Skip to main content

September 25, 2012

September 25, 2012

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of September 24th and October 1st that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

May we ask that you forward this newsletter to friends who you think would enjoy reading it?

On Sale the Week of September 24th in Hardcover

September 25th

DANCING DOGS: Stories by Jon Katz
New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz returns with his first ever collection of short stories. In these remarkable tales, the bonds between humans and animals are brought to life by a series of unforgettable characters. From the barnyard to the suburbs, from ordinary homes to rescue shelters, the animals in these stories are genuinely inspiring and utterly memorable.
Ballantine Books * 9780345502681

DEEP AND WIDE: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley
Author and pastor Andy Stanley draws from Scripture and over 25 years of pastoral experience to communicate to church leaders how they can create a church where believers can have a growing faith in Jesus and at the same time unbelievers can make a vital and lasting connection --- a ministry that is both deep and wide.
Zondervan * 9780310494843

THE FORGIVEN by Lawrence Osborne
Set in the Moroccan desert and reminiscent of Paul Bowles and Andre Dubus III, THE FORGIVEN is a haunting tale of a deadly accident and the reverberations it has on the lives of a group of Moroccan Muslims and expat "infidels" who converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party.
Hogarth * 9780307889034

GOD: A Story of Revelation by Deepak Chopra
In Deepak Chopra's powerful, groundbreaking and imaginative new work --- a unique blend of storytelling and teaching --- the New York Times bestselling author explores the evolution of God. By capturing the lives of 10 historical prophets, saints, mystics and martyrs who are touched by a divine power, Chopra reveals a riveting portrait of a constantly changing God.
HarperOne * 9780062020680

LOVE ANTHONY by Lisa Genova
From the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of STILL ALICE and LEFT NEGLECTED comes a heartfelt novel about an accidental friendship that gives a grieving mother a priceless gift: the ability to understand the thoughts of her eight-year-old autistic son and make sense of his brief life.
Gallery Books * 9781439164686

ONE LAST STRIKE: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season by Tony La Russa with Rick Hummel
Down 10 1/2 games with little more than a month to play, the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals had long been ruled out as serious postseason contenders. Yet in the face of those steep odds, this team made the playoffs and won the World Series. Now manager Tony La Russa gives the inside story behind this astonishing comeback and his remarkable career.
William Morrow * 9780062207388

PANORAMA CITY by Antoine Wilson
Oppen Porter, a self-described “slow absorber,” thinks he’s dying. He’s not, but from his hospital bed, he unspools into a cassette recorder a tale of self-determination --- from village idiot to man of the world, for the benefit of his unborn son. PANORAMA CITY traces 40 days and nights navigating the fast food joints, storefront churches, and home-office psychologists of the San Fernando Valley.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780547875125

REARVIEW MIRROR: A Memoir by Alana Stewart
Despite her many accomplishments and successes, Alana Stewart’s life has been rife with abandonment, abject poverty, tragedy, and even violence. In REARVIEW MIRROR, she takes the reader through her mesmerizing journey from her beginnings in poor rural Texas, her escape to New York to become a Ford model, and finally, her seemingly fairy-tale but often heartbreaking life in Hollywood.
Vanguard Press * 9781593157074

SUTTON by J.R. Moehringer
Pulitzer Prize-winner J.R. Moehringer brings Willie Sutton blazing back to life. In his retelling, it was more than need or rage at society that drove Sutton. It was one unforgettable woman. In all of Sutton’s crimes and confinements, his first love (and first accomplice) was never far from his thoughts. And when Sutton finally walked free --- a surprise pardon on Christmas Eve, 1969 --- he immediately set out to find her.
Hyperion * 9781401323141

TALKING TO THE DEAD by Harry Bingham
A gruesome double-murder in a squalid apartment seems like a simple open-and-shut drug case. But why was a dead millionaire's credit card found at the scene? To solve the case, Detective Constable Fiona Griffith must overcome her own demons, including a crushing psychological breakdown suffered years earlier, from which she is only starting to emerge, and the secret of which could send her back into a dark --- and dangerous --- abyss.
Delacorte Press * 9780345533739


