1. The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty
6 Rave • 1 Positive
“As far as epic fantasy goes, The Kingdom of Copper checks all the boxes. It presents readers with a world so vivid that it doesn’t require the suspension of disbelief … More than anything, the second novel in S.A. Chakraborty’s Daevabad Trilogy is a great epic fantasy because it’s just that. It’s epic, and that’s what makes it so much fun. If you’re looking for a compelling, heart-rending drama that just happens to also be one of the most thought-provoking epic fantasies to come out in a long time, look no further.”
–Laura Hubbard (BookPage)
*
2. The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander
3 Rave • 3 Positive
“Cander grabs the reader in her opening pages: a bravura, thickly detailed account of the creation of a Blüthner piano … Cander expertly parcels out her revelations: Alert readers will likely figure out that Greg is Katya’s son before he admits it on route to Death Valley, but the final plot twist is a satisfying surprise. Clues are carefully planted, however, as Cander builds parallel narratives in alternating chapters … Deftly plotted and well written, a gentle meditation on the healing power of art—and its limitations.”
Read Chris Cander on the story that inspired The Weight of the Piano here
*
3. The Alarming Palsey of James Orr by Tom Lee
2 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed
“It is hard not to think of Kafka’s Metamorphosis when reading the book, partly because Lee’s writing, too, pulses with humour and an appreciation of the abject silliness of human beings … [Lee] writes with a needle, and with a short-story master’s eye for structure. And although the plot is not predictable, when it yields its twists, they feel satisfyingly right.”
–Leaf Arbuthnot (The Times)
*
4. Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
2 Rave • 3 Positive • 2 Mixed
“Kamal’s Unmarriageable succeeds in being both a deliciously readable romantic comedy and a commentary on class in post-colonial, post-partition Pakistan, where the effects of the British Empire still reverberate … While at times the dialogue is heavy-handed, ultimately Unmarriageable manages to be both a fun, page-turning romp and a thought-provoking look at the class-obsessed strata of Pakistani society.”
–Ilana Masad (NPR)
*
5. Golden State by Ben H. Winters
1 Rave • 4 Positive • 2 Mixed
“Another thought-provoking, genre-bending SF thriller … Winters seems to have a real affection for unusually compelling premises—the events of the Last Policeman trilogy take place as an asteroid is bearing down on the earth, and the annihilation of humanity is a certainty—and he certainly knows how to bring those premises to life in a way that keeps readers flipping pages. Another fine novel from a writer whose imagination knows no bounds.”
–David Pitt (Booklist)
**
1. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to Present by David Treuer
3 Rave • 4 Positive
“Treuer blends a scholar’s tenacity with vivid reportage and personal anecdotes, but beneath his compassionate storytelling a magma of anger flows … Treuer movingly probes the horrors of Indian boarding schools, for instance, a project dreamed up by well-meaning white progressives but destined to rip apart thousands of families, scores of children forever cut off from their parents … The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee looks back unflinchingly at the suffering and self-reliance of Indians, sifting fresh insights from well-trod soil … Beautifully written and argued, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee dares to imagine, even in our own cynical time, the arc of history bending toward justice.”
–Hamilton Cain (The Star Tribune)
Read an excerpt from The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee here
*
2. Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
3 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed
“In Maid, Land displays a keen eye for how her clients live, what their houses say about their lives … More than any book in recent memory, Land nails the sheer terror that comes with being poor, the exhausting vigilance of knowing that any misstep or twist of fate will push you deeper into the hole … In a way, then, this is a survivor’s tale. But it’s also a cautionary one, not only warning of the fragility of prosperity in a nation where social mobility goes both ways, but admonishing those of us not currently poor to remember the humanity of those who clean our houses, mow our lawns, cook our meals.”
–Kate Tuttle (The Boston Globe)
*
3. Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History by Tony Perrottet
2 Rave • 3 Positive
“Reads like a novel—it’s a fascinating page-turner that captures ‘history’s most unlikely revolution’ in all its wild absurdity … Perrottet provides enough context for the reader to understand what came before the revolution, but doesn’t get too bogged down in history … Perrottet does an excellent job capturing the absurdities that came with the revolution … Interesting times require interesting authors to do them justice, and Perrottet proves himself more than up to the job. Cuba Libre! brings history to life with thorough research and wildly addictive writing.”
–Michael Schaub (Newsday)
*
4. A German Officer in Occupied Paris: The War Journals, 1941-1945 by Ernst Jünger
1 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed
“Always intended for eventual publication, the journal eschews soul-searching and avoids anything overtly confessional … Overall, Jünger remains essentially contemplative, an observer by instinct … the stark and appalling descriptions of what he saw on the Eastern Front recall Goya’s famous etchings of the disasters of war … He despises the forces, industrial and ideological, that reduce people to machines or automatons … Such high-minded ideals don’t preclude shrewd understanding about life in a police state … Some critics argue that his transcendental-mystical bent tends to aestheticize horror and suffering, which to some extent it certainly does. Still, Jünger himself deserves to be honored as a serious, if morally and politically complicated, European humanist.”
–Michael Dirda (The Washington Post)
5. Camelot’s End: Kennedy Vs Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party by Jon Ward
1 Rave • 4 Positive
“… among the many feats of Jon Ward’s deft Camelot’s End is its retrieval of Carter, the 39th US president, from sainthood…Ward’s account of the tussle with Camelot scion Ted Kennedy, one that forced Carter to submit to the indignity of fighting for his party’s nomination for a second term, recovers the animal spirits that fuelled his rise from arrant obscurity … Camelot’s End cuts through the mythology … For all its demythologising, Camelot’s End narrates a rich drama.”
–Stephen Phillips (The Irish Times)
