It is winter here in Maine, winter with a capital “OMG THERE’S SO MUCH SNOW!” Luckily, I have a house full of books to keep me busy. (Not that I really leave the house when I’m not snowed in, LOL.) I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, such as Lincoln in the Bardo, Girls on Fire, and American Street. Also, I’m delighted the new Lissa Evans novel, Their Finest, is finally available in the US today. She’s so wonderful! (Did you read Crooked Heart? It’s AMAZING.)
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Age of Order by Julian North.
In a world where all people are not created equal, Daniela Machado is offered the rarest commodity: hope. For a girl from Bronx City, the opportunity to attend school in Manhattan is too tempting to turn down. There, among the highborn, Daniela discovers a world of unimaginable splendor. But her opportunity turns into peril as Daniela discovers that those at society’s apex will stop at nothing to keep power for themselves. She may have a chance to change the world, if it doesn’t change her first.
“Both YA and adult readers will be transfixed by this novel” — Kirkus (Starred Review)
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Shadowbahn by Steve Erickson
I am not even going to pretend the premise isn’t crazy. Twenty years after they fell, the Twin Towers reappear in South Dakota. They are as they were before 9/11…except they seem to be singing and they are also completely devoid of people, save one: Jesse Garon Presley, the twin brother of Elvis (who, in our reality, died at birth). I KNOW, RIGHT?! It’s bonkers. But more than just a bananapants premise, it’s a gorgeous novel of loss and alternate history deeply tied into American culture. I was transfixed.
Backlist bump: Zeroville by Steve Erickson (This has my favorite ending of any novel, ever.)
Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public by Pamela Ribon
If you need cheering up or just need a reminder why you wouldn’t want to live your teenage years over, this book is for you! Ribon kept all the letters she wrote – and mostly delivered – to boys when she was young, and they are just as awkward and painful as you can imagine. But paired with her hilarious commentary, they make for a charming, thoughtful read. So cringe and laugh your way through her teen melodrama (while secretly being relieved that no one is publishing your teenage diary).
Backlist bump: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson
All Back Full by Robert Lopez
Out from the fabulous indie Dzanc Books, this is an examination of a marriage over the course of a day, told in three acts. Lopez catches the details of unspoken words between sentences and the ways in which we hurt and help the ones we love, and how we sometimes sit by as our lives collapse.
Backlist bump: Good People by Robert Lopez.
Gilded Cage by Vic James
If you’re looking for a fun new dystopian series, this should do the trick! In an alternate modern England, people with magic powers are called Equals, and the rest of the country’s citizens must each spend a decade of their lives in their service. Teenage Abi is sent to the home of a family of infamous Equals, but her brother, Luke, must work in a brutal slave camp. Both will scheme to secure their freedom and keep their lives, and dark secrets and hidden powers will decide the fates of everyone involved. It’s great fun!
Backlist bump: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
All That’s Left to Tell by Daniel Lowe
Marc Laurent is a hostage in Afghanistan. Every night, he is blindfolded and tied up and then visited by Josephine, who asks him questions. At first their conversations are of a hostile nature, but soon Josephine and Marc are discussing more personal matters, such as his daughter back home, and their nightly ritual becomes something of a comfort for them both. All That’s Left to Tell is a powerfully unsettling, gripping novel.
Backlist bump: Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman
YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! (I know, like I do anything else, right?) You can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Be excellent to each other.
Liberty
For Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to conceal her diagnosis by keeping everyone at arm’s length. But when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to upend her shaky equilibrium.
