Prepub Exploded, June-July 2010, Pt. 2
Featuring Janet Evanovich, Aimee Bender & Paul Greenberg
By Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 01/21/2010
| Head back to BookSmack! for more stories |
In this expanded edition of Prepub Alert, we’re continuing to move our notification ahead a few months, so look for hot June and July titles. In fiction, there’s plenty of books with one-day laydowns, from Janet Evanovich’s Sizzling Sixteen to Philip Margolin’s Supreme Justice; good reading when you lay down that beach blanket. Nonfiction goes to the fish.
Fiction | Nonfiction
Fiction
Beattie, Ann. Walks with Men. Scribner. Jun. 2010. 112p. ISBN 978-1-4391-7576-7. $12; pap. ISBN 978-1-4391-6869-1. $10.
New York, 1980s. Harvard valedictorian Jane has much to learn about life from riveting older writer Neil. Beattie in her usual vein and being pushed in paperback (this is short); three-city tour to Boston, New York, and Providence.
Bender, Aimee. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Doubleday. Jun. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-385-50112-5. $24.95.
Rose has a special “gift”: when eating, she can taste people’s emotions, like her mom’s grief in her yummy lemon cake. What a premise, and Bender is making a name for herself. With an eight-city tour to New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Iowa City, Portland (OR), Sam Francisco, and Los Angeles and a reading group guide.
Brown, Janelle. This Is Where We Live. Spiegel & Grau. Jun. 2010. 336p. ISBN 978-0-385-52403-2. $25. CD: Random Audio.
Hopeful filmmaker Claudia and indie musician Jeremy buy a cute little bungalow overlooking Los Angeles—and watch their lives fall apart. Brown’s All We Ever Wanted Was Everything was a huge debut; expect lots of buzz about this. With a three-city tour of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland.
Clinch, Jon. Kings of the Earth. Random. Jun. 2010. 416p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6901-9. $26.
An elderly man dies on his upstate New York farm; was one of his brothers responsible? Clinch’s debut, Finn, was exceptional, so watch this one. With a six-city tour of Albany, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, and San Francisco.
Cronin, Justin. The Passage. Ballantine. Jun. 2010. 784p. ISBN 978-0-345-50496-8. $26. CD: Random Audio.
Challenged by his daughter to write the story of a little girl who saves the world, PEN/Hemingway award winner Cronin forsook his literary persona (but not his excellent style) to craft a high-end sf story. In an experiment gone awry, the subjects escape, carrying a deadly virus that nearly destroys humanity. One of the subjects is young Amy, who does not get the virus and manages to survive in a world now dominated by vicious creatures. Big stuff expected; be ready to buy extras. With a 15-city tour.
Deaver, Jeffery. The Burning Wire: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 448p. ISBN 978-1-4391-5633-9. $26.99. CD: S. & S. Audio.
Even as quadriplegic forensic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme undergoes treatment, a killer pursues his victims through the energy grid. The last Rhyme book, The Broken Window, sold three-quarters of a million copies; buy accordingly. With an 11-city tour to Atlanta, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and Saint Louis.
Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad. Knopf. Jun. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-307-59283-5. $24.95.
Former punk rocker and current record exec Bennie Salazar and his employee, the mercurial Sasha, are at the heart of a novel ranging from 1970s San Francisco to a postwar future. Egan’s previous The Keep was engrossing, so I encourage you to try this; with a reading group guide.
Ellis, Bret Easton. Imperial Bedrooms. Knopf. Jun. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-0-307-26610-1. $25. CD: Random Audio.
Ellis’s latest stars characters from his first book, Less Than Zero. Clay’s a screenwriter one-upped by a determined young actress, for instance, and Blair is married to a heedless bisexual. Hmm, how long can an author remain an enfant terrible? With an 11-city tour to Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, DC.
Evanovich, Janet. Sizzling Sixteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel. St. Martin’s. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-312-38330-5. $27.99. CD: Macmillan Audio.
