December 1, 2011: Volume LXXIX, No 23

KIRKUS v o l. l x x i x, n o. 2 3

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1 dece mber 2011

REVIEWS

t h e w o r l d’s t o u g h e s t b o o k c r i t i c s f o r mo r e t h a n 7 5 y e a rs fiction

nonfiction

children & teens

Jesmyn Ward tells the story of a family torn apart by grief and loss p. 2176

Pulitzer winner Katherine Boo delivers the best book yet written on India in the throes of a brutal transition p. 2187

Meg Rosoff returns to the literature with a wry, deliciously blasphemous take on Creation p. 2238

in this issue: the best teen, nonfiction & indie books of 2011 and: valentine’s day picture books—round-up kirkus q&a

Technology writer Steven Levy discusses his latest book, In the Plex, an outstanding investigation of the rise of Google p. 2190

featured indie Curt Finch delivers a fast-paced, bizarre, iconoclastic farce. p. 2256

w w w. k i r k u s r e v i e w s . c o m

The Kirkus Star A star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.

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interactive e-books p. 2157 fiction p. 2161 mystery p. 2177

science fiction & fantasy p. 2184 nonfiction p. 2185

children & teens p. 2217 kirkus indie p. 2147

# President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N Editor E L A I N E S Z E WC Z Y K eszewczyk@kirkusreviews.com Managing/Nonfiction Editor E R I C L I E B E T R AU eliebetrau@kirkusreviews.com

The Ecstasy of Jonathan Lethem B Y D O N

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N

M C LEE SE

On e of the r easons Jonath a n Lethem at tr acts such passionate devotion is that he expresses such passionate devotion, such persuasive advocacy. He has done so implicitly in the novels that built his loyal fan base—from his debut, Gun, With Occasional Music (1994), through his popular breakthrough with Motherless Brooklyn (1999), through his most recent and debatably his best novel, Chronic City (2009).

Though Lethem is no polemicist in his fiction, it is difficult to read his novels without recognizing the arguments he makes for blurring conventional categories, for transcending the limits of the genres he subverts, for ultimately obliterating all distinction between pop culture and high culture. At the very least, he consistently bridges what was once considered a chasm, even a canyon, between the entertainment pleasure to be found within pulp genres and subcultures (sci-fi, detective, comic books, rock and roll) and the more serious literary art placed on the pedestal of high culture. For Lethem (as for so many of his and my generation), the former both informs and profoundly shapes the latter.

Part of the joy from the aptly titled The Ecstasy of Influence—a career-spanning collection of nonfiction pieces that is far more revelatory than most—is that the arguments implicit in his novels are not merely explicit here, but deliriously so, ecstatically so, as if the author is shaking you by the shoulders to show you what he loves, why he loves it and why you should love it, too. For Lethem, sharing his enthusiasm is more than a campaign; it’s a crusade.

Explains the author, who served his literary apprenticeship as a clerk in used bookstores, where he saw so much writing that meant so much to him languish in obscurity, “I began writing in order to arrive in the company of those whose company meant more to me than any other: the world of the books I’d found on shelves and began to assemble on my own, and the people who’d written them, and the readers who cared as much as I did, if those existed.”

This is a book for those people, the ones who care that much. Here, Lethem pledges his allegiance not only to the usual suspects, such as Philip K. Dick (he recently co-edited The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick) and J.G. Ballard, or less-predictable passions such as Paula Fox, Thomas Berger and especially Norman Mailer (Lethem confesses that he wanted to subtitle this volume “Advertisements for Norman Mailer,” in acknowledgment of the debt it owes to Mailer’s Advertisements for Myself ). His omnivorous appetite extends from underappreciated rock bands such as Australia’s the Go-Betweens to the resurrection of the legacy of Ernie Kovacs.

A motley collection of previously uncollected nonfiction is typically a closet-cleaning affair, a stopgap between big books, an opportunity to wring a few more dollars from what was originally work for hire. And while there are a few pieces here that read as if Lethem wrote them for the paycheck, in many more he appears as fully invested as he does in the best of his fiction. Not only does he seem to care deeply about whatever he’s writing about, but what he writes, what he reads, what he loves, is who he is.

As for those who would subdivide literary culture into categories and hierarchies, he responds, “ ‘You fools, don’t you understand, we’re all in this together?’ That shout is this book.” * The Ecstasy of Influence is one of Kirkus’ Best Nonfiction Books of 2011. See p. 2206 for the full list.

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Editor’s Correction: Regarding our review of Q.R. Markham’s Assassin of Secrets, Kirkus learned of the plagiarism accusations and publication recall after our Best of 2011 issue had been sent to press and the Best Fiction online feature had been developed. Though the book appeared in our Best Fiction list in the 11/15 issue, Assassin of Secrets has since been removed from the list at kirkusreviews.com.

for more re vi e ws and f eatures, vi si t u s on li n e at k irkusreviews.com

Features Editor M O L LY B RO W N molly.brown@kirkusreviews.com Children’s & YA Books VICKY SMITH vicky.smith@kirkusreviews.com Kirkus Indie Editor P E R RY C RO W E perry.crowe@kirkusreviews.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Assistant Indie Editor REBECCA CRAMER rebecca.cramer@kirkusreviews.com Editorial Coordinator CHELSEA LANGFORD clangford@kirkusreviews.com Contributing Editor G REG ORY Mc NAME E #

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This Issue’s Contributors Maude Adjarian • Paul Allen • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato • Amy Boaz • Allie Bochicchio • Will Boisvert • Lee E. Cart • Marnie Colton • Kelli Daley • Dave DeChristopher • Gregory F. DeLaurier • David Delman • Kathleen Devereaux • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Gro Flatebo • Julie Foster • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • Sean Gibson • Amy Goldschlager • BJ Hollars • John Hood • Robert M. Knight • Paul Lamey • Jenny Langsam • Kathryn Lawson • Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Carey London • Riley MacLeod • Joe Maniscalco • Melissa A. Marsh • Nina Martyris • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Chris Messick • Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Chris Morris • Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Sarah Norris • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • Amira Pierce • Gary Presley • John T. Rather • Karen Rigby • Lloyd Sachs • Bob Sanchez • Michael Sandlin • Rosanne Simeone • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Claire Trazenfeld • Steve Weinberg • Norman Weinstein • Rodney Welch • Carol White •

interactive e-books JABBERWOCKY

interactive e-books for children

Carroll, Lewis Pan Piccolo $0.99 | Oct. 4, 2011 1.0; Oct. 4, 2011

A laughably over-the-top rendition of the poem, intended to be spooky.

The point of view advances at a walking pace through a pitch-black, woodsy landscape while a hysterically emotive narrator gasps out the verses. Listeners wielding a digital “flashlight” can catch quick glimpses of (presumably) the eldritch Jubjub bird, an ungainly Bandersnatch and other toothy creatures lunging into view or flitting past. Repeat strolls bring the monsters out in different order—but the Jabberwock itself is never more than a pair of glowing eyes that advance, then recede as the poem draws to a close, leaving the tenebrous setting unchanged with no fight, vorpal sword, head or beamish boy ever in evidence. There is no option to see the text or to cut off the audio, the screen is so dark that even the slightest reflection is a major distraction and the fingertip-directed spotlight responds with frustrating sluggishness.

Not even Humpty Dumpty could parse this nonsense. (iPad poem app. 6-9)

VAN GOGH AND THE SUNFLOWERS

Anholt, Laurence Illus. by Anholt, Laurence Auryn $1.99 | Oct. 21, 2011 1.0.2; Oct. 21, 2011

A spectacular iPad adaptation of Anholt’s children’s book about van Gogh, his art and his friendship with a French family.

When van Gogh moved to Arles, France, in 1888, a postman and his family befriended the Dutch painter. This book is about what may have happened during van Gogh’s time in Arles, as seen from the perspective of the young boy in the Roulin family, Camille. Anholt’s magnificent illustrations quite literally spring to life, as 3-D figures and characters “pop out” and move, then collapse back into the two-dimensional background when the page is turned. Each page displays a cog in the upper left-hand corner that, when touched, produces an x-ray image of the armature that animates the moving parts. Touch a character, and a window pops up with two options. The first, most appropriately, is a painter’s palette that affords readers several tools with which to paint the characters. The second is a set of cogs that summons the x-ray armature again, but when tapped the mechanism collapses and readers race the clock to reassemble it. There’s a museum feature embedded in the story whereby readers can view and learn about many of the famous paintings van Gogh painted while living in Arles. Narration is easily switched off or on, and though navigation isn’t exceptionally speedy, it’s appropriately timed and precise.

An exceptionally bright and beautiful masterpiece. (iPad storybook app. 6-12)

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THE MAGIC OF REALITY

Dawkins, Richard Illus. by McKean, Dave Random House UK $13.99 | Sep. 23, 2011 1.0; Sep. 23, 2011

In a terrific example of e-bookmaking, animations, audio clips and interactive demos embellish the full text and already-memorable illustrations of this bestselling take on What Is So and What Ain’t.

In 12 chapters headed by questions from “Who was the first person?” and “Are we alone?” to “Why do bad things happen?”

Dawkins (clearly no respecter of magical thinking or faith-based reality) opens with surveys of relevant myths or popular but mistaken beliefs. He then dismisses them to retrace in eminently readable prose the origins, characteristics and evolution of matter, life and language; explain the physical causes of seasons, rainbows and earthquakes; and look into chance and coincidence. His basic premise is that science guides us to a reality “more magical—in the best and most exciting sense of the word—than any myth or made-up mystery or miracle.” Small, brief gestures or changes of |

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position further enliven art that, in a virtuosic variety of looks and styles, comments both informatively and wittily on the manually advanced narrative. Nearly every chapter contains a multimedia or interactive feature, such as a swiveling “Newton’s Cannon” that will fire cannonballs into orbit if correctly angled, brief audio remarks (or, in one case, a passage from Chaucer) by the author or a touchand tilt-sensitive tour through the states of matter.

Plenty of well-designed, smoothly integrated special features only enhance this passionate, provocative scientific manifesto. (thumbnail-image chapter and page indexes) (iPad nonfiction app. 11 & up)

and overcoming insurmountable odds. David is a young Israeli shepherd boy; Goliath is a giant in the Philistine army. David volunteers to fight the mammoth warrior after learning that the entire Israeli army has been cowering for days in Goliath’s shadow. (Warning: spoiler alert!) David wins. This adaptation is fueled by breathtaking computer graphics and is narrated by World Series MVP Eckstein, in a performance that is on rare occasions believable but otherwise unremarkable. Readers can hurl spears, prompt reluctant soldiers to square off with Goliath, throw stones and carry out several other nifty tasks, but the sound effects tend to drown out narration while the story is being read (there’s also a read-it-myself option). David’s triumphant crowd surfing in the 11th-century BCE is bewildering and seems like a cheap shot at relevance. On one page there are substantial sound hiccups, and the “afterward” narration—provided by Eckstein’s wife—feels preachy if well intended.

Though the computer graphics are stunning and at times entertaining, they’re not powerful enough to slay the giant also known as mediocrity. (iPad storybook app. 7-12)

COUNT THE ANIMALS!

Ellerbeck, Caroline Illus. by Ellerbeck, Caroline Appracadabra $3.99 | Sep. 29, 2011 1.0.1; Sep. 29, 2011

The title says it all; counting animals is all you get, but counting can be great fun.

Join a colorful and very quirky family in this visually stimulating world of animal counting. Each page features from one to 20 creatures that animate when touched: Rabbits jump out of the father’s magic hat, the family dogs pee and poop (a surefire crowd pleaser for the kids) and lice jump from mom’s hair to son’s hair. Updated retro illustrations on a simple beige background work perfectly to showcase the family members, wildly dressed in mix-and-match stripes and polka dots, and their animals, rendered in black (mostly) silhouette.

Navigation is achieved with a basic back-and-forth page swipe, so it’s not easy to get back to the settings page that comes up when the app is opened. This is unfortunate, because there are some clever options. The counting can proceed normally from one to 20, backwards or in random order; the creatures can turn into numerals on the page (or stay creatures); sound effects and narration can be turned on and off; and readers can choose to hear the numbers narrated in 16 different languages.

This entertaining app will have kids learning their numbers while laughing out loud. (iPad counting app. 3-7)

STRAWBERRY DAY I

Kasparavicius, Kestutis Illus. by Kasparavicius, Kestutis Impartner $3.99 | Oct. 3, 2011 1.1; Oct. 12, 2011 Strawberry-haunted crocodiles, mischievous hares, home-hungry worms, operatic pigs and high society cats captivate and delight in this six-story app set.

Kasparavicius fancifully paints anthropomorphized animals awash in textural watercolors that bring the narrative to life. Of the six stories in the set, the strongest are: “Strawberry Day,” about a gluttonous crocodile who learns that too much of a good thing is still too much; “The Singer,” the charming tale of a piglet who defies his critics and earns his operatic wings; and “Miaowland,” a high-brow yarn about a land of royal cats who no longer stoop to chasing their own mice. The other stories fall short at times, dragging in the telling, lacking illustrative support for key scenes or missing a strong ending. Parents who follow along will likely find themselves pressed into service to define the rich vocabulary, which includes words like “didactic,” “nocturnal,” “connoisseur” and “impoverished.” Narrator Kerry Shawn Keys’ lively interpretation of the stories elevates the entertainment value for children of all ages. The animation and interactivity levels here may not be as slick or sophisticated as some other apps’, but it is is consistently engaging throughout.

Well worth the whimsical excursion. (iPad storybook app. 6-10)

DAVID AND GOLIATH MVP Edition

Jumping Pages Jumping Pages $4.99 | 1.1; Oct. 4, 2011

A “special edition” of the classic Bible story that emphasizes faith, courage and the supernatural possibility of

becoming an MVP. Regardless of religious upbringing, most are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. The two unlikely opponents have become symbols for facing formidable circumstances 2158

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“The strength of this app lies in the sweet, Zen-like story and the soothing voice of the narrator…” from the cherry tree

THE SING-SONG OF OLD MAN KANGAROO

intermittent glitches. Page turns often take several swipes or taps to advance, and some touch points are so narrow in scope that one must know exactly where the “trigger” is in order to stir action.

Though certainly not a giant leap for all mankind, a promising first effort that puts Mancusi squarely on the app map. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)

Kipling, Rudyard Illus. by Gross, Heather Pan Piccolo $0.99 | Sep. 21, 2011 1.0; Sep. 21, 2011

THE CHERRY TREE

This Kipling Just So tale features great narration, but the viewer-controlled animation doesn’t hold interest for long.

Kangaroo wasn’t always able to stand on his hind legs, hop and use his strong tale to balance himself. In this origin tale, Proud Kangaroo approaches three gods and demands that they make him special, popular and sought after. They refuse until Big God Nqong sends Dingo racing after Kangaroo, and Kangaroo is forced to change into a superior animal if he wants to survive.

Bob Knowles’ narration is top-notch, enhancing the rich language, metaphors and description of the Kipling story. Viewers are able to control the Dingo as he chases Kangaroo across the plains of Australia by tilting the iPad side-to-side. This is fun for the first few minutes, but it grows old, distracting from the storytelling. There are some missed opportunities here for enhancements that would have been welcome, such as a map and further exploration of the many places mentioned in the story, as well as graphics and information about the interesting Australian ecology Kipling alludes to, like “spinifex,” “ti-trees,” “salt-pan” and more. Navigation is limited to play, pause and stop, and there is no way to turn off narration other than by muting the iPad. A well-narrated, interesting tale, but the one-note graphics and limited navigation keep it from the top. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)

Matern, Maja Illus. by Köhn, Annette Ridili $3.99 | Oct. 8, 2011 1.0; Oct. 8, 2011

A Japanese girl loves and cares for a special tree throughout her life.

Miyu’s parents give her a cherry tree on her third birthday. She and her father plant the sapling in their small garden, and Miyu tenderly cares for it. Come springtime, the tree blooms; by summer, she’s eating ripe cherries and swinging from a rope she has tied to its bough. In the fall, she builds a tree house in its branches (apparently Miyu is quite the arborist).

One year, though, the tree fails to bloom, and after she tries a host of remedies, the tree tells her to check its roots. She finds a nest of voles and relocates them, and the tree eventually revives. The strength of this app lies in the sweet, Zen-like story and the soothing voice of the narrator (who sounds much like Mary Poppins).

Illustrations feature bold colors and yet somehow remain suitably understated. Animation resembles what might be taught in a basic html course; it’s repetitive and jumpy, but reliable nonetheless. Interactive elements are kept to a minimum—a chatty kitty, cherry-picking, various sound effects. The only unpleasant thing about this app is Miyu’s badly faked crying when she realizes her tree is sick, but it’s a minor irritation in the grand scheme of things.

A low-tech offering with substantial charm and character. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)

I HAVE TO GET THERE!

Mancusi, Marta Illus. by Mancusi, Marta Marta Mancusi $2.99 | Sep. 30, 2011 1.0; Sep. 30, 2011

MOTHER GOOSE ORIGINAL I

Richardson, Frederick Our House Interactive $2.99 | Oct. 5, 2011 1.1.2; Oct. 12, 2011

A young boy longs to travel to the moon so he can profess his undying love for it.

Bobo lies awake every night admiring the moon. Desperate to find a way to get there, he formulates several travel options. He piles up his toys to build a makeshift staircase; he climbs out on the roof of his house; he jumps on a trampoline in the hope of bouncing high enough.

Of course, none of these things can liberate him from the Earth’s atmosphere, and his mother finally explains that the moon is not an everyday travel destination. The simplicity of this app is appealing. Italian illustrator Mancusi combines straightforward drawings, a narrowed color palette and a handful of interesting textures, all of which add up to a refreshingly uncluttered screen. The interaction and animation are rudimentary by current standards, but a few elements are so pleasantly unexpected they feel like more than they are, technologically speaking. However, there are a few |

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Mother Goose rhymes paired with vintage illustrations lose something in translation to an interactive format.

There’s something magical about opening an early 20th-century Volland edition of fairy tales or nursery rhymes illustrated by Richardson. The elegant, old-fashioned drawings are meticulously outlined in pen and feature a pleasing palette of colors and beautiful rural landscapes. The Original Mother Goose is a stunning classic that warrants a careful touch when converting to a new platform. Unfortunately, this particular app’s enhancements feel clumsy, out of place and sometimes jarring set against the gorgeous illustrations. Some of the pages work better than others, such |

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“As in the first book, the detailed animation…, clever-but-not-too-difficult puzzles and retro-tech vibe are a great combination.” from the button at the bottom of the sea

as the “Dickery Dickery Dock” page, where viewers can move the clock’s hands, and the “Old King Cole” page, where the violins produce lovely sounds. Others are less successful. The front of the dog detaches disconcertingly from his back end in “Old Mother Hubbard,” and Little Boy Blue’s snore is more laughable than believable.

The narration is a bit shrill, and the sound quality is tinny. Navigation is abetted by a pull-down bookmark in the upper corner of the pages that brings viewers back to a menu from which they can choose any of the 13 rhymes, but page turns are very slow.

Viewers can see rhymes from The Original Mother Goose online for free at oldpicturebooks.com and decide for themselves whether a simple, amateur reading at home can create more magic than this app. (iPad storybook app. 2-7)

tale. A “big, fat and gray” hatchling (actually pure yellow when first seen, later acquiring gray blotches) wanders through grassy settings and tidy interiors festooned with flowers, mushrooms, pet and woodland animals, household and other items—most of which will hop, paddle, sway, chuckle, buzz, clatter or otherwise respond to touches—to his eventual epiphany. Menus accessible from the title page and every subsequent screen allow the verses to be displayed or removed at will, an audio narration or a selfrecorded one to run as an alternative to silent reading, quick skipping via a strip of thumbnail page images and a full auto option for passive or group viewing. A completist-pleasing “Tips” button identifies all of the touchable features in a scene with tiny blue hands. The illustrator, the writer and Hans Christian Andersen go uncredited, which is for the best.

Well designed and produced, but no swan. (iPad storybook app. 5-7)

CINDERELLA

So Ouat!

So Ouat! $3.99 | Oct. 21, 2011 1; Oct. 21, 2011

THE BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

Van Ryzin, Henrik & Van Ryzin, Denise Octopus Kite $3.99 | Oct. 11, 2011 Series: Bartleby’s Book of Buttons, 2 1.0.0; Oct. 11, 2011

A sweet version of the tale, with Disney-style cartoon illustrations and a carriage full of literacy-building tools.

With help from her matronly “godmother, who was a fairy,” Cinderella meets and weds the Prince, forgiving her stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia (her stepmother vanishes after an early cameo) and going on to live at court “happily, with the Prince and their many children.” The text and an optional audio narration that comes with both highlighted words and autoadvance can be switched between French and English on any page.

A swinging cord visible on every page (even the credits) pulls down a menu of further options—pronouncing individual words at a touch, displaying for selected words either a brief definition or a small image, even highlighting all the vowels. The illustrations are not touch sensitive, but they move or transform smoothly. In fact, touching the screen isn’t a good idea, as it seems to derail the app, causing all sound to cease until the “play” button is tapped; multiple touches create a sort of pantomime as the characters continue to move silently, cause the menu bar to flicker, set off a page turn and sometimes disassociate the text from the art.

A bland retelling, well stocked with pedagogical features. (iPad storybook/educational app. 6-8)

A continuation of the charmingly playful series about button-collecting, bowler-hat–wearing Bartleby, this volume is no less winning than the first even as it adds more locales and characters.

When last we left Bartleby, his brief trip to Mystery Island yielded treasure. This time out, an encounter with Bartleby’s friend Sally (who’s into switches the way he’s into buttons) leads to an adventure on and under the sea, which reveals a long-lost family member and a cliffhanger ending that points to a third volume that will likely take place in space. As in the first book, the detailed animation (watch as Bartleby’s bushy mustache flaps in the wind as he rides his moped), clever-but-not-too-difficult puzzles and retro-tech vibe are a great combination. Bartleby doesn’t speak much, but he doesn’t have to; he expresses himself in the way he solves puzzles, pursues clues and treasures his buttons. Hidden maps, deep-sea buttons, secret underwater caves and sleepy whales figure into a story that’s packed with great imagery and texture. Volume two feels twice as long as the first book did, and it’s satisfying, but the cliffhanger may be a problem for some faithful readers given how long it takes for a new app to be released; it’s been nearly a year since we saw the previous adventure.

Lucky for the developers that Bartleby’s books are worth the wait. This app series continues to delight; it feels innovative and well-told at the same time, a tricky balance. (iPad storybook/puzzle app. 4-10)

THE UGLY DUCKLING

TabTale TabTale $1.99 | Oct. 11, 2011 1.0; Oct. 11, 2011

A verdant garden of options and interactive features is smothered by bland art and woeful versification.

Stumbling and forcibly rhymed lines like “He almost ran away, he didn’t want them all to see / How different he was from them, not graceful and lovely,” tell the familiar 2160

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fiction ISLAND OF WINGS

HOPE A Tragedy

Altenberg, Karin Penguin (320 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-14-312066-7 A fictionalized account of 19th-century Scotsman Neil MacKenzie as he and his wife convert the natives of St. Kilda.

In many ways this is the proverbial story of colonization—an earnest, naïve minister is sent to a distant shore to save souls and promote the Empire’s notion of modernity. What makes MacKenzie’s story so singular is that St. Kilda is located no more than 40 miles off the coast of Scotland, inhabited for 1,000 years by Gaelic-speaking Norsemen. When MacKenzie and his young wife Lizzie arrive in the summer of 1830, though they are to live in the newly constructed manse, they are shocked by the primitive conditions of the islanders. Shod in rags and island wool, the St. Kildans live in turf huts (in which every kind of waste is layered into the floor during winter) and only one in three children survive past their first week. The tax man (the island belongs to a laird on the mainland) comes a few times per year to collect his revenue in feathers and drop off supplies, but generally the islanders live in isolation. MacKenzie begins by drilling the catechism and in true British fashion comes up with a scheme to improve island productivity. As Neil is occupied with the St. Kildans, Lizzie lives in a solitude more profound than the islanders. Unlike her husband she speaks no Gaelic, and so must wait years for company when finally a maid is sent from the mainland. As the years progress Neil and Lizzie, devoted as newlyweds, fall into an icy truce. Before a kind of desperate madness transforms Neil into that familiar Kurtz-like figure, he manages to rebuild the village and divide the shared farmland. For the communal St. Kildans, whose interdependence is vital, this new scheme of individuality has dire consequences.

In this winning debut, Altenberg, a trained archaeologist, brings a subtle voice to this odd bit of history, in which faith and marriage are no match for isolation. (Agent: Gill Coleridge)

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Auslander, Shalom Riverhead (304 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 12, 2012 978-1-59448-838-2 A family man suffers from money woes, a judgmental spouse and a hectoring mother. But things don’t get really funny until he discovers Anne Frank living in his attic.

Auslander’s debut novel is a scalding, uproarious satire that rejects the idea that the Holocaust can’t be mined for comedy— he just knows that a book has to be very good to pull it off. The story’s hero is Solomon Kugel, an eco-friendly–goods salesman who’s moved his wife and toddler son to a rural Northeast town for some peace and quiet. No such luck: An arsonist is at large, the tenant they’ve taken on to help make ends meet won’t stop complaining and Kugel’s mother, supposedly at death’s door with a terminal illness, isn’t going anywhere. Indeed, she eagerly pursues her beloved hobby of imagining herself a Holocaust victim, slipping images of the death camps alongside family photos in scrapbooks. Investigating a tapping sound he hears in the ducts, Solomon discovers an elderly, sickly, foul-mouthed Anne Frank living in his attic, working on a sequel to her famous diary. The metaphor is punishingly obvious: The Holocaust is an unshakable, guilt-inducing fixture in the life of any self-aware Jew, and living with its legacy can be a burden. What’s remarkable is how far Auslander (Beware of God, 2005, etc.) is willing to push the metaphor, and how much pathos he gets from the comedy.

Lampshades, grim historical photographs and Alan Dershowitz are all the stuff of laugh-out-loud lines, and Solomon’s therapist delivers statements that turn received wisdom on its head—utopia is dystopia, hope is tragic. Auslander’s pithy, fast-moving prose emphasizes the comedy, but no attentive reader will misunderstand that he’s respectful of the Holocaust’s tragedy, only struggling to figure out how to live in its shadow.

Brutal, irreverent and very funny. An honest-to-goodness heir to Portnoy’s Complaint.

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“Cliffhangers, literal and literary, abound.” from the rope

KILL SWITCH

Baer, Neal; Jonathan Greene Kensington (288 pp.) $25.00 | Dec. 13, 2011 978-0-7582-6686-6 A brilliant young forensic psychiatrist tries to outwit a serial killer.

The authors are qualified to write thrillers, but this milquetoast “homage” to Silence of the Lambs and other more venerable entertainments doesn’t even hold up as an airplane book. Baer and Greene’s careers as former producers of series like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and A Gifted Man should give readers a sense of what they’re getting into. After a very slight prologue in which a girl is abducted in 1989, the novel opens on forensic psychiatrist Claire Waters’ first day working among the inmates of Riker’s Island. She’s been invited into this rare research fellowship by Dr. Paul Curtin, a severe taskmaster with his own agenda. “I want to fix them, or at least understand them,” Claire philosophizes about her chosen path. In the most simplistic psycho-speak, Claire believes that childhood is the key to understanding all deviants, not least her first patient Todd Quimby, due for parole soon. Quimby is a hard case with a history of drug and sexual abuse hurtling toward even worse crimes who fixates on his new doctor. Meanwhile, a Manhattan homicide detective named Nick Lawler is recovering from the death of his wife, looking after two young children, and is suddenly called back to homicide after a long exile in a dead-end assignment. Lawler runs across Claire while investigating the murders of young blonde women, with all evidence pointing towards Quimby. Claire is even more horrified when the next victim has been altered to look more like her. The investigative narrative is workmanlike but tolerable, much like the rerun of a TV serial. It’s toward the end, as Claire confronts the killer who abducted her childhood friend and the primary plot becomes a Fugitive-style medical mystery, that this novel starts to lose its edge.

Another police procedural about the criminal mind with lackluster characters and a predictable plot.

THE ROPE

Barr, Nevada Minotaur (368 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-312-61457-7 978-1-4299-5113-5 e-book Prequel to Barr’s popular Anna Pigeon series.

