Beyond the Bestsellers: 9 New Releases You Need to Discover

“Today, aesthetic medicine is undergoing a profound transformation in its foundations: effectiveness and professional responsibility demand that the starting point should not be the treatment itself, but the patient’s lifestyle. That’s how we’ll realize that most treatments are unnecessary and, in many cases, harmful,” says Dr. Fernando Felice, opening a conversation that many of his colleagues are unlikely to agree with.

Felice is a plastic surgeon, UBA professor and congress speaker, and in his first book, “El secreto mejor guardado de la belleza” (Hojas del Sur), he develops three sections explaining why we need to start thinking about healthy longevity and lifestyle habits that don’t simply erase wrinkles.

In the first, the doctor writes about the foundations of beauty: what happens when we don’t accept ourselves as we are, and what bullying and body dysmorphia look like in the digital age. “In the second part, the book explains the essence capable of transforming us from the inside out and its impact on external beauty: the importance of sleep, exercise, healthy eating, managing emotions and stress, and the need to socialize,” the author explains.

Finally, he looks to the future, “exploring what lies ahead, what technology promises us, and how to talk about beauty that can be sustained over time,” he tells Time Out.

The takeaway: In addition to being a winner of the AMWC Awards and the Martín Fierro Awards for his work in plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine, Dr. Fernando Felice shares beauty and aesthetics information and advice daily on Instagram.

The first question to answer is: “Who is Losbei?” In the midst of the pandemic, Dr. Federico Beines, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and writer, began creating stories with his son Camilo, who was starting first grade at the time. “Instead of boring him with a school lesson, he seemed eager to turn that boredom into something potentially creative,” he explains. When the boy began changing the endings of the stories and questioning every idea his father came up with, together they created Dardo, the character who stars in the children’s series published by El Pulpo Literato. Its fifth book has just been released: “Dardo y el desafío monstruoso.” Over the years, the third Losbei, Lisandro, joined them.

A game with more than 70 cards accompanies the book, featuring “creatures” with attributes, weaknesses and mechanics. “This teaches children that even the most threatening monster has a weak point or a strategy for being neutralized. Playing together encourages conversations about what each card represents, multiplying creativity and creating a channel for talking about their strengths and weaknesses spontaneously,” says the eldest member of this trilogy of writers.

The takeaway: This new children’s book invites readers to read, color and play, with illustrations by Camilo Beines and a deck of cards included.

This short novel from Editorial Vinilo belongs to that rather magical category of books that are sustained not so much by what happens, but by everything one tries to leave behind. Amendoeiras works as a journey that seems to be an attempt at an inner escape.

A photographer travels to Rio de Janeiro with her mother to uncover a family history marked by the exile of the 1970s and the ghostly figure of her biological father. The author is not looking to impress with dramatic twists; her focus is much more on observing relationships, distances and the uncomfortable search for identity when the usual frames of reference begin to fracture.

“When you were born, the leaves of the amendoeira trees were reddish,” her mother tells her, and Rabinovich builds a story with a strong autobiographical component, filled with imagery, in a book that belongs to the tradition of stories by the children of exiles—a huge shelf in Argentine literature.

The takeaway: This is the first novel by Luciana Rabinovich, who holds a degree in Literature from UBA and is a writer, photographer and cultural producer. She worked as a writer and editor for Le Monde diplomatique, Southern Cone edition.

Another book for children, but one with huge lessons. This book by renowned journalist and writer Hinde Pomeraniec breaks down the complexity of war into pieces a child can understand, without removing the cruelty of these conflicts.

The author explores the main reasons wars break out: the pursuit of power, territorial expansion, religious conflicts and invasions, while also avoiding reducing the conversation to a caricature of heroes versus villains.

Pomeraniec does not speak to a naïve audience, but to citizens who are still developing their understanding of the world and who can perceive echoes of violence through screens, news reports and disturbing images that we cannot always prevent from reaching their eyes.

