New Titles for Adult Standing Order Fiction
June 17, 2013
Maddaddam
Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
In this wrap-up to the magisterial trilogy begun with “Oryx & Crake” and continued with “The Year of the Flood”, a waterless flood has wiped out most of humanity. While Ren and Toby have returned to the MaddAddamite cob house, the story really belongs to Zeb, who searches for God’s Gardeners founder Adam One as his own past is disclosed.
Something Borrowed, Someone Dead: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Beaton, M. C.
Gloria French was a jolly widow with dyed blonde hair, a raucous laugh and rosy cheeks. When she first moved from London to the charming Cotswolds hills, she was heartily welcomed. She seemed do-gooder par excellence, raising funds for the church and caring for the elderly. But she had a nasty habit of borrowing things and not giving them back, just small things, a teapot here, a set of silverware there. So it’s quite the shock when she is found dead, murdered by a poisoned bottle of elderberry wine.
Never Go Back: A Jack Reacher Novel
Child, Lee
Former military cop Jack Reacher makes it all the way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had. Reacher is there to meet in personal the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone. But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to even think about.
Second Watch
Jance, Judith A.
Second Watch shows Beaumont taking some time off to get knee replacement surgery, but instead of taking his mind off work, the operation plunges him into one of the most perplexing mysteries he’s ever faced. His past collides with his present in this complex and thrilling story that explores loss and heartbreak, duty and honor, and, most importantly, the staggering cost of war and the debts we owe those who served in the Vietnam War and those in uniform today.
Styxx
Kenyon, Sherrilyn
Centuries ago Acheron saved the human race by imprisoning an ancient evil bent on absolute destruction. Now that evil has been unleashed and it is out for revenge.
Doctor Sleep
King, Stephen
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.
The Secret Keeper
Lewis, Beverly
Jennifer Burns has always had an “old soul,” but joining the Amish world will challenge her spirit–and her heart–in ways she never expected.
Gone
Patterson, James / Ledwidge, Michael
“A crime lord has declared war on America. Only Detective Michael Bennett knows why. Manuel Perrine doesn’t fear anyone or anything. But now Perrine is out, and he has sworn to find and kill Bennett and everyone dear to him.
The Miner’s Lady
Peterson, Tracie
When Chantel Panetta’s younger sister claims to be in love with Orlando Calarco, Chantel knows there is no hope. The Panettas and Calarcos have been sworn enemies for decades, and young love cannot heal the deep wounds between the two iron-mining families. Yet, unable to resist Isabella’s pleas, Chantel agrees to help her sister spend time with Orlando…only to have a run-in with Dante, Orlando’s brother.
The Longest Ride
Sparks, Nicholas
In the tradition of his beloved first novel, The Notebook, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with the remarkable story of two couples whose parallel love stories intersect in profound and surprising ways.
Posted by Jenifer Brown
Yes, Reading Fiction Really Matters
June 17, 2013
Thomas Jefferson famously declared he couldn’t live without books, but while he was enthusiastic about classical languages and scientific information, you might be suprised to know that he had this to say about reading novels:
A great obstacle to good education is the inordinate passion prevalent for novels, and the time lost in that reading which should be instructively employed. When this poison infects the mind, it destroys its tone and revolts it against wholesome reading. Reason and fact, plain and unadorned, are rejected. Nothing can engage attention unless dressed in all the figments of fancy, and nothing so bedecked comes amiss. The result is a bloated imagination, sickly judgment, and disgust towards all the real businesses of life. This mass of trash, however, is not without some distinction; some few modeling their narratives, although fictitious, on the incidents of real life, have been able to make them interesting and useful vehicles of a sound morality… For a like reason, too, much poetry should not be indulged. Some is useful for forming style and taste. Pope, Dryden, Thompson, Shakespeare, and of the French, Moliere, Racine, the Corneilles, may be read with pleasure and improvement.—Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Burwell, 1818. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Edition (1903) 15:166. Web 17 June 2013.
There are probably many today who would agree that fiction is fluff – a private and personal indulgence with no practical utlity beyond maintaining the basic reading skill itself, perhaps. There is accumulating evidence, however, that this view is wrong. For several years there has been intriguing research into the ability of fiction to increase empathy in readers. What suprised me, however, is a recent story on Salon.com that fiction reading has been linked in a University of Toronto study to improved thinking skills as well:
A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people who have just read a short story have less need for what psychologists call “cognitive closure.” Compared with peers who have just read an essay, they expressed more comfort with disorder and uncertainty—attitudes that allow for both sophisticated thinking and greater creativity.
