Prepub Alert
Aug 15, 2010Fiction
Adams, Thelma. Playdate. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. Jan. 2011. 496p. ISBN 978-0-312-65666-9. $23.99.
In a sun-baked California suburb, work-obsessed Darlene ignores smart daughter Belle and husband Lance, a very fit yogi and stay-at-home dad, while slick womanizer Alec helps support Darlene's business venture (and then some) even as wife Wren, another very fit yogi and stay-at-home mom, wants to practice poses with Lance. The increasingly turbulent Santa Ana winds that whip through this debut seem somehow symbolic. I'm hoping for sharp social satire from Us Weekly's film critic. With a 50,000-copy first printing.
Baxter, Charles. Gryphon: New and Selected Stories. Pantheon. Jan. 2011. 416p. ISBN 978-0-307-37921-4. $27.95.
Top picks from four previous collections plus seven new stories from the elegant and slightly subversive Baxter, a National Book Award nominee for The Feast of Love. A treat for cognoscenti.
Clark, Mary Jane. To Have and To Kill: A Wedding Cake Mystery. Morrow. Jan. 2011. 320p. ISBN 978-0-06-199554-5. $25.99. lrg. prnt.
Best seller Clark launches a new series featuring Piper Donovan, a would-be actress who moves back home and lends a hand in the family bakery. When someone near and dear to the bride whose wedding cake she's decorating turns up dead, Piper links up with an old neighbor—now a good-looking FBI agent, of course—to figure out who's trying to make bride and groom say, "I don't." With a 100,000-copy first printing; buy for anyone who takes frosting over blood and guts.
Crais, Robert. The Sentry. Putnam. Jan. 2011. NAp. ISBN 978-0-399-15707-3. $26.95.
Those two Katrina refugees Pike has his eye on? They could have a much darker and trickier past than he could imagine. The First Rule, Crais's last, debuted in the No. 2 spot on the New York Times best sellers list—his best showing yet and a big hint that folks will be looking for this one.
Edwards, Kim. The Lake of Dreams. Viking. Jan. 2011. 400p. ISBN 978-0-670-02217-5. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Home from Japan, still conflicted about her father's death, and still attracted to her first love, a local glass artist, Lucy Jarrett discovers a cache of heirlooms that gives her a shattering new understanding of her family history. Edwards's The Memory Keeper's Daughter having spent 122 weeks on the New York Times paperback best sellers list, of course you will want multiples. With a 15-city tour and a reading group guide.
Fallon, Siobhan. You Know When the Men Are Gone. Amy Einhorn: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2011. 240p. ISBN 978-0-399-15720-2. $23.95.
At Fort Hood, TX, a group of
women await the return of their
husbands from war. There will be a big publicity push behind this debut, and editor Einhorn promoted it at Day of Dialog's Editors' Picks panel. Definitely take a chance.
Forna, Aminatta. The Memory of Love. Atlantic Monthly. Jan. 2011. 464p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1965-0. $24.95.
Determined young surgeon Kai Mansaray of Freetown, Sierra Leone, forges a relationship with a dying patient—and what better setting than a hospital to capture the tragedy of civil war? Forna's Ancestor Stones grabbed a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction and Washington Post Best Novel honors; her memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water, was a Samuel Johnson Prize finalist; and Vanity Fair named her one of Africa's promising new writers. For everyone beyond sheer populist readers; with a reading group guide and an eight-city tour.
Hattemer-Higgins, Ida. The History of Histories: A Novel of Berlin. Knopf. Jan. 2011. 320p. ISBN 0-978-0-307-27277-5. $24.95.
In 2002, a bedraggled young woman emerges from a forest outside Berlin with no memory of the preceding night.
When she starts getting glimmers of two separate tragedies emanating from Berlin's past, all hell breaks loose, with Nazis returning as falcons and buildings turning into flesh. This sounded so darkly, enchantingly weird that I contacted the publisher and discovered that the book was originally set for the fall but then moved back to free it from the crush. Folks inhouse started reading it and fell in love; then the author visited, and they really fell in love. A real breakout debut.
Hearst, Dorothy. Secrets of the Wolves. S. & S. Jan. 2011. 352p.
ISBN 978-1-4165-7000-4. $24.
Some 14,000 years ago, a wolf pup named Kaala is charged with the task of assuring that humans don't lose touch with nature. Sure, the premise of Hearst's "The Wolf Chronicles" trilogy is fantasy, but it's based on the scientific theory that humans and wolves (later dogs) coevolved. The first installment, Promise of the Wolves, did nicely; this second part features Kaala's leadership of a bunch of wolves set to live among humans. With a reading group guide; for fantasy fans and animal lovers.
