10 new books to read in August: Con artists, short stories, humor essays, and more

I’m always surprised when people are surprised to discover that Amazon owns Goodreads. This is the Bad Place: Of course the world’s biggest bookseller owns the world’s biggest book-based social media platform.

Recently, the power of Goodreads and the sketchy behavior of some of its users have gotten a bit of overdue attention. At the tip of the iceberg right now is Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love), who decided not to publish her new novel because its setting in the U.S.S.R. led bad Goodreaders to lambaste the book as de facto Russian propaganda — despite not having read it.

It’s a familiar problem on the site: authors having their new books reviewed negatively and rated poorly before they hit the shelves. And for every Gilbert, there are five first-time authors having their dreams dashed because an online mob decided a premise was problematic. Goodreads is a lot like Yelp: How many stars a book has can greatly influence its sales and public perception. Too many one-star reviews, and your novel is doomed.

For those blessedly unfamiliar with the situation, or Goodreads in general, here are some common terms and acronyms you may encounter on the site, and how to navigate them:

TBR: To Be Read. These are the books you publicly declare you will read one day.

DNF: Did Not Finish. It’s OK to admit you stopped reading a book. Feel free to write a review, but I’m begging you: Do not rate said book. The star system is for closers.

CR: Currently Reading. Not sure why you put the book down to tell us this.

ARC: Advanced Reader Copy. Lucky readers and reviewers get free copies of books early, usually with bare-bones cover art and a few amusing copy editing errors.

MC: Main Character. It’s OK for this person to behave and think differently than you do. If a protagonist is a bank robber, it doesn’t mean the author is endorsing bank robbery. Read the book before passing judgment.

Brigading/Review-Bombing: This is when a bunch of people decide that a book is problematic and rush to tell the world it’s terrible, despite not having read a word of it. It’s probably the worst thing about Goodreads.

Five Stars: This is the rating you give a book you liked.

Four Stars: You hated the book.

One to Three Stars: You hated the book and want the author to apologize and/or explode.

StoryGraph, Booksloth, LibraryThing, an Excel spreadsheet, a notebook: These are things you can use instead of Goodreads.

And now, some reading recommendations sans stars:

In terms of charm and creative audacity, John Ackah Blay-Miezah belongs in the con artist hall of fame. Through sheer force of will, the dashing, well-dressed gentleman smooth-talked his way out of prison in his home country of Ghana and into Philly’s most monied circles in the ‘70s. Then came the bad checks, the doctored documents, the pie-in-the-sky promises. By the time 60 Minutes labeled him “the ultimate con man” in 1988, he’d already turned a mythical fortune into a real one, and lived like a king before his house of cards collapsed. Stylish and substantive, Yepoka Yeebo’s Anansi’s Gold is a nonfiction masterpiece, artfully weaving Blay-Miezah’s remarkable exploits into the fabric of history alongside Lynne Abraham, Shirley Temple, the Union League, North Philly’s Cadillac Club, etc. Highly recommended. Yeebo will be at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia on Aug. 9. (Bloomsbury, $29.99, out now)

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One may be tempted to compare Steven Millhauser to the O.G. The Twilight Zone — both tend to tweak reality in order to put everyday schmoes through the ringer — but the 18 stories in Disruptions never come complete with a tidy Atomic Age moral. A small town stages its first public execution in years, then leaves the guillotine standing in the public square like an inscrutable monument. Citizens in a different small town interact with their two-inch-tall neighbors in a story that patiently, plainspokenly explores the economic, social, and sexual issues that arise from the situation. “Guided Tour’' unfolds like a mid-budget folk horror flick, its doomy ending unavoidable. Millhauser, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1996 novel Martin Dressler, conjures these memorable, often darkly comic realities like a distracted deity, his creations complicated and oddly beautiful, his intentions both sublime and perplexing. (Knopf, $8, out now)

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As in his marvelous 2020 novel Deacon King Kong, James McBride applies a sort of folkloric lacquer to the proceedings in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, describing the rich, complicated lives of people thriving despite their low status in the social pecking order. The larger plot concerns the discovery of a skeleton at the bottom of a well in 1970s Pottstown, Pa., and the sad, strange story of how it got there 50 years earlier. Sharp and nimble and warm as a wool hat, James McBride’s prose seems to transcend all earthly concerns, allowing him to write with compassion, humor, and authority about all sorts of communities — Jewish, Black, Italian, Irish — and nobody smart will come knocking with the “who gets to tell these stories” argument. McBride will be at the Central Library on Aug. 10. (Riverhead, $28, Aug. 8)

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For lovers of spooky sci-fi like Stalker, Annihilation, and The X-Files, the premise of Prophet is instantly enticing: Two old acquaintances — the grizzled cynic Rao and straitlaced military man Adam — are reunited to investigate the sudden materialization of an old-school American diner in the British countryside. What follows is a freaky, touching horror story that explores, among other things, the nature of nostalgia and how it can be weaponized by an otherworldly adversary. This is the debut collaboration for Helen Macdonald (U.K. author of H is for Hawk, and other works of bird-themed nonfiction) and Sin Blaché (a Black first-time author born in the United States and based in Ireland), but here’s hoping it’s not the last. Prophet is a trip. (Grove, $29, Aug. 8)

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Though the true-life tales in Congratulations, The Best Is Over! are not wanting for heartache, don’t take the title too seriously; R. Eric Thomas is neither a cynic nor a pessimist. Despite growing up gay in a conservative Christian community, and Black in, you know, America, the writer approaches tough situations — be it a rocky high school reunion, an infestation of amorous frogs, or moving back to the hometown he swore he’d left for good — with infectious grace and humor. Thomas was born in Baltimore and lives there again, but was a fixture in the Philadelphia storyteller scene for more than a decade before branching out to magazines, books, NPR, and TV. No matter the medium, it’s a joy to see him doing what he does best: drawing you in with a good story. He’ll be at the Central Library on Aug. 8. (Ballantine, $27, Aug. 8)

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The award-winning author of Bel Canto, The Dutch House, etc. returns with an emotionally affecting novel about love, family, and bygone romances. (Harper, $30, out now)

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Twin sisters (one in a coma) age at different rates in this haunting debut novel full of heartbreak and twisted science. (Tin House, $17.95, out now)

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Thirty years after he started it, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author completes his “North Bath Trilogy” — see also: Nobody’s Fool (1993) and Everybody’s Fool (2016) — with one last look at his absurd and lovable little Rust Belt town where “we’re not happy until you’re not happy” is the unofficial slogan. (Knopf, $29, out now)

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The sun disappears from the sky in this daring, dreamy, David-Lynchian novel that moves you even as it messes with your head. (Melville House, $18.99, out now)

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Sociologist and political adviser Nikhil Goyal profiles three Puerto Rican kids as they struggle to survive in Kensington, where poverty, drugs, violence, and the juvenile justice system dog them at every turn. (Metropolitan Books, $29.99, Aug. 22)

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