Category: New Books

It’s time for fall reading, that glorious time of the year where the air gets a bit chilly, the blankets get a bit thicker, and the new book releases become more plentiful! It’s the first Tuesday of the month, which means there are a bunch of new titles out today. I’ve got a big list for you below, and you can hear about a few of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about amazing books we loved, such as Sing, Unburied, Sing, Sourdough, and They Both Die at the End.

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Sponsored by Gambler’s Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem, new in paperback.

A devilishly entertaining novel about an international backgammon hustler who thinks he’s psychic–from the author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude. Alexander Bruno travels the world playing high stakes backgammon and hunting for amateur “whales” who think they can challenge him. Lately he’s had a run of bad luck. Out of money and friends, he turns to the only person who can help (and the last person he wants to see): a high-rolling former childhood acquaintance. Forced to confront his uncertain future, he must ask himself: Is he playing the game, or is the game playing him?

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(And like last time, I’m putting a  next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more on this list that I can’t wait to read!)

Welcome Home: An Anthology on Love and Adoption edited by Eric Smith (I haven’t read this, but congratulations to fellow Rioter Eric Smith!) 

A Tale of Two Kitties (Magical Cats) by Sofie Kelly

Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington

Sisters by Lily Tuck

Copycat by Alex Lake

Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney

A Secret History of Witches by Louise Morgan

The Future She Left Behind by Marin Thomas

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

Tales of Falling and Flying by Ben Loory

The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones 

Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters

Acadie by Dave Hutchinson 

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 

To Funk and Die in LA (A D Hunter Mystery) by Nelson George

Sourdough by Robin Sloan 

Alan Cole Is Not a Coward by Eric Bell

Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things by Loudon Wainwright, III

Friend Request by Laura Marshall

If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir by Ilana Kurshan

The World of Tomorrow by Brendan Mathews

Black Rock White City by A.S. Patric

The Seagull: A Vera Stanhope Mystery by Ann Cleeves

Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera 

Feral Youth edited by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker

Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander

I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn (Author), Allison Raskin (Author)

The Western Star (A Longmire Mystery) by Craig Johnson

Browse: The World in Bookshops by Henry Hitchings

The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente (Author), Rebecca Green (Illustrator) 

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

George & Lizzie by Nancy Pearl

Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling 

Right Where You Left Me by Calla Devlin

Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett

The Amber Arrow by Tony Daniel

A Legacy of Spies: A Novel by John le Carré

Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith 

A Son Called Gabriel by Damian McNicholl

Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions (A Kopp Sisters Novel) by Amy Stewart 

The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire 

The Assassin’s Curse by Kevin Sands

Clade by James Bradley

Light Years by Emily Ziff Griffin

Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul by Naomi Levy

Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi

Poppies of Iraq by Brigitte Findakly, Lewis Trondheim (Illustrator)

A Charm of Goldfinches and Other Wild Gatherings: Quirky Collective Nouns of the Animal Kingdom by Matt Sewell

What It’s Like to Be a Dog: And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience by Gregory Berns

The Cold War: A World History by Odd Arne Westad

Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie

A Conspiracy in Belgravia (The Lady Sherlock Series) by Sherry Thomas 

Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison 

Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoe Quinn

Literally Show Me a Healthy Person by Darcie Wilder

Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation by John Freeman

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust 

Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle Allen

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld 

Across the China Sea by Gaute Heivoll

Norma: A Novel by Sofi Oksanen

The Uploaded by Ferrett Steinmetz

Skyfarer by Joseph Brassey

Immortal Architects by Paige Orwin

Anne Bancroft: A Life (Screen Classics) by Douglass K. Daniel

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War by Deborah Campbell

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (paperback) 

The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker (paperback) 

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Today is an AMAZING day for books! I have a few fantastic new titles to tell you about here today, and as always, you can also hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, The Burning Girl, and My Absolute Darling.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller.

I Needed to Win.

They Needed to Die.

Sal Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class—and the nobles who destroyed their home.

When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.

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All Rights Reserved (Word$) by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Imagine a future where you’ll pay for what you’ve said. Literally. That’s what happens in this inventive new book! Speth Jime is set to deliver her Last Day speech. After her speech, she must pay for every word she uses. It’s the same for everyone once they turn fifteen, and a way for the government to keep people down by forcing them to work constantly to afford being able to talk. But what would happen if someone refused to speak? That’s exactly what Speth decides to do, and her actions may very well spark a revolution. I eagerly await the second book!

