Featured Titles

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.

February 2008

Nonfiction

• The Life of the Skies
  Author: Rosen, Jonathan
  Publisher: FSG $ 24 ISBN: 9780374186302 Date: 2008
  PW
  In this illuminating and charming book, Rosen shows us the poetry, the philosophy, and the history--natural and human--of the strange modern pastime of bird-watching.--Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and The Stuff of Thought.
  Updated 1.3.08
  

Fiction

• Sharp Teeth
  Author: Barlow, Toby
  Publisher: Harpercollins $ 22.95 ISBN: 9780061430220 Date: 2008
  PW PW
  Capturing the pace and feel of a graphic novel, this spellbinding debut blends dark humor and epic themes with card-playing dogs, crystal meth labs, surfing, and carne asada tacos. Overbooked note: And it is written in blank verse...
  Updated 1.30.08
  
• The Somnambulist
  Author: Barnes, Jonathan
  Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780061375385 Date: 2008
  Booklist PW
  This extraordinary tale involves Edward Moon, stage magician and detective, his silent sidekick the Somnambulist, and a devilish plot to re-create the apocalyptic prophecies of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and bring the British Empire crashing down.
  Updated 11.19.07
  
• Silver: My Own Tale as Written by Me With a Goodly Amount of Murder
  Author: Chupack, Edward
  Publisher: Thomas Dunne $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780312373658 Date: 2008
  PW
  These are the savage, heart-pounding memoirs of Treasure Island's Long John Silver--a pirate and a charming, unapologetic murderer in search of lost treasure.
  Updated 1.3.08
  
• The Konkans
  Author: D'Souza, Tony
  Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 9780151015191 Date: 2008
  PW LJ
  Francisco D'Sai is a firstborn son of a firstborn son in a long line of proud Konkans. His mother and his uncle Sam feed Franciscos imagination with proud visions of India and Konkan history, in this novel filled with romance, comedy, and masterful storytelling.
  Updated 10.23.07
  
• The Monsters of Templeton
  Author: Groff, Lauren
  Publisher: Hyperion $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781401322250 Date: 2008
  PW
  Wilhelmina Cooper is told that the key to her biological fathers identity lies somewhere in her familys history. She buries herself in the research of her twisted family tree and finds that a chorus of voices from the towns past--some sinister, all fascinating--rises up around her to tell their side of the story.
  Updated 1.3.08
  
• Song Yet Sung
  Author: McBride, James
  Publisher: Riverhead $ 25.95 ISBN: 9781594489723 Date: 2008
  PW Kirkus
  A runaway slave and a determined slave catcher become tangled in a web of intrigue and adventure in James McBride's intricately constructed and impressive second novel, set in pre-Civil War Maryland.
  Updated 10.26.07
• A Fraction of the Whole
  Author: Tolz, Steve
  Publisher: Spiegel & Grau $ 24 ISBN: 9780385521727 Date: 2008
  PW Booklist
  An uproarious indictment of the ridiculousness of the modern world and its mores, this novel also tells the moving, memorable story of a father and son whose spiritual symmetry transcends all their many shortcomings
  Updated 1.4.08
  
• Between the Sheets
  Author: Wells, Robin
  Publisher: Forever $ 6.99 ISBN: 9780446618410 Date: 2008
  LJ
  After the president-elect suffers a fatal heart attack during an illicit sex romp with a call girl, Emma Jamison is mistaken for the woman and finds herself in the middle of a scandal. Emma packs up and moves to a small Louisiana town to escape her infamy. However, the quiet life she seeks soon blows up in smoke.
  Updated 1.3.08
  

Crime Fiction

• The Anatomy of Deception
  Author: Goldstone, Lawrence
  Publisher: Delacorte $ 24 ISBN: 9780385341349 Date: 2008
  PW
  A mesmerizing forensic thriller that thrusts the reader into the operating rooms, drawing rooms, and back alleys of 1889 Philadelphia, this novel follows a young doctor as he grapples with the principles of scientific process to track a daring killer.
  Updated 10.31.07
  
• The Automatic Detective
  Author: Martinez, A. Lee
  Publisher: Tor $ 14.95 ISBN: 9780765318343 Date: 2008
  PW
  The award-winning author of Gil's All Fright Diner returns with this fantastic new novel. Even in Empire city, a town where weird science is the hope of tomorrow, its hard for a robot to make his way--even for a hulking machine designed to bring humankind to its knees.
  Updated 1.3.08
  
• Slip of the Knife
  Author: Mina, Denise
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.99 ISBN: 9780316015585 Date: 2008
  Booklist PW
  A brilliant new thriller featuring Paddy Meehan, one of the most praised heroines since Temperance Brennan. Paddy is no stranger to murder--as a reporter she lives at crime scenes--but nothing has prepared her for this visit from the police.
  Updated 1.3.08
  
• The Lost City
  Author: Shukman, Henry
  Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780307266941 Date: 2008
  PW
  In his first novel, the author of the fiction collection Mortimer of the Maghreb tells the story of a British expat searching for treasure--and more importantly for connection--amid the seductions and dangers of a rootless life.
  Updated 1.3.08
  
• Judas Horse: Ana Grey
  Author: Smith, April
  Publisher: Knopf $ 23.95 ISBN: 9781400042050 Date: 2008
  Kirkus PW LJ Booklist
  Maverick FBI Special Agent Ana Grey goes undercover to infiltrate the volatile core of a domestic terrorist cell, where she must negotiate a minefield of loyalty and betrayal under constant threat of discovery.
  Updated 1.30.08