What's just out or coming soon that's got you excited? v. 3.0

New for 2024

Thanks Pat!

Have wanted to read In Memorium since I’ve first heard of it.

>3 alans: Alan, that Touchstone links to the Tennyson poem.

Here's the book to which I was referring (and I think you, too):

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

In Memoriam was my last book of 2024 (I read it while on Xmas vacation in sunny Puerto Rico) and it made a serious run for the top of my year-end list. It's really a better war novel than it is a love story, but it's impossible to un-twin the two things. It's also pleasingly old-fashioned in the writing department.

>5 DG_Strong: I just ordered that after reading the Guardian's end of year lists. Pleasingly old-fashioned is just my thing.

I just put a hold on that one.

thinking about the wake, and wondering about the language style its written in. It took me a bit to get into To Calais, In Ordinary Time but it ended up being one of my fav books that year. Has anyone read it yet and tell me if this text will be as easy?

That looks right up my alley, Cindy. I just checked, and I have it on my Kindle.

Bumping this thread to the top. I haven't had the time I usually have to research and collect a list of interesting upcoming books, so I wanted to pick the discerning brains here. What are y'all excited about for 2025?

Love queeny about the actress Merle Oberon. My parents gave me Merle asa middle name. Hated it coz the kids thought it was for merle Haggard. Learned later who she was so it made me feel better. Wanted to know more about her so Im eager to read it

dream count love this author and have been waiting for a new book from her for a while

I'm interested in the Merle Oberon book too. That's a funny story, Cindy. I'd be proud to be named for Merle Haggard, fwiw.

Oh, I love those old-time actresses: Barbara Stanwyck (my favorite), Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne (whenever "Penny Serenade" is on I'll stop whatever I'm doing to watch it), and Jean Arthur, etc.

Cool about your middle name, Cindy.

yeah, for a while if some one asked Id say EM but when I learned more I realized I was honored to have it

I also love those old time actresses. Im a huge fan of Katherine Hepburn and whenever Philadelphia story comes on, Im right there. And Lion in Winter is on my list of Christmas movies to watch.

My BIG anticipated book for 2025 lands tomorrow, Karen Russell's The Antidote.

Re Stanwyck. Will the second part of Victoria Wilson's massive bio EVER come out? We're only up to Stella Dallas! Part One: A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940

Its been 12 years!

Upcoming video based on books I'm eagerly anticipating:

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann is the next Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration. The book was terrific.

One Battle After Another is a Paul Thomas Anderson treatment based on Thomas Pynchon's Vineland also starring DiCaprio.

Deliver Me from Nowhere which is a flick about the making of Bruce Springsteen's album "Nebraska." Not his best album, IMO, but it stars Jeremy Allen White, so I'm all in.

Hamnetbased on the excellent book by Maggie O'Farrell. Stars: Paul Mescal and the always mesmerizing Jessie Buckley.

The History of Sound which is based on the short story by Ben Shattuck. Another flick starring Paul Mescal, the flawless Chris Cooper, and the wonderful Josh O'Connor, who I first discovered and loved in The Durells of Corfu.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I am eternally optimistic that this much misunderstood classic will get the cinematic treatment it deserves. This one is Guillermo del Toro's version starring Oscar Isaac. I've been obsessed with this book, it's background, and my own conspiracy theory re: authorship since my early college days. I highly recommend the Broadview Press edition by: D.L. MacDonald; Kathleen Scherf, which is a revelation.

Train Dreams based on the Denis Johnson novella. Starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, with Kerry Condon and William H. Macy.

ETA: I keep trying to fix the link for "The History of Sound," but for some reason it keeps reverting to the Hamnet link. Google it. It looks great.

Lots of big guns between now and mid-2026: Joy Williams, Lauren Groff, Andrew Sean Greer, George Saunders - then Daniel Mason in July. So much to look forward to!