20 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: February 2021

Editor’s note: As always, we encourage you to do whatever you can to support your local bookstore, including purchasing audiobooks from our sponsor Libro.fm. Feel free to share what’s on your #TBR list by tweeting us @WritersBone or in the comments section below. Stay safe, keep reading!—Daniel Ford

Te-Ping Chen wrote one hell of a debut short story collection. Every story in Land of Big Numbers is incredibly powerful and features characters that get under your skin, make you laugh, make you cry, the full spectrum of human emotions. Her exploration of modern China is one you won’t soon forget.

We can't resist a novel about two strangers meeting and exploring their human connection over a compressed amount of time. Splendid book cover as well.

Julia Fine has a permanent spot on #bookradar whenever she publishes a new book. We can't wait to dig into her latestThe Upstairs House. Talk about opening lines: "Death flaunts itself on every tree, and Margaret looks out the hospital window, calling it beautiful." Mercy.

Our good friend Christian Di Spigna recommended author Sara Georgini's work and we are so glad that he did. Georgini's Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family is so well researched and a propulsive read.

Here's hoping cross-stitched book covers are the next literary pub date trend.

We saw this book on just about every February "must read" list and we finally read the premise: "An epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression." Sign us up.

Claire Handscombe is an excellent podcast host (subscribe to The Brit Lit Podcast), but she's also a damn good author! Thoroughly enjoyed her debut Unscripted and we can't wait to read more from her.

We're patiently waiting for the Shakespeare and Company book event post-pandemic where we'll likely run into Julie Delpy (Trust us, if you love dialogue and good acting, watch the “Before” series).

Nancy Johnson's The Kindest Lie has received a ton of buzz and from what we've read so far, it's all well deserved. We can't wait to host Johnson on the show and learn about her writing process.

We've been looking forward to this release every since we finished Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. The essay collection features so many of our favorite writers, including Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Phillip B. Williams, Morgan Parker, Annette Gordon-Reed, and Robert Jones, Jr.

The Ardent Swarm is Yamen Manai's first book to be translated into English and we hope it’s the first of many. I had to overcome a somewhat paralyzing bee phobia to read this, but I think I have a deeper appreciation for this creature I’ve been so afraid of. The main character Sidi has his world turned upside down, first when his hive is mutilated and then when his town is caught up in wider political and religious entanglements. Manai delves into serious issues in this novel, but there’s also this humor, this passion, this humanity that buzzes around every page.—Daniel Ford

We're going to love any book that starts with an essay about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” A wonderful collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Emily Nussbaum.

We loved Zibby Owens’ interview with A Mighty Blaze's Rachael Barenbaum. Pick up Moms Don't Have Time To: A Quarantine Anthology and subscribe to Owens' podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Book‪s‬.

I thought I had read everything written by Nathaniel Philbrick, but I pleasantly discovered that I was wrong! I picked up Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890 at Yellow Umbrella Books while visiting Cape Cod recently. A must stop (along with Where the Sidewalk Ends Bookstore) if you ever find yourself in Chatham, Mass.—Daniel Ford

We were big fans of Paul Vidich's previous books An Honorable Man and The Good Assassin and he did not disappoint in his new spy novel The Mercenary. We love his character-first approach to storytelling.

Author’s Corner

Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets, stopped by the podcast recently and gave us plenty of great titles to put on our #bookradar. Add them all to your reading list and buy them from your local bookstore, Bookshop.org, Indiebound, or Libro.fm.

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