Courtesy of Algonquin Books, Dutton, Penguin Press
16. by Bill Schutt
17. by Theodore H. Schwartz
18. by Rosamund Young
Maybe it’s because I just spend five hours in a dental chair getting new crowns, but I can’t wait to read Bite, a look at teeth throughout the ages and the animal kingdom. Zoologist Bill Schutt says teeth are a key reason why vertebrates have flourished. (Opposable thumbs are pretty neat, too, says this primate.) He gives an engaging account of the role teeth played both in nature and culture. I’m going to read it as soon as I finish flossing. (P.S. And I just noticed the play on words: an “incisive” history. Incisors! Hey, I never said I was smart.)
Dr. Theodore H. Schwartz plays god. How else to describe holding a scalpel in your hand and cutting into the human brain? Brain surgery has been around for about a hundred years (not counting earlier attempts to tinker with it by slamming nails into people’s skulls and such) and Schwartz tells what it’s like to perform brain surgery and how it has evolved. Everything from JFK to the NFL’s shameful approach to brain injuries is tackled here, along with the future of what is after all a fairly new endeavor.
Rosamund Young enjoyed an unexpected hit with her farming memoir The Secret Life Of Cows. Now Young returns us to Kite’s Nest Farm, her home for more than 40 years. Just as her last book zeroed in on the personalities and surprising interactions with cows, here Young turns her keen eye onto the sheep. They are good judges of character, have long memories and don’t always sheepishly do as they’re told, by the way. One half James Herriott and one half, well it’s all pretty James Herriott, isn’t it? Since Kite’s Nest Farm also contains hens and pigs, you must imagine they eye Young a little suspiciously whenever she’s nearby, watching, waiting and taking notes.
by Bill Schutt ($31; Algonquin Books) Buy now from , ,
by Theodore H. Schwartz ($32; Dutton) Buy now from , ,
by Rosamund Young ($27; Penguin Press) Buy now from , ,
19. by Wen-yi Lee
Wen-yi Lee’s novel The Dark We Know involves the horrors of small town life when you’re an odd bisexual teen who does not fit in and never will. Isadora Chang escaped to art school but is dragged back home by the promise of an inheritance from her late, abusive father. What she finds is her one remaining friend in a battle against evil forces wreaking havoc on a place she never cared about anyway. But Isadora won’t have to decide whether to challenge it or run, because it won’t let her go away again, not without a fight.
The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee ($19.99; Zando–Gillian Flynn Books) Buy now from , ,
This article originally appeared on www.aol.com: www.aol.com https://www.aol.com/31-best-book-releases-week-004811818.html