#ShadyLadiesList: January 2020
Winter means more time with books.
Specifically, more time with books and a glass of wine in the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Kresge Court.
And on Friday nights, they’re open late! So grab a book and come on over. You’ll find me reading to compile the monthly #ShadyLadiesList of emerging women authors being published that month.
Here’s our list of books that we loved or are most looking forward to for January 2020. See something you like? Call your local bookstore.
The titles are organized alphabetically.
💋 Amy
💖 = Loved 📚 = received a review copy
FICTION
AMERICAN DIRT
By Jeanine Cummins
Flatiron Books | Jan. 21, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
Stephen King and Oprah love it. So does Sandra Cisneros. But Cumnins has come under attack for cultural appropriation of her novel about a Mexican family fleeing their homes. You decide what you think. “An extraordinary piece of work, a perfect balancing act with terror on one side and love on the other.” - Stephen King, author of The Shining
FICTION 💖📚
CREATURES
By Crissy Van Meter
Algonquin Books | Jan. 7, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
”Creatures is a gift of a book, an intelligent and empathetic look at how it feels to love and to suffer, to live with the urge "to keep going away, alone, without anyone who can hurt and ruin and break and die." — NPR
NONFICTION
HARVEST THE VOTE
by Jane Kleeb
Ecco | Jan. 21, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Grassroots organizer and Nebraska Democratic Party chair Kleeb debuts with a savvy political strategy guide for Democrats looking to make inroads in rural communities that typically vote Republican. . . Her advice is cogent and well-supported by both history and personal experience.” — Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
SABOTAGE
By Anastasia Nesvetailova, Ronen Palan
PublicAffairs | Jan. 28, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Two London-based economics professors argue that banks make much of their profit not by serving depositors and borrowers fairly but rather by cheating. . . Useful reading for readers seeking a mostly accessible overview of the banking industry.” — Kirkus Reviews
TRUE CRIME
THE THIRD RAINBOW GIRL
By Emma Copley Eisenberg
Hachette Books | Jan. 21, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
"For the indefatigable Emma Eisenberg, approaching the murders at Briery Knob is about more than who fired the gun. An affection for this law-resistant corner of West Virginia enables her to transcend the simple formula of white male rage. She extracts a nuanced sense of place and draws a map with historical connections." - Nancy Isenberg, author of White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
NONFICTION
THINK OUTSIDE THE BUILDING
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
PublicAffairs | Jan. 28, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
"I feel so strongly about this book and its message that I want everyone who aspires to make a difference to read it. It is the quintessential guide for answering the question we all eventually ask: Have I accomplished my purpose in life? Here are the personal tools for getting it done." - Robert A. McDonald, retired chairman, president & CEO of Procter & Gamble
NONFICTION 📚
WHEN IT WAS GRAND
By LeeAnna Keith
Hill and Wang | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
A group biography of the activists who defended human rights and defined the Republican Party’s greatest hour.
MEMOIR 💖
BECOMING A MAN
By P. Carl
Simon & Schuster | Jan. 7, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
Read his gorgeous New York Times Magazine essay here.
“A memoir that is jolting, honest, passionate and beautifully written… Becoming a Man explores one man’s gender transition amid a pivotal political moment in America.” - Claudia Rankine, poet, essayist and playwright
NONFICTION
EDGE
By Laura Huang
Portfolio | Jan. 28, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Edge is fun to read, beautifully written and resonant—a worthy addition to every entrepreneur's toolbox. Laura Huang is a powerful new voice for those that seek to make a ruckus.” — Seth Godin
FICTION 📚
LITTLE GODS
by Men Jin
Custom House | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Meng Jin is a writer whose sweep is as intimate as it is global. Little Gods is a novel about the heart-wracking ways in which we move through history and time. A fierce and intelligent debut.” — Colum McCann, author of New York Times bestseller Let the Great World Spin
FICTION
THE MAJESTIES
By Tiffany Tsao
Artia Books | Jan. 21, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Tsao spins a Crazy Rich Asians-esque saga of family wealth and deception as a nasty-fun murder mystery chronicling the events leading up to a woman's poisoning of her extended clan." —Entertainment Weekly
SHORT STORIES
SHOW THEM A GOOD TIME
By Nicole Flattery
Bloomsbury Publishing | Jan. 28, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Nicole Flattery's Show Them a Good Time was a fabulously entertaining record of what this gifted writer has been up to in the realm of short fiction-it's very funny stuff. The pages just glide by, but there's really difficult material and really knotty emotions thrumming along just beneath the blithe surface of things.” — The Millions // “Affecting and darkly funny . . . An offbeat yet moving look at contemporary womanhood.” ―TIME Magazine
MEMOIR 📚
UNCANNY VALLEY
By Anna Wiener
MCD | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
"Uncanny Valley is a different sort of Silicon Valley narrative, a literary-minded outsider’s insider account of an insulated world that isn’t as insular or distinctive as it and we assume . . . Through [Wiener's] story, we begin to perceive how much tech owes its power, and the problems that come with it, to contented ignorance." — The Atlantic
MEMOIR
WHY RELIGION?
