Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Up first is this powerful graphic memoir about one young boy’s struggle to be himself. Eleven-year-old Tony Weaver, Jr. was a nerd who loved video games and comic books and was hella-smart. So his parents enrolled him in a new school where he would supposedly get a better education. But Weaver, Jr. struggled to fit in and make friends and was bullied mercilessly by his classmates. So much so that it led to a devastating incident in which he tried to die by suicide. (This is alluded to, but not outright mentioned, on the page.) Placed with a therapist, Weaver, Jr. began to see the good inside himself and how his uniqueness was his superpower. This helped him grow to become a talented storyteller and creator of Weird Enough Productions, which helps kids by producing diverse stories to help kids feel seen. It’s a heart-squeezing book, with wonderful illustrations by identical twins Jes and Cin Wibowo, about figuring out who you are and how to bloom in the face of adversity. Weirdo is sure to win awards.

Backlist bump: A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat

Trent Dalton is a popular Australian author whose books have been released later in the States than in his home country. So this one already has 26,411 ratings on Goodreads with a 4.41 average rating—that is miraculous, really! But it’s also not surprising because it’s an excellent book. Lola tells the story of an unnamed teenage girl and her mother, who has been on the run since she was an infant after her mother killed her abusive father. The girl has big dreams of leaving their van life and living a grand existence, one of love and art and beauty out in the world, seen by everyone. When her mother is no longer around, she decides to leave the seedy underbelly of Brisbane and search for Lola, the one who can make all her dreams come true. This dazzling novel of love and crime with touches of fabulism is also peppered with black-and-white illustrations. Dalton is great for fans of John Irving and Steve Toltz.

Backlist bump: Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (which is now a Netflix series!)

And last but not least, this is a fiercely honest memoir about a young life of politics, sex, and drugs. As the country geared up for the 2016 election, journalist Witt began covering the rise in right-wing violence and militias. She also stopped taking her antidepressants in favor of trying psychedelics. As her work showed her the evil side of the country up close, she journeyed out into the New York City nightlife more and more, joining the people who lost themselves with abandon. Health and Safety is a gritty look at dissolution and despair masked by hedonism and excess, and it’s a story of people trying to cope and forget as best they know how.

Backlist bump: Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino

This week, I am reading Freakslaw by Jane Flett and The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, Sarah Moses (translator). Outside of books, I am finishing up Homicide: Life on the Street and trying to decide what to watch next. I’m thinking about continuing with another crime show I haven’t seen, maybe Person of Interest or Criminal Minds. I’m also looking forward to checking out the first episode of High Potential. In earworms, the song stuck in my head this week is “Lift Off” by Labrinth.

Here is your weekly cat hawk picture. This hawk came down and walked around our backyard for ten minutes the other day. We took a million pictures, of course. But this is the best one because you can really see its fluffy, polka-dotted pantaloons. It’s a Cooper’s hawk, which are all over the place here in Maine. (If we had been unable to identify it, it would be a D.B. Cooper’s hawk. Sorry, not sorry.)

“Books don’t offer real escape, but they can stop a mind scratching itself raw.” ―David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (It has been out 20 years this year!)