Another month, another crop of great looking releases. For October, there were a number of either sequels or new books by authors I've previously enjoyed, that seemed worth highlighting. (All quotes from publishers unless otherwise indicated.)
Last year, there was a lot of buzz in the publishing world around a book by Justin Cronin called The Passage (M). It was the first in a three part post-apocalyptic saga that saw a PEN/Hemingway Award winning author trying his hand at genre fiction. If you liked the first one, you'll want to know about the sequel The Twelve (M). "A heart-stopping thriller rendered with masterful literary skill, The Twelve is a grand and gripping tale of sacrifice and survival."
Stylistically, Zoo Time (M) by Howard Jacobson sounds very different from Cronin's book, but like Cronin's, this author's name might seem very familiar. Jacobson won the 2010 Man Booker Prize for his satirical novel The Finkler Question (M). The book is already out in Jacobson's native UK: Canadian readers will have to wait a little bit longer, but while you are waiting, you can read this review from The Telegraph.
Although he has written a number of novels since, I get the impression that Danish writer Peter Hoeg is still most well known for his 1993 novel Smilla's Sense of Snow (M). Maybe that's about to change with The Elephant Keepers' Children (M). "Told from the precocious perspective of fourteen-year-old Peter, The Elephant Keepers' Children is about three siblings and how they deal with life alongside their eccentric parents." Yet when these parents disappear, how do the children cope and what do they discover. A story that is "an epic novel about faith and the magic of everyday life."
I really don't have much to say about this next book other than that I really love the title, and that might be enough to make me pick it up (carefully). This Book is Full of Spiders: seriously Dude don't touch it (M) by David Wong is the sequel to the author's "Horrortacular" 2009 novel John Dies at the End (M).
Although Jami Attenberg has two previous novels and a short story collection under her belt, I feel like there's a good chance you haven't heard of her. That may soon change with the publication of The Middlesteins (M), a bittersweet tale of family breakdown and food. This one has been getting a lot of positive pre-publication attention with starred reviews in Booklist, Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus. From Booklist: "Kinetic with hilarity and anguish, romance and fury, Attenberg’s rapidly consumed yet nourishing novel anatomizes our insatiable hunger for love, meaning, and hope".
And because I like to make sure to always mention at least one new author, I'll finish with a début translated from French, The Confidant (M) by Hélène Grémillon. I've seen comparisons to both Suite Française and Sarah's Key: this one could really take off. "Paris, 1975. Camille sifts through letters of condolence after her mother's death when a strange, handwritten missive stops her short. At first she believes she received it by mistake. But then, a new letter arrives each week from a mysterious stranger, Louis, who seems intent on recounting the story of his first love, Annie. They were separated in the years before World War II when Annie befriended a wealthy, barren couple and fell victim to a merciless plot just as German troops arrive in Paris. But also awaiting Camille's discovery is the other side of the story, which will call into question Annie's innocence and reveal the devastating consequences of jealousy and revenge. As Camille reads on, she begins to realize that her own life may be the next chapter in this tragic story."
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