Category: New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date October 19, 2020

In the Quick by Kate Hope Day (March 2)

You may have heard me mention this on All the Books! a few weeks ago. It won’t be the last time by a mile – this might already be my favorite book of 2021! It’s set in a future where space travel is no biggie anymore, and teens go off to space boarding school to ready themselves for a career among the stars. June is a brilliant girl who is accepted early because of her famous uncle. While at school, a space shuttle goes missing, and everyone gives it up for lost, except for June, who is convinced the crew is still out there. But no one is interested in listening to a 12-year-old. Six years later, June embarks on her own first mission in space. But the crew of that lost shuttle still haunts her.

I loooooooooooooved this book. It’s so smart and beautiful. (also, I highly recommend skipping the publisher’s description, because it does not do the book justice.)

Backlist bump: If, Then by Kate Hope Day

The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard (January 19)

This book melted my brain in the best way. It’s freaking genius! It is set in the early 20th century and takes place in two parts. The first section follows the African American staff of a white family whose fortune is slipping away, and the racism and danger the staff faces every day, both at work and outside the home. And the second part is set ten years later, after a horrific crime at the home. It details the life of one of the former maids as she attempts to grow her own business, but keeps finding her dealings overshadowed by the her time at the home. It’s such a powerful novel that I immediately read it again because I didn’t want to lose that feeling it gave my brain. And you heard it here first: This is my guess for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2021!

Backlist bump: The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard

Two Truths and a Lie: Murder, Obsession, and Justice in the Sunshine State by Ellen McGarrahan (February 2)

(Just a heads up that there will be discussion of violence and death in this description.)

And this is one of the best true crime books I have read in a long time! When McGarrahan was a young reporter in Miami, they sent her to witness the execution of a man accused of killing two police officers. What she saw is too distressing to write down here, so I’ll just say that it caused her to quit her job shortly after and take off looking for answers that would make sense of the world. But many years later, hearing whispers that the man she saw executed was innocent of the crime, McGarrahan – now a private detective – decided to investigate the case herself. This is an excellent examination of trauma, the death penalty, corruption, celebrity, and the people left behind. (Related: the other amazing true crime book I have read recently is We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper, out November 10!)

Backlist bump: The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

As always, I am wishing the best for all of you in whatever situation you find yourself in now. Please reach out to your friends and family if you need someone to talk to, and be sure to keep social distancing and washing your hands to keep yourself and others safe.

Thanks for subscribing! – XO, Liberty

New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date October 12, 2020

The Redshirt by Corey Sobel

While I am not personally a fan of watching football – too many starts and stops! – I love reading novels about football. And this is just about the best one involving the sport that I have read. It’s about a young man, Miles Furling, whose childhood dreams of playing professional football get one step closer to reality when he gets a scholarship to the prestigious King College. Coming from a modest background, the scholarship is everything, even if the school’s team isn’t very good. At school, Miles becomes roommates with the school’s top player, Reshawn, who doesn’t want to explain how someone with his talent wound up on a terrible college team. Eventually Miles and Reshawn become close, and the novel blossoms into a thoughtful, heart-punching look at privilege, sexuality, and the toxic environment surrounding football. It’s a really great debut, and it was recently longlisted for 2020 Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. (CW for homophobia, violence, and death.)

Backlist bump: The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

This is a beautifully illustrated YA graphic novel about belonging and being true to yourself. Tiến’s family came to America from Vietnam, which sometimes makes it difficult for him to feel like he fits in, but his realization that he’s gay makes him feel even more alone in the world. To comfort himself, he immerses himself in books (something we all can identify with), reading story after story from his culture. But he knows one day, no matter how much he avoids it, he’ll have to face the real world. (CW for homophobia, racism, and death.)

Backlist bump: The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh

I must admit that my knowledge of Dolly Parton songs is very limited. (Like 9 to 5 and maybe one other. Oh! Islands in the Stream!) But I am a huge fan of her simply for the sheer amount of books she has shared with campaign for children’s literacy. I also enjoyed reading Heartland, Smarsh’s last book, so I was happy to pick this one up. It’s a combination memoir about experiences in Smarsh’s life and a look at some of Parton’s songs and women whose lives were touched and validated by the stories in her songs. (And if you’re interested in hearing from Dolly herself, get ready for November 17, when you can pick up Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.) (CW for discussions of misogyny and abuse.)

Backlist bump: Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh

Thanks for subscribing! – XO, Liberty

New Books

First Tuesday of October Megalist!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date October 5, 2020

Sponsored by The Lives of Saints from bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with Fierce Reads.

