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CBS News
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
The Book Report: Ron Charles on new summer reads (July 20)
By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles As summer revs up, here are three cool new novels, and a work of history that's wilder than fiction! Lucas Schaefer's debut novel, "The Slip," takes place in and around a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, where everybody is trying to become somebody different. Following two White teenagers – one obsessed with his African American mentor, the other discovering their transgender identity – this sweaty, comic masterpiece jumps in the ring with our most pressing social debates, and lands a knockoutv . Read an excerpt: "The Slip" by Lucas Schaefer "The Slip" by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and At the start of Michelle Huneven's "Bug Hollow," the sweetest, smartest son any parents could ask for has just graduated from high school and headed off with his friends for a weeklong road trip. But what starts as a domestic comedy soon becomes a tragedy, and Huneven turns her gracious eye to the way families carry on, even when shattered, and thrive. Read an excerpt: "Bug Hollow" by Michelle Huneven "Bug Hollow" by Michelle Huneven (Penguin Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and In "The Satisfaction Cafe," a gently witty new novel by Kathy Wang, a woman from Taiwan makes her way in America with patience and determination. For decades, she struggles to fit in with a complicated, wealthy family, until she can finally create a little safe space where people can find what they really want: just to be heard. Read an excerpt: "The Satisfaction Café" by Kathy Wang "The Satisfaction Café" by Kathy Wang (Scribner), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and A century ago, Western scientists knew almost nothing about giant pandas. Now, in a thrilling work of history, Nathalia Holt follows Teddy Roosevelt's sons, Ted and Kermit, as they set out with a team to China to track down these black-and-white creatures. How would the brothers survive this treacherous expedition? And what would the implications be for these gentle animals? Holt explores these fascinating questions and others in "The Beast in the Clouds." Read an excerpt: "The Beast in the Clouds" by Nathalia Holt "The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers' Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda" by Nathalia Holt (Atria/One Signal), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and That's it for the Book Report. For these and other suggestions about what to read this summer, talk with your local bookseller or librarian. I'm Ron Charles. Until next time, read on! For more info: Produced by Robin Sanders. Editor: Joseph Frandino. For more reading recommendations, check out these previous Book Report features from Ron Charles:
CBS News
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Book excerpt: "The Satisfaction Café" by Kathy Wang
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. In "The Satisfaction Café," a gently witty new novel from Kathy Wang ("Family Trust"), a woman from Taiwan moves to California, where she finds a new life as a wealthy man's fourth wife and mother to his children. But her search for connections leads her to create a safe space for people to find what they really want: to be heard. Read an excerpt below. "The Satisfaction Café" by Kathy Wang Prefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now. Joan Liang's life in America began in Palo Alto, where she lived in the attic of a two-story home on Azalea Street. Joan did chores for the widow who owned the house in exchange for reduced rent; she never could have afforded such a nice neighborhood otherwise. She lived in that attic until she was married, and she was married for only six weeks before she stabbed her husband. Joan was twenty-five and had lived in the United States for two years. The year was 1977. Joan had not thought she would stab her husband. It had been an accident (sort of). Afterward she was disappointed that marriage had not turned out as she'd imagined. She had thought it would be wonderful. It had been, actually. Until it wasn't. Though later, Joan would wonder why she'd ever thought marriage would be so special. As a child in Taiwan, most of the married women Joan encountered were melancholy, if not outright miserable; throughout her childhood, Joan's own mother had on occasion risen from the kitchen table without warning to cry with showy force into her hands. "You've ruined everything!" Mei would shriek if any of the children came near, and so they soon learned to keep away, which only worsened Mei's despondency. At least every other Saturday, Joan's father, Wen-Bao, spent the night across town in Shilin, where he kept a two-bedroom apartment for his mistress. Joan's mother was haunted by the two bedrooms; it drove her nuts, Mei said, to think of so much empty space. "Can you imagine," Mei would remark, legs crossed as she sat before her vanity, "how much lust a man must carry inside, to furnish such a large place for one woman? When all six of us are crowded in the same square footage? Do you understand the scope of his betrayal?" At this point Joan's brothers usually wandered off; they were bored by this conversation, which repeated itself every few months. Only Joan would remain at her mother's feet, where she watched Mei sit with perfect posture before her mirror and pluck white strands from her hairline. After moving to California, Joan established the routine of calling her parents every Sunday evening Taipei time, during which Wen-Bao, if he'd visited his mistress that weekend, would have already returned home. On these calls, Joan's parents performed the same interrogation: how her studies at Stanford were proceeding, if there was any chance to graduate early from her master's program so that she might begin to earn money. Money was key. Joan had three brothers, each of whom by various rights (older, male) should have been sent abroad before her. Two had been disqualified by their academics, whereas the top candidate, Alfred, had been surprised by "issues" (his girlfriend was pregnant), and so at the last minute Joan was sent instead. From "The Satisfaction Café" by Kathy Wang. Copyright 2025 by Kathy Wang. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Get the book here: "The Satisfaction Café" by Kathy Wang Buy locally from For more info:
Washington Post
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Kathy Wang's novel is an antidote for our global dissatisfaction
On the first page of 'The Satisfaction Café,' Kathy Wang writes, 'Joan had not thought she would stab her husband.' I've just met Joan, but I already like her spontaneous style. And it turns out, she's not really such a menace to civil society — or even to husbands. But don't push her too far.
