The Best American Magazine Writing 2021

THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2021 edited by Sid Holt offers pieces from a diverse set of authors including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jesmyn Ward, and Susan Choi. The articles themselves cover a range of topics, although many deal with current events: “The plague year” by Lawrence Wright; “Global inequality and the corona shock” by Ada Tooze; “The limits of telecommuting” by Margaret O'Mara or “Rebuilding solidarity in a broken world” by Eric Klinenberg. Others, like “The store that called the cops on George Floyd” by Aymann Ismail, “The Trayvon generation” by Elizabeth Alexander or “Michael Jordan: a history of flight” by Wright Thompson, have been read and referenced by our Junior Theme students. THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2021 offers a hefty collection with over 540 pages and excellent writing - from investigative reporting to short story - for everyone.

Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino

SILENT PARADE by Keigo Higashino is book 4 in the Detective Galileo series by this award-winning Japanese author. Higashino’s work is routinely highly rated and praised and I had already enjoyed The Newcomer a few years ago. However, I found SILENT PARADE to be rather slow even though the premise of the story was unique and held my attention for a while. Booklist describes this novel as “leisurely paced” while Library Journal and Publishers Weekly gave it starred reviews. Tokyo Chief Inspector Kusanagi returns with his friend (and amateur detective) physics professor Manabu Yukawa to try to solve a locked room puzzle: Was a murderer murdered? How? And by whom? Which of many suspects had the best opportunity and motive? Or were they working in cooperation? This translation provides a lengthy list of characters and numerous twists and turns as Yukawa, employing scientific reasoning, develops and refines a variety of hypotheses. Try it for yourself and decide. 

You'll be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME by Karen M. McManus has been widely anticipated by her many fans (watching One of Us Is Lying on Peacock anyone?).  In another young adult mystery, McManus introduces three students who haven’t really connected since junior high. Meeting by chance, Ivy, Mateo, and Calvin decide to ditch school; instead of spending a fun day recreating memories, they end up finding the body of a dead classmate. Suspicion soon falls on them and social media once again fuels the flames. Perfect for mystery fans looking for plenty of teen angst, secrets, and deception (including romance and rumored drug dealing), YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME is told from multiple perspectives and received starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal. 

The Last Bookseller by Gary Goodman

THE LAST BOOKSELLER: A Life in the Rare Book Trade by Gary Goodman will appeal to bibliophiles everywhere.  It’s the kind of non-fiction work that can be read in spurts.  Learn first about Goodman’s discovery and purchase of a used bookstore in 1980s Minnesota and then follow him through the travails of getting established in the business. Particularly fascinating are all of the changes to the used book business brought by the internet and Amazon’s presence. As Goodman notes, “Before, booksellers had to know the price and market for books. Once this information was everywhere, booksellers had no competitive advantage over anyone else.” Another sobering thought: “If you read one book a week, starting [at] age five, and live to be eighty, you will have read a grand total of 3.900 books, a little over one tenth of one percent of the books currently in print.” Alas, so many books, so little time… Goodman fills THE LAST BOOKSELLER with humorous, entertaining stories; make it one of your reading choices.

The Month of Borrowed Dreams

 

THE MONTH OF BORROWED DREAMS by Felicity Hayes-McCoy made me think of Maeve Binchy’s Irish village stories. The latest from Hayes-McCoy could be read as a stand-alone although it is part of the Finfarren Peninsula series.  Characters include Hanna, the local librarian who is busy establishing a book/movie club, developing a relationship with a local architect, and smoothing some rough spots with her adult daughter. Another library employee, Conor, is planning to get married soon and to take over the family farm.  Typical everyday concerns and activities fill the pages in this gentle read.

Voices from the Pandemic by Eli Saslow

VOICES FROM THE PANDEMIC by Eli Saslow is an impressive collection of first-person accounts from about 40 Americans.  Saslow, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The Washington Post, notes, “Together these pieces tell the story of a country in crisis, but this book does not attempt to be a comprehensive history of the plague we are still living through.” After a brief chronology of the events in early 2020, he begins with commentary from Tony Sizemore, talking about Birdie Shelton’s death. I didn’t recognize the names, but I remember the faces and the story – sadly, those early deaths seemed so random and unfair and the media relayed them in detail – families not able to be together, not able to say goodbye in person. The next section is about the medical personnel and coroners feeling overwhelmed or more – again, a story that was often repeated – remember the banging of pots at night to say “thank you?” Then it was the lost jobs, no income or savings, the hunger and desperation. There are stories from patients who were intubated or who had long Covid, and from their families. Tales of tracking the numbers, of mask mandates, of eviction moratoriums, remote schooling, and vaccine trials. Covering March 2020 through January 2021, all of these stories are primary sources which future students will read and discuss – hopefully, these “Stories of Crisis, Courage and Resilience” will help to develop more empathy, caring, and pride for each other. VOICES FROM THE PANDEMIC received starred reviews from Kirkus, Library Journal ("an essential resource"), and Publishers Weekly.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED by Charles Finch contains his “Notes on a Long Year,” one that none of us will easily forget. At the request of The Los Angeles Times, Finch kept a day-to-day journal and this is the edited version of that account. “Life is simple: Don’t go anywhere and be afraid.” He begins in March 2020 and continues through the lockdowns and scarcities, through the summer and George Floyd’s murder, through the January 6th Insurrection. It’s a personal, rather cynical and by necessity self-centered story (weren’t we all in our own bubbles?) while also being a universal tale of an incredible time. Finch is a gifted writer who evokes emotions – grief, anger, fear, and hope – for his adult readers. Interested student researchers could look for other texts on the pandemic in our collection, including Uncontrolled Spread and World War C.