Fall is my favorite season of the year for many reasons... crisp weather, beautiful colors, Halloween, leaves, pumpkins, apples, Halloween, pumpkin lattes, cinnamon and chai flavors everywhere, spooky stories, and did I mention Halloween? No, I'm not going to jump into a blog about Halloween books or wonderfully scary stories (yet...). But this time of year tends to kick-off the amazing-new-books-before-Christmas season! I already have my wish list created for well past the Christmas season, if I'm being honest, but a few that are on it for the upcoming weeks are:
I read Lauren Beukes's debut novel The Shining Girls for book club last year. It was a very interesting read about a serial killer who could time travel. It wasn't my favorite book, but I gave it 3 of 5 stars. The concept of The Shining Girls was interesting and Lauren Beukes's writing was well done, but the twisted plot of Broken Monsters seems even more intense:
"In Detroit, violent death – along with foreclosure and despair – is a regular occurrence. But the part-human, part-animal corpses that have started appearing are more disturbing than anything Detective Gabriella Versado has ever seen.
As Gabriella works the case, her teenage daughter Layla embarks on a secret crime-fighting project of her own – hunting down online paedophiles – but it all goes horribly wrong…
TK has learned how to make being homeless work for him and his friends, but something evil is threatening the fragile world he’s constructed on the streets…
Ambitious blogger Jonno is getting desperate. The big four-oh isn’t that far away, and he’s still struggling to make his mark. But then he stumbles across some unusual and macabre art, which might just be the break he needs to go viral…
Broken Monsters lays bare the decaying corpse of the American Dream, and asks what we’d be prepared to do for fifteen minutes of fame, especially in an online world."
I don't know where Lauren Beukes gets her plot-lines, but this sounds like the perfect creepy-won't-be-able-to-sleep fall book!
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
I have been a huge fan of Margaret Atwood since I picked up a copy of The Handmaid's Tale years ago (if you haven't read it yet, trust me, and pick it up). I especially love the way she writes female characters, which this collection of nine short stories is supposedly about: women.
"Margaret Atwood turns to short fiction for the first time since her 2006 collection, Moral Disorder, with nine tales of acute psychological insight and turbulent relationships bringing to mind her award-winning 1996 novel, Alias Grace. A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband in "Alphinland," the first of three loosely linked stories about the romantic geometries of a group of writers and artists. In "The Freeze-Dried Bridegroom," a man who bids on an auctioned storage space has a surprise. In "Lusus Naturae," a woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire. In "Torching the Dusties," an elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. And in "Stone Mattress," a long-ago crime is avenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite. In these nine tales, Margaret Atwood is at the top of her darkly humorous and seriously playful game."
And, in case you missed it on my Facebook page, Margaret Atwood has agreed to write a book for the Future Library. One author per year will be selected to write a work for this "library" which will not begin to be released until 2114. Pretty awesome gift to the future!
Little Blue Truck's Christmas by Alice Schertle
This book will be a must for Everett's collection! Now I just have to force myself to keep it under-wraps until at least St. Nick's Day. This looks like a super cute story about the little blue truck delivering Christmas trees to all of his animal friends (and don't forget to save one for Blue too!). Best part about this book: there will be twinkle lights in it!!
Rooms by Lauren Oliver
I have read a few books by Lauren Oliver, and my favorite thus far was Liesl & Po. Liesl & Po is actually a young readers novel, and I couldn't put it down. The story is of a young girl, Liesl, who is locked away in an attic by her cruel stepmother where meets a ghost, Po, and an alchemist's apprentice, Will. Together they end up going on an unexpected journey to fix a mistake that has been made.
The reason I'm so excited about Lauren Oliver's new book is it's another ghost story, but this time meant for an adult audience.
"Estranged patriarch Richard Walker has died, leaving behind a country house full of rooms packed with the detritus of a lifetime. His alienated family—bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna—have arrived for their inheritance.
But the Walkers are not alone. Alice and Sandra, two long-dead and restless ghosts, linger within the house's claustrophobic walls, bound eternally to its physical structure. Jostling for space and memory, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself—in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a lightbulb.
The living and dead are haunted by painful truths that surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide—with cataclysmic results.
Elegantly constructed and brilliantly paced, Rooms is an enticing and imaginative ghost story and a searing family drama that is as haunting as it is resonant."
But the Walkers are not alone. Alice and Sandra, two long-dead and restless ghosts, linger within the house's claustrophobic walls, bound eternally to its physical structure. Jostling for space and memory, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself—in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a lightbulb.
The living and dead are haunted by painful truths that surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide—with cataclysmic results.
Elegantly constructed and brilliantly paced, Rooms is an enticing and imaginative ghost story and a searing family drama that is as haunting as it is resonant."
Okay, Lauren Oliver, you've got my attention... I only have to wait a couple more weeks to finally read your story!
So maybe I am thinking of Halloween (and Christmas...) a little bit with these picks, but I can't help it! Fall is here! :)
What are some books you can't wait to read in the upcoming months?
Thank you for the heads-up about Margaret Atwood's new book. That sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteIt does look good! :) There are just too many books that I need to read! Let me know what you think if pick up a copy of Stone Mattress.
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