Prepub Alert, August 2011
Aug 15, 2011| In this Article |
| My Picks |
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TOP COMMERCIAL FICTION
Adrian, Lara. Darker After Midnight: A Midnight Breed Novel. Delacorte. Jan. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780345530875. $24; eISBN 9780345529299. PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Barry, Dave & Alan Zweibel. Lunatics. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780399158698. $25.95. POP FICTION
Burdett, John. Vulture Peak. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307272676. $25.95; eISBN 9780307596581. THRILLER
Clark, Mary Jane. The Look of Love: A Piper Donovan Mystery. Morrow. Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061995569. $24.99. lrg. prnt. MYSTERY
Cook, Robin. Death Benefit. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780399157462. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio. THRILLER
Cornwell, Bernard. Death of Kings. Harper: HarperCollins. Jan. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780061969652. $25.99. lrg. prnt. HISTORICAL
Crais, Robert. Taken. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780399158278. $26.95. THRILLER
George, Elizabeth. Believing the Lie: An Inspector Lynley Novel. Dutton. Jan. 2012. 624p. ISBN 9780525952589. $29.95. CD: Penguin Audio. THRILLER
Griffin, W.E.B. & William E. Butterworth IV. Covert Warriors: A Presidential Agent Novel. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 512p. ISBN 9780399157806. $27.95. CD: Penguin Audio. THRILLER
Grippando, James. Need You Now. Harper: HarperCollins. Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061840302. $25.99. lrg. prnt. THRILLER
Higgins, Jack. A Devil Is Waiting. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780399158094. $26.95. THRILLER
Iggulden, Conn. Conqueror: A Novel of Kublai Khan. Delacorte. Jan. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780385343053. $27; eISBN 9780345532336. HISTORICAL
Jackson, Joshilyn. A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty. Grand Central. Jan. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780446582353. $24.99. lrg. prnt. CD/Downloadable: Hachette Audio. POP FICTION
Kellerman, Faye. Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel. Morrow. Jan. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780062064325. $25.99; eISBN 9780062064332. lrg. prnt. CD: HarperAudio. THRILLER
Koontz, Dean. 77 Shadow Street. Bantam. Jan. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780553807714. $28; lrg. prnt. eISBN 9780345532367. THRILLER
Krentz, Jayne Ann.Copper Beach: A Dark Legacy Novel. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780399157875. $25.95. PARANORMAL
Lescroart, John. The Hunter. Dutton. Jan. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780525952565. $26.95. THRILLER
McDermid, Val.The Retribution. Atlantic Monthly. Jan. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780802120175. $25. THRILLER
Mosley, Walter. All I Did Was Shoot My Man: A Leonid McGill Mystery. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781594488245. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio. MYSTERY
Paretsky, Sara. Breakdown: A V.I. Warshawski Novel. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780399157837. $26.95. THRILLER
Parker, T. Jefferson. The Jaguar: A Charlie Hood Novel. Dutton. Jan. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780525952572. $26.95. THRILLER
Patterson, James & David Ellis. Guilty Wives. Little, Brown. Jan. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780316097567. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Preston, Douglas & Lincoln Child.Gideon’s Corpse. Grand Central. Jan. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780446564373. $26.99; lrg. prnt. CD/Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Sands, Lyndsay. Under a Vampire Moon. Morrow. Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061894640. $19.99. PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Smith, Tom Rob. Agent 6. Grand Central. Jan. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780446550765. $25.99. lrg. prnt. CD/Downloadable: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Todd, Charles. The Confession. Morrow. Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780062015662. $24.99; eISBN 9780061740657. lrg. prnt. MYSTERY
Woods, Stuart. D.C. Dead: A Stone Barrington Novel. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780399157660. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio. THRILLER
FICTION
Akhtar, Ayad. American Dervish. Little, Brown. Jan. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780316183314. $24.99. CD: Hachette Audio. LITERARY
In this first novel, set in pre-9/11 America, Pakistan American youngster Hayat Shah is thrilled when his mother’s unassailably smart, beautiful, and devout friend Mina comes to America to live with his family. She introduces him to the joys of the Quran, but when her attentions move beyond the family, Hayat becomes jealous and falls prey to his community’s anti-Semitism. Film writer/director Akhtar has a partly cinematic style; it’s acute but not cut-to-the-chase. Ripe for discussion, so it’s good there’s an interfaith reading group guide. With rights sold to 19 countries and a seven-city tour.
