Fiction
1. A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert (4 Rave, 3 Positive)
(4 Rave, 3 Positive)
“As we shuttle from character to character, Seiffert gives us nowhere to hide: All of her cast thinks or says such things. All of them contemplate doing unthinkable things. Bravery, she reveals, is a kind of fantasy, until it is not — it becomes a choice. Eventually, what this book has been building toward happens, and there are few passages in modern literature as harrowing and as necessary to read.”
–John Freeman (The Boston Globe)
Read an excerpt from A Boy in Winter here
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2. Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty
(5 Rave, 1 Positive)
“MacLaverty’s novel is relatively short (240 pages), but it feels like a more expansive work because of its unhurried pace and careful attention to each moment of the Gilmores’ sojourn … Contemplating the mysteries that lie at the heart of every marriage, Stella thinks, ‘Nobody could peer into a relationship — even for a day or two — and come away with the truth.’ It’s a measure of MacLaverty’s achievement here that he has done exactly that.”
–Jon Michaud (The Washington Post)
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3. Stay With Me by Ay??bámi Adébáy??
(2 Rave, 5 Positive)
“…[a] stunning debut novel … [Stay With Me] has a remarkable emotional resonance and depth of field. It is, at once, a gothic parable about pride and betrayal; a thoroughly contemporary — and deeply moving — portrait of a marriage; and a novel, in the lineage of great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, that explores the pull in Nigeria between tradition and modernity, old definitions of masculinity and femininity, and newer imperatives of self-definition and identity.”
–Michiko Kakutani (The New York Times)
Read an essay by Ay??bámi Adébáy?? here
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4. The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
(4 Rave, 1 Positive)
“…the fact that The Stone Sky sticks the landing of this astonishing trilogy with timeliness and rigor is the smallest, simplest thing I have to say about it. The gratitude and love I feel for these books, and for what The Stone Sky adds to the triptych, is staggering … The depth and breadth of Jemisin’s achievement with this trilogy is geologic. These books are a revolution in which I want to take part.”
–Amal El-Mohtar (NPR)
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5. Montpelier Parade by Karl Geary
(3 Rave, 2 Positive)
“…an unforgettable love story in writing that is often exceptional … Unusually, the entire tale is presented in the second person. When used for more than short passages this narrative approach can become strained. Yet here any potential over-intensity is offset by the measured pace of Sonny’s thoughts and insights, and the combination works wonderfully well … Geary captures time and place startlingly well. More important, he lays out the inexorable dynamic of this tragic relationship with masterly economy.”
–Peter Carty (The Financial Times)
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Non Fiction
1. Notes on a Foreign Country by Suzy Hansen
(4 Rave, 4 Positive)
“…a searching and searing book … Hansen writes with both authority and humility and, occasionally, with sharp beauty … a testament to one journalist’s courage in digging deep within herself to understand the real story and to make sure she gets it right … a testament to one journalist’s courage in digging deep within herself to understand the real story and to make sure she gets it right.”
–Barbara Spindel (The Christian Science Monitor)
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2. Housman Country by Peter Parker
(3 Rave, 5 Positive, 1 Pan)
“Parker offers a sensitive, well-researched study of the poet and his time … Mr. Parker’s labor of love is enriched by a remarkable breadth of research and is guided by keen intelligence, and only a foolhardy writer would have the hubris to undertake another book of its kind.”
–Jamie James (The Wall Street Journal)
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3. Chester B. Himes: A Biography by Lawrence P. Jackson
(4 Rave, 2 Positive, 1 Mixed)
“…a captivating biography … The biography is based on a kaleidoscopic mix of archival materials, close readings of Himes’s published writing and personal letters and conversations with people who knew him. Himes had a mercurial personality and led a thrilling life that might tempt a biographer to conjure a book in the spirit of its subject, but Jackson avoids this pitfall. The book is neatly written and accessible, without cheap tricks to build suspense or sway readers’ opinions.”
–Michael P. Jeffries (The New York Times Book Review)
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4. Happiness: A Memoir by Heather Harpham
(3 Rave, 3 Positive)
“…utterly gorgeous … The story is told in riveting, plot-twisting fashion, and I’m loath to reveal a lot of plot points. But I’ll say that it’s also told with care and courage and humor, and it will deepen your understanding of not just life with a sick child, but life.”
–Heidi Stevens (The Chicago Tribune)
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5. The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine
(3 Rave, 2 Positive)
“…[a] brilliant and suitably monumental book … Vivid, engaging and omnivorous in its deployment of anthropological and sociological ideas, The House of Government has a Tolstoyan cast of characters … as we struggle to balance the benefits of industrial modernity with its huge costs — both human and environmental — Slezkine’s gripping history of these latter-day Fausts is especially relevant, even if their mental world seems so remote from our own.”
–David Priestland (The Financial Times)
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