HISTORIAN EDDIE GLAUDE JR. ON JAMES BALDWIN, COLIN JOST ON COLIN JOST, AND 7 MORE HOT BOOKS
Here’s the lowdown on some of the latest must-read new books.
‘Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own’ by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Crown, nonfiction, $27
What it’s about: Historian Eddie S. Glaude Jr., who chairs Princeton University’s African American Studies Department, mixes biography, memoir and literary analysis to examine how author James Baldwin’s words continue to resonate and be relevant more than 20 years after his death.
The buzz: “Begin Again” targets “our ongoing inability to confront what both Baldwin and Glaude call the lie at the center of our American self-conception and how the nation refuses ‘to turn its back on racism and to reach for its better angels,’ ” according to Kirkus Reviews, which calls Glaude’s writing “eloquent and impassioned” and says “the author presses his fingers on our bruises, the ones many of us would prefer to ignore.” The New York Times wrote: “Even if you don’t agree with Glaude’s interpretations, you’ll find yourself productively arguing with them.”
‘A Very Punchable Face’ by Colin Jost Crown, nonfiction, $27
What it’s about: The “Saturday Night Live” head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor tells his life story with a healthy dose of self-deprecation and takes readers behind the scenes of “SNL.”
The buzz: “I always feel like if I’m not improving, then I am getting worse,” Jost told USA Today of his drive to succeed.
‘The Lightness’ by Emily Temple William Morrow, fiction, $26.99
What it’s about: Four troubled adolescent girls attempt to unlock the secrets of levitation at a “Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls” in this provocative exploration of girlhood. The buzz: “A dark, glittering fable,” Kirkus Reviews says.
‘Utopia Avenue’ by David Mitchell Random House, fiction, $30
What it’s about: The author of “Cloud Atlas” and “The Bone Clocks” takes readers to the golden age of rock music to tell the story of fictional British band Utopia Avenue. The buzz: A starred review on Kirkus Reviews calls it “a gritty, richly detailed fable.”
‘The Order’ by Daniel Silva Harper, fiction, $28.99
What it’s about: In Daniel Silva’s 20th Gabriel Allon novel, the art restorer and legendary spy is trying to enjoy a vacation with his family in Venice when his old friend Pope Paul VII dies under mysterious circumstances.
The buzz: “Engaging and deftly paced, another thoughtfully entertaining summer read from Silva,” Kirkus Reviews writes.
‘Breath’ by James Nestor Riverhead, nonfiction, $28
What it’s about: We do it 25,000 times a day: breathe in, breathe out. Yet, according to science journalist James Nestor, we’re breathing all wrong. He traveled the world trying to figure out how and why it all went wrong — and how we can all breathe better.
The buzz: Kirkus Reviews calls “Breath” a “welcome, invigorating user’s manual for the respiratory system.”
‘A Most Wicked Conspiracy: The Last Great Swindle of the Gilded Age’ by Paul Starobin Public Affairs, nonfiction, $22.99
What it’s about: Rules, laws and honesty meant little to Alexander McKenzie, a Gilded Age political boss in North Dakota who chummed around with deep-pocketed capitalists and U.S. senators. After gold was discovered in the territory of Alaska at the end of the 19th century, he involved them in his brazen scheme to plunder gold already claimed by miners by secretly rigging the justice system.
The buzz: Paul Starobin “tells a jaunty tale of jaw-dropping greed at the dawn of the 20th century,” The Associated Press writes.
‘The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands’ by Jon Billman Grand Central Publishing, nonfiction, $28
What it’s about: In-depth and true-life accounts of people who have vanished in the wild without a trace and the families they left behind, desperate for closure.
The buzz: “A compassionate, sympathetic and haunting book sure to make you think twice before stepping out into the wilderness alone,” Kirkus Reviews writes.
‘28 Summers’ by Elin Hilderbrand Little, Brown, fiction, $28
What it’s about: Jake and Mallory maintain a one-weekend-a-year romance in a beachfront cottage on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, for decades despite Jake’s marriage to another, politically powerful woman. Based on the film “Same Time Next Year.”
The buzz: “Hilderbrand sets the gold standard in escapist fiction,” Kirkus Reviews writes.