{"id":231974,"date":"2024-01-12T04:51:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T09:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/?p=231974"},"modified":"2024-01-22T13:22:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T18:22:43","slug":"what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-1-12-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-1-12-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Hisham Matar\u2019s My Friends<\/em>, \u00c1lvaro Enrigue\u2019s You Dreamed of Empires<\/em>, and Rachel Slade\u2019s Making it in America<\/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

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

1. My Friends<\/em><\/a> by Hisham Matar
\n(Random House)<\/strong><\/p>\n

10 Rave<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAmid this refined climate of melancholy acceptance arrives the unexpected revolutionary fervor of the Arab Spring of the early 2010s, whose tensions and excitements My Friends<\/em> captures as well as any novel I have read \u2026\u00a0Matar weighs these complexities with tremendous sensitivity, and My Friends<\/em> is not only indispensable for a full understanding of Libyan \u00e9migr\u00e9s but is, more generally, a great novel of exile.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Sam Sacks (The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\u00c1lvaro<\/a><\/p>\n

2. You Dreamed of Empires<\/em><\/a> by \u00c1lvaro Enrigue,\u00a0trans. by Natasha Wimmer
\n(Riverhead)<\/strong><\/p>\n

7 Rave \u2022 2 Positive
\nRead an excerpt from You Dreamed of Empires<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEnrigue presents us with two societies that feel far removed from our modern sensibilities, one of which\u2014the Aztec empire\u2014has often been shoddily reproduced, its complexity buffed away \u2026 The intricacy of this series of events might have daunted many writers; it\u2019s difficult enough just to portray it accurately and make it comprehensible. Even when someone has done their research\u2014and Enrigue has done it admirably well\u2014the story could easily become ponderous and overblown, a mothballed costume drama. Enrigue\u2019s genius lies in his ability to bring readers close to its tangled knot of priests, mercenaries, warriors and princesses while adding a pinch of biting humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Silvia Morena-Garcia (The Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

3. The Waters<\/em><\/a> by Bonnie Jo Campbell
\n(W. W. Norton & Company)<\/strong><\/p>\n

5 Rave \u2022 2 Positive
\nRead an excerpt from The Waters<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSounds grim, but there\u2019s an indomitable spirit pushing back against despair in Campbell\u2019s work \u2026 A light touch of fantasy runs through this story \u2026 She immediately peoples her pages with a large cast of eccentric characters and a thick backstory so casually laced with shocking violence that it\u2019s tempting to think you must have misheard. But don\u2019t be quick to drive by Whiteheart. You must succumb to the pace of The Waters<\/em>\u2026 It subtracts nothing from Campbell\u2019s originality to suggest that she\u2019s taken up the mantle of John Irving \u2026 Astonishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Ron Charles (The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

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

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

1. Twinkind: The Singular Significance of Twins<\/em><\/a> by William Viney
\n(Princeton University Press)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\u201cViney captures the full range of nontwin response, among much else \u2026 Viney acknowledges the dangers of reading too much into twinhood \u2026 Perhaps our fascination with twins is the result of that enduring, mysterious fact: As singletons, we can never really understand what it means to be multiple.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Christine Rosen (The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

2. Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (and How It Got That Way)<\/em><\/a> by Rachel Slade
\n(Pantheon)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\u201cHer book benefits from extraordinary access, providing an up-close look at the challenges of manufacturing \u2026 Slade\u2019s key insight, and possibly the strongest argument for reviving domestic manufacturing, is that it is how we innovate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Jenna Sauers (The New York Times Book Review<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

3. Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine\u2019s War of Independence<\/em><\/a> by Yaroslav Trofimov<\/strong>
\n(Penguin Press)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe author does an excellent job placing the unprovoked attack within the historical context of Ukrainian resistance to Russia and Russia\u2019s equal insistence on dominating Ukraine. Trofimov also demonstrates the power of words in war as he examines the slogans, memes, and speeches that Ukrainians rally behind, contrasted with the empty and often ridiculous Russian propaganda used to justify and rationalize Putin\u2019s invasion. This tour de force covers the first year of war in Ukraine and a solid second draft of history, as the author intended. We can hope for a second volume that will be the last, chronicling a truly independent Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013James Pekoll (Booklist<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hisham Matar\u2019s My Friends, \u00c1lvaro Enrigue\u2019s You Dreamed of Empires, and Rachel Slade\u2019s Making it in America 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. My Friends by Hisham Matar (Random House) 10 Rave \u201cAmid this refined climate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":873,"featured_media":231976,"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\/You-Dreamed-of-Empires.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5rKFr-Ylw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231974"}],"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=231974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}