Albinia, Alice. Leela’s Book. Norton. Jan. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780393082708. $25.95. LITERARY
When the unsettlingly alluring Leela arrives in Delhi from New York to attend the wedding of self-satisfied Vyasa, who once seduced her sister, she upsets everyone. In the end, though, it’s the elephant-headed god Ganesh running the show. Albinia, who here hints at the Mahabharata , won a passel of awards for Empires of the Indus (e.g., the Somerset Maugham Award), so I’m expecting the writing here to be both richly and authentically detailed. Plus, who doesn’t love books about India?
Avery, Ellis. The Nude. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781594488139. $25.95. LITERARY
An American in 1927 Paris, Rafaela Fano is so desperate that she’s about to stoop to prostitution when she meets Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka, for whom she agrees to serve as model. Rafaela soon becomes the lover of the ravishing and ravenous de Lempicka, a Polish aristocrat dispossessed by the Russian Revolution. De Lempicka’s images of Rafaela come to embody the entire spirit of the new age—until the market crashes and clouds of war start to gather. Two things make this book especially promising: it’s based on authentic and obviously engrossing truth, and it’s written by the author of the beautiful The Teahouse Fire.
Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 176p. ISBN 9780307957122. $24; eISBN 9780307957337. LITERARY
Life has been good to Tony Webster, who’s both contentedly retired and contentedly divorced. Then friends reappear from a childhood long left behind and presumably shelved, and as the past suddenly looms large, Tony must rethink everything that has been his life. In the hands of multi-award winner Barnes, this should be masterly—and, with the book under 200 pages, there’s a gorgeous simplicity at work. Essential; with a reading group guide.
Carrisi, Donato. The Whisperer. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Jan. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780316194723. $25.99. THRILLER
Six severed arms. Six missing girls. When criminologist Goran Gavila is asked to find the girls, dead or alive, he’s paired with Officer Mila Vasquez, a rule breaker with a talent for cases involving missing children. Rome-based first novelist Carrisi, who has studied law and criminology but now writes screenplays, has delivered an international best seller.
Dark, Juliet. The Demon Lover. Ballantine. Jan. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780345510082. pap. $15. PARANORMAL
Her work as a scholar investigating the crossover between fairy tales and gothic romance, which led to her best-selling The Sex Lives of the Demon Lovers, helps secure Callie McFay an appointment at Fairwick College. There, life imitates art as she meets banshees, witches, and vampires and is visited nightly by a demon lover. The pseudonymous Dark, author of literary thrillers in her alternate life, seems to have hit on something nice and juicy for fans of Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches. First in a trilogy.
Dunthorne, Joe. Wild Abandon. Random. Jan. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9781400066841. $25; eISBN 9780679644647. CD: Random Audio. LITERARY
British author Dunthorne scored with his first novel,Submarine, which was translated into ten languages and is now making waves as a feature film. His second novel features Don, founder of a commune in New South Wales that’s faltering after 20 successful years, with his wife hiding out in a yurt, his son under the sway of a demagog, and his daughter dating a boy whose family represents the antithesis of commune values. Offbeat but socially incisive fiction from an author who’s blasting off.
Halverson, Seré Prince. The Underside of Joy. Dutton. Jan. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780525952596. $25.95. Downloadable: Penguin Audio. POP FICTION
>Ella Beene is devastated by husband Joe’s death—and even more devastated when his ex-wife, Paige, shows up at the funeral to reclaim the children Ella has been tenderly stepmothering for several years. As Ella battles for custody, she also tries to understand what scarred Joe and Paige’s marriage irreparably. Subject to a bidding war, sold to 13 territories, and pitched at BEA’s Editors Buzz Panel, this debut would seem to be a hot commodity for January.
