What To Read

Notable releases for August include Jill Lepore's timely essay collection, Paul Murray's Booker Prize longlisted novel, the latest from James McBride, and Ann Patchett's emotional coming-of-age tale about love and the relationships that forge our destiny.

Notable Releases for the Week of August 28, 2023 FICTION

The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

There’s still a little summer left, so grab a lounge chair and dig into this breezy, body positive relationship fiction from “the undisputed queen of the fun yet thoughtful poolside read…which features a sultry romance set on a group bike trip from New York City to Niagara Falls,” per Vogue.

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

The dazzling and true story of two girls falling in love at a 19th-century English boarding school, from the Booker Prize-nominated author of Room. The Atlantic called this historical drama the “culmination of Donoghue’s long obsession with Lister, the real-life 19th-century figure whose exhaustive, coded diaries describe her many affairs with other women.... The novel is ultimately a tender, sad account of first love.”

Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter

In an inventive yarn that’s tailor made for cramped apartment dwellers, a family discovers a secret door to a magical terrace in their tiny home. This is the sophomore novel of Leichter, who got rave reviews for The Temporary, which was a  finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and on the longlist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. In a review, BOMB Magazine called it a “sprawling, gutting romance… that, “creates an insular, sometimes claustrophobic world only to stretch it, delicately, until it becomes seemingly limitless.”

Holler, Child: Stories by Latoya Watkins

A collection of eleven tender and turbulent tales from the author of Perish. Kirkus was enthralled by these "searingly alive stories about Black men and women from West Texas [that] explore the ways remorse and resentment can coexist in secrecy...Granular yet transcendent storytelling."

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

In the latest mystery from the Edgar award-winning author of Miracle Creek, a Korean American family's world unravels when their father goes missing in a “deliciously brainy new thriller . . . [that] dares to unlock the enigma of love at the molecular level while serving up a page-turner,” per The Washington Post. This is a must for readers who can’t get enough of twist endings. 

Dialogue with a Somnambulist: Stories, Essays & a Portrait Gallery by Chloe Aridjis

An avant-garde blend of dreamy fiction and nonfiction works from the multitalented Mexican-American curator, novelist and Guggenheim Fellow. The Millions was mesmerized by this “daydream of a book. In this collection of stories and essays, Aridjis's muses are both quotidian and uncanny."

NONFICTION

The Deadline: Essays by Jill Lepore

A wide-ranging collection of thought-provoking essays from the acclaimed Harvard historian, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer-nominated author of New York Burning that covers topics from the Mattel toy company to Herman Melville to artificial intelligence.  “Lepore focuses her cogent insight on the most pressing issues of the past decade in American society, seamlessly moving between the intensely personal (a friend's cancer diagnosis) to the fiercely political (the urgent gun-violence crisis and ongoing debate over gun control) with authority and acumen,” according to Time.

The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality by William Egginton

A Johns Hopkins scholar explores how three intellectual giants perceived humanity’s deepest mysteries. LitHub pondered, “But what do these three have in common? For Egginton, each in their way—the poet, the physicist, and the philosopher—grappled with the fundamental disconnect between our interior selves and the reality of the broader world, and did so in sublimely beautiful fashion.”

Everything/Nothing/Someone: A Memoir by Alice Carrière

A debut memoir about a young woman growing up in the bohemian Greenwich Village of the 1990s with two famous but unconventional parents. Booklist called this bold coming-of-age story “creatively exceptional . . . This isn't only about Carrière's life. It's also about how people make art and build family, how philosophy . . . intersects with lived experience, and how people try and fail to connect." 

Amy Winehouse: In Her Words by Amy Winehouse

A rare glimpse inside the mind of the brilliant English musician, featuring the troubled singer-songwriter’s never-before-seen journals, handwritten lyrics and even family photos of her London upbringing. With all proceeds going to the late crooner’s foundation, this book makes a terrific gift for her legions of devoted fans. 

Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others by Amy Thielen

This crowd-pleasing follow up from the New Midwestern Table author is a must-have for folks who love to entertain. Whether it’s a fish fry for friends or an Argentine asado for a crew of hungry carnivores, these 125 recipes are meant to be shared with others. “Though the concept of feeding a group of six, 12, or perhaps even 20 can spark anxiety in the heart of even the most confident home cook, Amy Thielen . . . and her new book will empower you to do just that,” declared Vogue.

Other New Releases This Week:

FICTION

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias

NONFICTION

Why Didn't You Tell Me?: A Memoir

Notable Releases for the Week of August 21, 2023

NONFICTION

Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder

Famed writer George Orwell’s wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy Blair was herself a writer whose life was largely eclipsed by her famous husband. In this daring new bio, Anna Funder (author of Stasiland) “sets out to unmask the ‘wicked magic trick’ by which Blair has been made to disappear...readers will be simply thrilled - and shaken - by this passionately partisan act of literary reparation," mused The Sunday Times.

