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.