12 Books I’m Looking Forward To, October 28, 2021

I am pretty far behind pace on my reading this year. I try to read 100 books/year, and as of now, I am 17 books behind. There are a lot of reasons for this. There have been distractions. The kids are getting older and there are a lot more events to attend. I had a busy year at work, which often consumed some of my evenings as well as my days. I’ve read some longer books than usual. I have been writing for the blog every day. For about 2 months I got completely sucked into podcasts. It’s not a big deal, but it is something I notice. Anyway, I was looking at my list of books I’m looking forward to and there are some new ones coming out, and some old ones I’ve been wanting to read. Here are the books that I am looking forward to right now, always with the caveat of the butterfly effect of reading:

• 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet by Pamela Paul. I’m reading this one now. Paul is the editor of the New York Times Book Review. I really enjoyed her book My Life With Bob and when I saw that this one had just come (and I had coincidentally just finished the new Jack Reacher book, Better Off Dead) I jumped into it right away.
• Scientist: E. O. Wilson: A Life in Nature by Richard Rhodes, coming November 9. I’ve enjoyed several of Wilson’s books, most notably Letters to a Young Scientist and his memoir, Naturalist. And the biography is by Richard Rhodes, author of the fantastic, Pulitzer prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
• Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H. W. Brands. I enjoy histories about the birth of the country, especially those that chip away at the myths that have evolved over time. Also, I’ve liked some of Brands’ other books, including his biographies of Franklin and Reagan.
• The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts. A nearly 800-page biography of King George III, are you kidding me? How can I resist?
• The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover. This is an apparent baseball classic that I have missed, although I have read Coover before. For a metafiction class back in my college days. I think it was Spanking the Maid.
• All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business by Mel Brooks. I have a special place in my heart for Hollywood memoirs, especially those of older actors who’ve been around for a long time. I especially enjoyed Carl Reiner’s books, and Carl and Mel were such good friends. I can’t wait to laugh through this one.
• The Founders’ Fortunes: How Money Shaped the Birth of America by Willard Sterne Randall. As I said, I like the history of the birth of the country, and this title sounds fascinating. Also, the first biography of Thomas Jefferson I ever read was one that Sterne had written.
• Browsings by Michael Dirda. Because I love reading about books.
• Abe by David S. Reynolds. I’ve read several Lincoln biographies including Carl Sandberg’s Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. This one looks particularly interesting because it is a cultural history.
• A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020 by David Sedaris. I read the first volume of his diaries, Theft By Finding earlier this year, and they were entertaining, so when not another batch?
• The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence S. Ritter. This is another classic baseball book that has been recommended to me on multiple occasions. I’ve had this one on my shelf for a while, but I think I am finally going to get around to reading it.
• Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith. Two years ago I read Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery and was mesmerized by it. This one sounds equally fascinating.

Are there books that you are looking forward to? Should I be looking forward to those as well? If so, let me know what they are in the comments.