The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century by Josh Cook

A Cambridge, Massachusetts bookseller and author examines how books are made and sold in the 21st century.  Not surprisingly, we at Tertulia are excited to get our hands on this one. From Amazon’s growing stranglehold on the industry, to the craft of handselling, it’s a “necessarily critical look at the practice of connecting readers with their next book in the age of monopolization and censorship," noted the Chicago Review of Books.   

Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous With American History by Yunte Huang

Featured as one of The Atlantic's "Books to Get Lost in This Summer," this engrossing portrait of Hollywood’s first Chinese-American movie star tells the story of how she broke down barriers to lead a life of remarkable achievements in the face of adversity. “It's a fascinating—and long overdue—close-up of a Hollywood trailblazer, “ exclaimed Publishers Weekly. 

Quiet Street: On American Privilege by Nick McDonell

A blistering exploration of how America’s ultra-rich perpetuate economic inequality, written by one of its own. The author, a former war correspondent, looks back on a privileged childhood of private jets and exclusive schools on New York’s Upper East Side, while dissecting the powerful forces that exclude the other 99%.

Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing by Jen Soriano 

In a series of introspective essays, a neurosurgeon’s activist daughter explores the origins of her chronic pain and mental illness in a “debut [that] dissects transgenerational trauma. Drawing upon science, history and memory, Soriano illuminates the connection between mind and body, telling a story of living with mental illness with stunning, poetic prose," praised the San Francisco Chronicle. The book was also touted as one of Time Magazine’s books you should read in August. 

I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times: Poems by Taylor Byas

This debut collection of poems riff on the cult classic film The Wiz to explore a Black woman’s journey out of Chicago’s South Side, and offers “further proof that Byas is one of the most important voices in American poetry ... We are experiencing a legend in the making," declared The Poetry Question.

Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets by Kyo Maclear

On Good Morning America, Zibby Owens praised “this unique, powerful and captivating memoir” about a daughter mourning her father’s death who discovers that the man who raised her wasn’t her biological dad.

FICTION

Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham

A debut saga by a Native American author about a young man who escapes to an enchanted fishing village following his brother’s passing. Kirkus found the writing “lush and evocative, and there's an almost erotic charge to Basham's writing about food, a central element in the story." 

The Continental Affair by Christine Mangan

In this action-packed thriller from the author of Tangerine, two strangers on an Istanbul-bound train are trying to outwit each other and outrun their past. “This cat-and-mouse tale is as glamorous as its title implies... [Mangan] captures time, place, and character with panache," raved The Washington Post.

The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang

A nonstop sci-fi epic from a Nebula-winning author whose resumé reads like a real life superhero (Hollywood stunt performer, firearms expert, MIT math nerd, Hugo Award winner). Paste magazine loved this “queer epic fantasy retelling inspired by the story of the 14th-century Chinese classic Water Margin…A feminist, action-packed tale of bandits and found family that's bursting with martial arts tropes and rich mythology."

Notable Releases for the Week of August 14, 2023

FICTION

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, this entertaining tragicomedy dissects the lives of four members of a well-to-do Irish family which seems to be cracking under pressures both external and internal. It’s a hefty 600+ page tour de force from the author of Skippy Dies, and  “you won't read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year,” promises The Guardian. 

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

In the latest from the author of the Oprah's Book Club selection Here on Earth, a rebellious girl raised in an oppressive cult where books are banned discovers the wonders of reading and plots a daring escape. Fans of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter will adore this moving ode to the magic of books. 

Under the Tamarind Tree by Nigar Alam

This time-hopping saga set in Pakistan examines the lives of four friends whose lives are forever changed by Partition, the traumatic 1947 division of India that tore millions of lives apart. This culturally and emotionally-charged debut was longlisted for this year’s Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

Fever House Keith Rosson

This genre-defying apocalyptic horror caper’s got it all: punk rock, zombies, hit men, nefarious government agents, over-the-top violence, laughs galore and one very supernatural severed hand. But can a plucky mother-son duo break the hand’s curse and save all of humanity? It’s a “thrill-a-minute joyride that will keep readers guessing up to the final page," promises Library Journal.

The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins 

A hopeful cli-fi adventure set in a near future world completely transformed by climate change. When her mother goes missing, a teenager and her heroic father journey to the ruins of New York City to find her in an “important read for those ready to advocate for future generations," per the Chicago Review of Books. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

The English Experience by Julie Schumacher

The third installment of an amusing trilogy that skewers American higher education, which Booklist likened to “classic academic satires such as Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim and David Lodge's Changing Places.” This time around, Payne University’s beleaguered professor Fitger is tasked with chaperoning a difficult group of students on their annual trip abroad to England.