By Elaine Pagels
Ecco | Jan. 21, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Pagels leads us through the remarkable events of her life by considering the consolations and the tortures of faith.” - The Washington Post
NONFICTION
BLACK WAVE
By Kim Ghattas
Henry Holt and Co. | Jan. 28, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“Kim Ghattas is a superb writer and reporter, which makes Black Wave an accessible and very interesting account of the sectarian schism and regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia that has riven the Middle East for decades.”
- Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt
FICTION 💖📚
FOLLOWERS
By Megan Angelo
Graydon House | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“This dark, pitch-perfect novel about our dependence on technology for validation and human connection is as addictive as social media itself.” — People “You can’t put it down.” — Vogue
FICTION 📚
SALTWATER
by Jessica Andrews
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“The protagonist of Jessica Andrews’s debut novel is a young woman trying to carve out a place in the world. It’s a standard coming-of-age narrative, but also features something very rare in literary fiction: a working-class heroine, written by a young working-class author.” — The Guardian
FICTION
THE PRIZED GIRL
By Amy K. Green
Dutton | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
"So fun and gritty! Couldn't put it down, and then couldn't stop thinking about it once I finished." — Georgia Hardstark, cohost of My Favorite Murder // “A darkly funny thriller with a shocker ending.” —People
FICTION
TOPICS OF CONVERSATION
By Miranda Popkey
Knopf | Jan. 7, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
"Sally Rooney-esque. . . Popkey's sentences careen breathlessly as her halting, staccato prose mirrors the "churning" within the narrator's mind... Her manner of parceling out information evoke at times the fragmentary and diaristic sensibilities of Jenny Offill's "Dept. of Speculation"... a shrewd record of the act of unflinchingly circling these amorphous notions of pain, desire and control." — The New York Times Book Review
FICTION
We Wish You Luck: A Novel
By Caroline ZancanRiverhead Books | Jan. 14, 2020
Read an excerpt here
“A coming-of-age story filled with fascinating, richly imagined characters, Zancan tells the story of writers and their intricate, at times darkly ruinous desires. It’s rare to describe a book about writing as ‘addictive,’ but that’s exactly what Zancan has done here.”
—Hala Alyan, author of Salt Houses
NONFICTION
WHY WE CAN’T SLEEP
By Ada Calhoun
Grove Press | Jan. 7, 2020
Read an excerpt here.
“This is the book of our generation. Ada Calhoun brilliantly encapsulates the struggle and confusion that is the Gen X woman’s experience in middle age. Sbe makes sense of how it is that we’re so surprised that we have failed at having it all. - Janet Krone Kennedy, founder of NYC Sleep Doctor
Caveat 1: I do my best to make this list as complete as possible, but I may miss a few. Hit me up if you know someone who should be included. Caveat 2: I don't feature self-published authors. Caveat 3: I don’t keep a list for poetry or genre (romance, horror, etc.). It’s not because they aren’t worthy. They are. I just don’t prefer them. Caveat 4: If you see 📚, it means I was provided an advanced review copy of the book free of charge or promise of coverage. Caveat 5: Support your local bookseller!