3 new releases I can’t wait to read
There are some exciting things happening in the world of books this month! I’ve been reading some great things lately and am really excited to continue the trend with these new releases.
The Starless Sea
By Erin Morgenstern
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Published November 5, 2019, by Doubleday
I haven’t been this excited about a new release in a long time. I read (and loved) The Night Circus several years ago. The writing was absolutely gorgeous and vivid and magical. It took 8 years for Morgenstern to release another book. I never got around to pre-ordering this (I was hoping Book of the Month would offer it) but I will definitely be picking this up on release day.
Description from Amazon:
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues — a bee, a key, and a sword — that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth.
What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians — it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction.
Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose — in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
Magical books! A secret underground library! A sweeping love letter to storytelling, myths, fables, and origin stories! I am here for all of this and I can’t wait.
It already has a 4.32 average rating on Goodreads and it isn’t even out yet.
Nothing to See Here
By Kevin Wilson
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Published October 29, 2019 by Ecco
I admit that I was not initially planning on reading this book. It was a Book of the Month selection for October, but the description didn’t really grab me. And, although Wilson’s last book, Perfect Little World, was beautifully written, I thought the plot lost its way.
Description from Amazon:
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help.
Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated.
Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other — and stay cool — while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband.
With white-hot wit and a big, tender heart, Kevin Wilson has written his best book yet — a most unusual story of parental love.
Magical realism is totally in my wheelhouse, so you might think I would be all over this one, but I just wasn’t feeling drawn to it. But then I started hearing really great things from people who received the early release from Book of the Month. Then Jordan from @jordys.book.club gave it an absolutely glowing review, saying “this hidden gem might be one of the best books of the year. It’s hilarious and heartbreaking and an interesting exploration of family and inheritance (genetically, physically, emotionally).” THEN it was announced as the November pick for the Today Show’s Read with Jenna book club. Which finally made me say, OKAY FINE. I WILL READ THIS.
I just happened to be debating over what to get for my BOTM free birthday add-on, so I got this, and now I’m really excited for my blue box to arrive! My track record with Jenna’s picks is a bit mixed. I DNF’d Searching for Sylvie Lee and I thought The Dutch House was very good, but it wasn’t something that really stuck with me after I was finished. So we’ll see if this one is more my thing.
The Great Pretender
By Susannah Cahalan
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Published November 5, 2019, by Grand Central Publishing
This one also comes out on the 5th. Cahalan wrote the excellent medical memoir Brain on Fire, in which she documented her “month of madness” caused by a rare autoimmune disease of the brain. The subject matter for The Great Pretender sounds equally fascinating and eerie.
Description from Amazon:
For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental illness — how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people — sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society — went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry’s labels. Forced to remain inside until they’d “proven” themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan’s watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever.
But, as Cahalan’s explosive new research shows, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors, and what does it mean for our understanding of mental illness today?
This is also coming in my blue BOTM box. I deliberated over it for a long time, because reviews are mixed. Several people have said that the book includes a lot of extraneous research and sometimes reads like a textbook. I’m a little worried that it’ll be dry, but I decided to take a chance on it anyway. I hope I don’t regret it!
Average rating on Goodreads at the time of this writing: 4.09
What’s on your TBR for November?