September 27th

THE CASUAL VACANCY by J. K. Rowling
When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early 40s, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. What lies behind Pagford’s pretty façade is a town at war. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316228534

MAY WE BE FORGIVEN by A.M. Homes
Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his younger brother, George, acquire a wife, two kids, and a beautiful home in the suburbs of New York City. But Harry also knows George has a murderous temper, and when George loses control, the result is an act of violence so shocking that both brothers are hurled into entirely new lives in which they both must seek absolution.
Viking Adult * 9780670025480

WICKED PLEASURES by Penny Vincenzi
All families have secrets --- but could one scandalous secret tear this aristocratic family apart? WICKED PLEASURES is the story of a brother and two sisters who discover that they all have different fathers. None of them are the children of Alexander, Earl of Caterham, who was married to their mother for almost 20 years.
Overlook Hardcover * 9781590203583
On Sale the Week of September 24th in Paperback

September 25th

BLACK SITE: A Delta Force Novel by Dalton Fury
A Delta Force operator and one-time American hero, Kolt Raynor is still trying to make sense of his life, and duty, after a secret mission gone bad. He’s been given a second chance to do right by his country, his men and himself. But his shot at redemption comes at a price.
St. Martin's Paperbacks * 9781250014191

BRINK OF CHAOS: The End Series, Book 3 by Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall
In BRINK OF CHAOS, the third book of The End series, corruption in high government offices threatens to block the election of a worthy presidential candidate by all means necessary --- including the unthinkable --- while Joshua Jordan and his family fight seemingly impossible odds to clear his name and protect the autonomy of the nation of Israel.
Zondervan * 9780310318811

D.C. DEAD: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods
After a shocking loss, Stone Barrington is at loose ends, unsure if he wants to stay in New York and continue his work as a partner at Woodman & Weld. It comes as a welcome relief when he's summoned to Washington, D.C., by President Will Lee. The president has a special operation that calls for Stone's unique skill set, and it's a mission that will reunite him with his former partner in crime and in bed, Holly Barker.
Signet * 9780451237859

FENWAY 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year by Glenn Stout
More than just a ballpark, Fenway Park is a part of American culture, and has been for nearly 100 years. In FENWAY 1912, Glenn Stout tells the remarkable story of Fenway's first year --- from the long winter when locals poured concrete and built the park to the ragtag Red Sox team that embarked on a journey to the World Series while the paint was still drying and the grass still coming in.
Mariner Books * 9780547844572

HEAVEN SHOULD FALL by Rebecca Coleman
Alone since her mother's death, Jill Wagner wants to eat, sleep and breathe Cade Olmstead when the golden, handsome and ambitious man bursts upon her life. Even putting college on hold feels like a minor sacrifice when she discovers she's pregnant with Cade's baby. But it won't be the last sacrifice she'll have to make.
Harlequin MIRA * 9780778313892

JUDGMENT AND WRATH by Matt Hilton
After barely escaping with his life while trying to save his half brother from a deranged killer, former military operative Joe Hunter has a new life in Florida. But he's soon approached by a man who wants Hunter to bring his daughter home. He claims that her boyfriend is a twisted, abusive man, and he hints that Hunter should use whatever force is necessary to rescue the girl.
Harper * 9780061718267

MICRO by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
In the locked office of a Honolulu building, three men are found dead, with no sign of struggle except for ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. In the lush rain forests of Oahu are seven graduate students recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up company. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they must harness the inherent forces of nature itself to survive.
Harper * 9780060873172

MY BRILLIANT FRIEND by Elena Ferrante
Growing up on the tough streets of Naples in the 1950s, friends Elena and Lila learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, and as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change.
Europa Editions * 9781609450786

THE ODDS: A Love Story by Stewart O'Nan
Jobless, with their home approaching foreclosure and their marriage on the brink of collapse, Art and Marion Fowler liquidate their savings account and book a bridal suite at Niagara Falls' ritziest casino for a second honeymoon. While they sightsee like tourists during the day, at night they risk it all at the roulette wheel to fix their finances --- and save their marriage.
Penguin Books * 9780143122272

RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE: A Kate Shugak Novel by Dana Stabenow
Dana Stabenow teams up two of her most beloved characters, Aleut private investigator Kate Shugak and Alaska state trooper Liam Campbell, in the same story for the first time. In RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE, Kate and Liam unite to solve a murder case that is tied to a dark conspiracy.
Minotaur Books * 9780312559120

SLEEPWALKER by Wendy Corsi Staub
Allison has moved on with her life 10 years after barely escaping death at the hands of New York’s Nightwatcher serial killer, who recently committed suicide in his prison cell. But now her husband, Mack, has started sleepwalking, with no recollection of where his nighttime excursions are taking him. And north of the city, more women are being savagely murdered, their bodies bearing the Nightwatcher’s unmistakable signature.
Harper * 9780062070302

THE STONEHENGE LEGACY by Sam Christer
The death of a well-known treasure hunter and archaeologist causes grief for his estranged son, but also sets in motion an ancient prophecy that could unlock the secrets of Stonehenge. Cryptic letters and blood sacrifices are just the beginning.
Overlook TP * 9781468300635

VIGILANTE: A Shane Scully Novel by Stephen J. Cannell
An aggressive police critic and gang activist, Lita Mendez had filed countless complaints against the LAPD. So when she's found dead in her home, Detective Scully and his partner Hitchens fear the worst: that there's a killer in their ranks. Meanwhile, Nixon Nash and his television show --- which attempts to solve murders before the cops can --- have set up shop outside the crime scene.
St. Martin's Paperbacks * 9781250008084
On Sale the Week of October 1st in Hardcover

October 1st

TOTAL RECALL: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Chronicling his embodiment of the American Dream, TOTAL RECALL covers Arnold Schwarzenegger’s high-stakes journey to the United States --- from creating the international bodybuilding industry out of the sands of Venice Beach, to breathing life into cinema’s most iconic characters, and becoming one of the leading political figures of our time.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451662436


October 2nd

ANCIENT LIGHT by John Banville
Is there any difference between memory and invention? This question haunts Alexander Cleave, whose stunted acting career is suddenly revived by a movie role portraying a man who may not be who he says he is. Cleave explores memories of his first love affair with his best friend's mother, as well as those of his daughter, lost to a kind of madness of mind and heart that he can only fail to understand.
Knopf * 9780307957054

BLASPHEMY: New and Selected Stories by Sherman Alexie
Included in this collection of new and classic stories by Sherman Alexie are some of his most esteemed tales, including “What You Pawn I Will Redeem," “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” “The Toughest Indian in the World” and “War Dances.” His new stories are about donkey basketball leagues, lethal wind turbines, the reservation, marriage, and all species of contemporary American warriors.
Grove Press * 9780802120397

BOOKS TO DIE FOR: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels by John Connolly and Declan Burke
In the most ambitious anthology of its kind yet attempted, the world’s leading mystery writers have come together to champion the greatest mystery novels ever written. In a series of personal essays that often reveal as much about the authors and their own work as they do about the books that they love, 119 authors from 20 countries have created a guide that will be indispensable for generations of readers and writers.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781451696578

THE CURSING MOMMY'S BOOK OF DAYS by Ian Frazier
Structured as a daybook of sorts, Ian Frazier’s first novel, which is based on his widely read columns for The New Yorker, follows the Cursing Mommy --- beleaguered wife of Larry and mother of two boys --- as she tries (more or less) valiantly to offer tips on how to do various tasks around the home, only to end up on the ground, cursing, surrounded by broken glass.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux * 9780374133184

DICK FRANCIS'S BLOODLINE by Felix Francis
When Mark Shillingford calls a race in which his twin sister, Clare, comes in second when she could have won, he believes that she lost on purpose. After confronting her with his suspicions, Clare storms off. Hours later, she jumps to her death from the balcony of a London hotel. Devastated and guilty over her death, Mark goes in search of answers. What had led Clare to take her own life? Or was it not suicide at all?
Putnam Adult * 9780399160806

DOES THIS CHURCH MAKE ME LOOK FAT?: A Mennonite Finds Faith, Meets Mr. Right, and Solves Her Lady Problems by Rhoda Janzen
What does it mean to give church a try when you haven't really tried since you were 12? At the end of her bestselling memoir, MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS, Rhoda Janzen had reconnected with her family and her roots, though her future felt uncertain. But when she starts dating a churchgoer, this skeptic begins a surprising journey to faith and love.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455502882

THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB by Will Schwalbe
This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading.
Knopf * 9780307594037

FINDING CASEY by Jo-Ann Mapson
Glory Vigil and her husband, Joseph, have just moved into a house that is rumored to have a resident ghost. Their adopted daughter, Juniper, is still heartbroken over the day eight years earlier when her sister, Casey, disappeared --- in a time before she'd ever met Glory and Joseph. When a fieldwork course takes Juniper to a pueblo only a few hours away, she finds herself right back in the past she thought she'd finally buried.
Bloomsbury USA * 9781608197637

GOLDBERG VARIATIONS by Susan Isaacs
Elegant, amusing and profoundly nasty tycoon Gloria Garrison is shocked that none of her three grandchildren are interested in inheriting her brilliant, booming beauty business. What’s so grand about their lives that they would reject such a kingdom? Memories have a way of intruding at the most inopportune times. Is Gloria’s tough hide as impenetrable as she has always believed?
Scribner * 9781451605914

THE HOT COUNTRY: A Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller by Robert Olen Butler
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe Cobb, a swashbuckling American war correspondent, travels to Veracruz in 1914 to cover the multi-sided civil war known as the Mexican Revolution. While simultaneously trying to uncover the identity of a sniper and discern the motives behind the mysterious maneuverings of German officials stationed in the city, he falls in love with a young Mexican laundress who is not as innocent as she seems.
Mysterious Press * 9780802120465

HOW I CAME TO SPARKLE AGAIN by Kaya McLaren
Jill Anthony finds her husband in bed with another woman; Lisa Carlucci is sick and tired of having meaningless sex; and 10-year-old Cassie Jones no longer believes in anything anymore after losing her mother to cancer. The lives of these three people, who are at the crossroads of heartbreak and healing, will be changed one winter in Sparkle.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250013873

IN SUNLIGHT AND IN SHADOW by Mark Helprin
Harry Copeland, an elite paratrooper who fought behind enemy lines in Europe, returns home to run the family business. In a single, magical encounter on the Staten Island ferry, the young singer and heiress Catherine Thomas Hale falls for him in an instant, too late to prevent her engagement to a much older man. Harry and Catherine pursue one another in a romance played out in postwar America's Broadway theaters, Long Island mansions, the offices of financiers, and the haunts of gangsters.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780547819235

INVISIBLE MURDER by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
In this follow-up to THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE, Danish Red Cross nurse Nina Borg doesn’t realize she is putting life and family on the line when she tries to treat a group of sick Hungarian gypsies who are living illegally in a Copenhagen garage. Nina has unwittingly thrown herself into a deadly nest of the unscrupulous and the desperate, and what is at stake is much more terrifying than anyone had realized.
Soho Crime * 9781616951702

THE JEWELS OF PARADISE by Donna Leon
After nearly three centuries, two locked trunks, believed to contain the papers of a baroque composer, have been discovered. The composer died childless, and now two Venetians each claim inheritance. Caterina Pellegrini’s job is to examine any enclosed papers to discover the “testamentary disposition” of the composer. But when her research takes her in unexpected directions, she begins to wonder just what secrets these trunks may hold.
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802120649

THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE OF BIG STONE GAP: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book by Wendy Welch
Wendy Welch and her husband had always dreamed of owning a bookstore, so when they left their high-octane jobs for a simpler life in an Appalachian coal town, they seized an unexpected opportunity to pursue their dream. Against all odds, but with optimism, the help of their Virginian mountain community, and an abiding love for books, they succeeded in establishing more than a thriving business --- they built a community.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250010636

LIVE BY NIGHT by Dennis Lehane
Set against a dazzling backdrop of Prohibition-era American cities ranging from Jazz Age Boston to Tampa's Latin Quarter, Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a Boston Police captain, defies his orthodox upbringing to journey up the dizzying ladder of organized crime.
William Morrow * 9780060004873

MAD RIVER: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford
As the crime spree of three teenagers cuts a swath through rural Minnesota, some of it captured on the killers’ cell phones and sent to a local television station, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers joins the growing army of cops trying to run them down. But even he doesn’t realize what’s about to happen next.
Putnam Adult * 9780399157707

