For plenty of folks, the first Tuesday after Memorial Day marks the first "true" day of summer: Sun! Sand! Baseball! Indigestion! Sunburn! Heatstroke? Reckless whales?!
OK, you're right, what were we thinking — it's way too dangerous out there. Much safer to stay indoors, close the blinds and wait for winter and a good book. Good thing this week's publishing highlights, all fiction, present plenty of opportunities for escape. Why not get away to London or Malaysia, or go spelunking in the mind of a sociopath, all from the thermostat-managed comfort of your own home?
Beware of papercuts, though — that could easily turn into a Stephen King-esque nightmare scenario if you're not ready.
Autocorrect: Stories, by Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston
Keret, a doyen of the short story, typically takes his task quite literally: Whatever else it may be, a story by the Israeli writer is quite likely to be short. That's true as well in Autocorrect, the latest of the Israeli writer's collections to be translated into English. Most of the stories here last no more than a handful of pages. But don't mistake his characteristic concision and humor for flippancy. Some of these stories — originally published in Hebrew, in the long shadow of the Oct. 7 attacks and the war in Gaza — hit like a punch to the gut from a passing stranger.
Consider Yourself Kissed, by Jessica Stanley
In at least one sense, Stanley didn't have to go far to generate drama for her second novel: Its backdrop is the truly tumultuous past decade in British politics, which the Australian expat experienced herself living in London. But noisy as they may be, Brexit, Covid and the revolving door of prime ministers just add flavor to this book's entree: a romance between a political journalist and an aspiring novelist who struggles to balance their "happily ever after" — complete with cute kids, et al — with the independent sense of self that all this familial contentment threatens to drown.
Never Flinch, by Stephen King
Holly Gibney is back — though it's not as if she really left for long. Lately the eccentric private detective has rounded into a marquee player in King's troupe of recurring characters. She has appeared in seven of King's books in the decade or so since her introduction in Mr. Mercedes, and finally got her own book, titled Holly, in 2023. In this two-pronged thriller, Gibney gets called upon both to protect a women's rights activist and prevent a mysterious killer from following through on an audacious threat.
The South, by Tash Aw
Back in 2010, famed librarian Nancy Pearl slipped a rather audacious declaration into an otherwise innocuous article: "I believe that someday Aw will win a well-deserved Nobel Prize for Literature." Now, that prediction hasn't come true yet, but the 50-something Malaysian novelist still has time — and a growing bibliography that has only attracted more passionate fans since then. Now based in the U.K., Aw in his latest novel returns to Malaysia for the story of a family seeking to revive an inherited farm, with the son center-stage, coming of age and into young queer love.
The Stalker, by Paula Bomer
Doughty, the star of Bomer's latest novel, courts comparisons to Patrick Bateman and Tom Ripley. Manipulative, unbridled by morals, as deceptive with others as they are with themselves — only, it appears that Doughty is also unbridled by brains. The saga of this dim and dastardly striver is streaked through with pitch-black humor.
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