Backlist bump: Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

Patina (Track) by Jason Reynolds

The follow-up to the wonderful National Book Award finalist Ghost. This time, it’s about Patina, a different star runner on the elite middle school track team. Patina has a lot to run from in her life, and a lot to run for – like her mom, who cannot run. But her resentments about her situation are starting to build up, and the coach is not going to put up with Patina’s bad attitude much longer. Can she find a balance and learn to work with others in order to run on the relay team. This is a wonderful story of overcoming obstacles and learning to face your problems.

Backlist bump: Ghost (Track) by Jason Reynolds

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre

Macintyre has a knack for finding outrageous stories from history and turning them into fascinating books that read like thrillers. This one is about the SAS, Britain’s secret fighting force that helped turn the tide of World War II and shaped how special forces units operate still to this day. I am always riveted by these tales!

Backlist bump: Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

Zero Repeat Forever (The Nahx Invasions) by G.S. Prendergast

An exciting new fantasy series, hooray! When the Nahx invade, Raven is away at summer camp. Isolated in the woods, she must do whatever she can to survive, even if it means trusting the enemy who killed her boyfriend. When Raven is injured, she must rely on Eighth, who has deserted his Nahx unit, to help her. Think Beauty and the Beast, but with aliens (and no singing dinner service set.)

Backlist bump: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Today is an AMAZING day for books! The last book in William Ritter’s Jackaby series hits the shelves, Sue Grafton is finally on ‘Y‘ in the Kinsey Malone series, and it’s the release day of what will probably be my favorite book of the year: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne!

I have a few fantastic new titles to tell you about here today, and as always, you can also hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including The Heart’s Invisible Furies, Stay With Me, and The Futilitarians .

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin.

From the bestselling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry comes another perfect fable for our times — a story about women, choices, and recovering from mistakes. Young Jane Young’s heroine is Aviva Grossman, a Congressional intern who makes the life-changing mistake of having an affair with her married boss — and blogging about it. She becomes a talk-show punchline; she is slut-shamed. How does one go on after this? A smart, funny, and moving novel about what it means to be a woman of any age, Young Jane Young captures our current political climate and the double standards of life for women.

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The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez

As if moving to a new school isn’t hard enough, twelve-year-old Malú accidentally crosses the school’s queen bee and violates the dress code on the first day. Malú wants to live by her father’s advice to be herself, but it’s hard when she’s told being herself doesn’t work at this school. So she does something she knows will help her feel better: she starts a punk band with a group of other misfits. This is a charming book about fitting in and fighting for what you believe.

Backlist bump: Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel by Diana López

The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes

Holy cats, there is so much going on in this book, it’s almost easier to just wave Muppet arms and yell, “READ IT!” than to explain it. But let me try: Molly is a teenager with a father on death row. Pepper is a Kuwaiti immigrant with epilepsy and the world’s laziest seizure dog. And Ava is a long-dead resistance fighter. Here’s how they go together: When Molly receives a mysterious package, it leads her to Pepper and a chance to solve Ava’s decades-old murder. As they race to find all the pieces of the puzzle, they’ll realize that maybe someone is leading them to the answers for their own reasons, and perhaps the answers they find are for different questions entirely. This is a big, weird, twisty novel, and I loved it!

Backlist bump: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

Eastman Was Here by Alex Gilvary

It is 1973 and Alan Eastman’s life is crumbling apart. His wife has taken their children and left him, he’s now living with his mother in New Jersey, and he feels like his best years are behind him. When he receives a call from an old rival with a job opportunity to cover the end of the Vietnam War, he sees it as a chance at redemption. But once he reaches Saigon, Eastman learns that wherever you go, there you are: He’s the same person with the same problems, just in a different country. Eastman Was Here is a darkly humorous, poignant novel about aging, love, and keeping up with a changing world, from one of today’s best young writers.

Backlist bump: From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant by Alex Gilvary

(Also out today is Brian May’s book about Queen, called Queen in 3-D, which I haven’t seen yet but I am going to buy the hell out of it! I figured some of you would also be excited about this news.)

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Happy Tuesday, book lovers! The hits just keep on coming. I have a few fantastic new titles to tell you about today, and as always, you can also hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including The Mountain, Home Fire, and You Play the Girl.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin.

The shattering conclusion to the acclaimed fantasy trilogy that began with THE FIFTH SEASON, winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2016.

“Jemisin deliberately refuses to provide easy answers: they’re simply not available, in this world or ours. Painful and powerful.”  —Kirkus

“Vivid characters, a tautly constructed plot, and outstanding worldbuilding meld into an impressive and timely story of abused, grieving survivors fighting to fix themselves and save the remnants of their shattered home.”  —Publishers Weekly

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How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas

A moving story about a tragedy in a family and the young boy who thinks he can heal them. Isidore is the youngest of six successful siblings. Living in their shadows, he hasn’t received a lot of credit for also being his own person with his own skills and interests. But when a tragedy happens, Isidore feels he has the unique skills to help his family get through it – that’s if he decides he wants to help. It’s a lovely story about a boy learning that the adults don’t always know what is best, either.

Backlist bump: Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni, Antony Shugaar (Translator)

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Spanning over 70 years, this powerful debut novel follows a Creole woman and her children in New Orleans as they deal with love, addiction, racism, redemption, and the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. It’s a stark look at the legacy of racial disparity in the South, as Eleanor and her family seek to make a life for themselves.

Backlist bump: Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile

Ghost of the Innocent Man: A True Story of Trial and Redemption by Benjamin Rachlin

The true story of Willie J. Grimes, an innocent man sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988 for a horrific crime, and the tireless efforts of the people who fought for over two decades to prove his innocence. It seems like there are a lot of these stories out in the world now, but it is always frightening and infuriating to hear about the prejudices and shortcomings of the justice system that allows them to happen.

Backlist bump: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Karma Khullar’s Mustache by Kristi Wientge

Wientge has taken the subject of body hair and turned it into a delightful Blume-esque tale about a young girl trying to figure out how to deal with the hairs that have grown on her lip just as she’s due to start middle school. Karma thinks her parents are too busy with their own problems, so she must deal with what she feels is going to be a horrifying experience all on her own. It’s a charming and funny story about friendship and family.

Backlist bump: The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani

Things That Happened Before the Earthquake by Chiara Barzini

A teen girl moves from Italy to Los Angeles just weeks after the 1992 riots, and must navigate the unfamiliar territory of a new culture in a new country while dealing with family problems, not to mention an earthquake. This is a smart, dark, coming-of-age novel about immigration and growing up. (I will say the opening paragraph was so WTF, I had to set it down for a while before I continued because yuck. *shudder*. )

Backlist bump: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Hellooooooooooo! It’s time for another newsletter full of good stuff to read! That’s the best kind of newsletter, IMO. I have a few fantastic titles to tell you about today, and as always, you can also hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing upcoming fall books we are excited about, such as Little Fires Everywhere, What Happened, and Sing, Unburied, Sing. (PS – Because we didn’t cover August 8 new releases on this week’s episode, I’ve included a few more titles here today. Because I love you.)

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel Wilson.

Present day: When a young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll, she is thrown into a hidden world that lurks just under the surface of our own. With her career and her life at stake, June Stefanov will ally with a remarkable traveler who exposes her to a reality she never imagined, as they embark on an around-the-world adventure and discover breathtaking secrets of the past…

Russia, 1725: In the depths of the Kremlin, the tsar’s loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings. Peter and Elena are a brother and sister fallen out of time, possessed with uncanny power, and destined to serve great empires. Struggling to blend into pre-Victorian society, they are pulled into a legendary war that has raged for centuries.

The Clockwork Dynasty seamlessly interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning.

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Eat Only When You’re Hungry by Lindsay Hunter

An unhappy middle-aged man goes on a trip to find his missing son, but along the way, as he fills his aching heart with roadside junk food, he faces up to harsh truths about his own existence. Hunter is one of today’s smartest writers and she has written a powerful, sharp look at addiction and America.

 

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

After a school year away at boarding school, Suzette flies home to California to help support her stepbrother, Emil, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But things take a complicated turn when they both fall for the same girl. Little & Lion is a compassionate, honest examination of integrity and love.