Hunter, Stephen. Dead Zero:
A Bob Lee Swagger Novel.
S. & S. Jan. 2011. 384p.
ISBN 978-1-4391-3865-6. $26.
Yup, Bob Lee, Marine Corps Master Sniper, swaggers back in for another adventure, and he should be proud; his previous venture, I, Sniper, stayed on the New York Times best sellers list longer than any other Hunter novel. Here, Swagger is after an AWOL staff sergeant who's somewhere in the Afghan desert, provoking both the FBI and the Taliban. Nothing cozy about this bloody work; with a seven-city tour.
Iles, Greg. Unwritten Laws. Scribner. Jan. 2011. 504p. ISBN 978-1-4391-4029-1. $26.99.
Former Natchez prosecutor Penn Cage is a wreck; his father, Dr. Tom Cage, is accused of murder when his former nurse is found dead. Seems they had quite a relationship, unknown to Penn. Will Penn's fourth outing be as hot and edgy as his last one, the push-the-envelope best seller The Devil's Punchbowl? Consider multiples to find out.
Koontz, Dean. What the Night Knows. Bantam. Jan. 2011. 352p. ISBN 978-0-553-80772-1. $28. lrg. prnt.
Billed as one of the scarier ghost stories you'll ever read, Koontz's latest features your average family trapped in their home by a back-from-the-dead type who's evidently mean as hell. Heavy promotion, including a special-effects jacket to draw readers in; Koontz is really busy this season.
Koryta, Michael. The Cypress House. Little, Brown. Jan. 2011. 400p. ISBN 978-0-316-05372-3. $24.99. lrg. prnt. on demand.
Koryta is a multiaward winner (e.g., Los Angeles Times Book Prize) and nominee (e.g., the Edgar) whose spring title, So Cold the River, is making a splash (e.g., it's an Amazon Best Book of June). He's back fast, continuing the foray into super-natural suspense begun with Cold. Koryta's unfortunate protagonist knows when folks are going to die, so when he sees that fellow passengers on a Florida train all have the telltale sign—their eyes turn to smoke—he tries to warn them and then bails with the one passenger who listens. They end up at the Cypress House, with a hurricane on the way. Koryta is now hitting the top rungs; buy accordingly.
Lescroart, John. The Border Lands. Dutton. Jan. 2011. 400p.
ISBN 978-0-525-95176-6. $26.95.
Forget about vampires: this is scary. After Ro Curtlee, scion of a wealthy and unscrupulous San Francisco family, is convicted of rape and murder, those associated with his conviction find their lives and careers insidiously sidelined; homicide detective Abe Glitsky ends up in the payroll office. Then Ro gets out of prison, and fire takes the home—and the life—of the prosecution's star witness. Is Abe suspicious? You bet.
Meltzer, Brad. The Inner Circle. Grand Central. Jan. 2011. 400p. ISBN 978-0-446-57789-2. $26.99.
lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
When government archivist Benjamin January shows secret crush Clementine Kaye the vault where the President reviews covert documents, they discover a dictionary that belonged to George Washington hidden in a desk chair. This inevitably leads to questions—not to mention murder. Best-selling author Meltzer's latest, The Book of Lies, didn't do quite as well as its predecessor, though selling more than 150,000 copies in hardcover and 300,000 in paperback (so far) is nothing to sneeze at. With lots of promotion and a ten-city tour.
Moning, Karen Marie. Shadowfever. Delacorte. Jan 2011. 512p. ISBN 978-0-385-34167-7. $26.
We've been through Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, and Dreamfever, all dark and sexy fantasies starring MacKayla Lane, Celtic sidhe-seeker intent on avenging her sister's murder and caught between the Seelie (good Fae) and Unseelie (bad Fae). Here's the final tale, which will be preceded by a months-long campaign boosting the entire series. Oh, and a movie possibility lies in wait. Be prepared.
Parker, Jefferson. The Border Lands. Dutton. Jan. 2011. 400p. ISBN 978-0-525-95200-8. $26.95.
ATF agent Sean Ozburn is working undercover to help upend the Baja Cartel when he suddenly cuts off communication—except for some spooky digital videos he sends his wife. Is he carrying his investigations deeper, or has he gone to the other side? Charlie Hood has gotta find out. From a three-time Edgar winner; buy multiples.
