Fall Reading, 2017

The World of Tomorrow is a dazzling debut written with the same frenetic pace as the boozy jazz age in which it’s set. Three Irish immigrant brothers are reunited in prewar NYC—under terrible circumstances—right before the World’s Fair. Entertainment abounds as our rotating protagonists stay one step ahead of trouble. With a serpentine plot that never loses its thread, and a payoff worth the page count, it will thrill fans of Michael Chabon. - Kelly

Through the eyes of a young filmmaker enamored by a wealthy, foreign family, Rushdie distills and retells the anomalous rise of the president who shall not be named. With long-winded paragraphs and sentences slow and sweet as molasses, The Golden House is not recommended for the reader with a short attention span, but if you enjoy playful language and political satire, this book is worth it. - Aric

Ordinarily, I hesitate to share poetry so steeped in death, but “Death is the worst/ sort of lurker. The best soldier of fortune./ It hardly refuses anyone’s offer.” I can’t refuse a single poem Shapero offers; her words roll forward effortlessly, turn on unexpected images and rhyme, examining God with no pretension or artifice. I will read this collection again and again until I’m as dead as anything Shapero discusses. Perfect. - a.c.

Hassan Blasim, author of the haunting book The Corpse Exhibition, has assembled science fiction stories from Iraqi writers, all set 100 years after the U.S. occupation of Iraq. These stories demonstrate how Iraq's past will influence its future by blending history with fantastical technology. The defiance to imagine the future so creatively when at times even the arrival of the next day is uncertain is the spirit of this collection. - Louise

This dystopian narrative set in future-China starts like gender-swapped Jane Austen meets The Giver, and ends like a freaking spy thriller. These characters have my heart:  a charismatic man with autism; a kind, closeted older gentleman; and a woman who wishes the men in her life would just please stop to communicate for once! I grew to adore this book—especially XX, whose growth toward triumph is a brilliant defense of individual human worth. - a.c.

The year is 2044, and a performance enhancing drug is causing people to work themselves to death. Tractor Jack, a female drug pirate with a submarine, embarks upon a mission to stop the spread of the deadly drug before it becomes an epidemic. An unlikely man-robot love affair sweetens an otherwise dystopian storyline. The political undertone (a pharmaceutical big bad, human and A.I. trafficking) echoes Margaret Atwood. This is my early pick for best Sci-Fi book of the year. - Jason

I am not shy about being a fan of Leckie’s, and I’m happy to say that although Provenance is very different from her other books, it is still very good. It has the same sense of exploration, politics, and self-discovery that I love so much about her writing. Ingray’s story has a more intimate feel, a story of family and finding one’s place rather than the grand epic. But I found I enjoyed it all the same, and I think you will, too.

—Jax

Imagine our world, with a catch - memory expires. The world is stratified into two spheres: Duos, whose memory lasts 48 hours, and Monos, who remember only the past 24. Alternating between a rare Mono/Duo married couple suspected of murder, the detective rushing to crack the case before time - and memory - runs out, and the victim’s erratic diary entries, this is a dark and twisty tale of domestic suspense that kept me hooked until the shocking end! - Flannery

In this beautifully produced book, interspersed with color reproductions of letters, photographs, articles and journal entries, Yamashita mines her own family’s history to explore the Japanese American experience through World War II, the internment camps, and the rippling effects on younger generations. This is not, however, straight history, but something much more meaningful, a celebrated fiction writer considering and attempting to make sense of her family’s past and of our own. - Melinda

What do you get when you put poet genius Eileen Myles together with a dog book? Nothing categorical, that’s for sure. An experimental delight, also certain. Afterglow explores the relationship of a beloved sixteen year old pitbull named Rosie and her devoted owner, but also expands well beyond to sex, politics, spirituality, life, loss, the whole gamut. Playful, heartbreaking, true and not, this is the most real book about life with a dog that I’ve ever read. - Melinda