More books have arrived in my pandemic apartment of doom! Honestly, this is going to be endless because I buy books faster than I can organize them. After all, I am a book dork.
Today’s lot features a few new novels and two academic works that might be of interest to some of you. Not that we’ll get to read everything given how utterly wonky the world is right now. But I’m certainly going to try!
Here’s what I got:
- Pacific Islands Writing: The Postcolonial Literatures of Aotearoa / New Zealand and Oceania by Michelle Keown (Oxford University Press)
I’ve wanted this book for quite a while. Back when I was regularly teaching literature courses, I tried to include Pacific Islander writing in some of my world literature stuff. But finding easily accessible works was…difficult. In my research, I stumbled upon this book, which I haven’t been able to get until now! I am stoked to dig into it. - Hearts of Oak by Eddie Robson (Tor)
PKD is mentioned on the front cover blurb. That usually does it for me.However, as one of several books that came up in my search for new-ish books I should buy to support authors, Hearts of Oak stuck out to me as “my kind of book.” Of course, the back cover might have had something to do with it. “It’s about town planning, it’s about talking cats, and it’s about the nature of reality” is the kind of statement you use to get me interested. So here I am. - Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
A long time ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Silvia about Signal to Noise, a book I absolutely adore. So it’s really an obvious choice to buy one of her newer novels. This one features Mexican folklore and the Jazz Age, the former of which I am curious about and the latter of which is very much in my musical jam house (Louis Armstrong FTW!). Of course, knowing Silvia’s work, I expect there’ll be some new musical references here. Good. My music list needs to get longer. - The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media edited by Lisa A. Lewis (Routledge)
This is another book that came up during my Digital Fandom class that I’ve been meaning to read. It contains some pretty important essays in Fandom Studies, so I imagine I’ll spend a lot of time inside its pages. Fandom Studies is seriously a fascinating subject, y’all! - Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn (MCD)
Yet another “must support the authors” book. This one features a lot of the unusual literary supernaturalism I love. Washburn’s novel is an exploration of family and meaning in America filled with a critical look at U.S.-American culture. Plus, there’s sharks. Literary magic sharks. What more could you ask for?
And there you have it. What books have you recently acquired? Comment below!
