Prepub Alert

Fiction
Asher, Bridget. My Husband's Sweethearts. Delacorte. Aug. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-0-385-34189-9. $22.
What's worse? Finding out that your husband has been cheating or that he's dying? Shook-up Lucy calls in the “sweethearts” to help her cope. Film rights optioned.
Aslam, Nadeem. The Wasted Vigil. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 400p. ISBN 978-0-307-26842-6. $25.95.
In post-9/11 Afghanistan, an English doctor still grieving over his wife's murder by the Taliban plays host to a group of troubled souls. Be advised that Aslam's first two novels won awards—and attention from the Booker folks.
Auster, Paul. Man in the Dark. Holt. Aug. 2008. 192p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8839-7. $23. CD: Macmillan Audio.
His wife dead, his daughter alone, and his granddaughter devastated by her boyfriend's murder, retired book critic August Brill dreams up an America where 9/11 never happened—and where political strife is causing states to secede. With a national tour.
Brown, Rita Mae. Hounded to Death. Ballantine. Aug. 2008. 336p. ISBN 978-0-345-49026-1. $25.
A hound stolen, a master murdered, a pet food manufacturer vanished, and a vet who's shot herself. Sister Jane, Master of Foxhounds, is in for lots of trouble.
Bynum, Sarah Shun-Lien. Ms. Hempel Chronicles. Harcourt. Sept. 2008. 224p. ISBN 978-0-15-101496-5. $23.
So who's Ms. Hempel? A brand-new teacher, just engaged and struggling with her father's death, who's very surprised by what goes on at school. A follow-up to Bynum's debut, Madeleine Is Sleeping, a National Book Award finalist.
Capella, Anthony. The Various Flavors of Coffee. Bantam. Sept. 2008. 352p. ISBN 978-0-553-80732-5. $22.
He's definitely broke, so 1890s London poet Robert Wallis accepts a commission from an off-kilter coffee merchant to categorize the various tastes of coffee. Capella's The Food of Love and The Wedding Officer are being made into films.
Davidson, Andrew. The Gargoyle. Doubleday. Aug. 2008. 480p. ISBN 978-0-385-52494-0. $25.95. CD: Random Audio.
Casually amoral until he is horribly burned in an accident, a man plans suicide but encounters a beautiful but possibly crazy sculptress of gargoyles who says she has rescued him before—in medieval Germany. Definitely a risk-taking debut.
Donoghue, Emma. The Sealed Letter. Harcourt. Sept. 2008. 416p. ISBN 978-0-15-101549-8. $26.
Too bad Miss Emily “Fido” Faithfull really is so devoted. Trying to help friend Helen, she gets tangled in a divorce case that gets nastier by the minute. Based on an 1864 scandal in Britain.
Ebershoff, David. The 19th Wife. Random. Aug. 2008. 544p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6397-0. $26. CD: Random Audio.
An award-winning author (e.g., The Danish Girl) and Random House editor-at-large, Ebershoff here reimagines the life of Brigham Young's last wife, as seen through the lens of a contemporary murder in Utah. With a 14-city tour; reading group guide.
Fuentes, Carlos. Happy Families. Random. Sept. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6688-9. $27.
Fuentes takes a look at 16 families, rich and poor, to see if they are as alike as Tolstoy says they are.
Gerritsen, Tess. The Keepsake. Ballantine. Aug. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-345-49762-8. $26. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
Dr. Maura Isles is intrigued by an offer to observe the X-raying of a mummy—until she discovers that the mummy is a contemporary murder victim. With a seven-city tour on request.
Harkaway, Nick. The Gone-Away World. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 512p. ISBN 978-0-307-26886-0. $24.95.
There's a fire in the Jorgmund Pipe, and Gonzo Lubitsch and his pals at the Haulage & HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company had better fix it, or the Gone-Away World is done for. John le Carré's son makes a debut. With a 100,000-copy first printing; national tour.
Harvey, John. Cold in Hand. Harcourt. Sept. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-15-101462-0. $26.
When gang rivalry leaves a teenaged girl dead, nearly retired Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick is asked to lead the investigation. Then his partner is blamed for the killing.
Klosterman, Chuck. Downtown Owl. Scribner. Sept. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-1-4165-4418-0. $24.
Nothing ever happens in the North Dakota town of Owl—until a horrible blizzard hits. With a ten-city tour; BookClubReader feature.
Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 480p. ISBN 978-0-307-26975-1. $24.95. CD: Random Audio.
Wealthy young Harriet Vanger disappeared 40 years ago, and Uncle Henrik always thought she was murdered. Now he's drafted a hotshot journalist and a tattooed hacker to investigate. An expert on right-wing extremists, Swedish author Larsson died in 2004. This international best seller arrives here with a 100,000-copy first printing.
Markovits, Benjamin. A Quiet Adjustment. Norton. Sept. 2008. 352p. ISBN 978-0-393-06700-2. $24.95.
