Politics and Prose

So many booOOoOks, so little time!

Phantasms and Phobias, DC’s premier haunted bookstore, presents a selection of Halloween staff picks ranging from slightly spooky to downright scary.

“It’s funny except when it’s horrifying; it’s horrifying except when it’s oddly comforting.” - Jonathan W. on Ling Ma’s Severance

“Diana is a witch, though she prefers to live her life without magic. A professor of history, she wants to conduct her research in peace and is successful until a lost alchemical text finds its way into her hands.” - Allison W. on Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches 

“Witness the tale that traumatized all your favorite artists when they were children.” - Adam W. on Go Nagai’s Devilman

“From the creative mind behind the Doctor Strange film comes a collection of short stories that by turns thrills, chills, and fascinates.” - Aron on C. Robert Cargill’s We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories

“The narrative burrows into your mind and nips off tiny chunks of it until you are not quite sure who is telling the truth. Best read on a gray night with a hot drink." - Anton B. on Colin Winette’s The Job of the Wasp

“Three kids realize to their horror that their orphanage is being harvested by monsters. Can they escape?” - Adam W. on Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu’s  The Promised Neverland Vol. 1

Memoirs and mystery seem to be the genres we gravitated towards this week. Part biography, part memoir on becoming who you are, an intimate portrait of courage, an homage to the great mystery writers of the past, the dynamic mystery involving a plane crash, a mystic vision and political intrigue and a cookbook/comic book that tells a story of authors life are just a little spoilers we hope will get you interested in one of our picks.      

Hiking with Nietzsche - John Kaag

Part biography of one of the most influential philosophers of 19th century, part memoir, Hiking with Nietzsche is an exploration, of Nietzsche’s work and life, his relationships, thoughts and his search for meaning. It is, also, the author’s self-exploration and a thorough insight into his own life, his marriage, fatherhood and himself. John Kaag followed in Nietzsche’s footsteps, like Mann, Adorno, Jung, Levi, Hesse and many other of his pilgrims did, on the hills of Sils – Maria in Switzerland, where he wrote Thus Spoke Zarathustra. And, he did it twice. First time as a nineteen-year-old young man, almost killing himself on the verge of anorexia and the second 18 years later visiting the same place with his wife and young daughter, retracing the same steps and paths but coming to different conclusions and contemplating different questions. Marija D.  

Letters from Max - Sarah Ruhl, Max Ritvo

This collection of letters (and poems, songs, dreams, fears, and jokes) packs a tremendous emotional and intellectual punch. Ritvo’s cancer was gaining on him throughout the period he and Ruhl, the playwright, corresponded (during which he nonetheless graduated from Yale, earned an MFA at Columbia, got married, published a chapbook and a book), and this adds poignancy to the already moving account of a vital friendship. The depth of affection these two felt for each other lives and breathes in their writing and their passionate curiosity. Letters from Max is an intimate portrait of courage on both sides (it surely takes as much courage to lose a friend as it does to endure the relentless rounds of radiation and chemo Ritvo did), it’s also a spirited writing workshop and philosophical debate. Laurie G.

An Unwanted Guest - Shari Lapena 

You know the formula: Put a bunch of couples in a beautiful country bed and breakfast, but then add a snowstorm, subtract the power, and kill someone. Yet Shari Lapena executes it flawlessly, building the tension steadily as we learn more about each of the guests, and the storm increases intensity. Is it someone already present at the inn? Or is there an intruder that no one knows about yet? Who is next? An homage to the great mystery writers of the past, An Unwanted Guest will keep you entertained and on the edge of your seat until the killer is finally revealed. Keith V.  

Cook Korean - Robin Ha 

They say you eat with your eyes. In that case, Robin Ha’s vibrant illustration style presents readers with a feast to savour in this comic book cookbook. Readers are guided along a delicious journey in Korean cuisine through a series of fluid (and often humorous) cartoon recipes narrated by Dengki, Ha’s hanbok-clad host character. Not merely a collection of practical recipes, Cook Korean also tells the story of Ha’s immigration to the U.S, and her reconnection to Korean culture through the process of learning and cooking family dishes with her mother. Jade L.  

Desolation Mountain - William Kent Krueger 

Looks like summer decided to stick around for a while longer, and this would be a perfect time to find a bench, a spot by the river, or just bring a blanket to the park and enjoy some time in the sun with a good book by your side. Our booksellers made sure you have a good selection, and just in time—when you’re done with a book you can meet some of the authors we’re hosting at two of our locations. This week choose between a music memoir, a history on piracy off the American coast, a collection of short stories, a novel, and a graphic novel. Enjoy the weather and some good reads!

Night Moves - Jessica Hopper

Upcoming Event Monday, October 8, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave

As a longtime fan of Jessica Hopper’s vigilant, fearless music criticism, Night Moves is the book I’ve been pining for. A series of vignettes about her coming of age in the Chicago music scene, the pieces are as shaky with youth as a Ferlinghetti poem, and they come together to form one jagged love poem to a city and a way of life. There’s something markedly elegiac about the life Hopper describes, a roiling, breathing cityscape where the escape from the robotic crawl of gentrification seemed still possible. Can young adults still live like this in a city? Riding bikes through electric summer nights? God, I hope so. Night Moves made me feel very young and very old at the same time: a painful, singular elation. Liz H.  

