prepub alert
Jun 11, 2010Fiction
Baldacci, David. Hell’s Corner. Grand Central. Nov. 2010. 432p. ISBN 978-0-446-19552-2. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
England’s prime minister is visiting, a bomb explodes, and MI-5 agent Mary Chapman is sent over to help with the investigation. The Camel Club gets involved, too (no surprise there). Baldacci is set to deliver two books a year through 2012, so prepare for the onslaught.
Clancy, Tom with Grant Blackwood. Dead or Alive. Putnam. Dec. 2010. 848p. ISBN 978-0-399-15723-3. $28.95.
The publication of Clancy’s first novel since 1994 was big news back in April. Here’s a don’t-miss-this reminder for anyone who wants to see top Clancy characters from the last quarter-century battle the evil Emir, who’s plotting the demise of the West. With a 1.75 million–copy first printing.
Doetsch, Richard. Half-Past Dawn.Atria: S. & S. Dec. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-1-4391-8397-7. $25.99.
As Doetsch proved with his breakout The 13th Hour, he can cook up a mean premise when asked. Here, district attorney Harper Keller awakens to find a stitched-up gunshot wound in his shoulder. Then he sees that the newspaper is reporting his murder. Oh, and his wife and daughters are missing. But don’t let this go missing from your shelves.
Gardam, Jane. God on the Rocks. Europa. Nov. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-1-933372-76-1. pap. $15.
Gardam has twice claimed the Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book Award but did not catch on in America until the recent release of her masterly Old Filth. This novel, which appeared here briefly in 1981, relates a summer in the life of Margaret Marsh, caught among her devout father, disappointed mother, and naughty nanny. Essential for Anglophiles and literary types.
Gingrich, Newt & William R. Forstchen. Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Nov. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-312-59107-6. $27.99. CD: Macmillan Audio.
This second in a series begun last year with To Try Men’s Souls drops us down into Valley Forge in winter 1776. Should be popular but probably not to be recommended along with Ron Chernow’s new Washington bio.
Grass, Günter. The Box: Tales from the Darkroom. Houghton Harcourt. Nov. 2010. 160p.ISBN 978-0-547-24503-4. $23.
Nobel laureate Grass reimagines himself from the perspective of his eight children, then throws in photos taken by family friend Marie, which layers the account even more. Calling all literati with a postmodern bent.
Haig, Matt.The Radleys. Free Pr: S. & S. Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4391-9401-0. $25.
Harassed doctor Peter lives in a picturesque little English village with wife Helen and their children, put-upon Rowan and newly vegan Clara. Your average slightly messed-up family—except that Peter and Helen are vampires who have forsworn the chase for blood and are trying to give their kids a normal life. It doesn’t quite work. British author Haig goes for the appealingly offbeat (The Dead Fathers Club starred Hamlet as an 11-year-old), and there must be hopes for his new one—it was one of the publisher’s few galley giveaways at BEA and has a reading group guide as well.
Kadare, Ismail. The Accident. Grove. Nov. 2010. 176p. ISBN 978-0-8021-2995-6. $24.
A cab crashes into a barrier on the autobahn one rainy morning in Vienna, and a mysterious affair unfolds. Lovers of good literature will want this latest from Albanian author Kadare, winner of the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005.
Kleypas, Lisa. Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor.St. Martin’s. Nov. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-0-312-60586-5. $16.99.
When Friday Harbor’s local radio station broadcasts “Dear Santa” letters, everyone knows that the little girl asking for a mom is Halle Nolan, whose own mom died a few years ago. A new series from a New York Times best-selling author, so be prepared for demand.
McCullough, Colleen. Sex, Greed, and Murder. S. & S.Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4391-7831-7. $26.
Capt. Carmine Delmonico has two murders to solve in his third outing (following Too Many Murders). McCullough doesn’t seem to do quite as well with her mysteries as she does with her historicals, but the time frame here is interesting: it’s 1968. Buy where the first two were popular.
