Opinion

REQUIRED READING

It Had to Be You:

The Gossip Girl Prequel

by Cecily von Ziegesar

(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

OMG! The TV series PLUS a new book! It’s 416 pages of hardcover heaven for “Gossip” groupies, who get a prequel look at sophomore year, when Blair and Nate first got together, and at how the “GG” column first started.

World Without End

by Ken Follett (Dutton)

Follett fans – and there are many – on edge since his “Pillars of the Earth” came out in 1989 can exhale. His newest work is a sequel, a sweeping saga featuring descendants of the “Pillars” characters, 200 years later, as they face the plague. Nervous about following his biggest seller, Follett says, “At last, I’ve screwed up my courage.”

Fire in the Blood

by Irene Nemirovsky (Knopf)

Only a small part of this long-lost work from the author of the acclaimed “Suite Francaise” was known to exist until the recent discovery of the rest of it in archives – she had given it to her editor for safekeeping. Nemirovsky was murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz.

A Skating Life: My Story

by Dorothy Hamill with Deborah Amelon

(Hyperion)

Who knew the skater who launched a million haircuts led such a troubled life? But despite an alcoholic dad, a distant mom, depression, the tragic divorce from and sudden death of a first husband and a second husband who cheated with Hamill’s “Cinderella on Ice” stand-in, the Olympic champ triumphs with the love of her daughter, Alex.

Frankenstein: A Cultural History

by Susan Tyler Hitchcock (Norton)

Want to get prepped for “Young Frankenstein” on Broadway (previews start Oct. 11)? Hitchcock’s detailed look at the monster (she even discusses whether to call it a monster, creature or something else), from Shelley to Karloff to Herman Munster and more, should help. “This is our monstrer. To know him is to know ourselves,” she writes.

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution

by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter)

Even if you don’t cook, Waters’ mouth-watering cookbook is for all lovers of food. More than a collection of recipes, the old-fashioned looking book (with lovely illustrations by Patricia Curtan) offers advice on what to keep in the house, essential dishes, how to organize and how to take advantage of seasonal offerings.