Attention, fellow book enthusiasts and page-turning aficionados! In the world of books, a surplus of options can make it challenging to pick your next read. Luckily our experts over at E. Shaver, Booksellers (eshaverbooks.com) curate their top recommendations. Here is this week’s new line-up!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

In “The Night Circus,” Erin Morgenstern weaves a mesmerizing tale of enchantment and rivalry. The novel follows the captivating story of Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, two young illusionists bound by a lifelong competition that transcends the limits of time and space. Their battleground is Le Cirque des Rêves, a magical, black-and-white circus that appears only at night and features breathtaking spectacles. As Celia and Marco weave their enchantments into the fabric of the circus, they fall in love, blurring the lines between the competition and their hearts. Morgenstern’s evocative prose and imaginative storytelling create a world of wonder and mystery, making “The Night Circus” a spellbinding journey into a world where dreams and reality intertwine.

The Pole by J.M Coetzee Renowned for his sparse yet powerful prose, J. M. Coetzee is unquestionably among the most influential—and provocative—authors of our time. With characteristic insight and a “brittle wit that forces our attention on the common terrors we don’t want to think about” (Washington Post), Coetzee here challenges us to interrogate our preconceptions not only of love, but of truth itself.

Exacting yet unpredictable, pithy yet complex, Coetzee’s The Pole tells the story of Wittold Walccyzkiecz, a vigorous, extravagantly white-haired pianist and interpreter of Chopin who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his concert in Barcelona. Although Beatriz, a married woman, is initially unimpressed by Wittold and his “gleaming dentures,” she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into his world. As the journeyman performer sends her countless letters, extends invitations to travel, and even visits her husband’s summer home in Mallorca, their unlikely relationship blossoms, though only on Beatriz’s terms.

The power struggle between them intensifies, eventually escalating into a full-fledged battle of the sexes. But is it Beatriz who limits their passion by paralyzing her emotions? Or is it Wittold, the old man at his typewriter, trying to force into life his dream of love? Reinventing the all-encompassing love of the poet Dante for his Beatrice, Coetzee exposes the fundamentally enigmatic nature of romance, showing how a chance meeting between strangers—even “a Pole, a man of seventy, a vigorous seventy,” and a stultified “banker’s wife who occupies her days in good works”—can suddenly change everything.

Reminiscent of James Joyce’s “The Dead” in its exploration of love and loss, The Pole, with lean prose and surprising feints, is a haunting work, evoking the “inexhaustible palette of sensations, from blind love to compassion” (Berna González Harbour, El País) typical of Coetzee’s finest novels.

Witch King by Martha Wells Martha Wells has no problem captivating readers with “Witch King.” After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence? Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.

This article appears in Connect Savannah | October, 2023.