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October 18, 2016 |
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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 17th and October 24th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our review of THE OTHER EINSTEIN by Marie Benedict, which is now in stores and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
In addition, we are spotlighting two contests on ReadingGroupGuides.com: 1) a very special giveaway where nine book groups will win audiobooks to listen to, discuss and give feedback on, and 2) our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month" contest, where three groups will 12 copies of MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON by Elizabeth Strout, which is now available in paperback. Click on the images above for more details on these contests and to submit your entries.
Also, we encourage you to take this quick and easy survey about your reading preferences and habits. A major publisher wants to learn more about the audience for newsletters that focus on book-related information, advice and commentary. Once the survey is completed, you may enter for a chance to win one of three $50 Visa gift cards.
Know a friend or family member who you think may enjoy this newsletter? Then please forward it on to them!
And for those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
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This Week's Bonus News: Bookreporter.com Reviews THE OTHER EINSTEIN by Marie Benedict
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THE OTHER EINSTEIN by Marie Benedict (Historical Fiction)
In the tradition of THE PARIS WIFE and MRS. POE, THE OTHER EINSTEIN offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein’s enormous shadow. It is the story of Einstein’s wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.
Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most 20-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.
THE OTHER EINSTEIN will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Read Carol Fitzgerald's commentary about the book in the October 28th Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for advance readers' comments on the book.
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Click here to read the review. |
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On Sale the Week of October 17th in Hardcover
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October 18th
99: Stories of the Game by Wayne Gretzky with Kirstie McLellan Day (Sports/Memoir)
From minor-hockey phenomenon to Hall of Fame sensation, Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record books, his accomplishments becoming the stuff of legend. Dubbed “The Great One,” he is considered by many to be the greatest hockey player who ever lived. No one has seen more of the game than he has --- but he has never discussed in depth just what it was he saw. For the first time, Gretzky discusses candidly what the game looks like to him and introduces us to the people who inspired and motivated him: mentors, teammates, rivals, the famous and the lesser known.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399575471
CAKEWALK by Rita Mae Brown (Historical Fiction)
The night a riot breaks out at the Capitol Theater movie house, you can bet that the Hunsenmeir sisters, Louise and Julia, are nearby. Known locally as Wheezie and Juts, the inimitable, irrepressible, distinctly freethinking sisters and their delightful circle of friends are coming of age in a shifting world --- and are determined to understand their place in it. Across town, the well-to-do Chalfonte siblings are preparing for the upcoming wedding of brother Curtis. But for youngest sister Celeste, the celebration brings about a change she never expected and a lesson about love she’ll not soon forget.
Bantam * 9780553392654
THE CHRISTMAS TOWN by Donna VanLiere (Fiction)
Lauren Gabriel spent many years of her childhood in foster homes, wishing her mother would come back for her. Now 20 years old, she still longs for a place that she can truly call home. When Lauren, a cashier, ends her shift one night, she finds herself driving aimlessly in order to avoid returning to her lonely apartment. And when she witnesses a car accident, she is suddenly pulled into the small town of Grandon to serve as a volunteer for the annual fundraiser for Glory’s Place, a center for single mothers and families who need assistance. Could this town and its people be the home she has always longed for?
St. Martin's Press * 9781250010674
CITY OF DREAMS: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York by Tyler Anbinder (History)
With more than three million foreign-born residents today, New York has been America’s defining port of entry for nearly four centuries, a magnet for transplants from all over the globe. These migrants have brought their hundreds of languages and distinct cultures to the city, and from there to the entire country. More immigrants have come to New York than all other entry points combined. Tyler Anbinder’s story is one of innovators and artists, revolutionaries and rioters, staggering deprivation and soaring triumphs, all playing out against the powerful backdrop of New York City, at once ever-changing and profoundly, permanently itself.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544104655
THE EASTERN SHORE by Ward Just (Historical Fiction)
Ned Ayres, the son of a judge in mid-century America, has never wanted anything but a newspaper career. The defining moment comes early, when Ned is city editor of his hometown paper. One of his beat reporters fields a tip: William Grant, the town haberdasher, once served six years in Joliet. The story runs, and Ned offers no resistance to his publisher's argument that the public has a right to know. The consequences haunt him throughout a long career, as he moves first to Chicago, where he engages in a spirited love affair that cannot compete with the pull of the newsroom and the “subtle beauty” of the front page.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544836587
EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE: A Biography by David Bodanis (Biography)
Widely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his general theory of relativity and helped to lead us into the atomic age. Yet in the final decades of his life, he was also ignored by most working scientists, his ideas opposed by even his closest friends. As renowned writer David Bodanis explains in EINSTEIN’S GREATEST MISTAKE, this stunning downfall can be traced to Einstein’s earliest successes and to personal qualities that were at first his best assets.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544808560
ESCAPE CLAUSE: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford (Thriller)
The first storm comes from, of all places, the Minnesota zoo. Two large, and very rare, Amur tigers have vanished from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that they’ve been stolen for their body parts. Traditional Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some of them are a great deal more extreme than others --- as Virgil Flowers is about to find out. Then there’s the homefront. Virgil’s relationship with his girlfriend Frankie has been getting kind of serious, but when Frankie’s sister Sparkle moves in for the summer, the situation gets a lot more complicated.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399168918
THE FALL GUY by James Lasdun (Psychological Thriller)
Charlie, a wealthy banker with an uneasy conscience, invites his troubled cousin Matthew to visit him and his wife in their idyllic mountaintop house. As the days grow hotter, the friendship between the three begins to reveal its fault lines, and with the arrival of a fourth character, the household finds itself suddenly in the grip of uncontrollable passions. THE FALL GUY is a complex moral tale as well as a gripping suspense story, probing questions of guilt and betrayal with ruthless incisiveness. Who is the real victim here? Who is the perpetrator? And who, ultimately, is the fall guy?
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393292329
A GAMBLER'S ANATOMY by Jonathan Lethem (Fiction)
Alexander Bruno travels the world winning large sums of money from amateur “whales” who think they can challenge his peerless acumen at backgammon. But after a troubling run of bad luck in Singapore and Berlin --- perhaps brought on by his chance encounter with childhood acquaintance Keith Stolarsky and his girlfriend Tira Harpaz, or perhaps the emergence of a blot that distorts his vision --- Bruno passes out and is brought to the hospital. There, he’s given a depressing diagnosis and his only hope is to return to Berkeley, where he discovered his psychic abilities, and undergo experimental surgery paid for by the scheming Stolarsky.
Doubleday * 9780385539906
THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa (Fiction)
In 1939, barred from places that once felt like home and stripped of their possessions, Hannah Rosenthal and her best friend Leo Martin make a pact: Come what may, they promise to have a future together. A chance to have that future appears in the form of the St. Louis, a transatlantic liner that can supposedly provide Jews safe passage to Cuba. Seven decades later, Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, a great aunt she has never met. She and her mother travel to Havana to meet her, and learn the story of how Hannah and Leo honored the solemn pact they made.
Atria Books * 9781501121142
THE GIRL FROM VENICE by Martin Cruz Smith (Historical Thriller)
Venice, 1945. The war may be waning, but the city known as La Serenissima is still occupied and the people of Italy fear the power of the Third Reich. One night, under a canopy of stars, a fisherman named Cenzo comes across a young woman’s body floating in the lagoon and soon discovers that she is still alive and in trouble. Born to a wealthy Jewish family, Giulia is on the run from the Wehrmacht SS. Cenzo chooses to protect Giulia rather than hand her over to the Nazis. This act of kindness leads them into the world of Partisans, random executions, the arts of forgery and high explosives, Mussolini’s broken promises, the black market and gold, and, everywhere, the enigmatic maze of the Venice Lagoon.
Simon & Schuster * 9781439140239
IQ by Joe Ide (Mystery)
Someone in East Long Beach has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the LAPD can't or won't touch. They call him IQ. He's a loner and a high school dropout, his unassuming nature disguising a relentless determination and a fierce intelligence. He charges his clients whatever they can afford, which might be a set of tires or a homemade casserole. To get by, he's forced to take on clients who can pay. This time, it's a rap mogul whose life is in danger. As Isaiah investigates, he encounters a vengeful ex-wife, a crew of notorious cutthroats, a monstrous attack dog, and a hit man who even other hit men say is a lunatic.
Mulholland Books * 9780316267724
ISRAEL: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis (History)
Though Israel’s history is rife with conflict, these conflicts do not fully communicate the spirit of Israel and its people: they give short shrift to the dream that gave birth to the state, and to the vision for the Jewish people that was at its core. Guiding us through the milestones of Israeli history, Daniel Gordis relays the drama of the Jewish people’s story and the creation of the state. He illustrates how Israel became a cultural, economic and military powerhouse, but also explains where Israel made grave mistakes and traces the long history of Israel’s deepening isolation.
Ecco * 9780062368744
MISTER MONKEY by Francine Prose (Fiction)
“Mister Monkey” --- a screwball children’s musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee --- is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp’s lawyer, knows the production is dreadful and bemoans the failure of her acting career. She’s settled into the drudgery of playing a humiliating part --- until the day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous admirer…and later, in the middle of a performance, has a shocking encounter with Adam, the 12-year-old who plays the title role.
Harper * 9780062397836
THE NEXT by Stephanie Gangi (Fiction)
Is there a right way to die? If so, Joanna DeAngelis has it all wrong. She’s consumed by betrayal, spending her numbered days obsessing over Ned McGowan, her much younger ex, and watching him thrive in the spotlight with someone new, while she wastes away. She’s every woman scorned, fantasizing about revenge…except she’s out of time. Joanna falls from her life, from the love of her daughters and devoted dog, into an otherworldly landscape, a bleak infinity she can’t escape until she rises up and returns and sets it right --- makes Ned pay --- so she can truly move on.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250110565
NOBODY'S SON: A Memoir by Mark Slouka (Memoir)
Born in Czechoslovakia, Mark Slouka’s parents survived the Nazis only to have to escape the Communist purges after the war. Smuggled out of their own country, the newlyweds joined a tide of refugees moving from Innsbruck to Sydney to New York, dragging with them a history of blood and betrayal that their son would be born into. From World War I to the present, Slouka pieces together a remarkable story of refugees and war, displacement and denial --- admitting into evidence memories, dreams, stories, the lies we inherit, and the lies we tell --- in an attempt to reach his mother, the enigmatic figure at the center of the labyrinth.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393292305
THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
After a harrowing, otherworldly confrontation on the shores of Exmouth, Massachusetts, Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast is missing, presumed dead. Sick with grief, Pendergast's ward, Constance, retreats to her chambers beneath the family mansion at 891 Riverside Drive --- only to be taken captive by a shadowy figure from the past. Proctor, Pendergast's longtime bodyguard, springs to action, chasing Constance's kidnapper through cities, across oceans, and into wastelands unknown. And by the time Proctor discovers the truth, a terrifying engine has stirred --- and it may already be too late.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455536917
THE OTHER EINSTEIN by Marie Benedict (Historical Fiction)
In 1896, the extraordinarily gifted Mileva “Mitza” Maric is the only woman studying physics at an elite school in Zürich. For her, math seems like an easier path than marriage, until she falls in love with fellow student Albert Einstein. Charismatic and brilliant, Albert promises to treat her as an equal in both love and science. But as Albert’s fame grows, is there room for more than one genius in a marriage? This is the untold story of Albert’s first wife, a brilliant scientist in her own right, whose contributions to the special theory of relativity have been hotly debated.
Sourcebooks Landmark * 9781492637257
PARIS FOR ONE AND OTHER STORIES by Jojo Moyes (Fiction/Short Stories)
Nell is 26 and has never been to Paris. She’s never even been on a romantic weekend away --- to anywhere --- before. Everyone knows travelling abroad isn’t really her thing. But when Nell’s boyfriend fails to show up for their romantic mini-vacation, she has the opportunity to prove everyone --- including herself --- wrong. Alone and in Paris, Nell uncovers a version of herself she never knew existed: independent and intrepid.
Pamela Dorman Books * 9780735221079
THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS by Mark Frost (Supernatural Thriller)
THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS enlarges the world of the original series, placing the unexplained phenomena that unfolded there into a vastly layered, wide-ranging history, beginning with the journals of Lewis and Clark and ending with the shocking events that closed the finale. This supernatural thriller is the perfect way to get in the mood for the upcoming Showtime series, which is set to debut in 2017.
