What to look for in fall's book lineup

Summer has barely started and it's now time to think about the fall and beyond. Despite a flat economy and a spate of studies claiming reading is in trouble, the autumn-winter releases this year appear to be both substantial and plentiful.

A few to look for:

Debut novelists

"Train to Trieste" by Dominica Radulescu. (Knopf, $23.95.) August. Romania under communism is rough on romance.

"The Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry. (Morrow, $24.95.) August. Underground self-published novel about eccentrics in Salem, Mass., goes mainstream.

"The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent. (Little, Brown, $24.99.) September. More Salem eccentrics, these are Colonial-era witches and kin to the author.

"The Good Thief" by Hannah Tinti. (Dial Press, $25.) August. Tinti, a Salem native (there's a theme developing here), crafts the life of a New England orphan who encounters criminals and grave robbers.

"The Little Giant of Aberdeen County" by Tiffany Baker. (Grand Central, $24.99.) January. Truly (the title character) is a larger-than-usual woman coming of age in upstate New York.

"A Cure for the Night" by Justin Peacock. (Doubleday, $24.95.) September. Racial issues fire up Brooklyn over a murder trial as a young public defender faces the music.

Old standards

"Just After Sunset" by Stephen King. (Scribner, $28.) November. It doesn't seem possible, but King writes short stories.

"Indignation" by Philip Roth. (Houghton Mifflin, $26.) September. Young Newark, N.J., Jewish lad flees to Midwest for college during Korean War.

"Death With Interruptions" by Jose Saramago. (Harcourt, $24.) October. The author of "Blindness" returns with a new allegorical work.

Nonfiction

"For the Love of Murphy's: The Behind-the-Counter Story of a Great American Retailer" by Jason Togyer. (Penn State University Press, $34.95.) November. In Western Pennsylvania, when you said "the five and 10," you meant G.C. Murphy's. Togyer, a University of Pittsburgh editor, retells the ups and downs of the McKeesport-headquartered chain store.

"Nickelodeon City: Pittsburgh at the Movies: 1905-1929" by Michael Aronson. (University of Pittsburgh Press, $35.95.) September. The Smoky City loved the flickers, writers Arsonson, a University of Oregon professor who charts the movie industry in Pittsburgh.

Memoir

"Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession" by Anne Rice (Knopf, $23.95.) October. The author of vampire and S&M novels tells how her 38 years as an atheist ended as she returned to the church.

"Growing Up With Clemente" by Richard Peterson. (Kent State University Press, $18.) January. A retired English professor at Southern Illinois University, Peterson is a Pittsburgh native who came of age in the 1950s, enamored of baseball and the Pirates' star. Here is his side of the story.

(E-mail Bob Hoover at bhoover(at)post-gazette.com.)

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