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.

April 2008

Nonfiction

• Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared
  Author: Robbins, Christopher
  Publisher: Norton $ 24 ISBN: 9780977743384 Date: 2008
  Kirkus LJ
  In this funny and revealing travelogue of Kazakhstan--a blank in Westerners' collective geography--Robbins reveals the country to be diverse, tolerant, and surprisingly modern. A superlative addition to the literature of travel--"The Observer" (UK).
  Updated 2.27.08
  
• The Suspicions of Mr.Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
  Author: Summerscale, Kate
  Publisher: Walker $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780802715357 Date: 2008
  PW
  In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led to a national obsession with detection, ironically destroying, in the process, the career of perhaps the greatest detective in the land.
  Updated 10.31.07
  

Fiction

• The Future of Love
  Author: Abbott, Shirley
  Publisher: Algonquin $23.95 ISBN: 9781565125674 Date: 2008
  Booklist
  Set in 2001, Abbott's debut novel exposes the inner lives and the tangled relationships of eight characters--before and after New York's tragedy.
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• The Hakawati
  Author: Alameddine, Rabih
  Publisher: Knopf $25.95 ISBN: 9780307266798 Date: 2008
  Kirkus PW LJ
  Alameddine's astonishingly inventive, wonderfully exuberant novel takes readers from the shimmering dunes of ancient Egypt to the war-torn streets of 21-century Lebanon. The Hakawati is a modern Arabian Nights--a funny, captivating novel that enchants and dazzles.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars
  Updated 3.3.08
  
• The Sorrows of an American
  Author: Hustvedt, Siri
  Publisher: Holt $ 25 ISBN: 9780805079081 Date: 2008
  PW Booklist
  The Sorrows of an American is a soaring feat of storytelling about the immigrant experience and the ghosts that haunt families from one generation to another.
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• Lonely Werewolf Girl
  Author: Martin, Millar
  Publisher: Soft Skull $ 15.95 ISBN: 978097663666 Date: 2008
  Booklist
  The latest urban fantasy from Martin Millar, featuring a parallel world of werewolves of every stripe and character causing intentional and unintentional mayhem on the streets of London and the moors of Scotland... - Publisher Marketing
  Updated 3.31.08
  
• Three Girls and Their Brother
  Author: Rebeck, Theresa
  Publisher: Crown $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780307394149 Date: 2008
  Kirkus Booklist LJ
  In this sharp-edged drama that unfolds in New York's celebrity fast lane, it takes an awful incident with a famous movie star to blast three famous girls--and their brother--out of their self-destructive spiral.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• Wolf Totem
  Author: Rong, Jiang
  Publisher: Penguin $ 26.95 ISBN: 9781594201561 Date: 2008
  Kirkus
  An epic Chinese tale, Wolf Totem depicts the dying culture of the Mongols--the ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the world--and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf.
  Updated 1.30.08
  
• Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories
  Author: Strout, Elizabeth
  Publisher: Random $ 25 ISBN: 9781400062089 Date: 2008
  PW Booklist Kirkus
  "New York Times" bestselling author Strout binds together 13 rich, luminous narratives through the presence of one larger-than-life, unforgettable character: Olive Kitteridge, who offers profound insights into the human condition.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• The Cure for Modern Life
  Author: Tucker, Lisa
  Publisher: Atria $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780743492799 Date: 2008
  PW
  From the bestselling author of The Song Reader comes a powerful and poignant story about three successful friends forced to confront what they truly believe when a homeless boy disrupts their carefully planned lives.
  Updated 1.3.08
  

Crime Fiction

• The Forgery of Venus
  Author: Gruber, Michael
  Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780060874483 Date: 2008
  Kirkus PW Booklist
  Gruber creates a fascinating world of secrets, genius, and conspiracies and combines it with brilliant storytelling, complex characterizations, and sterling prose to produce this spellbinding novel.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Art | Forgery of Venus
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• Devil's Peak
  Author: Meyer, Deon
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.99 ISBN: 9780316017855 Date: 2008
  PW
  From rising South African thriller writer Meyer comes a gripping suspense novel about revenge, forgiveness, and the race to catch a trained killer.
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• Assassins at Ospreys
  Author: Raichev, R.T.
  Publisher: Soho $ 22.95 ISBN: 9781569475058 Date: 2008
  Kirkus
  Mystery writer Antonia Darcy and her husband, Major Hugh Payne, are persuaded to visit a fan’s home. They become suspicious when the dying master of nearby Ospreys leaves his fortune to her. - Publisher Marketing Updated 2.26.08
  
• Seven for a Secret
  Author: Reed, Mary & Eric
  Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781590584897 Date: 2008
  LJ
  Who killed the mosaic girl? As Lord Chamberlain, John spends his days counseling Emperor Justinian while passing the small hours of night in conversation with the solemn-eyed little girl depicted in a mosaic on his study wall. He never expected to meet her in a public square or afterwards find her red-dyed corpse in a subterranean cistern. Had the mysterious woman truly been the model for the mosaic years before as she claimed? Who was she? Why had she sought John out? Who wanted her dead -- and why?The answers seem to lie among the denizens of the smoky streets of that quarter of Constantinople known as the Copper Market, where artisans, beggars, prostitutes, pillar saints, and exiled aristocrats struggle to survive within sight of the Great Palace and yet worlds distant. John encounters a faded actress, a patriotic sausage maker, a sundial maker who fears the sun, a religious visionary, a man who lives in a treasure trove, and a beggar who owes his life to a cartload of melons. Before long he suspects he is attempting to unravel not just a murder but a plot against the empire. Or is John really on a personal quest, to find the reality behind the confidante he thought existed only in his own imagination? Is there such a thing as truth in a place where people live on memories, dreams, and illusions? Even if there is, can John push aside the shadows and find the truth in time? - Publisher Marketing
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• A Carrion Death: Detective Kubu
  Author: Stanley, Michael
  Publisher: Collins $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780061252402 Date: 2008
  PW
  In A Carrion Death, a memorable new detective makes his debut in a gritty and evocative new series set amid the beauty and darkness of contemporary Africa.
  Updated 2.26.08