Reading Ahead: August 2013, part 1

How do I make these lists?  I'm sure there's someplace that would list everything for me, and then I could just copy and paste it here.  However, that's not how the lists come to be.  Instead, I keep a running list for each month while I'm ordering titles for the library.  In some cases, the titles I add are by well-known best-selling authors and fans of these authors know well in advance of new publications anyway.  However, in other cases, I put an asterisk or "star" next to the title because, for one reason or another, the title is particularly noteworthy.  It might be gaining lots of critical praise, or be the start to a new series, or something from a smaller publisher that is getting lots of accolades from early reviews.  In any case, August has quite a few of these on the list, so here they all are!  Now, let me tell you why...

The Daughters of Mars, by Thomas Keneally.  Does the author's name mean anything to you?  It should--this is the same man who wrote Schindler's List back in 1982.  Here, Keneally tells the story of two sisters who are changed forever, and in so many ways, by the First World War.  Reviewers are calling this "vast", "epic", "unforgettable" and "remarkable." 

The Husband’s Secret, by Liane Moriarty.  I loved Australian author Moriarty's last novel, The Hypnotist's Love Story.  In her new novel, Cecilia Fitzpatrick has found a letter from her husband, to be opened in the event of his death.  It contains a deep, dark secret that will change her life forever.  The only problem?  Cecilia's husband is still very much alive when she discovers the letter.  This sounds intense--I can hardly wait.

Red Horse, by Alex Adams.  Second in a post-apocalyptic series from Adams, following first novel White Horse, which I reviewed here.  Following a different thread out of the chaos described in the first book, we find Emma Frane trying to manage in the tenuous new dystopian society.  When she loses the last thing she had to hold on to, she flees City One and travels to find her remaining family...and some answers.  Adams set a gripping pace with her first in the series--I definitely expect her to do the same here.

Night Film, by Marisha Pessl.  Pessl, also the author of the critically acclaimed debut Special Topics in Calamity Physics, returns with a tale of suspense that sounds compelling and wildly creepy.  Beautiful, young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan, and though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative reporter Scott McGrath suspects otherwise.  Ashley was the daughter of reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova, who seems to have a family curse following him.  But McGrath and Cordova have a long history, and McGrath might not be able to escape unscathed this time.  I might save this for a little October reading!

Approaching the Speed of Light, by Victoria Lustbader.  I loved Lustbader's Stone Creek, and after a long hiatus, she's back.  Jody seems to have a lot going for him--a good job, friends, family, women.  But a secret past he has spent years burying will not stay buried, affecting everything he touches, until encounters with three women change his course forever.  Lustbader has a talent for the subtleties of human emotion--this should be powerful, though-provoking stuff.

I'll be back Thursday with more titles to look forward to in August.  In the meantime, happy reading!