 

The Good Daughter by Karen Slaughter

When she was a teen, Charlotte Quinn’s family were the victims of a horrific crime. Twenty-eight years later, she is witness to another tragedy that will tear her town apart, and unleash long hidden memories about her own experiences three decades before. HOLY CATS. This was my first time reading Slaughter and it was SO INTENSE. This book was fantastic – what an incredible writer! – but please be aware that its realistic depictions of violence are very graphic and can be hard to read at times.

 

You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages by Carina Chocano

A fantastic book of essays using depictions of women in popular culture to explore how these images shape women, and what it is like to raise a daughter in the shadow of all the mixed messages about what it means to be a girl. Perfect for fans of Roxane Gay and Rebecca Solnit.

 

Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology by Ellen Ullman

Ullman has spent almost four decades working with computers, beginning in San Francisco in the 1970s as a woman in an almost entirely male-dominated field. Her 1997 book, Close to the Machine, chronicled the rise of technology, and now twenty years later Life in Code covers her thoughts on its mainstream use in everyday life and how life with computers has changed us. It’s a fascinating book!

 

Bibliomysteries: Stories of Crime in the World of Books and Bookstores by Otto Penzler

Penzler has rounded up some of today’s best mystery writers, including Laura Lippman and C.J. Box, for a fun collection of original book-related mysteries. This anthology is an epic nerdpurr!

 

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee

CALLING ALL BUFFY FANS. 16-year-old Genie Lo thought she had a lot on her plate trying to get into a good college. Then she discovers she’s a celestial spirit made for fighting demons. Now she and her BFF are fighting demons between filling out applications – but is Genie going to be able to save the town on her own? Two words: WHAT FUN.

 

To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts by Caitlin Hamilton Summie

Summie has written ten quiet but powerful stories about family bonds, loss, and what unmoors the human spirit. From rural Minnesota to flashy New York City and more, these are memorable tales that will bring reflection after they have ended.

 

The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard

I couldn’t pass up a novel blurbed by Toni Morrison! Johnny Ribkins is 72 and facing doom: he has one week to return the money he stole from his mobster boss or he’ll sleep with the fishes. But Ribkins comes from a long line of people with unusual powers. Once used for good, they now mostly use them for personal gain. And Ribkins is hoping these talents can help him get out of his predicament. What an original, delightfully odd book!

 

Rebellion by Molly Patterson

A multigenerational debut novel following four women and their various “rebellions” throughout in their lives. At the heart of the book is a mystery about Addie, an American missionary who goes missing during the Boxer Rebellion. Rebellion is a powerful story of family, fate, that explores the women’s hidden secrets and their determination to take control of their own destinies.

 

Darkansas by Jarret Middleton

Jordan is a flailing country musician who can never seem to get out from under the shadow of his legendary father. When a wedding brings him back to his hometown in the Ozarks, he learns a dark secret: In his family, every generation of men have been twins, and it is customary for one twin to kill their father. Jordan and his brother must fight to escape the family legacy as they are pursued by a mysterious hill dweller. This dark, original tale is perfect for fans of Donald Ray Pollock and Harry Crews. It also has my vote for best title of the year.

 

The Locals by Jonathan Dee

Mark Firth is a down-on-his-luck contractor who seeks a chance to repair his lost finances and support his family by buying up local properties in debt. But his investment decisions and partnerships will lead him down a path of greed and class division, and force Mark to confront the man he has become.The Locals is a timely look at wealth and inequality in a small town, as captured by the always amazing Dee.

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS! It’s the first Tuesday of the month, which means there are a bunch of new titles out today. I’ve got a big list for you below, and you can hear about a few of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about amazing books we loved, such as See What I Have Done, Mrs. Fletcher, and Sour Heart.

And like last time, I’m putting a  next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more I can’t wait to read!

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Sponsored by Elizabeth Singer Hunt, author of THE SECRET AGENT JACK AND MAX STALWART series, published by Weinstein Books. A member of Hachette Book Group.

For fans of the award-winning SECRET AGENT JACK STALWART comes a new chapter book series! Jack teams up with his older brother, Max, to solve international mysteries, using their special training as secret agents.

In THE BATTLE FOR THE EMERALD BUDDHA, Jack is temporarily retired from the Global Protection Force and on family vacation. However, Jack and Max are motivated to act when a band of thieves takes the Emerald Buddha from the Grand Palace in Bangkok. On their own, up against one of the smartest and wealthiest villains they’ve ever faced, can the brothers find Thailand’s treasure in time?

