Friday Reads: Superstars

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Weekend, here we come with these multi-starred #FridayReads in tow:

THE MERE WIFE by Maria Dahvana Headley
“Headley’s fourth novel is a stunner: a darkly electric reinterpretation of Beowulf that upends its Old English framework to comment on the nature of heroes and how we ‘other’ those different from ourselves. A strange tale told with sharp poetic imagery and mythic fervor, Headley’s novel prompts examination of how people create or become monsters.”Booklist, starred review

“Headley recasts the geography of a place that’s most contemporary, a suburb of cul-de-sacs and playgrounds, meant to be a community but full of people who live their own isolated lives, while up on the bordering mountain of which the brochures boast, strange things are afoot… There’s not a false note in this retelling, which does the Beowulf poet and his spear-Danes proud.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

SEVERANCE by Ling Ma
“Embracing the [apocalyptic fiction] genre but somehow transcending it, Ma creates a truly engrossing and believable anti-Utopian world… [An] extraordinary debut.” — Booklist, starred review

“A biting indictment of late-stage capitalism and a chilling vision of what comes after… Ma also offers lovely meditations on memory and the immigrant experience. Smart, funny, humane, and superbly well-written.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

JUST A SHOT AWAY: Peace, Love, and Tragedy with the Rolling Stones at Altamont by Saul Austerlitz
“Austerlitz offers a blistering exploration of the deadly confluence of racism, stoned naïveté, biker belligerence, and rockstar obliviousness…at the Rolling Stones’ infamously disastrous concert in Altamont, California. This is a deeply researched and colorfully written account of the disastrous symbolic end to the 1960s.” Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A carefully constructed examination of an incident that changed the course of popular history.” Booklist, starred review

THE POISONED CITY: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy by Anna Clark
“In this complex, exquisitely detailed account, freelance journalist and Detroit Free Press contributor Clark draws on interviews, emails, and other materials to describe the ensuing [Flint, Michigan, water] catastrophe… A potent cautionary tale of urban neglect and indifference. Infuriated readers will be heartened by the determined efforts of protesters and investigative reporters.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“The state’s rampant disregard for Flint’s residents and struggling economy is mind-blowing, and the many officials (including some in the EPA) who exerted more energy covering up the crisis than stopping it emerge as cowards of the first order. THE POISONED CITY is an environmental tent revival for people who continue to suffer and a call to arms for everyone who values professional local journalism.” — Booklist, starred review

AMITY AND PROSPERITY: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold
“An important addition to the emerging genre of works about fracking and its environmental and human costs. This will find large audiences among concerned citizens and warrants the attention of public officials as well as fans of J.D. Vance’s HILLBILLY ELEGY.” — Library Journal, starred review

“Griswold’s empathetic yet analytical account of Haney’s indefatigable role as advocate for justice is a thorough and thoroughly blood-pressure-raising account of the greed and fraud embedded in the environmentally ruinous natural-gas industry. As honest and unvarnished an account of the human cost of corporate corruption as one will find.” — Booklist, starred review

Share your #FridayReads with us @MacmillanLib. Happy weekend!

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