In a recent session I attended on “Why Fiction Is Dangerous,” Neil Gaiman talked about participating in an international science fiction and fantasy convention in China in 2007. Gaiman asked hosting officials why the 180 degree change in attitude toward these genres, which had been suppressed as potentially subversive. He was told China was now encouraging reading science fiction and fantasy because they believed it would lead to greater innovation and inventiveness after surveying the top talent at American companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple and discovering many had grown up reading those genres.
So even the most pragmatic world powers focused like laser beams on economic development see serious value in reading speculative fiction. It clearly goes way beyond idle entertainment.
New Titles for Adult Standing Order Fiction
May 16, 2013
Omens: A Cainsville Novel
Armstrong, Kelley
In this launch of a new series from the author of the hugely popular “Otherworld” books, wealthy, 24-year-old Ivy Leaguer Olivia Taylor Jones is happily engaged when she discovers that she is adopted–and that her biological parents are serial killers imprisoned for life. Olivia’s efforts to find out more about them take her first to her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, and then to secretive Cainsville, IL, where she and Gabriel look into evidence that could prove her parents’ innocence. There, Olivia finds herself using strange talents hidden since childhood that give her special appeal to the spooky Cainsville residents while bringing out the bad guys.
The Whole Enchilada: A Novel of Suspense
Davidson, Diane Mott
When a colleague–a woman who resembles Goldy–is stabbed, and Goldy is attacked outside her house, it becomes clear that the popular caterer is the main course on a killer menu. With time running out, Goldy must roll up her sleeves, sharpen her knives, and make a meal out of a devious murderer, before that killer can serve her up cold.
Sweet Thunder
Doig, Ivan
In the winter of 1920, a quirky bequest draws Morrie Morgan back to Butte, Montana, from a year-long honeymoon with his bride, Grace. But the mansion bestowed by a former boss upon the itinerant charmer, who debuted in Doig’s bestselling “The Whistling Season,” promises to be less windfall than money pit. And the town itself, with its polyglot army of miners struggling to extricate themselves from the stranglehold of the ruthless Anaconda Copper Mining Company, seems–like the couple’s fast-diminishing finances–on the verge of implosion.
The Kill ListForsyth, Frederick In Virginia, there is an agency bearing the bland name of Technical Operations Support Activity, or TOSA. Its one mission is to track, find, and kill those so dangerous to the United States that they are on a short document known as the Kill List. TOSA actually exists. So does the Kill List. Hotshot Garwood, Julie Peyton Lockhart and her sisters have inherited Bishop’s Cove, a small, luxurious oceanfront resort, but it comes with a condition: The girls must run the resort for one year and show a profit–only then will they own it. It’s soon apparent to Peyton that their efforts are being sabotaged, but she refuses to let the threats scare her–until she’s nearly killed. She calls on her childhood friend and protector, Finn MacBain, now with the FBI, and asks for his help. He saved her life once; he can do it again? The Last Witness Griffin, W. E. B. / Butterworth, William E. Russian girls are being smuggled in to work in the sex trade, and now some of them are dying or just disappearing. The trail leads right to Philadelphia–where Payne learns that’s not all. It isn’t just Russian girls who are vanishing. Teenage girls are being lured from foster homes. Police department sources are turning up dead. The lone living witness has gone into hiding, with everybody–the Russians, the cartels, some of Philadelphia’s most powerful politicians–all looking for her. It’s up to Payne to find her–and hope he gets to her first. I, Saul Jenkins, Jerry B. / MacDonald, James Told from the point of view of the disciple Luke, the apostle Paul and “Auggie,” a modern-day scholar, I, Saul, is a fast-paced story of intrigue and mystery. Readers will be reminded of Indiana Jones and the DiVinci code as they become absorbed in this page-turner by a master storyteller. Along the way they will learn of the fictionalized but plausible story of the life of Saul who relentlessly persecuted Christ’s followers prior to his conversion when he became known as Paul. The Beast Kellerman, Faye Beast by Faye Kellerman has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher. Mistress Patterson, James / Ellis, David Ben isn’t like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts, he’s a man consumed by his obsessions: movies, motorcycles, presidential trivia-and Diana Hotchkiss, a beautiful woman Ben knows he can never have. When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, Ben’s infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life. Ben soon discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a shocking double life. And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana’s illicit affairs. Bones of the Lost: A Temperance Brennan Novel Reichs, Kathy When Charlotte police discover the body of a teenage girl along a desolate stretch of two-lane highway, Temperance Brennan fears the worst. The girl’s body shows signs of foul play. Inside her purse police find the ID card of a prominent local businessman, John-Henry Story, who died in a horrific flea market fire months earlier. Was the girl an illegal immigrant turning tricks? Was she murdered? The Last Kiss Goodbye: A Charlotte Stone Novel Robards, Karen Dr. Charlotte “Charlie” Stone has dedicated her career as a psychiatrist to exploring the darkest territory of all: the hearts and minds of serial killers. It’s a job she’s uniquely suited for, thanks to the secret talent that gives her an uncanny edge–Charlie can see dead people, whose tormented spirits cry out to her for the justice only she can provide. This blessing–or curse–gives Charlie the power to hunt down and catch madmen and murderers. It’s also turned her love life upside down by drawing her into a hopelessly passionate relationship with the lingering ghost of charismatic bad boy Michael Garland. Posted by Jenifer Brown
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For the ARC of this, please comment to the post. This is probably one of the titles David Glenn will cover at the Random House Book Buzz event next month, as it comes out in mid-July. Thanks to all of you who are planning to come.
