Book Nook Cafe discussion

I'm always happy to add to your TBR, deb. :) I hope they are winners for you.

Oh growl, Alias! I'm supposed to be doing tasks because I'm moving **TOMORROW** and instead I'm sitting here adding stuff to my TBR!! Thank heavens I've already read a few of them here or the damage would be epic!

:) Best of luck with your move, Jennifer ! Moving is a huge hassle.

Have a smooth move, Jennifer.

Believe me, i know your frustration with these lists! So good, yet so bad!

------ Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis
by Alice Bell

What it is: a "thorough and sweeping history of the climate crisis" (Publishers Weekly), focusing on the people whose attempts to forestall ecological devastation were either ignored or punished.

Such as? Eunice Newton Foote, who in 1856 discovered the greenhouse effect; the Bishnoi people of Northern India, who died in a 1730 massacre while protecting their beloved khejri trees.

Further reading: Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert; Climate Chaos: Lessons on Survival from Our Ancestors by Brian M. Fagan and Nadia Durrani.



----- Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive
by Philipp Dettmer

What it is: an accessible and lavishly illustrated journey through the human immune system.

About the author: Philipp Dettmer is the founder of the German animation studio Kurzgesagt, which creates popular educational science videos that can be seen on their YouTube channel, "In A Nutshell."



----- Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate...
by Thor Hanson

What it's about: While humans struggle to mount a response to climate change, plants and animals are busily adapting to a new reality, whether by migrating or modifying their behaviors.

The big idea: "Understanding biological responses to climate change can help us find our place within it."

About the author: Biologist Thor Hanson is the author of Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees and The Triumph of Seeds.



----- The Plant Hunter: A Scientist's Quest for Nature's Next Medicines
by Cassandra Leah Quave

Meet: medical ethnobotanist Dr. Cassandra Leah Quave, who studies plants to discover their medicinal properties.

Read it for: the author's enthusiasm for her chosen career and her reflections on being a disabled woman in a male-dominated discipline that requires conducting field research in the wilderness.

Further listening: Quave also hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast.



------ Fire and Ice: The Volcanoes of the Solar System
by Natalie Starkey

What it's about: Geologist and cosmologist Natalie Starkey takes readers on a grand tour of the solar system's volcanoes, including the enormous (and extinct) shield volcanoes of Mars and the methane-emitting ice plumes of Pluto.

Did you know? Home to more than 400 volcanoes, Jupiter's moon Io is the most seismically active object in the solar system.

You might also like: Robin George Andrews' Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond.



🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Scientists 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟



------ The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
by Walter Isaacson

What it is: a biography of Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Jennifer Doudna, best known for her work on CRISPR gene editing.

About the author: Journalist Walter Isaacson is the author of bestselling books The Innovators and Leonardo da Vinci.

In her own words: Doudna has written about her work in A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution.



----- Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life
by Jess Phoenix

Introducing: volcanologist and geologist Jess Phoenix, whose passion for science and sense of adventure have taken her to some of the most dangerous places on Earth.

About the author: Phoenix is also the cofounder of Blueprint Earth, an organization dedicated to supporting underrepresented groups in STEM.

For fans of: Jill Heinerth's Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver.



------- The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager

What it is: the memoir of a planetary astrophysicist that weaves together her Canadian childhood, her career in physics, her marriage and widowhood, and her later-in-life autism diagnosis.

About the author: Astrophysicist Sara Seager is a recipient of the Sackler International Prize in Physics and a MacArthur Fellowship.

You might also like: the intimate blend of science writing and memoir found in Sarah Stewart Johnson's The Sirens of Mars, Hope Jahren's Lab Girl, or Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz's The Dance of Life.



------ The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds
by Caroline Van Hemert

What it's about: wildlife biologist Caroline Van Hemert's six-month, 4,000-mile trek across the Alaskan wilderness with her husband, a journey undertaken without motorized transport.

Why you might like it: Van Hemert interweaves vivid descriptions of the natural world with her memories of growing up in Alaska, her anxieties about her career, and her reflections on life and love.

Word of the day: Zugunruhe, a German word referring to the migratory restlessness of birds.



------ The Sediments of Time: My Lifelong Search for the Past
by Meave Leakey with Samira Leaky

What it is: an engaging, science-focused memoir by Meave Leakey (née Epps) and her daughter Samira, members of the famed Leakey family of paleoanthropologists.

