Reading, watching, listening, and gaming recommendations from the staff of the American Writers Museum.
We can’t recommend these books, films, shows, plays, albums, and games highly enough! Check back every month for more entertainment recommendations, from classics that we revisit over and over to new favorites. If you’re looking for your next book or movie or show or whatever, you came to the right place.
Many of our September book recommendations are also available on Bookshop.org, which benefits independent bookstores. We also strongly encourage you to support your local bookstore by visiting them in person or ordering online through them directly.
Let us know what you’ve been into recently in the comments!
Born with Teeth by Liz Duffy Adams
From the publisher: “An aging ruler, an oppressive police state, a restless polarized people seething with paranoia: it’s a dangerous time for poets. Two of them—the great Kit Marlowe and the up-and-comer Will Shakespeare—meet in the back room of a pub to collaborate on a history play cycle, navigate the perils of art under a totalitarian regime, and flirt like young men with everything to lose.”
—Matt, Community Engagement Manager
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams
From Pitchfork: “On her third solo album and first independent release, the Paramore frontperson channels a range of experimental pop sounds to reflect on personal and professional grief.”
—Maya, Marketing & Creative Associate
The El by Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr.
From the publisher: “A semi-autobiographical novel that follows a group of teenage gang members as they trek across Chicago to a momentous meeting… But when the meeting breaks up in gunshots and police sirens, Teddy must guide the Royals back across hostile territory… Teddy is armed only with a potent combination of book smarts and street smarts, and by the guiding spirit of Coyote, who has granted him the power to glimpse a future only he may survive to see. Immersed in the sights, sounds, and smells of the author’s beloved city, The El will transport you to that singular sun- and blood-soaked day in Chicago. It is a love letter to another time, to a city, and to a group of friends trying to find their place and make their way in a world that doesn’t want them.”
—Andrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
From the publisher: “In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John beÂcame fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequiÂties that allow this curable, preventable infecÂtious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.”
—Annie, Education Associate
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
From the publisher: “A chilling literary horror novel about a young couple haunted by their newly purchased home. The move…is quick and seamless; both Julie and James are happy to start afresh. But this house, which sits between a lake and a forest, has its own plans for the unsuspecting couple. As Julie and James try to establish a sense of normalcy, the home and its surrounding terrain become the locus of increasingly strange happenings. The framework— claustrophobic, riddled with hidden rooms within rooms—becomes unrecognizable, decaying before their eyes. Stains are animated on the wall—contracting, expanding—and map themselves onto Julie’s body in the form of painful, grisly bruises. Like the house that torments the troubled married couple living within its walls, The Grip of It oozes with palpable terror and skin-prickling dread.”
—Hunter, Storyteller
Headlights by Alex G
From Pitchfork: “Alex Giannascoli upgrades to hi-fi dad rock and sails home with a major label debut worthy of the all-time indie graduations.”
—Andrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Jimmy’s Faith: James Baldwin, Disidentification, and the Queer Possibilities of Black Religion by Christopher W. Hunt
From the publisher: “Despite Baldwin’s disavowal of Christianity in his youth, he continued to engage the symbols and theology of Christianity in works such as The Amen Corner, Just Above My Head, and others. With Jimmy’s Faith, author Christopher W. Hunt shows how Baldwin’s usage of those religious symbols both shifted their meaning and served as a way for him to build his own religious and spiritual vision. Engaging José Esteban Muñoz’s theory of disidentification as a queer practice of imagination and survival, Hunt demonstrates the ways in which James Baldwin disidentifies with and queers Black Christian language and theology throughout his literary corpus.”
We are excited to host Hunt for a program later this month to discuss his book. He will be at the American Writers Museum on September 16 at 6:00 pm. Books will be available for purchase and Hunt will sign them following the program. Learn more and get your tickets here!
—Nate, Content & Exhibits Manager
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
From the publisher: “In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the [1986] Los Angeles Public Library fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago… Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.”
We are honored to host Orlean for a program in October to discuss her latest book, a memoir titled Joyride. She will be at the American Writers Museum on October 24 at 6:00 pm. Books will be available for purchase and Orlean will sign them following the program. Learn more and get your tickets here!
—Annie, Education Associate
The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford by James McWilliams
This new book by James McWilliams delves deep into the life of the poet as well as his work and through it one can almost get a sense of the magnitude of the personality that would create the epic The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You, which for the uninitiated clocks in at 15,238 lines long. I learned about Frank Stanford because Ruth Doty taught his poems when I was in undergrad. He was a poet’s poet and his juxtapositions and use of nature still echo in my mind years later. “The Minnow” is one of the finest short poems ever written, up there with “This is Just to Say” in this reader’s estimation. And to get a sense of the impact of the work he produced in his short life you can listen to Thomas Lux read his “Elegy for Frank Stanford” which was written not long after Frank’s dramatic and tragic death.
—Christopher, Director of Operations
The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. Dawson
From the publisher: “At the edge of Chicago, nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, there is a waystation for the dead. Every night, the newly-departed travel through the city to the Station, guided by its lighthouse. There, they reckon with their lives, before stepping aboard a boat to go beyond. Nera has spent decades watching her father—the ferryman of the dead—sail across the lake, each night just like the last. But tonight, something is wrong. The Station’s lighthouse has started to flicker out. The terrifying, ghostly Haunts have multiplied in the city. And now a person—a living person—has found her way onto the boat. Her name is Charlie. She followed a song. And she is searching for someone she lost.”
—Annie, Education Associate
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
From the publisher: “In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York.”
