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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.
August 2005
Nonfiction
- A Woman in Berlin: Six Weeks in the Conquered City
Author: Anonymous
Publisher: Metropolitan $ 23 ISBN: 0805075402 Date: 2005
KirkusPW
With shocking and vivid detail, the journal of a woman living through the Russian occupation of Berlin in 1945 tells of the shameful indignities to which women in a conquered city are always subject and describes the common experience of millions.
Suggested Reading: Berlin Stars
Updated 6.9.05 - Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme
Author: Roberts, Chris
Publisher: Gotham $ 20 ISBN: 1592401309 Date: 2005PW
Revealing the seamy and quirky stories behind our favorite nursery rhymes, London librarian Chris Roberts traces the origins of the subtle phrases and antiquated references, unearthing religious hatred, political subversion, and sexual innuendo.
Suggested Reading: Rhyming Stars
Updated 6.2.05 - Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima
Author: Walker, Stephen
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26.95 ISBN: 0060742844 Date: 2005KirkusPWBooklist
British filmmaker and documentary director Stephen Walker tells the story of the bombing of Hiroshima in a new and dramatic way: a minute-by-minute account told from multiple perspectives, including American soldiers, Los Alamos scientists, and Japanese survivors.
Suggested Reading: Atomic Age Stars | All Stars
Updated 5.25.05
Fiction
- Necklace of Kisses
Author: Block, Francesca Lia
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 21.95 ISBN: 0060777516 Date: 2005PWLJ
The author of the phenomenal Weetzie Bat series delivers this latest installment that follows the charming and lovable Weetzie through a life-altering journey, facing adult problems in sparkling LA--complete with fawns, angels, and mermaids--where anything is possible, even true love.
Updated 7.12.05 - Lunar Park
Author: Ellis, Bret Easton
Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 0375412913 Date: 2005Kirkus
From the author of Less Than Zero comes a work that confounds one expectation after another, passing through comedy and mounting psychological and supernatural horror toward an astonishing resolution. Lunar Park is a novel about love and loss, fathers and sons, in what is surely the most original and moving novel of an extraordinary career.
Updated 5.25.05 - Freshwater Road
Author: Nicholas, Denise
Publisher: Agate $ 23.95 ISBN: 1932841105 Date: 2005PW
Celeste Tyree, a young black collegian, leaves Michigan for Mississippi in the summer of 1964 to help found a Freedom School and a voter registration project. As Freedom Summer unfolds, Celeste confronts not only the political realities of race and poverty in this tiny town, but also truths about herself and her own family.
Updated 7.11.05 - Match Me If You Can
Author: Phillips, Susan Elizabeth
Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060734558 Date: 2005Booklist
The beloved "New York Times" bestselling author of Ain't She Sweet is back with a delightful new novel. A matchmaking business owner needs a major client. She targets the best--and most ruthless--sports agent in Chicago. She'll do whatever it takes to find a woman for him--no matter who that woman turns out to be.
Suggested Reading: Romance Stars | Dating Stars
Updated 5.20.05 - The King of King's County
Author: Terrell, Whitney
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670034258 Date: 2005Kirkus
The acclaimed author of The Huntsman again takes readers to his native Kansas City for a heartrending look at a young man's coming-of-age as he confronts his father's--and his city's--dissolution.
Updated 6.29.05
Mystery & Suspense
- The Blood-dimmed Tide
Author: Airth, Rennie
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670899968 Date: 2005PW
The author of the "New York Times" Notable Book River of Darkness returns with a macabre tale of the social struggles of post-World War I Britain and the looming menace of Hitler's Germany. When a young girl is savagely murdered in rural English village, the crime catapults former Inspector John Madden into the grisly world of a brutal killer.
Updated 6.20.05 - The Young Widow
Author: Chan, Cassandra
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312337485 Date: 2005LJ
Making a striking debut, Chan introduces two intriguing sleuths in a brand-new series. DS Jack Gibbons is aided by his best friend Phillip Bethancourt in an investigation where the prime suspect is wealthy, dangerous, and irresistible.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
Updated 6.9.05 - The Butcher of Beverly Hills
Author: Colt, Jennifer
Publisher: Broadway $ 11.95 (paper) ISBN: 0767920112 Date: 2005
With a razor-sharp wit that brings to life LA's most eccentric personalities, this novel marks the debut of two of the hottest sleuths since Stephanie Plum--and delivers a fast-paced, highly original tale that will keep readers guessing until the very end.
Suggested Reading: If You Like Janet Evanovich | Twins
Updated 7.25.05 - The Big Over Easy
Author: Fforde, Jasper
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670034231 Date: 2005LJ
When D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, is found shattered to death, all the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself. But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced.
Suggested Reading: Rhyming Stars
Updated 7.12.05 - Dead at Daybreak
Author: Meyer, Deon
Publisher: Little Brown $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316000124 Date: 2005LJBooklistPW
The newest headspinning thriller from the breakout South African crime writer, author of Heart of the Hunter, is the story of an ex-cop who has seven days to solve a seemingly unsolvable crime--the answer to which lies in his own dark past.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 7.11.05 - For Edgar
Author: Rusch, Sheldon
Publisher: Prime Crime $ 23.95 ISBN: 042520409x Date: 2005Kirkus
A killer who calls himself The Raven honors the macabre tales of Edgar Allan Poe through a series of slayings. Special Agent Elizabeth Taylor Hewitt tracks The Raven's tell-tale signs, leading her into a mystery that binds them both in an ingenious nightmare.
Suggested Reading: Poe Stars
Updated 6.9.05 - Death's Little Helpers
Author: Spiegelman, Peter
Publisher: Knopf $ 22.95 ISBN: 1400040795 Date: 2005PWLJ
Spiegelman, winner of the 2004 Shamus Award for Best First Novel for Black Maps, returns along with private investigator John March for this follow-up. Hired to find a missing Wall Street analyst, March soon unearths a rat's nest of family strife, business betrayals, and deceptions.
Updated 7.12.05
Books for Kids, Teens & Readers of All Ages
Age and grade designations are approximate, parental judgement should be used.- Diary Of A Spider
Author: Cronin, Doreen
Publisher: Joanna Cotler Books $ 15.99ISBN: 0060001534 Date: 2005KirkusPW
The "New York Times" bestselling team behind Diary of a Worm is back to spin a hilarious tale of an unlikely friendship, a grandparent's advice, and molting.
Grades: Preschool - 3rd Category: Picture Books - Under The Persimmon Tree
Author: Staples, Suzanne Fisher
Publisher: FSG $ 17 ISBN: 0374380252 Date: 2005BooklistPW
Intertwined portraits of courage and hope in Afghanistan and Pakistan Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. - Publisher Marketing.
Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction