"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Optimism abounds these days. It is, in part, due to the truly gorgeous summer we've had here in Minnesota. Also, as a certified sports nut, this is the time of year when so many teams have high hopes. Football teams are in the midst of training camp and everyone thinks they can do well. Big-time soccer is in full-swing and even Americans are taking notice. Mostly, though, the optimism has everything to do with the books we're starting to see trickle in. The trickle will become a monsoon come September-December.

As each month comes along I'll be focusing in some detail on a select grouping of titles. For now, even to start a list is to shove aside so many great books/authors. But as I've talked to so many of our book-slinging colleagues in New York, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Milwaukee and other stores locally, I've heard the same refrain: "I cannot remember a Fall season like this. I'm so excited."

Booksellers can rarely agree on any one thing--we're iconoclastic by nature--but we love to put good books into the hands' of our customers. There is no greater joy than opening boxes for some highly anticipated book. And for the next sixteen weeks or so there will be much joy across the country.

Come September I'll start highlighting these many gems. One book I will single out right now is "Homer and Langley" by E.L. Doctorow. The book releases 9/1/09 and it concerns the infamous Collyer(yes, Homer and Langley) brothers--NYC's greatest recluse/hermit/scavengers/former socialites. Doctorow does a marvelous job of inhabiting the different brothers minds and ideas. His sense of their time(1880's to late 1940's) is so engaging to all the senses. It is a real treat to be in the hands of such a master of language and human emotion.

Almost forgot to cite the quote above. Mr. Winston Churchill said those words--and, today, I agree.