Library Journal

Butler, Robert Olen. The Hot Country: A Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller. Mysterious Pr: Grove Atlantic. Oct. 2012. ISBN 9780802120465. $25. THRILLER
Having ranged from fine-tuned accounts of the Vietnamese immigrant experience in the Pulitzer Prize–winning A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain to the wicked fun of Hell, Butler now tries something completely different: a thriller. Christopher Marlowe (“Kit”) Cobb, an early 20th-century American war correspondent reporting on Mexico’s civil war. He witnesses the attempted assassination of a priest and the arrival of strange ships bearing German officials—and that’s just the beginning of his troubles. Especially promising for your smart thriller readers; with a 12-city tour to Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, Houston, and Phoenix.

Dekker, Ted. The Sanctuary. Center Street: Hachette. Oct. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9781599953359. $24.99. CHRISTIAN FICTION/THRILLER
Serving time for the murder of two abusive men, vigilante priest Danny Hansen is determined to abide by the rules. But when the woman he loves receives threats (and a couple of bloody fingers), he needs to break out of jail. Unless I miss my guess, suspenseful but not ugly-bloody.

Doctorow, Cory. Pirate Cinema. Tor Teen. Oct. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780765329080. $19.99. THRILLER/YA
Boing Boing coeditor and New York Times best-selling Doctorow again offers cutting-edge fiction that helps us rethink our brave new cyberworld. In trouble for using pirated movie clips to craft his own film, Trent McCauley stumbles upon an underworld of activist artists battling a bill in Parliament that would expand restrictions on Internet creativity. The setting is a dystopian near future Britain, but it could be now. And though the book is meant for a YA audience (note the publisher), it’s too relevant—and Doctorow’s writing generally too good—for adult readers to pass up. With a seven-city tour.

Evans, Richard Paul. A Winter Dream. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 369p. ISBN 9781451628036. $19.99. POP FICTION
Shoved out of the family business by his green-with-envy siblings, Joe soon triumphs as chief adviser to the CEO of another company. Then the siblings need his help. Sound familiar? In fact, it’s based on the Old Testament story of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors. More sparkly holiday hope from the author of the outrageously best-selling The Christmas Box, set for reissue this year in special 20th anniversary edition (ISBN 9781451696431. $14.99).

Flynn, Vince. Untitled. Emily Bestler: Atria: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9781416595212. $27.99. THRILLER
Joe Rickman’s bodyguards are dead, and Rickman himself is missing. Bad news, because Rickman ran clandestine operations in Afghanistan for eight years, spending a quarter billion dollars in cash on who knows what. Mitch Rapp is told to find Rick or else, and here’s the snag: he doesn’t think the guy was kidnapped. Another No. 1 New York Times best seller from Flynn?

Kostigen, Thomas M. Golden Dawn. Forge. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780765329332. $24.99. THRILLER
I hear there’s big in-house excitement for this debut thriller from a guy who’s been around the block, as ethics columnist for Dow Jones MarketWatch, a former editor of Bloomberg News, and coauthor of the New York Times best-selling The Green Book. And the premise is certainly eye-catching. The Golden Dawn is an ancient sect of Zoroastrians said to keep a secret regarding the leader who will arise before the End Times. Now the president of Iraq is exploiting this knowledge for his own unpleasant purposes, and he’ll soon have nuclear weapons to back up his efforts.

Wouk, Herman. The Lawgiver. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451699388. $25.99. CD: S. & S. Audio. POP FICTION
The author of The Caine Mutiny has always wanted to write a book about Moses, and now, at age 96, he’s finally done it. It’s not a sword-and-sand spectacle, though, interestingly, it’s about a sword-and-sand spectacle. The conceit here is that when a very, very rich Australian proclaims that he’ll finance a film about Moses as long as the script looks good, ambitious young writer-director Margo Solovei throws herself into the fray. Meanwhile, a certain author named Herman Wouk is called in by the rich guy to approve the script. This should be fun.

Barofsky, Neil.  Bailout: How I Watched Washington Rescue Wall Street While Abandoning Main Street. Free Pr: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451684933. $26.  CURRENT EVENTS
In 2008, Barofsky was appointed Special United States Treasury Department Inspector General to oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program. But he resigned his post in 2011, citing family reasons. Not a lot of word on the contents of this book, but the title says it all.

Criss, Peter. Makeup to Breakup. Scribner. Oct. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451620825. $26. MEMOIR
Wow, the musicians are really talking. Last week I featured memoirs from Billy Ray Cyrus, Kenny Rogers, John Taylor, Pete Townshend, and Neil Young, and note the Cyndi Lauper tell-all below. Here, founding KISS drummer Criss spills all about his painted band and his own version of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll.

Crothers, Tim. The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster. Scribner. Oct. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781451657814. $26. BIOGRAPHY/GAMES
At age 11, Phiona Mutesi had a lot of strikes against her; barely literate, she lived in the worst slums of Kampala, Uganda. Then a slum dweller who had become a missionary taught her to play chess, and three years later she was an international champion. Basing this book on his National Magazine Award–nominated story, Sports Illustrated senior writer Crothers tells a story that isn’t just inspirational but a corrective to our most damning assumptions.

Denby, David. Do the Movies Have a Future? S. & S. Oct. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781416599470. $27. FILM
These collected essays from the noted New Yorker critic don’t just talk about movies; they talk more broadly about where the movie business is going. As art is squeezed out by the car-crash mentality and digitization takes over, perhaps the whole business—which has long furnished America’s most popular form of entertainment—will end up dead. Here, too, are discussions of Denby’s favorite directors and the great critics James Agee and Pauline Kael. Essential for film fans.

Feinstein, Michael. The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451645309. $45 with CD. BIOGRAPHY/MUSIC
Ambassador of the Great American Songbook, as he’s called, Feinstein lucked out at age 20 when he got a job with Ira Gershwin. Here he shares both reminiscences of their six-year partnership and his unique insights into the glory that is George Gershwin’s music. When it comes to the great Gershwins, I’m not the only person to proclaim “Love Is Here To Stay,” and Feinstein’s structuring of his narrative in terms of 12 key songs is intriguing. Can’t wait to hear the accompanying CD.

Han Han. This Generation: Dispatches from China’s Most Popular Literary Star (and Race Car Driver). S. & S. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451660005. $23. MEMOIR/CURRENT EVENTS
After Han dropped out of high school, he wrote a novel titled Triple Door that has sold more than 20 million copies, then went on to become a singer, a sharp-tongued blogger of the moment, and a star on the rally racing circuit. Now he’s an international celebrity who’s changed our view of China, and his observations here range from racing to patriotism. Seriously, this sounds cool.

Lauper, Cyndi with Jancee Dunn. Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir. Atria: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781439147856. $28.99. MEMOIR/MUSIC
For girls (and others) who want to have fun: a memoir from Lauper, who’s sold more than 30 million albums globally and has been nominated for a stack of awards, including 14 Grammys. She starts here with her tough early years, when she abandoned home at age 17 and survived by her wits—and doing things like cleaning a Hare Krishna temple for free food. Then come the glories and (inevitable) hardships of fame.

