Happy’s Best New Books (18th October – 24th October)
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!
David Sedaris – A Carnival of Snackery
The Sedaris style is a difficult one made to look easy. How can a person’s observations on the broadest possible range of topics, from the banal to world-changing, be so goddamn funny? Spanning much of the last two decades, A Carnival of Snackery sees Sedaris in full flight, bouncing from pinpoint observations of single people, to broader bemusement at the state of the world. As with all Sedaris volumes, it’s curiously life-affirming, but still with a healthy amount of snark, and sharp as a razor.
9.6
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DAVID SEDARIS
A CARNIVAL OF SNACKERY
Michelle de Kretser – Scary Monsters
Scary Monsters is the thrilling and thought-provoking return of the acclaimed Sri Lankan-Australian author, Michelle de Kretser. Grappling with the larger themes of racism, misogyny and ageism, time is also warped in this unsettling two-part tale: the tale of Lili is told in the ’80s, while the story of Lyle lies somewhere in the near future. A radically original and unexpectedly funny meditation on how the past can dramatically alter our trajectory.
9.5
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MICHELLE DE KRETSER
SCARY MONSTERS
Ed Ayres – Whole Notes
Author, radio presenter, and musician Ed Ayres’ connection with music is lifelong. For him, it’s more than a practical skill — music gave him the tools to navigate some of life’s most significant challenges, including transition. Whole Notes: Life Lessons Through Music elegantly encapsulates the message the lies in the heart of the many musicians and music teachers: our constantly evolving relationship with the art and natural phenomenon of music is powerful enough to sustain a full and curious life.
9.3
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ED AYRES
WHOLE NOTES
Claire Messud – A Dream Life
A slight, pithy, and smart novel, Claire Messud’s A Dream Life delves into the sensation of displacement writ large. The family at the centre of the story, the Armstrongs, relocate from New York to a provincial outpost at the end of the earth in the early 1970s, otherwise known as Sydney. Ostensibly a marker of success and elevation in status, protagonist Alice and her family’s troubled navigation of this new life is at the heart of this story. A Dream Life is woven together with Messud’s supremely pitched dialogue and subtly observational prose.
9.3
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CLAIRE MESSUD
A DREAM LIFE
Amitav Ghosh – The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
Upheaval has rocked the planet in the last two years. The pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and the ongoing threat to the environment have forced a historical reckoning. In The Nutmeg’s Curse, Amitav Ghosh brings these threads together in the context of colonialism. The nutmeg tree is a catalyst for Ghosh to set up his compelling argument: climate change has roots that stretch back to the world order established by colonial exploitation.
9.4
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AMITAV GHOSH
THE NUTMEG’S CURSE
Christelle Dabos – The Storm of Echoes: The Mirror Visitor Book 4
Supercharged by the partnership between Ophelia and Thorn, The Storm of Echoes marks a riveting climax to The Mirror Visitor quartet. A bona fide YA fantasy sensation, these two characters are at the centre of Dabos’ epically imagined world. The stakes couldn’t be higher as our heroes attempt to discover the truth behind the Other; readers are simply carried away by the power of this superbly paced, heart-stopping narrative.
9.1
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