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
Ulysses Grant rose from obscurity to discover he had a genius for battle, and he propelled the Union to victory in the Civil War. After Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the disastrous brief presidency of Andrew Johnson, America turned to Grant again to unite the country, this time as president. In H. W. Brands' page-turning biography, Grant emerges as a heroic figure who was fearlessly on the side of right.
Doubleday * 9780385532419

MICK JAGGER by Philip Norman
From exclusive interviews with those closest to Mick Jagger, such as ex-girlfriends Chrissie Shrimpton and Cleo Sylvestre, which shed light on little seen aspects of Jagger's personality, to record-straightening revelations about Jagger's infamous 1967 drugs bust and the notorious Altamont concert, Philip Norman's groundbreaking biography crafts a vivid portrait of the real man behind the swagger, little glimpsed and much misunderstood.
Ecco * 9780061944857

MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE by Robin Sloan
Clay Jannon has landed a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that the store is even more curious than the name suggests. He concludes it must be a front for something larger, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior. It turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux * 9780374214913

MY LAST EMPRESS by Da Chen
When Samuel Pickens’ great love tragically loses her life, Samuel travels the globe, Annabelle always on his mind. Eventually, he comes face to face with the mirror image of his obsession in the last place he would expect, and must discover her secrets and decide how far he will go for a woman he loves.
Crown * 9780307381309

PEACHES FOR FATHER FRANCIS by Joanne Harris
When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to go back to Lansquenet, where she opened a chocolate shop eight years ago. But she finds the once-beautiful French village changed in unexpected ways. Most surprising of all, her old nemesis, Father Francis Reynaud, desperately needs her help. Can Vianne work her magic once again?
Viking Adult * 9780670026364

PHANTOM by Jo Nesbø
Former police officer Harry Hole must return to Oslo when the son of the woman he loves is arrested for murder. In order to prove the boy's innocence, Harry sets out on a dangerous investigation that takes him into the world of the most virulent drug to ever hit the streets of Oslo (and the careers of some of the city's highest officials).
Knopf * 9780307960474

ROGUE by Mark Sullivan
Two years ago, Robin Monarch was a top level CIA operative --- until he abruptly walked away, leaving his old life and friends behind without a word of explanation. Now this ex-soldier, ex-operative, and orphan with a murky past is stealing from the super-rich. When a high-profile jewel heist goes wrong, Monarch is led into a carefully woven trap designed to force him to complete the very same mission he walked away from years ago.
Minotaur Books * 9780312378516

THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich
The victim of a recent attack, Geraldine Coutts is reluctant to relive or reveal to anyone what happened. She will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Her son, Joe, becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.
Harper * 9780062065247

SALVATION OF A SAINT by Keigo Higashino
Yoshitaka, who was about to leave his marriage and his wife, is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee and dies. His wife, Ayane, is the logical suspect --- except that she was hundreds of miles away when he was murdered. The lead detective refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime. His assistant, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty and calls upon Professor Manabu Yukawa to solve this impossible murder.
Minotaur Books * 9780312600686

SAY YOU'RE SORRY by Michael Robotham
Three years after the disappearance of two teenage girls, a husband and wife are brutally killed in the farmhouse where one of the teens once lived. A troubled young man who can hear voices claims that he saw a girl that night being chased by a snowman. Convinced that at least one of the girls might still be alive, Joe O'Loughlin and Vincent Ruiz race against time to save the girls from someone with an evil, calculating and twisted mind.
Mulholland Books * 9780316221245

THE VANISHING POINT by Val McDermid
Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian, Stephanie Harker, watches helplessly. Assisting the FBI in their attempt to recover the missing boy, Stephanie reaches into the past to uncover the motive for the abduction. Has Jimmy been taken by his own relatives? Is Stephanie’s obsessive ex-lover trying to teach her a lesson? Has a stalker of Jimmy’s mother come back to haunt them all?
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802120526