Patterson, James & Michael Ledwidge. Now You See Her. Little, Brown. Jan. 2011. 400p. ISBN 978-0-316-03621-4. $27.99.
lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
Good looks, a good-looking husband, a sumptuous Key West lifestyle, and a baby on the way—Jeanine would seem to have it all. Then she digs up a terrible secret and must run for her life. Patterson has coauthored five best sellers with Ledwidge, including titles in the Michael Bennett series. Buy lots, inevitably.
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. Call Me Irresistible. Morrow. Jan. 2011. 400p. ISBN 978-0-06-135152-5. $25.99. lrg. prnt.
Remember Teddy, the nine-year-old from Phillips's Fancy Pants and the devastatingly handsome college grad in Lady Be Good? He's back, about to marry former First Daughter Lucy, whose best friend, Meg, thinks he's all wrong for her. Now Meg's facing down angry but irresistible Teddy. Phillips has won four RITAs and received RWA's lifetime achievement award; her newest is getting a one-day laydown on January 18 and a 250,000-copy first printing. A no-brainer wherever romances are read.
Roby, Kimberla Lawson. Love, Honor, and Betray. Grand Central. Jan. 2011. 288p. ISBN 978-0-446-57245-3. $24.99.
The Rev. Curtis Brown wants
to take in his illegitimate toddler daughter when her mother dies. Alas, his wife is none too thrilled. Roby always blends her best-selling prose with concern for social issues, and her fans love it.
Rubenfeld, Jed. The Death Instinct. Riverhead: Penguin Group
(USA). Jan. 2011. NAp. ISBN 978-1-59448-782-8. $26.95.
Rubenfeld's debut, The Interpretation of Murder, caused a lot of controversy because, however well it did, it was expected to do better. The work itself is a tense and eloquent historical set to thrill the right audience. His new one investigates this country's first terrorist attack—the 1920 bombing on Wall Street, when a horse-drawn carriage weighed down with 100 pounds of dynamite and a quarter-ton of cast-iron slugs blew up, killing or injuring over 400 people. For readers wanting a good, literate thriller with a sense of the past.
Tóibín, Colm. The Empty Family: Stories. Scribner. Jan. 2011. 288p.
ISBN 978-1-4391-3832-8. $24.
Tóibín ranges here from Lady Gregory and Henry James to Pakistani workers in Barcelona. Can't wait to see this collection from the author of such award winners as Brooklyn and the lovely collection Mothers and Sons.
Nonfiction
Abbott, Karen. American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare; The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee. Random. Jan. 2011. 448p.
ISBN 978-1-4000-6691-9.
$26. CD: Random Audio.
In this follow-up to Sin in the Second City, Abbott uses the life of America's brainiest stripper to examine early 20th-century America. Just in time for the centenary of Gypsy Rose Lee's birth, and Sin was on the New York Times extended best sellers list for 14 weeks. With a ten-city tour.
Armstrong, Karen. Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. Knopf. Jan. 2011. 208p.
ISBN 978-0-307-59559-1. $22.
The notable religion writer expands her discussion to address the need to show compassion and gives us 12 steps for achieving that goal, like "Imagine a World of Compassion." Hmmm, hope that she is not too smart for the self-help crowd.
Blow, Detmar & Tom Sykes. Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow. It: HarperCollins. Jan. 2011. 304p. ISBN 978-0-06-202087-1. $30.
Fashion icon? Style queen? Isabella Blow was very nearly a walking work of art. Alas, she committed suicide in 2007. Her husband's memoir, featured at AAP's inaugural Fall Books preview at ALA, sounds fascinating. With a 50,000-copy first printing.
Brinkley, Douglas. The Quiet World: Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom, 1910–1960. Harper: HarperCollins. Jan. 2011. 480p. ISBN 978-0-06-200596-0. $29.99.
Popular historian Brinkley here helps us celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower's December 6, 1960, executive order creating Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He opens with Teddy Roosevelt, then moves through to the 1950s, when a group of environmentalists ranging from Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to the Walt Disney Corporation helped fight off the drillers and secure the refuge. One of my nonfiction favorites; with a 150,000-copy first printing.
Burns, Rebecca. Burial for a King: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Funeral and the Week That Transformed Atlanta and Rocked the Nation. Scribner. Jan. 2011. 208p. ISBN 978-1-4391-3054-4. $24.
Interactive director of Atlanta magazine, Burns returns to the April 9, 1968, funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.—seven and a half hours and the largest funeral ever of a private U.S. citizen. While 110 riots broke out nationwide, peace held at the funeral itself, making it a turning point for Atlanta—and, ultimately, America. Not sure what the publisher expects, but I leapt at this.