Flatiron Books * 9781250075581
SEDUCED: A Hannah Smith Novel by Randy Wayne White (Thriller/Adventure)
Five hundred years ago, Spanish conquistadors planted the first orange seeds in Florida, but now the whole industry is in trouble. The trees are dying at the root, weakened by infestation and genetic manipulation, and the only solution might be somehow, somewhere, to find samples of the original root stock. No one is better equipped to traverse the swamps and murky backcountry of Florida than Hannah Smith, but once word of her quest leaks out, the trouble begins. “There are people who will kill to find a direct descendant of those first seeds,” a biologist warns her --- and it looks like his words may be all too prophetic.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399169779
TRUEVINE: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy (History)
George and Willie Muse were two little boys born to a sharecropper family. One day, a white man offered them a piece of candy, setting off events that would take them around the world and change their lives forever. Captured into the circus, the Muse brothers performed for royalty at Buckingham Palace and headlined over a dozen sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. But the very root of their success was in the color of their skin and in the outrageous caricatures they were forced to assume. Through hundreds of interviews and decades of research, Beth Macy explores a central and difficult question: Where were the brothers better off? On the world stage as stars, or in poverty at home?
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316337540
THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill by Greg Mitchell (History)
In the summer of 1962, the year after the rise of the Berlin Wall, a group of young West Germans risked prison, Stasi torture and even death to liberate friends, lovers and strangers in East Berlin by digging tunnels under the Wall. NBC and CBS funded two separate tunnels in return for the right to film the escapes, planning spectacular prime-time specials. President John F. Kennedy, however, was wary of anything that might spark a confrontation with the Soviets. So he approved unprecedented maneuvers to quash both documentaries, testing the limits of a free press in an era of escalating nuclear tensions.
Crown * 9781101903858
THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Andy Carpenter’s long-time friend, Martha “Pups” Boyer, takes in stray puppies that the local dog rescue center can’t handle, raises them until they’re old enough to adopt, and then finds good homes for them. With Christmas just around the corner, one of Pups’ neighbors has just reported Pups to the city for having more than the legal number of pets in her home under the local zoning laws. Andy happily takes Pups’ case, and he feels confident in a positive outcome. Who could punish someone for rescuing puppies, after all, especially at Christmastime? But things get a lot more complicated when Randy Hennessey, the neighbor who registered the complaint against Pups, turns up dead.
Minotaur Books * 9781250106766
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On Sale the Week of October 17th in Paperback
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October 18th
AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE: Stories by Helen Ellis (Fiction/Short Stories)
Meet the women of AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE. They wear lipstick, pearls and sunscreen, even when it’s cloudy. They casserole. They pinwheel. And then they kill a party crasher, carefully stepping around the body to pull cookies from the oven. Taking us from a haunted pre-war Manhattan apartment building to the unique initiation ritual of a book club, these 12 delightfully demented stories are a refreshing and wicked answer to the question: “What do housewives do all day?”
Anchor * 9781101970997
THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS by Karan Mahajan (Fiction)
When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana pick up their family’s television set at a repair shop with their friend, Mansoor Ahmed, one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb. After a brief stint at university in America, Mansoor returns to Delhi, where his life becomes entangled with Ayub, a fearless young activist whose own allegiances and beliefs are more malleable than Mansoor could imagine.
Penguin Books * 9780143109273
THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS: Stories by Stephen King (Thriller/Short Stories)
Since his first collection, NIGHTSHIFT, published 35 years ago, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection, he assembles, for the first time, recent stories that have never been published in a book. He introduces each with a passage about its origins or his motivations for writing it. There are thrilling connections between stories: themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past.
Pocket Books * 9781501127878
THE BOY IS BACK by Meg Cabot (Romance)
Paperback Original
Reed Stewart thought he had left all his small town troubles --- including a broken heart --- behind when he ditched tiny Bloomville, Indiana, 10 years ago to become rich and famous on the professional golf circuit. Then one tiny post on the Internet causes all of those troubles to return...with a vengeance. Becky Flowers has worked hard to build her successful senior relocation business, but she has worked even harder to forget Reed Stewart ever existed. She has absolutely no intention of seeing him when he returns --- until his family hires her to save his parents. Now Reed and Becky can’t avoid one another --- or the memories of that one fateful night.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062378774
THE CIRCLE by Bernard Minier (Mystery)
In the middle of a World Cup match in June 2010, Martin Servaz receives a call from a long-lost lover. A few miles away in the town of Marsac, Classics professor Claire Diemar has been brutally murdered. As if that weren't disturbing enough, Servaz receives a cryptic email indicating that Julian Hirtmann, the most twisted of all serial killers, is back…and hitting a little too close to home. With the help of detectives Irene Ziegler and Esperandieu, Servaz will have to uncover a world of betrayal and depravity to connect the dots between these gruesome murders that keep reopening wounds from his past.
Minotaur Books * 9781250106216
CRIME PLUS MUSIC: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir edited by Jim Fusilli (Mystery/Noir Anthology)
Paperback Original
CRIME PLUS MUSIC collects 20 darkly intense, music-related noir stories by world-renowned mystery authors Brendan DuBois, Alison Gaylin, Craig Johnson, David Liss, Val McDermid, Gary Phillips, Peter Robinson, and, from the music world, Galadrielle Allman, author of PLEASE BE WITH ME: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman and award-winning songwriter-novelist Willy Vlautin. Edited by novelist and Wall Street Journal rock and pop music critic Jim Fusilli, CRIME PLUS MUSIC exposes the nasty side of the world of popular music, revealing it to be the perfect setting for noir.
Three Rooms Press * 9781941110454
DEEP SOUTH: Four Seasons on Back Roads by Paul Theroux (Travel/Memoir)
Paul Theroux has spent 50 years crossing the globe, adventuring in the exotic, seeking the rich history and folklore of the far away. Now, for the first time, in his 10th travel book, Theroux explores a piece of America --- the Deep South. He finds there a paradoxical place, full of incomparable music, unparalleled cuisine, and yet also some of the nation’s worst schools, housing and unemployment rates. It’s these parts of the South, so often ignored, that have caught Theroux’s keen traveler’s eye.
Eamon Dolan/Mariner Books * 9780544705173
DESTINY AND POWER: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham (Biography)
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of Communism, DESTINY AND POWER charts the thoughts, decisions and emotions of a modern president who may have been the last of his kind.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812979473
FIND HER by Lisa Gardner (Thriller)
Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora Dane was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, she learned just how much one person can endure. Miraculously alive after her ordeal, she has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life. When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime --- a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him --- she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante?
