The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus

Gurganus was and is my most important teacher. He writes with a deep and joyful expansiveness that is completely his own. Every story comes with a novel’s worth of heft and insight. This is such a beautiful book. Don’t miss it.

Nick

Michael Farris Smith imagines the pre-Gatsby life of Nick Carraway. This sweeping novel takes readers from the trenches of WWI to the New Orleans French Quarter before landing on a pier at dawn with the hope of a new start.

Mystery of Mrs. Christie

What happened to Agatha Christie in December 1926 that caused her to go missing for 11 days and unleash one of the biggest searches in English history? Marie Benedict examines the role her unfaithful husband and unhappy home life might have played in this still-unsolved mystery. Another of Marie Benedict’s absorbing, page-turning hidden stories of famous women — so good.

A Thousand Ships: A Novel

Told in a series of largely non-chronological vignettes highlighting the women of the Trojan War, A Thousand Ships is perfect for fans of Madeline Miller or Greek mythology in general. The interlocking stories of tragedy and courage examine what it truly costs to wage a war and the ways women are asked to bear that cost in silence.

The Fortunate Ones

The Fortunate Ones is an examination of class told through the lives of two boys, one born in privilege and one scholarship student, beginning at an elite boys school in Nashville to political aspirations and beyond. An engrossing story of family and secrets.

Watch our virtual event with Ed Tarkington, in conversation with Mary Laura Philpott!

Milk Blood Heat

If you’re anything like me, your attention span has been lacking these days, to put it lightly. I turned to this debut collection to pick up and put down as my brain allowed, and it was exactly what I needed. The stories are engrossing, dark, and rich, and each one packs a punch in 25 pages or less. Though by no means light in themes, this collection provides short retreats from these hectic times.

We Can Only Save Ourselves: A Novel

Alice Lange is a perfect emblem of a charming neighborhood. She is a suburban angel, cherished daughter, and anticipating the title of homecoming queen. When the youthful girl disappears, following mysterious stranger Wesley to a new way of living, she becomes the talk of the enclave. Fans of Little Fires Everywhere and A Good Neighborhood will devour this literary debut.

The Prophets

Centered around the blossoming love between Samuel and Isaiah, two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation called Empty, this tour-de-force debut unfurls a narrative of tremendous range, with startling clarity. Magical realism is in play — the ancestors are searingly near — as characters’ internal lives are explored. This is a wholly original imagining of suffering and salvation, humanity and defiance, sacrifice and love.

The Center of Everything

Alternating between Montana in 2002, after Polly has banged her head pretty badly and a local girl has disappeared on the Yellowstone River, and the consequential 1968 of Polly’s lush, swirling childhood on Long Island, this novel shows us how the past and present intertwine and mirror each other. The stories and secrets tucked throughout generations emerge, reminding us how the loyal bonds of family are often inexpressible and revelatory.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

Saunders discusses seven Russian stories in order to help us become better readers, better writers, and (amazingly) better people. The seven stories are included. This book is pure joy on paper.

Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World

From establishing borders in the Bronze Age to his purchase of a farm in Western Massachusetts, Winchester explores the relationship between humans and the land they occupy with an unquenchable curiosity and riveting storytelling.

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

This compelling collection by 90 authors offers insights into the people, laws, traditions, places, ideas and events that make up 400 years of African American history from 1619 to 2019. The variety of these voices and narratives lends richness — in the form of essays, letters, vignettes, short stories and poems. This is required reading to understand history and the present moment.

Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods

A political prisoner in China slips a desperate letter into the packaging of a Halloween decoration that he and others are forced to produce on a grueling schedule. A woman in Oregon discovers it. This book follows Sun Yi, who was tortured nearly to death for his beliefs, and paints a sobering picture of “reeducation through labor camps” and the international supply chain as a whole.

Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty

Chammah traces the past 50 years of the death penalty, focusing on Texas. While capital punishment was falling out of favor by the early ’70s, a rise in crime reinvigorated America’s desire for it until the turn of the millennium. Fascinating stories of the people involved in the institution show the fight to end it for good.

Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping

Books aren’t made in a vacuum, and writers aren’t trained in one, either. Even if you don’t teach writing, this book deftly unravels the underlying ideologies that prop up “craft” as some kind of natural or inevitable set of practices. Simply put: Craft in the Real World will make you a better and more informed reader.

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism

Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar recount the horrifying and hilarious things that white people do and say to Lacey in her hometown of Omaha. Ruffin was the first Black woman to write for a late night talk show, and recently debuted her own talk show on NBC. This is a book that you’re going to want to share with everyone you meet.

Watch our virtual event with Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar!

Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy

Racial justice educator and leader Rachel Ricketts is not here to make you feel comfortable. She’s here to challenge you through spiritual and transformative work, leaning into whatever the word “spiritual” means to you. This book should be required reading for all white women.

A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism (The Resistance Quartet #4)

This is the fourth and final book in a series Caroline Moorehead has written about the resistance. Now out in paperback, A House in the Mountains is an incredible story of four brave women who fought the German invaders and their fascist collaborators.

First Editions Club: February Selection

My Year Abroad: A Novel

Maybe, at some point in our lives, we’ve all fallen under the spell of a charismatic go-getter. But even if that isn’t the case, reading My Year Abroad makes it all but impossible not to do so — though part of the book’s brilliance lies in the fact that you’re never quite sure which charismatic go-getter has you under their spell.

Is it Pong Lou, the globe-trotting entrepreneur who lives in a multilevel mansion and seems to have perfected — or is in the process of perfecting — everything from ice cream parlors to herbal energy drinks? Tiller, our twentysomething narrator and Pong acolyte, ends up under his wing and is subsequently whisked off on one of the unlikeliest adventures in recent literary memory. Is it Constance, the beautiful, commanding daughter of the eccentric guru Drum Kappagoda? Is it Drum? Or is it Tiller himself, who’s telling us these stories from the other side of the world, a year removed, as he starts a new life with a woman named Val, who is living under witness protection?

The fact that you can carry all these questions while reading the novel and not feel one bit confused is simply because My Year Abroad does just what Pong does for Tiller. It sweeps you up and brings you along with it — one beautiful string of sentences after another, one heart-stopping scene after another, until you realize whose spell you’re really under: Chang-rae Lee’s.

I hope you love this book as much as I did.

Yours in Reading,
Steve Haruch
Marketing and Communications Manager

Don’t miss our virtual event with Chang-rae Lee on Friday, Feb. 19. He’ll be joined in conversation by Ann Patchett — click here for more information.

More about our First Editions Club: Every member receives a first edition of the selected book of the month, signed by the author. Books are carefully chosen by our staff of readers, and our picks have gone on to earn major recognition including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Plus, there’s no membership fee or premium charge for these books. Build a treasured library of signed first editions and always have something great to read! Makes a FABULOUS gift, too.