Thanks to Spine Contributing Writer Tracie Mooneyham for pulling together this week’s Can’t Wait To Read.

This is my “I keep meaning to get to it List.” Everything on this list has been sitting in my TBR pile for no fewer than 3 months. I want to read them all, but life (in the form of blurbing coming-soon books, researching and writing my own books, and reading books to my daughter) keeps getting in the way!  I’m preaching to the choir, I know.

Books and travel are twin passions for me, and I prepare for literary journeys the way I prepare for literal ones: by making a list of things not to miss. Sometimes, though, it’s the unexpected discoveries along the way—a jewel-like fresco in an obscure crypt, a museum of quirky objects, a neighborhood café—that are equally memorable in retrospect. Same with books: some loom large across the literary landscape, while others await a serendipitous discovery. So while hoping to chance upon some hidden gems, these are the books I am most eager to read right now.

Big thank you to bestselling writer Erika Robuck for curating this week’s Can’t Wait To Read, presented below in alpha order by author. Robuck’s next work of historical fiction centers around Virginia Hall, a real-world SOE/OSS agent during WWII.

Welcome to today's guest author Janet McNally (Girls in the Moon and The Looking Glass) who is highlighting recently or soon to be released books. If you're an author, and would like to curate a future Can't Wait to Read, contact susanna@spinemagazine.co. Readers, we encourage you to visit your local library or bookstore and take a look at these new titles.

August in New England means corn and tomatoes, tomatoes and corn. You must eat the corn on the cob, slathered with butter, sprinkled with salt. The tomatoes you can eat any way you like, though the less adulterated, the better. My preference? Sliced fat, dotted with chunky salt, and laid atop a crusty slice of French, with the thinnest layer of mayonnaise separating August's best fruit from the bread. Yum, and only minimal effort required.

Once August is over, I'm ready to get cooking. These six books, most coming out this fall, will serve to inspire.