Reviewers say: "This inspirational autobiography stands among the finest scientist memoirs" (New York Times).

Further reading: Kermit Pattison's Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind; Sang-Hae Lee's Close Encounters with Humankind.

What a bumper crop of science-related books to share with us, Alias. The fascinating topic of plants and medicine sounds best of all in Cassandra Leah Quave's The Plant Hunter: A Scientist's Quest for Nature's Next Medicines.

But, of course, the autobiographies/memoirs of scientists is such a pleasure because readers learn how fields attract people. Of course, the Leakey's were born into it, which probably helped.

Nice list. I have Dettmer´s book about the immunsystem already on my tbr list.

I saw that you had some books about climate change on the list. A year ago, I think, I saw a recommendation list with books about that topic. All of them have been in the German bestsellers list:

Tambora and the Year Without a Summer: How a Volcano Plunged the World Into Crisis

Angry Weather: Heat Waves, Floods, Storms, and the New Science of Climate Change

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

I haven´t read them yet, but plan to do as it is an important topic.

Those first two books are calling to me, Florian. I'm going to add them to my TBR. Thanks for sharing these titles.

Alias Reader, I really appreciate the effort you put into making these book lists. I enjoy seeing what the topics are and the titles are. Thanks for all your work!

DITTO!!!

Florian wrote:
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History..."


The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is excellent ! I also recommend her other book Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future

Thanks for the list, Florian !

Julie wrote: "Alias Reader, I really appreciate the effort you put into making these book lists. I enjoy seeing what the topics are and the titles are. Thanks for all your work!"

You're very welcome. The lists I get from various libraries. It's the graphics that take me forever to find ! :)

Looking for the popular books that just hit the shelves or are coming soon in January? Check these out. Also get on your libraries request list before the rush.


----- To Paradise
by Hanya Yanagihara
From the author of the classic A Little Life—a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love—partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens—and the pain that ensues when we cannot.



-----Violeta [English Edition]
by Isabel Allende
This sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century. Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.


-----The Bone Spindle
by Leslie Vedder
Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark, perfect for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and The Cruel Prince.


-----Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is “Yinka, where is your huzband?” But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right. Wry, acerbic, moving, this is a love story that makes you smile but also makes you think–and explores what it means to find your way between two cultures, both of which are yours.


----- Let Me Tell You What I Mean
by Joan Didion
From one of our most iconic and influential writers, the award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking: a timeless collection that reveals what would become Joan Didion’s subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt. Each piece is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient.


------ Joan Is Okay
by Weike Wang
From the award-winning author of Chemistry comes a witty, moving, piercingly insightful new novel about a marvelously complicated woman who can’t be anyone but herself. Deceptively spare yet quietly powerful, laced with sharp humor, Joan Is Okay touches on matters that feel deeply resonant: being Chinese-American right now; working in medicine at a high-stakes time; finding one’s voice within a dominant culture; and staying independent within a tight-knit family. But above all, it’s a portrait of one remarkable woman so surprising that you can’t get her out of your head.


-----Toxic Positivity
by Whitney Goodman
In this refreshingly honest guide, sought-after therapist Whitney Goodman shares the latest research, along with everyday examples and client stories, that reveal how damaging toxic positivity is to ourselves and our relationships, and presents simple ways to experience and work through difficult emotions. The result is more authenticity, connection, and growth—and ultimately, a path to showing up as you truly are.


-----Akata Woman
by Nnedi Okorafor
The electrifying third book in the series that started with Akata Witch. From the moment Sunny Nwazue discovered she had mystical energy flowing in her blood, she sought to understand and control her powers. Now, those hard lessons and abilities are put to the test in a quest so dangerous and fantastical, it would be madness to go…but may destroy the world if she does not.


----- Hour of the Witch
by Chris Bohjalian
From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant comes a story about a young Puritan woman—faithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soul—who plots her escape from a violent marriage in this riveting and propulsive novel of historical suspense.


----- The Maid
by Nita Prose
A charmingly eccentric hotel maid discovers a guest murdered in his bed. Solving the mystery will turn her once orderly world upside down. A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.


----- It Will End Like This
by Kyra Leigh
For fans of They Wish They Were Us and Sadie comes a propulsive thriller that reminds us that in real life, endings are rarely as neat as happily ever after. A contemporary take on the Lizzie Borden story that explores how grief can cut deep.


