August book preview: From Antarctica to Azerbaijan
Plus, I'm writing a book.
First, some personal news I’m dreamed of sharing for most of my life: I’m writing a book about Margaret C. Anderson’s literary battles in Chicago, New York, and Paris for Simon & Schuster’s One Signal imprint (a division of Atria Books). The working title is A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls, which is what an NYC judge called Margaret during her criminal trial for publishing James Joyce’s Ulysses before anyone else. Needless to say, I’m thrilled to tell Margaret’s remarkable story.
For more details, see the Publisher’s Marketplace listing (which will soon be emblazoned on a coffee mug in my kitchen). Huge thanks to goddess-of-war Natalie Edwards at Trellis, as well as Nick Ciani & Julia Cheiffetz at One Signal, for believing in this book.
My 15 most-anticipated books of August 2023
Mobility by Lydia Kiesling (Zando, August 1). I read everything Lydia writes. She’s brilliant and extraordinarily kind. Her second novel (after 2018’s The Golden State) is a globe-spanning bildungsroman about an American woman whose life is shaped by the fossil fuel industry. It’s a fascinating look at capitalism and climate change that asks a question well-articulated by Apoorva Tadepalli in her review: Can you be a good citizen if you make the world worse?
The Men Can’t Be Saved by Ben Purkert (Overlook Press, August 1). Ben’s debut made me smile every few pages. Over at Esquire, I called it “a 21st-century Catcher in the Rye that examines the genius worship and toxic masculinity still dominating the advertising world today.”
Witness by Jamel Brinkley (FSG, August 1). Brinkley’s new short stories at all set in New York City, featuring a cast of characters “from children to grandmothers to ghosts.”
The Museum of Human History by Rebekah Bergman (Tin House, August 1). I love this cover and I love this premise: After almost drowning, an 8-year-old girl stops aging while stuck in a coma, and draws the attention of a museum owner, an entomologist, an artist, and other characters searching for answers.
Time’s Mouth by Edan Lepucki (Counterpoint, August 1). Another speculative novel set in California from Lepucki, this time featuring a woman who can travel back in time through her memories.
The Lookback Window by Kyle Dillon Hertz (Simon & Schuster, August 1). The real-life Child Victims Act propels Hertz’s debut novel about a gay man with a one-year window to sue the abuser who trafficked him as a teen in New York City.
Sublunar by Harald Voetmann, translated by Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen (New Directions, August 1). A New Directions translation of a Danish novel? About a noseless man? Written wtih “a special nocturnal glow and a lunatic-edged gaze trained on the moon and the stars?” I’m here for it.
Dark Days by Roger Reeves (Graywolf, August 1). Critical essays flecked with memoir from one of my favorite poets, including new thoughts on Toni Morrison.
Prophet by Helen MacDonald & Sin Blaché (Grove, August 8). I can’t resist a premise like this (“an American diner turns up in a foggy field in the UK after a mysterious death”) and it’s co-written by the author of H Is for Hawk.
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (Simon & Schuster, August 8). This is about a man slowly turning into a great white shark so I don’t think I need to say any more than that.
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (Mariner, August 8). A novel about three generations of Dakota women, “from the mid-century metropolis of Chicago to the windswept ancestral lands of the Dakota people, to the bleak and brutal Indian boarding schools.”
The Quickening by Elizabeth Rush (Milkweed, August 15). Elizabeth’s last book was a Pulitzer finalist — and deserved it! This one’s a fascinating look at a unique community in Antarctica and what it means for the future of life on the planet.
Schoenberg: Why He Matters by Harvey Sachs (Liveright, August 15). I’d never heard of the Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg, but Sachs makes a compelling and propulsive case for him as one of the 20th century’s most interesting and influential characters.
The Water Outlaws by SL Huang (Tordotcom, August 22). Tordotcom is really good at secondary world fantasies, and this one’s a “wuxia-eat-the-rich tale” about mountain outlaws taking down a ruthless emperor.
Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto (Bloomsbury, August 29). This short story collection sounds like Helen Oyeyemi meets Min Jin Lee in Hawaii, and I love the cover.
What I’ve been writing
For Esquire, I spoke with Ben Purkert about his debut novel, The Men Can’t Be Saved:
“It scared me as a title. I'm someone who isn’t prone to big declarations like that. I'm like a neurotic Jew living in the New York City area, so I'm more prone to hedging and saying something and then immediately retracting it. ‘The Men Can't Be Saved’ sounds like something inscribed on a tablet in the hands of Moses. I was afraid of it, but sometimes as a writer, you want to push toward that fear.”
Coming up in The Frontlist
Behind the Book features with Lydia Kiesling, Yume Kitasei, and Elizabeth Rush!