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Impossible Views of the World by Lucy Ives 

Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor

Good Stock Strange Blood by Dawn Lundy Martin

Motherest by Kristen Iskandrian 

What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen by Kate Fagan

The Address by Fiona Davis

Kings of Broken Things by Theodore Wheeler

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt 

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan (Author), Annie Tucker (Translator)

Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka 

Yesterday by Felicia Yap

The Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose

The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet (Author), Sam Taylor (Translator) 

The Lauras by Sara Taylor 

Zinnia and the Bees by Danielle Davis

Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Of Jenny and the Aliens by Ryan Gebhart

Class Mom: A Novel by Laurie Gelman

The Lighthouse by Alison Moore

Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perotta

A Nest of Vipers (Inspector Montalbano) by Andrea Camilleri  (Author), Stephen Sartarelli (Translator)

The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and Other Stories by William Browning Spencer

The Process (is a Process All Its Own) by Peter Straub

The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson 

The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal 

The Best of Subterranean by William Schafer

The Hole by Hye-young Pyun (Author), Sora Kim-Russell (Translator)

The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder by Carolyn Murnick 

Morningstar: Growing Up With Books by Ann Hood

The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh 

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber

Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess

Hex-Rated: A Brimstone Files Novel by Jason Ridler

Age of Assassins by RJ Baker

Leona: The Die Is Cast by Jenny Rogneby

Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harpham

Beast by Paul Kingsnorth 

A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon

Children of the Divide by Patrick Tomlinson

The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy 

Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults by Laurie Penny

Sour Heart: Stories by Jenny Zhang

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley 

All Things New by Lauren Miller

Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist and Other Essays by Paul Kingsnorth

Brave Deeds by David Abrams 

Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann 

Safe by Ryan Gattis 

New People by Danzy Senna 

Monster Hunter Siege by Larry Correia

The Wrong Way to Save Your Life: Essays by Megan Stielstra

A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon

The Wood by Chelsea Bobulski

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

The Grip of It by Jac Jemc 

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Happy Tuesday, book lovers! How is everyone today? I had a marvelous week. I spent a lot of time shopping in indie bookstores, which means I have a lot of titles to potentially talk about on future episodes of All the Backlist! And I participated in the 24-in-48 readathon! It really was the best week. I have a few fantastic titles to tell you about today, and as always, you can also hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as Careers for Women, Hate to Want You, and Madame Zero.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollack.

Two families collide in a bloody Southern Gothic outlaw tale. No good can come of it. Or can it? In 1917 the three Jewett brothers undertake a last-ditch effort to break free of their poverty by turning to a life of shooting and looting. Another farming family, the good-natured Fiddlers, have been swindled out of their land and fortune and are now smack in the middle of the now notorious Jewett Gang’s trajectory. When a crime spree sets the Jewetts on a collision course for the Fiddlers, an unlikely–and turbulent–relationship begins between the families.

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Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

Dr. Greta Helsing has a family reputation to uphold. She spends her time administering care to the undead, a lucrative yet quiet life. Quiet, that is, until she uncovers a a group of murderous monks in London’s midst. Now Greta must use her unusual knowledge and profession to put an end to their deadly tirade, before she becomes the next victim. I always love a good twist on a classic character!

Backlist bump: The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh

Harper Raine has a bad feeling about her family’s new home the moment she steps inside. Then she hears the rumors about the house. And to top things off, her little brother begins acting strangely. Now Harper is spending seventh grade seeking answers to the spirits she senses and trying to figure out a way to save her brother before it’s too late. This is a fun debut to a new middle grade series!

Backlist bump: The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

Imagine you’re sitting in class, listening to the teacher talk when suddenly: WHOOSH. Now in a forest, naked as a jaybird, running  for your life from blood-thirsty faeries! That’s The Call, a three-minute challenge that happens to all teens. And no one knows when it’s going to happen. If you survive the test, you’re transported back to your world. Sometimes even the ones who don’t survive are returned… Nessa is determined to survive the trial, but she’s going to have to survive her horrible classmates while she waits. This one is out in paperback today and WOOOO IT’S A DOOZY.