----- The Magnolia Palace
by Fiona Davis
Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, returns with a tantalizing novel about the secrets, betrayal, and murder within one of New York City’s most impressive Gilded Age mansions.


------ Shady Hollow
by Juneau Black
The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony—until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case.


------ Lost & Found
by Kathryn Schulz
Eighteen months before Kathryn Schulz’s beloved father died, she met the woman she would marry. In Lost & Found, she weaves the stories of those relationships into a brilliant exploration of how all our lives are shaped by loss and discovery—from the maddening disappearance of everyday objects to the sweeping devastations of war, pandemic, and natural disaster; from finding new planets to falling in love. The resulting book is part memoir, part guidebook to living in a world that is simultaneously full of wonder and joy and wretchedness and suffering—a world that always demands both our gratitude and our grief.


----- Salaam, with Love
by Sara Sharaf Beg
This heartfelt and humorous YA contemporary follows Dua, who spends the month of Ramadan making unexpected discoveries about family, faith, and first love.


----- Stolen Focus
by Johann Hari
Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening—and how to get our attention back.


------ Star Child
by Ibi Zoboi
Acclaimed novelist Ibi Zoboi illuminates the young life of the visionary storyteller Octavia E. Butler in poems and prose. Born into the Space Race, the Red Scare, and the dawning Civil Rights Movement, Butler experienced an American childhood that shaped her into the groundbreaking science-fiction storyteller whose novels continue to challenge and delight readers fifteen years after her death.


----- How Civil Wars Start
by Barbara F. Walter
A leading political scientist examines the dramatic rise in violent extremism around the globe and sounds the alarm on the increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States. In this urgent and insightful book, Walter redefines civil war for a new age, providing the framework we need to confront the danger we now face—and the knowledge to stop it before it’s too late.


----- Fiona and Jane
by Jean Chen Ho
Spanning countries and selves, Fiona and Jane is an intimate portrait of a friendship, a deep dive into the universal perplexities of being young and alive, and a bracingly honest account of two Asian women who dare to stake a claim on joy in a changing, contemporary America.

Classic Books to Read in a Weekend

There are plenty of fantastic classic novels that clock in at under 300 pages.


----- Passing
by Nella Larsen
Now a major motion picture, Larsen’s 1929 exploration of race and gender in our current cultural context feels like entering into a timeless moment in which many of the questions Larsen explored are still flash points. What is obvious in reading Passing is that Larsen was well aware of the ways in which people of mixed-race origin had often been portrayed, and her novel can be read on multiple levels. The central relationship between the two childhood friends, Clare and Irene, who encounter each other as adults and fall back into a close friendship, is the trellis upon which Larsen nurtures the tangled vine of history and the bloody blossoms it shows. (160 pages)


----- Botchan
by Natsume Soseki
Soseki’s 1906 academic farce about the educated young city man who is sent out to the “sticks” to teach boys still provokes laughs. He refers to his fellow teachers by the nicknames he gives them, and Botchan discovers that “Redshirt” and “Porcupine” appear to be plotting against him after he fails to show any respect for their seniority. With students who delight in subjecting Botchan to practical jokes, and colleagues who think the new guy is a little too hung up on himself, there’s plenty here to laugh at. And for those familiar with historical Japanese culture, this book adds another layer to the nation’s story of modernization. (112 pages)


----- Corregidora
by Gayl Jones
This slim novel contains a history of rage and suffering in its story of Ursa, the blues singer. Ursa wants someone to acknowledge the damage that was done to her foremothers by the slave master who fathered both her grandmother and her mother. Publishing in 1975, Gayl Jones explored the volatile territory later written about by giants such as Alice Walker and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. Praised by both James Baldwin and Maya Angelou when it first published, this forgotten classic will forever strip away the whitewashing of slavery some keep trying to sell. (192 pages)



----- Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
by Mary Shelley
Perhaps no book has had more misinterpretations of it committed to film and television treatments than Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This gorgeous novel should be at the top of anyone’s list of books to read right away. Rather than the story of a murderous monster that stalks the countryside, Frankenstein contains within its pages a story of paternal abandonment, a homeless child in search of comfort, and a society unwilling to accept the less than perfect—written during a period when Shelley herself gave birth twice and was pregnant with her third. This is one of the original feminist texts that history has tried to dismiss as a horror novel. (188 pages)


----- Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey is considered by many critics to be Austen’s most humorous novel as she skewers the genre of gothic fiction in order to have fun with it. When flighty socialite Catherine Morland is invited by her new friends, the Tilneys, to their ancestral home, Catherine’s love for all things gothic convinces her that she has discovered a secret about the venerable hall. Determined to investigate, Catherine sets off a series of comical events as she hunts down a murderer. Northanger Abbey shows Austen at her witty—and queen of shade—best. (256 pages)


------ In a Lonely Place
by Dorothy B. Hughes
In the story of Dix Steele, a decorated World War II pilot comes home a hero but hasn’t learned how to live in the civilian streets of 1940s Los Angeles. Night after night, Dix goes out looking for something he cannot find. Hughes summons the mood of dark streets like no one else, and by the time readers discover that there’s a serial strangler of women whose path keeps crossing Steele’s. (224 pages)


----- Down Below
by Leonora Carrington
Leonora Carrington grew up to be a tremendous Surrealist painter, a writer, and a women’s rights advocate. As a child, she was expelled from a number of schools, and her parents sent her to art school when they ran out of options. Just as her career was starting to take off, however, World War II broke out, and in her terrifying flight across Europe that led her to refuge in Spain, Carrington began to internalize the outside chaos. Her parents intervened, interpreted her anxiety as mental illness, and had her committed to a mental hospital. This slim memoir is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered why women’s emotions are pathologized if they are seen to be “too much.” (112 pages)


----- La Femme de Gilles
by Madeleine Bourdouxhe
Elisa’s day has no purpose until her husband, Gilles, returns home from work. Even with toddler twins to look after and bearing the weight of another pregnancy, Elisa’s heart only starts beating when she knows Gilles is on his way home to her. Madeline Bourdouxhe constructs an obsessive love story that from the very first sentence will lead to tragedy, as Gilles becomes bored by Elisa’s complete devotion. Another layer exists in this deceptively simple story: Bourdouxhe wrote the novel just before the outbreak of World War II, and in its telling warns women readers about the dangers of ceding one’s thinking to someone else. (144 pages)


----- Insel
by Mina Loy
Imagine having a friend who fancies themselves a great artist. Because they are doing “art”—which means they’re broke—they never have money to cover the coffees the two of you buy, or the occasional dinner. And even though you suspect you’re being taking advantage of, you just find their friendship so refreshing that you put up with it. Now, move that situation to 1930s Paris, think about sitting in those cafes and walking those boulevards among the Plane trees, add humor and a touch of surrealism, and voila! Qu’est-ce que tu attends? (What are you waiting for?) (224 pages)


----- The Pure and the Impure
by Colette
Colette referred to herself in later life as an “erotic militant.” She was born in 1873, a time when women’s sexuality was often pathologized as “abnormal” for straying outside sharply delineated perimeters. In this work, which Colette considered her best, she writes about her erotic life. For her, when desires are denied, they resurface later as perversions, which fractures the whole person that women are meant to be. This work is haunted by those who were forced to starve vital pieces of themselves in order to appear “normal” in a culture that was frightened of the power of the erotic. (208 pages)


-----The Blazing World and Other Writings
by Margaret Cavendish
Margaret Cavendish wrote this novel in 1666, the historic year when the Great London Fire torched the city. In her vision, a young woman discovers a new world beyond the Arctic Circle, which she reaches through a “wrinkle in space” and becomes its empress. Her subjects are the talking animals whose society is more advanced than that of 17th-century Europe. When the empress organizes an invasion of her homeland, the animals deploy weapons not yet invented back home. Scholars have long argued over this work but agree that it is one of the first feminist, utopian, science-fiction universes in literary history. (100 pages)


----- My Brilliant Career
by Miles Franklin
Sybylla longs to be a famous writer, but she is constantly being sent outside to work in the boiling sun of 1901 Outback Australia. When her family sends her to live with her grandmother, Sybylla is suddenly confronted by the attentions of a young man who wants to make her his wife, which she fears will end any and all hopes of being an author. Franklin wrote this novel when she was 16, and its spirit and panache have made it a favorite of many. A book for any young woman who has worried that her dreams are “too much” for their time. (288 pages)


------ The Enchanted April
by Elizabeth von Arnim
In this 1922 novel, four friends depart frigid London for a holiday in the Italian sun. They rent a castle for the month of April, and in adventures that range from the comic to the romantic, the women discover that they do not have to be servants to the timekeeper’s clock. Instead, they emerge as practitioners of la dolce vita. (240 pages)


------ A Chill in the Air
by Iris Origo
In 1939, Italy had been under the Fascists led by Mussolini since 1922. And while Adolf Hitler was terrorizing other parts of Europe, there were no indications that the two men would form an alliance. But in Origo’s memoir of the years 1939–1940, she recounts the changes that took place in Italy as Mussolini edged closer to an alliance. Origo’s godfather was the American ambassador to Italy. As political events dictate enormous transitions, the biggest change takes place in Iris Origo herself. No longer an observer, she opts to become an activist. (192 pages)

I read "Enchanted April" a couple of decades ago, and still remember really liking it. I read "Passing" earlier this year and also liked it -- it's a little dated in places, but a good read and representative of its time.

I have "In a Lonely Place" but haven't read it -- of course, I've seen the Bogart film...

We appreciate the lists, Alias, but i, for one, didn't realize how the challenge of finding good graphics for the topics. Thanks for that, as i find them neat as well.

Now i realize why i've been waiting for Nita Prose's The Maid--it isn't released yet. LOL! Pay attention, deborah! Still, i'm not first on the list, either. Looking forward to it even more now.

Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler calls to me because my daughter & i have been exchanging emails about Butler and mutual works we've read. It being a YA from Ibi Zoboi fits my reading, of late, as well.

And How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them sounds as though it will be an informative book about the times in which we live. I hope Barbara F. Walter succeeds in explaining it to readers!

As a fan of American and British classic literature, i liked seeing the Under 300 pages list. Passing--Nella Larsen was an interesting look into the past and how some African Americans looked at the risks taken by those who passed for white.

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text is a surprising book because what Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote is different from what the films show. It can be quite a moving book.

Knowing that Northanger Abbey is a sort of send up of gothic novels, so a familiarity of the genre helps the humor. I didn't have that but still enormously liked the book, which is different from Jane Austen.

Like Jennifer, i found Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April, just that--an enchanting book. There is a film or two based on it but the book is ideal.

Finally, i've had My Brilliant Career on my TBR since seeing Judy Davis in the film in the '80s. Still, i've not gotten around to reading the Miles Franklin, despite even owning the book. Maybe Determination List material for next year? I recently saw the film again, which is set in early 1900s Australia, which reminded me of its pleasures.

Jennifer wrote: "I read "Enchanted April" a couple of decades ago, and still remember really liking it. I read "Passing" earlier this year and also liked it -- it's a little dated in places, but a good read and rep..."

I've read The Enchanted April and also saw the movie a few time. The movie is terrific.

I also read Passing and really enjoyed it. Even though it was written in 1929 the writing style I thought was quite contemporary.

madrano wrote:Frankenstein: The 1818 Text is a surprising book because what Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote is different from what the films show. It can be quite a moving book. ..."

I didn't think Frankenstein: The 1818 Text would appeal to me. However, when I read it, I found it interesting if one compares it to what we can do today with gene editing, cloning and other medical advances.

That Shelley wrote it at 19 years old is amazing.

I agree, re. Shelley. Good point about reading her story now in an age of gene editing and other advances. It doesn't sound as far fetched as it must once have been.

------ Five Tuesdays in Winter: Stories
by Lily King

What it is: a short story collection from a novelist the Chicago Tribune describes as "wildly talented." These short stories explore strength, grief, violence -- but at the edges of it all, a longing for love. Unlikely pairings appear throughout, from college students who offer unexpected refuge to a teen house sitter, to complex mother-daughter relationships laced with a bitter bite and a youthful nanny's obsession with Jane Eyre.

What to read next: Readers captivated by the yearning, bittersweet elements of King's short stories will find similarly moving, character-driven fare in the debut collection Objects of Desire by Clare Sestanovich.



--- White on White
by Aysegül Savas

What it's about: An unnamed art history grad student researching nudity in medieval art rents a studio space occasionally shared by her landlord's wife, Agnes, whose subdued white-on-white paintings slowly reveal an unraveling psyche.