Jeannette Walls ARC – Cross-posted from BiblioFiles
May 13, 2013
Last week I highlighted audio giveaways from the profusely prolific James Patterson (& company). This week I’m going to the other end of the spectrum and offering the latest from Jeannette Walls, one of those writers who really make it count when they release something. Her memoir The Glass Castle (2005) and novel Half-Broke Horses (2009), were phenomenally successful. The Silver Star, due out next month, again promises long-awaited satisfaction for millions of readers.
If you’d like the ARC of The Silver Star, please comment to this post with the name of the Sno-Isle branch where you’d like to pick it up, and I’ll be sure it gets there.
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Walls, Jeannette. The Silver Star. Scribner, June 2013. Abandoned by their artist mother at the age of twelve, Bean and her older sister, Liz, are sent to live in the decaying antebellum mansion of their widowed uncle, where they learn the truth about their parents and take odd jobs to earn extra money beforean increasingly withdrawn Liz has a life-shattering experience.
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Though he’s almost more an imprint than a single author these days, James Patterson continues to be extraordinarily popular both locally and nationwide. His prodigious output comprises multiple series for a variety of ages including Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Private, Maximum Ride, and Daniel X, among others.
Recently we harvested some free retail audiobooks from publishers at a local conference. They are all brand new and unused, but cannot be added to the collection as they are abridged. Please comment to this post to claim any or all, just letting me know the Sno-Isle branch where you would like to pick them up.
Here are the titles and publisher blurbs:
When millionaire Chaz Smith is mercilessly gunned down, Lindsay Boxer discovers that the murder weapon is linked to the deaths of four of San Francisco’s most untouchable criminals. Then she’s called next to the most bizarre crime scene she’s ever witnessed: two bodiless heads elaborately displayed in the garden of a world-famous actor.
Retired DC policeman Alex Cross is called on by his former partner to help track down a serial rapist. They discover a connection between the rapist and his wife’s killing years earlier, she was gunned down on the street in front of her husband.
Detective Alex Cross tells the story of an ancestor, Abraham Cross, and his experiences with lawyer Ben Corbett, recounting one man’s pursuit of justice in the face of the resurgence of Ku Klux Klan racism and violence in 1906 Eudora, Mississippi.
James Patterson delivers the fifteenth installment of his acclaimed Alex Cross series. During a family reunion, Detective Alex Cross receives word that a close relative has been brutally murdered. Determined to catch the culprit, Cross joins forces with his lover, Detective Brianna Stone, and pursues the case all the way to the seediest sections of Washington’s underbelly.
It’s Christmas Eve and Detective Alex Cross has been called out to catch someone who’s robbing his church’s poor box. That mission behind him, Alex returns home to celebrate with Bree, Nana, and his children. The tree decorating is barely underway before his phone rings again, a horrific hostage situation is quickly spiraling out of control. Away from his own family on the most precious of days, Alex calls upon every ounce of his training, creativity, and daring to save another family. Alex risks everything, and he may not make it back alive on this most sacred of family days. Alex Cross is a hero for our time, and never more so than in this story of family, action, and the deepest moral choices.
