September 2020 Can’t Wait Book List!

New Release Books

This will be an interesting September.

Most kids will be back to school in some capacity. Some kids will be business as usual with added safety precautions and mask requirements, and some kids will be learning from home.

I know parents have agonized over their options. I hope that whatever choice you made or situation you find yourself in, that you are healthy and safe. 

Luckily, there are some amazing books being released in September! A little something to look forward to and distract you from how crazy everything is right now!

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These are some of the most anticipated new release books. They include titles that promise escape like Fable, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and the gorgeously illustrated Floriography. I must have a craving for the visual as two of my selections are illustrated. I guess I just want to get away and look at something pretty!

Follow this link for August 2020 New Release Books!
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As usual, I exclude sequels and anything that will not have broad appeal. 
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September 01, 2020

Fable by Adrienne Young

Young Adult Fantasy

As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.

But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and Fable soon finds that West isn't who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they're going to stay alive.

Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. 

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Purchase

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Contemporary Fiction
 
Gifty is a fifth year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.

But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith, and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive. Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanain immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief--a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi's phenomenal debut.

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Purchase

September 08, 2020

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Contemporary Fiction
 
This is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

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Purchase

Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons

Contemporary Fiction

Eudora Honeysett is done with this noisy, moronic world—all of it. She has witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age and has lived a full life. At eighty-five, she isn’t going to leave things to chance. Her end will be on her terms. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland, a plan is set in motion. 

Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of color and sparkling cheer. All Eudora wants is to be left alone to set her affairs in order. Instead, she finds herself embarking on a series of adventures with the irrepressible Rose and their affable fellow neighbor, the recently widowed Stanley—afternoon tea, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, birthday celebrations, pizza parties. 

While the trio of unlikely BFFs grow closer and anxiously await the arrival of Rose’s new baby sister, Eudora is reminded of her own childhood—of losing her father during World War II and the devastating impact it had on her entire family. In reflecting on her past, Eudora realizes she must come to terms with what lies ahead. 

But now that her joy for life has been rekindled, how can she possibly say goodbye? 

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Purchase

September 15, 2020

Floriography by Jessica Roux

Non-Fiction (Illustrated)

A charming, gorgeously illustrated botanical encyclopedia for your favorite romantic, local witch, bride-to-be, or green-thumbed friend.
 
The Language of Flowers is a full-color guidebook to the historical uses and secret meanings behind an impressive array of flowers and herbs. The book explores the coded significances associated with various blooms, from flowers for a lover to flowers for an enemy. The language of flowers was historically used as a means of secret communication. It soared in popularity during the 19th century, especially in Victorian England and the U.S., when proper etiquette discouraged open displays of emotion. Mysterious and playful, the language of flowers has roots in everything from the characteristics of the plant to its presence in folklore and history. Researched and illustrated by popular artist Jessica Roux, this book makes a stunning display piece, conversation-starter, or thoughtful gift.

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lIBRARIAN tALES BY wILLIAM oTTENS

Non-Fiction, Humor

Published in cooperation with the American Library Association, an insider’s look at one of the most prevalent, yet commonly misunderstood institutions!

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly of librarian William Ottens’s experience working behind service desks and in the stacks of public libraries, most recently at the Lawrence Public Library in Kansas. In Librarian Tales, published in cooperation with the American Library Association, readers will learn about strange things librarians have found in book drops, weird and obscure reference questions, the stress of tax season, phrases your local librarians never want to hear, stories unique to children’s librarians, and more.

Ottens uncovers common pet peeves among his colleagues, addresses misguided assumptions and stereotypes, and shares several hilarious stories along the way. This book is must reading for any librarian, or anyone who loves books and libraries, though non-library folks will also laugh and cry (from laughing) while reading this lighthearted analysis of your local community pillar, the library.

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Purchase

Mythopedia by Good Wives and Warriors

Non-Fiction, Mythology (Illustrated)
 
From the West African fable of Anansi the Spider, to Michabo, the magical hare who rebuilt the world and Tanuki, the sweet but troublesome raccoon-dog of Japanese folklore, Mythopedia is an encyclopedia of mythical creatures that covers legends, tales and myths from around the world.

Lovingly created by the illustration duo behind popular flipbook Myth Match, Good Wives and Warriors, this book contains pages upon pages of cultural folklore from around the world.

Let these weird and wonderful creatures spark your child's imagination for their own storytelling and drawing while teaching them about international cultures.

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Purchase

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Fantasy
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Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

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Purchase

Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

Connor Major’s summer break is turning into a nightmare.

His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”

But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director, and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are— and taking this place down.

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Purchase

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Science Fiction
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It was supposed to be a routine research mission on an uncolonized planet. But when xenobiologist Kira Navárez finds an alien relic beneath the surface of the world, the outcome transforms her forever and will alter the course of human history.

Her journey to discover the truth about the alien civilization will thrust her into the wonders and nightmares of first contact, epic space battles for the fate of humankind, and the farthest reaches of the galaxy.

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Purchase

Summaries from Goodreads

I am so excited about the books on this list, there are too many good books coming out! Every month my To-Be-Read list gets bigger and bigger!

I am most excited for Fable, Piranesi and To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

It’s been a long time since I have read anything that was set at sea, which is why I am so excited to read Fable! I started seeing reviews for this a few months ago and they are enthusiastically positive. I am looking forward to this fast paced adventure.

Susanna Clarke wrote the epic Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, so I cannot wait to check out Piranesi. The summary is enticing and magical. Of course, anything written by Clarke is going to be phenomenal.

Here’s the part where I gush about Christopher Paolini! I once went to an author event for one of his book releases and it was amazing. He is an enthusiastic and engaging presenter and he is so generous with his fans. We waited four hours to have our books signed and he was a charming ball of energy when we finally met him. Most authors would have left hours before, but he stayed and made sure everyone got a signature. I love his Eragon series and will read anything he writes. Cannot wait for his first Science Fiction Adult Novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

What upcoming books are you most excited to read?
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