I’m rich in books at the moment, on my pile are five recent new books that I have either started or will be starting in the next few weeks. Publishing was supposed to be a lost cause, but there are a lot of good books coming out from a new generation of good writers. All of these books are fiction.

Love & Saffron, by Kim Fay. First, I just got a sweet book called Love & Saffron today. I just read the first few pages, there are several books ahead of it, and I think it’s just what the doctor ordered for many of us. Everyone I know who has read it loves it very much.

This is a tender, loving, and heartfelt book about love, friendship, and food. The reviews all say this is a charming, delightful, and unique story about how writing and food can open us to culture, history, adventure, and compassion. I look forward to reading it if Maria doesn’t grab it first. She’s eyeing it, which usually means she’ll be reading it shortly.

The Thursday Murder Club, By Richard Osmond. This is the second book in a creative, fun, and entertaining new mystery series called The Thursday Murder Club. It’s set in England, in a retirement home for the wealthy; four friends, all in their 70’s and 80’s, form a club to solve unsolved murders and find themselves in the middle of new ones.  They not only handle trouble, they delight in it. The series (I read the first one and am halfway through this second one) is intelligent and funny, and at times even gripping (but not too gripping.) The club leader is a retired British spy and is tough as nails and as savvy as any criminal. They team up with two British police officers to do good and find justice. I suspect there will be more.

Hello Transcriber, By Hannah Morrissey. I’m not completely sure about this one, but I did get hooked on it. The book is about a police transcriber in a small Midwestern town, a world-weary and somewhat lost young woman who is alternately tough and vulnerable and abused. There’s a lot of sexual tension in the book, which centers on her and a colleague she is falling in love with and their search for a drug dealer who is killing children. The writing is vivid, the book is edgy and razor-sharp. I’m not sure what makes me uneasy about it – maybe too edgy and insecure a protagonist and an implausible plot,  but I found the author an exciting new voice. She writes about police procedures like the insider she is. She was a police transcriber herself. It’s worth a look.

How High We Go In The Dark, by Sequoia Nagamuatsu. A rare and remarkable book. Nagamuatsu’s writing style is very unique, different from any of the novels I’ve read. I’m not big on dystopian writing, but this book is beautifully written and very powerful. The book is about an Arctic plague unleashed, told in a series of gripping and wonderfully written short stories that are all connected. Scientists digging in Siberia find the body of a girl who seems to be a mix of Homo sapien and Neanderthal while also possessing genetic traits that look like an octopus. Unearthing the girl releases a savage virus that destroys human organs. From this terrifying beginning, the story moves to the City of Laughter, where children can enjoy one last fun-filled day before being overwhelmed by death; their ride is a roller coaster designed to kill them. Most of the chapters were published previously as short stories. I have one chapter to go, and I find the book gripping and very powerful. It is not a happy story but strangely relevant to our times.  It is a book I couldn’t put down. The affirming element is that humanity endures all the suffering and grief.

How Beautiful We Were, by Imbolo Mbue. This book is on the New York Times Book Review list as one of the 10 Best Books of 2021. I haven’t read it all yet, but the subject draws me, as does the reputation of Mbue, one of the most promising writers to come out of Africa. The first chapter was brilliant. In October of 1980, in the fictional African village of Kurosawa, representatives of an American oil company called Pexton have come to meet with the locals, whose children are dying. The company’s oil pipelines and drilling sites have left the fields fallow, and the water poisoned all around the town. The company denies any wrongdoing and blows off any responsibility for the deaths (sound familiar?) A corrupt government protects and defends the company. The story is about how this one village decided to fight back against overwhelming and disheartening odds – how do ordinary humans fight against the ravaging beast that is  American capitalism? I read the first chapter before I bought it, and I’m in for the rest. Mbue is the author of Beyond, The Dreamers. She is a native of Cameroon and lives in New York City.