#staffpicks

So many booOOoOks, so little time!

Phantasms and Phobias, DC’s premier haunted bookstore, presents a selection of Halloween staff picks ranging from slightly spooky to downright scary.

“It’s funny except when it’s horrifying; it’s horrifying except when it’s oddly comforting.” - Jonathan W. on Ling Ma’s Severance

“Diana is a witch, though she prefers to live her life without magic. A professor of history, she wants to conduct her research in peace and is successful until a lost alchemical text finds its way into her hands.” - Allison W. on Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches 

“Witness the tale that traumatized all your favorite artists when they were children.” - Adam W. on Go Nagai’s Devilman

“From the creative mind behind the Doctor Strange film comes a collection of short stories that by turns thrills, chills, and fascinates.” - Aron on C. Robert Cargill’s We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories

“The narrative burrows into your mind and nips off tiny chunks of it until you are not quite sure who is telling the truth. Best read on a gray night with a hot drink.“ - Anton B. on Colin Winette’s The Job of the Wasp

“Three kids realize to their horror that their orphanage is being harvested by monsters. Can they escape?” - Adam W. on Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu’s  The Promised Neverland Vol. 1

“Foeis an unsettling blend of a psychological thriller with an examination of the structure and support of a marriage, all the while set in a creepy near-future with hazardous advances of technology.” - Keith V. on Iain Reid’s Foe

Looks like summer decided to stick around for a while longer, and this would be a perfect time to find a bench, a spot by the river, or just bring a blanket to the park and enjoy some time in the sun with a good book by your side. Our booksellers made sure you have a good selection, and just in time—when you’re done with a book you can meet some of the authors we’re hosting at two of our locations. This week choose between a music memoir, a history on piracy off the American coast, a collection of short stories, a novel, and a graphic novel. Enjoy the weather and some good reads!

Night Moves-Jessica Hopper

Upcoming Event Monday, October 8, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave

As a longtime fan of Jessica Hopper’s vigilant, fearless music criticism, Night Moves is the book I’ve been pining for. A series of vignettes about her coming of age in the Chicago music scene, the pieces are as shaky with youth as a Ferlinghetti poem, and they come together to form one jagged love poem to a city and a way of life. There’s something markedly elegiac about the life Hopper describes, a roiling, breathing cityscape where the escape from the robotic crawl of gentrification seemed still possible. Can young adults still live like this in a city? Riding bikes through electric summer nights? God, I hope so. Night Moves made me feel very young and very old at the same time: a painful, singular elation. Liz H.  

Black Flags, Blue Waters-Eric Jay Dolin

Upcoming Event Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose at the Wharf

You may be thinking you’ll want to read this book with a ‘Yo Ho Ho! And a Bottle of Rum, for it’s a Pirate’s Life for Me!’ But you’ll reconsider after reading this epic retelling of the Golden Age of American piracy in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Black Flags, Blue Waters is a definitive history on piracy off the American coast, as well as by Americans over in the Indian Ocean. Filled with colorful biographies of all the famous pirates, such as Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, this book also examines the social, political and economic reasons so many men turned to piracy in those days. This is a fascinating look at how piracy was encouraged by many Americans, so long as it didn’t affect their pockets, and how the tide then turned against the buccaneers after a prolonged government campaign and crackdown. You’ll never look at Captain Jack Sparrow the same way again. Keith V. 

Your Duck is My Duck-Deborah Eisenberg 

With her first new collection in 12 years Your Duck is My Duck, Eisenberg gives us a true, funny, and troubling picture of our world. “Merge” is an indelible close-up of the 1%, focusing on the son of a corporate despot who’s been cut off but gamely follows in dad’s footsteps with impressive displays of self-justification. In the title story art strikes back with a puppeteer’s “simple moral fable” of a grasping monarch oblivious to the fact that “the serfs and donkeys are already inflamed with rage.” Sure enough, the island explodes. In the magnificent “The Third Tower,” a woman prone to spells of “words heating up, expanding, exploding into pictures of things,” is sent to a hospital/prison. Her bad case of imagination can be cured if she learns cooperation. Laurie G. 

