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New Books for December 2024

Small, Independent, and University Press, and Author-published Books

NewPages learns about many wonderful book titles each month to share with our readers. You can read more about some of these by clicking on the link to their blog post. If you are a publisher or author looking to be listed here and featured on our blog, social media, and in our weekly newsletter, please visit our FAQ page.

Airplane Mode, Shahnaz Habib, Catapult
A traveler herself, Habib questions the benefits of tourism while examining the meaning and privilege of passports. Read the book review here.

The Burning Heart of the World, Nancy Kricorian, Red Hen Press
A “spare and poetic novel” encompassing the “complex legacies of violence” centered on the 15-year-long civil war in Lebanon. Read the book review here.

Colored Television, Danzy Senna, Riverhead Books
Senna explores race as well as class and the greed that can drive someone to want a life others may not agree with. Read the book review here.

The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North, Michelle Adams, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
An exhaustive deconstruction of Milliken v. Bradley focusing on the link between segregated housing and schools. Read the book review here.

Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry, Ryan Ruby, Seven Stories Press
An epistolary exchange between the author and her father, a “humble striving for connection and understanding.” Read the book review here.

Humble Pie, Pat LaMarche, Illustrated by Jeremy Ruby, Charles Bruce Foundation
The results of a long-married couple’s decision to commence an unconventional experiment. Read the book review here.

Invisible Lives, Cristalle Smith, University of Calgary Press
Smith chronicles her life from young girl to mother, moving from Canada to Florida, sharing lessons learned. Read the book review here.

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, Oliver Burkeman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Offering no quick-fix life hacks, Burkeman wants readers to see their limits, then make changes to live more enjoyable, meaningful lives. Read the book review here.

The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates. One World
Coates reflects on trips to Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine to examine “what stories don’t get told.” Read the book review here.

My Marriage Sabbatical: A Memoir of Solo Travel and Lasting Love, Leah Fisher, She Writes Press
The results of a long-married couple’s decision to commence an unconventional experiment. Read the book review here.

Ojo en Celo / Eye in Heat, Margarita Pintado Burgos, The University of Arizona Press
In this collection, the poet “examines the line between being a vision and having a vision.” Read the book review here.

Pine Soot Tendon Bone, Radha Marcum, The Word Works
This second collection of poems is winner of The Word Work’s Washington Prize, blending nature imagery with “our cacophonic contemporary lives.” Read the book review here.

Playground, Richard Powers. W.W. Norton
“In his newest novel, Powers critiques the ways humanity actively damaged oceans and the lives within.” Read the book review here.

Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education, Jesse Hagopain, Haymarket Books
In the face of relentless attacks on antiracist education, a much-needed reckoning with the roots of this latest wave of censorship and an urgent call to action to defend education. See blog post here.

Thanks for Letting Us Know You Are Alive, Jennifer Tseng, University of Massachusetts Press
An epistolary exchange between the author and her father, a “humble striving for connection and understanding.” Read the book review here.

Unit 29: Writing from Parchman Prison, VOX Press
A collection of writings from over 30 Mississippi inmates housed in the infamously brutal Unit 29, known as Parchman Farm. See blog post here.

More Notable New Books

Poetry

After the Operation, Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., Four Way Books
The Bear’s Mouth, Laura Stott, Lynx House Press
Brutal Companion, Ruben Quesada, Barrow Street Press
a bunch of unfinished love stories, Sydney Welnick, Writers Republic
Declarations of Hunger, Reed Smith, Brooklyn Arts Press
Divorced Business Partners: A Love Story, Emily Hyland, Howling Bird Press
The God of Loneliness, Charles K. Carter, Rebel Satori Press
In Praise of Late Wonder, Lee Herrick, Gunpowder Press
Leafskin, Miranda Schmidt, Stillhouse Press
This One We Call Ours, Martha Silano, Lynx House Press
Trail Magic, Felicia Mitchell, Wising Up Press
The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems, Ken Anderson, Island of Wak-Wak

Fiction

Cadenza, Justin Courter, Owl Canyon Press
Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters, ed. Randy Brown, Middle West Press
How We Know Our Time Travelers, Anita Felicelli, WTAW Press
Low April Sun, Constance E. Squires, The University of Oklahoma Press
MIDWEST FUTURES: Poems and Micro-Stories from Tomorrow’s Heartland, ed. Randy Brown, Middle West Press
Mouth, Kerry Donoghue, Unsolicited Press
My Husband’s Women, Adriane Williams, Chardan Books
Sundown in San Ojuela, M.M. Olivias, Lanternfish Press
Take Me With You Next Time, Janis Hubschman, WTAW Press
My Therapist Says This Grief Journal is a Good Idea, Andrew Katz, Lanternfish Press

Nonfiction

Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba, ed. Teresa Aranguren & Sandra Barrilaro, Haymarket Books
Atlas of a Threatened Planet: 150 Infographics to Help Anyone Save the World, Esther Gonstalla, Island Press
Building for People: Designing Livable, Affordable, Low-Carbon Communities, Michael Eliason, Island Press
Dandelion Roots Run Deep, Merry Bell Clark & Merrill Ann Clark, Author Published
Everything in its Brilliance, Charlotte Matthews, Unicorn Press
Gunsmoke: An American Institution, Ben Costello, Book Street Press
The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence, Peter Schwartzstein, Island Press
Life Span: Impressions of a Lifetime Spent Crossing and Recrossing the Golden Gate Bridge, Molly Giles, WTAW Press
Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World, Elizabeth Sawin, Island Press
Remember Me, Lee Zacharias, Unicorn Press
Science with Impact: How to Engage People, Change Practice, and Influence Policy, Anne Helen Toomey, Island Press
The Tilling, Matthew Morris, Seneca Review of Books
Visualizing Palestine: A Chronicle of Colonialism and the Struggle for Liberation, ed. Jessica Anderson et al., Haymarket Books
Waters of the United States: POTUS, SCOTUS, WOTUS, and the Politics of a National Resource, Royal C Gardner, Island Press

See November 2024 book titles here.


To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!