Moore, Graham. The Sherlockian. Twelve: Hachette. Dec. 2010. 368p. ISBN 978-0-446-57259-0. $24.99.
Debut author Moore has been a mystery nut since reading his first Agatha Christie in second grade. In his debut, literary researcher Harold White hunts for the murderer of a Conan Doyle scholar—and a journal that went missing upon Sir Arthur’s death 80 years hence. In a parallel mystery, Conan Doyle himself joins with Bram Stoker to track a serial killer. Interest is really building on this title.
O’Hagan, Andrew. The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe.Houghton Harcourt. Dec. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-15-101372-2. $24.
Scottish author O’Hagan is a multiple award winner, and I fell mightily for his most recent novel, Be Near Me, an LJ Best Book for 2006. So I’m intrigued by his latest, narrated by a dog named Maf (short for Mafia Honey) given by Frank Sinatra to Marilyn Monroe in November 1960. Reviewing the UK edition, James Shilling saw it as “marvellously imaginative, clever, entertaining and profoundly melancholy.” Sounds like a book that could expand O’Hagan’s audience. Watch this! [See “BEA Beyond the Buzz,” p. 30.]
Ozick, Cynthia. Foreign Bodies. Houghton Harcourt. Nov. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-547-43557-2. $26.
Ozick’s latest—surprisingly, only her sixth—retells Henry James’s The Ambassadors in mirror image, with a divorced schoolteacher reluctantly traveling to Paris to retrieve a wayward nephew. Lots of reading group promotion and good for the right bunch.
Rice, Anne. Of Love and Evil. Knopf. Dec. 2010. 192p. ISBN 978-1-4000-4354-5. $24.95.lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
In this second addition to Rice’s “Songs of the Seraphim” series, the fiery angel Malchiah compels former assassin Toby O’Dare to continue atoning for his sins by sending him back to Michelangelo’s Rome, where he must solve a heinous poisoning and track down a marauding spirit. Critics generally applauded the series opener, though some Lestat fans wanted more tension. Your take? With a 200,000-copy first printing.
Sister Souljah. Untitled. Atria: S. & S. Nov. 2010. 512p. ISBN 978-1-4391-6535-5. $26.99.
Ten years ago, Sister Souljah conquered street lit with The Coldest Winter Ever, then followed up with Midnight. Here she picks up where the last book left off, with her teenaged protagonist seeking his wife in Japan. Buy wherever street lit is popular.
Trevor, William. Collected Stories. Vol. 2. Viking. Nov. 2010. 608p. ISBN 978-0-670-02206-9. $35.
Aside from 14 novels, Trevor published 12 collections of short stories, with the first “collected” appearing in 1993. This second volume includes 48 stories from four succeeding collections. Trevor is an absolute master—he’s won four O. Henrys and three Whitbreads—and this should work well as either introduction or replacement for those battered copies of the originals.
VanLiere, Donna. The Christmas Journey. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2010. 96p. ISBN 978-0-312-61372-3. $14.99. CD: Macmillan Audio.
VanLiere wrote this narrative for a church Christmas banquet, hoping to bring back the “wonderment” lost to one of the world’s best-known journeys—Joseph and Mary’s excursion to the tax office in Jerusalem, where Mary was subsequently delivered of the Savior. Look for lots of promotion.
Nonfiction
Bach, David. Debt Free ForLife: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Independence. Broadway. Dec. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-7679-2986-8. $19.99.
He’s a top-selling personal finance guru, and he wants to get you out of debt. That seems worth 20 bucks. With a 150,000-copy first printing.
Ban Breathnach, Sarah. Peace and Plenty: Finding Your Path to Financial Security. Grand Central. Nov. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-0-446-56174-7. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
Published in 1998, Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance has since sold five million—count ’em, five million—copies, spending more than two years in the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best sellers list. So this work, about finding ways to harvest one’s resources in these parlous times by learning the blessings of the everyday, should do well indeed—though I would have expected a bigger push.