Chopra, Sanjiv & Alan Lotvin with David Fisher. Doctor Chopra Says: Medical Facts and Myths Everyone Should Know. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. Jan. 2011. 496p. ISBN 978-0-312- 37692-5. $26.99.
What's the best diet, the best vitamin, and the best screening test for cancer? As dean of Continuing Medical Education at Harvard Medical School, where doctors go to update their skills, Chopra should have all the answers. (Lotvin is a cardiologist.) Good ready-reference and good for settling arguments; with a 150,000-copy first printing.
Crowell, Rodney. Chinaberry Walks. Knopf. Jan. 2011. 256p. ISBN 978-0-307-59420-4. $24.95.
Crowell adds to his list of achievements (e.g., nearly 20 albums, five of them No. 1 hits; ASCAP Lifetime Achievement Award) with a memoir that affectionately recalls his Holy Roller mom and honky-tonk dad, in whose band he was playing drums by age 11. Refreshing to see positive parental portraits in a memoir; perhaps this will pull in more than Crowell's fans. With a 50-city performance tour.
Darznik, Jasmin. The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life. Grand Central. Jan. 2011. 320p. ISBN 978-0-446-53497-0. $24.99.
Born in Tehran of an Iranian mother and a German father and now living in the United States, Darznik was jolted when she came across a photo of her mother in a wedding veil—standing with a man Darznik didn't recognize. At first reluctant to explain, her mother eventually sent her ten cassette tapes revealing a sorrowful history. Startling and moving, I thought, and also noted Darznik's credentials: she won the 2006 Zoetrope Short Fiction contest and has racked up numerous awards for the manuscript of this memoir. Then I found out that buzz really is building on this book, especially after the author's recent New York Times Op-Ed piece. I'm betting on this one.
Greene, Brian. The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos. Knopf. Jan. 2011. 384p.
ISBN 978-0-307-26563-0. $29.95. CD: Random Audio.
Physics is hot, and superstring theorist par excellence Greene—who helped launch the craze with The Elegant Universe—here returns to tell us the latest: science is rapidly concluding that there are actually many universes—imagine bubbles in a bath or cosmic slices. Go for it if informed readers wander your stacks; with a seven-city tour.
Harvey, Steve. Straight Talk, No Chaser: How To Find, Keep, and Understand a Man. Amistad: HarperCollins. Jan. 2011. 288p. ISBN 978-0-06-172899-0. $24. CD: HarperAudio.
Seven million people tune in daily to hear the Steve Harvey Morning Show, the No. 1 syndicated morning show in a variety of demographics, and Harvey's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man was the No. 2 best-selling book in 2009. And you're wondering why his new relationship book has a 750,000-copy first printing?
Kingston, Maxine Hong. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life. Knopf. Jan. 2010. 240p. ISBN 978-0-307-27019-1. $24.95.
"I'm standing on top of a hill/ I can see everywhichway/ the long way I came, and the few places I have yet to go./ Treat my whole life as if it were a day." This enduring woman warrior opens wide to her life and the world around her; a nice chance to catch up with an icon. With a seven-city tour.
Konigsberg, Ruth Davis. The Truth About Grief: The Myth of the Five Stages of Mourning and the New Science of Loss. S. & S. Jan. 2011. 320p.
ISBN 978-1-4391-4833-4. $26.
In 2007, while researching an Elle story on widowhood, Konigsberg came across a newly released study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reporting that the bereaved typically experience more yearning than depression or anger, two of the five stages Elisabeth Kübler-Ross famously enunciated in On Death and Dying in 1969. That book has shaped our understanding of grief, but, says Konigsberg, it was based on little research and is all wrong. Given how much we have medicalized the grieving process, important to consider.
Levy, Steven. Searching for Google. S. & S. Jan. 2011. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4165-9658-5. $26.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Google but were afraid to ask, brought to you by Newsweek's chief technology correspondent. Levy chatted with Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and takes on prickly questions like China and Google's reputedly quirky management style. With a three-city tour; important for libraries.
Panek, Richard. The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race To Discover the Rest of Reality. Houghton Harcourt. Jan. 2011. 128p. ISBN 978-0-547-98244-8. $26.
Panek, who here expands on a story he wrote for the New York Times, explains that only four percent of the universe is made of the stuff we know. The rest is missing in action, and when scientists find it, our understanding of the universe could be shattered. With a four-city tour.
Polonsky, Rachel. Molotov's Magic Lantern: Travels in Russian History. Farrar. Jan. 2011. 416p. ISBN 978-0-374-21197-4. $27.
