secret gay paramilitary organization.

Explore additional reviews and articles, our most anticipated books of July-December, the latest book news, previews of upcoming books, and more. Plus, we have copies of Ella Berman's L.A. Women to give away.

We're also excited to share that BookBrowse is now selling hardcovers and paperbacks through our partner, BookSell, and paying BookBrowse members now get 20% off any books purchased through BookBrowse, including newly released titles. To purchase from BookBrowse, simply select BookBrowse from the "Buy This Book" dropdown menu on any book page. To receive the discount, you'll need to be logged into your account. If you don't see us as an option, that means we're not currently offering the title. As this is a new feature, please let us know if you run into any issues or have any questions.

P.S. BC+ members get 30% off! If you'd like to consider upgrading, you can do so from your account.

Thank you for subscribing to BookBrowse!

— The BookBrowse Team

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Dear BookBrowsers,

Deb Olin Unferth's Earth 7 travels forward into an apocalyptic future, where the settling of Mars proves to be one of multiple doubtful attempts to save humanity, while Maggie O'Farrell's Land slips back into Ireland's past, where the mapping of the country under British rule reveals wider truths about colonial oppression. In this issue, we explore both books' focus on nature, from the otherworldly influence of a remote peninsula to the detail of desert sand.

We also explore identity and relationships in Dave Eggers' Contrapposto, a story of friendship between artists; in Isabel Waidner's As If, in which a grieving actor meets his doppelgänger; and in Anna-Marie McLemore's YA novel We Could Be Anyone, about two siblings who scam the super-rich with Spiritualist hoaxes as one of them is turning into a tree. You can learn more about Eggers' own career as an artist, the concept of doppelgängers, and the strange mythological history of women being transformed into trees (reviewer Erin Lyndal Martin amusingly coins the term "gynoarborism") with our accompanying Beyond the Book articles.

Christina Baker Kline's latest historical novel, The Foursome, fictionalizes the marriages of the original "Siamese twins," Chang and Eng Bunker, from the perspective of Eng's wife, Sarah. And Samantha Allen's Puck channels a modern-day romantic romp from Shakespeare's character in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

We invite you to check out other reviews and articles, our giveaway of Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, previews of upcoming releases, and more.

Thank you for supporting BookBrowse!

— The BookBrowse Team

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Dear BookBrowsers,

In this issue, we explore the harrowing world of predictions, from Jennifer N. Brown's The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton, about a historian's dangerous discoveries revolving around a prophetess in 16th-century England, to Carissa Véliz's Prophecy, examining the questionable role of AI as oracle in our current times.

We also bring you the latest from Ann Patchett, Whistler, in which a woman's unexpected reunion with her former stepfather sends her reeling into the past. Another work of fiction focusing on key points in characters' lives is Sarah Braunstein's collection Baby in a Box, with several stories that originally appeared in The New Yorker. In a Beyond the Book article, we consider the magazine's role in publishing short fiction for over 100 years.

Daughters of Shandong author Eve J. Chung returns with The Young Will Remember, telling the story of a Chinese American correspondent stranded in "enemy" territory during the Korean War. Accompanying our First Impressions reviewers' thoughts on the novel is a reading list of more books featuring "the forgotten war" and its aftereffects, some of which can be seen in Lisa Lee's American Han, a portrayal of the struggles of a Korean American immigrant family in contemporary times.

And you'll find plenty to ponder about life and the universe in Karmela Padavic-Callaghan's Entangled States, a blend of memoir and the fascinating realm of quantum physics.

Plus, enjoy additional reviews and articles, our blog post on the Well-Read Black Girl Books series and other diversity-focused projects in publishing, previews of upcoming books, and much more.

Thanks for being a BookBrowse member!

— The BookBrowse Team

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Dear BookBrowsers,

With this issue, we bring you two intense debuts featuring fraught romance. In A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia, a theology teacher and a Catholic priest fall in love, while in Djamel White's All Them Dogs, a man returning to the gang scene in Dublin experiences an attraction to his literal partner in crime.

Veronica Roth, author of the popular YA Divergent series, returns with a novel for adults, Seek the Traitor's Son, boasting its own slow-burn romance between a character destined for impressive military victory or crushing defeat and the Knight sworn to protect her. Other fantastic new works of fiction are Ray Nayler's Palaces of the Crow, in which four children hide out in the Lithuanian forest during World War II, Returns and Exchanges by Kayla Rae Whitaker, following a family at the helm of a discount store chain over more than a decade, and Fran Fabriczki's Porcupines, about a Hungarian immigrant mother in Los Angeles and her daughter's determination to discover the truth of her paternity.

Plus, enjoy nonfiction navigating the outdoors just in time for summer: David George Haskell's How Flowers Made Our World, a biological and social history of flowering plants, and Nightfaring by Megan Eaves-Egenes, which seeks to rediscover the darkness of the night sky in an era of overwhelming light pollution.