Experience the Grishaverse like never before. . . Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, soon to be part of a Netflix original series—immerse yourself in the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya. These tales include stunning full-color illustrations of miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints plus strange and obscure stories drawn from the novels and beyond. “This is what fantasy is for.” —The New York Times

Welcome to the first Tuesday of October! It’s extra-special because this week marks my return after a three-month sabbatical from BR newsletters. I spent a lot of quality time relaxing, hanging with my cats, and enjoying the magic that is Star vs. the Forces of Evil, but mostly I read books. (Shocking, I know.) And while I greatly appreciated the rest, OMG I MISSED YOU. Reading books is my life, and I am so thankful to be able to do what I do each week. So thanks, from the bottom of my fuzzy little heart.

You can also hear about several of today’s great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Danika and I discussed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Leave the World Behind, White Tears/Brown Scars, and more.

I can’t wait to get back to telling you about amazing upcoming titles – starting with today! I spent a long time making sure the pub dates were correct, but some may have already changed by the time this goes out, because of the state of the book world right now. And like each megalist, I’m putting a next to the books that I have had the chance to read and loved. I did get to a few of today’s books, but there are still soooo many more on this list that I can’t wait to read!

Lastly, I hope that the last three months have been kind to you. (How has it already been three months??!) Please reach out to your friends and family if you need someone to talk to, and be sure to keep social distancing and washing your hands to keep yourself and others safe. Now, on the books! – XO, Liberty

P.S. Thank you to Tirzah for filling in while I was out!

Spoiler Alert: A Novel by Olivia Dade

Class Act by Jerry Craft

We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada

Wall Disease: The Psychological Toll of Living Up Against a Border by Jessica Wapner

Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld

Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards

The Turncoat: A Novel by Siegfried Lenz, John Cullen (translator)

Mrs. Murakami’s Garden by Mario Bellatin, Heather Cleary (translator)

The Piano Student by Lea Singer and Elisabeth Lauffer (translator)

I Hope This Helps: Comics and Cures for 21st Century Panic by Tommy Siegel

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab

Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews: Herbal Potions, Magical Teas, and Spirited Libations by Amy Blackthorn

Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson, Kwame Alexander

The Look of the Book: Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature by Peter Mendelsund and David J. Alworth

Cuyahoga by Pete Beatty

Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution by Chiho Saito

Apple: (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth

Spell Starter (A Caster Novel) by Elsie Chapman

ESCAPEs by Daniel Tunnard

A Jedi, You Will Be by Preeti Chhibber and Mike Deas

The Martyrdom of Collins Catch the Bear by Gerry Spence

Lon Chaney Speaks by Pat Dorian

Ruby by Nina Allan

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Modern Comfort Food by Ina Garten

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars

Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones

Win at All Costs: Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception by Matt Hart

The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo, Daniel J. Zollinger (Illustrator)

Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Hayley Krischer

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by Sir David Attenborough

The Exphoria Code by Antony Johnston

Zero Zone: A Novel by Scott O’Connor

This Thing Called Life: Prince’s Odyssey, On and Off the Record by Neal Karlen

Bland Fanatics: Essays by Pankaj Mishra

Every Breath You Take: Exploring the Science of Our Changing Atmosphere by Mark Broomfield

The Secret Lives of Planets: Order, Chaos, and Uniqueness in the Solar System by Paul Murdin

Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country by Cristina Rivera Garza, Sarah Booker (translator)

Earthlings: A Novel by Sayaka Murata

An Illustrated History of UFOs by Adam Allsuch Boardman

Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City by Carl Smith

Never Turn Back: A Novel by Christopher Swann

Decoding the World: A Road Map for the Questioner by Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta

The Bladebone: Book Four of the Khorasan Archives by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan: A Novel of a Life in Art by Deborah Reed

The Mirror: Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao

Out!: How to Be Your Authentic Self by Miles McKenna

The Searcher: A Novel by Tana French

Murder on Cold Street (The Lady Sherlock Series Book 5) by Sherry Thomas

Vagina Problems: Endometriosis, Painful Sex, and Other Taboo Topics by Lara Parker

Eleanor: A Life by David Michaelis

Why Didn’t We Riot? A Black Man in Trumpland by Issac J. Bailey

The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo 5) by Rick Riordan

Trowbridge Road by Marcella Pixley

Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change by Maggie Smith

Hush: A Novel by Dylan Farrow

The Times I Knew I Was Gay by Eleanor Crewes

Dear Child: A Novel by Romy Hausmann

An Incomplete List of Names: Poems by Michael Torres

The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths by Olivier Barde-Cabucon, Louise Lalaurie Rogers (translator)

