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Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter
Buzz Books 2020 presents passionate readers with an insider’s look at 30 of the buzziest books due out this fall season. Our “digital convention” features such major bestselling authors as Ken Follett, Matt Haig, Jonathan Lethem, and Sue Miller. Other sure-to-be popular titles are by Rumaan Alam, J’nell Ciesielski, Vendela Vida, and Bryan Washington. At the end of most excerpts, you will find a link to the full galley on NetGalley!
Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting debut authors. Simon Stephenson’s novel about a humanlike bot has already been optioned for film, while Finnish sensation Max Seeck’s thriller is due out as a television series. Robert Jones Jr.’s The Prophets and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club were both sold at auction.
Our nonfiction selections include an inspirational World War II story, Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story Of Hannie Schaft And The Oversteegen Sisters: Teenaged Saboteurs and Nazi Assassins by Tim Brady, a true crime read; We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper; and the incisive Can't Even: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation by BuzzFeed columnist Anne Helen Petersen.
Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting debut authors. Simon Stephenson’s novel about a humanlike bot has already been optioned for film, while Finnish sensation Max Seeck’s thriller is due out as a television series. Robert Jones Jr.’s The Prophets and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club were both sold at auction.
Our nonfiction selections include an inspirational World War II story, Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story Of Hannie Schaft And The Oversteegen Sisters: Teenaged Saboteurs and Nazi Assassins by Tim Brady, a true crime read; We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper; and the incisive Can't Even: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation by BuzzFeed columnist Anne Helen Petersen.
596 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2020
About the author
Ken Follett
456 books54.9k followersKen Follett is one of the world’s most successful authors. Over 170 million copies of the 36 books he has written have been sold in over 80 countries and in 33 languages.
Born on June 5th, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995.
He started his career as a reporter, first with his hometown newspaper the South Wales Echo and then with the London Evening News. Subsequently, he worked for a small London publishing house, Everest Books, eventually becoming Deputy Managing Director.
Ken’s first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. A World War II thriller set in England, this book earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It remains one of Ken’s most popular books.
In 1989, Ken’s epic novel about the building of a medieval cathedral, The Pillars of the Earth, was published. It reached number one on best-seller lists everywhere and was turned into a major television series produced by Ridley Scott, which aired in 2010. World Without End, the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, proved equally popular when it was published in 2007.
Ken’s new book, The Evening and the Morning, will be published in September 2020. It is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth and is set around the year 1,000, when Kingsbridge was an Anglo-Saxon settlement threatened by Viking invaders.
Ken has been active in numerous literacy charities and was president of Dyslexia Action for ten years. He was chair of the National Year of Reading, a joint initiative between government and businesses. He is also active in many Stevenage charities and is President of the Stevenage Community Trust and Patron of Home-Start Hertfordshire.
Ken, who loves music almost as much as he loves books, is an enthusiastic bass guitar player. He lives in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, with his wife Barbara, the former Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren and two Labradors.
Born on June 5th, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995.
He started his career as a reporter, first with his hometown newspaper the South Wales Echo and then with the London Evening News. Subsequently, he worked for a small London publishing house, Everest Books, eventually becoming Deputy Managing Director.
Ken’s first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. A World War II thriller set in England, this book earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It remains one of Ken’s most popular books.
In 1989, Ken’s epic novel about the building of a medieval cathedral, The Pillars of the Earth, was published. It reached number one on best-seller lists everywhere and was turned into a major television series produced by Ridley Scott, which aired in 2010. World Without End, the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, proved equally popular when it was published in 2007.
Ken’s new book, The Evening and the Morning, will be published in September 2020. It is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth and is set around the year 1,000, when Kingsbridge was an Anglo-Saxon settlement threatened by Viking invaders.
Ken has been active in numerous literacy charities and was president of Dyslexia Action for ten years. He was chair of the National Year of Reading, a joint initiative between government and businesses. He is also active in many Stevenage charities and is President of the Stevenage Community Trust and Patron of Home-Start Hertfordshire.
Ken, who loves music almost as much as he loves books, is an enthusiastic bass guitar player. He lives in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, with his wife Barbara, the former Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren and two Labradors.
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June 1, 2020Oh, I had no idea what to expect from the Buzz Books, I kept seeing it on my GR feed, so, I decided that it was finally time to read it.
I may have been a bit sceptical at first but now I'm convinced. Plus with a list of more books to add to my to-read pile. Well played. Well played.
Though, I'll refrain from rating this one cause I have no idea on what basis I should rate it. 🤷♀️
***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***
I may have been a bit sceptical at first but now I'm convinced. Plus with a list of more books to add to my to-read pile. Well played. Well played.
Though, I'll refrain from rating this one cause I have no idea on what basis I should rate it. 🤷♀️
***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***
July 28, 2020
Compendium
I really appreciate and enjoy curated information especially about books and general writing insights. NetGalley is in an excellent position to curate, analyse and promote many books to be published with leading publishers.
Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter gives reading addicts the opportunity to see what’s coming from new and favourite authors. Some of my favourites I'm looking forward to are John Banville, Kevin Barry, Fanny Flagg, Matt Haig, Ken Follett, Fredrik Backman, Marilynne Robinson and Jonathan Lethem. Plus all the big thriller writers such as James Patterson, Jo Nesbo, Michael Connelly, David Baldacci, Lee Child, John Grisham etc. have books being released.
Favourite authors are a given and I’ll read them for sure, but for me, the huge value this book brought, was the chance to read excerpts from the debut and emerging authors. Some who seem to be getting a lot of press include; Max Seeck (The Witch Hunter), Simon Stephenson (Set My Heart to Five), Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club) and Gina Wilkinson (When the Apricots Bloom).
The book is split into four parts: Fiction, Debut, Nonfiction and Young Adult, plus a very useful index.
This is an extremely useful reference and well worth getting your hands on. Some gems to look forward to and some exciting possibilities. Many thanks to Dita for her encouraging review and recommendation, and also Publishers Lunch and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy in return for an honest review.
I really appreciate and enjoy curated information especially about books and general writing insights. NetGalley is in an excellent position to curate, analyse and promote many books to be published with leading publishers.
Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter gives reading addicts the opportunity to see what’s coming from new and favourite authors. Some of my favourites I'm looking forward to are John Banville, Kevin Barry, Fanny Flagg, Matt Haig, Ken Follett, Fredrik Backman, Marilynne Robinson and Jonathan Lethem. Plus all the big thriller writers such as James Patterson, Jo Nesbo, Michael Connelly, David Baldacci, Lee Child, John Grisham etc. have books being released.
Favourite authors are a given and I’ll read them for sure, but for me, the huge value this book brought, was the chance to read excerpts from the debut and emerging authors. Some who seem to be getting a lot of press include; Max Seeck (The Witch Hunter), Simon Stephenson (Set My Heart to Five), Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club) and Gina Wilkinson (When the Apricots Bloom).
The book is split into four parts: Fiction, Debut, Nonfiction and Young Adult, plus a very useful index.
This is an extremely useful reference and well worth getting your hands on. Some gems to look forward to and some exciting possibilities. Many thanks to Dita for her encouraging review and recommendation, and also Publishers Lunch and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy in return for an honest review.
May 24, 2020
It's always good to have this digital download so I can while away the time when I'm waiting somewhere, pining over more and more books.
Thank you to Publishers Lunch/BUZZ BOOKS and NetGalley for this ARC.
Thank you to Publishers Lunch/BUZZ BOOKS and NetGalley for this ARC.
May 28, 2020
Who doesn't love reading about all the great new books coming out in the Fall/Winter of 2020 and Early 2021!
This gives you a long list of upcoming fiction, non fiction, debut authors and established authors new books. From that list, 30 book excerpts were provided in this edition of Buzz Books including a link to read/request the full book on NetGalley.
I found some favorite authors on this list and I can't wait for their new books to be published!
*Thank to Publishers Lunch via NetGalley for the current digital copy of Buzz Books Fall/Winter 2020 edition!
This gives you a long list of upcoming fiction, non fiction, debut authors and established authors new books. From that list, 30 book excerpts were provided in this edition of Buzz Books including a link to read/request the full book on NetGalley.
I found some favorite authors on this list and I can't wait for their new books to be published!
*Thank to Publishers Lunch via NetGalley for the current digital copy of Buzz Books Fall/Winter 2020 edition!
June 19, 2020
5★
“‘So, what happened?’
She gave the short version. ‘It was a lot of pressure.’
‘Pressure makes us, though. You start off as coal and the pressure makes you a diamond.’
She didn’t correct his knowledge of diamonds. She didn’t tell him that while coal and diamonds are both carbon, coal is too impure to be able, under whatever pressure, to become a diamond. According to science, you start off as coal and you end up as coal. Maybe that was the real-life lesson."
That’s a conversation about why she gave up competitive swimming. It's from Matt Haig’s new novel, The Midnight Library, which looks like a good one. I’ve read only the excerpt given in this edition of Buzz Books, a favourite source of new reading delights, so I can't comment on the whole book.
There are several I like the look of as well as The Midnight Library, but I won’t belabour you with excerpts. Just go to the publisher’s website and download their wonderful previews from upcoming publications. Many, but not all, are available for request on NetGalley.
http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
Buzz Books are FREE to all!
In addition to the titles here, from which they’ve provided a chapter or so as a preview, the beginning of the Buzz Book has an enormous list of upcoming titles from other authors, including Erin Brockovich and Al Sharpton, Michael J. Fox and Jerry Seinfeld.
Below are all of the books which have excerpts in this edition. I don’t have the patience to add Goodreads links, but they are easy enough to find.
These are listed Author, Title (Publisher).
