The Westport Library Resource Guides: Sybil's List: October 2019

Sybil Steinberg's New Book Picks

Date: Friday, October 18, 2019 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location: The Forum

Westporter Sybil Steinberg, contributing editor and former book review section editor for Publishers Weekly, returns with more ideas for your fall reading with her ever-popular talk on the best new reads. Learn more...

Fiction (In Order of Presentation)

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Publication Date: 2020-01-21
A middle-class mother and son become desperate migrants fleeing Mexico in this heart stopping thriller that is all too timely and real.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Publication Date: 2019-11-05
In this beguiling blend of magic, mystery and love story, a fantastic, menacing and beautiful underworld is revealed.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Publication Date: 2019-07-16
During Jim Crow in the American South, young black boys locked in a so-called reformatory were sadistically punished and murdered.
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Publication Date: 2019-10-15
Redoubtable Olive finds a new love in late life, but she also realizes how her prickly character has estranged her adult son.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Publication Date: 2019-09-10
In this sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, a major character works secretly to destroy the male patriarchy that rules the dystopian kingdom of Gilead.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Publication Date: 2019-09-24
Cast out of their beloved home by an evil stepmother, a brother and sister endure the vicissitudes of their altered lives.
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Publication Date: 2019-09-24
The son of a Virginia plantation owner and a black slave discovers that he has miraculous paranormal powers.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Publication Date: 2019-06-04
A Vietnamese immigrant comes of age in difficult circumstances that include his mother’s mental volatility and the fact that he is gay.
Inland by Téa Obreht
Publication Date: 2019-08-20
A settler’s family in drought-plagued 1800s Arizona encounter the ghosts of the historical Camel Corps, a hidden episode in American history.
Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
Publication Date: 2019-09-03
An elderly drug salesman becomes besotted with a TV star in this fantasy, a brilliant satire of American contemporary culture.
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
Publication Date: 2019-09-24
This searing historical novel takes place during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and tells the story of a courageous woman who led a band of peasants in a makeshift army.
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Publication Date: 2019-09-17
After an upper middle-class black woman becomes pregnant at age 19, she fights to fulfill her desires for education and a career.
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
Publication Date: 2019-02-12
The unconventional narrative melds fiction and nonfiction into a chronicle that tells the story about a family’s trip to document the immigration crisis at the Mexican border.
The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine
Publication Date: 2019-09-03
Identical twins are obsessed with words in their precious childhood, but later they become rivals as they pursue their essential bond with language.
The Sweetest Fruits by Monique Truong
Publication Date: 2019-09-03
Three women who loved the author Lafcadio Hearne tell how he became an orphan, a writer, and a resident of Japan.
Spring by Ali Smith
Publication Date: 2019-04-30
The third of Smith’s seasonal quartet about contemporary British lives, explores the issues of Brexit, immigration and even Donald Trump.
All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg
Publication Date: 2019-10-22
The family of a New Orleans real estate developer tries to understand the ways he has contributed to their dysfunctional relationships.
Chances Are ... by Richard Russo
Publication Date: 2019-07-30
A melancholy reunion on Martha’s Vineyard of three college friends reveals the arc of their lives and solves a mystery.
The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy
Publication Date: 2019-10-15
A man, who is hit by a car on London’s Abbey Road in 1998, assesses his life when he is again hit by a car in the same spot 30 years later.
Henry, Himself by Stewart O'Nan
Publication Date: 2019-04-09
Retired at age 75, Henry Maxwell tries to find the meaning of his life and the loving legacy he wants to leave.
Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Publication Date: 2019-06-18
A successful Manhattan doctor thinks he’ll enjoy the freedom of his divorce from his equally busy wife, but learns the hard way, that you can’t escape your family.

Printable List

Printable Version of Sybil's List October 2019

Fiction Continued (In Order of Presentation)

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Publication Date: 2019-09-03
The CIA’s involvement in the life of Russian writer Boris Pasternak, the author of Dr. Zhivago, is seen through the eyes of his mistress.
The Travelers by Regina Porter
Publication Date: 2019-06-18
Two interconnected families, one white, one black, journey across time and space as they reflect a country during social change.
Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett; Anon
Publication Date: 2019-06-04
After her father commits suicide, a young woman is determined to keep his failing taxidermy business alive.
The Ghost Clause by Howard Norman
Publication Date: 2019-07-02
A newly-wed couple buy a house in Vermont, unaware that the former owner is a benevolent ghost.
Say Say Say by Lila Savage
Publication Date: 2019-07-09
A brain-injured woman cannot communicate with her husband and her caregiver as they try to come to terms with the rest of their lives.
Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
Publication Date: 2019-09-17
Two middle-aged Irish men, once partners in highly dangerous drug deals, reflect on the crucial experiences of their past.
Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
Publication Date: 2019-06-25
Two middle-aged Irish men, once partners in highly dangerous drug deals, reflect on the crucial experiences of their past.
Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
Publication Date: 2019-07-23
A Baltimore housewife, in search of feminist freedom, finds herself a pivotal figure in the middle of two murders.

Nonfiction (In Order of Presentation)

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
Publication Date: 2019-08-13
A beautiful memoir of the resilient Broom family from New Orleans who endured years of instability and poverty bound together by their mother’s beloved shot-gun house, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang
Publication Date: 2019-10-29
The three Soong sisters and the famous men they married are the stuff of legend in China where their influence on history was immense.
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
Publication Date: 2018-05-21
How a brazen woman with no scientific background convinced millionaire investors that her invention could revolutionize the medical profession, perpetrating the largest corporate fraud since ENRON.
Our Man by George Packer
Publication Date: 2019-05-07
The story of diplomat Richard Holbrooke’s career and life, providing an insightful look at the man and the political world in which he moved
PT Barnum by Robert Wilson
Publication Date: 2019-08-06
A moving biography of P.T. Barnum, the Greatest Showman the world has ever seen, renowned as a hustler for his eponymous circus and other mass entertainments, and his philanthropy to Bridgeport, CT.
A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
Publication Date: 2019-04-09
The never told story of Virginia Hall, an American, who set up a spy network in France during WWII.
Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
Publication Date: 2019-10-15
The author’s mother engaged in a decades-long adulterous affair with her husband’s best friend—and involved her daughter in the deception.
Motherland by Elissa Altman
Publication Date: 2019-08-06
A big-hearted memoir about the author’s beautiful, tempestuous, and difficult mother and their relationship after the author becomes her mother’s caregiver.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
Publication Date: 2019-07-23
A riveting, true story about the sex lives of three women and how female desire falls victim to male dominance.
L. E. L. by Lucasta Miller
Publication Date: 2019-03-05
The lost literary life of Letitia Elizabeth Langdon, hailed as the female Lord Byron.
The Beneficiary by Janny Scott
Publication Date: 2019-04-16
The secrets that lay behind the glittering intellectual and social reputation of Scott’s patrician, wealthy Philadelphia Main Line family and the effect it had on the tragic life of her father.
Coventry by Rachel Cusk
Publication Date: 2019-09-17
Briskly intellectual and serious, the outspoken feminist’s first essay collection focuses on parenting, independence, her writing career and the state of the world.
On Sunset by Kathryn Harrison
Publication Date: 2018-10-02
Harrison lived in the house on Sunset Boulevard with her grandparents after her mother abandoned her and before her father seduced her.
Five Days Gone by Laura Cumming
Publication Date: 2019-08-27
In this sensitive memoir, the author explores a mystery : why her mother was kidnapped when she was three years old.