KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2024 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

These new books are helping readers make sense of 2023

We’re just about a month into 2023, but some books have already made major headlines.

Gayle Shanks is co-owner of Changing Hands Bookstores.

She joined The Show to explain the trends she’s seeing and what readers are looking for in this new year.

Here are Shanks’ picks:

“Spare” by Prince Harry
“For me, the best part of that part is that it had an amazing ghostwriter, J. R. Moehringer. So when you read it, it reads well.”

“And There Was Light” by Jon Meacham
“When you read it, you would think you were reading about the United States in the fall of 2022 because the issues are really the same issues we're dealing with now.”

“Victory City” by Salman Rushdie
“[Rushdie] goes back to myth and fable, and he makes them relevant.”

“Ghost Music” by An Yu
“This woman can't figure out what’s real and what is a dream for her. And so I think that sense of magical realism and that dream world ... is also something that we’re trying to grapple with in this century.”

More stories from KJZZ

Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.