Bounty hunter Stephanie is chasing a particularly dangerous quarry. Will Lula’s troubles with a Madoff-like scam detract? With a one-day laydown on June 22 and a national tour; huge.
Fesperman, Dan. Layover in Dubai. Knopf. Jul. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-307-26838-9. $25.95.
Cautious corporate auditor Sam Keller risks a fancy vacation in upscale Dubai—and gets dragged into a murder investigation, partnering with offbeat detective Anwar Sharaf. Fesperman is much honored abroad, still on the verge of bigger things here.
Frank, Dorothea Benton. Lowcountry Summer: A Plantation Novel. Morrow. Jun. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-06-196117-5. $25.99.
Caroline Wimbley Levine returns home to Tall Pines Plantation in South Carolina and learns some surprising truths about her family. A sequel to the best-selling Plantation, with a one-day laydown on June 15, a nine-city author to Atlanta, Charleston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Raleigh-Durham, San Diego, Seattle, and Tulsa, and a 250,000-copy first printing. Big beach reading.
French, Tana. Faithful Place. Viking. Jul. 2010. 432p. ISBN 978-0-670-02187-1. $25.95.
Rosie never showed on the night she and Frankie were planning to flee inner-city Dublin for London, and he goes it alone. Years later, Frankie returns—because he’s discovered that perhaps Rosie didn’t just dump him. Big, big; too bad the author isn’t touring.
Furst, Alan. Spies of the Balkans. Random. Jun. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6603-2. $26.
In Salonika, Macedonia, just as World War II is erupting, senior police official Costa Zannis must help organize an escape route from Berlin through the Balkans to neutral Turkey. Sounds like classic Furst! With a six-city tour to New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Chicago/Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Goodman, Allegra. The Cookbook Collector. Dial. Jun. 2010. 416p. ISBN 978-0-385-34085-4. $25. CD: Random Audio.
It’s sense and sensibility, Silicon startup CEO Emily vs. her activist and philosophy grad student sister, Jessamine. Jess, by the way, is helping catalog a bunch of rare cookbooks—hence the title. Buy for your literary and good-time readers; with a five-city tour to Boston, Washington, DC, Denver, Portland, and San Francisco.
Green, Janet. The Love Verb. Viking. Jun. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-670-02179-6. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
Callie loves home and work, her younger sister loves partying, her best friend is ready to marry, and her parents have been angrily divorced for 30 years. Suddenly, they all end up in Maine for a life-changing summer, as the parent-child role gets switched. From solidly popular Green; with a seven-city tour.
Harbison, Beth. Thin, Rich, Pretty. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-312-38198-1. $24.99. CD: MacMillan Audio.
At summer camp, plump Holly and plain, timid Nicola finally get revenge on nasty, spoiled bunkmate Lexi—which hurts her more than they ever imagined. Years later, they still have issues, but at least they are healing together. With promotion trageting women looking for that juicy read between book club picks—the perfect audience.
Harris, E. Lynn. In My Father’s House: The Chronicles of Bentley L. Dean. St. Martin’s. Jun. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-312-54191-0. $24.99.
Bentley L. Dean, who runs a South Beach modeling agency, is paid big bucks to provide pretty faces as decoration at an A-list party. There, his protégé, Jah, falls for charismatic African American movie star Seth. Billed as the final new series from recently deceased Harris, so stock where he’s been popular.
Hilderbrand, Elin. The Island. Reagan Arthur: Little, Brown. Jun. 2010. 416p. ISBN 978-0-316-04387-8. $25.99. lrg prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
Birdie was going to take daughter Chess to Tuckernuck Island off Nantucket for some girl talk before Chess’s wedding. Then Chess breaks the engagement. And then her former fiancé dies. It’s an island vacation with a difference—great summer reading.
Hurwitz, Gregg. They’re Watching. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. 368p. ISBN 978-0-312-53490-5. $24.99.