PART ONE: FICTION
Rumaan Alam, Leave The World Behind (Ecco)
Camilla Bruce, In the Garden of Spite (Berkley)
J’nell Ciesielski, Beauty Among Ruins (Thomas Nelson)
Sean Dietrich, The Incredible Winston Browne (Thomas Nelson)
Danielle Evans, The Office of Historical Corrections (Riverhead)
Ken Follett, The Evening and the Morning (Viking)
Matt Haig, The Midnight Library (Viking)
Jonathan Lethem, The Arrest (Ecco)
Judithe Little, The Chanel Sisters (Graydon House)
Sam J. Miller, The Blade Between (Ecco)
Sue Miller, Monogamy (Harper)
Cate Quinn, Black Widows (Sourcebooks Landmark)
Kathleen Rooney Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey (Penguin Books)
Vendela Vida, We Run The Tides (Ecco)
Bryan Washington, Memorial (Riverhead)
PART TWO: DEBUT
Ashley Audrain, The Push (Pamela Dorman Books)
Victoria Gosling, Before the Ruins (Holt)
Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith, Make Them Cry (Ecco)
Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee (Park Row)
Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club (Pamela Dorman Books/ Viking)
Max Seeck, The Witch Hunter (Berkley)
Simon Stephenson, Set My Heart to Five (Hanover Square)
Gina Wilkinson, When The Apricots Bloom (Kensington)
PART THREE: NONFICTION
Tim Brady, Three Ordinary Girls (Citadel)
Becky Cooper, We Keep the Dead Close (Grand Central)
Anne Helen Petersen, Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (HMH)
PART FOUR: YOUNG ADULT
Alexandra Bracken, Lore (Disney Hyperion)
Caroline George, Dearest Josephine (Thomas Nelson)
Cole Nagamatsu, We Were Restless Things (Sourcebooks Fire)
“‘So, what happened?’
She gave the short version. ‘It was a lot of pressure.’
‘Pressure makes us, though. You start off as coal and the pressure makes you a diamond.’
She didn’t correct his knowledge of diamonds. She didn’t tell him that while coal and diamonds are both carbon, coal is too impure to be able, under whatever pressure, to become a diamond. According to science, you start off as coal and you end up as coal. Maybe that was the real-life lesson."
That’s a conversation about why she gave up competitive swimming. It's from Matt Haig’s new novel, The Midnight Library, which looks like a good one. I’ve read only the excerpt given in this edition of Buzz Books, a favourite source of new reading delights, so I can't comment on the whole book.
There are several I like the look of as well as The Midnight Library, but I won’t belabour you with excerpts. Just go to the publisher’s website and download their wonderful previews from upcoming publications. Many, but not all, are available for request on NetGalley.
http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
Buzz Books are FREE to all!
In addition to the titles here, from which they’ve provided a chapter or so as a preview, the beginning of the Buzz Book has an enormous list of upcoming titles from other authors, including Erin Brockovich and Al Sharpton, Michael J. Fox and Jerry Seinfeld.
Below are all of the books which have excerpts in this edition. I don’t have the patience to add Goodreads links, but they are easy enough to find.
These are listed Author, Title (Publisher).
PART ONE: FICTION
Rumaan Alam, Leave The World Behind (Ecco)
Camilla Bruce, In the Garden of Spite (Berkley)
J’nell Ciesielski, Beauty Among Ruins (Thomas Nelson)
Sean Dietrich, The Incredible Winston Browne (Thomas Nelson)
Danielle Evans, The Office of Historical Corrections (Riverhead)
Ken Follett, The Evening and the Morning (Viking)
Matt Haig, The Midnight Library (Viking)
Jonathan Lethem, The Arrest (Ecco)
Judithe Little, The Chanel Sisters (Graydon House)
Sam J. Miller, The Blade Between (Ecco)
Sue Miller, Monogamy (Harper)
Cate Quinn, Black Widows (Sourcebooks Landmark)
Kathleen Rooney Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey (Penguin Books)
Vendela Vida, We Run The Tides (Ecco)
Bryan Washington, Memorial (Riverhead)
PART TWO: DEBUT
Ashley Audrain, The Push (Pamela Dorman Books)
Victoria Gosling, Before the Ruins (Holt)
Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith, Make Them Cry (Ecco)
Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee (Park Row)
Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club (Pamela Dorman Books/ Viking)
Max Seeck, The Witch Hunter (Berkley)
Simon Stephenson, Set My Heart to Five (Hanover Square)
Gina Wilkinson, When The Apricots Bloom (Kensington)
PART THREE: NONFICTION
Tim Brady, Three Ordinary Girls (Citadel)
Becky Cooper, We Keep the Dead Close (Grand Central)
Anne Helen Petersen, Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (HMH)
PART FOUR: YOUNG ADULT
Alexandra Bracken, Lore (Disney Hyperion)
Caroline George, Dearest Josephine (Thomas Nelson)
Cole Nagamatsu, We Were Restless Things (Sourcebooks Fire)
January 2, 2021
One of the Best Buzz Books for a Fall/Winter Collection of Fiction and NonFiction books for a year (2020), I have ever read! First, lists upon lists of ALL the books coming out this fall and winter, from our our BIG, BIG, Popular Authors, of course. PLUS, so many debut authors that are just so FANTASTIC this year you'll need to make time to read everyone.
I started reading the excerpts, so graciously provided by the publishers, authors, and Buzz Books, and couldn't stop reading! I want them all! NOW! I'm BREATHLESS, they are all so good.
This is the season to READ! Get your BUZZ BOOK 2020 for Fall/Winter now. You do NOT want to miss out!
I started reading the excerpts, so graciously provided by the publishers, authors, and Buzz Books, and couldn't stop reading! I want them all! NOW! I'm BREATHLESS, they are all so good.
This is the season to READ! Get your BUZZ BOOK 2020 for Fall/Winter now. You do NOT want to miss out!
June 2, 2020
I have always been curious about this, so I finally downloaded one. It's filled with wonderful summaries, excerpts, and exposure to new authors. I've definitely added a few new titles to my towering "to be read" lists.
I really liked being able to sample a bit of the writing style before I decide to read a book.
I'm not sure how often I will look at these, but this one was definitely interesting!
I really liked being able to sample a bit of the writing style before I decide to read a book.
I'm not sure how often I will look at these, but this one was definitely interesting!
May 18, 2020
I always love seeing the new / next season’s release of Buzz Books and finding out which of my favourite authors have new books coming out, those new-to-me authors who I’ve been meaning to read, as well as getting a chance for a peek inside some of these books to be released in the coming season, Fall / Winter.
There are many, many more books listed, some with excerpts, although not the majority, but it helps me at least attempt to plan out the coming months of reading.
The Notables
Ayad Akhtar – Homeland Elegies 9/8
John Banville – Snow 10/6
Elena Ferrante – The Lying Life of Adults 9/1
Alice Hoffman – Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic) 10/6
Jane Smiley – Perestroika in Paris 12/1
Highly Anticipated
Yaa Gyasi – Transcendent Kingdom 9/8
Paulo Coelho – The Archer 11/10
Rumaan Alam – Leave the World Behind 10/6
Judithe Little – The Chanel Sisters 12/29
Sue Miller – Monogamy 9/8
Commercial Fiction
Smith Henderson & Jon Marc Smith – Make Them Cry 9/23
Fannie Flagg – The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop 10/27
Ken Follett – The Evening and the Morning 9/15 (prequel to The Pillars of the Earth)
Philippa Gregory – Dark Tides 11/14
John Grisham – A Time For Mercy 10/13
Gregory Maguire – A Wild Winter Swan 10/6
Biography and Memoir
Rick Bragg – Where I Come From: Stories From the Deep South 10/27
Philip Norman – Wild Thing: The Short Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix 9/15
Michael Posner – Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years 10/6
Neal Karlen – This Thing Called Life: Prince’s Odyssey, On and Off the Record 10/6
John Birdsall – The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life and Times of James Beard
Buzz Books are available for free on Amazon for Kindle, and Barnes & Noble for Nook
There are many, many more books listed, some with excerpts, although not the majority, but it helps me at least attempt to plan out the coming months of reading.
The Notables
Ayad Akhtar – Homeland Elegies 9/8
John Banville – Snow 10/6
Elena Ferrante – The Lying Life of Adults 9/1
Alice Hoffman – Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic) 10/6
Jane Smiley – Perestroika in Paris 12/1
Highly Anticipated
Yaa Gyasi – Transcendent Kingdom 9/8
Paulo Coelho – The Archer 11/10
Rumaan Alam – Leave the World Behind 10/6
Judithe Little – The Chanel Sisters 12/29
Sue Miller – Monogamy 9/8
Commercial Fiction
Smith Henderson & Jon Marc Smith – Make Them Cry 9/23
Fannie Flagg – The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop 10/27
Ken Follett – The Evening and the Morning 9/15 (prequel to The Pillars of the Earth)
Philippa Gregory – Dark Tides 11/14
John Grisham – A Time For Mercy 10/13
Gregory Maguire – A Wild Winter Swan 10/6
Biography and Memoir
Rick Bragg – Where I Come From: Stories From the Deep South 10/27
Philip Norman – Wild Thing: The Short Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix 9/15
Michael Posner – Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years 10/6
Neal Karlen – This Thing Called Life: Prince’s Odyssey, On and Off the Record 10/6
John Birdsall – The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life and Times of James Beard
Buzz Books are available for free on Amazon for Kindle, and Barnes & Noble for Nook
August 12, 2020
Invaluable resource for previewing and deciding what upcoming books I want to read.
September 15, 2020
This is my first time reading a Buzz Books list of book recommendations, but won’t be my last! What a great way to see some of the upcoming new releases and read an excerpt for each. I also liked that there were links included to each book for an easy way to request.
There were a few of my favorite authors listed along with several new ones and I will be adding their books to my TBR list.
I will definitely be on the lookout for the next Buzz Books recommendations!!
Thank you NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for the ARC in exchange for my review.
#NeyGalley #PublishersLunchBUZZBOOKS
There were a few of my favorite authors listed along with several new ones and I will be adding their books to my TBR list.
I will definitely be on the lookout for the next Buzz Books recommendations!!
Thank you NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for the ARC in exchange for my review.
#NeyGalley #PublishersLunchBUZZBOOKS
July 15, 2020
Always love the new edition of Buzz Books so I can get a preview of what is coming soon that I will want to read. I went through the entire list and looked up summaries for the books that are coming online to make those I want to read. Then I read several of the excerpts - they just make me want more! I requested galleys of the books I want the most from Netgalley and Edelweiss. There are some great books coming this Fall and Winter that I can't wait to read!
Thanks to Publishers Lunch through Netgalley for an advance copy of this book.
Thanks to Publishers Lunch through Netgalley for an advance copy of this book.
June 30, 2020
Rating: 5 stars
What’s not to love about a book-about-books? There are so many blockbuster, up-and-coming, and debut author’s works excerpted in this book. The choices have gone a long way to filling my reading dance card for a good portion of this fall and winter. I started reading the excerpts provided in this compendium, and now I'm having a hard time waiting until their publication dates so I can finish the books!
