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WUHAN DIARY

Name: WUHAN DIARY
Author: Fang Fang
ISBN: 978-0-06-305265-9

DISPATCHES FROM A QUARANTINED CITY

by Fang Fang ; translated by Michael Berry ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2020

Essential reportage with hard-won lessons for residents of every place on the planet on how to survive the pandemic.

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An urgently written account of the emergence of COVID-19 in China. Fang Fang, a Nanjing-born novelist, became accidentally famous when, as she records, she first logged onto her blog to record her notes on the outbreak in her adopted city of Wuhan. “I certainly never imagined that there would be 59 more entries to follow,” she writes, “nor could I have imagined that tens of millions of readers would be staying up late each night just waiting to read my next installment.” Her chronicle will sound familiar to American readers. When an infectious disease specialist first reported the appearance of COVID-19 on Jan. 20, 2020, it had been spreading for at least three weeks, with the government first insisting that it had been taken unawares and then following up with assurances that the virus was “controllable and preventable.” Sounding a note familiar to environmentalists everywhere, the author chides her fellow humans for imagining that they’re really in control of the world and for failing to be more prepared for the current pandemic after experiencing SARS in 2003. She then begins reporting the grim news: The father of a family friend, already suffering from liver cancer, was taken to hospital with the virus, but “there was no one available to treat him and he died three hours later.” Cheap, black-market face masks began to appear while usable ones were sold at price-gouging rates. Wuhanese tried to survive isolation by imagining the meals they would eat when the plague ended: “Wuhan people love discussing which restaurant makes the best food in town, and that is even more the case now than ever.” Then came the cabin fever and the growing demand that officials reopen the city for business, even as the death toll continued to rise. Finally, the quarantine lifted, and, the author writes hopefully, “Wuhan will be coming back to life again quite soon”—albeit forever changed and fearful. Essential reportage with hard-won lessons for residents of every place on the planet on how to survive the pandemic.

Pub Date: May 15, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-06-305265-9

Page Count: 300

Publisher: HarperVia

Review Posted Online: May 14, 2020

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Awards & Accolades

Likes

89

Our Verdict

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New York Times Bestseller

TANQUERAY

by Stephanie Johnson & Brandon Stanton illustrated by Henry Sene Yee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2022

A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.

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Awards & Accolades

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89

Our Verdict

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New York Times Bestseller

A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.

Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.

A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.

Pub Date: July 12, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2

Page Count: 192

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022

Categories:

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS & CELEBRITY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

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by Brandon Stanton

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by Brandon Stanton photographed by Brandon Stanton

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by Brandon Stanton ; photographed by Brandon Stanton

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WAR

by Bob Woodward ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2024

An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.

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Documenting perilous times.

In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”

An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.