News in December 2021

News in December 2021

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VIRTUE by Hermione Hoby has enjoyed another wave of strong press. The novel was included on book-of-the-year roundups from Good Housekeeping and Esquire, the latter of which places VIRTUE at the top of its list and describes it as a “trenchant story of complacency and social consciousness.” Riverhead Books published the novel on July 20, 2021.

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EVERYTHING NOW by Rosecrans Baldwin was named one of the “15 Best Book Covers of 2021” by the AV Club. They write: "The fuzzy, black-and-white photographs, the sans serif font, the vaguely unintentional arrangement of it all—the cover of Rosecrans Baldwin’s collection of essays about L.A. screams zine, as though you’re about to have it shoved into your hand by someone standing outside Amoeba. It gives the sense of the book having arisen from the ground level of the city. You can almost feel the heat of the sun—or the copier machine." MCD published the book on June 15, 2021.

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THE ONES WHO DON'T SAY THEY LOVE YOU by Maurice Carlos Ruffin was named one of the “15 Best Book Covers of 2021” by the AV Club. They write: "This is the only cover on the list that doesn’t rely on imagery. Sure, there’s that fleur-de-lis inside the ‘o’ in ‘LOVE’—a hint at the New Orleans setting for Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s short stories—but that’s it. Instead what is most notable is the cover’s attractive typeface and intriguing layout. With the overlapping of the letters in ‘ONES’ and ‘DON’T,’ what at first appears straightforward and even staid is very subtly transgressed." One World published the novel on August 17, 2021.

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Goop named Robert Jones, Jr.'s THE PROPHETS as one of its best-of books of 2021, describing the novel as "break-your-heart stunning love story.” Book Riot also featured the novel on its Best Books of 2021 list. Carole V. Bell of Book Riot raves: “[A]n extraordinary historical novel [and] a defiantly poetic story of great love growing in a place of hate…Jones Jr. handles the multiple moving parts and perspectives masterfully — joy and beauty juxtaposed against pain to devastating effect. Truly, this book gutted me and I was grateful for it.” G.P. Putnam’s sons published the novel on January 5, 2021.

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THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING by David Graeber and David Wengrow is Anthony Doerr’s selection for The Guardian’s compilation of guest authors’ favorite books of the year. Doerr writes: “David Graeber and David Wengrow offer an engrossing series of insights into how ‘the conventional narrative of human history is not only wrong, but quite needlessly dull.’ They re-inject humanity into our distant forebears.” Science News also named THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING one of their favorite books of 2021, praising: “This provocative history challenges the conventional wisdom that societies progressed through a series of stages that inevitably led to inequalities — instead arguing that people have experimented with a variety of social systems since the Stone Age.” Farrar, Straus, & Giroux published the book on November 9, 2021 from Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

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UNWINDING ANXIETY by Judson Brewer is one of The New York Times’ “8 Favorite Books in 2021 for Healthy Living.” Columnist Tara Parker-Pope writes: “Dr. Brewer, the director of research and innovation at the Mindfulness Center at Brown, is my go-to source for insights about anxiety and stress because he always has simple, science-based hacks to help calm the mind…Dr. Brewer’s innovative approach in his new book is to view anxiety as a habit that can be broken — or at least interrupted, and he offers a step-by-step plan for how to do it.” Avery published the book on March 9, 2021.

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THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. has been recognized on a plethora of best-of lists for 2021, including lists from The New York Times, TIME (“a tender and passionate story of queer Black love, told with a lyricism that justifies the many comparisons to Toni Morrison [Jones Jr.] has received”), NPR, Amazon Books, BookPage, The Orange County Register, and Debutiful. G. P. Putnam’s Sons published the novel on January 5, 2021.

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Maggie Nelson's ON FREEDOM has been named a best-of book of 2021 by The Washington Independent Review of Books, NPR, Oprah Daily, and The Washington Post. BUST magazine also lauded ON FREEDOM in their recent issue, writing: ""There are few cultural critics with as much name recognition as MacArthur 'genius' grant recipient Maggie Nelson, author of nine books, including 2015’s New York Times bestseller, THE ARGONAUTS. Her latest, ON FREEDOM: FOUR SONGS OF CARE AND CONSTRAINT, wades into the cultural discourse around what we are and are not free from. With clear purpose and without hesitation, she tackles freedom through four main lenses—art, drugs, sex, and the environment…This fast-paced collection will leave readers with a lot to ponder, to learn, and to unlearn. It might even prompt one to stay up late blowing up her group chat. Nelson remains respectful of her complex subject matter, never dismissing or oversimplifying what is quite possibly the most important question of our era: Can we ever be truly free?" Graywolf Press published the book on September 7, 2021.

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Debutiful named Jamie Figueroa's BROTHER, SISTER, MOTHER, EXPLORER as one of “The Best Debut Novels of 2021.” Catapult published the novel on March 2, 2021.

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Kiese Laymon's reissued essay collection HOW TO SLOWLY KILL YOURSELF AND OTHERS IN AMERICA was named one of The New York Times' “100 Most Notable Books of 2021.” Scribner published the essay collection on November 10, 2020.

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Dawnie Walton's debut novel, THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV, was named a best-of book of 2021 by Kirkus Reviews, Amazon Books, NPR, and The Washington Post. 37 Ink published the novel on March 30, 2021.

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Olivia Laing's essay collection EVERYBODY is one of Kirkus’ “Best Nonfiction Books of the Year.” W.W. Norton & Company published the book on May 4, 2021.