It might be a good weekend to cozy up next to the fan with a good book. Here are six new options for readers of all ages.
— Anthony Veasna So's "Afterparties" is a stunning collection of stories of generations of Cambodian American immigrants who must reconcile the trauma of the Khmer Rouge genocide with themselves, each other and their adopted country. The promising author's debut has been tragically overshadowed by his death at age 28 last December.
— TeenTix reviewers Lark Keteyian and Frances Vonada reviewed two hotly anticipated young-adult titles apiece, including "fun and quick-paced" wizarding adventure "It Ends In Fire" and "The Taking of Jake Livingston," which invites readers into a "unique and terrifying world built on tension and ghosts" in which the protagonist, a gay, Black, ghost-seeing teen at an all-white school, must confront the ghost of a school shooter.
— Michael Upchurch was impressed with the new novel "The Human Zoo" by Sabina Murray. Noting that it seems to blur the lines between a political thriller, a love story and a social critique targeting the grotesque inequalities of an authoritarian regime in the contemporary Philippines, Upchurch writes that the novel is "taut with suspense" and keeps readers guessing in his recommendation.
