With apologies to Perry Como and retailers everywhere, it is not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Not yet, anyway.
We haven’t even reached Thanksgiving, but if you have started a holiday gift list, the Tucson Festival of Books is happy to help.
Here are some recently-published and about-to-be-published titles that festival volunteers are hoping to find under their own trees next month:
“Trial by Ambush” by Marcia Clark is based on the true story of a 1953 robbery that spun out of control, leading to a brutal murder. Prosecutors chose to target the exotic Barbara Graham, despite clear evidence she was not the shooter. This is the 13th book by Clark, who is best known for her involvement in the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995. “Trial by Ambush” will be in bookstores Dec. 1. — Holly Rosen
“Shred Sisters” by Betsy Lerner examines the special connection between sisters, in this case Olivia and Amy Shred. Over the course of 20 years, they have moments of triumph, heartbreak and despair. In the end, we come to agree with Amy: no one can love you more or hurt you more than your own sister. “Shred Sisters” was released last month. — Lynn Wiese Sneyd
“The Light Eaters” by Zoe Schlanger is a fun, spirited, scientific look at a topic we usually approach with our reading glasses on: plant life and the ecosystem we live in. One of the year’s best books, “The Light Eaters” takes readers around the world to see how local botany has shaped man’s existence there. It is an eye-opening look at the world we live in. — Jennifer Casteix
“The Greatest Lie of All” by Jillian Cantor will have her many local fans hitting their favorite bookstores when it is released Dec. 3. An aging romance author and an aspiring starlet share an unexpected secret in Cantor’s 13th novel, all written since she moved to Tucson in 2000. — Bill Finley
“The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky“ by Josh Galarza was a National Book Award finalist this year in Young People’s Literature. Brett’s adopted mother has cancer. He is struggling in school. Life already feels overwhelming when entries from his journal are posted online. Mortified, Brett fears the worst, but he finds a friend who knows him better than he even knows himself. — Kathy Short
“A Race to the Bottom of Crazy“ by Tucsonan Richard Grant is a must-read for all Arizonans who are secretly fascinated by the oddities of life in State 48. As columnist Joe Talton once said in the Arizona Republic, “You can’t spell crazy without the AZ in it.” — Abby Mogollon
“The Great Black Hope“ by Louis Moore studies the role two Black quarterbacks played in the growth of professional football. For years, only white men played the quarterback in the NFL. That began to change when Doug Williams and Vince Evans became starters and stars in the late 1970s. — Jack Siry
“Witches of El Paso“ by Luis Jaramillo begins with a teenage Nena in 1943 El Paso. As fainting spells and disturbing premonitions become more and more frequent, Nena is visited by the mysterious Sister Benedicta. Together, they cross space and time to colonial Mexico. Years later, Nena enlists her great-niece to help finish the story. — Samantha Neville
“I’ll be Waiting“ by Kelley Armstrong is a tear-jerking ghost story that features Nicola Laughton, who is dying of cystic fibrosis when her new husband is killed in a car accident. His last words: “I’ll be waiting for you.” Friends introduce Nicola to a medium. There is a séance. From there, things start to get interesting. — Tricia Clapp
“The Last Dangerous Visions“ is the long-awaited third entry in a series by speculative-fiction pioneer Harlan Ellison. He said it was finished in 1973, but it wasn’t published until last month … six years after Ellison died. It is a collection of 32 stories, essays and poems that will remind long-ago readers why they loved Ellison in the first place. — David Nix
“Heat and Run“ is the newest romance novel from Adriana Herrera. Omega Melina has decided to spend some time on an island retreat when her plane crashes, literally, into the mountain lodge of an eccentric stranger. When his lover appears, our story heads in an unexpected direction. — Jessica Pryde
“Gabriel’s Moon“ by William Boyd introduces us to acclaimed travel writer Gabriel Dax, who goes from reporter to spy when he falls under the spell of Faith Green in the Republic of the Congo. — Kim Peters
