Here’s a selection of what’s brand new on the shelves in October. For even more New & Noteworthy titles this month, check out The Independent.
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Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
Susan Orlean
Ever since Rin Tin Tin was discovered on a WWI battlefield in 1918, he’s been considered one of history’s most-famous canines—an international icon with radio programs, TV shows, and movies documenting his legacy. This novel, from the author of The Orchid Thief, explores the changing influence of 20th-century entertainment as well as the incredible bond between humans and dogs. You’ll be able to hear Susan Orlean talk about Rin Tin Tin in person at the Texas Book Festival later this month.
Washington: A Life
Ron Chernow
Did you know Washington was the only founding father who lacked a college education? Or that, as a child, he seemed to possess a magical immunity to bullets? This fascinating new biography sheds light on little-known facts about our first President, his not-actually-wooden teeth, his slaves (including Ona Judge and William Lee), his wife Martha, and much more. Washington has never seemed more real than in this detailed portrait by acclaimed author and historian, Ron Chernow.
The Barbarian Nurseries
Héctor Tobar
Celebrated as Los Angeles’s “great contemporary novel,” The Barbarian Nurseries tells the story of Araceli, the Mexican live-in maid at a wealthy household on the Pacific coast. When the financial recession causes a fight between her employers and they mysteriously disappear from the house, Araceli must take the two young boys who have been left behind on a journey to find their Mexican grandfather. Fans of T.C. Boyle will admire Tobar’s descriptions of L.A., compelling plot twists, and deft prose. Tobar will be reading at the Texas Book Festival later this month.
Aleph
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho, the internationally best-selling author of The Alchemist, addresses crises of faith in his most personal novel to date. While Paulo (the novel’s clairvoyant, time-traveling main character) travels between Africa, Europe, and Asia on a quest of spiritual renewal, he meets Hilal, a young violinist, who Paulo loved and betrayed five hundred years earlier. This novel provides a unique perspective on time, space, human connections, and the search for happiness.
Fiction Ruined My Family
Jeanne Darst
In this tragicomic memoir, Jeanne Darst details her childhood in a moneyed family “temporarily” out of money. As a child, Jeanne never experiences the debutante balls and equestrian trophies of her family’s past, and as an adult, she follows in her father’s not-so-successful novelist footsteps, and develops her mother’s serious drinking habits. Is there such a thing as a sober, happy writer? This witty book aims to find out, and it has received rave reviews from Ira Glass, Tad Friend, and Sloane Crosley, among others.
Feast Day of Fools: A Novel
James Lee Burke
In Burke’s sequel to Rain Gods, Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland investigates a grisly murder tied to issues of politics, immigration, and religion. Including a charismatic preacher, a psychopathic serial killer, and a government agent on the run, Feast Day of Fools has been particularly praised for its poetic depiction of the landscape along the Texas-Mexico border. Some reviewers have called it the best effort yet from this two-time Edgar Award winner.
Seriously… I’m Kidding
Ellen DeGeneres
Who doesn’t love Ellen? She has judged American Idol contestants so hilariously, inhabited the voice of a fish in Finding Nemo so charmingly, and hosted The Ellen DeGeneres Show so successfully. And she also dances very well. In this book’s prologue, Ellen promises to leave “no stone unturned, no door unopened, no window unbroken, no rug unvacuumed, [and] no ivories untickled.” That’s probably all you need to know.
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