march 2022 – good to read

Hanya Yanagaihara
Tracing three touching narratives across these timelines, To Paradise tells the tale of multiple characters who find connection through the space of a townhouse in Washington Square Park, New York City. Those of you who consumed Yanagihara’s most celebrated work will not be shocked to know that this book is interested in grief and suffering more than happiness and thrill. Yet, this is also a book full of magnificently painted scenes and profound connection — and despite all its painful turns, one that upholds an unshakable hope for the possibility of love.
Doubleday | January 22

Bill Hayes
Hippocrates, Plato, Galen, Susan B. Anthony, Jack LaLanne, and Jane Fonda, among many others, make appearances in Sweat, but chief among the historical figures is Girolamo Mercuriale, a Renaissance-era Italian physician who aimed singlehandedly to revive the ancient Greek “art of exercising” through his 1569 book De arte gymnastica. Though largely forgotten over the past five centuries, Mercuriale and his illustrated treatise were pioneering, and are brought back to life in the pages of Sweat. Hayes ties his own personal experience-and ours-to the cultural and scientific history of exercise, from ancient times to the present day, giving us a new way to understand its place in our lives in the 21st century.
Bloomsbury | January 22

Chuck Klosterman
In The Nineties, Chuck Klosterman makes a home in all of it: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality. In perhaps no other book ever written would a sentence like, «The video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was not more consequential than the reunification of Germany.» make complete sense. Chuck Klosterman has written a multi-dimensional masterpiece, a work of synthesis so smart and delightful that future historians might well refer to this entire period as Klostermanian. It was long ago, but not as long as it seems: The Berlin Wall fell and the Twin Towers collapsed. The 90s brought about a revolution in the human condition we’re still groping to understand.
Penguin | February 22

Zora Neal Hurston
Spanning more than thirty-five years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcases the evolution of her distinctive style as an author. You Don’t Know Us Negroes is the quintessential gathering of provocative essays from one of the world’s most celebrated writers. Spanning more than three decades and penned during the backdrop of the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, Montgomery bus boycott, desegregation of the military, and school integration, Hurston’s writing articulates the beauty and authenticity of Black life as only she could. These pages reflect Hurston as the controversial figure she was – someone who stated that feminism is a mirage and that the integration of schools did not necessarily improve the education of Black students.
HQ | March 22

Elena Ferrante
Arguably Italy’s most praised contemporary writer, Elena Ferrante — author of the adored Neapolitan Novels, The Lost Daughter, and The Lying Life of Adults — offers a rare glimpse into her life and writing process. Though the true identity of the author stills remains unknown, nosey fans can now learn more about Ferrante’s influences and battles from the genius herself. She writes about her development as both a reader and a writer, her latest considerations on modern literature, and her appreciation for talents like Emily Dickinson, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Gertrude Stein. The most emotional passages deal with the intricate legacy of women writers, a topic that Elena Ferrante no doubt knows personally.
Europa Editions | March 22