The New York Times - USA - Book Review (2020-12-13)

4 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

LET US DREAM: THE PATH TO A BETTER FUTURE, by

Pope Francis and Austen Ivereigh. (Simon &

Schuster, $26.) The leader of the Roman Cath-

olic Church asks what we can learn from the

pandemic, and revisits three crises from his

own life.

ON THE SUFFERING OF THE WORLD,by Arthur

Schopenhauer. Edited by Eugene Thacker.

(Repeater, paper, $14.95.) Schopenhauer’s

reputation as the bard of pessimism makes

him the perfect philosopher for the Covid era,

Thacker argues in his foreword to these apho-

ristic late essays.

MERCURY RETROGRADE, by Emily Segal. (Del-

uge, paper, $18.) Segal’s novel tracks the life of

a young artist and futurist, also named Emily

Segal, through New York City after the Occu-

py protests and before the election of Donald

Trump as she navigates issues of gender and

aesthetics.

REACHING MITHYMNA: AMONG THE VOLUNTEERS

AND REFUGEES ON LESVOS,by Steven Heighton.

(Biblioasis, paper, $16.95.) A Canadian poet

and novelist, Heighton was moved by the Syr-

ian refugee crisis in 2015 to travel to Greece

and help. This book recounts his experience.

AN OUTSIDER’S GUIDE TO HUMANS: WHAT SCIENCE

TAUGHT ME ABOUT WHAT WE DO AND WHO WE

ARE,by Camilla Pang. (Viking, $27.) An autis-

tic scientist applies lessons from the lab to ex-

plain society and celebrate neurodiversity.

Able to concentrate only in short bursts this

year, I’ve found myself reading more short

stories. One collection that has sunk its hooks

in is Alice Bishop’s A CONSTANT HUM, which fo-

cuses on a community recovering from one of

Australia’s worst disasters: the Black Saturday

fires of 2009. The tragedy unfurls from many

angles, with glimpses into lives of nurses, firefighters, those who

are rebuilding, those who are leaving and those experiencing sur-

vivors’ guilt. Some pieces are only a sentence or two, but even

those snippets pack an emotional punch, and I found the varying

story lengths built a sense of collective grief — and hope. “A Con-

stant Hum” brims with Aussie cultural references, making it hard

to imagine the events in any other setting. But it also pokes at big-

ger questions — how do people change after a life-changing

event? how does one rediscover normality? — that many of us are

asking these days.

—ANNA HOLLAND, DEPUTY LONDON WEEKEND EDITOR

New & Noteworthy

WHAT WE’RE READING

REFLECTIONS, MEMORIES, AND CONFESSIONS

With more than 600 photographs and a bonus DVD

“HONEST, COMPELLING,

INTRIGUING.”

—DAN W. LUFKIN, Founder, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette

The acclaimed play, The Lehman Trilogy,

features Mayer Lehman, John Loeb’s great-grandfather.

Discover the remarkable history of the entire Lehman

family in this new book.

Ambassador to Denmark, John L. Loeb, Jr. and his son, Nicholas, with

Her Royal Highness Queen Margrethe of Denmark.

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Bonus

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JOHN’S

PARTY AT

BLENHEIM

PA L AC E

JOHN L. LOEB JR.JOHN L. LOEB JR.

AMBASSADOR,

CHAIRMAN, WINSTON CHURCHILL FOUNDATION, USA

AMBASSADOR,

CHAIRMAN, WINSTON CHURCHILL FOUNDATION, USA

HARDCOVER ($29.99) • E-BOOK ($8.99) • AUDIOBOOK ($24.99)

available from AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, APPLE BOOKS and AUDIBLE

NEW ON

AUDIBLE

Narrated by

James Lurie