Some up-coming favorites:
The Notables
John Banville – Snow 10/6
Alice Hoffman – Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic) 10/6
Jane Smiley – Perestroika in Paris 12/1
Highly Anticipated
Yaa Gyasi – Transcendent Kingdom 9/8
Rumaan Alam – Leave the World Behind 10/6
Sue Miller – Monogamy 9/8
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library 9/29
Commercial Fiction
Fannie Flagg – The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop 10/27
Ken Follett – The Evening and the Morning 9/15 (prequel to The Pillars of the Earth)
John Grisham – A Time For Mercy 10/13
Gregory Maguire – A Wild Winter Swan 10/6
Biography and Memoir
Rick Bragg – Where I Come From: Stories From the Deep South 10/27
Philip Norman – Wild Thing: The Short Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix 9/15
Michael Posner – Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years 10/6
‘Thank-You’ to NetGalley; the publisher, Publishers Lunch for providing a free e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What’s not to love about a book-about-books? There are so many blockbuster, up-and-coming, and debut author’s works excerpted in this book. The choices have gone a long way to filling my reading dance card for a good portion of this fall and winter. I started reading the excerpts provided in this compendium, and now I'm having a hard time waiting until their publication dates so I can finish the books!
Some up-coming favorites:
The Notables
John Banville – Snow 10/6
Alice Hoffman – Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic) 10/6
Jane Smiley – Perestroika in Paris 12/1
Highly Anticipated
Yaa Gyasi – Transcendent Kingdom 9/8
Rumaan Alam – Leave the World Behind 10/6
Sue Miller – Monogamy 9/8
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library 9/29
Commercial Fiction
Fannie Flagg – The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop 10/27
Ken Follett – The Evening and the Morning 9/15 (prequel to The Pillars of the Earth)
John Grisham – A Time For Mercy 10/13
Gregory Maguire – A Wild Winter Swan 10/6
Biography and Memoir
Rick Bragg – Where I Come From: Stories From the Deep South 10/27
Philip Norman – Wild Thing: The Short Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix 9/15
Michael Posner – Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years 10/6
‘Thank-You’ to NetGalley; the publisher, Publishers Lunch for providing a free e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 16, 2020
Thank you NetGally and Publishers Lunch for a copy of this edition of Buzz Books.
I could get lost in this list of upcoming publications. If I had any less self-control, people wouldn't see me for days as I meticulously check each listing and add it to my "to-read" list.
This is getting me super excited for the Fall/Winter season and I can't wait for these books to hit the shelves.
I appreciate the time and effort it took to put this extensive list together.
For anyone still interested in this insider list of anticipated books to be published in the Fall/Winter season, head over to NetGalley to get your copy.
I could get lost in this list of upcoming publications. If I had any less self-control, people wouldn't see me for days as I meticulously check each listing and add it to my "to-read" list.
This is getting me super excited for the Fall/Winter season and I can't wait for these books to hit the shelves.
I appreciate the time and effort it took to put this extensive list together.
For anyone still interested in this insider list of anticipated books to be published in the Fall/Winter season, head over to NetGalley to get your copy.
May 31, 2020
Since this is the fourth Buzz Books edition that I’ve read in the past twelve months, I knew what to expect from it. Basically, the edition is a list of books to be published in the time period covered by the book, and a few hundred pages of excerpts from select books on the list. Usually two chapters totaling a dozen or so pages are included in the excerpt from each book. The Fall/Winter 2020 edition was over 450 hundred pages long: approximately twenty pages listing the notable books to be published in the timeframe; over 400 pages of book excerpts and related material. The book excerpts were divided into four categories - fiction, debut, nonfiction, young adult - with the vast majority of the excerpts being in the fiction category. There were only three excerpts in the nonfiction section, which I found disappointing because, in the lists, I had found at least three nonfiction books to share with my father and another two just for me.
I wasted a good evening sorting through and researching titles from the list of books. In the end, I found over a dozen on the list to look up in Goodreads for further details. Five of my favorite fiction authors - Charles Baxter, Paulo Coehlo, Jasper Fforde, Mary Gordon, Chuck Palahniuk - were publishing new books in this timeframe. Not to mention the fascinating nonfiction books I found, which spanned from a medical history book of the period between Homer and Hippocrates to a sociology focused on the importance of women’s voices. And then there were several that I decided that weren’t for me after the Goodreads research, like Jane Smiley’s forthcoming novel “Perestroika in Paris.” However, the best discovery that I made during my research was that many of the books that I was interested in were also available on NetGalley. So more of my evening slipped away doing research there before making any requests.
Approximately 400 pages of excerpts and related material seemed much more manageable than the previous edition. But it was still going to take me a long time to get through.
The Midnight Library was the first book in the collection that enthralled me enough to read in full. I loved its quirky approach to storytelling. The excerpt left off right where Nora received her book of regrets and was about to pink life choice to undo first, which was too much of a cliffhanger for me to abide. From the little that I read (including the comments on NetGalley) it seemed like a hipper Mitch Albom novel. I’m holding out hope for Nora to get sucked back into living, and going after her second chance life with gusto!
The Chanel Sisters was another excerpt that caught my eye. A few years ago, I was captivated by Mademoiselle Chanel by CW Gortner; however, despite my overwhelmingly positive impression of the book, I remember very little of it. I had read The Dress Thief quite quickly afterward, so the details of the two get confounded in my mind. Therefore, I look forward to reading about the trials - and successes - of Coco Chanel through the viewpoint of her younger sister Antoinette. Curiously, a girlfriend who watches my Goodreads account added this to her TBR list shortly after I did (which was right after I requested the book on NetGalley).
At first, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey did not seem to be in my wheelhouse at all. I’m not a fan of talking animal books. But the more I heard Cher Ami’s voice, the more I felt comfortable living in her head. The chapter about Major Whittlesey sealed my fate. It ended with the foreshadowing of a significant event in the near future, and I felt bereft by the end of the excerpt. So I’m going to add this to my TBR list - and request the galley- just so I can assure myself that the good major stays safe and sane.
When the Apricots Bloom was the only one of the nine excerpts from debut authors that caught my interest. The Middle East setting has long been one of my catnips. The beginning chapters were ordinary enough, but I’m curious to see how it all develops. Since the publication date is in December, I may hold off on requesting this through NetGalley until I can get my current lists under control.
The three excerpts in the nonfiction section were about Dutch resistance fighters in World War II, an unsolved murder in Boston, and burnout in the millennial generation. I don’t think I’ll add any of these three to my to be read list (least of all the millennial book). However, I can never tell if one of them is going to haunt in the days after posting my review and deleting my galley.
I completely skipped the three excerpts in the Young Adult section. I haven’t been reading young adult since Veronica Roth’s Divergent series and, quite frankly, the novelty of reading excerpts had worn off. So rather than soldier through the rest of the book, I decided to declare victory and move on to one of the new books that I had requested in the course of digesting the Buzz Books volume.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book for anyone with eclectic tastes or anyone who is capable of making a decision about whether a book suits them after only a dozen or so pages. If you need to know how everything works out, then you’re either going to hate the book or you’re going to end up with a massive TBR list.
I received this book as a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wasted a good evening sorting through and researching titles from the list of books. In the end, I found over a dozen on the list to look up in Goodreads for further details. Five of my favorite fiction authors - Charles Baxter, Paulo Coehlo, Jasper Fforde, Mary Gordon, Chuck Palahniuk - were publishing new books in this timeframe. Not to mention the fascinating nonfiction books I found, which spanned from a medical history book of the period between Homer and Hippocrates to a sociology focused on the importance of women’s voices. And then there were several that I decided that weren’t for me after the Goodreads research, like Jane Smiley’s forthcoming novel “Perestroika in Paris.” However, the best discovery that I made during my research was that many of the books that I was interested in were also available on NetGalley. So more of my evening slipped away doing research there before making any requests.
Approximately 400 pages of excerpts and related material seemed much more manageable than the previous edition. But it was still going to take me a long time to get through.
The Midnight Library was the first book in the collection that enthralled me enough to read in full. I loved its quirky approach to storytelling. The excerpt left off right where Nora received her book of regrets and was about to pink life choice to undo first, which was too much of a cliffhanger for me to abide. From the little that I read (including the comments on NetGalley) it seemed like a hipper Mitch Albom novel. I’m holding out hope for Nora to get sucked back into living, and going after her second chance life with gusto!
The Chanel Sisters was another excerpt that caught my eye. A few years ago, I was captivated by Mademoiselle Chanel by CW Gortner; however, despite my overwhelmingly positive impression of the book, I remember very little of it. I had read The Dress Thief quite quickly afterward, so the details of the two get confounded in my mind. Therefore, I look forward to reading about the trials - and successes - of Coco Chanel through the viewpoint of her younger sister Antoinette. Curiously, a girlfriend who watches my Goodreads account added this to her TBR list shortly after I did (which was right after I requested the book on NetGalley).
At first, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey did not seem to be in my wheelhouse at all. I’m not a fan of talking animal books. But the more I heard Cher Ami’s voice, the more I felt comfortable living in her head. The chapter about Major Whittlesey sealed my fate. It ended with the foreshadowing of a significant event in the near future, and I felt bereft by the end of the excerpt. So I’m going to add this to my TBR list - and request the galley- just so I can assure myself that the good major stays safe and sane.
When the Apricots Bloom was the only one of the nine excerpts from debut authors that caught my interest. The Middle East setting has long been one of my catnips. The beginning chapters were ordinary enough, but I’m curious to see how it all develops. Since the publication date is in December, I may hold off on requesting this through NetGalley until I can get my current lists under control.
The three excerpts in the nonfiction section were about Dutch resistance fighters in World War II, an unsolved murder in Boston, and burnout in the millennial generation. I don’t think I’ll add any of these three to my to be read list (least of all the millennial book). However, I can never tell if one of them is going to haunt in the days after posting my review and deleting my galley.
I completely skipped the three excerpts in the Young Adult section. I haven’t been reading young adult since Veronica Roth’s Divergent series and, quite frankly, the novelty of reading excerpts had worn off. So rather than soldier through the rest of the book, I decided to declare victory and move on to one of the new books that I had requested in the course of digesting the Buzz Books volume.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book for anyone with eclectic tastes or anyone who is capable of making a decision about whether a book suits them after only a dozen or so pages. If you need to know how everything works out, then you’re either going to hate the book or you’re going to end up with a massive TBR list.
I received this book as a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 1, 2020
It was interesting to read about some of the eagerly aniticipated books for this fall/winter, though about 50% of them I did not care for-- the ones I would be interested in reading more of, I really liked-- hence the higher rating. Multiple genres were represented. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy.
