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November 1, 2011

November 1, 2011


The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of October 31st and November 7th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

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On Sale the Week of October 31st in Hardcover

October 31st

ZERO DAY by David Baldacci
John Puller is a combat vet and the best military investigator in the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division. He is called out on a case in a remote, rural area far from any military outpost and finds that he is truly one man against an overwhelming force.
Grand Central Publishing * 9780446573016


November 1st

BLUE NIGHTS by Joan Didion
In her first book since THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, Joan Didion has now written with stunning frankness about her daughter, Quintana Roo, as well as thoughts and fears about having children and about growing old.
Knopf * 9780307267672

THE CORN MAIDEN AND OTHER NIGHTMARES by Joyce Carol Oates
An incomparable master storyteller in all forms, in THE CORN MAIDEN AND OTHER NIGHTMARES Joyce Carol Oates spins six imaginative tales of suspense.
Mysterious Press * 9780802126023

HORSES NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE: The Heartwarming Story of a Remarkable Horse Who Changed the World Around Her by Jana Harris
When Jana Harris moved to Washington State with her husband and fulfilled her dream of having a horse farm, she never expected to encounter True Colors –-- a beautiful, traumatized mare who arrived terrified and damaged, and soon became the heart and soul of the farm.
Free Press * 9781451605846

HOTEL VENDOME by Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel’s new novel invites readers into the ultra-glamorous world of a five-star New York hotel, and brings to vivid life the man who builds it as his dream, the girl who grows up in its loving embrace, and the colorful guests and staff who make its magic complete.
Delacorte Press * 9780385343176

THE HOUSE OF SILK: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective in literary history. For the first time since the death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a new Holmes story has been sanctioned by his estate, whetting the appetites of fans everywhere.
Mulholland Books * 9780316196994

I AM HALF-SICK OF SHADOWS: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
The precocious Flavia de Luce must solve a murder that took place while the entire village gathered to see a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern being filmed at the de Luces’ decaying English estate.
Delacorte Press * 9780385344012

JACK KENNEDY: Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews
With the verve of a skilled novelist, Chris Matthews illuminates the life of Jack Kennedy, from a privileged, rebellious youth to an unforgettable American presidency. As Matthews writes, “he was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know.”
Simon & Schuster * 9781451635089

THE LAST TESTAMENT: A Memoir by God with David Javerbaum
As dictated to his mortal amanuensis, 11-time Emmy Award–winning comedy writer David Javerbaum, God looks back with unprecedented candor on his time in the public sector.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451640182

LONDON UNDER: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd has written an atmospheric and imaginative short study of everything that goes on under London --- from original springs and streams and Roman amphitheaters to Victorian sewers, gang hideouts and modern tube stations.
Nan A. Talese * 9780385531504

LOST DECEMBER by Richard Paul Evans
After squandering his million-dollar trust, Luke Crisp is suddenly broke and too ashamed to return home. Only through the kindness of a stranger --- and a woman’s love --- does he recall the early lessons of his life. But it may be too late to save his father’s company, which was turned over to a heartless man with no scruples.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451628005

NO HIGHER HONOR: A Memoir of My Years in Washington by Condoleezza Rice
Having written a bestselling memoir of her upbringing, EXTRAORDINARY, ORDINARY PEOPLE, Condoleezza Rice now follows up with the long-anticipated chronicle of her years in the Bush administration as national security adviser and secretary of state.
Crown * 9780307587862

OUT OF OZ: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire
OUT OF OZ reimagines L. Frank Baum’s world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrest --- placing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland.
William Morrow * 9780060548940

PRINCE OF RAVENSCAR: A Sherbrooke Novel by Catherine Coulter
Nicholas Monroe is feeling pressure from his family to remarry. But the mysterious death of his first wife still hangs over his head. Her brother, Richard, believes Nicholas is responsible for her death. When Richard finally confronts Nicholas, long-held secrets threaten to resurface --- despite someone's desperate effort to keep them buried.
Putnam Adult * 9780399158070

