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Spotlight On New Fall Reading

Summer is over, so it's time to put away those beach books. Some long-awaited, highly-anticipated novels are being published this fall. Cosmopolitan magazine's book editor, John Searles, also author of the novel "Strange But True," stopped by The Early Show with a preview of new fall reads.

How did Searles come up with his list?

"All the authors we're looking at, their previous books were runaway hits so we're looking at their much-anticipated follow-up book everyone's been salivating, waiting for these books, and here they are," he explains.

  • First on his list is Alice Sebold's new book, "The Almost Moon."

    "How much darker can you get than a novel narrated by a dead girl?" Searles asks. "So it will be interesting to see how readers respond to this one."

  • Next on his list is Ann Packer's new book, "Songs Without Words."

    "It a story of two women and their friendship over the course of a lifetime," Searles tells Russ Mitchell. "This is a quiet, lyrical novel."

  • Richard Russo's new book is called "Bridge of Size."

    "It's an epic tale of ordinary people, set in upstate New York. It's about small-town life in America and how it's slowly dying."

  • Also on the list is Ann Patchett's new book, "Run."

    "One critic said it best about this book, 'Run,' that you don't want normally to compare a novel to a great TV show but it is like this HBO series," Searles says. "Set over the course of 24 hours. It's about a freak accident on a snowy night and a mysterious stranger. It's really beautiful. It is a great book."

  • "The Abstinence Teacher" by Tom Parada is set in suburbia. "It's about the tug-of-war that goes on with sex education. Specifically one teacher who says something that the conservatives in the town they don't like so much. It's a good book," Searles says.
  • Searles also chose Amy Bloom's new book, "Away."

    "It's the story of a woman looking for happiness, a mother searching for her daughter, an immigrant story. The writer writes about some pretty interesting characters but she's also an interesting character herself," Searles says. "She was a practicing therapist for 20-plus years and she's also the creator of a new show on Lifetime, 'State of Mind,' about practicing therapists."

  • Finally on his list, Junot Diaz's new novel, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao."

    "The main character believed Oscar Wao suffers from a curse," Searles says.

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