Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/28/26 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading the newest postapocalyptic novel by one of my must-read authors, Emily St. John Mandel, Exit Party; I'm reading a darkly humorous, poignant book from the perspective of a man with dementia facing his last days, Emma Cline's Switzy; and I'm listening to Leigh Bardugo's newest dark fantasy novel, the third in her Ninth House series, Dead Beat.
What are you reading, bookworms?
01 Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
It's the year 2030 and the United States has collapsed. Ari Waker is out after serving a decades-long jail sentence, and she emerges to a nation in turmoil where many scrape and scramble to get by.
But her first night out at a California party with her new roommate Gloria holds more than a carefree, boozy romantic tryst. Inexplicable appearances and disappearances of partygoers--or was it their doppelgangers?--and strange, out-of-this-world occurrences puzzle Ari for years to come.
But when figures from that night begin showing up in Ari's life in rural Ohio and again when she moves to Paris, she questions what she knows to be real, begins to recognize an undeniable interconnectedness, and reckons with her place in the world.
Emily St. John Mandel is also the author of Sea of Tranquility and Station Eleven.
02 Switzy by Emma Cline
David is on a private plane headed for Switzerland. We learn that he's a retired executive, and that his past years of work have led to his borrowing of the transportation to his final stop, as they say.
David's perspective makes clear that he is having trouble tracking details, recalling past events, and piecing together the entirety of his situation, and that he is headed to Switzerland with a plan to die before he is unable to make that decision due to dementia.
The poignant premise is also darkly funny at times, often absurd, and frequently breathtakingly, messily unfiltered, alternating between rude, sly, touching, heartbreaking, and silly.
I received a prepublication audio version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. I also received a copy of this book through my monthly Books Are Magic subscription.
Emma Cline is also the author of The Girls (a book I rated with four Bossy stars when I read it ten years ago, before this blog existed) and The Guest.
03 Dead Beat (Ninth House #3) by Leigh Bardugo
In the first two books in this series, Ninth House and Hell Bent, we met Alex Stern, who was offered a new start after surviving a mysterious multiple homicide. She became an unlikely member of the Yale freshman class, but the darkness of her past was matched only by the danger of the magic and rituals being used by the secret societies she was meant to be monitoring.
Alex is a brave, scowling, and unapologetic figure who has literally escaped from hell, saving her love interest Darlington in the process. Now she and her ragtag group of allies must figure out how to close the gates to hell--while fending off the nefarious Yale faculty members, family members, and random demons out to make sure they fail.
I'm listening to an audiobook version of this title through Libby and my public library.
Leigh Bardugo is the author of the first two books in this series, Ninth House and Hell Bent, as well as The Familiar, the Shadow and Bone series, the King of Scars duology, and other books.
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