#politicsandprose

This week’s round up of staff pick has something to offer for everybody’s taste. A couple of brilliant fictional débuts, one set in the present the other in the past, and the final installment of an internationally celebrated series will have you occupied for hours not wanting to put them down until you finish. You will learn, as we did, of actual physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress, and how our immune system works in protecting us from harm. With so many great new titles we can safely say that autumn is off to a good start. 

Crudo-Olivia Laing

Upcoming Event, Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose at Union Market

Crudo, Laing’s fictional début, is a read in one sitting kind of book you won’t be able to put down. It’s 2017. The American president is tweeting the world towards nuclear war, Britain has decided to leave the EU, and the world has turned upside down. Kathy is 40, about to get married, obsessed with the daily news and worried about everything going on in the world. She is a loner who learns how to love. The narration is frantic and fast, at moments almost dizzying, but then you realize hers are exactly your thoughts, her feelings exactly your feelings and you keep on turning the pages. Marija D.  

The Field of Blood-Joanne B. Freeman

Upcoming Event Thursday, September 20, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW

Though today’s Congress seems combative, all the filibusters and name-calling are nothing compared to when Congressmen actually stabbed and shot one another. From the infamous caning of Charles Sumner to endless duel challenges, in The Field of Blood historian Joanne Freeman shows that these frayed tensions were practically destined to erupt into Civil War. Remembering the Congress of the past solely as hallowed halls and dignified men is dangerous, she argues, as the real history reveals uncomfortable yet necessary truths about a union on the brink of collapse. Written with wit, flair, and a hint of cheek, Freeman presents these Congressmen as petty, triumphant, stoic, and vengeful—or, as she puts it more simply, human. Katie W.  

Whiskey When We’re Dry-John Larison

From a fantastic new voice in literature, Whiskey When We’re Dry is a historical adventure novel that redefines the typical American Western epic. Growing up on the frontier with her father, Jessilyn is a gifted shooter used to being fiercely independent. So when her father dies, rather than succumb to life as a wife and mother, Jessilyn becomes Jessie, and sets off west in search of her outlaw brother, Noah. Told in three parts, and exploring issues of gender identity, sexual identity, family and alcoholism, the novel has themes that are quite timely, yet is also still made mesmerizing by Jessilyn’s unique voice and complex character. Her quest takes on America as a whole, and the history that has stayed with this country all along. Keith V.   

The Beautiful Cure-Daniel M. Davis

Science began to realize the complexity of how the body fights disease only in 1989, and this fascinating book tells both the story of the science at work and what the research has revealed. In The Beautiful Cure Davis takes us into the minds and labs of the pioneering biologists, highlighting what led to various discoveries, from the initial puzzle of how immune cells know what foreign particles to attack (germs, not food) to whether, and then how, the immune system can fight cancer. Emphasizing that “no scientist is an island,” Davis follows the achievements that have led to reinterpretations of how the immune system works. His explanations are detailed and clear: as he recreates the revelatory moments, he puts the reader right there, on the edge of discovery. Laurie G.  

My Struggle: Book Six-Karl Ove Knausgaard

This sixth most challenging and ambitious volume of My Struggle, begins with the fallout following publication of Book One. We are then plunged headlong into the nature of self, with juxtapositions between Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the writings of Jack London, Paul Celan, Karl Marx and others – as well as dense commentary on the Old Testament. The third, harrowing and deeply moving part of this book deals with his wife’s nervous breakdown. But “Sacrifice is never merely a loss. For something is always gained by sacrifice,” Knausgaard writes about Abraham and Isaac.  He might be writing about himself. “What he gained,” Knausgaard observes, “was the innermost meaning of life.” Amanda H.D.