For readers who have always wondered what made Anna Pigeon forsake a Manhattan theatre career for the life of a ranger/sleuth in the country’s most godforsaken locales, some answers: Anna, traumatized by the sudden departure of her husband, Zach, shuts her eyes and picks a job, any job, as long as it’s different from her old life. And what could be more alien than 2162

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a summer as a seasonal assistant in the National Park Service, where she is immediately assigned to help ranger Jenny, aka the Fecal Queen, remove human waste deposited by tourists on the shores of the otherwise pristine Lake Powell, Utah. This damcreated lake nestled in deep canyons is a favorite destination for houseboaters, including bands of partying overprivileged 20-somethings. Unused to desert conditions, Anna embarks on an ill-advised solo hike, where she surprises three college-age boys raping a young woman. The next thing Anna knows, she awakens in a sinkhole, naked, with a bruised skull and a dislocated arm. Intermittently conscious, with nothing to drink but the apparently drugged contents of a canteen, Anna discovers the corpse of the rape victim (whose name bracelet identifies her as Kay) buried nearby. Anna eventually vows to get in even better shape to handle the rough terrain—and characters—of her new world. Along the way, the obvious culprits turn out not to be so obvious, and Barr succeeds in keeping us guessing as to who the real psychopaths are.

Cliffhangers, literal and literary, abound. (First printing of 150,000)

THE DAEMON PRISM

Berg, Carole ROC/Penguin (496 pp.) $16.00 | paperbackJan. 3, 2012 978-0-451-46434-7 Final installment of Berg’s characterdriven sword-and-sorcery trilogy (The Soul Mirror, 2011, etc.), again with all of the main characters reappearing—even the dead ones.

This time the main narrator is reviled, blinded sorcerer Dante, whose task is to teach practical, intelligent and skeptical Anne de Vernase how to wield her powerful magic. At length wearying of Dante’s dogged insistence on discipline and control, Anne departs to visit her family. Dante, meanwhile, learns of a ghostly, pleading young woman apparently with the ability to project magic through dreams using a mysterious green crystal. The magic bound up in the crystal is utterly different than anything in Dante’s experience. So Dante, despite knowing that the lure of the crystal is a trap, cannot resist seeking it out.

At least he’ll be accompanied by his old comrade, clownish chevalier Ilario de Sylvae. Another compelling reason driving Dante to seek the crystal is the puzzle of missing royal librarian Portier de Savin-Duplais. Dante’s friend Portier may be immortal—and their mutual enemy, the malevolent wizard Jacard, aims to bury Portier alive to power the recovery of Jacard’s uncle Kajetan (slain

by Anne and Dante in the previous book) from a ghastly realm beyond death. Co-narrator Anne finally grasps the situation and sets out in pursuit. All these adventures are somewhat marred by an obvious spy to whom everybody remains stoically oblivious.

The downside is the ending: The abrupt switch from two narrators to four serves only to obfuscate, delay and dilute the force of what should have been a shattering conclusion.

Nonetheless, enthralling and not to be missed.

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THE CROWN

Bilyeau, Nancy Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (416 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-1-4516-2685-8 Bilyeau’s venture into Tudor territory veers away from Henry VIII to explore a more obscure aspect of his reign, the dismantling of England’s monasteries and convents.

A young noblewoman, Joanna Stafford, is brought by her father to Dartford Priory, where she enters the novitiate. Soon thereafter, thanks to a foolhardy attempt to render aid to her condemned cousin Margaret, Joanna and her father are confined to the Tower, where they languish for several months. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, engineers Joanna’s release and return to Dartford, but not without extracting from her a terrible admission: concealed somewhere at the priory is a sacred relic, the Crown of King Athelstan, England’s last great Saxon monarch. Her father will remain in the Tower until Joanna locates and secures the Crown for Gardiner, who, he says, intends to use its mysterious power to, somehow, thwart King Henry’s rampage against Roman Catholicism and its religious orders. Accompanying Joanna to Dartford are two other agents of the Bishop, the recently dispossessed Dominican friars Brother Richard and Brother Edmund. Back at Dartford, Joanna’s search for the Crown yields no clues, until a visitor, Lord Chester, drunkenly spots a telling tapestry and collapses in terror. Sometime that night Chester is murdered. Brother Edmond is accused, but cleared when Lady Chester leaves a suicide note confessing her own guilt. When Henry’s operatives appear at Dartford it is clear that Cromwell, Henry’s chief minister and Gardiner’s sworn enemy, is aware of the Athelstan Crown’s existence; its links to Charlemagne and Christ himself; and its unique proclivity: to bring invincibility to anyone of royal blood who is pure, and death to anyone who is not. Only when Richard, Edmund and Joanna join forces can they trace the legend of Athelstan to its roots in another monastery, but their faith and trust in the Bishop known as Wily Winchester will be severely tested.

This fast-paced debut delivers Tudor intrigue and mystical thrills in one satisfying package—and leaves room for a sequel.

CITY OF THE LOST

Blackmoore, Stephen DAW/Berkley (224 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-7564-0702-5 A remarkable debut, L.A. noir with eye-bulging refinements, from a poet and short-story writer who says of himself: “As a writer he strives to be a hack.

Hacks get paid. He’s not sure if hacks talk about themselves in the third person, though. That might just be a side effect of his meds.” |

Joe Sunday, bad knees, weary resignation and all, is a legbreaker for English gangster Simon Patterson when his buddy and partner-in-crime Julio Guerrera starts acting weird in a bar, then rips his own throat out with a busted bottle. Seems that Simon sent Julio to steal a McGuffin from Chicago mobster Sandro Giavetti. Soon Joe confronts Giavetti, who strangles him. Joe wakes up to find he’s in perfect health—except he’s now room temperature and doesn’t need to breathe. Giavetti, too, is immortal. “Well, maybe not so much Fountain of Youth as Fountain of Not Staying Dead.” The only drawback as far as Joe is concerned is that he falls apart zombie-style every 24 hours and needs to chomp living flesh in order to return to being healthily undead. Oh, and the fact that the McGuffin, an egg-shaped gemstone, has vanished, and lots of folks want it. The basically indescribable plot involves said McGuffin and encounters with, among other beings, a mysteriously wellinformed but unforthcoming femme fatale, a lecherous demon who tends bar in his own private universe, a do-gooder Latina bruja who wants to help homeless vampires, a diabolical Nazi wizard and a midget with teeth like a shark.

A head-shakingly perfect blend of zombie schlock, deadpan wit, startling profanity, desperate improvisation and inventive brilliance.

SHOCK OF WAR

Bond, Larry & DeFelice, Jim Forge (352 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-7653-2139-8 Series: Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising, 4 Third in the very-near-future war series (Edge of War, 2010, etc.) about a drought-stricken, starving and desperate China’s efforts to secure food supplies by invading lush Vietnam.

The United States, meanwhile, has its own problems. Gas costs over $14 per gallon, while the recession and housing crises are still in full swing. However, when China marches to war, U.S. President George Greene defies Congress and determines to aid Vietnam to ensure world stability. Oh the irony. Environmental scientist Josh MacArthur witnessed the Chinese attack and a subsequent massacre and even has footage of the event. But thanks to Chinese counter-propaganda and a lukewarm media reaction, Congress shrugs. Oh the double irony.

CIA officer Mara Duncan, who helped Josh escape and evade assassins, now sidelined in Washington and given a desk job, analyzes some curious features of the Vietnamese defenses. As a typhoon approaches, a U.S. destroyer patrols off the Vietnamese coast in an effort to prevent Chinese troops from landing.

And, in a top secret op, Majors Win Christian and Zeus Murphy join the Vietnamese defenders while Greene schemes to smuggle missiles into Vietnam to counter the Chinese battle tanks.

Despite all this, only the timidity of the Chinese commanders prevents sudden and complete disaster. Is it credible? Well, sort of, though one can’t help wondering why China didn’t use its

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gazillions in hoarded U.S. debt to buy food, or how Vietnam managed to accumulate enough rice to feed a billion Chinese.

However, the headlong pace, crackling action and splendid heroics more than compensate.

Crank up the La-Z-Boy, lean back and enjoy.

BLUEPRINTS OF THE AFTERLIFE

Boudinot, Ryan Black Cat/Grove (416 pp.) $14.00 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-8021-7091-0 It’s the end of the world as we know it, and everyone feels a bit out of synch with their surroundings.

After getting his feet wet with a collection of comic short stories (The Littlest Hitler, 2006) and ruminating on youth in revolt in his debut novel, Boudinot (Misconception, 2009) goes all in with a Murakamiinspired fit of speculative madness that marries the postmodernist streak of Neal Stephenson to the laconic humor of The Big Lebowski. It starts in the future and, par for the course, humanity is screwed. Survivors find themselves in a warped version of reality known collectively as “The Age of Fucked Up Shit.” How bad? The continent has been raked over by Malaspina, a sentient, roving glacier and her marauding polar bears. Into this crazy-quilt scenario Boudinot introduces a semi-heroic cast. Woo-jin Kan is an Olympic medal–winning dishwasher who gets a note from his future brain instructing him to write a book called How to Love People. “It’s one of the only books the Last Dude has to read, so make it really good,” writes Woo-Jin’s future self. Abby Fogg is an archivist who is hired by a mysterious string-puller named Dirk Bickle to deconstruct an archive of pre-FUS material, held by a former pop star named Klee Asparagus and her army of clones.

Interviews with software designer Luke Piper punctuate the story, flashing back to a drug-fueled hypnotherapy session that inspired the “Bionet,” a sort of social media for the mind. Some of the funniest dialogue comes from an actor named Neethan F. Jordan, whose rote descriptions of his TV series might well serve as the polar opposite of this bizarre, imaginative novel. “It’s a thought-provoking series, featuring state-of-the-art effects and wall-to-wall action, with more than a little tenderness,” opines Jordan. Thought-provoking, beyond a doubt.

Challenging, messy and funny fiction for readers looking for something way beyond space operas and swordplay.

(Agent: P.J. Mark)

Bova, Ben Tor (352 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-7653-1786-5 Present-day, science-based political thriller from the veteran author and editor (Leviathans of Jupiter, 2011, etc.).

Assistant astronomy professor Jake Ross still grieves for his wife Louise, killed a year ago in an auto accident. He rubs along putting together science experiments for a new Mars rover, and hopes for tenure one day—until his mentor, wise old Lev Cardwell, persuades Jake to meet rich, ambitious Frank Tomlinson, whose goal is to oust incumbent senator Christopher Leeds in the upcoming election. Tomlinson needs an edge and offers Jake a job as his science advisor—if he can come up with an idea. At Cardwell’s suggestion he recommends that Tomlinson back MHD, magnetohydrodynamics, a revolutionary, efficient and clean method of generating electricity. Jake becomes doubly motivated when it turns out that Tomlinson’s assistant, attractive Amy Wexler, will sleep with him whenever he comes up with a good idea. The university’s MHD researchers, irascible Tim Younger and easygoing Bob Rogers, are overjoyed at the prospect of money and support; curiously, however, the project’s head, Professor Arlan Sinclair, refuses to support Jake and avoids meeting Tomlinson. Could there be sinister reasons why Sinclair refuses to push his own pet project? There could indeed, and when Sinclair and his wife turn up dead Jake finds himself in an ugly, dangerous battle for which he is totally unprepared. Bova deals with the issues and the politics with his usual workmanlike competence, and he explains the concepts behind the (real) technology clearly—though he tends to skate over the practical difficulties involved. His one real failure is candidate Tomlinson’s motivation: Why would a wealthy playboy type think that, in an age when science is routinely derided or ignored, science could boost him into a Senate seat?

Solid if unspectacular—Bova makes his point without belaboring it—and a huge improvement over his flabby previous outing.

LITTLE GIRL GONE

Campbell, Drusilla Grand Central Publishing (352 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Jan. 31, 2012 978-0-446-53579-3 When your luck runs out, who can help you pick up the pieces? Can you really trust that person?

In Campbell’s latest novel (The Good Sister, 2010, etc.), Madora grows up in a small Arizona town on the edges of the desert where her father shot himself years before. Madora’s mother retreats into her own grief, leaving Madora feeling

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“A haunting, disconcerting, devastating portrait of evil.” from the whisperer

orphaned. So she finds friends to replace her parents and drugs to numb her pain. One night after a bad experience with drugs out in the desert, Madora’s partying friends also abandon her.

Shaken and nearly dead, she looks up to see an angel. No, not an angel, but Willis, who scoops her up out of her life and drops her into his life. And that’s when her luck really runs out. Willis offers Madora the security she craves with his experience as a Marine medic, his confident manner, his secure job as a home health-care provider and his ambition to become a doctor. Happy in their isolated home out in Evers Canyon, Madora rescues and nurtures small animals. The serenity is shattered, though, when Willis brings home Linda, a pregnant young woman, and locks her in the trailer out back. Claiming that Linda needs someone to take care of her, Willis convinces Madora that only he can help Linda, only he can keep her safe. Doubts begin to creep into Madora’s mind, yet she continues to try to trust Willis, to please Willis, to love Willis. The arrival of young, recently orphaned Django one afternoon brings a friend into her life. Django helps Madora realize that she can no longer trust Willis, and she can no longer wait to be rescued. She has to act.

The novel sensitively portrays Madora’s misplaced love and her awakening to the truth about Willis. Yet the denouement is rushed, leaving the reader wondering how discovering the truth led to finding justice.

THE WHISPERER

Carrisi, Donato Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (416 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-0-316-19472-3 In an ambiguous country, an ephemeral nameless land, Dr. Goran Gavila and a squad of police detectives hunt a soulless killer, a murderer single-mindedly intent on destroying families.

Passers-by stumbled upon a bizarre gravesite in a fog-shrouded forest. Five left arms, buried in a circle, five arms amputated from little girls gone missing. Gavila, professor and criminologist, and his squad are certain it is a serial killer’s work. Then a sixth arm is discovered, a limb of a child no one has reported missing. Gavila knows the psychopath’s ugly work has destroyed five families, each victim an only child.

But the sixth girl cannot be identified, has never been reported missing, may in fact still be alive. With that, Mila Vasquez, a specialist in locating missing children, is assigned to the squad, bemused by an equivocal welcome and puzzled by the vacuous chief inspector. Carrisi’s debut thriller deviates from the conventional thriller’s modus operandi, often employing the graceful turns of phrase common to literary fiction—”one number to add to the cold accountancy of death.” Add the enigmatic geographical setting, ominous weather and character names drawn from assorted ethnic and cultural milieus, and the book resonates symbolically, a reminder that evil is universal and unforgiving. Gavila and Vasquez, each burdened by personal tragedy, are the protagonists, their stories amplified by other team |

members. The investigation widens, and the killer lures the detectives down the circles of hell exposing first a pedophile, then a sociopath masquerading as a good guy. Coping with disruption and deceit within the squad, Gavila and Vasquez eventually discover the killer’s identity and the obscene method he employs. Carrisi’s villain is a suitable cohort for Hannibal Lector, and his detectives are intelligently nuanced, each struggling, sometimes failing, to cope with the depravity into which they immerse themselves in the name of good.

A haunting, disconcerting, devastating portrait of evil.

RED MIST

Cornwell, Patricia Putnam (512 pp.) $27.95 | Dec. 6, 2011 978-0-399-15802-5 Yet another demonstration that the murderous enemies of forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta aren’t neutralized by life imprisonment or death.

Especially not death. After Dawn Kincaid was jailed for attacking Scarpetta in her own garage and nearly killing her, you’d think she’d be out of the picture. No such luck: Claiming self-defense, she’s commenced legal action against Scarpetta for attempted murder.

Meanwhile, Kathleen Lawler, the mother who conceived Dawn by seducing 12-year-old Jack Fielding, Scarpetta’s late assistant, has invited Scarpetta to the Georgia Prison for Women, where she’s serving 10 years for DUI manslaughter, to chat. Their talk, like much of this tale’s overextended first half, is creepy but inconclusive, and Scarpetta comes away wondering what she’s gotten into this time—or what she failed to get out of last time (Port Mortuary, 2010, etc.). The pivotal figures turn out to be two women who never appear: Lola Daggette, GPFW’s celebrity inmate, who maintains her innocence even though she’s doing life for the slaughter of Savannah physician Clarence Jordan and his family, and Barrie Lou Rivers, the Deli Devil who fed arsenic to 17 patrons of her sandwich stand, 9 of them fatally, then choked to death in her cell hours before her date with the executioner’s needle. Working with her usual posse—her husband, profiler Benton Wesley; her hot-tempered investigator Pete Marino; and her niece Lucy, whose latest dead lover, Manhattan Sex Crimes prosecutor Jaime Berger, gives her a personal stake in the case—Scarpetta, working feverishly in the story’s much more rewarding second half, unearths the connections among a series of conveniently timed suicides in GPFW. She may even close the books on this set of monsters for good.

Cornwell at her worst, Cornwell at her best, but mainly Cornwell at her most.

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Harris, Robert Knopf (288 pp.) $25.95 | $12.99 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-307-95793-1 978-0-307-95795-5 e-book A smart and sophisticated novel about machines becoming conscious—or about humans becoming paranoid about whether machines can become conscious.

Super-intelligent research physicist Dr. Alex Hoffmann lives with his artist wife Gabrielle in a mansion in Geneva, Switzerland. Formerly a scientist with the CERN project, Hoffmann has branched off into artificial intelligence, creating a machine called VIXAL-4, which helps the one percent become even richer by monitoring investments and making fast and nuanced predictions about market trends. Although the stock market in general languishes, VIXAL-4 clicks along at an 83 percent rate of return, so Hoffmann’s business partner, Hugo Quarry, who’s more adept with human interaction than the reclusive Hoffmann, lines up some billionaire angels for investment possibilities…and that’s where things begin to go wrong.

First, an intruder breaks into the Hoffmanns’ house, breaching an impressive and expensive security system that had recently been installed. Then, at the opening reception for Gabrielle’s first show, someone buys up every one of her works. Could it be the intruder? Is someone toying with Hoffmann, sending him a message that his life is not as secure as he thinks? Hoffmann tracks down and kills a man he believes is trying to kill him, and VIXAL-4 starts doing untoward things, making financial decisions that seem to be independent of any human control. When Hoffmann discovers a camera hidden in his smoke detector, he starts to suspect that Genoud, the man who had installed the security system, might be out to get him, so he takes off on the lam, becoming ever more irrational and out of control.

Amid the welter of financial details, Harris creates a novel of tension and suspense by focusing more on the human than on the mechanistic. (First printing of 200,000. Author tour to Los Angeles, New York, San Francscio, Seattle and Washington, D.C.)

DOWN THE DARKEST ROAD

Hoag, Tami Dutton (416 pp.) $26.95Dec. 27, 2011 978-0-525-95239-8

In Hoag’s (Secrets to the Grave, 2010, etc.) latest literary suspense novel, Lauren Lawton, “ragged and torn and shredded,” has retreated to bucolic Oak Knoll to heal.

The Lawtons lived the perfect life in nearby trendy Santa Barbara, and then their older daughter, Leslie, only 16, disappeared. It was certainly kidnapping, although no body was ever discovered. Lauren’s husband couldn’t recover from the tragedy and 2166

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eventually died, apparently a suicide. Lauren always believed she knew who took Leslie, and her relentless pursuit of the shadowy Roland Ballencoa cost Lauren her social reputation and the support of the police. As the story moves to Oak Knoll, Hoag’s regulars, Sheriff Detective Tony Mendez and retired FBI profiler Vince Leone and his wife Anne, a counselor, enter the narrative. Mendez begins an investigation, slowly coming to comprehend that Lauren isn’t simply a woman mired in an unreconcilable past. Mendez learns that Ballencoa, a parttime photographer who has supposedly gone straight after serving time for a youthful sex crime, has followed Lauren to Oak Knoll. An intriguing new character in the familiar Hoag milieu is Santa Barbara police detective Danni Tanner, hardbitten, cynical, sarcastic and totally dedicated. As Mendez probes deeper into Ballencoa’s history and finds little solid evidence, Lauren relentlessly pushes for action, considers vigilantism and nears collapse because of guilt over her emotional neglect of younger daughter, Leah, now the same age as Leslie when kidnapped. With a shady private investigator named Gregory Hewitt as catalyst, the narrative ramps up to a gut-wrenching and violent conclusion, albeit one that leaves a minor plot point adrift. Hoag has an eye for a writerly turn of phrase—”another verse in a poem of futility”—which makes it all the more disconcerting to stumble upon a cliché or to find the author posing an analogy that compares both the bad guy’s and the hero’s gaze to that of a shark.

A mesmerizing psychological drama on loss, guilt, frustration and implacable, unexplainable evil.

THE NUN

Hornby, Simonetta Agnello Europa Editions (336 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Dec. 27, 2011 978-1-60945-062-5 In a desultory historical tale, social rules and money problems force a young Italian aristocrat into the convent.

Pity the young females of noble but cash-poor families in earlier times, regarded as burdens and sent to convents because dowries and therefore acceptable marriages were unavailable. Such is the fate of Agata Padellani, heroine of the latest novel by Italian-born Hornby (The Almond Picker, 2005, etc.), set in Sicily and Naples in the first half of the 19th century. Despite masses of research and historical background, this is really the story of one girl’s limited choices after her father dies. Agata, 13, in love with a young Sicilian neighbor Giacomo, is relocated to Naples by her newly widowed mother. During the sea voyage Agata catches the attention of English sea captain James Garson, who reappears in Naples and sends her novels. After a crisis with Giacomo, Agata is pushed into a Benedictine convent and begins an interminable sequence of vacillation between hopes for a vocation and desires for a man. She fasts, leaves the convent, turns down an arranged marriage, returns, takes the veil but

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SOFT TARGET

loses her belief amidst gossip and lurid events such as poisoning and suicide. Eventually, after further travel and imprisonment, a welcome resolution is reached.

Hornby opts for an unpredictable, indecisive central character, and the result is a shapeless, unsettled story.

THE MAP AND THE TERRITORY

Houellebecq, Michel Translated by Bowd, Gavin (288 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-307-70155-8 A revelation for all who follow the controversial French novelist, whether they love or loathe him.

Houellebecq is “a loner with strong misanthropic tendencies,” “a tired old decadent” and a “tortured wreck, “who “stank a little, but less than a corpse.” At least these are descriptions of a character called “Michel Houellebecq” in the latest novel by the author who shares that name (Platform, 2003, etc.), though the narrative might well inspire readers to temper that caricature of the “real” Houellebecq.

Where the novelist has been accused of trafficking in themes such as sex tourism and moral nihilism for shock value, here he achieves a richness and resonance beyond previous work, while continuing to explore free-market economics and how they pertain to artistic value and moral value. The character who shares his name even “seemed happy,” shockingly enough, though he keeps his emotional distance from the author, much as he has from readers. Instead, the novel gets deeper beneath the skin of its protagonist, the visual artist Jed Martin, whose career it chronicles from his years as a photographer, whose enlargement of Michelin maps, combined with images from the places mapped, inspire an exhibition titled “THE MAP IS MORE INTERESTING THAN THE TERRITORY.” Martin then switches to painting, woodshedding for a decade, emerging with the “Series of Simple Professions,” hailed for masterworks such as “Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Discussing the Future of Information Technology” (having destroyed another titled “Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons Dividing Up the Art Market.” Somehow, the novel’s fictional biography encompasses a tender romance, a meditation on the function and value of art and a police procedural.

Both loners, the painter and the novelist, whom Martin commissions to write catalogue copy and whose portrait he paints, feel some affinity for each other, as they suspect that they might be kindred spirits, or even become friends. What they most share, it seems, is “something that did not exist in H Houellebecq, nor in him: a sort of familiarity with life.”

Very smart, very moving and occasionally very funny.

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Hunter, Stephen Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $26.99 | Dec. 6, 2011 978-1-4391-3870-0 In Hunter’s latest, someone shoots Santa Claus and suddenly 1,000 holiday shoppers are converted into hostages.

In Bloomington, Minn., Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving which, for retailers, is both a blessing and a curse, is on the cusp of becoming blood-soaked Friday. With a 4-yearold sitting in his lap, Santa has taken a sniper’s bullet and gone to meet his maker. Instantly, America, the Mall, that huge and opulent shoppers’ Mecca, turns chaotic. Terrified people race not for bargains but for exits, desperate to escape a followup fusillade. Many are fortunate enough to break free. About 1,000, however—mostly women and children—are herded into a central area by gunmen calling themselves the Brigade Mumbai. Heavily armed and avowedly vengeful—the death of Osama besmirches jihadists everywhere—they are as eager for martyrdom as they are for murder. Among the shoppers, albeit reluctantly, is Ray Cruz, a retired marine sniper, son of the iconic marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, whose valorous exploits Hunter has richly detailed (Dead Zero, 2010, etc.).

Sweet-talked by his brand new fiancée, Ray has ventured into mall world as tentatively as if it were an Afghan minefield. But now, circumstances having altered drastically, he’s back in his element, undercover and looking for targets. Brigade Mumbai puts forward its demands. The situation intensifies, approaches the tipping point. By this time it’s clearly understood by the authorities that they’re dealing with a suicide mission and the potential for a horrific massacre. Snipers and SWAT teams gather, but only one man is in an advantageous tactical position, behind enemy lines, as it were. Only one man, but he’s Bob Lee Swagger’s son, and what a good thing it is that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.

A too-abundant cast dilutes the protagonist’s presence, but the action scenes are well done as usual and the premise chills. (Agent: Esther Newberg)

CONQUEROR

Iggulden, Conn Delacorte (432 pp.) $27.00 | Dec. 27, 2011 978-0-385-34305-3 In Xanadu did Kublai Khan…well, before all that, he had to take care of some nasty business, the subject of Hunmeister Iggulden’s (Emperor, 2003, etc.) latest installment in his series of novels devoted to the Golden Horde.

Here’s how to be a Hun in a few easy steps. First, kill anyone who gets between you and power. Second, rape and pillage.

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“Poignancy, lyricism and elegant spiritual debate characterize this impressive if slender novel.” from the translation of the bones

Third, practice saying meaty things, such as, “The world cannot be full of lead dogs, or the pack would pull itself apart.” Just so. But in the family of Temujin, or Genghis Khan, everyone wants to be the alpha Mongol, and, as Iggulden’s novel opens, the grandchildren are squabbling over who gets to be the grand poobah. The heroes of the piece, early on, are those who keep their heads and hold their allegiances close to their chests, such as the courtier named Ochir, who counsels one scion, “There must be no struggle for power, Guyuk, such as there was between your father and his brother.” Well, fat chance: This is medieval Mongolia, after all, and in those days before television, there was no better pastime than struggling for the throne.

Iggulden is skilled at depicting the back and forth, and there’s even the historical fiction equivalent of a mysterian’s red herring in his steering the reader to back the wrong horse—uh, khan—until we finally get to the one who shows the most promise of surviving the internecine, interfamilial unpleasantness, a sturdy chap named Kublai, who intones lines that John Wayne himself (see The Conqueror) would be proud to utter: “He was khan, Orlok. Give him a funeral pyre to light up the sky.” Iggulden lacks some of the grace and sinew that inform the historical novels of Mary Renault or Robert Graves, but he’s made a very close study of the workings of power and its infinite abilities to corrupt infinitely, and his understanding shows on every page.

Besides, he’s pretty good at the blood-and-guts stuff, the flying columns and whistling arrows and spurting blood that makes for a good battle scene.

A rip-roarin’ read, and inspiration to go and sack a few cities on your own.

TINA’S MOUTH An Existential Comic Diary

Kashyap, Keshni Illus. by Araki, Mari Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (256 pp.) $18.95 paperback | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-618-94519-1

Indian-American high-school student with a thing for Jean Paul Sartre struggles with existential angst in this graphic-novel debut.

The youngest daughter of Indian immigrants, 15-year-old Tina Malhotra tries her best to navigate the social minefield that is her progressive Southern California school. Taking solace in her longtime friendship with Alex Leach, a Mormon blonde she has known since fourth grade, Tina is devastated when the sexually advanced Alex decides to dump her to hang out with another, more fashionable girl. Thus begins the P.A.E. (Post Alex Epoch). Taking seriously her ex–best friend’s assertion that she lacked “experience,” Tina decides to channel her rejection into getting some. Egged on by her ponytailed English teacher Mr. “Moose” Moosewood, she throws herself into a semester English project on existentialism and tries to make friends with other kids. She attends Indian functions with her well-meaning (if clueless) family and crushes on popular skateboarder Neil 2168

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Strumminger. She lands the lead in a drama department production of Rashomon and is horrified to realize that her first kiss might actually be with her co-star, the revolting Ted Fresh.

She joins the “brown people” club. And she learns even more about life—and horse tranquilizers—after attending a decadent house party. All the while she wonders who she really is and how she fits into the world. Sartre’s philosophy, it turns out, is a surprisingly useful influence on bright, self-absorbed teenage girls.

With her deadpan wit and gift for observation, Kashyap’s Tina brings to mind any number of disaffected teens, but she is also, at heart, a very good girl. One cannot help but wonder if her story would resonate more if she had a sharper edge.

A charming, hip, illustrated coming-of-age tale. (Author tour to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco)

THE TRANSLATION OF THE BONES

Kay, Francesca Scribner (240 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-4516-3681-9

Lonely souls, notably mothers and children in a diverse community, are scrutinized by a noted young British writer.

