September 2003

Nonfiction

• In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863
  Author: Ayers, Edward L.
  Publisher: Norton $ 27.95 ISBN: 0393057860
  Kirkus PW LJ Booklist
  Through a gripping narrative based on massive new research, a leading historian tells a reassuring story of the triumph, in an inevitable conflict, of the dynamic, free-labor North over the traditional, slave-based South, vindicating the freedom principles built into the nation's foundations.
  Updated 7.17.03

• Where I Was From
  Author: Didion, Joan
  Publisher: Knopf $ 23 ISBN: 0679433325
  Kirkus PW Booklist
  In this moving and unexpected work, Didion reassesses her life, her work, and both her own and America's history, locating the contradictions in the stories people tell themselves about their past and their present.
  Updated 7.18.03

• Mountains Beyond Mountains
  Author: Kidder, Tracy
  Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 0375506160
  Kirkus PW
  At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life's calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer--brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti--blasts through convention to get results. - Publisher Marketing.
  Link: Partners in Health web site
  Updated 7.8.03

• Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predators in the Jungles of History and the Mind
  Author: Quammen, David
  Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 0393051404
  PW Booklist LJ
  Casting his expert eye over the rapidly diminishing areas of wilderness where predators still reign, the award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo examines the fate of lions, saltwater crocodiles, brown bears and others that are disappearing.
  Suggested Reading List: Nature
  Updated 8.14.03

Fiction

• Brick Lane
  Author: Ali, Monica
  Publisher: Scribner $ 25 ISBN: 0743243307
  Kirkus LJ PW
  A stunningly accomplished debut and already an international sensation--the story of one outsider's quest to find her voice. What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing could be changed, everything had to be borne. This principle ruled her life.
  Suggested Reading Lists: All Stars | Fiction & Mystery Debuts
  Updated 6.25.03

• The Good House
  Author: Due, Tananarive
  Publisher: Atria $ 25 ISBN: 0743449002
  PW Kirkus
  From the award-winning author of The Black Rose comes a terrifying story of supernatural suspense, as a woman searches for the inherited power that can save her hometown from evil forces.
  Suggested Reading List: African American Stars
  Updated 8.11.03

• The Student Conductor
  Author: Ford, Robert
  Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399150374
  Booklist
  Cooper Barrow has returned to the competitive fray of the orchestral world after eight years of exile--bringing his talent and insecurity into Frankfurt when the Berlin Wall falls. With remarkable intensity and physicality, Ford delivers a pitch-perfect debut, brimming with intrigue and revelation.
  Suggested Reading Lists: Fiction & Mystery Debuts | Music & Fiction
  Updated 10.23.03

• Deafening
  Author: Itani, Frances
  Publisher: Atlantic $ 24 ISBN: 0871139022
  PW LJ Kirkus
  Elegantly written and profoundly moving, Deafening is a tale of remarkable virtuosity and power, set on the eve of the Great War and spanning two continents and the life and loves of a young deaf woman in Canada named Grania O'Neill.
  Suggested Reading List: All Stars
  Updated 6.19.03

• The Known World
  Author: Jones, Edward P.
  Publisher: Amistad $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060557540
  Kirkus LJ Booklist
  Henry Townsend, a black bootmaker and former slave in antebellum Virginia, becomes a proprietor of his own plantation--as well as his own slaves. This modern masterpiece explores what happens when he dies and "the known world" unravels.
  Suggested Reading Lists: African American Stars | Historical Fiction Stars | All Stars
  Updated 8.14.03

• Mailman
  Author: Lennon, J. Robert
  Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393057313
  LJ Booklist
  This extraordinary novel is a blackly comic epic, a twisted voyage through small-town America which tells the story of a brilliant, neurotic man desperately in search of love.
  Suggested Reading List: Black Humor
  Updated 8.14.03

• How to Breathe Underwater: Stories
  Author: Orringer, Julie
  Publisher: Knopf $ 21 ISBN: 1400041112
  LJ Booklist
  This guide to life in a hostile world is an astonishing debut story collection from a young writer who has already received immediate worldwide attention.
  Suggested Reading List: Fiction & Mystery Debuts
  Updated 6.19.03

• Waxwings
  Author: Raban, Jonathan
  Publisher: Pantheon $ 24 ISBN: 0375410082
  Kirkus PW
  From the bestselling author of Passage to Juneau comes an unsettling, funny, and tender novel set in Seattle at the turn of the millennium, when the high-tech Gold Rush threatens to overwhelm the actual world with myriad virtual alternatives.
  Updated 9.08.03

