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FictionSpeculative FictionShort StoriesLiterary Fiction

Beautiful Days

Review by Matthew Jackson

There’s a quiet intensity to the way Zach Williams crafts short fiction, like a coiled spring ready to snap, or a snake about to strike. You can sense tension lurking like a camouflaged animal in the careful prose and dreamy strangeness of the worlds Williams builds.

In Beautiful Days, his first collection, Williams delivers intensity on page after page, but it’s how he uses the tension he creates that makes the work so remarkable. In stories that take the mundane to wondrous, frightening and deeply affecting places, Williams keeps finding new ways to remind us of the strangeness of being human, and the many ways our lives can transform in an unexpected instant.

There are no real limits to the subject matter of the 10 tales within this volume. The settings shift from skyscrapers to secluded cabins, seductive bedrooms to the quiet house next door. The characters are parents, roommates, neighbors, co-workers, even mice whose lives hang in the balance of another character’s quest for the right trap. In “Trial Run,” a man visits his office amid a snowstorm, only to find a storm of a different kind waiting inside. In “Red Light,” a sexually adventurous fitness buff finds himself in a particularly mysterious bedroom. And in “Wood Sorrel House,” which might be the most unsettling short story you read in all of 2024, new parents find themselves in a house outside of time, watching in horror as their baby refuses to age even as their own bodies fail.

Many of these stories push their subjects into the realm of the unreal, the supernatural and even the horrific, but genre conventions do not concern Williams any more than neat endings do. What’s most striking about Beautiful Days is not the premises of the stories, but the way in which the author lets them unfold at their own quirky pace, like alien insects inching their way out of cocoons. His prose is precise, witty and full of vivid imagery, dropping us into 10 distinct worlds that might all be part of the same dreamy landscape, or might be individual pocket universes. Either way, we can get lost, because Williams has a gift for marrying tension and humanity that calls to mind John Cheever or Shirley Jackson. That makes Beautiful Days a powerful, unsettling, genuinely thrilling collection, one that singles Williams out as a must-read voice in fiction.

Zach Williams lets each of these 10 short stories unfold at their own quirky pace—like alien insects inching their way out of cocoons.
Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Assassins Anonymous

Review by Elyse Discher

Packed with nonstop action, globe-trotting adventure and laugh-out-loud humor, Rob Hart’s Assassins Anonymous is an absolute blast.

We open as main character Mark is celebrating a year of sobriety in his 12-step program, but as he cleans up after the meeting, he’s violently attacked by a Russian man he’s never met. For Mark, AA stands for Assassins Anonymous, and he was celebrating a year without killing anyone—a vow he manages to keep even after his unknown assailant stabs him in the side.

In his life before AA, Mark was a government assassin known as Pale Horse, and built a reputation as a ruthless and skilled killer. A terrible mistake led him to quit the game and vow to never take another life again. That’s a lot easier said than done when someone is trying to kill him. Mark needs to figure out who wants him dead, and the list is not short. Complicating matters, he’s determined to accomplish this without sacrificing his sobriety: He can’t kill anyone, even the people determined to annihilate him. 

Hart takes readers on a wild ride across the globe as Mark searches for the person behind the assassination attempt, reliving his former exploits along the way. He partners up with potential love interest Astrid, a trauma surgeon for the criminal underworld, and his much beloved cat, P. Kitty, is also in tow. The supporting cast really makes this novel shine, from Astrid’s wry reactions to Mark’s fellow Assassins Anonymous members to the colorful group of criminals and spies from his dark past. 

Assassins Anonymous is hilarious and irreverent (e.g., a hitman bringing his cat along on his adventures) without ever falling into the trap of being ridiculous. With his dry sense of humor and self-deprecating nature, Mark is a fantastic narrator. Add to that some global intrigue and a dash of romance, and this novel is an immensely satisfying read.

The story of a former hitman with a target on his back and a vow not to kill, Assassins Anonymous combines a fantastic narrator, global intrigue and dash of romance for a hilarious read.
NonfictionPop CultureArts & Culture

American Diva

Review by Priscilla Kipp

When Deborah Paredez describes the women she awards diva status as “extraordinary, unruly, fabulous,” she is just getting started. In tributes as impassioned and exuberant as any of her subjects, the college professor and poet offers a diverse collection of women to be celebrated and emulated. American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous is the grand platform Paredez creates for her stars as she tells their stories, bedecked with her own scintillating flourishes. 

