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Must-Read Books August 2022
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| Harlem Sunset: A Harlem Renaissance Mystery by Nekesa Afia1927 Harlem: Louise Lloyd happily works at a club owned by her girlfriend Rosa's brother. But when the three awaken after a party to find Rosa covered in blood and a body nearby, Louise turns sleuth again in this atmospheric sequel to Dead Dead Girls.
Reviewers say: "A vivid crime story and an engrossing depiction of an era" (Kirkus Reviews).
Read this next: For other mysteries set in 1920s New York, try Stephen Spotswood's Fortune Favors the Dead or Katharine Schellman's Last Call at the Nightingale. |
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| Honey and Spice by Bolu BabalolaIntroducing: Kikiola "Kiki" Banjo, a British Nigerian student who, as the host of the popular campus radio show Brown Sugar, dispenses relationship advice to her Black peers at Whitewell University.
What happens: Caught kissing Malakai Korede, whom she has publicly denounced as a "Wasteman of Whitewell," Kiki embarks on a face-saving fake relationship with Malakai that soon feels all too real.
Book buzz: This novel by the author of the short story collection Love in Colour is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection. |
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| My Summer Darlings by May CobbWhat it's about: Recently divorced Jen Hansen has just returned to her small East Texas hometown and reconnected with her childhood best friends Cynthia and Kittie. The happy reunion is cut short by the arrival of mysterious and handsome Will Harding, whose entanglements with each woman set off a chain reaction with shocking, violent results.
Read it for: tense, compelling mind games and recriminations narrated by each character in alternating point of view chapters.
For fans of: The Lying Club by Annie Ward. |
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| Magpie by Elizabeth DayWhat it is: a thoughtful combination of domestic fiction and psychological suspense that delves into issues of infertility, jealousy, mental illness, and the nature of the truth.
Who it stars: young London couple Marisa and Jake, who are looking forward to having a baby; Jake's cold and imperious mother Annabelle; Kate, a lodger the couple take in whose connection with Jake makes Marisa increasingly uneasy.
About the author: Magpie is the 6th novel by English journalist Elizabeth Day, who also hosts the award-winning podcast How to Fail. |
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| Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic by Lauren HoWhat it's about: Determined to pursue her dream of motherhood, single management consultant Lucie Yi connects with software engineer Collin Read through an elective co-parenting website.
Everything is going to plan... until a pregnant Lucie returns home to Singapore with Collin in tow, much to the dismay of her parents -- and her ex-fiancé, who wants to pick up where they left off.
Reviewers say: Kirkus Reviews calls this novel by the author of Last Tang Standing "a beautiful exploration of both grief and romance starring a lovably hilarious heroine." |
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| Vera Kelly Lost and Found by Rosalie KnechtFamily problems: In 1971, Brooklyn PI Vera Kelly and her girlfriend Max are asked to visit Los Angeles and Max's wealthy family, who disowned Max for being gay several years earlier. When Max disappears not long after their arrival, Vera goes undercover to find her.
Series alert: Following Who Is Vera Kelly? and Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery, this 3rd book once again offers a stylish, well-plotted storyline.
Read this next: Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey mysteries, which feature a lesbian main character a couple of decades earlier in England, or Max Tomlinson's 1970s San Francisco-set Colleen Hayes novels. |
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| The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-GarciaStarring: sheltered Carlota Moreau, whose father, mad scientist Doctor Moreau, keeps her isolated on their estate in 1870s Yucatán, Mexico.
What happens: A visit from Eduardo Lizalde, the son of her father's benefactor, sets Carlota down a dangerous path as she navigates her feelings for him and begins to see herself reflected in her father's animal-human hybrid creatures who long for freedom.
Try this next: For another inventive take on H.G. Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, read Daryl Gregory's The Album of Dr. Moreau. |
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| Hide by Kiersten WhiteThe premise: A hefty cash prize is not all that's at stake for the 14 contestants playing a game of hide-and-seek at an abandoned amusement park, as they soon realize that whatever is hunting them is not human...
Book buzz: Hide is the adult fiction debut of Bram Stoker Award-winning YA author Kiersten White (The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein).
For fans of: Reprieve by James Han Mattson; Netflix's Squid Game. |
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| The Lunar Housewife by Caroline WoodsWhat it is: an atmospheric and stylistically complex historical thriller set during the Red Scare about CIA plans to use the work of American writers as anti-Soviet propaganda -- and one woman's attempt to hone her craft in spite of it.
How it's written: as the story of journalist and budding novelist Louise -- who publishes under a male pseudonym while dealing with her unsupportive writer boyfriend -- wrapped around the titular sci-fi novel-within-the-novel that Louise is writing.