Houellebecq, Michel. The Map and the Territory. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780307701558. $25.95; eISBN 9780307957450. LITERARY
A brilliant risk taker unafraid of being distasteful (hey, the French invented the term épater le bourgeoisie), Houellebecq has attracted critical acclaim, controversy, and an intent if not immense audience when published here. This Prix Goncourt–winning novel, which follows the life of artist Jed Martin, should prove more accessible. Martin launches his career with photographs detailing Michelin road maps, then does portraits depicting various professions (one sitter is a writer named Houellebecq), and helps solve a terrible crime while facing up to mortality—his father’s and then his own. For your smart crowd.
Johnson, Adam. The Orphan Master’s Son. Random. Jan. 2012. 512p. ISBN 9780812992793. $26; eISBN 9780679643999. CD: Random Audio. LITERARY
Here’s a chance to visit sealed-off North Korea. Johnson’s protagonist is an orphan who starts out as a tunnel soldier and rises through the military ranks until he’s set to challenge Kim Jong-Il himself. Along the way, we encounter what one character calls “the greatest North Korean love story ever told.” Evidently a blend of personal story and political revelation, with thriller overtones thrown in for fun, this work is being positioned as a breakout for Johnson. The first two serials go to Granta in August 2011 and Playboy in January 2012, which certainly suggests broad appeal.
Jones, Chris Morgan. The Silent Oligarch. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9781594203190. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio. THRILLER
Reporter–turned–investigator at a London corporate intelligence firm, Benjamin Webster is suspicious of Konstantin Malin, a disarmingly gray little bureaucrat in the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources who seems to control half of the country’s oil industry. Malin may also have arranged the murder of a tough-minded journalist, a colleague of Webster’s a decade ago. First novelist Jones worked in business intelligence for more than ten years. Nicely tapped into current events, keeping things fresh.
Lott, Bret. Dead Low Tide. Random. Jan. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781400063758. $25; eISBN 9780679644255. MYSTERY
Best-selling author of Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, and a literate sort who has won Pushcart and PEN awards (among others), Lott turned out a literary mystery in 1998 called The Hunt Club. Here at last is a follow-up. When Huger Dillard rows his blind father over to Landgrave Hall, SC, golf course at 2:30 in the morning so that he can practice his swing unobserved, they find a body trapped at low tide. This little venture eventually leads them to the discovery of a terrorist cell. Juicy stuff not just for upscale readers.
Marcus, Ben. The Flame Alphabet. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307379375. $24.95; eISBN 9780307957511. LITERARY
In Marcus’s bizarre new world, children have developed speech that is literally killing their parents. When Sam flees his daughter with wife Claire, already on her deathbed, he’s pulled off the road and ushered into a government-run laboratory where scientists are trying to reintroduce nonlethal forms of speech. But the subjects are dropping like flies, and Sam determines to make a run for it and reunite with his family, regardless. A scarily off-kilter look at communication, control, and the desperate nature of love, this daring book is getting a reasonable push—a 35,000-copy first printing and a six-city tour.
Mercier, Pascal. Perlmann’s Silence. Grove. Jan. 2012. 624p. ISBN 9780802119575. $25. LITERARY
Remember Night Train to Lisbon ? It sold millions throughout Europe and was a San Francisco Chronicle and a Los Angeles Times best seller as well. Mercier’s new work features linguist Philipp Perlmann, on the verge of presenting a speech to a gathering of colleagues near Genoa but unable to prepare; he’s still mourning the death of his wife. So he plagiarizes the work of a Russian colleague—who unexpectedly arrives at the event. Good setup, and the writing seems tart and to the point; certainly buy where folks liked Lisbon. With a reading group guide.
