{"id":231741,"date":"2024-01-05T04:52:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T09:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/?p=231741"},"modified":"2024-01-04T15:18:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T20:18:17","slug":"what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-1-5-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-1-5-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Book<\/a><\/p>\n

Mike McCormack’s This Plague of Souls<\/em>, Vanessa Chan’s The Storm We Made<\/em>, and Erika Howsare’s The Age of Deer<\/em> all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week.<\/p>\n

Brought to you by Book Marks<\/a>, Lit Hub\u2019s home for book reviews.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Fiction<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/a><\/p>\n

1. This Plague of Souls<\/em><\/a> by Mike McCormack
\n(Soho Press)<\/strong><\/p>\n

5 Rave \u2022 1 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMasterful narrative skill \u2026 What matters is the intensity of Nealon\u2019s reflections as he gathers himself back into his life. McCormack\u2019s language is evocative, perfectly suited to the noirish atmosphere he builds throughout the book \u2026 This is a strange novel, sinister yet hopeful, a descent into darkness that somehow manages to rise into a ringing light.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Erica Wagner (The Guardian<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

2. The Storm We Made<\/em><\/a> by Vanessa Chan
\n(S&S\/Mary Sue Rucci Books)<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Rave \u2022 2 Positive
\nRead an excerpt from The Storm We Made<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWorld War II might be the most popular subject for historical fiction, but Vanessa Chan\u2019s debut, The Storm We Made<\/em>, defies the typical focus on the Western front and a clear-cut distinction between good and evil that characterizes many books \u2026 Chan\u2019s chronicles of atrocities against Malayan children serve as a bracing reminder that despite the way World War II is often depicted in fiction, it was not romantic. The Storm We Made<\/em> invites reflection about who should be considered the main characters of this war. It\u2019s clear that people in every locale affected by its brutalities deserve to be protagonists, and Chan\u2019s novel proves there are still fresh perspectives to reveal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Jenny Shank (The Star Tribune<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Mercury<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Mercury<\/em><\/a> by Amy Jo Burns<\/strong>
\n(Celadon Books)<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Rave \u2022 3 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMercury<\/em> is a character-driven novel; the point isn\u2019t the plot, but what the people enacting it reveal about themselves. Though the book covers only nine years, there\u2019s something epic about the love story at its heart \u2026 And so the most powerful tension in this novel doesn\u2019t come from the dead body. It comes from the question of whether Marley will demand a place for herself\u2014and for her voice to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Mary Beth Keane (The New York Times Book Review<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

**<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nonfiction<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Erika<\/a><\/p>\n

1. The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild Neighbors<\/em><\/a> by Erika Howsare
\n(Catapult)<\/strong><\/p>\n

5 Rave \u2022 2 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough carefully wrought prose and evocative imagery, Howsare depicts how deer and human populations have both relied on and butted up against one another for eons \u2026 A thorough, eye-opening invitation to ponder our own relationships with the natural world, practically and reverently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Becky Libourel Diamond (BookPage<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Jill<\/p>\n

2. How to Be a Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty & Female Creativity<\/em><\/a> by Jill Burke
\n(Pegasus Books)<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 Rave \u2022\u00a02 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA sprightly cultural history \u2026 She introduces us to women who, through luck and force of will were able to parlay their talents, skills and, inevitably, beauty into successes as painters, writers, performers and courtesans. And it says something about what rare birds these were that Burke is able to identify virtually all of them in one brief book.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Ellen Akins (The Star Tribune<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3. Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish<\/em><\/a> by Francesca Peacock
\n(Pegasus Books)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Rave \u2022 2 Positive \u2022 2 Mixed
\nRead an essay by Francesca Peacock here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPure Wit<\/em> thoroughly acquaints you with Cavendish\u2019s background and milieu, but her writing can be harder to cathect to, in part because her poor penmanship and spelling muddied publication, with editions revised repeatedly over the years. Peacock argues her work deserves the same scrutiny and careful attention as that of her male contemporaries \u2026 Peacock works hard to situate her subject alongside other iconoclasts. This is probably the first time Cavendish has been likened to David Bowie and bell hooks, and it would no doubt delight her, even if the academy harrumphs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Alexandra Jacobs (The New York Times<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike McCormack’s This Plague of Souls, Vanessa Chan’s The Storm We Made, and Erika Howsare’s The Age of Deer all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub\u2019s home for book reviews. * Fiction 1. This Plague of Souls by Mike McCormack (Soho Press) 5 Rave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":873,"featured_media":231742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43069,6,43070,43135],"tags":[15654,13821,33508],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ageofdeer.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5rKFr-YhL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/873"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}