![\"Literature](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0923_fall-books-1920x1080.jpeg\")
Literature writer Katherine Ouellette recommends five books to read this fall. (Courtesy the publishers)<\/p>\nLiterature writer Katherine Ouellette recommends five books to read this fall. (Courtesy the publishers)<\/p>\n
Who am I? Where do I belong? Are algorithms going to bring my downfall? These are just some of the questions on the minds of authors this fall. From wacky \u201cFreaky Friday\u201d-like body swaps with poignant self-reflection to searing indictments of the American education system to not-so-distant technological futures, these books stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back.<\/p>\n
‘Flip<\/a>‘ The movie \u201cFreaky Friday\u201d explores what\u2019s more cringe than swapping bodies with your mother? \u201cFlip,\u201d the latest graphic novel from Yale University alumna Ngozi Ukazu, answers: switching bodies with your crush. After a video promposal gone wrong, Chi-Chi Ekeh suddenly finds herself walking in the shoes of the boy who publicly rejected her. Flip Henderson \u2014 a rich, white, star athlete \u2014 has a lot to learn about navigating the life of an awkward, nerdy, K-pop-loving Black girl. With both teens struggling with mental health, unexplainable body-swap magic, and finishing senior year, the road to reversing the curse must be paved with self-acceptance.<\/p>\n Oct. 14<\/p>\n In her debut poetry collection \u201cHOME FREE,\u201d Aparna Paul wrestles with multigenerational homesickness. As the child of immigrants, she wonders if her home is the American culture of fast food chains and microaggressions from tennis coaches, bus drivers and baristas? Or is it \u201cmukhwas, fennel seeds & anise & rose leaves, sugared sweet, hard on the teeth,\u201d and living with a name that means both \u201cempty\u201d and \u201canything might bloom?\u201d Paul is the host of Narrative Bookshop\u2019s monthly \u201cFlow State\u201d open mic series and a seasoned member of the Boston Poetry Slam team. Her written work proves just as evocative, with deft use of white space to punctuate sparse words and cleverly encoding a voicemail from her mom within another narrative. With topics ranging from communing with eldritch horrors at the McDonald\u2019s drive-thru to confronting the English language as a force of both colonization and healing, \u201cHOME FREE\u201d displays masterful talent.<\/p>\n Oct. 14<\/p>\n Between slashed school funding<\/a>, book bans<\/a> and ICE raids<\/a>, many people are worried about education losing its footing as \u201cthe great equalizer.\u201d But has the U.S. ever come close to achieving this ideal? Harvard University professor Jarvis R. Givens\u2019 latest history book provides a searing indictment of the American education system. Marginalized students have been more than just underserved by public schools \u2014 they\u2019ve been systematically excluded and dehumanized. Givens chronicles horrific ironies. Enslaved Black children were forbidden from reading and writing, yet forced to serve institutions like Harvard built from the profits of slave labor<\/a>. The U.S. War Department systematically tore Indigenous children away from their families for boarding schools,<\/a> where they were physically abused, exploited for manual labor, and stripped of their native languages and cultures. Givens reflects how modern attitudes toward BIPOC students and their academic performance are rooted in these traumas. An unflinching portrait of the U.S. education system\u2019s underbelly, \u201cAmerican Grammar\u201d is a warning that rewriting U.S. history is a core part of our curriculum.<\/p>\n Oct. 14<\/p>\n In the near-future setting of Ken Liu\u2019s sci-fi thriller, mandatory tracking hardware is installed in phones and 99% of online interactions occur between AIs. \u201cData was like pollution: the less of it one generated, the better,\u201d says protagonist Julia Z early in the novel. She has been keeping a low profile since her last large-scale hacking job got raided. But even her wunderkind AI cybersecurity skills may have met their match against a force more sinister than local law enforcement and the big cloud tech giants. To skirt unwanted attention from powerful criminals (and to pay her mounting bills), Julia accepts a high-profile job finding a missing woman who designs bespoke shared dreams. Infusing AI with personalities, traversing virtual realities, and an all-too-realistic AI-driven future, Liu\u2019s latest novel is another triumph. Like his protagonist Julia, Liu lives outside of Boston.<\/p>\n
Ngozi UkazuSept. 23<\/p>\n