We recommend: The best new book releases

The best of new fiction

Rental House by Weike Wang: This inter-racial family drama novel is by the Chinese-American writer Weike Wang—best known for her award-winning debut novel ‘Chemistry’ in 2018. This book follows college sweethearts Keru and Nate—daughter of Chinese immigrants and son of a rural, white, working-class family. When they get their families—who disapprove of each other—all sorts of drama unfurls. Washington Post says, “Weike Wang’s third novel is a funny, perceptive look at what it means to defy societal expectations.” OTOH, Associated Press calls it a “poignant, profound meditation on this divided country enlivened by her dry wit and deadpan style.” (December 3)

Havoc by Christopher Bollen: A twisty psychological thriller set in a luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile, where 81-year-old widow Maggie Burkhardt seeks escape from her past. A compulsive "fixer" of others' lives, Maggie finds herself drawn into the world of a young mother, Tess, and her mischievous son, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie soon realises that Otto, much stronger and more dangerous than she anticipated, is her match in a battle between age and youth. 

Full of suspense and shocking twists, the novel explores manipulation, grief, and power. Boston Globe says, “Bollen gleefully lays on the melodrama and teases out the unmasking of his very unreliable narrator, escalating to a cymbal-crashing finale of revelations violence.” While Publishers Weekly describes the overall package to be, “enriching the narrative with an evocative sense of atmosphere and playful riffs on The Bad Seed and Agatha Christie… a bracing ode to bad behavior.” (December 3)

Sand-Catcher by Omar Khalifah, translated by Barbara Romaine: This assured absurdist debut by a Palestinian academic focuses on four journalists at a Jordanian newspaper who are tasked with profiling one of the last surviving witnesses of the expulsion of Palestinians from their indigenous land by Israeli settlers in 1948. Comedic satire is the order of the day here—once it becomes clear that this witness has no desire to be interviewed, while the newspaper’s editor-in-chief continues to pressure the journalists to deliver. 

The novel was first published in Arabic in 2020, while the English translation was released this month. Boston Globe says, “Romaine’s translation is uniformly strong, clearly capturing the individuality of the novel’s outsize personalities.” According to The Atlantic: “If the old man’s silence frustrates and hurts his family, it outrages the reporters. This is where Khalifah’s satire is at its sharpest.” (December 3)

I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman: This dark comedy is as unhinged as it can get. FYI: It is based on a real-life incident! It follows David Alvarez—a writer who had a six-figure book deal and a love life but lost it all when his sophomore book tanks. Now, desperately looking for inspiration, he ends up on a pretty cool date with a handsome and wealthy stranger on a dating app—only to wake up to a dead body in the morning. Freaked out that he might’ve killed his date, David calls his literary agent, Stacey, to clean it all up. Kirkus Reviews deems: “For fans of Grant Ginder and Jean Hanff Korelitz, Aleman could be a writer to watch.” (December 3)

This month’s poetry pick

If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Refaat Alareer, edited by Yousef M. Aljamal: This posthumous compilation serves as a tribute to the Palestinian poet and academic, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City in December 2023. Curated by Refaat’s close friend and academic peer, the writings featured here offer an unflinchingly personal first-hand experience of life under occupation. 

While there’s plenty of previously unreleased work to be found, the centrepiece is his poem ‘If I Must Die’—which was first published a month before his death and further popularised by Brian Cox’s recitation. The Guardian says, “the book is shot through with death, its chronological chapters proceeding through years of violent, compounding siege.” According to Current Affairs: “Alareer did his best to immortalise the people he cared about most in poetry, complete with all the idiosyncratic details of their histories and personalities.” (December 3)

The best of the non-fiction list

Ananda by Karan Madhok: Named after the Sanskrit word meaning ‘bliss’, this is a part-history, part-travelogue of ganja, or cannabis. Madhok ties together textual mythological references with his own research, as he hits the road in search of the different strains of Indian stoners’ favourite plant. Along the way, he also chronicles the consumption culture that surrounds ganja across the country—from bhang devotees to prescribed therapeutics. It’s a trip in more ways than one. (December 5)  

Cabin by Patrick Hutchison: This memoir takes us through the author’s monotonous and unfulfilling office life to renovating a run-down off-the-grid cabin in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state he bought off Craigslist. What was an impulsive buy for Patrick Hutchison turned out to be exactly what he needed. In the six years of restoring the cabin to its glory, he fell in love with the place and process of construction—both of which he knew nothing of before. Now, he’s a full-time carpenter. New York Times calls the book “funny, philosophical, chainsaw-wielding history.” (December 3)

Giant Love by Julie Gilbert: Delves into the life of Edna Ferber, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Giant, whose 1952 novel about Texas sparked fierce protests from oil-rich Texans. The book traces Ferber's journey from a maverick reporter to a beloved American novelist and playwright. It also explores the creation of the epic film adaptation directed by George Stevens, with insights into the tumultuous filming process in Marfa, Texas. This book highlights the dynamic between Ferber, Stevens, and the iconic actors as they brought the novel to life on screen. 

As for the reviews, Washington Post describes it as, “a vivid portrait of the woman who produced a landmark novel that inspired a film that has become essential to modern cinema.” New York Times calls it, “a tender and patient homage to a titan of American letters who has fallen most grievously out of fashion.” (December 3)

A Century of Tomorrows by Glenn Adamson: Before the 20th century, our futures were predicted by priests and prophets. But as people started reading data, there came a more reliable way to predict the future. This book’s all about how the world changed when we started ‘forecasting’ with the help of science and technology—from predicting the colour of the year to the many futures with AI. Glenn Adamson uses examples of self-proclaimed futurologists such as Buckminster Fuller and Stewart Brand, and more, and presents how we construct the predictions for the many futures yet to come. In New York Times’ POV, the book “offers a hurtling history of the art, science and big business of looking ahead.” Kirkus Reviews gives it a more poetic review by calling it an “illuminating look at past and present efforts to gaze into the crystal ball.”