Top Ten Tuesday:
Recently published or upcoming book releases that are tempting me to read them.
I usually spend about zero minutes look ahead at new or upcoming books. I have too many books on my reading list to worry about books that aren't even published yet. So when I saw today's topic was about upcoming releases I decided to investigate to see what is coming out soon or has recently been published. I found these three lists from the New York Times -- May, June, July -- and decided I'd select a few from each list to explore further. Who knows maybe I will even end up reading them. (All the descriptions and quotes are from the NYT article by month. I included them here since most people can't get the pay wall of the NYT.)
‘The Plot,' by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Celadon, May 11)
Jake Bonner was once a promising young author, but his career has sputtered: He can’t find a publisher for his latest book and has resorted to teaching at a no-name M.F.A. program. A cocky student teases the story of his novel in progress, convinced that the premise will make it a best seller, and Jake grudgingly agrees. When the student dies, never having published the book, Jake seizes the story for himself. That’s only the beginning of the twists and turns in “The Plot,” which features a crooked Southern lawyer, a charming radio producer and a profoundly vexed mother-daughter relationship. Whoever said writers are boring?
‘Project Hail Mary,’ by Andy Weir (Ballantine, May 4)
Before
he was portrayed by Matt Damon in the movie adaptation, the protagonist
of Weir’s best-selling debut, “The Martian,” was stranded on Mars and
had to improvise for survival. Weir’s new narrator, Ryland Grace, is
also an astronaut in extremis: He’s floating around space with two dead
bodies and can’t recall his own name. Slowly, he remembers why he’s on a
spacecraft — and the nature of his mission, which is to defeat an
existential threat to the human species.
'Mister Impossible' by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press, May 18) Not part of NYT list.
Do the dreamers need the ley lines to save the world . . . or will their actions end up dooming the world? As Ronan, Hennessy, and Bryde try to make dreamers more powerful, the Moderators are closing in, sure that this power will bring about disaster. In the remarkable second book of The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater pushes her characters to their limits - and shows what happens to them and others when they start to break. (Publisher)
The Disappearing Act,’ by Catherine Steadman (Ballantine, June 8)
In
this thriller, a British actress named Mia Eliot arrives in Los Angeles
after a star turn in an adaptation of “Jane Eyre,” hoping to advance
her career. Steadman,
herself an actress who has appeared in “Downton Abbey,” is particularly
acute when capturing the absurdities (and humiliations) of Hollywood,
especially when Mia struggles to adapt. A young woman named Emily asks
Mia for a favor, then vanishes — and no one else remembers ever seeing
her.
‘Malibu Rising,' by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine, June 1)
It’s August 1983, and Malibu’s models, athletes and actors are preparing for the Riva family’s annual (and notorious) party. Nina, the eldest of four siblings and one of the most recognized surfer models of the moment, is hosting, despite a very public breakup. As the story ticks closer to the party itself, the novel loops back in time to the Riva children’s early years, which were overshadowed by their father, a well-meaning but absentee pop singer.
‘The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer,’ by Dean Jobb (Algonquin, July 13)
Thomas Neill Cream poisoned as many as 10 people in North America and Britain before his 1892 murder trial. Jobb recounts Cream’s life and evokes the societal attitudes that allowed him to kill: the blind faith placed in doctors, the power imbalances between Cream and the people who sought his care.
‘Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship,’ by Catherine Raven (Spiegel & Grau, July 6)
Feeling lonely? Raven’s memoir might help, which finds her after she completed a Ph.D. in biology, deeply alone in rural Montana — until she is visited by a persistent fox. It’s a real-life friendship that mirrors the one between Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince and his fox, full of tenderness and understanding.
Not ten, but I am being honest. It is unlikely I will even read all seven of these books.
-Anne
