Jean Detrez, the narrator of Belgian author Toussaint’s novel (in Polizzotti’s translation from French), has a lot on his mind. When the novel begins, it’s 2016—specifically, the time around the Brexit vote on June 23. Jean’s marriage to a woman named Diane is also coming to an end. A few months later, flipping through his […]
Got no time for ashrams and gurus but still want to understand your true purpose on this planet? Maybe you’ve already consumed enough self-help material to fill your own library and want something more portable? Melson has you covered with this cogent and concise collection of workaday wisdom that puts practicality and utility squarely at […]
Sanderson’s initial presentation of her subject is positive. She differentiates among types of social media, observing that online platforms have “opened up new career opportunities,” “enabled people to connect,” and allowed “people to leave reviews of products or companies.” China has its “own versions” of social media (there’s no mention of censorship). The statement that […]
Invisible illnesses like endometriosis, Lyme disease, and long Covid typically present as a constellation of vague, sometimes intermittent symptoms that include pain, chronic fatigue, and brain fog. As different as these conditions are from each other, they are also similar in how misunderstood they are in the medical community. Drawing on cultural history and interviews […]
In her fourth book set in a region unknown to many readers, Kassabova examines the threats facing one of the few remaining nomadic peoples in modernity: the Karakachans, “Greek speakers of mysterious origin” whose homeland is “impossible to know.” Moving their animals in search of fresh pasture, they have spent centuries breeding ancient races of […]
In humanity’s space-colonizing future, would-be Mars settler Michelle Arensen tries to put the suicide of her father behind her, working with her husband and brother to build a lasting Red Planet base. Suddenly, a bizarre phenomenon engulfs Michelle and other women on the expedition who find themselves held prisoner by faceless, noncommunicative humanoids. After a […]
British publisher and diarist Allen brings his love of notebooks to a lively, wide-ranging history of bound blank pages. Notebooks, he writes, “interest me as a technology that has had tangible effects on the world around us.” The author started keeping a journal in 2002: “Writing a diary made me happier; keeping things-to-do lists made […]
At the playground, Nadine hears a girl her age speaking to her doll in an unfamiliar language. Eager to learn more, Nadine asks the girl, Yan, if she has a “coming-here story.” Yan replies that she’s a recent immigrant from China, and the two children bond. Later, on her way home, Yan asks a woman […]
It’s the 1970s in Walnut Creek, in an unnamed U.S. state, long before cellphones and social media, and preteen Jimmy Hamilton daydreams about big league baseball, throws crab apples at the neighbor’s cat, and hopes his mom doesn’t order him to tear down his tree fort. On the plus side, summer and Little League are […]
Grandma Patsy adopts a “fluffy white kitten with big blue eyes” from an animal shelter near her Florida home. It’s almost Christmas, so she names the kitten “Noel.” The two become great friends, and Grandma Patsy gives him food, treats, and lots of cuddling—but Noel wants to find other furry companions. He meets his neighbor […]