The best literature published this year served as a reminder to value our interpersonal connections, no matter their shape.
www.muskiejakes.com
These books underlined the impact of those close to us as well as those whose physical presence has passed but whose memories remain in our hearts.
www.muskiejakes.com
Dani Shapiro's first book in 15 years, Signal Fires, starts off with a depressing conclusion. In 1985, three inebriated teens engage in a tragic vehicle excursion.
Signal Fires, Dani Shapiro
www.muskiejakes.com
Everyone in 1920s New York knows Benjamin and Helen Rask, a wealthy couple who are comfortably seated at the top of the financial world.
Trust, Hernan Diaz
www.muskiejakes.com
Douglas Stuart's 2020 Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain sequel is crueler. Young Mungo, about two teenage boys' unlikely first love, depicts Glasgow's working class.
Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart
www.muskiejakes.com
In his poetic and vibrant debut novel If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery introduces Trelawny, the lone American-born member of a Jamaican family.
If I Survive You
www.muskiejakes.com
The protagonist of the book, an unnamed English professor, has to deal with the stigma that her husband's college student liaisons have at their place of employment.
Vladimir, Julia May Jonas
www.muskiejakes.com
Agnès learned that her childhood best friend Fabienne died. Agnès, now an American woman, remembers growing up in France with Fabienne and her critical choice:
The Book of Goose
www.muskiejakes.com
Unidentified author travels to London. Everywhere she walks, she senses the presence and absence of her recently deceased mother.
The Hero of This Book
www.muskiejakes.com
Is Diet Coke Bad for You? A Review of the Evidence