A Kind of Freedom-Margaret Wilkerson Sexton 

A Kind of Freedom, multi generational story focuses on three generations of family members that come from the first black doctor in Louisiana. We are introduced to Evelyn, her daughter Jaclyn, and Jaclyn’s son, T.C. who all have to find their own kind of freedom. Much changes over the years while other things stay much the same. Some of the topics brought up in this novel include class, colorism, and the toll drugs and addiction can take on one family. Morgan H. 

Home After Dark-David Small 

Few can blend lines and words into heartfelt storytelling like David Small. In his latest work Home After Dark readers follow thirteen year old Russell Pruitt as he grows up in the 1950s. Abandoned by his mother, Russell is forced to live with his emotionally abusive father. His circumstances only deteriorate from there for this isn’t a story of a teenager boldly overcoming life’s obstacles. This is a tale of a boy struggling to tread the murky waters of an uncertain and tragic adolescence. Beautifully rendered, masterfully told, this is a book you won’t be able to resist reading when you’re home after dark. Michael T. 

This week our science fiction pick takes us to medieval China, and the fiction one reunites us with professor Jason Fitger. We discovered that sand is fascinating and found a manifesto that amused us but still left us pondering on the world we live in. And who would have thought that a book about economic matters could be so entertaining? Hope you enjoy this week’s picks.

Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy-Tim Harford 

Award-winning journalist Tim Harford is a master at writing clear and entertaining prose about the economy. With his new book, Harford details the history of economic change since the invention of the plow in China 2000 years ago. He focuses on 50 seminal inventions – from the passport and the bar code to paper money and intellectual property. In short, very  readable chapters, Harford brings all 50 inventions to life, placing them in their proper historical contexts and explaining their significance today. Along the way, he entertains us with fascinating anecdotes and a great sense of humor. Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy is a delight to read and a great gift book for just about everyone! Lew G. 

The Poppy War-RF Kuang 

Fantasy enthusiasts looking for their next epic need look no further. The Poppy War, set in a fantastical version of medieval China invites readers to follow the trials of Rin, a war orphan. Despite her meager existence she aces an Empire-wide test propelling her into the ranks of an elite military school. While studying, she begins to unlock the mysteries of her past and of magic thought long lost. Never too far away is the rumble of renewed war with the Empire’s ancient enemy. Based on Chinese history and filled with pulse racing action, this is an excellent addition to any shelf. Michael T.  

The Chapo Guide to Revolution-Chapo Trap House 

First thing’s first - if you know any internet-addicted young men who you think are prone to being scooped up by the alt-right: here’s the antidote. The quickest and easiest way to describe The Chapo Guide to Revolution - the first book to come out of the leftist comedy podcast Chapo Trap House - is to imagine MAD Magazine if it was edited by Noam Chomsky. Part of the broadly-defined ascendant left, which includes publications like Jacobin and candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chapo’s gleefully nihilistic humor offers barbs in the direction of the monstrous right-wingers who control our government and the paltry technocratic liberalism being offered as an alternative. Beneath the internet humor, however, lies a genuinely thoughtful meditation on the role of social welfare amidst the current crisis of late-stage capitalism and looming environmental disaster. Isaac S.  

The Shakespeare Requirement-Julie Schumacher

If there’s ever a time when a comic novel should be in your “to read” pile it’s now, and I’ve got just the book for you. In The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher we return to some characters you will recognize from Schumacher’s hilarious novel, Dear Committee Members. Professor Jason Fitger is now  the besieged head of the English Department at Payne University. His fellow faculty, students and university administrators are undoubtedly recognizable, whether you are an academic or not. Clever, smart and good for giggles, this novel is sure to be one you come back to again and again when a good laugh is in order. Nancy R.

