By Gabrielle Bellot, Literary Hub
Ah, another Tuesday in April, a month (apparently) of earthquakes and eclipses, thunderstorms and thunderous yells about filing taxes. (Or was that just me?) Whatever the month in 2024 may mean to you, this particular Tuesday signifies something special: a host of new books to check out.
You’ll find novel work from big names, including Amy Tan’s reflections on birdwatching, a new novel from Jane Smiley about the wild life and times of a folk musician, Judi Dench and the actor Brendan O’Hea on Shakespeare, and a collection of essays spanning the career of Nell Irvin Painter. And you’ll also find some much heralded fiction debuts, including Joe Fassler’s darkly atmospheric The Sky Was Ours and Alana S. Portero’s novel of trans life in Spain, Bad Habit. There are exciting new poetry collections from Alison C. Rollins and Melissa Kwasny. There’s Danielle Dutton’s Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other, which, to my delight, defies simple genre categorization. And nonfiction, oh my: there’s much to explore today, from memoirs of war and explorations of hypochondria to powerful reflections on the ancient world and much, much more.
Read deeply, Dear Readers. It’s a grand day to.
Tracie McMillan, The White Bonus: Five Familes and the Cash Value of Racism in America
(Holt)
“Finding hidden systems that enrich a few at the expense of the many is Tracie McMillan’s superpower. Armed with an ethnographer’s sensitivity, a journalist’s instinct, a scholar’s capacity to see the value of both forests and trees, and a poet’s gift for turning words into feelings, she combines deep investigative research with personal stories to reveal that ‘whiteness’ is America’s most lucrative fiction, the intangible asset that keeps on giving—and taking.”
–Robin D. G. Kelley
