Greetings and salubriations dear readers. We hope you have cleared some space in your refrigerators (as well as your stomachs), and that you haven't had your fill of reading material for the year. It will be December when you read this, which means we are in the final stretch of 2022. We shall gallumph through these first few days of the last month with a rundown of some of the notable books that came out this week.
First up is Louise Penny's A World of Curiosities, the 18th book in her Chief Inspector Gamache series. A new Gamache novel is a welcome sight, and in this one, the inspector must contend with old secrets, a hidden room full of curiosities, and—of course, murder. This one got starred reviews across most of the trade journals, and we suspect that Penny has another winner on her hands.
Olivia Blake is back this week as well with Alone With You in the Ether, a book about time travel, love, and a couple questions about the nature of reality. It's the story of Aldo, a doctoral student who contemplates time travel compulsively, and Regan who fights off the dreariness of existence by projecting herself into multiple alternate realities. Naturally, they run into each other by chance and things get complicated.
This one isn't your standard beach read, dear friends.
And speaking of twists and complications, here is Holly Jackson's Five Survive. The new book from the author of the multimillion-selling A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Five Survive is about six friends on a road trip. Eight hours in an RV. Going from here to there during Spring Break. It should be fun, right?
Until the RV breaks down in a location where the cell service sucks, and the six realize one of them planned this . . .
Meanwhile, Plant Magick, the fourth volume of Taschen's Library of Esoterica, is out this week. We're noting this mostly because Mark needs to order one. Not that he has room on his shelves, but whatever. This time around, editor Jessica Hundley is exploring the esoteric and occult history of our interactions with plant stuff.
And speaking of life among the lichens, here is Peter McCoy's The Mycocultural Revolution: Transforming Our World with Mushrooms, Lichens, and Other Fungi. Published by the PNW's own Microcosm Publishing, McCoy's book covers more than just how not to eat the caps that'll kill you. There's a section on mycoremediation, which is treating contaminated areas of our environment with shrooms, a handy introductory guide to the marvels of mycology, and a guide to growing your own fungi. We're delighted to have a locally-sourced guide (McCoy lives in Portland).
And in Paperbackopalooza, we have Eloisa James's The Reluctant Countess. It's the story of an earl who makes eyes at a lady. The lady is, well, not very dignified, and such a match between her and the earl would be disastrous. Naturally, he loses his mind, she giggles a lot, and complications ensue. Perfect for cocoa and jammies reading.
Of course, if you are more of a whiskey and winter boots sort of reader, William W. Johnstone has your back. Cruel Winter of the Mountain Man is the . . . 84th Mountain Man book, the 11th Smoke Jensen book, and the 158th book that Johnstone has put out since he died. We can't keep track. But we do know that there are outlaws that need to be dealt with, and Smoke Jensen is the only one who can save us all. Again.
And if you are thinking "Man, I can't get enough of that Smoke Jensen," you are in for a treat. Also out this week is Bad Days for Bad Men: Smoke Jensen's American Justice. The technical term for this is a "two-fer," as it contains TWO books: Betrayal of the Mountain Man and Rampage of the Mountain Man. Both were published . . . who knows how long ago, frankly. March seems like a decade back already.
And speaking of surprising blasts from the past, issue 69 of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern is out this month. We have no idea of the physical shape of this issue, but we do know it has an illustration of a pterodactyl and a unicorn on the cover and it contains fiction by Lydia Conklin, Fernanda Melchor, Julie Hecht, Siqi Liu, and others. Engaging and entertaining, as always.
And here is John Boyne's All the Broken Places, a novel about redemption, secrecy, guilt, friendship, and Nazis. At the center of the book is 91-year old Gretel Fernsby who escaped Germany during the War. Gretel has buried some things rather deep, and when a young family moves into the building where she's lived for decades, she finds herself caught up in their dynamic. Suddenly, she finds herself on the cusp of complicity, and she must decide if—this time—she is going to make a different choice.
We might need a drink after that one. Good thing Richard Thomas has just put out the The Whiskey Cookbook: Sensational Tasting Notes and Pairings for Bourbon, Rye, Scotch, and Single Malts. Whew.
Stay cozy! Stay warm! Prep your reading lists for the winter time! And don't forget to shop early and shop often.
