In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife by Sebastian Junger

Part medical thriller, part inquiry into human consciousness and what it means to be human, this is a brilliant meditation on life’s biggest questions occasioned by the author’s own near death experience.

Even with the abundance of riches on my to be read pile, I’ve been wanting to go back to this book since hearing the audio edition, read by the author.

Adult Non-Fiction Hardcover pr7474620

Peggy: A Novel by Rebecca Godfrey

A posthumous novel by the author of Under the Bridge, Peggy examines the life of arts patron and heiress Peggy Guggenheim.

Godfrey worked on this novel for ten years prior to her death in 2022 (author and friend Jamison finished it with the help of Godfrey herself before her passing) and it shows in its incredible attention to period detail. The “Googs” weren’t just one of the wealthiest families in the US throughout the last century; they had prominent roles in politics, business and the arts.

From the death of her father on the Titanic to looking back on her life while living in Venice, this book not only looks at Peggy’s role as a patron and gallery owner, friends and colleagues including Emma Goldman, Djuna Barnes and Man Ray, but the struggle to balance the roles of daughter, motherhood and wife alongside the desire to find one’s own independent, creative place in the world.

Adult Fiction Hardcover pr7046399