The World in a Grain-Vince Beiser

The World in a Grain is full of surprises, the main two are that sand is fascinating—and frightening. The fascinating part is the science: some sand is round, some angular, and different types have different uses, from bridges and roads to skyscrapers, bottles, and iPhones. Over the last century we’ve poured some 1.5 billion tons of sand and gravel into U.S. highways. This is the scary part: world use of sand has intensified sand mining, sparked sand disputes, and caused environmental degradation. Aside from desert sand, which doesn’t lend itself to modern uses, sand, like oil, is running out, though our need for it is only increasing—concrete may seem solid and permanent, but most concrete structures have a lifespan of about fifty years. Laurie G. 

Hope you will forgive us for being away for a while. We were busy getting the store in order for the busy season and we were at the National Book Festival— Politics and Prose serving as the official bookseller for the fifth time—and we are getting ready for the member sale this upcoming weekend. Picks of the week are back and we can’t wait to share with you amazing new titles we come across every day. Hope you enjoy this week’s selection.

Flights-Olga Tokarczuk

Upcoming Event, Monday, September 24, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Politics and Prose at The Wharf  

Tokarcuk’s wunderkammer of a novel is structured by themes rather than plot lines, and in place of character development, she builds collections—of travellers, places, bodies, and ideas. Flights is a constant surprise, moving from history to modern airports, from fables to myths to stories within stories. “Am I doing the right thing by telling stories?” Tokarczuk asks, and as if expressing her own ambivalence, she completes some tales, serializes others, and leaves others incomplete. Even open-ended these narratives support her belief that “what makes us most human is the possession of a unique and irreproducible story,” all the better to defeat the tyrants who want “to create a frozen order…to pin down the world with the aid of bar codes.” Laurie G.   

Cherry-Nico Walker

Cherry is advertised as a novel. It’s not a novel.  The inside cover tells you it’s a work of fiction. It’s not. If it was, it would be called “well researched” “highly imaginative” and “ripped from the headlines”. It’s just an incredible memoir. From the long and bizarre acknowledgment section you may infer that this book is heavily edited. I doubt that too. This raw and occasionally, morbidly, and even sickeningly humorous book tells the story of an Iraq vet turned opioid addict turned bank robber turned prisoner. Through each of these roles Walker gives a uncomfortably casual look into caustic masculinity. Jack B.   

The Wreckage of Eden-Norman Lock

When Lutheran minister Robert Winter proposes to Emily Dickinson she replies that she fears her muse would balk. Then the two begin a long correspondence, as he pursues his career as army chaplain, travelling the continent from the Mexican War, to the Mormon Rebellion and the Raid on Harper’s Ferry. Winter loses his faith, but he encounters various historical figures of the day: Abe Lincoln, a young Sam Clemens, John Wilkes Booth and others. The Wreckage of Eden is a beautifully written novel that provides a new perspective on the 19^th century and it’s charming to imagine the character of Emily Dickinson as Norman Lock has written her. Amanda H.D.

Cræft-Alexander Langlands

Langlands’ tenacious curiosity about the Old Ways gains eloquence and momentum in Cræft a deft, engaging meditation on utterly misunderstood but once critical pursuits such as hay-making, weaving, and fence-mending, pursuits that continue to leave their mark on our language, culture, and landscapes, if no longer our bodies and minds. Craeft should not be understood as some commodified, heirloom mark of human hands for which you pay more at the farmer’s market stall, but is itself power and agency, traditionally understood. Not to be missed are Langland’s thoughts on skep bee-keeping and their similarities to modern day obstetrics. Lila S.   

Praise Song for the Butterflies-Bernice L. McFadden

Bernice L. McFadden is a writer who needs more credit. In her latest novel  Praise Song for the Butterflies, she discusses the trokosi, who are slave girls in Africa handed over to a ‘priest’ in order to clear their families of bad luck. We follow Abeo Kata and see how she deals with her unfortunate fate.  Even while writing about a seemingly hopeless situation, McFadden restores our faith by showing how there is life after hardship and forgiveness. Morgan H.   

