Prepub Alert
By Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 05/01/2007
Fiction | Nonfiction
FictionAllen, Sarah Addison. Garden Spells. Bantam. Aug. 2007. 304p. ISBN 978-0-553-80548-2. $20; lrg. prnt. $22.95.The real magic suffusing Bascomb, NC, emanates from the Waverly household, where Claire is about to discover love. A big debut; reading group guide.Carrell, Jennifer Lee. Interred with Their Bones. Dutton. Sept. 2007. 416p. ISBN 978-0-525-94970-1. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Shakespeare scholar Kate Shelton’s mentor passes on a mysterious package and is then found murdered—in the manner of Hamlet’s dad. Thus begins a chase entailing the rediscovery of a long-lost work by the Bard himself. The darling of the Frankfurt Bookfair in 2005, with rights sold to nearly 20 countries. Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Riverhead: Putnam. Sept. 2007. 336p. ISBN 978-1-59448-958-7. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Having caught everyone’s attention with his short stories, Díaz offers a debut novel starring ghetto geek Oscar, whose family labors under a Fukú (or curse) that delivers prison, tragic accidents, and, worst of all, bad luck in love. With a national tour.Gabaldon, Diana. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. Delacorte. Aug. 2007. 384p. ISBN 978-0-385-33749-6. $25.
Lord John’s quest to discover why his father died leads him through the bloody battle of Krefeld to Jacobite prisoner Jamie Fraser, of “Outlander” fame. Kingman, Peg. Not Yet Drown’d. Norton. Sept. 2007. 384p. ISBN 978-0-393-06546-6. $24.95.
Catherine MacDonald’s brother perished in the monsoon floods of 1821. So why, one year later, is he sending her gifts that include bagpipe music with one song renamed “Not Yet Drown’d”? A debut by a former tea merchant; reading group guide.Lalwani, Nikita. Gifted. Random. Sept. 2007. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6648-3. $23.95.
On a trip to India, the family of eight-year-old Rumi becomes enthralled with her math skills, and the push is on for an early acceptance to Oxford. A few years later, Rumi rebels. The India-born first novelist was raised in Cardiff.Némirovsky, Irène. Fire in the Blood. Knopf. Sept. 2007. 176p. ISBN 978-0-307-26748-1. $22. CD: Random Audio.
Yes, another treat from the author of Suite Française. Featuring the reawakening of aging and isolated Silvio, this novel was saved from destruction during World War II when Némirovsky divided the manuscript between her daughter and a friend. Packer, Ann. Songs Without Words. Knopf. Sept. 2007. 352p. ISBN 978-0-375-41281-3. $24.95.
Since Sarabeth lost her mother to suicide at age 16, she and Liz have been best friends. That’s about to change. With a ten-city tour; reading group guide.Rigler, Laurie Viera. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. Dutton. Sept. 2007. 416p. ISBN 978-0-525-94970-1. $25.95.
Poor jilted Courtney, easing her aching heart with vodka and Jane Austen novels, wakes up one morning in the body of a woman in Regency England. Reading group guide.Swift, Graham. Tomorrow. Knopf. Sept. 2007. 272p. ISBN 978-0-307-26690-3. $23.95.
Momentous events will unfold tomorrow, so Paula Hook lies awake tonight, reconsidering 25 years of family life. Reading group guide.Thorne-Smith, Courtney. Outside In. Broadway. Sept. 2007. 288p. ISBN 978-0-7679-2749-9. $23.95.
You’ve seen her on TV shows like Ally McBeal. Now see her as a first novelist telling the story of insecure actress Kate, whose husband leaves her for brash competitor Sapphire Rose. Wood, Patricia. Lottery. Putnam. Aug. 2007. 320p. ISBN 978-0-399-15449-2. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Just weeks after his loving grandmother dies, a young man with a low IQ wins $12 million in the state lottery, and suddenly everyone is his friend. Lots of foreign rights for this first novel. Reading group guide.Woods, Stuart. Shoot Him If He Runs: A Stone Barrington Novel. Putnam. Sept. 2007. 304p. ISBN 978-0-399-15444-7. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
The President suspects rogue agent Teddy Fay isn’t dead, so Stone Barrington and his colleagues must hustle on over to a gorgeous Caribbean island to find out for sure. With a national tour.Nonfiction
Ackerman, Diane. The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story. Norton. Sept. 2007. 288p. ISBN 978-0-393-06172-7. $23.95.
A little-known yet profoundly moving story: how Warsaw’s zookeeper (and his wife) kept their few remaining animals alive during the Nazi occupation while hiding Jews at the zoo. With a nine-city tour.Alda, Alan. Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself. Random. Sept. 2007. 224p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6617-9. $25.95.