The Romantic by William Boyd

The latest by the bestselling author of Any Human Heart recounts a swashbuckling Irishman’s globe-trotting adventures during the 19th century. From Cork to Zanzibar and beyond, it’s “both a vivid portrait of a life and a sweeping panorama of an age . . . Packed with passion, adventure, suspense, comic interludes and a range of colourful characters” —The Economist.   

NONFICTION

The Ferguson Report: An Erasure by Nicole Sealey

An award-winning poet reimagines a damning Department of Justice report about systemic police brutality and corruption in Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed Black man named Michael Brown was gunned down by officers in 2014. Through the act of erasing or redacting pieces of the text, a series of eight powerful new poems emerge. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

August Wilson: A Life by Patti Hartigan 

At last, the definitive bio of one the most beloved voices in the history of American theater, written by a critic who knew him. It’s a comprehensive portrait capturing “the multilayered complexities of one of America's greatest playwrights—winner of ten Tonys, a Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, and two Emmys—through rigorous research and deep knowledge of his work” per Booklist. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson by Sally H. Jacobs

Just in time for the US Open, here’s a terrific new bio of the sharecroppers’ daughter who burst onto the scene in 1950 to shatter color barriers and revolutionize tennis. "Thoroughly researched and movingly told, this warts-and-all portrayal of Gibson's life is a winner," exclaimed Publisher’s Weekly.  

The Women of Now: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America by Katherine Turk

An in-depth history of the National Organization of Women by a noted UNC history and gender studies professor. The book covers NOW’s most famous members, like The Feminine Mystique author Betty Friedan, but also focuses on lesser known founders like Aileen Hernandez, Mary Jean Collins and the Republican beauty queen and artist Patricia Hill Burnett.

Other New Releases This Week:

FICTION

The Trade Off by Sandie Jones

NONFICTION

How to Fix the Perfect Cocktail: 50 Classic Cocktail Recipes from the World's Leading Bartenders by Adam Elan-Elmegirab 

Thin Skin: Essays by Jenn Shapland

Notable Releases for the Week of August 7, 2023

FICTION

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

An uplifting tale of community and hope from the celebrated author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. When workers dig up a skeleton on a construction site in Pennsylvania, a gritty neighborhood’s long-buried secrets resurface in “a wondrous ode to the strength of humanity in a small town,” per TIME’s best-of-August round-up.

I Hear You're Rich by Diane Williams

More than 30 mesmerizing short stories about life’s moments both big and small, narrated in the trademark style of Diane Williams, short story writer and founder of the annual lit journal NOON. Lithub claims these stories by the Godmother of Flash Fiction (per The Paris Review) are “guaranteed to shift the world around you, if only for a moment." *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

Sun House by David James Duncan

This is the long-awaited follow-up to the cult author’s fishing odyssey The River Why and Dostoyevsky-inspired baseball epic The Brothers K.

California Golden by Melanie Benjamin

Two sisters with a legendary surfer mom come of age in Southern California during the 1960s in a sun-soaked family saga that “pairs the surf culture of the Beach Boys with the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll of Daisy Jones & The Six," per Entertainment Weekly.

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

A new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Family Upstairs. When a popular true crime podcaster meets an unassuming stranger in a bar, curiosity leads her down a dark and dangerous path with a “shocking climax...Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins fans, this one's for you," Publishers Weekly promised. 

Hangman by Maya Binyam

After decades spent living in America, a man returns to a sub-Saharan Africa he barely recognizes to search for his dying brother. The Nation praised this haunting debut as “one one of those rare things in contemporary literature—a novel of ideas, in which the exploration of ethical and political questions animates and shapes the story itself.” *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

NONFICTION

The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America 

An alarming exploration of America's poorest regions by three distinguished poverty scholars, including the authors of $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. Drawing on novel data science and years of field work in beleaguered communities across Appalachia, the Deep South and South Texas, it's an "eye-opening account [that] provides a powerful lens with which to view contemporary inequality in America," per Publishers Weekly. 

Congratulations, the Best Is Over!: Essays by R. Eric Thomas

This collection of insightful, hilarious personal essays by the bestselling author of Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America reflects on the author’s return to his hometown of Baltimore. Kirkus called it “a funny, poignant, astute collection” full of bloody ER mishaps, awkward high school reunions, and backyards plagued by gay frogs.  

Together, Somehow: Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor by Luis Manuel Garcia-Mispireta

An insider’s probing exploration of the techno and house scene during the first decade of the new millennium, that travels from legendary venues like Berlin’s Berghain to Midwest raves and beyond. It’s a must-read for global nightlife aficionados that examines the intimacy of packed dance floors and the social dynamics behind the velvet ropes.

