A 2024 Book Preview - Part Three

Fall books!

The final trimester of book season tends to be my favorite. I always think of fall as “big book” season, when big names publish the titles that will be discussed for the following year and beyond—Demon Copperhead, for example, came out in October of 2022. This year, though, is a weird one. Some big books did come out (the new Ta-Nehisi Coates immediately comes to mind) or are slated to, but with a contentious election looming, and publishing being aware of this, a lot of the big books came out in March. Still, there are lots of exciting books out in the final months of the year, and I’m excited to continue buying books, which I maintain is an entirely separate hobby from reading them. 

I’d planned to get this out in early September but life took over and sometimes the only option is to surrender to the things that require your immediate attention. I also have COVID, so I’m writing this from my sickbed between doses of Theraflu and Mucinex. But it’s here! And I’ve covered September too. I’m also curious to hear what’s on your radar, so if there are any books you’re planning to read, I’d love to know.

Okay! Onto the post.

September 

All the stuff I missed last month. Among the mentions: an untraditional lesbian romance that’s also about art, a new Rachel Kushner, and a book that asks the question, what if all the white people walked into the sea? 

September 3 

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

Creation Lake was longlisted for the Booker Prize before it even came out, which increased my interest level by two points. I’m always curious about books that have been cosigned by the powers that be and the premise gave me a little confidence in the return of plot to literary fiction. It’s about a spy who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France and becomes entranced by one of the group’s mentors. I picked this up a few days ago at a Hudson news in JFK and will likely read it before the year is through.

Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker

There is a growing trend of motherhood novels, and based on its premise, this one by Chelsea Bieker will be an interesting addition to the genre. In Madwoman, the main character Clove is forced to reckon with her past after a letter arrives on her doorstep and threatens her carefully constructed life.

My Lesbian Novel by Renee Gladman

I’ll never forget the high of seeing Tár for the first time—it’s the only movie I’ve watched and immediately started from the beginning so I could watch it again. In the film we primarily learn about Tár through her relationship to work. Something similar is happening in My Lesbian Novel, which is about a character, also named Renee Gladman, attempting to write a lesbian romance novel. It’s part interview, part romance, and is a meditation on artmaking itself. I’m always interested in novels that play with form, so I’m very much looking forward to this one. 

Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga

As a fan of Big Swiss I almost feel obligated to pick up Misinterpretation, a novel about an Albanian interpreter who gets involved in a Kosovar torture victim’s therapy sessions. As the novel unfolds, the narrator becomes more involved and begins to reflect on her own trauma. Eventually there’s a trip to her homeland of Albania, and as y’all know, I love a book where the character returns to their hometown. 

Sept 10 

Two Step Devil by Jamie Quatro

If there’s a cult documentary, I’m watching it, so it stands to reason that I’m full-send on Two Step-Devil, a novel about a man called the Prophet and the little girl he believes is a messenger sent by God. I’m deeply interested in faith and belief and its relationship to certainty as well as how these elements work together to make people do things the rest of us might not understand. Based on the novel’s premise, I think the story will grapple with this question, if not pose an answer outright. 

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

In the first few pages of Sky Full of Elephants all the white people walk into the sea and drown. The story picks up in the aftermath, asking what it means to be Black in the absence of whiteness. I’m currently reading this and it’s reigniting my meditation on the function of the modern race novel and I’m curious if Cebo Campbell has something new to say. 

Quarterlife by Devika Rege

Quaterlife, billed as a political bildungsroman—follows Naren, a Wall St. consultant who moves home to Mumbai after a transformative election and his brother Rohit, a talent scout who falls in with a group powering the Hindu Nationalist movement. The novel is both an intimate exploration of two characters exploring, and in some cases relearning, their culture, and examination of a nation in transition. I have a feeling this will be good.

Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes

I picked this up at McNally last month after a quick scan of the book jacket copy. It’s about a B-list novelist who used to do drugs but has since supplanted that with an internet addiction. He gets into a heated exchange with an actress he insulted and the two end up in a series of tense discussions, exploring patriarchy and addiction. Apparently the two end up going from rivals to friends, and I love watching two characters go from one kind of relationship to another.

Passiontide by Monique Roffey

Monique Roffey’s eighth novel begins with a murder. It’s the morning after Carnival on the small island of St. Colibri and a woman turns up dead. She’s far from the first—there’s an entire division devoted to investigating these things—and she likely won’t be the last. Her murder ends up sparking a revolution and brings four women from various backgrounds together to help each other in unexpected ways. It sounds like a setup for an interesting story and the fact that it’s being called a “fresh take on the detective novel,” doesn’t hurt. 

