Now this is the kind of week that really takes a toll on the ol' reading backlog. No reader – no matter how foolhardy or flexibly employed – could hope to keep up with every new release worth reading this week.
John Irving's return to the world of The Cider House Rules headlines a publishing calendar so overstuffed with treasures, plenty of them don't even appear below. Those painful omissions include a from and an investigation into .
Hopefully, though, this list of six sterling options will still have some use for any overwhelmed readers looking for a more manageable foothold. Because I hate to say it: That mounting backlog of yours won't be any easier to scale next week.
Queen Esther, by John Irving
Four decades since the publication of The Cider House Rules, has returned to the Maine orphanage where he set much of his popular novel and its film adaptation, which . Back as well is Wilbur Larch, the curmudgeonly heartbeat of the first novel, but the spotlight is not with him. This time the star is the eponymous Esther Nacht, a Jewish orphan whose unconventional arc leads a story that's unmistakably Irving — amiably peopled, compellingly plotted and, above all, compassionate for its characters.
Only Son, by Kevin Moffett
Moffett's debut novel follows the arc of his narrator – an only son, natch – from the childhood loss of his father, through a complicated relationship with his mother, to an adulthood as the father of an only son himself. Of course, that plot summary does little justice to this slim suburban Buddha of a book, which is composed of a series of short vignettes that are so simple, subtle and occasionally destabilizing, they almost resemble zen koans — though no koan has ever, like Only Son, also had me tearing up or giggling enough to alarm passersby.
The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories, by Salman Rushdie
It's hard not to view every new book by Rushdie as a precious gift, after a very nearly ended the celebrated septuagenarian's career — and his life. Now, of the man who tried to kill him, Rushdie's name again adorns a new book, this one a collection of unconnected short stories that straddle the Atlantic and brim with big ideas about identity, revenge and death.
Cursed Daughters, by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Braithwaite gets right to the point. The Nigerian novelist's darkly comic debut, My Sister, the Serial Killer, ; and you can guess the premise of her sophomore effort, Cursed Daughters. The curse, a punishment for the matriarch's adultery, dooms the romantic relationships of her female descendants, including young Ebun. Or does it? You didn't expect things to stay straightforward, did you? "This is a curse, this exists," , but "I was also approaching it from the perspective of generational trauma and what that looks like … and also this idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Palaver, by Bryan Washington
"Washington is an enormously gifted author," reviewer Michael Schaub , "and his writing — spare, unadorned, but beautiful — reads like the work of a writer who's been working for decades, not one who has yet to turn 30." Five years on, — now a truly geriatric 32 years old — has only refined his keen eye for complicated family dynamics. In this , it's a complicated mother-son relationship that takes center stage, as the estranged pair find themselves suddenly in close proximity, grasping for understanding half a world away from home.
The Land in Winter, by Andrew Miller
For a pithy pitch for Miller's latest novel, I defer to the judges who . "It's a joy to read, a nerve-shredding pleasure," , which follows a pair of expectant couples forced to hunker down during a in the early 1960s. The cold of the setting does little to dampen the lively wit of those forced to bear it. "Every character is there, watching, acting, wilting," added the judges. "It's a real party; there are no extras."
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