Black Flags, Blue Waters - Eric Jay Dolin

Upcoming Event Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose at the Wharf

You may be thinking you’ll want to read this book with a ‘Yo Ho Ho! And a Bottle of Rum, for it’s a Pirate’s Life for Me!’ But you’ll reconsider after reading this epic retelling of the Golden Age of American piracy in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Black Flags, Blue Waters is a definitive history on piracy off the American coast, as well as by Americans over in the Indian Ocean. Filled with colorful biographies of all the famous pirates, such as Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, this book also examines the social, political and economic reasons so many men turned to piracy in those days. This is a fascinating look at how piracy was encouraged by many Americans, so long as it didn’t affect their pockets, and how the tide then turned against the buccaneers after a prolonged government campaign and crackdown. You’ll never look at Captain Jack Sparrow the same way again. Keith V. 

Your Duck is My Duck - Deborah Eisenberg 

With her first new collection in 12 years Your Duck is My Duck, Eisenberg gives us a true, funny, and troubling picture of our world. “Merge” is an indelible close-up of the 1%, focusing on the son of a corporate despot who’s been cut off but gamely follows in dad’s footsteps with impressive displays of self-justification. In the title story art strikes back with a puppeteer’s “simple moral fable” of a grasping monarch oblivious to the fact that “the serfs and donkeys are already inflamed with rage.” Sure enough, the island explodes. In the magnificent “The Third Tower,” a woman prone to spells of “words heating up, expanding, exploding into pictures of things,” is sent to a hospital/prison. Her bad case of imagination can be cured if she learns cooperation. Laurie G. 

A Kind of Freedom - Margaret Wilkerson Sexton 

A Kind of Freedom, multi generational story focuses on three generations of family members that come from the first black doctor in Louisiana. We are introduced to Evelyn, her daughter Jaclyn, and Jaclyn’s son, T.C. who all have to find their own kind of freedom. Much changes over the years while other things stay much the same. Some of the topics brought up in this novel include class, colorism, and the toll drugs and addiction can take on one family. Morgan H. 

Home After Dark - David Small 

This week we are excited to announce a highly anticipated science fiction début, a spellbinding thriller, and a novel that’s a darkly comic shadow version of our own turbulent world. And for those who prefer non fiction, our science pick is a collection of 33 marvelous essays on the history of astronomy and a political read gives an answer to what White House Chiefs of Staff actually do and how big of a role they play. We hope you enjoy our picks!

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Hank Green

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing contains many absolutely remarkable things, from the delightful characters to the unexpected, exciting plot. Hank Green uses his intimate knowledge of perks, hazards, and peculiarities of Internet fame to paint a fantastical yet surprisingly plausible portrait of his protagonist as she endures the fallout of making one of the most remarkable discoveries in the history of humankind. In accordance with his belief to “imagine others complexly,” Green never oversimplifies his plot or his characters, trusting readers to come to their own conclusions. (P.S. Be sure to take the book out for a quick flip-through and a delightful surprise!) Katie W. 

Dispatches from Planet 3 - Marcia Bartusiak 

Dispatches from Planet 3 is a collection of 33 elegant essays. Bartusiak gives a thorough grounding in the history of astronomy, tracing its revolutions from heliocentrism to the discoveries of double stars, supernovae, spiral galaxies, black holes, dark matter, and the whole expanding universe. Each discussion traces the science and charts the impact of the ideas, showing how our evolving understanding of affected our sense of our place in the universe and led to subsequent forays into the unknown. As she traces the evolution of cosmology, Bartusiak chronicles the major questions scientists asked and how they answered them, details the necessary technological advances, summarizes the debates surrounding revelations that were often as unsettling as they were thrilling, and profiles the key thinkers involved—many of whom were women, only now getting their due. Laurie G.  

Foe - Iain Reid 

Foe is an unsettling blend of a psychological thriller with an examination of the structure and support of a marriage, all the while set in a creepy near-future with hazardous advances of technology. Junior and Henrietta live isolated on a rural farm, when a stranger, Terrence, shows up to announce that Junior is being considered for an involuntary mission into space aboard the Installation. As Terrence burrows into their quiet domestic life, and Junior is ever closer to departure, the real reasons for Terrence’s intrusion into their marriage become cloudy and creepy as the thriller builds to a climax flipped on its head. Keith V.

The Gatekeepers - Chris Whipple 

What do White House Chiefs of Staff actually do? How important are they really? What makes a good Chief of Staff? Chris Whipple's highly informed and deeply engrossing book The Gatekeepers answers these questions and many more. Beginning with Richard Nixon's first Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman, Whipple chronicles the tenures of every White House Chief up until John Kelly. His detailed account reveals the incredibly significant roles that the Chiefs have played in influencing events as major as Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, the Lewinsky affair, the invasion of Iraq, and the DACA rollout. Lew G. 

Dog Symphony - Sam Munson 

This week’s round up of staff pick has something to offer for everybody’s taste. A couple of brilliant fictional débuts, one set in the present the other in the past, and the final installment of an internationally celebrated series will have you occupied for hours not wanting to put them down until you finish. You will learn, as we did, of actual physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress, and how our immune system works in protecting us from harm. With so many great new titles we can safely say that autumn is off to a good start. 

Crudo - Olivia Laing

Upcoming Event, Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose at Union Market

Crudo, Laing’s fictional début, is a read in one sitting kind of book you won’t be able to put down. It’s 2017. The American president is tweeting the world towards nuclear war, Britain has decided to leave the EU, and the world has turned upside down. Kathy is 40, about to get married, obsessed with the daily news and worried about everything going on in the world. She is a loner who learns how to love. The narration is frantic and fast, at moments almost dizzying, but then you realize hers are exactly your thoughts, her feelings exactly your feelings and you keep on turning the pages. Marija D.  