After her U.K. debut, An Equal Stillness (2009), which won the Orange Award for New Writers, Kay’s first U.S. publication is another rich character study, this time connecting a span of individuals via two events at the Church of the Sacred Heart in south London. Devout but mentally unbalanced Mary-Margaret O’Reilly, a volunteer at the church, is cleaning a crucifix in a side chapel when she sees Jesus’ eyes open and blood seep from his wounds. Her fall from the altar lands her in the hospital, where an immigrant nurse hears her story and spreads the word.

Other volunteers include Stella Morrison, the quietly dissatisfied wife of an ambitious politician; and Mrs. Armitage, whose son is fighting in Afghanistan. Then there’s Stella’s youngest son, Mary-Margaret’s mother and the church’s stand-in priest, all of them included in Kay’s gentle but searchingly empathetic consideration. This fills many pages of her short, Barbara Pym–flavored tragedy and generates a sense of limbo between the two turning points, but the quality of the prose, the emotional resonance and restrained mystery will satisfy readers unperturbed by limited plot development.

Poignancy, lyricism and elegant spiritual debate characterize this impressive if slender novel.

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THE DEVIL’S ELIXIR

Khoury, Raymond (400 pp.) $26.95 | Dec. 27, 2011 978-0-525-95243-5

Lust for a potent, mind-ripping drug brings only trouble and dead bodies in this fast-paced thriller set primarily in Mexico and Southern California.

In 1741 Mexico, a Jesuit priest has an extraordinary experience that may destroy his soul. Over two centuries later in the same country, a covert U.S. drug operation turns sour. Years later in San Diego, a man and woman are murdered, drawing in ex–FBI agent Sean Reilly, the woman’s former lover. Reilly has since married. His wife Tess takes the murdered woman’s 4-year-old son Alex under her wing as Reilly tries to learn the reason for this crime. Meanwhile, young Alex has drawn a disturbing picture he can’t explain, but that couldn’t have any connection to the mystery—or could it? Reilly had killed a man in that botched Mexican operation, and he now learns that all the events are connected. Suddenly he is thrown into a situation much bigger than the mortal threat to him and his family. A cartel is after the ancient secret to a mysterious hallucinogen that may have the power to shake the world to its core. The criminals see Reilly as the key to finding it—or is he the person they really want? The novel is full of twists, one of them hard to believe—or is it? Reilly faces a formidable opponent in El Brujo, a vicious beast with interesting means of punishing his enemies, but they are not the only hazard Reilly faces. Luckily, he has critical support from Tess despite a couple of big surprises.

What with all the poisons, gunfire and wholesale bloodletting, he needs whatever help he can get. Vivid, energetic scenes ensure that Khoury’s tale never falters or bores.

It’s the sort of novel that could make a colorful movie, but meanwhile, enjoy the book.

THE LOST GODDESS

Knox, Tom Viking (448 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 6, 2012 978-0-670-02318-9

After learning of the horrific crossbreeding experiments conducted by the Khmer Rouge during the ’70s—and the international conspiracy of silence that surrounds those experiments still—a female archaeologist and male photographer have their lives threatened and their sanity questioned.

Globetrotting young British photographer Jake Thurby is hoping to make a name for himself when he accepts a job from Chemda Tek, a beautiful and mysterious American-educated Cambodian investigating Khmer atrocities. American archaeologist Julia Kerrigan hopes the strange set of perforated skulls she uncovers at a dig in remote southern France will make her |

reputation. Several grotesque murders, horrendous acts of sorcery and bizarre sexual attacks later, the protagonists team up to confront the grisly truth. Told in cliffhanger style, one narrative interrupting the other at the most crucial moments, the book will do no favors for the tourist trade in Southeast Asia. Only Jake, who after falling for Chemda gets chased through the rugged terrain of Cambodia and Laos, has any reason to hang around. Knox (real name: Sean Thomas) has traveled this path before in The Marks of Cain (2010, etc.). If he recognizes the riotous absurdity of depressed, brain-drilled ape-men giving in to their animal desires, he doesn’t let on. The book features two such attacks. Pure potboiler, with a little commentary about America’s inconsistency in Southeast Asia sprinkled in, the book begins entertainingly enough but can’t overcome its debt to Island of Lost Souls. Knox does shed some light on actual “hybridization” experiments ordered by Stalin, among other leaders.

In the end, the Khmer massacres are too enormous in their inhumanity to function as the backdrop for a thriller.

COPPER BEACH

Krentz, Jayne Ann Putnam (352 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-399-15787-5

In this launch of Krentz’s Dark Legacy series, a psychic rare-book expert must wrest a valuable text from evildoers while resisting (or not) the uncanny charms of her client.

Abby Radwell specializes in unlocking the secrets of a certain species of rare book, the kind that is encrypted with a psychic lock that can only be decoded by someone with special clairvoyance. Collectors of such codices are not your typical bookish antiquarians—since these tomes can wield dark powers, their aficionados usually have mixed motives for acquiring them. Referred by her mentor, Thaddeus Webber, Abby accepts an assignment from Sam Coppersmith, scion of a wealthy mining family, who occupies Copper Beach, his ancestral mansion on a remote island near Seattle. Abby’s mission: Find a coded lab notebook that holds the key to unleashing the potentially deadly energy of crystals rescued decades ago from a destroyed Coppersmith mine. In the wrong hands, the book’s secrets could trigger crystal Armageddon. The competition for the book has already impacted innocent victims: An elderly archivist is accosted in her home, and Thaddeus and a fellow book dealer die of suspicious heart attacks. Already on the run from a blackmailer and would-be kidnappers, Abby ignores her best friends’ warnings to stay far, far away from Sam and the whole project. This is paranormal romance after all, and Sam and she have an instant, psychically augmented, unequivocally erotic connection. Besides, she needs a bodyguard and someone to interrupt her sleepwalking episodes, during which she tends to set things on fire. Appropriately enough, legacies figure heavily in the plot. Among the suspects trawling for the book are Lander, who believes the Coppersmiths stole his inheritance,

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and Abby’s snooty step-relatives the Stricklands, who have every intention of cutting Abby out of the will until somebody unwittingly bets their fortune on the lab-book quest.

Although the stakes are far-fetched and fanciful, the suspense never flags, and such ado over print material carries its own nostalgic allure.

THE SOJOURN

Krivak, Andrew Bellevue Literary Press (192 pp.) $14.95 paperback | Apr. 19, 2011 978-1-934137-34-5 An assured, meditative novel that turns on a forgotten theater in a largely forgotten war.

Born in America, Jozef Vinich has a frontiersman’s way with a rifle. Wrenched from his home after his father’s defeated return to the old country—” ‘the ol’ kawntree,’ though it is no country for which I long or somehow miss in my old age,” as the Jozef of the distant future will say—the young man is plunked down on the far edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there to be instructed in the evils of the Russians across the way. When war breaks out, though, Jozef is caught up in the great conscription and spat out on the front lines of the Tyrol, where Austrians, Czechs, Hungarians, Serbs and Germans are busily dying, as are the Italians on the opposite line. Recognized for his skills, Jozef is put to work as a sniper, grimly felling any Italians who fall into his sights. Naturally, such demi-divine power cannot go unpunished, and Krivak, in his first novel, puts Jozef through his paces, including still more tragedy, imprisonment and an endless exodus to return to an unwanted home when peace finally comes. The ghost of Hemingway informs some of Krivak’s notes from the front lines, while several other literary influences seem to be evident in his slender book, including the Italian novelist and memoirist Primo Levi, himself the veteran of a very long walk through Europe, and, for obvious reasons, the Charles Frazier of Cold Mountain. Yet Krivak has his own voice, given to lyrical observations on the nature of human existence and its many absurdities: “Young men, as always, sensed a chance to leave the boredom of their villages and see to the borders of the empire and beyond, but this time their departure was imminent, and so they lived and worked and moved in a tension between excitement and rage.”

A late but very effective addition to the literature of World War I, and an auspicious debut.

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DEFENDING JACOB

Landay, William Delacorte (432 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-385-34422-7

Landay does the seemingly impossible by coming up with a new wrinkle in the crowded subgenre of courtroom thrillers.

Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber is called to a gruesome crime scene after Ben Rifkin, a 14-year-old boy, has been brutally stabbed in a city park. One suspect seems likely, a pedophile who lives nearby and is known to frequent the park, but suspicion turns quickly to another, much more unlikely, suspect—Andy’s son Jacob, one of Ben’s classmates. It seems Ben is not the paragon of virtue he is made out to be, for he’s got a mean streak and has been harassing Jacob...but is this a sufficient motive for a 14-year-old to commit murder? Some of Jacob’s fellow students post messages on Facebook suggesting he’s guilty of the crime, and Jacob also admits to having shown a “cool” knife to his friends. When Andy finds the knife, he quickly disposes of it, but even he’s not sure if he does this because he suspects his son is innocent or because he suspects his son is guilty. Complicating the family dynamic is Laurie, Jacob’s mother, who’s at least half convinced that her son might indeed be capable of such a heinous act—and it turns out Andy has concealed his own past from Laurie because both his father and grandfather have been murderers, and he fears he may have both inherited and passed down to Jacob a gene associated with aggressive behavior in males.

Landay is yet another lawyer-turned-writer, and it’s inevitable that he’ll be compared to Scott Turow, but this novel succeeds on its own merits. (Author tour to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Denver)

DARK VICTORY

Lang, Michele (320 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-7653-3045-1 Sequel to Lady Lazarus (2010, etc.), an urban historical fantasy where World War II is about to be fought not just with guns, tanks and planes, but also by witches, vampires, angels, demons and werewolves.

In Budapest, young Magda, last of the powerful Jewish Lazarus witches, can rise from the dead and, as the plot unfolds, frequently has to. Seemingly, she’s alone in her determination to exercise her good magic against the Nazis. Previously, Magda summoned the angel Raziel; he battled the demon Asmodel to a standstill but as a result is now mortal—and Magda’s beloved. Magda, meanwhile, holds Asmodel trapped in a tin can while pondering if and how to use him against Hitler’s satanic legions. She also needs to locate The Book of Raziel, an ancient tome of mighty spells, now lost. Meanwhile, she finds some possible

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“A woman of a certain age works through a late-in-life crisis by heading for her dream city of Paris.” from passing love

allies in the legion of spies orchestrated by Winston Churchill. Her vampire boss, the defiantly anti-Nazi Count Bathory, summoned to Berlin by the pro-Nazi Vampirrat, has been condemned to a public staking. And as the invasion of Poland gets under way, Magda’s psychic sister Gisele, persuaded by the silver-tongued Asmodel, runs off to Krakow. This richly promising and intriguing material is, however, too often undermined by flabby characters. Magda carefully considers her choices, comes to a reasoned decision, then impulsively rushes off to do something else. Raziel, handsome and muscular, sings the odd psalm but otherwise poses more of a liability than a help. Gisele is merely whiny and annoying. We meet the Count only briefly and far too late. Asmodel, by comparison, is a towering presence.

Fans of the previous will jump right in, but the uncommitted may find too many nits to pick.

MR G A Novel About the Creation

Lightman, Alan Pantheon (224 pp.) $24.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-307-37999-3

In his sixth novel, physicist Lightman (Einstein’s Dreams, 1993, etc.) playfully bridges the gap between creationism and evolution by having the Creator Himself explain how the whole shebang started.

He’s Mr g in the title, and unnamed in the text, but known to the world as God. He’s been living and sleeping in the Void, along with his Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva. These down-home characters, who squabble like any old married couple, provide a domestic background for their Nephew. It’s a question of scale.

Though God’s upcoming enterprise, the creation of the universe, is vast, it’s being designed by a modest family man. First comes the creation of time, followed by space and energy, and then a universe, which He names Aalam-104729. There’s a rush of subatomic particles and atoms and a lot of textbook physics, well orchestrated. The key moment comes with the making of the molecules. Cause and effect, muses God, in enraptured passivity, the Creator standing back to admire evolution, which will lead to animate matter. Will His creatures have free will? That question is raised by a stranger, an immortal named Belhor who has been monitoring the creation. Way in the future he will be the Devil, but right now he is a stimulating interlocutor for God, who takes his question to heart. God learns even as he creates: the capacity of the mind is a case in point. Questions of suffering, and good and evil, are addressed, though not with the same rigor as quantum physics. Towards the end of this short novel Lightman appears to be running out of material. There’s an altogether too cute chapter in which Aunt Penelope gets a dress of pink stars, a whole galaxy; a disruptive visit by Belhor to an opera house on a waterlogged planet is just filler.

A grab-bag of physics, philosophical inquiry and family tomfoolery that fails to cohere. |

PASSING LOVE

Luckett, Jacqueline E. Grand Central Publishing (320 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Jan. 25, 2012 978-0-446-54299-9 A woman of a certain age works through a late-in-life crisis by heading for her dream city of Paris in this second novel by Luckett.

Nicole-Marie Handy loved speaking French with her father when she was a child. Nicole used to dig through her parents’ cedar chest when they were out, pulling out the worn blue book of French words and reading them over and over. Later, she would speak phrases she memorized with him, but one day the book disappeared, and Nicole grew up to marry and move on with her life. Now, in her mid-50s, divorced with an off-again/on-again married lover and spurred on by the death of a close friend, she decides to fulfill a lifelong dream and spend a month in Paris. What she finds there changes her life, but it takes time to unravel the mystery of the photo she finds in an old book taken from a carton filled with literature by and about African-Americans. Fortunately for Nicole, she meets a man who can help her trace the photo.

Interwoven with Nicole’s story is that of Ruby, a sultry Mississippi beauty who succumbs to love and desire and deserts the stultifying subservience that defines Mississippi during World War II. Tired of the Jim Crow laws that make her a second-class citizen, Ruby dreams of life beyond the drudgery and despair that face her and decides to get out. When Ruby meets a dangerous older musician, Arnett, she makes her break and sets off a series of events that spill over into the lives of many others.

Luckett’s loving descriptions of Paris evoke the sights, smells and sounds of the City of Light. Nicole’s story is one with which any woman, regardless of age or skin color, can relate, but Ruby’s tale and the author’s meticulous research into the Paris of the period following WWII is the real star of this novel.

With the exception of a totally implausible coincidence around which the plot revolves, this book is well written and engaging, a celebration of life after 50.

FIRST YOU TRY EVERYTHING

McCafferty, Jane Harper/HarperCollins (224 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-06-621062-9

How will brittle, needy, fanciful Evvie cope when her husband Ben falls out of love and leaves her?

Badly, is the answer, in this sensitive, offbeat second novel. We know breaking up is hard to do, but it’s harder still if you are Evangeline (Evvie) Muldoone, burdened by fears of abandonment and “magnificent vulnerability.” You’ve spent 16 happy years in Pittsburgh with Ben, variously working a pushcart together

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selling Middle Eastern food, laughing, sharing music, but now Ben has changed, he’s no longer charmed by your preoccupation with animal rights or your tendency to procrastinate. And he’s met someone else, Lauren. Switching between Evvie and Ben’s perspectives, McCafferty (Thank You for the Music, 2004, etc.) captures Evvie’s ditzy, thin-skinned eccentricity and Ben’s cooler isolation as their lives diverge, hers deeper into dreams of making a film about a convenience-store clerk and his into more conventional happiness with Lauren. Tragi-comic in tone, the novel offers some nicely observed insights into guilt and despair—”He was tired of the prison of his old affection”—until heartbreak and delusion lead to an act of lunacy that will redefine the landscape.

Everyday tragedy takes a surreal spin in this slight but soulful, idiosyncratic tale.

START SHOOTING

Newton, Charlie Doubleday (320 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-385-53469-7

Thirty years after the rape-murder of his childhood girlfriend Coleen Brennan in his West Side Chicago neighborhood—a crime for which a retarded African-American man was executed—young Latino cop Bobby Vargas finds himself accused of the killing.

Meanwhile, Coleen’s twin sister Arleen, an actress, is targeted by criminal elements after fatally shooting a member of the Korean mafia on a police sting she was forced into by Bobby’s older brother Ruben, also a cop. Bobby’s and Arleen’s chances of survival: not great. Doing for the Windy City what The Wire did for Baltimore and James Ellroy’s novels did for Los Angeles, this book uncovers with sardonic intensity the deep and seemingly irreversible connections between crime, politics, business and tabloid journalism. Chicago is re-bidding for the 2016 Olympics (Rio, which won the bid in real life, has dropped out in the novel), meaning the City Hall will do anything to protect its image. With star crime reporter Tracy Moens on the prowl for juicy exposes for the fictional Chicago Herald, that’s going to take some doing. Hardly a page is turned in this headlong melodrama without someone getting threatened, beat up, shot, killed or, in Bobby’s case, framed for the abuse of a 7-year-old “peewee gangster.” Even with matters of life and death playing out around him, Bobby, a blues-guitar aficionado since a childhood encounter with Howlin’ Wolf, is desperate not to blow an opportunity to perform with the legendary Memphis Horns. Arleen is equally desperate not to ruin her odds-on chance of winning the role of Blanche DuBois in a major revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” (opposite Judd Law!). In the midst of all the violence and madness, these career concerns seem unrealistic. But in fiction as audaciously dialed up as this, a little more fantasy can’t hurt.

Following up Calumet City (2008), Newton delivers an even more thrilling, densely packed novel that makes most Chicago crime thrillers seem tame.

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THE CHALK GIRL

O’Connell, Carol Putnam (384 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-399-15774-5

A complex, gritty thriller that is at once hard to take and hard to put down.

It opens with a woman taking a group of schoolchildren on a visit to Sheep Meadow, part of Manhattan’s Central Park. After the children wander off, she collapses and dies from a massive stroke, and a horde of rats gnaw on her corpse. A mysterious 8-year-old waif named Coco appears and displays considerable knowledge of vermin. One of a series of novels featuring NYPD detective Kathy Mallory, this book has a number of surprising and grisly twists. The characters are fascinating, though, including crazy Mallory, who had once been a street urchin herself and now brings a unique perspective to her job. Coco has Williams Syndrome, a condition that manifests itself partly in excessive desire to be loved, even by strangers. Give her a hug and she’s cool, but don’t get her started talking about rats. Meanwhile, Mallory investigates the murder of a schoolboy named Ernest Nadler—Dead Ernest— who has been systematically tormented by a small group of other children. Who are they, and why did they do it? Has someone put them up to the crime? No doubt children exist who are capable of such evil, although they are hard to imagine.

And perhaps such children—speaking of vermin—need no particular motivation to inflict themselves on a classmate. But the ultimate motivation for the crime and the deep, insane intrafamily hatred seem rather hard to believe. Hardly the craziest character in the story, Mallory pursues the case with a certain emotional detachment. She gets in the faces of powerful people even as she strives to protect the strange Coco, who doesn’t seem surprised when rats fall from the sky.

Readers who dislike tales of torture and murder of children will take a pass on this one, but those who relish justice will be glad they read to the end.

THE ROOK

O’Malley, Daniel Little, Brown (496 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 11, 2012 978-0-316-09879-3 Secret agents as Rooks and Pawns?

Plausible, since Checquy Group “is a paranormal version of Britain’s MI5.”

In O’Malley’s fantasy debut, Myfanwy Thomas awakens in a London park, chilled, wet, suffering amnesia and surrounded by dead people wearing latex gloves. In her pocket are letters from her past self, a self who understood she was in peril of memory loss and possible assassination. The letters are plans for her body’s future. With that, Myfanwy (rhymes with Tiffany)

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discovers she is a Rook in employ of the Checquy, an organization in service of Britain since ancient times. Checguy has field agents called Pawns who are overseen by Rooks, Bishops and Lords. Each has a supernatural power, as exampled by the Pawn able to “breathe cyanide and sweat tear gas.” Employing more letters and dossiers left by her former self, Myfanwy-withoutmemory takes her place in Checquy, attempting to suss out who she is, what she does and who wants her dead. She learns she is a high-level administrator, her supernatural power being mind control, but with a personality more forceful than formerly, she attracts the attention of her Rook counterpart, the disturbing Gesalt, one personality alive in four bodies. Myfanwy soon earn kudos protecting Britain against the antler cult, a houseful of goop and a villain manifesting as a roomful of human flesh. However, it is only after she uncovers the ancient Wetenschappeljik Broederschap van Natuurkundigen of Brussels—the Grafters— that she finds clues leading to the Checguy traitor who robbed her of her memory. With O’Malley using first-Myfanwy’s letters to provide history and backstory, second-Myfanwy grows into her hero-role and other characters are revealed as suitably creepy in the right and wrong ways. O’Malley’s narrative is peppered with sly humor, referential social commentary and the ironic, double-layered self-awareness that will have genre fans believing Buffy the Vampire Slayer has joined Ghostbusters.

No clairvoyance required to recognize there will be more outlier reports from Myfanwy, Rook of the Checquy.

BREAKDOWN

Paretsky, Sara Putnam (432 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-399-15783-7 V.I. Warshawski’s 14th case entangles everyone in Chicago from a murdered private eye to a pair of Senate candidates and the world’s 21st-richest man.

Little do the seven tween girls invoking the spirit of that famous fictional vampire Carmilla, Queen of the Night, at a secret ceremony in Mount Moriah Cemetery know that only a few yards away lies the fresh corpse of one Miles Wuchnik, very recently added to the rolls of the dead. V.I., leaving a high-rolling party for right-wing media darling Wade Lawlor to respond to her cousin Petra’s plea to find Kira Dudek, one of the tweens, wakes up the next morning to learn that although she succeeded in getting the girls away from the murder scene before the police arrived, Lawlor and all his dittoheads are implicating her in the murder of the colleague she never met. It’s entirely plausible that V.I. might be taking money from billionaire Chaim Salanter to protect his granddaughter Arielle Zitter, another of the tweens.

And since Salanter is a prominent contributor to the senatorial campaign of University of Illinois president Sophy Durango, it figures that Lawlor, a big booster of Sophy’s opponent, creationist Helen Kendrick, would go after both Salanter and V.I. But the sad fact is that Salanter hasn’t hired Warshawski (Body Work, |

2010, etc.); in fact, he meets with her repeatedly only to warn her to stay off the case. Not that she’s not distracted all on her own, since her old law school friend, bipolar attorney Leydon Ashford, has just been thrown from a height at Rockefeller Chapel and lies near death. Leydon’s last cryptic message—”I saw him on the catafalque”—seems to connect the attack on her to Wuchnik’s murder. Can V.I. put together the pieces in time to save the young witnesses from the killer?

Plotted with all Paretsky’s customary generosity, this standout entry harnesses her heroine’s righteous anger to some richly deserving targets, all linked together in a truly amazing finale.

THE RUINS OF US

Parssinen, Keija Perennial/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-06-206448-6 A Saudi patriarch’s decision to take a second wife unsettles more than just his American-raised spouse.

Rosalie, the heroine of Parssinen’s debut novel, has spent more than two decades living in Saudi Arabia, and she’s resigned herself to the country’s sexist constraints: the headscarves she must wear, the cars she’s not allowed to drive, the subservience she must project to her husband, Abdullah, at least in public. But when she discovers that Abdullah has had a second wife for two years, her combative Texas roots reemerge, and she begins voicing her anger and pondering an escape. Guiding her in that direction is Dan, an American-born former boyfriend of hers and an employee of Abdullah. But Rosalie can’t easily get away when her two teenaged children require attention. Her daughter, Mariam, is increasingly Westernized, writing a blog that risks angering the authorities, while her son, Faisal, is enchanted by radical Islam and prone to increasingly vehement anti-American rhetoric. The pieces are a little too neatly arranged on the plot’s chessboard, and the novel’s climactic chapters, which involve a kidnapping, voice familiar messages about zealotry and crosscultural understanding. But Parsinnen convincingly inhabits the shifting moods of her characters; writing in close third person, she follows Dan, Abdullah, Rosalie and the children (though, interestingly, Abdullah’s second wife remains largely a blank). Parsinnen also exposes plenty about life in Saudi Arabia, from the subtle politicking among the ruling emirs to the punishing desert heat to the tactics of girl-chasing boys at the shopping malls. Throughout, her prose is artful without being showy, forced, or melodramatic, and her knowledge of Saudi culture informs the story, instead of making this a stock infidelity tale with some exotic touches.

A fine debut that uses its knowledge of both Saudi Arabia and psychology to transcend some overly schematic character arrangements.

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“Penney gives her plot plenty of twists and saves the best for the end, with a truly unforeseen and unpredictable conclusion.” from the invisible ones

BINOCULAR VISION New & Selected Stories

Pearlman, Edith Lookout Books (375 pp.) $18.95 paperback | Jan. 11, 2011 978-0-9823382-9-2

Elegant, lapidary stories that beg Ann Patchett’s question in the introduction: “Why isn’t Edith Pearlman famous?”

Pearlman (Love Among the Greats, 2002, etc.) is a master of the form, without doubt, though, like V.S. Pritchett, with whom she shares several points in common, there is nothing at all flashy about her fictions.

Her stories are lush, at least as compared to the aridities of all those Raymond Carver–inspired tales of the last quarter-century, and they range the world in search of reports about the human condition. Often Pearlman writes of misplaced and displaced people, whether Jewish refugees from World War II–era Europe or characters who aren’t comfortable inside their own skins; often her characters can barely communicate, mistrustful of and limited by language (“On the fourth Thursday in August the youngest grandchild at last deigned to speak the language she had long understood, and demanded, in grammatical English, to be taken with the other kids to a traveling carnival”); it’s not uncommon for one of Pearlman’s players to be reaching for a dictionary somewhere along the way. Pearlman’s characters, too, are often layered in symbolism without being mere ciphers, as with the protagonist of “The Noncombatant,” a note-perfect evocation of the moment Americans on the home front learn that the war in the Pacific has ended—which does not mean, not by any stretch, that the goddess Eris has left the earth (“He felt his dying staunched by her wrath, her passionate unsubmissiveness”). Most of these stories are earnest, often even grim, though Pearlman is not without a sense of humor that mostly manifests in giving taunting names (“the Sisters Scrabble and the geezer”) to some of her foils. But humor is not what these stories are about; instead, Pearlman favors the startling moral problem (what should we think of a travel writer who does not travel, but invents places?) and the poetic meditation on family history and the passage of time.

Lovely and lyrical—a celebration of language and another virtuoso performance from a writer who does indeed deserve to be better known.

THE INVISIBLE ONES

Penney, Stef Putnam (416 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-0-399-15771-4

Perhaps one of the first novels involving a half-Gypsy as a detective.

Penney uses the missing-person plot rather than the whodunit to provide a thread for her narrative. One day Romany Leon Wood shows up at Ray Lovell’s 2174

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failing detective agency to hire him to find his missing daughter, Rose. Lovell has some immediate concerns about the case, primarily because Rose has been missing for seven years. Leon has a Gypsy’s reluctance to go to the police about the case but trusts Lovell because he’s half Romany—his father was born in a field in Kent while his mother was gorjio, or non-Romany.

The novel starts with Lovell in a hospital, partially paralyzed and vaguely remembering a recent sexual encounter, though he’s unsure whether this was memory or hallucination. As he gets well, he takes us back to his initial steps in tracing Rose’s disappearance. Besides Lovell, Penney uses JJ Janko, a Romany teenager, as her other narrator. JJ is concerned about Ivo, his uncle, but especially about Ivo’s son Christo, who’s suffering from a rare and seemingly incurable disease, one that Ivo himself had had as a child and “miraculously” recovered from. (Ivo had made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, where they also take Christo in a desperate attempt to cure him.) Fortunately, Lovell has a pediatrician friend who’s able to give insight into the nature of Christo’s illness and how it’s genetically transmitted from generation to generation...and it turns out that it’s impossible for Ivo to be Christo’s father.

Penney gives her plot plenty of twists and saves the best for the end, with a truly unforeseen and unpredictable conclusion.

FIFTH VICTIM

Sharp, Zoe Pegasus Crime (448 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 15, 2012 978-1-60598-276-2 The fifth entry in the Charlie Fox thriller series, Sharp delivers solid action and a nicely conflicted main character set against the backdrop of the extravagant world of the obscenely wealthy.

Charlie Fox spent time in the British Army and underwent Special Forces training, but ended up in the Manhattan offices of a private security firm specializing in close personal protection. Her boyfriend, Sean, sustained grave injuries, chronicled in Sharp’s previous novel, Fourth Day (2011), and remains in a coma. Charlie visits him every day, hoping to spark him into waking from his three-month sleep, but doctors aren’t optimistic. In the meantime, there’s a building attraction to another man that’s worrisome. Meanwhile, Charlie has been assigned to guard a rich young woman named Dina. Dina lives in the Hamptons with her wealthy mother and spends her days riding her champion horses and attending social functions where people like the billionaire Eisenberg family throw down. Charlie’s only one of many bodyguards who shadow the spoiled and shallow progeny of the very rich; a recent spate of kidnappings has made everyone jumpy and even more security conscious than ever. The kidnappers started with one young girl and worked their ways through the younger set, finally cutting off half the finger of one young heir. Now it looks like Dina may be next and her mother is determined that she remain safe, but Charlie’s finding this one difficult. Between Dina’s stubborn

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refusal to remain on her guard and the bad behavior of the crowd she wants to hang around with, Charlie must try and figure out who wants to snatch her young charge and when they will try. Sharp’s fifth entry is as gritty and unapologetically dark and violent as her others, although the author tends to spout statistics that sound derived straight from a reference book.