June 5, 2020
Many thanks to Edelweiss, NetGalley, and Publisher’s Lunch for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.
Publishing has been in a bit of a funk lately (like everything else) because of COVID. Book releases have been delayed and even though there have been new releases, there hasn’t been the huge spring/summer influx that we have seen in previous years.
This has been a shot in the arm that I needed to get excited about the new books coming out in the fall/winter season. Of course, my TBR list took a bit hit. It had been looking pretty sparse lately, not that I was complaining, but it was nice to get excited about upcoming new releases. There are a couple of advantages that Buzz Books offers. One, it is a one-stop shopping catalog, if you enjoy going through the long list. The list is divided up into sections, making it easy to pick what you like. For example, if you aren’t into nonfiction, politics, then you can easily skip that section.
I waded through the first few categories which are basically all fiction, it is just split up into things like Debut authors, Highly Anticipated, Emerging Voices. For me, that is all one big category. The other thing I love about Buzz Books is that it has Commercial Fiction, which helps me stay up-to-date on all of my series that have new books coming out. This season there is John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Jeffrey Archer, Sandra Brown, Janet Evanovich, Vince Flynn, Robert Galbraith, Ken Follett, Danielle Steel, Elin Hilderbrand, Mary Higgins Clark, and Lisa Jewell just to name a few.
There was a nice selection of excerpts from upcoming releases that you can read a few chapters from and get a sense of whether or not you would like to add it to your list. These are lesser known authors but ones that have a lot of positive buzz around their releases. If you are a member of NetGalley you can click through and request an ARC for those you are interested in. Sometimes, if you are lucky, the link will allow you to read it rather than make a request.
This fall there might not be the plethora of books they usually release, but there is still an abundance of great books in every genre. I really am excited for the upcoming season because if we are under quarantine again, at least I will have some new books to keep me company.
Publishing has been in a bit of a funk lately (like everything else) because of COVID. Book releases have been delayed and even though there have been new releases, there hasn’t been the huge spring/summer influx that we have seen in previous years.
This has been a shot in the arm that I needed to get excited about the new books coming out in the fall/winter season. Of course, my TBR list took a bit hit. It had been looking pretty sparse lately, not that I was complaining, but it was nice to get excited about upcoming new releases. There are a couple of advantages that Buzz Books offers. One, it is a one-stop shopping catalog, if you enjoy going through the long list. The list is divided up into sections, making it easy to pick what you like. For example, if you aren’t into nonfiction, politics, then you can easily skip that section.
I waded through the first few categories which are basically all fiction, it is just split up into things like Debut authors, Highly Anticipated, Emerging Voices. For me, that is all one big category. The other thing I love about Buzz Books is that it has Commercial Fiction, which helps me stay up-to-date on all of my series that have new books coming out. This season there is John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Jeffrey Archer, Sandra Brown, Janet Evanovich, Vince Flynn, Robert Galbraith, Ken Follett, Danielle Steel, Elin Hilderbrand, Mary Higgins Clark, and Lisa Jewell just to name a few.
There was a nice selection of excerpts from upcoming releases that you can read a few chapters from and get a sense of whether or not you would like to add it to your list. These are lesser known authors but ones that have a lot of positive buzz around their releases. If you are a member of NetGalley you can click through and request an ARC for those you are interested in. Sometimes, if you are lucky, the link will allow you to read it rather than make a request.
This fall there might not be the plethora of books they usually release, but there is still an abundance of great books in every genre. I really am excited for the upcoming season because if we are under quarantine again, at least I will have some new books to keep me company.
August 18, 2020
Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for the chance to read a copy! But for everyone else, please note this collection of samples is available free at e-book retailers.
I love Buzz Books and the chance to try things I normally wouldn't, even if it seems like maybe the average reader isn't the target audience. The introduction and its giant list of books is overwhelming -- maybe industry professionals recognize names and publishers and what not, but I had to cling to the occasional annotations like "A new novel from the author of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL." And I am also confused about why Fiction and Debut [Fiction] are separated into distinct sections, and why these comprise 80% of the 30 titles with just 3 non-fiction and 3 YA. But oh well, I quickly moved on to the samples.
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam
Cover: beautiful with its night-time lighting, cool color palette, and stylized illustration
Excerpt: I found this excerpt pretty off-putting, with the omniscient POV head-hopping (I'm used to deep third-person) and many gross references to bodies
Would I Read It: this isn't for me, although the cover copy about this being an isolation suspense/thriller-type read was the first hint
IN THE GARDEN OF SPITE: A NOVEL OF THE BLACK WHITE OF LA PORTE by Camilla Bruce
Cover: suitably creepy with the fog and the skulls on the ground and the bright red font
Excerpt: we don't find out much, as there's a brief cryptic scene that then flashes back to an ominous plan for a girl to finally confront the boy who got her pregnant (serious murder ballad vibes)
Would I Read It: Novelization of female serial killer is probably catnip for someone, but it is not me (my wimpiness will be a recurring theme throughout this review)
BEAUTY AMONG RUINS by J'nell Ciesielski
Cover: not available in the excerpt, but on Goodreads it is a pretty scene of a beautiful young woman looking at an estate among rolling hills
Excerpt: Our heroine Lily is very young and spoiled and it is not very pleasant to be in her point of view
Would I Read It: presumably her character arc will include maturation, but I don't have the patience for it
THE INCREDIBLE WINSTON BROWNE by Sean Dietrich
Cover: sepia-toned picture of "Main Street"-type row of businesses
Excerpt: we have POVs from a young Deaf girl whose family is driving somewhere, a woman in a small town unhappy in her marriage, and the titular Winston Browne receiving a terminal diagnosis
Would I Read It: I honestly have no idea where this story is going, but none of the vignettes grabbed me
THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS by Danielle Evans
Cover: fun, with the highlighter and the "pencil annotations," though I'm not really sure what it means about the contents
Excerpt: a white girl wearing a Confederate flag bikini and a social media feud with a Black classmate, and a lot of controversy and stubbornness ensues
Would I Read It: yes! I couldn't stop reading, and being in this college girl's head felt especially apt as we've got local headlines about college kids being willful and stubborn and reckless about covid
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by Ken Follett
Cover: pretty deep teal color with interesting texture, though doesn't indicate much about the book
Excerpt: the cover copy mentions many different characters but we just follow the first one, Edgar the boatbuilder's son. The first few pages made me impatient, but then the Viking ships appear and the action sucked me in
Would I Read It: yes, I'm interested to see more, and I've always meant to read Follett (I was fascinated to see his name in the Commercial Fiction section of the overview since all I knew was that his books were gigantic!)
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig
Cover: appropriately midnight blue, with eye-catching orange and yellow accents, and a nice section of motion generated by the illustrations going in and out of windows
Excerpt: should have come with a trigger warning (cat is killed, and protagonist commits suicide). the book of regrets was interesting, and the concept of a library of all your possible lives intrigued me, but I was really upset by the opening
Would I Read It: probably not, for my own wellbeing, if the depressing events and mental health issues of the protagonist continue to be a main theme
THE ARREST by Jonathan Lethem
Cover: old-timey illustration of a lake, plus a giant silver drilling vehicle
Excerpt: post-apocalyptic, fragmented prose, everything about this excerpt made me deeply uneasy
Would I Read It: this writing style is not at all to my taste (also, it just made me think of Alyssa Cole's Off the Grid series and how much I'd rather be reading it)
THE CHANEL SISTERS by Judithe Little
Cover: woman with her face hidden, with a fur stole and a black-and-white picture of the Eiffel Tower superimposed. lots of genre markers for women's historical fiction
Excerpt: Chanel sisters grow up in a nunnery, then are picked up by their grandmother and an aunt their age
Would I Read It: this isn't my style, and nothing in the opening pages caught my attention
THE BLADE BETWEEN by Sam J Miller
Cover: creepy, with the dripping font and a glowing whale
Excerpt: omniscient chapter about Hudson NY's whaling history, then two POVs, one third-person of Dom, a small-town cop, and one first-person of Ronan, an addict reluctantly seeing his family
Would I Read It: the phrase "a frightening and uncanny ghost story" in the cover copy did an excellent job of saying Not For You
MONOGAMY by Sue Miller
Cover: I know the title is Mono*gamy*, but the cover and its simple leaf pattern is very mono*tonous*
Excerpt: dissection of heroine's romantic history and how she met her husband
Would I Read It: the excerpt and the cover copy promise a deeply unromantic examination of love, faithfulness, and marriage; as a lifelong romance reader, this is just never going to appeal
BLACK WIDOWS by Cate Quinn
Cover: nice and creepy with the red light and the spindly shadow of a tree
Excerpt: stream of consciousness narration, we meet two of the three lives
Would I Read It: the stream of consciousness technique was a little much for me, and I feel a little uncomfortable with the sensationalist use of polygamy, though the whodunit plot does seem interesting
CHER AMI AND MAJOR WHITTLESEY by Kathleen Rooney
Cover: a landscape with far-off explosions, and focus on a pigeon flying through the air
Excerpt: narration by Cher Ami the pigeon, from taxidermied post in a modern-day museum, then by Charles Whittlesey back in post-war life and not having an easy time adjusting
Would I Read It: WWII historicals don't appeal to me, and the pigeon chapter was very sentimental which was extremely unsettling to me
WE RUN THE TIDES by Vendela Vida
Cover: not available here, though on Goodreads it is a very blocky seaside illustration that looks colored with crayons
Excerpt: narrated by 13-year-old girls, about how well they know their town
Would I Read It: books about 13-year-old girls are a very hard sell for me
MEMORIAL by Bryan Washington
Cover: very plain, with a plastic bag flying like a white flag. I have no idea what this is supposed to say about the story
Excerpt: Mike and Brian are a couple, and Mike's mother Mitsuko comes to visit just as Mike leaves to visit his dying estranged father. Brian narrates in a very stream of conscious manner, very stylized with no quotation marks
Would I Read It: this is not my style
THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain
Cover: looks like a placeholder
Excerpt: odd mix of first- and second-person narration, with interwoven historical flashbacks. both timelines are stories of unhappy and abusive mothers
Would I Read It: wayyyyyyyyyyy too depressing for me
BEFORE THE RUINS by Victoria Gosling
Cover: a figure walking through trees covered in snow
Excerpt: protagonist Andy learns in the present day that her friend Peter is missing, then flash back to her group of friends in 1996 and they're exploring an abandoned mansion
Would I Read It: why does everything have to be scary, I am just not cool enough to enjoy today's fiction trends
MAKE THEM CRY by Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith
Cover: a nice change of pace from everything else, bold and slanted with a car cutting across the middle trailing smoke. looks like the opening credits of an action movie
Excerpt: tough prosecutor confronted by someone in their past. very short sentences
Would I Read It: not for me, though it's cool to see an action thriller thrown into this sampler
THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr
Cover: very stylized, with a sun in the sky but also the silhouettes of faces in the sky
Excerpt: two enslaved men have a furtive affair
Would I Read It: the subject matter sounds interesting and relevant -- enslaved men find comfort in each other, but then Christianity and anti-homosexual preaching brings trouble -- but I'm not sure I'm up for reading it
THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Cover: very pretty, with a slight ombre effect of coral and pink
Excerpt: Margot goes on a road trip and tries to visit her mother, it doesn't go well
Would I Read It: the complicated family dynamics are interesting, but the way the excerpt ends makes this seem like a tough emotional read
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman
Cover: very confusing. ivory with some red accents and a picture of a wolf on a hill. The blurb from Harlan Coben is a much more useful genre indicator
Excerpt: the killer POV prologue is mercifully short and ungraphic. the rest of the story is very fun, with some narrative from a retiree named Joyce who is a newbie to the club, as well as a POV from a PC (UK police person, I'm guessing) and some history of the nursing home
Would I Read It: yes, I love the premise and I had a fun time reading this excerpt
THE WITCH HUNTER by Max Seeck
Cover: dark cover in winter, red slash across it, plenty of genre markers
Excerpt: we have a victim prologue (a trope I hate because it freaks me out), and an author who gets creepily asked "Are you afraid of what you write about," which is clearly ominous given this guy writes the WITCH HUNT trilogy and the actual book is THE WITCH HUNTER
Would I Read It: too scary for me
SET MY HEART TO FIVE by Simon Stephenson
Cover: creepy wind-up dolls
Excerpt: opens like a screenplay, then we get lots of introduction to our narrator Jared, who is a bot! Ha! There are so many exclamation points!
