Related
Worsley’s thoughtful and generous contribution to the Christie biographical canon will be welcomed and enjoyed by Agatha Christie fans.
A delight to read, including the footnotes. Essential for all serious devotees of crime and detective fiction.
This book will start conversations. Highly recommended for Atwood followers and writing students; it’s a gift of good works.
Many readers will be able to identify with at least one of the essays in this wide-ranging collection. Recommended for public libraries and readers who are looking for body positivity resources.
Cleary brings a modern and neglected voice in applied ethics to a level that readers have recently seen with Aristotle and the Stoics.
Atwood’s fans will certainly want to listen to this. She has such a singular voice that she leaves audiences wanting to hear more of her. Recommended for all public libraries, especially those where essays and short stories are popular.
Top-notch. It creates a new experience for re-readers and an engaging first-time listen for all others.
Listeners will be disappointed if they are looking for straight humor; recommended for fans of memoirs.
Those looking for a humorous jaunt may be disappointed by the heft of Schur’s subject. For anyone looking to learn more about philosophy, this is an excellent place to start.
This sometimes raunchy but always insightful memoir will have wide appeal. Recommend for those who will appreciate Genis’s darkly humorous take on this timely topic.
PREMIUM
The Cancer Journals
Lorde’s poignant and startlingly relevant work is recommended for all collections, particularly where interest in poetry, activism, and feminism is strong.
Fascinating for general readers and students interested in storytelling, cross-cultural history, communication skills, anthropology, sociology, or world history.
PREMIUM
Growing Up Chicago
With stories from Ana Castillo, Rebecca Makkai, James McManus, Nnedi Okorafor, George Saunders, and many others, this collection will please both longtime and new Chicagoans.
Written with the same fluid, energetic, and humorous style that brought life to the sleuthing Hardy siblings, this is an enjoyable memoir from a writer who loved his job.
Valuable to those interested in literary history or medieval history, as well as for those who just want to read a great, age-old tale.
This is Sedaris at his best, provocative and hysterical. Readers will feel like laughing even when it may feel inappropriate, much like the Sedaris family at their father’s actual deathbed. Recommended for all public libraries.
An exciting look at oral traditions of rural China. Lovers of folktales and fairytales will enjoy this book and Zhang’s conversational prose.
Verdelle’s stunningly precise and poetic language is a joy to savor. Morrison fans will delight in revisiting her works through Verdelle’s eyes and meeting the enigmatic writer in an intimate way.
Fans of Helen Vendler’s Coming of Age as a Poet will appreciate this acute study of Keats’s democratic verse.
This book will prompt many to reread Proust. For readers interested in 20th-century French literature and individuals with Proustian affinities.
Readers needn’t like John Oliver or cyberpunk to enjoy Puschak’s essays; they merely have to be receptive to refreshing, original, and unpretentious written words and, maybe most importantly, have an appreciation for escapism and public benches. As readers and humans, we can surely all lean into that.
PREMIUM
Translating Myself and Others
Though the topic of translation studies might have a limited non-academic readership, Lahiri writes so beautifully that this collection will have broad appeal for anyone interested in literary essays.
This excellent collection of essays will appeal to many readers especially individuals interested in African American history, literature, and culture.
These brilliant essays not only provide insights into other great writers and their work but into Ferrante’s own work as well, and will be appreciated by her many followers as well as scholars and general readers.
Highly recommended for those looking for a means of coming to terms with their lives and the world around them.
In the tradition of the best popular science writing, Ferrara expresses complex ideas in language understandable and appealing to the educated layperson.
This expansive blend of literary and historical research allows readers a close encounter with Dickens’s writing desk. A must-read for Dickens fans.
The essays and their subject matter are made all the more impactful by the truly moving experience of listening to Miles’s interpretation of Hurston’s words.
Patchett’s latest comes to life as an audiobook and is a perfect listen for those looking for heartwarming and down-to-earth meditations on life, love, and happiness.
An eye-opening book with great insights drawn from individual experiences of money, with stories of success and less-than-success. These essays can start conversations going among women who wish to deal openly and honestly with money and finances. Highly recommended.
These constructions are far from new, yet Phillips’s powerfully researched, thoughtful, sensitive examinations will be of interest to literary scholars as well as to general readers grappling with their own oscillating creative and pragmatic selves.