The Field of Blood - Joanne B. Freeman

Upcoming Event Thursday, September 20, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW

Though today’s Congress seems combative, all the filibusters and name-calling are nothing compared to when Congressmen actually stabbed and shot one another. From the infamous caning of Charles Sumner to endless duel challenges, in The Field of Blood historian Joanne Freeman shows that these frayed tensions were practically destined to erupt into Civil War. Remembering the Congress of the past solely as hallowed halls and dignified men is dangerous, she argues, as the real history reveals uncomfortable yet necessary truths about a union on the brink of collapse. Written with wit, flair, and a hint of cheek, Freeman presents these Congressmen as petty, triumphant, stoic, and vengeful—or, as she puts it more simply, human. Katie W.  

Whiskey When We’re Dry - John Larison

From a fantastic new voice in literature, Whiskey When We’re Dry is a historical adventure novel that redefines the typical American Western epic. Growing up on the frontier with her father, Jessilyn is a gifted shooter used to being fiercely independent. So when her father dies, rather than succumb to life as a wife and mother, Jessilyn becomes Jessie, and sets off west in search of her outlaw brother, Noah. Told in three parts, and exploring issues of gender identity, sexual identity, family and alcoholism, the novel has themes that are quite timely, yet is also still made mesmerizing by Jessilyn’s unique voice and complex character. Her quest takes on America as a whole, and the history that has stayed with this country all along. Keith V.   

The Beautiful Cure - Daniel M. Davis

Science began to realize the complexity of how the body fights disease only in 1989, and this fascinating book tells both the story of the science at work and what the research has revealed. In The Beautiful Cure Davis takes us into the minds and labs of the pioneering biologists, highlighting what led to various discoveries, from the initial puzzle of how immune cells know what foreign particles to attack (germs, not food) to whether, and then how, the immune system can fight cancer. Emphasizing that “no scientist is an island,” Davis follows the achievements that have led to reinterpretations of how the immune system works. His explanations are detailed and clear: as he recreates the revelatory moments, he puts the reader right there, on the edge of discovery. Laurie G.  

My Struggle: Book Six - Karl Ove Knausgaard

This week our science fiction pick takes us to medieval China, and the fiction one reunites us with professor Jason Fitger. We discovered that sand is fascinating and found a manifesto that amused us but still left us pondering on the world we live in. And who would have thought that a book about economic matters could be so entertaining? Hope you enjoy this week’s picks.

Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy - Tim Harford 

Award-winning journalist Tim Harford is a master at writing clear and entertaining prose about the economy. With his new book, Harford details the history of economic change since the invention of the plow in China 2000 years ago. He focuses on 50 seminal inventions -- from the passport and the bar code to paper money and intellectual property. In short, very  readable chapters, Harford brings all 50 inventions to life, placing them in their proper historical contexts and explaining their significance today. Along the way, he entertains us with fascinating anecdotes and a great sense of humor. Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy is a delight to read and a great gift book for just about everyone! Lew G. 

The Poppy War - RF Kuang 

Fantasy enthusiasts looking for their next epic need look no further. The Poppy War, set in a fantastical version of medieval China invites readers to follow the trials of Rin, a war orphan. Despite her meager existence she aces an Empire-wide test propelling her into the ranks of an elite military school. While studying, she begins to unlock the mysteries of her past and of magic thought long lost. Never too far away is the rumble of renewed war with the Empire’s ancient enemy. Based on Chinese history and filled with pulse racing action, this is an excellent addition to any shelf. Michael T.  

The Chapo Guide to Revolution - Chapo Trap House 

First thing's first - if you know any internet-addicted young men who you think are prone to being scooped up by the alt-right: here's the antidote. The quickest and easiest way to describe The Chapo Guide to Revolution - the first book to come out of the leftist comedy podcast Chapo Trap House - is to imagine MAD Magazine if it was edited by Noam Chomsky. Part of the broadly-defined ascendant left, which includes publications like Jacobin and candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chapo's gleefully nihilistic humor offers barbs in the direction of the monstrous right-wingers who control our government and the paltry technocratic liberalism being offered as an alternative. Beneath the internet humor, however, lies a genuinely thoughtful meditation on the role of social welfare amidst the current crisis of late-stage capitalism and looming environmental disaster. Isaac S.  

The Shakespeare Requirement - Julie Schumacher

If there’s ever a time when a comic novel should be in your “to read” pile it’s now, and I’ve got just the book for you. In The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher we return to some characters you will recognize from Schumacher’s hilarious novel, Dear Committee Members. Professor Jason Fitger is now  the besieged head of the English Department at Payne University. His fellow faculty, students and university administrators are undoubtedly recognizable, whether you are an academic or not. Clever, smart and good for giggles, this novel is sure to be one you come back to again and again when a good laugh is in order. Nancy R.

The World in a Grain - Vince Beiser

Hope you will forgive us for being away for a while. We were busy getting the store in order for the busy season and we were at the National Book Festival— Politics and Prose serving as the official bookseller for the fifth time—and we are getting ready for the member sale this upcoming weekend. Picks of the week are back and we can’t wait to share with you amazing new titles we come across every day. Hope you enjoy this week’s selection.

Flights - Olga Tokarczuk

Upcoming Event, Monday, September 24, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Politics and Prose at The Wharf  

Tokarcuk’s wunderkammer of a novel is structured by themes rather than plot lines, and in place of character development, she builds collections—of travellers, places, bodies, and ideas. Flights is a constant surprise, moving from history to modern airports, from fables to myths to stories within stories. “Am I doing the right thing by telling stories?” Tokarczuk asks, and as if expressing her own ambivalence, she completes some tales, serializes others, and leaves others incomplete. Even open-ended these narratives support her belief that “what makes us most human is the possession of a unique and irreproducible story,” all the better to defeat the tyrants who want “to create a frozen order…to pin down the world with the aid of bar codes.” Laurie G.   