Would I Read It: this is much too self-consciously quirky for me
WHEN THE APRICOTS BLOOM by Gina Wilkinson
Cover: texture of sloppy paintbrushing, looks very "literary novel"
Excerpt: Iraqi women Huda and Rania each encounter the Australian diplomat's wife Ally. Huda is under pressure to spy on Ally, and Rania is down on her luck but makes a new friend in Ally
Would I Read It: there is a palpable sense of danger and vulnerability in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and I'm too much of a scaredy-cat to see what happens
THREE ORDINARY GIRLS: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HANNIE SCHAFT AND THE OVERSTEEGEN SISTERS, TEENAGED SABOTEURS AND NAZI ASSASSINS by Tim Brady
Cover: image of girl looking at a black and white picture of a car (maybe I'm supposed to be historically literate enough to recognize a famous scene?)
Important note: these women assassinated Nazis, they did not assassinate people for the Nazis, I was not sure from the title and had to look at the cover copy
Excerpt: we have some history of the Oversteegen Sisters and Jo Schaft (not sure when she'll take on the name Hannie?) as well as some history of the city of Haarlem (tulip mania!) and the beginning of the Nazi invasion of Europe, including the Netherlands
Would I Read It: this kind of non-fiction isn't really my style, though it certainly is an interesting subject
WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE: A MURDER AT HARVARD AND A HALF CENTURY OF SILENCE by Becky Cooper
Cover: old, fuzzy photograph of a woman - Jane Britton?
Excerpt: narrator is a Harvard alum, returning at 30. heard story of a grad student murdered in 1969 and never solved.
Would I Read It: a key phrase is "unsolved, that is, until yesterday" -- there was no way I was going to read an unsolved true crime and get completely creeped out. But I'm really intrigued by this story, of poor Jane who didn't even get referred to by name in the Harvard ghost stories, and the navigation of the insular world of academics
CAN'T EVEN: HOW MILLENNIALS BECAME THE BURNOUT GENERATION by Anne Helen Petersen
Cover: fun illustration of the theme, the words have all fallen to the bottom of the cover
Excerpt: we only get the introduction, explaining about millennials and burnout and whatnot. I appreciate that the author does mention trying to decenter the stereotypical middle-class and white image
Would I Read It: Reading a book about millennials when I am one (and have a lot more advantages than those mentioned in the prologue) seems unbearably self-indulgent, so probably not
LORE by Alexandra Bracken
Cover: placeholder, though on Goodreads it's a Medusa statue
Excerpt: modern-day NYC, Lore is a fighting and there is a lot of violent boxing in this opening
Would I Read It: not my style
DEAREST JOSEPHINE by Caroline George
Cover: none, though now it's a pretty illustrated cover with flowers
Excerpt: epistolary, with emails between best friends Josie and Faith, and a few text messages in between. We JUST get to the edge of the book's concept, where Josephine has found old letters addressed to her but we know from the cover copy this will turn out to be written by a man in 1820
Would I Read It: the characters are a little young for me, but it's a cool meta-fiction setup
WE WERE RESTLESS THINGS by Cole Nagamatsu
Cover: GORGEOUS, photorealistic underwater with little bubbles and vivid flowers
Excerpt: I honestly skimmed this because the thought of a dead teenager texting from beyond the grave creeped me out so much
Would I Read This: see above
In conclusion, I guess it's popular for books to be scary and I am not into it one bit. But I did find some new books to add to the TBR!
Books I plan to read (out of the 30 excerpts):
THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS by Danielle Evans
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by Ken Follett
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman
WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE by Becky Cooper
I love Buzz Books and the chance to try things I normally wouldn't, even if it seems like maybe the average reader isn't the target audience. The introduction and its giant list of books is overwhelming -- maybe industry professionals recognize names and publishers and what not, but I had to cling to the occasional annotations like "A new novel from the author of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL." And I am also confused about why Fiction and Debut [Fiction] are separated into distinct sections, and why these comprise 80% of the 30 titles with just 3 non-fiction and 3 YA. But oh well, I quickly moved on to the samples.
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam
Cover: beautiful with its night-time lighting, cool color palette, and stylized illustration
Excerpt: I found this excerpt pretty off-putting, with the omniscient POV head-hopping (I'm used to deep third-person) and many gross references to bodies
Would I Read It: this isn't for me, although the cover copy about this being an isolation suspense/thriller-type read was the first hint
IN THE GARDEN OF SPITE: A NOVEL OF THE BLACK WHITE OF LA PORTE by Camilla Bruce
Cover: suitably creepy with the fog and the skulls on the ground and the bright red font
Excerpt: we don't find out much, as there's a brief cryptic scene that then flashes back to an ominous plan for a girl to finally confront the boy who got her pregnant (serious murder ballad vibes)
Would I Read It: Novelization of female serial killer is probably catnip for someone, but it is not me (my wimpiness will be a recurring theme throughout this review)
BEAUTY AMONG RUINS by J'nell Ciesielski
Cover: not available in the excerpt, but on Goodreads it is a pretty scene of a beautiful young woman looking at an estate among rolling hills
Excerpt: Our heroine Lily is very young and spoiled and it is not very pleasant to be in her point of view
Would I Read It: presumably her character arc will include maturation, but I don't have the patience for it
THE INCREDIBLE WINSTON BROWNE by Sean Dietrich
Cover: sepia-toned picture of "Main Street"-type row of businesses
Excerpt: we have POVs from a young Deaf girl whose family is driving somewhere, a woman in a small town unhappy in her marriage, and the titular Winston Browne receiving a terminal diagnosis
Would I Read It: I honestly have no idea where this story is going, but none of the vignettes grabbed me
THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS by Danielle Evans
Cover: fun, with the highlighter and the "pencil annotations," though I'm not really sure what it means about the contents
Excerpt: a white girl wearing a Confederate flag bikini and a social media feud with a Black classmate, and a lot of controversy and stubbornness ensues
Would I Read It: yes! I couldn't stop reading, and being in this college girl's head felt especially apt as we've got local headlines about college kids being willful and stubborn and reckless about covid
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by Ken Follett
Cover: pretty deep teal color with interesting texture, though doesn't indicate much about the book
Excerpt: the cover copy mentions many different characters but we just follow the first one, Edgar the boatbuilder's son. The first few pages made me impatient, but then the Viking ships appear and the action sucked me in
Would I Read It: yes, I'm interested to see more, and I've always meant to read Follett (I was fascinated to see his name in the Commercial Fiction section of the overview since all I knew was that his books were gigantic!)
