The Millions has a thorough preview of upcoming book releases for 2014, and the list is ridiculous. What I especially noticed was how many authors were defying their normal genres and expectations-- a children's book re-telling by Lydia Davis, a very straightforward narrative novel by Murakami, and short story collections from Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood. There is so much on the list to get excited about. I'll be waist-deep in essay collections from Amy Pohler, Roxane Gay and Lena Dunham

I found this lovely discussion on favorite Southern novels by Southern independent bookstore staffers, and thought it was a nice follow-up to my Flannery O'Connor/ Carson McCullers binges.

Release Date: December 5, 2014 (limited) Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures Director: Jean-Marc Vallйe Screenwriter: Nick Hornby Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Thomas Sadoski, Michiel Huisman, W. Earl Brown, Gaby Hoffman, Kevin Rankin, Laura Dern, Keene McRae Genre: Drama MPAA Rating: R (for sexual content, nudity, drug use, and language) Official Websites: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/wild/, https://www.facebook.com/wildmovie2014 Plot Summary: With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope.

It's pretty lucky that the official trailer for 'Wild' (based on the book by Cheryl Strayed), came out this week, a few days after I posted about how much I loved it. The adaptation looks excellent, and I think Reese Witherspoon is a great choice for the role, but I'm still going to strongly advocate reading the book. Normally I'm not a big stickler about literary adaptations, but the book is so great and very bookish, that I think some of its magic will naturally get lost in the translation. I bought my mom a copy of this book last year, so this might have to be a mother-daughter trip to the movies.