Patrick Davis thinks that his life is a mess—and that’s before DVDs start arriving that clearly show he and his wife are being stalked in their own home. Does he make a deal with this devil? Already a best seller in the U.K., so you can’t quarrel.
Isaacs, Susan. As Husbands Go. Scribner. Jul. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-1-4165-7301-2. $26.
Susie B. Anthony Rabinowitz Gersten is married to the perfect man—who’s then found dead in the room of a second-string call girl. Now Susie is out to prove that there’s something wrong with this picture and that things were as good as they seemed. With a reading group guide.
Langer, Adam. The Thieves of Manhattan. Spiegel & Grau. Jun. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6891-3. $24.
Wannabe author Ian Minot is angry when his Romanian girlfriend has super success with her short stories and even angrier about a best-selling memoir of drug abuse, which he thinks is a fake. Totally au courant, and Langer (Crossing California) is no wannabe.
Lowell, Elizabeth. Death Echo. Morrow. Jun. 2010. 384p. ISBN 978-0-06-162975-4. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
Emma Cross quits the CIA for what she thought would be an easy PI consulting job. Boy, was she wrong. At least her partner, another disgruntled former agent, has her back. Typical Lowell; with a one-day laydown on June 8 and a 200,000-copy first printing.
Jensen, Beverly. The Sisters from Hardscrabble Baby. Viking. Jul. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-670-02166-6. $25.95.
Connected stories about two sisters and their rough-and-ready lives in New Brunswick over 70 years, as told by Jensen, who died in 2003 of cancer without having published a word. Since then she has been touted by the likes of Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates, so listen up.
Johansen, Iris & Roy Johansen. Shadow Zone. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. 416p. ISBN 978-0-312-61160-6. $26.99.
Submersible designer Hannah Bryson believes that she has discovered why the ancient city of Marinth collapsed, sending it way beneath the Atlantic waves. And it’s a shocking enough reason that she is being targeted by a killer. Shocking? From a top best-selling team.
Kalogridis, Jeanne. The Scarlet Contessa: A Novel of the Italian Renaissance. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. 512p. ISBN 978-0-312-36953-8. $25.99.
Kalogridis retells the story of Caterina Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of the Machiavellian Count Giralamo Riario. A definite pick for the historical fiction crowd.
Kava, Alex. Damaged. Doubleday. Jul. 2010. 400p. ISBN 978-0-385-53199-3. $24.95.
As a hurricane roars into the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard retrieves a cooler floating on the waves—and discovers that it is stuffed with body parts. Now Kava stalwart Maggie O’Dell must investigate. A steady series, and this one will appeal to natural-disaster fans; with a six-city tour to New York, Washington, DC, Phoenix, Houston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Koryta, Michael. So Cold the River. Little, Brown. Jun. 2010. 512p. ISBN 978-0-316-05363-1. $24.99. lrg. prnt.
When documentary filmmaker Eric Shaw is asked to reconstruct the life of beauteous Alyssa Bradford’s secretive father-in-law, he discovers a mysterious town with a glamorous past—and creeping evil. Koryta isn’t as huge as some of his mystery confreres—about 250,000 copies of his books are in print—but he is a multiple award winner who bears watching. With a seven-city tour to Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis, and Toronto.
McCauley, Stephen. Insignificant Others. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-7432-2475-8. $25.
The economy is collapsing, and partner Conrad is suddenly never around, so Richard Rossi spends lots of time at the gym. A comedy of manners for sophisticates; from a best-selling author.
McCrumb, Sharyn. The Devil Amongst the Lawyers: A Ballad Novel. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. 336p. ISBN 978-0-312-55816-1. $24.99.
In 1934, lovely mountain girl Erma Morton stands accused of murdering her tyrannical father, and reporters descend on her small Virginia town in search of a sensational story. Only fledgling journalist Carl Jennings tells it like it is, and he gets crucified. After eight years, McCrumb returns to her “Appalachian Ballad” series—and not a moment too soon. With a reading group guide, plus a musical podcast.