Lord Byron as husband of the quietly tormented Annabella and lover of his half-sister Gus. With a three-city tour; reading group guide.
Peacock, Justin. A Cure for Night. Doubleday. Sept. 2008. 336p. ISBN 978-0-385-52580-0. $24.95.
Boasting both a Yale law degree and a Columbia MFA, Peacock invades the legal thriller territory with the story of former white-shoe lawyer Joel Devereux, now stuck in Brooklyn's Public Defender's Office and caught up in a high-profile trial.
Reichs, Kathy. Devil Bones. Scribner. Aug. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-0-7432-9438-6. $25.95. CD: S. & S. Audio.
When the head of a teenaged girl is discovered in a cellar along with some headless chickens, the locals suspect devil worshippers—and Temperance Brennan launches her 11th case. With a five-city tour.
Sandford, John. Heat Lightning. Putnam. Sept. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-399-15527-7. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Having had good luck when he took time out from his Prey novels to introduce Virgil Flowers, a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator, Sandford brings Flowers back to investigate a string of murders near a veterans memorial.
Sittenfeld, Curtis. American Wife. Random. Sept. 2008. 592p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6475-5. $26. CD: Random Audio.
Another hit for Sittenfeld after Prep and The Man of My Dreams? Here, unassuming Alice Blackwell goes from small-town girl to First Lady. With a ten-city tour.
Smith, Alexander McCall. The Comfort of a Muddy Saturday. Pantheon. Sept. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-0-375-42513-4. $22.95. lrg. prnt.
Isabel Dalhousie steps in to help a doctor accused of scientific fraud regarding a new drug. With an eight-city tour.
Viswanathan, Padma. The Toss of a Lemon. Harcourt. Sept. 2008. 640p. ISBN 978-0-15-101533-7. $26.
Married at ten and widowed at 18, Sivakami is able to leave the family compound only three times for the rest of her life. Far-fetched? Actually, Viswanathan drew on her grandmother's life to craft this highly touted debut.
Welsh, Irvine. Crime. Norton. Sept. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-0-393-06819-1. $24.95.
Trainspotting in Florida? Sent to Miami to recuperate, a stressed-out detective inspector finds himself dealing with his wedding-crazed fiancée, some friendly coke dealers, and one scared little girl. With a six-city tour.
Woods, Stuart. Hot Mahogany: A Stone Barrington Novel. Putnam. Sept. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-0-399-15515-4. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
An army intelligence officer whose memory is muddled after an act of violence, Barton Lance needs watching, and Stone Barrington gets the job. With a two-week tour.

Nonfiction
Bamford, James. The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. Doubleday. Sept. 2008. 352p. ISBN 978-0-385-2132-1. $26.95. CD: Random Audio.
In this follow-up to The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, both exposés of the National Security Agency (NSA), Bamford explains how 9/11 led the NSA to institute warrantless wiretapping inside the country.
Barnes, Julian. Nothing To Be Frightened Of. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-0-307-26963-8. $24.
Death is inevitable, and maybe reading novelist Barnes's reflections on the Big Ending is inevitable as well. With a 100,000-copy first printing.
The Dalai Lama & Paul Ekman. Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion. Times Bks: Holt. Sept. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8712-3. $23. CD: Macmillan Audio.
A spiritual leader from the East and a psychologist from the West consider human emotions and the search for fulfillment.
Davis, Stephen. Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses. Gotham. Aug. 2008. 448p. ISBN 978-1-59240-377-6. $27.50.
Twenty years after their first album, Guns N' Roses get the royal treatment from best-selling rock author Davis.
Filkins, Dexter. The Forever War. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 336p. ISBN 978-0-307-26639-2. $25. CD: Random Audio.
The rise of the Taliban. The 9/11 attacks. Insurgency in Iraq. New York Times foreign correspondent Filkins gives us the big picture. With a 100,000-copy first printing; seven-city tour.
Frank, Thomas. The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Metropolitan: Holt. Aug. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-0-8050-7988-3. $25. CD: Macmillan Audio.
Right wingers don't trim big government, they sell it off to the highest bidder. After What's the Matter with Kansas? With a 20-city tour.
Goldberg, Danny. Bumping into Geniuses: Inside the Rock and Roll Business. Gotham. Sept. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-1-59240-370-7. $26.
What the guy who has worked with Led Zeppelin, Stevie Nicks, and Nirvana and managed Atlantic, Mercury, and Warner Bros. records has to say about rock as history and industry. With a national tour.
Gonzales, Laurence. Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things. Norton. Sept. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-0-393-05838-3. $25.95.
Having changed our perceptions with the best-selling Deep Survival, Gonzales offers evolutionary lessons for handling the stresses of everyday life. With a nine-city tour.
Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. Norton. Sept. 2008. 608p. ISBN 978-0-393-06477-3. $35.
The story not just of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings but of Hemings's entire family from the 1700s; with a ten-city tour.
Greene, Brian. Icarus at the Edge of Time. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 34p. ISBN 978-0-307-26888-4. $19.95.
Born on the starship Proxima, which is traveling on a 25 trillion–mile journey, Icarus wants to explore a black hole—with unexpected results. No, not sf but a fable instructing us in the ways of the universe from famed physicist Greene. With an eight-city tour.
Jarvis, Cheryl. The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives. Ballantine. Sept. 2008. 192p. ISBN 978-0-345-50071-7. $24.
Jonell Richardson McLain buys the $37,000 diamond necklace she's fallen in love with—helped by 12 friends, who share it, passing it along every 28 days. With a five-city tour.
Krepinevich, Andrew F. 7 Deadly Scenarios: A Military Futurist Explores War in the 21st Century. Bantam. Sept. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-0-553-80539-0. $27.
President of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Krepinevich anticipates the various security threats that lie in our future.
LeVine, Steve. Putin's Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia. Random. Sept. 2008. 224p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6685-8. $26.
Since Putin's ascendancy, journalists, dissidents, and other troublemakers have been meeting untimely deaths. From a journalist who has been reporting from Russia for over a decade.
Levy, Bernard-Henri. Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism. Random. Sept. 2008. 224p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6435-9. $25.
The French philosopher/activist considers Islamic fanatics, the American empire, and France under Sarkozy and asks why we can't have a “political atheism” shunning the idea that one way of thinking is always right. With a ten-city tour.
Lukas, Christopher. Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival. Doubleday. Sept. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-0-385-52520-6. $24.95.
An Emmy Award–winning writer/producer/director, Lukas considers the impact of his mother's depression and suicide on himself and his brother, noted journalist J. Anthony Lukas, a suicide in 1997. With a reading group guide.
McCarthy, Jenny. Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds. Dutton. Sept. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-0-525-95069-1. $24.95.
Inspired by the response to Louder Than Words, the story of her son's autism, McCarthy shares stories from parents like her.
Marsalis, Wynton with Geoffrey Ward. Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life. Random. Sept. 2008. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6078-8. $27.
Who better than Marsalis to explain how jazz can make things better for everyone?
Murphy, Bill, Jr. In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002. Holt. Sept. 2008. 384p. ISBN 978-0-8050-8679-9. $27.50.
A lawyer, former army reserve officer, and journalist who has reported from Iraq, Murphy is well situated to discuss the first class in a generation to graduate from West Point during wartime. With a ten-city tour.
Norris, Kathleen. Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2008. 352p. ISBN 978-1-59448-996-9. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Cloister Walk author Norris was relieved to discover the word acedia in a fourth-century Christian text; it summed up perfectly her sense of restlessness and disaffection—and maybe yours, too. With a national tour.
O'Reilly, Bill. A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. Broadway. Sept. 2008. 224p. ISBN 978-0-7679-2882-3. $26.
Popular Fox anchor O'Reilly offers an expectedly sharp-tongued look at his upbringing and early education as a journalist.
Sanborn, Mark. The Encore Effect: How To Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do. Currency: Doubleday. Sept. 2008. 112p. ISBN 978-0-385-51905-2. $15.95. CD: Random Audio.
How to be tops in work and life; from the author of the best-selling The Fred Factor.
Sanders, Tim. Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do To Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference. Currency: Doubleday. Sept. 2008. 224p. ISBN 978-0-385-52357-8. $23.95. CD: Random Audio.
It's not just the bottom line, stupid; a sense of social responsibility is transforming corporate America.
Scarf, Maggie. September Songs: The Bonus Years of Marriage. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2008. 256p. ISBN 978-1-59448-850-4. $24.95.
The author of Intimate Partners discusses the good that long-term marriages can yield, as partners share the “bonus years” that come with a longer life expectancy.
Schieffer, Bob. Bob Schieffer's America. Putnam. Sept. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-0-399-15518-5. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Face the Nation anchor Schieffer, who's been closing his program with a commentary since Nixon's death in 1994, here offers 168 of his best comments. With a national tour.
Shlaim, Avi. Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 720p. ISBN 978-1-4000-4305-7. $35.
Born in Baghdad, raised in Israel, and educated at Cambridge and the London School of Economics, Shlaim draws on over 1000 hours of interviews to reconstruct the life and long reign of King Hussein.
Thomson, David. “Have You Seen...?” A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films. Knopf. Sept. 2008. 1024p. ISBN 978-0-307-26461-9. $39.95.
Over three decades after publication of his successful Biographical Dictionary of Film, Thomson returns with his top cinema picks. With a three-city tour.
West, Bing. The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq. Random. Sept. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6701-5. $27.
Former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs under Reagan and a longtime combat reporter, West argues that we are winning in Iraq—just not as fast as we'd like. With a five-city tour.
White, Bill & Robert Gandt. Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship. Broadway. Sept. 2008. 352p. ISBN 978-0-7679-2989-9. $26.
White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and former navy fighter pilot Gandt reflect on the history of the famed carrier.