It may be cooling off outside, but the fall publishing season heats up in October with dozens of highly anticipated nonfiction books.
Fame: Books by Celebrities.
What happens when a former president and rock’s most respected songwriter collaborate? You get Renegades, an intimate conversation between Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen. In The Boys, Ron and Clint Howard recount their lives as child actors while iconic journalist Katie Couric takes a candid look at her professional and personal life in Going There. Actor and foodie Stanley Tucci charms readers with his love for cooking and sharing Italian food in Taste (a Peak Pick!) Two Broadway and TV stars share their struggles in revealing memoirs: Sutton Foster shares how crafting saved her life in Hooked and Billy Porter overcomes trauma through determination in Unprotected (a Peak Pick!) Finally, funnyman Nick Offerman turns his attention to his love of the land in Where the Deer and the Antelope Play.
Eclectic Essays.
The venerable Susan Orlean returns with a collection of stories and essays about our furry friends in On Animals (a Peak Pick!) while David Sedaris chronicles the years 2003 to the present with hilarious diary entries in A Carnival of Snackery. In Greedy, Jen Winston takes a look at bisexuality, gender and sex in her smart and provocative debut. Rebecca Solnit considers how George Orwell’s passion for gardening informed his political writing in Orwell’s Roses.
Music.
Two of music’s most authoritative voices survey 50 years of popular music: New Yorker writer Kelefa Sanneh considers five decades worth of music through seven genres — rock, R&B, country, punk, hip-hop, dance and pop — in Major Labels while Questlove chooses a significant song from each year starting in 1971 and how it relates to race, gender, politics and identity in Music is History. Meanwhile, Dave Grohl shares tales from his life with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters in The Storyteller.
Current Events.
Stephanie Grisham, the former press secretary and communications director for Donald and Melania Trump, dishes the dirt in I’ll Take Your Questions Now while Congressman Adam Schiff issues a dark warning for democracy in Midnight in Washington. Jay Caspian Kang considers what Asian American identity means in a Black and white world in The Loneliest Americans while Andrea Elliott questions whether moving from poverty means abandoning the family she loves in Invisible Child. Nigel Poor collaborates with former prisoner Earlonne Woods to produce This is Ear Hustle, about the experiences of inmates in America’s prisons; meanwhile, Sam Quinones follows up his bestseller Dreamland with new threats posed by the opioid epidemic in The Least of Us.
In Need of Inspiration?
Jane Goodall, renowned for her work with chimpanzees, teams up with Douglas Abrams to provide The Book of Hope. For a moving story about the relationship between an escaped convict who kept it secret from his wife, check out The Redemption of Bobby Love by Bobby and Cheryl Love. Former poet laureate Tracy K. Smith finds hope amidst grief in her collection of new and selected poems, Such Color. Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle (Tattoos of the Heart) returns with The Whole Language, about the transformative power of tenderness while Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh provides hope to deal with environmental angst in Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (a Peak Pick!). Playwright Sarah Ruhl chronicles her ten-year struggle with Bell’s palsy and emerging stronger than before in Smile. Finally, if you’re looking to declutter and improve your surroundings, Minimalista by professional home organizer Shira Gill is the book for you.
~posted by Frank
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