1. Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard
6 Rave • 3 Positive
“With wit and charm that only Louis Bayard can deliver, Courting Mr. Lincoln transports readers to 19th-century Springfield … Courting Mr. Lincoln oscillates between the voices of Mary and Speed, brilliantly connecting the audience with these two individuals … This is a love triangle capable of stealing the hearts of readers … Bayard’s masterful command of language enchants and thrills … He offers more reasons to love one of the most admired presidents in U.S. history and proves yet again why he himself is one of the nation’s greatest literary gems.
–Jen Forbus (Shelf Awareness)
2. Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
2 Rave • 7 Positive • 7 Mixed
“… [a] carefully constructed comedy of terrors … McEwan… is a master at cerebral silliness … McEwan is incapable of writing a dull line, but his AI conundrums feel as fresh as a game of Pong … McEwan’s special contribution is not to articulate the challenge of robots but to cleverly embed that challenge in the lives of two people trying to find a way to exist with purpose. That human drama makes Machines Like Me strikingly relevant even though it’s set in a world that never happened almost 40 years ago … [McEwan] is not only one of the most elegant writers alive, he is one of the most astute at crafting moral dilemmas within the drama of everyday life. True, contending with an attractive synthetic rival is a problem most of us won’t have to deal with anytime soon (sorry, Alexa), but figuring out how to treat each other, how to do some good in the world, how to create a sense of value in our lives, these are problems no robot will ever solve for us.”
–Ron Charles (The Washington Post)
Check out the essential Ian McEwan reading list here
3. Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg
4 Rave • 2 Positive
“With cleverness and imagination, vivid historical detail and great heart … Myla Goldberg … has reemerged [from her publishing hiatus] with a stunning success, what feels like the book she was always meant to write. I certainly felt like it was the book I was meant to read—the first novel that has brought me to tears in a long time, out of the intensity of my involvement with its characters and concern … By the time I finished this book, Lillian Preston seemed as real to me as any [feminist artist of the past], and I will remember her as long. Through its intense focus on a series of photographs, a group of quirky characters and a particular time in our cultural history, Feast Your Eyes becomes a universal and profound story of love and loss.”
–Marion Winik (Newsday)
Read Myla Goldberg’s list of books to help you think like a visual artist here
4. Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories by Young Ha-Kim
2 Rave • 4 Positive •1 Mixed
“… a brilliant collection of short stories that run the gamut from intense thrillers to introspective reflections on pain … [a] visceral gut punch of a collection that mostly takes place within the troubled minds of its protagonists. Young-ha Kim is exceedingly good at distorting reality and telling stories about how meaningless reality truly is. This is everyday surrealism with a sharp edge. In this collection, serial killers are sympathetic and traumatized children are spoiled brats who heartlessly traumatize two generations, one older and one younger. As bleak as this collection is, a bright ray of light shines through. That ray is called ‘talent’ and Young-ha Kim is an author who deserves to be very famous.”
–Benjamin Welton (The New York Journal of Books)
Read an excerpt from Diary of a Murderer here
5. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
3 Rave • 2 Positive
“While the courtroom scenes and plot pyrotechnics are sure to delight readers of legal thrillers and mysteries, at its heart, Miracle Creek is a deeply moving story about parents and the lengths they will go for their children. Several characters reflect on the challenges of caring for special-needs children with remarkable, occasionally brutal, honesty … Some may find the novel’s conclusion overly reliant on memories and secrets jarred loose at just the right time. But more likely, readers will be riveted by the book’s genre-bending structure and superb pace … a stunning debut.
–Jung Yun (The Washington Post)
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1. Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales by Oliver Sacks
7 Rave • 3 Positive
“Oliver Sacks, however, has a way of writing about his areas of lifelong interest—they include libraries, neurological disorders, botany and the history of science—that never fails to captivate me even if they are far from my own passions. Sacks possesses the crucial knack of neither dumbing down nor writing over the head of a lay reader … Much science writing for a general readership strains to explain specialized topics. For Sacks it’s more about enthusing his way to promote appreciation (and greater understanding). We get excited about, say, ferns because he is so into their beauty and resilience … If you love fascinating tidbits, this book of uncollected or previously unpublished essays is for you … neatly summarizes the extraordinary career of a brilliant translator between far-apart worlds.”
–Claude Peck (The Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Read about Oliver Sacks’ obsession with weightlifting here
2. Down From the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear by Bryce Andrews
3 Rave • 3 Positive
“…a lyrical exploration of an attempt to accommodate two disparate goals—the dairy farmer’s need for the corn to feed his cattle and the grizzly’s need to eat and fatten up during the short Montana summer. The resulting saga of the fence, the bears, and the cruel tricks fate can play read like a grand Great Plains tragedy in the Faulknerian mode. Andrews’ empathic writing turns Millie’s story into the embodiment of modern compromise with apex predators.”
–Nancy Bent (Booklist)
Read an excerpt from Down From the Mountain here
3. The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks
1 Rave • 4 Positive • 3 Mixed
“… [a] heartfelt, earnest pilgrimage toward self-awakening and commitment … Essentially, he sets out to create a blueprint for moral transformation by eschewing the hyperindividualism we are taught to champion as children and which, he concludes via social data, leads only to loneliness, distrust of institutions, loss of purpose, and tribalism … Brooks is a heart-on-his-sleeve writer, and his language is not terribly profound, but his message is accessible and inclusive … A thoughtful work that offers an uplifting message to those struggling in the wilderness of career and existential challenge.”
4. Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness by Anne Harrington
1 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed
“… a masterpiece … a readable, revisionist synthesis that shows that mind and brain medicine has not come as far as we imagine or wish. Harrington writes energetically about the contributions of seminal figures in psychiatry, neurology, and biology … Harrington’s grasp of this story and the clarity with which, with limited moralism, she delivers a tale about the ‘big picture’ of psychiatry and neurology is emblematic of the historian’s craft.”
–Stephen T. Casper (Science)
Read an excerpt from Mind Fixers here
5. Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting by Anna Quindlen
1 Rave • 4 Positive
“Quindlen sets the tone with a winning comment on the general consensus that grandchildren are ‘the best’ … here she is, writing about this situation—with her son and daughter-in-law’s blessing. While she’s at it, she heaps effusive praise on them. I’m sure they’re terrific, but in this context, her encomiums come across as uncomfortably ingratiating … Quindlen’s wonder at seeing her eldest child grow into his new role is lovely and moving … The best parts of Nanaville are the charming vignettes of Quindlen’s solo time with her grandson.”
–Heller McAlpin (NPR)