Wide-ranging in its theoretical and historical breadth yet intimate in all ways, Febos’s book offers the tools readers need to identify, access, process, and articulate hard-won stories of trauma and of love that their flesh holds.
PREMIUM
The Unwritten Book
Without an overarching narrative to hold the many fragments of this work together, it can be challenging to stay invested in the book, despite Hunt’s beautiful writing. But anyone seeking an exceptionally unusual, thought-provoking reading experience will find it here.
This highly recommended collection of letters would appeal to many types of readers, including individuals interested in creative writing, the epistolary form, or travel literature.
This biography substantiates Hansberry’s accomplishments, despite her short life. Recommended for all Hansberry enthusiasts and 20th-century literary scholars.
Basted in Cinnabon icing and coated in glittery lip gloss, King’s book explores the joy of low culture. It would be a great addition for libraries looking to expand their memoir collections and appeal to millennial audiences.
Jeremy Dauber's book sets itself apart, and comics enthusiasts will be enthralled. Douglas Wolk's analysis of Marvel Comics is both a useful introduction and reference guide.
PREMIUM
Orwell’s Roses
Readers of Orwell will find, or rediscover, much material here that will expand their perception of the man. This is a worthy addition to the ever-growing corpus of Orwell studies.
There are several recent histories of comics; however, none are as comprehensive or well-researched as this one. Dauber’s book sets itself apart, and comics enthusiasts will be enthralled.
While Greenwood’s three-volume Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature covers more writers, has longer entries, and is more scholarly, this new guide is directed primarily at students (middle school through college) and will be useful to them and to general readers, as well as the teachers and libraries helping them.
Recommended for all libraries, this anthology offers an engaging and highly relevant selection for American audiences.
Wolk’s light and humorous style appeals, and this work would be a marvelous addition to any library’s collection. It will likely become a bible for serious comics fans and a useful introduction and reference guide for all others. Highly recommended.
Entertaining reading in itself, with references to some of the books he published in this era; a must-read for Sedaris’s many fans.
Although there are other similar guides to science fiction (from Routledge and Cambridge, for example), Westfahl’s clear and lively presentation and comprehensive knowledge and background will appeal to fans of the genre, as well as students (middle school through college) who are researching specific sci-fi authors, works, or themes.
A vibrant, varied love note to New York. Readers will feel hopeful after hearing from Beutter Cohen's delightful subjects, and perhaps emboldened to engage a stranger in conversation.
Equal parts biography, literary analysis, and true crime, Birmingham’s book entrances and entertains from the first page.
Robinson has written her best book yet, and her relatable humor will have readers coming back for more.
With Miller’s insight and verve in each essay in this rich collection, this unputdownable book will stay with readers long after they’ve finished.
An exceptional effort to make primary source material on one of America’s best known mystery authors more accessible. Sure to be a resource for future scholars, these annotated diaries will also appeal to fans of Eileen Myles’s Chelsea Girls and Diane di Prima’s Recollections of my Life as a Woman, offering a frank and detailed account of a woman and writer coming of age.
Griffin offers a personal exploration of literature that’s historical yet still relevant; readers of the works cited will be interested to learn Griffin’s interpretations.
PREMIUM
The Contemporary American Essay
Recommended for libraries that have the first two volumes and for libraries where essays are popular.
The goal of this newly revived column will be to highlight recent and forthcoming reprints and rediscoveries, with the aim of helping busy librarians replenish their stock of not merely treasured classics but also notable recoveries from the past, to populate the shelves with exciting, unexpected finds for readers and patrons for years to come.
A necessary and compelling read for scholars, activists, and storytellers interested in inclusive revisions to the hero’s canon.
Recommend to readers who enjoy reading about 20th-century poetry and the emotional lives behind art.
A welcome update that avoids sensationalism to pursue a more complex history of a much-loved literary figure. Recommended for all collections.
All readers, whether they love riding or have never seen a horse up close, will appreciate these essays. This collection not only shares multiple perspectives from the communities of riders and horse fans but also provides commentary on growing up and dealing with both disappointments and successes.
This book is a good reminder that reading is meant to be enjoyed; it is itself a refreshing, freeing, and inspiring read. Recommended for public libraries.
This book is great for readers who like dark, occasionally brutal humor, like that of Ricky Gervais or Dave Chappelle.