Margolin, Phillip. Supreme Justice. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-06-192651-8. $25.99. lrg. prnt.
What links the appeal of Sarah Woodruff (on death row for murdering husband John Finley), a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and a shootout years ago on a freighter that left only one survivor—who happened to be John Finley? Attorney Brad Miller, FBI agent Keith Evans, and private investigator Dana Cutler reunite to find out. With a one-day laydown on May 18 and a 150,000-copy first printing: I might have expected more.
Martini, Steve. The Rule of Nine: A Paul Madriani Novel. Morrow. Jun. 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-193021-8. $26.99. lrg. prnt.
Having helped the world avoid nuclear Armageddon in Guardian of Lies, San Diego defense attorney Paul Madriani should be able to handle a little terrorist activity. With a one-day laydown on June 1 and a 250,000-copy first printing. Need I say more?
Mitchell, David. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Random. Jun. 2010. 528p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6545-5. $25.
Eager to earn the money he needs to marry, Jacob de Zoet heads to late 1700s Dejima, the Japanese empire’s only port and outpost of the Dutch East Indies Company. But he gets his head turned by the island’s wild side and a samurai’s disfigured daughter. I love it that Mitchell can write a book like this and Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green. With a seven-city tour to Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland (OR), San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Murkoff, Bruce. Red Rain. Knopf. Jul. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-307-27207-2. $26.95.
Disillusioned by war and violence against Native Americans, Will Harp returns to his Hudson Valley home in 1864. His discovery of some mastodon bones manages to upset the plans of several locals. As evidenced by his first book, Waterbourne, Murkoff can write intriguingly about events in American history. Recommend to your smart readers.
O’Flynn, Catherine. The News Where You Are. Holt. Jul. 2010. 240p. ISBN 978-0-8050-9180-9. pap. $15.
Doofy TV anchor Frank Allcroft tries to solve the hit-and-run killing of friend and predecessor Phil while mourning the demolition of some of his famous architect father’s most striking buildings. O’Flynn’s What Was Lost was a four-star debut last summer; grab this one. A hardcover next time?
Parkhurst, Carolyn. The Nobodies Album. Doubleday. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-0-385-52769-9. $25.95. CD: Random Audio.
In Parkhurst's latest, celebrated novelist Octavia Frost has published a daring new work that rewrites the last chapters of her previous works, deleting references to a family tragedy. (The new chapters are interwoven with Parkhurst's plot.) Then she learns that her estranged rock-star son is accused of murder. Sounds even more weirdly original than Parkhurst’s The Dogs of Babel, which I loved. With a ten-city tour to New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dayton, St. Louis, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; reading group guide.
Patterson, James & Maxine Paetro. Private. Little, Brown. Jun. 2010. 400p. ISBN 978-0-316-09615-7. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio.
Having just inherited his father’s detective business, former CIA agent Jackson Morgan is tracking the killer of his best friend’s wife (and contemplating revenge) while engaging in an interoffice affair that could wreck everything. Soon to be a major network TV series; get plenty.
Rabe, David. Girl by the Road at Night. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-1-4391-6333-7. $22.
Award-winning playwright Rabe has written persuasively about Vietnam for the stage but tackles the subject for the first time in a novel. His last novel, Dinosaurs on the Roof, didn't fare so well with LJ's reviewer, but he is on known territory here. Important for a select audience.
Reich, Christopher. Rules of Betrayal. Doubleday. Jul. 2010. 368p. ISBN 978-0-385-53154-2. $26.95. lrg. prnt. CD: Random Audio.
A 1980s crash of an American B-52 on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has repercussions today for a harried doctor whose wife, it seems, is a dangerous spy. Dependable Reich.
Ross, Adam. Mr. Peanut. Knopf. Jun. 2010. 400p. ISBN 978-0-307-27070-2. $25.95. CD: Random Audio.
