Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For August, we’re looking at a coming-of-age novel set in Jamaica, historical fiction that ranges from the Napoleonic Era to the mid-20th century, Kevin Kwan’s latest book, an amusing contemporary romance about cyclists, new Western reads, glamorous historic true crime, and a historical romance audiobook set in the American West.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Jamaican Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Satire, Funny Romances, Outlaws, and Midwives”Category: contemporary fiction (books)
Book Buzz: Contemporary Gothic Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Northwoods Fiction, Nature Reads, Canning, and Audiobook Office Suspense
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For May, we’re looking at a gothic tale complete with atmospheric mansion and family secrets, historical fiction with settings that range from the construction of the Panama Canal to WWII, contemporary fiction set in rural Wisconsin, nonfiction about trees and the animal kingdom, a guide to canning, and an audiobook about an office cleaner.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Contemporary Gothic Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Northwoods Fiction, Nature Reads, Canning, and Audiobook Office Suspense”Book Buzz: Literary Classics Reimagined, Historical Legal Wrangling, Collaborative Fiction, Space Operas, Van Living, and Audiobook Thrillers
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For April, we’re looking at an acclaimed new take on the story of Huckleberry Finn, historical fiction about a famous 19th century British trial, a collaborative effort between some of today’s most famous writers, a new series that melds the genres of science fiction and espionage thriller, a guide to living the van life, and two very different thrillers on audiobook, one with a historical setting while the other is extremely contemporary.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Literary Classics Reimagined, Historical Legal Wrangling, Collaborative Fiction, Space Operas, Van Living, and Audiobook Thrillers”Book Buzz: Fictional Libraries, Homages to Classics, Historical Mysteries, Second-Chance Romances, and Extreme Knitting
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For November, we’re looking at historical fiction about libraries (both the gothic kind and the WWII espionage kind), a modern literary homage to a 19th century classic, a brooding mystery set in 1950s small-town Minnesota, an Atlanta-based contemporary romance, and a nonfiction audiobook that ponders the mysteries of knitting.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Fictional Libraries, Homages to Classics, Historical Mysteries, Second-Chance Romances, and Extreme Knitting”Walk a Mile in My Shoes: October
This year, our theme is “Walk A Mile In My Shoes.” The idea that you can’t understand someone (and shouldn’t judge them) until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes is a pretty common sentiment. And research has shown that reading fiction is one way to really get such a walk going. So, that’s what we are going to do this year: use fiction (and some nonfiction when we just can’t resist) to take walks in someone’s shoes. We hope you join our journey. For October, our theme is domestic violence.
Continue reading “Walk a Mile in My Shoes: October”Walk a Mile in My Shoes: September
This year, our theme is “Walk A Mile In My Shoes.” The idea that you can’t understand someone (and shouldn’t judge them) until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes is a pretty common sentiment. And research has shown that reading fiction is one way to really get such a walk going. So, that’s what we are going to do this year: use fiction (and some nonfiction when we just can’t resist) to take walks in someone’s shoes. We hope you join our journey. For September, our theme is addiction.
Continue reading “Walk a Mile in My Shoes: September”R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface
Junie Hayward lives in the genteel poverty one might expect from a struggling professional writer. On one hand, she’s had some professional success in that she’s had a book traditionally published. On the other hand, the book didn’t sell very well, her agent and editors are indifferent to her, and she really pays the bills through a glorified tutoring job.
Her Yale classmate Athena Liu, meanwhile, is the literary establishment’s new darling. She’s wracking up an impressive reputation as a young author of note–her books are received with widespread critical acclaim, and she gets publicity that Junie couldn’t even begin to dream of. Junie resents Athena, but they also are each other’s only friend/frenemy in the DC area, so they still find themselves hanging out together–awkwardly and passive-aggressively–but hanging out together all the same.
Then one horrible night, Athena dies by accident, and Junie ends up impulsively stealing the latest manuscript from her dead “friend” and passing it off as her own. Junie knows what she’s doing is wrong, but in her mind, she’s honoring Athena’s legacy while also affirming her own greatness at writing since she revised it. The book, about Chinese laborers in Europe during WWI, is a big hit.
But as Junie experiences the fame and acclaim she so envied Athena over, she realizes it comes at a price. And to protect her initial lie, she has to craft even more lies, as Junie does everything from ambiguously cultivate the idea she’s Chinese American like Athena to spinning more made-up stories about her inspiration for the story. What should be a happy moment and the crowning achievement of her career quickly descends into paranoia that she will be caught.
Continue reading “R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface”Book Buzz: Book Codes, Mysterious Happenings, Haunted Crows, Environmental Disasters, Garden Composts, Awkward Vacations, and Audiobook Romances
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at a puzzle-style mystery about books and codes, a gothic mystery set in the Victorian era, a contemporary Canadian literary horror novel, a nonfiction story about an infamous environmental disaster in the 1970s, a guide to composting, and audiobooks about romances.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Book Codes, Mysterious Happenings, Haunted Crows, Environmental Disasters, Garden Composts, Awkward Vacations, and Audiobook Romances”Walk a Mile In My Shoes: July
This year, our theme is “Walk A Mile In My Shoes.” The idea that you can’t understand someone (and shouldn’t judge them) until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes is a pretty common sentiment. And research has shown that reading fiction is one way to really get such a walk going. So, that’s what we are going to do this year: use fiction (and some nonfiction when we just can’t resist) to take walks in someone’s shoes. We hope you join our journey. For July, our theme is disability.
Continue reading “Walk a Mile In My Shoes: July”Book Buzz: Bookish Romance, Historical Fiction, Magician Secret Societies, Drawing, and Cricuts
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For April, we’re looking at a bookstore-centered romance, novels about the Civil Rights Movement and Renaissance Italy, a new-ish dark academic fantasy series, and some books that will help take your arts and crafts to the next level.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Bookish Romance, Historical Fiction, Magician Secret Societies, Drawing, and Cricuts”
Berryville Book Buzz 