As we ease our way into the scariest month of the year, it’s time again for us to present our list of the most exciting books due to grace our shelves in the weeks to come. This month, take your pick from October’s virtual smorgasbord of books, and whether your pleasures lie in zombies, genetic anomalies, poetry, God, hell, love triangles or some combination of the above, you’ll find something to like here. Or maybe several somethings — after all, the weather’s getting chilly, and nothing compliments a cup of tea better than a great book. Click through to see our preview of the best bets for great reading this month, and let us know which books you can’t wait to read in the comments.
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If you are in any way witchy, or follow the equinoxes, then you will know that the 23rd marks the first official day of fall this year. We decided to jump the gun and present our fall books preview a day early, just because we can’t wait, and because we are in no way astrologically-inclined. The following pages feature seven works of fiction, one encyclopedia, one photo/interview book, a memoir, and (an invisible, but deeply felt) partridge in a pear tree. The best way to cope with the changing of the seasons is to confront them head on, you know, so put on a sweater, brew a hot beverage, and curl up with some of these books.
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Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig came home from Lollapalooza with a doozy of a memento: a copy of The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham signed by Asher Roth. (Kind of puts the frontin’ in frontispiece, amirite?) Like Maugham’s 1944 novel, which follows the wanderings of an American expatriate through Paris and India in the 1920s, Roth’s debut album Asleep in the Bread Aisle captures the mindset of an adrift seeker from the upper middle-class suburbs in an era of unprecedented geopolitical and economic crisis. One can only guess at what other post-colonial literature Koenig might proffer to other artists. Our recommendations after the jump. Read More »
All the politicians are writing books: After leaving D.C. GEORGE BUSH will watch the world undo his damage and he will write a book. But so, it seems, will LAURA. She is being highly secretive about her plans, but she’s meeting with publishing execs to discuss a seven-figure memoir. Will their stories match? Will they let each other read the drafts? Will Laura’s book inevitably outsell W’s? And even though she didn’t make it to the White House, SARAH PALIN is also eyeing a book deal. Maybe she’ll reveal details about her kids’ names. [Reuters]
And in the meantime Obama reads some poems: While GEORGE BUSH nominates cowboys for THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT OF THE ARTS, we’re giddy that BARACK OBAMA reads poetry. Or at least carries it around. He was spotted last week carrying a volume of Nobel winner DEREK WALCOTT’s collected works. Maybe he needed a break from reading comics. [UPI]
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