by Kelly Pickerill
For my contribution to the 2014 preview, I’m gonna talk about some titles that I haven’t necessarily been able to read, but that I think you will be excited about because of who the authors are.
Frog Music, Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown, April 1st)
A few years ago, Emma Donoghue wrote a book called Room that was shortlisted by the Man Booker in 2010. I wrote about it here. It kept me up almost all night after I made the mistake of cracking it open at ten p.m. to “read a few pages.” Her new novel, Frog Music, while it doesn’t seem maybe quite as harrowing, is already getting great buzz and showing up on several other “must read in 2014” lists. It is based on an unsolved murder in San Francisco in 1876, and features a cast of characters as varied as a burlesque dancer and an ex-tightrope walker. Sounds different, no? I thought so. Can’t wait.
A Well-Tempered Heart, Jan-Philipp Sendker (Other Press, January 21st)
To say we’re “sneaking a peek” at this book is sort of a misnomer because it came out yesterday, but I’m gonna do it anyway. The first novel by German author Jan-Philipp Sendker, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, was a book club favorite of 2013. A young woman named Julia travels from New York to Burma trying to track down her missing father. Her journey leads her to the small village in which he grew up, where a mysterious stranger who may know something about her father — he certainly seems to know an impossible amount about her — begins to tell her the life story of a boy named Tin Win, a story of her father’s past. This sequel finds Julia ten years later, where again Burma is calling to her, this time to help her out of the funk her life has fallen into. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was a delightful read — heartwarming and true — and A Well-Tempered Heart promises to be also.
Saga 3, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image Comics, March 19th)
Lemuria is in the process of beefing up our graphic novel section (we want to be cool, after all), so look out for it those of you who are saying “it’s about time.” The first two volumes of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples, are amazing. I will be the first to admit I don’t regularly devour graphic novels, but I loved these. The story is awesome, the characters are awesome, and the art is awesome. The third volume comes out April 1st, and I can’t wait! Even if you don’t normally read graphic novels yourself, come by and see what we have and think about picking up volume one today.
The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell (Random House, September 4th)
David Mitchell has a new book this year! I don’t know anything about it — I don’t think many do (I found a teeny description in a BookPage article) — but I am so looking forward to it. Fans of his know what a versatile writer he is: he’s mastered everything from the nested narrative, speculative novel, Cloud Atlas, to the bildungsroman darling Black Swan Green. What can’t he do? The new one is called The Bone Clocks and it can tentatively be expected on September 4th. What more do we need to know?
Bark, Lorrie Moore (Knopf, February 25th)
And finally, some short story love. Lorrie Moore’s writing is amazing. I loved her last novel, A Gate at the Stairs, but her short stories are even better. Come out to see her present her new collection, Bark, here on Thursday, March 27th, at a double event with Susan Minot! More to come about this exciting event later.
More, please!
in list form:
Can’t and Won’t
by Lydia Davis
stories (FSG)
April 8th
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
by Haruki Murakami
(author of 1Q84)
novel (Knopf)
August 12th
Lost for Words
by Edward St. Aubyn
(author of the Patrick Melrose novels)
novel (FSG)
May 20th
Lila
by Marilynne Robinson
(author of Gilead)
novel (FSG)
fall 2014
Summer House with Swimming Pool
by Herman Koch
(author of The Dinner)
novel (Hogarth)
June 3rd
The Magician’s Land
by Lev Grossman
(author of The Magicians)
novel (Viking)
August 5th
New Life, No Instructions
by Gail Caldwell
(author of Let’s Take the Long Way Home)
memoir (Random House)
April 1st
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