Enjoy these four must-read books from our friends at Bookish, Fort Smith, Arkansas’s only independently owned bookstore.
Notes on an Execution
by Danya Kukafka
Meet serial killer Ansel Packer. More than your typical thriller, Kukafka seeks to deconstruct the killer’s story and the way we, as a culture, engage in serial killer content. She does this by telling the story through the lens of the women in his life: his mother, the detective, and the twin sister of one of his victims. While this book is about a serial killer, it’s also about grief and how we cope. It’s about womanhood and unraveling the obsession with crime stories. It will leave you questioning the system while at the same time, proud of the women in the story you have come to know.
Horse
by Geraldine Brooks
Horse is many things, but in the end, you’ll find yourself planning a trip to the International Museum of the Horse, where you’ll find the articulated skeleton of our central character, Lexington, the famous Thoroughbred racehorse. The novel is framed through the eyes of Jess, who is the Aussie scientist who finds Lexington’s bones in an attic in the Smithsonian (this actually happened in the early 2000s) and Theo, an art historian studying blackness in art. Together, they unravel the mystery that was Lexington. Beautifully written and well researched, Horse includes cameos from Martha Jackson, Jackson Pollock, and Thomas J. Scott.
Flying Solo
by Linda Holmes
Laurie Sassalyn has a family who loves her, a great job in Seattle, and childhood friends who still support her. The biggest issue in Laurie’s life is that she is about to turn forty and she recently called off her engagement. As the story opens, Laurie is grieving the death of her favorite Aunt Dot, so she sets off for her hometown in Calcasset, Maine where she quickly finds herself responsible for going through ninety-three years’ worth of her aunt’s treasures! As she does, she unravels mysteries about Dot’s past that are sweet, sometimes spicey, and in the end, quite inspiring.
Rogues
by Patrick Radden Keefe
In his newest book, Keefe brings together some of his most celebrated articles from the New Yorker. Keefe’s work is meticulously reported and engaging, and in this book, he covers the lives of the most interesting criminals and rascals in recent history. These articles cover stories about wine forgeries, whistleblowers, Keefe’s time spent in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, and he even profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the “worst of the worst.” Keefe does, however, stick to the themes he finds most intriguing including secrets and lies, the slippery slope dividing the illicit and licit, the bonds of family, and the power of denial.