Cherry - Nico Walker

Cherry is advertised as a novel. It’s not a novel.  The inside cover tells you it’s a work of fiction. It’s not. If it was, it would be called “well researched” “highly imaginative” and “ripped from the headlines”. It’s just an incredible memoir. From the long and bizarre acknowledgment section you may infer that this book is heavily edited. I doubt that too. This raw and occasionally, morbidly, and even sickeningly humorous book tells the story of an Iraq vet turned opioid addict turned bank robber turned prisoner. Through each of these roles Walker gives a uncomfortably casual look into caustic masculinity. Jack B.   

The Wreckage of Eden - Norman Lock

When Lutheran minister Robert Winter proposes to Emily Dickinson she replies that she fears her muse would balk. Then the two begin a long correspondence, as he pursues his career as army chaplain, travelling the continent from the Mexican War, to the Mormon Rebellion and the Raid on Harper’s Ferry. Winter loses his faith, but he encounters various historical figures of the day: Abe Lincoln, a young Sam Clemens, John Wilkes Booth and others. The Wreckage of Eden is a beautifully written novel that provides a new perspective on the 19th century and it's charming to imagine the character of Emily Dickinson as Norman Lock has written her. Amanda H.D.

Cræft - Alexander Langlands

Langlands’ tenacious curiosity about the Old Ways gains eloquence and momentum in Cræft a deft, engaging meditation on utterly misunderstood but once critical pursuits such as hay-making, weaving, and fence-mending, pursuits that continue to leave their mark on our language, culture, and landscapes, if no longer our bodies and minds. Craeft should not be understood as some commodified, heirloom mark of human hands for which you pay more at the farmer's market stall, but is itself power and agency, traditionally understood. Not to be missed are Langland’s thoughts on skep bee-keeping and their similarities to modern day obstetrics. Lila S.   

Praise Song for the Butterflies - Bernice L. McFadden

We learned about whales and Puerto Rico in two nonfiction selections, felt dread and horror with a debut novel and short-story collection, and ended the week on a sweet note with a cookbook. We hope you’re just as captivated by these staff favorites!

Spying on Whales - Nick Pyenson

Upcoming Event, Friday, August 17, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW

“Reading whale bones is what I do,” Pyenson, a paleontologist, says. “Their bones all tell stories…about where whales came from.” Translated into human language, these tales are full of superlatives: whales outweigh dinosaurs and are the largest creatures ever to have lived on Earth; their songs can travel 900 miles underwater, making them “the most acoustically powerful sound made by any organism.” In Spying on Whales, Pyenson takes us through the Smithsonian’s collection of fossil mammals, the world’s largest, with attendant lessons on whale anatomy, feeding habits, migratory range, and the mysteries particular to different species of whales, as well as on field trips to Panama, Alaska, the Hvalfjörður whaling station, and the amazing Cerro Ballena site in Chile. Laurie G.

The Battle For Paradise - Naomi Klein 

The Battle for Paradise is essential reading for every American. Into this nearly pocket-sized book, Naomi Klein packs a thorough account of Puerto Rico's struggle to recover after Hurricane María; her report is simultaneously deep enough for those who are familiar with the island's history and politics and accessible enough for those who aren't. Illustrating the visions and strategies of disaster capitalists as well as of grassroots Puerto Rican activists, Klein connects the reader to individuals and organizations doing work on the ground that will almost certainly shape the island's future. Expect to finish more informed, better equipped, and with a keener outlook on justice. Sarah C.  

Severance - Ling Ma 

If Ling Ma’s debut novel seems at all familiar, she’s carefully calibrated that feeling: it’s an apocalypse novel that could be happening right now. (It’s not for nothing that it’s actually set in the recent past.) The “fevered” zombies’ routines are commonplace: setting dinner tables, folding shirts, wandering name-brand stores, but with the added benefit of quicker-than-average bodily decay. It’s funny except when it’s horrifying; it’s horrifying except when it’s oddly comforting. That ambivalent tonal mixture is just one piece of what makes Ma’s writing so unique and captivating. Severance rushes forward on information overflow—on the ins and outs of collector’s edition Bible production, on the lives of Chinese immigrants in late-80s Utah, and on the name brands we all know and love-hate—because if that rush stopped, would we all fall into zombified oblivion too? Jonathan W. 

We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories - C. Robert Cargill 

From the creative mind behind the Doctor Strange film, comes a collection of short stories, We Are Where the Nightmares Go. By turns it thrills, chills, and fascinates. From a mine that belches tortured souls, to a serial killer of angels, to a story about zombie dinosaurs, Cargill keeps the reader enthralled with his macabre humor and mastery of dread. Aron

The Pretty Dish - Jessica Merchant

Have we got some exciting things to share with you this week! In anticipation of upcoming events at two of our locations, we learned about the struggles of people addicted to opiates and got lost in one of the summer’s most talked-about books. We enjoyed skillfully combined speculative sci-fi, historical fiction, and an unconventional romance in a tale of artificial intelligence. We were astounded by themes of parenting, loss, heartbreak and love in fiction. And in the rare moments of sun gracing us with its presence this summer, why not take up the 111 challenge and explore the city like never before?

Dopesick - Beth Macy

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose Thursday, August 9, 2018 - 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave NW

At this point some 2.6 million people are addicted to opiates nationwide. Overdoses are the leading cause of death for those under age 50, and in a decade the total deaths from opiates exceeded all deaths from HIV/AIDS. But Macy’s Dopesick, close-up of the opiate crisis in western Virginia tells you more than these devastating statistics can. With compassion and outrage she traces the wrenching downward trajectory of several young people, showing how their lives were taken over by the drugs, how hard they struggled to get clean, and how many times they failed. While new programs are slowly replacing policing with medical care, it’s too soon to gauge their impact. Laurie G.  

