What do three Booker Prize-winning titles, an anticipated sequel to a summer romance and a debut short stories collection by an award-winning author have in common? Answer: they all tell compelling stories celebrated by both critics and the masses. It’s only a matter of time before they join Brontë, Fitzgerald and Salinger in the Classics section. So, obtain yourself a first edition before they go out of print.
Find Me
by André Aciman
While Call Me By Your Name recounts the passionate emotions through Elio’s standpoint, this sequel injects two additional perspectives (Oliver and Samuel, Elio’s father) which broadens yet complicates the original monogamy narrative. Props to Aciman who expounded the cause and effect of relationships spawned after the first novel, thus, closing it beautifully.
Milkman
by Anna Burns
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Although given a festive facelift just in time for the holiday season, Burns’ award-winning 2018 dark tale continues to chill readers. None of the characters is named. Rather, they are referenced by the location they appear in. Paired with the gossip-laden political Catholic areas of Belfast, it spells a recipe for success. Rumours can develop into factual truths after all.
Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernardine Evaristo
It’s easy to categorise and stereotype gender. However, Anglo-Nigerian writer Evaristo masterfully fleshes out the lives and struggles of 12 black British women and celebrates them. Despite contrasts, their lives overlap and explore atypical lifestyles such as queer parenthood. Having the same colour doesn’t necessarily define absolute connection (besides race), but it does drive a sense of togetherness.
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
When the door is shut, will a window open? For Offred, it spells uncertainty. This highly anticipated sequel to acclaimed dystopian bestseller The Handmaid’s Tale picks up the activities in the Republic of Gilead 15 years after Offred’s disappearance. To triumph the system is to know the system well. As a result, Atwood addresses and answers burning questions through the voices of three other female Gilead citizens. Will they be spared from tragedy instead?
Grand Union
by Zadie Smith
In the respected British author’s first collection of short stories, genre doesn’t exist. Smith went experimental and pushed the boundaries with dialogue while focusing on real-life issues—namely race, gender, class and relationships. Flawed, it is. But the raw and pragmatic narratives are peppered with wit. A highlight is ‘Big Week’, a heartbreaker that sees the optimistic protagonist on the road of recovery from drugs, only to get knocked back.
These titles are available at Books Kinokuniya.
