The fall (and start-of-winter) book season is just about upon us. Here are some of the titles you'll want to get in on early.

While I'm not one for rushing the lovely laziness of summer off the calendar (after all, summer provides plenty of time to sit and read), I'll admit that around mid-August, I start to get a bit giddy over the thought of fall. And it isn't about the leaves changing colors in New England. No - fall is the biggest new-book season of them all. It's when the publishers deluge bookstores with tons of new titles from their heavy-hitter authors as well as from their we-think-they'll-be-big up-and-comers for readers to (hopefully) enjoy - or learn from, or get peeved about, or whatever the book is supposed to do. In anticipation of the approaching reading season, I wandered the aisles of the book industry's biggest show, BookExpo America, chatted up publicists aplenty, pawed through early editions of books by the bundle, and tore through the publisher catalogs to see what the publishers are betting their fortunes on. (See how much I go through for you?) Along the way, I discovered a bunch of books that, for sure, everybody is going to be talking about, along with a pack of other titles that everybody should consider talking about. So load up your online bookstore shopping cart or pay your friendly neighborhood store a visit and preorder these suckers. You'll be glad you did. I hope.