Big Titles: Week of Dec. 7

The most heavily-anticipated title coming out this week, based on library holds, is Laurell Hamilton’s Divine Misdemeanors. Trailing behind it is Alexander McCall Smith’s La’s Orchestra Saves the World, with about half as many holds.

Fiction

12/8

Coonts, Stephen; The Disciple, St. Martin’s

Hamilton, Laurell; Divine Misdemeanors, Ballantine

Karpyshyn, Drew, Star Wars Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil, Lucas Books

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La’s Orchestra Saves the World
Alexander McCall Smith
Retail Price: $23.95
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Pantheon – (2009-12-08)
ISBN / EAN: 0307378381 / 9780307378385

Smith departs from his four popular series (he’s most well-known, of course, for the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency; the sixth in his Isabel Dalhousie series, The Lost Art of Gratitude, came out in Sept), with this stand-alone novel set in English countryside during WW II. Amazon’s editors’ blog, Omnivoracious, declared it their Omni Daily Crush and the author is interviewed in USA Today on the eve of publication. Prepub reviews were mixed, from a starred Booklist, which recommended it for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, to LJ, which said exactly the opposite — “..readers hoping for another Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will be left wanting.”

Nonfiction

12/8

Lillien, Lisa Hungry Girl Chew the Right Thing
This, the newest title in the popular series is a set of recipe cards, which obviously doesn’t work for libraries.

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Golf: An Unofficial and Unauthorized History of the World’s Most Preposterous Sport
Henry Beard
Retail Price: $16.00
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2009-12-08)
ISBN / EAN: 1439169934 / 9781439169933

Libraries we checked have not ordered this, although they own other golf titles by the author. S&S announced a 100,000 copy first printing.

Literary Life: A Second Memoir by Larry McMurtry, Simon & Schuster

Young Adult

12/8

Fallen
Lauren, Kate
Retail Price: $17.99
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2009-12-08)
ISBN / EAN: 0385738935 / 9780385738934

The first in a planned series about fallen angels (the Booklist review says these creatures seem “poised to become the new vampires.”) Prepub reviews are lukewarm (Booklist was the strongest, saying, “Although there’s not enough story to justify the length of this series opener, readers who stick with it get rewarded with a climactic payoff that far exceeds the buildup.”), but the Web site and trailer are getting buzz on blogs. Libraries are averaging 2:1 holds per copy. Warning; the book features an evil school librarian,

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