Prepub Exploded
Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 11/20/2008 7:11:00 AM
April 2009 brings a tidal wave of front-list fiction, whether you're craving David Baldacci stalwarts, Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon, or Jay McInery's previously unpublished short stories. Read on for added details of these books, plus enticing nonfiction.Fiction | Nonfiction
FictionBaldacci, David. First Family. Grand Central. Apr. 2009. 432p. ISBN 978-0-446-53975-3. $27.99. lrg. prnt. $28.99. CD: Hachette Audio.
When a birthday party at Camp David goes wrong and a child gets snatched, who else to call but Baldacci stalwarts Sean King and Michelle Maxwell? After all, Sean knew the First Lady way back when. With promotion to Baldacci’s fan group on Facebook, so sign up now.
Barr, Nevada. Borderline. Putnam. Apr. 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-0-399-15569-7. $25.95.
On leave after the particularly brutal case outlined in Winter Study, Anna Pigeon goes rafting in golden Texas with new husband Paul—and discovers a woman, pregnant and nearly dead, trapped by the river’s boulders. Now she’s got a whole new case to investigate. Barr will do a national tour.
Beckett, Bernard. Genesis. Houghton Harcourt. Apr. 2009. 160p. ISBN 978-547-22549-4. $20.
If studious Anax makes it past the three Examiners, she’ll enter the Academy governing her futuristic society—and confront profound philosophical quandaries wrought by the escalating technology. Rights sold to 21 countries in the here and now; look for reading group promotion and a live webcast from the author’s native New Zealand.
Bennett, Vanora. Figures in Silk. Morrow. Apr. 2009. 432p. ISBN 978-0-06-168984-0. $24.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
Two sisters in late 15th-century England get married and go in different directions, one into the bed of King Edward IV, the other into her husband’s family business—silk. With a reading group guide; Bennett follows up on the promise of Portrait of an Unknown Woman, cited in LJ’s First Novelist Retrospective, Fall 2007.
Chiaverini, Jennifer. The Lost Quilter: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel. S. & S. Apr. 2009. 336p. ISBN 978-1-4165-3316-0. $24.
Chiavernini fans will remember escaped slave Joanna, who was sheltered at Elm Creek Farm in The Runaway Quilt. She’s been forced back to Virginia but leaves letters that are discovered over a century later. With an eight-city tour to Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Denver, Madison, Milwaukee, and New York; reading group guide. If you can’t catch her on tour, visit her popular web site.
Clark, Mary Higgins. Just Take My Heart. S. & S. Apr. 2009. 336p. ISBN 978-1-4165-7086-8. $25.95.
With childhood buddy Natalie near death after an accident, Emily asks that her heart be donated to ailing mutual friend Alice. Then she learns the truth behind the "accident." With an eight-city tour that will include Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego as well as locales in Connecticut and New Jersey; reading group guide and BookClubReader.com feature.
Dyer, Geoff. Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. Pantheon. Apr. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-307-37737-1. $24.
As washed-up journalist Jeff Atman cruises the Venice Biennale, falling for Laura, a parallel story unfolds along the Ganges that may or may not involve our confused hero. From award-winning novelist and photographer Dyer; with a six-city tour.
Faye, Lyndsay. Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. S. & S. Apr. 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-1-4165-8330-1. $25.
Listen up, Holmesians: the Conan Doyle Estate calls Faye’s depiction of Sherlock Holmes exceptional. Here, Holmes goes after Jack the Ripper, as related by the redoubtable Watson.
Feist, Raymond E. Rides a Dread Legion. Eos: HarperCollins. (Demonwar Saga, Bk. 1). Apr. 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-06-146836-0. $25.95.
Feist launches another series, but he’s still got Pug, magician extraordinaire of the Darkwar saga. Here, Pug must counter demons threatening to invade the elves’ world. Feist will escape the besieged realm of Midkemia for few San Diego appearances.
Glass, Matthew. Ultimatum. Grove. Apr. 2009. 400p. ISBN 978-0-8021-18882-7. $24.
Global warming hits big time in 2032, and President Joe Benton opts to negotiate secretly with the Chinese. With foreign rights sold to four countries and some select online promotion.
Hamilton, Jane. Laura Rider’s Masterpiece. Grand Central. Apr. 2009. 200p. ISBN 978-0-446-53895-4. $22.99.