McMurtry, Larry. Custer. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451626209. $40. BIOGRAPHY
McMurtry on George Armstrong Custer; now that should be larger than life. With no cavalry survivors and only scattered Indian accounts after Custer and his 7th Cavalry attacked a large Lakota Cheyenne village on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, it’s hard to say what really happened on that hot June day in 1876. But McMurtry’s chronicle of the man should be colorful—for one thing, there are 150 four-color illustrations.

Nepo, Mark. Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred. Free Pr: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451674668. $25. INSPIRATION
You’ll know cancer survivor Nepo from his No. 1 New York Times best seller, The Book of Awakening—not to mention his appearances on Good Morning America and Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday program (OWN TV). Emphasizing our relationships to wisdom, experience, and one another, he here uses his own hearing loss to explain how we can return daily to what really matters in life.

Pantsov, Alexander V. & Steven I. Levine. Mao: The Real Story. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 736p. ISBN 9781451654479. $35. BIOGRAPHY
Moscow-born Pantsov, now a history professor at Capital University and author of books like The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927, joins with China politics and foreign affairs expert Levine to craft a biography of one of the towering leaders/monsters of the 20th century. Key here is access to Russian documents not available to previous researchers. Interesting to see where this goes, since as China rises and rises, a new Mao biography seems important.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold. Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9781451662436. $32.50. CD: S. & S. Audio. MEMOIR
Body-building champion. Movie star. Governor of California. And immigrant. Schwarzenegger presents his life story as the realization of the American dream. Long on his achievements, then (note the subtitle), but he’s also said to be honest about his regrets—and that would pique reader interest. With a national tour.

Haghenbeck, F.G. The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451632835. pap. $15; eISBN 9781451632842. LITERARY
Not long ago, a series of notebooks and sketchbooks were unearthed at Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home in Coyoacán, Mexico, and although they were never confirmed as Kahlo’s property, award-winning Mexican author Haghenbeck imagines that, after the ever-ailing Kahlo nearly died, she was given one of them by her lover, Tina Modotti. Kahlo then poured her memories, ideas, and even recipes for The Day of the Dead feasts into its pages, so that we the readers of her book are swirled through her relationships (not only with faithless husband Diego Rivera but with Georgia O’Keeffe, for instance) and the development of her artistic gift. Meanwhile, folks from Trotsky to Hemingway, Dalí, and Henry Miller drop by. I’m betting on this because Kahlo is relentlessly fascinating, Haghenbeck comes well recommended, and the in-house support is strong.

Kristoff, Jay. Stormdancer. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9781250001405. $24.99; eISBN 9781250017918. FANTASY
Japanese steampunk? You bet. Since griffins no longer exist, Yukiko and her father are understandably distraught when the cruel and powerful Shogun of the Shima Isles demands that they procure one for him. Still, they obligingly hunt for one, and Yukiko eventually finds herself lost in the wilderness, alone except for a wounded griffin named Buruu. Together, despite betrayal and bloodshed, they challenge the forces on high. This first in the “Lotus Wars” series has five-star early reviews, and nearly 1000 folks have lined up on Goodreads to crack the covers. Get it.

Soli, Tatjana. The Forgetting Tree. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9781250001047. $25.99; eISBN 9781250019349. LITERARY
On her first time out, Soli made a firm impression with The Lotus Eaters, a New York Times best seller and James Tait Black Prize winner, so it’s good to welcome her back. Here, Claire throws over her high-class education to marry Forster, son of California citrus ranchers, though she knows it means grinding work and worry. Notwithstanding profound sorrows—among them the kidnapping and murder of her son—Claire loves the ranch, but now am implacable illness threatens to divide her from the land forever. Just as threatening: her mysterious and not always benevolent new caretaker, Mina. With a reading group guide and substantive promotion.

Welsh, Irvine. Skagboys. Norton. Sept. 2012. 560p. ISBN 9780393088731. $26.95. LITERARY
If you love Welsh’s enduringly edgy Trainspotting, you’ll be excited to hear that this book is billed as a prequel—and as an alternate. All the lads are here: Mark Renton, whose life soars up (he’s first in his family to go to university), then down (his aspirations are thwarted by Thatcher-era policies); Spud Murphy, facing unending joblessness; Tommy Lawrence, bravely resisting a life of crime; and of course Sick Boy. Here’s how they hoped, and here’s how they fell prey to heroin and despair. Not pretty, thank goodness.

Rushdie, Salman. Joseph Anton: A Memoir. Random. Sept. 2012. 656p. ISBN 9780812992786. $30; eISBN 9780679643883. CD: Random Audio. MEMOIR
Placed under a fatwa by the Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989, distinguished author Rushdie was forced underground to save his life. He needed an alias for use by the armed police assigned to protect him and so chose Joseph Anton, which blended the first names of two writers he loved, Conrad and Chekhov. Here he recounts over nine years of moving from safe house to safe house, mastering despair, fighting back, bonding with his protectors, and enlisting the support of governments, journalists, and fellow writers worldwide. His memoir matters not simply because of startling personal detail but because his experience presaged a global battle over freedom of speech that continues today; With a six-city tour to Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; the extensive publicity includes an NPR campaign.

Stahr, Walter. Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man. S. & S. Sept. 2012. 608p. ISBN 9781439121160. $32.50; eISBN 9781439127940. BIOGRAPHY
Progressive New York governor and U.S. senator, staunch abolitionist (“there is a higher law than the Constitution” he said of its legalizing slavery), secretary of state under Lincoln and his closest friend and adviser (he persuaded France and England not to recognize the Confederacy, which was important to the Union’s victory), target of Lincoln’s assassin, and facilitator of America’s acquisition of both Alaska and Hawaii, William Henry Seward was a significant figure in U.S. history. He was also, apparently, a grand fellow who enjoyed a good story and a cigar. Not a lot out there on Seward for the lay reader; here’s hoping the author of John Jay: Founding Father will do him justice.

Ashcroft, Frances. The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body. Norton. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780393078039. $28.95. SCIENCE
From the first stirrings in the primordial muck to our brain’s elaborate pulsings when we read or watch Shakespeare, electricity is life, and much-honored Oxford physiologist Ashcroft—recently winner of the top honor in the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards—explains how it drives the body. Historical perspective, too (the book harks back to the Greeks); insight from a master.

The Best Science Writing Online 2012. ed. by Jennifer Ouellette. Scientific American/Farrar. Sept. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780374533342. pap. $16. SCIENCE
You have to love a science writer whose accomplishments include maintaining the Cocktail Party Physics blog. That’s Ouellette, who here guest edits the sixth edition of an anthology launched by Bora Zivkovic, editor of the blog network at Scientific American. With pieces ranging from fluids to fungi, written by rising stars, here’s online writing about science—how much more cutting edge can you get?

Brown, Lester R. Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity. Norton. Sept. 2012. 160p. ISBN 9780393088915. $27.95. SCIENCE/POLICY
As the subtitle suggests, Brown—president of the Earth Policy Institute, a MacArthur Fellow, and a prolific author to boot (e.g., World on the Edge)—has something potent to say about the human-made aspect of the famines that keep stalking this planet. Dedicated readers will appreciate.