Who it's for: This leisurely-paced novel will interest fans of Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs. While both are novels about art-obsessed women whose relationship devolves from passionate admiration to distrust, White on White has more menacing overtones -- so buckle up.


---- Harsh Times
by Mario Vargas Llosa

The setup: 1950s Guatemala is a powder keg of big business and political turmoil, which the CIA leverages to cement US interests. A 1954 coup ousts President Arbenz; his successor, Castillo Armas, is assassinated after only three years in power. But it is Armas' lover, Marta, who drives much of the story -- first as his advisor...then as his betrayer.

Read it for: a riveting exploration of the shadowlands where political history and fiction meet, when -- decades later -- a writer (implied to be a stand-in for Vargas Llosa himself) interviews Marta on her role in events.

Critical acclaim: "History here gets a compelling human face through an artist’s dramatic brilliance" (Kirkus Reviews).



----- O Beautiful
by Jung Yun

Starring: forty-ish Elinor, a former model and would-be journalist whose Korean mother abandoned the family when Elinor was just a pre-teen.

What happens: Elinor's former lover (and writing mentor) sends her back to her hometown of Avery, North Dakota, to cover a story on the town's explosive oil boom and its aftereffects. As Elinor investigates, she must confront the town's sharp divides of race, class, and gender -- and her own unresolved identity issues.

What's the buzz? "Yun successfully takes on a host of hot button subjects, drilling through them with her protagonist’s laser-eyed focus" (Publishers Weekly).



****** Pandemic Debuts *******



------ Followers
by Megan Angelo

What happens: Two storylines unfold, one set in 2016, and one in 2051. Separating the two is a catastrophic data hack.

Why you might like it: Exploring the pitfalls of social media, this debut novel takes contemporary interest in celebrity culture to its logical extreme.

For fans of: Dave Eggers' The Circle; Courtney Maum's Touch, or Connie Willis' Crosstalk -- all of which touch on different aspects of the trouble with technology and social media.



------ This Time Next Year
by Sophie Cousens

What happens: New Year babies Minnie and Quinn (with Quinn in the lead) are born just minutes apart in London, on January 1, 1990. While Quinn seems born under a lucky star, Minnie's misfortunes multiply...especially on her birthday. After decades of near-misses, their 30th birthdays finally see them brought together.

Why you might like it: This rom-com read delivers a likeable blend of destiny, mischance, and zany humor in the vein of Bridget Jones' Diary. Perfect seasonal reading to kick off 2022!



------ Fifty Words for Rain
by Asha Lemmie

What it's about: Born in the aftermath of WWII as the illegitimate child of a Japanese noblewoman and a Black American GI, at age eight Nori Kamiza is left with her strict Japanese grandparents. She is locked away for years, beaten regularly, and subjected to bleach baths as they try to erase her biracial identity. Nori eventually escapes and finds refuge with her half-brother, Akira. However, her fate is far from a pat happily ever-after.

Read it for: a sweeping and heartwrenching coming-of-age story set against the tides of war and a family's struggle with the particular (often cruel) norms of their time and place.



------ His Only Wife
by Peace Adzo Medie

Starring: young Ghanaian Afi Tekple, who escapes poverty with an arranged marriage to wealthy Eli, who does not attend his own wedding and prioritizes his business (and his mistress) over Afi.

What happens: Making full use of her new family's connections, Afi learns new skills and gains confidence -- and soon wants to be the only woman in her husband's life.

Reviewers say: "an emotional rollercoaster" (Booklist).



------ My Dark Vanessa
by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Where it starts: Fifteen-year-old Vanessa, struggling with the loss of her best friend, finds herself drawn into an illicit affair with her English teacher at a Maine boarding school.

Where it goes: Seventeen years later, a younger student is raising allegations of sexual misconduct by the same professor. A dual narrative emerges, in which an adult Vanessa must confront her past and reframe its reality in a post-#MeToo society.

Have a taste: "Because even if I sometimes use the word abuse to describe certain things that were done to me, in someone else's mouth the word turns ugly and absolute...It swallows me and all the times I wanted it, begged for it."

O Beautiful sounds interesting to me because i am familiar with the dramatic changes North Dakota experienced when Big Energy came to those small towns. Reading Jung Yun's take on it will be insightful, i suspect.

Good list.