Bookshelf

(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022).
The author, a professor of English at the University of Rochester, provides what Publishers Weekly calls “an original spin on literary criticism” by exploring readers’ complex fascination with uncanny children in works of fiction — children who present odd, even frightening visions of innocence. The publisher notes, “Ranging from Victorian to modern works — Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, Henry James’s What Maisie Knew, J. M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy, Franz Kafka’s “The Cares of a Family Man,” Richard Hughes’s A High Wind in Jamaica, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Death of the Heart, and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita — Kenneth Gross’s book delves into stories that center around the figure of a strange and dangerous child.”

(San Diego: Halcyon Press, 2022).
This is a memoir of starting anew. When Jim Gibson realized he was heading in the wrong direction, he set out on a hiking journey that changed his life. According to the publisher, “His is a universal story, not just a backpacking story. Overcoming fears and phobias while awakening to the possibility of a better life, he takes us on a special trip to the mountains, a place he calls his gym and his church. His odyssey includes introspection, discovery, memorable characters, forest fires, a mountain lion encounter, Sierra history, and ultimately, meeting the love of his life. If you ever wondered ‘what if,’ this is the book to inspire you to dream and to try.”

(self-published, 2022).
The author writes, “What do you do when you lost what matters most? Who are you when the people or things that define you are taken away? Burning Faith is the story of a congregation that loses its church. However, this novel is not so much a story of loss as it is about discovery. A parish loses a building but find its faith. An ambitious minister loses his legacy but finds his hope. This is not only the journey for a church in New England. It’s also the journey of anyone seeking an authentic spiritual life. The people of St. John’s Church have something important to teach us about what such a journey requires — and how God shows us every step of the way.”

(Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2022).

The latest from this award-winning author of books for young adults tells the stories of 15 women who changed the world through their entrepreneurship in the areas of food, fashion and clothing, health and beauty, science and technology, and education. As one reviewer noted, this book is “full of empowering stories that are sure to inspire a new generation of creative thinkers and future entrepreneurs.”

(Paris: Présence Africaine, 2022).
The French edition of the author’s novel written in 2004 places a woman as head of state in Africa, before this became a reality in Liberia. “This new version comes with a preface by writer Maryse Condé, a 2018 Alternative Nobel Prize winner. The honor of being published by Présence Africaine and prefaced by Maryse Condé is very humbling to me,” Mwantuali says.

(Washington, D.C.: Pen Women Press, 2022).
A finalist in the 2019 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing competition in the novel category, this book takes the reader into the life of a writer. One reviewer provided this summary: “A group of fledgling writers confront the suicide of their literary hero and nemesis, Adrian Gerd Wahl. Wahl is a writer’s writer, and his enviable career stands in stark contrast to these young writers’ quotidian realities. Listening to their voices, we enter into the world of writers, their habits and routines, triumphs and travails, failures and successes. As they reflect on their relationship with Wahl, speculating, emailing, texting, and tweeting about their idol, we come to know this widely published and highly celebrated author, and we share their wonderment and curiosity about the events leading up to his death. Dafoe has written a must-read — for those of us consumed with the question of why we read and why we write.”

(New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).
This book explores central questions at the heart of amateur and professional sports: Does the corrupt side of sports compromise their potential to deepen our moral lives? Are the virtues of sports even certain? The author, a leading sports philosopher, has published previously on such issues as gender equity, comparable worth, moral judgment, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

 (Fabius, N.Y.: Standing Stone Books, 2022).

This father-daughter collaboration is filled with beautiful images that capture the ever-changing beauty of the Outer Cape Cod landscape, from beaches to grasslands to waterways. The Colley family have been longtime seasonal visitors to the cape and their stunning book was featured in the August 2022 edition of Cape Cod Life. “I feel as if I’ve been at Bob Colley’s side on his walks, noticing what he notices, watching him see. His gift — the lovely, deceptive quietude of his images — invites me to pause and make my own discoveries,” noted Gregory Heisler, Distinguished Professor of Photography at Syracuse University.

 (New York: World Editions, 2022).

According to the publisher: “In what was once a Scottish tea planter’s mansion in the highlands of Peninsular Malaysia, all religions are one and race is unheard of. That is, until the occupants of what is now known as the Muhibbah Centre for World Peace are joined by Salmah, a Malay Muslim woman. ‘All are welcome here,’ they are reminded by their spiritual leader, Cyril Dragon, who is ignoring news of the changing political climate with its increasing religious intolerance. He is still trying to forget May 13, 1969, when ethnic tensions boiled over into bloodshed. Tale of the Dreamer’s Son guides us from that fateful incident in Malaysian history to the present day. Throughout, Samarasan’s polyphonic, rambunctious prose brilliantly navigates the tug-of-war between ideals and reality.”

(New York: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins, 2022).

The fourth book in the pick-your-own-path mystery series finds the Las Pistas Detective Agency on its first international case at an archaeological dig in Greece. The author creates a hilarious and interactive adventure for middle-grade readers who can choose which suspects to interview, which questions to ask, and which clues to follow as they work to crack the case!