More 2015 Releases On My Radar

A couple weeks ago, the Top Ten Tuesday prompt was about books coming out in 2015. (Here's my post.) Despite scrounging lists online, I could only come up with five... and two of those were sequels to books that were just ok -- novels that I'll read to continue the series, but not ones I'm genuinely excited about.

Fast forward to today at work... the library was painfully slow (guess everyone was out Christmas shopping) and I had plenty of time to peruse the latest issue of Library Journal. And wowza, did I add a lot of books to my to-read list! Among the finds were several 2015 releases that sound quite intriguing, and I wanted to share them with you!

 

War of the Encyclopaedists by Christopher Robinson and Gavin Kovite

Releases May 12

From the Goodreads summary:

Best friends Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy had planned to move together to Boston for graduate school, but global events have intervened: Montauk has just learned that his National Guard unit will deploy to Baghdad at the end of the summer...As their lives move further away from their shared dream, Corderoy and Montauk keep in touch with one another by editing a Wikipedia article about themselves: smart and funny updates that morph and deepen throughout the year, culminating in a document that is both devastatingly tragic and profoundly poetic.

 

My take:
This book sounds awesome! I keep saying that, as a military spouse, I want to read more Iraq/Afghanistan war fiction and this fits the bill. Plus, keeping in touch via a Wikipedia article sounds like a modern take on the epistolary novel.  

The Death's Head Chess Club by John Donoghue

Releases May 12

From the Goodreads summary:

A novel of the improbable friendship that arises between a Nazi officer and a Jewish chess player in Auschwitz.

My take:

This reminds me ever so slightly of the Colin Firth movie "The Railway Man," in which a WWII POW confronts his captor years after the war is over, but without the years of obsession in between. I like the chess element, which will maybe set this apart from other WWII tales. It promises to be a hard-hitting, depressing read at times, but I have high hopes for this novel.
 

 

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
Releases January 1
From the Goodreads summary:

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that's going stale and his wife Miranda, who he's sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start -- he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit -- a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliche. But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she's done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, "I'd like to help." After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse.
 

My take:

I actually didn't get this recommendation from Library Journal but from a co-worker who read an advance copy. She raved about it and I'm totally intrigued by the premise!

 

 

A Paris Affair by Tatiana deRosnay

Releases May 5

From the Goodreads summary:

From the internationally best-selling author of "Sarah's Key" comes an irreverent yet heartfelt collection that examines our most intimate and forbidden desires

Does a fruit taste its sweetest when it is forbidden? Is that which is prohibited always the most pleasurable? In this passionate and perceptive collection, Tatiana de Rosnay paints a portrait of the most forbidden of loves, in many different shades -- sometimes tragic, sometimes humorous, sometimes heartfelt, always with a dry wit and an unflinching authenticity.

My take:

I don't read short stories very often, but these sound interesting. I've heard amazing things about "Sarah's Key" (and that it requires copious tissues) and I've been meaning to check out deRosnay for a couple years now. This might be a good place to start.
 

 

The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Releases December 30 (close enough!)

From the Goodreads summary:

Despite their many differences, Detective Rachel Getty trusts her boss, Esa Khattak, implicitly. But she’s still uneasy at Khattak’s tight-lipped secrecy when he asks her to look into Christopher Drayton’s death. Drayton’s apparently accidental fall from a cliff doesn’t seem to warrant a police investigation, particularly not from Rachel and Khattak’s team, which handles minority-sensitive cases. But when she learns that Drayton may have been living under an assumed name, Rachel begins to understand why Khattak is tip-toeing around this case. It soon comes to light that Drayton may have been a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995.

My take:
I'm itching to read a good detective novel, and the Bosnian war element makes it something totally unique for me. I enjoy books where I can learn something while being completely enraptured!
 

 

Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman by Tessa Arlen

Releases January 6

From the Goodreads summary:

Lady Montfort has been planning her annual summer costume ball for months...but when her husband’s degenerate nephew is found murdered, it's more than the ball that is ruined. In fact, Lady Montfort fears that the official police enquiry, driven by petty snobbery and class prejudice, is pointing towards her son as a potential suspect.

Taking matters into her own hands, the rather over-imaginative countess enlists the help of her pragmatic housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson, to investigate the case, track down the women that vanished the night of the murder, and clear her son’s name.

In this enchanting debut sure to appeal to fans of "Downton Abbey," Tessa Arlen draws readers into a world exclusively enjoyed by the rich, privileged classes and suffered by the men and women who serve them.

My take:

"Death" sounds like it's written in a very similar vein to the Lady Emily mysteries by Tasha Alexander, some of my favorite books! I love this time period and you can't go wrong with a good mystery. Plus the "Downton Abbey" comparison totally grabbed my attention!

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Releases April 14

From the Goodreads summary:

When the moon blows up, the earth’s atmosphere is predicted to go through changes that will eventually lead to a Hard Rain, a meteorite storm that could last for thousands of years, rendering the earth’s surface uninhabitable. In preparation, the nations of the earth send an ark of humans to an International Space Station. But the Station isn’t immune to the galactic catastrophe and many of its people are lost, mostly men. When stability is reached, only seven humans remain, all of them women. Jump forward thirty thousand years. Two peoples exist: those who survived on Earth, living rustic, primitive lives; and those who derived from the Seven Eves of the space station, affluent, sophisticated, organized sects looking to colonize the surface of earth. Stephenson’s next novel is an epic potboiler, with political and military intrigue, and plenty to say about evolution, genetic engineering, and civilization as we know it.

My take:

I've never read Neal Stephenson before and I don't read a lot of sci-fi, but this book sounds captivating! It's a whopper of a book at over 1,000 pages, but I'm going to give it a shot!

 

 

I, Ripper by Stephen Hunter

Releases May 19
From the Goodreads summary:

"I, Ripper" is a vivid reimagining of Jack’s personal story entwined with that of an Irish journalist who covered the case, knew the principals, charted the investigation, and at last, stymied, went off in a bold new direction. These two men stalk each other through a city twisted in fear of the madman’s blade, a cat-and-mouse game that brings to life the sounds and smells of the fleshpot tenderloin of Whitechapel and all the lurid acts that fueled the Ripper headlines. Dripping with intrigue, atmosphere, and diabolical twists, this is a magnificent psychological thriller from perennial "New York Times" bestseller Stephen Hunter.

My take:

A few years ago, a patron at my library in Hawaii recommended Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger books (which inspired the movie "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg). I never got around to reading those, but this Jack the Ripper tale promises to be riveting!