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1. Minor Black Figures<\/a> by Brandon Taylor Article continues after advertisement<\/p>\n 5 Rave \u2022 3 Positive \u201cCaptivating \u2026 The brilliance here is in Taylor\u2019s willingness, really his insistence, that we sit with Wyeth through both the mundane moments and the more thrilling times, as when he and Keating give in to their passions. What I most enjoyed while reading this book was the sense of connection and quietude in my mind as I read. Everything was deliberate, crafted with great care, and infused with life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013John Warner (The Chicago Tribune<\/a>)<\/p>\n 2. A Guardian and a Thief<\/a> by Megha Majumdar 6 Rave \u2022 1 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cManages superbly (and efficiently) to be many things: A beguilingly simple tale. A complicated morality play. A sensitive evocation of a time \u2026 Lots of novels twice as long have half as much heft \u2026 Majumdar offers readers the rare sophomore novel that outshines her justly celebrated debut. It\u2019s a contemporary classic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013Claude Peck (The Star Tribune<\/a>)<\/p>\n 3. The Wayfinder<\/a> by Adam Johnson 5 Rave \u2022 2 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt makes for an epic of extraordinary abundance, one that occupies an uncharted border region of history and supernatural invention. The cast of characters is drawn with an eye to multiplicity \u2026 Johnson is keenly alert to the dynamic, and often dangerous, potency of these stories \u2026 Such awareness lends a subtle metafictional framework to the novel, a hint of cautionary skepticism about its releases into fantasy and brushes with exoticism \u2026 Modern and mythological. It is good enough, wondrous enough, to endure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013Sam Sacks (The Wall Street Journal)<\/p>\n **<\/strong><\/p>\n Nonfiction<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n 1. Joyride: A Memoir<\/a> by Susan Orlean 8 Rave \u2022 2 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMight be the best craft book on writing you will ever read. It\u2019s not written as a craft book, of course; it\u2019s a memoir, and an entertaining one at that. But it is a memoir about how Orlean became a writer \u2026 Orlean is engaging and generous, explaining how she found ideas, honed and reported them, overcame obstacles \u2026 It is the good fortune of the rest of us to be invited along on this ebullient ride.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013Laurie Hertzel (The Boston Globe<\/a>)<\/p>\n 2. True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen<\/a> by Lance Richardson 6 Rave \u2022 2 Positive \u2022 1 Mixed \u201cUntangles the mixed observations and complaints of Peter\u2019s many friends and lovers over a life that led to the peaks of Zen. Richardson\u2019s fine-toothed research establishes Peter\u2019s importance as a writer and a singular inhabitant of his time. That is the strength of a great biography\u2014which True Nature is, illuminating Peter as an interpreter and translator of all things human as well as a defender of the natural world and everything in it, even as he inflicted great pain on his family, especially the women he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013Terry McDonnell (Alta<\/a>)<\/p>\n 3. Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat To) the Modern Dictionary<\/a> by Stefan Fatsis 5 Rave \u2022 3 Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cErudite, fascinating \u2026 While obviously appealing to word nerds and writers, Fatsis\u2019s narrative is more broadly relevant to anyone who speaks, reads, and writes in American English. It provides a thorough, thoughtful history of dictionaries and the language they both shape and record, while championing the dictionary\u2019s continued relevance in the 21st century. Lively, well-researched, and often entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013Katie Noah Gibson (Shelf Awareness<\/a>)<\/p>\n Like this:<\/p>\n Like Loading…<\/p>\n
(Riverhead)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Read an excerpt from Minor Black Figures here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fad0929d14e6294f09bb03ecc538c4af-200x300.gif\")
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(Knopf)<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/15a90f824c7e164f2c47095c28853c11-199x300.gif\")
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(MCD)<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Joyride\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/e7564339d983ca58699319bb1e728d99-196x300.gif\")
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(Avid Reader Press)<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"True](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/d815365bc5b282019ea3be5cad84b650-200x300.gif\")
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(Pantheon)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Read an interview with Lance Richardson here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Unabridged:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/8e0ac83d3d37f592c5dc8c10b9276bc6-198x300.gif\")
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(Atlantic\u00a0Monthly Press)<\/strong><\/p>\n