Features some must-read books of April 17. Publication information is listed alongside a synopsis and sample. Great!

I always like looking at these. It gives me an idea of what to expect and which books to anticipate for each month. I also love seeing the official covers for each book. This month there was a pretty good selection and I am looking forward to many of them.

I really enjoyed the excerpts from The Radium Girls and American War. Both sucked me in immediately and left me wanting more when the excerpt was over.

The Buzz Book samplers are so wonderful. It helps in monthly planning and allows be to talk up book buzz with my reading buddies that has us "talking" publication dates.

Sorry, but not much to write home about. Disappointed in the list available. Too much mainstream lit.

I opted to read this as I was curious and not sure what it was going to be like. I personally do not like reading excerpts from books, the summaries give me enough information to see if I would be interested in the books but the excerpts left me cold. Excerpts do give the reader the idea of the style of the author though. I would not look at this again but then I am sure that it may well appeal to many others.

Thank you so much for providing the list of new books to come and their excerpts. This gives readers an opportunity to know more about the new releases and provide awesome book recommendations

I look forward to reading these "Buzz Books" at the beginning of every month. I've discovered several books I probably wouldn't have read otherwise. I think that the way these books are formatted is fantastic. I like how they separate the excerpts into categories. I don't usually read all of these samples, and this makes it easier for me to find what I want. I usually go right for the debut fiction. They really have a great selection of books. There is literally something for everyone!

The book I'm looking forward to the most now is, American War by Omar El Akkad. I was absolutely hooked after reading the first few pages.

Because there are inevitably so many wonderful books in the semi-annual release of the Buzz Books for their Spring / Summer edition and also for their Fall / Winter edition, I thought I would check out their April edition, since they are now offering them in monthly editions, and I thought maybe I might find some I didn’t read through as thoroughly.
So here’s what April edition has, for anyone who is interested. Included are excerpts from seven “notable” books due for publication in April 2017. Less than two weeks away, egads!

Books with Excerpts
Marlena by Julie Buntin – managing editor of Catapult
Little Hammer by Mary Gaitskill –nonfiction essay collection
Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan – suspense fiction
Letterman by Jason Zinoman, New York Times writer – about (you guessed it) David Letterman
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann – an examination of the 1920s, the Osage Indian murders and the FBI.
Imagine Wanting Only This by Kristen Radtke – a debut graphic Memoir
Startup by Doree Shafrir – Buzzfeed culture writer’s debut novel

Literary Favorites and Emerging Talents
The Golden Legend by Nadeem Aslam - 4/18
A Line Made By Walking by Sara Baume – 4/18 (which I can’t wait to read!)
Living in the Weather of the World: Stories by Richard Bausch – 4/4
The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron – 4/25
A Little More Human by Fiona Maazel – 4/4
Void Star by Zachary Mason – 4/11
Music of the Ghosts by Vaddey Ratner – 4/11
Border Child by Michel Stone – 4/4
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout - 4/25 (which I’ve read and reviewed)
No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts – 4/4
The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch – 4/18

Debut Fiction
What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Commonwealth Short Story Prize-winning Nigerian writer) – 4/4
What to Do About the Solomons by Bethany Ball – 4/4
Ragdoll by Daniel Cole – 4/4
American War by Omar El Akkad – 4/4
Oola by Brittany Newell – 4/25
The Standard Grand by Jay Baron Nicorvo – 4/25
My Cat Yugoslavia: A Novel by Pajtim Statovci – 4/18 (a prize-winning Finnish debut)
Spoils by Brian Van Reet – 4/18


