Billy-Ray Belcourt. Norton, $15.99 trade paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-324-07594-3
In this scintillating collection from Indigenous Canadian author Belcourt (A Minor Chorus), queer Cree men grapple with the legacy of colonialism. “Being Indigenous in the twenty-first century can mean that a single hour can be governed simultaneously by joy and sadness,” says the narrator ... Continue reading »
T. Jefferson Parker. Tor, $28.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-90788-2
A family of Laguna Beach surfers prepare for the high-stakes competition that killed their patriarch in Edgar winner Parker’s outstanding latest (after The Rescue). Twenty-five years ago, John Stonebreaker died during the Monsters of the Mavericks surfing contest off the coast of Northern California... Continue reading »
Paolo Bacigalupi. Knopf, $30 (576p) ISBN 978-0-593-53505-9
Bacigalupi (The Tangled Lands) dazzles in this addictive account of the rivalries between powerful families in a brilliantly rendered fantastical world inspired by 15th-century Florence. Narrator Davico di Regulaif’s father, Devonaci, owns a rare dragon’s eye, still “burning with inner fire... Continue reading »
Laura Wood. Atria, $17.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-66805-190-0
YA author Wood (the Poppy Pim series) makes her adult debut with an irresistible rockstar romance. Though PhD candidate Clementine “Clemmie” Monroe remains close with her two half sisters, singer Lil and record producer Serena, she otherwise avoids all reminders of their famous rocker dad, even goin... Continue reading »
Atsushi Kaneko, trans. from the Japanese by Ben Applegate. Fantagraphics, $14.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-68396-932-7
Kaneko (Bambi and Her Pink Gun) outdoes himself with this gonzo sci-fi reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s classic manga series Dororo. In Kaneko’s hands, the feudal Japanese setting of Tezuka’s original becomes a futuristic dystopia with a Soviet brutalist aesthetic. In the aftermath of... Continue reading »
Philip Metres. Copper Canyon, $22 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-55659-669-8
The powerful sixth book from Metres (Shrapnel Maps), who is of Lebanese descent, confronts the trials of the present moment—including forced migration, climate change, and nationalism—through his family’s migration story. Metres wields poetic forms (among them odes, sonnets, and prayers) to... Continue reading »
Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »
Manisha Sinha. Liveright, $39.99 (544p) ISBN 978-1-63149-844-2
In this ambitious study, historian Sinha (The Slave’s Cause) traces Reconstruction’s ramifications beyond its span as official government policy from 1865 to 1877. She proposes that the 60-year period between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the ratification of the 19th Amendment comprised a ... Continue reading »
Salma Hage. Phaidon, $39.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-83866-764-1
Hage (The Lebanese Kitchen) extols the vegetarian bounty of the Levant in this appealing collection. The region is known for its vegetable sharing plates, but Hage goes well beyond mezze. A brunch chapter includes muffin-style buns—made with a batter that incorporates cooked, soaked, and gr... Continue reading »
Anne Lamott. Riverhead, $22 (208p) ISBN 978-0-593-71441-6
Lamott (Dusk, Night, Dawn) brings her signature wit and warmth to these effervescent meditations on matters of the heart. Drawing from across her life, Lamott details how seemingly lost love can be transmuted into different forms, recalling how friends and family stepped in after she was br... Continue reading »
Paula Yoo. Norton, $19.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-324-03090-4
Via vivid prose, Yoo (From a Whisper to a Rally) depicts the events surrounding the acquittal of the four white police officers who brutalized Black motorist Rodney King in 1992 L.A. By centering the violent attempted arrest of Black 21-year-old Marquette Frye in 1965, the author contextual... Continue reading »