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July’s gone and August has already started! It’s that time of the month when you are no longer broke. It’s that time of the month when you get that long awaited SMS on your mobile. It’s that time of the month for which you slog the whole month. Finally, you don’t need to gaze wistfully at the glass front of your favorite book store, which you pass by everyday while going to work. And of course, since it’s pay day, it’s time to BUY MORE BOOKS !

And here comes BOOKS AND A LOT MORE to the rescue ! Check out this list of books releasing in August !

1. THE WHITE PRINCESS by Phillipa Gregory, Simon & Schuster

Phillipa Gregory is famous for historical fiction, especially ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ which also got adapted into a movie, starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. ‘The White Princess’, the latest novel by Gregory is part of ‘Cousin’s War’ series. Philippa Gregory has a reputation of breathing life into female historical figures who would otherwise never get any space in popular media.

Buy The White Princess from Flipkart.com

2. THE CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith/J K Rowling, Hachette India

J K Rowling, who needs no introduction, wrote this novel under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith to publish without hype or expectation, till the truth was inadvertently revealed, after which it topped the best seller lists. Having finished reading this book, I can say that this is a MUST READ (Full review here). I hope to read the next book in the series and wish it comes out soon. The book releases in India on 5th August, 2013 (Tentative).

Pre order The Cuckoo’s Calling on Flipkart | Amazon

3. THE BONE SEASON by Samantha Shannon, Bloomsbury

‘The Bone Season’ is a story set in 2059 with a female lead, Paige Mahoney. This is the debut novel of Samantha Shannon, who signed a six figure book deal with Bloomsbury, to publish the first three books in a seven book series. Film rights for this book have already been optioned by Imaginarium Studios.

Pre Order The Bone Season 1st Edition from Flipkart.com

4. CROWFALL by Shanta Gokhale, Penguin

Shanta Gokhale, a novelist and an art critic, narrated the conflict between tradition and contemporaneity in her marathi novel ‘Tya Varshi’ (In That Year) published in 2008. Crowfall is the English translation of the same work. Steeped in sensuous detail, ‘Crowfall’ takes in art and identity, music and communal madness, and the clash of the old and the new to etch a finely nuanced portrait of contemporary Mumbai.

Pre-order Crowfall on Flipkart | Amazon

5. THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY by Shovon Chowdhury, Aleph Book Company

The book is set in India, a few decades into the future, when all is not well. Mumbai does not exist on the map, Chinese have nuked large parts of the country, with Bengal being a protectorate of China, etc. The book is a funny satire on Indian Society and as per reports, it is “a superlative feat of the imagination that is unlike anything you have ever read before and will appeal to readers of literary fiction and avid fans of timeless, wildly satirical, comical masterworks such as Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and Animal Farm by George Orwell.”

Pre-order on Amazon | Flipkart

6. THE ORCHARD OF LOST SOULS by Nadifa Mohamed, Simon & Schuster

Mohamed’s debut Black Mamba Boy was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and many other awards back in 2010. Her latest is set against a backdrop of political upheaval in late 80’s Somalia and follows the stories of three different women, whose lives are thrown together as their country descends into a state of civil war.

Pre-order The Orchard of Lost Souls on Flipkart

7. A COOL DARK PLACE by Supriya Dravid, Random House

This is Supriya Dravid’s first novel. A mother daughter bond formed in the afterlife, memories stored in Ziploc bags and the horrific struggle to piece together a past that’s been through the shredder, A Cool, Dark Place is all of these plus the unsettling realization that one’s life was ghost-written by two drunks.

Pre-order on Flipkart | Amazon

There are also other books that are expected to create some noise in literary circles being released in August, which aren’t going to be released in India as of now. Only imported editions will be available online and probably in certain book stores. They are as follows:

1. The Glass Ocean by Lori Baker, Penguin

The Glass Ocean’ is Lori Baker’s first novel although she has three short story collections to her credit. In the novel, 18-year-old orphan Carlotta Dell’Oro imagines the story of her parents and her own existence. The writing has a dreamlike and lyrical quality and is expected to delight connoisseurs of literary fiction.

Check out the book on: Amazon | Flipkart | Goodreads

2. Necessary Errors by Caleb Crain, Penguin

Crain is a literary critic and journalist. ‘Necessary Errors’ is his debut novel. It is about the lives of 20 somethings living in Prague. In Harper’s Bazaar, Emily Cronin describes Necessary Errors as “a sparkling first novel by the literary critic Caleb Crain about youth, ambition, and self-invention in early-’90s Prague.”

Check out the book on: Flipkart | Amazon | GoodReads

3. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara, Knopf Doubleday

In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu’ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. This book is an anthropological adventure story and a thriller, all rolled into one.

Check out the book on: Flipkart | Amazon | GoodReads

4. The Color Master by Aimee Bender, Hutchinson Press

Aimee Bender is the author of the best selling book ‘The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake‘ and she returns with this collection of short stories. She has proven herself to be among the most imaginative, exciting, and intelligent writers of our times and is known for her surreal plots.

Check out the book on: Flipkart | Amazon | GoodReads

5. After Her by Joyce Maynard, Harper Collins

‘After Her’ is a coming of age story of Rachel and her sister Patty along with being a thriller about a serial killer. Joyce Maynard is an American author best known for her memoir ‘At Home in the World’ and a short affair with J D Salinger. ‘To Die For’, a movie starring Nicole Kidman, is based on her novel with the same name.

Check out this book on: Amazon | GoodReads

6. The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, Penguin

The book is about a slave boy who disguises himself as a girl to escape the pre-civil war unrest and joins John Brown‘s anti-slavery crusade. He is the author of the American Classic ‘The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother‘. James Mcbride is also a rockstar in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band consisted of acclaimed writers.

Check out the book on: Flipkart | Amazon | GoodReads

There are a lot many books releasing in August but mind you, only the books bound to be good have been mentioned here. 

This shall now become  a regular feature and other posts COMING SOON are:

1. Book Review of ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’ by J K Rowling/Robert Galbraith

2. Top Non Fiction Books releasing in August

3. Books with Indian Authors releasing in August

Expect a lot more in the coming weeks !

Note: All images in this article have been taken from different sources and none of them belong to me. Dates mentioned are tentative and may change.