Cantu, Robert, MD & Mark Hyman. Concussions and Our Kids: America’s Leading Expert on How To Protect Young Athletes and Keep Sports Safe. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780547773940. $27. SPORTS/HEALTH
Concussion has become a major issue in sports, plaguing professional athletes and youngsters alike. A clinical professor of neurosurgery and codirector of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, as well as chair of the Department of Surgery at Emerson Hospital, Cantu has treated of thousands of patients with brain trauma. Here he both explains how to treat concussions and, more important, how to prevent them. There will be national TV coverage, so expect interest.

Chafe, William H. Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780809094653. $28. BIOGRAPHY
That the personal is political is a well-worn adage, but it takes on new meaning when examining not one politician but two—specifically, Bill and Hillary Clinton, whose commitment to each other, as well as to key issues like race and gender equality, have shaped their careers. Duke history professor Chafe, whose numerous titles include The Rise and Fall of the American Century, considers their early years, “copresidency,” tempestuous relationship, and more.

Cotton, Dorothy. If Your Back’s Not Bent: The Role of the Citizenship Education Program in the Civil Rights Movement. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780743296830. $25; eISBN 9781439187425. AUTOBIOGRAPHY
This autobiography by Cotton, former director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Citizens Education Project and the only woman in Martin Luther King’s inner circle, was featured here as a pick in September 2011. The subtitle change since then (from “How the Civil Rights Movement Gained Victory”) suggests a shift in focus that makes the book more personal.

Dauch, Richard. American Drive: The Road to More Jobs, a Stronger Economy, and Renewed Industrial Dominance in America. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781250010827. $27.99; eISBN 9781250010834. ECONOMICS
In 1994, after 30 years in the automotive industry, Dauch decided to get behind the wheel and bought an ailing axle and supply company, which included five crumbling plants in the center of Detroit. After rebuilding the plants, renegotiating with unions, and instituting job training, he opened up for business—and made a $60 million profit in the first month. His account is being positioned as a blueprint for fixing our economic woes.

Eco, Umberto. Inventing the Enemy: Essays. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780547640976. $25. ESSAYS
Eco’s recent The Prague Cemetery proposed that countries needs enemies and invent them if none are to be found—an intriguingly relevant thought in today’s world and the basis of one of the essays in his new collection. Other topics: censorship, Wikileaks, James Joyce’s Ulysses, lost islands, and—not surprisingly from the author of the immortal The Name of the Rose—the medieval world. Bonbons for the literati and maybe others.

Elie, Paul. Soundabout: Reinventing Bach. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 496p. ISBN 9780374281076. $30. MUSIC
A senior fellow with Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs whose first book, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, received the PEN/Martha Albrand Prize, Elie explains how Bach shaped music—not simply through his ineffable compositions but by perfecting the tuning scheme we use today, for instance—and how subsequently Bach has been shaped by musicians from Albert Schweitzer to Pablo Casals, Glenn Gould, and Yo-Yo Ma. Today, technology from smartphones to multimedia presentations is allowing us to hear Bach’s multiple voices in different ways. Such a cool idea if it works.

Gottman, John & Nan Silver. What Makes Love Last?: How To Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal. S. & S. Sept. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9781451608472. $26; eISBN 9781451608496. SELF-HELP
Gottman runs the Love Lab at the University of Washington, Seattle, which sounds hippy-dippy until you realize that his 35 years of research into marriage have earned him honors from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychological Association, among other organizations. Here he talks about maintaining trust, rebuilding after betrayal, and watching out for what he calls sliding door moments—pivotal points when a couple can connect more deeply or start to spin apart. Bigger than your standard self-help stuff.

Makary, Marty. MD. Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781608198368. $28. HEALTH
The Johns Hopkins surgeon who developed the checklist that inspired Atul Gawande’s best-selling The Checklist Manifesto, Makary here challenges the lack of transparency in health care, which leaves patients ignorant and error rates uncomfortably high despite efforts to curb them. Here he argues for accountability, aiming to reward the good doctors and ditch the bad ones. Let’s hear it from the inside! With a five-city tour to Baltimore, Boston, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York.

Marshall, Penny. My Mother Was Nuts. New Harvest: Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780547892627. $26. MEMOIR
Marshall started out as Laverne in the beloved sitcom Laverne and Shirley but made her mark as the first woman to direct films that made more than $100 million, namely, Big and A League of Their Own. Your chance to spend some more time in Hollywood.

Min, Janice. How To Look Hot in a Minivan: A Real Woman’s Guide to Losing Weight, Looking Great, and Dressing Chic in the Age of the Celebrity Mom. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780312658977. $26.99; eISBN 9781429960588. FITNESS/GROOMING
The former editor of US Weekly and current editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, Min knows how Hollywood types make motherhood look glam. Now she’s sharing these secrets with ordinary mortals. Too late for me, but the rest of you might be interested; check out the author tour and heavyweight promotion, which will include fashion, parenting, and mommy blogs.

Pinsky, Drew. Recovering Intimacy. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781451605716. $26; eISBN 9781451605730. SELF-HELP
Despite our in-your-face interconnectedness via social media, achieving true intimacy is hard—some would say harder than ever. Doctor, best-selling author, and TV personality, Pinsky explains how to sense when a relationship is faltering and to build and maintain deep personal bonds, whether with friends, family, or partners. Pinsky has fans.

Roth, Marco. The Scientists: A Family Romance. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 192p. ISBN 9780374210281. $23. MEMOIR
Dinnertime conversations about scientific advances and house concerts open to guests—that’s what it was like for Roth, who grew up in New York, the only child of a doctor and a concert pianist. Then his father started exhibiting the first signs of AIDS, which he had contracted in the 1980s, radically rearranging Roth’s world and leaving behind a legacy of silence. A cofounder of n + 1 and recipient of the 2011 Roger Shattuck Prize for Criticism, Roth can be expected to offer an elegant examination of what we learn from our parents and what we have to learn for ourselves.

Self, Robert O. All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s. Hill & Wang: Farrar. Sept. 2012. 512p. ISBN 9780809095025. $30. HISTORY
Here’s what family values have meant to the Left since the 1960s: first Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and War on Poverty, then the fight for racial and gender equality, then the fight for gay rights, health care reform, and welfare reform. Those multiplying interests have fractured Leftist ranks, allowing the Right to sweep in with its version of family values: a single-minded traditional take. So argues Brown history professor Self, a James A. Rawley Prize winner for American Babylon, who’s clarifying an idea many of us have sensed for some time. Intriguing to think of this as backdrop for the elections.

Silber, William L. Volcker: Central Banker. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781608190706. $30. BIOGRAPHY
We owe a lot to Paul A. Volcker. As Federal Reserve chair, he helped curb booming inflation in the 1970s, while as chair of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board he grappled with 2008’s financial implosion; Obama dubbed the centerpiece of his Wall Street regulation the Volcker Rule. Silber is not just director of the Glucksman Institute for Research in Securities Markets at NYU’s Stern School of Business but an author as well—from trade titles to the standard textbook Money, Banking and Financial Markets—so should be able to explain Volcker’s accomplishments to the financially challenged.

