Word’s picks: “City of Ghosts,”
by Victoria Schwab
Victoria Schwab has yet again astonished me with her writing. It is amazing to see how effortlessly she goes from writing young-adult to adult to — in this case — a middle grade novel. “City of Ghosts” is a super quick and very enjoyable read, full of history and ghost stories, with likable characters and fantastic and gripping storytelling.
— Eve Guerrero, Word [126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.com].
Community Bookstore’s pick:
“The Word For Woman Is Wilderness,” by Abi Andrews
In this remarkable debut novel, Andrews winds her characters through landscapes of wilderness, from Greenland to Alaska. Entangling fiction, history, and the poetic reverence of the best nature writing, it is an urgent call — both a vital feminist critique of the myth of the wilderness-dwelling wise-man hermit, from Thoreau to John Muir to Ted Kaczynski; and a reclamation of that project for a new pluralistic generation of seekers.
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore [43 Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.communitybookstore.net].
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick: “American Spy,” by Lauren Wilkinson
Wilkinson’s debut novel is a mixture of historical fiction, family drama, race politics, and spy thriller. She does not sacrifice one genre for another, and they all unfold with equal importance. Written as a letter to the narrator’s children, the novel is told in a wonderfully intricate and intimate style. I hope this book gets optioned into a film. Ruth Negga for the lead!
— Dante Bostic, Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com].