But Charlie is a likable-enough character, and while readers won’t be surprised by the turn of events, they should be interested enough to want to stay until the end.

A taut, dark thriller with plenty of action.

THE INQUISITOR

Smith, Mark Allen Henry Holt (336 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-8050-9426-8

Geiger, a strange, dispassionate genius at torture who hires himself out to clients in need of high-level “information retrieval,” must confront deeply repressed memories of his traumatic upbringing when a duplicitous client uses a young boy as a pawn.

The inquisitor has no conscious memory of his life before he was woken on a New York bus 15 years ago, when he was 19 or 20. A systematic practitioner of his craft, he has an unshakable rule against torturing children, so when a client brings in the 12-year-old son of an alleged art thief (who turns out to be a whistleblower on CIA misdeeds), Geiger is forced to improvise to keep the kid unharmed. His slowly developing attachment to the boy alters his emotional state, which he has been exploring with a psychiatrist since he began suffering from excruciating migraines following dreams about his childhood—migraines he can endure only by curling up in a dark closet with classical music pouring in. Everyone in the book is damaged: Geiger’s shrink is going through the pangs of divorce; his partner Harry, a onetime newspaper man hired for his computer skills, is a recovering alcoholic; and Harry’s sister is a low-functioning schizophrenic. We learn that Geiger’s father subjected him to razor cuts to make him strong. We also learn that the bad guys are not after a stolen de Kooning but evidence of governmental abuse. The plotting gets a bit slick down the stretch, and Geiger gets a bit softer than we might hope. But he is still one of the most utterly distinctive protagonists in a recent thriller, and one of the most unexpectedly sympathetic. (His arch competitor in the business, Dalton, has none of his intelligence or subtlety.)

Smith invests his first novel with psychological dimensions you might expect in a third or fourth book.

A breezy, involving thriller that handily overcomes any resistance to its grisly premise and leaves you hoping for the return of its oddly winning hero. (Agents: Nat Sobel and Judith Weber)

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ALL NECESSARY FORCE

Taylor, Brad Dutton (400 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-525-95262-6

Terrorists plan to strike America with a vicious blow, and it’s Pike Logan’s job to stop them. This fast-moving thriller poses the dilemma: Must he obey the law, or must he use all necessary force to thwart the enemy?

In the second book in Taylor’s series (One Rough Man, 2011), Logan is part of the top-secret Taskforce set up to handle asymmetric threats to the United States. Muslim terrorists plan an attack on the Great Satan’s power grid, and they set out to kill anyone who is remotely in their way. Logan is no pansy himself as he terminates his share of bad guys. Also he encourages Jennifer Cahill to earn a place on Taskforce, to the chagrin of his chauvinistic colleagues. Cahill proves as tough as any man, and she has a conscience too: you can get her to kill, but you can’t make her like it. As the story veers back and forth between the terrorists and the Taskforce, the weight of saving America from disaster falls squarely on Logan and his team—can they stop the impending simultaneous attacks on nuclear power plants? It’s a simple post–Cold War scenario: The black ex-convict finds Mohammed in prison and wages jihad against America. Meanwhile, the hero breaks all the rules, because that’s what heroes do. Logan angers some of his superiors because of actions that could land him in prison, even though the whole concept of Taskforce is that it’s supposed to be extralegal. Whose side will President Warren take in this dispute? What makes the story even more interesting is the moral component Cahill adds, forcing Logan to examine his conscience as they both do what they must to protect the rest of us.

Well written, edgy and a damn good yarn. (Agent: John Talbot)

THE CONFESSION

Todd, Charles Morrow/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-06-201566-2 A confession presents more questions than it answers.

Inspector Ian Rutledge (A Lonely Death, 2011, etc.) listens attentively to the Scotland Yard walk-in who says that his name is Wyatt Russell, that he’s dying of cancer and that he murdered his cousin Justin Fowler in 1915 and is admitting it now, five years later, so that he can rest in peace. Wondering if his tale is true, Rutledge heads for the man’s home at River’s Edge, near Furnham in the Essex marshes, and encounters extremely unfriendly villagers anxious to send him on his way. Two weeks later, when the man’s body washes up in the Thames with a bullet in the back of the head, Rutledge’s

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queries become more serious. He discovers that the victim was not who he claimed to be, though a clue to his real identity may lie in the picture in the locket around his neck. Questions about that picture lead to birth and death notices at Somerset House and the disturbing knowledge that Mrs. Russell, once the matriarch of the deserted River’s Edge house, upped and disappeared one day. Suicide? Or something more sinister? Cynthia Farraday, who seems to have attracted all the males on the estate, appears.

So does the real Wyatt Russell, just in time to be assailed. Who then was the confessor? Rutledge won’t settle matters until he unravels a long-ago double homicide and delves into the mysterious enmity of the River’s Edge residents.

Rutledge, still consumed with his own war memories, seems headed for a fierce emotional collapse this time out.

One fervently hopes the Todd writing partnership can offer him solace in the next go-round.

SUPERVOLCANO: ERUPTION

Turtledove, Harry ROC/Penguin (448 pp.) $25.95 | Dec. 6, 2011 978-0-451-46420-0 Turtledove offers a realistic but not terribly gripping depiction of the desperate slog life would become if a beloved national landmark became the epicenter of a devastating natural disaster.

During a solo vacation to Yellowstone, recently divorced California police lieutenant Colin Ferguson encounters seismologist Kelly Birnbaum, who conveniently informs him just how bad it would be if the park’s caldera were to blow. Given the book’s title, this clumsy bit of exposition hardly counts as foreshadowing. Turtledove’s sparse descriptive powers are just not up to infusing the actual moment of the eruption with the thrills that today’s action-movie fans have come to expect. Of course, that is not his purpose; rather, it is to rather glumly lay out the effects of said eruption over the next couple of years. Clouds of ash lower temperatures, bury the nation’s breadbasket and prevent travel and delivery of desperately needed supplies. Colin’s older son, a guitarist in a small-time indie band, becomes stranded in snow-choked Maine; his bitchy daughter Vanessa complains her way through various emergency shelters; and life continues just fine for the youngest, perennial Santa Barbara undergraduate Marshall. Meanwhile, Colin looks for (and doesn’t find) a serial killer, while Kelly’s academic specialty becomes terribly, terribly relevant. As Colin and Kelly fall in love, Colin’s ex-wife Louise faces karmic justice that has nothing to do with the catastrophe.

None of it hangs together terribly well or inspires much emotional commitment from the reader.

The novel doesn’t so much conclude as vaguely trail off at a convenient stopping point; that and Turtledove’s penchant for series suggest sequels are in the offing.

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SALVAGE THE BONES

Ward, Jesmyn Bloomsbury (272 pp.) $24.00 | Aug. 30, 2011 978-1-60819-522-0

An evocative novel of a family torn apart by grief, hardship, misunderstanding and, soon, the biggest storm any of them has ever seen.

Set over a dozen days while awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, and then dealing with its consequences, Ward’s (Where the Line Bleeds, 2008) tale is superficially a simple one: Young Esch, barely a teenager, is pregnant. She is so young, in fact, that her brothers can scare her with a Hansel and Gretel story set in the Mississippi bayou where she lives, yet old enough to understand that the puppies that are gushing forth from the family dog are more than a metaphor. Esch’s task is simple, too: She has to disguise the pregnancy from her widowed father, a task that is easier than it might sound, since her father is constantly self-medicated (“Outside the window, Daddy jabbed at the belly of the house with his can of beer”) and, much of the time, seems unaware that his children ought to be depending on him. But they don’t; Esch and her three brothers are marvels of self-sufficiency, and as the vast storm looms on the horizon, building from tropical depression to category 5 monster, they occupy themselves figuring out what kind of canned meats they need to lay in and how many jugs of water have to be hauled from the store. The bayou has its share of terrors of other kinds, and so do the matters of life and death that children ought to be spared; suffice it to say that there’s plenty of blood, and no small amount of vomit, whether owing to morning sickness or alcohol poisoning. (When Esch admonishes her father for drinking while taking antibiotics, he replies, “Beer ain’t nothing...Just like a cold drink.”) Naturally, in a situation where the children are the adults and vice versa, something has to give— and it does, straight in the maw of Katrina. Yet the fury of the storm yields a kind of redemption, a scenario that could dissolve into mawkishness, but that Ward pulls off without a false note.

A superbly realized work of fiction that, while Southern to the bone, transcends its region to become universal.

AN AVAILABLE MAN

Wolitzer, Hilma Ballantine (288 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-345-52754-7

Beatrice Schuyler is dead of cancer.

Her widower Edward lingers on Larkspur Lane, ironing her clothes to hold onto a grief-filled connection. Wolitzer’s (Summer Reading, 2007, etc.) insightful novel follows Edward, past 60 but still vigorous, as he fights through despair, frustration and numbness. Bee was only 57, and their 20-year marriage was thoroughly

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“A novel for those who love one-liners, outrageous characters and loopy plots.” from lunatics

companionable and vibrantly sensual. With Edward trapped in mourning, his friends in the close-knit suburban New Jersey community urge him to re-enter the social whirl, ready to position an extra woman, compatible or not, next to him at dinner parties. Even his stepchildren, Julie, with whom Edward is quite close, and Nick and wife Amanda, are worried. To end Edward’s self-imposed isolation, those three place a personal advertisement in the New York Review of Books. Wolitzer’s Edward lives as an empathetic character, one to be respected and understood in both motivation and action. Edward is also revealed as fragile in a way only Bee comprehended, psychologically withdrawn for reasons that may relate to a love affair in his 20s that ended with Edward being abandoned at the altar. That first love was Laurel, a flighty and emotional fellow teacher with whom he had a passionate, powerfully physical relationship. That romance, as well as Edward’s meeting and marrying Bee a decade or more later, and the comfort he found in his ready-made family, are presented in flashbacks that give the narrative color and depth. Sometimes ironic, sometimes melancholy, Edward’s reluctant “dating after death” begins with toned and hungry Karen hot to finish dinner and head home for a romp in the hay. Roberta would rather talk about her late husband. Sylvia, 70 and shaped to appear 50 by plastic surgery, resigns herself to Edward’s ambivalence. Lizzie, close friend of Edward and Bee, is eager for an affair. Only after Laurel reenters the story does Edward begin to comprehend the man that survived Bee’s death.

Literary fiction drawn out of the everyday world. (Agent: Henry Dunow)

LUNATICS

Zweibel, Alan & Barry, Dave Putnam (320 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-399-15869-8 A novel for those who love one-liners, outrageous characters and loopy plots.

Jeffrey Peckerman has a beef—plenty of them, in fact, but his initial one involves what he views as an unfair offsides call at his 11-year-old daughter’s soccer game. The ref who makes the questionable call is Philip Horkman, owner of a pet store incongruously called The Wine Shop (because his inlaws, the Wines, funded his business venture). And thus begins one of the strangest buddy novels of this or any century. The hapless characters begin a hate-hate relationship that literally takes them around the globe, starting with an escaped lemur, an insulin pump and the misapprehension that Peckerman and Horkman are members of al-Qaeda trying to blow up the George Washington Bridge.

To escape, they make their way onto a cruise ship about to leave New York harbor, only to discover that it’s clothing optional. Horkman starts to fall in love with a nun (after all, she’s not wearing her habit) and plunges overboard to save her when she’s swept away in a storm. From here events get even goofier, as the two opponents land in Cuba (and co-lead a revolution), then go to Mozambique (and are captured by pirates), thence to Yemen (where they are |

rescued by the Mossad), afterwards to Beijing (and lead a protest in Tiananmen Square), and finally to California, where they meet Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention and where Horkman, despite being a Democrat, is nominated for president.

(Later, Peckerman becomes the Democratic nominee, but his obscenity-laced speeches are the despair of his handlers.) Throughout their romp around the world they’re constantly at each other’s throats, either literally or metaphorically, Horkman’s prissiness playing off of Peckerman’s crude cynicism.

An antidote, if one is needed, to gritty urban realism.

m ys t e r y PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Barbieri, Maggie Minotaur (352 pp.) $24.99 | Dec. 6, 2011 978-0-312-59329-2

English Professor Alison Bergeron (Third Degree, 2010, etc.) gets stuck with another crap assignment when St. Thomas’ basketball coach buys it during a game. Already in her boss’s crosshairs for embarrassing the university by repeatedly stumbling across dead bodies, Alison is St. Thomas’ go-to gal for jobs nobody wants. In addition to teaching a bazillion sections of freshman composition, she’s served time at a local soup kitchen (Quick Study, 2008) and as interim residence hall director (Final Exam, 2009). Now Sister Mary is seeing red just because Paul, the campus mailman, has been found dead in the trunk of Alison’s car.

So when Michael Kovacs, coach of the women’s basketball team, dies of a heart attack during a particularly dismal game, who better to take the helm of the Blue Jays than five-foot-ten Alison, who played for St. Thomas as an undergrad? The silver lining is that coaching brings Alison closer to her stepdaughter Meaghan, the taller and gentler of her detective husband Crawford’s twins. (A good thing, since petite, prickly Erin hates her dad’s new wife.) The cloud is that the Blue Jays suck. Even with the help of best friend Max Rayfield’s husband, former All-City star Fred Wyatt, Alison can’t buy a win. Not even high scorer Kristy Bianco can propel her team to victory, especially after her father is beaten senseless in an apparent robbery. But Alison suspects that the attack on Lou Bianco wasn’t a random act of violence, and worse, that it may have something to do with her friend Father Kevin McManus’ banishment as St. Thomas’ chaplain. Connecting the dots is made harder by the double distractions of her coaching duties and Crawford’s strange new remoteness.

But Alison doesn’t leave the job half done—no matter how many extra jobs she picks up. (Agent: Deborah Schneider)

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A CHARITABLE BODY

Barnard, Robert Scribner (256 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-1-4391-7743-3

What’s the connection between a stately home and a house of ill repute?

Rupert Fiennes is thrilled to dump Walbrook Manor, Yorkshire, in the hands of the National Trust and take up residence in a flat with all the mod cons, but his dear cousin Mary-Elizabeth is saddened at the prospect. Sir Stafford Quarles, representing a different branch of the original owners and eager to establish himself as Lord of the Manor, has assumed chairmanship of the Walbrook Trust, slipped a proviso into the deed that he and his wife will have tenancy there and ruthlessly hired and fired board members to insure his plans for the property, which include a fete replicating the musical song cycle performed there back in 1939. Once novelist Felicity Peace joins the board, she and her copper husband Charlie (The Killings on Jubilee Terrace, 2009, etc.) wonder what else Sir Stafford has up his sleeve now that he’s fired the former Manor museum director, the current one may be on his way out, and archival papers are missing. Some of these documents focused on the Manor’s peace seminars, which attracted the surprising attention of a Fifth Column of Nazi sympathizers. When old bones are dredged up from a nearby pond, Charlie, anxious to put a name to them, discovers a surfeit of missing ladies in the Manor’s history—especially Sir Stafford’s mum, who according to one story died of ill health and according to another decamped to London and ran a posh wartime brothel, which, as it happens, both Mary-Elizabeth and Lady Quarles know a thing or two about.

Red herrings, upstairs-downstairs brouhaha and more than a whiff of scandal from Barnard, who has handled it all in slightly better form before.

A PARLIAMENT OF SPIES

Clark, Cassandra Minotaur (384 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 31, 2012 978-0-312-59574-6

Sister Hildegard has had many a foreign adventure, but her latest escapade in 14th-century England is more dangerous than most.

Childless monarchs are always vulnerable, so it’s no surprise that many schemers are plotting to remove Richard II and his wife Anne of Bohemia from the English throne. Meanwhile, Hildegard (The Law of Angels, 2011, etc.) is accompanying Alexander Neville, Bishop of York, to London, where he wants her to spy on the Parliament being assembled as they await a French invasion. Before they leave Yorkshire, a servant is found murdered, but his death is the least of their concerns. On the journey they are attacked, and 2178

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at a stop in Lincoln they run into Katharine Swynford, mistress of the king’s enemy the Duke of Lancaster, and her obnoxious bastard son Sir Thomas Swynford. Once in London, Hildegard is horrified to discover her husband, long thought dead, is alive and wants to claim both her and his estate. When he tries to rape her, she is rescued at the last minute by a foreign friar. Later she learns that her savior is Rivera, a spy working for the King’s enemies.

After he rescues her from death a second time, they become lovers. Hildegard’s world is in shambles as she awaits word on her status as a nun, fights her love for Rivera and attempts to unravel the complicated plots against the king.

Mystery takes a back seat to copious historical detail in Hildegard’s pleasing fourth adventure.

THE LOOK OF LOVE

Clark, Mary Jane Morrow/HarperCollins (350 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-06-199556-9 978-0-06-209914-3 e-book Whoever’s trying to kill Jillian Abernathy certainly is making a hash of the job.

New Year’s Day should herald a wonderful new year for the director of Los Angeles’ fabulous Elysium Spa. But how can Jillian savor her upcoming nuptials with handsome psychiatrist Benjamin Dixon knowing that her housecleaner, Esperanza Flores, has been disfigured by acid meant to be thrown in Jillian’s own face? Only by engaging actress/baker Piper Donovan (To Have and to Kill, 2010, etc.) to construct the perfect wedding cake. Abandoning her patient swain, FBI agent Jack Lombardi, to fly to L.A. for her all-expenses-paid week at Elysium, Piper is quickly drawn to Jillian. “I feel sorry for her.

Talk about bad karma,” she says after a second attack leaves unmourned Esperanza dead. Many people, Piper soon realizes, have it in for her client. There’s Hudson Sherwood, the former Elysium director who’s now toiling as a lowly hotel clerk. And George Ellis, whose daughter Wendy lost most of her nose to a botched surgery by Jillian’s father, plastic surgeon Vernon Abernathy. And Kyle Quigley, the paramedical esthetician whose “sleep therapy” includes services his clients know nothing about.

Undercover reporter Anastasia Fernands quickly enlists Piper to help get the goods on Kyle. But another Elysium guest will die before Piper finally realizes who the killer is—just in time to get attacked herself.

In a manner strikingly reminiscent of the author’s famous ex-mother-in-law, everything turns out in time for the diminished wedding party to enjoy a cake made from “the best pumpkin bread they have ever tasted.” (Author appearances in Des Moines, Los Angeles, New York, Palm Beach and Sarasota)

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SLASH AND BURN

Cotterill, Colin Soho Crime (304 pp.) $25.00 | Dec. 6, 2011 978-1-61695-116-0

As his treasured retirement looms, can the curmudgeonly coroner tread lightly enough to endure through one last job that has highly sensitive political aspects?

Two provocative prologues kick off Dr. Siri Paiboun’s eighth, and perhaps final, adventure. In August, 1968, two American soldiers see a helicopter explode in the air. A few years later, Siri and his wife Madame Daeng sit on a bed staring at a corpse that hangs from a door handle. “Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into,” she declares.

Flashback five weeks: Laotian national coroner Dr. Siri, almost 80, is finally ready to retire. His notice has been accepted, and he’s said his goodbyes to his loopy sidekicks, Nurse Dtui and lab assistant Geung Watajak. Maybe it’s a softening heart that causes Siri to accept a tough final job without his usual complaints. His team, which also includes Dtui’s husband Phosy, ventures north to Vientiane to join a search party for American soldiers’ bodies, a situation the reader gets an advance glimpse of in short, elliptical chapters. An impossibly perky guide named Peach is intended to monitor the team, but she’s overmatched and has a tendency to tipple. Rugged terrain and dour, rainy weather are the least of the problems. The Americans seek to control both Siri’s probe and the flow of information. But the hanging corpse and a shooting victim once again press Siri and company into action as sleuths, leaving Phosy taken aback by his wife’s assertiveness.

The most entertaining case for Siri (Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, 2010, etc.) in years. Now that Nurse Dtui has found her voice, perhaps a spinoff?

ANCIENT SPIRITS

Duncan, Alice Five Star (274 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 18, 2012 978-1-4328-2570-6

A widow takes a trip to raise her spirits, only to walk into danger.

Daisy Majesty is a good-hearted fake Pasadena spiritualist who lost her beloved husband Billy to suicide caused by the pain of his World War I wounds and gassing. Now she’s so depressed that she hardly eats and restricts her visits to her wealthy longtime customer Mrs. Pinkerton. Her whole family, along with Billy’s best friend, grumpy policeman Sam Rotondo, are very worried. But then her pal, Mrs. Pinkerton’s son Harold, offers to take her on a trip to Egypt. After her family prods her to accept, the pair, posing as brother and sister, start off on the long, difficult journey. When they arrive in Egypt, they realize that it’s too hot to do much sightseeing. So after a camel ride, a pyramid visit and a shopping expedition, they decide to leave for Turkey, |

much to the dismay of the Englishman who’s attached himself to them. Daisy dislikes him and is not sorry to leave, but unfortunately she arrives in Turkey just in time to suffer a bad case of dysentery. In the meantime, Sam, who knows her predilection for getting into trouble (Hungry Spirits, 2010, etc.), has been writing to her, warning her of criminal activity in the area. He arrives in Istanbul just in time to see his fears come true.

A pleasant read that’s more romantic travelogue than mystery.

DANGER IN THE WIND

Finnis, Jane Poisoned Pen (330 pp.) $24.95 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-1-59058-890-1

When it rains for an amateur sleuth in ancient Britannia, it pours.

Aurelia Marcella, who runs the busy roadside inn the Oak Tree Mansio with her brother Lucius, is excited to receive a party invitation from her cousin Jovina, whom she hasn’t seen in more than three years. It’s 100 CE, and Aurelia’s distant outpost of the Roman Empire is a busy oasis on the long coast road from Eburacum to the city of York, leaving her little respite. The beginning of the missive is bright, but at the bottom there is a cryptic appeal: “Say nothing. Just come.” She immediately prepares to do so, for Lucius can handle the mansio alone and, having brought his fiance Vitellia for a visit, may even welcome his sister’s absence. But just as Aurelia is about to leave, one of the maids finds the body of Terentius, a Roman soldier who’s been stabbed to death. His young slave boy is nowhere to be found. Lucius takes charge, and Vitellia acts like the mistress of the mansio, both irking Aurelia. Since curiosity about the murder is trumped by worry for her cousin, her course is clear. She decides to visit her neighbor Clarilla and ask her to keep a watchful eye. When she arrives, an uptight Roman named Portius is waiting for her, anxious to meet Terentius. The news of his death sends Portius into a fit of panic. Though Aurelia is in possession of Terentius’ papers, she lies when Portius asks about them.

Aurelia’s fourth adventure (Buried Too Deep, 2008, etc.) has richly drawn characters and captures an authentic period feel, but Finnis overloads early chapters with plot threads and peripheral people.

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“One of the Puzzle Lady’s finest hours, faster paced than most, with the obligatory puzzles to help solve the case.” from $10,000 in small, unmarked puzzles

THE EXTERMINATORS

Fitzhugh, Bill Poisoned Pen (342 pp.) $24.95 | paper $14.95 | PLB $22.95 Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-59058-540-5 978-1-59058-542-9 paperback 978-1-59058-541-2 PLB Those madcap bug-wielding assassins from Pest Control (1996) are back, and this time the stakes are even higher and the

humor even lower.

Six years after faking their deaths to escape the wrath of Miguel DeJesus Riviera, the drug lord whose brother they had killed, Bob Dillon and Klaus Müller one day hear a too-goodto-be-true offer from Joshua Treadwell, of Blue Sky Capital Partners, LLC, to fund their genetic research into all-natural extermination—that is, superbugs with an insatiable appetite for killing other bugs—by developing a cadre of counterterrorist bugs that are willing to kill people. Apart from its innate looniness, the only downside of Treadwell’s offer is that his ability to track down Bob and Klaus means that their cover is blown, which gives them one more reason to relocate from Oregon to L.A. one step ahead of the wave of contract killers the surviving Riviera has loosed on them. Once the exterminators are safely ensconced in La-La Land, there’ll be after-Oscar parties, double-crosses by double agents, brushes with other assassins and of course hordes of killer bugs whose victims rapidly spiral into the hundreds. Along the way, Fitzhugh (Radio Activity, 2004, etc.) finds time to skewer such ripe targets as the CIA, network-news broadcasts, Hollywood pitch sessions, talk-radio blowhards and millenialist Christians.

Despite the high body count, the knockabout drive-in movie plotting and scattershot satire (think Godzilla with a laugh track) are all in good fun. Don’t believe a word of it when you hear once again that the heroes have died.

$10,000 IN SMALL, UNMARKED PUZZLES

Hall, Parnell Minotaur (288 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 31, 2012 978-0-312-60247-5

One of the Puzzle Lady’s former husbands comes back to haunt her yet again.

While Cora Felton waits for her niece Sherry, who actually constructs the crossword puzzles attributed to Cora, to give birth, she’s reluctant to take on a job offered her by the stunning young attorney Becky Baldwin. But when she does agree to deliver a blackmail payment, she finds herself in the soup. Inside the dumpster at a deserted service station she finds a dead body and a sudoku, just the type of puzzle she happens to excel at solving. She hides the money in an old gas pump just before the 2180

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arrival of Police Chief Harper, with whom Cora’s meddling in earlier cases (The KenKen Killings, 2011, etc.) has led to quite the love/ hate relationship. Anxious to get to the hospital where Sherry’s about to deliver her premature baby, Cora must call her lawyer to get away from the police. Becky refuses to reveal her client, but it appears to be Cora’s least-liked ex-husband Melvin, who claims that he’s being framed by an enemy with a grudge. Since the first $10,000 in blackmail money has disappeared, Cora agrees to make another drop, this time at a cemetery where she discovers a second corpse. It puts no damper on Cora’s curiosity when the police arrest Melvin. Instead, she continues to look for the killer, putting herself and family in danger.

One of the Puzzle Lady’s finest hours, faster paced than most, with the obligatory puzzles to help solve the case.

RAN AWAY

Hambly, Barbara Severn House (256 pp.) $28.95 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8082-6 Concubines, slaves and first-wife blues upset free man of color Benjamin January.

During the years he fled New Orleans to escape its racism, Ben settled in Paris, where he eked out a living as a musician while studying medicine. He met, fell in love with and married Ayasha, who asked him to help out Shamira, a sick, pregnant concubine in the household of Hüseyin Pasha, a wealthy Turk. Shamira ran away, and January and Ayasha became involved in her plight, which centered on the enmity between Pasha and Sabid, a former favorite of the Sultan, now a disgraced man. When Ayasha was abducted and Shamira’s fate necessitated exchanging her infant son for her freedom, Ben came to believe Pasha honorable and trustworthy.

That’s why five years on, back home in New Orleans after Ayasha’s death from cholera, Ben disputes the findings that declare that Pasha, now underwriting failing banks in Louisiana, tossed two of his concubines, Noura and Karida, from a window in his house. With an assist from his current wife Rose and his friend, ex-opium addict Hannibal, Ben steps in to prove Pasha innocent of murder. He’ll have to deal with another opium addict, a Mr. Smith whom no one but Pasha seems to have met, a sighting of Pasha’s old enemy Sabid, as well as two battling Reverends and slaves transported on the underground railway before matters are resolved. More complicated than most January tales (The Shirt on His Back, 2011, etc.).

More poignant, too, with memories of Ayasha tormenting January.

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GRIEVOUS ANGEL

Jardine, Quintin Headline/Trafalgar (410 pp.) $24.95Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-7553-5692-8 Big, blustery, bawdy Bob Skinner, Scotland’s top cop, is a holy terror on both sides of the crime line. But how did he get that way?

Suddenly, Chief Constable Skinner is behaving unlike himself. That is, he seems trapped in some kind of weird, introspective, Hamlety state, which is as uncharacteristic for him as it would be for any other bull in a china shop. Already concerned, his wife grows even more so when she comes upon him shaken to the core by some sort of “daymare.” As a consequence, and in the manner of all loyal, loving wives, she demands that he share his troubles. No natural sharer, Skinner at first resists; she persists, he caves. This, after all, is Aileen de Marco we’re talking about, not merely Skinner’s mate but Scotland’s prime minister. Persuaded by her that a “burden shared might be a burden halved,” he agrees to set it all down, indiscreet bits included, and willynilly the reader is hauled back 15 years to a down and dismal point in the Skinner saga, though his robust career continues on a fast track. But then there’s this murder made singular by the labyrinthian way it entwines and connects—to various aspects of organized crime, yes, but also to a woman, beautiful, wicked and so painfully recalled, who comes close to ending both the Skinner career and his saga as well.

Despite a 400-page albatross of a prequel, big Bob remains entertainingly Rabelaisian. And who cares how he got that way.

