Upcoming Favorites by Scott

A new year means one thing: a new slate of books to be released.  If you are anything like me then you often find yourself awaiting certain books to hit the shelves.

Here are a handful of the ones that I am excited about this spring:

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash—Rash made quite a splash (pardon the rhyme) with last year’s The Cove.  If you like Appalachian-tinged tales of longing and pain then this new short story collection promises to be quite the read.

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout—I loved Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteredge, a collection of stories tied to gather by the title character.  This book is about two adult brothers who try to make sense of the accident that claimed their father’s life when they were just boys.

A Map of Tulsa by Benjamin Lytal—Lytal is an Oklahoma who left for the big lights of New York City and is a former staff member at the New Yorker magazine.  His literary debut is about a college student returning and trying to make sense of his hometown, Tulsa.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini—Hosseini has delighted with his two previous novels, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.  This book is supposedly a multi-generational family saga.  With Hosseini’s name attached to it I don’t really care what it’s about.  I’ll read anything of his.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill—Through the powers of Advanced Reading Copies I am actually already reading this latest by Joe Hill.  You may not recognize the name but you know his dad, a little author by the name of Stephen King.  Hill is a great writer in his own right, and this latest is shaping up to be as good, and frightening, as anything you could expect from the better known member of the family.

Transatlantic by Colum McCann—My favorite book of 2009 was the National Book Award winning novel about a guy attempting to walk a tight rope between the World Trade Towers by McCann.  That book was lyrical and heartbreaking.  He’s finally back with this story about three different real life trips to Ireland by Frederick Douglass, Jack Alcock and George Mitchell, respectively.  It promises to be a somber reflection on the quiet moments that lurk behind great historical events.

Happy Reading!