New books to read in October
October 1, 2024
Notable new releases
compiled by Sally Brewster
What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci
Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between scene rehearsals and costume fittings, to homemade pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. In What I Ate in One Year, the actor and author records 12 months of eating — in restaurants and kitchens; on film sets and press junkets; at home and abroad; with friends, family, strangers, and occasionally just by himself. The meals memorialized in this diary are a prism for Tucci to reflect on the ways his life, and his family, are constantly evolving. Through food he marks — and mourns — the passing of time and the loss of loved ones, and steels himself for what is to come.
Anatomy of a Purple State by Christopher A. Cooper
North Carolina represents a perfect distillation of the promise and peril of modern American democracy: hyperpartisanship, gerrymandering, dissatisfaction with the two-party system, the urban-rural divide. For that reason, North Carolina politics and government are increasingly of interest to political observers. Political scientist Christopher A. Cooper of Western Carolina University offers a primer for all people, no matter their political leanings. Readers will learn about everything that has made North Carolina the most purple of purple states — from the state constitution and the influence of think tanks to the state’s growing racial diversity and limitations on the governor’s power. By explaining how we came to be in the political situation we are in, Cooper shows us where we might go next. And, as many have said, “As North Carolina goes, so goes the nation.”
Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Why is Miami … Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in 25 years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena. Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis.
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
In Argus, North Dakota, a collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding. Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed goth. Hugo, a gentle, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet, and he’s determined to steal her. Kismet’s mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary’s family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future. Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and a sudden economic meltdown. The Mighty Red is about a starkly beautiful prairie community whose members must cope with devastating consequences as powerful forces upend them.
Life Form by Jenny Slate
Jenny Slate was a human mammal who sniffed the air every morning hoping to find another person who would love her, and in that period there was a deep dark loneliness that she had to face. Then, she did fall in love — but also she was rabid with fear of losing this love, because of past injury. Then, she had a baby during a global plague and was expected to carry on like everything was normal — but was this normal, and had she or anything ever been normal? Herein lies an account of this journey, told through luminous, funny essays that take the form of letters to a doctor, dreams of a stork, fantasy therapy sessions, gossip between racoons, excerpts from an imaginary play, obituaries, graduation speeches and more. SP
Sally Brewster is the proprietor of Park Road Books, 4139 Park Rd.