O’Connell, Carol. The Chalk Girl. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780399157745. $25.95. MYSTERY
The little girl says that the blood on her shoulder came from the sky—and that her uncle has turned into a tree. In fact, there is a body in the tree, and Kathy Mallory, back in the Special Crimes Unit after three months and still feeling fragile, is the only one able to get through to the child. She discovers some truly nasty stuff going back 15 years. Important for mystery collections.
O’Malley, Daniel. The Rook. Little, Brown. Jan. 2012. 496p. ISBN 9780316098793. $25.99. THRILLER
Myfanwy Thomas wakes up in a London park with no memory but a new body and instructions left behind by her former self. Following them, she discovers that she’s a Rook, that is, a high-level operative of a shadowy agency charged with countering supernatural forces. Alas, she’s been targeted by a mole within the agency. Part suspense, part dark humor, this debut is rumored to be one of those up-all-nighters.
Perlman, Eliot. The Street Sweeper. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 688p. ISBN 9781594488474. $28.95. LITERARY
Paroled felon Lamont Williams, who works as a street sweeper while looking for his lost daughter, befriends a dying man who survived the Holocaust. Meanwhile, foundering professor Adam Zignelik discovers a cache of recordings that recall a horrific past and hopes that bringing it to light will bring him acclaim. Their stories meld, even as current forces—e.g., the Civil Rights Movement—inevitably shape their fate. Australian writer Perlman has been on my radar since his multivalenced Seven Types of Ambiguity; his latest will be sought out by serious readers everywhere.
Phillips, Gin. Come in and Cover Me. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781594488443. $26.95. LITERARY
Phillips here follows up her debut novel, The Well and the Mine, winner of the 2008 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Fiction Award. When Ren was 12, her brother died, but she still communes with him in sunlight, shadows, and songs. Her sensitivity to ghosts makes her an especially gifted archaeologist. She’s also interested in a colleague, who may be her last chance to move beyond her brother’s death. Not really a paranormal and more than a love story, this book should sweetly show us how we’re enfolded in the past yet pull to go beyond. Good for book clubs, so the reading group guide is a plus.
Smith, Mark Allen. The Inquisitor. Holt. Jan. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780805094268. $27. THRILLER
A thriller with a difference; the protagonist is a professional torturer with a carefully calibrated gift for recognizing when he’s being told the truth and a tendency to work by instilling fear rather than inflicting pain. Here he’s using his particular talents to save the life of a child. Whoa, too scary for me! Debut author Smith has worked as a screenwriter and documentary filmmaker, so he should know how to shape a story.
Snodin, David. Iago. Holt. Jan. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780805093704. $30. LITERARY
Why did Iago facilitate the deaths of the much-honored general he serves and his wife, Desdemona? That’s the question Annibale Malipiero, Venice’s chief inquisitor, wants answered. More questions: Was Iago a nutcase acting alone? Is he part of an Ottoman conspiracy? What, in fact, is the nature of evil? Shakespeare took much of his material from earlier sources and has in turn inspired writers for centuries; two of my favorite books this year, Arthur Phillips’s The Tragedy of Arthur and Chris Adrian’s The Great Night, play on the Bard. Snodin, who’s helped produce Shakespeare plays for the BBC, should be in tune with his source.
Stachniak, Eva. The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great. Bantam. Jan. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780553808124. $26; eISBN 9780553908046. HISTORICAL
This story of how wide-eyed German duchess Sophie becomes Catherine the Great, one of Russia’s foremost rulers, is narrated by a servant named Barbara (not Varvara?) who doubles as a royal spy. The Polish-born, Canadian-based Stachniak has signed two more books with the publisher, one telling Catherine’s story from her own viewpoint. I’d feature pretty much anything titled The Winter Palace; Russian history is so appealing, and unlike some British royalty, Catherine is not overdone.