Sullivan, Robert. My American Revolution. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780374217457. $26. HISTORY
Maybe the shot heard ’round the world was fired in Lexington, MA, but most of the fighting during the Revolutionary War took place in the Middle Colonies. This I know, having grown up in a family deeply invested in supporting Trenton’s Old Barracks and in visiting Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge. Sullivan wanted to experience the war where it actually happened, so he witnessed reenactments of the crossing of the Delaware, tramped through New Jersey backyards, built a Colonial-style signal beacon, and even evacuated illegally from Brooklyn to Manhattan in a handmade boat. History as lived, not just read—which sounds great.

Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Rethinking Character and Intelligence. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780547564654. $27. EDUCATION
Listen up, pushy parents; intelligence is not necessarily the attribute children need to develop most. Psychologists, neuroscientists, and even economists are now refocusing on qualities like perseverance, optimism, and curiosity as the true catalysts of success. So may we now throw out the SATs? This book served as the basis of a New York Times magazine cover story, and there’s a 12-city tour to Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Montreal, so expect demand.

Tyler, Patrick. Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite Who Run the Country—And Why They Can’t Make Peace. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 560p. ISBN 9780374281045. $30. POLITICAL SCIENCE
A longtime reporter at the Washington Post and then the New York Times whose The Great Wall won the 2000 Lionel Gelber Prize, Tyler here argues that Israel is not the democracy it proclaims itself to be but a military society built with the Holocaust in mind and now committed to maintaining war. Look for the controversy over this one.

Kitamura, Katie. Gone to the Forest. Free Pr: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9781451656640. pap. $15. LITERARY
Since his mother died, Tom and his father have dwelled together uneasily on their farm in an unnamed colonial country close to violence. Then a young woman named Carine enters their lives, forming a triangle and causing tensions to flare openly even as a volcanic eruption tips the country into revolution. A New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award finalist, Kitamura here follows up her highly regarded first novel, The Longshot, with something that sounds both smart and gripping for a wide range of readers. Note the reading group guide and the ebook/App promotion.

Stedman, ML. The Light Between Oceans. Scribner. Aug. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781451681734. $25. HISTORICAL
After World War I, Tom Sherbourne takes a job as lighthouse keeper on isolated Janus Rock, off the coast of Australia, where the supply boat comes only four times a year. His spunky wife, Isabel, suffers two miscarriages and a still birth in three years, so it’s no surprise that when a boat washes up carrying a dead man and a live baby, Isabel persuades Tom not to report the incident and takes the baby as hers. That causes trouble, of course, when they eventually return to the mainland. Big in-house excitement for his first novel, which will be backed by NPR coverage and a reading group guide. Tops on my reading list. 

Grunwald, Michael. The New New Deal.  S. & S. Aug. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451642322. $27. CURRENT EVENTS
Listen up, voters: though Democrats don’t get it and Republicans hate it, Obama’s stimulus bill truly has been transformative, a broader-reaching program than even the New Deal. It not only short-circuited a looming depression and saved millions of jobs but is helping restructure America’s energy program, bringing healthcare into the Digital age, and changing everything from unemployment insurance to the government’s approach to homelessness. So argues Time senior correspondent Grunwald, winner of a George Polk Award, in a book that will surely prompt lots of discussion. 

Marton, Kati. Paris: A Love Story. S. & S. Aug. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9781451691542. $24. MEMOIR
Paris is important to many of us, but it’s really important to journalist/author Marton (Enemies of the People). There she studied as a college student in the explosive year of 1968; researched her family’s escape to France from communist Hungary; served as ABC bureau chief in a career breakthrough; met her first husband, Peter Jennings; and then met her second husband, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, finally returning to Paris to mourn his death. A distinctive view of the City of Light.

Barnes, Steven & Tananarive Due. Devil’s Wake. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781451617009. pap. $15. PARANORMAL
Plague is sweeping the country, brought on by odd, uncontrollable biting attacks by the victims. The victims don’t die or join the realm of the undead, however; they’re simply front runners for an alien life force intent on taking over Earth. First in a new series from a husband-and-wife team who jointly boast a stack of awards and best sellers, this nicely cultic apocalyptic title has a built-in audience. 

Greanias, Thomas. Dominus Dei. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9781451612431. $24. THRILLER
At the time of the Emperor Domitian, himself a bossy sort who insists that all must bow down before him or be killed, a subversive group called Dominus Dei (“Rule of God”) has a nasty plan to extend Rome’s rule forever. The Greek playwright Athanasius, accused of being its leader, manages to escape execution at the Games and teams up with a mysterious woman and a prophet locked up in an island prison to beat Dominus Dei at its own game. Thus Greanias discloses the origins of the conspiracy that has driven his best-selling Atlantis novels and the trilogy that began with The Promised War. Fans will understand.     

Krueger, William Kent. Trickster’s Point. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451645675. $24.99. THRILLER
Cork O’Connor has gone bow hunting with Jubal Little, Minnesota’s first Native American governor-elect, when an arrow out of nowhere slices through Little’s heart. Alas, the arrow belongs to Connor, and he must find out who framed him for this murder, even as he ponders his past relationship with Little, an ambitious young man who grew up to be a perhaps too wily politician. With a nine-city tour to Minneapolis, Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego.

Lennon, F.J. Devil’s Gate. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9781439186602. pap. $15. PARANORMAL
Actually, what’s causing trouble here is not a gate but Pasadena’s notorious Suicide Bridge: some force there is drawing defenseless victims to their death and then snaring their souls. First seen in last year’s popular Soul Trapper, Kane Pryce investigates the bridge’s supernatural powers even as he finds himself sucked into the dark world of Hollywood’s underground music scene (Kane’s a guitarist), the minds of the suicide victims, and his own ill-advised romances. Note the paperback original after Soul Trapper’s hardcover premier, which suggests the author’s audience.   

Reichs, Kathy. Bones Are Forever. Scribner. Aug. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781439102435. $26.99. CD: S. & S. Audio. THRILLER
Temperance Brennan is examining the corpses of three babies in Montreal when their mother, a putative prostitute under investigation by Brennan’s beloved, Detective Ryan, flees to Canada’s distant diamond-mining country. They follow, joined by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police sergeant with whom our heroine once had a not-so-smart affair. With a seven-city tour to Charlotte, Denver, Houston, New York, Phoenix, Portland (OR), and Seattle; get multiples.

Rendell, Ruth. The St. Zita Society. Scribner. Aug. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781451666687. $26. SUSPENSE
All the homes along London’s Hexam Place look imperturbably classy, but of course they aren’t. The valet to Lord Studley is sleeping with both the lord’s wife and his daughter, the au pair for Mrs. Still is earning extra money by covering for her affair, a housekeeper wants to form a “society” of disgruntled servants, and Dex the gardener is getting ghostly instructions on his cellphone that could lead to violence. More thrills from the ever-juicy Rendell, a three-time Edgar Award winner still going strong after more than 40 years.

Shomer, Enid. The Twelve Rooms of the Nile. S. & S. Aug. 2012. 544p. ISBN 9781451642964. $26. HISTORICAL
As it happens, Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert sailed up the Nile at the same time. No, they didn’t meet, but in this first novel Iowa Fiction Prize winner Shomer imagines that they did. Radical thinker Nightingale was not much familiar with men, especially true roués like Flaubert. But both were at turning points— Flaubert would soon write Madame Bovary and Nightingale would launch her famous career—so the idea of a friendship between them seems rich and fertile.

