10 book novelties to read this summer

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

“Sister of Four” by Evgeny Vodolazkina, “Power” by Naomi Alderman, “Human Deeds” by Khan Gan and other works you won't want to miss.

1. "The Force" by Naomi Alderman

The book Power (in an alternative translation - Power), recently published by Phantom Press, is a dystopia about a future in which women have ceased to be oppressed. Social roles have changed, but is the world a better place? This is a very relevant novel today about the nature of violence, uncontrollable aggression, and how great power must go hand in hand with great responsibility.

2. "Sister of four", Evgeny Vodolazkin

Laureate of numerous literary awards Evgeny Vodolazkin did not get bored in self-isolation, but worked actively. Elena Shubina's Edition has published the book "Sister of Four" (so far only in electronic format, the paper version will appear on the shelves in September), consisting of four plays by the famous prose writer. The first of them, the title of which is included in the title of the entire collection, tells about the writer and three more patients of the infectious diseases ward during the coronavirus epidemic. The rest of the plays - about the death of a famous parodist, about the history of the creation of one museum, about deceived equity holders and a candidate for mayor - are just as ironic and relevant.

3. "The Birth of the Pill" by Jonathan Eig

Have you ever wondered what was behind the invention of oral contraceptives? The Birth of a Pill is a fascinating non-fiction about how four enthusiasts made the sexual revolution. The creation of magic pills to help you have a normal sex life without consequences rocked America in the 1950s and 1960s. Jonathan Eig will tell you how everything really happened and how important this invention was for women who finally got freedom, peace of mind and the ability to control their own bodies.

4. "Mirages of the Soviet", Anton Dolin

Why is the Soviet past so attractive to contemporary filmmakers? Anton Dolin tried to answer this question. The new book of the most famous film critic of Russia is a conceptual collection dedicated to Russian cinema and how the cinema of the 21st century comprehends life in the USSR. The essays cover the widest possible temporal layer: from films by Dziga Vertov of the beginning of the last century to the sensational project "Dau" by Ilya Khrzhanovsky and the documentary film "Sorokin Trip" by Yuri Saprykin and Anton Zhelnov.

5. "Plague", Lyudmila Ulitskaya

The screenplay by Lyudmila Ulitskaya, written in 1978 based on real events, was suddenly relevant. The story of preventing the plague epidemic in Moscow in 1939 today, during the coronavirus pandemic, sounds especially poignant. When human lives are at stake, the same difficult decisions have to be made as they were 80 years ago.

6. Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling and Other Feminist Tales by Laura Lane & Ellen Hawn

Published by Alpina Non-Fiction, the book of fairy tales by Laura Lane and Ellen Hawn is nothing more than a daring attempt to tell old stories in a new way. The authors of the book believe that in the modern world the time has come for other fairy tales and other heroines - not eternal victims who need to be protected, but active women who themselves can save the prince and not forget about their pleasure. In these tales, women have the last word: they are independent and are not going to live according to the canons of patriarchy.

7. "I really want you," Katie Acker, Mackenzie Work

The book by writer Katie Acker and media researcher Mackenzie Work is an epistolary novel, correspondence dated 1995-1996. This is not just a concentrated flirtation in emails, this is a conversation between two interlocutors who are not afraid to be "over the top."They try to go beyond conventions and restrictions, to be free in their choice of gender, sexual preferences and philosophy. The reader is invited to spy on talk about queer identity, pop culture and the avant-garde, about Blanchot, Bataille, Jelinek and many other thinkers. “If you're wondering how botanical intellectuals were courted in a particular era, this book is for you,” writes foreword author Mathias Wigener.

8. "Human Deeds" by Han Gan

A serious and important book about the Gwangju Uprising - one of the most dramatic events of the 20th century in South Korea. Khan Gan, Booker Prize winner, tells a story of humanity and brutality in difficult times for the country. This book does not have the metaphor that is present in "Vegetarian", but there is a recognizable voice of the author.

9. “Long 68th. Radical Protest and Its Enemies ", Richard Weinen

From the book you will learn how the student unrest arose in the fateful 1968, what preceded them and what they led to. Weinen looks at the period from the 1960s to the late 1970s and talks about how the protests in the United States, France, Britain and West Germany affected different social groups and how they changed life - social, political and sexual.

10. "Soviet Literature: Myths and Temptations", Dmitry Bykov

Journalist and renowned lecturer Dmitry Bykov tells interesting facts about Soviet literature. On the pages of his book there are familiar and dear names to us: Iosif Brodsky, Bulat Okudzhava, Daniil Kharms, Sergei Dovlatov and even Viktor Pelevin. You can start reading from anywhere.

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