10 September 2018 Book Releases I’m Excited About

Being home in Milan for the past 2 weeks has given me the opportunity to stockpile some blog posts, so I expect i’ll be posting regularly on the blog again going forward.

Here are my selections for September. As in prior months, I’ve selected 5 fiction and 5 nonfiction titles coming out in September 2018 that I’m potentially interested in reading. There’s a good mix of historical fiction, memoirs, politics and thrillers.

I’m trying to get my monthly release post started earlier in the prior month, so I can request any available titles on Net Galley and get the reviews for them out as close to the publication date as possible. I’ve receive ARC’s for two of the titles on this list so far (The Seclusion by Jacqui Castle and I Should Have Honor by Khalida Brohi), and I’ve finished the first and have started the second already. Hope you like my selections!

The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: William Morrow
Length In Hardcover: 416 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.21

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Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Forgotten Room comes a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century—two deep in the past, one in the present—to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania. As the Lusitania steams toward its fate, three women work against time to unravel a plot that will change the course of their own lives . . . and history itself.

I’m very intrigued by the fact that these three authors have collaborated on not one, but two novels – this one is actually the second one. I’ve never read one of Karen White’s works but I recently finished The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams and read The English Wife by Lauren Willig earlier this year. I’m confident I’ll appreciate a new historical fiction novel in which both of these authors had a hand.

In Her Bones by Kate Moretti

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Atria Books
Length In Hardcover: 320 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.20

(available on Net Galley)

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Hardcover
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Fifteen years ago, Lilith Wade was arrested for the brutal murder of six women. After a death row conviction, her daughter Edie Beckett is trying to stay out of the spotlight. Edie also has a disturbing secret: a growing obsession with the families of Lilith’s victims. She’s careful to keep her distance until she crosses a line and a man is found murdered. She can’t remember what happened that night, but surely she’d remember killing someone. Unless, of course, she has more in common with her mother than she thinks.

The reason I’m interested in this thriller can pretty much be summed up in two works – serial killer. I’m an avid reader of nonfiction related to serial killers (as creepy as that sounds), and apparently I’m also drawn to thrillers that include a serial killer as part of the plot, like this one. The plot teaser sounds supremely sinister- count me in (though my ARC request is still pending on Net Galley).

The Seclusion by Jacqui Castle

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Inkshares
Length In Paperback: 300 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.35

(available on Net Galley)

Kindle
Paperback

In the year 2090, America has walled itself off from the rest of the world. While on a routine assignment scouting the viability of dwindling natural resources, Patricia ’Patch’ and her co-worker Rexx discover a relic from the past containing dangerous contraband―unedited books from before The Seclusion. These texts will spark an unquenchable thirst for the truth that sees Patch’s father arrested by the totalitarian Board. Patch and Rexx’s newfound knowledge may lead to their own demise.

I was drawn to this dystopian novel by the fact that it was written by a journalist and that it has a political twist to it, including apparently a more or less oblique reference to Trump. I received an ARC of the novel a few days ago and devoured it in the span of 24 hours. It makes for a quick, action-packed read, and I found the dystopian world Castle constructs to be quite believable and very disturbing. My review will be up soon.

The Silence Of The Girls by Pat Barker

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Length In Hardcover: 304 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.08

(available on Net Galley)

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Hardcover
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Pat Barker turns her attention to the timeless legend of The Iliad , as experienced by the captured women living in the Greek camp in the final weeks of the Trojan War.  Briseis is just one among thousands of women living behind the scenes in this war–the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead–all of them erased by history. With breathtaking historical detail and luminous prose, Pat Barker brings the teeming world of the Greek camp to vivid life.

I’m in Madeline Miller withdrawal since she’s only published two books and it’s unlike we’ll get a new one for another year or two. I hadn’t heard of Pat Barker before learning of this new release, and I don’t think historical fiction is necessarily he regular fare, but I’m still hoping this novel will provide the stop gap I need for now. Rachel at Pace, Amore, Libri gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, so that’s a good sign.