Sohn, Amy. Motherland. S. & S. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781439158494. $25. POP FICTION
Upscale urban life, tellingly satirized by the author of Prospect Park West: as Labor Day looms, parents in Brooklyn’s chic Park Slope and Manhattan’s Greenwich Village or returning from Cape Cod face personal crisis. Among them are ubermommy Karen, deserted by her husband, who hopes to regain traction by launching an affair with a sexy single dad, and Marco, stuck with the kids when husband Todd goes on a business trip. How a certain set lives; it’s not all glamor.                                

Thor, Brad. Black List. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9781439192986. $27.99. CD/downloadable: S. & S. Audio. THRILLER
The list? Comprising enemies of the nation, it’s known to very few in the government,  and once your name has been placed there by the President, it won’t be erased until you are. Former Navy SEAL–turned–counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath discovers that his name is on the list, and he spends the novel evading assassins so that he can figure out why someone wanted him out of the way. From a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author gearing up for a ten-city tour.

Baker, Nicholson. The Way the World Works: Essays. S. & S. Aug. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781416572473. $25. ESSAYS
Having stirred us up with his latest novel, House of Holes, Baker offers a second essay collection that should prove just as thought-provoking, whimsical, and physically detailed as that novel and indeed all his work. These essays, which have appeared in publications like The New Yorker, range from political controversy and video games to paper mills, Wikipedia, the OED, and the invention of the gondola. Smart entertainment. 

Bobrick, Benson. The Caliph’s Splendor: Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad. S. & S. Aug. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781416567622. $28. HISTORY
Recipient of the Literature Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, historian Bobrick tends to focus on American history but has ranged from Ivan the Terrible to the English Bible. Here he goes forth to examine the late 700s caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, when Islam spread from the Iberian Peninsula to China and Harun’s capital, Baghdad, glowed at the world’s center. Fascinating history and fascinating perspective as we leave Iraq.

Douglas, Ron. America’s Most Wanted Recipes Just Desserts: Sweet Indulgences from Your Family’s Favorite Restaurants. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781451623369. pap. $18.99. COOKING
The “America’s Most Wanted Recipes” series has been going strong since 2009, and now it’s time for my favorite type of food: desserts. Over 100 recipes, from “Applebee’s Deadly Chocolate Sin” to “Cracker Barrel’s Banana Pudding,” collected by former JP Morgan finance director Douglas, who founded the top-ranked RecipeSecrets.net.  

Grande, Reyna. The Distance Between Us: A Memoir. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451661774. $25. MEMOIR
After writing two award-winning novels, Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing with Butterflies, Grande gets down to the nitty-gritty and chronicles her life as an undocumented immigrant, crossing the border at age nine to live with her father. The distance widens between her and her father, ambitious for his children but hobbled by his alcohol-fueled anger, until she must finally leave home and make her own life. My first thought: brave to write this memoir.         

Lee, Martin A. Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana—Medical, Recreational & Scientific. Scribner. Aug. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781439102602. $30. SOCIAL SCIENCE
While investigative reporter Lee (Acid Dreams) does discuss the social history of marijuana, especially its place in the culture wars starting in the 1960s, his focuses just as much on its medical use—and the often underreported scientfic research showing how helpful it is—to treat cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and more. Serious stuff. 

Meredith, James with William Doyle. A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451674729. $25. MEMOIR
Though he spearheaded the desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962 and the March Against Fear in 1966, Meredith declared, “I am not a civil rights hero. I am a warrior, and I am on a mission from God.” Here he recalls key moments in that crusade, as well as key figures, from Medgar Evers to former Klan leader David Duke. As the “challenge” in the subtitle suggests, there’s a prescriptive element here, too.

Sherrod, Shirley with Catherine Whitney. The Courage To Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear. Atria: S. & S. Aug. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781451650945. $24.99.  MEMOIR/CURRENT EVENTS
In July 2010, Sherrod was fired from her job as Georgia State Director for Rural Development at the USDA after a blogger alleged that she was racist, deftly excerpting from a speech she had made. When the White House and the NAACP finally viewed the entire video of the speech, it was evident that the allegation was false. Obama offered her another job, and the NAACP’s Ben Jealous apologized both publicly and privately. Here Sherrod offers her side of the story, assesses the media coverage, and explains why efforts to help the poor, black or white, have been repeatedly stymied. Sounds like an eye-opener.

Ford, Richard. Canada. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780061692048  $26.99; eISBN 9780062096807. lrg. prnt. LITERARY
Fifteen-year-old Dell Parsons feels pretty much abandoned; not only are his parents jailed for robbing a bank but his twin sister is humiliated enough to have run away. He’s rescued by a family friend, who sends him across the border from Montana to Canada, where he’s taken in by a charismatic fellow American who turns out to have a dark and dangerous side. In the short run, however, Dell takes advantage of Saskatchewan’s wide open spaces to remake himself. Switching publishers, the ever beautifully apt Ford gets a 200,000-copy first printing and a grand tour that includes Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Oxford/Jackson (MS), Portland (ME), Portland (OR), Raleigh/Durham, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Joinson, Suzanne. A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar. Bloomsbury USA, dist. by Macmillan. Jun. 2012. 9781608198115. $26. LITERARY
Kashgar: an ancient city along the Silk Road, now in western China, and the destiny of missionaries Evangeline (Eva) and sister Lizzie in 1923. Lizzie is imbued, while Eva simply wants to get away from home and has cleverly contracted to write about her experiences. Meanwhile, in contemporary London, a young woman named Frieda contends with a Yemeni refuge she’s found sleeping outside her door and news that she’s inherited the contents of a flat whose occupant she doesn’t know. So far, this looks charming and dusky and imbued with a wonderful sense of history and place. Aside from first novelist, Joinson has two amazing-sounding jobs: she works in the literature department of the British Council, specializing in the Middle East, North Africa, and China, and she is writer in residence at the UK’s Shoreham Airport. That alone makes this book sound promising, but let us not forget that Bloomsbury is the publisher that brought you this year’s National Book Award winner, Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones. 

Pratchett, Terry & Stephen Baxter. The Long Earth. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780062067753. $25.99; eISBN 9780062067760. SF
Big news: Discworld master Pratchett is here creating a new world for the first time in three decades, a series of parallel earths called the Long Earth. World-class misanthrope Larry Lynsey has relocated to the Long Earth’s farthest reaches; he’s the only person around for ten planets. Unfortunately, he’s got visitors—two lost souls who took a wrong turn a few stars back—and Larry is going to have to get rid of them. Pratchett keeps going strong—last October’s Snuff debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times best sellers list, his highest spot there ever—and there’s a 75,000-copy first printing. Essential wherever sf is read.

Brinkley, Douglas. Cronkite. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 752p. ISBN 9780061374265. $34.99; eISBN 9780062196637. lrg. prnt. BIOGRAPHY
We all think we know Walter Cronkite, consummate journalist and “the most trusted man in America,” as he was often called. But, having dug into the just opened Cronkite Archive at the University of Texas at Austin and interviewed over 200 people, from Morley Safer to Katie Couric, Brinkley should tell us much more. This one’s big; with a one-day laydown on 5/29, a 250,000-copy first printing, and a seven-city tour to Austin, Boston, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia ,and Washington, DC.