Dutton * 9780451477163
GIRL UNBROKEN: A Sister’s Harrowing Story of Survival from the Streets of Long Island to the Farms of Idaho by Regina Calcaterra and Rosie Maloney (Memoir)
Paperback Original
They were five kids with five different fathers and an alcoholic mother who left them to fend for themselves for weeks at a time. Yet, through it all, they had each other. Rosie, the youngest, is fawned over and shielded by her older sister, Regina. But when Regina discloses the truth about her abusive mother to her social worker, she is separated from her younger siblings, Norman and Rosie. And as Rosie discovers after Cookie kidnaps her from foster care, the one thing worse than being abandoned by her mother is living in Cookie’s presence. Beaten physically, abused emotionally, and forced to labor at the farm where Cookie settles in Idaho, Rosie refuses to give in.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062412584
THE HIGHWAY KIND: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads edited by Patrick Millikin (Mystery/Thriller/Noir Anthology)
Paperback Original
Like fiction, cars take us into a different world: from the tony enclaves of upper crust society to the lowliest barrio; from muscle car-driving con men to hardscrabble kids on the road during the Great Depression; from a psychotic traveling salesman to a Mexican drug lord who drives a tricked-out VW Bus. We all share the roads, and our cars link us together. Including entirely new stories from Michael Connelly, C.J. Box, George Pelecanos, Diana Gabaldon, James Sallis, Ace Atkins, Luis Alberto Urrea, Sara Gran, Ben H. Winters and Joe Lansdale, THE HIGHWAY KIND is a street-level look at modern America, as seen through one of its national obsessions.
Mulholland Books * 9780316394864
LADY BIRD AND LYNDON: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President by Betty Boyd Caroli (Biography/Politics)
The conventional story goes that Lyndon Johnson married Lady Bird for her money, demeaned her by flaunting his many affairs, and that her legacy was protecting the nation’s wildflowers. But she was actually a full political partner throughout his ascent. And while others were shocked that she put up with his womanizing, she always knew she had the upper hand. In LADY BIRD AND LYNDON, Betty Boyd Caroli paints a vivid portrait of a marriage with complex, but familiar and identifiable overtones.
Simon & Schuster * 9781439191231
PRETENDING TO DANCE by Diane Chamberlain (Psychological Suspense)
Molly Arnette is very good at keeping secrets. She and her husband live in San Diego, where they hope to adopt a baby soon. But the process terrifies her. As the questions and background checks come one after another, Molly worries that the truth she's kept hidden about her North Carolina childhood will rise to the surface and destroy not only her chance at adoption, but her marriage as well. As she tries to find a way to make peace with her past and embrace a future filled with promise, she discovers that even she doesn't know the truth of what happened in her family of pretenders.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250105011
ROSEMARY: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson (Biography)
Joe and Rose Kennedy’s strikingly beautiful daughter, Rosemary, attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the Queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet, Rosemary was intellectually disabled --- a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family. Kate Larson reveals both the sensitive care Rose and Joe gave to Rosemary and then the often desperate and duplicitous arrangements the Kennedys made to keep her away from home as she became increasingly intractable in her early 20s.
Mariner Books * 9780544811904
THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN by Cristina Alger (Fiction)
Widowerhood at 33 and 12-hour workdays have left a gap in Charlie Goldwyn’s relationship with his quirky five-year-old son, Caleb. The only thing Charlie has going for him is his job at a prestigious law firm, where he is finally close to becoming a partner. But when a slight lapse in judgment at an office party leaves him humiliatingly unemployed, stuck at home with Caleb for the summer, and forced to face his own estranged father, Charlie starts to realize that there’s more to fatherhood than financially providing for his son, and more to being a son than overtaking his father’s successes.
Touchstone * 9781501103766
THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE TRIPOLI PIRATES: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger (History)
When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, America was deeply in debt and needed its economy to grow quickly. But its merchant ships were under attack by pirates from North Africa’s Barbary coast who routinely captured American sailors and held them as slaves. In response, Jefferson sent the U.S. Navy’s new warships and a detachment of marines to blockade Tripoli --- launching the Barbary Wars and beginning America’s journey toward future superpower status.
Sentinel * 9780143129431
WAR OF TWO: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation by John Sedgwick (History)
In WAR OF TWO, John Sedgwick explores the long-standing conflict between Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr. A study in contrasts from birth, they had been compatriots, colleagues and even friends. But above all they were rivals. Matching each other’s ambition and skill as lawyers in New York, they later battled for power along political fault lines that would not only decide the future of the United States, but define it.
NAL * 9781592409693
WARRIORS OF THE STORM by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
A fragile peace reigns in Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia. King Alfred’s son, Edward, and formidable daughter, Aethelflaed, rule the kingdoms. But all around the restless Northmen, eyeing the rich lands and wealthy churches, are mounting raids. Uhtred of Bebbanburg, the kingdoms’ greatest warrior, controls northern Mercia from the strongly fortified city of Chester. But forces are gathering against him. Northmen allied to the Irish, led by the fierce warrior Ragnall Ivarson, are soon joined by the Northumbrians, and their strength could prove overwhelming.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062250957
THE WASHINGTONS: George and Martha -- Partners in Friendship and Love by Flora Fraser (History)
Flora Fraser provides us with a brilliant account of the public George Washington and of the war he waged, and gives us, as well, the domestic Washingtons, whether at Mount Vernon before and during the war or in New York and Philadelphia during his presidency. This is a remarkable story of a remarkable pair as well as a gripping narrative of the birth of a nation --- a major, and vastly appealing, contribution to the literature of our founding fathers…and founding mother.
Anchor * 9780307474438
WHERE THE BODIES WERE BURIED: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him by T. J. English (True Crime)
For 16 years, Whitey Bulger eluded the long reach of the law. But finally, in 2011, he was arrested in southern California and returned to Boston, where he was tried and convicted of racketeering and murder. T. J. English covered the trial at close range, interviewing Bulger’s associates as well as lawyers, former federal agents, and even members of the jury in the backyards and barrooms of Whitey’s world. In WHERE THE BODIES WERE BURIED, English offers a startlingly revisionist account of Bulger’s story.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062290991
THE YEAR OF LEAR: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro (History)
Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro shows how the tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year --- KING LEAR, MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. THE YEAR OF LEAR sheds light on these tragedies by placing them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions.
Simon & Schuster * 9781416541653
YOUR HEART IS A MUSCLE THE SIZE OF A FIST by Sunil Yapa (Fiction)
Grief-stricken after his mother's death and three years of wandering the world, Victor is longing for a family and a sense of purpose. He believes he's found both when he returns home to Seattle only to be swept up in a massive protest. With young, biracial Victor on one side of the barricades and his estranged father --- the white chief of police --- on the opposite, the day descends into chaos, capturing in its confusion the activists, police, bystanders and citizens from all around the world who had arrived that day brimming with hope. By the day's end, they have all committed acts they never thought possible.
Lee Boudreaux/Back Bay Books * 9780316386555
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On Sale the Week of October 24th in Hardcover
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October 25th
AGNES written by Peter Stamm, translated by Michael Hofmann (Fiction)
“Write a story about me," Agnes said to her lover, "so I know what you think of me." So he started to write the story of everything that had happened to them from the moment they met. At first, he works with Agnes to create a narrative that is most true to life, but as time passes and he grows more enamored with the narrative he has begun, he continues writing on his own, imagining a future for them after he reaches the present. Happy couples do not necessarily make for compelling reading, and as Agnes sees the unexpected plot he has planned for her, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.
Other Press * 9781590518113
AL CAPONE: His Life, Legacy, and Legend by Deirdre Bair (Biography)
Al Capone loved to tell tall tales that perpetuated his mystique. While some remember him as fundamentally kind and good, others speak of how frightening he was, a vicious, cold-blooded killer. Was Capone really such a quotable wit? Did he really shower the poor with hundred-dollar bills and silver dollars from the window of his bulletproof car? Did he really keep a bevy of mistresses ensconced in his hotel headquarters in Chicago? Writing with exclusive access to Capone's descendants, Deirdre Bair finally gets at the truth behind this eternally fascinating man, who was equal parts charismatic mobster, doting father and calculating monster.
Nan A. Talese * 9780385537155
ALFRED HITCHCOCK: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd (Biography)
Alfred Hitchcock was a strange child. Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition, his childhood was an isolated one. Afraid to leave his bedroom, he would plan great voyages, using railway timetables to plot an exact imaginary route across Europe. So how did this fearful figure become one of the most respected film directors of the 20th century? As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press's portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. In this quick-witted portrait, Ackroyd reveals something more: a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life.
Nan A. Talese * 9780385537414
BEATLES '66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner (Music History)
They started off as hysteria-inducing pop stars playing to audiences of screaming teenage fans and ended up as musical sages considered responsible for ushering in a new era. The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966. On the 50th anniversary of this seminal year, music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner investigates the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles’ lives and work during 1966. He looks at the historical events that had an impact on the group, the music they made that in turn profoundly affected the culture around them, and the vision that allowed four young men from Liverpool to transform popular music and serve as pioneers for artists from Coldplay to David Bowie, Jay-Z to U2.
Ecco * 9780062475480
THE BOAT ROCKER by Ha Jin (Fiction)
Chinese expatriate Feng Danlin is a fiercely principled reporter at a small news agency that produces a website read by Chinese all over the world. Danlin's explosive exposés have made him legendary among readers --- and feared by Communist officials. But his newest assignment may be his undoing: investigating his ex-wife, Yan Haili, an unscrupulous novelist who has willingly become a pawn of the Chinese government in order to realize her dreams of literary stardom. In outing Haili, Danlin is also provoking her powerful political allies, and he will need to draw on all of his journalistic cunning to come out of this investigation with his career --- and his life --- still intact.
Pantheon * 9780307911629
FIELDS WHERE THEY LAY: A Junior Bender Holiday Mystery by Timothy Hallinan (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Junior Bender, divorced father of one and burglar extraordinaire, finds himself stuck inside the Edgerton Mall, and not just as a last-minute shopper. The murderous Russian mobster who owns the place has decided it takes a thief to catch a thief and hires Junior --- under threat --- to solve the mall’s shoplifting problem for him. But Junior’s surveillance operation doesn’t go well: as Christmas Eve approaches, two people are dead, and it’s obvious that shoplifting is the least of the mall’s problems. To prevent further deaths, possibly including his own, Junior must confront his dread of Christmas --- both present and past.
Soho Crime * 9781616957469
THE FLEET AT FLOOD TIDE: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945 by James D. Hornfischer (History)
Drawing on new primary sources and personal accounts by Americans and Japanese alike, THE FLEET AT FLOOD TIDE is a thrilling narrative of the climactic end stage of the Pacific War, focusing on the U.S. invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944 and the momentous events that it produced. With its thunderous assault into Japan's inner defensive perimeter, America crossed the threshold of total war. From the seaborne invasion of Saipan to the stunning aerial battles of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, from the largest banzai attack of the war to the first mass suicides of Japanese civilians to the strategic bombing effort that culminated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Marianas became the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender --- with consequences that forever changed modern war.
Bantam * 9780345548702
GUNSLINGER: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre by Jeff Pearlman (Sports/Memoir)
A towering figure on the field for two decades who breezed into the Hall of Fame, Brett Favre was one of the game’s last cowboys. This peerless quarterback guided the Green Bay Packers to two Super Bowls and one championship win, shattering countless NFL records along the way. GUNSLINGER tells Favre’s story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Jeff Pearlman charts an unparalleled journey from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career to landing the last scholarship at Southern Mississippi to a car accident that nearly took his life.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544454378
LOST GODS by Brom (Dark Fantasy/Horror)
Fresh out of jail and eager to start a new life, Chet Moran and his pregnant wife, Trish, leave town to begin again. But an ancient evil is looming, and what seems like a safe haven may not be all it appears. Snared and murdered by a vile, arcane horror, Chet quickly learns that pain and death are not unique to the living. Now the lives and very souls of his wife and unborn child are at stake. To save them, he must journey into the bowels of purgatory in search of a sacred key promised to restore the natural order of life and death. Alone, confused and damned, Chet steels himself against the unfathomable terrors awaiting him as he descends into death’s stygian blackness.