STICKS AND STONES

Larsen, K.J. Poisoned Pen (234 pp.) $24.95paper $14.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-59058-921-2 978-1-59058-923-6 paperback 978-1-59058-922-9 Lg. Prt. Suspects abound when an unscrupulous blackmailer is found dead by a private eye and her histrionic assistant.

Caterina DeLuca’s Pants on Fire Detective Agency, meant to catch cheaters, is charged with an investigation that may be beyond its means when Cat’s assistant/partner (depending on who you ask) Cleo Jones is charged with murder. It all starts with Cleo’s cheating husband, Walter, who hasn’t bothered to wait for his divorce to take up with Cleo’s sister. When Cleo brings Cat along to do a bit of B & E at Walter’s place and rescue Cleo’s pooch Beau, the two find the last thing they expected: Walter home and stone-cold dead. Now Cleo is prime suspect and Cat is looking at accessory after the fact, a status not even her connections at the police department can wrangle her out |

of. Cat thinks her only way out is to identify who really killed Walter, but with the dead man’s unscrupulous ways, including adultery, blackmail and embezzlement at a minimum, it’s hard for Cat to imagine who wouldn’t want Walter dead. While Cat craves support from her FBI boyfriend Chance Savino, she’s seen more of her Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker lately than she has of Chance. As Cat investigates the murder of a man the world may be better for having lost, she debates whether finding the truth is as important as staying out of trouble. It’s only logical that Cat’s second case (Liar, Liar, 2010) is a bit disjointed, since the author is a nom de plume of three sisters.

Tighter editing might return the series to its former glory.

ALL I DID WAS SHOOT MY MAN

Mosley, Walter Riverhead (304 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-1-59448-824-5

The release of a convicted killer who doesn’t happen to be a thief offers another crack at redemption for impossibly compromised New York private eye Leonid McGill (When the Thrill Is Gone, 2011, etc.).

Zella Grisham is the only client McGill’s ever had whom he knows to be innocent. Who could know better than him, when gambler Stumpy Brown, worried that the NYPD would link him to the $58 million Rutgers Assurance heist, hired McGill nine years ago to frame her for the theft? As Stumpy pointed out at the time, Zella made the perfect patsy because she was already headed for jail after shooting her lover Harry Tangelo when she found him in bed with Minnie Lesser, her former best friend.

Now that McGill’s lawyer, Breland Lewis, has wangled Zella’s release, the frame-up isn’t looking like such a good idea. Harry Tangelo has disappeared. So has the daughter Zella gave up for adoption. There’s no trace of the missing $58 million, and McGill has no idea where to look for the loot. On the plus side, everyone he runs into, from low-rent grifter Sweet Lemon Charles to Rutgers bigwig Johann Brighton, acts as if they’re involved in some sort of felonious activity. As usual, the list of suspicious characters extends to McGill’s own family, even before they’re nearly killed by a pair of nameless intruders. His wife Katrina, who pulled the plug on their sex life years ago, seems determined to drink herself to death. His blood son, Dimitri, has hooked up with unsuitable Tatyana Baranovich, an ex-hooker from Belarus, and plans to move in with her. McGill just hopes he can do a better job rescuing Katrina’s son Twill from the life of crime he seems destined for than he’s doing rescuing Zella Grisham from the consequences of the crime she never committed.

Overplotted even by Mosley’s standards, with precious little chance to savor each scene and speaker before they’re hustled offstage to make room for the next.

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MURDER IN ARGELÈS

Nelson, D-L Five Star (338 pp.) $25.95 | Dec. 16, 2011 978-1-4328-2551-5

An inveterate traveler back in Argelès must team up with her ex when she’s confronted with the body of a local priest who’s also an old friend.

Tech writer Annie Young is an adventurer at heart. The multilingual traveler is excited to return to her small apartment in southern France, which she affectionately calls “the nest,” and to the small town that represents her sometime home. She’s especially anxious to catch up with her longtime friend Père Yeves, who’s written her about recent discoveries in the neighboring town of Rennes-le-Château. Instead of getting to share Père Yeves’ excitement over what he’s found, Annie is greeted by his lifeless body outside the church where he’d worked for so long. Certain her old friend has met with foul play, Annie goes for official reinforcements, but when she returns to the scene, the body is mysteriously gone. She vows to investigate in spite of the fact that it brings her into constant contact with her recent ex-boyfriend, Police Chief Roger Perrin.

Roger wishes things weren’t over with Annie in spite of the fact that her constant traveling drove a wedge between them. But footloose Annie can’t shake her identity as a third-culture kid, one who moved through different cultures seamlessly but called no one culture her own.

Armed with a story line that circles around but never meets a solid plot, Nelson’s latest (Murder in Caleb’s Landing, 2010, etc.) mystifyingly spends more time discussing Annie’s bathroom habits than creating likable characters.

BROTHERHOOD OF BLADES

Regan, Linda Creme de la Crime (224 pp.) $28.95 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-1-78029-009-6

Gangbangers battle bloodily in South London, but can any of them really win?

The Brotherhood of Blades—knifewielding young thugs in the manner of their vicious chief Stuart Reilly—runs South London. Once, the Buzzards under Jason Young had dominated this turf. But their doom was sealed when Jason was jailed and his gang systematically dismembered. In time-honored fashion, Reilly controls his territory with the iron fist of fear. Break a Reilly rule and you can expect to be hospitalized. Break a serious Reilly rule and you can expect enough broken bones to welcome death. When Jason’s sprung, no one quite knows how his release is likely to affect the status quo, especially since Reilly has savaged Chantelle Gulati, the woman Jason loves. On emerging from prison, Jason vows to go straight, find Chantelle 2182

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and drag her kicking and screaming if necessary away from the estates. But in his heart of hearts he recognizes the trap he’s in.

Jason’s an estate boy, and for estate boys there are never more than two choices: “die young or spend your life in and out of the slammer.” Enter Detectives Georgia Johnson and David Dawes, each convinced that Stuart Reilly is a cancer, each with a secret agenda, each certain that in the end all policing is personal.

Page-turning stuff, this auspicious series debut is for readers who, like Regan (Dead Like Her, 2009, etc.), don’t flinch from brutality.

FATHER UNKNOWN

Sampson, Fay Severn House (208 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-7278-8087-1

Family researcher Suzie Fewings’ peaceful world is about to descend into darkness.

Come from America to England to research her ancestors, Prudence Clayson is shocked to discover bastards in the family tree. Suzie is happy to explain to Prudence that premarital sex is far from uncommon but knows that unmarried mothers suffered severe consequences. Finding the remnants of a pregnancy testing kit in her 14-year-old daughter Millie’s trash is a big shock, but the truth may be even worse.

The young woman who was testing herself was Millie’s friend Tamara, who’s now vanished, leaving her best friend frantic with worry. Strangely, her battered mother and controlling stepfather do not seem that concerned. But after Suzie’s whole family poke their noses in where they are not wanted, they find themselves in a sticky situation. Their efforts to discover the father’s identity leads them to some horrifying conclusions. Since her own family is doing nothing to trace Tamara, the Fewingses and Prudence join in a search for her that leads them into ever greater danger.

Genealogical researching tips combine nicely with a fast-paced mystery in this latest saga of the Fewings family (Those in Peril, 2010, etc.).

RED MEANS RUN

Smith, Brad Scribner (320 pp.) $12.00 paperback | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-4516-4551-4 A farmer accused of murder turns detective to save his skin, which is worth saving.

Woodstock lawyer Mickey Dupree’s streak of capital murder acquittals without a single loss has been stopped at eight by the five-iron driven through his chest. Joe Brady, of the Kingston PD, is certain that he doesn’t have to look any further than Virgil Cain, the farmer who

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“A weary widow with a bump of curiosity finds herself in big trouble.” from death by killer mop doll

recently told Mickey—who secured an acquittal for record producer Alan Comstock, accused of killing Virgil’s wife Kirstie—that somebody ought to kill him. But Claire Marchand, an investigator for the Ulster County DA’s Office, isn’t so sure. She’s impressed by Virgil’s steadfast denials of guilt and even more impressed by his gravitas and his refusal to lose his cool under Brady’s taunting. Even after Virgil escapes from police custody during his transfer to another prison, Claire doubts that he’s the killer. While Brady is certain that Virgil’s hightailed it back to his native Canada, she realizes that he’s stayed much closer to home, determined to clear his name by finding the real killer. Both the time and the place are wrong for Virgil’s plan, though, since someone takes advantage of his being on the loose to kill Comstock, whom he has an even stronger motive for murdering, and another of Mickey’s clients, horse-abuser Miller Boddington, whom Virgil must have some reason for killing.

The whodunit is both unguessable and not very interesting, but Smith (Busted Flush, 2005, etc.) makes the developing relationship between mutually wary Virgil and Claire well worth the price of admission.

DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL

Winston, Lois Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (312 pp.) $14.95 paperback | Jan. 8, 2012 978-0-7387-2585-7 A weary widow with a bump of curiosity finds herself in big trouble.

Crafts editor Anastasia Pollack’s two teenage sons are the least of her problems. Her household also includes her much-married mother and her Bolshevik mother-in-law, who are constantly fighting. A parrot, a cat and a dog intensify the chaos. Since the death of her husband, a secret gambler who left her broke, the only bright spot in her life has been the hunky photographer who rents her garage apartment and occasionally cooks dinner. Things seem to be looking up when Anastasia’s mother meets Lou, a wealthy TV producer who likes her idea of changing a sleazy tabloid show into a lifestyle remake program using the staff of American Woman magazine. Anastasia and her fellow editors are none too pleased to learn that they will have to do twice as much work for the same money—plus put up with the two nasty stars of the tabloid show and a muumuuclad, whip-cracking assistant producer with ideas of her own.

Things go from bad to worse when Lou is found stabbed with Anastasia’s knitting needle. Anastasia, who’s had some luck as a sleuth (Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, 2011, etc.), can’t stop herself from investigating the murder, putting herself in danger from a coldly determined killer.

Several crafts projects, oodles of laughs and an older, more centered version of Stephanie Plum.

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D.C. DEAD

Woods, Stuart Putnam (304 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-399-15766-0 Now that their sons have gone off to Yale in a blaze of triumph (Son of Stone, 2011), super-lawyer Stone Barrington and his friend Lt. Dino Bacchetti, NYPD, get called back to Washington to do what they do worst: investigate a murder.

Talk about your closed cases. The very day that first lady Katharine Rule Lee’s social secretary Emily Kendrick was found bashed to death, Mimi’s husband Brixton Kendrick hanged himself, leaving behind a note taking full responsibility. Nor did an FBI investigation turn up any new suspects. But President Will Lee’s not satisfied. He wants Stone and Dino to find out the truth. It’s obvious that he’s made a wise choice, because hours after going on the job, Dino finds the murder weapon on the White House grounds, where it had lain unnoticed for a whole year. Stone, pursuing his own distinctive brand of undercover work, learns that Brix was more than the White House manager; he was an insatiable adulterer, one of whose paramours, the one he playfully dubbed “the March Hare,” presumably killed Mimi. This party wouldn’t be complete without some strands left over from Woods’ earlier work (Mounting Fears, 2009, etc.). So utility assassin Teddy Fay, spotted by hapless CIA agent Todd Bacon, rouses himself to offer a mutual nonaggression pact to CIA assistant deputy director Holly Barker. While they’re waiting for this deal to sour, readers get to watch Stone bed Holly and two less fortunate ladies whose deaths mark Stone as a Calamity John and make it obvious, through process of elimination, who the March Hare is.

Acknowledging the fact that everyone in the nation’s capital knows everything about everyone else, Stone and Dino develop a mantra—“It’s Washington”—that serves as the perfect model for another gauge of familiarity—“It’s Woods.”

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science fiction and fantasy SHADOWS IN FLIGHT

Card, Orson Scott Tor (240 pp.) $21.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-7653-3200-4

Warning: Do not attempt to appreciate this book without at least some familiarity with Card’s child-warrior Ender series.

Previously in Shadow of the Giant (2005), military supergenius Bean fled Earth with his three surviving children aboard a starship; at the relativistic speeds of which the ship is capable, timedilation effects may enable them to stay alive long enough for medical researchers to find a cure. They all have Anton’s Key, which gives them tremendously accelerated and enhanced growth and intelligence, the profound drawback being that they never stop growing and will die before reaching the age of 30. Bean is already more than 14 feet tall and so debilitated that he can survive only in microgravity. The children—they call themselves “leguminotes”— biologist Ender, engineer Carlotta and warrior Sergeant, are 6-yearold late-adolescents and far smarter if no less quarrelsome than any other human. But they need a purpose other than mere survival— Ender, keyed into the latest research via ansible, the instantaneous communicator Card and others borrowed from Ursula Le Guin, suspects that a cure may not just be improbable, but impossible— so fatherly Bean has secretly steered them towards a surprising, not altogether unexpected but certainly intriguing confrontation. No further characterization is practicable without giving away what little plot there is, but don’t worry, plotting has never been what Card is all about. The author has always superbly written about children, and here he’s in top form. The original Ender, still roaming the galaxy in search of redemption, rarely gets a mention: bad news for Enders, good news for leguminotes.

If you still prefer Ender to Bean after this, you’re really hardcore.

originally billed as a trilogy, the ending here leaves considerable scope for further augmentation.

In 1840, a time traveler known as Spring Heeled Jack arrived in order to prevent his ancestor, Edward Oxford, from assassinating young Queen Victoria. As a result, reality was wrenched into an alternate steampunk universe. Also arriving in 1840, sent back from a ghastly 1919 wherein a rampant Germany, led by a psychic-powered Friedrich Nietzsche and armed with horrid biological weapons, has all but defeated the British Empire and its black-mesmerism-wielding avatar, Aleister Crowley, is famed explorer and polyglot Sir Richard Burton, whose task is to prevent both the assassination and Spring Heeled Jack’s perversion of history. Meanwhile, in the same universe in 1863, British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston—the crown is vacant, since no acceptable heir could be found—instructs Burton, ostensibly to seek the source of the Nile, actually to recover a third set of psychoactive diamonds left by a now-extinct non-human race, by which means Palmerston hopes to defeat Germany before the world is engulfed in war. In 1914, Burton arrives in East Africa, where an appalling conflict already rages, again hurled through time, but this time with few memories and little idea of who he is or what he’s supposed to do. And, rest assured, all this isn’t the half of it. The narrative features a host of other historical characters in unfamiliar roles, such as the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel inhabiting a steam-powered robot body, poet Algernon Swinburne as Burton’s 1861 sidekick and war correspondent H.G. Wells in 1914. Remarkably enough, the plot hangs together, and Hodder, with an encyclopedic grasp of period detail, tellingly brings these disparate, oddly familiar yet eerily different worlds to fecund life.

Enthralling, dizzying and as impressive as they come.

EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

Hodder, Mark Pyr/Prometheus Books (400 pp.) $16.00 paperback | Jan. 24, 2012 978-1-61614-535-4 Third entry (The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, 2011, etc.) in Spain-resident Englishman Hodder’s time-travel/ alternate-reality/steampunk saga; though 2184

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nonfiction WOULD IT KILL YOU TO STOP DOING THAT? A Modern Guide to Manners

OUR BLACK YEAR One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy

Alford, Henry Twelve (288 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-446-55766-5

Alford (How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth), 2009, etc.) embarks on an idiosyncratic excursion into the land of civility.

Manners became of interest to the author when he came across a comment by Edmund Burke that manners were more important than laws, and realized how true that was for him.

Each day, his life had “been far more affected by the small indignities, or the tiny acts of grace, than by any piece of governmental legislation.” A book project was born: “I decided to study these tiny-but-huge things: to read about them, and travel in their name…to hold up a magnifying glass to unattractive habits that I stumble upon, be they my own or others’.” In his highly subjective, modestly twisted, rudeness-barely-checked way, Alford engages random aspects of manners. He commiserates with readers over choosing the right greeting—hug, kiss, handshake, fist bump, shoulder grab—and tuning into the error of excessive self-deprecation or the slippery slope of formal, hierarchical protocols: “highly arbitrary, difficult to parse, and subject to change without notice.” His focus can be broad, as suggesting that tone trumps action (or, paraphrasing Noel Coward, “it’s all a matter of lighting”), but often as not he screws down tight on small example from his life—as a tour guide or online manners coach for instance, when he shows himself to be a discreet, keen observer rippling with bad-boy humor.

Alford is a razory-wicked, fun guy to be around, and each of his stories are like those “tiny acts of grace” brightening your day.

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Anderson, Maggie with Gregory, Ted PublicAffairs (240 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-1-61039-024-8

An African-American couple in a Chicago neighborhood pledged to spend 2009 patronizing black-owned businesses; they discovered that this was no easy task.

With the aid of Pulitzer Prize–winning Chicago Tribune journalist Gregory, business-strategy consult Anderson narrates the story of their decision and how they struggled to carry it out.

The book also covers the author’s launch of a self-help economics movement while raising two young daughters and caring for a dying mother. While an appendix prepared by faculty and students at the Kellogg School of Management details the relevant statistics about the Andersons’ expenditures and black spending power and entrepreneurship, it is the personal story of the challenges faced by the Andersons that brings those figures to life. Just finding well-run black-owned businesses was a time-consuming chore, and finding ones that managed to stay in business was even more so. Anderson was forced to drive to poor, rundown neighborhoods and to shop in stores that didn’t stock fresh meat and produce, healthful foods, needed household products or clothing for her growing daughters. Adding insult to injury, following her public appearances to promote her black-empowerment message, vicious hate mail from both blacks and whites attacked her motives. The author’s frustrations and disappointments—as well as hope—are the central focus, but there is a larger story at play.

Anderson looks at the reasons for the present conditions, putting them in perspective with some history of self-help efforts in the 19th century, black cooperatives of the early 20th century and the effects of the civil-rights movement on black-owned businesses.

An epilogue describes the plan for the Empowerment Experiment Foundation research center to study and document the effects of the self-help movement.

Effectively highlights the economic disparity between blacks and whites and dramatizes the challenges facing those who would close the gap.

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THE CARTOON INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS Volume Two: Macroeconomics

THE LOST HISTORY OF 1914 The Year the Great War Began

Beatty, Jack Walker (384 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-8027-7811-6

Bauman, Yoram Illus. by Klein, Grady Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $17.95 paperback | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-8090-3361-4 A lighthearted effort to make the dismal science less dismal, though too often about as funny as a Yakov Smirnoff set.

Economics is all about managing scarce resources, money being one of them. Macroeconomics, the big-picture aspect of economics, “has two big goals,” writes Bauman (billed as the world’s “only stand-up economist”)—namely, to establish means by which living standards increase over time, which is where old Adam Smith’s invisible hand comes in, and to “explain how economies grow…and why economies collapse,” which, considering the collapsing state of things, makes the field both useful and timely. The “holy grail” of macroeconomics, Bauman writes, is “how to get economies to grow without crashing,” which would seem to defy the laws of thermodynamics—and there the fun begins, for on one hand you have Milton Friedman, on the other John Maynard Keynes, and any number of disparate and often contentious approaches to making everyone rich without, in the end, making everyone destitute. There’s a lot of ground that Bauman and artist Klein have to cover, so much that sometimes useful concepts—Joseph Schumpeter’s suggestive theory of “creative destruction,” for instance—get only a panel or two.

Even so, Bauman hits his targets with pleasing accuracy. For example, he and Klein get, in just a few pages, what it has taken other writers whole volumes to express on the matter of the Keynesian view of the causes of cyclical unemployment. Bauman is also pleasingly subversive without overtly seeming to be so: He gives a lively, sardonic view of how inflation serves as a de facto means of wage cutting in the age-old war of supply and demand. The cartoons are ample, but the yucks few, particularly when Bauman recycles the old saw, beloved of Reagan and his Reaganomic acolytes: “In a recession, you lose your job…in a depression, I lose mine.” Which goes to show, it is called the dismal science for a reason.

Laugh-a-minute or not, an accessible introduction to a densely complex subject.

Was World War I an inevitable disaster looking for a catalyst? Not so, writes On Point news analyst Beatty (Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900, 2007, etc.) in this intermittently illuminating but deeply frustrating new history.

What happened is well known. After Serbian terrorist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, pieces locked in place that engaged the major powers in a catastrophic war. Austria, backed by Germany, declared war on Serbia, which was backed by Russia; soon, Russia’s ally France entered the fray, as did Britain.

After years of trying to stay out of it, the United States was pulled in when it looked as if Mexico was going to try to reclaim parts of Texas. Things could have easily been different, writes Beatty, as the countries involved were all locked in internal struggles that could have taken different outcomes, and Princip’s bullet could have easily missed and struck another target—if it had, the living Ferdinand would not have argued for war. Not only that, but he would have acceded to the throne following Austria-Hungary’s Emperor Franz Joseph’s death in 1916, and would likely have been too embroiled in civil strife to deal with a war with Serbia. Once war was engaged, it was kept alive by press censorship in the countries involved.

The French, English and Germans did not know the scale of suffering endured by their soldiers, and may not have wanted to. By the time the U.S. joined in 1917, it only prolonged the struggle. A post-Armistice food blockade starved Germany, and the children of that war would unite under the father figure of Adolf Hitler. The author provides a well-researched, compelling thesis, but the narrative lacks strong portraiture, the motivations aren’t always made clear and the drama, except in rare instances, remains on a simmer.

This may prove to be an important book for students of “counterfactual” history, but only occasionally does this story about a world going up in flames ever ignite. (86 blackand-white illustrations; 4 maps)

BY THE IOWA SEA A Memoir of Disaster and Love Blair, Joe Scribner (256 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4516-3605-5

One man’s midlife crisis surrounding love, marriage and parenthood.

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“In her debut, Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker staff writer Boo creates an intimate, unforgettable portrait of India’s urban poor.” from behind the beautiful forevers

with a heating-and-air-conditioning repair job, a wife, four children (one of them severely autistic), a mortgage and no motorcycle. He was living the placid life of a middle-aged man whose dreams had been set aside. Blair’s existence had settled into a daily rut, and he believed that only “an act of great faith or courage [would] change [his] circumstances when [his] life [was] nothing but a repetition.” Every day was centered on work and the constant struggle to help his autistic son maneuver through his life. Blair’s honest writing recounts the relentless need to be there for Michael through his seizures and tantrums, and the inner turmoil he felt toward his son—loving the child during tender moments of play and angry at other times when things just couldn’t be normal, which caused Blair to feel he was inadequate as a parent. The author’s need for a change became more urgent. Excessive drinking and sexual fantasies of his wife with another man were not enough, and Blair, desperate for an escape route, turned to another woman, finding passion and excitement in her arms. Internal confusion over his infidelity collided with the outer reality of his wife’s anger, and the resulting changes surprised even the author.

The author candidly examines his relationships with his wife and family and the changes they went through to stay together.

ANATOMY OF INJUSTICE A Murder Case Gone Wrong Bonner, Raymond Knopf (336 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 22, 2012 978-0-307-70021-6

A veteran journalist focuses on a grizzly murder case to explore the legal issues that commonly arise in our ongoing national debate about capital punishment.

In 1982, the stabbed, beaten and bloodied body of widow Dorothy Edwards was discovered stuffed in a closet in her Greenwood, S.C., home. Within 90 days, a local African-American handyman, Edward Lee Elmore, was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The dim-witted, mentally retarded 23-year-old insisted from the beginning on his innocence. However, following appeals, two more juries said he was guilty. A talented, relentless handful of appellate attorneys—including one, Diana Holt, whose turbulent life story is book-worthy by itself—argued over a period of 22 years that Elmore had been deprived of a single fair trial.

Aside from the defendant’s minority race and poverty, predictable constants on any state’s death row, the lawyers turned up a series of disturbing irregularities, some of which occur in any capital case, all of which applied to Elmore: the sloppy crimescene investigation by law-enforcement officials; their mishandling, mischaracterizing and perhaps even planting of evidence; the ineffective assistance of trial counsel, who failed to interview key witnesses and to vigorously test the state’s evidence; the inexperience or imperiousness of judges failing properly to instruct the jury; the zeal of prosecutors, more desirous of |

victory than of doing justice, who withheld possibly exculpatory evidence. The story also features jailhouse snitch testimony (recanted), arguments over DNA testing and a tantalizing, circumstantial case against an Edwards neighbor. Pulitzer Prize winner Bonner (At the Hand of Man: Peril and Hope for Africa’s Wildlife, 1993, etc.) weaves all this together with discussions of pertinent Supreme Court opinions, capsule tales of other, relevant capital cases and sharp mini-portraits of the case’s lawyers and judges. A last-minute stay of execution and a 2005 writ of habeas corpus that successfully argued Elmore could not be killed under the Supreme Court’s 2002 Atkins decision, prohibiting execution of the mentally retarded, spared him from the electric chair. He remains in prison.

A powerfully intimate look at how the justice system works—or doesn’t work—in capital cases. (8 pages of photographs)

BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

Boo, Katherine Random House (288 pp.) $28.00 | CD $35.00 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4000-6755-8 978-0-307-93405-5 CD In her debut, Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker staff writer Boo creates an intimate, unforgettable portrait of India’s urban poor.

Mumbai’s sparkling new airport and surrounding luxury hotels welcome visitors to the globalized, privatized, competitive India. Across the highway, on top of tons of garbage and next to a vast pool of sewage, lies the slum of Annawadi, one of many such places that house the millions of poor of Mumbai.

For more than three years, Boo lived among and learned from the residents, observing their struggles and quarrels, listening to their dreams and despair, recording it all. She came away with a detailed portrait of individuals daring to aspire but too often denied a chance—their lives viewed as an embarrassment to the modernized wealthy. The author poignantly details these many lives: Abdul, a quiet buyer of recyclable trash who wished for nothing more than what he had; Zehrunisa, Abdul’s mother, a Muslim matriarch among hostile Hindu neighbors; Asha, the ambitious slum leader who used her connections and body in a vain attempt to escape from Annawadi; Manju, her beautiful, intelligent daughter whose hopes laid in the new India of opportunity; Sunil, the master scavenger, a little boy who would not grow; Meena, who drank rat poison rather than become a teenage bride in a remote village; Kalu, the charming garbage thief who was murdered and left by the side of the road. Boo brilliantly brings to life the residents of Annawadi, allowing the reader to know them and admire the fierce intelligence that allows them to survive in a world not made for them.

The best book yet written on India in the throes of a brutal transition. (Author tour to Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles)

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EMINENT OUTLAWS The Gay Writers Who Changed America Bram, Christopher Twelve (320 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 2, 2012 978-0-446-56313-0

Novelist and Guggenheim Fellow Bram (Exiles in America, 2006, etc.) charts the emergence of gay writers, decade by decade, from the mostly-closeted 1940s to the whole-house present.

The author, gay himself, does not say much about his own career here—just a couple of modest asides—but he does pay homage to those he considers the godfathers of gay writing, including Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, James Baldwin and the “fairy godfather,” Gore Vidal, to whom Bram returns continually throughout. The author also slams those critics who could not see the literary merit of stories with gay characters and behavior—principally Stanley Kauffmann, Stanley Edgar Hyman and Midge Decter, though Bram points out that writers from Norman Mailer to Andrew Sullivan have at times had “issues.” Bram follows the careers of the godfathers, but he also looks at other important novelists, poets and playwrights, including Christopher Isherwood, Allen Ginsberg, Edward Albee, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara, Edmund White, Larry Kramer, Tony Kushner, Mark Doty, David Leavitt, Michael Cunningham and many others. Often he pauses for plot summary, analysis and judgment. The author also points out writers he believes have not received sufficient attention, among them Paul Russell, Mark Merlis and Henry Rios. Bram pauses occasionally to rehearse key events in gay cultural history—the Howl obscenity trial, the Stonewall riots, the televised 1968 clash between William F. Buckley Jr., and Vidal, Anita Bryant’s antigay crusade, the devastating effects of the AIDS crisis in the ’80s and beyond. Bram also flashes some attitude here and there, and not just toward the enemies of gay writers. He sometimes chides Vidal, shines a harsh light on Capote and calls Edmund White’s novel Caracole “a complete dud.”

An educative mixture of analysis, celebration, description, disappointment, disdain and, finally, love.

SAVING NELSON MANDELA The Rivonia Trial and the Fate of South Africa Broun, Kenneth S. Oxford Univ. (256 pp.) $24.95 | Feb. 3, 2012 978-0-19-974022-2

A law professor revisits the trial that “saved…the very soul” of South Africa.

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Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki, charged with sabotage against South Africa’s apartheid government. Named for the Johannesburg suburb in which all the conspirators except for the already imprisoned Mandela were arrested, Rivonia was a criminal trial with the life of each defendant at stake. It’s remembered, though, for its enormous political dimension, as the forum where the defendants, with considerable help from their extraordinarily talented team of advocates, helped frame the political and moral crisis wrought by the government’s apartheid system. For 25 years, Broun (Law/Univ. of North Carolina; Black Lawyers, White Courts: Soul of South African Law, 2000, etc.) has regularly traveled to South Africa helping to train young lawyers. His familiarity with the country, its legal system and three of the principal Rivonia defense attorneys lends special authority to his presentation and interpretation of the events. Rivonia featured its share of fireworks—an unlikely and successful pre-trial jailbreak by two of the arrestees, a stirring address to the court by Mandela—but Broun is at his best examining the legal subtleties of the trial and the strategies and agendas of the defense attorneys and government officials. All but two defendants were convicted and received life sentences.

