Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/31/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's upcoming novel, Dream Count; I'm listening to the first in S. A. Chakraborty's Daevabad fantasy trilogy, The City of Brass; and I'm reading Olivia Hawker's upcoming historical fiction, The Stars and Their Light.

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count, Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in the US, is living through the pandemic alone.

She considers her past loves as well as the lives, choices, and challenges of three strong women in her life: her best friend Zikora, a successful lawyer who must regroup after devastating heartbreak; Omelogor, Chiamaka's loud, confident cousin in Nigeria, professionally fulfilled but in a crisis of identity; and her housekeeper Kadiatou, sacrificing so much to raise her daughter in America but facing grueling hardship.

I received a prepublication edition of this title, to be published April 1, courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. Adichie is also the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Americanah.

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02 The City of Brass (Daevabad #1) by S. A. Chakraborty

Nahri makes a living on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, skillfully thieving and honing her skills as a con artist. The only thing that isn't a lie is her mysterious ability to instinctually, instantaneously heal others and herself.

During a con she accidentally summons a djinn warrior, Dara, and the two must flee across the desert to Daevabad, a magical city whose most powerful citizens rely on fire. But the city is split between two groups, those holding the throne and palace and those eking out a living on the streets. Centuries-old resentments and conflicts threaten to bubble up into war--and Nahri and Dara's arrival only serves to feed the flames of conflict.

I'm listening to The City of Brass as an audiobook. It's the first in a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold. Chakraborty is also the author of the wonderful novel The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, the first in the series of the same name; she published that book under the name Shannon Chakraborty.

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03 The Stars and Their Light by Olivia Hawker

It's 1947, and Sister Mary Agnes is in Roswell, New Mexico, to establish a monastery. The effort is in direct response to the reported crash of an unidentified craft in the area--and the area's ensuing, growing crisis of faith and turning to the stars for divine guidance.

Drawn to locals like high schooler Betty Campbell, who is physically and psychologically changed after the event, and handyman Harvey, who witnessed the crash, Mary Agnes aims to draw those in doubt back to the church. But she experiences a wavering and changing faith of her own.

Olivia Hawker is also the author of October in the Earth, The Fire and the Ore, The Ragged Edge of Night, and One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West.

I received a prepublication edition of this title, scheduled for publication April 1, courtesy of Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley.