We’re back after having some technical difficulties with this blog; I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. No one claimed the early copy of The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott that I offered in the last post. It is still available to the first person who emails me at sperry@uptexas.org.
We have so many new and exciting titles in – it’s like Christmas or a special birthday around here! Let’s start with historical fiction: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott, Tidelands by Philippa Gregory, The World that We Knew by Alice Hoffman, Where the Light Enters by Sarah Donati, and The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell. Tidelands will be the start of a new series for Philippa Gregory, and she says it’s the book she’s been wanting to write for some time. It’s set in the south coast of England during the English Civil War, and in Gregory’s own words, “It’s not about any kings or queens!” I heard Alice Hoffman talk about The World That We Knew, and she feels the same way about this book – it’s the one she’s been wanting to write, but had to wait until the timing was right. It’s about loss and resistance and includes a mythical creature much like a golem. I cannot say enough good things about The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott! A debut novel, it is the story behind the writing, printing, and distribution of Dr. Zhivago. It is told from several women’s point of view: Boris Pasternak’s mistress Olga Ivinskaya and the female U.S. spies who worked to get the novel distributed in the Soviet Union. I loved this book – I even watched the movie version of Dr. Zhivago with Julie Christie and Omar Sharif after reading it!
In the thriller/suspense/mystery genre, we have The Girl Who Lived Twice, the newest Lisbeth Salander novel; Old Bones by Preston and Child; The Girl Behind the Red Rope by Ted Dekker; The Bitterroots by C.J. Box; the new Eve Dallas novel by J.D. Robb, Vendetta in Death; The Bitterest Pill by Robert B. Parker; The Third Mrs. Durst by Ann Aguiree; The Shameless by Ace Atkins; and The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni, a heart-racing CIA espionage story. We have two dystopian thrillers: The Warehouse by Rob Hart and After the Flood by Kassandra Montag. The Warehouse is a corporate espionage story about a large chain store that’s invading all aspects of its customers’ and employees’ lives. It has a bit of a cautionary theme to it, and the film rights have been purchased by director Ron Howard.
There are several new titles out about life-changing journeys and self-discovery that are definitely worth reading. Quichotte, by Salman Rushdie, is a modern-day Don Quixote story. It is a wild ride with a traveling salesman and the child he wished into being going across the United States to find his true love. It’s a crazy, fun story. The Man With No Borders by Richard C. Morais is a story of an emotional and memory journey taken by Jose Maria Alvarez, a dying man with family secrets to reconcile. Set in a Swiss village, with memories of Spain floating to the surface, the imagery and emotion in this book are strong. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger is an epic story about an equally epic emotional and geographical journey that four orphans in the 1930s take across America looking for their own place in life. Reviewers have called it “big-hearted,” and they’re not wrong.
Many, many of you read and enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. Morris’ new book, about Cilka, one of the characters on The Tattooist, should prove to be just as powerful. Cilka’s Journey will be out on October 1st. We have a few copies on order, but if you want to read it early, email me. I have an Advance Readers’ Edition for the first person who emails me at sperry@uptexas.org.
As always, happy reading!