A Pen/Hemingway Award winner and an Oprah author—twice—Hamilton shifts gears with this sly story about Laura and Charlie Ryder, partners everywhere but in bed, who create mischief when they bring radio-show host Jenna Faroli into their orbit. With a reading group guide.
Horn, Dara. All Other Nights. Norton. Apr. 2009. 384p. ISBN 0-978-0-393-32906-3. $24.95.
The demands of war: Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union Army, must murder the uncle who’s plotting to assassinate Lincoln. Then he gets to marry a spy. From Horn, author of The World To Come and one of Granta’s Best Young American novelists; with a four-city tour to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Reading group guides, too.
James, Tania. Atlas of Unknowns. Knopf. Apr. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-307-26890-7. $24.95.
Raised in Kerala, India, Anju Vallara does sister Linno wrong in order to get to America and a Manhattan prep school. But she can’t escape her lies. One of those highly touted debuts; with a three-city tour to Boston, Louisville, and New York and a reading group guide, too.
Jiles, Paulette. The Color of Lightning. Morrow. Apr. 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-0-06-169044-0. $24.95. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio.
Jiles, who has a way of nicely shattering hearts, is back after Stormy Weather with a tale set in post–Civil War Texas. With a multicity tour; reading group guide. Check out this online video interview.
Leon, Donna. About Face: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery. Grove. Apr. 2009. 272p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1896-7. $24.
As Venice sinks into a polluted lagoon, Brunetti pitches in to help investigate the illegal hauling of garbage—and finds himself up to his neck in murder. With a seven-city tour to New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, San Francisco, and Seattle; reading group guide.
Leveritt, Thomas. The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money. S. & S. Apr. 2009. 352p. ISBN 978-1-4165-9726-1. $25.
British critics have already taken to heart this first novel about two friends who have escaped the dot.com bust and are out to make a killing in Sarajevo at war’s end. Yes, they both want to impress the same woman—who happens to be a prosecutor with the international war crimes tribunal. The intriguing Leveritt is also a portrait painter, beer distributor, and computer programmer, so one is justified in expecting protean prose.
McInerney, Jay. How It Ended: New and Collected Stories. Knopf. Apr. 2009. 288p. ISBN 978-0-307-26805-1. $24.95.
The various stages of adulthood, as told in a series of stories (some never before published) by the Bright Lights, Big City guy. With a six-city tour to Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Sam Francisco, and Seattle.
Michaels, Anne. The Winter Vault. Knopf. Apr. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-307-27082-5. $25.
Having won a Lannan Literary Award, Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award, Guardian Fiction Award, and the Orange Prize for the best-selling Fugitive Pieces, Michaels is nicely positioned to wow us with this tale of a Canadian couple living on a houseboat on the Nile during the rescue of Abu Simbel. With a five-city tour.
Oz, Amos. Rhyming Life and Death. Houghton Harcourt. Apr. 2009. 120p. ISBN 978-0-15-101367-8. $23.
Bored by the questions after giving a reading from his new book in Tel Aviv, a famed novelist (not Oz) starts imagining the lives of those in his audience.
Quick, Amanda. The Perfect Poison. Putnam. Apr. 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-0-399-15580-2. $24.95.
Brilliant botanist Lucinda Bromley can instantly identify any kind of poison. Too bad that when serving as consultant on a murder case, she discovers that the poison comes from a rare fern recently lifted from her lab. Once again, Jayne Anne Krentz cuts us to the Quick.
Roche, Charlotte. Wetlands. Grove. Apr. 2009. 208p. ISBN 978-0-8021-1892-9. $17.95.
A famous TV personality in Germany, Roche is now even more famous for this explicit novel—18-year-old Helen Memel’s reflections on her sexual past. A No. 1 Amazon best seller worldwide in German, now being translated into 27 languages; with a six-city tour to Boston, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland (OR), and Seattle. Catch the front-page New York Times story.
Smith, Alexander McCall. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built: The New No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Novel. Pantheon. Apr. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-307-37810-1. $23.95. lrg. prnt.
Yikes. Mr. J.L.B. Matekon has sold Mma Ramotswe’s little white van, and when she tries to retrieve it from its new owner, she finds that it has been stolen. McCall Smith will ride out on a 12-city tour.
Waters, Sarah. The Little Stranger. Putnam. Apr. 2009. 464p. ISBN 978-0-399-59448-880-1. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
A ghost story set in postwar Britain? Expect Tipping the Velvet author Waters to give this a real twist.
Woods, Stuart. Loitering with Intent. Putnam. Apr. 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-0-399-15578-9. $25.95.