Harper Voyager * 9780062095688
A LOWCOUNTRY HEART: Reflections on a Writing Life by Pat Conroy (Essays)
This new volume of Pat Conroy’s nonfiction brings together some of the most charming interviews, magazine articles, speeches and letters from his long literary career, many of them addressed directly to his readers with his habitual greeting, “Hey, out there.” Ranging across diverse subjects, such as favorite recent reads, the challenge of staying motivated to exercise, and processing the loss of dear friends, Conroy’s eminently memorable pieces offer a unique window into the life of a true titan of Southern writing.
Nan A. Talese * 9780385530866
LUCKY 666: The Impossible Mission by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (History)
From the authors of the New York Times bestselling THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT IS and HALSEY'S TYPHOON comes the dramatic, untold story of a daredevil bomber pilot and his misfit crew who fly their lone B-17 into the teeth of the Japanese Empire in 1943, engage in the longest dogfight in history, and change the momentum of the War in the Pacific --- but not without making the ultimate sacrifice.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476774855
THE MISTLETOE MURDER: And Other Stories by P. D. James (Mystery/Short Stories)
The newly appointed Sgt. Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is "pure Agatha Christie." A "pedantic, respectable, censorious" clerk's secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a murder. A bestselling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in 50 years earlier. Dalgliesh's godfather implores him to reinvestigate a notorious murder that might ease the godfather's mind about an inheritance, but will reveal a truth that even the supremely upstanding Adam Dalgliesh will keep to himself. Each of these previously uncollected stories by P. D. James is as playful as it is ingeniously plotted.
Knopf * 9780451494146
NIGHT WATCH by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (Thriller)
Born blind, Kendra Michaels spent the first 20 years of her life living in the darkness. Then, thanks to a revolutionary medical procedure developed by England’s Night Watch Project, she was given the gift of sight. Her highly developed senses (honed during her years in the dark), combined with her new found vision, have made her a remarkable investigator, sought after by law-enforcement agencies all over the country. But her newest case becomes deeply personal as she uncovers the truth about the shadowy organization that has given her so much.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250075970
THE NINE OF US: Growing Up Kennedy by Jean Kennedy Smith (Memoir)
Before Joe and Rose Kennedy’s children emerged as leaders on the world stage, they were a loving circle of brothers and sisters who played football, swam, read and pursued their interests. They were children inspired by parents who instilled in them a strong work ethic, deep love of country, and intense appreciation for the sacrifices their ancestors made to come to America. "No whining in this house!" was their father’s regular refrain. It was his way of reminding them not to complain, to be grateful for what they had, and to give back. In THE NINE OF US, Jean Kennedy Smith --- the last surviving sibling --- revisits this singular time in their lives.
Harper * 9780062444226
NOT DEAD YET: The Memoir by Phil Collins (Memoir)
NOT DEAD YET is Phil Collins’ candid, witty, unvarnished story of the songs and shows, the hits and pans, his marriages and divorces, the ascents to the top of the charts and into the tabloid headlines. As one of only three musicians to sell 100 million records both in a group and as a solo artist, Collins breathes rare air, but has never lost his touch at crafting songs from the heart that touch listeners around the globe. That same touch is on magnificent display here, especially as he unfolds his harrowing descent into darkness after his “official” retirement in 2007, and the profound, enduring love that helped save him.
Crown Archetype * 9781101907474
PEARL HARBOR: 75 YEARS LATER: A Day of Infamy and Its Legacy by the Editors of LIFE (Photography/History)
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Empire stunned the world with a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. Commemorating this momentous historical event that brought the United States into World War II, LIFE revisits the infamous scene in beautifully illustrated photographs: the years leading up to 1941, Lindbergh's antiwar rallies, the desperate scene in Europe and at Winston Churchill's 10 Downing Street, and the Japanese admiral who realized he awoke a sleeping giant. Highlights include "The Call to Action," LIFE's actual pages in the 10 weeks after the attack, as America mobilized and went to war, and a concluding chapter that covers today's modern tensions in the waters of the Far East.
Life * 9781618931764
SEX, LIES & SERIOUS MONEY: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Fresh off the runway at Teterboro, Stone Barrington arrives home to find an unexpected new client on his doorstep, anxiously soliciting his help. But everything is not as it seems, when the client reveals the true nature --- and value --- of his recent turn of fortune. From luxury New York high-rises to the sprawling New Mexico desert, his client is pursued from all angles…and Stone quickly learns that easy money isn’t always so easy.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399573941
THE TERRANAUTS by T.C. Boyle (Fiction)
It is 1994, and in the desert near Tillman, Arizona, a grand experiment involving the future of humanity is underway. As climate change threatens the earth, eight scientists dubbed the "Terranauts" have been selected to live under glass in E2, a prototype of a possible off-earth colony. Closely monitored by an all-seeing Mission Control, this New Eden is the brainchild of ecovisionary Jeremiah Reed, for whom the project is both an adventure in scientific discovery and a momentous publicity stunt. His young, strapping Terranauts must impress watchful visitors and a skeptical media curious to see if E2’s environment will somehow be compromised, forcing the Ecosphere’s seal to be broken --- and ending the mission in failure.
Ecco * 9780062349408
WALK THROUGH WALLS: A Memoir by Marina Abramovic (Memoir)
The child of Communist war-hero parents under Tito’s regime in postwar Yugoslavia, Marina Abramović was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career, Marina lived at home under her mother’s abusive control. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity, her desire to connect with people, or her distinctly Balkan sense of humor --- all of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of this memoir is an operatic love story --- a 12-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay, a relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China.
Crown Archetype * 9781101905043
THE WHISTLER by John Grisham (Mystery)
What happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, and a corruption case crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business as Greg Myers; he claims to know of a judge who was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. Greg’s only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Lacy immediately suspects this case could be dangerous --- but it also could turn out to be deadly.
Doubleday * 9780385541190
YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATE by Antoine Leiris (Memoir)
On November 13, 2015, Antoine Leiris’ wife, Hélène Muyal-Leiris, was killed by terrorists while attending a rock concert at the Bataclan Theater in Paris, in the deadliest attack on France since World War II. Three days later, Leiris wrote an open letter addressed directly to his wife’s killers, which he posted on Facebook: “For as long as he lives, this little boy will insult you with his happiness and freedom.” In his determination to honor the memory of his wife, Leiris became an international hero to everyone searching desperately for a way to deal with the horror of the Paris attacks and the grim shadow cast today by the threat of terrorism. Now he tells the full story of his grief and struggle.
