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Featured Titles 2005 New titles - selected on the basis of good reviews. Nonfiction, fiction and mystery titles are included on these lists. Books for kids and teens (fiction and nonfiction) are also listed.

January 2005

Nonfiction

• Epileptic
  Author: B., David
  Publisher: Pantheon $ 25 ISBN: 0375423184 Date: 2005
  PWKirkusBooklist
  With stunning black-and-white illustrations, a noted cartoonist chronicles growing up with an epileptic older brother. The author charts his complicated relationship with his brother from childhood to adulthood, and the effects of the illness on the entire family.
  Updated 12.27.04

 

• A Fly in the Cathedral: How a Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the International Race to Split the Atom
  Author: Cathcart, Brian
  Publisher: FSG $ 25 ISBN: 0374157162 Date: 2005
  KirkusPWBooklist
  Re-creating the frustrations, excitements, and obsessions of 1932, the "miracle year" of British physics, Cathcart reveals in rich detail the astonishing story behind the splitting of the atom in a riveting and erudite narrative.
  Updated 11.4.04

 

• 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight To Survive Inside the Twin Towers
  Author: Dwyer, Jim & Kevin Flynn
  Publisher: Times $ 26 ISBN: 0805076824 Date: 2005
  KirkusBooklist
  Of the millions of words written about September 11, 2001, most were told from the outside looking in. "New York Times" reporters Dwyer and Flynn have taken the opposite and far more revealing-approach, capturing the little-known stories of the nearly 12,000 ordinary people who took extraordinary steps to save themselves and others.
  Suggested Reading: 9/11 Stars
  Updated 11.29.04

 

• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
  Author: Gladwell, Malcolm
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 25.95 ISBN: 0316172324 Date: 2005
  PWLJ
  Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, the author shows how the difference between good decision-making and bad has nothing to do with how much information that can be processed quickly, but on the few particular details on which people focus.
  Updated 11.22.04

 

• Bury the Chains: Prophets, Slaves, And Rebels in the First Human Rights Crusade
  Author: Hochschild, Adam
  Publisher: Houghton $ 26.95 ISBN: 0618104690 Date: 2005
  KirkusLJPW
  Like the author's classic King Leopold's Ghost, this new work abounds in atmosphere, high drama, and nuanced portraits of epic anti-slavery crusaders, heroes, and villains in Britain.
  Updated 1.3.05
• Big Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber
  Author: Yafa, Stephen H.
  Publisher: Viking $ 25.95 ISBN: 0670033677 Date: 2005
  KirkusBooklist
  From its infancy in Peru and Pakistan 6,000 years ago to the fields of the antebellum South to its current association with big name clothiers, Yafa tells the epic story of how a humble fiber created fortunes, wrecked civilizations, and put America on the map.
  Updated 12.27.04

 

Fiction

• Death of an Ordinary Man
  Author: Duncan, Glen
  Publisher: Black Cat $ 13 (paper) ISBN: 0802170048 Date: 2005
  BooklistPW
  The author of I, Lucifer continues his penetrating and innovative exploration of the supernatural with this novel. Nathan Clark's gravestone offers a short and hopeful summary: "At rest." But Nathan is not at rest, and knows he won't be until he finds out why he died.
  Suggested Reading: Six Feet Under
  Updated 12.27.04

 

• Baker Towers
  Author: Haigh, Jennifer
  Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060509414 Date: 2005
  KirkusBooklist
  The author of Mrs. Kimble returns with an emotionally rich and evocative exploration of community, love, and family set in a western Pennsylvania coal town in the years following World War II.
  Updated 11.2.04

 

• The Ha-Ha
  Author: King, Dave
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316156108 Date: 2005
  LJ
  The Ha-Ha marks the beginning of what is sure to be a stellar career for Pushcart Prize nominee Dave King--a debut novel of extraordinary emotional power. When a mute war veteran opens his home to a young boy, he gets a glimpse of life outside his shell--with all its exuberant joys and crushing sorrows.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 11.2.04

 

• My Jim
  Author: Rawles, Nancy
  Publisher: Crown $ 19.95 ISBN: 1400054001 Date: 2005
  Kirkus
  A spare and beautiful meditation on love and loss, this novel follows the life of Sadie, the abandoned wife of the escaped slave Jim from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
  Suggested Reading: African American Stars
  Updated 11.9.04

Mystery & Suspense

• Bloodlines
  Author: Burke, Jan
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24.95 ISBN: 074322390X Date: 2005
  PW
  Intrepid reporter Irene Kelly covers the groundbreaking of a shopping center--and the discovery of a buried car containing human remains. Old cases are resurrected, and new dangers arise as she pursues a story that may end her career--and her life.
  Suggested Reading: Cold Cases
  Updated 12.27.04

 

• A Window in Copacabana: Inspector Espinosa
  Author: Garcia-Roza, Luiz A.
  Publisher: Holt $ 23 ISBN: 0805074384 Date: 2005
  KirkusBooklist
  A ruthless group of corrupt cops is playing a lethal game of cat and mouse in the latest installment in the seductive bestselling Brazilian crime series Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.
  Updated 11.2.04

 

• Valley of Bones
  Author: Gruber, Michael
  Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060577665 Date: 2005
  KirkusPWLJ
  Gruber explores the nature of faith and madness in this brilliantly conceived follow-up to Tropic of Night, his dazzling debut thriller novel.
  Updated 1.23.05
• Alice in Jeopardy
  Author: McBain, Ed
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 0743262506 Date: 2005
  KirkusBooklistPW
  Since her husband's tragic death, Alice Glendenning has struggled to maintain a normal life. Things turn nightmarish when her children disappear, and the ransom demand is identical to the amount due from insurance after her husband's death.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars
  Updated 11.2.04
• With Red Hands
  Author: Woodworth, Stephen
  Publisher: Dell $ 6.99 (paper) ISBN: 0553586459 Date: 2005
  PW
  Following up his supernatural thriller Through Violet Eyes, Woodworth continues to chronicle the otherworldly twists and turns in the life of "Violet" Natalie Lindstrom.
  Suggested Reading: Supernatural Crime Fiction
  Updated 11.29.04