Chapter 39 - Looking Forward

There are some books by terrific authors coming out in the next few months. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Scott Richards of WEZV and I speak once a month to talk about books we've loved, books on the pile, and books we are looking forward to. This last topic could take hours to talk about as there are so many new books to discuss. I think at one time I mentioned the approximate number of books published each week. The latest statistics (2019 - https://www.theifod.com/how-many-new-books-are-published-each-year-and-other-related-books-facts/) I could find says that 304,912 books are published in the US each year. That breaks down into about 5,863 each week. Even if just 10% of those are books I want to read that brings my reading list down to 586 books a week. Wow, I could do that even if I didn't eat, drink, work, or sleep. So I do a lot of research to find books that interest me.

One of the easiest things I do is pick new books by authors I have enjoyed in the past. Sometimes this means catching up on an author's backlisted titles and at other times it means pre-ordering something from our book distributor or https://bookshop.org/shop/bookendsusedbookstore. Most of the time I read summaries and reviews to pick out what I might like to read.

Here are some that are publishing soon (or in some cases just recently published) which have caught me eye.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty - This was released on September 14 and I picked up a copy this past weekend. It is by the author of What Alice Forgot, Big Little Lies, The Husband's Secret and a host of other good books. A mother goes missing and, to two of her four adult children, the biggest suspect is her husband.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr - Doerr won a Pulitzer Prize for All the Light We Cannot See, a World War II story. This novel is completely different as it is set in 15th century Constantinople and current day Iowa and, oddly enough, the two stories intersect. The publication date on this is September 28.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - Towles has written Rules of Civility and A Gentleman In Moscow, one of my favorite contemporary books. In The Lincoln Highway he tells the story of an eighteen year old boy coming home from a juvenile work farm where he has served 18 months for involuntary manslaughter. When he reaches home he finds that the family farm has been foreclosed and two of his friends from the work farm have stowed away in the car that brought him home. This is scheduled for a October 5 release.

The Lost Cafe' Schindler by Meriel Schindler - This nonfiction book tells of the Schindler family, their cafe' in Austria, and their eventual loss at the hands of the Nazis. The story is based on family recollections as well as a large trove of documents that Meriel Schindler discovered after her father died.

Sisters of the Great War by Suzanne Feldman - I do love a good war story and I am particularly fascinated by World War I stories. WWI and its aftermath was so instrumental in the creation of the world as we know it today and so devastating for those involved. In this novel two sisters from Baltimore decide to volunteer during WWI, one as a nurse and one as an ambulance driver, in part to get away from the social strictures of the time. Expect this book October 26.

Any books you are looking forward to? Let me know.