QUIRKY, BITTERSWEET FABLE of an eccentric family seen through a child’s eyes. Prizewinning French novel newly translated! SOLID B

WAITING FOR BOJANGLES (HARDCOVER)
Simon & Schuster
2019

A SHADY LADY FLEES her life of crime in 1921 New York, takes refuge in Portland’s “premier Negro hotel,” and helps uncover Klan crimes and other horrors. Fascinating, serious thriller. B PLUS

THE PARAGON HOTEL
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
2019

A WILD RIDE OF A THRILLER pits national treasure Bill Walton and broadcasting partner Dan Pasch against some really bad dudes. Sharp, funny writing! A MINUS

FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
James Kirkland
2019

LOVINGLY ACERBIC COMEDY of manners follows an upper-middle-class family’s summer of self-doubt in perfectly crafted prose. A MINUS

CHEER UP, MR. WIDDICOMBE
Atria Books
2019

A DAUGHTER’S LOVE LETTER to her fierce, complex Chicana mother, and to the cultures that shaped her. Raw and passionate. B PLUS

NATIVE COUNTRY OF THE HEART (HARDCOVER)
Farrar
2019

BEAUTIFUL, SURREAL Hungarian essays take a lighthearted approach to the most serious subjects, and vice versa. B PLUS

NIGHT SCHOOL (PAPERBACK)
Open Letter
2019

KEEN-EYED YET WHIMSICAL essays from a New Zealand poet shine with love and bewilderment and beautiful words. B PLUS

CAN YOU TOLERATE THIS? (HARDCOVER)
Riverhead Books
2018

TWO WOMEN’S VENGEANCE pact unspools into bloody #MeToo payback. Sharp, timely thriller, relentless pacing. B PLUS

LAST WOMAN STANDING (HARDCOVER)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2019

SATIRE? FABLE? SCIENCE FICTION? Yes, all of these. A thirtieth-century world where advertising rules all is the setting for this delightful, surreal Gogol/Heinlein hybrid. B PLUS

BUY OR DIE: THERE COMETH A TIME OF RUTHLESS ADVERTISING.
Theodor Ventskevich
2019

THE TRAGICALLY SHORT LIFE of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, opened up beyond the merely iconic. Thoughtful writing with an emphasis on Hansberry’s politics. B PLUS

LOOKING FOR LORRAINE (HARDCOVER)
Beacon Press
2018