—Carol, Assistant Director of Development
Little Lazarus by Michael Bible
From the publisher: “Teenagers Francois and Eleanor are lonely and wild in the small Southern town of Harmony that promises them nothing but more of the same: nothing. They attempt to escape their mundane existence and dysfunctional families but succeed only in finding each other. And that seems to be enough. Until one drunken night driving down a country road changes the course of their lives. As Francois and Eleanor tell their stories in parallel sections, another larger story unfolds, told through the lives of two tortoises, Lazarus and Little Lazarus. Their respective journeys across continents constitute a tour of the human heart itself in all its manifestations. Their caretakers range from a billionaire intent on achieving immortality, to a series of mute men passing down the same seersucker suit through generations, to a dog named Pony at the end of the world…Little Lazarus is an unforgettable ballad of devastating love and spectacular sorrow.”
—Deanna, Storyteller
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
From the publisher: “A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley…By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future. An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.”
—Maya, Marketing & Creative Associate
Nimona by ND Stevenson
From the publisher: “Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic…Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are. But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.”
—Isabel, Intern
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
From the publisher: “A wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman’s relentless errors…The Sentence asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading “with murderous attention,” must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning. The Sentence begins on All Souls’ Day 2019 and ends on All Souls’ Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.”
—Andrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
A novel billed as somewhat of a thriller, but is more about the drama and internal politics of another organization—in this case, a smaller local newspaper. It’s somewhat autobiographical, as it concerns a fictional plane crash based on Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (one of the deadliest in history to this day), which Hideo Yokoyama himself reported on as a journalist, and which led to him leaving the profession. A lot of great characters—the protagonist is a roving reporter who is put in charge of covering the crash, as he butts heads with managing editors, careerists, the advertising department, the production department, and the circulation department.
—Cassidy, Guest Services Manager
Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing by Nicholas Meyer
From the publisher: “A landlady complains her artist tenant is behind on rent. Not exactly the miracle for which Holmes was hoping. But, next thing you know, there are several corpses and Sherlock Holmes and his biographer, John H. Watson, MD, find themselves drawn into one of the most bizarre cases of the great detective’s career. And into the cutthroat big business of Art, where chicanery and mendacity (and cut throats) proliferate. What makes a work of art worth killing for? Is it the artist, his mistress, his dealer, or his blackmailer? The cast of characters is large. But are they perpetrators, accomplices, or victims? And just who is Juliet Packwood, with whom Watson has become infatuated? Oh, and there’s one other problem: Is this a genuine Holmes case or a clever forgery? Is this the real thing?”
We are thrilled to host Meyer, who is also an acclaimed Hollywood screenwriter, at the AWM for a program to discuss his latest entry in the Sherlock Holmes universe. He’ll visit on September 18 and will sign books following the program. Learn more and get your tickets here!
—Nate, Content & Exhibits Manager
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama, translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies
A novel following the press officer attached to a police department who uncovers details about a botched investigation of a kidnapping 14 years prior, and the ensuing conflicts and power-games in said police department. It’s not quite a mystery in the traditional sense, as his particular investigation deals with the relation of the mass media to the police and the relations and internal factions within the police themselves. Overall, It’s a great character-driven drama.
—Cassidy, Guest Services Manager
Waiting by Ha Jin
From the publisher: “The demands of human longing contend with the weight of centuries of custom in acclaimed author Ha Jin’s Waiting, a novel of unexpected richness and universal resonance. Every summer Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese Army, returns to his village to end his loveless arranged marriage with the humble and touchingly loyal Shuyu. But each time Lin must return to the city to tell Manna Wu, the educated, modern nurse he loves, that they will have to postpone their engagement once again. Caught between the conflicting claims of these two utterly different women and trapped by a culture in which adultery can ruin lives and careers, Lin has been waiting for eighteen years. This year, he promises will be different.”
—Cristina, Development & Membership Associate
Weapons written and directed by Zach Cregger
One of my favorite movies of the year, Weapons is fun, terrifying, and an absolute blast. Try to catch the movie while it’s still in theatres.
More from Rotten Tomatoes: “When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance…Zach Cregger spins an expertly crafted yarn of terrifying mystery and thrilling intrigue in Weapons, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his status as a master of horror.”
—Matt, Community Engagement Manager
What No One’s Thinking by AJR
From Melodic Magazine: “In this folksy five-song collection, the Met brothers—Adam, Jack, and Ryan—continue to write about the intense or mundane aspects of life, such as everyday anxieties and existential dread, atop upbeat, whimsical tracks. What No One’s Thinking explores the things that, quite honestly, people subconsciously think about but rarely want to admit aloud…You really get the dynamic range of AJR within What No One’s Thinking: the good, the sad, the slow, the fast—The Manhattan brothers simply never miss.”
—Matt, Community Engagement Manager
Where is Ana Mendieta?: Identity, Performance, and Exile by Jane Blocker
From the publisher: “Ana Mendieta, a Cuban-born artist who lived in exile in the United States, was one of the most provocative and complex personalities of the 1970s’ artworld. In Where Is Ana Mendieta? art historian Jane Blocker provides an in-depth critical analysis of Mendieta’s diverse body of work. Although her untimely death in 1985 remains shrouded in controversy, her life and artistic legacy provide a unique vantage point from which to consider the history of performance art, installation, and earth works, as well as feminism, multiculturalism, and postmodernism…As the first major critical examination of this enigmatic artist’s work, Where Is Ana Mendieta? will interest a broad audience, particularly those involved with the production, criticism, theory, and history of contemporary art.”
—Deanna, Storyteller
Visit our Reading Recommendations page for more book lists.