FYI: IT’S STILL SUMMER! I know it’s hard to remember, because advertisers are cramming back-to-school and Halloween stuff down our throats already, but there’s still more lovely weather for outdoor reading. I have been enjoying reading outside this super-hot Maine summer (from the safety of the shade, of course.) Whether you like to read inside or out, on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about Behold the Dreamers, The Couple Next Door, and more new releases. BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Gentleman by Forrest Leo.
A funny, fantastically entertaining debut novel, in the spirit of Wodehouse and Monty Python, about a famous poet who inadvertently sells his wife to the devil–then recruits a band of adventurers to rescue her. Lionel and his friends encounter trapdoors, duels, anarchist-fearing bobbies, the social pressure of not knowing enough about art history, and the poisonous wit of his poetical archenemy. Fresh, action-packed and very, very funny, this debut novel The Gentleman by Forrest Leo is a giddy farce that recalls the masterful confections of P.G. Wodehouse and Hergé’s beautifully detailed Tintin adventures.
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston
This is the most epic of nerdpurrs: an image-filled exploration of the history of books! From the papyrus scrolls and tablets of ancient history to the beautiful bound books we hold in our hands today, this is the perfect gift to give a book lover. And by “book lover,” I mean “yourself.” (You’re not even still reading this description, are you? I know I was totally sold on the title alone.)
Backlist bump: A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson
I have been fascinated by the story of the prison uprising since I was little and saw Al Pacino chanting “Attica!” in Dog Day Afternoon. Despite being a famous event, it has taken over forty years for some of the documents on Attica to be unsealed. Thompson has collected all that information and written a definitive account of the bloody uprising, from the perspectives of both the prisoners and the law enforcement. It is a horrifying, fascinating read on the historical mistreatment of inmates, and how some victims are still searching for justice.
Backlist bump: Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better by Maya Schenwar
We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson
Okay, I will admit that this might not be for everyone, but if you are a lover of 1970s Italian horror (like I am) or horror movies in general (me again), you are the perfect audience! An unnamed actor flies to the Amazon to shoot a film, only to find upon his arrival that the director is mad, the script is missing, the film is over budget, the crew is on the verge of losing their minds, and the town itself is out to get them. Loosely based on events surrounding the filming of Cannibal Holocaust, this is a dazzlingly written, shocking exploration of violence and art.
Backlist bump: Night Film by Marisha Pessl (If you want another feeling of 1970s Italian horror film directors.)
YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me. If you want to learn more about books (and see lots of pictures of my cats), or tell me about books you’re reading, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Stay rad!
Liberty