Say You’re One of Them
by Uwem Akpan (Little, Brown, $24)
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The Boat
by Nam Le (Knopf, $23)
Nam Le, another debut author, exhibits “an astonishing ability to channel the experiences of a multitude of characters,” said Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times. He bookends this collection with two stories about Vietnam—including a “masterpiece” about a young writer much like himself. But Le has range: He can write with equal “authority and poise” about an American woman visiting Tehran or an Australian drug-gang assassin preparing to confront a rival.
A Guitar and a Pen
edited by Robert Hicks (Center Street, $24)
You can’t blame novelist Robert Hicks for thinking that an anthology of stories by country songwriters could turn out to be “something special,” said Samantha Dunn in the Los Angeles Times. Janis Ian came through with a nice essay, but fiction efforts by the likes of Charlie Daniels and Kris Kristofferson generally just miss. Often, the stories “begin well, then meander.” They lack “the punch and verve” of polished literature.
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $26)
David Sedaris didn’t become “the pre-eminent humorist of his generation by accident,” said Whitney Pastorek in Entertainment Weekly. As funny as his latest book is, though, it’s his “weakest collection to date.” True fans have already encountered most of these essays in The New Yorker or on NPR, and Sedaris “seems awfully close to exhausting his material.”
Dictation
by Cynthia Ozick (Houghton Mifflin, $24)
Cynthia Ozick’s “reputation as a formidable intellectual” shouldn’t intimidate you, said Chauncey Mabe in the Orlando Sentinel. Sure, the title novella in this collection concerns typists working for Joseph Conrad and Henry James. But all four stories “are first and foremost comic tales.”
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”