With Mother’s Day and Memorial Day approaching, new titles are dramatically on the increase – particularly fiction and celebrity memoirs. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for next week.

Watch List

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (Ecco) is a picaresque novel about two hired guns, the fabled Sisters brothers, set against in the California Gold Rush. Librarians have been buzzing about it on Galley Chat and it’s a May Indie Next pick.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon (Grand Central) is an unlikely love story about a young white woman with a developmental disability and an African-American deaf man, both locked away in an institution in Pennsylvania in 1968, who fall deeply in love and escape together, finding refuge with a retired schoolteacher. It’s the #1 Indie Next Pick for May. It’s also the author’s fiction debut (although she wrote a well-received memoir, Riding in the Bus with My Sister).

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy (Atria Books) is the tale of a travel writer’s loves and betrayals, set in Cold War Berlin, by an American-born author who’s better known abroad (his nine previous novels have sold over five million copies, and he was awarded France’s Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). Kennedy spoke at a ALA MidWinter, at a panel hosted by LJ‘s Barbara Hoffert, who said “if other readers end up as engrossed as I was, then this is the year that Kennedy becomes a household name in America.” Early reviews are also positive, and it gets a 100,000-copy print run.

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson (S&S) chronicles the lives of the Erickson family as the children come of age in 1970s and ’80s America, as they grow out of their rural Iowan roots. It’s the #5 May Indie Next pick, and Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-: “even minor characters receive the full attention of the author’s prodigious talents; each one is drawn so vividly that they never feel less than utterly real.”

Returning RA Favorites

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin) gets a 350,000 printing and is the #8 Indie Next pick for May.

Doc by Mary Doria Russell (Random House) is the #2 Indie Next Pick for May.

The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe (GalleryBooks) gets a 100,000-copy printing.

Usual Suspects

Sixkill by Robert B Parker (Putnam) is the last Spenser novel completed by Parker before his death in January 2010, and has a 300,000-copy print run. But this is not the last we’ll see of Parker – there are two revamped series coming. On September 13, Parker’s Jessie Stone series will continue with Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues, by a writer producer and screenwriter Michael Brandman, who co-wrote and co-produced the television movies featuring Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone. And in Spring 2012, the longrunning Spenser PI series will continue, written by Ace Atkins, whose last few novels have been published by Putnam. He begins a new series of his own with The Ranger, starting in June.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Ace Books) Sookie Stackhouse #11

The Devil’s Light by Richard North Patterson (Scribner)

10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little Brown)

Celeb Memoirs

There are several celebrity memoirs coming out next week – in fact, May is such a big month for them that USA Today featured several in a round up (remember when we thought the genre was dead?).

If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won’t by Betty White (Putnam)

My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke (Crown Archetype) is slated for a lot of media. USA Today has an early interview, and Van Dyke will appear on Entertainment Tonight on May 3, The View on May 4, NPR’s Morning Edition on May 4 or 5, and the Today Show on May 5.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir by Steven Tyler (Ecco) is on the cover of the May 2 issue of People. On May 4, Tyler will be on Good Morning America.

Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant by Jennifer Grant (Knopf) is a memoir by the dapper film star’s only child, from his brief marriage to Dyan Cannon. Kirkus is not a fan: “It sounds like a lovely life, but it makes for an irritating reading experience.” On May 1, Parade will run an excerpt and the author will appear on CBS Sunday Morning.

From This Moment On by Shania Twain (Atria) is the mega-selling country singer’s memoir of her hardscrabble Canadian childhood. She will be on Oprah on May 3 and the Today Show on May 4;  plus a show called “Why Not? With Shania Twain” will debut on OWN May 1.

More Nonfiction

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma (Grand Central) wowed the crowd at MidWinter ALA and at the AAP Author Buzz panel. Indies like it, too. It’s on the May Indie Next list and is one of the indies’ most-ordered titles for summer.

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother by Janny Scott (Riverhead Books) is written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter.

