Westchester Publishing Services

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What Westchester Wants to Read

New York

Summer 2024 Edition

Working with as many publishers as we have the privilege to do, the employees here at Westchester often have long lists of books we want to read, with each week bringing new titles to add to the growing TBR pile. Below are some of the books we plan to take off the shelf or the bedside table in the coming months as we enjoy the longer days that summer brings.

For more information about the titles or to order a copy, click on the cover images to be redirected to the IndieBound powered by Bookshop.org site. And whatever book(s) you ultimately decide to crack open this summer, happy reading!

book cover with a dark-haired man and blonde woman against a dark backgroundDark City: The Lost World of Film Noir (Revised and Expanded Edition)
Author: Eddie Muller
Publisher: Running Press (Hachette Book Group)

Why I want to read this book: This edition is a few years old now, but last summer I upped my noir game, running through several noir classics I had missed earlier, as well as some more obscure gems. I always enjoy Eddie Muller’s commentaries on TCM, and so I fully expect to enjoy reading this visually stunning book.

Submitted by: Scott Keeney, Director, Production and Customer Service

 

 

book cover with top half in a light blue background and lower half a black and white photo of a baseball stadiumThe New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City
Author: Kevin Baker
Publisher: Knopf (Penguin Random House)

Why I want to read this book: I always look forward to a new book by Kevin Baker, and in this case, it’s about New York and baseball. I recently ordered it and it’s already sitting on my bookshelf just waiting for me to crack it open! As The New York Times Book Review shared: “A hugely entertaining history of baseball and New York City, bursting with larger-than-life figures and fascinating stories from the game’s beginnings to the end of World War II.” Sounds like a perfect summer read to me!

photo of a woman with chin length brown hear, wearing eyeglassesSubmitted by: Deb Taylor, Chief Operating Officer

 

 

Bookcover with a gray and red-winged dragonA Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent
Author: Marie Brennan
Publisher: Tor

Why I want to read this book: During the initial quarantine of Covid-19 in March 2020, I listened to an amazing virtual creative writing class hosted by Marie Brennan about world building through Clarion West. A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent is the first in a series that utilizes a lot of the world building techniques she discussed. If you’re a fan of dragons and an alternative Victorian time-period, this is the book series for you!

Submitted by: Christina Jones, Resource Manager, Westchester Education

 

 

Q. Fulvius I Called You Brother
Author: M.G. Haynes
Publisher: Independent

Why I want to read this book: This is the third book of the Fulvius Chronicles series. I have read the previous books and found them to be a very intriguing storyline woven through ancient Roman times. They follow the path of Fulvius, a street urchin who saved from execution, makes his way into the military, and moves into piracy in the second book of the series. This third installment in the series picks up the storyline for a friend who he has betrayed who seeks vengeance for his betrayal. In addition to being a great series the author is my cousin M. G. Haynes, who is a West Point graduate, historian, and is still serving in the military.

Submitted by: Kevin Schroeder, Director, Client Solutions, Westchester Education

 

pair of eyebrows and eyes glancing sideways set on a yellow backgroundYellowface
Author: Rebecca F. Kuang
Publisher: Borough Press

Why I want to read this book: I saw that this won fiction book of the year 2024 at The British Book Awards and was intrigued. I’m even more so now that I know it is about a stolen manuscript and the publishing industry as well!

Julie Willis, River EditorialSubmitted by: Julie Willis, Editorial Director & Systems Lead, Westchester Publishing Services UK

 

 

multicolored letters spelling The Ministry of Time set against a black backgroundThe Ministry of Time
Author: Kaliane Bradley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Why I want to read this book: Why? While attending the US Book Show this May, Simon & Schuster CEO, Jonathan Karp, shared this as his current read, promoting it as a blend of a spy story, a time travel story, and a rom-com. Sounds like it ticks all the boxes for a great summer read and I’m going to check it out.

headshot of Tyler CareySubmitted by: Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

 

 

drawing of a woman standing with back to viewer looking through a gauzy curtain at waves breaking on a beachLong Island
Author: Colm Tóibín
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Why I want to read this book: I read Brooklyn which can now be considered the prequel, when it was released 15 years ago and was thrilled when news came out last year that the author had written an unexpected follow-up. Long Island brings back many of the original cast of characters and is set sometime in the 1970s, about 20 years after the events of Brooklyn. Similarly, the story takes place between New York and Enniscorthy, Ireland, where protagonist Eilis Fiorello (nee Lacey) was born and raised before emigrating to America. I’m looking forward to finding out what Eilis and her connections have been up to after all these years. Judging by all the pre-publication buzz around this novel, I’m apparently not the only one! Bonus: You can watch Saoirse Ronan bring Eilis to the screen in the 2015 adaptation of Brooklyn, available to stream on several services.

