[title subtitle=”WORDS Sara Putman “][/title]
Enjoy these five must-read books from our friends at Bookish, Fort Smith, Arkansas’s only independently-owned bookstore. Shop hours: Monday 11am-4pm, Tuesday – Friday 10am-6pm and Saturday 10am-4pm. Need curbside delivery? Call 479.434.2917 or email orders@bookishfs.com.
Broken People
by Sam Lansky
Lansky’s first novel is nothing short of compelling and honest. The main character, Sam, meets with a shaman after moving to Los Angeles from New York. We follow him throughout his transformation, and through Sam’s memories, our interaction with Sam the character and Sam the writer overlaps. Lansky’s language is both dreamy and astute as we navigate with Sam through his memories. We – like the character – find that the stories we tell ourselves are often more powerful than any magic.
The Second Home
by Christina Clancy
When their parents die suddenly, siblings Ann, Poppy, and their adopted brother Michael are forced to confront their delicate relationships. Ann is the oldest and feels pressure to keep her childhood tragedy hidden from her family. Poppy is a free spirit who searches for herself anywhere but home, and Michael feels he never truly fit into the family. Complications among the three siblings culminate when Ann decides to sell the family’s Cape Cod home. Forced to face each other during the summer after their parents’ death, they struggle to find what they need to make the old house their second home.
Rodham
by Curtis Sittenfeld
What if Hillary Rodham never married Bill Clinton? Sittenfeld artfully weaves actual dialogue from interviews and news events into a reimagined history of the last forty years. Yes, Bill Clinton still plays an important role in Hillary’s life and American politics, but their relationship as lovers and rivals is enjoyable to watch unfold. The story itself is delightful, but Sittenfeld’s ability to make Hillary Rodham into a character who is sometimes charming, sometimes awkward, and always the smartest person in the room keeps the narrative compelling.
A Burning
by Megha Majumdar
Majumdar’s novel is set in modern India, and through altering perspectives, exposes police corruption, social media commentary, social intolerance, the exploitation of the poor, and of course, greed. Majumdar’s three main characters are flawed, but none of them to the point that they deserve the life that is handed to them. At a soaring pace, Majumdar combines the narratives of her three relatively normal characters, and through it we see the corruption that takes place all the way on the other side of the world…thankfully.
Migrations
by Charlotte McConaghy
McConaghy’s words expose what it’s like to truly run from ourselves. Franny Stone spends her time wandering and eventually finds herself in Greenland following the migration of the Arctic terns. She convinces the captain of a fishing boat to let her come aboard, and the crew finds that Franny is probably running from something instead of running toward something. She has night sweats, and piles of letters to her husband, and while the story is quiet and often sad, McConaghy’s description of wildlife and perceptive characters will keep you searching even after you finish the last page.