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig
Cover: appropriately midnight blue, with eye-catching orange and yellow accents, and a nice section of motion generated by the illustrations going in and out of windows
Excerpt: should have come with a trigger warning (cat is killed, and protagonist commits suicide). the book of regrets was interesting, and the concept of a library of all your possible lives intrigued me, but I was really upset by the opening
Would I Read It: probably not, for my own wellbeing, if the depressing events and mental health issues of the protagonist continue to be a main theme
THE ARREST by Jonathan Lethem
Cover: old-timey illustration of a lake, plus a giant silver drilling vehicle
Excerpt: post-apocalyptic, fragmented prose, everything about this excerpt made me deeply uneasy
Would I Read It: this writing style is not at all to my taste (also, it just made me think of Alyssa Cole's Off the Grid series and how much I'd rather be reading it)
THE CHANEL SISTERS by Judithe Little
Cover: woman with her face hidden, with a fur stole and a black-and-white picture of the Eiffel Tower superimposed. lots of genre markers for women's historical fiction
Excerpt: Chanel sisters grow up in a nunnery, then are picked up by their grandmother and an aunt their age
Would I Read It: this isn't my style, and nothing in the opening pages caught my attention
THE BLADE BETWEEN by Sam J Miller
Cover: creepy, with the dripping font and a glowing whale
Excerpt: omniscient chapter about Hudson NY's whaling history, then two POVs, one third-person of Dom, a small-town cop, and one first-person of Ronan, an addict reluctantly seeing his family
Would I Read It: the phrase "a frightening and uncanny ghost story" in the cover copy did an excellent job of saying Not For You
MONOGAMY by Sue Miller
Cover: I know the title is Mono*gamy*, but the cover and its simple leaf pattern is very mono*tonous*
Excerpt: dissection of heroine's romantic history and how she met her husband
Would I Read It: the excerpt and the cover copy promise a deeply unromantic examination of love, faithfulness, and marriage; as a lifelong romance reader, this is just never going to appeal
BLACK WIDOWS by Cate Quinn
Cover: nice and creepy with the red light and the spindly shadow of a tree
Excerpt: stream of consciousness narration, we meet two of the three lives
Would I Read It: the stream of consciousness technique was a little much for me, and I feel a little uncomfortable with the sensationalist use of polygamy, though the whodunit plot does seem interesting
CHER AMI AND MAJOR WHITTLESEY by Kathleen Rooney
Cover: a landscape with far-off explosions, and focus on a pigeon flying through the air
Excerpt: narration by Cher Ami the pigeon, from taxidermied post in a modern-day museum, then by Charles Whittlesey back in post-war life and not having an easy time adjusting
Would I Read It: WWII historicals don't appeal to me, and the pigeon chapter was very sentimental which was extremely unsettling to me
WE RUN THE TIDES by Vendela Vida
Cover: not available here, though on Goodreads it is a very blocky seaside illustration that looks colored with crayons
Excerpt: narrated by 13-year-old girls, about how well they know their town
Would I Read It: books about 13-year-old girls are a very hard sell for me
MEMORIAL by Bryan Washington
Cover: very plain, with a plastic bag flying like a white flag. I have no idea what this is supposed to say about the story
Excerpt: Mike and Brian are a couple, and Mike's mother Mitsuko comes to visit just as Mike leaves to visit his dying estranged father. Brian narrates in a very stream of conscious manner, very stylized with no quotation marks
Would I Read It: this is not my style
THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain
Cover: looks like a placeholder
Excerpt: odd mix of first- and second-person narration, with interwoven historical flashbacks. both timelines are stories of unhappy and abusive mothers
Would I Read It: wayyyyyyyyyyy too depressing for me
BEFORE THE RUINS by Victoria Gosling
Cover: a figure walking through trees covered in snow
Excerpt: protagonist Andy learns in the present day that her friend Peter is missing, then flash back to her group of friends in 1996 and they're exploring an abandoned mansion
Would I Read It: why does everything have to be scary, I am just not cool enough to enjoy today's fiction trends
MAKE THEM CRY by Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith
Cover: a nice change of pace from everything else, bold and slanted with a car cutting across the middle trailing smoke. looks like the opening credits of an action movie
Excerpt: tough prosecutor confronted by someone in their past. very short sentences
Would I Read It: not for me, though it's cool to see an action thriller thrown into this sampler
THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr
Cover: very stylized, with a sun in the sky but also the silhouettes of faces in the sky
Excerpt: two enslaved men have a furtive affair
Would I Read It: the subject matter sounds interesting and relevant -- enslaved men find comfort in each other, but then Christianity and anti-homosexual preaching brings trouble -- but I'm not sure I'm up for reading it
THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Cover: very pretty, with a slight ombre effect of coral and pink
Excerpt: Margot goes on a road trip and tries to visit her mother, it doesn't go well
Would I Read It: the complicated family dynamics are interesting, but the way the excerpt ends makes this seem like a tough emotional read
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman
Cover: very confusing. ivory with some red accents and a picture of a wolf on a hill. The blurb from Harlan Coben is a much more useful genre indicator
Excerpt: the killer POV prologue is mercifully short and ungraphic. the rest of the story is very fun, with some narrative from a retiree named Joyce who is a newbie to the club, as well as a POV from a PC (UK police person, I'm guessing) and some history of the nursing home
Would I Read It: yes, I love the premise and I had a fun time reading this excerpt
THE WITCH HUNTER by Max Seeck
Cover: dark cover in winter, red slash across it, plenty of genre markers
Excerpt: we have a victim prologue (a trope I hate because it freaks me out), and an author who gets creepily asked "Are you afraid of what you write about," which is clearly ominous given this guy writes the WITCH HUNT trilogy and the actual book is THE WITCH HUNTER
Would I Read It: too scary for me
SET MY HEART TO FIVE by Simon Stephenson
Cover: creepy wind-up dolls
Excerpt: opens like a screenplay, then we get lots of introduction to our narrator Jared, who is a bot! Ha! There are so many exclamation points!
Would I Read It: this is much too self-consciously quirky for me
WHEN THE APRICOTS BLOOM by Gina Wilkinson
Cover: texture of sloppy paintbrushing, looks very "literary novel"
Excerpt: Iraqi women Huda and Rania each encounter the Australian diplomat's wife Ally. Huda is under pressure to spy on Ally, and Rania is down on her luck but makes a new friend in Ally
Would I Read It: there is a palpable sense of danger and vulnerability in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and I'm too much of a scaredy-cat to see what happens
THREE ORDINARY GIRLS: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HANNIE SCHAFT AND THE OVERSTEEGEN SISTERS, TEENAGED SABOTEURS AND NAZI ASSASSINS by Tim Brady
Cover: image of girl looking at a black and white picture of a car (maybe I'm supposed to be historically literate enough to recognize a famous scene?)
Important note: these women assassinated Nazis, they did not assassinate people for the Nazis, I was not sure from the title and had to look at the cover copy
Excerpt: we have some history of the Oversteegen Sisters and Jo Schaft (not sure when she'll take on the name Hannie?) as well as some history of the city of Haarlem (tulip mania!) and the beginning of the Nazi invasion of Europe, including the Netherlands
Would I Read It: this kind of non-fiction isn't really my style, though it certainly is an interesting subject
WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE: A MURDER AT HARVARD AND A HALF CENTURY OF SILENCE by Becky Cooper
Cover: old, fuzzy photograph of a woman - Jane Britton?
Excerpt: narrator is a Harvard alum, returning at 30. heard story of a grad student murdered in 1969 and never solved.
Would I Read It: a key phrase is "unsolved, that is, until yesterday" -- there was no way I was going to read an unsolved true crime and get completely creeped out. But I'm really intrigued by this story, of poor Jane who didn't even get referred to by name in the Harvard ghost stories, and the navigation of the insular world of academics
CAN'T EVEN: HOW MILLENNIALS BECAME THE BURNOUT GENERATION by Anne Helen Petersen
Cover: fun illustration of the theme, the words have all fallen to the bottom of the cover
Excerpt: we only get the introduction, explaining about millennials and burnout and whatnot. I appreciate that the author does mention trying to decenter the stereotypical middle-class and white image
Would I Read It: Reading a book about millennials when I am one (and have a lot more advantages than those mentioned in the prologue) seems unbearably self-indulgent, so probably not
LORE by Alexandra Bracken
Cover: placeholder, though on Goodreads it's a Medusa statue
Excerpt: modern-day NYC, Lore is a fighting and there is a lot of violent boxing in this opening
Would I Read It: not my style
DEAREST JOSEPHINE by Caroline George
Cover: none, though now it's a pretty illustrated cover with flowers
Excerpt: epistolary, with emails between best friends Josie and Faith, and a few text messages in between. We JUST get to the edge of the book's concept, where Josephine has found old letters addressed to her but we know from the cover copy this will turn out to be written by a man in 1820
Would I Read It: the characters are a little young for me, but it's a cool meta-fiction setup
WE WERE RESTLESS THINGS by Cole Nagamatsu
Cover: GORGEOUS, photorealistic underwater with little bubbles and vivid flowers
Excerpt: I honestly skimmed this because the thought of a dead teenager texting from beyond the grave creeped me out so much
Would I Read This: see above
In conclusion, I guess it's popular for books to be scary and I am not into it one bit. But I did find some new books to add to the TBR!
Books I plan to read (out of the 30 excerpts):
THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS by Danielle Evans
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by Ken Follett
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman
WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE by Becky Cooper
June 3, 2020
What a treat to read excerpts and blurbs from upcoming books. I can plan ahead and anticipate great books and some of my favorite authors.
April 17, 2023
How I love to discover Buzz Books collections!! This one did not dissapoint! The 2023 Spring/Summer releases I most look forward to read are:
1. Throwback (love the 90s setting, and the mother-daughter difficult relationship)
2. Mobility (story of a young diplobrat whose parents are deployed overseas as FS diplomats. How can I not love this as I work for the Foreign Service as an FSN)
3. Prophet (loooove the writing, so badass)
4. The Great Reclamation (curious to discover this story set in 1940s Singapore.. what is this island?)
5. The House of Lincoln (wanting to read about Abraham Lincoln's eary days)
6. Terrace Story
7. The Dof of the North (sounds like fun)
8. The Homecoming (I mean, of course!)
9. A Shadow In Moscow (this book got me at "Soviet spy")
10. Kunstlers in Paradise (an Austria family emigrating to whimsical Los Angeles, CA on the eve of WWII)
I loved every single debut novel, and I added them all to my TBR. Last but not least, in the non-fiction section, I look forward to read The Rediscovery of America, King: A Life, and The Book of Charlie.
Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for sharing excerpts of those exciting new novels.
1. Throwback (love the 90s setting, and the mother-daughter difficult relationship)
2. Mobility (story of a young diplobrat whose parents are deployed overseas as FS diplomats. How can I not love this as I work for the Foreign Service as an FSN)
3. Prophet (loooove the writing, so badass)
4. The Great Reclamation (curious to discover this story set in 1940s Singapore.. what is this island?)
5. The House of Lincoln (wanting to read about Abraham Lincoln's eary days)
6. Terrace Story
7. The Dof of the North (sounds like fun)
8. The Homecoming (I mean, of course!)
9. A Shadow In Moscow (this book got me at "Soviet spy")
10. Kunstlers in Paradise (an Austria family emigrating to whimsical Los Angeles, CA on the eve of WWII)
I loved every single debut novel, and I added them all to my TBR. Last but not least, in the non-fiction section, I look forward to read The Rediscovery of America, King: A Life, and The Book of Charlie.
Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for sharing excerpts of those exciting new novels.
October 6, 2020
I really enjoy reading every issue of Buzz Books because every time I find many interesting books to add to my TBR. In this edition of Buzz Books 2020 : Fall/Winter i discovered books that had heard and after reading an excerpt from it I added it immediately to my TBR. I also found books that I didn't know but I look forward to learn more about them and read them.
October 24, 2020
Publishers Lunch
For those who don't know what the 'Buzz Books'-catalogues of Publishers Lunch are all about (like me), just a little bit of clarification.
Publishers Lunch also compiles seasonal Buzz Books-catalogues in which books which will probably create a buzz are included.