Beyond the Book articles for the above include reflections on both natural and human-created wonders: the rose windows of Notre-Dame Cathedral, the intelligence of crows (as we might perceive it), and the complex ways that plants communicate (often unbeknownst to humans).

You can also read other reviews and articles, check out our latest list of previews, enter our giveaway of Yrsa Daley-Ward's novel The Catch, and find much more to explore.

Thank you for supporting BookBrowse!

— The BookBrowse Team

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Dear BookBrowsers,

This issue has those big new releases you've been waiting for. Elizabeth Strout's The Things We Never Say follows Artie Dam, a secretly unhappy man living a charmed life. In Douglas Stuart's John of John, John-Calum (Cal) Macleod, a closeted art school graduate, reluctantly returns to his family's rural, conservative home.

We also cover Harriet Clark's captivating debut The Hill, loosely based on the author's own experiences growing up while visiting a parent in prison. A Beyond the Book article looks at the role of Clark's mother, a member of the guerrilla organization the Weather Underground, in the 1981 Brink's truck robbery in Nanuet, New York. (One of our featured First Impressions picks, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young by Zayd Ayers Dohrn—an upcoming Ask the Author interviewee—provides a nonfictional glimpse of a childhood with parents who were leaders of the Weather Underground.)

Other exciting fiction includes Mothers and Other Strangers by Corey Ann Haydu, a deep examination of motherhood and friendship, George Saunders' latest novel Vigil, in which an oil tycoon on his deathbed is tended to by a ghost, Portia Elan's Homebound, an unusual story featuring characters across time that is also a surprising piece of multimedia art, and Jeffrey Zuckerman's translation of Ananda Devi's All Flesh, a stunningly brutal tale of adolescence that casts a critical eye on societal fatphobia and social media culture. Our related reading list explores more significant Mauritian fiction available in English.

And Lindy West's memoir Adult Braces offers readers the chance to tag along on a hilarious, life-changing cross-country roadtrip.

Plus, find additional reviews and articles, previews of May books, the latest book club discussions, and more.

Thanks for being a BookBrowse member!

— The BookBrowse Team

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Dear BookBrowsers,

In this issue, we cover Jordan Stump's brilliant translation of The Witch by world-famous French author Marie NDiaye, nominated for the International Booker Prize. It follows a woman gifted with the power of foresight who nevertheless finds her life spinning out of control.

We also review Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio's rendering from the Japanese of Mieko Kawakami's Sisters in Yellow, a tale of young women bonded together by desperate circumstances in 1990s Tokyo. Che Yeun's Tailbone tells a similar story of youth and desperation, focusing on a teenage runaway in Seoul during the 2008 financial crisis. In Kiran Millwood Hargrave's Almost Life, two women have a brief Parisian romance, and later struggle to live separate lives. Dear Monica Lewinsky by Julia Langbein also draws from a formative experience in France, as the protagonist revisits an affair she had with her professor while studying abroad, accompanied by a supernatural version of Monica Lewinsky. Abigail Savitch-Lew's Livonia Chow Mein is another excavation of the past—a character uncovering the history of her family and their Brooklyn neighborhood. Kim Samek's story collection I Am the Ghost Here uses literal time travel and bizarre physical scenarios to ponder possible futures amid the climate crisis, disability and long-term illness from Covid, and other timely issues. In a related reading list, we look at body horror fiction about women.

And speaking of gory details, Shelley Puhak's The Blood Countess separates fact from fiction in an examination of Elizabeth Bathory, Hungarian countess and alleged serial killer.

We hope you enjoy all this coverage along with other reviews and articles, previews of upcoming releases, recommended reading guides for book clubs, and more.

Thanks for subscribing to BookBrowse!

— The BookBrowse Team

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Dear BookBrowsers,

Louise Erdrich is a renowned writer of many novels, but here we feature what is only her second short story collection, Python's Kiss. And along with it, another standout work that notably focuses on animals, María Ospina's Only a Little While Here, beautifully translated by Heather Cleary. (Accompanying Beyond the Book articles look at Ojibwe perspectives on the natural world and how to prevent urban bird strikes.)

Those are only a couple of examples of wildly inventive fiction in this issue. We also review Emma Straub's latest, American Fantasy, which follows the aging members of a boy band and their rabid fans on a themed cruise. In The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann, Queen Anne Boleyn miraculously survives her execution and goes on a revenge quest. Francis Spufford's Nonesuch, another alternative history novel set in London, shows a financial secretary living a fantastical version of the World War II era. Nancy Foley's I Am Agatha concocts a tale based on artist Agnes Martin's time in rural New Mexico about a stubborn woman and her relationships with others. Hallie Cantor's Like This, But Funnier is the charming, inspirational story of a hapless TV writer who accidentally steals material from her therapist husband.

And The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, a pseudonym for authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke, is a fun, bookish mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie.

Plus, check out additional reviews and articles, our latest First Impressions reads, previews of upcoming books, our giveaway of Fredrik Backman's My Friends, and more.

As always, thank you for subscribing to BookBrowse!

— The BookBrowse Team

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