One of the most anticipated novels of this fall is The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which debuted at number one on the New York Times best seller list. Remarkably, its the first novel by Coates, a black activist whose previous writings have been magazine articles, essays, and nonfiction, for one of which he won the National Book Award. The Water Dancer features Hiram, born a slave and without memory of his mother, who was sold away when he was young. Hiram has a special power. This power helps him when he is plunged into a river along with his master/half-brother. He sees visions of his ancestors, followed by a woman dancing in the water, whom he realizes is his mother. Hiram escapes into the Underground, a secret network working to liberate slaves. Coates avoids even the use of slave and related words, using instead invented language: the Quality for white people and the Tasked for black.
Difficult yet ultimately rewarding family relationships are at the heart of Life and Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins. Emma has successfully built a good life for herself and teenage daughter Riley despite a rough start in life. Abandoned by her worthless father after her mothers suicide and raised by her high society grandmother Genevieve, Emma was kicked out of the house by her grandmother when she became pregnant as a teen. Now Genevieve is dying and wants to meet Riley and ask a favor of them both. Chapters are told from the perspective of different characters, so the reader gets insight into what made damaged characters the way they are. Even seemingly bad characters, it appears, have some redeeming qualities and its never too late to build relationships.
Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh is a twist-filled thriller. Eddie Flynn is the defense attorney for an actor accused of killing his wife. Flynn manages to cast doubt on the prosecutions case, but his best chance is to identify the actual killer. The actual murderer, as it turns out, is a serial killer and a member of the jury.
Randall Munroe always writes entertaining, humorous and enlightening nonfiction, and is the creator of the popular-among-geeks webcomic xkcd. In How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, Munroe considers outlandish answers to questions such as how to throw a pool party when you dont have a pool, and how to build a lava moat. Along with the text, he uses the doodles or stick figures for which he is known from xkcd to well, entertain and enlighten. The book is good fun and youll learn a lot along the way.
