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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.
June 2005
Nonfiction
- Nasty: My Family and Other Glorious Varmints
Author: Doonan, Simon
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 0743267044 Date: 2005
Kirkus
In his breakthrough memoir, Doonan revisits his formative years and the defiantly eccentric, loveably odd family he calls his own. The essays chronicle the misadventures of the Doonan clan in all their endearingly dysfunctional glory.
Suggested Reading: Memoir Stars
Updated 3.25.05 - 1776
Author: McCullough, David
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 32 ISBN: 0743226712 Date: 2005BooklistPWKirkusLJ
Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Truman and John Adams, McCullough returns with the story of the Revolutionary War--a book certain to be another landmark in the literature of American history.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | 1776 Stars
Updated 4.5.05
Fiction
- Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land
Author: Crowley, John
Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060556587 Date: 2005KirkusPW
Spanning three centuries, Lord Byron's Novel interweaves three separate strands into one magnificent tale: the stories of a lost novel by Lord Byron, the daughter who tried to save it, and the woman who discovered her secret.
Updated 4.19.05 - A Long Way Down
Author: Hornby, Nick
Publisher: Riverhead $ 24.95 ISBN: 1573223026 Date: 2005KirkusBooklist
In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own morality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.
Updated 3.25.05 - The Historian
Author: Kostova, Elizabeth
Publisher: Little Brown $ 25.95 ISBN: 0316011770 Date: 2005PWKirkusBooklist
In this riveting debut novel, a young girl discovers her father's darkest secret and embarks on a harrowing journey across Europe to complete the quest he never could--the quest to find history's most legendary fiend: Dracula.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
Updated 5.20.05 - Appaloosa
Author: Parker, Robert B.
Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399152776 Date: 2005KirkusPWLJ
When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and a deputy for dead. In Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary who raises the stakes by playing with emotions.
Suggested Reading: Western Stars | All Stars
Updated 3.28.05 - Stolen Magic
Author: Putney, Mary Jo
Publisher: Del Rey $ 23.95 ISBN: 0345476891 Date: 2005Booklist
Entwining fantasy with historical romance, Stolen Magic introduces Simon Malmain, Earl of Falconer, who continues the story line begun in A Kiss of Fate.
Suggested Reading: Adult Books for Teens
Updated 5.9.05
Mystery & Suspense
- The Interview Room
Author: Anscombe, Roderick
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312323999 Date: 2005KirkusPW
A psychiatrist who works with the criminally insane is trapped in an ever-tightening web of circumstance and scrutiny. With his career on the line and his life over the edge, he must learn to play the game by one of his patient's rules because he who tells the best lie wins.
Updated 3.10.05 - More Bitter Than Death
Author: Cameron, Dana
Publisher: Avon $ 6.99 ISBN: 0060554630 Date: 2005
Gathering with some of her peers for a conference at an isolated, historic New England hotel to honor one of their own, archaeologist Emma Fielding finds herself suspected of murder when the honoree is found dead.
Updated 5.25.05 - Mosiac of Shadows
Author: Harper, Tom
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312338678 Date: 2005PW
In this thrilling historical drama set in medieval Constantinople, Demetrios the Apokalyptor is commissioned to investigate an assassination attempt on the Emperor's life -- before the assassin can strike again.
Updated 5.16.05 - Stealing with Style
Author: Jenkins, Emyl
Publisher: Algonquin $ 22.95 ISBN: 1565124456 Date: 2005Booklist
Antiques appraiser Jenkins turns her talents to fiction in the first of a series of mysteries that follow the heroine behind the scenes of the sometimes murky world of antiques, sophisticated scammers, and shifty associates.
Suggested Reading: Antique Mysteries
Updated 5.9.05 - The Death Collectors
Author: Kerley, Jack
Publisher: Dutton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0525948775 Date: 2005Kirkus
The Hundredth Man was universally praised as the debut novel in a series to watch. Now, author Jack Kerley returns with The Death Collectors, which will establish him as one of the most innovative thriller writers today.
Updated 4.25.05 - In the Shadow of the Law
Author: Roosevelt, Kermit
Publisher: FSG $ 24 ISBN: 0374261873 Date: 2005PW
In this complex, ambitious, and gripping first novel, Roosevelt vividly illustrates the subtle and stark effects of the law on the lives not only of a group of lawyers, but also on communities and private citizens.
Suggested Reading: Debuts | Legal Stars
Updated 4.25.05
Books for Kids, Teens & Readers of All Ages
Age and grade designations are approximate, parental judgement should be used.- The Sphere of Secrets: Book Two of the Oracle Prophecies
Author: Fisher, Catherine
Publisher: Greenwillow $ 16.99 ISBN: Date: 2005KirkusBulletin
Everything has gone wrong. The drought should have ended, but the land is still parched. In the midst of such chaos, The Two Lands should collapse. But an ancient map carved into a silver sphere may be enough to make things right and save the world.
Grades: 5+ Category: Fiction | Speculative