The leaves are falling, but our TBR piles are just getting taller.
Isaac Fitzgerald and Jasmine Guillory stopped by TODAY Oct. 12 to make answering the perennial question, "What should I read next?" that much easier (and harder) by providing their favorite current reads.
Fitzgerald's latest book, "Dirtbag, Massachusetts," is a memoir about his path out of a scrappy childhood, and the many detours he took to get to where he is today. Guillory's latest romance novel, "Drunk on Love," is a whirl through a vineyard.
Isaac Fitzgerald's picks
Fitzgerald: "Two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend is an unforgettable novel that takes its title from Dante’s Inferno. The immediacy of Ward’s writing perfectly blends with her command of history as we follow a young slave girl, Annis —who was fathered by her own owner and then sold south —on a harrowing journey from the Carolinas down to Louisiana. Along the way, Annis turns to the stories of her ancestors, especially her warrior grandmother, as she grapples with the difficulties of her surroundings, and does her best to remember who she is and where she comes from, all while participating in an odyssey that hopefully leads to her own freedom. This novel is a masterpiece destined to be an instant American classic."
"Emperor of Rome" by Mary Beard
Fitzgerald: " Not so much a sequel as a book in conversation with her incredible bestseller, 'SPQR', Mary Beard’s 'Emperor of Rome' takes a look at what actually went into running the Roman empire, and pulls back the curtain on the lives of the men in charge. It covers the reign of 26 emperors, not in chronological order, but by looking at different aspects of the rulers’ lives. From where they lived to what they ate, where they travelled to who they surrounded themselves with. Here is a book bursting with information, yet the writing style is neither stuffy nor academic, but almost conversational in its readability. From the foibles, excesses, and eccentricities to the realization that the role of emperor maybe had more to do with the office than the man who held it—Emperor of Rome is the perfect gift for the person in your life who can’t stop thinking about the roman empire.
"Wellness" by Nathan Hill
Fitzgerald: "Nathan Hill is an extraordinary writer, and his talents are on full display in his new novel, Wellness. Jack and Elizabeth are a young couple who meet in college in Chicago during the 1990s and start a life together—eventually having a child—but twenty years later the two are drifting apart. A heartrending yet humorous examination of love and marriage in our ever-changing world that covers everything from conspiracy theories to the concept of open marriage, health and fitness to corporate talk, Wellness is an exceptionally well-researched book (yes, there is a bibliography) that will have you so enrapt in its gorgeous passages that you simply won’t notice the novel is over 600 pages long. A true tour de force that will have you longing, laughing, and learning while also examining your own life."
"A Study in Drowning" by Ava Reid
Fitzgerald: "Ava Reid’s 'A Study in Drowning' is a beautiful cacophony of folklore, tender romance, and a truly gripping plot that will delight both fantasy readers as well as those looking for a haunting gothic tale. Effy is an architecture student — the only woman in her program — who leaps at the opportunity to design the house of her favorite fantasy author, the late Emrys Myrddin. While at Myrddin’s estate she meets Preston Héloury, a literature student trying to prove that Myrddin didn’t actually write his books himself. Together the two reluctantly team up to delve deep into a spine-tingling mystery set against the sea that is both steamy and spooky in equal measure. All that while also very much being an allegory for how women have been erased in literature and higher education. 'A Study in Drowning' is a perfect October read."
Jasmine Guillory's picks
"Lush Lives" by J. Vanessa Lyon
Guillory: "I just about swooned for this beautiful literary romance. Two women in the art world in New York City from very different backgrounds fall hard for one another, and have to navigate complications because of their work, their families, and their personalities. I savored this one, it was a true joy to read."
"Congratulations, the Best is Over!" by R. Eric Thomas
Guillory: "R. Eric Thomas’ work always makes me laugh uncontrollably and then tear up about five paragraphs later, and this book of essays is no exception. Reading it is like having a long, juicy gossip with a good friend you haven’t seen in way too long."
"Enchanted to Meet You" by Meg Cabot
Guillory: "If you like to read something a little witchy this time of year, beloved romance novelist Meg Cabot has written the perfect book for you. This romance stars a witch who lives in a small New England town and man who comes to town and tells her that she is the Chosen One. This book is funny and magical, and the perfect read for a crisp October night."
"The Blackwoods" by Brandy Colbert
"The Blackwoods" follows a fictional starlet from 1960s Hollywood, who went on to become a matriarch of a powerful Hollywood family. Her great-granddaughters live a life in her shadow, as do their other relatives, and chart their own path after her death and secrets emerge.