Umrigar, Thrity. The World We Found. Harper: HarperCollins. Jan. 2012. 320p. 9780061938344. $25.99. lrg. prnt. LITERARY
Four women, all friends during their heady 1970s university days, have drifted apart but reunite because one of them is ill. Standard story with a telling difference: these women are from Mumbai, and three are traveling from India to America to see their dying friend. Another difference: Umrigar, author of critically acclaimed books like The Space Between Us, writes with exceptional clarity and depth of understanding. I happily recommend—and not just for lovers of India-centric writing.
Vanderhaeghe, Guy. A Good Man. Atlantic Monthly. Jan. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780802120045. $24.95. LITERARY/HISTORICAL
Vanderhaeghe’s The Last Crossing was a BookSense 76 selection, an IMPAC Dublin literary award nominee, and a multi-award winner in Canada; The Englishman’s Boy won the Governor General’s Award and the Saskatchewan Book Award. Both were Canadian best sellers, and they set the stage for this final book in a trilogy set along the U.S.-Canadian border after the Civil War. Wesley Case, son of a Canadian timber baron, looks for a quiet life as a cattle rancher in Montana but instead finds himself caught between Native Americans and the U.S. and Canadian militaries. He’s also caught between the feisty widow he’s fallen for and her other, less rational suitor. Not just for devotees of Westerns.
Ward, Robert. The Best Bad Dream. Mysterious: Grove Atlantic. Jan. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780802126016. $24. MYSTERY
A writer and producer for TV shows like Hill Street Blues and winner of an NEA Award for an outstanding first novel (for Shredding Skin), Ward has good credentials. His latest features FBI agent Jack Harper, whose vacation is wrecked when snitch (and sometimes girlfriend) Michelle Wu asks him to come to Santa Fe and find her kidnapped sister. Unfortunately, his efforts land him in trouble with bikers, Mexican gangs, and a pet Razorback named Ole Big. A literate mystery
TOP COMMERCIAL NONFICTION
Davis, Stephen. I Believe in Love: The True Adventures of Carly Simon. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9781592406517. $27.50. MUSIC/BIOGRAPHY
Hasselbeck, Elisabeth. Deliciously G-Free: Gluten-Free, Flavor-Packed Cooking for Everyone. Ballantine. Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780345529381. $30; eISBN 9780345529404. COOKING
Hudson, Jennifer. I Got This: How I Changed My Ways, Found Myself, and Lost What Weighed Me Down. Dutton. Jan. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9780525952770. $25.95. MEMOIR/MUSIC Smith, Kevin. Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good. Gotham: Penguin Group. Jan. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781592406890. $25. CD: Penguin Audio. FILM/MEMOIR
NONFICTION
Badinter, Elisabeth. The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women. Holt. Jan. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780805094145. $25. SOCIAL SCIENCE
A longtime battler for women’s equality who teaches philosophy at the École Polytechnique in Paris (which absolutely blows this Francophile philosophy major’s mind), Badinter will likely raise hackles by arguing that progressive motherhood, with its emphasis on attachment parenting, breast-feeding, and the like, is detrimental to women’s efforts to achieve parity. Important and challenging ideas, whatever you think.
Bertsche, Rachel. MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend. Ballantine. Jan. 2012. 464p. ISBN 9780345524942. pap. $15; eISBN 9780345524959. SOCIAL SCIENCE
Oprah.com web producer Bertsche moved to Chicago for love but realized that she had left behind all her best female friends. So she went on 52 girl-dates over the course of a year to find a new best friend. Should hit a nerve in our media-linked but touch-hungry world.
Brady, Diane. Fraternity. Spiegel & Grau. Jan. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780385524742. $25; eISBN 9780385529624. CD: Random Audio. BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Edward P. Jones. Leading defense attorney Thomas Wells. Former New York City deputy mayor Stanley Grayson. And Miami Dolphins running back Eddie Jenkins. What they have in common is Rev. John Brooks, a Jesuit priest at Holy Cross College who in 1968 brought talented young African American high schoolers to the college and then mentored—with obviously stellar results. BusinessWeek senior editor Brady has pulled together what should be a heartening and eye-opening book. She even got Justice Thomas to talk. Important.
