3 Sweet Reads For August's Hot Days
We're sweating toward the end of summer, and that calls for a romance binge. This month, we've got some suspense, a road trip — destination love — and a gritty look at Regency England.
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A Young Woman Claims Her Power In 'Open Me'
Lisa Locascio's novel follows 18-year-old Roxana, whose summer abroad in Denmark becomes both a political and sexual awakening when she falls for the Danish student charged with helping her settle in.
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'Flights' Is A Trip, If You Like Wandering Off The Edges Of The Map
Polish author Olga Tokarczuk's new scollection is a cabinet of curiosities, surreal, loosely connected stories about the human body, about movement, about two-headed calves and saint's relics.
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A Day At The Beach Won't Be The Same After 'The World In A Grain'
Journalist Vince Beiser's no-nonsense writing makes light reading of a grim subject, the past and future of sand, but it paints a telling picture of how great a problem lies before us.
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'His Favorites' Is An Artful Argument For #MeToo — And More
Kate Walbert's new novel follows a young woman who goes to a posh boarding school after tragedy upends her life — only to find she's no safer there than she was at home.
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With Wit And Sadness, 'Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine' Has Echoes Of Salinger
Critic Maureen Corrigan says Kevin Wilson's funny, raw, beautiful writing reminds her of J. D. Salinger. He starts with a goofy premise and then draws deep emotional truths.
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Like 'Goosebumps?' Here's Another 30 Years' Worth Of Horror For Kids
From the late '60s to the rise of Harry Potter in the late '90s, horror fiction had a hold on young readers, and there was something to scare everyone, from realistic thrillers to possessed dummies.
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'Baghdad Noir' Presents A City Of Diverse Experiences
Akashic Books' Noir series visits Baghdad for its latest installment, and the talented writers collected here manage to wrest compelling noir from a place that's plenty dark already.
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'The Victorian And The Romantic' Attempts To Link Writers Through The Ages
Nell Stevens's new memoir is an uneven but pleasant book that braids her story of doing a PhD amid an uneasy love affair with imaginary scenes from the life of her 19th century research subject.
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Graceful 'Court Dancer' Can't Escape Her Sorrows
Kyung-Sook Shin's atmospheric, tragic novel follows a beautiful orphan whose dancing skills secure her a place at the Korean court, and later a life in Belle Époque France — but not happiness.
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Spooky And Off-Kilter, 'Come Again' Shows Nate Powell's Virtuosity
Powell is known for his work on John Lewis' autobiography March -- but his new graphic novel goes in a different direction, digging into family secrets and supernatural horrors in an Ozarks commune.
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'American Hate' Profiles Survivors, But Also Brings Hope
Amid the ugly realities of contemporary America, Arjun Singh Sethi's collection of stories affirms our courage and inspiration, opening a roadmap to reconciliation through the stories of victims.
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'Marvellous Equations' Pulses With Rhythmic Power
Marcia Douglas's new book imagines a resurrected Bob Marley, living in a clock tower and conversing with spirits — but Douglas also honors and elevates the voices of the women in Marley's orbit.
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In 'Everything Trump Touches Dies,' Few Are Spared
Rick Wilson's book is the story of a Republican Party whose shift toward Trumpism left him furious — and a rant against those who have disappointed him — conveyed with biting, over-the-top writing.
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Bonding Over Bog Bodies In 'Meet Me At The Museum'
Anne Youngson's debut novel is the charmer of the summer. Told in epistolary form, it's follows a dissatisfied farmer's wife and a lonely museum curator who find it's never too late for a fresh start.
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'The Strange Case Of Dr. Couney' Tells Of Fair Sideshows That Saved Babies' Lives
In a mosaic mystery told in vignettes, cliffhangers, curious asides, and some surreal plot twists, journalist Dawn Raffel investigates the secrets of the man who changed infant care in America.
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'The Incendiaries' Is A Poignant And Powerful Look At Campus Life
R.O. Kwon's new novel explores the attractions — and dangers — of faith, against the overheated, over-the-top backdrop of an upper-crust college somewhere in the Northeastern United State.
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'The Incendiaries' Is An Angsty Back-To-School Novel About Believing In God
R. O. Kwon's pensive debut novel charts a well-worn path from eager innocence to bruised experience. But it tweaks the conventional campus novel formula in a few crucial ways.
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'The Third Hotel' Will Get Under Your Skin
Laura Van Den Berg's new novel follows a woman who runs into her ostensibly-dead husband at a Cuban film festival. It operates in symbols and layers, leaving readers disoriented, but fascinated.
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Violence Leaves A Lasting Scar In 'I Didn't Talk'
Brazilian author Beatriz Bracher's new novel — her first to be published in English — follows a professor who, years later, is still haunted by his arrest and torture during Brazil's dictatorship.
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