3 weeks Ago By Colin Dwyer
A true smorgasbord of options is on offer for readers this week, with flavors to suit a variety of palates. Care for an inspirational memoir? Check. Reminders of mortality and the precarious position of civilization itself? Yep, that's here.
And if you want a head start on summer, there are a couple of books publishing this week that may fit that bill too. You'll just have to decide first if your preferred page-turner features people falling in love — or dying in inventively grisly ways. A difficult decision, to be sure.
But don't worry, the stakes are low: You really can't go wrong with any of this week's notable books. Atavists , by Lydia Millet "Is there a writer more profound and less pretentious than Lydia Millet?" That question leads NPR's review of the author's previous short story collection, Fight No More , and bears asking again now. After a spell that saw her publish a couple of novels and a work of nonfiction , the former Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist has returned to short fiction with her latest, a collection of 14 interconnected stories set in a Los Angeles that is teetering on the cusp of climate catastrophe.
Careful though: As always with Millet, the writing here is spare, straightforward and often funny — but beware of its dark and perilous depths. Change the Recipe: Because You Can't Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs , by José Andrés with Richard Wolffe How should you introduce Andrés — with his work in the kitchen, which has earned him Michelin stars and TV appearances, or his humanitarian work in war zones and disaster areas? In this memoir, the Spanish-American chef connects the dots of his dovetailing passions. Expect plenty of recipes — both the metaphorical, life-lesson variety and the kind that you can actually follow to make dinner tonight.
In a confusing, often painful world, "at least feeding people is what makes sense," as Andrés told NPR in 2022. Great Big Beautiful Life , by Emily Henry Henry is on quite a run. For the better part of a decade now, the prolific young novelist has published a book each year that feels sunkissed by the promise of the coming summer.
Heck, one of them was even named Beach Read . This year is no different. In Great Big Beautiful Life , the star-crossed leads in question are a pair of journalists who both have designs on an exclusive interview with an aging heiress, whose life story is an important thread woven throughout the novel.
Let the competition — and inconvenient sexual tension — commence! Notes to John , by Joan Didion The notes collected here comprise the late writer's private reflections after her sessions with a psychiatrist beginning in 1999, during a tumultuous time in her life. The "John" addressed in the title is her husband, John Gregory Dunne, but the journal really focuses on a broad swath of topics — from her own childhood and career anxieties to her complicated relationship with her adoptive daughter, whose death just a handful of years later would inspire Didion's 2011 memoir Blue Nights . It's unclear whether Didion — whose body of work features plenty of intimately personal writing — intended to publish these particular notes, which were found neatly arranged among her files after her death in 2021 .
When the Wolf Comes Home , by Nat Cassidy There will be blood. That much, at least, you can count on in Cassidy's fourth novel, a relentlessly paced slice of horror. Jess, an actress down on her luck and reeling from a particularly terrible night, finds a young boy hiding in the bushes — and quickly realizes the night is about to get much, much worse.
That boy is hiding for a very good reason, you see. Don't go into this one expecting a slow burn. Cassidy himself commented on the book's Goodreads page that this is his "homage to '80s action horror paperbacks, the kind you might pick up in an airport or a grocery store.
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