When I have something I need to remember, it's a constant source of low-grade anxiety till I write it down. This is why I have so many to-do lists laying around ignored--once I write it down, I don't have to worry about it, and the list falls by the wayside.
But there are a number of books that have come to my attention, but that aren't being published until next year, and I don't want to forget them. So, the list of Things To Remember To Look Up Next Year When They Come Out. It's short but vital.
The Dead and the Gone, by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This is a companion book to Life As We Knew It, the wonderful YA post-apocalyptic novel that I read earlier this year. It's about the same climate-changing, world-ending phenomenon, but it's another person's experience of it; instead of a girl in suburban/rural Pennsylvania, it's about a boy in NYC. Which, according to the first book, was quite troubled by floods during the events related. Chilling.
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell. Pilgrims! Sarah Vowell! What could be better? I wish there were more people who would write nonfiction like this. I don't quite know how to explain what I like about Sarah Vowell; anyone who thinks they can explain why I like Sarah Vowell is welcome to try. Obviously she's funny, and I like history but only the interesting parts, and the interesting parts are not the big highlights but the more human stuff, but not ALL the human stuff, like an in depth biography. But still.
The other book I want to keep track of is whatever comes next in the Clan of the Cave Bear series, by Jean Auel. Actually, I guess it's the Earth's Children series. I have to say, this series has evolved into a guilty pleasure. I may know more about herbal medicine during the last ice age than you do, but that's just thanks to the first book. By the fourth one, it alternates between boring, cheap thrills, and sex. Yet I read on. I even wait, eight, ten years at a stretch, for the next one. Jeez Louise, somebody knock some sense into me.
If there's another book I'm waiting for, I can't remember it. So remind me when these books come out, okay?
1 comment:
I think that Ms. Auel is trying to torture us by leaving so much time between books. I mean, can it really take 10 years to write the fifth book in a series that you outlined (in its entirety) decades ago? But don't worry, I will let you know when the next one comes out!
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