Backlist bump: Tithe by Holly Black

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

I thought I would do something a little different today, and instead of talking about new books, I thought, “It’s summer – why not talk about what’s new in paperback for a change?” And it’s also my birthday today and I do what I want. (After I receive permission.)

So, don’t want to get beach sand in your $30 hardcover? Don’t want to ruin your new hardback when you drop it in the lake? Here are a bunch of great books that have recently come out in paperback! (I’m not suggesting you should ruin these, either, but at least it won’t cost as much if you do.)

You can hear also about several great new titles on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about amazing books we loved, including Less, Nuclear Family, and The Stars in Our Eyes.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Devil’s Muse by Bill Loehfelm.

Mardi Gras may be fun for the revelers but it’s hell for the NOPD. Maureen Coughlin’s night starts with a bang when a man in pink zebra-print tights runs past and throws himself onto the hood of a moving car. It only gets worse when she hears gunshots over the noise of the crowd. In the midst of the revelry, Maureen and her fellow cops must stabilize the shooting victims and hunt down the shooter, all while grappling with massive crowds, a camera crew intent on capturing the investigation for their YouTube channel, an incompetent on-duty detective, and race relations in a city more likely to mistrust cops than ever. With The Devil’s Muse, Bill Loehfelm returns with another gripping installment in his “edgy, dangerous, but pulsing with life” (Booklist) Maureen Coughlin series.

 

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Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn: “(A) cast of unforgettable women battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their Jamaican village.”

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley: “Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.”

Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam: “With impeccable style, biting humor, and a keen sense of detail, Rumaan Alam deftly explores how the attachments we form in childhood shift as we adapt to our adult lives—and how the bonds of friendship endure, even when our paths diverge.”

Marrow Island by Alexis M. Smith: “It has been twenty years since Lucie Bowen left the islands—when the May Day Quake shattered thousands of lives; when Lucie’s father disappeared in an explosion at the Marrow Island oil refinery, a tragedy that destroyed the island’s ecosystem; and when Lucie and her best friend, Katie, were just Puget Sound children hoping to survive.”

The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang: ““Highly entertaining” (BuzzFeed), this “fresh Little Miss Sunshine” (Vanity Fair) is a “compassionate and bright-eyed novel” (New York Times Book Review), an epic family saga, and a new look at what it means to belong in America.”

 

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst: “Told from the alternating perspectives of both Alexandra and her younger daughter Iris (the book’s Nick Carraway), this is a unputdownable story about the strength of love, the bonds of family, and how you survive the unthinkable.”

Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel: “From the award-winning author of No One Is Here Except All of Us, an imaginative novel about a wealthy New England family in the 1960s and ’70s that suddenly loses its fortune—and its bearings.”

Smoke by Dan Vyleta: “Readers of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Arcadia by Iain Pears are sure to be mesmerized by Dan Vyleta’s thrilling blend of Dickensian historical fiction and fantasy, as three young friends scratch the surface of the grown-up world to discover startling wonders—and dangerous secrets.”

 Darktown by Thomas Mullen: “Award-winning author Thomas Mullen is a “wonderful architect of intersecting plotlines and unexpected answers”(The Washington Post) in this timely and provocative mystery and brilliant exploration of race, law enforcement, and justice in 1940s Atlanta.”

On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor: “From a debut talent who’s been compared to Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, David Quammen, and Jared Diamond, On Trails is a wondrous exploration of how trails help us understand the world—from invisible ant trails to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways to the Internet.”

Around the Way Girl by Taraji P. Henson: “From Taraji P. Henson, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe winner, and star of the award-winning film Hidden Figures, comes an inspiring and funny memoir—“a bona fide hit” (Essence)—about family, friends, the hustle required to make it in Hollywood, and the joy of living your own truth.”

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams: “(t)he New York Times bestselling author of the environmental classic Refuge and the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks and an exploration of what they mean to us and what we mean to them.”

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue: “A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream—the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy.”

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: “Like an unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist, My Best Friend’s Exorcism blends teen angst, adolescent drama, unspeakable horrors, and a mix of ’80s pop songs into a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller.”

The Killing Lessons by Saul Black: “In this extraordinary, pulse-pounding debut, Saul Black takes us deep into the mind of a psychopath, and into the troubled heart of the woman determined to stop him.”

