The pile grows, and though I don’t have time to read all of these books, I want to mention them.
Summer House With Swimming Pool, by Herman Koch, Hogarth, on sale June 2014. This is Mr. Koch’s second novel after last year’s New York Times Bestselling The Dinner. As the jacket copy says, it is compulsively readable and I picked it right up and dove in.
I’m an Anthony Doerr super fan, and was thrilled to see a large meaty novel arrive, All The Light We Cannot See, Simon & Schuster, May 2014 on sale, (I think DH will be reviewing this).
Another large novel, this one just over 600 pages, this tells the story of an Irish family in the 1940’s in Woodside, Queens; We Are Not Ourselves, Matthew Thomas, Simon & Schuster, September 2014 on sale.
Pulling back slightly in page count, The Ballad of a Small Play, Lawrence Osborne, Hogarth, April 2014 on sale, this novel takes place in Macau, China, and is being compared to Graham Greene, with a healthy dose of the supernatural woven in.
Abroad by Katie Crouch, FSG June 2014 on sale, is impossible to put down, it has a cool cover, and takes place in Italy centering on a girl from Ireland going there to study, without a chaperone, trouble ensues.
I will have to speed read the last hundred pages of Cataract City by Craig Davidson, Graywolf Press, July 2014 on sale, just to dive into Abroad. Davidson’s novel takes place just over the border in Canada, near Niagara Falls, about two boys coming of age, racing greyhounds, working at the Bisk factory, fist fighting for the rent, and generally making one bad choice after another. I was sent this by Graywolf and would be happy to send it along to the first person that asks.
I have always been a Joshua Ferris fan, and can safely say that I am half way through To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Little Brown, May 2014 on sale, and so far it is holding its own.
Another big book (480 pages) to land is Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson, Ecco, June 2014 on sale. This is one sad tale about a social worker working in Montana during the Reagan administration. It’s a tough story from the bad side of life, where everything seems to go wrong.
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez, Knopf, June 2014, looks interesting and revolves around Mexican immigrants that come to America, a story that is woven into testimonials from people who have traveled to America from Central and Latin America.
Black Lake by Johanna Lane, Little Brown, May 2014 on sale, has an interesting jacket design and is about The Campbells, a family that needs to leave their rambling estate on the Irish seaside.
The Three, by Sarah Lotz, Little Brown, May 2014 on sale, also a great cover, “Four simultaneous place crashes. Three child survivors.” And then a religious fanatic that insists this means something really bad.
The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair, Joel Dicker, Penguin, May 2014 on sale. Already a bestseller in Europe, this is a thriller about a novelist implicated in a cold case from 1975. It is a thick book, sure to keep your attention with its fast plot.