Brown, Mike. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. Spiegel & Grau. Dec. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-385-53108-5. $25.
In 2005, Brown discovered a tenth planet, dubbed Eris, that was 27 percent more massive than Pluto. The resulting controversy in the scientific community led to the eventual demotion of both as planets. Do folks care? You bet; there’s even a Facebook group “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet,” with almost two million members. Brown has the inside track here; he was even proclaimed one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2006 for his part in this brouhaha.
Caine, Sir Michael. The Elephant to Hollywood. Holt. Nov. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-0-8050-9390-2. $20.
Little Maurice Micklewhite, born with rickets in London’s dirt-poor Elephant & Castle area, grew up to be the famed, knighted, dual Oscar winner Caine. In this follow-up to his 1991 memoir, What’s It All About?, he recalls a low time in his career and then his fabulous rebound, starting with the film Blood and Wine. Kudos, Sir Michael.
Firstbrook, Peter. The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family. Crown. Nov. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-307-59140-1. $26.
To write this book, former award-winning BBC producer/director Firstbrook ventured five times to Kenya, interviewing dozens of Obama’s Luo relatives to build an account that goes back 400 years and covers 23 generations. Yes, Obama is a tenth great-grandchild of a warrior not to be messed with, and, yes, this is Obama’s Roots—I don’t want to repeat the promo, but it’s true. Gee, no audio?
FreeDarko. The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History. Bloomsbury USA. Nov. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-1-60819-083-6. $25.
Never heard or FreeDarko? It’s a blogging collective that turned out The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac in 2008 and made a certain kind of history. (Time Out called it “Emersonian.”) This goes deeper; it even compares Red Auerbach to filmmaker John Cassavetes. Cool, if I don’t say so myself.
Kissinger, Henry. Untitled on China. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2010. 400p. ISBN 978-1-59420-271-1. $32.95.
Ever the scholar, Kissinger can’t just talk about Sino-American relations over the past six decades and his considerable part in the diplomatic dance involved; he goes back to China’s early history as a power so vast it had no equal yet preferred subtlety to military action.
Expect lots of attention.
Korda, Michael. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. Harper: HarperCollins. Dec. 2010. 768p. ISBN 978-0-06-171261-6. $34.99.
Best-selling author and editor in chief emeritus of Simon & Schuster, Korda aims to dig beneath the legend and chat with T.E. Lawrence himself. Can’t wait for this one. With a one-day laydown on November 11 (despite the official December pub date) and a 150,000-copy first printing.
Marable, Manning. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Viking. Nov. 2010. 608p. ISBN 978-0-670-02220-5. $30.
With nearly 3.5 million copies of The Autobiography of Malcolm X in print, why do we need a biography? Marable, founding director of African American studies at Columbia, drew on lots of new material, including diaries, lost chapters of the autobiography, and previously unavailable FBI files. Important.
Reardon, Joan, ed. As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto. Houghton Harcourt. Dec. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-0-547-41771-4. $26.
As you’ll remember from the film Julie & Julia, Avis DeVoto helped Julia Child come into her own. Here, noted culinary historian Reardon presents 200 letters they exchanged from 1952 to 1965, a crucial time dating from Child’s initial move to Paris with her husband. The Julia wave is not subsiding.
Rohde, David & Kristen Mulvihill. A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides. Viking. Dec. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-670-02223-6. $25.95. CD/Downloadable: Penguin Audio.
In November 2008, New York Times reporter Rohde (newly married to Mulvihill) went to interview a Taliban commander—and was kidnapped along with two Afghan colleagues. The story of his detention and escape mostly in the remote reaches of Pakistan was later told in a five-part Times series. Interesting addendum: to assure Rohde’s safety, the Times was able to effect a news blackout regarding the kidnapping, which caused some controversy after the fact. With a six-city tour.