Alda reflects on all the good advice he’s been trying to give himself for years. With a ten-city tour. Almond, Steve. (Not That You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions. Random. Sept. 2007. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6619-3. $21.95.
Essays from a not-so-sweet Candyfreak; with a seven-city tour.Alter, Robert. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. Norton. Sept. 2007. 352p. ISBN 978-0-393-06226-7. $29.95.
A new translation from Alter, whose recent rendering of the Books of Moses won praise from no less than Robert Fagles of Homeric fame.Barry, Dave. Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far). Putnam. Sept. 2007. 224p. ISBN 978-0-399-15437-9. $22.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Barry does his inimitable best with current history—e.g., in 2002, the federal budget plays hide and go seek. With a five-city tour.Brzezinski, Matthew. Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age. Times Bks: Holt. Sept. 2007. 304p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8147-3. $26.
The Wall Street Journal’s former Moscow correspondent considers what was really happening in both the United States and the Soviet Union before Sputnik flew up in the air.Chomsky, Noam with David Barsamian. What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World. Metropolitan: Holt. (American Empire Project). Sept. 2007. 240p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8671-3. pap. $15.
Hot-spot interviews conducted with Chomsky by award-winning radio commentator Barsamian.Cohen, Jared. Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East. Gotham Bks: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2007. 304p. ISBN 978-1-59240-324-0. $26.
To understand the Middle East, 25-year-old Cohen (now with the State Department) talks to disaffected youth like the Hezbollah members hanging out at a McDonald’s. With a national tour.Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I’m Dying. Knopf. Sept. 2007. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4000-4115-2. $23.95.
The uncle who raised novelist Danticat until she could join her parents in America tried to come here himself in 2004. But he was detained by customs officials and died in prison. Unbelievably, this is nonfiction. With an eight-city tour. Gaines, James R. For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions. Norton. Sept. 2007. 512p. ISBN 978-0-393-06138-3. $29.95.
Gaines entwines two important revolutions in a single narrative.Gill, Michael Gates. How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns To Live Like Everyone Else. Gotham Bks: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2007. 288p. ISBN 978-1-59240-286-1. $23.
Ivy League–primed career. Big house. Loving family. Gill lost it all, then took a job at Starbucks that taught him the value of humility and hard work. Starbucks will help promote, Tom Hanks got the film rights, seven countries bought in, and Gill will continue to work at Starbucks.Jessop, Carolyn with Laura Palmer. Escape. Broadway. Sept. 2007. 304p. ISBN 978-0-7679-2756-7. $24.95. CD: Random Audio.
Raised in the breakaway Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jessop was married at age 16 to a man decades her senior who already had three wives. Eventually, she escaped with her eight children, giving information to the Utah attorney general that led to the arrest of the church’s leader. With a four-city tour.Kaplan, Robert D. Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground. Random. Sept. 2007. 448p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6133-4. $27.95.
Wherever Kaplan travels (in this case, to all three branches of the U.S. military), he always brings back gold. With a nine-city tour.Klein, Naomi. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Metropolitan: Holt. Sept. 2007. 408p. ISBN 978-0-8050-7983-8. $27.50. CD: Audio Renaissance.
Klein argues that from Russia to Iraq to post-Katrina New Orleans, people reeling from tragedy have been further assaulted by free-market “shock-treatment” aimed at helping big corporations only. With a national tour.Pamuk, Orhan.Other Colors: Essays and a Story. Knopf.Sept. 2007. 384p. ISBN 978-0-307-26675-0. $26.95.
After winning the Nobel prize, Pamuk jumps back in with pieces on favored novelists, the writing life, and crucial life events large and small. With an 11-city tour.Schell, Jonathan.The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger. Metropolitan: Holt. (American Empire Project). Sept. 2007. 224p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8129-9. $24.
According to Nation Institute fellow Schell, the Bush administration’s first-strike policy to prevent nuclear proliferation (even as development continues at home) has resulted in a real nuclear arms race worldwide.Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher.Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. Knopf. Sept. 2007. 304p. ISBN 978-1-4000-4159-6. $24.
Harvard professor Ulrich expands on a remark she famously made in 1976, reiterated in her title. With an eight-city tour.von Tunzelmann, Alex.Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. Holt.Aug. 2007. 352p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8073-5. $30.
August 14, 1947: 400 million Indians win independence from the British Empire, even as Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last viceroy, conduct an affair.Ward, Geoffrey C. & Ken Burns.The War: An Intimate History, 1941–1945. Knopf.Sept. 2007. 480p. ISBN 978-0-307-26283-7. $50.
The famed documentarians chronicle World War II. The PBS series follows in October. With a seven-city tour.