Bram, Christopher. Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America. Twelve. Jan. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780446563130. $27.99. LITERATURE
Himself a distinguished novelist (and gay), Bram here undertakes to investigate the significant gay writers—Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Allen Ginsberg, and James Baldwin—who emerged after World War II and changed both the literature and the culture of America. A key cultural study for informed readers.
Broadwell, Paula with Vernon Loeb. All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781594203183.
$29.95. CD: Penguin Audio. BIOGRAPHY/MILITARY AFFAIRS
of the key military leaders of our time. She’s got the background, having graduated with honors from the U.S. Military Academy; coauthor Loeb, the Washington Post ’s Metro editor, was embedded with the 101st Airborne Division under Petraeus’s command in 2003. Essential for readers following current events.
Flanagan, Caitlin. Girl Land. Little, Brown. Jan. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780316065986. $25.99. SOCIAL SCIENCE
National Magazine Award winner Flanagan has stirred controversy with her pieces on sex, marriage, and family life. Now she turns her attention to girls—specifically, how they negotiate key life events like puberty, which she argues have remained constants. Good for forward-looking discussion groups.
Frank, Thomas. Pity the Billionaire: The Unexpected Resurgence of the American Right. Metropolitan: Holt. Jan. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780805093698. $25. CURRENT EVENTS
Former Wall Street Journal columnist Frank ( What’s the Matter with Kansas?) is puzzled. The economy hasn’t been this bad since the Depression, but the Republican Right is rising up to demand that we embrace the very system that has led us to the brink. And folks hard hit aren’t complaining. Buy where books on current events matter, though Red State readers aren’t as likely to embrace.
Gass, William H. Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 364p. ISBN 9780307595843. $27.95; eISBN 9780307957443. LITERATURE
Winner of more awards than can possibly be listed, including three National Book Critics Circle awards for his criticism, Gass is a critic’s critic who makes us rethink our every act of reading. Here he’s both deeply scholarly and deeply personal, discussing beloved writers (e.g., Kafka, Proust), issues (from the Holocaust to form and metaphor), and the humble sentence. For anyone serious about literature.
Gibson, William. Distrust That Particular Flavor. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780399158438. $26.95. ESSAYS
From Neuromancer, his edgy opener over 25 years ago, to last year’s techno-insightful Zero History, Gibson has written arresting fiction. Perhaps less well known but just as arresting is his nonfiction. Gibson’s pieces have appeared in many venues, e.g., Wired (drug trafficking in Singapore). This volume collects 30 years’ worth of journalism, including material that was never published, appeared only online, or graced magazines that no longer exist. A kaleidoscope likely to interest anyone interested in current culture.
Hendley, Doc. Wine to Water: A Bartender’s Quest To Bring Clean Water to the World. Avery: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781583334621. $26. CURRENT EVENTS/PHILANTHROPY
In 2004, small-town bartender Hendley held several wine tastings to raise funds for clean-water projects—and ended up bringing the proceeds directly to Darfur, where he saw how Janjaweed terrorists effected genocide by shooting up or contaminating water sources. Without enough money to build new wells, he launched a program to help people in places like Darfur, Cambodia, and Haiti repair and maintain their water-containment systems. It’s always good to hear about one individual making a difference, and the example of Darfur—not to mention the quiet urgency of the freshwater crisis, still underaddressed—makes this an especially affecting choice. Lots of in-house excitement, too.
Hiott, Andrea. Thinking Small: The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle. Ballantine. Jan. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780345521422. $26; eISBN 9780345521446. BUSINESS/HISTORY
Here’s the story of the little car that could, told by an American author who went to Berlin after college graduation and ended up cofounding a cultural journal called Pulse, of which she is now editor in chief. Coinciding with the release of the redesigned Beetle in December 2011; a big push to car buffs and history buffs, LibraryThing and Goodreads users alike. Pretty cool.
