Prepub Alert
By Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 09/15/2006
Fiction | Nonfiction
Fiction Browne, Jill Conner with Karin Gillespie. The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet. S. & S. Jan. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-7432-7827-5 [ISBN 978-0-7432-7827-0]. $22.95.You've read the Sweet Potato Queen books, you've joined one of the 4100 SPQ chapters, you're anticipating the SPQ musical. Now read the first, big autobiographical novel. With a 20-city tour; reading group guide. Chandra, Vikram. Sacred Games. HarperCollins. Jan. 2007. 912p. ISBN 0-06-113035-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-113035-9]. $27.95.
World-weary Mumbai police officer Sartaj Singh goes after crime kingpin Ganesh Gaitonde in a big way. A thriller with social consequences that the publicist says will be huge. With a ten-city tour; one-day laydown. Cornwell, Bernard. Lords of the North. HarperCollins. Jan. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-06-088862-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-088862-6]. $25.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
Third in the “Saxon Chronicles,” this work introduces our hero, Uhtred, to the man who calls himself king of Northumbria. One-day laydown. Cusk, Rachel. Arlington Park. Farrar. Jan. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-374-10080-2 [ISBN 978-0-374-10080-3]. $23.
One rainy day in the self-satisfied but morally bankrupt English suburb of Arlington Park. Readers' guide. Darwin, Emma. The Mathematics of Love. Morrow. Jan. 2007. 448p. ISBN 0-06-114026-0 [ISBN 978-0-06-114026-6]. $24.95.
Charles Darwin's great-great-granddaughter offers a debut set at Kersey Hall, where tired soldier Stephen Fairhurst had retreated post-Waterloo to pursue spirited Lucy Durward and where, over a century later, teenager Anna Ware discovers his letters to Lucy. Doyle, Roddy. Paula Spencer. Viking. Jan. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-670-03816-4 [ISBN 978-0-670-03816-9]. $24.95.
Doyle revisits Paula Spencer—The Woman Who Walked into Doors—now 48, widowed, barely sober, but on the mend. Online readers' guide. Grippando, James. When Darkness Falls. HarperCollins. Jan. 2007. 336p. ISBN 0-06-083113-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-083113-4]. $24.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
Miami attorney Jack Swyteck agrees to represent a homeless man, who promptly comes up with the $10,000 bail and takes Jack's friend Theo hostage. A Book of the Month Club, Literary Guild, and Doubleday Book Club main selection. Haig, Brian. Man in the Middle. Warner. Jan. 2007. 416p. ISBN 0-446-53056-5 [ISBN 978-0-446-53056-9]. $25.99.
Did a top defense official commit suicide because he knew devastating secrets that would halt public support for the Iraq war? And should army lawyer Sean Drummond reveal those secrets? Harrison, Jim. Returning to Earth. Grove. Jan. 2007. 272p. ISBN 0-8021-1838-0 [ISBN 978-0-8021-1838-7]. $24.
Of mixed Chippewa-Finnish descent, Donald starts dictating his family history and beliefs to his wife when he discovers that he is fatally ill. Not to be confused with Harrison's 1977 poetry chapbook of the same name. Hoffman, Alice. Skylight Confessions. Little, Brown. Jan. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-316-05878-5 [ISBN 978-0-316-05878-0]. $24.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
Arlyn Singer decides that Yalie John Moody is her destiny when he stops to ask directions shortly after her father's death, but their marriage is destined for tragedy. Lescroart, John. The Suspect. Dutton. Jan. 2007. 400p. ISBN 0-525-94998-4 [ISBN 978-0-525-94998-5]. $26.95.
Gina Rourke, a partner at Dismas Hardy's firm, is eager to prove that Stuart Gorman didn't kill his wife, even though he had asked for a divorce and is now on the run. Lowenthal, Michael. Charity Girl. Houghton. Jan. 2007. 336p. ISBN 0-618-54629-4 [ISBN 978-0-618-54629-9]. $24.
Lowenthal has crafted a story inspired by a few lines in Susan Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors regarding the 15,000 “charity girls” interned during World War I because it was thought that they had venereal disease. With a five-city tour. McLarty, Ron. Traveler. Viking. Jan. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-670-03474-6 [ISBN 978-0-670-03474-1]. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Successful actor McLarty launches a second novel about a not-so-successful actor in Manhattan who travels home to confront a few mysteries when he hears that his first love has died. With a six-city tour; online readers' guide. Mailer, Norman. The Castle in the Forest. Random. Jan. 2007. 496p. ISBN 0-394-53649-5 [ISBN 978-0-394-53649-1]. $26.95.
