Catch Up on Fascinating, Newly Released Biographies

Looking for Strangers: The True Story of My Hidden Wartime Childhood is the story of American academic and poet, Dori Katz, and her attempt to recover her childhood memories of being sent to live with a Catholic family during the Holocaust.   

In This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett paints a self-portrait about her life, the people, places, ideals and art to which she has been consistently committed and her path which led her to becoming a writer.  The book is a well-organized collection of essays that have been carefully selected and arranged and span a twenty year period of Patchett's career.  

Sam Wasson paints a picture of the iconic Bob Fosse, who is the renowned dancer, choreographer, screenwriter and director that revolutionized every facet of American entertainment with his style.  Fosse is a joy to read and Wasson has successfully written a richly detailed celebrity bio that is both inspiring and depressing. 

In The Boy Detective: A New York Childhood, Roger Rosenblatt reminisces about his 1950's childhood in Gramercy Park, and his fantasies of being a boy detective.   

New Books for Weekend Reading

If you're not sure what to read next, why not add one of these brand-new books to your to-read list? Join detective Jane Rizzoli as she solves the murder of The Silent Girl in Tess Gerritsen's latest series installment. Or Escape the drudgery of upper middle-class life as a Manhattan wife and lawyer in Barbara Delinsky's newest book. Enjoy a State of Wonder as you follow Ann Patchett's main character through the Amazon in search of a missing research scientist. Follow the latest adventures of the Pretty Little Liars in Sara Shepard's newest addition to this popular young adult series, Twisted. Or explore the psychological agony of Never Knowing who your parents are (only to discover you didn't really want to know) in this new title by Chevy Stevens.

State of Wonder & Further Reading

In Ann Patchett's new book State of Wonder, pharmaceutical research scientiest Dr. Marina Singh must go to Brazil in search of her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who has disappeared in the Amazon while working on an extremely valuable new drug. Readers join Marisa in this adventure-packed new novel as she sets off into the dangerous jungle in search of not only Dr. Swenson, but also answers to troubling questions about Marisa's friend's death, the state of company's future, and Marisa's own past.

Read State of Wonder already and couldn't get enough? Shelf Awareness also recommends Rachel King's The Sound of Butterflies for readers interested in Manaus, the Brazilian town where most of State of Wonder takes place. In this fictional murder mystery, readers can learn more about the early days of Manaus, which was built on the spoils of the rubber barons, who also funded the jewel box opera house that Patchett writes about in State of Wonder.

New Releases: Fiction

Not sure what to read next? Try one of these brand-new, highly-anticipated fiction titles. Join a hapless children's librarian in The Borrower as she semi-accidentally kidnaps a boy, or travel through the jungles of the Amazon in Ann Patchett's latest thrilling mystery, State of Wonder. Escape to Nantucket with the disgraced-by-association wife of a Wall Street con artist in Silver Girl. Delve into the psychology of friendship and amnesia with The Art of Forgetting, or shiver your way through Robopocalypse, a near-future story about a robot-led uprising against humanity. And above all, don't forget to sign up for the NextReads newsletter, which sends monthly book recommendations by genre straight to your inbox!