New Titles for Adult Standing Order Fiction
April 30, 2013
Light of the World
Burke, James Lee
Louisiana Sherriff’s Detective Dave Robicheaux and his longtime friend and partner Clete Purcel are vacationing in Montana’s spectacular Big Sky country when a series of suspicious events leads them to believe their lives–and the lives of their families–are in danger. Light of the World is a harrowing novel that examines the nature of evil and pits Dave Robicheaux against the most diabolical villain he has ever faced.
Gone With the Win
Daheim, Mary
When Ruby Tooms, the world-weary barmaid she met at Oktoberfest, arrives at her bed-and-breakfast with some unexpected baggage, Judith McMonigle Flynn, after much coercing by her husband, agrees to help Ruby solve the 20-year-old mystery of her mother’s murder.
Death Angel
Fairstein, Linda A.
Discovering the murdered body of a young woman in Ramble urban park, New York Assistant DA Alex Cooper and Detective Mike Chapman uncover disturbing links between the savage crime and a string of cold-case disappearances. By the best-selling author of Night Watch.
Hunting Eve
Johansen, Iris
The stakes are raised even higher in Hunting Eve as Eve battles the man who is holding her prisoner. Secrets about why Eve has been targeted come into the light, bringing Eve even closer to danger. With its cliffhanger ending, Hunting Eve sets up perfectly for the finale, Silencing Eve.
One Heart to Win
Lindsey, Johanna
Tiffany reluctantly travels to Montana Territory to end a family feud, a journey during which a train robbery and a case of mistaken identity lands her in her alluring fiancée’s ranch home.
The English Girl
Silva, Daniel
The wayward son of Israeli intelligence, Allon is plunged into a high stakes game of murder, espionage and corruption after a beautiful young British woman vanishes on the island of Corsica, which threatens to destroy a prime minister’s career.
Hidden Order
Thor, Brad
When a string of high-profile kidnappings in Washington, D.C. escalate upon the discovery that the victims are being murdered, an eventual ransom demand triggers terror throughout the country. By the best-selling author of Blowback.
Posted by Jenifer Brown
ARC Giveaways
April 10, 2013
For the taking. Please comment to claim these ARC’s and tell me where you work so I can send them. Thanks!
Koontz, Dean. Deeply Odd. (May 2013) 
Publisher Summary: In a chance encounter with a sinister truck driver tricked out like a rhinestone-cowboy, Odd has a vision of an outrageous multiple homicide, the murder of three innocent children, that has not yet been committed. Across California, into Nevada, and back again, Odd desperately gives chase. Along the way, he meets – and charms – a collection of eccentrics who become his allies in a terrifying battle against a sociopath of singular boldness and cleverness – and a shadowy network of like-minded murders whose identities and motivations are mysterious and whose resources seem almost supernatural.
Lackey, Mercedes. Burdens of the Dead. (June 2013)
Sequel to Much Fall of Blood, book 4 in the Heirs of Alexandria series. Civilization at the crossroads. In an alternate Renaissance where magic works, a captain of Italian forces must deal with gods, goddesses and warfare in order to save his daughter at the siege of Constantinople–and prevent a new dark age. In an alternate 15th century where magic still is part of life, the Holy Roman Empire rules Europe. Constantinople is under siege by the Venetians and their allies. Hekate, Goddess of Crossroads, presides over the conflict and carnage as alternate visions of civilization collide. And since Constantinople is the crossroad city of east and west, and it is here that Italian captain Benito Valdosta must deal with the powerful magical manifestation of the Weeping Woman, a disguised Hekate, in order to save his daughter and to destroy the fleets of the Chernobog assembling in the Black Sea before they can cut into the soft underbelly of Europe. With land battle, naval action, cunning assassinations, and heartbreak aplenty–not to mention the ongoing conflict between Lord of the Dead Aidonus and Benito for the love of a woman, civilization is at the crossroads and choices must be made that will bring victory and freedom for centuries to come–or a new Dark Age. About the Heirs of Alexander series: “In this world, broken off from ours in A.D. 349. . . Christian magic battles blackest sorcery. . . making for hours of old-fashioned reading fun . . . Lackey, Flint and Freer [are] mixmasters of nearly every heard-of myth.” Publishers Weekly “[V]ast and absorbing. . .it is almost impossible to put it down while the tension remains high. . .Lackey and associates’ areas of expertise, including naval history and classical mythology, are smoothly blended.”– Booklist
New Titles for Adult Standing Order Fiction
April 3, 2013
The King’s Deception
Berry, Steve
When escalating political tensions between the United States and England put his son, Gary, in the hands of a man with a shadowy and intensely personal agenda, Cotton Malone finds himself confronting a baffling historical mystery that questions the legitimacy of Elizabeth I. By the best-selling author of The Jefferson Key.
