Preview

The Seattle Times highlights “40 upcoming books looks from mid-September forward” though “like a bird-parent pushing the strongest fledglings out of the nest first, many of this fall’s books have already been released — and reviewed by The Seattle Times.” The editors write: “There’s a tradition in publishing that says the reading public gets distracted during an election season — best to stay away from ‘major’ book releases. Like so much else, this crumb of conventional wisdom has been swept under the rug.” Their Perfect Timing award goes to Michael Lewis for his December 1 release, PANIC: the Story of […]

The paper has an essay on forthcoming fall books as part of their overall fall culture guide. “If 2008 hasn’t already been the year of the spy, the fall list is going to make it so,” the piece begins. Updike, Morrison, DeMille, Gregory Maguire and Thomas Keneally all “return to old territory…. As we might expect, given the election, Fred Kaplan’s Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer is hardly the only presidential history to appear this fall…. Works in translation bring a thrill because they force a new point of view,” and the paper mentions Amara Lakhous’ “Clash of Civilizations […]

There are no big surprises here, but that’s not the point: the WSJ touts fall releases from some of the best-known authors: Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Annie Proulx and Marilynne Robinson have new novels. So do Christopher Paolini (who wrote “Eragon”) and Candace Bushnell (“Sex and the City”). Prepublication reviews have been strong for Dennis Lehane’s “The Given Day,” a 700-page epic from the “Mystic River” author that includes characters such as Babe Ruth. The buzz is also rising for Philip Roth’s “Indignation,” the tale of a butcher’s boy in an Ohio college during the Korean War. In nonfiction, Bill […]

USA Today writes: “Oprah Winfrey and book clubs across America get it: Certain books are ‘talkers.’ They make you think, react and want to chat up your friends about what you’ve just read. Here are 10 titles worth talking about this fall:” 1. The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (Harper, $29.95)2. The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 by Bob Woodward (Simon and Schuster, $32)3. A Mercy by Toni Morrison (Knopf, $23.95)4. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (Voice, $25.95)5. A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey through Fatherhood and Divorce by Alec Baldwin with Mark Tabb […]

The Washington Post offers its extensive preview: “Consider the years of work and accumulated wisdom that have gone into producing the 116 that follow. Here is a treasure trove of knowledge, from a chronicle of the White House war room to the artistry of Marc Chagall. Here, too, is a world of the imagination, from the slave trade as conjured by Toni Morrison to the nervous ’50s with Philip Roth. This is but a mere fragment, a scattered sampling of what’s in store for our readers as we head into the busiest season of the year.”Post The SF Chronicle also […]