Paredez memorializes divas at a propulsive pace. Here is the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz; the effervescent and doomed Selena; Tina Turner performing “Proud Mary” with “inimitable ferocity”; Rita Moreno, on-fire dancer and vengeful victim in the movie West Side Story; Venus and Serena Williams, “defying the naysayers” and dominating the courts; Aretha Franklin, “a queen bee dripping with so much nectar” at Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration. These iconic women, both here and gone, have earned their diva status and, Paredez insists, stand as beacons of feminism for future generations.

Divas, by Paredez’s definition, are “strong, complicated, imperfect, virtuosic women who last and last and last.” But competing definitions of divas have made their way into the culture. Newsweek cautioned parents against “Generation Diva” in 2009, and divas, “once synonymous with virtuosity, became symbols of vitriol.” Meanwhile, tween icons like Miley Cyrus—whose exploits as Hannah Montana came “adorned with sparkly merchandise”—were on the rise. Young girls have learned to dress, dance and perform as the stars they yearn to be. Paredez wonders, has a diva instead become “a means of convincing girls that singing along to a power ballad in a sequined T-shirt emblazoned with ‘Li’l Diva’ equals actual power”? The downside to such youthful appropriation becomes clear by contrast: The women whose careers Paredez showcases in American Diva are real and powerful in their sheer fearless embrace of their own best selves—rendering moot any worshipful imitation.

Paredez doesn’t hold back, and is especially startling in her candor about her own impetuous coming of age. Bookending this star-studded lineup is the author’s own beloved Lucia, the aunt who introduced her to all things diva: Dress up, dance, sing or ace your serve—and always accessorize. The rest—success, money, fame, love—will happen only if you are strong enough to make it so.

The exuberant American Diva celebrates “extraordinary, unruly, fabulous” women who earned their diva status and stood the test of time.
NonfictionSelf-HelpFamily & Relationships

Always a Sibling

Review by Carla Jean Whitley

Growing up together means our siblings understand “not just who you are but why you are,” as author Annie Sklaver Orenstein writes. Sometimes the “why” is even a direct response to the siblings themselves; we may follow in an older sibling’s footsteps or rebel against expectations set by their example.

We expect siblings to not only grow up with us but also grow old alongside us; even when relationships are strained or barely existent, siblings share history, and their family experience may most closely mirror one another’s. When a sibling dies early, it can be a devastating, isolating loss. But there aren’t a lot of resources for sibling-specific grief. Orenstein has learned this firsthand in the 13-plus years since her oldest brother’s death in Afghanistan when she was 25.

In Always a Sibling: The Forgotten Mourner’s Guide to Grief, Orenstein addresses this gap in resources by providing tips, related reading and exercises to help readers face their grief after a sibling’s death. A researcher and oral historian, Orenstein puts her skills to use by collecting stories of sibling loss, braiding anecdotes and data with her own experience with grief.

Her plain-spoken, direct style ensures that the research she shares remains relatable. Sometimes she names too many interview subjects and their siblings, leaving the stories at risk of running together. But at their best, the stories help readers feel seen. For example, Orenstein recounts a woman at a party who opens up after hearing that the author is working on this book. The woman quickly warms to the subject and asks, is her experience normal? Or are the feelings she’s faced since her sibling’s death just her own? 

And that’s Always a Sibling’s greatest triumph. There are grief support groups and resources for parents, spouses and kids whose parents have died. But it isn’t often that young (or youngish) adults encounter others who share sibling loss. Orenstein shows her readers that they aren’t alone. Their feelings and reactions aren’t unusual. And their grief matters, too.