ROAM: A Novel with Music by Alan Lazar
Much more than the story of one dog’s incredible journey, ROAM is a deeply moving story of survival and enduring love, which once again confirms the unbreakable bond between humans and their best friends.
Atria Books * 9781451632903

ROME: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History by Robert Hughes
Starting on a personal note, Robert Hughes takes us to the Rome he first encountered as a hungry 21-year-old fresh from Australia in 1959. He then takes us back more than 2,000 years to the city's foundation, one mired in mythologies and superstitions that would inform Rome's development for centuries.
Knopf * 9780307268440

SHOCKAHOLIC by Carrie Fisher
SHOCKAHOLIC is the juicy account of Carrie Fisher’s life, focusing more on the Star Wars years and dishing about the various Hollywood relationships she’s formed since she was chosen to play Princess Leia at only 19 years old.
Simon & Schuster * 9780743264822

THE WEDDING QUILT: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
Sarah McClure arrived at Elm Creek Manor as a newlywed, never suspecting that her quilting lessons would inspire a successful and enduring business. THE WEDDING QUILT opens as the wedding day of her daughter approaches.
Dutton Adult * 9780743264822
On Sale the Week of October 31st in Paperback

October 31st

HELL & GONE by Duane Swierczynski
After barely escaping from an outrageous shootout, ex-cop Charlie Hardie is kidnapped by a team of undercover operatives and forced to guard an underground prison that houses the most dangerous criminals on earth. Or so he's told.
Mulholland Books * 9780316133296


November 1st

THE ANNIVERSARY MAN by R.J. Ellory
After his girlfriend is brutally murdered by a serial killer, John only emerges from his apartment to work as a crime researcher. But when a new rash of murders begins across New Jersey, he may be the only one who can hunt down the killer.
Overlook TP * 9781590206836

ATLANTIC: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester
Spanning from the earth's geological origins to modern-day research and technology, Simon Winchester narrates the saga of the Atlantic Ocean against the backdrop of mankind’s intellectual evolution.
Harper Perennial * 9780061702624

THE CHARMING QUIRKS OF OTHERS: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith
Isabel Dalhousie has been asked to investigate candidates for the new headmaster position at a local boy’s school. When she receives an anonymous warning about one of them, she discovers deep secrets not just about the candidates, but also about her own life.
Anchor * 9780307739391

A COVERT AFFAIR: When Julia and Paul Child Joined the OSS by Jennet Conant
During World War II, Julia and Paul Child joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and were involved in the McCarthy Red spy hunt in the 1950s. Jennet Conant relates the OSS experiences of the Childs and their eccentric colleague, Jane Foster.
Simon & Schuster * 9781439163535

FORBIDDEN PLACES by Penny Vincenzi
Penny Vincenzi’s eighth riveting family drama centers on love and marriage, families and secrets, and wartime and what it does to every accepted social value.
Overlook TP * 9781590206850

FRANK: The Voice by James Kaplan
Frank Sinatra was the best-known entertainer of the 20th century. But despite his mammoth fame, Sinatra the man has remained an enigma. Now James Kaplan brings deeper insight than ever before to the complex psyche and turbulent life behind that incomparable voice.
Anchor * 9780767924238

I REMEMBER NOTHING: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron takes a hilarious look at the past, the present and the future, bemoaning the vicissitudes of modern life, and recalling with her signature clarity and wisdom everything she hasn’t (yet) forgotten.
Vintage * 9780307742803

THE KILLING OF CRAZY HORSE by Thomas Powers
After his historical victory over General Custer at the 1876 battle of Little Bighorn, Indian warrior Crazy Horse was inexplicably killed in the custody of federal troops. Thomas Powers pieces together the story behind this long-debated killing.
Vintage * 9780375714306

THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY by Walter Mosley
Ninety-one-year-old Ptolemy has sunk into a lonely dementia. But when a doctor offers him a new drug that guarantees he won’t live to see 92, but that he’ll spend his last days in total mental clarity, Ptolemy discovers a shocking and unexpected past.
Riverhead Trade * 9781594485503

