True confession: ever since I started writing about books online like eight years ago, I knew that fall is publishing’s big season, but I never really thought much about why. It just is, you know? This week I stumbled across a Vox article that points out some big reasons – the holiday shopping season, and book awards season. Well, duh!
Sponsored by TarcherPerigee, publisher of Rescue Road by Peter Zheutlin
In the follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Rescue Road, acclaimed journalist Peter Zheutlin offers a heartwarming and often humorous new look into the world of rescue dogs. Sharing lessons from his own experiences adopting Labs with large personalities as well as stories and advice from dozens of families and rescue advocates, Zheutlin reveals the surprising and inspiring life lessons rescue dogs can teach us. For anyone who loves, lives with, or has ever wanted a dog, this charming book shows how the dogs whose lives we save can change ours for the better too.
Point is, October is another month chock full of new books to add to your TBR (and perhaps to your holiday shopping plans?). Although it seems like the buzziest titles this month have been fiction, I’ve still got several nonfiction books I’m excited about from the first half of this month:
The Future is History by Masha Gessen – This book is a chunkster (528 pages!) about how Russia’s promise for democracy less than a generation ago have been crushed by emerging Russian totalitarianism.
From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty – America’s funniest mortician is back with a book exploring the different global rituals we have for caring for our dead. I’m a couple chapters into this one and really like it.
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates – This might be the buzziest nonfiction book of October. The book collects new and previously published essays reflect on the election of America’s first black president and the subsequent backlash that led to our current administration.
A Crime in the Family by Sacha Batthyany – A journalist confronts his family’s past as Nazi supporters and investigates what happened at a party, hosted by his great aunt in March 1945, where 180 enslaved Jewish laborers were shot and killed.
A Moonless, Starless Sky by Alexis Okeowo – A work of literary journalism exploring how ordinary Africans are resisting the wave of fundamentalism currently sweeping across Africa.
Code Girls by Liza Mundy – I think I’ve written about this one in the newsletter before, but oh well, it’s great. Mundy gets on the bandwagon of books on the contributions of women to science by looking at the female codebreakers of World War II.
Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga – A journalist sets out to document the lives and investigate the deaths of seven indigenous high school students found dead in Thunder Bay, Ontario between 2000 and 2011.
Grant by Ron Chernow – I’m not usually into giant biographies of old white dudes, but Ron Chernow’s next big project is always worth a mention. In this book he looks into the lesser-known facets of the life of Ulysses S. Grant, “whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.”
Nasty Women, edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding – There’s been a lot of excitement about this on one among the Book Riot community. The book features essays from an amazing array of women – Cheryl Strayed! Samantha Irby! Sarah Hepola! – looking at how we got to President Trump, and what we can do to move forward.
Periods Gone Public by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf – I didn’t know that I wanted to read a book on “menstruation in the current cultural and political landscape” that will “investigate the new wave of period activism taking the world by storm” until I saw it on a friend’s Instagram account. I’m so curious!
Nonfiction Over at the Riot
Looking to get into audiobooks? Or looking for some short books to fill a little bit of time? Emma Nichols recommends six short nonfiction audiobooks to expand your mind.
Love cooking and memoirs? Pierce Alquist has a roundup of 10 memoirs by women in the culinary world. Related, Dana Staves asks why there aren’t more LGBTQ food memoirs.
Into journaling? Hannah Engler writes about her experiment in keeping a journal inspired by David Sedaris’ newest book, Theft by Finding.
Want to learn more about athletes and protest? Shaun Manning has five suggested reads for you.
Love Bill Bryson? Emily Polson reflects on her discovery of Bryson’s work, and his status as “Iowa’s central claim to bookish fame.”
And that’s a wrap for this week’s newsletter. Catch up with me on Instagram and Twitter @kimthedork, or send an email to kim@riotnewmedia.com. Happy reading!