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South edited by Cinelle Barnes

Why Birds Sing: A Novel by Nina Berkhout

Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad

When We Were Young & Brave: A Novel by Hazel Gaynor

That Was Now, This Is Then: Poems by Vijay Seshadri

The Nightworkers: A Novel by Brian Selfon

The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard by John Birdsall

Bright and Dangerous Objects by Anneliese Mackintosh

Snow: A Novel by John Banville

Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street, and the White House by Elizabeth Mitchell

The Traveller and Other Stories by Stuart Neville

Jubilee by Jennifer Givhan

Leave the World Behind: A Novel by Rumaan Alam

High Skies by Tracy Daugherty

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

Closer to Nowhere by Ellen Hopkins

The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

The Voice of Sheila Chandra by Kazim Ali

The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor

Deepfake by Sarah Darer Littman

The Wrong Kind of Woman: A Novel by Sarah McCraw Crow

The Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century by Adam Kirsch

Flooded: Requiem for Johnstown by Ann E. Burg

the hollow places by t kingfisher cover The Hollow Places: A Novel by T. Kingfisher

Consensual Hex by Amanda Harlowe

The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom by H. W. Brands

One Way or Another by Kara McDowell

Kingdom of Sea and Stone by Mara Rutherford

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker

Alone in the Woods by Rebecca Behrens

Every Now and Then by Lesley Kagen

The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories (Pitt Drue Heinz Lit Prize) by Ms. Caroline Kim

The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change by David Remnick, Henry Finder

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Archive of the Forgotten (A Novel from Hell’s Library Book 2) by A. J. Hackwith

Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz

You Will Love What You Have Killed (Biblioasis International Translation Series) by Kevin Lambert, Donald Winkler (translator)

Eventide by Sarah Goodman

Daughter of Black Lake: A Novel by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Grabbed: Poets & Writers on Sexual Assault, Empowerment & Healing edited by Richard Blanco, Caridad Moro, Nikki Moustaki, and Elisa Albo

Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India by Maneet Chauhan, Jody Eddy

Missionaries : A Novel by Phil Klay

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New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date September 28, 2020

Sponsored by Skyhunter by Marie Lu, with Fierce Reads.

A broken world. An overwhelming evil. A team of warriors ready to strike back. #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marie Lu is back with an adrenaline-laced novel about the lengths one warrior will go to fight for freedom and those she loves. “A riveting dystopian novel and a timely story of fighting for what’s right.” —PopSugar

Welcome to the last Tuesday of September, aka bonus new book Tuesday! We’ve got some excellent new books to round out your month, and I can’t wait to read them all. In addition to these three books, I also have a copy of The Nesting by C.J. Cooke that I’m excited to dive into, and I’ve got my eye on Becoming Muhammed Ali, a novel for young readers by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander.

Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo

Azere is a young Nigerian-Canadian woman who feels trapped by a promise she made to her dying father to marry a Nigerian man one day and preserve her culture. Her mom tries to help–but when a dating disaster sends Azere running, she meets Rafael, who is very handsome, very into her, and very white. As their fling turns into something serious, Azere has to decide if keeping her promise is something she can or is willing to do, and if she breaks it, how will it affect how she sees herself and her culture?

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Head back to magic school in this dark and funny new fantasy from Naomi Novik! El is a student at Scholomance, a magical school where students either learn their lessons and graduate, or literally die trying. El is uniquely prepared for this educational experience, but her dark powers also come with a caveat: she might kill everyone in the school if she unleashes them. Fortunately, she doesn’t want that. Unfortunately, there is one particular student named Orion Lake that she wouldn’t mind taking down with her. This is the first in what’s sure to be a funny and deadly series.

Backlist bump: If the combination of dark humor and magic in this book appeals to you, you might want to check out Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, a Book Riot favorite.

The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe

In this homage to Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca Farwell is living a double life in the late 1990s: in New York, Miss Farwell is known as Reba, a successful, stylish, and cutthroat art dealer who has made a killing in recent years. In a small town in Illinois, Becky is the town treasurer and controller, living in a farmhouse and dressing in sensible clothing, the type of person no one would suspect of fraud of money laundering–yet that’s exactly what Becky is doing. This is a taut novel about a brilliant con artist.

Backlist bump: Want more Patricia Highsmith readalikes? Pick up Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart.