The Incendiaries - R. O. Kwon

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose at Union Market Friday, September 14, 2018 - 7 p.m.

True to the book's title, R. O. Kwon has crafted a fiery debut that announces her arrival as a new singular voice in American literature. Her first novel The Incendiaries, told through three different perspectives, is an interrogation on the nature of love, faith, and identity. The book reminded me of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair as both books tackle a character's investigation into the driving force behind the faith of a beloved in order to shed light into the mystery of why the beloved did the things that she did in the course of the novel. Compelling narrative matched with an eloquent writing style, you can't go wrong with that. Bennard F.  

Plum Rains - Andromeda Romano-Lax 

Andromeda Romano-Lax’s Plum Rains skillfully combines speculative sci-fi, historical fiction and an unconventional romance into something emotionally satisfying and hopeful. In Japan’s near future, where artificial Intelligence is replacing human health care aides, nurse Angelica’s livelihood is at risk. A prototype healthcare AI, nicknamed “Hiro”, threatens to push out Angelica while it forms a bond with her client, an unhappy centenarian named Sakoyo. Hiro’s presence brings Sayoko’s repressed memories back to the surface, and then each character must struggle to reconcile the past, learn to trust, and pursue future happiness as each sees it. This book is a joy that defies genre and should just be shelved under “terrific book”.  Bill L.  

A Place for Us - Fatima Farheen Mirza 

A Place for Us is an unforgettable novel about an Indian couple who comes to America and raises their three children in California. They are part of a devout religious Muslim community where being practicing believers is more important than just about anything else. Their way of life sustains and shapes them and also tears them apart. Told from multiple view points and over decades, the novel’s themes of parenting, loss, heartbreak and love will grab you on every page and leave you astounded. Fatima Farheen Mirza is a writer to watch. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this extraordinary talent. Nancy R. 

111 Places in Washington That You Must Not Miss - Andrea Seiger 

This week we traveled with our books both through space and time. We covered great distances discovering the deserts of the world. We went back to World War II and then a bit further back, 60 some million years, to learn about the magnificent creatures rummaging the earth before us. We thought about what it means to keep those you love safe and found a perfect spot for imagination and self-creation inside a hospital. These are the picks for this week.

The Mere Wife - Maria Dahvana Headley 

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley is dark and gorgeous and absolutely devastating.  It is a retelling of Beowulf that hits you hard whether you know every line or have never read the original. It is a beautiful fable about war, trauma, and what it means to keep those you love safe, a book as deep and layered as the mere within it. Anton B. 

The Immeasurable World - Will Atkins 

Interested in “the axis where the absolute coexists with the infinite,” in The Immeasurable World Atkins reports from deserts worldwide, focusing on nature, native culture, history, explorers, and new rituals, like Burning Man. Overall, his emphasis is spiritual. He stays in monasteries, delves into China’s Caves of the Thousand Buddhas and writes poignantly about the nuclear tests that left the Great Victorian Desert a radioactive wasteland, robbing Indigenous peoples of a landscape so sacred they made no distinction between desert and Ancestors. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book, but Atkins leaves many indelible moments: an eagle blinded by an atomic flash, the stages of dehydration, an evaporated lake like “an eyeless socket,” the untold numbers of migrants lost in the Sonoran Desert. Laurie G.  

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte

Like many other former 7-year-olds, I was once a dinosaur obsessive. With Jurassic Park roosting in the VCR, I would give any grown-up in earshot a rundown of my favorite dinosaurs (this changed daily) and what periods they lived in. If you're anything like me, a page or two into Steve Brusatte's prehistoric masterpiece The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be enough to bring back the kid in you. Brusatte presents the Mesozoic in vivid detail and with an immediacy not often reserved for a period that ended 65 million years ago. From spindly, cat-sized lizards at the beginning of the Triassic to thundering giants at the end of the Cretaceous, dinosaurs were a highly diverse, sophisticated species whose millions of years of earthly dominance help put our world and lives in far greater perspective. Isaac S. 

The Hospital - Ahmed Bouanani 

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose at Union Market with translator Lara Vergnaud, Wednesday, September 5, 2018 - 7 p.m.

All readers should rejoice at the sudden burst of writing newly available from Moroccan master Ahmed Bouanani, a long-neglected (and long-reclusive) late writer and filmmaker with a beautiful ear for the active mind’s poetic streams. In The Hospital, a man finds himself in a hospital ward with other male invalids of all ages and backgrounds. While it might sound like a sad place, and while it does inspire many surreal nightmare visions, it’s also revivifying in other ways—a perfect spot for imagination and self-creation, and full of wonderful characters with equally wonderful names: the Guzzler, the Rover, and many more. And it’s all brought into lovely English by phenomenal D.C. based translator Lara Vergnaud. Jonathan W.  

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin - Timothy Snyder 

This time we’re bringing the mixture of topics from different genres. A bit of political analysis, some historical fiction with plenty of interesting historical facts, a psychological thriller, a brilliant biography of the 20th century martial arts and film icon, and a memoir of the mother of black Hollywood. Here are this week’s picks—we hope you find them as enjoyable as we did.

The Death of Truth - Michiko Kakutani

“Trump is as much a symptom of the times as he is a dangerous catalyst,” Kakutani says in his new book The Death of Truth, and demonstrates how his disdain for facts and civility grew from fascism and postmodernism. She cites chilling parallels between Trump’s use of language and Hitler’s, and shows how ideas such as cultural relativity and deconstruction softened the lines between objective and subjective. This dangerous tendency to give equal weight to substance and nonsense has been abetted by technology, with social media ensuring the most inflammatory stories get the widest circulation. Where the founders emphasized “the common good,” the very idea of consensus is now in tatters. What can save us? Institutions such as the three branches of government, the press, and education; the courage to insist on the truth, as the Parkland students have; and books like this one. Laurie G.  