Penguin Press * 9780735222113
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On Sale the Week of October 24th in Paperback
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October 25th
AND YET…: Essays by Christopher Hitchens (Essays)
The author of five previous volumes of selected writings, including the international bestseller ARGUABLY, Christopher Hitchens left at his death nearly 250,000 words of essays not yet published in book form. AND YET… assembles a selection that ranges from the literary to the political and is, by turns, a banquet of entertaining and instructive delights, including essays on Orwell, Lermontov, Chesterton, Fleming, Naipaul, Rushdie, Pamuk and Dickens, among others, as well as his laugh-out-loud self-mocking “makeover.”
Simon & Schuster * 9781476772073
BOHEMIAN GOSPEL by Dana Chamblee Carpenter (Historical Fiction)
Thirteenth-century Bohemia is a dangerous place for a girl, especially one as odd as Mouse, born with unnatural senses and an uncanny intellect. When young King Ottakar shows up at the Abbey wounded by a traitor's arrow, Mouse breaks church law to save him and then agrees to accompany him back to Prague as his personal healer. Caught in the undertow of court politics at the castle, Ottakar and Mouse find themselves drawn to each other as they work to uncover the threat against him and to unravel the mystery of her past.
Pegasus Books * 9781681772424
BOOKS TO DIE FOR: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Mystery/Essays)
In the most ambitious anthology of its kind, the world’s leading mystery writers --- including Michael Connelly, Kathy Reichs and Ian Rankin --- come together to champion the greatest mystery novels ever written. In a series of personal essays that reveal as much about the authors and their own work as they do about the books that they love, over a hundred authors from 20 countries have created a guide that will be indispensable for generations of readers and writers.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781476710365
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME: A Memoir by Burt Reynolds and Jon Winokur (Memoir)
Beginning with his adolescence as a notable football player and the devastating car accident that ended his sports career, BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME takes readers from the Broadway stages where Burt Reynolds got his start to his subsequent rise to fame. From Oscar nominations, to the spread in Cosmopolitan magazine that remains a notorious pop-cultural touchstone to this day, to the financial decisions that took him from rich to poor and back again, Reynolds shares the wisdom that has come from his many highs and lows. He is also ready, now more than ever, to dish.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons * 9780425280232
CHARLOTTE’S STORY: A Bliss House Novel by Laura Benedict (Historical Mystery/Horror)
The fall of 1957 in southern Virginia was a seemingly idyllic, even prosperous time. A young housewife, Charlotte Bliss, lives with her husband, Hasbrouck Preston “Press” Bliss, and their two young children, Eva Grace and Michael, in the gorgeous Bliss family home. On the surface, theirs seems to be a calm, picturesque life, but soon tragedy befalls them: four tragic deaths, with apparently simple explanations. But nothing is simple if Bliss House is involved. How far will Charlotte go to discover the truth? And how far will she get without knowing who her real enemy is?
Pegasus Books * 9781681772288
CLEMENTINE: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell (Biography)
By Winston Churchill’s own admission, victory in the Second World War would have been “impossible without her.” Until now, however, the only existing biography of Churchill’s wife, Clementine, was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story, revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR’s initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain’s close relationship with America. It also provides a surprising account of her relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt and their differing approaches to the war effort.
Penguin Books * 9780143128915
CUSTER’S TRIALS: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T. J. Stiles (Biography)
T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Gen. George Armstrong Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person --- capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years).
Vintage * 9780307475947
DEATH IN FLORENCE: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City by Paul Strathern (History)
By the end of the 15th century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, and in Lorenzo de' Medici they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances between the major Italian powers. However, in the form of Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures.
Pegasus Books * 9781681772301
A DOUBTER’S ALMANAC by Ethan Canin (Fiction)
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley, he realizes the extent --- and the risks --- of his singular gifts. California in the ’70s is a seduction, opening Milo’s eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there --- and the rival he meets alongside her --- will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo’s brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812980264
THE FORGOTTEN ROOM by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig (Historical Fiction)
When the critically wounded Captain Cooper Ravenal is brought to a private hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1945, young Dr. Kate Schuyler is drawn into a complex mystery that connects three generations of women in her family to a single extraordinary room in a Gilded Age mansion. Who is the woman in Captain Ravenel's portrait miniature who looks so much like Kate? And why is she wearing the ruby pendant handed down to Kate by her mother?
Berkley * 9780451474636
THE GIVENNESS OF THINGS: Essays by Marilynne Robinson (Essays)
The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture, we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope. In THE GIVENNESS OF THINGS, Marilynne Robinson delivers an impassioned critique of our contemporary society while arguing that reverence must be given to who we are and what we are: creatures of singular interest and value, despite our errors and depredations.
Picador * 9781250097316
THE GUEST ROOM by Chris Bohjalian (Fiction)
When Kristin Chapman agrees to let her husband, Richard, host his brother's bachelor party, she expects a certain amount of debauchery. She takes their young daughter to Manhattan for the evening, leaving her Westchester home to the men and their hired entertainment. What she does not expect is that the entertainment --- two scared young women brought there by force --- will kill their captors and drive off into the night. Kristin is unable to forgive her husband for his lapses in judgment, or for the moment he shared with a dark-haired girl in the guest room. But for the dark-haired girl, Alexandra, the danger is just beginning.
Vintage * 9780804170987
HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein (Memoir)
HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL is an intimate and revealing narrative of Carrie Brownstein’s escape from a turbulent family life into a world where music was the means toward self-invention, community and rescue. Along the way, Brownstein chronicles the excitement and contradictions within the era’s flourishing and fiercely independent music subculture, including experiences that sowed the seeds for the observational satire of the popular television series “Portlandia” years later.
Riverhead Books * 9780399184765
LIVIA LONE by Barry Eisler (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Sold by her Thai parents along with her little sister, Nason, marooned in America, and abused by the men who trafficked them, the only thing that kept Livia Lone alive as a teenager was her determination to find Nason. The Seattle PD sex-crimes detective has never stopped looking. And she copes with her failure to protect her sister by doing everything she can to put predators in prison. But when a fresh lead offers new hope of finding Nason and the men who trafficked them both, Livia will have to go beyond just being a cop. She’ll have to relive the horrors of the past, take on one of the most powerful men in the US government, and uncover a conspiracy of almost unimaginable evil.
