So many books come out each year, particularly in the fall, and it's difficult for readers to know what to expect at bookstores next, much less what's any good. Here's my picks from the list of upcoming releases. Please keep in mind that book release dates are nebulous. These books may already be on your shelves, or they may not be out until January. Enjoy!
O C T O B E R F I C T I O N :
Baer, Will Christopher: "Kiss Me, Judas" (Viking). A first novel; a hallucinatory thriller about an ex-Internal Affairs officer recently released from a psych hospital. Not for faint of heart.
Berry, Wendell: "The Selected Poems" (Counterpoint). Anything by the great agrarian is excellent. This is choice.
Chang, Lan Samantha: "Hunger" (Norton). Short stories and a novella, debut collection, about Chinese immigrants in the States and the distraught lives of their children.
Gilchrist, Ellen: "Flights of Angels" (Little, Brown). This favorite Southerner's latest 18 semi-autobiographical yarns.
Heaney, Seamus: "
Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996" (FSG). This Nobel Laureate's best poems.
Haley, Alex: "
Mama Flora's Family" (Scribner). Haley's last book, another multigenerational saga set in Tennessee, completed by David Stevens.
Houston, Pam: "Waltzing the Cat" (Norton). Author of "Cowboys Are My Weakness," set of linked stories about unconventional photographer Lucy O'Rourke with a penchant for outdoor adventure and romantic inanity.
Kincaid, Nanci: "Balls" (Algonquin). One of my favorite Southerner storytellers, the wife of University of Arizona's football coach Dick Tomey. Novel captures inside story on being married to big-time college football coach.
Krysl, Marilyn: "How to Accommodate Men" (Coffee House). Excellent stories that explore divisions between sexes, relationship tensions during civil war, and the division between physical and spiritual needs.
Merwin, M.S.: "The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative in Verse" (Knopf). Epic about leprosy in 19th century Hawaii.
O'Brien, Tim. "Tomcat in Love" (Broadway). This National Book Award winner's first novel not about Vietnam.
Packer, George: "Central Square" (Graywolf). African man in Boston.
Parks, Tim: "Europa" (Arcade). Shortlisted for '97 Booker Prize, about a middle-aged academic and his grim romantic life.
Restrepo, Laura: "The Angel of Galilea" (Crown). Reporter delves into religious
hallucinations; praise from Gárcia-Márquez.
Roth, Philip: "I Married a Communist" (Houghton Mifflin). Radio actor brought down
during McCarthy era, with echoes of writer's relationship with actress Claire Bloom.
Stark, Marisa Kantor: "Bring Us the Old People" (Coffee House). From turn-of-century
Poland to NYC nursing home; praise from Russell Banks.
Updike, John: "Bech at Bay" (Knopf). Return of Updike's Jewish alter-ego; includes funny
sniping at critics.
Walker, Alice: "By the Light of My Father's Smile" (Random House). See what even Good Morning America wants a piece of.
Welty, Eudora: "Stories, Essays, and Memoir" (Library of America/Viking). If you've only read her novels, get this.
Welty, Eudora: "Complete Novels" (Library
of America/Viking).
