Titles to Know and Recommend, Week of January 16, 2017
In a twist, James Patterson publishes a hardcover next week featuring a character first introduced in one of his paperback original BookShots series rather than the other way around. Never Never (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Large Print; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample) features detective Harriet Blue of the Sydney Police Department. She appeared in the December BookShots title, Black & Blue, written in collaboration with a new Patterson co-author, Candice Fox, a crime writer who lives in Sydney. In addition, Patterson publishes a new middle grade title next week, the third in a series, House of Robots: Robot Revolution (Hachette/ jimmy patterson; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample) with co-author Chris Grabenstein.
In YA, Veronica Roth, author of the popular dystopian Divergent series, begins a new space opera series with Carve the Mark, (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen; HarperAudio). Booklist notes that, despite the change in genre, her themes are familiar, “Roth offers a richly imagined, often-brutal world of political intrigue and adventure, with a slow-burning romance at its core,” but SLJ warns,
fans of the earlier series “will find that this book has less romance and more violence.”
Arriving with three starred reviews is the second in Gregg Hurwitz’s thriller series, The Nowhere Man: An Orphan X Novel (Macmillan/Minotaur; Brilliance Audio). The first book garnered praise as well as a film deal prior to publication. Last year, it was announced that Bradley Cooper was in talks to star, but there’s been no news since. However, Hurwitz is working on another project with Cooper, as screen writer for a TV series based on the Pulitzer Prize winner, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, by Joby Warrick. Of this second book Booklist, writes “As good as Orphan X was, this is an even better novel, mostly because of its more claustrophobic setting… its captivating villain, and the way the author keeps ratcheting up the danger.” Hurwitz has signed for three more books in the series.
The titles highlighted in this column, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, earlyword-new-title-radar-week-of-jan-16-2017.
Media Attention
My Life, My Love, My Legacy, Coretta Scott King, Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, (Macmillan/Holt; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample)
Reviewed in this week’s New York Time Book Review, this is Martin Luther King’s widow’s memoir as told in an oral history to her friend, Reynolds, over 30 years. It is scheduled to be featured on Good Morning America as well as Nightline on Monday, Martin Luther King Day.
How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft, Edward Jay Epstein, (PRH/Knopf)
Epstein argues that Snowden is not a whistle blower but a spy for the Russians or the Chinese. It is reviewed skeptically on the cover of the New York Times Book Review this week by Nicholas Lemann, who is interviewed on this week’s “Book Review” podcast. He says that although Epstein never really substantiates his claims, that the book can be fun if you treat it “like reading a John LeCarre novel.”
Peer Picks
One LibraryReads pick hits shelves this week, Heartstone, Elle Katharine White (Harper Voyager; OverDrive Sample).
“A fun take on Pride and Prejudice in a fantasy setting. Merrybourne Manor has a gryphon infestation and has contracted with a band of Riders to kill them. As you can imagine, the main Rider is a little haughty and our heroine has a long memory. Familiar trials and tribulations occur with some detailed world-building, laying the groundwork for a sequel. Good for readers who don’t mind literary re-imaginings, love P&P, and Anne McCaffery’s Pern novels.” — Jenna Persick, Chester County Library, Exton, PA
Four Indie Next titles publish this week, from the January and February lists:
Little Deaths, Emma Flint (Hachette; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample).
“In 1965, Ruth Malone, recently separated from her husband, wakes to find her children gone. Both are found dead and Ruth finds herself the prime suspect, tried and convicted by the court of public opinion because she is a single parent and rumors abound about her drinking and dating habits. Flint has created a compelling whodunit based on true events, and I was riveted from page one. This is a literary thriller that will have you parked in your reading chair until you turn the last page!” —Sarah Harmuth Letke, Redbery Books, Cable, WI
Additional Buzz: It is one of Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of 2017:”‘Flint’s debut, set in 1965 Queens, follows a mother accused of killing her two children.”
The Guardian writes “Little Deaths is a strong and confident addition to the growing trend of domestic dystopias – novels about flawed, angry, hurt women navigating hostile social and intimate milieus that turn viciously punitive when those women rebel.”
It earned starred reviews from Booklist, LJ, and PW.
Homesick for Another World: Stories, Ottessa Moshfegh (PRH/Penguin; OverDrive Sample).
“This phenomenal collection of short stories has ruined me forever. Ottessa Moshfegh is brilliant when it comes to showing off the uglier, twisted side of humanity, the part that we would never share on Facebook or Instagram. Her characters are often desperate, hungry for something they might be able to obtain if only they could name it. Their bitterness often leads to grotesque, yet honest, reactions to the world around them. I can’t wait to recommend this dark little oddity to as many readers as possible.” —Becca Chavez, Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO
Additional Buzz: Time reviews it, saying it “showcases her mastery with tales of a range of creeps and weirdos in despair, looking for something that will make this world more palatable to them (or vice versa).”
New Republic subheads its review with “The twisted fairy tales of Ottessa Moshfegh” and writes it is “a compendium of 14 compulsive little tales.”
The collection tops GQ‘s list of “Books You Should Read in January” and BuzzFeed counts it as one of the “27 Brilliant New Books You Need To Read This Winter.”
It earned starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and PW.
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, Kathleen Rooney (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample).
“Join 85-year-old Lillian on a New Year’s Eve stroll through Manhattan, a city as changed by time as Lillian herself. As with Joyce’s Ulysses, the reader is privy to a life told in snapshots of memory within a single day. Based loosely on the life of Margaret Fishback, Lillian is a former Depression-era advertising copywriter for R.H. Macy’s and a poet of light verse. She is also a mother and an ex-wife. Rooney’s work has a light touch, but she is never frivolous. Rooney has the capacity to portray depth within brevity, pain within humor. Here is a novel that both entertains and enlightens, a balance rarely achieved.” —Sarah Sorensen, Bookbug, Kalamazoo, MI
Additional Buzz: It is one of Real Simple‘s picks of “The Best New Books to Read This Month,” writing “Inspired by the life of Margaret Fishback, a poet and Macy’s star ad writer of the 1930s, this novel beautifully depicts the evolution of a woman and the city she loves.”
It is also on Bustle’s list of “17 Of January 2017’s Best Fiction Books To Bring An Electrifying Start to Your New Year.” They say: ” This lovely novel has been compared to the writings of Dorothy Parker, and once you pick it up you’ll want to soak in it forever.”
It is one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month.
Another pre-pub star winner, it got rave reviews from Booklist, LJ, and PW.
Indelible, Adelia Saunders (Macmillan/Bloomsbury USA; OverDrive Sample).
“In her remarkable debut, Adelia Saunders develops an intriguing idea into an extraordinary book. When Magdalena looks at other people, she sees words describing their lives written on their skin. The impact is so disturbing that she often leaves her glasses off and walks through the world in a blur, almost missing an encounter with Neil, the American student upon whose face her own name is written. Would fate have demanded that they meet? The interwoven stories of Magdalena, Neil, and their families raise thought-provoking questions of destiny and freewill. Well done, Ms. Saunders!” —Gillian Kohli, Wellesley Books, Wellesley, MA
Additional Buzz: It is picked by Canadian librarians as a Loan Stars pick for January (as is Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk).
Tie-ins
There are no tie-ins this week. For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.