BEST BOOKS BEAT : 2022

 

1.- The Candy House
By Jennifer Egan.

You don't need to have read Egan's Pulitzer-winning ''A Visit From the Goon Squad'' to jump feet first into this much-anticipated sequel. But for lovers of the 2010 book's prematurely nostalgic New Yorkers, cerebral beauty and laser-sharp take on modernity -

''The Candy House'' is like coming home - albeit to dystopia. This time around, Egan's characters are variously the creators and prisoners of a universe in which, through the wonders of technology, people can access their entire memory banks and use the contents as social media currency.

The result is a glorious, hideous fun house that feels more familiar than sci-fi, all rendered with Egan's signature inventive confidence and - perhaps most impressive of all - heart.

2.- Checkout-19
By Claire-Louise Bennett.

Bennett, a British writer who makes her home in Ireland, first leaped onto the scene with her 2015 debut novel, ''Pond.'' The second book contains all of the first's linguistic artistry and dark wit, but it is even more exhilarating.

''Checkout 19,'' ostensibly the story of a young woman falling in love with language in a working-class town outside London, has an unusual setting : the human mind - brilliant, surprising, weird and very funny one.

All the words one might use to describe this book - experimental, autofictional, surrealist - fail to convey the sheer pleasure of ''Checkout 19.'' You'll come away dazed, delighted, reminded just how much fun reading can be, eager to share it with people in your lives. It's a love letter to books, and an argument for them, too.

3.- Demon Copperhead
By Barbara Kingsolver.

Kingsolver's powerful new novel, a close retelling of Charles Dickens's ''David Copperfield'' set in contemporary Appalachia, gallops through issues including childhood poverty, opioid addiction and rural dispossession. even as its larger focus remains squarely on the question of how an artist's consciousness is formed.

Like Dickens, Kingsolver is unblushingly political and works on a sprawling scale, animating her pages with an abundance of charm and the presence of seemingly every creepy thing that has ever crept upon the earth.

4.- The Furrows
By Namwali Serpell

After losing her brother when she was 12, one of the narrators of Serpell's second novel keeps coming across men who resemble him as she works through her trauma long into adulthood.

She enters an intimate relationship with one of them, who's also haunted by his past. This richly layered book explores the nature of grief, how it can stretch or compress time, reshape memories and make us dream up alternate realities.

'' I don't want to tell you what happened,'' the narrator says. ''I want to tell you how it felt.''

5.- Trust
By Hernan Diaz

Diaz uncovers the secrets of an American fortune in the early 20th century., detailing the dizzying rise of a New York financier and the enigmatic talents of his wife.

Each of the novel's four parts, which are told from different perspectives, redirects the narrative [and upends readers' expectations] while paying tribute to literary titans from Henry James to Jorge Luis Borges.

Whose versions of events can we trust? Diaz's spotlight on stories behind stories seeks out the dark workings behind capitalism, as well as the uncredited figures behind the so-called Great Men of history. It's an exhilarating pursuit.

The Publish continues. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times Books Staff.