Vol. 1 Brooklyn’s November 2021 Book Recommendations

November 2021 books

What does this November hold for us, in terms of new books? For whatever reason, this month seems to abound with compelling fiction, from gripping tales of characters in flux to immersive explorations of inner lives. Some of the books we’re most excited about are the latest works from writers we admire; others fall into the category of highly-anticipated debuts. As the weather outside gets colder, here are some suggestions for your autumn reading.

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#tobyreads: Created Creators: Sarah Hall, Ali Smith, and A.G. Porta on Artists’ Lives and Works

And so once again, we return to one of my preferred subjects for fiction: the making of art. Three of the four central characters in Sarah Hall’s How to Paint a Dead Man are artists; the two focal characters of A.G. Porta’s The No World Concerto are writers; and Ali Smith’s Artful is constructed around a series of lectures given on the subjects of art and aesthetics. None of these are traditionally structured, and that’s one of the pleasures of reading them: how […]

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#tobyreads: A Trio of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists — Books by Helen Oyeyemi, Sarah Hall, & Ned Beauman

Mortifyingly, I haven’t actually read the current edition of Granta. I have a copy of it in my living room; I’ve thumbed through it a little bit: checked out some of the portraits; noted that Stephen Hall’s contribution seems to involve an interesting layout. But still: haven’t gotten to it yet. But that didn’t stop me from reading novels by three of the writers featured in said issue.

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