Maraniss, David. Barack Obama: The Story. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 608p. ISBN 9781439160404. $32.50. BIOGRAPHY
So we’ve read a lot about President Obama lately—David Remnick’s The Bridge came out just last year. But Maraniss, the Pulitzer Prize–winning associate editor of the Washington Post and author of books on subjects ranging from Bill Clinton to the 1960 Rome Olympics, is a force to be reckoned with. Maraniss examines not simply what Obama has accomplished but the forces that have shaped him, going back generations. Lots of interviews, including with the President himself. Expect a big boom.

Bakopoulos, Natalie. The Green Shore. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451633924. $25. LITERARY
I’ve already mentioned this first novel in conjunction with my hunt for books on the crisis in Greece and, more broadly, the E.U., but it bears further discussion. Bakopoulos opens the narrative with the Greek military’s 1967 coup d’état, then shows the consequences for four characters: Sophie, a student of French literature sucked into the resistance; her widowed mother, Eleni, who has lost heart in the face of yet another upheaval; Sophie’s uncle Mihalis, a famous poet who’s stepped out of the limelight for personal reasons; and Sophie’s sister Anna. A personal look at the political, then, and ripe for discussion as a means of understanding why Greece is where it is now.

Coake, Christopher. You Came Back. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9781455506705. $24.99. POP FICTION
Many parents who lose a child divorce, as the pain is too palpably in the way of the relationship. Such is the case for thirtyish Mark Fife, who at least seems to have coped successfully with his grief over son Brendan’s accidental death and is about to remarry. Then the woman who owns his old house contacts him to say that she thinks it is haunted by Brendan’s ghost. Mark is skeptical, but former wife Chloe is not. Not so much a tale of the supernatural as of enduring parental love and hope.

Farris, Peter. Last Call for the Living. Forge: Tor. May 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765330079. $24.99. THRILLER
Taken hostage by an ex-con who’s just double-crossed his buddies in the Aryan Brotherhood, bank teller Charlie Colquitt finds himself somewhere in the hills of northern Georgia, with both Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Sallie Crews and two Aryan soldiers in hot pursuit. Obviously a bank-heist thriller, this also aims to be a more reflective tale of a young man learning something important about himself under suddenly stressful circumstances. Personal note: debut novelist Farris is son of legendary New York Times best-selling novelist John Farris.

Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. Crown. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780307588364. $25. LITERARY SUSPENSE
On Nick and Amy’s fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Nick has not been a model husband, and Amy’s diaries reveal turmoil in the marriage, but did he really kill her? Even as Nick protests his innocence, it becomes evident that if Amy is dead, that’s the least of it. Flynn’s novels glitter scarily, and her last one, Dark Objects, was a New York Times best seller, but this one is expected to break her out.

Frank, Dorothea Benton. Porch Lights. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780061961298. $25.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. POP FICTION
Sloping dunes, salty breezes: it must be the South Carolina Lowcountry, the real star of Frank’s best-selling novels. Here, a grandmother, mother, and son clarify the meaning of love and the importance of family while recalling tales of pirates and Edgar Allen Poe. Frank keeps building (she had her best New York Times debut ever with last June’s Folly Beach), and the one-day laydown on 6/12 and 250,000-copy first printing suggest strong support. Get multiples.

Hanauer, Cathi. Gone. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9781451626414. $28.99. POP FICTION
Hanauer’s best-selling essay collection, The Bitch in the House, forthrightly addressed the frustrations of committing to motherhood while trying to remain true to one’s own ambitions. Reflecting those concerns, her new novel (after Sweet Ruin) features fortyish Eve, who’s been working part-time and raising the children while her sculptor husband’s career rises and then starts to fall. Suddenly, he’s gone, having disappeared after dropping off the babysitter, and Eve gets to balance everything on her own. Try it.

Henkin, Joshua. The World Without You. Pantheon. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780375424366. $25.95; eISBN 9780307907561. LITERARY
In Henkin’s debut novel, Swimming Across the Hudson, a man receives a letter from a woman claiming to be his birth mother; in Matrimony, WASPy Julian affair’s with Jewish Mia is launched in the college laundry room. Both won Notable Book status at various publications, and Matrimony was a book club favorite. Like those titles, Henkin’s newest work deals with family, and despite their obvious success this one sounds like a step forward. It features the Frankels, who have gathered at their summer home in the Berkshires for the memorial service of youngest son Leo, a journalist killed on assignment in Iraq. With a reading-group guide and an eight-city tour to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Northampton (MA), San Francisco, and Seattle, this is being set up as a big read.

Kallentoft, Mons. Midwinter Blood. Emily Bestler: Atria. Jun. 2012.  320p. ISBN 9781451642476. $25.99. THRILLER
Yes, another Swedish thriller, this one the first in a series of four books starring Supt. Malin Fors, a thirtysomething divorced mother serving on the police force in a remote town. She’s reputedly an edgy and obsessed character whose first outing takes her on a manhunt for someone ghastly. Watch for all your thriller fans.

Lowell, Elizabeth. Beautiful Sacrifice. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780061629860. $25.99; eISBN 9780062101228. lrg. prnt. ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
When significant Mayan artifacts go missing and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Hunter Johnson is asked by a friend to recover them, he turns to archaeologist and Mayan expert Lina Taylor for help. After all, with Mayan legend proclaiming that the world will end a year from this Wednesday, December 21, someone might be planning mischief. Hunter’s a loner, Lina’s ready to dig up his gentler side, and so we have a typical glowy Lowell novel. With a one-day laydown on 5/25 and a 150,000-copy first printing; consider multiples where Lowell is popular, especially as this is her first novel in two years.

Lustbader, Eric Van. Robert Ludlum’s™ The Bourne Imperative. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780446564472. $27.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. THRILLER
Jason Bourne is back, practically looking in the mirror. The man he’s pulled out of an icy lake, bleeding from a gunshot wound and nearly drowned, has no memory of who he is or why he was shot—sort of like Jason himself, way back when. Ludlum originated this series, writing three Bourne thrillers, but Lustbader is up to his seventh and seems to have made Bourne his own. Get plenty wherever Bourne is popular.

McCall Smith, Alexander. A Conspiracy of Friends: A Corduroy Mansions Novel. Pantheon. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 97803079007233. $24.95; eISBN 9780307907240. POP FICTION
McCall Smith’s “Corduroy Mansions” series is not as big as some of his others but is just getting started; this is the third installment. It’s mostly British eccentric—Berthea Snark is still writing that scornful biography of her politician son, Oedipus, for instance—but there is a mystery here: William’s famed terrier, Freddy de la Hay, has disappeared. Fun for the right readers.

McLaughlin, Emma & Nicola Kraus. Between You and Me. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9781439188187. $25. POP FICTION
The coauthors of stratospheric best sellers like The Nanny Diaries again visit that place where fame, fortune, and poshness meet. Having fled an unhappy childhood for New York, Logan Wade is all ears when celebrity cousin Kelsey Wade calls, in need of a new assistant. Unfortunately, heartless paparazzi and control-freak parents are pushing Kelsey to a very real breakdown. For all those who love glitter.