Children’s

The Kane Chronicles: Book Two: Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

(Hyperion Books)

Titles to Watch

Please Look After Mom by Kyung Sook-Shin (Knopf) marks the first U.S. publication by the author, who is popular in South Korea, where this book sold more than a million copies. It’s about the self-absorbed family of a woman who gets lost in a Seoul train station and never reappears, and dramatizes the contrast between rural and city values that have lead to the family’s neglect of this selfless mother. Janet Maslin’s New York Times review doesn’t make it sound like it will jump the cultural divide, though it may help spur further media attention.

Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman (Grove) is this accomplished novelist’s fiction tribute to the wife he lost in a swimming accident in Mexico in 2007, and was excerpted in the New Yorker. It’s been selected as the #1 pick by independent booksellers for the month of April.

 Usual Suspects

I’ll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark (S&S) gets the full treatment by the Wall St. Journal, with a cover story on the veteran mystery writer’s thriving career at age 83, and her children’s resistance to bringing in ghost writers to continue her mega-bestselling legacy when someday she is gone.

44 Charles Street by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) is the story of a 30-something gallery owner who takes in boarders at her West Village brownstone in New York City after her boyfriend leaves. Kirkus calls it, “classic Steel, phoned in. Much repetitious ruminating and a stultifying, unmusical prose style too often obstruct the intended edgy escapism.”

Miles to Go: The Second Journal of the Walk Series by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster) is the second installment in a series about an executive who loses everything and decides to walk from Seattle to Key West. Library Journal says, “the first book in this five-parter left him in Spokane, so in his search for hope he has a long way to go. . . . for some readers this walk got off to a slow start, so you might want to gauge interest before deciding how many to order.”

Elizabeth I by Margaret George (Viking) depicts the Virgin Queen as an actual virgin married to England, whose interests she pursues with shrewdness, courage, and wisdom borne of surviving the deaths of her family. Library Journal says the writing is formal “neither cinematic nor intimately personal,” and that the plot is “plodding,” with a focus more on accurate history than fiction that may “try the patience of casual readers.”

The Silver Boat by Luanne Rice (Pamela Dorman Books) is a portrait of three far-flung sisters who come home to Martha’s Vineyard one last time.

Mobbed: A Regan Reilly Mystery by Carol Higgins Clark (Scribner) finds private investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, in a case that takes them through key sites in New Jersey.

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) brings back the Lincoln Lawyer for a “satisfying” case that pits him against a real-estate foreclosure mill, according to Kirkus.

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg (Random House) follows the journey of a couple who meet again after their divorce. Library Journal calls it “classic Berg, who’s always beloved if not always tip-top best seller.”

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer (Riverhead) is about a town where the women pull away from their men, as the high school puts on a production of Lysistrata (in which the women of Greece refuse to have sex until the men end the Peloponnesian War). Publishers Weekly calls it “a plodding story with a killer hook.”

Young Adult

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Claire (Margaret K. Elderry) is the fourth book of the internationally bestselling series, and promises, love, temptation and betrayal.

Movie Tie-in

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Junior Novel (Disney Press) marks the return of Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), and other familiar faces in the film release on May 20.

Library holds are rising rapidly for The Paris Wife by Paul McClain. More will be coming; it’s a People Pick in the 3/7 issue and has risen to #37 on Amazon sales rankings. A fictionalized version of the love story between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife and their lives in Paris in the 20’s (which Hemingway paid tribute to in A Moveable Feast, published after his death), People says it is “impossible to resist.”

The Paris Wife Web site provides historical background material as well as a photo gallery.

The Paris Wife: A Novel Paula McLain Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2011-02-22) ISBN / EAN: 0345521307 / 9780345521309

Audio; Random House and Books On Tape

OverDrive; WMA Audio and Adobe EPUB eBook

The #1 Indie Pick for February, West of Here by Jonathan Evison, arrives next week. Also a popular choice on EarlyWord‘s Galley Chat, the novel follows the past and present residents of a fictional town on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. Reader ratings are also high on GoodReads.com.

Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B+”: “Characters occasionally blur together, and some of the more interesting ones don’t get the attention they warrant, as the large scope hinders any close-ups. Still, if you take a step back, the big picture is pretty impressive.”

More media is bound to pay attention, since the book was highlighted on the BEA Editor’s Buzz Panel. And as we’ve mentioned before, this titles earned a rare triumvirate of starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. LJ sums up, “Fans of Jess Walter and Jim Lynch will be thrilled to find another author whose love for the Pacific Northwest and its people shines through with humor and clarity.”

At libraries we checked, there are modest holds on modest orders.

West of Here Jonathan Evison Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2011-02-15) ISBN / EAN: 1565129520 / 9781565129528

Audio: Highbridge; 9781615731169; $39.95

Usual Suspects On Sale Next Week

A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer (St. Martin’s) is medical thriller with a 200,000 copy printing, in which terrorists release a virus in the Capitol during the State of the Union address. Booklist says, “Palmer’s track record (15 medical thrillers, 15 international best-sellers) assures a full-court press on the promotional front, and his latest, though disappointing, will get it, from national print and radio ads to an electronic avalanche.”

The Twelfth Insight: The Hour of Decision by James Redfield (Grand Central) is the fourth entry in the Celestine series.

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund (Atria) is the fifth novel featuring journalist Annika Bengtzon by the co-author of The Postcard Killers with James Patterson. Library Journal says, “Marklund blends the sociology and politics of contemporary Sweden with a taut mystery, capturing the Scandinavian chill as she builds suspense to an eminently satisfying conclusion.”

Dirtier Than Ever by Vickie Stringer (Atria) takes readers on another bumpy ride in this urban fiction outing with Red, Bacon, and Q–the love-hate triangle from Dirty Red and Still Dirty.

Lucky Stiff by Deborah Coonts (Forge) is the sequel to the chick-lit-gone-wild debut Wanna Get Lucky?, featuring Las Vegas casino troubleshooter Lucky O’Toole. Library Journal says, “watching Lucky navigate the dangerous shoals of the male-dominated world of gambling is a delight. Las Vegas is the perfect setting for this witty tale of misdirection and larger-than-life characters. Fans of J.A. Konrath’s Jack Daniels series will love this.”

Young Adult

Angel by James Patterson (Little Brown) is the seventh Maximum Ride novel, in which evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution.

Worth Watching

Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson (Pamela Dorman/Viking) was an October Sneak Peak on BookReporter.com, which compared this historical novel about a British commander’s wife who trades life at sea for the English countryside to Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith.

You have to wonder if, when Jed Rubenfeld, author of the 2006 best seller Interpretation of Murder, contemplated the release of his next book, he imagined that he would be doing interviews for another role, as husband of “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua.

Reviews are also coming in for Rubenfeld’s second novel, The Death Instinct, a mystery based on a real story. Today’s New York Times calls it a “tremendous follow-up” to his previous book. Earlier, Carol Memmott in USA Today, called it “brilliantly concocted and more than just a little eerie. The fictional and actual events surrounding the 1920 bombing are as relevant today as they were nearly a century ago.”

The Death Instinct Jed Rubenfeld Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2011-01-20) ISBN / EAN: 1594487820 / 9781594487828

Thorndike Large Print; ISBN 13: 9781410435620; $31.99

Audio: Books on Tape; 14 CDs; 9780307913883; $40

Sweeping the British Indie Awards last week, The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, has also been a hit in the six U.S. theaters in which it is currently showing.

Firth stars as King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, who overcame a debilitating speech impediment with the help of therapist Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush). He went on to be beloved for his ability to boost morale in his countrymen during WWII.

The story is also told in book form by the grandson of Lionel Logue and Sunday Times of London journalist, Peter Conradi.

The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy Mark Logue, Peter Conradi Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Sterling – (2010-11-26) ISBN / EAN: 140278676X / 9781402786761

Next week, book lovers and Jackie Onassis fans may enjoy the first of two books looking at her career as an editor in the publishing industry: Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books by William Kuhn.

