Early November Book Porn

 Here are pictures of books that I have bought (with the exception of the Heller, which was a review copy sent a couple of weeks before the October 12-14 Southern Festival of Books).  The first few pictures of books bought/signed there.  Jennifer duBois' A Partial History of Lost Causes, her debut novel, will be reviewed in about 7-10 days when I cover the 2012 5 Under 35 selections made in conjunction with the National Book Award nominations.  Peter Heller's The Dog Stars will also be reviewed around the same time.

Here are two books by Padgett Powell that I purchased on the first day of the Festival.  You & Me was released earlier this year and hopefully I'll have a review ready before month's end.

Two National Book Award nominees in Fiction:  Ben Fountain's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and Junot Díaz's This is How You Lose Her.  Both will be reviewed by November 14.

Expect a review of Mark Helprin's In Sunlight and in Shadow in the near future.  Uncertain when I'll get around to reviewing Mark Jarman's poetry collection, Bone Fires.
 

Two YA novels that I will review by month's end:  Kelly Barnhill's Iron Hearted Violet and Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There.

Sometime in the near future, I plan on writing an essay on my opinions regarding capital punishment and the prison system.  I will likely cite these two books:  Will D. Campbell and Richard C. Goode (eds.), And the Criminals with Him and Joseph B. Ingle, The Inferno:  A Southern Morality Tale.

Domingo Martinez's National Book Award-nominated memoir, The Boy Kings of Texas, will be reviewed either later tonight or tomorrow.  Although I did get to hear part of Lydia Netzer's reading at the Southern Festival of Books, circumstances kept me from being able to buy her book then and get it signed.  I rectified that earlier today, so expect a review of Shine Shine Shine before year's end.

Haley Tanner was also one of the 5 Under 35 authors, so her 2011 book, Vaclav & Lena, will be reviewed in the next two weeks.  Planning on doing a series of reviews of Spanish writer Javier Marías' works, so it was fortuitous that I found an almost-new used copy of Negra espalda del tiempo.

Here are two books, Petê Rissatti's Réquiem:  sonhos proibidos and Bronteps Baruq's O grito do sol sobre a cabeça, that I received as review copies a few weeks ago from Brazilian publisher Terracota.  Hope to have something written on these works within the next 2-4 weeks.