Happy Tuesday! It’s time for another round of “Make Your TBR Lists Explode.” The hits just keep on coming – there are so many great books out today! And on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about some of the books coming out in the last half of 2016 that we are excited about, including IQ, His Bloody Project, and American Housewife.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas.
Discover the new Sherlock Holmes inspired series from bestselling author Sherry Thomas.
While the inquisitive Charlotte Holmes has never accepted the demureness expected of women in London society, even she did not predict that she would become an outcast.
When the city is struck by a series of unexpected deaths, suspicion falls on her sister and father. Charlotte is determined to find the true culprits. She’ll have some help, but in the end, it’s up to Charlotte, a brilliant mind wrapped in a most feminine package, to challenge society’s expectations and solve the mystery under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes.
Mister Monkey by Francine Prose
This is Prose at her wittiest and most playful yet. Mister Monkey is about, er, Mister Monkey, an off-Broadway children’s musical, and also a production where dreams go to die. Most of the people involved once had grand Broadway dreams but are now reduced to acting in a ridiculous musical for kids. Told in multiple viewpoints, Mister Monkey is a brilliant, bizarre, and biting look at dashed dreams and more. Two opposable thumbs up.
Backlist bump: Blue Angel by Francine Prose
Hotel Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Bruce the Bear is back from his southern migration with his geese friends and ready to relax – but while he was away, three mice have turned his den into a hotel! What will Bruce do???? This is another delightfully charming installment in the Bruce series, and like the first book, full of great stuff for kids and grownups.
Backlist bump: Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy
A collection of work by Percy is fabulous, but it’s extra-exciting when it’s published by the amazing Graywolf Press, purveyors of fantastic non-fiction. This is a wonderful collection, surrounding things to do with fiction. The title essay is a challenge to the notion that literary and genre fiction are somehow mutually exclusive, and the whole books is full of Percy’s advice, wit, and wisdom on the craft of writing. GOOD STUFF.
Backlist bump: Refresh, Refresh: Stories by Benjamin Percy
The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories / The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas by Ursula K. Le Guin
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Two GIANT editions of work by living legend Ursula K. Le Guin. If you’ve never read her before, these are a great place to start, and if you’re a big fan, then WOOHOO! A whole kittenton of her collected work.
Backlist bump: Read everything she has written, obviously, but also check out this wonderful new profile of Le Guin in the New Yorker.
Heart and Brain: Gut Instincts by The Awkward Yeti
Oh, how I love this web comic! And the collection includes even more great stuff. Heart and Brain are kind of like the Pinky and the Brain of the body: Heart is the playful, silly one and Brain is the rational worrier. Together, they star in funny, yet poignant, comics about every day life. It’s a great escape, especially if something big and worrisome has been stressing you out. (Like, say, 2016?)
Backlist bump: Heart and Brain: An Awkward Yeti Collection
YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Stay rad!
Liberty