April and May Promises to be a Good Month for Books!

2013 promises to be a great literary year.  I am looking forward to reading several books that are set to be released in April and May of 2013.   When I am not pigging out at a new restaurant, I love to read (I need a little down time when I am digesting large servings of food).  As you will be able to tell from my list below, I enjoy a wide range of genres.  With each book I list here, I will provide a link to where you may read a description of each book.  In order of release date, here are the books I am most looking forward to picking up in the next two months:

The Hit

By David Baldacci

Release Date: April 23, 2013

Fiction

David Baldacci is one of my favorite authors in the crime/mystery/thriller genres.  He churns out about two books a year, but somehow still comes out with new material and thrilling plots.  The Hit is Baldacci’s second book featuring assassin, Will Robie.  The first book featuring Robie, The Innocent, was a thrilling joyride that involved double-crosses and inter-agency set-ups.  This book should be entertaining as well. 

Dead Ever After

By Charlaine Harris

Release date: May 7, 2013

Fiction

The Sookie Stackhouse Series is my most embarrassing guilty pleasure.  I am not generally a fan of vampires and the supernatural, but I got hooked on this series after watching season 1 of HBO’s True Blood, which is based on this book series.  This has been an entertaining series, but the last three books have been somewhat disappointing.  Dead Ever After will also be the last book in this series and I will be interested to see what happens with Ms. Stackhouse.

Inferno: A Novel

By Dan Brown

Release date: May 14, 2012

Fiction

I am a sucker for novels from International Best Selling Author, Dan Brown.  I didn’t like his last novel, The Lost Symbol, as much as his previous novels featuring Robert Langdon, but it was still a good book.  This novel is apparently set back in Italy and involves a mystery surrounding Dante’s Inferno.  Dan Brown is one of those authors that upon finishing his books, I always find myself doing more research into the history he intertwines into his novels.  I have already pre-ordered this book.

The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-45

By Rick Atkinson

Release date: May 14, 2013

Non-Fiction

I have been waiting patiently for this third book in The Liberation Trilogy to be published.  Book one, An Army at Dawn, won the Pulitzer Prize and book two, The Day of Battle, was equally impressive.  Where the first two books focused on World War II in North Africa and Italy, this book will focus on Western Europe during the last two years of World War II.   Atkinson's writing is delivered in a way that is easy to read and is so entertaining that it reads like fiction.  I have already pre-ordered this book.

The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey through Texas Barbecue

By Daniel Vaughn

Release Date: May 14, 2013

Non-Fiction

Barbecue is one of my favorite dishes.  This book promises to be the comprehensive book on Texas BBQ, highlighting restaurants and pitmasters across the state.  The author, Daniel Vaughn, was just recently named the BBQ editor for Texas Monthly (I wish I would have known they had an opening, because this guy would have been perfect for the job).  I am such a fat kid, I even like reading about food.   My ordering this book and blogging about it should be seen as a cry for help.  I have already pre-ordered this book as well.

And the Mountains Echoed

By Khaled Hosseini

Release date: May 21, 2013

Fiction

Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, still stands out as one of the most memorable books I have read in the last ten years.  I also enjoyed his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Sons.  And the Mountains Echoed promises to be an intercontinental character study of family dynamics.

The Son

By Philipp Meyer

Release date: May 28, 2013

Fiction

Meyer’s debut novel, American Rust, was one of the best debut novels I have read since Charles Frazier wrote Cold Mountain.  If you haven’t read American Rust, I strongly recommend it.  The Son is being branded a multi-generational saga of a Texas family from the 1800s to the oil booms.  With the brilliance of American Rust, I was surprised that Meyer decided to venture into historical fiction.  I hope his sophomore novel is as good as his first effort.