10 Books to Watch For in February 2010
Photo: Ben Goldstein/Studio D
Wench
By Dolen Perkins-Valdez
304 pages; Amistad A righteous historical novel about female slaves on, yes, summer vacation with their masters in free-state Ohio.
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The Postmistress
By Sarah Blake
336 pages; Amy Einhorn Three women connected by World War II. Think
The Help meets
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society .
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Just Kids
By Patti Smith
304 pages; Ecco The
singer-icon's memoir about coming of age with soul mate Robert Mapplethorpe. Funny, fascinating, oddly tender.
The Lost Books of the Odyssey
By Zachary Mason
240 pages; FSG
Homer's classic revisited, expanded upon, played with. A brainiac's take that's not just for scholars.
Jealousy: The Other Life of Catherine M.
By Catherine Millet
192 pages; Grove
The French free spirit (whose last book was a memoir of her promiscuity) experiences betrayal and discovers—surprise!—that it hurts.
Brava, Valentine
By Adriana Trigiani
352 pages; Harper
The second book in the crowd-pleasing author's trilogy that started with Very Valentine. Here, our heroine looks for herself in Buenos Aires.
Devotion
By Dani Shapiro
256 pages; Harper
A novelist finds redemption—and yoga—in Connecticut.
Three Days Before the Shooting…The Unfinished Second Novel
By Ralph Ellison
1,136 pages; Random House
Compiled from 3,000 manuscript pages and other notes left by the late author of Invisible Man.
A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir
By Elena Gorokhova
320 pages; Simon & Schuster
A onetime student of the late, great Frank McCourt tells her own story about coming to America (in her case, from Russia).
Erotic Poems
By e.e. cummings
80 pages; W.W. Norton The poet could be passionate and playful. Who knew?
See all of this month's reviews
From the
February 2010 issue of
O, The Oprah Magazine