The Light in the Ruins
Bohjalian, Christopher A.
Cocooned within their ancient Tuscan villa, the noble Rosatis try to deny that World War II is raging in the world beyond. Then two soldiers arrive, interested in the family graveyard, even as 18-year-old Cristina Rosati finds herself involved with a German. A decade later, police investigator Serafina Bettini tracks a vicious killer who’s after the Rosatis–for reasons that seem evident. Trust “New York Times” best-selling author Bohjalian, who’s adept at both intimate portrait and broad canvas, to make something gorgeous of love and war and revenge.
Bombshell
Coulter, Catherine
While on his way to D.C., Hammersmith plans to visit his sister, Delsey, a student at Stanislaus School of Music in Maestro, Virginia. Before he arrives, he gets a phone call that Delsey was found naked, unconscious, and covered with blood after a wild party. The blood isn’t hers – so who does it belong to?
The Heist
Evanovich, Janet / Goldberg, Lee
A first entry in a new collaborative comic suspense series by the best-selling author of the Stephanie Plum mysteries and the best-selling author of the Monk tales finds FBI Special Agent Kate Winslow using her own schemes to outmaneuver charming con man Danny Cole, who becomes an unlikely partner when her next mission pits her against a formidable adversary.
Affliction
Hamilton, Laurell K.
Anita uses her familiarity with zombies to investigate why Micah’s father is dying from an inexplicable flesh-rotting disease in the latest novel of the number one New York Times best-selling series following Kiss the Dead.
Bad Monkey
Hiaasen, Carl
Anticipating his retirement from the Key West Police, Andrew Yancy tackles a murder case involving a human arm in his freezer, an investigation that pits him against a twitchy widow, a clueless real estate developer and a voodoo witch with a string of hapless lovers. By the best-selling author of Star Island.
Burdens of the Dead
Lackey, Mercedes / Flint, Eric / Freer, Dave
A Venetian siege on alternate-universe Constantinople finds Italian captain Benito Valdosta battling a magical manifestation of Hekate in order to save his daughter and destroys the fleets of the Chernobog, an effort that is complicated by Aidonus’s resolve to claim the woman Benito loves.
Steadfast
Lackey, Mercedes
On the run from an abusive husband, magician’s assistant Katie discovers that her employer is an Elemental Magician capable of commanding the Elementals of Air to help with his illusions in the new novel in the best-selling series following Home from the Sea.
One Heart to Win
Lindsey, Johanna
A landmark 50th novel by the best-selling author of the Malory series finds Tiffany reluctantly traveling to 1880s Montana Territory to end a family feud, a journey during which a train robbery and a case of mistaken identity lands her in her alluring fiancé’s ranch home.
Trains and Lovers
McCall Smith, Alexander
Inspired by a love of trains and the nature of love, a series of intertwined romantic tales follows the experiences of four strangers traveling from Edinburgh to London who entertain each other with reminiscences about how trains have changed their lives. By the best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
Classified
Michaels, Fern
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Choke Point
Pearson, Ridley
Hired to investigate allegations of a sweat-shop operation in Amsterdam that is enslaving young girls, Knox and tech information expert Grace Chu embark on a rescue mission that is challenged by a crime organization that has seduced local neighborhoods with showy goodwill practices.
The Long War
Pratchett, Terry / Baxter, Stephen
A new America called Valhalla grows restless under the controlling long arm of the Datum government, while all of the Long Earth is infused by the song of the trolls who are starting to react to humanity’s thoughtless exploitation, bringing humankind to the brink of war.
First Sight
Steel, Danielle
Timmie O’Neill is a youthful 48-year-old woman who rose from humble beginnings to create and run a successful fashion company for the past 23 years. The path to her destiny is filled with convoluted peregrinations, but Timmie keeps on and ultimately achieves what she wants and deserves. A novel about love, in all its heartbreaking and splendid forms.
Posted by Jenifer Brown
Our current orders for hardcover and audiobook have been canceled. This kind of thing is part of why we wait until three months pre-publication to order, generally speaking. Tantalized?
