Hello, friends. I have to apologize in advance for today. I have had COVID the past week, and it has made it almost impossible to read. So, for you today, I have one book I read and two I am very excited to read. I hope that you are excited about them too! There’s a zany workplace novel about capitalism and worker burnout, a Booker Prize-nominated work of historical fiction, and a memoir about a gay Chinese American kid growing up in Detroit in the 1980s.
At the top of my list of today’s books that I want to buy are The Last Language by Jennifer duBois, Great Falls, MT by Reggie Watts, Tremor by Teju Cole, and The Best American Short Stories 2023 by Min Jin Lee and Heidi Pitlor. You can hear about more of the fabulous books coming out today on this week’s episode of All the Books! I had to sit this one out because I am so sick, which makes me sad because I hate missing a show. But missing only one in every one hundred episodes is a good average. 🙂
Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
And now it’s time for everyone’s favorite game, “Ahhhhhhh, My TBR!” Here are today’s contestants!
Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
This is the book I read, and I loved it. It’s easy to explain, but the execution is much more complex and weird and smart. In a future America, people are hired to go into the dreams of stressed-out workers and remove the frightening, upsetting bits. So when the workers wake up, they feel less stressed and more relaxed, therefore hypothetically being more productive. The workers don’t even know this is happening; it’s their bosses who hire the company. Jonathan Abernathy is a twentysomething with so much college debt he has a lien on his wages. So, he takes this job as a way to get debt forgiveness. But as someone who has been in the shoes of the exploited, the overworked, the workers who have three jobs just to make ends meet, this is a tricky occupation for him. Plus, unbeknownst to him, he has a partner he can’t see who follows him everywhere. This is a weird sci-fi dramedy that gets at the heart of exploitation, capitalism, debt, life, and death. It reminded me a bit of reading a Kurt Vonnegut novel, and it has the kind of narration I love, where we know things about the main character before they do. If you like original debuts, give this one a try.
Backlist bump: Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
This longlisted Booker Prize nominee is high on my list of books to read soon. It’s set in the 1920s and follows a couple in Malaysia whose lives are disrupted when writer W. Somerset Maugham and his secretary come to visit. Everyone is unhappy; everyone is hiding something about themselves, such as their sexuality, an affair, and a dark past. As Maugham searches for ideas for his next novel, he discovers the truths that keep being revealed will make for the most compelling book yet.
Backlist bump: The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir by Curtis Chin
And this one I picked up because I heard Chin speak about it, and he was such a wonderful storyteller. This is his memoir about his parents’ Chinese restaurant in Detroit. It was a place that brought in customers from all paths of life from all over the city. And it is where Chin grew up realizing he was gay and how the city and his family helped him navigate his young years and grow up to be a filmmaker and writer.
Backlist bump: Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham (Not technically backlist, but worth a shout-out.)
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This week, well, I am too sick to read anything. (Frowny face.) But I have watched almost 30 episodes of Moonlighting, which just started streaming for the first time. What a wild trip it has been! It’s so quintessentially 1980s, and I have missed zany Bruce Willis. The song stuck in my head this week is “Run from Me” by Timber Timbre, which, if you have been watching the new season of Our Flag Means Death, you heard there recently. And here is your weekly cat picture: Zevon is checking out MC Hammerhead on the wall behind him.
Thank you, as always, for joining me each Tuesday as I rave about books! I am wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week, whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! See you next week. – XO, Liberty