On the one hand these catalogues offer a simple overview of titles we should keep an eye on and on the other hand they also provide sneak previews for about 30 of those expected books which allow to see if they're appealing to you or not.
The available Buzz Books-catalogues can be consulted here.
Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter
Publishers Lunch's goal is to help you sift through the thousands of planned fall and winter releases thanks to their selection of what they think are among the most noteworthy titles, separated in four key categories: fiction, debut, non-fiction and young adult.
Not only bestselling authors as Ken Follett, Matt Haig, Jonathan Lethem, and Sue Miller are featured.
Exciting debut authors are put in the spotlight as well.
At the end of most excerpts, you will find a link to read or request the full galley from NetGalley.
These are the 30 titles for which a sneak peek is available:
FICTION
1. Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
2. In the Garden of Spite - Camilla Bruce
3. Beauty Among Ruins - J'nell Ciesielski
4. The Incredible Winston Browne - Sean Dietrich
5. The Office of Historical Corrections - Danielle Evans
6. The Evening and the Morning - Ken Follett
7. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
8. The Arrest - Jonathan Lethem
9. The Chanel Sisters - Judithe Little
10. The Blade Between - Sam J. Miller
11. Monogamy - Sue Miller
12. Black Widows - Cate Quinn
13. Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey - Kathleen Rooney
14. We Run the Tides - Vendela Vida
15. Memorial- Bryan Washington
DEBUT
16. The Push - Ashley Audrain
17. Before the Ruins - Victoria Gosling
18. Make Them Cry - Smith Henderson
19. The Prophets - Robert Jones Jr. (this book was sold at auction)
20. The Last Story of Mina Lee - Nancy Jooyoun Kim
21. The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman (this book was sold at auction)
22. The Witch Hunter - Max Seeck (this Finnish thriller is due out as a television series)
23. Set My Heart to Five - Simon Stephenson (novel about a humanlike bot has already been optioned for film)
24. When the Apricots Bloom - Gina Wilkinson
NON-FICTION
25. Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Hannie Schaft and the Oversteegen Sisters, Teenaged Saboteurs and Nazi Assassins - Tim Brady (inspirational World War II story)
26. We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence - Becky Cooper (true crime)
27. Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation - Anne Helen Petersen
YOUNG ADULT
28. Lore- Alexandra Bracken
29. Dearest Josephine - Caroline George
30. We Were Restless Things - Cole Nagamatsu
Evaluation
This catalogue contains lots of intriguing titles, some of which already figured on my TBR-list and others which were added now by browsing it.
Although I do like to find titles on my own and I clearly have a preference for books that are less known by the greater public, this catalogue was interesting because it put books on my radar that I hadn't heard of before.
Furthermore being able to read the sneak peeks of some of the mentioned titles was nice, because that way it was possible to see if the writing style was entirely to my liking.
A single point for improvement would be that the titles for which no sneak peek is available would be clickable so that a short content appears immediately. Otherwise I'm very satisfied with this source of inspiration.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for providing a digital copy of this catalogue in exchange for an honest review.
For those who don't know what the 'Buzz Books'-catalogues of Publishers Lunch are all about (like me), just a little bit of clarification.
Publishers Lunch is the book industry's 'daily essential read', shared with approximately 45,000 publishing people every day. Each report gathers together stories from all over the web and print of interest to the professional trade book community, along with original reporting, plus a little perspective and the occasional wisecrack added in.
Publishers Lunch also compiles seasonal Buzz Books-catalogues in which books which will probably create a buzz are included.
On the one hand these catalogues offer a simple overview of titles we should keep an eye on and on the other hand they also provide sneak previews for about 30 of those expected books which allow to see if they're appealing to you or not.
The available Buzz Books-catalogues can be consulted here.
Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter
Publishers Lunch's goal is to help you sift through the thousands of planned fall and winter releases thanks to their selection of what they think are among the most noteworthy titles, separated in four key categories: fiction, debut, non-fiction and young adult.
Not only bestselling authors as Ken Follett, Matt Haig, Jonathan Lethem, and Sue Miller are featured.
Exciting debut authors are put in the spotlight as well.
At the end of most excerpts, you will find a link to read or request the full galley from NetGalley.
These are the 30 titles for which a sneak peek is available:
FICTION
1. Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
2. In the Garden of Spite - Camilla Bruce
3. Beauty Among Ruins - J'nell Ciesielski
4. The Incredible Winston Browne - Sean Dietrich
5. The Office of Historical Corrections - Danielle Evans
6. The Evening and the Morning - Ken Follett
7. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
8. The Arrest - Jonathan Lethem
9. The Chanel Sisters - Judithe Little
10. The Blade Between - Sam J. Miller
11. Monogamy - Sue Miller
12. Black Widows - Cate Quinn
13. Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey - Kathleen Rooney
14. We Run the Tides - Vendela Vida
15. Memorial- Bryan Washington
DEBUT
16. The Push - Ashley Audrain
17. Before the Ruins - Victoria Gosling
18. Make Them Cry - Smith Henderson
19. The Prophets - Robert Jones Jr. (this book was sold at auction)
20. The Last Story of Mina Lee - Nancy Jooyoun Kim
21. The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman (this book was sold at auction)
22. The Witch Hunter - Max Seeck (this Finnish thriller is due out as a television series)
23. Set My Heart to Five - Simon Stephenson (novel about a humanlike bot has already been optioned for film)
24. When the Apricots Bloom - Gina Wilkinson
NON-FICTION
25. Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Hannie Schaft and the Oversteegen Sisters, Teenaged Saboteurs and Nazi Assassins - Tim Brady (inspirational World War II story)
26. We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence - Becky Cooper (true crime)
27. Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation - Anne Helen Petersen
YOUNG ADULT
28. Lore- Alexandra Bracken
29. Dearest Josephine - Caroline George
30. We Were Restless Things - Cole Nagamatsu
Evaluation
This catalogue contains lots of intriguing titles, some of which already figured on my TBR-list and others which were added now by browsing it.
Although I do like to find titles on my own and I clearly have a preference for books that are less known by the greater public, this catalogue was interesting because it put books on my radar that I hadn't heard of before.
Furthermore being able to read the sneak peeks of some of the mentioned titles was nice, because that way it was possible to see if the writing style was entirely to my liking.
A single point for improvement would be that the titles for which no sneak peek is available would be clickable so that a short content appears immediately. Otherwise I'm very satisfied with this source of inspiration.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for providing a digital copy of this catalogue in exchange for an honest review.
September 23, 2020
Buzz Books is the perfect way to get a head start and great suggestions for the newest “must-have” reads! In this edition I was happy to see four books that I had already read and I know they are worth the Buzz! Several other excerpts from books led me to enlarge my ToBeRead list and I look forward to delving into these books by both familiar authors and newbies! Highly recommend this book when you want a sneak peak at what’s coming up! I received an ARC of this book from NetGAlley and Publishers Lunch in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley #BuzzBooks2020:Fall/Winter. #PublishersLunch
July 12, 2020
I like these collections of next season's titles with excerpts. This one is a mix of fiction by previously published authors, debut novels, and some nonfiction. I don't read much nonfiction so I read part or all of each book in the fiction and debut novels. I found five books that appealed to me personally.
In the Garden of Spite is by Camilla Bruce. This one is about the real serial killer Belle Gunness, who was active in Illinois and Indiana until 1908. I'm not sure how much of the book is factual and how much is fiction, but it looks like a fascinating read.
Beauty Among Ruins is by J'nell Clesielski. It is a romance that takes place after WWI in Scotland. A Scottish nobleman has opened his home for injured soldiers to convalesce and recover from their injuries. The heroine is a brash, shallow young woman (initially) who has been sent to England to stay with relatives. She trains with her more sensible cousin as a nurse, and both are assigned to work at the estate. My favorite character from the excerpt was the head nurse, or Matron, who almost immediately assigned the spoiled young party girl to clean bedpans for a month. Quote about the Matron: "During the Boer War, she bandaged an entire unit using two of her petticoats and a horse blanket."
The Incredible Winston Brown is by Sean Dietrich. The book opens by introducing three central characters who haven't met each other yet. Jessie Williams is a very young deaf girl who is picked up from her residential school one day by a woman who claims she is her aunt. The aunt is extremely impatient with her and angry. Jessie doesn't know where the woman is taking her. The second characters is Eleanor Hughes, who is attending a wedding in Moab, Florida, with the man she has dated for decades. Eleanor is wishing that she had married and had children. The next scene opens with Winston Brown who is visiting a doctor in Pensacola, Florida, and receiving some bad news. I haven't read this book yet, but I suspect that anyone who likes books by Carolyn Brown will probably like this one also.
The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans surprised me. When the book started, I didn't care at all for the main character, Claire. Then the author slowly revealed parts of Claire's past that made me look past her self destructive behaviors. She is stuck in grief and guilt and unable to move on. Claire starts college but it isn't long before she does something that leads to accusations of racism against her, and polarizes the college campus. This book is very timely as it addresses issues of race, symbols from the past, and perception.
Ken Follett's book, The Evening and the Morning, takes place in the time of the Vikings. They attack a small village by the sea. The main character is a young shipwright who had planned on running away that day with his betrothed to settle in another village. He survives but his father and his betrothed are killed, and the village is in ruins. This book is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth.
In the Garden of Spite is by Camilla Bruce. This one is about the real serial killer Belle Gunness, who was active in Illinois and Indiana until 1908. I'm not sure how much of the book is factual and how much is fiction, but it looks like a fascinating read.
Beauty Among Ruins is by J'nell Clesielski. It is a romance that takes place after WWI in Scotland. A Scottish nobleman has opened his home for injured soldiers to convalesce and recover from their injuries. The heroine is a brash, shallow young woman (initially) who has been sent to England to stay with relatives. She trains with her more sensible cousin as a nurse, and both are assigned to work at the estate. My favorite character from the excerpt was the head nurse, or Matron, who almost immediately assigned the spoiled young party girl to clean bedpans for a month. Quote about the Matron: "During the Boer War, she bandaged an entire unit using two of her petticoats and a horse blanket."
The Incredible Winston Brown is by Sean Dietrich. The book opens by introducing three central characters who haven't met each other yet. Jessie Williams is a very young deaf girl who is picked up from her residential school one day by a woman who claims she is her aunt. The aunt is extremely impatient with her and angry. Jessie doesn't know where the woman is taking her. The second characters is Eleanor Hughes, who is attending a wedding in Moab, Florida, with the man she has dated for decades. Eleanor is wishing that she had married and had children. The next scene opens with Winston Brown who is visiting a doctor in Pensacola, Florida, and receiving some bad news. I haven't read this book yet, but I suspect that anyone who likes books by Carolyn Brown will probably like this one also.