The takeaway: Illustrated by Penélope Chauvié, the book attempts to explain how we teach children not to fight and to communicate without violence while, as adults, we attack those same essential principles. Published by Siglo XXI.

Written by the creator of MN Santa Inés, but without difficult ingredients or expensive restaurant techniques. The young cook’s focus is on showing how flavors from faraway places can naturally blend with the simple dishes we eat every day.

The strength of the book lies in its approach to food without rigid instructions. It combines recipes with personal stories, and from that mix comes a clear proposition: creativity doesn’t need complicated twists to be delicious and make people sitting around the table feel good. Ultimately, the book works as an invitation to try different combinations.

The takeaway: The book was released as part of the “Huevos al Plato” collection, created by journalist Adriana Balaguer. It was published by Grupal Libros.

This is the author’s second novel, published by Rosa Iceberg. The protagonist is playing several matches at once: the heartbreak of a love story coming to an end, family memory and the need to always put things into the body.

Belén tells Time Out: “When people ask me if it’s autofiction, I say no, because for me that doesn’t exist. To begin with, memories distort the story a little, memory isn’t linear, and that is already the first fiction. There are also scenes completely recreated from fragments of the protagonist’s childhood that I created based on videos and photographs. And, finally, it’s important to say that the words chosen are another symbol, a third personal way of naming the events, of creating this fiction that crosses three timelines: childhood, the immediate present and the distant past.” Although, yes, she admits that she “used herself as a source of information, as raw material” for the story.

The takeaway: Belén Mentasti’s first book was a coming-of-age novel called Ni chico, ni chica, also published by Rosa Iceberg in 2023.

This is neither a recipe book nor a nutrition manual. This book from Editorial Vinilo is an epistolary exchange between the essayist and author of “El fin del amor” and food journalist Kiako.

Throughout the book, the two rescue the act of eating from the tyranny of algorithms and the pressure to pursue wellness. At a time that swings between hyper-healthy lifestyles and quick taps to order delivery, their correspondence proposes slowing down. They turn the kitchen into a place where hands get dirty, screens are switched off and the phone is left out of reach. Tenenbaum brings a philosophical perspective, while Kiako brings a culinary sensibility that sees the palate as a skill that can be cultivated.

The takeaway: Together, they unpack urgent issues such as the mental cost of deciding what to have for dinner every night, the guilt associated with pleasure, cravings as irrational impulses, and a feminist reconciliation with cooking.

The second book in Seitún’s series is actually a prequel. In the first book, published two years ago (“Los Finnegan & el fabuloso oso virtuoso”), we meet an already-grown bear, while this one takes us back to his childhood, when he was captured and sold to a circus. Amid fears and encounters with unexpected characters, Oso must discover who he is and what his true passion is.

As with Beines’ book, this one also comes with an extra feature: it includes original songs that accompany key scenes in the story, which can be listened to via a QR code included in the book, along with a songbook containing lyrics and chords so children can learn to play whatever instrument they have at home.

The takeaway: Jano Seitún is also a musician and designer. The book was published by La Editorial Común, founded by Argentine graphic artist Liniers and Angie Erhart del Campo.

Self-published by the author, this is a work of fiction about friendship, relationships that change over time and the pain of losing someone we once felt was inseparable from us.

“Two girls build a deep bond from childhood, shaped by shared experiences, complicity and memories that seem capable of surviving any distance. However, over the years, the arrival of a new relationship changes that dynamic and creates a separation neither of them could have imagined,” Florencia explains.

The story delves into what often remains hidden: invisible violence, manipulation and loss. At the same time, it becomes a search for answers and an “attempt to understand what happened to that relationship and where the boundaries lie between love, friendship and the possibility of reconnecting after everything has changed,” adds Florencia Verdú Nalli.

The takeaway: Florencia Carolina Verdú Nalli is from Mendoza, holds a degree in Business Administration, and found in writing a way to transform emotions, memories and intimate experiences into words.