This will be the last New Books newsletter from me–Liberty will be back next week with more new book fun, and knowing her I’m sure she’s bursting with loads of new book excitement to share with you!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date September 21, 2020

Sponsored by Channel Kindness by Born This Way Foundation Reporters with Lady Gaga.

In Lady Gaga and Born This Way Foundation’s first book, you’ll find stories of inspiration and community from young storytellers. Within the pages of CHANNEL KINDNESS you’ll meet changemakers who found their inner strength, prevailed in the face of bullies, started their own social movements, and decided to break through the mental health stigma. These storytellers share how they felt, created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, and embraced kindness with every fiber of their being by helping others without the expectation of anything in return.

Happy Tuesday, book nerds! It’s time for another round up of great new books, and if you thought last week was awesome, wait until you get a load of this week’s releases! I’m also extra excited to get my hands on copies of Miss Meteor by Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia, Well Played by Jen DeLuca, and White Fox by Sara Faring.

Be sure to catch Liberty and Patricia on today’s episode of All the Books! They discuss the new book by Allie Brosh, Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, and more!

And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall

This is a novel about a woman gone missing, and the woman tasked with tracking her down. Isabel Lincoln disappears, and it’s up to Grayson to find her. But as Grayson is going to find out, Isabel doesn’t want to be found–she has some dark secrets that have sent her running, and if Grayson continues to look for her, both women are going to have to face the consequences.

Backlist bump: Want to try Rachel Howzell Hall in paperback? Pick up her thriller They All Fall Down, an And Then There Were None style mystery!

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

In an alternate 1983 London, Susan is looking for her missing father. She’s never met him, but she thinks that talking to a crime boss can lead to answers. Instead, it leads her to the booksellers of London, magical beings who protect the Old World ways of magic in addition to selling books. Booksellers Merlin and Vivien are looking for the person responsible for their mother’s murder, and they find their search overlapping with Susan’s.

Backlist bump: I’m also a huge fan of Nix’s lesser known and under appreciated book, Newt’s Emerald! It’s a magical Regency-era mystery!

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

This is the story of Dawn, who is on a plane when the flight attendant tells them to prepare for a crash landing. What goes through her mind immediately isn’t thoughts of her family at home, but of Wyatt, a man she loved two decades ago. Dawn survives the crash, and then is given a choice: return to Boston, or head to Egypt where she last saw Wyatt when she was studying archaeology. This is a book that explores both of her choices, and the meaning of life and how the choices we make that can shape our lives in profound ways.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date September 14, 2020

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date September 8, 2020

Sponsored by Scout Press, an Imprint of Gallery Books

Master of locked-door thrillers, Ruth Ware, is back with a fast-paced game of cat and mouse set in a luxurious ski chalet high in the French Alps. When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other. But when a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world, survival trumps synergy. As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a fantastic (and socially distant) holiday weekend, and that you’re ready to dive into the week with new book releases! I’m extra excited about this bunch of new books! I especially can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe and The Dare Sisters by Jess Rinker!

Don’t forget to catch Liberty and Vanessa on this week’s episode of All the Books, where they discuss some of their most anticipated releases of the week!

And without further ado, here we go!

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

In this new novel from National Book Award winner Sigrid Nunez, a woman recounts six times she encountered other people–strangers, people from her past, casual acquaintances–and how her interaction with them prompted them to pour their hearts out to her. This is a novel about human connection and the need to share our stories with other people, and it sounds like the perfect follow up for readers who loved The Friend.

The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian genocide in 1992, this is the story of Amra’s family and how their lives change drastically and seemingly overnight when the Serbs take control of the army and her hometown is surrounded by bigotry and hate. Soon her family faces danger and starvation on all sides, but through it all a stray cat appears and acts as a guardian to the family.

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney

As a kid, I inhaled Caroline B. Cooney’s mysteries and thrillers for kids and teens (who here also read and was horrified by The Face on the Milk Carton?), so it’s exciting to see that her newest book is a mystery for adults! Clemmie is checking up on a neighbor when she stumbles across something remarkable—and so she takes a photo on her phone and sends it to a few people. When the photo goes viral, and it turns out that her neighbor’s house is a crime scene, Clemmie is suddenly facing intense scrutiny—which is bad for her, because she’s got some big secrets that are nearly half a century old that she doesn’t want getting out.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for September’s Giant List of New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date August 31, 2020

Hooray, It’s Time For New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date August 24, 2020

Sponsored by Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Sara and Elizabeth could not be more different. Sara is at a new school unlike the Islamic school she used to attend. Elizabeth has her own problems: her British mum has been struggling with depression. The girls meet in a South Asian cooking class and form a shaky alliance that gradually deepens, and they make plans to create an amazing cross-cultural dish and win a spot on a food show. They make good cooking partners . . . but can they learn to trust each other enough to become true friends?

Welcome to your weekly round of new books! This is the last week of an abnormally packed August full of new books, and it’s so hard to narrow it down to just a few picks! I’m really excited to get my hands on a copy of Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale, Killer Kung Pao by Vivien Chien (love the Noodle Shop Mysteries!), and Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig.

Make sure you catch this week’s episode of All the Books! with Liberty and Patricia! They discuss The Great Offshore Grounds, Don’t Tell Me to Relax, and more!

Now onto some new releases!

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

I am so pumped for this mystery/thriller, which stars Virgil, who lives on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Virgil works as a kind of last resort for justice in his community–when something goes wrong and the American legal system or the tribal council can’t get justice, people come to him. And when heroin begins entering the reservation, Virgil has his work cut out for him. He investigates the source of the heroin, uncovering secrets that force him to reckon with his identity and his place in his community.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

In this sequel to Darius the Great is Not Okay, we find Darius back home in the U.S., playing soccer, dating his first boyfriend, and keeping up a long distance friendship with Sohrab. But when both of Darius’s grandmothers arrive in town and his new internship at a tea shop doesn’t go quite as planned, plus Sohrab begins ghosting him and his dad is away on business, Darius’s life begins to scramble once again. And he has to decide if he wants to accept it, or that he deserves better.

Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley

Can you believe it is 2020 and this is the first time that Beowulf has been translated into English by a woman? Maria Dahvana Headley, who is a fantastic writer in her own right, has breathed new life into this old tale with her new verse translation about ambitious men, a woman seeking vengeance for her child, and monsters that walk among us. I haven’t read Beowulf since college, but I can’t wait for this new translation, which promises to give readers new context and nuance to one of our oldest surviving tales.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date August 14, 2020

Sponsored by The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg, published by Abrams Press.

At age 36, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney. Married to a man for nearly a decade and mother to a toddler, Wizenberg tried to return to her life as she knew it, but something inside her had changed irredeemably. Instead, she would discover that the trajectory of our lives is rarely as smooth or as logical as we’d like to believe. The Fixed Stars is a memoir exploring questions about desire, identity, and family in honest and searing prose, from the bestselling author of Delancey and A Homemade Life.

Happy Tuesday and welcome to new book day, aka the best day of the week. I admit, I totally have been dreaming of a t-shirt that says, “On Tuesdays, we go to the bookstore,” a la Mean Girls, and if someone makes that happen, I would buy one in every color.

Some books I’m excited about this week include Body Talk, edited by Book Riot Editor Kelly Jensen and containing some essays from fellow Rioters Eric Smith and Patricia Elzie-Tuttle, Betty by Veronica McDonald, and Vicious Spirits by Kat Cho. Make sure you check out today’s episode of All the Books, where Liberty and I chat about tons of new releases this week!

The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan

This is a post-World War II book about a married couple who have found that their respective war years have done a number on their marriage, for a variety of reasons. Diana Somerville’s expertise in London architecture and her work as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park separated her from her husband, and thanks to the Official Secrets Act, she can’t tell Brent, a professor as Kings College, about her war years. Brent is dealing with his own trauma from working as a stretcher bearer in the war, and he’s frustrated at Diana’s obvious lies and evasion. If the two are going to save their marriage, they must find a way to rebuild trust and their lives.

Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn

Winnie is a high schooler whose very strict Thai parents never let her older sisters date before graduation–but when those sisters turn the tables on their parents and refuse to entertain getting engaged for a long time, her parents come up with a fake dating scenario for Winnie to “practice” dating, all in the hopes that she’ll be more likely to find a husband quickly after graduation. Winnie isn’t pleased at the meddling–and she’s even more annoyed when the guy her parents pick for her to practice being in a relationship with is none other than her arch nemesis, Mat Songsomboon.

Stealing Mt. Rushmore by Daphne Kalmar

Nellie is a thirteen-year-old with some big shoes to fill. First off, she’s the only girl in a family of three boys, and she knows her dad is disappointed that he wasn’t able to have four sons named after the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. Second, her mom has left the family without a word, and as the girl, Nellie is expected to cook, clean, and take care of her little brother. But when financial problems put a strain on the family, Nellie is determined to figure out a way to help the family stay afloat, and bring them together–even if it is unfair that she’s the one everyone relies on. This is a great nostalgic book about the 1970s and a family in crisis against the backdrop of the Watergate scandal.

Happy reading!
Tirzah