McMillan, Claire. Gilded Age. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451640472. $25. POP FICTION
This novel intrigues me because it is billed as an update of Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, taking place on that rocky ground where old money spars uneasily with new money. After a high-profile marriage and an equally high-profile divorce, Ellie Hart did time in rehab out West, then returned home to Cleveland (so how hot can she be?). Alas, she blows her chance to make good and faces a desperate decision. A first novel with some push behind it; watch.

Meacham, Leila, Tumbleweeds. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9781455509249. $25.99. lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. POP FICTION
Texas author Meacham may have moved from Roses to Tumbleweeds, but she maintains the same bittersweet tone and sprawly size of her first novel, though this book is not quite as long. In a little town in the Texas panhandle where Friday night football rules, three friends grow up, their lives forever linked by a fateful event. For all those readers of old-fashioned, juicy works.

Pettersson, Vicki. The Taken: Celestial Blues: Book One. HarperVoyaguer. Jun. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780062064646. pap. $13.99; eISBN 9780062064110. FANTASY
Griffin Shaw is a Centurion, that is, an angel charged with helping other murdered souls make their way to the afterlife. (Angels seem to be replacing vampires as the hot new fantasy item.) When he sees a nasty attack on journalist Kit Craig, he joins forces with her to track a killer through the darkest stretches of Las Vegas—and the immortal netherworld. Author of the New York Times best-selling series “Signs of the Zodiac,” Pettersson launches a new series that promises spice and atmosphere: as a showgirl for ten years at the Tropicana’s Folies Bergeres, she knows Vegas. A sign of her success: Zodiac was a mass-market series, while this new book is appearing as a trade paperback original.

Roy-Bhattacharya, Joydeep. The Watch. Hogarth: Crown. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307955890. $25. LITERARY
In this modern retelling of the story of Antigone by Roy-Bhattacharya (The Story of Marrakesh), fighting around a beleaguered American base in Kandahar has left many dead, and a woman comes to demand that she be given the body of her brother to bury according to local Afghan rites. The American soldiers don’t know whether she’s a spy or a lunatic, but they do know that she’s trouble. Written in direct, colloquial language, this novel is among the inaugural titles from Hogarth Press—named, of course, for the enterprise run by Virginia and Leonard Woolf and launched jointly by Crown and by Chatto & Windus in London with the intent of issuing character-driven works told in distinctive voices.

Scalzi, John. Redshirts. Tor. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765316998. $24.99. SF
Something I just learned: Redshirt, a term that originated with fans of Star Trek, in which the crimson-shirted Starfleet security officers generally met quick ends, refers to a stock character that dies shortly after being introduced. In this spoof, Ensign Andrew Dahl is delighted to be assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since 2456—until he notices that Away Missions always cost at least one low-ranked crew member his life. Then he discovers the Intrepid’s real raison d’être, and he and his colleagues join forces to save their skins. Word has it that a horde of crazed Scalzi fanatics are out there, demanding this book. Don’t skimp.

Toyne, Simon. The Key. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780062038333. $25.99; eISBN 9780062038357. lrg. prnt. THRILLER
In Toyne’s best-selling debut, Sanctus, the threat from the Sancti, a dangerous religious order dwelling in the high-perched Citadel, seems to have been pretty much defused. But a remnant is regrouping, determined to grab back power, which sends American reporter Liv Adamsen and the warrior Gabriel to the very spot where humankind originated so that they can undercover the key to its survival. Whoa, pretty speculative. True believers won’t enjoy, but others will be interested; note the 100,000-copy first printing.

Walter, Jess. Beautiful Ruins. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061928123. $25.99; eISBN 9780062098085. POP FICTION
In 1962, a young Italian innkeeper meets an American starlet in trouble—in fact, she’s sailing toward him across the Ligurian Sea, the drama of their meeting evidently engineered by her conniving publicist. Fifty years later the innkeeper follows his heart to Hollywood to find her. Walter’s The Financial Lives of the Poets won awards and sold especially well in paperback; there’s even a film in the offing, starring Jack Black. All of which suggests that Walter is on the upswing, and this does sound romantic. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Ariely, Dan, M.D. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780062183590. $26.99; eISBN 9780062183620. PSYCHOLOGY
It’s not just Enron; we all cheat, from sneaking extra cookies to padding our résumés to buying imitation Coach bags. Behavioral economist Ariely, author of the best-selling The Upside of Irrationality, isn’t here to lecture us but to examine why we cheat, what the consequences are, and how we can become more honest. A book we’ll all have to sneak to read; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Bernd, Heinrich. Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death. Houghton Harcourt. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780547752662. $25; eISBN 9780547752693. NATURAL HISTORY
Humans face death with trepidation and elaborate rituals, but what about animals? Proffering lessons both spiritual and ecological, the author of the lovely The Mind of a Raven shows us the animal way of death, with examples ranging from carrion beetles burying field mice to wolves, large cats, eagles, and weasels working in tandem to get rid of killed prey. Not just for animal lovers.

Blum, Andrew. Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061994937. $26.99; eISBN 9780062096753. TECHNOLOGY
Cyberspace just seems so out there, but in fact the Internet really does happen in places—huge data centers and the fiber optic cables carrying all those little pulsing bits of information worldwide. Taking stock of these “concrete” manifestations, Wired correspondent Blum clarifies how the Internet developed and how it works. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Cameron, Bruce. A Dog’s Journey. Forge: Tor. May 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765330536. $24.99. PETS
Another dog book? You bet. And since Cameron’s 2010 A Dog’s Purpose was on the best sellers lists for nearly five months in hardcover and remains on the best sellers lists in paperback, you can also bet that this book will be big. Cameron’s multi-hanky read talks about what we all know about our dogs: we don’t take care of them, they take care of us.

Crowley, Monica. What the (Bleep) Just Happened?: The Happy Warrior’s Guide to the Great American Comeback. Broadside: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780062131157. $26.99; eISBN 9780062131164. CURRENT EVENTS
A regular Fox contributor and guest host for shows like The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity, Crowley offers (as one might expect) a sharp-tongued critique of the Obama years. A 200,000-copy first printing—and you know if you’ll need it!

Forbes, Steve & Elizabeth Ames. Freedom Manifesto: Why Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn’t. Crown Business. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780307951571. $26; eISBN 9780307951595. BUSINESS
The chair, CEO, and editor in chief at Forbes Media carries a big stick when he argues for limited government, proclaiming that “money is the root of all good” and “markets enhance humanity.” This follow-up to How Capitalism Will Save Us has a build-in audience.

Hayes, Christopher L. Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy. Crown. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780307720450. $26; eISBN 9780307720474. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. CURRENT EVENTS
America is defined by the concept of meritocracy, and that concept is failing. As argued by Hayes, host of his own MSNBC show, crises from the Wall Street meltdown to Major League corruption to pedophile priests have destroyed our trust in basic institutions and driven a wedge between the top dogs and everyone else. The problem: policies are made by and for the elite, with little reference to the country’s need as a whole. Hayes identifies the problem; now we need to find the solution.

Jurek, Scott with Steve Friedman. Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness. Houghton Harcourt. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780547569659. $26; eISBN 9780547722078. SPORTS/LIFESTYLE
Listen up, meat eaters! You don’t need all that dead protein to be a great athlete. Jurek won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run seven years in a row, all on a plant diet. Here he explains how he came to running and then to veganism as he began thinking about food specifically as fuel (not as holiday yummies). He’s obviously one enduring guy, and this book is motivational in the larger sense. With a ten-city tour to Boulder/Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.

