I know people, and maybe you do too, who shun microwaves and stand well away from power lines and sleep in a separate room from their phones, all on the theory that they don’t want to interfere with their body’s normal electromagnetic functioning. I tend to smile indulgently at these people, not necessarily because they’re wrong — I’m no expert! — but because their quest seems so quixotic these days: That ship has sailed, and it has a power motor.
But Sally Adee’s new book, “We Are Electric,” may force me to reconsider. Adee wades through piles of up-to-the-minute research about the human bioelectrical system and how it can be manipulated, intentionally or not; if nothing else, it will make you marvel anew at your body as an infinitely intricate machine. Why not add that one to your night stand this week, in place of your phone?
Also recommended, a book about the science of aging (by Nicklas Brendborg) and a book about views of paradise around the world (by Pico Iyer); we like both of those in the audiobook format, but paper works too. And in fiction, our recommendations include new work from Margaret Atwood, Cathleen Schine and Idra Novey, among others, and a forgotten classic from Alison Mills Newman. Happy reading.
—Gregory Cowles
WE ARE ELECTRIC:
Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body’s Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds
Sally Adee
In her engaging debut, a science writer traces efforts to explore — and sometimes exploit — the human “electrome,” doing full justice to the complex issues surrounding the body’s electric forces.
TAKE WHAT YOU NEED
Idra Novey
This elegant novel resonates with implication beyond the taut contours of its central story line. In Novey’s deft hands, the complex relationship between a young woman and her former stepmother, a self-taught sculptor, hints at the manifold divisions within America itself.
OLD BABES IN THE WOOD:
Margaret Atwood
Seven of the stories in Atwood’s latest collection give us scenes from a marriage, following a couple with grown children through several decades. The rest highlight the author’s imaginative range with a grab bag of subjects: aliens, ancient thinkers, witches and animal souls.
KÜNSTLERS IN PARADISE
Cathleen Schine
In Schine’s diverting novel, a directionless 24-year-old washes up at his 93-year-old grandmother’s house on the eve of the pandemic and gets trapped there. This paean to the regenerative power of storytelling is also an invitation to leave the familiar behind.
STERLING KARAT GOLD
Isabel Waidner
Waidner’s novel uses the language of the absurd to explore what justice looks like for marginalized people. The novel opens with a bigoted assault against Sterling, a 30-something nonbinary immigrant in London. In the aftermath of the attack, it’s Sterling, rather than their assailants, who is put through a surreal, Kafkaesque tribunal.
THIRST FOR SALT
Madelaine Lucas
Prompted by a photograph of her former lover, the narrator of Lucas’s debut novel looks back on the relationship they had when she was 24 and he was 42. The story has a pristine, time-capsule-like feeling and a retrospective voice that is lush and gorgeous.
FRANCISCO
Alison Mills Newman
First published in 1974, “Francisco” is a dazzling novel with the immediacy of life, in which a young Black actress tired of white-dominated Hollywood falls in love with an intense filmmaker and makes her way through the Black Arts movement, searching for her own way of seeing.
JELLYFISH AGE BACKWARDS:
Nicklas Brendborg
This dive into the science of aging is narrated by Joe Leat in a tone that channels the author’s enthusiasm. It’s a quick, easy tour of hard science, addictive and enriching.
THE HALF KNOWN LIFE:
Pico Iyer
In talking to people the world over about what paradise means to them, Iyer provides hours of thought-provoking meditations. “Paradise becomes something different in every neighbor’s head,” he says.
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