Felix adds up love’s missteps; a coming-of-age novel, more
In search of something good to read? USA TODAY’S Barbara Vandenburgh scopes out the shelves for this week’s hottest new book releases.
‘The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions’ By Greta Thunberg (Penguin Press, nonfiction)
What it’s about: One of the world’s top climate change activists gathers information from more than 100 experts including meteorologists, engineers, oceanographers and historians to make the case that there’s still hope to prevent climate catastrophe.
The buzz: A starred Kirkus review calls it “vital reading for anyone who cares about the planet.”
‘Dyscalculia: A Love Story of Epic Miscalculation’
By Camonghne Felix (One World, nonfiction)
What it’s about: A traumatic romantic breakup sends poet Felix on a path of reflection and healing, using her childhood “dyscalculia,” a disorder that makes learning math difficult, as a metaphor for her romantic miscalculations.
The buzz: “Visceral and radiant, this soul-searching self-interrogation resonates,” says Publishers Weekly.
‘A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing From Soil to Stars’
Edited by Erin Sharkey (Milkweed Editions, nonfiction)
What it’s about: A collection centering the Black experience of the natural world from writers including Carolyn Finney, Ronald Greer II, Sean Hill, Katie Robinson and Lauret Savoy. The buzz: A starred Kirkus review calls it “a well-curated assemblage of Black voices that draws profound connections among family, nature, aspiration, and loss.”
‘My Last Innocent Year’ By Daisy Alpert Florin (Henry Holt, fiction)
What it’s about: In this coming-of-age campus novel set against the backdrop of the Clinton-lewinsky scandal, student Isabel Rosen has two sexual encounters – one nonconsensual with a peer, the other with her writing professor – that gives her a crash course in dynamics of power in sex.
The buzz: Kirkus Reviews calls it “a brilliantly crafted campus novel for the generation before #Metoo.”
What it’s about: Six-year-old Denny Wallace goes missing in a dust storm in 19th-century colonial Australia. As the community scours the outback for the child, the residents must also confront their relationships with each other and the landscape they’re searching. The buzz: A starred Kirkus review calls it “a masterpiece of riveting storytelling.”