Karp, Harvey. M. The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep: Simple Solutions for Kids from Birth to 5 Years. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780062113313. $24.99; eISBN 9780062113337. PARENTING
The UCLA pediatrician who gave us The Happiest Baby on the Block goes for what’s really important: how to send that happy baby straight to the Land of Nod. Karp upends the big myths (e.g., that it’s best to let babies cry themselves to sleep) while offering two-step training to help sleep happen naturally. Since Karp been on all over television and has sold over one million copies of his two previous titles (plus over 1.6 million DVDs), this is a no-brainer purchase if there are families in your midst. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Marcus, Norman B. End Back Pain Forever: Without Surgery or Drugs. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781439167441. pap. $16; eISBN 9781439167458. HEALTH
Drugs are often mind-numbing, and back surgery works only half the time, so what can the eight in ten of us who will suffer back pain at some time in our adult lives do? Marcus focuses on muscles, not discs or nerves, as the main source of back pain, and his 21 exercises could do the trick. Lots of books on this subject, but consider Marcus’s credentials: he is director of muscle pain research at NYU School of Medicine and a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Merry, Robert W. Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451625400. $28. HISTORY
The author of a leading biography on James Polk (A Country of Vast Designs), National Interest editor Merry adds a twist to Rating the Presidents, a game historians love to play. In part, he makes his calls by turning to the voters, looking at whether Presidents were reelected and, if so, whether their parties held sway in the next election. Setting aside Lincoln, Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt as “Men of Destiny” who pulled the nation in a new direction, Merry comes up with the near-greats, the failures, and the presidents whose status keeps bobbing about. (I’ll let you guess on those.) This book is meant to cause arguments.

Patterson, Scott. Dark Pools: The Rise of Artificially Intelligent Trading Machines and the Looming Threat to Wall Street. Crown Business. Jun. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9780307887177. $27; eISBN 9780307887191. Downloadable: Random Audio. BUSINESSS
Wall Street loves computers because they can make stock transactions happen at lightning speed; one company recently shelled out $300 million to gain 3 millionths of a second. The problem, says former Wall Street Journal reporter Patterson, is that humans are starting to lose control. There’s even an idea out and about to create a program that could learn from various trades so that eventually supercomputers would be talking to one another and we puny mortals wouldn’t know what was happening. Scary but real; the author of the best-selling The Quants knows his stuff.

Powell, Colin L. & Tony Koltz. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780062135124. $27.99; eISBN 9780062135148. lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. MEMOIR
Not a memoir, really—that job was handled by Powell’s two-million-copy best seller, My American Journey. This is a series of anecdotes used to illustrate leadership lessons or, as Powell calls them, his “13 Rules.” Those rules range from “Trust your people” to “Get mad, then get over it,” something I have yet to learn. With a 750,000-copy first printing; buy multiples.

Rosenstrach, Jenny. Dinner: A Love Story: It All Begins at the Family Table. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780062080905. $27.99. COOKING/LIFESTYLE
Like Rosenstrach and her husband, I cook dinner every night, but I wasn’t smart enough to launch a blog about it that ranks number four on the top 100 food mom blogs on Babble, averages 107,000 monthly visits, won Rosenstrach coverage in the New York Times and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living, and has even been optioned for film. Recipes, photos, illustrations, tips, and anecdotes—all in the interest of quality time with the kids over a good meal. With 150,000-copy first printing.

Royal, Barbara. The Royal Treatment: How To Keep Your Animals Wildly Healthy. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9781451647693. $25. PETS
Anxious, chubby, arthritic, allergic? No, not you, your pet. Domesticated animals suffer the same ills as we domesticated humans, and to help them licensed veterinarian Royal would like first to remind us that our domesticated friends have not lost their wild needs. To address those needs, she offers a blend of Western and Eastern practices. She’s been on Oprah, so people will ask.

Sanger, David E. An Age of Reckoning: Obama’s Unorthodox Use of American Power. Crown. Jun. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780307718020. $28; eISBN 9780307718044. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. CURRENT EVENTS
In The Inheritance, Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, considered the issues President Obama faced when he first came to office. Here he considers how Obama has handled everything from the ongoing war in Afghanistan to troubles with Pakistan after the death of Osama Bin Laden. More crucially, he takes the long view, pondering how Obama’s approach to national security and foreign policy has differed from that of previous Presidents and whether it will make a difference. Not just for wonks.

Sullenberger, Chesley B. with Douglas Century. Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America’s Leaders. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061924705. $26.99; eISBN 9780062101365. lrg. prnt. MEMOIR
Sullenberger’s best-selling Highest Duty covered his 42-year career as a pilot, including his miraculous landing on the Hudson in 2009, saving all 155 people aboard his aircraft. Here he offers reflections on leadership—where do the best leaders come from and how do they inspire?—while highlighting top leaders like baseball manager Tony La Russa and Michelle Rhee, founder of the New Teacher Project. Obviously a great book to pair with Colin Powell’s It Worked for Me, previewed above; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Swarns, Rachel L. American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama. Amistad: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061999864. $27.99. HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
Taking off from a piece she cowrote for the New York Times, Swarms delineates the First Lady’s ancestry, including not only those who endured the horrors of slavery but a white great-great-great-grandfather revealed for the first time. (There’s information here even Michelle Obama didn’t know.) Since black, white, and multiracial strands crisscross in so many Americans and indeed inform our entire history, this story is ours, too, and should interest a wide range of readers. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Swofford. Anthony. Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails. Twelve: Hachette. Jun. 2012. 300p. ISBN 9781455506736. $26.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. MEMOIR
A New York Times best seller with currently 250,000 copies available, Jarhead recounted Swofford’s service as a marine sniper in the Gulf War. Here he illuminates his postwar experience as he tamped down painful memories with alcohol, drugs, fast cars, and bad sex, then pulled himself together by taking a series of road trips with his terminally ill father, a Vietnam vet. Jarhead was a hit, postwar memoirs are gaining momentum, and there’s a ten-city tour to New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Iowa City, Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, suggesting great expectations.

Tillman, Marie. The Letter. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 200p. ISBN 9780446571456. $23.99; lrg. prnt. MEMOIR
After enlisting in the U.S. Army, NFL star Tillman wrote a letter to his wife, to be opened in case he was killed in action. As we know, Tillman died in Afghanistan in 2004, and his wife explains how that letter got her through the years of mourning. She also chronicles how she sought relief through career, travel, and, finally, her decision to head the Pat Tillman Foundation. Inspirational.

Wolf, Naomi. Vagina: A New Biography. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061989162. $27.99; eISBN 9780062096968. SOCIAL SCIENCE
Like Wolf’s classic The Beauty Myth, this work explores the juncture of women’s bodies and women’s lives. Looking into the relationship between sex and creativity, Wolf discovered a wealth of evidence showing that the vagina is not just flesh but intimately bound to the female brain and hence female consciousness, which has made the historical control of the female body crippling in every sense. Wolf is always provocative and always a best seller. With a 60,000-copy first printing and an author tour including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, and upon request.