Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

I’m going to start off by doing something I don’t often do: mentioning a book I haven’t read. I was unable to get my hands on this and read it in time for this week, but I have heard so many readers mention how electrifying this debut is, so I wanted to get it on your radar. It’s about a near-future America where…something…happens that causes all the white people in the country to walk into the nearest body of water. This allegory follows a Black father and the teen daughter he just learned he had as they take a journey across the changing landscape of a new United States. It’s supposed to be enlightening and frightening, and sounds like a perfect book for book club discussion!

Backlist bump: We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

This is an infuriating look at wrongful convictions in the American prison system, and the release of six men. NBC Dateline producer Dan Slepian began an investigation into two Sing Sing inmates after receiving a tip from a homicide detective. He was told the two men were wrongly convicted of a 1990 murder. Slepian’s investigation helped free the two men, and his work led him to seek out justice for more inmates he had learned were wrongfully held, resulting in four more releases. It’s a stark look at American carceral institutions, mass incarceration, and the pervasive indifference to a common occurrence in America.

Backlist bump: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

And last, but not least, short stories just in time for skeleton season! You have probably heard me say this before, but if you love scary and/or weird stories, Brian Evenson is an author you don’t want to miss. He still seems to be flying under the radar, but Evenson is probably your favorite horror writer’s favorite horror author. In this literary horror collection, he writes insidious tales of artificial intelligence, robots, animals with speculative abilities, and twins. (Related: There are so many twins in horror stories — how do twins feel about this??) These tales will stick to your brain’s ribs and have you seeking more of his work.

Backlist bump: The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson

This week, I am reading Helga by Catherine Yu and Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. I’m also slowly rereading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Outside of books, I started Homicide: Life on the Street…and couldn’t stop. I’m already on the fifth season! It’s really fantastic. It’s worth watching for Andre Braugher alone. His Captain Holt was my favorite character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and it’s fascinating to watch him play such a different character on this show. In earworms, the song stuck in my head this week is “Buena” by Morphine. And happy fifth birthday to Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir!

Here is your weekly cat picture: Farrokh has an amazing white bib.

“Your memory is a monster; you forget—it doesn’t. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you—and summons them to your recall with will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!”—John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany