Are you a literary early adopter? Do you crave new titles and anxiously put holds on new books then wait for that pickup notification from the library? Well, while you wait, check out other great titles from the same author, or similar read-alikes.
Transcendent Kingdom
Yaa Gyasi
FICTION Gyasi Yaa
Fiction
"A novel about faith, science, religion, and family that tells the deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief, narrated by a fifth year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford school of medicine studying the neural circuits of reward seeking behavior in mice"--
The best of me
David Sedaris
817.54 /Sedaris
Nonfiction
The American humorist, author, and radio contributor shares his most memorable work in a collection of stories and essays that feature him shopping for rare taxidermy, hitchhiking with a quadriplegic, and hand-feeding a carnivorous bird.
A great selection of essays spanning his career. If you're waiting for this title, check out Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, or Wow, No Thankyou by Samantha Irby.
- Victoria
Vesper flights : new and collected essays
Helen Macdonald
508 /Macdonald
Nonfiction
Macdonald combines some of her best loved essays with new pieces. Her topics range from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, she writes about the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife. -- adapted from jacket
A great selection of essays that foster solitude, reverence of nature and slowing-down. If you haven't read Macdonald's H is for Hawk, you should check that out. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren would also most-likely be up your alley.
- Victoria
The book of two ways : a novel
Jodi Picoult
FICTION Picoult Jodi
Fiction
Dawn Edelstein is on a plane when she is told to prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, their beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula. But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a career Dawn once studied for but was forced to abandon. The airline ensures that the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious destination is to fly home, but she could take another path: return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history. As the story unfolds, Dawn's two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried with them.--Adapted from publisher description.
The new Picoult is highly anticipated. If you're waiting for this one, try a favorite Picoult of mine, Small Great Things; a gripping novel about power, privilege and race. Also try Ruth Hogan's The Keeper of Lost Things.
- Victoria
Untamed
Glennon Doyle
BIOGRAPHY Doyle, Glennon
"There is a voice of longing inside every woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good mothers, daughters, partners, employees, citizens, and friends. We believe all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives, relationships, and world, and wonder: Wasn't it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful. We hide our simmering discontent--even from ourselves. Until we reach our boiling point. Four years ago, Glennon Doyle--bestselling Oprah-endorsed author, renowned activist and humanitarian, wife and mother of three--was speaking at a conference when a woman entered the room. Glennon looked at her and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. Soon she realized that they came to her from within. Glennon was finally hearing her own voice--the voice that had been silenced by decades of cultural conditioning, numbing addictions, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl Glennon had been before the world told her who to be. She vowed to never again abandon herself. She decided to build a life of her own--one based on her individual desire, intuition, and imagination. She would reclaim her true, untamed self. Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both a memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It offers a piercing, electrifying examination of the restrictive expectations women are issued from birth; shows how hustling to meet those expectations leaves women feeling dissatisfied and lost; and reveals that when we quit abandoning ourselves and instead abandon the world's expectations of us, we become women who can finally look at our lives and recognize: There She Is. Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get"--
I found Glennon Doyle after I read Brene Brown. I think they both have a searing passion for vulnerability and truth. If you're waiting for Untamed, try Brown's Daring Greatly, or a few titles Doyle recommends: Know My Name by Chanel Miller and Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentini.
- Victoria
Gyasi weaves a poignant story of Gifty; a child of an Ghanaian immigrant growing up in the US. Facing loss, dealing with familial addiction and mental illness and the pursuit of excellence, Gyasi adeptly describes a main character who constantly straddles the duality of country and culture. A tender book about deep and difficult subjects. If you're waiting for this book, check out Gyasi's previous novel; Homegoing-an excellent and intrepid historical-fiction work following different Asante descendants and their generational fate. Also check out Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue.
- Victoria