According to Kirkus, “Kuhn argues that Jackie touched on forbidden themes in her own life—her husband’s adultery, the humiliation of marriage, political machinations—only through her list, including such books as Barbara Chase-Riboud’s controversial novel Sally Hemings (1979) and Elizabeth Crook’s novel about Sam Houston and Eliza Allen, The Raven’s Bride (1991).

The New York Times Fashion section explores the rivalry (complete with trash talk) between author Kuhn and Greg Lawrence, whose Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis will arrive on January 4 from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.

Libraries we checked have modest orders in line with modest holds for both titles.

Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books William Kuhn Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-12-07) ISBN / EAN: 0385530994 / 9780385530996

…………………………

Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Greg Lawrence Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 0312591934 / 9780312591939

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week

Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man by Steve Harvey (Amistad) is the popular radio show host’s followup to his #1 New York Times bestselling book of relationship advice, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. Lots of publicity is line up, including Good Morning America on Tuesday, publication day and a profile in the NYT Sunday Arts & Leisure section (tentatively scheduled for 12/19).

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop by Dan Charnas (NAL Hardcover) chronicles the financial history of rap and hip-hop.

Fiction: Usual Suspects

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy with Grant Blackwood (Putnam), the newest geopolitical military thriller with Jack Ryan, arrives with a 1.75 million printing.

Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland by Susan Fraser King (Crown) is historical fiction set in 11th-century Scotland. PW says, “Though clichés often plague the prose… King’s blend of historical figures and fictional characters turns a medieval icon into a believable mother, wife, and ruler.”

Buttons and Bones by Monica Ferris (Berkley Hardcover) follows Betsy Devonshire, amateur investigator and owner of Crewel World Needlework in investigating another mystery.

Young Adult

Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy Series #6) by Richelle Mead is the final installment in the bestselling Vampire Academy series.

Here’s an idea for a book display — “Guilty Pleasures.” NPR beat us to it, with their “My Guilty Pleasure” series, in which writers talk about “the books they love but are embarrassed to be seen reading.”

Last night, Lionel Shriver (author of National Book Award finalist, So Much for That) said her guilty pleasure is an erotic historical novel, As Meat Loves Salt, by Maria McCann, sending the book to #62 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

As Meat Loves Salt (Harvest Original) Maria McCann Retail Price: $30.95 Paperback: 565 pages Publisher: Harvest Books – (2003-01-07) ISBN / EAN: 015601226X / 9780156012263

Kathleen Kent returns to the territory of her standout 2008 debut, The Heretic’s Daughter, with a prequel set in 17th century Massachusetts, in The Wolves of Andover.  Based on the life of a woman from whom Kent is descended, the novel takes place before she became a victim of the Salem Witch trials, during her relationship with an Englishman involved in the beheading of Charles I, who is pursued by assassins.

Early reviews are good:

PW: “Kent doesn’t disappoint….[she] brings colonial America to life by poking into its dark corners and finding its emotional and personal underpinnings.”

Booklist: “Part historical fiction, part romance, and part suspense…. Skillfully meshing these various elements, the authors latest effort is bound to please fans of each.”

Kirkus: “Kent has more fun with the Londoners—Johnny Depp could play almost any of the baddies—than her somewhat morose ancestors, but she lovingly captures their daily grind and brings looming dangers, whether man or beast, to harrowing life.

Modest holds on modest orders in libraries we checked.

The Wolves of Andover: A Novel Kathleen Kent Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books – (2010-11-08) ISBN / EAN: 0316068624 / 9780316068628

Usual Suspects On Sale Next Week

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books) continues the popular children’s book series.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King (Scribner) is a collection of four new horror tales. In a starred review, Booklist says, “King begins his afterword by stating, ‘The stories in this book are harsh.’ The man ain’t whistlin Dixie…. King provides four raw looks at the limits of greed, revenge, and self-deception.” It’s also an Amazon Editor’s pick this month.

Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci (Grand Central) is the fifth Camel Club political thriller. PW is not impressed: “Those who prefer intelligence in their political thrillers will have to look elsewhere.”

Cross Fire (Alex Cross Series #17) by James Patterson (Grand Central) finds detective Alex Cross’s wedding plans on hold while he investigates the assasination of Washington D.C.’s most corrupt congressman and lobbyist.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley (Riverhead) follows an old man who undergoes a procedure to cure his dementia at the cost of longevity. PW says, “Though the details of the experimental procedure are less than convincing, Mosley’s depiction of the indignities of old age is heartbreaking, and Ptolemy’s grace and decency make for a wonderful character and a moving novel.”

I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg (Random House) is about a former beauty queen and realtor in Birmingham, Alabama planning a graceful exit from her burdensome life as the housing bubble implodes. Kirkus was disappointed: “What could have been an edgy excursion into the individual toll of the Recession on real women devolves into fluff.”

Sunset Park by Paul Auster (Holt) is the veteran author’s 16th novel, set in a house full of 20-something squatters in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood. It gets a starred review from Booklist: “In a time of daunting crises and change, Auster reminds us of lasting things, of love, art, and the miraculous strangeness of being alive.”

Life Times by Nadine Gordimer (FSG) is a collection of stories set in the Nobelist’s native South Africa. Kirkus calls it “a welcome collection by a master of English prose—lucid and precisely written, if often bringing news only of disappointment, fear and loss.”

The Box: Tales from the Darkroom by Gunter Grass and Krishna Winston (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is a fictionalized exploration of the childhood memories of his eight children, from whose lives he was mostly absent.

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, the Australian author of The House of Riverton and The Forgotten Garden, hinges on a 1941 letter that finally reaches its destination in 1992 with powerful repercussions for a London book editor. PW calls it “an enthralling romantic thriller.”

It’s not easy for a debut novel to pick up buzz amid the cacophony of the fall season, but Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has done a good job of marshalling its enthusiasm for The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart.

This tale about the antipathy between a father and his fourth son, whose birth in 1895 Texas precipitated his mother’s death, is an Indie Next pick for October.  The author was also a featured speaker at the Mountains and Plains trade show. And the Wall St. Journal recently ran an excerpt.

Library Journal says this “intense, fast-paced debut novel is hard to put down. Machart’s hard-hitting style is sure to capture fans of Cormac McCarthy and Jim Harrison.”

Kirkus is slightly less enthusiastic, however, declaring that “the novel splinters into a variety of episodes, all of them rendered with flair. Though he navigates erratically within it, Machart has created a dense, vibrant world.”

On Goodreads, 56 reviewers gave it an average of 3.57 out of 5 stars.

Libraries we checked have modest holds on modest orders, but this looks like one to watch.

It arrives with an atmospheric book trailer.

The Wake of Forgiveness Bruce Machart Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade – (2010-10-21) ISBN / EAN: 0151014434 / 9780151014439

Large Type; Thorndike; 2/16/2011; 9781410435248; $30.99
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Actor James Franco also makes his debut next week with a story collection, Palo Alto, about an interconnected group of teenagers in the same zip code. The media has been making a big deal of it — though not all reviews are positive.

The hoopla began last March, when a story was excerpted in Esquire. An interview and excerpt ran on NPR last week. And this week, Franco is interviewed in the book section of People magazine (not online).

But the Los Angeles Times calls it “the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance.”

Half the libraries we checked did not have the book on order, while the other half had modest orders in line with modest reserves.

Palo Alto: Stories James Franco Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 1439163146 / 9781439163146

Usual Suspects On Sale Next Week

Worth Dying For by Lee Child (Delacorte) is the 15th novel starring ex-military cop Jack Reacher, which his publisher working to bring to a new level of sales. Child will appear on CBS Sunday Morning on Oct. 24 or Oct. 31.

Chasing the Night by Iris Johansen (St. Martin’s) follows a forensic sculptor’s attempts to help a CIA agent find her missing daughter.