Reviewers say: The Lunar Housewife is a "tantalizing slice of literary history" that will "draw readers across all genres" (Booklist). |
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| Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings by Chrysta BiltonWhat it's about: Born to Debra, a lesbian single mother, and Jeffrey, a sperm donor and family friend, author Chrysta Bilton's upbringing was anything but "normal," and in early adulthood she discovered there was more to Jeffrey than met the eye.
Read it for: a compelling chronicle of of family secrets and shocking revelations.
For fans of: the Netflix documentary Our Father. |
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| Dinner for One: How Cooking in Paris Saved Me by Sutanya DacresLove in a Manhattan bar: New Yorker Sutanya Dacres hit it off with a handsome Frenchman and eventually moved to Paris and married him.
Alone in Paris: The marriage ended after three years, leaving Sutanya adrift and ashamed. At a breaking point, she started cooking simple dishes, such as pasta salad and leek risotto (recipes included), as she rebuilt her life.
For fans of: the author's podcast, Dinner for One; David Lebovitz's Paris books, which mix memoir and recipes; Julie Powell's Julie & Julia. |
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| Split Decision: Life Stories by Ice-T & Spike and Douglas CenturyThe premise: In 1980s Los Angeles, then-aspiring rapper Ice-T and his friend Spike had a lucrative gig robbing jewelry stores, until Ice-T decided to pursue his music career full-time and Spike wound up in prison.
Why you might like it: Told from both Ice-T and Spike's perspectives, this compelling dual memoir candidly reveals how the pair's choices led them down divergent paths in life.
Try this next: Dawn Turner's Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood. |
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| We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin KimmerleWhat it is: a sobering investigation of the Dozier School for Boys, the abusive Florida reform school featured in Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys.
What happened: After the school was shuttered in 2011 due to allegations of torture and murder, author and forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle located its cemetery and uncovered dozens of bodies buried in unmarked graves, utilizing forensic and DNA testing to reunite the victims with their families and reveal the causes of their deaths. |
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| Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World: Essays by Barry LopezWhat it is: a collection of more than 20 essays, some never before published, broken into sections called Conversations, Thresholds, Sky, and River, and written during award-winning author Barry Lopez's final decades.
What's inside: details of travels, including to Antarctica and Australia; stories about his Oregon home; musings on the natural world; memories from his California childhood, including surviving sexual abuse.
Reviewers say: "A sterling valediction" (Kirkus Reviews); Lopez was "a crucial and profound writer of spirit, commitment, benevolence, and reverence" (Booklist). |
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| Cabin Fever: The Harrowing Journey of a Cruise Ship at the Dawn of a Pandemic by Michael SmithWhat it's about: the ill-fated journey of the Zaandam, the Holland America cruise ship which set sail from Buenos Aires on March 7, 2020 and quickly became stranded during the early days of COVID-19.
What's inside: a vivid you-are-there narrative offering firsthand accounts from passengers and crew who fought to maintain hope in the midst of illness, isolation, and dwindling provisions.
Reviewers say: "A harrowing thriller that brings the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID pandemic into the microcosmic enclosed world of a cruise ship" (Library Journal). |
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| An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed YongWhat it is: An "ingenious" (Kirkus Reviews) examination of the umwelt, or unique sensory world, of various living organisms, including but not limited to humans.
About the author: Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong is the author of the bestselling I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life.
You might also like: Jackie Higgins' Sentient: What Animals Reveal About Our Senses. |
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| Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa AlbertLike mother: Years ago, tough-as-nails teen Dana invited a beguiling rich girl promising magic into her friend circle. They cast a disastrous spell, altering their lives forever.
Like daughter: 17-year-old Ivy, Dana's daughter, cannot ignore her bizarre, gruesome, possibly supernatural encounters. When she confronts her mother, she discovers how she's intertwined with her mother's history with dark magic.
Author alert: Fans of author Melissa Albert's Hazel Wood series will enjoy this creepy standalone fantasy. |
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| Berry Song by Michaela GoadeWhat it's about: In the misty forest on an Alaskan island, a young Tlingit girl and her grandmother gather berries -- salmonberries, cloudberries, nagoonberries, and more -- as they sing their gratitude back to the land.
Don't miss: the inside covers, featuring berry names in both Tlingit and English.
Author buzz: This lyrical, atmospheric story is the first solo book by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, who is Tlingit herself (Raven moiety and Kiks.ádi clan). |
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| Chester Keene Cracks the Code by Kekla MagoonMeet: routine-loving 6th-grader Chester, who's training himself to be a spy just like his absent father, who only contacts Chester through secret messages.
What happens: When Chester's free-spirited classmate Skye provides scavenger hunt clues that line up with the most recent message from his dad, the unlikely new friends set out to solve the puzzle -- with surprising results.
Read it for: a twisty mystery full of action and code-cracking, alongside a touching take on friendship and family. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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