December 17, 2024, 4:34am
The holidays are approaching, and, with them, the end of 2024. As we near December’s various holidays and the start of an unpredictable 2025, observant readers will doubtless see that there haven’t been as many new books to list here as usual. This often happens in the publishing industry around this time of year, and the larger round-ups of books you’ve come to expect will return in the new year, when the pace of publishing quickens once more.
Article continues after advertisement
But with all of that said, I still have a selection of new titles out today that are worth checking out, some of which are new editions or revisions of beloved classics. There’s especially a lot of fiction to consider today.
In fiction, we have Suat Derviş’s classic Turkish novel The Prisoner of Ankara, which has been compared to Dostoevsky; Blake Butler’s Lynchian novel Void Corporation, which is a reworking of his 2020 work Alice Knott; a deluxe edition of Finnish folklore and myths in Emily Rath’s fantasy North Is the Night; an extra-deluxe edition of Dumas’ lesser-known entry in the Musketeers series, The Man in the Iron Mask; LH Moore with an experimental compilation of short stories, poems, and essays; and more. And in nonfiction, we have Ingrid D. Rowland on artistic lies; Mary E. Hicks on the complex role of Black mariners during the transatlantic trade; and Marc Leepson with a Vietnam War memoir praised by Tim O’Brien.
It’s a shorter list, but there are still titles to be excited about, as well as books that might double as excellent gifts. Let those to-be-read piles grow.
*
Suat Dervis, The Prisoner of Ankara (trans. Maureen Freely)
(Other Press)
“Set in the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire, The Prisoner of Ankara is a vivid and evocative novel, reminiscent of Dostoevsky, that brings to life the despair of prison and poverty, the sorrow of loving an illusion, and the hope that exists in humanity’s compassion for each other, despite it all.”
–Jamila Ahmed
Emily Rath, North Is the Night: Deluxe Limited Edition
(Erewhon)
“Rich, vivid, and brimming with emotion, North Is the Night pays touching homage to Finnish culture and mythology while forging a unique path all its own….[W]eep and cheer for Siiri and Aina as they find their strength and claim their power.”
–Vaishnavi Patel
Blake Butler, Void Corporation
(Archway Editions)
“Blake Butler is one of our most fearless insurgents against the numbing flow of contemporary life. With [Void Corporation, a revised version of Alice Knott] he’s created a Lynchian fever dream about the voracious march of capitalism and the vulnerable place of art in our society, with vividly crisp sentences and syntax that could cut diamonds.”
–Catherine Lacey
Ingrid D. Rowland, The Lies of the Artists: Essays on Italian Art, 1450 – 1750
(MIT Press)
“Rowland is a respected historian at the University of Notre Dame who has written a series of books about the art of the Renaissance. This collection of essays focuses on artists who “lied”: that is, who were able to depict reality in a way that went beyond the realistic to reach a sublime level. This was considered a pinnacle of achievement, and Rowland traces the idea through some of the key works of the era….A novel approach to Renaissance art.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Marc Leepson, The Unlikely War Hero: A Vietnam War POW’s Story of Courage and Resilience in the Hanoi Hilton
(Stackpole Books)
“What a strange, fascinating, and ultimately powerful account of one man’s endurance of life as a POW during the American war in Vietnam. Doug Hegdahl, the youngest and lowest ranking prisoner in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, survived with a mix of courage and cunning, fortitude and the wiliness of a fox. This book, I believe, will stand the test of time as one of the finest nonfiction narratives to emerge from the Vietnam War.”
–Tim O’Brien
Mary E. Hicks, Captive Cosmopolitans: Black Mariners and the World of South Atlantic Slavery
(Omohundro Institute / University of North Carolina Press)
“Persuasively argued, absorbing, and deeply researched, Captive Cosmopolitans offers a much-needed, major study of Black mariners’ lives, mobility, and influence…masterfully uncovers the tensions of these sailors’ roles within the transatlantic slave trade….This work stands on par with the best scholarship on Atlantic history, reshaping our understanding of slavery, maritime labor, and cosmopolitanism in the early modern era.”
–Roquinaldo Ferreira
LH Moore, Breath of Life
(Apex Book Company)
“Moore explores the geologic past and the distant future in her eclectic debut collection of nine short stories, two essays, and two poems. Most of the stories are historical horror….The essays…focus on Moore’s experience working as a ghost hunter and a speculative fiction writer, respectively…there’s plenty to enjoy, and those who have followed Moore’s work…will be glad to find it collected in one place.”
–Publishers Weekly
Charif Majdalani, A History of the House (trans. Ruth Diver)
(Other Press NY)
“With a literary style and leisurely flow, French Lebanese writer Majdalani thoroughly details the narrator’s journey as they meander through a hundred years of family history. Originally published in French in 2005, this lavishly written family saga retains its elegant storytelling through Diver’s translation.”
–Booklist
Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask (Collector’s Edition)
(Revive Classics)
“A complex tapestry of fact and fiction and of the personal and the political, The Man in the Iron Mask serves as a moving and psychologically nuanced conclusion to the Musketeer trilogy.”
–Barbara T. Cooper
J.A. Jance, Cruel Intent
(Gallery Books)
“Jance, whose books are read by millions, is on to something.”
–Kathleen Daley
