Three good books coming in November

Horror books are being talked about this Halloween week, but my thoughts go to these three books soon to be released and far from anything that’s blood curdling in tone and frightening in intent.

Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton

The paperback for this suspenseful novel has a planned release in November. It’s serving as a reminder that I missed picking up the book a year ago, when it was first published (and I wrote about it here on TLC). The protagonist is John Wilderness, a gifted orphan who survives the London Blitz and goes on to serve as an MI6 agent and black market con artist in Berlin, just after the war, 1947. His story also takes place in 1963 when he’s approached with an assignment that takes him back to Berlin. Kirkus Reviews says it’s “a wonderfully complex and nuanced thriller,” the first in a new series. Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist all gave it a starred review. From the book’s overview/description: “Then We Take Berlin is a gripping, meticulously researched and richly detailed historical thriller — a moving story of espionage and war, and people caught up in the most tumultuous events of the twenty-first century.”

The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere by Pico Iyer

Travel writer and essayist Pico Iyer brings to light the importance of hitting the pause button in our over-scheduled, frenetic contemporary life. Kirkus Reviews writes, “This book isn’t a meditation guide or a New-Age tract but rather a celebration of the age-old practice of sitting with no goal in mind and no destination in sight.” A mere 120 pages, it seems like a must-read. The Art of Stillness is one among 12 in a series of books being co-published by TED  and Simon & Schuster. Many may know of Iyer’s popular essay published in The New York Times, “The Joy of Quiet.” This brief excerpt gives an idea of what may come in his new book.

“‘Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries,’ the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, ‘and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.’ He also famously remarked that all of man’s problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

Given starred reviews by Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, this novel tells the story of two sisters raised in a Canadian Mennonite community: Elf (Elfrieda) a famous, glamorous, wealthy pianist with everything going for her in life but suffering from depression; and Yoli (Yolandi) on the opposite end of the spectrum, divorced and broke. Elf is suicidal, and Yoli pledges to keep her beloved sister alive. The Guardian writes: “Its  compulsive readability is all the more remarkable since the story issues from such a dark place in the author’s heart.” (Canadian author Toews has a family history of suicide.) The Telegraph writes: “… ironically for a book with self-annihilation as its subject, bursts with ramshackle, precious life.”