Other New Releases This Week:

FICTION

Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Son Blaché 

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

Pet by Catherine Chidgey

Bridge: A Novel of Suspense by Lauren Beukes

Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks

The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

NONFICTION

From One Cell: A Journey Into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine by Ben Stanger

The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough by Thomas Curran

Notable Releases for the Week of July 31, 2023

FICTION

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

This emotional coming-of-age tale about love and the relationships that forge our destiny is one of the most anticipated books of the year. Reunited on their Michigan orchard during the pandemic’s early days, a mother and her daughters reflect on their lives. This is pure Patchett, whose award-winning novels often deal with both the painful constraints and unique joys of family dynamics. We're curious if this book's stellar reviews foretell even more awards for the Pulitzer finalist and winner of the PEN/Faulkner and Women's Prize.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

The first adult novel from the National Book award-winning author of The Poet X is a lyrical tale unfolding over three turbulent days in New York, where a Dominican family has gathered for a life-changing event. Hopping between past and present US and Santo Domingo, it’s a “juicy novel of sisterhood, resilience, and magic,” per Booklist. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

Evergreen by Naomi Hirahara

This knockout mystery is a follow-up to the Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning Clark and Division. Aki, a Japanese-American nurse’s aide, races to uncover a murder in LA’s Little Tokyo while her community rebuilds after imprisonment in WWII internment camps.

What Never Happened: A Thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall

Another nailbiter from the bestselling author of They All Fall Down. Following a deadly home invasion, a woman settles back into a tranquil life on Catalina island writing humdrum obituaries for the local paper. But when she uncovers an alarming secret about the deceased, the next obituary might be her own. 

Mobility by Lydia Kiesling

This second novel from a National Book Foundation “5 under 35” honoree is  a petroleum-soaked coming-of-age story about an American woman’s life within the global fossil fuel industry. We follow Bunny’s rise from a teenage foreign service brat in 1990s Azerbaijan, through her middle age in Texas climbing Big Oil’s corporate ladder. The result is “an impressively original contribution to the emerging literature of climate change,” per Publishers Weekly. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

Witness: Stories by Jamel Brinkley

A new collection of short stories about love, loss and grief set in contemporary New York City from the National Book Award finalist and author of A Lucky Man. These ten tender tales tackle the moral complexity of modern living with “a rich veneer worthy of such exemplars of the form as Chekhov, Eudora Welty, Alice Munro, and James Alan McPherson,” according to Kirkus. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

After Tom and Ming begin dating in college, they move to London to embark on a new chapter together. But when Ming decides to transition, their lives are forever changed in this queer love story debut that Elliot Page hailed as “smart, hilarious and deeply moving.”

The End of August by Yu Miri

The latest from the author of Ueno Station, which won the 2020 National Book Award for translated literature, is this time-hopping family saga that jumps between present day Japan and Korea under Japanese rule. Blending personal narrative with historical fiction and the spiritual realm, it pays homage to the author’s grandfather, a courageous Korean track athlete during the war. *A Tertulia staff pick for August.

The Apology Jimin Han

This haunting family epic is narrated by a 105-year-old South Korean matriarch who must fend off a curse that threatens future generations of her kin. This magical odyssey crosses continents, hops across eras and even ventures into the afterlife, all the while guided by a flawed yet funny protagonist that’s sure to capture readers’ hearts.

Lush Lives by J. Vanessa Lyon

The second title from Roxane Gay Books is a crowd-pleasing tale of queer love set against the backdrop of New York City’s cutthroat art world and the gentrification of historic Harlem. When an up-and-coming artist inherits a rundown brownstone from her aunt, she discovers a rare manuscript in the attic brimming with secrets of Harlem’s remarkable past.  

NONFICTION

Tucker by Chadwick Moore

A timely bio of former Fox News firebrand Tucker Carlson, penned by an ex-editor at Out and The Advocate who was a frequent guest on his show. The result is a comprehensive and personal portrait of the polarizing media figure based on hundreds of hours of interviews with his family, friends, foes - as well as Carlson himself.  

The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever by Prudence Peiffer

An exhilarating historic stroll to a quiet corner of New York City in the 50s and 60s where 20th Century art world giants like Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Delphine Seyrig, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman plied their creative trade. Written by an art historian and editor at MoMA, this is a rare and carefully-researched glimpse at the early days of a highly influential yet obscure artist colony.  

Dark Days: Fugitive Essays by Roger Reeves

A Black poet makes his nonfiction debut with a collection of poignant essays tackling race, fatherhood, community and other important issues of our troubled times with a prose that is “lyrical, poetic, and engrossing, and sure to appeal to fans of Hanif Abdurraqib and Michael Eric Dyson," according to Booklist.

Other New Releases This Week:

FICTION

Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy

Time's Mouth by Edan Lepucki

Las Madres by Esmeralda Santiago

Walk the Darkness Down by Daniel Magariel

My Name Is Iris by Brando Skyhorse

Wine People by Michelle Wildgen

NONFICTION

Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping by Shane McCrae