After moving to Moscow, British journalist Polonsky discovered that her apartment building was once home to infamous Stalinist Vyacheslav Molotov. A current resident showed her the magic lantern Molotov had left behind and the room containing Molotov's library—which included books by writers he'd condemned to the Gulag. In this literary excursion, Polonsky uses this library to ignite her understanding of Russia. Upon its UK publication, this book got generally warm reviews—and one anonymous bashing that turned out to be from noted Slavicist Orlando Figes, whose Natasha's Dance Polonsky had panned. (Figes has since had to pay a fine.) Consider strongly wherever Russia, literature, and literary scandal are popular.
Taubes, Guy. Why We Get Fat: And What We Can Do About It. Knopf. Jan. 2010. 272p.
ISBN 978-0-307-27270-6. $24.99. CD: Random Audio.
I take that title personally. Science writer Taubes argues that the old "calories in–calories out" model is fallacious and that we must instead consider how insulin regulates fat tissue and how certain types of carbohydrates thus make the biggest contribution to our collective weight gain. With a 12-city tour.
My NONFICTION Picks
Bartók, Mira. The Memory Palace. Free Pr: S. & S. Jan. 2011. 336p. ISBN 978-1-4391-8331-1. $25.
Artist Bartók's mother was an extraordinarily talented pianist who tried to fly out the window when Bartók was five. She ended up schizophrenic and homeless and was so harsh to her two daughters that they changed their names and refused to let her know their whereabouts. Then Bartók suffered a brain injury in a traumatic auto accident and had to struggle to rebuild her use of language, often painting when words failed her. And then a homeless shelter in Cleveland called to say that Bartók's mother was dying. Reconnecting with her mother after decades meant reconnecting with her past—Bartók discovered that her mother kept a storage unit crammed with family artifacts—and eventually reconstructing all that she had lost. So many memoirs, but this exquisitely written work—neither sensational nor cagily sentimental—looks like required reading.
Proulx, Annie. Bird Cloud: A Memoir. Scribner. Jan. 2011. 320p. ISBN 978-1-7423-8880-4. $26.
Multi-award-winning novelist Proulx's home is built around a massive library and sits on 600 acres she bought six years ago from the Nature Conservancy of Wyoming. The land drops down 400 feet to the North Platte River and supports bald eagles and mountain lions. Initially, Proulx intended to write an account of building the house with the help of an unorthodox bunch of brothers called the James Gang, but she soon veered into a discussion of the Wyoming landscape itself—and of her own family history, dating back to the great-great-grandfather who ran a riverboat in the West and met up with folks like Mark Twain and Lafayette. Since Proulx's fiction is in turn vivid, coruscating, multilayered, and insightful, I can only imagine what a good read this memoir will be. Not just for her fans but for anyone who loves the West.
My FICTION Picks
Kent, Kathleen. The Wolves of Andover. Reagan Arthur: Little, Brown. Nov. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-316-06862-8. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
I'm backtracking, but I can't let this November title pass by. In her luminous debut, The Heretic's Daughter, Kent re-created the story of Martha Carrier, an ancestor hanged as a witch in 1692. Here she goes deeper, introducing Martha as an independent-minded young woman, working as a servant in her cousin's household, who falls in love with enigmatic laborer Thomas Carrier. Life for them in Colonial Massachusetts is pretty rough going, not least because of the surrounding wolves—the two-legged as well as the four-legged variety. Heretic, exacting in its detail about human pettiness, persecution, and revenge, resolves in a powerful act of love. Yes, I loved it (but don't go by me; it was a New York Times best seller and went through four printings), and I'm expecting the same depth of sensibility in the new one. For readers of both historical and literary fiction.
Vreeland, Susan. Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Random. Jan. 2011. 432p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6816-6. $26. CD: Random Audio.
The famed Tiffany lamp, with its leaded glass, pulsing colors, and nature motifs, was actually developed by Clara Driscoll, head of Tiffany's women's division. It brought the company critical acclaim as well as a desperately needed financial boost, but it also brought trouble. Even as Driscoll rushed to find a way to mass produce the lamps, struggling with her new role as manager as well as personal burdens (she was widowed and then abandoned by her second husband), Louis Comfort Tiffany got some wild ideas that could have wrecked the company. It's a true story, but trust Vreeland, who writes insightfully about art and through it about human relationships, to turn this into superlative fiction. Her debut, The Girl in Hyacinth Blue, is one of my favorites. Not just for art lovers; read it if you enjoy love, human drama, and American cultural history.