Fiction

The Last Chance Olive Ranch by Susan Wittig Albert – 4/4 (latest China Bayles mystery)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman – 4/25 (which I read and reviewed)
The Fix by David Baldacci – 4/18
All By Myself, Alone by Mary Higgins Clark – 4/4
The Burial Hour by Jeffery Deaver – 4/11
Finding Gideon by Eric Jerome Dickey – 4/18
Walkaway by Cory Doctorow – 4/25
Ararat by Christopher Golden – 4/18
The Drowning King by Emily Holleman – 4/4 (Fall of Egypt series)
Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr - 4/4
The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova - 4/11 (which I read and reviewed)
Earthly Remains by Donna Leon – 4/4 (a Guido Brunetti mystery)
Burntown by Jennifer McMahon – 4/25
Fallout by Sara Paretsky – 4/18
The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers – 4/11
The Day I Died by Lori Rader-Day – 4/11
Golden Prey by John Sandford – 4/25
The Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline – 4/11
My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith - 4/4
The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown - 4/25
The Red Hunter by Lisa Unger – 4/25
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer - 4/25
The Chosen by J.R. Ward – 4/4 (latest Black Dagger Brotherhood title)

(Some of the) NONFICTION
Manderley Forever by Tatiana de Rosnay (Sarah’s Key author on the life and work of Daphne du Maurier) – 4/18
The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn (the Jonestown Massacre and Jim Jones) – 4/11
DNA Is Not Destiny by Steven Heine – 4/18
The Secrets of My Life by Caitlin Jenner – 4/25
Fail Better: Why Baseball Matters by Mark Kingwell – 4/11
Gone by Min Kym – 4/18
Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott – 4/4
A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City by Drew Philp – 4/11
The Tincture of Time by Elizabeth Silver (author of The Execution of Noa P. Singleton) – 4/25
Dreaming the Beatles by Rob Sheffield – 4/25

There’s actually more listed, but just paring the nonfiction down to those few was hard. So many books!

Hopefully you can find something in there for your tastes, or some news of one you didn’t know about, or a reminder of something coming up that you are glad to be reminded about!


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Publisher’s Lunch!

Useful for getting a quick sampling of several forthcoming titles

The monthly Buzz Books are a big help! I'm able to focus on the titles in a shorter time frame and make better use of my TBR stack.

I always enjoy seeing excerpts of soon to be released books. I usually find something that I wouldn't have otherwise heard of. This month I'm particularly excited for The Radium Girls, This is Really Happening, and Definitions of Indefinable Things.

Buzz Books is a great tool to see what books are being released in the month of April. It also includes several excerpts. These were previously published in Buzz Books 2017 Spring/Summer and the Buzz Books 2017 Young Adults Spring/Summer.

What I really like about the Buzz Books is that you get a sense of many different books that you otherwise may not have picked up to try for yourself. Book summaries are good, but nothing it better than the first chapter or two to get you really excited for a book. In the April edition, the standouts for me were Killers of the Flower Moon, followed by Strout's Anything is Possible.

I look forward to the fall/winter edition of Buzz Books out in May.

Great glimpse at what's upcoming. Looking forward to the next edition.

Love getting a chance to sample a wide range of titles, lots of good items to recommend to library patrons!

Thank you to Netgalley and the many publishers for sending me a digital ARC of so many amazing new books. There are many exciting new books but I am most excited about Elizabeth Kostova's new book. This new book sounds fantastic and the excerpt was intriguing.

I found this to be a great resource to find books that are upcoming. I recommend this book as a great companion to your reading Spring season.

Because I love the Seasonal Buzz Book Release, I was excited to discover the new monthly publication. I read the Buzz Books for the excerpts of upcoming releases and not solely the list of titles themselves. Because of this, I was disappointed. The excerpts provided did not seem to deviate from those in the Seasonal Adult and YA Release, so in the future, I think I will stick to the Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter Buzz Books.

I really like having these monthly updates -- if you have not requested one, you should. They are organized in a very useful manner, beginning with a list of titles deserving extra attention and then debut fiction and commercial fiction are shown, all with title, author and publisher name provided. Next comes non-fiction suggestions and finally, additional titles scheduled for release (by week) in April. Such a wide variety of publishers are noted that these Buzz Books Monthly have become my "go to" spot for starting collection development.

There is also usually about 6 or 7 excerpts from upcoming books. The April selections range from Omar El Akaad's AMERICAN WAR to Kate Moore's RADIUM GIRLS and Sara Zarr's GEM & DIXIE, all of which we will likely purchase.