Thomas & Mercer * 9781503939653
THE MAGIC STRINGS OF FRANKIE PRESTO by Mitch Albom (Fiction)
At nine years old, Frankie Presto --- a war orphan raised by a blind music teacher in a small Spanish town --- is sent to America in the bottom of a boat. His only possession is an old guitar and six precious strings. But Frankie’s talent is touched by the gods, and his amazing journey weaves him through the musical landscape of the 20th century. Frankie becomes a pop star himself but soon realizes that, through his music, he can actually affect people’s futures. At the height of his popularity, Frankie vanishes. Only decades later does he reappear --- just before his spectacular death --- to change one last life.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062294432
PACIFIC: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators and Fading Empires by Simon Winchester (History)
As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast. Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us --- tremendous earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis --- but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s 16th-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.
Harper Perennial * 9780062315427
PETTY: The Biography by Warren Zanes (Biography)
Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little hillbilly in his blood, Tom Petty was a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise. His story has all the drama of a rock-and-roll epic. Now in his mid-60s, still making records and touring, Petty --- known for his reclusive style --- has shared with Warren Zanes his insights and arguments, his regrets and lasting ambitions, and the details of his life on and off the stage.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250105196
THE PHARAOH’S SECRET: A Kurt Austin Adventure by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown (Thriller/Adventure)
Kurt and Joe tangle with the most determined enemy they’ve ever encountered when a ruthless powerbroker schemes to build a new Egyptian empire as glorious as those of the Pharaohs. A devastating weapon at his disposal may threaten the entire world: a plant extract known as the black mist, rumored to have the power to take life from the living and restore it to the dead. Kurt, Joe and the rest of the NUMA team will have to fight to discover the truth behind the legends. But to do that, they have to confront in person the greatest legend of them all: Osiris, the ruler of the Egyptian underworld.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons * 9780735215252
THE RELIC MASTER by Christopher Buckley (Historical Fiction)
In a departure from his usual satires of Washington politics, Christopher Buckley turns to politics of a more medieval nature. In 1517, a former Swiss mercenary named Dismas sells holy relics to powerful clients who then use their purchases to sell indulgences to people hoping to shorten their stay in Purgatory. The sudden loss of his life savings forces Dismas to sell a forgery of Christ’s burial shroud --- a scheme that goes harrowingly wrong.
Simon & Schuster * 9781501125768
THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson (Travel/Memoir)
In 1995, Bill Bryson got into his car and took a weeks-long farewell motoring trip about England before moving his family back to the United States. The book about that trip, NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, is uproarious and endlessly endearing. Two decades later, he set out again to rediscover that country, and the result is THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING. Nothing is funnier than Bill Bryson on the road, so prepare for the total joy and multiple episodes of unseemly laughter.
Anchor * 9780804172714
SINATRA: THE CHAIRMAN by James Kaplan (Biography)
In 2010's FRANK: THE VOICE, James Kaplan told the story of Frank Sinatra's meteoric rise to fame, subsequent failures, and reinvention as a star of live performance and screen. The story of "Ol' Blue Eyes" continues with SINATRA: THE CHAIRMAN, picking up the day after Frank claimed his Academy Award in 1954. In between recording albums and singles, he often shot four or five movies a year; did TV show and nightclub appearances; started his own label, Reprise; and juggled his considerable commercial ventures alongside his famous and sometimes notorious social activities and commitments.
Anchor * 9780307946935
SINATRA’S CENTURY: One Hundred Notes on the Man and His World by David Lehman (Biography)
SINATRA'S CENTURY is an irresistible collection of 100 short reflections on the man, his music and his larger-than-life story, by a lifetime fan who also happens to be one of the poetry world’s most prominent voices. David Lehman uses each of these short pieces to look back on a single facet of the entertainer’s story --- from his childhood in Hoboken, to his emergence as “The Voice” in the 1940s, to the wild professional (and romantic) fluctuations that followed.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780061780073
STORY OF A SOCIOPATH by Julia Navarro (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Thomas Spencer, the black sheep of his family, harbors only resentment toward those closest to him for what they have more of: good looks, good cheer, good social graces. But what Thomas may lack in charm, he makes up for in cunning. And it is this that will serve him best when he trades in his glittering world of privilege for a chance to claw his way to the top --- on his own terms, and at any cost. As Thomas achieves fame and success as an ad man, he becomes ever more deeply entrenched in an insidious underworld of media, politics and women, and an astonishing picture emerges of a complex, destructive personality who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Vintage * 9781101973257
THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Melanie Benjamin (Historical Fiction)
Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style and exquisite taste. But beneath this elegantly composed exterior dwells a passionate woman who is desperately longing for true love and connection. Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her circle of Swans aflutter.
Bantam * 9780345528704
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption by Kermit Alexander, Alex Gerould and Jeff Snipes (Memoir)
On the morning of August 31, 1984, in the South Central section of Los Angeles, three armed men broke into a house, brutally murdering two women and two young boys. The victims were Ebora Alexander, Dietra Alexander, Damani Garner and Damon Bonner --- the mother, sister and nephews of retired All-Pro cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers Kermit Alexander. In his own words, Kermit finally shares the full story of what happened to his loved ones and the aftermath of that tragic day.
Atria Books * 9781476765778
VIOLENT CRIMES: An Amanda Jaffe Novel by Phillip Margolin (Thriller)
Dale Masterson has become wealthy and successful representing the interests of oil and coal companies. But when his colleague is found dead, his business practices are put under surveillance and a lower-level employee stands accused. The controversy surrounding the firm is magnified when Dale is found beaten to death in his mansion. His son, Brandon, confesses to killing him on behalf of all the people whose lives are being destroyed by his questionable clients. Veteran lawyer Amanda Jaffe is hired to represent Brandon, but what seems like an open-and-shut case quickly begins to unravel.
Harper * 9780062266569
A WILD SWAN: And Other Tales by Michael Cunningham (Fantasy/Short Stories)
A poisoned apple and a monkey's paw with the power to change fate; a girl whose extraordinarily long hair causes catastrophe; a man with one human arm and one swan's wing; and a house deep in the forest, constructed of gumdrops and gingerbread, vanilla frosting and boiled sugar. In A WILD SWAN, the people and the talismans of lands far, far away --- the mythic figures of our childhoods and the source of so much of our wonder --- are transformed by Michael Cunningham into stories of sublime revelation.
Picador * 9781250097309
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