{"id":232436,"date":"2024-01-26T09:22:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T14:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/?p=232436"},"modified":"2024-01-29T08:07:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T13:07:45","slug":"what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-1-26-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-1-26-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Kaveh Akbar\u2019s Martyr!<\/em>, Adam Shatz\u2019s The Rebel\u2019s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon<\/em>, and Elizabeth Gonzalez James\u2019 The Bullet Swallower<\/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

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

1. Martyr!<\/em><\/a> by Kaveh Akbar
\n(Knopf)<\/strong><\/p>\n

10 Rave \u2022 1 Postive<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA deliberately provocative title that suits its protagonist, an Iranian-American poet who is painfully conflicted, heartbreakingly vulnerable, and frequently impossible \u2026 Stuffed with ideas, gorgeous images, and a surprising amount of humor \u2026 The serious fiction lover\u2019s favorite kind of book, offering plenty to think about and discuss, all of it couched in brilliantly rendered prose that\u2019s a pleasure to read. Let\u2019s hope that Kaveh Akbar\u2019s impressive debut is the first of many novels to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Wendy Smith (The Boston Globe<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth<\/p>\n

2. The Bullet Swallower<\/em><\/a> by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
\n(Simon & Schuster)<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 Rave \u2022 3 Positive \u2022 1 Mixed
\nElizabeth Gonzalez James on the \u201cweird, wild literature\u201d of her home state, here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMixes elements of western novels and magical realism to deliver a wildly entertaining story that spans generations and crosses borders in a riveting family saga \u2026 While great characterization and superb storytelling make this an enjoyable read, Gonzalez\u2019s use of magical realism elements is what pushes this novel into must-read territory. The narrative reads like a western, but the magical elements enrich the story in unexpected ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Gabino Iglesias (The Boston Globe<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

3. Dead in Long Beach, California<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>by Venita Blackburn
\n(MCD)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Rave \u2022 3 Positive \u2022 1 Mixed
\nRead an excerpt from Dead in Long Beach, California<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the chorus, Blackburn brings us back to something inherently true about anyone experiencing this kind of loss: Our grief may seem singular, it may seem like it belongs solely to us, but that\u2019s not exactly true. Grief is part of a larger system that connects us all to one another, and what we do with it, how we handle it, and what becomes of us after is not always fully in our control \u2026 It\u2019s a masterful feat of storytelling for Blackburn to constantly make the reader feel as if Coral is coming full circle, only to remind us she can\u2019t \u2026<\/p>\n

We\u2019re left with a profound and surprising demonstration of how there\u2019s no way to fully outrun or outmaneuver or out-strategize the pain of loss. Even when we truly believe we can, the despair and disrepair of the loss will bring us to our knees and turn us in on ourselves. And although the idea that we don\u2019t move beyond grief, we only learn to live with it is common, Blackburn\u2019s debut novel provides a new vision of just how true this is, making that truth feel brand new again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Stef Rubino (Autostraddle<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

Nonfiction<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

1. The Rebel\u2019s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon<\/em><\/a> by Adam Shatz
\n(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)<\/strong><\/p>\n

7 Rave \u2022 2 Positive
\nRead an excerpt from The Rebel\u2019s Clinic<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA biography of Fanon is also of necessity a biography of his legend, which sometimes deviates considerably from his person. His support for the Algerian struggle was unwavering, and he is often remembered as a militant who once lauded anti-colonial violence as \u2018cleansing force.\u2019 But as the critic and essayist Adam Shatz demonstrates in his nimble and engrossing new book, The Rebel\u2019s Clinic<\/em>, Fanon was never as one-dimensionally bellicose as he is often taken to be, not only by his enemies but by his allies and hagiographers \u2026 As Shatz shows in this exemplary work of public intellectualism, in which he does not sugarcoat or simplify, the ingenious doctor and impassioned activist was every bit as much a victim of empire as the patients he worked to heal.”<\/p>\n

\u2013Becca Rothfeld (The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

2. The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky<\/em><\/a> by Simon Shuster<\/strong>
\n(William Morrow & Company)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\u201cShuster paints with great sympathy a complex picture of Mr. Zelensky and his transformation \u2026 Like many writers on a tight deadline, Mr. Shuster crafted a longer book than he otherwise might have. But The Showman<\/em>surpasses all similar efforts to date and is set to be the standard by which all other works on Mr. Zelensky and Ukraine\u2019s wartime politics will be judged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Bojan Pancevski (The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Disillusioned:<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America\u2019s Suburbs<\/em><\/a> by Benjamin Herold
\n(Penguin Press)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Rave \u2022 3 Positive
\nRead an excerpt from Disillusioned<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026presents a blistering indictment of how American suburbs were built on racism and unsustainable development \u2018that functioned like a Ponzi scheme\u2019 \u2026 Disillusioned<\/em> excels in documenting the effects racial exclusion and intimidation had on suburban growth, and Herold offers eye-opening details like the fact that Compton, Calif., was once home to George Herbert Walker Bush and his young children. For readers like me, who previously only thought of Compton as a burning epicenter of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Herold reminds us that places don\u2019t start out in disrepair. They\u2019re shaped by forces that cause decay \u2026 As Herold jumps between cities and decades, it can be hard to keep track of the exact rulings in different cases regarding desegregation. But the patterns are clear and continuing, cementing the idea that equal rights and opportunity exist only in theory in this country, not in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Vikas Turakhia (The Star Tribune<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaveh Akbar\u2019s Martyr!, Adam Shatz\u2019s The Rebel\u2019s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, and Elizabeth Gonzalez James\u2019 The Bullet Swallower 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. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Knopf) 10 Rave \u2022 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":873,"featured_media":232437,"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":[43069,6,43070,38394,43135],"tags":[15654,13821,33508],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Martyr.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5rKFr-YsY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232436"}],"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=232436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}