bookshelf
If you didn’t get the chance to read these books last year, now might be a good time to catch up!
Fiction
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s Little
Women, Ann Napolitano’s latest novel Hello Beautiful tells the story
of family, love, and loyalty through the tale of the tightknit Padavona sisters,
who embrace an introverted guy with a negligent family after he becomes
involved with one of them. But their close familial bond is tested when a
tragedy strikes and threatens to pull them apart.
A sad, emotional drama, Hello Beautiful
was a book club favourite last year, and also has Oprah’s seal of approval.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
A white writer takes a recently-deceased
Chinese American author’s manuscript and tries to pass it off as her own in Yellowface,
a treatise on authenticity, racism, and cultural appropriation in the publishing
industry and beyond.
When literary darling Athena dies in a
freak accident, her struggling contemporary June steals the former’s
just-finished masterpiece and sends it to her agent, rebranding herself as
Juniper to release the plagiarized book. Will she manage to keep her secret, or
will she be exposed as a fraud?
Yellowface
explores weighty themes, its commentary wrapped in dark satire, as it tells the
tale of its very flawed protagonist and a fiercely competitive industry.
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for
Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Sixty-year-old tea shop owner Vera Wong
gets a chance to put her amateur sleuthing skills to the test when one morning
she discovers a dead man in the middle of her shop!
Taking charge of the investigation –
because of course she will do a better job than the police! – she comes up with
a list of suspects and promptly decides to uncover who committed the crime and
why.
Filled with quirky charm, Vera Wong's
Unsolicited Advice for Murderers makes for a fun, cozy read.
Swamp Story by Dave Barry
If you’re looking for a laugh, then pick up
a copy of humourist Dave Barry’s latest novel, Swamp Story, a “caper
full of oddballs” that promises to take you on a silly, zany ride.
The characters include the beautiful Jesse,
who is stranded in a small cabin in the Everglades with her baby and desperate
for a way out; her hunky but hapless ex Slater who dreams of being a reality TV
star; business owner Ken Bortle who is trying to bolster his failing enterprise
by luring tourists in with a hoax; and several other individuals of varying
morality levels and intelligence.
There are mobsters and a hidden treasure, a
drug kingpin and a presidential hopeful, and all kinds of mayhem, all in a story
that is just as funny as it is ridiculous.
*****
Non-fiction
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck,
Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
The author of Killers of the Flower Moon
– a Martin Scorsese adaptation of which arrived in cinemas last October – turns
his attention to the Wager Mutiny, a 1741 incident that took place after
a British warship was wrecked on a desolate island.
David Grann recounts the tale of treachery
and betrayal that unfolded in the wake of the accident that left a group of
sailors marooned in a barren wilderness for months. Well-researched and
gripping from start to finish, this non-fiction account offers complex
repercussion alongside so many twists it reads like a fiction thriller.
Oh and Martin Scorsese and Leonardo
DiCaprio have already acquired the screen rights to this book as well, so an
adaptation of this too shall arrive at a cinema near you at some point in the
future.
Outlive: The Science and Art of
Longevity by Peter Attia
If you want to live a long life for some
reason – why though? – then you might want to grab a copy of Peter Attia’s Outlive,
an “operating manual for longevity” that investigates aging, long-term health,
and living a better life.
The Canadian-American physician dissects
the science of longevity and shares personal experiences as he helps us
understand how taking care of our emotional and physical health can help us ward
off or delay diseases.
It may be a tad too long but the book does drive
home the point that taking care of your body – through everything from exercise
to proper sleep – can help improve your life so that you can live longer and
healthier.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Acclaimed music producer Rick Rubin shares
inspirational advice in The Creative Way, a study on navigating the
creative process and overcoming creative hurdles.
The writer – who has worked with a varied
array of artists, from the likes of Metallica to Johnny Cash – shares wisdom
from his decades in the music industry and says that “creativity has a place in
everyone's life, and everyone can make that place larger”.
Some might feel that it reads a little too
much like lessons from Zen 101, but hey, we could all use a little bit of positive
inspiration, no matter what form it takes.
The Cat's Meow: How Cats Evolved from
the Savanna to Your Sofa by Jonathan B.
Losos
Cats are awesome – that is a fact and any
evidence anyone might present to the contrary is by default invalid. Jonathan
B. Losos has decided to celebrate our wonderful feline overlords
companions in The Cat’s Meow, a tome that explores the “past, present,
and future of the world's most popular and beloved pet”.
The book takes a genial look at the history
and science of cats, and details how the contemporary cat evolved from its
feral ancestors and became an irreplaceable member of our households.
It may be best suited for the most ardent
of animal lovers, but those who are interested in the topic will appreciate all
the information that is packed in this volume.
- By S.A.
Us Magazine, The News - 19th January 2024 *
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