This fall brings a particulary good bumper crop of new books by local authors. There must be something in the air/water/mountains/evergreens/coffee to generate this much awesomeness in one place.
Here are some new and upcoming releases to kickstart your fall with some Pacific Northwest flavor:
Blasphemy: New and Selected Short Stories by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie is one of Seattle’s most enigmatic and daring writers. Alexie writes for adults and teens, writes poetry, short stories, screenplays and fiction all while being an all-around raconteur. Alexie writes in bold, darkly comic strokes about Indians (his preferred term to Native Americans) in the Pacific Northwest. If you’ve never read Alexie, then this collection of classic and new short stories would be a wonderful place to start. Oh, and if you’ve never been to an Alexie reading, you simply must–the man will make you laugh until you cry.
The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
Evison’s third novel is about Benjamin Benjamin, a 39-year-old Kitsap County man whose life has gone to pieces. As a last-ditch effort to reenter the workforce and keep himself afloat, Benjamin becomes a caretaker of a teenage boy with muscular dystrophy. They wind up going on a road trip and their relationship of wisecracks becomes something deeper and fuller along the way. The Stranger’s Paul Constant gave it a rave review.
Truth Like the Sun by Jim Lynch
The 1962 World’s Fair gave us our iconic Space Needle. When the Space Needle’s designer runs for mayor 40 years later, a scrappy young reporter from the Post-Intelligencer uncovers a scandal in the candidate’s past. Lynch makes a thoughtful page-turner out of local history and politics.
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
While this technically came out in the summer, this Spokane author’s comic novel set at a seaside Italian villa would make a perfect fall read. Oh, and did you also see that his previous book, The Financial Lives of the Poets, is in production as a film starring Jack Black?
Wildnerness by Lance Weller
This historical fiction debut is already garnering lots of attention as it looks at the aftermath of the Civil War from a Northwest perspective. An elderly Civil War veteran takes one final hike through the Olympic Mountains while revisiting the past.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Semple, who used to write for the Arrested Development television series, is generating lots of buzz for this Seattle-based satire. The author also has a great sense of humor about her sophomore novel as evidenced by these fantastically funny pitches of the book with local celebs. Check it out:
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