By Katie Potzick
Soon the weather will get cooler, the leaves will start changing and there will be nothing better to do than curl up with a good book and a steaming mug of tea.
Thankfully this fall’s literary line up does not disappoint. There are several new authors and some old favorites turning out exciting reads, with enough variation to keep every book-lover satisfied.
Those looking for a little escapism or just a good laugh need search no further than “Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium” by Dave Barry, or Steve Colbert’s “I am America (and So Can You!).”
The Pulitzer Prize winning humorist Barry takes on recent history with this off-beat and amusing look at events from the 2000 Florida presidential election fiasco to Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction. Complete with 32 clever cartoons this is a pop culture prize.
“I am America (and So Can You!)” is described as “Stephen Colbert’s attempt to wedge his brain between hardback covers. In plain conversational language, not to mention the occasional grunt and/or whistle, [Colbert] explains his take on the most pressing concerns of our culture: Faith, Family, Politics…Hygiene.”
Anything by the mastermind behind the Colbert show is sure to be a skewed and witty good time.
The fiction field is particularly lucrative this fall with new books from John Grisham, Alice Sebold (author of “The Lovely Bones” and “Lucky: a Memoir”), Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson and Stephen King. Sebold’s book, in particular, looks to be a shocking and engrossing novel.
Daring from the opening line, “When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily,” “The Almost Moon” takes place over a frenzied 24 hours and explores a day in the life of a woman pushed over the edge.
For those seeking some more intellectually stimulating material, there are also some noteworthy finds on the non-fiction front.
“The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court” by Jeffrey Toobin offers a unique look at the quirky men and women who have made up our Supreme Court since the Reagan administration and the ways they’ve tackled issues ranging from abortion to the death penalty to gay rights.
This book includes exclusive interviews with the Supreme Court justices and helps chip away at the mystery that surrounds America’s highest court. Another interesting read that brings to mind the recent Bruce and Evan Almighty movies is “The Year of Living Biblically” by
A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs undertook a year-long experiment to live the Bible literally, obeying not just the commandments but even the most obscure and antiquated rules such as “not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard and eating crickets.”
An added bonus for us Kentuckians is the section where he meets up with some Kentucky Creationists.
So this semester when the autumn chill hits the air, pick out a book, put on the kettle and feel free to forget all about that history paper due Monday.
