Table of contents for Vol. 118, No. 2, 9/15/21 in Booklist

ADULT NONFICTION Philosophy & Psychology Surrounded by Setbacks: Turning Obstacles into Success (When Everything Goes to Hell). By Thomas Erikson. Oct. 2021. 336p. St. Martin’s Essentials, $27.99 (9781250789518). 158. There are lots of books on what to do when things go wrong but Surrounded by Setbacks is a fresh take on the topic. Erikson kicks off with “knowing is not doing” and provides chapters of concrete steps to take to achieve long-term goals. Advice includes reflecting and paying better attention; for example, if you have gained weight, keep a journal, track your habits, and find out why. To change those habits, Erickson provides key tools, like the Four Development Phases that map “will and skill.” He also employs the widely known DISC model (dominance, inspiration, stability, compliance) to show how…

Remembering Anthony Bourdain Three years after cook, writer, and travel guru Anthony Bourdain died by suicide in 2018, three new works aim to reveal the private man behind the public figure: the documentary, Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain, and the two books reviewed below authored by Bourdain’s close collaborators. While neither biography claims to be complete, together they present an overlapping and intriguing look at a many-faceted individual whose life and work we’ll likely be lauding and dissecting for years to come. Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography. By Laurie Woolever. Sept. 2021. 448p. Ecco, $28.99 (9780062909107). 641.5. Woolever, Bourdain’s longtime assistant and his coauthor on Appetites (2016) and World Travel (2021), began interviewing 91 of Bourdain’s companions and associates after his death and “came to realize that I’d really…

Spotlight Top 10 Romance Debuts Booklist reviewers praised these exceptional romance fiction debuts over the past year, novels that choreograph love-overobstacles in a TV studio, a university, at a rodeo, and in a 1920s Irish village. —Donna Seaman The Charm Offensive. By Alison Cochrun. 2021. Atria, $17 (9781982170714). As a producer for the popular reality TV dating show, Ever After, Dev Deshpande believes in the power of romance; can he dispel the skepticism of contestant Charlie Winshaw, a millionaire tech geek? A Dance in Donegal. By Jennifer Deibel. 2021. Revell, $15.99 (9780800738419). Moira honors her late mother’s wish and travels to 1920s Ireland to teach, meeting handsome thatcher Sean McFadden and discovering a problematic family secret. Happy Endings. By Thien-Kim Lam. 2021. Avon, $15.99 (9780063040847). In Lam’s bold and refreshingly…

YOUTH NONFICTION Older Readers North American Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the Continent. By Matthew Bucklan and Victor Cizek. Illus. by Jack Dunnington. Oct. 2021. 208p. The Experiment, $19.95 (9781615197484). Gr. 6–12. 970. If you think maps are mainly for identifying roads, land features, and borders, this compilation of 100 maps about North America will make you think again. The authors consider North America from Canada to Panama and from Hawaii to the Caribbean islands. The first section does begin with geography but not with typical maps. A map about global scale, for instance, depicts what country sizes correlate to states and provinces. Subsequent sections comprise maps related to politics, industry and transportation, people and populations, nature, food and health, and culture and sports. Some maps,…

YOUTH FICTION Older Readers Alma Presses Play. By Tina Cane. Sept. 2021. 336p. Random/Make Me a World, $16.99 (9780593121146). Gr. 7–10. It’s 1982 in New York, and Alma Rosen, a half-Chinese, half-Jewish 13-year-old, is struggling to find her way. Her parents’ marriage is falling apart, and her group of friends is changing, along with her mind and body. Alma leans on her one constant: listening to music on her beloved Walkman as she searches for meaning and resilience. Alma’s stream-of-consciousness thoughts, conveyed through unpunctuated poems, comprise the majority of the passages. This provides deep insight into her mind as she navigates racism, homophobia, menstruation, grief, and more. The poems, which sometimes begin with a definition or song lyrics, are interspersed with lists and letters. While some characters feel underdeveloped, the…

Let’s Talk about Love A Teen Romance Roundtable by Maggie Reagan Readers of adult genre romance know what to expect from their books: heroes and heroines they can identify with, emotional and sexual tension, and, perhaps most importantly, a happy ending. But for teens, whose lives are transitional by nature, romance books can look a little different. Here, we talk to four authors writing love stories for and about teens—A. R. Capetta (The Heartbreak Bakery, 2021), Sandhya Menon (10 Things I Hate about Pinky, 2020), L. C. Rosen (Camp, 2020), and Nicola Yoon (Instructions for Dancing, 2021)—about the key components of a romance, the ways in which the genre has developed, and the things they love about it the most. Reagan: Teens characters (and readers) are in huge periods of transitions,…

