Recently: Essays on Feminism, Gender, Race, and Identity

Without realizing it at the time, I've been on a bit of a kick with essay collections lately--especially those related to feminism, gender identity, and race--and particularly the intersection of the three.

Book Review: The Long Run, by Catriona Menzies-Pike

Every once and a while, a book comes along that rings all my bells--and then some. The Long Run is one of those books. Running. Distance running. Trail running, even. Grief. Loss. Meditation. Feminism. History. Feminist history. Memory. Writing. Literature. Books. Here's a book that manages, in the span of a few hundred pages, to talk about dactyls and iambs, trans rights, art history, the Ancients, and distance running without any piece of it feeling out of place. Yes, please, sign me up.

The Stranger in the Woods: Giving Context and Meaning to the Life of a Modern Hermit

Michael Finkel has an interesting past as a journalist. Once a reporter for the New York Times (he was fired after it was revealed that he created a composite subject out of many sources), his first book, True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, told the story of a fugitive who used the name "Michael Finkel" as an alias while on the run from police--a true (if stranger than fiction) story. His newest book, The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, is once again a true tale that feels stranger than fiction, detailing the solitary life of Christopher Knight, who lived (voluntarily) as a hermit in the Maine woods for 27 years.

Book Expo America: New Books from Old Authors

Last week, I wrote about the buzziest books at Book Expo America. Some of those overlap with this collection of new books from old (as in "previously published") authors I can't wait to get to.

There were only a few books I had on my absolutely-must-pick-up-at-Book-Expo list (I wasn't flying straight from Chicago home, so I limited the number of books I picked up to an extreme few and focused instead on discovering new titles to request later on down the road). One of these was the new Maria Semple book, Today Will Be Different (Little, Brown, October 2016); I was a huge fan of Where'd You Go Bernadette, so will naturally leap at the opportunity to read more of Semple's dry humor. I also adored Amor Towle's debut, Rules of Civility, so have been over here petting his new novel, A Gentleman in Moscow (Viking, September 2016); when I got my copy of this one signed by Towles, he told me he thinks this second novel is better than his first. Yes, please.

Tons of reviewers I know and trust lined up for the new George Saunders novel, Lincoln in the Bardo (Random House, January 2017). I'm only just getting to my first of Saunders' work (The Tenth of December), but based on what I've read so far, I know I'm going to want to read this new novel too. Jennifer Close also has a new novel out (The Hopefuls, Knopf, July 2016), as does Jonathan Safran Foer (Here I Am, FSG, September 2016). This marks his first novel since 2005, and first new book since 2010. I'm also squealing with delight for Colson Whitehead's newest book, The Underground Railroad (Doubleday, September 2016)--not least of which because Liberty says it's "omgsogood". So there's that.

I've loved everything Mary Roach has ever written (and yes, I've read all her books), so I nearly jumped for joy when I had the chance to catch up with the lovely Norton folks about Roach's newest scientific study, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War (Norton, June 2016). I'm told this is much more about how to keep humans alive and intact during war (versus all of the research that goes into how best to kill), which is just the kind of military science I'd like to know exists. Continuing the non-fiction bent, Rebecca Solnit is releasing a follow-up to her feminist work, Men Explain Things to Me, next year: Silence Is Broken (Haymarket, March 2017).

Oh hey, and ya'll knew there was a new Tearling novel out in November, right?? (The Fate of the Tearling, Harper, November 2016).

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What much-loved authors are you most excited to see new books from this year?

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Two more BEA round-ups to follow this week and next: a spotlight on indie & university presses, and a round-up of the incredibly varied and fascinating non-fiction on the floor. Say hello to some new reading options, Social Justice Book Club.