August 9, 2025
These five books are marked by a similar quality: it is hard to stop reading them once you’ve begun. Three are novels—a kidnapping plot gone awry in modern China; hunting dangerous animals in Australia; and a fast-paced roman à clef by an award-winning writer. Two books are nonfiction: one that reads like fiction, a propulsive retelling of a married couple’s hellacious year at sea; and beautifully crafted essays from a much-loved author.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
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People Like Us
By JASON MOTT
Published by DUTTON
In 2021, Mott (Hell of a Book) won the National Book Award for Fiction and really hit his stride as a novelist. His raucous follow-up features a protagonist on a book tour for his award-winning novel, flying to Europe, telling his seatmate he is Ta-Nehisi Coates. Not everyone loves him, in fact a shadowy figure seems hellbent on killing him. His friend, Soot, who lives in North Carolina, has been invited to speak at a Midwest college where they are reeling from a school shooting. We learn his daughter lost her life the same way. You might recognize many characters and incidents from Mott’s previous novel and his own experiences. Begun as a memoir, Mott says he found that “exploring truth requires the framework of fiction.”
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Women, Seated
By ZHANG YUERAN
Published by RIVERHEAD
Translated by Jeremy Tiang
Set in contemporary Beijing, Yueran’s novel has many terrific plot lines: the potential kidnapping of a spoiled boy who is often left alone by his artist mother and politician father; the purchase of a goose (a subplot of its own) during the alleged ‘spring outing’ (what his nanny called it, but it’s actually part of a plan to ransom the boy); the disgraceful fall of the grandfather, a politician in the Communist Party; and the disappearance of the boy’s parents. It is a thriller wrapped in subtle humor which the author uses to great effect as she juggles characters and storylines in an impressive exploration of politics, class, and wealth.
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Dusk
By ROBBIE ARNOTT
Published by ASTRA HOUSE
The title refers not to the time of day but to the name given to a dangerous puma allegedly stalking shepherds in the Tasmanian Highlands. Arnott doesn’t have a slow build—right away he introduces his protagonists, Iris and Floyd (twins, progeny of alcoholics), who have been hearing the rumors. “There was a bounty, apparently. A decent price.” Down on their luck they decide to go for it. In writing about this mysterious dangerous animal, Arnott “wanted [Dusk] to be an omnipresent threat that we also forget about… So when she appears, she feels both surprising and inevitable.” This is a great summer read—plunging you into both an atmospheric location and a heart-pounding story.
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A Marriage at Sea
By SOPHIE ELMHIRST
Published by RIVERHEAD
This is riveting stuff. The setup is ripe for nail-biting: a husband and wife, Maurice and Maralyn, with quite opposite personalities, set out on a sailboat in the early ’70s from England to New Zealand. Though nine months go fairly well, on their way to the Galapagos, a whale upends their boat. For the next 117 days, they are afloat on a tiny rubber raft, surviving primarily because Maralyn is ingenious about finding ways to stay alive. It is also a compelling look at a marriage under duress in the most dire circumstances. Elmhirst tells us: “What else is a marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive?”
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Putting Myself Together
By JAMAICA KINCAID
Published by FSG
Caribbean writer Jamaica Kincaid has written for the New Yorker and other publications for over 50 years. In this essay collection, introduced by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., you will discover pieces about her early life in Antigua; some short fiction; interviews and profiles (as with the South African playwright Athol Fugard); and introductions to her previous books (like My Favorite Plant—she is an obsessive gardener). Kincaid’s trajectory from the daughter of a taxi driver in St. John’s to an au pair in Westchester, and then marriage to the son of the New Yorker’s fabled editor in 1979 is captivating. Her shimmering prose makes it the perfect book to pick up, put down, and pick up again.