Dismantling apartheid, transforming South African law and ensuring the primacy of human rights would be the work of future decades, but, as the author demonstrates, all this would likely have unfolded far more violently but for Rivonia.

A taut, intelligent analysis of a dramatic turning point in South African and, indeed, world history.

STRATEGIC VISION America and the Crisis of Global Power Brzezinski, Zbigniew Basic (224 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-465-02954-9

Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor offers an astute, elegant appraisal of the waning of America’s “global appeal” and the severe consequences of the shifting of power from West to East.

Despite filling the vacuum left after the fall of the Soviet Union, the West is tottering as a global superpower. Brzezinski (American Foreign Policy/Johns Hopkins Univ.; Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower, 2007, etc.) looks carefully at this shifting redistribution in global power as the West recedes, making way for entrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America, seized by their own sense of political awareness.

In his crisp, systematic fashion, the author begins by examining reasons for the waning U.S. influence, offering some pointed criticism: The “durability of its leadership is increasingly questioned worldwide because of the complexity of its internal and external challenges”; its magical twin motivations of idealism and materialism are no longer viable; its own house is in disrepair; and its populace is self-deluded and, frankly, ignorant about the rest of the world. Weakened further by its unwarranted aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. is now seen as a negative influence,

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“Each letter is a window that permits a fresh view of a most complex and revolutionary writer.” from rub out the words

arousing animus worldwide. Meanwhile, the sun is rising in the East, and Brzezinski looks at growth in China, Japan, Turkey, Russia, India and others—though the author concludes that most are plagued by too many problems to become world leaders by 2025.

Other hotspots make up the “geopolitically most endangered states,” such as Georgia, Taiwan, South Korea, Belarus, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Israel. Ultimately, Brzezinski provides a powerful cautionary tale: By harnessing its overall strengths in terms of economic, social and political ranking, superiority of higher education, rich natural resources and population resiliency, America can indeed “rise to the occasion.”

An urgent call for “historic renewal” by one of America’s sharpest minds.

RUB OUT THE WORDS The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1959-1974 Burroughs, William S. Morgan, Bill–Ed. Ecco/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $35.00 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-0-06-171142-8 978-0-06-209677-7 e-book

A continuation of the selected letters of the unique writer in the same format as editor Olivia Harris’ The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945–1959 (1993).

Beat Generation expert Morgan (The Typewriter Is Holy: The Complete, Uncensored History of the Beat Generation, 2010, etc.) has assembled a representative selection from the 1,000-plus letters that Burroughs (1914–1997) wrote during the 15 years the collection comprises. Most are to three correspondents: his son, Billy; his friends and colleagues Allen Ginsberg and Brion Gysin. Billy, we learn through the letters, had adolescent troubles with drugs (are we surprised?), including several arrests—but by the end of these letters he was married and having some publishing success as William Burroughs Jr. Ginsberg’s role as principal confidante was soon assumed by Gysin, to whom Burroughs wrote most frankly about everything from gay porn to drugs and Timothy Leary (whom he grew to revile) to philosophies of composition to books he liked (Dune, The Godfather) or despised (In Cold Blood).

Included is a vicious letter Burroughs wrote in 1970 to Truman Capote, accusing Capote of betraying, even killing, his talent.

Many of the letters deal with the process first employed by Gysin and then adopted and championed by Burroughs—the “cut-up” process. For years Burroughs was enamored of this technique of snipping passages from publications and pasting them up in novel arrangements. He tried the technique with photographs, motion pictures and audio recordings as well—all discussed at length in the letters. Burroughs also followed some complex choreography with scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, whom he later accused of creating a “fascist cosmos.” Perhaps most surprising: Burroughs’ phenomenal work ethic and assiduousness.

Each letter is a window that permits a fresh view of a most complex and revolutionary writer. (Two 8-page black-andwhite inserts) |

MONTY AND ROMMEL Parallel Lives

Caddick-Adams, Peter Overlook (640 pp.) $35.00 | Feb. 16, 2012 978-1-59020-725-3

Two consummate military men who led their respective countries to victories receive the full-on character treatment by a British military historian.

While heavy with military detail, Caddick-Adams’ dual biography manages to move fluidly between the events in the two great generals’ lives. Bernard Montgomery (1887–1976) and Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) both hailed from middle-class, nonmilitary families; received their “baptism by fire” during battle in World War I and were wounded; wrote tactical textbooks; and were instrumental in their respective countries’ battles during World War II in North Africa and Normandy. Though they never met, they shared a similar oppositional temperament in regards to their superiors. Both leaders were happiest on the front line. Rommel only lasted a year (1918) at the General Staff Corps, unlike most of Hitler’s later marshals, preferring to teach during the interwar years, and publishing his influential Infantry Attacks, in 1937. Montgomery trained fledging divisions in the Territorial Army, including six years in India.

Rommel was put in charge of Hitler’s military escort in 1936, then a panzer division in the blitz of France in 1940. Though he had no armored experience, he was spectacularly successful, and again in North Africa. The Normandy invasion caught Rommel “tending his wife’s roses in the garden at Herrlingen,” while Montgomery led as the highly effective Allied land-force commander. Caddick-Adams emphasizes Rommel’s ethical behavior as a war commander, urging Hitler repeatedly to cede a “political situation” in the face of Armageddon, with fatal consequences to his own life. The author considers at length the postwar mythmaking regarding both generals.

An accessible, well-honed study of two fascinating characters. (40 black-and-white photos)

BOOTS ON THE GROUND The Fight to Liberate Afghanistan from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, 2001-2002 Camp, Dick Zenith (320 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 15, 2012 978-0-7603-4111-7

A specific, technical study of the U.S. military’s special operations against alQaeda in Afghanistan in the weeks after 9/11.

Sticking to the record, retired Marine Corps veteran Camp (Battle for the City of the Dead: In the Shadow of the Golden Dome, Najaf, August 2004, 2011, etc.) does not impart judgment to this extraordinary story of the U.S. expulsion of Taliban forces in the

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h s t e v e n l e v y Technology writer Steven Levy spent more than two years chronicling the rise of Google, including a summer spent interviewing current and former employees on the company’s Mountain View, Calif., campus. His book, In the Plex, one of Kirkus’ Best Nonfiction Books of 2011, is a multifaceted analysis of the popular search engine’s rise to power, an ascent that was not without its share of fumbles and eyebrow-raising missteps. We spoke to the esteemed author about his personal experiences tracing the history of this Internet behemoth.

IN THE PLEX:

How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives Steven Levy Simon & Schuster (432 pp.)

April 12, 2011 $26.00 978-1-4165-9658-5

Q: How difficult was it to convince co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to allow you access to the Google campus and their employees?

A: At about the same time that I joined Wired in June 2008, I’d already had an advantage since I was the first person in the national press to write about them. I was one of the early journalistic observers of Google, and they remembered how I wrote about them in a way that would do the most justice to the company. Of course, both were much more accessible in those early days; later on, they became much more wary of the press.

Q: What was your impression of the younger generation of Google employees that you interviewed?

A: The people they hire are selected for their ambition, creative thinking and independence; they’re hired into a company that minimizes its bureaucracy. Some expressed frustration that they couldn’t do what they want to do. On the other hand, there are a lot of interesting projects that challenge them and fulfill their potential there. They love the Google infrastructure, the employee-friendly collegial atmosphere and the data-based decision-making. I learned that to be the most successful, though, you have to quit Google, work for another company, and then get hired back.

Q: What’s the biggest misconception about Google?

Q: What impressed you the most?

A: It’s the constant ambition for what they do— playing it safe is a value that is greatly discouraged to this day. Google really addresses this “3-legged 2190

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Q: In your book’s introduction, you call Google a “complicated corporation.” Why? A: Because Google makes a great effort to balance its values, which is, in a sense, anti-corporation.

When they went public, the company would sometimes do things that would sacrifice profits for the good of the company and for moral reasons—something a corporation isn’t supposed to do. Google thinks of itself as a smaller company, which helped them innovate, but they paid a price for that by not taking into account the threatening nature of certain aspects of their searching tool.

Q: What do you think about Google’s censorship of its Chinese website?

A: That became the “original sin” in China. From an initial compromise to censor, they had to make more compromises about their employees in China who felt underappreciated, and this affected product creation and development. It was an unfortunate series of one misunderstanding and cultural blunder after another.

Q: What direction do you see the future of the Internet and search engines going?

A: I think Google definitely points to it as being very much about artificial intelligence and incorporating that into the great power of its search engine. I see the future leaning toward more machine-focused learning, which will transform the kinds of interactions we have. Even within the social networks, it will become difficult to discern between the users and the social constructs that will be online right along with us.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m actually working on a big story about the young founders of enterprising new startup companies in the Silicon Valley. Back when I was beginning, it was all about writing “The Great American Novel,” now these people are revolutionizing “The Great American Startup Company.” Mark Zuckerberg and others like him are role models for them and many are actually dropouts from Google who are starting their own new companies right now.

–By Jim Piechota

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A: That it’s totally out of control. Yes, Google isn’t shy about their creative disorganization and there’s this looseness, this degree of tolerated chaos in the company, but people would be surprised to learn that there is a number of fairly intricate tracking and reporting systems developed which make it more like a General Electric than a Google.

stool” of virtue between itself, the advertiser and the user. They feel that if you don’t pick the user out of the equation, you will do well by them.

There’s a need to serve those people alongside the advertisers; it’s the nature of their success.

space of several weeks after 9/11. Maps, chronology and photos all relay the historian’s sense of meticulous research without heeding stylistic embellishments. Camp paints the grim background by depicting the brutal Soviet invasion of the country in 1979 and the disastrous 10-year occupation, resulting in many dead, billions spent and little gained. Emerging from the squalid refugee camps and supported by Pakistan intelligence, the mujahideen were proud, fearless guerrilla fighters who formed small, mobile units that roamed the countryside laying ambush.

They were highly effective over the rugged terrain against the lumbering Soviet juggernaut, and would be again when enlisted by the U.S. against the Taliban. The attacks on 9/11 underscored what the Americans should have seen coming: The Taliban (still supported by Pakistan), militarized by Osama bin Laden, had issued jihad against America, as evidenced by the suicide bomb on the USS Cole in 2000 and other attacks. Camp delves into the Bush Administration’s war machinations led by Donald Rumsfeld, and though the military detail can occasionally become overwhelming, the big events unfurl methodically, climaxing in U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai’s taking of Kandahar, and the pursuit of al-Qaeda troops to the border of Pakistan. Operation Anaconda officially closed in March 2002, before the U.S. turned its attention to Iraq.

A workmanlike, nuts-and-bolt account of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

SCAPEGOAT A History of Blaming Other People Campbell, Charlie Overlook (208 pp.) $19.95 | Feb. 2, 2012 978-1-59020-716-1

A wry, entertaining study of the history of blame.

The book is comprised of 14 short essays in which former Literary Review books editor Campbell discusses types of scapegoats as well as some of the psychological and social reasons why humans seem unable to break the habit of “targeting minorities and marginalized groups when things go wrong.” The author claims that scapegoating “goes right back to the beginning of mankind.” The earliest human cultures had rituals that professed to do away with the wrongs of entire communities and aid in the return to an imaginary state of innocence. They sometimes used animals as sacrificial victims; more often, though, these cultures used those on the social fringes—e.g., criminals, slaves, the disabled—to bear the burden of their collective sins. Belief systems seem to be at the core of all scapegoating throughout history, since most of them are built on the fundamental dualism of good and evil. The unfortunate result has been an “us versus them” mentality that is really an expression of a “refusal to accept responsibility for our actions.” Campbell suggests that blame is a driving engine of histories both great and small. Not only did it bring about the Crusades and the Holocaust; it was |

also behind the 19th-century trial of a Great Auk charged with witchcraft. Blame is a way for creatures “who pride [themselves] on being the most intelligent life-form on earth” to make sense of a chaotic world—and reveal their ultimate stupidity.

Trenchantly sardonic.

THE MINDFUL CARNIVORE A Vegetarian’s Hunt for Sustenance Cerulli, Tovar Pegasus (320 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 15, 2012 978-1-60598-277-9

Pondering his stance on hunting and eating meat, a committed vegan delivers an entertaining and erudite meditation on his place in the natural world.

Though Cerulli’s boyhood included fishing and exploring the outdoors, during high school he became a vegetarian; at 20 he was a staunch vegan. During his 30s, with his health deteriorating from lack of protein, he was forced to alter his diet.

He began fishing again, but his attempts did little to stock his larder. So Cerulli contemplated what had once seemed unimaginable: “What about hunting? The thought came quietly, furtively, like an unwelcome stranger.” Along with his study of historical, philosophical, religious, conservation and environmental texts, the author’s excursions provide the focus for the narrative. He examines the politics of food and the contentious debates that have ambushed America’s conversation about the food supply.

He also skillfully delves into the importance of habitat health for wildlife, the Lacey Act of 1900 and Theodore Roosevelt’s role in the conservation movement. Cerulli ventured back into the woods, rekindling personal relationships along the way.

While he traces the evolution of hunting as a sport for elites to a pursuit for the common man, he examines his own mindset slowly changing from “militant vegan” to deer hunter. Cerulli assumes the role of the reasonable yet probing narrator, raising questions and pointing out the contradictions and truths contained within the multiple viewpoints he discusses. The refreshingly evenhanded tone allows readers to judge the author’s argument on the merits of his literary and personal evidence.

Today’s noisy media environment often consists of rigid, uninformed viewpoints passed off as the sole truth.

Cerulli provides a welcome antidote to the bluster.

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“ ‘Long Live Girl Scouts!’ may be the cry on readers’ lips after finishing this tribute to a spirited and inspirational American leader.” from juliette gordon low

JULIETTE GORDON LOW The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts

CHINA’S WINGS War, Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure In the Middle Kingdom During the Golden Age of Flight

Cordery, Stacy A. Viking (400 pp.) $27.95 | Feb. 20, 2012 978-0-670-02330-1

Marking the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, this biography brings to life the woman whose efforts galvanized an entire nation of young women.

Cordery (History/Monmouth Coll; Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, 2007, etc.) vividly evokes an era when the Girl Scouts’ founder, the unconventional Juliette Gordon Low (1860–1927), faced an uphill battle convincing the public that girls deserved the same adventures and patriotic duties as their fellow Boy Scouts. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, camping, hiking and participating in military drills were considered the province of men alone. The head of the Boy Scouts, James West, went so far as to complain that Girl Scouts would “sissify” his organization, and he tried to block Daisy from using the word “Scout,” preferring the more feminine “Guide.” But Low remained undeterred by such threats, pushing ahead with her plan to create a national organization that would bring together girls of all faiths and ethnicities in fun, service-oriented activities. Despite growing up in a wealthy family in the Deep South, Daisy was no stranger to hardship, having married a cad who whisked her off to England, squandered their money and committed adultery. Sadder but wiser after his early death, and suffering from her own lifelong health problems, she strove to create a lasting monument to sisterhood that would foster independence as well as sorority. The Girl Scouts boosted their civic profile by stepping up to fulfill a bevy of tasks during World War I, from nursing to babysitting to growing vegetable gardens. By the ’20s, many original critics of Girl Scouting came to advocate it as a means for transforming wayward, idle young women into strong, nurturing, productive members of society. Although Cordery’s narrative occasionally bogs down in descriptions of the administrative and bureaucratic details of the organization, it nevertheless brightly illuminates the growing pains of both Daisy and her Girl Scouts.

“Long Live Girl Scouts!” may be the cry on readers’ lips after finishing this tribute to a spirited and inspirational American leader.

Crouch, Gregory Bantam (432 pp.) $30.00 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-553-80427-0 978-0-345-53235-0 e-book

An immensely detailed examination of the obscure expansion of American aviation into China during Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist era.

Crouch (Enduring Patagonia, 2002, etc.), a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger, depicts this story of William Langhorne Bond and his intrepid shepherding of the American-backed China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). Initially sent to China to help bolster the money-losing aviation enterprise of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in 1931, Bond recognized that the key to success within employee relations was to treat the Chinese as partners. Modernizing the country was the aim of Chiang (and the U.S. allies), and when Pan Am wrestled in, buying up CurtissWright’s share in CNAC and expanding routes across the Pacific, Bond was the professional enlisted in the effort. Loyal to both the Chinese and Americans, he managed to convince Pan Am chief Juan Trippe to continue its routes within China despite the crippling invasion of the Japanese in 1937. Circumventing the State Department’s neutrality laws, Bond agreed to resign officially from Pam Am and work solely for CNAC, which he helped get back in operation during the war, using Hong Kong as its base. The airline was instrumental in evacuating the Nationalist provisional capital Hankow in 1938, Hong Kong in 1941 and in the execution of the crucial airdrops over “the Hump” from Dinjan to Calcutta, thus aiding the U.S. Army in supplying the Chinese troops. The Hump provided the successful prototype for the later Berlin Airlift. What Crouch calls “the most successful Sino-American partnership of all time” was dissolved in December 1949, with China “gone red” and the U.S. government fearful of continuing.

Recondite but dramatically rendered and obsessively researched.

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT

D’Agata, John and Fingal, Jim Norton (160 pp.) $17.95 paperback | Feb. 27, 2012 978-0-393-34073-0

A riveting essay delving into the arcane yet entertaining debate within the writing community over the relationship between truth and accuracy when writing creative nonfiction.

In 2003, D’Agata (Creative Writing/Univ. of Iowa; About a Mountain, 2010, etc.) wrote an essay that was rejected by the commissioning magazine for “factual inaccuracies.” That essay, 2192

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which became the basis for About a Mountain, was eventually accepted by The Believer. The editors asked their fact checker, Fingal, to wade into the piece, red pen in hand, but they offered some important advice: “John is a different kind of writer, so you are going to encounter some irregularities in the project.

Just keep your report as thorough as possible and we’ll comb through it later.” The two men spent seven years wallowing in the murky waters surrounding esoteric literary questions such as, how important are memory and imagination in writing literary or creative nonfiction? Just how far can an author go when altering the facts for literary effect, and still be writing the Truth? What constitutes fabrication? At one point, D’Agata vented his frustration at Fingal’s refusing to acknowledge the differences between the techniques of journalism and creative nonfiction. “I am tired of this genre being terrorized by an unsophisticated reading public that’s afraid of accidentally venturing into terrain that can’t be footnoted and verified by seventeen different sources,” he writes. The authors present the narrative in a question-and-answer format with sections of the original essay under scrutiny reprinted on the center of the page, allowing readers to understand the back-and-forth conversation between D’Agata and Fingal.

The book will not appeal to general readers, but it will be eagerly devoured and loudly discussed by creative-nonfiction writers and readers who thrive on books about books.

THE 2-HOUR JOB SEARCH Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster

Dalton, Steve Ten Speed Press (224 pp.) $12.99 paperback | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-60774-170-1 978-1-60774-171-8 e-book

Yet another guide to getting a job in the midst of a down economy where information is vast but opportunities are few.

As a senior career consultant and associate director at Duke University’s renowned Fuqua School of Business, the affable Dalton makes a living teaching people how to find opportunities to make a living. Every career guide needs a gimmick, and this one is alluring: a systemized job-search strategy that not only minimizes the amount of thinking required when winnowing down potential employers and developing a meaningful network of contacts, but ostensibly takes only two hours to execute (not including networking, informational interviews and other steps beyond the search phase). Dalton’s contention that the job-application process is an antiquated practice that hasn’t changed much despite the profusion of social media that make networking a far more efficient strategy than submitting applications blindly over the Internet is well argued, and the procedures he proposes to take advantage of the technological tools available to job seekers (including alumni databases, job boards and LinkedIn) are logical and easy to follow. Much more questionable is his assertion that the series of steps he prescribes—which include prioritizing |

potential employers, establishing contact with potential “boosters” at those companies through alumni and social networks and setting up informational interviews—can actually be accomplished within two hours. However, motivated job seekers in search of a systematic methodology for finding good leads and expanding their professional networks could do worse than to subscribe to this particular solution.

As good a place as any to start a new job hunt, and better than many.

KEEPING THE REPUBLIC Saving America by Trusting Americans Daniels, Mitch Sentinel (272 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 20, 2011 978-1-59523-080-5

Indiana’s governor delivers his vision for saving America.

Gov. Daniels, a darling of the Republican Party, proves his stripes as a faithful conservative by setting forth a small-government, pro-business agenda to address the country’s current economic woes. While the author touches briefly on an array of hot-button political issues (health care, national security, foreign policy), “[t]he enemy is real and imminent. It is the debt we have accumulated.” Rather than wage a full-scale rhetorical assault on the Obama administration, Daniels prefers the nuanced sneak attack, painting the president as an anti–private-sector politician with an “extreme agenda of expanding federal domination over the private economy.” Instead of relying on the federal government, Daniels tells Americans they should remain invested in their own futures. On a smaller scale, the governor also takes issue with the nation’s educational curricula—in particular, the high-school civics classroom. “It would be bad enough if today’s students were merely left unaware of the greatness and superiority of the free institutions American has brought to the world,” he writes. “In reality, they are more often taught the converse: that we are a deeply flawed nation.” Yet for the remainder of the book Daniels picks at these very flaws, ostensibly in the hopes of seeking practical solutions. Perhaps the author’s most important contribution stems not from policymaking, but political philosophy. Fully cognizant of the dire economic problems with which the country is faced, Daniels calls upon politicians to seek a temporary truce on social issues until overcoming the financial hurdles. “If America goes broke,” he writes, “suffering will come to gays and straights, men and women, pro-life and pro-choice advocates, and to people of all races”—a politic answer that leaves him poised for a future run at higher office.

A carefully argued political treatise, but one of many similar books during these contentious political times.

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RELIGION FOR ATHEISTS A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion de Botton, Alain Pantheon (320 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-307-37910-8 978-0-307-90710-3 e-book

De Botton (A Week at the Airport, 2010, etc.) suggests ways a secular society can provide the benefits and comfort its citizens once derived from faith.

The author’s central argument is credible: Religions “serve two central needs…which secular society has not been able to solve with any particular skill”—the need for community and the need for consolation in the face of life’s ills and evils. The devil is in the details, as de Botton cherry-picks isolated rituals from Catholicism, Judaism and Buddhism and proposes some not-very-persuasive modern equivalents (e.g., an Agape Restaurant designed to be “a secular descendant of the Eucharist” and a museum that offers spiritual guidance by organizing its artworks into subsets such as the Gallery of Self-knowledge and the Gallery of Compassion). Yes, the Jewish Day of Atonement provides an orderly format for acknowledging that we all injure others and all must learn to forgive. The idea that we can replace this timeworn practice with a billboard ad promoting Forgiveness in lieu of a sneaker brand is insulting to believers and atheists alike. When the author tosses off such comments as, “[o]ur artistic scene might benefit from greater collaborations between thinkers and makers of images, a marriage of best ideas with their highest expression,” he seems to have forgotten about the horrors wrought in service to that principle by Stalin and Hitler, to name only two political leaders who fancied they knew best what artists should say. The author displays a similar historical insouciance when he implies there has been no transcendent, spiritually nourishing architecture since the cathedrals, ignoring several centuries of train stations, libraries and government buildings expressing a monumental faith in civic culture that may languish today but was once a real force in public life.

Unlike The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and The Architecture of Happiness, this installment in the author’s oeuvre is shallow and glib.

ROOSEVELT’S NAVY The Education of a Warrior President, 1882-1920 de Kay, James Tertius Pegasus (312 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 12, 2012 978-1-60598-285-4

Long before he steered the country through both the Depression and World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) was a headstrong fellow who knew what he wanted, played for keeps and mastered the art of taking charge.

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FDR inspires the love of biographers, and naval historian de Kay (A Rage for Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN, 2007, etc.) can lay on his ardor with a trowel. Nonetheless, his book, focused on Roosevelt’s first forays into public office, tells a convincing story of how a privileged young man proved he was as good as his famous name. Starting political life as a New York state senator, he ran afoul of Boss Charles F. Murphy of Tammany Hall when he backed the wrong horse for a U.S. Senate seat. As a “crusader for good government,” he gained the approval of Woodrow Wilson, the newly elected and equally reform-minded New Jersey governor who would soon become president. As Wilson’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy, FDR, a naval enthusiast from boyhood, tackled his new role with the plucky presumption of a young man who was sure he ought to be running the place. FDR was hawkish on America’s entry into World War I, frequently locking horns with his boss, Josephus Daniels, and his commander in chief. De Kay is sympathetic to FDR as a bull-headed problem-solver who let nothing stand in his way where his Navy was concerned, the man who took the initiative on numerous major wartime projects. The author is also fair in noting FDR’s overreach, his ego and his gambler’s instinct—whether it meant having a potentially career-wrecking affair with his wife’s secretary or making an ill-advised run for the Senate.

A highly readable, somewhat fawning, ultimately credible biography of an ambitious, energetic risk-taker. (8 pages of black-and-white photographs. Agent: Al Zuckerman)

GROWGIRL How My Life After The Blair Witch Project Went to Pot

Donahue, Heather Gotham Books (352 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-1-592-40692-0

The life of a medical marijuana grower.

From actress to pot grower, Donahue chronicles her search for meaning in her life. Her acting career on hold after starring in The Blair Witch Project, the author purged herself of that former lifestyle and became a member of “The Community” in Nuggettown, Calif. A close-knit group due to the nature of their work, The Community swirled in and out of Donahue’s life, offering advice, a helping hand and love. Detailed tips on raising marijuana place readers in the grow room that the author built and maintained, and where she learned the subtle care that “The Girls” (marijuana plants) required to produce fine buds. Interspersed with accounts of her sex life are reflections on the Divine Feminine, love and the meaning of life.

Written in a semi–stream-of-consciousness style, at times funny (“Jesus, doc, I just lost my house, I lost my job, I have no fucking health insurance—is there something I can take for that?

Yes, sir, here’s an eighth of Chocolope, a Family Guy DVD, some saltines, and a tub of caramel. Call me when you need a refill”), sensitive or filled with obscenities, Donahue’s narrative also includes descriptions of her real vegetable garden (to ward off

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“Nutty silliness best appreciated by its intended audience.” from gay men don’t get fat

THE BOOK OF DRUGS A Memoir

suspicious neighbors), chickens and an adopted puppy. Evident throughout is the author’s increasing paranoia and dilemma surrounding the growing of a controversial, semi-illegal plant versus her need for self-sufficiency, money and pride in her product.

An intimate look at a woman’s yearlong search for her place in the world while maintaining a marijuana grow room.

GAY MEN DON’T GET FAT

Doonan, Simon Blue Rider Press (224 pp.) $24.95 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-0-399-15873-5

Slate style columnist and former window dresser dishes on everything from the sartorial to the sensationalist.

Doonan (Eccentric Glamour, 2008, etc.) may have dedicated his generous collection of humorous, autobiographical essays to “the straight women of the world,” but they’re definitely not his target audience. His commentary addresses the gay male community (“French women…with penises”) and often scorns their heterosexual counterparts upon whom, he writes, the arts of fashion, appearance, fine dining, culture and etiquette are completely lost. Doonan touches briefly on a wooly childhood in London, raised by a family “more Munsters than Partridge.”

He was a compulsive youngster captivated by gossipy tabloids; in adulthood, he bungled several attempts at successful street hustling before finding a life in Hollywood. The “pixie-sized” author refers to himself as a “poofter” with a penchant for all things flowery. His “gay canon” of must-see media and a buzzword glossary complement a hilarious, fork-tongued chapter on gay and straight foods. Doonan offers precious perspectives on the unique companionship proffered by a “fag hag,” random lesbian life, divas worthy of gay adulation and the “car-crash recklessness” of overly flamboyant personalities like fashion maven Bobby Trendy (“Suzie Wong meets Caligula”). The outspoken raconteur reveals little on the subject of personal vulnerability (barring an episode of homophobia on the street), but he admits feeling intimidated by the hefty, hirsute “bear” subculture. Exploring more sensitive terrain would have balanced out the tartness of his visceral observations, though many are blisteringly funny. Just when the onslaught of arms-akimbo posturing finally starts to wane, Doonan delivers his best advice yet: “Don’t sit at home clutching your pearls in the dark.”

Nutty silliness best appreciated by its intended audience.

Doughty, Mike Da Capo/Perseus (256 pp.) $16.00 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-306-81877-6

Former Soul Coughing singer Doughty’s memoir about sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll and the spiritual benefits of world travel.