Submitted by: Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

 

 

Looking for a few more titles to consider? These lists may offer up some worthy reading selections:

Summer Reads 2024 – Publishers Weekly

25 Books to Read this Summer – The Atlantic (subscription may be required)

What to Read Summer 2024 – National Public Radio

Best New Books to Read this Summer – Time Magazine

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

National Archives, Washington, DCIt seems for the last several years that visits to our partners’ operations in New England and the Beltway tend to land in October.  Perhaps that’s because it’s this time of year when our clients have taken a post-Summer breath and are ready to begin talking about the editorial and production phases of their list for the upcoming year.  Or perhaps it’s because Key Accounts Manager Bill Foley and I like to try to get these visits in before the inevitable winter weather begins snarling up flight itineraries, road trips, and the like.  Either way, it has been a productive few weeks meeting with our academic, legal, university press, policy group, and trade partners from Boston to New York to DC.  What follows are some key topics that were hit upon during these trips – some of which may apply to you more than others, but all of which raise the recurring topic in these blog pages of tailoring specific solutions to each partner’s needs.

  • Alternate workflows for different product types – This came up during meetings with legal publishers and policy groups in DC and the Beltway, university press clients up and down the coast, and other publishers throughout the Northeast corridor. Over the years, Westchester has become associated with handling specific imprints or product lines for some of our clients, but it’s become apparent to them that we are able to help in other ways.  For some legal publishers, for instance, we may be more associated with helping them on their treatises, where for others we’re their go-to resource for statutory titles. Likewise, some policy groups think of us as ‘book people’, while others send us all of their working papers to edit on tight turnarounds. This is why we believe in having periodic reviews with our clients, so we can share ways we are helping your peers, which can often lead to resolving a similar challenge you’re having with books or other publications not currently assigned to Westchester. Talk with your Westchester rep about the areas where you’re experiencing challenges with books or other types of publications not currently assigned to Westchester, and let’s see if we can provide you with an affordable alternative to managing an army of freelance resources to get your publications to press.
  • Changing modes of trade publishing – Interestingly, after decades (five of them to be precise) of being the go-to vendor for trade publishers on their typesetting needs, we increasingly find ourselves being called upon to help copyedit and project manage trade titles as well. Certainly, our editorial operation, which has been around for over 20 years, has handled many key trade titles for clients over the years, but that has usually been during peak windows when trade publishers needed help on overflow titles.  More and more, though, we find trade publishers are giving serious consideration to outsourcing project management, copyediting, and production for entire imprints, to better free up their in-house staff to work on key or embargoed titles or avoid the time sink of managing a pool of freelance copyeditors with specific subject matter expertise. During the course of these early Autumn visits, several trade houses made moves to start outsourcing specific imprints to Westchester for editorial and production packaging.  We’re proud of the teams we have built over the years to support this need and are happy to talk with you about editing your fiction or trade titles, if that is a growing need.
  • Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and University of Pennsylvania’s book launch for Design with Nature Now.Quality matters – Lastly, one of the highlights of our October road trips was visiting the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and University of Pennsylvania’s book launch for the revised version of Design with Nature, called Design with Nature Now. Editor Frederick ‘Fritz’ Steiner and contributors led presentations at Cambridge’s Lincoln Institute of Land Policy about key projects covered in the book, as well as just the undertaking of revising an industry-standard title to address changing needs in landscape architecture to better address needs around climate change, new approaches to landscape architecture, and more.  The highlight of the evening for Westchester was the kudos and thanks the editors gave to Westchester’s own Susan Baker for her and Production Editor Deborah Grahame-Smith’s efforts working with Lincoln’s and Penn’s teams of writers, editors, and designers on editing and typesetting the book. The emphasis by our client on quality – and the thanks to our staff for their efforts to ensure a sustainable, durable new edition of an academic classic – were greatly appreciated and representative of why we do what we do.

I look forward to any thoughts the above may prompt for you about the publications you currently send to Westchester, or areas where we could help you that we currently do not.  Please reach out to me or your account rep to discuss your changing needs for support on your books, papers, and other publications, so that Westchester can help to prescribe possible solutions to help you continue to keep your publications on schedule and below budget.