James, by Percival Everett, is a brilliant and action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of the enslaved character Jim. This novel is both harrowing and ferociously funny, showcasing Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion in a radically new light.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold and separated from his wife and daughter, he decides to hide on Jackson Island to plan his next move. Meanwhile, Huck Finn, seeking to escape his violent father, fakes his own death. Together, they embark on a dangerous and transcendent journey down the Mississippi River, facing floods, storms, and scam artists, all while navigating the promise and peril of the Free States and beyond.

With electrifying humor and lacerating observations, James is a redefining a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is an electrifying, funny, and wholly original novel that heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction. The story follows Cyrus Shams, a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, who is guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings on a remarkable search for a family secret. This journey leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.

Cyrus grapples with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother's plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident, and his father's life in America was circumscribed by his work at a factory farm. As a drunk, an addict, and a poet, Cyrus's obsession with martyrs drives him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death and toward his mother, through a painting that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, and others.

Jenny Tough is an endurance athlete renowned for her feats in running and cycling through some of the world's most demanding events. In SOLO, she shares a narrative that is as much about personal growth as it is about physical endurance.

Her journey begins with a quest to confront the feelings and emotions that were limiting her. Running, a therapeutic and empowering practice for Jenny, becomes the foundation for an extraordinary goal: to traverse mountain ranges on six continents, alone and unaided, starting in the isolated terrains of Kyrgystan.

This book is a vivid account of her expeditions across the Tien Shan (Asia), the High Atlas (Africa), the Cordillera Oriental (South America), the Southern Alps (Oceania), the Canadian Rockies (North America), and the Transylvanian Alps (Europe). Along the way, Jenny discovers invaluable lessons in self-esteem, resilience, and courage.

The essence of SOLO is the affirmation that embarking on solo endeavors, whether grand or modest, can be exhilarating and uplifting. Jenny's call to action, urging us to find inner strength, confidence, and self-belief, serves as a powerful source of motivation for readers seeking to overcome their own barriers.

Crying in H Mart is an exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance. Michelle Zauner, known as the indie rock sensation Japanese Breakfast, proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up as one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; and of a painful adolescence.

Zauner shares treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band—and meeting the man who would become her husband—her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage.

A Place Like Mississippi takes readers on a fascinating journey through the evocative landscapes that have inspired generations of writers. W. Ralph Eubanks, an award-winning author and native of Mississippi, offers a compelling literary tour of the state.

From the muddy Delta to the rolling Hill Country, down to the Gulf Coast, Mississippi has been both a backdrop and a central character in some of the most compelling prose and poetry of modern literature. This journey touches on the settings that informed hundreds of iconic works.

Immerse yourself in these spaces and discover that Mississippi is not just a state, but a state of mind. As Faulkner is said to have observed, "To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi."

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine.

Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.

Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

One Writer's Beginnings is a deeply personal and inspiring memoir by the acclaimed author Eudora Welty. This work offers a rare glimpse into the formative years of Welty's life, detailing the experiences and influences that shaped her as a writer.

Originally delivered as a series of lectures at Harvard University, this book invites readers to journey through Welty's childhood in Mississippi, exploring the vivid landscapes and rich cultural tapestry that fueled her imagination. Her reflections are not just a recounting of memories, but a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of nurturing one's creative spirit.

Welty's eloquent prose and heartfelt anecdotes provide a window into the soul of a writer dedicated to her craft. Aspiring authors and literary enthusiasts alike will find inspiration in her words, as she shares the joys and challenges of her path to becoming one of America's most cherished storytellers.