Scottoline, Lisa with Francesca Scottoline Serritella. My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space. St. Martin’s.Nov. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-312-66229-5. $22.99. CD: Macmillan Audio.
Scottoline wrote this compendium of “true-life stories” with her daughter, who won a stack of writing awards while at Harvard. Just different enough from her recent column collection, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog, to be fresh. With a one-day laydown on November 2.
Streisand, Barbra. My Passion for Design. Viking. Nov. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-670-02213-7. $60.
Not about singing/acting but about her interest in decorating/design. But of course there’s an audience.
Talty, Stephan. Escape from the Land of Snows: The Young Dalai Lama’s Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero. Crown.Nov. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-307-46095-0. $26.
Here’s betting that Talty, author of terrific books like The Illustrious Dead, will persuasively capture the dangerous two-week flight undertaken in 1959 by the Dalai Lama and his emotions as an embattled teenager charged with saving his nation.
Twain, Mark. Autobiography of Mark Twain. Vol. 1. Univ. of California. Nov. 2010. 743p. ISBN 978-0-520-26719-0. $34.95.
The definitive edition of Twain’s stream-of-consciousness autobiography, which has appeared in three different versions since his death.
My Picks
Carroll, Jim. The Petting Zoo. Viking. Nov. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-670-02218-2. $25.95.
Carroll published six volumes of poetry, taking his maiden voyage while still in high school, and was intimately familiar with the literary scene of 1960s New York. His edgy and alluring memoir, The Basketball Diaries, which detailed his heroin addiction and the prostitution that supported it even as he played basketball for prestigious Trinity High School in New York, was released the same year he formed the Jim Carroll Band and crashed the New Wave/punk rock scene. Even if I didn’t know all this, I would want to grab Carroll’s very long-awaited first novel, being published after his death in 2009. Protagonist Billy Wolfram absolutely rocks the late 1980s New York art scene but is so overcome when viewing an exhibit of Velázquez paintings that he holes up in his loft. Velázquez does that to me, too, but, more to the point, here’s a novel that investigates the thrashing spiritual power of art—from someone who should know. Can’t wait.
Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Random. Nov. 2010. 496p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6416-8. $27. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
With nearly six million copies in print, Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit is not just a major award winner but reputedly the world’s best-selling sports book to date. While researching it, Hillenbrand flipped over a newspaper clipping and saw an account of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete (ironically, once compared to Seabiscuit) who served as an Army Air Force bombardier during World War II. In 1943, he crashed into the Pacific and managed to survive 47 days on a raft, fending off sharks, storms, and a Japanese bomber. Remarkably, Zamperini is still alive; he cooperated with Hillenbrand’s seven-year effort to write this book. Random Senior VP Jennifer Hershey raved about Unbroken at LJ’s Day of Dialog before BEA. No doubt about it; this will be huge.
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker. Farrar.Dec. 2010. NAp. ISBN 978-0-374-53287-1. pap. $16.
In case you missed it, The New Yorker just got everyone tweeting frantically by announcing its latest “20 Under 40” list of young fiction writers already blowing our minds. (It’s the first list in more than a decade.) Look for their works in the magazine throughout the summer and then look for the complete collection this December from Farrar, which happens to publish five of the 20: Chris Adrian (I’ve been on to him since Gob’s Grief); David Bezmozgis, author of the affecting Natasha and Other Stories; the sharp and elegant Rivka Galchen.
(Atmospheric Disturbances); C.E. Morgan, whose All the Living was one of my favorites last year; and Wells Tower, who also just won the NYPL Young Lions Award for his uncompromising Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Other personal favorites range from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi to Nicole Krauss to Dinaw Mengestu. As with any list, one might quarrel about inclusions and exclusions, but why bother? It’s a terrific guide to good reading today. Get even if you subscribe to The New Yorker; great for reading groups, hungry literati, students, and naysayers who must be shown that fiction is not dead.