Mailer's first novel in 11 years shakes Adolf Hitler's family tree to see what rotten apples fall. Marks, John. Fangland. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2007. 384p. ISBN 1-59420-117-X [ISBN 978-159420-117-2]. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Evangeline Harker has disappeared while trying to set up a TV interview in Romania with crime lord Ion Torgu, but coffin-shaped boxes keep arriving at her office. Novelist and former 60 Minutes producer Marks takes Dracula seriously. Moore, Christopher. You Suck: A Love Story. Morrow. Jan. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-06-059029-7 [ISBN 978-0-06-059029-1]. $21.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
Tommy loves Jody so much he'd die for her—which he does, sort of, when she bites him. Jody, you see, is a vampire. Unfortunately, the older vampires don't like all this new blood entering the ranks. With a 17-city tour; one-day laydown. Raban, Jonathan. Surveillance. Pantheon. Jan. 2007. 272p. ISBN 0-375-42244-7 [ISBN 978-0-375-42244-7]. $24.
In a security-conscious near-future, freelance journalist Lucy is writing a story about scholar–turned–hot author August Vanags, whose World War II memoir suddenly appears suspect. With a seven-city tour. Shafak, Elif. The Bastard of Istanbul. Viking. Mar. 2007. 368p. ISBN 0-670-03834-2 [ISBN 978-0-670-03834-3]. $24.95.
Through the Armenian daughter of their distant brother's wife, four unconventional sisters and their friend Asya (“the bastard of Istanbul”) discover connections to the 1915 Armenian genocide. Never mind that this novel, Shafak's second written in English, was a best seller in Turkey; it contributed to the author's being tried this month for expressing anti-Turkish sentiments. Online readers' guide. Simmons, Dan. The Terror. Little, Brown. Jan. 2007. 672p. ISBN 0-316-01744-2 [ISBN 978-0-316-01744-2]. $25.99.
Trapped in Arctic ice for two years when their hunt for the Northwest Passage fails, the crew of The Terror finally march away from their ship, desperate to escape that evil thing out there that's been stalking them. Tademy, Lalita. Red River. Warner. Jan. 2007. 432p. ISBN 0-446-57898-3 [ISBN 978-0-446-57898-1]. $24.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
Tademy follows up her blockbusting Cane River with the story, based on the Colfax Riot of 1873, of newly freed slaves battling to keep their liberties. With an eight-city tour; online reading group guides. Unger, Lisa. Sliver of Truth. Shaye Areheart Bks: Crown. Jan. 2007. 368p. ISBN 0-307-33846-0 [ISBN 978-0-307-33846-4]. $23. CD: Random Audio.
Back after a successful first outing (Beautiful Lies), Ridley Jones picks up a few photos at the lab and suddenly finds herself smack in the middle of a global crime ring. With a ten-city tour. Nonfiction Abrahamson, Eric & David H. Freedman. A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder; How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place. Little, Brown. Jan. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-316-11475-8 [ISBN 978-0-316-11475-2]. $25.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
Abrahamson, a Columbia University management professor, and science/business writer Freedman offer potent evidence that it's actually a good thing that your desk is a mess. Barrett, Paul M. American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion. Farrar. Jan. 2007. 320p. ISBN 0-374-10423-9 [ISBN 978-0-374-10423-8]. $25.
Getting to know the six million Muslims who live in the United States; based on a story that Barrett, now with BusinessWeek, originated at the Wall Street Journal. Esquith, Rafe. Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire!: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56. Viking. Jan. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-670-03815-6 [ISBN 978-0-670-03815-2]. $24.95.
The winner of numerous teaching awards and the only instructor to have been given the National Medal of the Arts, Esquith explains how he helps kids from the lowest rungs of society climb to the top. With an eight-city tour. Halpern, Jake. Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America's Favorite Addiction. Houghton. Jan. 2007. 224p. ISBN 0-618-45369-5 [ISBN 978-0-618-45369-6]. $23.
Why we're so fascinated with everyone else's 15 minutes, from an NPR correspondent who's been reporting on fame for several years. Judd, Naomi. Naomi's Guide to Aging Gratefully: Being Your Best for the Rest of Your Life. S. & S. Jan. 2007. 288p. ISBN 0-7432-7515-2 [ISBN 978-0-7432-7515-6]. $23.
How to stay golden in the golden years; with a seven-city tour. McGovern, Robert P. All American: One Man's Story of Football, Justice, and America's Real Freedom Fighters. Morrow. Jan. 2007. 304p. ISBN 0-06-122785-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-122785-1]. $25.95.
From NFL champion to law school to New York City's district attorney's office to service in the U.S. Army as a prosecuting lawyer, inspired by post-9/11 patriotism. Posner, Richard A. The Little Book of Plagiarism. Pantheon. Jan. 2007. 96p. ISBN 0-375-42475-X [ISBN 978-0-375-42475-5]. $10.95.
A notable author himself, Judge Posner considers accusations about folks from Doris Kearns Goodwin to Kaavya Viswanathan to figure out just what plagiarism is. Stone, Robert. Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jan. 2007. 256p. ISBN 0-06-019816-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-019816-9]. $25.95.
Celebrated novelist Stone resurrects his experiences during the Sixties. With a five-city tour. Tomalin, Claire. Thomas Hardy. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2007. 512p. ISBN 1-59420-118-8 [ISBN 978-1-59420-118-9]. $35.
Having won multiple awards for her biography of Samuel Pepys, Tomalin takes on the ambiguous Hardy.