You’ll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein: “Klein offers – through an incisive collection of real-life stories – a relentlessly funny yet poignant take on a variety of topics she has experienced along her strange journey to womanhood and beyond.”

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing: “A dazzling work of biography, memoir, and cultural criticism on the subject of loneliness, told through the lives of iconic artists, by the acclaimed author of The Trip to Echo Spring.”

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood: “Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.”

We Could Be Beautiful by Swan Huntley: “Catherine West has spent her entire life surrounded by beautiful things. And yet, despite all this, she still feels empty. After two broken engagements and boyfriends who wanted only her money, she is worried that she’ll never have a family of her own.”

American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald C. White: “Based on seven years of research with primary documents—some of them never examined by previous Grant scholars—this is destined to become the Grant biography of our time.”

The Wicked Boy: An Infamous Murder in Victorian London by Kate Summerscale: “From the internationally bestselling author, a deeply researched and atmospheric murder mystery of late Victorian-era London.”

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee: “From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a fascinating history of the gene and “a magisterial account of how human minds have laboriously, ingeniously picked apart what makes us tick” (Elle).”

Losing It by Emma Rathbone: “For readers of Rainbow Rowell and Maria Semple, and filled with offbeat characters and subtle, wry humor, Losing It is about the primal fear that you just. might. never. meet. anyone.”

Siracusa by Delia Ephron: “With her inimitable psychological astuteness and uncanny understanding of the human heart, Ephron delivers a powerful meditation on marriage, friendship, and the meaning of travel. Set on the sun-drenched coast of the Ionian Sea, Siracusa unfolds with the pacing of a psychological thriller and delivers an unexpected final act that none will see coming.”

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Gimme a B! Gimme an OOOOOOOOOOO! Gimme a K! Gimme an S! What’s that spell? That’s right: NEW RELEASE DAY!

Unlike most months, TODAY is the biggest day of the month for new releases (probably because the first Tuesday of this month was a holiday.) And let me tell you, I have read over thirty of the books out today, and loved so many of them. It is a GREAT day for books! You can hear about several of these great titles on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about amazing books we loved, including American Fire, Meddling Kids, and What We Lose.

I’m trying something new today: I’m putting a  next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more I can’t wait to read. (Hello, Monstress sequel!)

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong.

Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, Goodbye, Vitamin pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing in this life.

 

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Refuge by Dina Nayeri  

A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma

Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8: A Young Man’s Voice from the Silence of Autism by Naoki Higashida and KA Yoshida

Bring Her Home by David Bell

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum 

Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey

The Savage Dawn (The Girl at Midnight) by Melissa Grey

Hum If You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais

Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment by Angela J. Davis

Domina by L.S. Hilton

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero  

Tornado Weather by Deborah E. Kennedy

The Dragons of Nova (Loom Saga) by Elise Kova

The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham

A Catalog of Birds by Laura Harrington  

Reckless Years: A Diary of Love and Madness by Heather Chaplin

Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship by Michelle Kuo

The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller  

Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal by Jen Waite

The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan  

Ash and Quill (The Great Library) by Rachel Caine

Afterlife by Marcus Sakey

Sex and Rage: A Novel by Eve Babitz  

House of Spies: A Novel (Gabriel Allon) by Daniel Silva

Telling the Map: Stories by Christopher Rowe  

Secrets of the Tulip Sisters by Susan Mallery

Fucking Innocent: The Early Films of Wes Anderson by John Andrew Fredrick

The Red: An Erotic Fantasy by Tiffany Reisz

Tropic of Kansas by Christopher Brown  

Dichronauts by Greg Egan

Found Audio by N.J. Campbell

Who’s That Girl by Blair Thornburgh  

Monstress Volume 2: The Blood by Marjorie Liu (Author), Sana Takeda (Artist)

The End by Fernanda Torres (Author), Alison Entrekin (Translator)  

Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World by Billy Bragg

The Veneration of Monsters by Suzanne Burns

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughan  

The Sound of the World by Heart by Giacomo Bevilacqua

Lessons on Expulsion: Poems by Erika L. Sánchez

Bed-Stuy Is Burning by Brian Platzer

My Sister’s Bones by Nuala Ellwood

Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave  

A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson

When the English Fall by David Williams  

Moskva by Jack Grimwood

The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson

The Forensic Records Society by Magnus Mills  

Infinite Summer by Edoardo Nesi (Author), Alice Kilgarriff (Translator)