Always a Sibling braids stories, data and the author’s own experience with loss to provide a rare guide to mourning a sibling’s death.
Sports & Recreation

All You Need is Rhythm & Grit

Review by Kelly Blewett

Cory Wharton-Malcolm, a London-based coach who established the running group TrackMafia, joyfully makes room for people to bring their full selves to the track in his charmingly illustrated All You Need is Rhythm & Grit: How to Run Now—for Health, Joy, and a Body That Loves You Back. “Do your research and decide what works for you,” he advises in a section about fueling on the go. “I’ve seen people dip pizza in Coca-Cola. . . . It’s not something I’ve tried personally, but, like I say, everyone’s different.” 

Wharton-Malcolm is so refreshingly real about the pains and the joys of running that one feels simultaneously intimidated and inspired, a sense of “I can do this, but it’s going to be tough.” He admits that his base pace as a beginner was around 13 minutes per mile. Now, Wharton-Malcolm thanks running for everything from meeting his wife to finding purposeful work to tapping into what he calls “cardio confidence.” Running also provided space for him to consider his trauma, most notably the loss of his grandmother, whose death he didn’t process until he started clocking hours on the pavement. 

Though running culture is fueled by a few high-profile corporate sponsors and not equally available to everyone, Wharton-Malcolm, who is a large-bodied Black man, argues for a more inclusive sport. The last words of All You Need is Rhythm & Grit, “KNOCK KNOCK,” suggest that running is waiting on the other side of a closed door that the reader must open. 

Wharton-Malcolm undeniably achieves much in this slim volume: encouragement, connection and tips to nudge any would-be runner off the couch and into the world.

In the accessible, inclusive All You Need is Rhythm & Grit, running coach Cory Wharton-Malcolm will convince you to get off the couch and into the world.
Children's & YAPicture BookChildren's

A Tiny Difference

Review by Callie Ann Starkey

A little bird is in a funk. But that’s OK, a grown-up bird reminds them. It’s OK to feel a little bit off sometimes: “No need to try to fix everything, but let’s move a few things around.” You never know what might make a tiny difference. In A Tiny Difference (Katherine Tegen, $19.99, 9780063114159), with the help of their grown-up and lots of friends, our little bird learns new techniques to connect with their body. To breathe, to stretch, to wiggle, to dance! At the same time, our friend also begins to reconnect with their mind, imagining everything from hot air balloons to aliens to a hug from a friend.

Writer and illustrator June Tate presents a tender poem from the perspective of a kind and loving adult, encouraging readers with simple, relatable language. Rather than telling us to breathe, Tate writes “fill up your rib cage” and “open up like a window.” Rather than reminding us to stretch, she tells us to “reach to the sides of the room” in order to “get out those crunchy bits.” The picture book concludes with the narrator listing all the traits that make the little bird special, reminding us as readers that we too are loved by those in our lives. 

Made with colored pencils, markers and watercolors, Tate’s illustrations are reminiscent of a child’s drawings. These deceptively simple images introduce friends to help out: A frog teaches us to breathe. A squirrel teaches us to stretch. A butterfly teaches us to squeeze and relax! Each creature’s expressions and actions are clear and relatable. 

Whether your young reader is anxious, worried or simply has had a hard day, this sweet, mindful book is sure to help all readers center themselves. Fans of Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds’ I Am books and Cori Doerrfeld’s The Rabbit Listened will be glad to add A Tiny Difference to their book shelves.

In A Tiny Difference, writer and illustrator June Tate presents a tender poem from the perspective of a kind and loving adult, encouraging young readers with simple, relatable language.
Mystery & SuspenseMysteryCozy Mystery

A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants

Review by Jamie Orsini

Ann Claire takes readers on a scenic cycling tour through the French countryside in A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants.

In the wake of her best friend’s death, Sadie Greene’s grief nearly overwhelmed her. But when she got the chance to turn their shared dream of running a cycling business into a reality, she took it—even if it meant quitting her job in finance and moving halfway around the world to France.

As the new owner of Oui Cycle, Sadie hopes to honor Gemma’s memory and help others find their passion for cycling. But just as she begins to settle into life as an expat, someone vandalizes and threatens Oui Cycle. Then, during a cycling tour that includes her former boss from Chicago and his family, as well as a hard-to-impress travel writer, tragedy strikes. One of her cyclists dies, and the gendarmes believe it may have been murder. To save her fledgling business and the rest of her cyclists, Sadie must figure out who’s targeting her tour—before anyone else winds up dead.

Claire’s sun-soaked southern France setting is almost another character in A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants, and readers will enjoy her in-depth descriptions of picturesque villages and droolworthy French cuisine. It’s enough to make anyone want to travel to Sadie’s new (tragically fictional) home of Sans-Souci-sur-Mer—despite the seemingly high risk of murder.

Sadie is a dynamic, multifaceted main character. Prior to Gemma’s death, she was content with her risk-averse, if boring, job. Losing Gemma—and Sadie’s guilt over not accompanying her on her ill-fated final bike ride—forces Sadie out of her comfort zone, all the way to France. When the book begins, Sadie is trying hard to become the best version of herself while also coming to terms with her grief. Claire punctuates the story with Sadie’s diary entries, which are addressed directly to Gemma. The intimate and raw messages give the mystery more emotional depth, and it’s all the stronger for it. There’s plenty of humor, too, especially from international cyclists Manfred, Philomena and Constance as they offer much-needed comic relief and support for Sadie. 

A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants is a fun, fast-paced ride through France, and readers will be left eager for a return trip to Sans-Souci-sur-Mer.

A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants is a fun, fast-paced cozy mystery set in the sun-soaked south of France.
FictionSpeculative FictionShort StoriesLiterary Fiction

A Cage Went in Search of a Bird

Review by Harvey Freedenberg

Conceived as a tribute to Franz Kafka on the 100th anniversary of his death, A Cage Went in Search of a Bird: Ten Kafkaesque Stories features short stories by 10 contemporary writers in the idiosyncratic style of the literary genius, a style Merriam-Webster defines as “having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality.” Watching writers that include Ali Smith and Tommy Orange apply their considerable talent to this task makes for a mind-bending and consistently enjoyable reading experience.

One of the principal pleasures of this project is the range of subject matter and variety of styles the authors bring to their stories. In “God’s Doorbell,” for example, Naomi Alderman reimagines the biblical account of the Tower of Babel in a fashion that seems especially relevant to our current concerns with the promise and peril of artificial intelligence. Yiyun Li’s “Apostrophe’s Dream” is a whimsical piece presented in the form of a dramatic work featuring squabbling punctuation marks as its characters.

But when one thinks of Kafka’s short stories, what most often surfaces is the image of an individual trapped in a bizarre, inexplicable situation. The volume features several works in that genre, among them Elif Batuman’s “The Board,” where the prospective purchaser of an apartment confronts the baffling commentary of the building’s implacable governing body. In “Headache,” by Leone Ross, the protagonist is drawn against her will into an increasingly problematic health care system.

Screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman has acknowledged Kafka as an early influence, and so it’s fitting that the collection ends with his story, “This Face Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing,” whose enigmatic title comes from an entry in Kafka’s The Blue Octavo Notebooks. In Kaufman’s story, a novelist identified only as “I.” descends, after a disastrous launch event for his latest novel, into an ever more complex and seemingly inescapable literary labyrinth as his identity shape-shifts, blurring the boundary between fact and fiction.

A Cage Went in Search of a Bird is a roller coaster ride that will delight the adventuresome reader, even if the twists and turns of some of its most daring stories may challenge those who enjoy more conventional short fiction. Somewhere, though, it’s easy to imagine Kafka paging through these varied and deeply imagined tales and nodding in admiration.

10 contemporary writers (Ali Smith! Tommy Orange!) apply their considerable talents to the signature style of Franz Kafka in this anthology.
RomanceHistorical Romance

A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence

Review by Amanda Diehl

Author Jess Everlee returns to her Lucky Lovers of London series with A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence, an opposites-attract romance between an unconventional bookshop owner and a respectable country doctor. It’s a comforting, remarkably low-stakes love story, despite the seemingly large obstacles that face its main couple. 

Jo Smith is a bookshop owner and printer in a lavender marriage, a union of convenience designed to hide Jo’s sexuality. She’s married to her best friend and business partner, Paul, who carries on a relationship on the side with an actress named Vanessa. But when Vanessa gets pregnant, Jo begins to panic that her marital deception will be exposed. As she doesn’t trust the doctors in London to keep Vanessa’s pregnancy a secret, Jo’s only recourse is to write to her friend’s sister, physician Emily Clarke, for help. The two don’t make the greatest impression on each other during their first meeting, but over the course of several letters, a friendship and flirtation begin to bloom. 

