10 books that make a great travel companion, gift
We’re fast approaching the holiday season, and this month’s list has what you need, whether it’s a great travel companion or a thoughtful gift.
“1,000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir,”
by Ai Weiwei (out now)
Ai Weiwei, smasher of precious artifacts and architect of the Beijing Bird’s Nest Olympic arena, has penned a memoir covering not just his own life, but a century of his country’s history. The artist’s words are accompanied by personal photographs, including those of his late father, Ai Qing, a poet who was exiled and sentenced to hard labor during the Cultural Revolution.
“Our Country Friends,” by Gary Shteyngart (out now)
Take eight friends during one pandemic, place them in an Upstate New York house for six months and see what happens. For some novelists, that would be entertainment enough, but Shteyngart (“Super Sad True Love Story”) transforms the tale into an homage to Chekhov with four romances and a finale that will break your heart.
“Admit This to No One: Collected Stories,” by Leslie Pietrzyk (out now)
These linked stories about a powerful politico and the women in his life offer a riveting look at how government really works — with all the attendant misogyny, racial injustice and class feuds — and how much work it will take to change its problems. It’s a tour de force from a gifted writer.
“The Sentence,” by Louise Erdrich (out now)
On All Souls’ Day, Flora, the most annoying customer at a small Minneapolis bookstore (which shares its name with Pulitzer winner Erdrich’s real-life Birchbark Books) drops dead. She still won’t leave — haunting the store, instead. Ojibwe bookseller
Tookie must figure out what to do about this turbulent ghost.
“Scientist: E.O. Wilson, A Life in Nature,” by Richard Rhodes (out now)
Perhaps it was the childhood accident that left him blind in one eye that made Edward Osborne Wilson — now 91 years old — determined to see as much of the natural world as possible. Rhodes (who won a Pulitzer for “The Making of the Atomic Bomb”) devotes as much time to Wilson’s remarkable life as to his remarkable achievements as a biologist, making this biography a joy to read.
“The Transcendentalists and Their World,” by Robert A. Gross (out now)
In 1975’s “The Minutemen and Their World,” Gross looked at Concord, Massachussets, during the American Revolution. Now the historian focuses on Concord during the 1820s, when Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, the Alcotts and others developed social theories and artistic visions during a period of intellectual and economic growth.
“The Teller of Secrets,” by Bisi Adjapon (Tuesday)
The narrator of Adjapon’s debut novel is Nigerian Ghanaian Esi, who from age 9 onward will experience personal traumas amid national violence. Yet throughout these years of unrest, Esi remains not just strong but also very funny as she comes to terms with societal hypocrisy and double standards.
“The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones; edited by Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman and Jake Silverstein (Tuesday)
Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for her special issue of the New York Times Magazine, which reframed the story of the United States’ formative years. This book version expands on her vision with essays, poems and fiction by Jesmyn Ward, Natasha Trethewey, Barry Jenkins and many others.
“Termination Shock,” by Neal Stephenson (Tuesday)
Stephenson may write science fiction, but his novels always feel timely and relevant. His weighty new book (at more than 700
pages) focuses on climate change and wanders from Waco to the Himalayas in a story that involves, among others, billionaires, geoengineers and aristocrats.
“These Precious Days: Essays,” by Ann Patchett
(Nov. 23)
Erdrich isn’t the only writer and bookseller to release a new title this month. Patchett, co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, has an essay collection revolving around the story
of her friendship with Sooki Raphael, Tom Hanks’ assistant. When the two women met, they bonded, and when Raphael was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Ann cared for her during her treatments.