Find out which books our writers recommend.

It's here! Thanks for celebrating the fourth annual BSR Book Week with us. Our writers have been hard at work for months, reviewing historical fiction, horror, short stories, nonfiction, contemporary fiction, memoir, and more. We're proud to spotlight Philly's thriving literary community with everything from bestselling authors to fascinating debuts. We've got FAT SWIM, Sara Nović's highly anticipated memoir Mother Tongue, Anndee Hochman's new collection of her Parent Trip columns, and first-time author Erica Smith, a Philly-based educator, with The Purity Culture Recovery Guide: The Shame-Free Sex Education You Deserve.

Still arguing over a classic

That's just a taste of the reviews. Scroll down for the full complement; there's sure to be something you're interested in. And don't miss Chhaya Nayyar's reflection on Wuthering Heights and its new film adaptation. The movie by director Emerald Fennel has been controversial, but one thing is for sure: it reignited the discourse on Emily Brontë, discussion she still deserves almost 200 years since her only novel was published under the name "Ellis Bell" (she died about a year later).

Author spotlight: Eshani Surya

To round out the author spotlights for our Book Week Author Panel (happening TONIGHT, May 20!), we're honoring Eshani Surya, whose debut novel, Ravishing, hit shelves last fall (here's the BSR review) from Roxane Gay Books/Grove Atlantic. Eshani is a disabled South Asian writer with an impressive resume, including work supported by the Asian Women Writer’s Workshop and the Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop. She has bylines in Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Catapult, and many more. I first met Eshani when I joined a class she taught with Blue Stoop, where she's a board member. She is smart, creative, and generous. We're so happy to welcome her to this year's author panel.

Today is your last chance to register! It's happening from 6-7pm ET tonight (May 20) on Zoom. Tix are a suggested $10 donation, but if you can't swing that, no problem. You can grab a seat for free with the promo code BSRFriends at checkout. RSVP HERE. This session will be recorded, so anyone who registers can join us live or later, but if log on live, you can join the Q&A. PLUS: Everyone who registers will be automatically entered to win a signed copy of Liz Moore's Long Bright River.

We hope you can join us!

Thanks for spending another week with us! Tomorrow, Kyle will be here with a special Book Week roundup of our own staff reading recommendations. We'd love to know what books you're enjoying this year. Get the shortcut to peruse all of this year's Book Week reviews right here.

Alaina Johns
BSR editor-in-chief

“If you grew up believing that sex outside marriage was wrong, that homosexuality was evil and that your desires would lead you astray, you are not broken; you can heal ... and establish a healthy sexual life.”

“DiFrancesco sets their inventive, linked collection of speculative short stories in the near future after a global 'tragedy' strips the surviving population of their emotions ... Each story provides surprising glimpses of survival and resilience as people seek to reawaken their emotions.”

"As much as literature itself, misunderstandings and misinterpretations of literature reveal what society values, what it condemns, and what it allows."

“The novel is part police procedural, part historical fiction, and part intense character study that asks who gets to lay claim to a culture, who gets to tell its stories, and who gets to inherit it?”

“Drawing from newspaper archives and the vast public record, Jack McCarthy has details to share about just about every season in the venue’s history ... host[ing] a veritable who’s who of major musical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

“I found myself thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it. It made me recall my promise to myself, as a young person, to never forget how hard it is to be young, especially to be a teenager.”

“A suspenseful family drama set against a Philadelphia mayoral race where the most likable character may be the naive candidate, and our protagonist is an admitted liar who sees deception everywhere he looks.”

“This book flouts the stereotype of personal writing as self-involved ‘navel gazing.’ Mother Tongue is a memoir that tangles with the world.”

“While reading these reflections, I found myself reviewing the moments in my own life when I felt my own grief was questioned, dismissed, condemned. Often what is demanded of us in sorrow and healing does not align with the circumstances of our grief, or our true feelings, connections, and timelines.”

“I would recommend this book to folks who like historical fiction, multigenerational novels, or who want to learn more about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in China.”

“An engaging treat of a horror novella, propelled by likeable characters and easy prose ... set in South Jersey and Philadelphia in the late 1980s.”

“You feel as if you’ve been handed a mug of tea as you sit at the kitchen counter listening, as someone shares their most intimate stories ... all of these tales reveal a complicated journey, many with surprising twists.”

“The book reminds us of the struggle and pain behind what is so often presented as a long and glorious triumph. Like every other war, the American Revolution took place not only on the battlefield, but in the consciences of those who fought it.”