Dr. No by Percival Everett

This comes out as the Bond thriller of the same name turns sixty. While some might celebrate with fast cars, shaken, not stirred martinis, and a heaping dose of toxic masculinity, that is not how this author rolls. Instead, he writes a book that is much ado about nothing. The narrator is a 36-year-old deadpan Black man who is on the autism spectrum and goes by the name Wala Kitu. His first name is Tagalog for “nothing”; his last name is Swahili for “nothing.” Now, as a distinguished mathematics professor at Brown University, Wala knows that nothing + nothing = nothing. In fact, Wala is the world’s greatest expert on nothing. He’s spent his career searching for nothing. “I have not found it,” he confesses. “I work very hard and wish I could say that I have nothing to show for it.” The story chugs along with more jokes and double entendres about nothing than you can imagine (and I suspect I might have missed quite a few!), and while it is not exactly my cup of tea, it is well written and clever and unforgettable.