Occasionally, though David Pepin loves his wife, he wishes she were dead. And then she is. And he’s a suspect. And the cops all have uncomfortable backstories of their own that readers will recognize. A slightly surreal first novel that made waves at Frankfurt and is an in-house favorite. With a five-city tour (to Jackson, Memphis, Nashville, New York, and Oxford) and lots of foreign rights. Investigate the fuss.
Sheldon, Sidney & Tilly Bagshawe. Sidney Sheldon’s After the Darkness. Morrow. Jun. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-06-172830-3. $25.99.
Grace’s mega-rich Wall Street husband goes sailing and never returns. Looks like he was involved in some nasty scam, and now Grace isn’t feeling so safe herself. Bagshawe seems made for continuing the late Sheldon’s stories, and this will likely strike gold. With a one-day laydown on May 25 and a 200,000-copy first printing.
Stevens, Chevy. Still Missing. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. 352p. ISBN 978-0-312-59567-8. $24.99.
This novel about a young woman’s abduction unfolds in two parts: the story of her year imprisoned by a psychopath, as told to her psychiatrist afterward, and the story of her escape. There’s a big push behind this debut. Oh, and library marketing.
Waldman, Ayelet. Red Hook Road. Doubleday. Jul. 2010. 336p. ISBN 978-0-385-51786-7. $25.95. CD: Random Audio.
A tale of two families riven by a child’s death and redeemed by an adopted daughter with a talent for music. A cut above beach reading; with a reading group guide.
Wickham, Madeleine. A Desirable Residence. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Jun. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-312-56277-9. $25.99. CD: Macmillan.
Saddled with two mortgages while renovating their dream house, Liz and Jonathan should be happy that they’ve found tenants for their former residence. But their daughter becomes obsessed with the tenants, and Liz is crushing on the realtor. Wickham/Kinsella readership is assumed.
Bean, Carl Archbishop with David Ritz. I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher’s Journey Through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-1-4165-9282-2. $24.
A foster child in the Fifties (his mother died of an illegal abortion), a Motown recording artist in the Sixties and early Seventies, and founder of the Unity Fellowship Church of Christ for gay, lesbian, and transgendered African Americans, Bean has some story to tell. With a seven-city tour to Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Washington, DC.
Clegg, Bill. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man. Little, Brown. Jun. 2010. 240p. ISBN 978-0-316-05467-6. $23.99.
A noted literary agent, with clients like Lauren Groff, Mark Doty, and Rose Tremain, Clegg nearly threw it all away when he inexplicably went on a two-month crack binge. I think we can trust this memoir. With multiple foreign-rights sales.
Dalrymple, William. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. Knopf. Jun. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-307-27282-9. $26.95.
A prize-winning author of history and travel, Dalrymple here explores religion as it is practiced in India today, with characters from an illiterate goatherd who recalls a 200,000-stanza sacred epic to a Jain nun who practices detachment while watching a friend starve herself to death. My favorite nonfiction this time ’round. With a five-city tour to Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
Fisher, Carrie. Shockaholic. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-7432-6482-2. $25. CD: S. & S.
A Fisher tell-all about her Star Wars years. Celeb chasers will love.
Greenberg, Paul. Four Fish. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-1-59420-256-8. $25.95.
Journalist Greenberg focuses on bass, salmon, tuna, and cod—though not exactly in a Cod sort of way—to reveal the devastating environmental impact of commercial fishing and fish farming. What if soon there are no fish left in the sea? Read it and weep.
Greenlaw, Linda. Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea. Viking. Jun. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-0-670-02192-5. $25.95.
Featured in the book and film The Perfect Storm, America’s only female swordfish boat captain here chronicles her decision to return to the waves after ten years ashore. This should attract an appreciative audience—though not, of course, Greenberg (see Four Fish, above). Catch her on the Discovery series Swords: Life on the Line. With a 15-city tour.
Hogeland, William. Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1–July 4, 1776. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-1-4165-8409-4. $27.
