1. Here in Berlin by Cristina García
(6 Rave, 1 Positive)
“Here in Berlin is an impeccable linguistic exercise in narratology and a brilliant exploration of the various identities we adhere to in metropolitan environments. García successfully rehumanizes a German postwar trauma of a populace that for so long coped with the making anonymous of people through genocide, the deadening speed of its capitalist structures, and the oppressive world of East Berlin.”
–Michael Valinsky (The Los Angeles Review of Books)
*
2. Strange Weather by Joe Hill
(4 Rave, 3 Positive)
“These tales are terrifying and compelling, filled with intense anxiety throughout, but it is that final story, set entirely in the real world, that is the most menacing of the bunch. After getting two 700-plus-page novels in a row, fans will be thrilled to take in Hill’s malevolent mind through these masterfully crafted single-sitting reads reminiscent of the very best of the short works by giants of the form like King, Gaiman, and Miéville. Hill is not only maturing as a writer of relevantly chilling tales but he is also emerging as a distinct voice for our complicated times.”
–Becky Spratford (Booklist)
*
3. Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin
(4 Rave, 1 Positive)
“On one level, Paris in the Present Tense is a caper, like The Sting, in which Jules comes up with an intricate and clever way to make his death pay off, quite literally. It’s also a bit of a romance, as he falls instantly and hopelessly in love (despite his devotion to Jacqueline) with a student named Élodi who is half-a-century his junior. Helprin’s style, however, elevates the story with sumptuous descriptions and complex characters whose conversations sometimes become analyses of such issues as anti-Semitism or meditations on the nature of music, time and love.”
–Colette Bancroft (The Tampa Bay Times)
*
4. The King is Always Above the People by Daniel Alarcón
(2 Rave, 3 Positive, 1 Mixed)
“Alarcón is an empathic observer of the isolated human, whether isolated by emigration or ambition, blindness or loneliness, poverty or war. His stories have a reporter’s mix of kindness and detachment, and perhaps as a result, his endings land like a punch in the gut … hat’s what the whole collection is about: people who want to be free. Alarcón writes about them with a grayscale beauty that few writers can achieve, or try to. His purpose isn’t to approve or condemn, or to liberate. He’s writing to show us other people’s lives, and in every case, it’s a pleasure to be shown.”
–Lily Meyer (NPR)
Read an essay by Daniel Alarcón here
*
5. The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst
(2 Rave, 2 Positive, 3 Mixed)
“C. Morgan Babst’s debut novel draws its title from a Japanese phrase signifying ephemerality, but it doubles as a description of New Orleans after Katrina. As a fictional retelling thereof, the book has few superiors … The author resists the temptation to turn her novel into a tract or advocacy—not that it lacks passion. To the contrary, the novel is very much of our irritable, harried times.”
–Kenneth Champion (BookPage)
Read a conversation with C. Morgan Babst here
**
1. The Woman Who Smashed Codes Jason Fagone
(5 Rave, 2 Positive)
“…a fascinating combination of love story, spy novel and war tale, all of it true … Fagone tells Elizebeth’s tale briskly over 340-or-so pages, seamlessly mixing her efforts with little side stories showing the fruit her labor bore … The Woman Who Smashed Codes is short but rarely simple, as the subject matter may require: There’s nothing easy about breaking Enigmas, the legendary German device. But it’s a story that anyone with interest in the time period has to read, a key piece of the puzzle about America’s war effort.”
–Sonny Bunch (The Washington Post)
*
2. Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon S. Wood
(3 Rave, 3 Positive)
“Friends Divided is an engaging book that’s sure to appeal to anyone with an abiding interest in Revolution-era America and the leaders who shaped the country. Beautifully written and with real insight into Jefferson and Adams, it’s a worthy addition to the canon, and yet another compelling book from Wood.”
–Michael Schaub (NPR)
*
2. The Apparitionists by Peter Manseau
“Mumler’s notoriety, and the growing suspicions of his detractors, is the scaffolding of Mr. Manseau’s entertaining and ambitious narrative, but several supporting characters add heft and context, elevating The Apparitionists from an engaging biography of a huckster to a portrait of America during arguably its most formative years … Mr. Manseau develops these threads so that The Apparitionists itself is like a photograph—each successive chapter adding depth and shade and specks of mystery, until the final result magically appears, provoking as many questions as it provides answers.”
–Karen Abbott (The Wall Street Journal)
Read an excerpt from The Apparitionists here
*
4. Greater Gotham by Mike Wallace
(4 Rave, 1 Positive)
“[Wallace] tells the story of those two decades with encyclopedic sweep and granular detail, but with enough verve and wry humor to make this doorstopper immensely readable. Even weathered aficionados of city lore will find moments of revelation. Newcomers will be fascinated by how it all came to be. What makes the book so entertaining is that it is not a conventional chronicle of how government leaders handled that era’s crises. Rather the book is as much a social and cultural history as it is a political narrative.”
–Joseph Berger (The New York Times Book Review)
Read an excerpt from Greater Gotham here
*
5. Vacationland by John Hodgman
(2 Rave, 4 Positive, 2 Mixed)
“On these pages, Hodgman is as funny and as self-deprecating as ever, but also, deeply and hilariously, for real. Although he is a very fortunate man, the dotted line he draws between growing older and growing up will be familiar to any gloomily aging person — which is to say, anyone older than 17 … Vacationland is an ambitious departure from Hodgman’s previous authorial endeavors. It’s funny, but it’s no joke. The book is a cleverly composed meditation on one privileged American’s life — and, glancingly, on America — at a crucial moment for both.”
–Meredith Maran (The Chicago Tribune)
