Anticipated Books

February to August marked a boon in reading for me that I hadn’t indulged in for years. Between time off, travel and newfound subway commutes that allow for a few minutes in a book, I’ve been able to sail through a memoir or two, more than a few novels, and even your interesting non-fiction tomes.

All that, and I still have a to-read list that’s a mile high, older books I still want to get around to and a new stack of screenwriting books I’m devouring as fast as I can.

None of this, however, stops me from anticipating books that haven’t even released yet, books that’ll be my excuse for zipping down to Strand for a wander one Fall weekend.

I’ve already written about Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland, an epic yet concentrated tale of two brothers and their drastically different fates. Stunning work I got an advanced read of when a kind stranger gifted me a copy. Yeah, it was a great story.

Other favorite authors have new ones coming out, too. Wally Lamb has a new one out later this month, We Are Water. If it’s anything like what else I’ve read of his, it’ll be an achievement. She’s Come Undone changed my literary life – it’s the first book I can remember feeling like a grown-up after reading. The Hour I First Believed is a wonderfully sad journey of a couple involved to varying degrees in a school shooting, and remains one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to (Water for Elephants is up there, too).

I don’t think it’s all that hard to infer the influence of Eat, Pray, Love on my life (or at the very least this blog) – if you’ve only ever seen the movie and roll your eyes at my devotion to this book, the insights she brings to the page in Committed and my anticipation for Liz Gilbert’s upcoming novel (those of us familiar with her can call her Liz), I’m afraid you just don’t know what you’re missing. Gilbert’s reading of EPL is pretty great, come to think of it, hearing her recount these formative experiences around the globe – I still carry them with me as if they’ve happened to me. Very much looking forward to The Signature of All Things. And if you haven’t listened to her TEDtalk yet, I’ll wait while you do.

Back? Great!

Other books out this fall include a new novel from Amy Tan and Stephen King’s latest (though he’s never been my bag, I feel like I can endorse whatever the guy writes). And while all of the above are by authors I’m already familiar with, I’m also really looking forward to Night Film, not a first book, but not an author I’ve read previously. I’ve taken to adding all the books I’m interested in to a specific Pinterest board, if you really want to check out more.

What are you reading this Fall?