We learned about whales and Puerto Rico in two nonfiction selections, felt dread and horror with a debut novel and short-story collection, and ended the week on a sweet note with a cookbook. We hope you’re just as captivated by these staff favorites!

Spying on Whales-Nick Pyenson

Upcoming Event, Friday, August 17, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW

“Reading whale bones is what I do,” Pyenson, a paleontologist, says. “Their bones all tell stories…about where whales came from.” Translated into human language, these tales are full of superlatives: whales outweigh dinosaurs and are the largest creatures ever to have lived on Earth; their songs can travel 900 miles underwater, making them “the most acoustically powerful sound made by any organism.” In Spying on Whales, Pyenson takes us through the Smithsonian’s collection of fossil mammals, the world’s largest, with attendant lessons on whale anatomy, feeding habits, migratory range, and the mysteries particular to different species of whales, as well as on field trips to Panama, Alaska, the Hvalfjörður whaling station, and the amazing Cerro Ballena site in Chile. Laurie G.

The Battle For Paradise-Naomi Klein 

The Battle for Paradise is essential reading for every American. Into this nearly pocket-sized book, Naomi Klein packs a thorough account of Puerto Rico’s struggle to recover after Hurricane María; her report is simultaneously deep enough for those who are familiar with the island’s history and politics and accessible enough for those who aren’t. Illustrating the visions and strategies of disaster capitalists as well as of grassroots Puerto Rican activists, Klein connects the reader to individuals and organizations doing work on the ground that will almost certainly shape the island’s future. Expect to finish more informed, better equipped, and with a keener outlook on justice. Sarah C.  

Severance-Ling Ma 

If Ling Ma’s debut novel seems at all familiar, she’s carefully calibrated that feeling: it’s an apocalypse novel that could be happening right now. (It’s not for nothing that it’s actually set in the recent past.) The “fevered” zombies’ routines are commonplace: setting dinner tables, folding shirts, wandering name-brand stores, but with the added benefit of quicker-than-average bodily decay. It’s funny except when it’s horrifying; it’s horrifying except when it’s oddly comforting. That ambivalent tonal mixture is just one piece of what makes Ma’s writing so unique and captivating. Severance rushes forward on information overflow—on the ins and outs of collector’s edition Bible production, on the lives of Chinese immigrants in late-80s Utah, and on the name brands we all know and love-hate—because if that rush stopped, would we all fall into zombified oblivion too? Jonathan W. 

We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories-C. Robert Cargill 

From the creative mind behind the Doctor Strange film, comes a collection of short stories, We Are Where the Nightmares Go. By turns it thrills, chills, and fascinates. From a mine that belches tortured souls, to a serial killer of angels, to a story about zombie dinosaurs, Cargill keeps the reader enthralled with his macabre humor and mastery of dread. Aron

The Pretty Dish-Jessica Merchant

I have way too many cookbooks but The Pretty Dish by Jessica Merchant is one of my new favorites. Merchant started the website “how sweet eats” more than 10 years ago. Her recipes are easy to follow with ingredients that are readily available. Not only does she have 150 everyday recipes but she’s also got ideas for throwing a fun party from music playlists to creative ideas such as build your own s’mores bars with Nutella, caramel and strawberries. Her philosophy is to feed your loved ones with joy, even if it is not perfect. And if that’s not enough of a reason to love this cookbook, she has a whole chapter nourishing your body with DIY beauty recipes like sugar scrubs and homemade lip balms. Robin K. 

Have we got some exciting things to share with you this week! In anticipation of upcoming events at two of our locations, we learned about the struggles of people addicted to opiates and got lost in one of the summer’s most talked-about books. We enjoyed skillfully combined speculative sci-fi, historical fiction, and an unconventional romance in a tale of artificial intelligence. We were astounded by themes of parenting, loss, heartbreak and love in fiction. And in the rare moments of sun gracing us with its presence this summer, why not take up the 111 challenge and explore the city like never before?

