by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
Now that it’s fall, you might be looking for a good book to
curl up with as the days get cooler. I
looked through some of the lists of the most anticipated books of this fall,
and there are several that are mentioned over and over. Your friends might be talking about these
books in the coming months.
Purity by Jonathan Franzen was released September 1. It’s on the bestseller lists, but it has
gotten mixed reviews. Some reviewers
think it’s meandering and magnificent, while others think it’s meandering and
monotonous. Purity, or Pip, is a college
debt-saddled young woman with a troubled mother who goes to work for a
Wikileaks-type organization in an attempt to find out who her father is. Franzen is considered one of the most
important American novelists, though not without some controversy.
In The Art of Memoir, Syracuse professor Mary Karr presents
what the New York Times Book Review is calling a “master class” in the
form. Karr’s best-seller The Liar’s Club brought about a revival of the memoir form in 1995. She also had bestsellers with Cherry and Lit. Her student Cheryl Strayed wrote the more recent memoir phenomenon, Wild. With examples from her own life
and her favorite memoirs, Karr presents an entertaining and insightful guide to
writing as a way to make sense of one’s own experiences. This book will be published on September 15.
John Grisham has a new novel coming out October 20. Rogue Lawyer features a very colorful attorney
whose office is a swanky bulletproof van driven by a heavily armed
bodyguard/law clerk/golf caddie. He
defends clients other lawyers won’t take, and he is willing to break the rules
to get anyone a fair trial. Sounds like
an attorney’s escapist fantasy to me.
Grisham’s books are always bestsellers.
Robert Galbraith had hits with the first two Cormoran Strike
novels, The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm. The third, Career of Evil, will be released
October 20. Galbraith is better known as
J.K. Rowling. My adult book club at the
library loved the first book in the series and some of them are eagerly
awaiting the third. These are mysteries
that feature private eye Strike and his assistant Robin.
Humorist Mindy Kaling has a follow-up to her bestseller Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Her
new book Why Not Me? will come out on September 15. Kaling is the creator and star of the TV show The Mindy Project. Her new book is a
collection of funny personal essays about life in Hollywood.
Finally, Lisbeth Salander is back, even though Stieg Larsson
died. The Girl in the Spider’s Web is
a continuation of the Millennium series, now written by David Lagercrantz. Swedish, British, and American reviewers are
saying that the new author did a seamless job of picking up the characters, and
he may have written them even better than Larsson himself did. This book came out September 1.
If the cooler days inspire you to pick up a good book, place
an order for one of these or stop in to browse other new books we have on hand.
The pickings are always good at the library.