Varina - Charles Frazier 

Varina is a haunting and beautifully written historical novel about Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. It traces her escape from Richmond with her children, her life before meeting her much older and already widowed husband, and her turbulent years after the war including her many losses and struggles. She was truly a fascinating woman who lived during a time of great tragedy, change and upheaval.  Frazier includes so many interesting historical tidbits throughout the novel and reading Varina is a pure delight. Nancy R.  

The Shades - Evgenia Citkowitz 

The Shades is a great little pressure cooker of a novel—an ideal literary thriller. It springs a mysterious death-by-falling on you in the first pages and slowly, calculatedly brings back to the root of the event until everything becomes clear. Well, not everything. The best thing about this book is its daring lack of resolution, as powerful an evocation of dispersed familial grief as they come. Fans of Ali Smith’s The Accidental will find this a powerful warp on its portrait of a family ravaged, and hopefully built back up, from within and without. Jonathan W.

Bruce Lee: A Life - Matthew Polly

By the time of his death at the age of thirty-two, Bruce Lee had achieved unparalleled success in martial arts and film. With the posthumous release of his movie Enter the Dragon, he became one of the icons of the 20th century. Although much has been published about him, Matthew Polly has written the definitive biography - Bruce Lee: A Life. By the end of this excellent book, readers will feel like they've come to know the man behind those fists of fury. Michael T. 

The Mother of Black Hollywood - Jenifer Lewis 

With this week’s selection of picks, we’re remembering a great American poet and writer and announcing an event for one of the most anticipated books of the summer. We learned about the struggles of an online activist, amused ourselves with the adventures of a 22-year-old lawn boy, and fell in love with the fourteen-year-old protagonist who searches for freedom and fights for her soul. We hope you enjoy the books we chose this week as much as we did.    

My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose Wednesday, July 25, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

On one hand, I could praise Ottessa Moshfegh for the risks she takes: the confidence to frame her novel around such a decidedly sedentary character, the flamboyant discussion of bodily sensations (or drugged lack of sensation), and the gall to set the novel at perhaps the most eerily pregnant moment in New York City history. On the other hand, I could praise her for her unbelievable sense of humor -- she should receive some kind of medal for creating Dr. Tuttle, “the only psychiatrist to answer the phone at eleven at night on a Tuesday”, whose every sentence is a bizarre punchline. Instead, I’ll praise her for deploying those tools, as caustically she does, for a most unique, hard-won sense of empathy. I was not prepared for how emotionally overwhelming My Year of Rest and Relaxation would become, and I’m left even more amazed than before by Moshfegh’s quickly growing collection of masterworks. Jonathan W. 

A Carnival of Losses - Donald Hall 

Funny, spirited, touching - A Carnival of Losses is vintage Donald Hall. His outlook is signaled in the first essay, where he describes being old as a state in which “you learn” about the world in new ways.  Being old does not mean that you just hang around passively, and “when an essay of reminiscence takes eighty-four drafts,” Hall is being anything but passive.  He’s also as honest as he is humorous; being old means naps and a compulsion to notice how and at what age people die. It means easy things are now hard and hard things are impossible. It means younger people stop seeing you.  But most of all, it means there are more memories to draw on. Laurie G.

Well, That Escalated Quickly - Franchesca Ramsey

Franchesca Ramsey was making Youtube videos for over a year when she “quickly” rose to internet fame. Then her video on race deemed her the “call-out queen” of the internet, and while she was happy to fight against racism and sexism, she soon learned how her life on the internet would bleed into her reality. Her book  Well, That Escalated Quickly is part memoir and part tips on being a better ally. Morgan H.  

Lawn Boy - Jonathan Evison 

All you merchants of doom and gloom out there, a forewarning: Lawn Boy is a book that leaves you no choice but to have a big, stupid grin plastered to your face for the duration of the read - and for the days and weeks that follow.  In this smart and richly entertaining tribute to the young, dumb, and broke, we follow Mike Munoz, a 22-year-old underemployed landscaper who can barely navigate his chaotic home life, dwindling finances, and dismal luck with members of the opposite sex. Life events conspire to take him on an unexpected journey of self discovery. A moving and necessary portrayal of the working poor, this hilarious, heartfelt read is impossible to put down. Isaac S.

My Absolute Darling - Gabriel Tallent 

The psychotherapist notable for exploring the tension between the need for security and the need for freedom in human relationships, the master of science fiction and horror, and so much more in between: this week’s picks are just a fraction of great titles we’re surrounded with.    

The State of Affairs - Esther Perel 

In this groundbreaking book, Esther Perel, innovative author of Mating In Captivity explores the subject of infidelity and the role of the ‘third’ in the life of a couple. She calls for new definitions of monogamy and new ways of thinking about trust that will enhance active engagement and intimacy in marriage. She covers it all - from sexual alchemy, hook ups, the nature of desire and emotional affairs to the cataclysmic feelings of betrayal and loss experienced by a jilted partner. She also guides the reader through different ways couples come back from crisis and redefine their marriages. The State of Affairs is for everyone - single or married, gay or straight in committed relationships or looking for new ways to navigate them. Amanda H.D.  

Upstate - James Wood 

Like John Banville’s elegant fictions, Wood’s second novel Upstate is less about action than about character and language. The plot is spare:  Alan, a developer, and his daughter, a Sony executive, travel from Britain to see Alan’s expat daughter, a philosophy professor as Skidmore in Saratoga Springs. Told from Alan’s point of view, the narrative is a fluid weave of memories, questions, complaints, and wry humor. But while his social critiques are sharp, he’s on less certain ground with psychology. Are his daughters happy? As this deceptively quiet book shows, navigating the shifting currents of family life is difficult, rewarding, and demands every bit of intellectual and emotional energy we can muster. Laurie G. 

The Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower #2) - Stephen King 

Alright now, I could praise every book that makes up the Dark Tower series, because they are some of my most favorite Stephen King novels. Narrowing down one out of seven was difficult, but The Drawing of the Three shows some of King's strongest characters at their most desperate points of need. The book picks up right after Gunslinger, progresses seamlessly as new characters are introduced, and the setting shifts from desert to New York City. The books are a mix of western and science fiction, and can be considered King's Lord of the Rings. Phil R.

Fox - Dubravka Ugresic

Like a mirror version of Patti Smith’s M Train, no description of Fox will contain it all, not with an author as wily as her titular character. Over six chapters, you meet Russian radical authors, Croatian landmine removers, Vladimir Nabokov’s butterflies, late-in-life first-time writers, amusingly callow kids, and Ugresic herself. And Ugresic is an amazing character: a Croatian exile as approachable and funny as she is erudite and politically reflective. Every episode in this book is unforgettable, and while they all stand alone as perfect mini-novellas, it’s the force of them together (and the moments of revelation that span stories) that makes this book so moving. Read now and tell all of your friends: Dubravka Ugresic is one of the world’s best writers. Jonathan W.  

The City of Brass - S. A Chakraborty

The World Cup is entering its final stage. We saw some great football being played, and some not so great. There were a couple of surprises, some tears, and a lot of joy. It is believed that it’s a favourite pastime of millions of people around the world. And while we wait for the semi - final games this week and the final on July 15, we found some great books to make the time go faster. To better understand this beautiful game, fan devotion and what is it that keeps millions going to the stadiums and staying glued to their TV screens, take a look at some of these titles.

Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby

In America, it is soccer. But in Great Britain, it is the real football. No pads, no prayers, no prisoners. And that's before the players even take the field.Nick Hornby has been a football fan since the moment he was conceived. Call it pre destiny. Or call it preschool. Fever Pitch is his tribute to a lifelong obsession. Part autobiography, part comedy, part incisive analysis of insanity, Hornby's award-winning memoir captures the fever pitch of fandom--its agony and ecstasy, its community, its defining role in thousands of young men's coming-of-age stories. Fever Pitch is one for the home team. But above all, it is one for everyone who knows what it really means to have a losing season.

The Game of Our Lives: The English Premier League and the Making of Modern Britain - David Goldblatt

The Game of Our Lives is a masterly portrait of soccer and contemporary Britain. Soccer in the United Kingdom has evolved from a jaded, working-class tradition to a sport at the heart of popular culture, from an economic mess to a booming entertainment industry that has conquered the world. The changes in the game, David Goldblatt shows, uncannily mirror the evolution of British society.

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization - Franklin Foer

A ground-breaking work - named one of the five most influential sports books of the decade by Sports Illustrated—How Soccer Explains the World is a unique and brilliantly illuminating look at soccer, the world’s most popular sport, as a lens through which to view the pressing issues of our age, from the clash of civilizations to the global economy.

Men in Blazers Present Encyclopedia Blazertannica: A Suboptimal Guide to Soccer, America's "sport of the Future" Since 1972 - Roger Bennett, Michael Davies

The Men in Blazers are two English-born, soccer-obsessed broadcasters who have savored the dizzying growth of the game along with millions of Americans. Now they immerse fans and novices alike in the history and culture of the world's game with Encyclopedia Blazertannica. Examining fan culture, from the famous stadium chants to the tactical variations of scarf tying, exploring the complex physics and ethics of both celebratory knee slides and fights between players, reliving the careers of legendary players, classic matches, and colorful World Cup history, and sharing a deep appreciation for the athletic brilliance and ill-judged neck tattoos that dominate the sport, this indispensable tome gives readers a front-row seat to all the action of football madness. 

The World Cup in 100 Objects -  Iain Spragg  

A thriller set deep in the Appalachian wilderness, a music bio of “The Only Band That Matters”, poems that give a shape to the pain, a character study in survival and an attempt to better understand human anxiety in response to mortality. This week’s picks span across genres and topics and had us talking for hours.        

Bearskin - James A McLaughlin

Bearskin is an evocative, mesmerizing thriller set deep in the Appalachian wilderness. Determined to lay low from a Mexican Sinoloa cartel killer bent on revenge, Rice Moore gets a job as a warden of a wilderness preserve. But when bear poachers start hunting the property, Rice reverts to his most basic, primal self to catch them, and putting his secrecy on the line. With brilliant and spare prose, the haunting, lush and unknowable Virginia forest preserve is the real protagonist of this expertly woven début. A perfect read for the camping and hiking trip you were planning in the woods this summer. Keith V.   

We Are the Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of a Band That Mattered - Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose Friday, July 6, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

We are The Clash tells a complex story of a key band in the original wave of British punk rock . It’s a Thoroughly researched account of the band’s last years, their struggle to stay true to their ideals and the political climate in both UK and US with the rise of a right-wing power. It’s a biography of “The Only Band That Matters” as much as a political history of the late seventies and early eighties. Andersen and Heibutzki remind us that the greatness of The Clash lay in their willingness to push the envelope on all levels and that their music and their message together made them a band that truly mattered. Marija D.  

Something Bright, Then Holes - Maggie Nelson

My love for Maggie Nelson's writing grows with every book, essay, and poem I read by her. Something Bright, Then Holes is a reissue of her 2007 poetry collection, and it is a keen and vivid book. It will probably not make you feel better during a dark time in your life or the world, but it might give a shape to some of the pain. Anton B.   

