Most Anticipated Fall Reads

Fall is traditionally the time of year when prestigious awards like the Man Booker and National Book Awards are handed out, but the autumn season will have several worthwhile reads to add to the ever-expanding To Be Read list. Here are five to watch for that are on my TBR roster.

Perfidia by James Ellroy (Knopf, Sept. 9)

Ellroy, the mastermind behind the L.A. Quartet (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz) is starting a second L.A. Quartet beginning with Perfidia, set in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. When a Japanese family is found dead, the investigation brings together historical figures (LAPD Chief William Parker) and figures of fiction in a sprawling crime epic that weaves in war, romance, Japanese internment and a whodunit. I've always enjoyed the era of the 1940's from the Art Deco architecture to the swing music to the clothing styles of the era. Growing up in Los Angeles, two of my favorite buildings in the city are Union Station and City Hall, both Art Deco icons. I'm really looking forward to this one.

The Malaria Project: The U.S. Government's Secret Mission to Find a Miracle Cure by Karen Masterson (NAL, Oct. 7)

Like an investigative journalist, Masterson traces desperate efforts during World War II to cure malaria. As thousands of troops were getting infected by the disease, researchers Stateside used a variety of methods, some very questionable, to find a cure. Strangely, the very people U.S. troops were fighting had the answer: chloroquine. 

Scribe: My Life in Sports by Bob Ryan (Bloomsbury, Oct. 7)

A frequent fixture on ESPN's "Around the Horn," "The Sports Reporters" and a Boston mainstay for decades, Bob Ryan has been called by fellow writer Tony Kornheiser "the quintessential sportswriter." Argumentative and opinionated, but well-spoken, especially on the NBA and the Boston Celtics, Ryan is a well-regarded figure in his industry and I'll be looking forward to reading his tales of the Celtics at their height and other Boston teams as well. Here's a sample of Bob Ryan answering questions about his career:

Sleep in Peace Tonight by James MacManus (Thomas Dunne, Oct. 7)

An adviser to Franklin Roosevelt is sent to London during the Blitz in this story about America's isolationist tendencies prior to Pearl Harbor. Before that horrendous day in Hawaii, the country largely felt the conflict that would become known as World War II was Europe's problem. However, several of America's ambassadors and foreign diplomats were urging the White House to get involved. The novel highlights some of that tension while introducing a British intelligence agent and legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow. Of the books on my Goodreads TBR list, Sleep in Peace Tonight is the highest rated (as of this writing).

Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet (Norton, Nov. 3)

A satirical look at the wackiest Caribbean honeymoon ever written on paper, Millet's novel follows two newlyweds who bump into a marine biologist who claims mermaids have been on a local reef. Once the sirens are discovered, it's a race to protect them from the resort's owner, who wants to turn the area into a theme park. Despite being two months away from it's publication date, the book has already garnered plenty of buzz from the literary world.

What new books are you looking forward to this fall?

What I'm Reading This Month

As summer breathes its last gasp and the calendar turns to September, a new month of reading begins. When I read, I typically do two books a month that have some sort of shared theme or topic. For example, I focused on my birth state of Arizona last month by reading Kevin Fedarko's The Emerald Mile and Jeff Guinn's The Last Gunfight. Mile tells the story of a Grand Canyon river guide who uses a torrential runoff to slingshot his boat into the record books. Gunfight tries to discern myth from fact in a retelling of what really happened at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, most recently popularized in the 1993 film Tombstone. Because I finished a bit early, I managed to slip Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore under the wire as a free choice before the month's end.

This month, the theme is, more or less, bestseller fiction, starting with Gillian Flynn's mega bestseller Gone Girl from Crown. A wife goes missing and all signs point to the husband as the prime suspect. As he is scrutinized from nearly every angle, investigators realize this marriage was less than happy. I normally don't read books as dark as Gone Girl, but I'm anticipating the upcoming film version, set for release on October 3. I loved director David Fincher's work in "The Social Network" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and the cast for Gone Girl is stellar. The film, as with most fall releases, has Oscar buzz around it.

Later this month, I'll be delving into the world of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, also from Crown. Set in a dystopian future, the book follows a man desperate to flee the real world for a virtual one, the OASIS. When inside, he stumbles upon a series of puzzles from the founder, who apparently has a penchant for 1980's references. The real and virtual worlds eventually collide. The book has been said to have elements of the Harry Potter series and The Matrix, so it's right up my alley. Most people I've talked to about the book rave about it and it has a 4.3 rating right now on Goodreads, so it's been well-received from a variety of readers.


What are you looking forward to reading this month?

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to BookClark, a blog for all things books! I'll be posting book reviews, character commentary, talk about book-to-film adaptations, top lists, and comment on the latest news from the world of publishing. You can follow the blog on social media by clicking on any of the icons at the top right of the page. Make sure to bookmark the page and feel free to share tips, leave comments or book suggestions.

Growing up, my family emphasized reading, whether it was classics like Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Scripture and hymnals. In elementary school, I read the Animorphs series and when the Harry Potter books came out, I voraciously read each one, sometimes in only a few sittings. Now, I work as a journalist in suburban Los Angeles and many of the books I've read have served as inspirations for articles or feature writing series I've written. For example, I recently did a profile on my area's local librarian that was loosely inspired by reading Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.

I hope you'll enjoy the blog and that it spurs readers to expand their horizons and pick up a book they might not have otherwise read.