What We're Reading – December 2019

Text Me When You Get Home: the Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship by Kayleen SchaeferIt’s a non-fiction book about the change in perspective around female friendship over the last few years, featuring interviews with a huge range of people including Judy Blume. The book looks at the radical potential of female friendships, how women support one another in a way that runs counter to the often one-dimensional representations of these friendships in the media. The bit I’ve found most interesting so far is an examination of how the idea that ‘girls are mean’ became mainstream. Many of Schaefer’s interviewees point out that if you tell a group repeatedly that they are a certain way, it becomes self-fulfilling, whether it has any basis in fact originally or not.It’s a very interesting book which sparks lots of thoughts and further discussions.Harriet Williams, Literatutre Programme ManagerThe Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodriques FowlerThis month I’ve been reading The Stubborn Archivist, by Yara Rodrigues Fowler which was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writers Award. It’s a really sophisticated debut novel set in London and Brazil, exploring the intricacies of the relationship between the narrator who is a ‘third-culture’ half British half Brazilian young woman, her family, and their histories. The author plays with form in such a way that connects fragments of memories together or makes them jar against each other revealing trauma that lives across the... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2019-12-17 09:49:28 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "What We're Reading – December 2019"


Serpent’s Tail acquires Oana Aristide's prescient debut novel

Serpent’s Tail will publish Oana Aristide's debut novel Under the Blue as a lead title in March 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-30 02:17:21 UTC ]
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Seeking Clarity

Emily Temple’s debut novel The Lightness tells the story of a “Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls” Continue reading at Guernica

[ Guernica | 2020-09-29 14:13:13 UTC ]
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‘Bestiary’ Offers a Compendium of Creatures, and Generations

K-Ming Chang’s debut novel tells the stories of three generations of Taiwanese women through the beasts, both real and mythical, they encounter. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-09-29 09:00:07 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph wins five-publisher auction for 'hilarious' Luckhurst debut

Michael Joseph has triumphed in a five-way auction for Evening Standard features editor Phoebe Luckhurst's “hilarious” debut novel The Lock In. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-28 12:02:59 UTC ]
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7 Translated Books About Queer Life in Taiwan and China

Before writing my debut novel Bestiary, I began a year-long process of translating letters written by my grandmother, many of which were addressed to people I didn’t know. While attempting these translations, I realized the impossibilities and possibilities of the task—the losses and gaps and... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Hamilton buys Bannister debut for John Murray Press

John Murray Press will publish Ilona Bannister's debut novel When I Ran Away on its Two Roads imprint. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-28 10:28:24 UTC ]
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Viking pre-empts Khabushani's 'heartbreaking' debut

Viking has pre-empted Our New Names, a “heartbreaking” debut novel from Khashayar J Khabushani. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-25 03:48:29 UTC ]
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Outsiders in Love: A Reading (and Watching) List

“Everything is copy.” That was an Ephron family saying that I’ve adopted as my own maxim, and it is in that spirit that my debut novel A World Between––a tale of two queer women of color, Eleanor and Leena, who grow away from and towards each other over the course of 13 years––is a web […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-15 08:48:45 UTC ]
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A Scientist Tries to Understand Her Family Problems Through Mice

Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing told the story of two branches of a Ghanaian family, one descended from a woman who marries a white slave trader and whose line stays in Ghana, another descended from her half-sister who is captured and sent to America in bondage. Gyasi’s second novel... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion Spring to publish 'guide to the wildlife of our cities'

Orion Spring will publish journalist Florence Wilkinson's debut Wild City, a non-fiction book that looks at the wildlife in cities.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-09 19:50:39 UTC ]
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‘Pink Mountain on Locust Island’: Featured Fiction from Jamie Marina Lau

An excerpt from a debut novel Kirkus calls "hypnotizing and inscrutable." The post ‘Pink Mountain on Locust Island’: Featured Fiction from Jamie Marina Lau appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-09-09 10:00:12 UTC ]
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An Award-Winning Debut Novel About Innocence Shattered Offers Terror and Solace

“The Discomfort of Evening,” by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, winner of this year’s International Book Prize, is about strictly religious dairy farmers mourning a son’s death. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-09-08 16:16:33 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker wins Taiwanese American author's debut novel

Harvill Secker has won a debut novel by K-Ming Chang in a "heated" five-way auction.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-07 06:51:52 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of September 7, 2020

Oprah’s Flatiron imprint nabs a nonfiction title by a Nobel laureate, Holt buys a debut novel by a PRH UK editor, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Daunt Books takes Singh's 'visionary' The Breaks

Daunt Books Publishing has acquired The Breaks by Julietta Singh, the first non-fiction book on its Originals list, billed as a "visionary and moving" take on race, inheritance and mothering. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-02 10:49:51 UTC ]
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HQ scoops Sheffield-set debut novel from journalist Rawlins

HQ has scooped The Steel Girls, a debut novel from journalist and university lecturer Michelle Rawlins, in a three-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-01 19:21:33 UTC ]
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In Ros Anderson’s ‘The Hierarchies,’ a robotic heroine longs for a better life

Ros Anderson’s debut novel may not break new ground, but the depth of its first-person presentation is a quiet triumph. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-30 06:19:39 UTC ]
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After her epic debut novel on slavery's descendants, Yaa Gyasi wrote even closer to home

In 'Transcendent Kingdom,' Yaa Gyasi's second novel, she focuses on America — its promise and peril — and on one Ghanaian American family in Alabama. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-08-27 16:49:47 UTC ]
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Power and Passage: New Science Fiction and Fantasy

A story collection offers a cleareyed survey of the Black American experience, and a debut novel traverses hundreds of versions of Earth. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-08-27 09:00:05 UTC ]
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A Novel About Rebelling Against Toxic Positivity

Janet, the acerbic narrator of Lucie Britsch’s debut novel Sad Janet, is a resister. She’s sad—has been for most of her life—and doesn’t want to take the pills that big pharma, her mother, and the culture at-large is pushing on her to “fix” her. She’s content with sadness, and she’s not into the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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