Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
THE 10 BOOKS TO READ THIS MONTH
IF YOU thought September was a busy book month, welcome to October. If allowed, I’d triple this list to include more memoirs, biographies and a few cookbooks. However, these 10 titles will give you a great start this month.
THE BUTTERFLY GIRL: A NOVEL BY RENE DENFELD
We first met Naomi, a talented investigator, in 2017’s The Child
Finder. She returns here in a story that involves the homeless Celia, who lives on the streets of Portland, Oregon,
US, which is also where Naomi is searching for a sister she barely remembers. Chilling, suspenseful and yet full of hope.
GOOD HABITS, BAD HABITS: THE SCIENCE OF MAKING POSITIVE CHANGES THAT STICK
BY WENDY WOOD
Many authors have written about habits, but Wood is also a premier scientist in psychology, working on how habits affect and are affected by the mind. Top tip: willpower isn’t enough. Through original research, Wood explains what does work.
GRAND UNION BY ZADIE SMITH
Nineteen stories, 10 of which first appeared in the New Yorker (surely that’s a record?), make up this collection in which the multitalented Smith (White Teeth, On Beauty) mixes genres with aplomb. Whether she’s spinning sci-fi (Meet the President!), horror (The Canker) or reliable lit fic
(Just Right), Smith’s stories show a smart, curious writer at play.
ON THE PLAIN OF SNAKES: A MEXICAN JOURNEY BY PAUL THEROUX
Theroux has taken many trains, but for his travels around Mexico, he decided to drive. The choice was wise, as it allowed him to visit villages and landmarks he might otherwise have missed. Whether it’s Frida Kahlo’s legendary Blue House, border towns or coastline, Theroux presents a Mexico riddled with problems and gifted with beauty.
EROSION: ESSAYS OF UNDOING BY TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS
“We need not lose hope,” writes Williams, an environmental activist and writer. “We just need to locate where it dwells.” Her new collection focuses on how the Earth and human beings have unravelled. The author includes the spiritual without assuming its transcendence.
YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY BY STEPH CHA
Nearly 30 years after his sister Ava was killed, Shawn Matthews finds himself a suspect in the drive-by shooting of the woman responsible. Grace Park, that woman’s daughter, searches for answers – and when she and Shawn discover these are hidden in a tangle of racial violence, the two attempt to find the truth. This LA noir mystery ties past and present together without resorting to easy answers.
LIFE UNDERCOVER: COMING OF AGE IN THE CIA BY AMARYLLIS FOX
Fox joined the CIA during graduate school after developing a complex algorithm that could predict terrorist hot spots around the world. After a stint as an analyst, she was selected as an operative. She’s walked the walk in Karachi and Shanghai, but after she married a fellow agent and had a daughter, she decided to quit and work for peace.
GIRL BY EDNA O’BRIEN
You might associate O’Brien with Ireland, but in Girl, O’Brien turns to Nigeria and a protagonist named Maryam, whose abduction recalls the girls of Chibok, taken by Boko Haram in 2014. While the author writes about a culture wholly different from her own, she does so with grace, compassion and with Nigerian songs.
ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS BY JAMI ATTENBERG
How can the story of a hardened criminal, his abused and complicit wife and their psychologically wrecked progeny be tender, funny and compassionate? Attenberg works literary magic, turning a terrible past into a healthier future. If you choose one novel this year, choose this.
THE BEAUTIFUL ONES BY PRINCE
Of course Prince’s posthumous memoir wouldn’t be like anyone else’s. The iconic and multitalented musician’s consists of four parts, framed by authorised writer Dan Piepenbring’s research. First, lyrical musings about his journey; second, a scrapbook of photos and writings; third, images showing his self-creation; leading up to the fourth and final section, his treatment for Purple Rain.