A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause by Shawn Wen  

Dirt Road by James Kelman

The Velveteen Daughter by Laurel Davis Huber

Revenge of the Nerd: Or . . . The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger by Curtis Armstrong  

The Bookshop at Water’s End by Patti Callahan Henry

Hannibal by Patrick N. Hunt

Moving Kings by Joshua Cohen

Knots: Stories by Gunnhild Øyehaug  (Author), Kari Dickson (Translator)

Uncle Brucker the Rat Killer by Leslie Peter Wulff

First Watch by Dale Lucas

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons  

Wendigo: A Thriller by Vaughn C. Hardacker

My Heart Hemmed In by Marie NDiaye (Author), Jordan Stump (Translator)

The Delirium Brief: A Laundry Files Novel by Charles Stross

At the Table of Wolves by Kay Kenyon

Gork, the Teenage Dragon by Gabe Hudson  

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin: The Untold Story of Wu-Tang Clan’s Million-Dollar Secret Album, the Devaluation of Music, and America’s New Public Enemy No. 1 by Cyrus Bozorgmehr

Hollow by Owen Egerton  

Live from Cairo by Ian Bassingthwaighte

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse  

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Final Girls by Riley Sager  

The Rift by Nina Allan

Night Class: A Downtown Memoir by Victor Corona

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay

The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story by Edwidge Danticat  

I Hear Your Voice by Young-ha Kim (Author), Krys Lee (Translator)

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (paperback)  

The Monster’s Daughter by Michelle Pretorius (paperback)

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (paperback) 

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

YAY, NEW BOOK DAY! It’s the first Tuesday of the month – how is it already July?!? – which means there’s a bunch of new titles out today. I’ve got a big list for you below, and you can hear about a few of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about amazing books we loved, such as Made for Love, In the Days of Rain, and Thank You for Arguing.

Before we get started, I have to ask: have you heard about Book Riot’s new podcast Annotated, a documentary series about books, reading, and language? IT’S SO GOOD. It’s like This American Life but with books! The next five episodes in the series will come out every other week, and you can subscribe to Annotated in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or in your podcast player of choice. DOOOOOOOO IT!

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee.

In this hilarious 18th-century romp, bisexual lord Henry “Monty” Montague’s roguish passions are far from suitable for a gentleman. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his vice-filled days are ending. His father expects him to take over the family’s estate, and Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend, Percy. So Monty vows to make this trip one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But a reckless decision turns their journey into a harrowing manhunt and calls everything into question, including Monty’s relationship with the boy he adores.

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Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco

Made for Love by Alissa Nutting

The Architecture of Loss by Z. P. Dala

An Oath of Dogs by Wendy Wagner

Thank You for Arguing, Third Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs

In the Days of Rain: A Daughter, a Father, a Cult by Rebecca Stott

Draw Your Weapons by Sarah Sentilles

Chasing Down a Dream by Beverly Jenkins

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing by Margot Livesey

The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick

Don’t Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon

The Graybar Hotel: Stories by Curtis Dawkins

Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner

Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

This Is the Noise That Keeps Me Awake by Garbage

Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan by Elaine M. Hayes

The Tower of the Antilles by Achy Obejas

Local Girl Missing by Claire Douglas

Who is Rich? By Matthew Klam

Sungrazer by Jay Posey

We Shall Not All Sleep by Estep Nagy

Devastation Road by Jason Hewitt

South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby

The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo by Ian Stansel

Thousand Star Hotel by Bao Phi

The Reluctant Queen: Book Two of The Queens of Renthia by Sarah Beth Durst

Woolly: The True Story of the De-Extinction of One of History’s Most Iconic Creatures by Ben Mezrich

Scandalous Ever After (Romance of the Turf) by Theresa Romain

All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan

A Stone of Hope: A Memoir by Jim St. Germain, with Jon Sternfeld

The Man of Legends by Kenneth Johnson

Words on the Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton

The Little Book of Big History: The Story of the Universe, Human Civilization, and Everything in Between by Ian Crofton and Jeremy Black 

Around the Way Girl: A Memoir by Taraji P. Henson (paperback)

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams (paperback)

On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor (paperback)

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty