ALL THE BOOKS PUBLISHING THIS WEEK (6.18.24)
This might be my favorite #pubday of 2024!!
It’s a VERY big day of new releases, book friends. And I am really excited. Mainly for all of you, because there are so many books hitting shelves today that I absolutely loved that are worth recommending. So many fantastic summer reads and books we’ll be talking about well into the fall; many that I expect to see on “best of lists” come December. At the top of that list for me is our June Book Club pick, LULA DEAN’S LITTLE LIBRARY OF BANNED BOOKS, and Claire Lombardo’s domestic drama SAME AS IT EVER WAS. Two slam-dunk 5-star books that I completely devoured and can’t stop thinking about. Also worth your time: two really twisty, cleverly-plotted whodunnits: Lucy Foley’s THE MIDNIGHT FEAST, and Ram Murali’s DEATH IN THE AIR. Looking for something a little more creepy? I liked, but didn’t LOVE Riley Sager’s MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, and WE USED TO LIVE HERE, a truly scary haunted house novel that will leave readers satisfied but also scratching their heads. As for the other books I’m prioritizing from this pile? I started THE NEXT MRS PARRISH (completely forgot what happened in the first book, so it’s a slog), and THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS (earning all the Piranesi comps and was a HUGE sale out of The London Book Fair a couple years ago). Sitting at the top of my #tbr: Akwaeke Emezi’s LITTLE ROT. I’m a huge fan of the author (their YOU’VE MADE A FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY is so damn good), and their latest sounds excellent.
Longer reviews on all of these books below, and a reminder, if you’re a fan of these posts or any of my content, please consider supporting all things JBC with a paid subscription. It’s a lot of work putting these posts, graphics, links together, and any support is much appreciated. Happy Reading!!
CALEDONIAN ROAD by Andrew O’Hagan: Campbell Flynn, art historprofessor, and fêted fixture of the literati, always knew that when his life came crashing down, it would happen in public—yet he never imagined that a single year in London would expose so much.
He’s never taken other people half as seriously as they take themselves, which is the first of his mistakes. The second is a new project: opportunistic and precisely calibrated to rake in a fortune. Riding on the high of a best-selling biography of Vermeer and fielding more inquiries and requests than he has the time or patience to pursue, Campbell has nevertheless still not managed to shake the question of money. The fact of his quiet loan from a school friend now embroiled in scandal makes the ever-present worry feel even more pressing. His unflappable agent, Atticus; his steadfast wife, Elizabeth; his sister, Moira, crusading parliamentarian for the poor; his well-adjusted, well-off adult children, Angus and Kenzie; and all the outward trappings of success can’t conceal that something in his life is off.
As Campbell becomes increasingly entangled with a brilliant student, convention-smashing and working class, like he used to be, he feels he’s been given a second chance to embrace the change that frightens him, even as he sees trouble brewing for his family and friends. Campbell’s personal quest takes him down darker roads than he could have imagined, and all his worlds—the art scene and academia, fashion and the English aristocracy, journalism and the internet—collide in spectacular fashion, culminating in one shocking night on Caledonian Road.
THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS by Sarah Brooks: There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. The train is never short of passengers, eager to catch sight of Wastelands creatures more miraculous and terrifying than anything they could imagine. But on the train's last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train’s secrets.
Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers. Among them are Marya Petrovna, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist looking for redemption; and Elena, a beguiling stowaway with a powerful connection to the Wastelands itself. Weiwei knows she should report Elena, but she can’t help but be drawn to her. As the girls begin a forbidden friendship, there are warning signs that the rules of the Wastelands are changing and the train might once again be imperiled. Can the passengers trust each other, as the wildness outside threatens to consume them all?