Iyer, Pico. The Man Within My Head. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780307267610. $25; eISBN 9780307957467. MEMOIR
Having taken us around the world in books like The Open Road and essays in venues like the New York Review of Books, Iyer now goes on an inner journey, showing us how he was profoundly influenced by Graham Greene while acknowledging the less clear influence of his father. For the intellectually hungry; with a six-city tour.
Kranish, Michael & Scott Helman. The Real Romney. Harper: HarperCollins. Jan. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780062123275. $27.99. CURRENT EVENTS
Written by two Boston Globe investigative reporters who have followed Mitt Romney for years, this study plumbs Romney’s success as a 2002 Olympics organizer, investment CEO, and Republican governor of typically Democratic Massachusetts while also considering his reputation for shift-with-the-winds calculation. Our first 2012 campaign book; out-of-the-gate fresh and boasting a 50,000-copy first printing.
Kyle, Chris & others. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. Morrow. Jan. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780062082350. $26.99. lrg. prnt. MEMOIR/MILITARY AFFAIRS
Called “the Legend” by fellow navy SEALs, Kyle racked up the most confirmed sniper kills in the history of the United States during a ten-year stint covering four deployments, also earning seven medals, including two Silver Stars. Here he tells not only his story but that of SEAL Team 3, also offering space for wife Taya to reveal the strains of a military marriage.
Lerner, Harriet. Marriage Rules: A Manual for the Married and the Coupled Up. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9781592406913. $22.50. SELF-HELP
From the author of The Dance of Anger, which has 2.75 million copies in print: more than 100 rules for a good marriage (or coupling), none more than two pages long. Succinct and easy to grab; great where self-help is popular.
Marr, Andrew. The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Holt. Jan. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780805094169. $32. BIOGRAPHY
Here’s one in what will likely be a spate of titles on Queen Elizabeth II (see also Sally Bedell Smith’s Elizabeth the Queen, previewed below) as she celebrates her Diamond Jubilee—60 years on the throne!—starting on February 6, 2012. Marr, who hosts his own BBC show, has interviewed friends and advisers of the queen, and even her children, so he’s well prepped. Expect a Valentine.
Matteson John. The Lives of Margaret Fuller: A Biography. Norton. Jan. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780393068054. $29.95. BIOGRAPHY
Social critic. Leading transcendentalist. First foreign correspondent of an American newspaper. Author of the groundbreaking Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Margaret Fuller was all those things, plus a fierce supporter of the Roman Republic who may or may not have married Giovanni Angelo Ossoli, a disinherited marquis with whom she had a child. Matteson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Eden’s Outcasts , should do her justice.
Rosenblatt, Roger. Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jan. 2012. 160p. ISBN 9780062084033. pap. $12.99. MEMOIR/GRIEF
Esteemed journalist/author Rosenblatt won acclaim and New York Times best-sellerdom with Making Toast: A Family Story , which explained how after his daughter’s death he and his wife helped raise their grandchildren. Here, he reflects on the very nature of grief. More penetrating and better written than your standard self-help stuff.
Scott-Heron, Gil. The Last Holiday. Grove. Jan. 2012. 382p. ISBN 9780802129017. $25. MUSIC/MEMOIR
This isn’t just a memoir of Scott-Heron’s being raised by his grandmother in Jackson, TN, and eventually becoming a preeminent musician/songwriter, often called the godfather of rap. More important, it’s also about his joining a 41-city tour in fall 1980, organized by Stevie Wonder, that aimed to build momentum for the creation of a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Alas, Scott-Heron died in May 2011; his book remains an important testament to a life lived in—and beyond—music.
Siler, Julia Flynn. Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure. Atlantic Monthly. Jan. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780802120014. $30. HISTORY
When the U.S. Marines marched into Honolulu in 1893, Lili‘uokalani, last queen of Hawaii, had already lost her fight to enact a constitution assuring the power of the monarchy, and much of the land was owned by white-skinned sugar barons. Plus, America won its long-simmering dispute with France and Britain for control of this island paradise. Siler’s best-selling The House of Mondavi concerned not just wine but business; here she’s talking about sugar and politics.
