Ghosts Of Booksellers Past
While these booksellers themselves aren't necessarily ghosts, their recommendations still stand even after they've left our stores.
"Bonkers" is not a word typically used to describe literary theory, but it might apply to Binet's hilarious mystery investigating the "death of an author," who also happens to be Roland Barthes. Binet takes his readers through some of the heavyweights of French theory, delving into the seedy underworld of Semiology, debate clubs, and Parisian bathhouses, in a darkly comic tale that will be the most fun you've had since your undergrad theory course.
-- Adam
Kurniawan's pithy title should give you some idea of what this book is about. A thrilling, pulp masterpiece, Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash also surprises its readers with a touching narrative of trauma, love, and personal growth. Through Ajo Kawir's unique "problem," Kurniawan tells an amazing story that you will not be able to put down.
-- Adam
Even as he completely disregards the "facts" of Melville's life, Giono brilliantly captures some of Melville's energy, in this tale of seafaring, romance, and artistic inspiration. Giono's "introduction" to the first French translation of Moby-Dick gives us insight not into the novel's composition or historical production but rather into the energy that has drawn readers to this American--and now French--masterpiece.
-- Adam
From one of the creators of Saga, this is my favorite comic book right now. It's like Netflix's Stranger Things but better, in that it's about newspaper delivery girls in the late 80s, who fight sexism, high school students, and alien invaders. Filled with gorgeous art by Cliff Chiang, Paper Girls is the next new series you need to obsess over.
-- Adam
This is the funniest book I've ever read. Poet Patricia Lockwood's memoir is wacky and touching. She intersperses this hilarious tale of the midwest with beautiful images, life learned, and compelling portraits of her close family, most notably her bizarre father, who happens to be a Catholic priest.
-- Adam
Selected as one of the options for One Book, One New York
Hari Kunzru understands that history is just noise until we listen to it. White Tears turns that noise into a song that is just as catchy as it is terrifying. Kunzru's latest novel delves into Blues history to provide an urgent tale for our contemporary cultural moment. Exploring issues of class, cultural appropriation, and racial segregation, White Tears brilliantly blends a gripping narrative with some of the most amazing descriptions of music I've ever read. Read this book today.
-- Adam
These disorienting stories of travel, motherhood, and lust insightfully explore our everyday relationship to the places and people around us. Walsh's Vertigo is a gripping collection that you can pick up again and again, each time with a renewed appreciation
-- Adam
Exit West tells a tale that we all need right now. In this fantastic novel, Mohsin Hamid dares to imagine how we might live in a world ungoverned by borders and begins the urgent task of learning to love those around us, regardless of how different or similar, distant or near. Through Nadia and Saeed, Hamid's novel is at once heartbreaking, hilarious, and politically insightful. I look forward to seeing it's impact on the world in which we live now.
-- Adam
This book offers the excellent opportunity to reconsider an author that we all think we know. Arsić and Evans have a brilliant introduction that not only situates how philosophers have discussed Melville in the past but also lays the ground for considering Melville himself as a philosopher. These ideas get worked out in excellent chapters that look at Melville in surprising and revelatory ways, like Rachel Cole's "The Lawyer's Tale," or through different interlocutors like Paul Grimstad's exploration of Leos Carax's film adaptation of Pierre.
-- Adam
Jean Giono's Hill explores human interactions with our environment through the story of a group of peasants fighting to survive in Provence. Giono takes readers into the past to tell a vivid and gripping tale of how humans interact emotionally with non-human forces. This masterful novel will change the way you view the world around you.
-- Adam
Jessa Crispin's intelligently irreverent travelogue/memoir/essays has changed my life more than any recently published book. Perfect for anyone who loves literary and literary history, Crispin goes places where many have been but asks questions that none have dared to explore. The Dead Ladies Project is a fantastic entry into the exploration of the possibilities provided by biography, creative nonfiction, and the more everyday practice of reading.
-- Adam
Eka Kurniawan is one of the most fantastic storytellers writing today. His breathtaking Beauty is a Wound spans Indonesian history from colonial history through recent events. Kurniawan blends a rich narrative with humor, romance, and conflict in this tale that feels both personal and epic at the same time.
I'm amazed by the breadth of Lockwood's poetry. She moves easily between the gleeful and hilarious to the touching and tragic. Running throughout is an astounding intelligence and careful attention to poetic form that continues to amaze me as I reread her amazing work.
Hawthorne is a master of the weird and wonderful. His stories drop readers into eerie, tense, and fantastic situations that still motivate our love of TV shows like Black Mirror and find their success in novelists like Marilyn Robinson. From the bizarre "Wakefield" and the tragic "Young Goodman Brown" to the odd drama off "The Birthmark," Hawthorne's short stories are a great way to fall back in love with one of the great authors of American Literature.
-- Adam
Building upon ideas already explored in his previous novels (like Flaubert's Parrot and The Sense of an Ending), Julian Barnes's brilliant novel explores romantic love, artistic legacy, and political dissidence through the life of Dmitri Shostakovich. Blending history and fiction, The Noise of Time is in turn gripping, humorous, and touching, creating a work of fiction that earns its place among the best of contemporary fiction.
-- Adam
Look at how adorable the cover of this book is! Doesn't the smiley face just make you want to read it? Inside, you'll find a great collection of playful and inventive poetry from one of NYC's best small presses. Steve Muhs offers a refreshing and unique voice that may not revolutionize contemporary poetry but certainly makes it 221 acres more fun.
-- Adam
I can't think of a better way to explore unstable conditions like grief than with poetry that gives you no familiar way to approach it. Weiser's formal experiments skillfully weave words and sounds into new and surprisingly expressive combinations, presenting a new way to approach both poetry and life. While a familiarity with Herman Melville's Pierre will certainly deepen your appreciation of this book, I see no reason why Or, the Ambiguities couldn't be a gateway to that other great work.
-- Adam
This is the best to book to be translated this year. In this collection of short stories, Hrabal conveys an extraordinary range of emotions, depicting life under Soviet rule. Through comedy, tragedy, and technical skill, Hrabal has left us a fantastic body of work, to which this is a perfect addition. Notable stories include "The Angel" and "Beautiful Poldi."
-- Adam
Flaubert's tale of youth and love in Paris is hilarious, beautiful, and above all, gloriously sentimental. This is by far my favorite thing Flaubert ever wrote, and the Oxford edition provides notes to help you follow the history and contextual jokes that Flaubert plays throughout the novel.
-- Adam
This book is so neat! Massumi's project of re-understanding movement and sensation provides one of the most interesting reads I've had in a long time. While incredibly dense, I found the book a very enjoyable read, offering a useful basis for which to think about a wide range of contemporary issues.
-- Adam
