What We’re Reading: January 2019This month our Celadon totes are packed with science and Sci-Fi, zombies and Woolly mammoths, and of course, a little murder and mystery.By the Celadon Team
Heather Graham
Director of Content
Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
I could see Hercule Poirot twirl his mustache in the English countryside, looking into a murder that seemed to be solved more than a dozen years ago. What I didn’t see was whodunit! (But I was convinced that I had.) Agatha Christie is the master of planting clues, right next to red herrings. If you love mysteries, detective stories, or Masterpiece Theater—you have to read Agatha Christie.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Science fiction fans not familiar with the work of Octavia E. Butler—“the grande dame of science fiction”—are missing out. A fan of Butler since reading Kindred and Dawn, I just started Parable of the Sower. Published nearly 30 years ago, it’s set in 2025 in a society destroyed by drugs, crime, climate change, and war. Now that 18-year-old Lauren, who has the ability to feel others’ pain, has been forced to flee her home in search of safety, she could be the one to save humanity from itself.
Jaime Noven
Marketing Manager
Severance by Ling Ma
One of my authors stopped by the office and told me that everyone who’s ever worked in art book publishing, as I have, should read Severance. On my lunch break that day, I went to Strand Books and bought a copy. He was right. But it’s not the book publishing or even the zombies that makes me recommend the book. It’s the themes of immigration, routine, and world economy.
Alice and Bob Meet the Wall of Fire edited by Thomas Lin
I just started reading this book after attending Quanta magazine’s book launch event in New York City. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the most thought-provoking ideas in physics and biology being researched today. I’m at the bit where our universe is just a hologram. I expect the ideas to get even more mind-blowing from here.
Alexis Neuville
Marketing & Publicity Assistant
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus
Ever since finishing The Silent Patient, mystery thrillers have been a guilty pleasure of mine. This is McManus’s second novel, her first being One Of Us Is Lying which has spent 72 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It’s a fast-paced young adult thriller with an array of interesting characters, motives, and alibis.
Love books?
Sign up for the free Celadon Books newsletter, and get book giveaways, news, and recommendations sent straight to your inbox.
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo is one of my favorite authors, and one of the reasons I wanted to work in book publishing. Her first series in the Grishaverse has an iconic character, Prince Nikolai, and I’m so excited to follow him along in this new series from his point of view. Bardugo’s first two series just got picked up as an eight-episode series for Netflix, and I couldn’t be more excited!
Clay Smith
Junior Designer & Studio Coordinator
The Power by Naomi Alderman
On the New York Times list of best books for 2018, this book is the perfect combination of dystopian character drama and feminist propaganda. It’s definitely timely given our current political climate. Fans of both The Handmaid’s Tale and Beyonce will love it!
Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive History’s Most Iconic Extinct Creature by Ben Mezrich
Woolly follows the story of the genetic resurrection of the extinct woolly mammoth, and is a great reminder that the people behind the most futuristic inventions are equally as interesting as their ideas. If you’ve read Naomi Klein, Field Notes from a Catastrophe or like a good biopic, you will find this book extremely interesting and worth your time.