Smith, Sally Bedell. Elizabeth the Queen: Inside the Life of a Modern Monarch. Random. Jan. 2012. 576p. ISBN 9781400067893. $30; eISBN 9780679643937. CD: Random Audio. BIOGRAPHY
Best-selling biographer Smith (yes, she’s done Diana, Princess of Wales) is out to get the goods here. While conducting multitudinous interviews with royal friends and family, she also had access to some of the queen’s previously unavailable correspondence and the journals of both a former adviser and a former U.S. ambassador. This will certainly be in demand; with a seven-city tour.
Taubman, Philip. The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest To Ban the Bomb. Harper: HarperCollins. Jan. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780061744006. $27.99. CURRENT EVENTS
One of our biggest threats: nuclear Armageddon via terrorist attack. George Polk Award winner Taubman profiles efforts by a group of Cold Warriors to counter this threat by encouraging the United States and other nations to rethink their strategic policies. The bipartisan and sometimes contentious group includes Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, Sam Nunn, Bill Perry, and Stanford physicist Sidney Drell. Important.
Tunstall, Tricia. Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music. Norton. Jan. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780393078961. $26.95. MUSIC
Music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as principal conductor of Sweden’s Gothenburg Symphony and artistic director of Venezuela’s Orquestra Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, 30-year-old Gustavo Dudamel isn’t just a boy genius. He’s a product of El Sistema, a publicly financed program in Venezuela that yearly trains hundreds of thousands of children (mostly poor) in the beauties of music. Music educator and journalist Tunstall is primed to tell his story. And I can’t wait.
Wilkinson, Alec. The Ice Balloon: S.A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration. Knopf. Jan. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780307594808 $25.95; eISBN 9780307957696. HISTORY
In 1897, Swedish explorer S.A. Andrée tried to discover the North Pole by flying there in a hydrogen balloon. The flight failed after three days, after which Andrée and his two colleagues attempted a sledge ride back to civilization that lasted three months and ended in death on a frozen isle. Journalist/author Wilkinson (e.g.,The Protest Singer) relies on the three aeronauts?? diaries and photographs, discovered decades later. With books on the Arctic now showing up regularly, this should attract interest.
Penney, Stef. The Invisible Ones. Putnam. Jan. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780399157714. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio. LITERARY FICTION/MYSTERY
Among my absolutely favorite novels (let alone debuts) of the last few years is Penney’s The Tenderness of Wolves, an edge-of-civilization epic as magisterial, tender, and bristling as they come. (The Costa folks agreed, giving it the Book of the Year award in 2007.) So I’m already hitting up the publisher for this book. Admirably, Penney does something different here, departing from the 19th-century Canadian setting of Wolves for 1980s rural England, as small-potatoes private investigator Ray Lovell wrestles with a troublesome case. He’s been asked to find Rose Janko, daughter-in-law in a Gypsy family and missing for seven years. But the Jankos stonewall him fiercely—are they resigned or hiding something?—and he ends up in hospital. Get this one; I promise that it will be good.
Ghonim, Wael. Revolution 2.0: A Memoir and Call to Action. Houghton Harcourt. Jan. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780547773988. $26. MEMOIR/CURRENT EVENTS
In fall 2010, Cairo-based Google executive Ghonim anonymously launched a Facebook page to challenge the death of an Egyptian man at the hands of the security police. Online protest by a crowd of followers soon led to public gatherings, and a revolution was announced for January 25. Yes, it happened, even though Ghonim was arrested and harshly interrogated for 11 days. Four days after Ghonim’s release, Mubarak was out of the picture. No matter how closely we followed this extraordinary exercise of human rights in the news—or on Facebook—Ghonim’s there-at-the-creation memoir should be a revelation.
