I’m not sure if Fall is just peak season for new releases, or if it was just a coincidence with how things came off hold from the library, but most of what I read over these past few weeks were new releases from some of my favourite authors.
It’s always exciting to dive into new work from authors you know you enjoy, and while I was underwhelmed by some (A Deadly Education, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars) most of them were pretty satisfying (Can’t Even, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, The Tower of Nero, Just Like You) and two in particular were absolutely fantastic — which I’ve highlighted below alongside an amazing book by an author who was completely new to me. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zaneta
What I’ve been reading
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is an award-winning poet, and though her latest work, World of Wonders isn’t a poetry collection, her poetic sensibility shines through in its precise, vivid imagery. The book is a collection of stories of Nezhukumatathil’s life growing up as the child of Filpipina mother and a South Indian father in the US, told through the lens of the natural world that surrounded her. Each chapter focuses on a natural “wonder” such as the catalpa tree, vampire squid, or red-spotted newt that Nezhukumatathil uses as a starting point to weave tales that incorporate themes as varied as marriage, identity, and belonging. The full title of the book is World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments and indeed, every story is an astonishment — perfectly capturing the sense of awe and wonder that natural marvels can inspire.
It’s been 16 years since Susanna Clarke’s first novel, the phenomenal Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, was released so I was really surprised, but definitely thrilled to learn (through this excellent New Yorker profile) that she had a new novel coming out this year. That novel, Piranesi, is very different from her first book — though similarly quite tricky to summarize — but equally fantastic. It tells the story of a man called Piranesi and the House he lives in, a seemingly endless place filled with thousands of statues, tides which thunder up staircases, and clouds which move in slow procession through the upper halls. The House is Piranesi’s whole world and, apart from his friend the Other, he is its only inhabitant, happy to fill his days mapping, cataloguing and caring for its wonders. Of course, all is not as it seems, and Clarke quickly sweeps the reader up into an atmospheric, mysterious story.
I was a little nervous about starting Tana French’s newest novel, The Searcher because, while I am a longtime fan of her Dublin Murder Squad series, they’ve always left me feeling unsettled and, given the state of the world right now, that’s not really something I’m chasing. Nevertheless, I’m glad I decided to give it a go, because while it is just as atmospheric, clever and immediately engaging as her other novels, there was something a little more settled about this one. Whether it’s the rural setting or the more methodical, introspective character of the protagonist Cal Hooper, a retired American cop, The Searcher had all the hallmarks of a great Tana French mystery without as much of the tension.
Shorter reads
If you’re looking for a quicker read, here are some poems, articles and essays I’ve enjoyed lately:
On a recent Zoom catch up, a friend mentioned Giulia Tofana, the "most successful serial killer whose name you’ve never heard" who killed hundreds of men in 17th-century Italy when she turned her makeup business into a poison factory for Renaissance women in need of a divorce, and I immediately needed to know more. This Weird History piece has all the details and I am now obsessed.
This first-person feature by a surviovor of sexual violence from the Cut is so important for anyone who cares about the justice system and about sexual abuse. It’s illuminating, eloquent and so moving. I've shared it with a few friends who I've been having quite fraught conversations about police/prison abolition with, and I think there’s so much to learn from it.
I love Bake Off which is why I also love this delightfully violent manifesto from Brian Philipps aimed at “restoring this disintegrating bastion, this fading refuge of the better nature of humanity, this swiftly souring promise of an hour free from cruelty and care, to its former pinnacle of niceness.”
As someone who was working remotely even before the pandemic, it’s been really interesting to see and learn from how other organizations have approached work now that it’s the norm. Ultranauts, a quality engineering firm that was founded to use the untapped talent of autistic people, was recently highlighted in a New York Times feature that focused on the unique policies and practices the company follows to promote diversity and inclusion among their employees.
Time magazine recently published their list of The 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time and I loved N.K. Jeminsin’s accompanying essay about the timeless power of fantasy.
In this house we stan Dolly Parton (quite literally, I grew up listening to my parents’ Dolly records and watching a taped VHS of her variety show) so I’m always excited about new Dolly press. This New Yorker feature does a great job of capturing her indomitable spirit and, if you finish it and want more Dolly content, I highly recommend watching her 2014 Glastonbury set or listening to the podcast, Dolly Parton’s America.
Subscriber recommendations
This week’s personalized recommendations are for Shaheen, who is looking for a book that’s “Mentally and emotionally stimulating.” With that in mind, my top picks for Shaheen are:
Even if you’ve seen the (very good!) film adaptation starring Julianne Moore, I’d still recommend you check out Still Alice by Lisa Genova. The novel tells the story of Alice Howland, a Harvard psychology professor who suffers early-onset Alzheimer's disease and although it’s fiction, Genova’s own background in neuroscience and her relationship with her grandmother, who also suffered from Alzhiemer’s, means that it never veers into stereotype or melodrama.
Michael Lewis’s The Undoing Project is one of my favorite non-fiction books of all time. It focuses on the friendship and research partnership between Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, whose work on heuristics in judgment and decision-making demonstrated common errors of the human psyche. As in many of his other famous works like The Big Short or Moneyball, Lewis excels in making complicated subjects accessible and engaging, and the book does an incredible job of explaining not only Kahneman and Tversky’s work but also the unique personalities and their collaborative journey to developing their foundational theories.
While on vacation in Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, two young sons, and both her parents in a single morning to the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Her memoir Wave, about the tragedy and its aftermath, is one of the most profound and moving books about grief I have ever read. Beautifully written and devastatingly honest, it is a testament to what human beings can endure.
As a reminder, I’ll be sharing curated reading recommendations for a random subscriber every issue so if you’d like to put your name in the draw, please fill out this quick form!
I want to hear from you!
If you decide to read anything I’ve recommended — let me know what you think! And if you have any thoughts or feedback on this issue, or reading recommendations you’d like to share with me, I’d love to hear those too. Feel free to comment below or email me directly at zanetapereira@hotmail.com
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