MOZART’S LAST ARIA by Matt Rees
Award-winning author Matt Rees takes readers to 18th-century Austria, where Mozart's estranged sister stumbles into a world of ambition, conspiracy and immortal music while attempting to uncover the truth about her brother's suspicious death.
Harper Perennial * 9780062015860

PROOF OF HEAVEN by Mary Curran Hackett
Seven-year-old Colm knows he is sick and not getting better. When he reveals his dying wish --- to meet the father who abandoned him --- Colm and his family embark on an emotional quest and come face-to-face with their biggest uncertainties about life and death.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062079985

A QUILTER’S HOLIDAY: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Elm Creek Quilters gather every holiday season to stitch holiday gifts for loved ones. Inspired to revive a lost family tradition, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson Cooper invites her friends to sew quilt blocks that represent their own unique stories of gratitude and love.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451658217

ROCK BOTTOM by Erin Brockovich with CJ Lyons
Ten years ago, pregnant teenager Angela Joy Palladino fled her hometown of Scotia, West Virginia, and became an environmental activist. Now, desperate for money, she takes on a project that will force her to return to Scotia and confront everything she thought she had left behind.
Vanguard Press * 9781593156763

THE TIGER’S WIFE by Tea Obreht
In a Balkan country, Natalia, a young doctor, is attempting to piece together the mysterious circumstances around her beloved grandfather’s recent death through the extraordinary stories and legends from his past.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780385343848

THE VALCOURT HEIRESS by Catherine Coulter
In medieval England, Garron of Kersey returns to Wareham Castle and finds it has been almost completely destroyed by a man named the Black Demon. With the help of an enigmatic servant girl, he pieces together the elusive story behind the attack.
Jove * 9780515150063

THE WEIGHT by Andrew Vachss
When professional thief Sugar is accused of a rape he couldn’t have committed because he was robbing a jewelry store at the time, he ends up in jail. But when he gets out, a member of his heist crew has disappeared, and it’s up to Sugar to track him down.
Vintage * 9780307741318


November 2nd

THE COMPLAINTS by Ian Rankin
Malcolm Fox works with The Complaints, a subdivision of the police force that investigates other cops. His job and personal life are both wearing him down --- until he is given the case of a shady new cop who may be connected to a vicious local murder.
Reagan Arthur/Back Bay Books * 9780316078764
On Sale the Week of November 7th in Hardcover


November 7th

LOVE AND SHAME AND LOVE by Peter Orner
Covering four generations of the Popper family of Chicago, Peter Orner illuminates the countless ways that love both makes us whole and completely unravels us.
Little, Brown & Company * 9780316129398

WHITE TRUFFLES IN WINTER by N. M. Kelby
WHITE TRUFFLES IN WINTER imagines the world of the remarkable French chef Auguste Escoffier, who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy and the Ritz.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393079999


November 8th

11/22/63 by Stephen King
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas. President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this tour de force, Stephen King takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
Scribner * 9781451627282

THE ALLOY OF LAW: A Mistborn Novel by Brandon Sanderson
Fresh from the success of THE WAY OF KINGS, Brandon Sanderson, best known for completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time®, takes a break to return to the world of the bestselling Mistborn series.
Tor Books * 9780765330420

AND SO IT GOES: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields
AND SO IT GOES is the culmination of five years of research and writing --- the first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer who changed the conversation of American literature.
Henry Holt and Co. * 9780805086935

THE BEAUTY AND THE SORROW: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund
To create this intimate picture of what World War I was really like, Peter Englund draws from the diaries, journals and letters of 20 individuals, each of whom were in some way shaped by the war.
Knopf * 9780307593863

THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
When her estranged friend Karin leaves her with a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Red Cross nurse Nina Borg makes a shocking discovery. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the locker is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.
Soho Crime * 9781569479810

BREAKING POINT by Dana Haynes
Three NTSB experts --- people brought in to help investigate whenever a plane goes down --- find themselves victims and witnesses rather than investigators when the plane they are in crashes.
Minotaur Books * 9780312599898