Woods favorite Stone Barrington is up when he’s hired to find the missing son of a wealthy man somewhere in the glorious Florida Keys, then down when he’s nearly done in after launching his investigation and realizing that the son might reasonably not want to be found. With a national author tour.
Nonfiction
Beaver, Jim. Life’s That Way: A Memoir. Amy Einhorn Bks: Putnam. Apr. 2009. 336p. ISBN 978-0-399-15564-2. $24.95.
Actor/playwright Beaver (seen on HBO’s Deadwood) discovered that his daughter was autistic—and then his wife, Cecily, was diagnosed with cancer, dying within four months. Gathered here, the daily emails he sent to family and friends before and after Cecily’s death sustained him mightily; his correspondents eventually numbered 4000 people worldwide.
Carroll, James. Practicing Catholic. Houghton Harcourt. Apr. 2009. 448p. ISBN 978-0-618-67018-5. $28.
What it means to be Catholic, how the Church has moved forward in the last few decades, and why it threatens to stall now. From the author of National Book Award winner An American Requiem; with a five-city tour to New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Milwaukee.
Deen, Paula with Melissa Clark. The Deen Family Cookbook. S. & S. Apr. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-7432-7813-3. $26.
Meet Deen’s extended family while digging into red velvet cupcakes and 174 other Deen favorites. With a ten-city tour that will include Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, and Savannah.
Gifford, Kathy Lee. Just When I Thought I’d Dropped My Last Egg: Life and Other Calamities. Ballantine. Apr. 2009. 192p. ISBN 978-0-345-51206-2. $20. CD: Random Audio.
TV commentator Gifford drops bons mots instead.
Grodin, Charles. How I Got To Be Whoever It Is I Am. Springboard: Grand Central. Apr. 2009. 240p. ISBN 978-0-446-51940-3. $24.99.
Actor, CBS news commentator, best-selling author, friendly grouch—Grodin is back with a bona fide memoir. Look for the book video.
Maathai, Wangari. The Challenge for Africa. Pantheon. Apr. 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-0-307-37740-1. $24.
Solutions to crises in Africa from someone who ought to know: environmental activist Maathai is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Kenya’s assistant minister for Environment, Natural Resources, and Wildlife.
Melucci, Giulia. I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti: A Memoir. Grand Central. Apr. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-446-53442-0. $23.99. lrg. prnt. $25.99.
Melucci cooks pasta for the men in her life, and if she can’t hold onto them, at least she’s got a great repertoire of recipes. A much-talked-up memoir from a publishing insider—she’s worked for several book publishers and was vice president of public relations at Harpers Magazine—this book includes 50 recipes and will get some promotional spice—a book video.
Pizzichini, Lilian. The Blue Hour: The Life of Jean Rhys. Norton. Apr. 2009. 384p. ISBN 978-0-393-05803-1. $29.95.
Despite repeated tragedy, Jean Rhys—whose Wide Sargasso Sea reimagined the life of the locked-up wife in Jane Eyre—did not herself become a "madwoman in the attic." How her genius triumphed; from a British biographer.
Rich, Adrienne. A Human Eye: Essays on Art and Society, 1996–2008. Norton. Apr. 2009. 208p. ISBN 978-0-393-07006-4. $24.95.
Only Rich can write essays that blend politics and poetry so effortlessly. Look for events in San Francisco, and check out the Norton Poets Online feature.
Scotti, R.A. Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa. Knopf. Apr. 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-0-307-26580-7. $23.95. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
In August 1911, the Mona Lisa’s smile vanished with the rest of her. Scotti (Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal) investigates the theft and the dizzying Parisian landscape where it occurred. With a seven-city tour to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, DC. Look for the dedicated book page and online game.
Stiles, T.J. The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Knopf. Apr. 2009. 752p. ISBN 978-0-375-41542-5. $35.
Having done a splendid job with Jesse James, biographer Stiles turns to a different sort of character, the modestly born Cornelius Vanderbilt, who came to dominate Wall Street and New York’s elite. With a five-city tour to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
Wright, Evan. Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe, Wingnut’s War Against the GAP, and Other Adventures with the Totally Lost Tribes of America. Putnam. Apr. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-399-15574-1-4. $25.95.
Take a look at Wright’s subtitle and his best-selling Generation Kill (also an HBO miniseries), and you’ll get a sense of this collection of pieces about America’s various outsiders—sex workers, anarchists, runaway teens, and more.
