The Best Reviewed Books of the Month

Francis Spufford’s Nonesuch, Saba Sams’ Gunk, Jordy Rosenberg’s Night Night Fawn, and Chrisopher Clark’s A Scandal in Königsberg all feature among the best reviewed books of the month.

Fiction

1. Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
(Scribner)

7 Rave • 5 Positive • 1 Mixed

“A formidable achievement, a popcorny delight of a novel – and those who agree will be pleased by an ending that hints we’ve plenty more to come from Spufford’s fantasy multiverse.”
–AK Blakemore (The Guardian)

2. Gunk by Saba Sams
(Knopf)

7 Rave • 5 Positive
Read an excerpt of Gunk here

“Gunk is an elusive, idiosyncratic book that I would not want to have been written any differently. It deals in relationships that literary conventions were not built to hold.”
–Naoise Dolan (The Irish Times)

3. Night Night Fawn by Jordy Rosenberg
(One World)

8 Rave • 2 Positive
Read an excerpt of Night Night Fawn here

“Exultantly brazen, a zinger of a novel: equal parts reckoning and memorial and pained, bitter laugh.”
–Megan Milks (4Columns)

4. The Quantity Theory of Morality by Will Self
(Grove Press) 

8 Rave • 1 Positive

“It is deliriously poignant. It is heartbreakingly antic. It is sincere and wry at the same time … My copy has so many turned down pages it is practically uncloseable.”
–Stuart Kelly (The Scotsman)

5. Python’s Kiss: Stories by Louise Erdich
(Harper)

8 Rave
Read an excerpt of Python’s Kiss here

“Testifies to the intrepidity of her explorations and her commitment to blurring boundaries … Thrilling.”
–Priscilla Gilman (The Boston Globe)

**

Nonfiction

1. A Scandal in Königsberg by Christopher Clark 
(Penguin Press)

11 Rave
Read an excerpt from A Scandal in Königsberg here

“Brilliant.”
–Dan Piepenbring (Harpers)

2. Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945 by Ian Baruma
(Penguin Press)

7 Rave • 1 Positive • 2 Mixed

“Subtly nuanced and beautifully written.”
–Victor Sebestyen (The Spectator)

3. In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What it Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod
(Doubleday)

5 Rave • 3 Positive

“One of the great literary tributes to a complex paterfamilias in recent memory.”
–Michael O’Donnell (The Wall Street Journal)

4. Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy by Daniel Okrent
(Yale University Press)

6 Rave • 1 Positive

“An insightful look at a complicated man and talented artist whose work transformed twentieth-century musical theater.”
–Carolyn Mulac (Booklist)

5. The Glorians by Terry Tempest Williams
(Grove Press)

4 Rave • 2 Positive
Read an excerpt from The Glorians here

“The language, the landscape, is that of apocalypse, and Williams does not look away. Her intention, rather, is to remind us that none of this is conditional or reversible … Nonetheless, and in spite of everything, Williams continues to look for grace.”
–David L. Ulin (Alta)