The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans surprised me. When the book started, I didn't care at all for the main character, Claire. Then the author slowly revealed parts of Claire's past that made me look past her self destructive behaviors. She is stuck in grief and guilt and unable to move on. Claire starts college but it isn't long before she does something that leads to accusations of racism against her, and polarizes the college campus. This book is very timely as it addresses issues of race, symbols from the past, and perception.
Ken Follett's book, The Evening and the Morning, takes place in the time of the Vikings. They attack a small village by the sea. The main character is a young shipwright who had planned on running away that day with his betrothed to settle in another village. He survives but his father and his betrothed are killed, and the village is in ruins. This book is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth.
June 15, 2022
A comprehensive guide that includes upcoming books for Fall/Winter! Great preview for those of us who review on Netgalley! I loved how this guide included summaries and excerpts for select books, especially for the debut authors!
May 26, 2020
This is my first time reading one of the Buzz Books, and I am pretty much hooked. The Fall/Winter 2020 Publishing Preview provided an expanded list of books coming out, categorized as The Notables, Highly Anticipated, Emerging Voices, Debut, Commercial Fiction, and Nonfiction including Political & Current Events, Social Issues, Science & Technology, History & Crime, Essay, Criticism & More, and Biography & Memoir. Although there was very little information provided for these upcoming titles - basically author, title, publisher and publication date - going through the list definitely got me excited about new books coming out!
The Buzz Books Fall/Winter 2020 collection includes excerpts from books in a number of categories including Fiction (15), Debut (9), Nonfiction (3), and Young Adult (3) Most of the book profiles include a short summary, followed by an excerpt - usually a chapter or two, and concluding with an about the author section and contact information.
I found a number of books I'm interesting in reading and reviewing among the Fall/Winter 2020 offerings. The nice thing is, I can usually tell if I will enjoy the book within the first few chapters, so this format was perfect for me. I was able to get a bit of the story while also familiarizing myself with the voice and the writer's take on storytelling, characterization and plotting.
I'll be adding Buzz Books to my list of resources for locating new books to read and review. It's a valuable tool, and one that offers me the chance to learn more about a wide range of books coming out.
The Buzz Books Fall/Winter 2020 collection includes excerpts from books in a number of categories including Fiction (15), Debut (9), Nonfiction (3), and Young Adult (3) Most of the book profiles include a short summary, followed by an excerpt - usually a chapter or two, and concluding with an about the author section and contact information.
I found a number of books I'm interesting in reading and reviewing among the Fall/Winter 2020 offerings. The nice thing is, I can usually tell if I will enjoy the book within the first few chapters, so this format was perfect for me. I was able to get a bit of the story while also familiarizing myself with the voice and the writer's take on storytelling, characterization and plotting.
I'll be adding Buzz Books to my list of resources for locating new books to read and review. It's a valuable tool, and one that offers me the chance to learn more about a wide range of books coming out.
July 21, 2020
Buzz Books is such a resource! Sure, I follow publishers' announcements, hang out on bookstagram, and read "highly anticipated book" lists, but I still learn something new each time Buzz Books comes out.
Structurally, there's a list at the front, with titles, authors, publishers, and publication dates. (There's Fiction, with subheds for The Notables, Highly Anticipated, Emerging Voices; followed by Debut and Commercial Fiction. Nonfiction is divided into Politics & Current Events; Social Issues; Science & Technology; History & Crime; Essays, Criticism, & More; and Biography & Memoir.)
This giant, awesome list is followed by excerpts from 30 books.
Truly, I'd love to read the entire list of books mentioned in Buzz Books, much less all 30 that are excerpted. But as we all know, there are too many books and too little time. So, I'm especially grateful to Buzz Books for not only putting all these on my radar, but also providing excerpts so I can prioritize those that seem most interesting or compelling to me. I love reviewing books in my "wheelhouse" and getting to hype excellent forthcoming books - thank you to Buzz Books for helping me do both better!
Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for a free e-arc of this title. Please note it's available for free to everyone online - just check out http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ or wherever you get your e-books!
Structurally, there's a list at the front, with titles, authors, publishers, and publication dates. (There's Fiction, with subheds for The Notables, Highly Anticipated, Emerging Voices; followed by Debut and Commercial Fiction. Nonfiction is divided into Politics & Current Events; Social Issues; Science & Technology; History & Crime; Essays, Criticism, & More; and Biography & Memoir.)
This giant, awesome list is followed by excerpts from 30 books.
Truly, I'd love to read the entire list of books mentioned in Buzz Books, much less all 30 that are excerpted. But as we all know, there are too many books and too little time. So, I'm especially grateful to Buzz Books for not only putting all these on my radar, but also providing excerpts so I can prioritize those that seem most interesting or compelling to me. I love reviewing books in my "wheelhouse" and getting to hype excellent forthcoming books - thank you to Buzz Books for helping me do both better!
Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for a free e-arc of this title. Please note it's available for free to everyone online - just check out http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ or wherever you get your e-books!
May 22, 2020
In this troubled time of curbside pickup, the Buzz Books 2020: Fall and Winter is an invaluable resource for finding new books and authors to read.
When looking for a new book to read in a bookstore or library, everyone reads the blurb on the back or the front flap. If intrigued, most people will read the first chapter or two. This compendium of books offers the same ability, for free and in your own home—no face covering required.
The books included here run the gamut of genres with literary fiction, mystery, science fiction, young adult, and non-fiction all included. I’m sure most readers will find a few books that fit their tastes. Publisher’s Lunch also has a Spring/Summer 2020 Book Buzz available for those impatient readers looking for a book now. They also publish a separate Book Buzz for romance fans. All three books are free for Kindle readers on Amazon.
For book reviewers, there is a NetGalley link to request the book. At least one book is available to read now on Edelweiss+ too because I had already downloaded it before this Buzz Book was released. Overall, the Buzz Books 2020: Fall and Winter is a useful tool for readers. The only downside is the lack of genre labeling but a quick read of the summary can usually provide the answer. 4 stars!
Thanks to Publisher’s Lunch and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
When looking for a new book to read in a bookstore or library, everyone reads the blurb on the back or the front flap. If intrigued, most people will read the first chapter or two. This compendium of books offers the same ability, for free and in your own home—no face covering required.
The books included here run the gamut of genres with literary fiction, mystery, science fiction, young adult, and non-fiction all included. I’m sure most readers will find a few books that fit their tastes. Publisher’s Lunch also has a Spring/Summer 2020 Book Buzz available for those impatient readers looking for a book now. They also publish a separate Book Buzz for romance fans. All three books are free for Kindle readers on Amazon.
For book reviewers, there is a NetGalley link to request the book. At least one book is available to read now on Edelweiss+ too because I had already downloaded it before this Buzz Book was released. Overall, the Buzz Books 2020: Fall and Winter is a useful tool for readers. The only downside is the lack of genre labeling but a quick read of the summary can usually provide the answer. 4 stars!
Thanks to Publisher’s Lunch and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
June 11, 2020
As a publishing professional, I've been reading the Buzz Books series from Publishers Lunch for several years. They're a great way to learn about and read excerpts of up-and-coming authors and new books which will be published soon. This Fall/Winter 2020 edition offers a snapshot of upcoming fiction and nonfiction books by established authors and debut authors from a wide range of publishers.
You don't have to be in the publishing industry to access this book — it's available as a free e-book on Amazon, and can help any avid reader learn more about high profile books coming out this fall.
I found the mystery books more appealing than many of the novels included in this edition. Based on the excerpts in Buzz Books, these are the books I’m looking forward to reading when they're available:
• We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
• Before the Ruins by Victoria Gosling
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• Cher Ami & Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney
• When the Apricots Bloom by Gina Wilkinson
• The Last Story of Mina Lee
• Set my Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson
• Can't Even by Anne Helen Petersen
You don't have to be in the publishing industry to access this book — it's available as a free e-book on Amazon, and can help any avid reader learn more about high profile books coming out this fall.
I found the mystery books more appealing than many of the novels included in this edition. Based on the excerpts in Buzz Books, these are the books I’m looking forward to reading when they're available:
• We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
• Before the Ruins by Victoria Gosling
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• Cher Ami & Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney
• When the Apricots Bloom by Gina Wilkinson
• The Last Story of Mina Lee
• Set my Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson
• Can't Even by Anne Helen Petersen
June 11, 2020
Thank you to #NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this publication. Where has this been all my life? I was not familiar with this publication of excerpts from upcoming books but I am going to try to never miss another one. Buzz Books is a great way to find out what new books are coming out as well as discover new authors. In this issue I was introduced to at least half a dozen new authors that I want to read as well as another half dozen books from authors I know and love. This edition contained summaries and a few chapters each for about thirty upcoming books, just enough to get you really interested in the book. Most of the previews also include a direct link to the book on NetGalley so that you can request the books you want to read. I highly recommend this as a wonderful way to find your next read (or your next twenty reads).
July 17, 2020
Buzz Books 2020 Fall/Winter by Publishers Lunch
This is a quick snapshot of how NetGalley operates and there system. Then it’s a look at upcoming Fall and Winter books coming out that is a wonderful mixture of fresh new authors and established authors. I think it’s a great way to get a synopsis of titles and authors that you might not normally have considered because so many books come out on a daily basis, but this just gives you a chance to view a select mixture! I hope to get The Chanel Sisters, Black Widows, and The Thursday Murder Club just to name a few! I normally would not have chosen these books, but I hopefully will get them, if not I have them in my calendar to purchase because they sound fun and interesting!
I received this from NetGalley and I am willingly giving my thoughts and opinions!
This is a quick snapshot of how NetGalley operates and there system. Then it’s a look at upcoming Fall and Winter books coming out that is a wonderful mixture of fresh new authors and established authors. I think it’s a great way to get a synopsis of titles and authors that you might not normally have considered because so many books come out on a daily basis, but this just gives you a chance to view a select mixture! I hope to get The Chanel Sisters, Black Widows, and The Thursday Murder Club just to name a few! I normally would not have chosen these books, but I hopefully will get them, if not I have them in my calendar to purchase because they sound fun and interesting!
I received this from NetGalley and I am willingly giving my thoughts and opinions!
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