September 17th

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, trans. Megan McDowell

Our Share of Night was one of my favorite novels of last year and one I’m still thinking about (rare for me!). When I saw that she was releasing a story collection, I knew I would pick it up. As all good story collections go, this one has an organizing theme—women who encounter the supernatural and surreal. In one story, a family’s faces melt away. In another, there’s a riverbank of birds that used to be women. Samanta Schweblin, another favorite, has called it, “diabolical.” Sold!

Rejection: Fiction by Tony Tulathimutte 

I’m always skeptical when people say that books are funny (there’s a certain author people find hilarious who has never made me chuckle) but I’m interested in this comic satire—a series of seven interconnected stories about topics like sex, relationships and (naturally) the internet. 

September 24

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isablla Hammad

Isabella Hammad’s essay Recognizing the Stranger is part transcript of the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture she gave at Columbia nine days before October 7th, and then an afterword, which she wrote in the first few weeks of 2024. From what I’ve read, it’s both cultural and literary analysis, and after reading (and loving) Playing in the Dark, I’m looking forward to this blowing my mind.

The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk

I already have one Olga Tokarczuk novel on my shelf—The Books of Jacob, if you’re curious, which I bought because it looked cool and sounded interesting. I buy a lot of books for that reason. This pick follows a similar logic. It’s about a bunch of people at a Health resort in 1913 who drink a hallucinogenic drink and start debating life’s big topics. Like Nine Perfect Strangers, but everyone knows what they're getting themselves into.

The Repeat Room by Jesse Ball

I know authors are smart because books with premises like this exist. In this novel, jury duty is made interesting through the repeat room, where a single juror is able to get into the suspect’s psyche and inhabit their lived experience. We don’t know what the crime is until the second act, but it’s apparently tragic and offers a “vivid framing of Ball’s absurd and nihilistic philosophy of love.”

October

This month, an exciting piece of literary criticism from Dionne Brand, an investigation on Black Utopian societies, and a book about Georges.

October 1 

Salvage: Readings from the Wreck by Dionne Brand

I was introduced to Aphra Behn in an 18th-century literature class my sophomore year of college and since then, I’ve been looking for people to talk about Oroonoko with. Salvage is likely the closest I’ll get for a bit. In this literary-criticism-meets-autobiography Dionne Brand excavates the colonial aesthetic of British and American literature, examining the ways it shaped her identity and what she believed to be possible. 

The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America by Aaron Robertson

I’ve been thinking a lot about the notion of Black utopia, and have noticed the dearth of books published in recent years thinking through this (more on this later, maybe), so I’m excited to read this book, in which Aaron Robertson examines various Black Utopian efforts throughout history. 

The Message by Ta Nehisi-Coates

Apparently Ta-Nehisi wanted to write a book about writing and ended up with this instead. In three interconnected essays he explores mythmaking through three locales—Columbia, South Carolina, Dakar, Senegal, and Palestine—untangling story from reality. There’s been much said about this book so I don’t have anything to add, but it’s sitting on my shelf and close to the top of my TBR.

Season of the Swamp by Yuri Herrera

I think a lot about latent revolutionaries—Kwame Nkrumah at the University of Pennsylvania, Malcolm X when he was Detroit Red—when they were people and not yet symbols. This novel plays with that notion, following a young exile, Benito Juárez, in New Orleans years before he becomes the head of state. Herrera reimagines the 18 months Juarez spent there as an era of preparation. I’m interested in reading a story where someone is striving for something they can’t yet articulate or reach.

October 8 

Ixelles by Johannes Anyuru

In Ixelles, a mother and son live by the sea, far away from the neighborhood where the child’s father was murdered. She has a well-paying job at the Agency, a firm that creates fictions to shape public opinion, and a comfortable life. But then an assignment brings her back to her old neighborhood and she’s tasked with silencing the people she left behind. I’m sat! 

Slaveroad by John Edgar Wideman 

In Slaveroad, John Edgar Wideman expands the terrain of the “slaveroad,” or Middle Passage, by exploring the many slaveroads people pass through on their journeys in life. He blends memoir, fiction, and history, sometimes writing himself into the narrative to illustrate his point, and I think it will be a worthwhile addition to the critical fabulation genre.

Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq, trans. Shaun Whiteside 

I’ll likely wait for a bit before trying to tackle this novel by Michelle Houellebecq, which takes place during an election besieged by cyberattacks. That’s the backdrop for the main character Paul, who is dealing with a sick father, the dissolution of his marriage and trying to repair his strained relationship with his siblings. Good cover, also.

The Book of George by Kate Greathead

This novel is an ode to mama’s boys, affable golden retriever boyfriends who can’t get their shit together, and well-meaning men with zero follow through. Kate Greathead spends the novel following twenty years of this archetype’s shenanigans. If executed successfully, I think it could be culturally significant, as in people saying things like, oh he’s such a George. 