Classics Corner Classics Corner highlights new recordings of classic titles. Finnegans Wake. By James Joyce. Read by Barry McGovern and Marcella Riordan. 2021. 29hr. Naxos, DD (9781781983669). Seventeen years in the writing, Joyce’s monumental 1939 work Finnegans Wake contains multitudes, including what could be taken as a tacit argument for the audiobook: “Let us leave theories there and return to here’s here. Now hear.” In navigating Joyce’s enigmatic tongue-twisters and scant punctuation while breathing sense and sensuality into every word and coinage of his prismatic polyglot text, veteran actors (and native Dubliners) Barry McGovern and Marcella Riordan achieve the seemingly impossible. Whether listeners read along, riddling out the allusions and deciphering the underlying story of the Earwickers: Humphrey Chimpden, Anna Livia Plurabelle, Shem, Shaun, and Isobel, or simply surrender themselves…

Spotlight on Romance Romance on Audio The Dating Dare. By Jayci Lee. Read by Natalie Naudus. 2021. 9hrs. St. Martin’s, CD, $22.99. Sparks fly when best man, Seth, meets maid of honor, Tara, at his brother’s wedding. But Seth is a fashion photographer leaving for a new job in Paris next month, and Tara, a brewmaster at her family’s pub who has been hurt badly, doesn’t want a permanent relationship. They agree to a dating dare: four dates without falling in love. It’s just for a month, right? How hard could it be? Their dates, which include an interrupted picnic and a skiing accident, only heighten their sexual tension. Reader Naudus does a fine job portraying these two very likable characters as they try to fight off their sizzling sexual…

ADULT FICTION General Fiction The Best American Short Stories, 2021. Ed. by Jesmyn Ward and Heidi Pitlor. Oct. 2021. 304p. HMH, paper, $16.99 (9781328485397). As guest editor of this year’s entry in the Best American Short Stories series, Ward has assembled a brilliant and moving collection. In “Our Children” by Vanessa Cuti, the narrator feels frustrated with her and her partner’s children from previous marriages. During a camping trip, she leaves the children behind and imagines their distorted future without parents. In Nicole Krauss’ “Switzerland,” a woman recalls the overconfident façades she and two boarding-school friends tried on to stand strong against the dominating patriarchy. In Jamil Jan Kochai’s “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” a boy whose family immigrated from Afghanistan plays a video game that soon…

Booklist Trend Alert Historical Romance Heroines Who Dare to Be Different by John Charles To the casual observer, it might seem as though historical-romance novels are populated solely with heroines who spend their days shopping on Bond Street and their nights dancing at balls, but this facet of the romance genre has always featured female protagonists with callings that reach far beyond providing fodder for gossip columns. From paleontologist Jessica Stanbridge in Jill Marie Landis’ Past Promises (1993) to Jenny Jones, the female mule skinner in Maggie Osborne’s The Promise of Jenny Jones (1997), historical romances tally a long list of heroines marching to the beat of their own drums. Recently, a whole new group of daringly different heroines has appeared on the scene. All Scot and Bothered. By Kerrigan…

Spotlight Top 10 Romance for Youth Love takes many forms in this list of excellent romances for teens, all reviewed in Booklist between September 15, 2020, and September 1, 2021, which feature crushes, true love, and heartbreak—and, through it all, a healthy dose of meaningful self-discovery. —Sarah Hunter All Kinds of Other. By James Sie. 2021. HarperCollins/Quill Tree, $17.99 (9780062962492). Gr. 9–12. This dual-voice novel tells the story of sophomores Jules and Jack, whose burgeoning relationship is tested when Jack is cruelly outed as trans. A splendid story grounded in marvelous characters and steady growth. Blackout. By Dhonielle Clayton and others. 2021. HarperCollins/Quill Tree, $19.99 (9780063088092). Gr. 8–12. In this collection of interlinked shorts, the YA-author supergroup of Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Ashley Woodfolk, Angie Thomas, and Nicola…

Spotlight Top 10 Romance Fiction Featuring Victorian London and present-day L.A., entrepreneurial witches, a stress-management coach, a movie star, and a PI, the best romance novels reviewed in Booklist during the last year exemplify the glorious range of this love-centric genre. —Donna Seaman A Captain for Caroline Gray. By Julie Wright. 2021. Shadow Mountain, $15.99 (9781629728469). In Wright’s thoughtful, atypical Regency romance, outspoken Caroline and Captain Thomas Scott earn each other’s respect on a dramatic voyage to India. An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler. By Vanessa Riley. 2021. Kensington/Zebra, $15.95 (9781420152258). Regency-era barrister P. Daniel Thackery loses his bride in a shipwreck but gains a toddler daughter who is assumed to be his since they’re individuals of color. The only other survivor, Jemina, hopes that Daniel can help dispel…