The Caregiver by Samuel Park

Publication Date: September 25th 2018
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Length In Hardcover: 288 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.00

(available on Net Galley)

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Hardcover

Mara Alencar’s mother Ana is her entire world. They take turns caring for each other—in ways big and small.  Their arrangement begins to unravel when Ana becomes involved with a civilian rebel group attempting to undermine 1980s Rio De Janeiro’s brutal Police Chief. When Mara is forced to escape, she emigrates to California and becomes a caregiver to a young woman dying of stomach cancer. It’s here that she starts to uncover vital truths—about her mother, herself, and what it means to truly take care of someone. 

Samuel Park is a well-known author who unfortunately succumbed to stomach cancer last year, shortly after finishing this novel. I haven’t read his prior work but was drawn to the elements of the story in The Caregiver that are of such relevance today – family, motherhood, taking care of others, immigration and compassion.

Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Grove Press
Length In Hardcover: 304 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.14

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Hardcover
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Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents–artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs–Lisa Brennan-Jobs’s childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. Lisa’s father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable.  Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties.

I just finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci and his prior biography of Steve Jobs has been sitting on my shelf in all its chunky glory for months now. I’m considering tackling the Steve Jobs biography and Small Fry as an interesting and perhaps revealing book pairing. I actually read a Vanity Fair article by Lisa Brennan-Jobs about her relationship with her father some time ago and it was fascinating.

On Call In The Arctic by Thomas J. Sims

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Length In Hardcover: 304 pages
Goodreads Rating: 3.20

(available on Net Galley)

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Hardcover

The fish-out-of-water stories of Northern Exposure and Doc Martin meet the rough-and-rugged setting of The Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People in Thomas J. Sims’s On Call in the Arctic, where the author relates his incredible experience saving lives in one of the most remote outposts in North America. On Call in the Arctic reveals the thrills and the terrors of frontier medicine, where Dr. Sims must rely upon his instincts in order to help his patients on the icy shores of the Bering Sea.

I’ve been pretty clear about my obsession with Alaska on this blog in the past. Anything Alaska-related, I’m game to read. I also have a fascination with medical nonfiction and in particular medical memoirs – the ones from practitioners (nurses, doctors etc) always make for very interesting reads. My Net Galley request for this one is still pending but fingers crossed!

I Should Have Honor by Khalida Brohi

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Random House
Length In Hardcover: 224 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.44

(available on Net Galley)

Kindle
Hardcover

From a young age, Khalida Brohi was raised to believe in the sanctity of arranged marriage. But her father refused to let her become a child bride. He was a man who believed in education, not just for himself but for his daughters. Everything shifted for Khalida when she found out that her beloved cousin had been murdered by her uncle in a tradition known as “honor killing.” This moment ignited the spark in Khalida Brohi that inspired a globe-spanning career as an activist, beginning at the age of sixteen.

I was drawn to this title because I’m putting together a book list of recommended titles on Women in the Middle East and Brohi’s memoir seemed like a worthy and unique addition to that compilation. I’m about 15% into it right now and both her writing and her story are beautiful, moving and inspiring. My review for this one should be up soon as well.

The Last Palace by Norman Eisen

Publication Date: September 4th 2018
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Length In Hardcover: 416 pages
Goodreads Rating: 4.26

(available on Net Galley)

Kindle
Hardcover
Paperback

When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history. From that discovery unspooled the captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s, and The Last Palace chronicles the upheavals that have transformed the continent.

So, I’m a little ambivalent about this one, but not enough to omit it from this list (clearly). It does have good reviews on Goodreads from readers who spoke of the way in which the author captured the essence of Prague and revealed captivating details about the lives of the four inhabitants of the palace. It’s not at the top of my reading list, but intriguing enough to earn itself a place on it regardless.

Fear: Trump In The White House by Bob Woodward

Publication Date: September 11th 2018
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Length In Hardcover: 448 pages
Goodreads Rating: 5.0

Kindle
Hardcover

 

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents.  Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.

This one is going to be a must-read for me as the crowning title on the book list I’ve almost completed for books on Trump and the last presidential election. Woodward is clearly a trusted journalist and political author and his take on Trump’s White House seems in line with what I would expect (one word, four letters, Fear). I’m afraid to read it but more afraid not to.

Which of these September 2018 Book Releases are you most interested to read? Let me know in the comments!

You can also take a look at my lists of book releases from May 2018, April 2018, March 2018,  February 2018, December 2017/January 2018, and November 2017.

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