Happy’s Best New Books
Updated weekly by the fine folk at Happy Mag, these are the best new books that this week has to offer from Australia and around the world!
Jane Harper – Exiles
Exiles is Jane’s 5th novel and the 3rd featuring the now legendary detective Aaron Falk. The story unfolds at a busy festival site on a warm spring night, where a baby lies alone in her pram, and her mother vanishes into the crowds. A year on, Kim Gillespie’s disappearance can still be felt, as her friends and loved ones gather in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations is Federal Investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the heart of the wine country, he begins to see that this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as old truths begin to emerge.
JANE HARPER
EXILES
Sloane Crosley – Cult Classic
Lola takes a journey through love via what appears to be chance encounters with lovers from her past. Its not always easy to find closure on relationships that didn’t work out for what may seem like a myriad of reasons, but Lola has been given the rare opportunity to do just that. Little does she know, that her best friend and her former boss – a magazine editor turned mystical guru – have been controlling these happenstance meetings, that force Lola to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspirings of what appears to be a very contemporary cult.
SLOANE CROSLEY
CULT CLASSIC
Lisa Taddeo – Ghost Lover
A stunning collection of shorts from one of America’s finest talents. From the CEO who surrounds herself with an army of cool and beautiful girls who manage the dating service Ghost Lover to a star-studded political fundraiser in a LA mansion, where a trio of women vie to win the heart of the guest of honour, Taddeo shines a bright light on fever, obsession, the blindness of love, and grief.
LISA TADDEO
GHOST LOVER
Rickie Lee Jones – Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour
Rickie Lee Jones shot to fame after an appearance on SNL in 1979, singing Chuck E’s in Love, and not long after was pronounced “Duchess of Coolsville” by TIME magazine. Last Chance Texaco is an open and candid account of the life of one of rock and rolls hardest-working women. Rickie Lee Jones shares her exceptional life, with tales of her nomadic childhood, her father’s abandonment, and her years as a teenage runaway, all the way to her beginnings at LA’s Troubadour club; and her relationship with Tom Waits.
RICKIE LEE JONES
LAST CHANCE TEXACO: CHRONICLES OF AN AMERICAN TROUBADOUR
Celeste Mountjoy – What the Fuck Is This
The perennially cool and talented Celeste Mountjoy, best known for her insta moniker ‘Filthyratbag’, has spent the last year working on a new book What the fuck is this (Pan Macmillan). What the fuck is this is a stunning and original collection of illustrations and observations on what it’s like to be young and female, and exploring all of the emotions of what it means to feel your way through being a twenty-something. Mountjoy is not afraid to share, and we love her for it.
CELESTE MOUNTJOY
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS
Leila Mottley – Nightcrawling
Kiara and her brother are barely making ends meet in A dingy complex in East Oakland. Both have dreams, but both have had to drop out of high school to find jobs to survive. One night, one conversation changes everything. Kiara’s life gets turned upside down as her new job ‘nightcrawling’ leads her to be a key witness that involves a scandal within the Oakland PD. Mottley’s stunning debut novel shines a visceral light on the issues that have been left too long in the dark.
LEILA MOTTLEY
NIGHTCRAWLING
Hayley Scrivenor – Dirt Town
On a hot Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together, only Esther never makes it home. Ronnie has a plan, and she is going to find her. Her friend can’t be gone, she refuses to believe it. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it, she has seen what people can do. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible. Original in its undertaking, Dirt town delivers a novel with breathtaking depth and sensitivity, showing just how much each person matters in a community that is at once falling apart and coming together.
HAYLEY SCRIVENOR
DIRT TOWN
Mawunyo Gbogbo – Hip Hop and Hymns
A memoir of working hard and loving harder, set to an incredible playlist. ‘Hip hop and hymns: the two would always go hand in hand for me. My life would always straddle both. The sacred and the profane, all living on the same block, all divine in the end.’ Mawunyo Gbogbo is a church-going African Australian girl growing up in the sleepy mining town of Muswellbrook, NSW. From a childhood of confronting bullies at primary school to reaching high school where she falls in love with two things that will change her life forever: hip hop music and bad boy Tyce Carrington. Hip Hop & Hymns is the story of searching for where you belong, a heartfelt memoir about daring to be who you are, and what it means to be Black in Australia.
MAWUNYO GBOGBO
HIP HOP AND HYMNS
Benjamin Myers – The Perfect Golden Circle
Set in 1989, England over a very hot summer, two very different men – embark on a secret project. Under cover of darkness, the two men secretly form crop circles in complex and mysterious patterns. Over the summer, their designs become increasingly ambitious, and the two men find that their work has become a cult international sensation. In a story that uses the symbolism of the circles, to depict the futility of war, the destruction of mother nature, and inequality. At its heart, The Perfect Golden Circle a beautiful story of male friendship.
BENJAMIN MYERS
THE PERFECT GOLDEN CIRCLE
Anthony Horowitz – With a Mind to Kill
Horowitz’s third installment in the Bond saga continues with M’s funeral, but one notable person of interest is missing. Bond, accused of M’s murder has vanished. Behind the Iron Curtain, a group of former Smersh agents wants to use Bond in an operation that will tip the balance of world power in their favour. Bond finds he has been smuggled into the lion’s den to follow orders, but whose orders? And will he obey them when the moment of truth arrives? With betrayal and mistrust all around him, and one false move means death, Bond wrestles with the darkest questions about himself. As he comes to terms with not even knowing what has happened to the man he used to be.