GRAPHIC NOVELS Adult The Autumnal: The Complete Series. By Daniel Kraus. Art by Chris Shehan and Jason Wordie. Sept. 2021. 232p. Vault, paper, $19.99 (9781939424792). 741.5. Kat Somerville will never win any mother-of-the-year awards. She shows up at the principal’s office black-eyed after her seven-year-old daughter, Sybil, bloodied another kid’s nose; rather than any admonishments, Kat brings Sybil a Stephen King novel. The rebellious pair abandon not only the school but Chicago, headed to Comfort Notch, New Hampshire, where Kat’s estranged mother recently died. Kat spent her first nine years in Comfort Notch, “Home of America’s Prettiest Autumn,” until her mother inexplicably threw her out 25 years ago. After an initially rough adjustment—Kat’s not the trusting type—kindness seems to be the town motto. They’ve been gifted a car, they inherit…

Continuing the Conversation Racial justice is a topic of conversation for kids of all ages, and these titles offer helpful insight, powerful context, and well-researched information for children and teens. The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. By Brendan Kiely. Sept. 2021. 272p. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy, $18.99 (9781534494046). Gr. 7–12. 305.800973. Alluding to “The Talk,” a discussion many parents of color have with their children about the dangers of racism, Kiely presents his own thought-provoking talk about racism to white teen readers. Following an introduction by Jason Reynolds, the author opens with stories of two teens, one Black and one white, at convenience stores. By the end of the night, the innocent Black teen would be shot dead because of his skin color; the white teen (who Kiely reveals to…

YOUTH Spotlight on Romance A Recipe for Love Capetta’s groundbreaking romance makes magic by centering queer and trans characters and relationships by Alaina Leary In the vein of many contemporary LGBTQ+ young adult novelists—among them Malinda Lo, Alex Sanchez, Kacen Callender, Leah Johnson—A. R. Capetta’s The Heartbreak Bakery delivers on the idea that queer and trans teenagers can find hope, love, community, and maybe even a little bit of magic. And there’s plenty of magic to be found at the Proud Muffin, a queer-owned bakery that doubles as an LGBTQ+ community space in Austin, Texas, where our headstrong protagonist, Syd (no pronouns, please), has worked ever since convincing owners Alec and Vin to let a high-school senior be a full-time baker. The story begins with Syd, fresh off a painful…

AUDIO Adult Audio Another Kind of Eden. By James Lee Burke. Read by Will Patton. 2021. 7hr. Simon & Schuster Audio, CD, $29.99 (9781797122175). A migrant in the 1960s American West, Aaron Broussard has found temporary work as a farmhand near Denver. He finds himself entangled in local rivalries, serious crimes, and a love affair with a younger woman, his involvement with whom invites danger. Burke uses a familiar structure to tell a gripping and disturbing story and creates a fully realized world and characters. The hero of the audio production is, without a doubt, Will Patton. His skill at bringing these characters to life is such that, at times, it is hard to remember this is not a full cast recording. Some minor faults in mastering, such as noticeable…

Forthcoming Audio in Spanish The information below refers to the downloadable Spanish edition unless otherwise noted and is provided by the publisher and subject to change. Adults ¡Buen duelo! / Good Mourning. By Theresa Caputo. HarperAudio, $26.99 (9780063079755). Dec. En busca de Emma. / In Search of Emma. By Armando Lucas Correa. HarperAudio, $26.99 (9780063070851). Oct. Emprendedor: Conquista el arte de los negocios. By Victor Hugo Manzanilla. Read by the author. 6hr. Dreamscape, $24.99 (9781666527698). Oct. Gente ansioso. / Anxious People. By Fredrik Backman. Read by Alicia Lobo. 10h. HarperAudio, $26.99 (9780063034334). Sept. El maestro. / The Teacher. By Mario Escobar. 12hr. HarperAudio, $26.99 (9780063098886). Oct. Martita, I Remember You. / Martita, te recuerdo. By Sandra Cisneros. Read by the author and a full cast. 3hr. Books on Tape, $38.…

Booklist Backlist Time out of Line by Susan Maguire We have a complicated relationship with time. Sometimes it crawls, sometimes it zooms; sometimes it’s somehow only Tuesday, sometimes it’s oh my god it’s already Tuesday? The slipperiness of time captures writers’ imaginations. Here are a few novels that play with the very concept of time, eschewing a straight line and using the possibilities of multiple futures to tell stories that vary in tone and theme, but are united by a nonlinear narrative structure. All Our Wrong Todays. By Elan Mastai. 2017. Dutton, $26 (9781101985137). Tom Barren is the first chrononaut, a time traveler who has journeyed from 2016 to 1965, but a technological error has him changing the world of 2016 forever, and he has to decide if he even…