~post by Joe
The fall season in the book industry is always the one to keep your eyes open for. This is the time when the heavy hitters have releases for the holiday season. I’m especially excited this year as there are many long anticipated works on the schedule. These are a few of these books that have particularly captured my attention and I hope that at least one of these strikes your fancy.
Dodger by Sir Terry Pratchett
Release Date: September 25th
Since I was introduced to the works of Terry Pratchett by a couple of dear friends about ten years ago, there has not been a fall season that hasn’t included a book by him. Last year, his Discworld novel, Snuff, was both one of my favorite Pratchett tales and also one of my favorite books of the year. This fall brings us a stand alone novel called Dodger that tells the story of an artful young street urchin trying to figure out the whys and werefores of an assault upon a strange girl. A deft combination of fantasy and history, Dodger rubs elbows with such characters as Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, and Sweeny Todd. Sure to be a great read for any age.
The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies by David Thomson
Release Date: October 16th
One of the books I’m most looking forward to this fall, The Big Screen “…is a wide-ranging narrative about the movies and their signal role in modern life.” I can’t tell you enough of how much I love David Thomson’s writing. His The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (now in its 5th edition!) has been a mandatory book on every film lover’s bookshelves since the first edition was published back in 1975. His book Rosebud is a riveting insight into whether or not Orson Welles was a genius, a charlatan, neither or both and is my favorite biography of the man, narrowly edging out the actor Simon Callow’s 2 volume study of Welles. Reading David Thomson is like sitting in a diner, late at night, with a cup of coffee and a slice of pie and having a delightful, recursive conversation, full of asides, about cinema and hollywood till the early morning light. I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy yet and I’m still not quite sure about what the book is about (beyond the story of movies) but that doesn’t prevent me from predicting that it will be one of my top three books for the year.
Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956 by Anne Applebaum
Release Date: November 27th
Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction, was a phenomenal history of the Soviet Union’s archipelago of prisons. Fully documented, it was a depressing and informative work of history that serves a solid companion piece to the works of Solzhenitsyn. Now, we finally have her followup, Iron Curtain, which traces how the Soviet Union cemented its control of Eastern Europe following the end of World War II up to the failed Hungarian uprising of 1956. I’m sure it’ll be controversial and I’m sure to enjoy it, I just snagged a copy and can’t wait to dig in.
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 by William Manchester and Paul Reid
Release Date: November 6th
I can’t believe this book is actually coming out, it is in my hands this very moment! A highly anticipated book, this concluding volume of the three volume biography of Churchill finally appears eight years after the original author’s death, eleven years since I read volume two, and twenty-five years after volume two was originally published. Picking up where Alone, 1932-1940 left off, William Manchester’s hand picked successor, Paul Reid takes The British Bulldog from his ascension to Prime Minister after World War II rolled into existence on the backs of the Polish to his death in 1965. I’m about 300 pages into this 1000 page tome and I can say it is quite worth the wait.
BookPeople 
I have been waiting nearly a quarter century for Defender of the Realm…I can’t believe you have a copy in hand. You lucky dog! Enjoy it, but don’t gloat….