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The Year's National Book Award Winners & Adultery Rewritten
Bee Wilson, Jesse Q. Sutanto, the National Book Awards, and more ...
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Hello Readers!
This week, our First Impressions reviewers reflect on Bee Wilson’s The Heart-Shaped Tin, a nostalgic ode to ordinary kitchen items, and Next Time Will Be Our Turn, where Jesse Q. Sutanto blends queer romance with a touching exploration of family, culture, and self.
Our Editor’s Choice review covers The Unveiling, the latest by dynamic writer Quan Barry, featuring an Antarctic luxury cruise that turns into a vacation from hell.
We also share a “beyond the book” article, accompanying Erin Somers’ The Ten Year Affair, about other novels of adultery, which today are often less fraught than the likes of Madame Bovary.
Plus, check out the National Book Award winners and a new Wordplay!
Thanks for reading,
The BookBrowse Team
First Impressions
Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on two recently released titles.
The Heart-Shaped Tin by Bee Wilson
“Bee Wilson has done it again! I'm a big fan of her book Consider the Fork and The Heart-Shaped Tin only reinforced my belief in her as an outstanding researcher and author. This far-ranging book has something for everyone…Going far beyond a cake pan calling up a sense of loss (an ex-husband and a mother), Wilson tackles everyday kitchen objects and gives us a whirlwind of snapshots in history: Jacob Chaim’s spoon carved secretly in a World War II concentration camp; protesting Chavez with pots and pans; the explanation of Queen Elizabeth's sieve in a famous portrait…This book is chock-full of avenues to explore after she's done all the essential research for us. Thanks, Bee.” —Gwen C. (Clearfield, PA) |  |
“The Heart-Shaped Tin was such a pleasure to read…I will recommend this to my book club. I can imagine a wonderful discussion with each member bringing and sharing their favorite kitchen object. In a world of shiny, new, replaceable items Bee Wilson has affirmed the need for objects that carry the history of their use and the memories that they invoke.” —Catherine O. (Altavista, VA)
“Perhaps, this book is a reminder to use your best china right now, share the stories with your grandchildren about the heritage of the kitchen spatula, and let the junk remain in the drawer.” —Kathryn T. (Geneseo, NY)
Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto
“A moving, lovely tale of Indo-Chinese sisters making their way in California college life, learning about the culture, about themselves, and about relationships of all kinds. Both girls return to Indonesia but face career stagnation that lands them back in California. Significant complications arise and one of the characters makes some tough self-sacrificing choices. The voice in this novel is one of our main characters, telling her story to a granddaughter who is struggling with ‘fitting in.’ A very smooth read, emotional, not contrived.” —Jaye S. (Chicago, IL) |  |
“This book reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with the LGBTQ themes and the older woman reflecting back on her life stories to a younger person…It was beautifully written, and a diversion from what I love to read by the author (namely, both of her cozy mystery series). The development of the characters was sweet, and the feminist message was strong and important to our times. I loved, loved, loved this book.” —Alisa C. (Louisville, KY)
“It was fast-paced and easy to read. The story seemed real…It would make a good book club read—you can talk about family and friend relationships, multi-generational gatherings, and college/first job/first love.” —Louise E. (Ocean View, DE)
For Members
This issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 14 titles, including The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes, A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar, and This Here Is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry. We also feature Our Favorite Author Interviews of 2025, recommendations for book clubs, and more. Not Yet a Member? Do you love to spend your reading hours immersed in captivating storytelling and intriguing ideas? |  |
Then a BookBrowse membership is for you! What you see on BookBrowse for free and in this newsletter is just a small part of what is available to members—for just $5.00/month! Join Today!
Editor’s Choice
The Unveiling by Quan Barry
I first encountered the writer Quan Barry via her 2020 novel, We Ride Upon Sticks, about a high school field hockey team that's also a coven of teen witches. Since then, I've come to appreciate her truly impressive range. She's written historical fiction, several collections of poetry, a postapocalyptic novella based on the myth of Pandora…and now an inventive work of literary horror, set at the literal ends of the earth. It's the Christmas season, in other words, the peak of midsummer in the southern hemisphere, making it the perfect time for a luxury excursion to Antarctica, where a group of privileged, largely white ecotourists are eager to see one of Earth's last unspoiled spots before it disappears forever. … continued Review by Norah Piehl |  |
Beyond the Book
Redefining Adultery: Contemporary Novels of Marriages and Affairs
Adultery has always been a compelling subject in literature: classics like Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, and Lady Chatterley's Lover explore the psyches of women who want more than their marriage provides. Erin Somers, author of The Ten Year Affair, takes as her inspiration classic stories from the postwar era: novels of middle-class, suburban dissatisfaction, in which husbands drank and despaired and cheated on their wives. Since the days of Cheever and Updike, novelists like Somers have continued exploring and expanding the definitions of marriage and infidelity. Many of these novels portray adultery in new ways, not always driven by desperation or doomed to despair. … continued Article by Chloe Pfeiffer |  |
The 2025 National Book Awards
At this year’s National Book Awards, the prize for Nonfiction went to One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad, written in response to the genocide in Gaza, while the Fiction winner was Rabih Alameddine’s The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), which follows a Beirut high school teacher (“the neighborhood homosexual”) and his nosy octogenarian mother. |  |
Check out our Awards page to explore these and the rest of the NBA winners (use the button below to browse recent winners of multiple major book awards), and discuss them with our members in the BookBrowse community forum.
Wordplay
Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a one-year membership to BookBrowse!
"A W N a M L a F N a B"
Click for the answer to the last Wordplay (A W E), and a detailed breakdown of its meaning and history.
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