Our Evenings by Alan Holinghurst

We often talk about the way small instances of privilege shape a life, but this book cracks open that notion by following a boy who goes to a fancy boarding school on scholarship and then picks up at various points throughout his journey—as a young man, as an actor, and again as an elderly Londoner. I’m always bowled over by well-done storytelling and I have a feeling this will be subtly and beautifully done. 

October 15

Women's Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery

In Women’s Hotel, a cast of characters living in a women’s hotel comes alive. It’s being compared to Lessons in Chemistry and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, so I’m anticipating a pacey, fun read.

Don’t Be A Stranger by Susan Minot

Miranda July blurbed Susan Minot’s latest novel, which is about a 52-year-old woman who has an affair with a man 20 years her junior and is trying to manage her busy life (ex-husband, kids, friends with needs etc.). Makes sense!

Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Mark Haddon

I went through a Greek mythology phase in Elementary school—I checked out D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths from the library more times than I can count—so I’m excited to see that Mark Haddon is using the timelessness of the Greek myths to grapple with deeply human themes like grief and maternal love.

Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán 

At the beginning of Clean, a girl dies, and the only person who can tell the story of her death is the family’s maid. The novel recounts her time working and living with the family, exploring themes of class, power and betrayal.  

October 22 

Blood Test by Charles Baxter

Brock Hobson is an insurance salesman and Sunday school teacher whose life is upended when he takes a predictive blood test and learns he’s predisposed to murder. The blurb doesn't offer much more explanation, and I don’t need it. 

November

Just two!

Nov. 12 

Lazarus Man by Richard Price

In Richard Price’s second novel he explores the aftermath of a collapsed building in Harlem and four people it impacted: Anthony, a man who survived after being buried under rubble for four days, Felix, a young transplant, Royal, the owner of a failing funeral home, and Mary Roe, a detective intent on finding one of the missing tenants. It’s being described as a “razor-sharp anatomy,” and I’m curious about the ways he depicts modern New York and the changing climate. Price also used to write on The Wire, which makes an even more compelling case for reading this book.

Every Arc Bends Its Radian by Sergio De La Pava

Described as an “existential detective novel,” Every Arc Bends Its Radian follows a private investigator who leaves New York for Colombia after a tragic event with his ex and ends up getting entangled in a case. His family friend Carlotta’s daughter Angelica is missing and Carlotta asks him to find her. Once he starts, he realizes that the police are actively working against him and are in the pocket of a powerful man. His investigation plunges him into the heart of a criminal empire and 

December

December 3

Rental House by Weike Wang

A couple from different backgrounds bring their families together in Rental House, which takes place over a series of family vacations in Cape Cod and the Catskills. The novel documents the clash between their two sides, asking what makes a family and how, when things fall apart, we put them back together.

Woo Woo by Ella Baxter

Woo Woo follows an artist on the brink of a photo exhibition she hopes will be her big break. As it approaches, she becomes increasingly neurotic and seeks validation in a variety of places—from her husband to her Gen Z TikTok followers. At its core, the novel is about the process of artmaking and the psychological toll it takes (real). 

Havoc by Christopher Bollen

I love a book with petty characters and it seems that Havoc has that in abundance. Maggie, an eighty-year-old woman with a troubled past, arrives at the Royal Karnak after leaving her previous hotel in Switzerland in a rush. To the naked eye, she’s an unassuming, sweet old lady, but when she meets eight-year-old Otto and tries to interfere in his life, it becomes clear that 

Sand Catcher by Omar Khalifa

This novella follows four Palestinian journalists attempting to profile one of the last survivors of the Nakba. They anticipate that he’ll want to talk about his experience but instead he wants to be left alone. Instead of respecting his wishes they push harder and the book follows the lengths they’re willing to go to get a good story.

What It's Like in Words by Eliza Moss

I’ve always said a bad relationship can set you back decades and in What’s It Like In Words, Enola is grappling with that reality. She’s in love with an enigmatic writer (red flag) who’s emotionally unavailable, moody, and generally doesn’t seem that into her. She can’t end it because she’s a “cool girl,” but she’s also anxiety-ridden and the relationship ends up driving her insane.

Only Stars Know the Meaning of Space: A Literary Mixtape by Rémy Ngamije 

This book is doing two things. On one hand (the A-side), it’s about an aspiring writer navigating life. On the other, it’s a series of seemingly disconnected short stories. Juxtaposed, it becomes something else entirely—an artist exploring the void of grief.

Apartment Women by Gu Byeong-mo

I love a speculative novel where things feel slightly off-kilter, and Apartment Women fits the bill. In this, a family moves into the Dream Future Pilot Communal Apartments, a government-sponsored, experimental community where residents agree to have two children over the next ten years and benefit from communal child rearing. The novel follows four different women living in the community, meditating on the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child.

Until next time!