A BURIAL AT SEA by Charles Finch
Charles Lenox, Member of Parliament, sets sail on a clandestine mission for the government. When an officer is savagely murdered, however, Lenox is drawn toward his old profession, determined to capture another killer.
Minotaur Books * 9780312625085

CATHERINE THE GREAT: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert K. Massie brings us the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at 14 and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful and captivating women in history.
Random House * 9780679456728

A DARK AND LONELY PLACE by Edna Buchanan
For the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edna Buchanan takes on a novel of romance and suspense in this gripping saga of star-crossed lovers in the Florida of past and present.
Simon & Schuster * 9781439159170

HOT WATER by Erin Brockovich and CJ Lyons
No stranger to balancing an intensely demanding work schedule with the stresses of keeping her family together, AJ Palladino now faces another challenge: she is leaving her young son home with her ailing parents so that she can travel to the site of a new case involving a nuclear power plant in peril.
Vanguard Press * 9781593156848

THE PRAGUE CEMETERY by Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco tells the story of a secret agent who weaves plots, conspiracies, intrigues and attacks, and helps determine the historical and political fate of the Continent.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780547577531

THE SISTERS by Nancy Jensen
Growing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, Bertie Fisher and her older sister Mabel have no one but each other --- with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong.
St. Martin's Press * 9780312542702

THE TEMPLE MOUNT CODE by Charles Brokaw
Thomas Lourds, the world's foremost scholar of ancient languages, is contacted by an old friend, Dr. Lev Strauss. A long-lost ancient scripture has been discovered that holds the key to one of the world's greatest treasures, hidden under the legendary Temple Mount. The fate of humankind rests in Lourds's hands. But time is not on his side...
Forge Books * 9780765328717

THE TIME IN BETWEEN by Maria Duenas
At 12, Sira Quiroga sweeps the atelier floors where her single mother works as a seamstress. By her early 20s she has learned the ropes of the business and is engaged to a modest government clerk. But everything changes when two charismatic men burst unexpectedly into her neatly mapped-out life: an attractive salesman and the father she never knew.
Atria * 9781451616880
On Sale the Week of November 7th in Paperback


November 8th

THE DEVIL: A Jack Taylor Novel by Ken Bruen
After Jack Taylor is denied entry to the U.S., he has what he thinks is a meaningless encounter with an odd stranger on his way back to Galway. But the strange man continues to reappear, and he may be connected to a recent string of murders.
Minotaur Books * 9780312604585

THE IDENTITY MAN by Andrew Klavan
After petty thief John Shannon is wrongly accused of murder, a foreigner who calls himself the Identity Man offers him a new identity and a new life. Shannon can’t resist, but what he thinks is the solution to his fatal problem soon goes disastrously wrong.
Mariner Books * 9780547597195

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT: A Personal Biography by Susan Cheever
Based on extensive research, journals and correspondence, Susan Cheever, a lifelong fan of LITTLE WOMEN and a distinguished author in her own right, recounts the turbulent life of Louisa May Alcott.
Simon & Schuster * 9781416569923

THE METROPOLIS CASE by Matthew Gallaway
An unlikely quartet of troubled strangers is bound together across centuries and continents by the strange and spectacular history of Richard Wagner’s masterpiece opera, Tristan and Isolde.
Broadway * 9780307463432

PATTI LUPONE: A Memoir by Patti LuPone
The legendary Patti LuPone is one of the theater’s most beloved leading ladies. Now she lays it all bare, sharing the intimate story of her life with the humor and outspokenness that have become her trademarks.
Three Rivers Press * 9780307460745

SILVER GIRL by Elin Hilderbrand
When Meredith Delinn loses everything after her husband is caught in an elaborate scam, she goes to Nantucket with her childhood friend to escape. But when someone from her past reemerges, Meredith must come face to face with the life she could have had.
Reagan Arthur/Back Bay Books * 9780316099677


November 9th

THE BRAVE by Nicholas Evans
As a child, Tom Bedford moves to Hollywood with his sister when she falls in love with a suave TV cowboy. But after a shocking act of violence, Tom’s life is destroyed. And when his estranged son is charged with murder years later, he is forced to confront his painful past.
Back Bay Books * 9780316033770


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