ANTHONY HOROWITZ
WITH A MIND TO KILL
Yassmin Abdel-Magied – Talking about a Revolution
One of our brightest and most talked-about young thinkers, Yassmin Abdel- Magied’s new body of work is a deeply personal, and powerful series of essays on resistance, transformation, and revolution. After having started one of the more contentious conversations of 2017, after tweeting ‘Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)’ on ANZAC day, Yassmin Abdel-Magied is not afraid to keep the conversation going, and asks: how do we build a better world for us all?
YASSMIN ABDEL – MAGIED
TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION
Joel Meyerowitz – Redheads
Joel Meyerowitz’s Redheads was first published in 1990 to critical acclaim. This new edition features new and previously unseen portraits that explore the photographer’s fascination with the distinct hair colour, in an ode to redheaded people, young and old, male and female, in striking portraits set against the contrasting blue backdrop of Cape Cod in the late 70’s.
JOEL MEYEROWITZ
REDHEADS
Bo Seo – Good Arguments
Seo teaches the art of debating and discussion. After finding his calling in year five, Seo has won two World Champion debates and gone on to coach the Australian National Debate Team. In his new book, Seo shares insights into strategy, structure, and history. Touching on everything from Malcolm X to AI, all the while teaching the power of a good argument.
BO SEO
GOOD ARGUMENTS
Yorgos Lanthimos – The Lobster Screenplay Book
A24 films have published a stunning series of screenplay books, as a companion piece to their films. Book 008 in the Screenplay Collection includes a forward by Emma Stone, an essay by author Ottessa Moshfegh titled Blinded By Love, and behind-the-scenes set photography by Lanthimos. The photo’s of Rachel Weisz on set, and Farell smoking a ciggie on the window ledge is worth it in itself.
YORGOS LANTHIMOS
THE LOBSTER SCREENPLAY BOOK
Ann Rule – The Stranger Beside Me
A new edition of the best-selling account of one of America’s most famous serial killers by Anne Rule. Rule met a fellow co-worker, Ted Bundy whom she describes as a sensitive, charismatic young man, working the late shift at a Seattle crisis clinic. Three years later, eight young women disappeared and Anee began to investigate the case, not knowing that the brutal mass murderer was beside her the entire time.
ANN RULE
THE STRANGER BESIDE ME
John Lanchester – Reality and Other Stories
John Lanchester captures contemporary life in a very eerie and perilous manner. In his latest book, Reality and Other Stories, Lanchester takes the essence of the Turn of the Screw and mixes it with a thrilling amount of Twilight Zone, making for one hell of a ride. Highlighting disconnection and distraction, with everyday gadgets that seem to have a mind of their own, mysterious phone calls from unknown numbers, and a reality tv show that leads you to question, that maybe none of this is real.
JOHN LANCHESTER
REALITY AND OTHER STORIES
Mieko Kawakami – All the Lovers in the Night
Mieko Kawakami’s latest novel is sweet, and subtle, and leaves a lasting impact long after you’ve read the last page. Set in contemporary Tokyo, the story centers around Fuyuko, who lives alone and seems to like it that way. But deep down, she knows it’s not sustainable, and that in order to change things, she is going to have to step out of her comfort zones. Bravely, Fuyuko steps out, and it is on one of her outings that she has a chance encounter with a physics teacher, Mr. Mitstka, who befriends Fuyuko and gives her the opportunity to change her life.
MIEKO KAWAKAMI
ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT
Jay Bergen – Lennon, the Mobster & the Lawyer
A little-known court case between John Lennon and Morris Levy, the Mob-connected owner of Roulette Records. Jay Bergen, who was Lennon’s lawyer at the time, has collated over 5,000+ pages in all of the court records and has spent the last four years, transcribing, and recounting the trial as it happened. Filled with all the high drama in the courtroom, Lennon, the Mobster, and the Lawyer also captures Lennon’s life on the cusp of the birth of his second son.
JAY BERGEN
LENNON, THE MOBSTER AND THE LAWYER
Minnie Driver – Managing Expectations
Minnie Driver: A-list actor, mum, singer, and songwriter, explores in this tell-all/memoir shares tales of an extraordinary life. Honest and funny, Driver shares how the things that didn’t work out, so often worked out for the best, and how reaching for the dream is easily more interesting, expansive, sad, and funny than the dream itself coming true. Minnie states it best, ‘Now, though, I realize how apt that ambition was. It set up a template in my life of wanting something impossible to become true. How in trying to make something impossible happen, and failing repeatedly, other things happened. Things that became my life. A life I love, because it was made with so many holes that I enjoy filling in’.
MINNIE DRIVER
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
Isobel Beech – Sunbathing
Melburnian writer Isoabel Beech’s debut novel, Sunbathing is a sweet, funny, and moving exploration of life, death, and the restorative power of friendship under the warm summer sun of Abruzzo. Invited to stay with friends Giulia and Fab in an old villa in the mountains of Abruzzo, three weeks shy of their wedding, traversing through loss, and wondering how to go on, or if she can. With great feeling, Beech explores the workings of the inner self in the wake of devastation and regret and reveals the many ways that the every day can offer healing and hope.
ISOBEL BEECH
SUNBATHING