The author half-seriously calls his book “just another drug narrative,” and it’s true. There’s nothing about Doughty’s longtime love for pot, coke, heroin and Ecstasy that hasn’t already been superseded by hundreds of other rock-star druggies who eventually replaced compulsive drug use with some form of equally compulsive religious behavior. What makes this story tolerable is not his voracious appetite for drugs and groupie sex but rather the mundane facts of his life as a mid-level rock star. Born the privileged son of a West Point–educated military historian, Doughty grew up knowing only a whitewashed suburban existence. He moved to New York City in the early 1990s to become an East Village creative type, putting together what seemed like just another acoustic act playing the NYC club circuit. But within a year of its inception, Soul Coughing got snapped up in the post-Nirvana major-label signing frenzy. The band consisted of Doughty on guitar and vocals and three jazzbo sidemen whose main function seemed to be busting Doughty’s chops for his lack of musical ability. After readers get to know his insufferable band mates, the author’s addiction becomes more understandable. Yet there’s also something desperately exhibitionist about Doughty’s willingness to recount in brutally frank detail even the most miserable experiences with drugs, groupies, itinerant girlfriends and prostitutes. More interesting than the sex and drugs, however, are the poisonous band dynamics that eventually destroyed Soul Coughing. Though Doughty’s inevitable turn to rehab spiritualism is neither interesting nor inspiring, the stories of his exotic world travel—trips to Cambodia and Ethiopia, for instance— offer a few memorable culture-clash moments.

Another mostly enjoyable but unremarkable excessleads-to-the-palace-of-wisdom drug memoir.

STEPHEN HAWKING An Unfettered Mind

Ferguson, Kitty Palgrave Macmillan (320 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-230-34060-2

Ferguson (Pythagoras, 2010, etc.) brilliantly updates her 1991 children’s biography of Stephen Hawking for an adult audience.

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the ravages of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) have earned him superstar status. Diagnosed in 1962 with a prognosis that he would be dead within two years, he refused to be daunted. He continued his studies, married and fathered three children and made major contributions to our understanding of the universe, all while struggling to maintain his ability to function despite increasing muscular atrophy that prevented his use of his hands, confined him to a wheel chair and ultimately robbed him of his ability to speak. In 1979, he was appointed Lucasian Professor at Cambridge, the chair once held by Isaac Newton. Now almost 70 and only able to communicate through a computer, he still maintains a busy lecture schedule. His latest book, The Grand Design (coauthored by Leonard Mlodinow), was published in 2010. Ferguson has relied on Hawking for guidance on scientific topics and on a memoir written by his ex-wife for details of life during their 25-year marriage. Her ability to write clearly about scientific issues using metaphor rather than mathematics makes this an excellent introduction to astrophysics for the interested layman.

A fascinating portrait of a complex figure who ponders the place of man and God in the universe and who still loves the “Eureka moment of discovering something that no one knew before.” (16-page black-and-white illustrations)

OH MY GODS A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths Freeman, Philip Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-1-4516-0997-4

Capsule bios of classic gods and heroes, with lots of detail but little poetry.

Admitting that his aim is more “modest” than a thematic exploration or a work of cultural criticism, Freeman (Classics/Luther Coll.; Alexander the Great, 2011, etc.) writes, “I simply want to retell the great myths of Greece and Rome for modern readers while remaining as faithful as possible to the original sources.”

In scope, style and organization, the work is encyclopedic, whether profiling the gods or condensing epics (“Argonauts,” “Odysseus”) into separate chapters. The structure disrupts any possibility of flow and results in occasional repetition. Zeus naturally begins the section on the gods, but he can hardly be contained there, as he continues to reappear in subsequent sections on goddesses, heroes, lovers, etc. Some readers may find it difficult to keep straight who’s related to whom and how, while the accounts of rapes, murders, incest, seductions, sacrifices and transformations lose power when there are so many per page. More interesting are the etymological illuminations, the connection between the playful and sexually goatish Pan and the “uncontrollable fear” he inspired in some, “better known as pan-ic.” Or the fact that the alternate name for Orion is Urion, or “urine boy.” All of the greatest hits of classical antiquity are here—Hercules and the labors, Orpheus and Eurydice, Oedipus and his mother—but the prose rarely rises above matter-of-fact 2196

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pedestrian, except through literary allusion (“Hell hath no fury like a witch scorned”). Only at the end, after the transition from Greek myth to Roman, do we get some sense of what it all might mean: “The long age of monarchy stretching back to Aeneas and the Trojan War, to the Greek tradition and the earliest tales, had at last come to an end. The classical world now entered the age of history, though the ancient myths that so shaped their lives—and still shape ours—were never forgotten.”

A collection of classical stories that could provide source material for a series of vivid graphic-literature adaptations.

NIXON’S DARKEST SECRETS The Inside Story of America’s Most Troubled President Fulsom, Don Dunne/St. Martin’s (256 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 31, 2012 978-0-312-66296-7 978-1-4299-4136-5 e-book

The most recent in a big stack of books exposing former President Richard M. Nixon as dishonest and dangerous.

During Nixon’s presidency, longtime White House reporter Fulsom wrote about him for United Press International. Here the author pulls together previous research by other authors, mixing in occasional material newly released from archives, including memos written by FBI agents. Among other indictments of Nixon, Fulsom alleges more extensive ties to organized crime than previously acknowledged; a homosexual relationship with Bebe Rebozo, one of Nixon’s links to organized crime; vocal expressions of homophobia and anti-Semitism, taking hypocrisy and hatred to unprecedented levels within the White House; physical abuse of his wife, as well as abusive treatment of White House and political campaign aides; involvement in actual and planned murders of politicians and journalists considered to be enemies; and treason committed during the Vietnam War. Many of Fulsom’s allegations—some of which can fairly be labeled sensationalistic—are difficult to evaluate because they rely on a mixture of direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, rumor and gossip. For example, some researchers have found FBI memoranda to frequently contain factual and contextual inaccuracies as a matter of course; the author does not meaningfully address the reliability and validity of some of what he presents as evidence. Though flawed, Fulsom’s indictment is too extensive and potentially important to be relegated to the dustbin of recent history. The author is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of Nixon’s crimes.

A troubling exposé that might lead to conclusive proof of misdeeds currently suspected but not definitively researched.

(8-page black-and-white insert)

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“A welcome and heartfelt effort.

We eagerly await the day when Giffords herself can more fully flesh out her story.” from gabby

GABBY: A Story of Courage and Hope Giffords, Gabrielle; Kelly, Mark; with Jeffrey Zaslow Scribner (302 pp.) $26.99 | CD $39.99 November 15, 2011 978-1-4516-6106-4 CD 978-1-4423-4862-2

Moving, sometimes belabored memoir, mostly by astronaut Kelly, of Giffords’ miraculous recovery after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt.

That shooting, in Tucson on Jan. 8, 2011, left Giffords with a massive head wound and severe trauma to the brain. Nonetheless, as most readers know, she bravely returned to the floor of Congress to cast her vote in the last budget battle. By summer she was well enough, Kelly reveals, that she was able to give map directions in her hometown. Yet the road to recovery has been grueling and sometimes dispiriting: “ ‘It’s awful,’ Gabby will say, and I have to agree with her.” Of the shooter himself, so much in the news, we learn little in these pages; understandably, it seems that Kelly and Giffords do not wish to accord him any space in their book. What they offer instead is a detailed, sometimes diary-like record of recovery that is nothing but inspirational, as well as an account of a marriage of two ambitious and extremely busy people. Kelly is evenhanded, but he clearly places some responsibility for his wife’s shooting on the overheated politics of the day. Her opponent was fond of hoisting automatic weapons as a sign of his toughness, while Sarah Palin placed riflescope targets on Giffords’ district. Even after the shooting, politics prevailed. Kelly notes that while former President George H.W. Bush, who was out of office long before Giffords entered politics, made efforts to visit her in the hospital, Speaker of the House John Boehner did not, even when he was in Houston for other reasons. Kelly’s prose—how much he owes to near–ghost writer Zaslow we do not know—is mostly workmanlike; the only spark we get is when we hear Giffords in her own words, as when she notes simply, “It was hard but I’m alive…I will get stronger. I will return.” And there are many moments that don’t seem to have a place except as filler, mostly having to do with Kelly’s experiences before the couple met.

A welcome and heartfelt effort. We eagerly await the day when Giffords herself can more fully flesh out her story.

HEART 411 The Only Guide to Heart Health You’ll Ever Need Gillinov, Marc & Nissen, Steven Three Rivers/Crown (560 pp.) $19.99 paperback | Jan. 31, 2012 978-0-307-71990-4

Preventative care for your cardiac plumbing, and steps to rectify what has gone amiss, from heart surgeon Gillinov and cardiologist Nissen. |

With an affable thoroughness, the authors inform readers about the world of coronary heart disease. Their desire is to communicate effectively, and they convey a come-check-thisout enthusiasm that will pique readers’ curiosity. They start by pointing a finger at the standard causes of problems: toxic diets, lack of exercise, dangerous prescription combinations, emotional stress, high blood pressure, smoking, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a family history of such disease.

They authors leisurely investigate all manner of heart issues: The judge the quality of late-breaking medical advice coming through the media; provide a deep profile of cholesterol; chart the factor of obesity in coronary heart disease; and highlight unfamiliar risk factors like rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease (“people who rarely or never brushed their teeth faced a 70 percent increase in their risk of suffering a heart attack or other serious cardiac event over an eight-year period.

We suspect they also had really bad breath”). The authors examine diet and exercise; anger, anxiety and the physiology of stress; the extended family of heart-rhythm problems; the known benefits in the turbid world of vitamins and supplements; and the notion that a “healthy sex life correlates with a healthy heart.”

They also discuss basic heart tests, advanced surgery and warning signs, and suggest how to choose a doctor or a hospital. The text is designed so readers can either drop in on a specific topic or extend their understanding by reading the entire chapter to gain the broad, contextual picture.

This book is like the doctor of old—white coat, black bag, stethoscope—ready to counsel from broad experience.

So listen and act.

MONEY WELL SPENT? The Truth Behind the Trillion-Dollar Stimulus, the Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History Grabell, Michael PublicAffairs (368 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 31, 2012 978-1-61039-009-5

A journalist investigates the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, seeking to determine whether the Obama administration’s effort to ameliorate the previous administration’s economic recession has been performing as hoped.

ProPublica reporter Grabell began the book after hearing Joe Biden present a speech seven months after Congressional Democrats approved the law without a single Republican vote in the House of Representatives and nearly zero support in the Senate. Because the stimulus involved so much money scattered over so many government programs, Grabell decided to go broad instead of deep in the narrative. He does, however, dig deep in regards to three portions of the stimulus package: providing new jobs in Elkhart, Ind., after the collapse of industry there; the cleanup of an aging nuclear power plant in Aiken, S.C.; and the manufacturing of solar panels in Fremont, Calif.,

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as part of a concerted effort to reduce air pollution across the nation. Some of Grabell’s saga is necessarily grounded in previously reported partisan politics, as the newly elected president realized his Republican opposition seemed to be placing his hoped-for election defeat in 2012 above any nonpartisanship that might create new jobs and save existing ones. The author explains how the Republican strategy of fierce opposition led to its takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election. Wisely, though, Grabell devotes much of the narrative to state and local government officials, including K-12 educators, who have been trying to determine how to obtain and wisely spend dollars from the stimulus package. The author concludes that Obama and his team succeeded in saving lots of jobs and creating a modest number of new jobs, but that the Democrats oversold the impact of the stimulus.

A deeply reported, well-written account of a difficult topic to capture, partly because of the complexity and partly because the stimulus package remains a work in progress.

HEALTH CARE REFORM What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, How It Works

Gruber, Jonathan with Newquist , H. P. Illus. by Schreiber, Nathan Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (128 pp.) $30.00 | paper $13.95 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-8090-9462-2 978-0-8090-5397-1 paperback A cartoon-driven examination of what’s wrong with the American way of health care—and why the legislative reform of 2010 was necessary.

“Every one of us knows that America’s health care system is a mess,” writes Gruber (Economics/MIT), who helped draw up the Massachusetts reforms for which Mitt Romney is now taking such a beating from the right. And for good reason: The hard right characterizes any kind of government management of health care as socialism, while others across the political spectrum believe that the unchecked profit motive assures that health care will remain expensive and differentially accessible. Gruber turns up some astonishing figures for which Schreiber’s accompanying illustrations carry an appropriate sense of alarm. For instance, in 1960 health care cost less than 3 percent of the federal budget, while the “largest single expenditure now is on health care,” likely to incur a deficit of $100 trillion—that’s trillion with a tee—in the near future. The author glosses over one obvious reason, namely the aging of the baby boom generation, while examining the big business that health care has become. By way of a pointed example, he considers what would happen to four very different people given the same medical emergency, namely a heart attack: Someone with decent benefits would be covered, while someone working on the fringe of the economy, as so many are these days, would pay most expenses out of pocket—and if he or she could actually get private coverage, it would be 2198

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costly and incomplete. The Massachusetts plan, Gruber maintains, offers one cure, though the insurance industry has done all that it could to void the spirit if not the letter of the law.

The omnibus health-care reform act that narrowly squeaked through Congress is a necessary start, but with more to do.

Timely and informative. Where was so clear an explication during the health-care brouhaha on Capitol Hill?

FREEDOM’S CAP The United States Capitol and the Coming of the Civil War Gugliotta, Guy Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (512 pp.) $35.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-8090-4681-2

Partisan bickering, back-stabbing rivalries, xenophobia, character assassination, political moves that would make Machiavelli blush—no, not Washington circa 2011 but Washington 1850s.

Former Washington Post congressional correspondent Gugliotta (co-author: Kings of Cocaine, 1989) returns with a prodigiously researched, generously illustrated account of the transformation of the U. S. Capitol from a cramped, cold, noisy, inadequate and ugly structure into today’s massive marble symbol of democracy. For those knowing little about the building, there are surprises on virtually every page. As the nation careened toward the Civil War, it was Jefferson Davis who championed the Capitol’s cause, fighting for the funds that the enormous project required. The author begins in the mid1850s with the issue of Thomas Crawford’s statue, Freedom, now perched atop the Capitol dome. The original design featured a figure wearing a freedom cap, symbol of a liberated slave. Davis had a problem with that (the cap doesn’t appear on the final figure), but the great contest that Gugliotta outlines was between Army engineer Montgomery C. Meigs and architect Thomas Ustick Walter, both of whom would, at times, have control of the project. Both had ferocious work ethics, as well as enormous egos; their struggle raged for years as they contended for credit for the work. Gugliotta pauses occasionally to provide necessary historical and architectural context—including stories about marble quarries and ironworks; John Brown (whom he labels a terrorist); Presidents Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln; and the many artisans and artists, principally Constantino Brumidi, whose massive work still astonishes visitors who look upward in the rotunda.

Impressive research underlies a well-told story that’s simultaneously depressing (what a nasty species we are) and inspiring (what a wonderful species we are). (65 blackand-white illustrations)

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“A rare and revelatory look at a rock legend.” from george harrison

THE SONG OF THE APE Understanding the Languages of Chimpanzees

Halloran, Andrew R. St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-312-56311-0

A young primatologist at rainforest conservancy in Nicaragua digs into the mystery of chimpanzee language.

In 2004, while working as a zookeeper in a Florida animal preserve, Halloran watched in shock as his charges paddled to shore on a rowboat they had commandeered. The author’s responsibility was to scatter food and clean up after 35 chimpanzees—former pets, lab animals, circus performers and so on—who were divided into four groups and housed on islands surrounded by a canal. The setup was intended to protect tourists while providing conditions similar to those in the wild.

Halloran chronicles how the 2004 incident affected him profoundly. The break-away group—composed of an alpha male whose authority had been challenged and four close followers—was apparently seeking new territory. How, the author wondered, had they planned and orchestrated the escape? Were they perhaps communicating on a deeper level than he had imagined? The experience laid the basis for his postgraduate work in biological and linguistic anthropology, and his thesis that the paradigm of teaching sign language to chimpanzees was flawed. Halloran attacks the arrogant presumption that because “another species fails to comprehend our understandings…we see that species as ‘below’ us.” The author writes that only by socializing with fellow primates do chimpanzees integrate their basic instincts with social learning. Using statistical analysis and detailed observations, he was able to compile a lexicon of the chimpanzees’ calls. By correlating the complex social interactions of the chimpanzee group and the back history of its members, he makes a compelling case that chimpanzees communicate in languages that they create.

Halloran is a wonderful storyteller, and his gripping account of living among the apes alternates between thrills and chills, humor and tender moments. (10 black-and-white photos)

GEORGE HARRISON Living In the Material World

Harrison, Olivia Abrams (400 pp.) $40.00 | Oct. 1, 2011 978-1-4197-0220-4

Highly personal photos, letters and commentary illuminate the extraordinary life and times of late Beatles guitarist and songwriter George Harrison (1943–2001).

In this highly revealing book, fans will see the world the way |

Harrison saw it—largely through his own camera lens. Here we have Harrison looking out on the bleak brick-and-mortar streets of postwar Liverpool, England, and readers, like him, have absolutely no indication that this is the start of something incredible. It’s just George, his mum and dad, his brothers and a couple of school chums who have come around to bang on guitars. Quickly, however, things change and Harrison is suddenly looking out on a throng of guys and gals gleefully packed into a tight underground club in Hamburg, Germany. Delightfully innocent letters home accompanying these shots brim with unrestrained awe and excitement about the whole thing. In no time at all, it seems, Harrison was hanging out with music icons, yogis, race-car drivers and movie directors. He packed a lot of living into his 58 years, taking on the role of rock star, spiritual seeker, movie mogul, racing enthusiast, philanthropist and even gardener—not to mention loving husband, father and friend.

This collection from Harrison’s widow Olivia—a companion to the HBO documentary directed by Martin Scorsese—depicts each of these impressive incarnations with remarkable clarity.

Accompanying commentary from friends including Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Eric Idle and others help round out the intimate portrait. Harrison consistently strove for a higher plane of existence, but he was also something of a rascal (and Monty Python acolyte) who abhorred authority, pomposity and hypocrisy in all its forms. These insightful photographs succeed in reaching past the laconic expression Harrison seemed to favor at times, and exposing the glint in his eye.

A rare and revelatory look at a rock legend.

A JOURNEY THROUGH AMERICAN LITERATURE

Hayes, Kevin J. Oxford Univ. (192 pp.) $17.95 paperback | Feb. 16, 2012 978-0-19-986206-1 American literature in fewer than 200 pages? Fasten your seatbelts.

Hayes (English/Univ. of Central Oklahoma; The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson, 2008) invites us aboard a runaway train careening through the literature of America, zigzagging from Capt. John Smith to Jonathan Franzen. The journey is chronological only within chapters; the organization otherwise is by genre. His first full sentence is the thesis: “American literature is about identity.” Like any similar volume, this one has all the virtues—and failures—of brevity. There is comfort in a simple thesis, surely, though it invites readers to wonder how Hamlet and much of the rest of British literature is not about identity. Hayes’ chapter topics (travel narrative, biography, short story, poetry, drama and the novel) offer a sensible set of destinations, but more literary readers will wonder why some of their favorite writers—Phillis Wheatley, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Kate Chopin, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sam Shepard and other luminaries—are either not here at all or are confined to a clause or phrase. Hayes occasionally pauses to consider a single

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work, some of which are no-brainers (Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, The Great Gatsby), some mere head-scratchers (Melville’s poem “Donelson,” Louis Armstrong’s Swing That Music). The author also includes some writers few will know—e.g., Josiah Gregg, James Lane Allen, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet. Hayes’ grasp of American literary history is impressive, though not flawless. He writes that As I Lay Dying is told by “several different characters”; there are actually 15.

For readers craving a one-night stand with American letters, this is satisfying; for a more enduring relationship, look elsewhere.

WE’RE WITH NOBODY Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics Huffman, Alan & Rejebian, Michael Morrow/HarperCollins (208 pp.) $15.99 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-06-201577-8

A bright romp through the world of opposition political research.

Since 1993, former journalists Huffman (Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History, 2009, etc.) and Rejebian have worked in “oppo,” gathering damaging information on political candidates and their opponents in local, state and national elections. “Everything we cite in our reports must be thorough, honest, accurate and, as we can’t stress enough, documented,” they write. How clients use the information is a different story.

In this revealing, anecdote-filled account, the authors describe a year of investigations that took them from front porches to courthouses to presidential libraries in search of “political intel.” We see them reviewing municipal records under guard, pitching prospective clients, fending off difficult people, fielding suspicious phone calls and using ingenious methods to deal with officious government clerks. No one knows quite what to make of them (“Who did you say you’re with?”), and they vacillate privately over their own identity, seeing themselves on one hand as journalists without bylines and on the other as “part investigator, part critic, part paid informant.” In fact, they are partners in the political research firm Huffman & Rejebian, part of a multimillion-dollar industry that is “a crucial underpinning” of American politics. Ironically, the authors are not deeply political people; they express disgust at the nastiness of American politics and amazement at the undocumented claims some candidates will make to get elected. They refuse to rely solely on online sources (often inaccurate or incomplete) and instead beat a path by foot to the doors of ex-wives and others in the know. They say many candidates don’t know what’s in their own record and don’t want to. One prospective candidate, confronted with an incident report about the beating he gave his girlfriend at an airport, dropped his plans to run.

A good book for anyone who has wondered how scandalous past behavior makes its way into campaign headlines.

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THE BLOOD SUGAR SOLUTION The Ultrahealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! Hyman, Mark Little, Brown (500 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-316-12737-0

Bestselling author of the Ultrahealth-book series (The UltraMind Solution, 2008, etc.) expounds on the limitless benefits of a balanced, organic, fiber-friendly diet.

Directly addressing what he calls “our current global epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes,” the former co-medical director of Canyon Ranch spas appeals to an increasing population plagued with bodily inflammation, insulin resistance and “diabesity.” Hyman’s book is mindful, comprehensive and impeccably organized as it moves from discussing the genesis of diabetes and the common myths surrounding the disease to how big “Frankenfood” corporations fuel “obesogenic”-based food addictions. Readers willing to take the author’s “diabesity” and “food addiction” quizzes may or may not be alarmed at the results. Regardless, the self-proclaimed “wholistic” doctor promotes his heavily regimented “7 Keys to UltraWellness” plan, which systematically addresses problems and solutions regarding nutrition, digestion, detoxification and metabolism.

Hyman’s commentary on the cane sugar versus corn syrup debate is refreshingly astute, as are chapters on the restorative power of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The author’s effective closing manifesto rallies readers to take charge of their health by making smarter lifestyle choices, which translates to more than 500 pages of useful charts, scientifically supported nutritional recommendations, airtight advice, recipes, menus and a comprehensive companion website.

An avalanche of vital information and advice from an enthusiastic wellness expert.

THE MAN WITHIN MY HEAD

Iyer, Pico Knopf (240 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-307-26761-0

Novelist, essayist and travel writer Iyer (The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, 2008, etc.) examines his life through the lens of his lifetime preoccupation with the writing of Graham Greene.

Greene’s The Quiet American epitomizes for the author some of the major themes of his life: “foreignness, displacedness… innocence, chivalry.” Greene’s book, which takes place in Saigon during the buildup to the Vietnamese war, describes how the rivalry between a cynical British diplomat and the eponymous

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NO N F I C T I ON

Gabrielle Giffords’ Story of Terrible Loss and Near-Miraculous Recovery B Y G REG O RY MC NA M EE

On Jan. 8, 2011, a lone gunman walked into a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz., and began firing.

When he finished, just a few minutes into his rampage, five men and women and a 9-year-old girl lay dead. Thirteen others were wounded, including the gunman’s principal target, Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who had been holding a meet-your-congresswoman get-together that Saturday morning.

Anyone who saw the news that day remembers that Giffords—“Gabby” to her many friends and constituents—was at first reported among the dead. In truth, she survived, but at terrible cost.

The first U.S. representative ever to be the direct target of an assassination attempt, she had been shot in the head and suffered a devastating brain injury.

Just a little more than six months later, writes Giffords’ husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, in the couple’s new memoir Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, his wife appeared with him at a NASA awards ceremony. It was characteristic of her to want to be there, he adds: “I had announced my retirement from NASA and the Navy a few days earlier, and Gabby knew this was her last chance to see me get a NASA award.”

Gabby tells many stories, all of them well. First, it is an affecting look at how two busy and ambitious people, relatively late in life, found each other and have managed to balance demanding careers and remain happily together, as clearly they are. That’s no small order, particularly when one partner is orbiting Earth and the other is surveying her home district along the U.S.-Mexico border on muleback, doing quite different jobs; awards ceremonies are one thing, while being screamed at by bulgingveined opponents of the TARP bailout or health-care reform is quite another.

Second, it is a look at the business of politics from an exceptionally frank point of view. It is clear, too, that Kelly—who, for obvious reasons, does most of the narrating here, with the help of Jeffrey Zaslow—admires his wife immensely for her remarkable energies, Clintonesque political adroitness and ability to defuse fraught moments of debate and disagreement with a genuinely friendly smile. Those qualities are rare in politics, rarer in life, and they had served Giffords well as she moved from state legislator into Congress.

Still, Giffords found herself in a time when even the sincerest charm met with partisan hostility at an unusually fierce pitch. Her opponent in the 2010 race was fond of picturing himself with automatic weapons as an apparent sign of his toughness. Sarah Palin placed riflescope targets on outlines of Giffords’ district, proclaiming that it was time to “take aim at Democrats.” Even after the shooting, partisan divisions were not long in making themselves known. Kelly praises former President George H.W. Bush, who was out of office long before Giffords entered politics, for his decency in taking the time to visit her in her Houston hospital, while he also notes that Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, did not bother to do more than send a get-well card. That might have had something to do with Giffords’ having warned Boehner to stay out of her district instead of campaigning for her gun-toting Tea Party contender, but it does the Speaker of the House no credit.

Politics junkies will be interested to know, by the way, that that’s not the only bit of political news that Kelly lets slip in these pages.

In the end, though, this book transcends politics. It is really about the terrible events of Jan. 8 and their calamitous result, the horrifying things that drew Giffords into the national spotlight. Everything in the story turns on those few moments and the aftermath |

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that she summarizes with a simple declaration: “It’s awful.”

Yes, but the gunman did not have the final word. The best part of the book is Kelly’s account of Giffords’ nearly miraculous recovery, day by day and step by step, from her opening an eye just days after the shooting, to her speaking a few halting words, to her taking the house floor to cast her vote in the great debt-ceiling impasse that unfolded in midsummer. She has improved even more in the days and weeks since she first returned to Capitol Hill, as the couple’s recent TV interviews have shown, and there is more recovery to come, as she says at several points, in a mantra born of a lifetime’s shunning of the path of least resistance, “Back to work.”

This book will not be the final word on Giffords’ story either. But everyone who reads this deeply inspiring story will be rooting for her and holding her to the words she voices in its closing sentence: “I will get stronger. I will return.”

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GABBY: A Story of Courage and Hope Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly, with Jeffrey Zaslow Scribner (320 pp.)

Nov. 15, 2011 | $26.99 978-1-4516-6106-4

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“Deeply researched and superbly composed.” from devil in the grove

naïve American over a Vietnamese woman plays out on the larger stage of imperial politics. Iyer compares his own sense of divided identity to characters in Greene’s book. “I went back and forth, in my life and then my head,” he writes, “between unquiet Englishmen who were often more compassionate than they let on and quiet Americans who were not quite so innocent as they liked to seem.” Though of Indian descent, Iyer was born in England, where he attended Eton and then Oxford. His father had left India and settled at Oxford, where he taught for eight years before moving to California to continue his brilliant academic career. The author is a wonderful wordsmith, and he provides engaging stories: about the fires that twice burned down his family’s homes in Santa Barbara, landing in Sri Lanka in 2006 amid a violent upsurge while on assignment to write a travel piece on Marco Polo, his school days at Eton being trained to run an empire that no longer existed. Unfortunately, the disconnected chronology may leave many readers adrift.

Those unfamiliar with the writings of either Greene or Iyer may have trouble following the thread of this memoir.

(Author tour to Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C.)

DEVIL IN THE GROVE Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

King, Gilbert Harper/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-06-179228-1

A thoroughgoing study of one of the most important civil-rights cases argued by Thurgood Marshall in dismantling Jim Crow strictures.

