Collegiate environs have long been fertile ground for stories of queasy striving and paper-cutthroat behavior. I Am Charlotte Simmons. The Secret History. Lucky Jim. But as times change, so do the makes and models.
‘Muscle Man’ by Jordan Castro
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In Muscle Man (Catapult), by Jordan Castro, misanthropic, protein-maxxing literature professor Harold skulks around Shepherd College, avoiding his basement classroom at all costs. The sight of his students calls to mind wriggling maggots, and he detests his colleagues, with the exception of the long-tenured Casey. In this study of masculinity and personal gain, when Casey goes AWOL and a suspicious backpack appears, Harold’s equilibrium is further disturbed. When one hits rock bottom, it turns out there’s always farther to fall.
‘Katabasis’ by R.F. Kuang
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Enter Katabasis (Harper Voyager). Best-selling author R.F. Kuang dabbled in the waters of ink-dark academia with her 2022 novel Babel, which takes place in a fantastical 19th-century Oxford (where, in this dimension, Kuang received her MSc) and tangles with translation and student uprisings. Katabasis descends, quite literally, even further into the quagmire. Following a spell gone wrong, Alice, a student of analytic magick at Cambridge University (where the author picked up an MPhil), endeavors to save her thesis adviser from hell—celebrating the wizardry of words while indicting the Danté-esque lengths to which advisers ask their acolytes to go.
‘The Unbroken Coast’ by Nalini Jones
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The Unbroken Coast (Knopf ), by Nalini Jones (sister to former VF editor in chief Radhika Jones), takes its professor protagonist out of the classroom and the reader back in time. In a largely Catholic Bombay village, Celia, the young daughter of a fisherman, and Francis Almeida, historian emeritus, literally collide when she flees a street vendor grabbing for her crucifix and runs headlong into the path of his bike. Their lives unfurl over decades, Bombay becomes Mumbai, and though a dementia-ridden Almeida begins to lose his memories, his mark on Celia’s future remains. It turns out there’s life after teaching and still time to learn. —Keziah Weir, Senior Editor
Lightning Round
From the V.F. staff, a taster-plate of favorite recent reads.
‘Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror’ by Ashley Cullins
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As a millennial, I thought I knew everything there was to know about the Scream movie franchise. This deep dive, however, not only unearths little-known stories about the making of the movies, but also takes a bird’s-eye look at the franchise’s larger impact on horror in Hollywood. It features new interviews with dozens of the artists involved with the franchise, who speak candidly about the hurdles and high points of making the series.
Ashley Cullins, an entertainment journalist (and former colleague of mine at The Hollywood Reporter), weaves together her inquisitive journalistic sensibilities and her obvious love for the Scream franchise in this lively book packed with thoughtful insight. It also serves as a warm farewell to filmmaker Wes Craven, who died after directing the first four films in the franchise, with many of his collaborators sharing previously untold stories about him. Even if you’re not a fan of horror, this book will give you new insights into how the franchise came to life and still haunts Hollywood today. (Plume) —Rebecca Ford, senior correspondent, HWD
‘Paris Je T’Aime’ by Peter Turnley
Peter Turnley
‘Paris Amour’ by David Turnley
David Turnley
Photojournalist Peter Turnley has spent much of his career in war zones, often covering the same conflicts as his twin brother, photojournalist David Turnley. Now each brother is coming out with a coffee-table book on a subject that is much more serene and ethereal, one that they have covered devotedly over the past half century: their adopted city of Paris. Peter, for his part, is releasing Paris Je T’Aime. David’s tome is titled Paris Amour. Both capture the characteristic charm—and charming characters—of the City of Light. Why not do a double take and preorder the twofer? —David Friend, contributing editor
‘The Waterbearers’ by Sasha Bonét
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In a rich ode to Black matriarchy, Sasha Bonét weaves together the stories—in all their complexity—of women including Committee for Equal Justice activist Recy Taylor, artist Camille Billops (whose 1991 film, Finding Christa, chronicled her reunion with her biological daughter 20 years after she put the then four-year-old up for adoption), and Bonét’s own grandmother. (Knopf) —K.W.
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