PREMIUM
Well, This Is Exhausting: Essays
Benoit brings her A game in her first book, a new addition to the recent spate of brutally honest memoirs. Recommended for fans of Samantha Irby.
PREMIUM
The Letters of Shirley Jackson
At turns hysterical and heartbreaking, this collection is an entertaining and intriguing read even for those who are just discovering Jackson’s many literary gifts. Recommended.
Let Anders introduce you to the imaginary friends whose stories need to be told; provide you with tools to defeat enemies like imposter syndrome; and show you the many varied lifelines writing can offer, no matter who you are, and no matter what story you need to tell.
Essential to academic collections, this biography is also accessible to general audiences interested in the potential of art that does not imitate life.
This is a book about culture, about science and medicine, about Green himself, but really it surpasses these designations. It is essential to the human conversation. John Green whispered the truth of humanity onto the page, and as with all good secrets, you’ll need to lean in closely to hear.
These essays are raw, informative, and often entertaining; fans of essayists like Roxane Gay will devour this book quickly and be left wanting more of Forna’s stories.
Readers looking for a new literary pal who’s classy enough to wear pearls at the poker table, and brave enough to visit a crowded water park post-menopause, need look no further. Recommend to fans of Nora Ephron and Annabelle Gurwitch.
Highly recommended for Rushdie fans, as well as readers interested in art, literature, or creative writing.
This fascinating and enjoyable volume is recommended for all readers interested in American literary history.
Good for curious readers, whether they want to delve into authors and books they love, feel competent faking knowledge about books everyone else seems to have read, or just dip into and out of literary worlds.
Highly recommended for creative writing students or readers interested in this extremely relevant topic.
PREMIUM
The Madman’s Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History
A feast (if not always palatable) for bibliophiles.
PREMIUM
The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000–2020
There is a great deal of variety and personality in this essay collection, especially for readers with an eye for art, music, and literature. Those who enjoy Kushner’s novels will gravitate to this collection, and readers new to the author’s writing will be drawn in as well.
In this collection, readers might see the value of the essay format as a way to share opinions. Lopate’s collection is a worthwhile slice of the history of the essay and its lasting contribution to American writing.
A scholarly yet accessible account of the life of a singular American artist and activist. Recommended for enthusiasts of American literature, and anyone who is interested in learning more about this transformational woman, whose vision for the country is as relevant today as ever.
PREMIUM
Word for Word: A Writer’s Life
Lisle’s limited discussion of her own creative process may leave some readers wanting, but others will enjoy the frank discussion of her successes and disappointments pursuing a “writer’s life.”
This anthology sets itself apart by providing an inclusive starting point for readers interested in discovering the power of the short story; it is golden for those who already recognize that power.
A genre-blending work that will intrigue readers of literary nonfiction, personal essays, or food history.
PREMIUM
Girlhood
A thought-provoking collection that will appeal to fans of fierce feminist prose. The inclusion of occasional poetry is a bonus.
An engaging, thoroughly researched biography of a fascinating figure. Though some of the details surrounding Parry’s documentation techniques can feel a bit tedious at times, Kanigel has given readers a thoughtful look at a man whose theories have helped us to better understand the ancient world.
McKay’s life remains in shadow; her legacy awaits a comparative assessment of the contributions of her contemporaries to Black feminist studies and African American literature.
Recommended for readers as well as writers interested in how short fiction works and why it is relevant in turbulent times.
This collection of stories will make readers laugh, cry, and come back for more; readers will enjoy the book as a whole, as it is impossible to pick a favorite story.
PREMIUM
The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Author of The Yearling
A comprehensive, well-researched portrait of the life of Rawlings and her creative struggles that will engage a variety of readers.
This poetic, humorous, and heartfelt collection will have readers nodding along, laughing, and maybe even crying, but more than anything they will be engrossed and craving more. Similar to Sun’s previous work, this is another standout.
PREMIUM
Sybille Bedford: A Life
This comprehensive Bedford biography will most appeal to readers who are familiar with either her work or mid-century Western literature in general. More casual readers might find the cast of characters dizzying, but the book does a fine job of capturing the spirit and challenges of the time.
articles
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN
We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN
Thank you for visiting.
We’ve noticed you are using a private browser. To continue, please log in or create an account.