• Present Value
  Author: Willett, Sabin
  Publisher: Villard $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400060869
  Kirkus LJ
  The story of a power couple whose lives go astray, this clever, funny, energetic novel is a postmillennial snapshot of America by the author of The Deal and The Betrayal.
  Updated 8.14.03

Mystery & Suspense

• The Hummingbird Wizard
  Author: Blevins, Meredith
  Publisher: Forge $ 24.95 ISBN: 0765307693
  PW Kirkus LJ
  Driving full-steam-ahead with her life after the unexpected death of her husband, Annie Szabo was not planning on veering off course again. Sexy, witty, and original, Blevins paints a portrait of a vibrant family, led by two women who refuse to let a little homicide ruin their enjoyment of life.
  Suggested Reading Lists: All Stars | Fiction & Mystery Debuts
  Updated 8.13.03

• The Small Boat of Great Sorrows
  Author: Fesperman, Dan
  Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 037541472X
  PW Kirkus
  In an electrifying tale of international intrigue, the author of Lie in the Dark follows brooding investigator Vlado Petric, who is being used as bait to bring justice to a murderer whose activities in World War II make the current generation of killers look like amateurs.
  Updated 7.8.03

• Avenger
  Author: Forsyth, Frederick
  Publisher: St Martins $ 26.95 ISBN: 0312319517
  Booklist PW LJ
  In this heart-stopping thriller of murder, intrigue, deception, and revenge, attorney Calvin Dexter is called upon to settle an old score. But the game is changing, and this time CIA agent Kevin McBride must find a way to stop Dexter before his quest for vengeance throws the world into chaos.
  Suggested Reading List: All Stars
  Updated 9.08.03

• Mission Flats
  Author: Landay, Bill
  Publisher: Delacorte $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385336144
  Kirkus PW Booklist
  In the bestselling tradition of Scott Turow and Dennis Lehane, a former district attorney explodes onto the scene with a blistering debut set in Maine and Boston.
  Suggested Reading Lists: All Stars | Fiction & Mystery Debuts
  Updated 8.13.03

• Uniform Justice
  Author: Leon, Donna
  Publisher: Atlantic $ 24 ISBN: 0871139030
  LJ Booklist PW
  Leon is the internationally bestselling novelist whose ever adroit, big-hearted Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti has captivated fans throughout the world. As Uniform Justice opens, Brunetti is called to investigate a parent's worst nightmare: a young cadet has been found hanged, a presumed suicide, in Venice's elite military academy.
  Suggested Reading Lists: Venice | All Stars
  Updated 8.5.03

• Every Secret Thing
  Author: Lippman, Laura
  Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060506679
  LJ
  The acclaimed author's first stand-alone novel is a shocking tale of lost innocence, murder, and betrayal.
  Updated 7.1.03

• To the Bone
  Author: McMahon, Neil
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060529164
  PW
  The death of a young model in a San Francisco emergency room provides the first piece of a complex puzzle of cruelty and murder implicating a famous plastic surgeon.
  Updated 8.11.03

Books for Kids, Teens & Readers of All Ages

• Tale of Despereaux
  Author: Dicamillo, Kate/Ering, Timothy (ilt)
  Publisher: Candlewick $ 17.99 ISBN: 0763617229
  Booklist Kirkus PW School Libray Journal
  From the author of Because of Winn-Dixie comes a fairy tale full of quirky, unforgettable characters, narrated by DeCamillo's trademark humor and heartbreaking poignancy.
  Grades: 2-7 Category: Fiction/Fantasy
  Updated 7.30.03

• Diary of a Worm
  Author: Cronin, Doreen/Bliss, Harry (ilt)
  Publisher: Joanna Cotler $ 15.99 ISBN: 006000150x
  Kirkus PW
  The New York Times bestselling author of Click, Clack, Moo and Giggle, Giggle, Quack teams up with illustrator Harry Bliss for this hysterical journal about the daily doings and the hidden world of a lovable underground dweller.
  Grades: Preschool - 3rd Category: Fiction
  Updated 7.30.03

• Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction
  Author: November, Sharyn (ed)
  Publisher: Firebird $ 19.99 ISBN: 0142501425
  Kirkus
  This special anthology contains 16 original stories that showcase some of the genre's most admired authors, including multiple award-winners Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Lloyd Alexander, and Patricia A. McKillip.
  Grades: 7-9 Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Short Stories
  Updated 7.30.03

More information about current notable books:

More Featured Titles ~ Fiction Stars
~ Mystery Stars
~ Speculative Fiction Stars

Selected Nonfiction Stars ~ New Book Listings