The Shepherd's Hut - Tim Winton 

After growing up with an abusive father, then living on his own in the outback when he’s barely 16, Jaxie is a character study in survival. Winton’s taut novel The Shepherd's Hut opens as Jaxie’s father dies in an accident and Jaxie, afraid he’ll be accused of having killed him, bolts—on foot—to the wilds of Western Australia. There he meets Fintan MacGillis, a Catholic priest in exile after unspecified sins involving money. Fintan teaches the younger man about trust; but paranoids do have enemies, and when danger strikes, neither Jaxie nor Fintan are prepared. The novel that started with psychological suspense ends as a thriller that deepens the questions Winton has posed about masculinity and power, chance and faith. Laurie G.  

The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker

This week, yet again, we lost ourselves in fiction. It’s is hard not to with so many brilliant titles, old and new, surrounding us. A couple of débuts, books announcing events we’re having in our stores, the 40th Anniversary edition of a hunting tale, and international titles are the picks we chose to share with you this week.

Number One Chinese Restaurant - Lillian Li

Upcoming Event at Politics and prose Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

I am very biased toward Number One Chinese Restaurant for reasons that have nothing to do with the book itself. It’s a debut novel by a writer from the D.C. area—plus, her name is very close to mine. Usually, when I’m biased toward a novel for such silly reasons, it then disappoints me.  Not this time! Number One Chinese Restaurant is a delight. Its food writing is as good as you want it to be, its characters are wonderful and wonderfully awful, and Li is expert at braiding together her high level of insight with her great sense of humor. Early in the book, one of her protagonists remembers ruefully, “Love came slowly, as weaknesses in the body often do.” As soon as I read that, I was  sold. Lily M.  

There There - Tommy Orange

Upcoming Event at Politics and Prose at The Wharf  Monday, June 25, 2018 - 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Drawing his title from Gertrude Stein’s often misunderstood remark about Oakland, Orange in his tremendous debut novel wants “to bring something new to the vision of the Native experience” by presenting the untold and as yet unstereotyped “Urban Indian story.” He brilliantly accomplishes this in twelve interwoven profiles that tap into the “real passion…and rage” of Native Americans in contemporary Oakland. Powerful and moving, virtuoso narratives in There There bring us into the lives of children and grandparents, single mothers and drug thugs, recovering alcoholics and victims of abuse. All have complicated relationships with their heritage. Through these intimate and urgent stories Orange recovers the “there” of a Native history while also ending American Indians’ long struggle “to be recognized as a present-tense people, modern and relevant.” Laurie G.  

The Changeling - Joy Williams 

The night after finishing The Changeling, I had a nightmare so bad that I lashed out with my left foot while asleep and smashed my big toenail. Such is the degree that this book got under my skin. An inspiration for short story writers like Kelly Link and Karen Russell, The Changeling is essential reading on its own merits as a story about parenting, animals, the mundane and the starkly and horrifically transcendent. Adam Westcott

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata 

Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is both poignant and unsettling. It’s an intimate glimpse into an ordinary life that, in the eyes of society, is still not ordinary enough. This tiny book packs within a Kafkaesque look on conformity, questions about how to live one’s life and what it means to be ‘normal’, all with a fiercely feminist voice and sharp insight. Murata’s novel is the perfect entry point into contemporary Japanese literature. Anton B.

Mokusei!: A Love Story - Cees Nooteboom 

With a struggling artist taking care of her brother, a gripping tale of what it’s like being a Filipino in America, an orphanage being harvested by monsters, the claim that extraterrestrial civilizations have existed and will again, and an obsessive search for a Golden State killer, this week’s picks span from fiction and manga to science and true crime. They’ll have you occupied and engrossed for hours.  

Brother in Ice - Alicia Kopf   

Starting as “research notes” for a project about the poles, Kopf’s beguiling, shimmering book Brother in Ice soon shifts from discourses on ice and explorers into a novel that reads like a diary. Its narrator is a struggling artist worried about supporting herself and about being too focused on art to meet the needs of others. The heart of her anxiety is her brother. Nearly disabled with autism, he constantly stops, frozen, unable to act unless told what to do. How much does she owe him? How much can she understand him? How much is she like him? There are no answers, just Kopf’s skilled wielding of narrative, “the axe we use to break the frozen sea that inhabits us.” Laurie G. 

America Is Not the Heart - Elaine Castillo 

Elaine Castillo's America Is Not the Heart is an astonishing portrait of what it is like being a Filipino who moved to America in search of the elusive "better". Whether for a better place, a better job or a better life, Castillo has zeroed in on the desire of every immigrant and woven it into a compelling novel. Being a Filipino immigrant myself, I can attest that Castillo's novel hits close to home and lays bare ache after ache with each turn of the page. America Is Not the Heart is a beautiful novel written with a powerful voice, and a worthy addition to the canon of immigrant fiction. Bennard F.

The Promised Neverland Vol. 1 - Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu 

One of the biggest recent hits from the publication that brought you Naruto and My Hero Academia is a) drawn by a woman and b) a creepy folktale take on Prison Break! Three kids realize to their horror that their orphanage is being harvested by monsters. Can they escape? The Promised Neverland is a story of mind games, secret plans and young kids forced to grow up fast that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Adam Westcott

Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth - Adam Frank  

On the next clear night, gaze into the sky. Why haven't we heard from anyone out there? In his astonishing book, astrophysicist Adam Frank explores this question with startling results. He combines the history of scientific thought with modern research to illuminate the nature of planet spanning civilizations. He demonstrates that in all likelihood extraterrestrial civilizations have existed and will again. Ultimately, we may not have heard from anyone because civilizations, as a rule, may not last that long. Light of the Stars will explode your understanding of our past, present, and future. Michael T.  

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - Michelle McNamara