For Young Adults:
Liar
By Justine Larbalestier
September 29, Bloomsbury USA
This book is from the point of view of someone who freely admits she’s a compulsive liar. The protagonist, who is processing the death of her boyfriend—if he was, in fact, her boyfriend—provides a perfect introduction to the unreliable narrator.
For Middle Readers:
The Magician’s Elephant
By Kate DiCamillo
September 8, Candlewick
The author of The Tale of Despereaux conjures a fantastic fable about an orphan named Peter and his long-lost sister. When Peter asks a fortune-teller the best way to engineer a reunion, the soothsayer commands him to “follow the elephant.” The result sends Peter on the type of adventure that seems to happen only to orphans in young-adult novels.
The Humbling
By Philip Roth
November 2, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Philip Roth is one of the country’s most decorated authors, winning the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN/Nabokov Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award, among others. It’s strange, then, that the protagonist of his newest book has lost all confidence. The celebrated actor no longer feels at home on stage, and he has to learn to get through his most challenging performance: life in his 60s.
Best Friends Forever
By Jennifer Weiner
July 14, Atria
Though released in the summer, this novel from In Her Shoes author Jennifer Weiner has a back-to-school feel, since it involves two characters revisiting who they were in high school. A pair of childhood best friends—until one was anointed “popular” as a teen, leaving her geeky BFF behind—are reunited as adults when the former teen queen runs afoul of a problem that can only be helped by her one-time dorky pal. The resulting adventure is way too hard to inscribe in a yearbook.
I, Alex Cross
By James Patterson
November 16, Little, Brown and Company
Our neighbor James Patterson adds another installment to his über-successful series of Alex Cross mysteries. This time, it’s personal: Detective Alex Cross has to investigate the murder of his own niece. Talk about skeletons in the family closet.
The White Queen
By Philippa Gregory
August 18, Touchstone
The author of The Other Boleyn Girl returns for a story with more crowns, more status-seeking countrymen, more corsets—and even stickier ends. Instead of a Tudor king and his wives, Gregory works her magic on the Plantaganets and “White Queen” Elizabeth Woodville, whose sons became the “missing princes” in the Tower of London. Why wasn’t history class ever this steamy and full of intrigue?
Images of America: Mount Vernon
By Larry H. Spruill
June 15, Arcadia Publishing
Sure, this is technically a summer book, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to recommend this collection of historic photographs from Mount Vernon. (Mayor Clinton I. Young, Jr., penned the foreword.) It’s a kick to see the old-timey cars—and police on bicycles—parading down Fourth Avenue. Presented with some of these photos out of context, you’d never guess they were from our Mount Vernon.
For Young Readers:
Jeremy Draws a Monster
By Peter McCarty
September 1, Henry Holt and Co.
A shy boy takes his special pen and draws a monster—who comes to life and starts demanding toast, cake, and a spot in the bed. Creating the monster is easy, but making him leave is another issue entirely.
Looking for more recommendations? Our panel of literary experts came from:
Arcade Booksellers Inc
15 Purchase St, Rye
(914) 967-0966
Anderson’s Book Shop
96 Chatsworth Ave, Larchmont
(914) 834-6900
Galapagos Books
22 Main St, Hastings-on-Hudson
(914) 478-2501
The Voracious Reader
1997 Palmer Ave, Larchmont
(914) 630-4581
