Looking for something new to read? Check out our New and Noteworthy and Overdrive collections for some good reads to enjoy!
This blog post was written by Estelle Corlay, Duke University Libraries volunteer and graduate student in the English department at Duke.
Academic Writing as if Readers Matter by Leonard Cassuto.
If you want people to read your writing, it has to be readable. In Academic Writing as if Readers Matter, Leonard Cassuto offers academic writers a direct, practical prescription for writing that will be read and understood: Take care of your reader. With a wealth of examples from the arts and sciences, this short, witty book provides invaluable advice to writers at all levels, in all fields, on how to write better for both specialized and broad audiences.
You can learn more about this book by reading this article on Lithub.com or by listening to this interview of the author on the podcast Scholarly Communication!
American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era by Nico Lang.
Media coverage tends to sensationalize the fight over how trans kids should be allowed to live, but what is incredibly rare are the voices of the people at the heart of this debate: transgender and gender nonconforming kids themselves. For their groundbreaking new book, journalist Nico Lang spent a year traveling the country to document the lives of transgender, nonbinary, and genderfluid teens and their families. Drawing on hundreds of hours of on-the-ground interviews with them and the people in their communities, American Teenager paints a vivid portrait of what it’s actually like to grow up trans today.
Check out this review in the Washington Post to learn more!
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman.
A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place at the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. King Arthur died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left. The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. But it’s up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods return, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again–but first they’ll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.
Learn more about this retelling of Arthurian Legend in this review from the New York Times!
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad.
From the award-winning author of The Parisian and Enter Ghost comes an outstanding essay on the Palestinian struggle and the power of narrative. Nine days before October 7, 2023, award-winning author Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword, written in the early weeks of 2024, together make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what seems a turning point in the narrative of human history. Profound and moving, Hammad writes from within the moment, shedding light on the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Recognizing the Stranger is a brilliant melding of literary and cultural analysis by one of Granta ‘s Best of Young British Novelists and a foremost writer of fiction in the world today.
Read more about it in this interview in The Guardian!
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid.
It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas, and Millie Cousins–a super-senior resident assistant at Belgrade Dormitory–just wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a writer and visiting professor itching for her next big topic, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity for them to help each other further their own interests, Millie naturally jumps at the chance. But Millie’s starry-eyed hustle quickly becomes jeopardized by a lonely transfer student, unruly residents, and illicit intrigue. Both Millie and Agatha are forced to question just how much of themselves they are willing to trade to get what they want.
Find out more about this book by reading this review in the New York Times!
Wow, what a diverse selection. They all sound fascinating. I can’t decide which to read first. I am looking forward to your next suggestions. Keep ‘em coming.