Dopesick-Beth Macy

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose Thursday, August 9, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW

At this point some 2.6 million people are addicted to opiates nationwide. Overdoses are the leading cause of death for those under age 50, and in a decade the total deaths from opiates exceeded all deaths from HIV/AIDS. But Macy’s Dopesick, close-up of the opiate crisis in western Virginia tells you more than these devastating statistics can. With compassion and outrage she traces the wrenching downward trajectory of several young people, showing how their lives were taken over by the drugs, how hard they struggled to get clean, and how many times they failed. While new programs are slowly replacing policing with medical care, it’s too soon to gauge their impact. Laurie G.  

The Incendiaries-R. O. Kwon

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose at Union Market Friday, September 14, 2018 - 7 p.m.

True to the book’s title, R. O. Kwon has crafted a fiery debut that announces her arrival as a new singular voice in American literature. Her first novel The Incendiaries, told through three different perspectives, is an interrogation on the nature of love, faith, and identity. The book reminded me of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair as both books tackle a character’s investigation into the driving force behind the faith of a beloved in order to shed light into the mystery of why the beloved did the things that she did in the course of the novel. Compelling narrative matched with an eloquent writing style, you can’t go wrong with that. Bennard F.  

Plum Rains-Andromeda Romano-Lax 

Andromeda Romano-Lax’s Plum Rains skillfully combines speculative sci-fi, historical fiction and an unconventional romance into something emotionally satisfying and hopeful. In Japan’s near future, where artificial Intelligence is replacing human health care aides, nurse Angelica’s livelihood is at risk. A prototype healthcare AI, nicknamed “Hiro”, threatens to push out Angelica while it forms a bond with her client, an unhappy centenarian named Sakoyo. Hiro’s presence brings Sayoko’s repressed memories back to the surface, and then each character must struggle to reconcile the past, learn to trust, and pursue future happiness as each sees it. This book is a joy that defies genre and should just be shelved under “terrific book”.  Bill L.  

A Place for Us-Fatima Farheen Mirza 

A Place for Us is an unforgettable novel about an Indian couple who comes to America and raises their three children in California. They are part of a devout religious Muslim community where being practicing believers is more important than just about anything else. Their way of life sustains and shapes them and also tears them apart. Told from multiple view points and over decades, the novel’s themes of parenting, loss, heartbreak and love will grab you on every page and leave you astounded. Fatima Farheen Mirza is a writer to watch. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this extraordinary talent. Nancy R. 

111 Places in Washington That You Must Not Miss-Andrea Seiger 

Although I’ve lived in D.C. for six years, there were many places in 111 Places in Washington That You Must Not Miss that I had never even heard of before. Even when writing about famous sites like the National Air and Space Museum, Seiger points out artifacts that many of us would normally pass by. The sites vary widely, including outdoor parks, performing venues, restaurants, locations where seasonal events take place, and memorials in every quadrant of D.C.  In addition, the Tips section typically features other nearby sites—so really, you get to choose from almost 222 places! Even if you can’t get to all the sites, you’ll definitely discover at least one new favorite spot! Katie W. 

This time we’re bringing the mixture of topics from different genres. A bit of political analysis, some historical fiction with plenty of interesting historical facts, a psychological thriller, a brilliant biography of the 20th century martial arts and film icon, and a memoir of the mother of black Hollywood. Here are this week’s picks—we hope you find them as enjoyable as we did.

The Death of Truth-Michiko Kakutani

“Trump is as much a symptom of the times as he is a dangerous catalyst,” Kakutani says in his new book The Death of Truth, and demonstrates how his disdain for facts and civility grew from fascism and postmodernism. She cites chilling parallels between Trump’s use of language and Hitler’s, and shows how ideas such as cultural relativity and deconstruction softened the lines between objective and subjective. This dangerous tendency to give equal weight to substance and nonsense has been abetted by technology, with social media ensuring the most inflammatory stories get the widest circulation. Where the founders emphasized “the common good,” the very idea of consensus is now in tatters. What can save us? Institutions such as the three branches of government, the press, and education; the courage to insist on the truth, as the Parkland students have; and books like this one. Laurie G.  

Varina-Charles Frazier 

Varina is a haunting and beautifully written historical novel about Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. It traces her escape from Richmond with her children, her life before meeting her much older and already widowed husband, and her turbulent years after the war including her many losses and struggles. She was truly a fascinating woman who lived during a time of great tragedy, change and upheaval.  Frazier includes so many interesting historical tidbits throughout the novel and reading Varina is a pure delight. Nancy R.  

The Shades-Evgenia Citkowitz 

The Shades is a great little pressure cooker of a novel—an ideal literary thriller. It springs a mysterious death-by-falling on you in the first pages and slowly, calculatedly brings back to the root of the event until everything becomes clear. Well, not everything. The best thing about this book is its daring lack of resolution, as powerful an evocation of dispersed familial grief as they come. Fans of Ali Smith’s The Accidental will find this a powerful warp on its portrait of a family ravaged, and hopefully built back up, from within and without. Jonathan W.

Bruce Lee: A Life - Matthew Polly

By the time of his death at the age of thirty-two, Bruce Lee had achieved unparalleled success in martial arts and film. With the posthumous release of his movie Enter the Dragon, he became one of the icons of the 20th century. Although much has been published about him, Matthew Polly has written the definitive biography - Bruce Lee: A Life. By the end of this excellent book, readers will feel like they’ve come to know the man behind those fists of fury. Michael T. 

The Mother of Black Hollywood-Jenifer Lewis 

Many people know Ms. Lewis from the hit TV show Blackish, but she has contributed much more to TV and film than meets the eye. In her memoirThe Mother of Black Hollywood she discusses her struggle with mental illness, sex addiction, and her road to stardom. Fans of Jenifer Lewis will adore this book. Morgan H. 

With this week’s selection of picks, we’re remembering a great American poet and writer and announcing an event for one of the most anticipated books of the summer. We learned about the struggles of an online activist, amused ourselves with the adventures of a 22-year-old lawn boy, and fell in love with the fourteen-year-old protagonist who searches for freedom and fights for her soul. We hope you enjoy the books we chose this week as much as we did.    

My Year of Rest and Relaxation-Ottessa Moshfegh

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose Wednesday, July 25, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

On one hand, I could praise Ottessa Moshfegh for the risks she takes: the confidence to frame her novel around such a decidedly sedentary character, the flamboyant discussion of bodily sensations (or drugged lack of sensation), and the gall to set the novel at perhaps the most eerily pregnant moment in New York City history. On the other hand, I could praise her for her unbelievable sense of humor – she should receive some kind of medal for creating Dr. Tuttle, “the only psychiatrist to answer the phone at eleven at night on a Tuesday”, whose every sentence is a bizarre punchline. Instead, I’ll praise her for deploying those tools, as caustically she does, for a most unique, hard-won sense of empathy. I was not prepared for how emotionally overwhelming My Year of Rest and Relaxation would become, and I’m left even more amazed than before by Moshfegh’s quickly growing collection of masterworks. Jonathan W. 

A Carnival of Losses-Donald Hall 

Funny, spirited, touching - A Carnival of Losses is vintage Donald Hall. His outlook is signaled in the first essay, where he describes being old as a state in which “you learn” about the world in new ways.  Being old does not mean that you just hang around passively, and “when an essay of reminiscence takes eighty-four drafts,” Hall is being anything but passive.  He’s also as honest as he is humorous; being old means naps and a compulsion to notice how and at what age people die. It means easy things are now hard and hard things are impossible. It means younger people stop seeing you.  But most of all, it means there are more memories to draw on. Laurie G.

Well, That Escalated Quickly-Franchesca Ramsey

Franchesca Ramsey was making Youtube videos for over a year when she “quickly” rose to internet fame. Then her video on race deemed her the “call-out queen” of the internet, and while she was happy to fight against racism and sexism, she soon learned how her life on the internet would bleed into her reality. Her book  Well, That Escalated Quickly is part memoir and part tips on being a better ally. Morgan H.  

Lawn Boy-Jonathan Evison 

All you merchants of doom and gloom out there, a forewarning: Lawn Boy is a book that leaves you no choice but to have a big, stupid grin plastered to your face for the duration of the read - and for the days and weeks that follow.  In this smart and richly entertaining tribute to the young, dumb, and broke, we follow Mike Munoz, a 22-year-old underemployed landscaper who can barely navigate his chaotic home life, dwindling finances, and dismal luck with members of the opposite sex. Life events conspire to take him on an unexpected journey of self discovery. A moving and necessary portrayal of the working poor, this hilarious, heartfelt read is impossible to put down. Isaac S.

My Absolute Darling-Gabriel Tallent 

Shocking and unsettling, My Absolute Darling is at times difficult to read, the novel follows fourteen-year-old Turtle Alveston, who feels more at home in nature than she does with her survivalist and damaged father, as she searches for freedom and fights for her soul. Roaming the woods one night, wondering if her father would be able to find her, she meets two lost teenage boys and guides them safely out. And that is the moment she starts questioning her home life. The way Tallent brings you steadily into Turtle’s mind makes you almost feel her pain. He manages to capture her deepest thoughts, her internal struggle, her will to survive. She is the kind of girl, brave and determined, with whom readers are almost duty-bound to fall in love. Marija D. 

The psychotherapist notable for exploring the tension between the need for security and the need for freedom in human relationships, the master of science fiction and horror, and so much more in between: this week’s picks are just a fraction of great titles we’re surrounded with.    

The State of Affairs -Esther Perel 

In this groundbreaking book, Esther Perel, innovative author of Mating In Captivity explores the subject of infidelity and the role of the ‘third’ in the life of a couple. She calls for new definitions of monogamy and new ways of thinking about trust that will enhance active engagement and intimacy in marriage. She covers it all - from sexual alchemy, hook ups, the nature of desire and emotional affairs to the cataclysmic feelings of betrayal and loss experienced by a jilted partner. She also guides the reader through different ways couples come back from crisis and redefine their marriages. The State of Affairs is for everyone - single or married, gay or straight in committed relationships or looking for new ways to navigate them. Amanda H.D.  

Upstate-James Wood 

Like John Banville’s elegant fictions, Wood’s second novel Upstate is less about action than about character and language. The plot is spare:  Alan, a developer, and his daughter, a Sony executive, travel from Britain to see Alan’s expat daughter, a philosophy professor as Skidmore in Saratoga Springs. Told from Alan’s point of view, the narrative is a fluid weave of memories, questions, complaints, and wry humor. But while his social critiques are sharp, he’s on less certain ground with psychology. Are his daughters happy? As this deceptively quiet book shows, navigating the shifting currents of family life is difficult, rewarding, and demands every bit of intellectual and emotional energy we can muster. Laurie G. 

The Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower #2)-Stephen King 

Alright now, I could praise every book that makes up the Dark Tower series, because they are some of my most favorite Stephen King novels. Narrowing down one out of seven was difficult, but The Drawing of the Three shows some of King’s strongest characters at their most desperate points of need. The book picks up right after Gunslinger, progresses seamlessly as new characters are introduced, and the setting shifts from desert to New York City. The books are a mix of western and science fiction, and can be considered King’s Lord of the Rings. Phil R.

Fox-Dubravka Ugresic

Like a mirror version of Patti Smith’s M Train, no description of Fox will contain it all, not with an author as wily as her titular character. Over six chapters, you meet Russian radical authors, Croatian landmine removers, Vladimir Nabokov’s butterflies, late-in-life first-time writers, amusingly callow kids, and Ugresic herself. And Ugresic is an amazing character: a Croatian exile as approachable and funny as she is erudite and politically reflective. Every episode in this book is unforgettable, and while they all stand alone as perfect mini-novellas, it’s the force of them together (and the moments of revelation that span stories) that makes this book so moving. Read now and tell all of your friends: Dubravka Ugresic is one of the world’s best writers. Jonathan W.  

The City of Brass-S. A Chakraborty

Hark! If you yearn for fantastical stories set elsewhere besides the snowy peaks and lush green forests of medieval Europe, if elven kin and dragonkind no longer interest you, I implore you to read this book. The story begins by following the travails of Nahri, con artist extraordinaire living on the streets of 18th century Cairo. While executing a scam, Nahri briefly taps into a knowledge and power she thought didn’t exist. This catapults her into a magical journey filled with adventure and danger, with surprises at every turn. Journey into The City of Brass, if you dare. Michael T.  

This week, yet again, we lost ourselves in fiction. It’s is hard not to with so many brilliant titles, old and new, surrounding us. A couple of débuts, books announcing events we’re having in our stores, the 40th Anniversary edition of a hunting tale, and international titles are the picks we chose to share with you this week.

Number One Chinese Restaurant-Lillian Li

Upcoming Event at Politics and prose Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

I am very biased toward Number One Chinese Restaurant for reasons that have nothing to do with the book itself. It’s a debut novel by a writer from the D.C. area—plus, her name is very close to mine. Usually, when I’m biased toward a novel for such silly reasons, it then disappoints me.  Not this time! Number One Chinese Restaurant is a delight. Its food writing is as good as you want it to be, its characters are wonderful and wonderfully awful, and Li is expert at braiding together her high level of insight with her great sense of humor. Early in the book, one of her protagonists remembers ruefully, “Love came slowly, as weaknesses in the body often do.” As soon as I read that, I was  sold. Lily M.  

There There-Tommy Orange

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose at The Wharf  Monday, June 25, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Drawing his title from Gertrude Stein’s often misunderstood remark about Oakland, Orange in his tremendous debut novel wants “to bring something new to the vision of the Native experience” by presenting the untold and as yet unstereotyped “Urban Indian story.” He brilliantly accomplishes this in twelve interwoven profiles that tap into the “real passion…and rage” of Native Americans in contemporary Oakland. Powerful and moving, virtuoso narratives in There There bring us into the lives of children and grandparents, single mothers and drug thugs, recovering alcoholics and victims of abuse. All have complicated relationships with their heritage. Through these intimate and urgent stories Orange recovers the “there” of a Native history while also ending American Indians’ long struggle “to be recognized as a present-tense people, modern and relevant.” Laurie G.  

The Changeling-Joy Williams 

The night after finishing The Changeling, I had a nightmare so bad that I lashed out with my left foot while asleep and smashed my big toenail. Such is the degree that this book got under my skin. An inspiration for short story writers like Kelly Link and Karen Russell, The Changeling is essential reading on its own merits as a story about parenting, animals, the mundane and the starkly and horrifically transcendent. Adam Westcott

Convenience Store Woman-Sayaka Murata 

Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is both poignant and unsettling. It’s an intimate glimpse into an ordinary life that, in the eyes of society, is still not ordinary enough. This tiny book packs within a Kafkaesque look on conformity, questions about how to live one’s life and what it means to be ‘normal’, all with a fiercely feminist voice and sharp insight. Murata’s novel is the perfect entry point into contemporary Japanese literature. Anton B.

Mokusei!: A Love Story -Cees Nooteboom 

This slim volume by the Dutch master begins with two Europeans in a cafe as they discuss the gap between how outsiders view Japan as a place of eastern mysticism and profound beauty and how it is in reality: a place bound to the same blandness and imperfections from which all places suffer. Mokusei is also a love story between a Dutch photographer and a Japanese model, whose relationship is doomed from the very beginning due to the insuperable gulf between the two cultures. It is a sign of Nooteboom’s mastery of his craft that he was able to create two different narratives and meld them into one cohesive whole. Bennard F.