The Templar Salvation by Raymond Khoury (Dutton) chronicles the quest over the centuries for a controversial document from early Christianity. Booklist calls it a “well constructed blend of historical mystery and present-day thriller. [Khoury] doesn’t break any new ground, but theres no denying he’s got the storytelling chops and the imagination to spin an exciting yarn.”

In the Company of Others by Jan Karon is the second installment in her Father Tim series, in which a long-awaited Irish vacation turns into a busman’s holiday. Kirkus says, “long journal entries do little to advance the present story but are sometimes a welcome diversion from it. Readers who are not devoted followers of Karon may be impatient with the glacial pace of this installment.”

Young Adult

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick is the sequel to the author’s young adult breakout, Hush Hush.

Jennifer Donnelly, whose sophisticated young adult novel A Northern Light won a Printz honor back in 2002/2003, returns with Revolution, which has been getting good trade reviews. It’s a teen drama about a high school senior grieving over her younger brother’s murder and her mother’s subsequent breakdown, who becomes obsessed with a diary written by a young woman during the French Revolution while on Christmas break in Paris with her father and his pregnant 25 year-old wife.

Orders are in line with reserves at libraries we checked, but this one may get more media attention, and word among early readers is that it has crossover appeal to adults.

Booklist is enthusiastic:

The ambitious story, narrated in Andi’s grief-soaked, sardonic voice, will wholly capture patient readers with its sharply articulated, raw emotions and insights into science and art; ambition and love; history’s ever-present influence; and music’s immediate, astonishing power: It gets inside of you . . . and changes the beat of your heart.

And more than 75 reviewers on GoodReads give it 4.08 out of 5 stars.

Revolution Jennifer Donnelly Retail Price: $18.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2010-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 0385737637 / 9780385737630

Other Notable Young Adult and Children’s Fiction

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (Hyperion) begins a new series set in the same universe as his bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Beautiful Darkness by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia is the followup to the bestselling young adult vampire novel Beautiful Creatures, which was one of Amazon’s Top 10 picks for 2009.

Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser (HarperCollins) is a picture book for young readers.

Usual Adult Suspects:

Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre (Viking) gets the thumbs up from Kirkus: “Le Carre uses still another aspect of international relations in the new world order—the powerful, equivocal position of money launderers to the Russian mob—to put a new spin on a favorite theme: the betrayal that inevitably follows from sharply divided loyalties.”

American Assassin (Mitch Rapp Series #11) by Vince Flynn (S&S) introduces the young Mitch Rapp, as he takes on his first assignment.

Forbidden Places by Penny Vincenzi (Overlook) is a sprawling saga set in the WWII-era English countryside and revolves around the ordeals of three young women. Booklist says “Vincenzi does an admirable job of evoking the bustle and fears of wartime England, and providing plenty of juicy plot twists and turns to keep readers hooked.”

We’re excited to see good press coming for a book we’ve fallen in love with, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Washington Post critic Ron Charles greets it with a rave review:

A smart, thoughtful novel that sinks deep into a Southern hamlet of the American psyche… I was reminded of another fine novel about the poisoned friendship between a white boy and a black boy called Prince Edward, by Dennis McFarland, but Franklin’s tale has those Southern Gothic shadows that make it darker and more unnerving.

It is also the #1 Indie Next Pick for October, and goes on sale next week. Libraries we checked have modest holds on modest orders, but other media is likely to take notice, so this is worth keeping an eye on – and reading!

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Tom Franklin Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0060594667 / 9780060594664

Notable Titles On Sale Next Week

Other Indie Next Picks

A Lily of the Field by John Lawton (Atlantic Monthly), the fifth Inspector Troy novel, is an Indie Next Pick for October. Utah bookseller Betsy Burton calls it “Lawton’s latest (and perhaps best) thriller…The mystery that lies at the heart of this convoluted tale centers on the two musicians, Meret and Victor, both uprooted, and adrift in a world changed utterly by war and by science.”