As the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, cousins John and Samuel Adams formed a radical clique that essentially overthrew the government of the colony of Pennsylvania and ousted anti-independence leader John Dickinson. From a cultural critic who has written for Slate and beyond. More and more, we’re getting books that emphasize the radicalism of our Founders.
Kirkpatrick, David. The Facebook Effect: Dominating the Way People Communicate. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 320p. ISBN 978-1-4391-0211-4. $26.
Not an analysis of the impact of Facebook on how we write, think, and relate, this book instead tells the inside story of Mark Zuckerberg’s founding of the company and its phenomenal growth since 2008. With 300 million Facebook users worldwide, there is an audience. Just a three-city tour? (New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.)
Kaguri, Twesigye Jackson with Susan Urbanek Linville. The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village. Viking. Jun. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-0-670-02184-0. $25.95.
Born in rural Uganda, Kaguri got a college degree and continued his studies at Columbia University. Then he returned home to a village full of AIDS orphans and decided to build a tuition-free primary school. For readers of Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea, Tracy Kidder’s Strength in What Remains, and William Kamkwamba’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. With a six-city tour.
Kashner, Sam & Nancy Schoenberger. Furious Love: The Love Affair of Elizabeth and Richard. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2010. 496p. ISBN 978-0-06-156284-6. $27.99.
There’s more to say? With a 100,000-copy first printing.
Kinzer, Stephen. Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future. Times Bks: Holt. Jun. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-0-8050-9127-4. $26.
The award-winning foreign correspondent and author of All the Shah’s Men argues that Turkey and Iran are our natural allies in the Middle East. Serious reading; with a national tour.
Mosier, John F. Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin–The Eastern Front, 1941–1945. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 544p. ISBN 978-1-4165-7348-7. $30.
No, Stalingrad was not the turning point of World War II, and Hitler could well have conquered the Soviet Union, long credited with absorbing so much German energy that the Allies could finally prevail. Soviet myths, claims Mosier, a film/literature professor who also writes military history. It was Allied victories in North Africa that diverted Hitler’s attention and spared the Soviets' defeat. Controversial, for sure.
Munn, Olivia. Suck It, Wonder Woman!: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-0-312-59105-2. $23.99. CD: MacMillan.
She made Entertainment Weekly’s It list for 2009, is known as the face of G4 magazine, and appeared on the cover of Playboy. Oh, and she likes to dress up as Wonder Woman. And her web site, HeyOlivia.com, gets a half-million viewers a day. So there's an audience. If they are in your library, buy. With a national tour.
Murphy, Mary McDonagh. Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper: HarperCollins. 208p. ISBN 978-0-06-192407-1. $24.99.
Turning 50 this year, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was voted novel of the century in an LJ poll. Here, journalist Murphy asks folks like Anna Quindlen and Tom Brokaw for their views on the classic, which is also getting a nice anniversary hardcover edition (ISBN 978-0-06-174352-8. $25).
Ridley, Matt. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2010. 448p. ISBN 978-0-06-145205-5. $26.99.
From the guy who gave us Genome: a stubborn assertion that things are not as bad as they seem and that humanity has in fact been on an upward swing for some time. I guess we need a little hope. With a 100,000-copy first printing.
Spurling, Hilary. Pearl Buck in China. S. & S. Jun. 2010. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4165-4042-7. $27.
The award-winning biographer of Henri Matisse reconsiders Pearl Buck, showing the depth of her roots in China. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a literary conversation about Buck.
Tabor, James M. Blind Descent: The Quest To Discover the Deepest Place on Earth. Random. Jun. 2010. 304p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6767-1. $27.
Great science, great adventure, and the thrills of a classic sports movie (this is about cave-diving, after all). Two teams, one American, one Russian, with temperamentally different leaders, vie to dive as far down as anyone came humanly go. You’ll know Tabor from PBS’s popular The Great Outdoors; with an eight-city tour to Boston, New York, Austin, Denver, Boulder, Seattle, Portland (OR), and San Francisco.
