CityView Magazine

42 Januar y 2023 GOOD READS New year, new books BY DIANE PARFITT W hen Harry Potter first appeared on bookshelves, how many thousands of readers anxiously awaited the next installment from JK Rowling? ose of us who have a favorite author will, aer finishing one novel, immediately anticipate the next one. When the "next one" finally does arrive, the downside, once you have read it, is starting the whole waiting process all over again. ere are many such books for which we anxiously await their publication. Here are a few of the most highly awaited books that have just been released. 1. "Demon Copperhead'' by Barbara Kingsolver Inspired by Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield,'' Kingsolver's story is set not in Victorian England but in the Appalachian mountains. A boy born to a teenage mother braves the modern world with wit, good looks and a fierce instinct for survival. He learns how to navigate the perils of foster care, child labor, poor schools and damaging losses. For those of us who have loved all of Kingsolver's novels, this promises to be yet another one to inspire us to read late into the night during the long winter months. 2. "Our Missing Hearts'' by Celeste Ng Bird Gardner, a 12-year-old Asian American boy, lives with his loving father. His mother, a Chinese American poet, became a fugitive aer writing what was considered a subversive poem when Bird was 9 years old. His father was once a linguist but now shelves books at a university library. For a decade, they have been subjected to laws written to preserve the "American culture" aer years of violence and economic instability. e laws forced libraries to remove books that were considered unpatriotic, including the poem by Bird's mother. To maintain peace and restore prosperity, the government has relocated children of dissidents, particularly those of Asian origin. Bird now sets out on a quest to find his mother, feeling that she has abandoned him, even though it was for his own good. 3. "Fairy Tale'' by Stephen King I readily admit that Stephen King is a little too scary for me. However, I know he has a devoted following, and his new book is already flying off the shelves. In his latest novel, King takes us on a ride to a parallel world where good and evil are at war. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Reade seems like a regular kid, but he is carrying a heavy burden. His mother has been killed in a hit-and-run, and his father is using alcohol to deal with his grief. Charlie finds himself helping an elderly neighbor and his big dog near his home. When the neighbor dies, he leaves Charlie the dog and the keys to an alternate world. us begins a truly scary Stephen King story that his followers will find deliciously thrilling. 4. "We Are the Light'' by Matthew Quick e author of "e Silver Linings Playbook '' brings us his new novel about a widower who takes in a grieving teenager and, through this act of kindness, magically revives their small town. Majestic, Pennsylvania, has been torn apart by a recent tragedy, and everyone sees widower Lucas Goodgame as a hero aerward. Everyone except Lucas, that is. Lucas is under a lot of stress and to manage this, he visualizes his deceased wife as an angel who visits "Anticipation of pleasure is, in itself, a very considerable pleasure." ~ David Hume 1 2 3 5 6 The first seven bestselling Harr y Potter books include 'Philosopher's Stone,' 'Chamber of Secrets,' 'Prisoner of A zkaban,' 'Goblet of Fire,' 'Order of the Phoenix,' 'Half- Blood Prince' and 'Deathly Hallows.' 4

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