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg (Doubleday) is the tale of a woman who tries the right her childhood misdemeanors. It gets a lukewarm review from PW: “Goldberg’s unremarkable latest [is] a neatly constructed if hollow story of memory and deception.” But it is also an Indie Next Pick for October, which Oregon bookseller Helen Sinoradzki praises for the way each character “pushes Celia to acknowledge truths she’d rather not know. The ending, in all its perfect brevity, will keep you awake, hoping that Celia can go back to her life.”

Great House by Nicole Krauss (Norton) comes with much anticipation. The author’s previous novel was the 2005 hit, The History of Love, which spent nearly a year on the IndieBound Top Ten list in paperback. Krauss was recently chosen as one of the New Yorker‘s 20 under 40 best young writers. Writing about it for Indie Next, Ridgefield, CT bookseller Ellen Burns says, “The best books haunt and sometimes confuse you. They will make you think, feel, wonder, go back to earlier chapters, and finally, fully experience the story being told. Nicole Krauss’s new book does just that.” Entertainment Weekly agrees that the book is confusing, but doesn’t find that such a good thing, giving it just a B-. Amazon also selects it as one of their Best Books for Oct.

Usual Suspects

Reversal by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) features characters from two series: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch and maverick lawyer Mickey Haller. In a starred review, Booklist declared, “Reading this book is like watching a master craftsman, slowly and carefully, brick by brick, build something that holds together exquisitely, form and function in perfect alignment.”

Painted Ladies by Robert B. Parker (Putnam) is the 37th Spenser novel, posthumously published. Booklist says, “Spenser can still nail a person’s foibles on first meeting, still whip up a gourmet meal in a few minutes, still dispatch the thugs who haunt his office and his home, and do it all while maintaining a fierce love of Susan Silverman and English poetry (which he quotes frequently and always to good effect).”

Promise Me by Richard Paul Evans (S&S)  is a Christmas story that combines Evans’s usual holiday themes “with a bizarre twist lifted straight from science fiction,” says Booklist. “Readers will undoubtedly feel attached to Beth, even as they struggle to understand the bizarre relationship she finds herself entering into.”

Valcourt Heiress by Catherine Coulter (Putnam) is a historical romance set in medieval England.

Ken Follett was interviewed on All Things Considered last night about his new book, Fall of Giants, the first in his trilogy about the 1900’s, called “The Century Trilogy.”

The book, which arrives tomorrow, is expected to be the blockbuster of the season. It is now at #8 on Amazon sales rankings and rising.

Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy) Ken Follett Retail Price: $36.00 Hardcover: 985 pages Publisher: Dutton Adult – (2010-09-28) ISBN / EAN: 0525951652 / 9780525951650

Penguin Audio; UNABR; 9780142428276
Books on Tape Audio; UNABR; Narrator: John Lee; 9780307737380
Audio on OverDrive

The Starz eight-part series based on Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, is now complete and continues to be available on demand.

Historical fiction has been very good to Ken Follett. After the success of Pillars of the Earth and its sequel, World Without End, both set in 12th C England, he now turns his eyes toward the 20th century, with a planned trilogy that will cover the entire 100 years (and is thus called The Century Trilogy).

The first book, Fall of Giants arrives next week and is widely expected to be the blockbuster of the season. Using the formula he developed in the earlier series, the author follows several families through WWI to the early 1920’s. Prepub reviews all note the book’s length (Kirkus called it “cat squashing”), but applaud its readability. The publisher has announced a million copy first printing and it is already at #10 on Amazon sales rankings.

Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy) Ken Follett Retail Price: $36.00 Hardcover: 985 pages Publisher: Dutton Adult – (2010-09-28) ISBN / EAN: 0525951652 / 9780525951650

Penguin Audio; UNABR; 9780142428276
Books on Tape Audio; UNABR; Narrator: John Lee; 9780307737380
Audio on OverDrive
Spanish-language edition; La caida de los gigantes; Random House; 9780307741189

Other Notable Fiction On Sale Next Week

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris (Little, Brown) The illustrations are by Ian Falconer, but don’t expect these animals to be at all like Olivia. The new issue of Entertainment Weekly calls the book a “lurid beastiary…for the strong- stomached, these tales are toxic little treats, fun-size Snickers bars with a nougaty strychnine center.” If you’re having trouble grasping what that means, go here to Read an Excerpt. The book is already at #36 on Amazon sales rankings.

Don’t Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Little, Brown). About a mafia hit in a NYC steak house. Coauthor Roughan has worked with Patterson on several other titles, including Honeymoon, You’ve Been Warned and Sail.

The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War by Bernard Cornwell (Harper). The author’s first standalone set in America, about the Penobscot Expedition, a Revolutionary war battle considered the worst US naval disaster until Pearl Harbor.

Bury Your Dead: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Three Pines Mysteries) by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books). “Gamache’s excruciating grief over a wrong decision, Beauvoir’s softening toward the unconventional, a plot twist so unexpected it’s chilling, and a description of Quebec intriguing enough to make you book your next vacation there, all add up to a superior read. Bring on the awards.” (Kirkus)

To Fetch a Thief: A Chet and Bernie Mystery, Spencer Quinn (Atria). “Tender-hearted Chet and literal-minded Bernie are the coolest human/pooch duo this side of Wallace and Gromit.” (Kirkus)

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (FSG)

Entertainment Weekly loves the writing (“There are sentences here so powerfully precise and beautiful that they almost hover above the page”), but found the plot thin with a main character not worth caring about, resulting in a B. It’s an Indie Next Pick for Oct.

The cover proves how striking sepia can be.

Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund (Morrow). Also an Indie Next Pick for Oct, Booklist says this “… outlandish stew of biblical analogy, political thriller, futuristic speculation, and old-fashioned adventure story by the best-selling author of Ahabs Wife (1999) teases and frustrates the reader.”

Bound by Antonya Nelson, (Bloomsbury) Featured in O Magazine’s “Six Books to Watch for in October,” Booklist calls Nelson ” A short story writer of exhilarating wit and empathy, [who] returns to the novel after a decade with heightened authority” and describes the book as “Tightly coiled, edgy, and funny, this complex tale of transcendent friendship begins with a spectacular death.” Audio from Tantor.

Safe from the Sea, Peter Geye, (Unbridled). We’re part of the fan club for Unbridled Books, an independent press that manages to publish astonishingly high level fiction. This first novel is an Indie Next Pick for Oct,

Classic themes of redemption,reconciliation, and family ties are set against the awesome power and beauty of the north shore of Lake Superior. In the final weeks of his life, Olaf relives the story of his survival in an ore boat wreck decades earlier, and acknowledges his feelings of guilt and regret, while his estranged son Noah discovers that things are not always as they seem.

Booklist suggests, “Give this book to readers of David Guterson and Robert Olmstead, who will be captured by the themes of approaching death and the pain and solace provided by nature.”

How to Read the Air, Dinaw Mengestu, (Penguin). Both an Indie Next Pick for October and the lead in O Magazine‘s “Six Books to Watch for in October,” which describes this story of a first generation Ethiopian American as a “quiet and beautiful new novel [that]…transcends heartbreak and offers up the hope that despite all obstacles, love can survive.”

Childrens

Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion by Mo Willems (Balzer & Bray). Say it isn’t so! This is the final book in the series.

The Bells, Richard Harvell’s first novel rose to #213 (from #83,196) on Amazon sales rankings after an interview on the Diane Rehm Show

About a castrato in the 1700’s, the book garnered generally strong prepub reviews, with the exception of PW‘s, which calls it “overwrought.” LJ‘s Barbara Hoffert showed the most enthusiasm, calling it “wrenching and painfully triumphant.”

The Bells: A Novel Richard Harvell Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Crown – (2010-09-14) ISBN / EAN: 0307590526 / 9780307590527

Blackstone Audio; simultaneous release