Staff Recommendations, Week of February 20, 2024, plus Catch Up Recs

 

This week we've got one rec for a brand new book, plus a handful of recommendations that have come in post-publication date from Boswellians that we want to catch you up on.

The first recommendation of the week is for a book that's just this week out in English. From Chris Lee, a recommendation for About Uncle, the first novel from Swiss author Rebecca Gisler, translated into English by Jordan Stump. Chris writes: "Gisler’s short, hypnotic novel, set in a coastal village on the outskirts of France, chronicles Uncle’s life on the outskirts of society. It’s a portrait of the tender, strange, and disgusting obligations of familial love. As Uncle retreats further and further from the world, he retreats into an animal self. Niece and nephew care for him almost as if he’s a pet. The story meanders through the family’s history, charting all the ways their lives have bent and deformed to grown around immovable Uncle. What a mesmerizing book!"

Now onto a few catch-up recs. Tim McCarthy offers up the second Boswellian rave for Kaveh Akbar's breakout hit novel, Martyr!. Tim says: "Cyrus understands suffering all too well. He's sober. He stopped drinking and taking drugs, but recovery isn't enough to calm the sense of dread. Neither are his friends or his art, his poetry. They’re not enough. Cyrus doesn’t remember his mom, who was shot down in an Iranian commercial airliner by a US warship when he was just months old (yes, a real event, July 3rd, 1988). Soon afterward, his father left Tehran for Indiana with him and little else. Even as a baby, Cyrus resisted sleep. Now, decades later, it’s up to him to figure out what he truly wants. If only he had the faith and conviction of a martyr! No, he doesn’t want to kill people, just believe in something so deeply he would die for it, a death with meaning, requiring a life with meaning. It's a smart novel from a powerful writer about fear, shame, loss, ego, addiction, and the possibility of arriving at moments of genesis. The thinking is uncommon, somehow both fresh and sophisticated, while the entwined histories of Iran and America make it vital. This book more than matters to me. This book understands me!"

We hosted a marvelous event with Akbar last week - click the play button below to watch the video of Akbar's conversation with Milwaukee-based artist Nina Ghanbarzadeh.

Oli Schmitz offers their words for I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, another January release, written by Marisa Crane: "This outstanding speculative fiction debut follows a sharp, wry-voiced narrator doing her best to raise a child in a near-future dystopian surveillance state. Through a subversive story of queer parenthood in the face of loss and marginalization, Crane crafts an intimate portrait of love, shame, and persistence. Timely social commentary, dark humor, and deeply human writing make I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself an essential read of the 2020s."

And now we have three recent recs from Greta Borgealt. Greta's first pick is Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly - we can only guess what drove her to pick up this novel. Greta writes: "Greta & Valdin is the debut novel of Rebecca K Reilly and found massive success in New Zealand, where it was first published. It is a beautiful story about love overcoming hardships among siblings. The title characters are both adult siblings who live with queer identities as well as being biracial. The representation of the characters is both nuanced and humanizing. It is a literary fiction novel that is comparative with the works of Sally Rooney. It is very humorous and has the heart of a romantic comedy. The family at the center of the novel is slightly dysfunctional, but love is woven within and that seems very reminiscent of real families. This book also does an excellent job of writing queer joy in the canister of colorful emotions that the characters experience."

Greta's next selection is Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody: "A literary thriller that puts you behind the eyes of a woman whose mind has been twisted by the wicked hands of grief since her father has taken his own life on the anniversary of her sister's disappearance. It is a wild ride as she pursues the case with the help of a teenage girl who has a strange connection to her family. The author critiques the culture of true crime and the toxicity of the internet. Much of the dialogue and discoveries the characters make take place in chat rooms and a pseudo-Reddit, which adds an interesting layer to the reading experience. Although the subject matter is very dark, the text is extremely engrossing. It is like seeing a car accident, and as much as you may want to, you find yourself unable to look away."

Finally, Greta suggests Sex With A Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery by Annie Liontas. Greta calls this book: "A transformative memoir told in essays about a topic isn't largely discussed. It is personal to the author as she has suffered from three concussions in her lifetime. These injuries have severely affected her life and wellbeing. Liontas weaves a beautiful web of a book, telling her story as well as blending it with history and interviews with others who have suffered from similar afflictions. I felt as though the book was very expansive in giving context to head injuries, and for that I'm grateful to the author. 

Paperback pick alert! Rebecca Makkai's latest novel, I Have Some Questions for You, gets its paperback release this week. Daniel Goldin is a fan: "Bodie Kane arrives back at Granby, the New Hampshire prep school of her youth, to teach a short class on podcasting, and one of her students asks to take as a project the case of a student death where she posits that the wrong person is in prison. And being that Bodie was her former roommate, this unearths a torrent of memories, while at the same time confronting a #metoo case focusing on her separated husband. As the story unfolds, a panoply of sexism emerges, from microaggressions (who's watching your kids?) to abuse and assault, leading Bodie to question her entire school experience while also trying to figure out exactly what happened in this case. This a twisty and sophisticated take on psychological suspense - I dare you to stop reading!"

Kathy Herbst has a paperback pick for us as well this week: Independence, a novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Kathy says: "This powerful work of historical fiction is compassionate and compelling in its exploration of a family struggling to survive in a nation torn apart by internal conflict. During the Partition of India, both Muslims and Hindus were grateful to be free of British rule. Unfortunately, the anger and tension between two groups who once lived peacefully side by side caused unspeakable violence. A Hindu family in Bengal whose husband and father is murdered while attending to wounded from both sides of the conflict finds their world turned upside down. The wife and daughters try desperately to understand and support each other. One dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, one falls in love with a Muslim man and is banished from the family, and one struggles to find her voice and significance in the family constellation. Inspiring and gripping, with fascinating characters whose lives are woven together in often heartbreaking ways."

And those are the recommendations for the week! Lots of great stuff to read until we see you again in 7(ish) days. Until then, read on.