VIPER PILOT: A Memoir of Air Combat by Dan Hampton
A fighter pilot who came of age at the end of the Cold War, Dan Hampton was one of the flyers scrambled into the skies on 9/11. With the onset of the Iraq War, he flew into hostile territory first to draw enemy fire --- revealing the positions of their anti-aircraft weaponry for our forces to destroy. In his fascinating memoir, Hampton takes readers into the closed world of fighter pilots and modern air combat.
William Morrow * 9780062130358

THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde
The Bookworld’s leading enforcement officer, Thursday Next, has been forced into a semiretirement following an assassination attempt, returning home to recuperate. But with Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, and a call from the Bookworld to hunt down Pagerunners who have jumped into the Realworld, her convalescence is going to be anything but restful.
Viking Adult * 9780670025022

A WORKING THEORY OF LOVE by Scott Hutchins
Settled back into the San Francisco singles scene following the implosion of his young marriage just months after the honeymoon, Neill Bassett is going through the motions. His carefully modulated routine, however, is soon disrupted in ways he can’t dismiss with his usual nonchalance.
The Penguin Press * 9781594205057
On Sale the Week of October 1st in Paperback

October 2nd

THE ANGEL ESMERALDA: Nine Stories by Don DeLillo
Set in Greece, the Caribbean, Manhattan, a white-collar prison and outer space, these nine stories are an introduction to Don DeLillo’s iconic voice --- from the rich, startling, jazz-infused rhythms of his early work to the spare, distilled, monastic language of the later stories.
Scribner * 9781451659092

ARCADIA by Lauren Groff
In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what would become a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Lauren Groff’s latest novel follows this romantic, rollicking and tragic utopian dream.
Voice * 9781401341909

DAMNED by Chuck Palahniuk
Madison is the 13-year-old daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire. Abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas, she dies over the holiday, presumably of a marijuana overdose. The last thing she remembers is getting into a town car and falling asleep. Then she's waking up in Hell. Literally.
Anchor * 9780307476531

THE ECSTASY OF INFLUENCE: Nonfictions, Etc. by Jonathan Lethem
What’s a novelist supposed to do with contemporary culture? And what’s contemporary culture sup­posed to do with novelists? In a constellation of previously published pieces and new essays as provocative and idiosyncratic as any he’s written, Jonathan Lethem --- tangling with what he calls the “white elephant” role of the writer as public intellectual --- arrives at an astonishing range of answers.
Vintage * 9780307744500

FALLING TOGETHER by Marisa de los Santos
Pen lost touch with her closer-than-close college friends, Will and Cat, after their friendship tragically ended. Now, six years later, she receives a message from one of them that feels like a summons --- a message that will alter Pen's life in ways she never could have predicted.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780061670886

THE FORGOTTEN AFFAIRS OF YOUTH: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith
Isabel and her fiancé know who they are and where they come from. But not everybody is so fortunate. Jane Cooper, a visiting Australian philosopher, has more questions than answers. Adopted at birth, Jane is trying to find her biological father, but all she knows about him is that he was a student in Edinburgh years ago. When she asks for Isabel’s help in this seemingly impossible search…well, of course, Isabel obliges.
Anchor * 9780307739407

HOLY GHOST GIRL: A Memoir by Donna M. Johnson
She was three years old when her mother signed on as the organist for tent revivalist David Terrell, and before long, Donna Johnson was part of the hugely popular evangelical preacher's inner circle. A homecoming like no other, HOLY GHOST GIRL brings to life miracles, exorcisms and face-offs with the Ku Klux Klan. And that's just what went on under the tent.
Gotham * 9781592407354

THE HOUSE I LOVED by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Paris of the 1860s is a time of change for Rose Bazelet. A widow living in a neighborhood marked for improvement by the Emperor Napoleon, she takes a stand and vows never to leave her family home. She spends her days reliving memories of her husband and family in the house she has come to love as much as the people who inhabited it.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9781250012883

THE HOUSE OF SILK: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
Holmes and Watson embark on a mission to protect their client from a stalker, and soon find themselves chasing the mysterious House of Silk. As they come closer to discovering what they’re pursuing, they realize that it is worse than they could have imagined.
Mulholland Books * 9780316197014

