In my experience, the new year brings very few new titles with it. The early new year that is. I suppose publishers assume that readers are busy devouring the books they received over the holidays. Instead they pummel us with self-help books and business books. I’m tired of the top 10 lists of books I should have read last year, books that celebrities loved in 2005, [insert your own book list here].
I was, however, pleasantly surprised with the mail last week. I received a copy of Daniel Isn’t Talking by Marti Leimbach . It is my latest book from McClelland & Stewart, as part of their 100 Readers Club. The cover on Amazon is not the one on my advance copy, photo to come.
Anyway the book is about an autistic boy, a la The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, however the story is told from the neurotic, smothering mother’s point of view. I loved Curious Incident, but as you may have guessed, I did not open this book with excitement. The writing is ok but in some cases clunky. The characters are interesting but mildly annoying. I am over the 100 page mark though, which is my cut off for rejecting and quitting bad books, and I’m still reading. I’ll update the post with a full rreport when I’m finished. Until then, please tell me if you’ve heard of exciting new books for 2006. I’m on the lookout.