Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Our recommended books this week lean toward the multinational: a historical novel set on a Swedish island, a World War II account of American military pilots navigating a treacherous route over the Himalayas, a novel about migrants flooding into a small Sicilian town and Joseph O’Neill’s new novel, “Godwin,” about a Pittsburgh man on the hunt for a rumored soccer superstar in West Africa. Also up, we recommend Carvell Wallace’s moving, joyful memoir and Kimberly King Parsons’s novel about grief and desire. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles
GODWIN Joseph O’Neill
This globe-trotting novel from the author of “Netherland” chronicles the quest of a man named Mark Wolfe to find a mysterious soccer prodigy in West Africa and the unraveling of his workplace back in Pittsburgh. Mark shares narratorial duties with his colleague Lakesha Williams, who speaks first in “Godwin” and also gets the last word.
“Uses sports as a window on global realities that might otherwise be too vast or too abstract to perceive. … The book bristles with offhand insights and deft portraits of peripheral characters. It is populous, lively and intellectually challenging.”
From A.O. Scott’s review
Pantheon | $28
THE SILENCE OF THE CHOIR Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Seventy-two migrants settle in a small Sicilian town in this polyphonic novel, which won France’s most prestigious literary prize in 2021 and is here translated into English by Alison Anderson. Sarr not only follows the newcomers, but also considers the inner lives of the villagers, whose reactions vary considerably.
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“Sarr points honestly and often brilliantly to the divisions between us and the world’s ragazzi, and in that empty space he offers a dozen different ways of seeing not only the other side, but ourselves as well.”
From Dinaw Mengestu’s review
Europa | Paperback, $18
SKIES OF THUNDER: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World Caroline Alexander
After the loss of a land route through Burma in 1942, Allied forces had to fly supplies over a treacherous stretch of the Himalayas to support the Nationalist Chinese government in its war against Japan. Alexander’s vivid retelling of this aerial feat is matched only by her exquisite rendering of the pilots’ fear.
“Riveting. … What unites this book with the author’s previous work is a fascination with human behavior in extremis.”
From Elizabeth D. Samet’s review
Viking | $32
WE WERE THE UNIVERSE Kimberly King Parsons
Reeling from the sudden death of her sister, a young Texas wife and mother lets her mind run freely to the siblings’ shared rebellious past — and her own present catalog of pansexual longings — in Parsons’s witty and profane debut novel, a tender, exuberant and often profoundly moving follow-up to her lauded 2019 story collection, “Black Light.”
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“The ride could not be more rewarding; Parsons’s transgressive boldness allows us to feel the soul in places that moderation simply cannot reach.”
From Alissa Nutting’s review
Knopf | $28
ANOTHER WORD FOR LOVE: A Memoir Carvell Wallace
Wallace, a gifted journalist and essayist who came to writing in midlife, explores what it means to be a Black man, partner and parent in the world. While he is unstinting on the tribulations of his unstable childhood, — a troubled single mother, intermittent homelessness and mental health struggles — the reflections here are threaded through with rare, soulful vulnerability and a persistent sense of joy.
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“Each anecdote continues to move the reader and implore us all to remember to connect. … This book is funny and heartbreaking, religiously vivid and lovingly open.”
From James Ijames’s review
MCDxFSG | $28
THE BLUE MAIDEN Anna Noyes
This haunting debut novel explores the sinister effects of a legacy of century-old witch hunts on a remote island in Sweden. At its center are a pair of sisters descended from one of the few women to be spared. Left to their own devices, Ulrika and Bea piece together their legacy and, over time, inflame their pastor father’s paranoia
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“It isn’t until Bea marries and becomes a mother that her family’s secrets will be fully revealed. By then, of course, the damage has already been done.”
With over 5 billion copies sold and distributed, the Bible takes the top spot as the most read and widely distributed book in the world. It is considered the holy scripture of Christianity and is also revered by Judaism.
Eruption: Following Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton Started Another Masterpiece--James Patterson Just Finished It Michael Crichton, Author, James Patterson, Author
The Voice to Parliament Handbook by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien has won Book of the Year at the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). The book, published in the lead-up to the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum, also took out the General Non-Fiction Book of the Year and Social Impact Book of the Year.
Of these, young adult, romance, fantasy, mystery and thriller, historical fiction, science fiction, self-help, and memoir are expected to be popular book genres in 2024.
Even when our everyday memory seems to be running away from us, it is important to know that every new memory you create, forges new brain pathways and strengthens existing ones…. So you get a better short term memory for creating new memories…. Awesome!
Recommended reading time per day is a highly relative matter because it varies largely from person to person, depending on what we read, with what goal, etc. However, numerous studies have defined that 15-30 minutes is a minimum interval we should dedicate to reading each day.
Reading doesn't need to take up all of your time. The most effective way to read more is to start with 25 pages a day. Twenty-five pages a day is almost 10,000 pages a year. The number of pages you read is not as important as the fact that you enjoy it.
Hobby: Web surfing, Skiing, role-playing games, Sketching, Polo, Sewing, Genealogy
Introduction: My name is Maia Crooks Jr, I am a homely, joyous, shiny, successful, hilarious, thoughtful, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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