Release Week: 22 November 2022
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Release Week: 22 November 2022
Posted on 2022-11-22 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
A quiet week heading into Thanksgiving in the US...
PICKS:
All Your Children, Scattered By: Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, translated by Alison Anderson, read by Nene Nwoko for Tantor -- "Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse's debut novel follows three generations torn apart by the genocide against the Tutsis, as they try to reconnect with one another, rebuild broken relationships, and find their place in today's world. Blanche returns to Rwanda after building a life in Bordeaux with her husband and young son, Stokely. Reuniting with her mother Immaculata, old wounds are reopened for both mother and daughter while Stokely, caught between two countries, tries to understand where he comes from and where he belongs."
All the Blood We Share By: Camilla Bruce, read by Teri Clark Linden, Cindy Piller, and Michael Crouch for Penguin -- "A sinister novel based on the real Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in the old West bound by butchery and obscured by the shadows of American history."
Extinction By: Bradley Somer, read by John Chancer for Blackstone -- "In a lonely valley, deep in the mountains, a ranger watches over the last surviving grizzly bear. With the natural world exhausted and in tatters, Ben has dedicated himself to protecting this single fragment of the wild. One night, he hears voices in the valley—poachers, come to hunt his bear. A heart-pounding chase begins, crossing forests and mountainsides, passing centuries of human ruins. Sometimes hunter, sometimes prey—Ben must choose the bear’s fate and his own. Is he willing to lay down his life for a dying breed? Is he willing to kill for it?"
The Man Who Haunted Himself By: Ishmael Reed, read by Adam Lazzare White for Audible Originals -- "Dr. Douglass Garnett is about to break all the rules to save himself—and push mankind into the future. He’s one of America’s most brilliant neuroscientists. He’s also Black, and dying of cancer. But he has a plan—a brain transfer. He’ll put his gifted mind into the body of Sammy Sturgeon, a White high school football star who was on the rise until a touchdown collision left him brain-dead."
None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive: A Novel By: Carolyn Prusa, read by Rebekkah Ross for Simon and Schuster -- "Perfect for fans of Maria Semple and Jennifer Weiner, this smart and witty debut novel follows Ramona through the 48 hours after her life has been upended by the discovery of her husband’s affair and an approaching Category Four hurricane."
The Rebel and the Thief By: Jan-Philipp Sendker, read by Vikas Adam for Blackstone -- "Eighteen-year-old Niri and his family live a modest but secure life working in the villa of the wealthy Benzes. But when the pandemic comes, they are all let go, and left staring into the abyss of abject poverty. As their situation grows increasingly desperate, the once rule-abiding monastery student decides he won’t wait at the mercy of a corrupt, indifferent government, and rebels against his father’s resigned acceptance. Sneaking through the locked-down city at night, past the military patrols, Niri returns to the villa to take what his family needs to survive. Waiting for him is his childhood friend—and the Benzes’ daughter—Mary, who has a bigger plan that will change their lives forever."
The Whittiers By: Danielle Steel, read by Alexander Cendese for Recorded Books -- "In this heartwarming novel, adult siblings find their way back home—and back to each other—after loss."
The Vermilion Emporium By: Jamie Pacton, read by Jeremy Carlisle Parker for Listening Library -- "On the morning Twain, a lonely boy with a knack for danger, discovers a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside of Severon, a mysterious curiosity shop appears in town. Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, chases rumors of the shop, The Vermilion Emporium, desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy."
The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs By: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, read by the author for Tantor -- "What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled—and what if that's not a bad thing? And what if disability justice and disabled wisdom are crucial to creating a future in which it's possible to survive fascism, climate change, and pandemics and to bring about liberation?"
SERIES WATCH:
The Choice: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 3 By: Nora Roberts, read by Barrie Kreinik for Macmillan -- "The conclusion of the epic trilogy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Awakening and The Becoming."
Star Wars: Convergence: The High Republic: Prequel Era, Book 1 By: Zoraida Córdova, read by Marc Thompson for Random House -- "The next adventure in the High Republic begins expanding the new era of Star Wars, with a story set generations before Light of the Jedi."
Dune: The Heir of Caladan: The Caladan Trilogy, Book 3 By: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, read by Scott Brick for Macmillan -- "We step into the shoes of Paul Atreides. A boy not yet a man in years, he is about to enter a world he could never have imagined."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life By: Herman Melville, read by Stefan Rudnicki for Blackstone -- "Herman Melville’s first novel, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, is a fictionalized account of his time in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands, and it was his most popular work during his lifetime."
The Children’s Story By: James Clavell, read by Keith David for Blackstone -- "In this classic and chilling tale about an elementary school classroom in post-war occupied America, James Clavell brings to light the vulnerability of children and the power educators have to shape and change young minds. Originally written in the Cold War era, Clavell’s extraordinary and enduringly relevant allegory on the impressionability of the human mind is still read in schools around the globe today, and is a call to every person to keep questioning and keep learning."
MOST MISSING:
Bliss by Jeff VanderMeer (Subterranean Press) -- "The Glass Drifters are musicians on tour in a nation that only recently completed a fifteen-year civil war. They are a trio, hopelessly intertwined with one another in terms of both history and romance. And they are headed down river to a big gig that might make or break them, but nobody, not even their mysterious local promoter, Bob-Henri—or possibly Henri-Bob—seems to have any details. This all happened a long time ago, “and in some other version of this story, the Glass Drifters never leave the fucking river.” In this version, they do."
Hellhounds by David Sandner and Jacob Weisman (Fairwood Press) -- "In this sequel to the novelette Mingus Fingers, authors David Sandner and Jacob Weisman follow Kenny, a talented musician who learned from jazz great Charles Mingus how to "play in the soul." Kenny has always had an affinity for rabbits and butterflies, believing that butterflies are broken souls waiting to return. When Kenny goes missing, his brother searches for him at a crossroad and an old speakeasy, where the cold, dark shadows of spirit and music lead him to a musician who may know if Kenny is alive . . . or dead. Kenny's brother must put his trust in his belief that the music of the living may be the only way to transform and bring back a spirit of the dead."