THE MAGIC ROOM: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters by Jeffrey Zaslow
A bestselling author and father of three daughters himself, the late Jeffrey Zaslow thoroughly examines the complicated subject of love, marriage and parental love in THE MAGIC ROOM. Woven into this story about women who are on the brink of commitment is a bridal shop in Fowler, Michigan, that has been in continuous operation for 76 years by four generations of Becker women.
Gotham * 9781592407415

MORTAL: The Books of Mortals, Book 2 by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee
Nine years have gone by since Rom Sebastian first discovered a secret and consumed an ancient potion of blood to bring himself back to life in FORBIDDEN. Surviving against impossible odds, Rom has gathered a secret faction of followers who have also taken the blood. But The Order has raised an elite army to hunt and crush the living. The final surviving hope for humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation, and no one knows the path to survival.
FaithWords * 9781599953564

OUT OF OZ: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire
Once peaceful and prosperous, the spectacular Land of Oz is knotted with social unrest. Yet amidst all the chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of SON OF A WITCH, has come of age. Now it is up to Rain to take up her broom --- and her legacy --- in an Oz wracked by war.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780060859732

THE PROFESSIONALS by Owen Laukkanen
Four friends --- recent college graduates who are caught in a terrible job market --- joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it's no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise --- quick, efficient, low risk --- works like a charm. Until they kidnap the wrong man.
Berkley * 9780425250495

RIVER OF SMOKE by Amitav Ghosh
In Amitav Ghosh's SEA OF POPPIES, the Ibis began its treacherous journey across the Indian Ocean, bound for the cane fields of Mauritius with a cargo of indentured servants. Now, in RIVER OF SMOKE, the former slave ship flounders in the Bay of Bengal, caught in the midst of a deadly cyclone.
Picador * 9781250013750

ROBERT B. PARKER’S KILLING THE BLUES: A Jesse Stone Novel by Michael Brandman
Paradise, Massachusetts, is preparing for the summer tourist season when a string of car thefts disturbs what is usually a quiet time in town. In a sudden escalation of violence, the thefts become murder, and chief of police Jesse Stone finds himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career.
Berkley * 9780425250457

THE SECRET LIVES OF WIVES: Women Share What It Really Takes to Stay Married by Iris Krasnow
America's high divorce rate is well known. But little attention has been paid to the flip side: couples who creatively manage to build marriages that are lasting longer than we ever thought possible. What's the secret? To find out, bestselling journalist Iris Krasnow interviewed more than 200 wives whose marriages have survived for 15-70 years.
Gotham * 9781592407392

SHOCK WAVE: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford
The superstore chain PyeMart arrives in a Minnesota river town, but two furious groups want to stop it: local merchants and environmentalists. The project continues as planned --- until a bomb goes off at PyeMart's headquarters, and another explodes at the construction site itself. It’s Virgil Flowers’ job to find out who is behind the bombs and how far they will go --- before more people are killed.
Berkley * 9780425250488

THE SISTERS by Nancy Jensen
Growing up without a mother in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, Bertie Fischer and her older sister, Mabel, have only each other --- with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie graduates from eighth grade, good intentions go terribly wrong, setting off a chain of misunderstandings that will change the lives of the next three generations.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9780312548414

STAY AWAKE: Stories by Dan Chaon
National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon devotes his superb writing abilities to this intricate web of dark, unnerving tales of death. These 12 short stories will definitely keep you up at night, if not for the mystery and shock, then for the simple craving to submerge until all the tales are fully told.
Ballantine Books * 9780345530387

WORTH FIGHTING FOR: Love, Loss, and Moving Forward by Lisa Niemi Swayze
WORTH FIGHTING FOR is both a candid tribute to a marriage and a celebration of the healing power that each day holds, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Lisa shares the details of Patrick’s 21-month battle with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and she describes his last days, when she simply tried to keep him comfortable.
Atria Books * 9781439196366

Don't forget to forward this newsletter to a friend or to visit the websites in TheBookReportNetwork.com:
Bookreporter.com, 20SomethingReads.com, ReadingGroupGuides.com, GraphicNovelReporter.com, FaithfulReader.com, Teenreads.com, Kidsreads.com and AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228

New York, New York 10107

connect with us twitterfacebook