Books I Can't Wait to Read

My stack of "to read" books (if I did them according to height) might not be as tall as the Penguin Classics offer out there right now (link via Publishers Lunch), but it's certainly up there. And in light of the fact that I'll probably never make it through the other list I posted here, I'm moving on to some of the books coming out this fall that I really can not wait to read. They are in no particular order:

1. Elizabeth Ruth. Smoke. I'm not saying this because I did a delightful interview with her over on chicklit, and I'm not listing it simply because she's a friend, but because she's a wonderful writer, and I really liked Ten Good Seconds of Silence.

2. John Irving. Until I Find You. John Irving's books have carried me through difficult times. A Prayer For Owen Meany remains one of the greatest American novels published in the second half of last century. Irving remains one of our greatest writers (I claim him for Canada, if only because I know he often claims Canada for himself), but his last few books have been disappointing. There's nothing that I despise more than reading mid-life crises on the page. (Salmon Rushdie, I'm looking at you, don't duck—they're just words.) Fingers crossed this book brings us back into the fold, and doesn't convince me to stop reading Irving all together.

3. Michael Cunningham. Specimen Days. The Hours—need I say more.

4. Jane Urquhart. A Map of Glass. I took a field trip to see the church she wrote about in The Stonecarvers. I wonder where this book will send me? Somewhere inspiring, I'm sure.

5. Elizabeth Kostova. The Historian. This book is getting so much buzz that I'm almost afraid to read it because I'm afraid it'll turn out like The Crimson Petal and the White, which was quite possibly the worst book I'd read in years. However, this book is about Dracula? How can anyone resist Dracula? Honestly!