That epistolary element is delightful and very sweet, and in fact, “sweet” is the best descriptor for A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence. There’s a methodical slowness to Jo and Emily’s courtship. Emily is used to a bucolic countryside life with little scandal and gossip except for small, neighborly slights. And while Jo’s sapphic societies and secret clubs in London are, as the title suggests, full of decadence, the book never feels as salacious and scandalous as its title and setup imply. Rather, a story that begins with a woman fearing her secret life is about to be exposed morphs into a gentle romance, during which Jo realizes, with Emily’s help, that she doesn’t have to concede anything to live her life the way she wants.

While this is the third book in a series, readers new to Lucky Lovers of London can jump right in. However, couples from previous books do make an appearance, and those more familiar with Everlee’s work will find the familiar faces to be a fun, enjoyable detail. These characters contribute to the book’s sense of found family, a safe and welcoming community for queer people no matter the time period. If fans of Cat Sebastian and Olivia Waite are wondering what to pick up next, this book (and series) should be at the top of their reading list.

Jess Everlee’s sweet and gentle A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence is perfect for fans of Cat Sebastian and Olivia Waite.
Audio

The Unclaimed

Review by Norah Piehl

Much has been written about the recent epidemic of loneliness in America. The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels (9.5 hours), an impeccably researched collaboration by sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans, traces that epidemic to its tragic and perhaps inevitable conclusion, as it follows the stories of four individuals whose bodies are unclaimed and destined for county disposal after their death. Nan McNamara’s direct and compelling narration mirrors the clarity of the text, which combines personal narratives with historical and cultural context, including the not insignificant task of explaining the bureaucratic apparatus surrounding death. Most moving are the stories of people providing ritual and ceremony for those they never knew: abandoned infants, forgotten veterans, the deserted and estranged. The extensive afterword is worth a listen, too, to understand and fully appreciate the complexities of the issue and the work involved in creating this heartbreaking but essential project.

This impeccably researched audiobook, compellingly narrated by Nan McNamara, traces the American epidemic of loneliness to its tragic and perhaps inevitable conclusion in the stories of four individuals whose bodies are unclaimed after their death.
Audio

Grief Is for People

Review by Jessica Peng

Grief Is for People (6 hours) is a dual story of loss from the perspective of author and audiobook narrator Sloane Crosley. In 2019, in quick succession, Crosley’s home in New York City was burglarized and her best friend, Russell, whom she had known and worked with for decades, died by suicide. In the months that follow, the two tragedies meld together in Crosley’s mind, and she pursues the recovery of her stolen items with the fervor of someone trying to bring back the dead. Crosley’s narration is frank and articulate, a perfect complement to the wit and candor of her prose. Grief Is for People is Crosley’s personal story of processing, broken into five sections mirroring the five stages of grief. However, this memoir is also an homage to Russell, to his brilliance and nuance, his talent and his legacy and the gaping hole left behind by his death.

Sloane Crosley’s narration is frank and articulate in this memoir of loss, a perfect compliment to the wit and candor of her prose.
Audio

James

Review by Deborah Mason

In James (8 hours) Percival Everett retells one of America’s most beloved and most controversial novels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the point of view of one of America’s most beloved and most controversial characters, the escaped slave Jim. Everett subverts Twain’s depiction of Jim as the passive witness of Huck’s adventures, and instead reveals Jim, who goes by James, to be the increasingly dynamic subject of his own story.

Voice is crucial to this reenvisioning, as James deliberately changes his diction depending on whether he is speaking to white people, to other enslaved people, or addressing himself. Much of the tension and drama in the story occurs when James slips and his voice accidentally, and dangerously, reveals his true self. Dominic Hoffman’s deft performance of James’s many voices reveals his complexity and humanity with more immediacy and power than simply reading the words on the page could.

Voice is crucial in James, Percival Everett’s retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Dominic Hoffman’s deft performance reveals James’ complexity and humanity with great immediacy and power.

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