“Mr. Civil Rights” was mid-career in 1949 as special council to the Legal Defense Fund (of the NAACP) when the case of four young black men facing the death penalty for the rape of a white woman in Groveland, Fla., riveted his attention. Yet in order for the LDF to accept the case, it had to fulfill three requirements, as delineated by Marshall and explained in Smithsonian contributor King’s (The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South, 2008) excellent account: There was injustice because of race or color; the man was innocent; and there was a real possibility of establishing precedent in the courts. Essentially, 17-year-old Norma Lee Padgett, married but separated from her husband, claimed that four black men had abducted and raped her after a dance she attended with her husband. In fact, three of the suspects— Walter Irvin, Charles Greenlee and Sam Shepherd—were arbitrarily picked up by Sheriff Willis McCall, a ringleader in the local Ku Klux Klan and friend of the powerful citrus growers of central Florida, summarily tortured in the basement of the jailhouse, from which “confessions” were then wrought, and paraded for the press. The final suspect, Ernest Thomas, had been hunted down in a cypress swamp and shot dead. Through 2202

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the NAACP’s Florida network, Marshall became involved in the case, appealing the initial guilty verdict for Shepherd and Irvin all the way to the Supreme Court, which overturned the convictions in Shepherd v. Florida in 1951. Yet McCall held the last word: He and his deputy not only drove the two suspects outside of town and shot them (Shepherd died instantly), but pursued Irvin even after the Florida governor pardoned him in 1955. King traces the pernicious tentacles of bigotry and expertly depicts the role of the press, the cast of characters and the entire contextual story of civil-rights law and the NAACP. Deeply researched and superbly composed. (22 black-andwhite photos)

FEED YOURSELF, FEED YOUR FAMILY Good Nutrition and Healthy Cooking for New Moms and Growing Families

La Leche League International Ballantine (224 pp.) $20.00 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-345-51846-0 978-0-440-42365-2 e-book La Leche League International presents a balanced diet for pregnant mothers, new mothers and, by extension, the whole family.

Once you are eating for two or serving two or more, the simple process of eating can become loaded with guilt, anxiety and stress. La Leche wants you to replace these feelings “with pleasure: the pleasure of preparing and eating good food for yourself and others, of feeding the ones you love, of joining together to nourish and nurture one another.” Though La Leche is best known for breastfeeding advocacy, it takes little imagination to make the connection between a healthy diet and a healthy breastfeeding experience, and the important shift from breast milk to other foodstuffs. Though the voice here is that of a committee and somewhat drained of personality, there is nonetheless a great deal of warmth and encouragement in these pages. La Leche tackles questions regarding caloric intake, major nutritional needs and their ebb and flow during various stages of mothering and the correct doses of supplements, should they be necessary. Thankfully, the authors place the emphasis on good science, rather than the latest trend, when it comes to salt, fat and sugar intake. The recipes convey an artful twining of balance and flavor—celery root and potato puree, crab tostadas, Greek meatballs and yogurt, salmon and horseradish sauce—while cooking tips help take the stress out of preparation. There are also important pointers on such topics as not spurning help (“If you refuse these offers, they have a way of stopping”), letting the baby lead the way from breast to solid food (“promotes independence in eating”) and the bonding conviviality of dinner at the table.

An excellent blend of common-sense nutritional advice and inviting recipes for mothers and their charges.

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THE LIVING END A Family Memoir of Forgetting and Forgiving Leleux, Robert St. Martin’s (160 pp.) $19.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-312-62124-7 978-1-4299-4239-3 e-book

A memoir of Alzheimer’s during its final stages and of a family’s attempt to provide support for a spirited grandmother whose changed outlook allowed a vital relationship to move from estrangement to reconciliation.

Leleux (The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, 2008) presents a slim, dignified portrait of his grandmother JoAnn—a wisecracking yet elegant Southerner with a penchant for entertaining—and his grandfather Alfred, her lifelong advocate, focusing on the brief window after the onset of her dementia. Rather than lingering over potentially negative details that often accompany the illness, such as extreme patient behaviors or caregiver burnout, the author explores the surprisingly merciful gifts that come with losing one’s memory: the ability to forgive and forget, to delight in the everyday and to believe that “anything is possible.” Leleux was not, however, “striving for optimism” so much as a healthier perspective on a condition often regarded with foreboding. As the author, his mother and his grandfather accompanied JoAnn on her flights of fancy, the rift between Leleux’s mother and her parents began to heal, and the author discovered the power of self-reflection. Episodic recollections from childhood and a lengthy digression on Leleux’s motherin-law round out this portrait of living amid decline. The author effectively transitions between JoAnn’s earlier years and moments after her diagnosis. She emerges not only as a beloved figure, but as a larger-than-life character who was eager for the spotlight, funny, gracious, occasionally biting in her assessment of others and altogether inspired.

Leleux sweeps readers from New York to Texas to rural Tennessee on a family pilgrimage—an understated work that highlights the emotional rewards of caring for a loved one. (First printing of 40,000)

HEINRICH HIMMLER A Life Longerich, Peter Translated by Noakes, Jeremy and Sharpe, Lesley Oxford Univ. (832 pp.) $34.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-19-959232-6

Exhaustive—and sometimes exhausting—life of the Nazi functionary who rivaled Adolf Hitler in power and influence.

In disfavor for the last couple of decades, psychohistory finds a champion in Longerich (Modern German History/Royal Holloway University of London; Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and |

Murder of the Jews, 2010, etc.), who puts Heinrich Himmler on the couch and finds in him a bundle of neuroses, including attachment disorder: “People who suffer from this kind of dysfunction acquired in early childhood frequently tend, while growing up and as adults, to attach very high expectations to personal relationships, though they cannot define these expectations precisely, and as a result they cannot be fulfilled.” Be that as it may, and cold fish though Himmler was, he was methodical in building and maintaining his personal power. Weak and sickly, he nonetheless became commandant of Hitler’s personal bodyguard, the “protection squad,” building it from a small and elite guard into an organization to rival the size and power of the regular Wehrmacht, or army. Indeed, writes the author, one of the leaders of the attempted assassination of Hitler in 1944 reckoned “that a coup was unavoidable if the army were not to be at the mercy of the SS in the short or long term.” Longerich credits Himmler with helping develop the misty Teutonic mythology that provided the mythic basis of the regime and the white-knight image of the SS. He also demonstrates, ably but in sometimes narrativecrushing detail, that Himmler was skilled in reading the signs of the growing radicalization of the regime and getting there first, adapting the SS every couple of years to changing conditions.

Himmler was also adept at keeping his skin even while incurring Hitler’s disfavor at times—especially at the end of the war, when he attempted to bargain his way, using Jews as pawns, into a separate accommodation with the advancing Allies.

Admirably thorough and packed with facts, though often arid and mired in specifics. Readers may wish for a shorter, more pointed treatment, but, psychologizing aside, students of World War II will likely find this the last word on its immediate subject. (31 black-and-white halftones)

SATAN IS REAL The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers

Louvin, Charlie with Whitmer, Benjamin It Books/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $22.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-06-206903-0

The tempestuous history of country music’s Louvin Brothers, recalled by the younger musical sibling.

Ira and Charlie Louvin were the last of the great harmony duos; in the ’50s they launched a string of songs up the country charts and starred on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Here, Charlie (1927–2011) recounts the twosome’s rise from hardscrabble beginnings in Alabama’s cotton country to national fame. Basically self-taught, the brothers were reared on church singing before they launched an uphill professional career in the ’40s. Louvin maps the pair’s arduous journey through small-town radio gigs and endless regional touring, with flavorful, often profanely sketched observations about the hardships of making it on the road as a rising country act. Major music publisher Fred Rose took the Louvins under his wing, but after a pair of failed record deals, the brothers were ready to pack it in when they were signed

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“A funky-fresh exposé on the 1980s arbiters of cool.” from i want my mtv

to Capitol Records in the early ’50s. Starting in gospel, they reached the top with secular hits like “When I Start Dreaming” and classic albums like Tragic Songs of Life. The second half of the book focuses on reckless elder brother Ira, a pugnacious, womanizing alcoholic whose violence led his third wife to shoot him six times (he survived). In the face of Ira’s escalating madness, Charlie finally broke up the act in the early ’60s, and Ira was killed in a 1965 road accident. Charlie never manages to put his finger on what drove his brother to such heights of destructive behavior, but he still paints a chilling portrait of a brilliant musician intent on self-annihilation. Along the way, he offers entertaining cameo renderings of such stars as Elvis Presley, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, George Jones and Kris Kristofferson. The self-effacing Louvin dispenses with his solo work and latter-day career revival in a couple of brief chapters. Deep analysis is not his strong suit, but his amusing, prickly voice animates the book.

An engaging look at a now-distant piece of countrymusic history.

I WANT MY MTV The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution

Marks, Craig and Tannenbaum, Rob Dutton (610 pp.) $29.95 | Oct. 27, 2011 978-0-525-95230-5

The architects of MTV get more play than Madonna and company in this outrageous yet surprisingly lucid account of the cable channel’s defiant first decade of decadence.

The Material Girl, The Boss and The King of Pop all helped define what MTV was for most viewers during the 1980s. But this oral history, as told by a star-studded cast of recording artists and industry insiders, is really the story of guys like John Lack, Bob Pittman and Les Garland—“the suits” behind the scenes who rolled the big record companies for all they were worth and revolutionized the way the world got its music, at least for a while. Mostly candid reflections—some complimentary, others conflicting—provide a real sense of what MTV was like before Snooki took over. Torrents of cash and cocaine flowed freely in an archaic atmosphere of almost nonstop sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll—not to mention the crazy bands and unhinged performers. Beneath all the partying, however, lurked insidious instances of myopic racism, rabid sexism and rampant exploitation. For a time, many black artists could not get their videos played on MTV unless their name was Michael Jackson.

Supermodel Cindy Crawford never saw a paycheck the first year she did House of Style. And yet, for most concerned, we’re told it was all a blast. Even the most shabbily treated VJs pine for the halcyon days of MTV media mayhem. Some of the book does feels incongruous—e.g., long sections detail the endless negotiations associated with media empire building, while seminal moments such as Live Aid receive short shrift. Nonetheless, music journalists Marks and Tannenbaum have done a fine job 2204

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of both celebrating MTV and deconstructing it. Thirty years ago, “video killed the radio star.” The tables, of course, have turned; the media landscape has changed dramatically, and YouTube has supplanted MTV’s relevancy. This book has a rocking good time putting it all in context.

A funky-fresh exposé on the 1980s arbiters of cool.

NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN

Phelps, M. William Kensington (320 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-7582-7338-3

Thorough account of a quadruple murder in a Houston suburb in 2003.

Veteran true-crime author Phelps (Kill for Me, 2010, etc.) chronicles the story of the killing, which took place inside a home on a usually peaceful street, of best friends Tiffany Rowell and Rachael Koloroutis, both 18; Tiffany’s boyfriend Marcus Precella, 19; and Marcus’ cousin Adelbert Nicholas Sánchez, 21. For more than two years, Houston police and related law-enforcement agencies seemed stumped by the crime, and it took three years from the day of the slaughter to publicly identify two suspects. Two Houston homicide detectives provide the focal point for Phelps, with numerous other law-enforcement officers entering and leaving the narrative. The author is respectful of the police, never suggesting they are incompetent, but he points out shortcomings of the investigation with admirable detail. The book is primarily a police procedural, but it is also a tribute to the four murder victims. Readers completely unaware of the case will begin to suspect the identity of the murderers, despite numerous other persons of interest as the police pursue a theory of a drug deal gone bad. Illegal drugs were important in the case but not the key to finding the perpetrators. Phelps explains how police, despite their diligence and compassion, might never have found the murderers without guidance from calls to a crime-solving hotline. After police began seeking one suspect, he committed suicide before apprehension. The author one faced trial, which Phelps reports in unimaginative, sometimes overwhelming detail. A jury found her guilty quickly, and she received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

A thoroughly reported procedural too much repetition and heavy-handed foreshadowing.

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Spotlight on Kirkus Reviews

Best of 2011

“In this hard-hitting debut, journalist Potter likens the Justice Department targeting of environmentalists today to McCarthyism in the 1950s…

A shocking exposé of judicial overreach.”

Grove 978-0-8021-1911-7

Atlantic Monthly 978-0-8021-1976-6

PublicAffairs 978-1-58648-663-1

“An appealing account of human evolution and the fiercely competitive anthropologists who are unearthing our ancestors’ remains and arguing over what they mean.”

“A lyrical, informed investigation into the human as ecological agent, and a provocation to act responsibly.”

“Riveting account of a multiple murder and trial that led to a paradigm shift in Europe’s relations with post-revolutionary Iran… A nonfiction political thriller of a very high order.”

“An epic of Manifest Destiny— and crossed destinies…with an ending that’s one of the most memorable in recent literature.”

Atlantic Monthly 978-0-8021-1977-3

Black Cat/Grove 978-0-8021-7082-8

City Lights 978-0-87286-538-9

“Offit takes aim at the antivaccine movement in America and scores a bull’s-eye....A much-needed book with solid evidence—deserves all the publicity it can get.”

McSweeney’s 978-1-936365-18-0

Basic Books 978-0-465-02149-9

Nonfiction and Fiction

“A compelling, gracefully written novel about mixed gender that sheds insight as surely as it rejects sensationalism.

This book announces the arrival of a major writer.”

“LaPlante’s literary novel explores uncharted territory, imagining herself into a mind, one slipping, fading, spinning away from her protagonist, a woman who may have murdered her best friend. A haunting story masterfully told.”

—Kirkus Reviews, starred reviews

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N O N F I C T I ON

2011 Best of Nonfiction BOTTOM OF THE 33RD

Choosing any “best-of ” list is always a monumental undertaking, a task guaranteed to involve plenty of discussion, heated debate and perhaps even controversy. In addition to a selection of dynamic new voices, 2011 brought impressive new work from a cadre of heavy hitters—David McCullough, Joan Didion, Stephen Greenblatt, Claire Tomalin, Erik Larson, Candice Millard, Jonathan Lethem and many others. I personally believe each of the books on this list is significant, and I hope you agree.

For full reviews of the selections, categorized lists and additional features, please visit kirkusreviews.com

Dan Barry Harper/ HarperCollins

TOLSTOY

Rosamund Bartlett Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

THE MEMORY PALACE Mira Bartók Free Press

JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM

James Carroll Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

COURAGE BEYOND THE GAME Jim Dent Dunne/St. Martin’s

THE BEGINNING OF INFINITY David Deutsch Viking

THE LONGEST WAR Peter Bergen Free Press

BENTO’S SKETCHBOOK John Berger Pantheon

JANE FONDA

Patricia Bosworth Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

THE HONORED DEAD Joseph Braude Spiegel & Grau

THE SOCIAL ANIMAL

David Brooks Random House

TOWNIE

Andre Dubus III Norton 2206

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BLUE NIGHTS Joan Didion Knopf

THE BEAUTY AND THE SORROW Peter Englund Knopf

HERE ON EARTH Tim Flannery Atlantic Monthly

YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD

HEARTS TOUCHED

BY FIRE

THE BODY POLITIC

TIGER, TIGER

AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST

DEADLY CHOICES

Emma Forrest Other Press

Margaux Fragoso Farrar, Straus and Giroux

THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER Francis Fukuyama Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Harold Holzer, editor Modern Library

Mary Johnson Spiegel & Grau

Jonathan Moreno Bellevue Literary Press Paul Offit Basic

HALFWAY TO HOLLYWOOD

FIRST CONTACT

Michael Palin Dunne/St. Martin’s

Marc Kaufman Simon & Schuster

LOVE AND CAPITAL

DEATH IN THE CITY OF LIGHT

IS JOURNALISM WORTH DYING FOR?

THE INFLUENCING MACHINE

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS

GREEN IS THE NEW RED

1861

THE ECSTASY OF INFLUENCE

THE BRILLIANT DISASTER

Mary Gabriel Little, Brown

Brooke Gladstone Illus. by Josh Neufeld Norton Adam Goodheart Knopf

THE THREAT MATRIX

Garrett Graff Little, Brown

David King Crown

Erik Larson Crown

Jonathan Lethem Doubleday

ASSASSINS OF THE TURQUOISE PALACE Roya Hakakian Grove

THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT

WITNESS TO AN EXTREME CENTURY

Mark Seal Viking

Dorian Lynskey Ecco/HarperCollins

1493

Rob Young Faber & Faber/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux

LENNON

David McCullough Simon & Schuster

EVERYONE LOVES YOU WHEN YOU’RE DEAD

Tim Riley Hyperion

INFERNO

BORN IN AFRICA

WENDY AND THE LOST BOYS

Mark Hertsgaard Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

ELECTRIC EDEN

David Reynolds Norton

THE GREATER JOURNEY

John McMillian Oxford Univ. Press Martin Meredith PublicAffairs

Neil Strauss It Books!/ HarperCollins

Andrew Roberts Harper/ HarperCollins

CHARLES DICKENS Claire Tomalin Penguin Press

Julie Salamon Penguin Press

THE DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC

WE MEANT WELL

ARRIVAL CITY

Candice Millard Doubleday

Peter Van Buren Metropolitan/Henry Holt

Doug Saunders Pantheon

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David Welky Univ. of Chicago Press

Andrea Wulf Knopf

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

Charles C. Mann Knopf

THE THOUSANDYEAR FLOOD

FOUNDING GARDENERS

Curt Stager Dunne/St. Martin’s

Janet Reitman Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

THE STORM OF WAR

HOT

DEEP FUTURE

INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY

SMOKING TYPEWRITERS

Max Hastings Knopf

Mark Ribowsky Norton

Steven Levy Simon & Schuster

BLOOD, BONES AND BUTTER

Gabrielle Hamilton Random House

HOWARD COSELL

IN THE PLEX

33 REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

Stephen Greenblatt Norton

Will Potter City Lights

Jim Rasenberger Scribner

Robert Jay Lifton Free Press

THE SWERVE

Anna Politkovskaya Melville House

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LOST IN SHANGRI-LA

Mitchell Zuckoff Harper/ HarperCollins

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KIRKUS’ BEST OF 2011

Congratulations Random House Authors!

An Unquenchable Thirst

by Mary Johnson

Embassytown

by China Mieville

Misterioso

by Arne Dahl

The Destiny of the Republic

by Candice Millard

The Troubled Man

by Henning Mankell

Arrival City

by Doug Saunders

Founding Gardeners

by Andrea Wulf

Moondogs

by Alexander Yates

The Honored Dead

by Joseph Braude

Thick as Thieves

by Peter Spiegelman

Bento’s Sketchbook

by John Berger

Galore

by Michael Crummey

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

We Others

by Steven Millhauser

Blood, Bones and Butter

by Gabrielle Hamilton

Hearts Touched by Fire

by Harold Holzer

Open City

by Teju Cole

The Paris Wife

by Paula McLain

What’s New at the Zoo?

by Betty Comden

Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion

by Johan Harstad

Inferno

by Max Hastings

Pulse

by Julian Barnes

The Snowman

by Jo Nesbo

Your Voice in My Head

by Emma Forrest

In the Garden of Beasts

by Erik Larson

Red on Red

by Edward Conlon

The Social Animal

by David Brooks

1493

by Charles C. Mann

Ladies and Gentlemen

by Adam Ross

The Beauty and the Sorrow

by Peter Englund

The Stranger You Seek

by Amanda Kyle Williams

1861

by Adam Goodheart

Last Man in Tower

by Aravind Adiga

The Cold Commands

by Richard K. Morgan

The Tragedy of Arthur

by Arthur Phillips

1Q84

by Haruki Murakami

Close Your Eyes

by Amanda Eyre Ward Death in the City of Light

by David King

What Will You Read Next? Some 2012 Staff Favorites:

Jason Heller

Jan-Philipp Sendker

Chris Pavone

Cheryl Strayed

Taft 2012: A Novel

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

The Expats

He is the perfect presidential candidate.

There’s just one problem: He is William Howard Taft . . . and he was already U.S. president a hundred years ago. So what on earth is he doing alive and well and considering a running mate in 2012?

A suspenseful love story set in the exotic Burmese countryside, where a young American woman discovers the secret that lived in her father’s heart for over fifty years.

An incredibly twisty and sophisticated debut thriller about a former CIA agent living abroad: with the exoticism of Graham Greene; the smarts of John Le Carre; and the non-stop action of Robert Ludlum.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

978-1-59474-550-8 | $14.95/$16.95C Quirk Books | TR | January eBook: 978-1-59474-556-0

978-1-59051-463-4 | $14.95/$16.95C Other Press | TR | January eBook: 978-1-59051-464-1

Katharine Boo

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity

Adam Johnson

The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel A towering literary achievement and a masterful story of a young soldier fighting for his life in North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son is a novel on par with The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

978-0-8129-9279-3 | $26.00/$30.00C Random House | HC | January Audio Download: 978-0-307-93976-0 Audio CD: 978-0-307-93971-5 eBook: 978-0-679-64399-9

In the tradition of Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains and Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family, Pulitzer Prizewinner Katherine Boo’s landmark work of narrative nonfiction about families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century’s great global cities.

978-1-4000-6755-8 | $28.00/$33.00C Random House | HC | February Audio Download: 978-0-307-93408-6 Audio CD: 978-0-307-93407-9 eBook: 978-0-679-64395-1

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978-0-307-95635-4 | $26.00/$30.00C Crown Trade | HC | March Audio Download: 978-0-307-99032-7 Audio CD: 978-0-307-99031-0 eBook: 978-0-307-95637-8

Noah Hawley

The Good Father: A Novel An intense, psychological novel about one doctor’s suspense-filled quest to unlock the mind of a suspected political assassin: his twenty-year old son.

978-0-385-53553-3 | $25.95/$30.00C Doubleday | HC | March Audio CD: 978-0-307-97025-1 eBook: 978-0-385-53561-8

After losing her mother to cancer, seeing her family scattered, and her own marriage destroyed, Cheryl made the impulsive decision to hike the Pacific Crest trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone.

978-0-307-59273-6 | $25.95/$29.00C Knopf | HC | March Audio Download: 978-0-307-97032-9 Audio CD: 978-0-307-97031-2 eBook: 978-0-307-95765-8

Rosamund Lupton

Afterwards: A Novel From the author of the acclaimed bestseller Sister comes a gripping, thrilling story of a mother who will do anything to protect her child.

978-0-307-71654-5 | $25.00/$29.95C Crown Trade | HC | April eBook: 978-0-307-71656-9

Find us on Facebook and Twitter: RHLibrary

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11/14/11 4:25 PM

“A pleasure for foodies and a fine gift for anyone who prizes a good meal—but maybe not if that person works for General Mills or in the advertising biz.” from food rules

FOOD RULES An Eater’s Manual Pollan, Michael Illus. by Kalman, Maira Penguin Press (192 pp.) $23.95 | Nov. 1, 2011 978-1-59420-308-4

What should you eat? How should you eat it? Pollan, doyen of all things foodrelated, serves up the answers in this jauntily illustrated version of his 2009 book.

Whether Kalman’s innocent, pleasantly goofy sketches (similar to those of Roz Chast) add much to the proceedings will be a matter for the beholder’s eye. Much more serious, even with a few playful moments, is Pollan’s text, which opens with a stinging denunciation of the state of nutrition science (it’s “today approximately where surgery was in the year 1650”). And what should we eat? The author’s answer is simple on its face: food. The answer takes on complexity as his rules elaborate on it: Food, by his reckoning, has fewer than three ingredients of which sugar is not the first, is mostly vegetable and would be recognizable to your great-grandmother as, well, food. Much of the overprocessing, oversweetening and generally over-everything of our current diet, writes the author, is a fairly recent development. Pollan finds good guidance in the grandmotherly saw, “Better to pay the grocer than the doctor,” and he advises paying more for better food and getting away from the problematic Western diet that yields so much obesity, heart disease, diabetes and kindred maladies. He recommends the wisdom in the French Je n’ai plus faim, “I’m not hungry anymore,” as opposed to the English “I’m full.” (You want healthy? Then eat to 80 percent of capacity. Don’t get full.) But Pollan usually avoids preachiness, and he closes with the most welcome admonition of all—to let down your guard every now and again and have some fun with a piece of pizza or greasy fistful of cheeseburger.

A pleasure for foodies and a fine gift for anyone who prizes a good meal—but maybe not if that person works for General Mills or in the advertising biz.

BEAUTIFUL SOULS Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience In Dark Times

Press, Eyal Farrar, Straus and Giroux (224 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-374-14342-8

Press (Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict That Divided America, 2006) returns with a disquisition on conscience, “about the mystery of what impels people to…stop, say no, resist.”

The author builds his account on the foundation of social psychology and examines the stories of several people from a |

variety of times, cultures and situations. He begins—where else?—with the Nazis in Poland, 1942, when the German Order Police committed a mass execution of Jews, but about a dozen soldiers refused to participate. Press then moves to Paul Grüninger, a Swiss policeman who in 1938 admitted into the country a number of Jewish refugees—ignoring official policy.

Next the author looks at a Serb soldier who saved a number of Croats targeted for ethnic cleansing in 1991. Another case was an Israeli soldier who defied policy in an operation against the Palestinians. Press’ final example is Leyla Wydler, a financial advisor employed by the Stanford Group Company in 2000 who reported to the SEC her company’s gross deceptions.

Throughout, Press notes the consequences of his principals’ actions: ostracism, firing, psychological, social and financial losses. Interviewing those still living, he learns some surprising things. Not all are intellectuals, or even had rational reasons for behaving as they did (to some, it just didn’t feel right); not all had religious or even moral reasons for their behavior. Some attribute their decision to family history or to simply looking in the mirror; none had regrets. Press believes that saying no is always possible, never easy and that the outcome is surely never certain. To buttress his analysis, he includes allusions to philosophers, psychologists and even relevant films—e.g., Silkwood.

An intelligent though sometimes dense examination of moral courage and its consequences.

REDEFINING DIVA

Ralph, Sheryl Lee Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-4516-0842-7 A highly enthusiastic memoir by one of the original Broadway Dreamgirls.

Actress Ralph embraces the label Diva (“Divinely Inspired Victoriously Anointed”), and encourages others to discover its meaning and to eschew the media’s image of an overbearing celebrity. Proposing that a real diva is a strong woman who respects herself and others and who promotes positive change, Ralph details the common qualities found in divas. She pairs sensible advice with choice anecdotes that feature legendary performers such as Sidney Poitier, Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Ross, and she frequently offers life lessons through pithy summations. Despite the author’s passion for mentorship, however, the casual, direct address to readers quickly wears thin. Nonetheless, Ralph presents an engrossing story of a woman who challenged Hollywood and its limited roles for black women. Fans of ’80s and ’90s sitcoms will also find memorable passages that largely refrain from gossip. When discussing her TV, film and Broadway roles, which notably included The Jeffersons, Designing Women and Moesha, among others, the author portrays fellow industry veterans with fairness. The book concludes with her work as an AIDS activist, which she first undertook after witnessing the deaths of several colleagues. Her responses to trying circumstances

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ALIX AND NICKY The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina

reveal genuine grace and the ability to move forward with forgiveness. Ralph emerges as a likable woman whose character is unspoiled by success.

She is careful to note that family life outside of the spotlight is most important, yet she also accepts the responsibility and power of influence that come with fame.

THE DREYFUS AFFAIR The Scandal that Tore France in Two Read, Piers Paul Bloomsbury (416 pp.) $30.00 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-60819-432-2

Novelist/historian Read (The Death of a Pope, 2009, etc.) revisits the notorious case that revealed the ugly extent of anti-Semitism in France.

The conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus for treason on December 22, 1894 was only the beginning of a 12-year ordeal that divided France and remains one of history’s most famous instances of official misconduct and injustice. It ended with the Jewish officer’s complete exoneration, but only after he had suffered nearly five years’ imprisonment on Devil’s Island. Members of the armed forces forged documents and gave false testimony to ensure that his guilt was not questioned, while members of the government looked the other way in the interests of not damaging the public’s faith in the army. Read’s account, based mostly on secondary sources, adds one new element to this oft-told tale: an effort to explain the motives of the anti-Dreyfusards, many of whom (like the author) were Catholic, as something beyond knee-jerk antiSemitism. “The Affair is intelligible only if it seen in the context of the ideological struggle between the France of St. Louis and the France of Voltaire,” writes the author. True enough, but his attempt to provide that context by detailing the persecution of Catholic priests during the French Revolution and the ongoing anticlericalism of secularists in the Third Republic at times seems uncomfortably close to justifying the misdeeds that condemned an innocent man. It’s a matter of tone rather than factual inaccuracy. We hear repeatedly about Dreyfus’ aloof manner and the poor impression he made at his several trials, while Read writes of the generals who refused to pursue compelling evidence against the real traitor, “to them the choice was between injustice and disorder.” An obvious miscarriage of justice is certainly more understandable when one realizes that the anti-Dreyfusards believed that clearing him would shake the foundations of the state. It does nothing to soften the repulsive impression made by mobs shrieking “Dirty Jew!” as Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted.

A brisk, readable retelling with a slightly odd emphasis.

(16-page black-and-white insert)

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Rounding, Virginia St. Martin’s (496 pp.) $29.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-312-38100-4

The intimate correspondence between Nicholas and Alexandra exposes the political naiveté of the ill-fated Romanovs while revealing their deep, loving relationship.

The late 19th century witnessed a spate of assassinations in Russia, which caused the royals to avoid appearing in public unless absolutely necessary. Nicholas avoided confrontation by quietly listening, nodding and smiling, while completely ignoring the advice of his counselors. In an attempt to understand his strange lack of action and/or reaction and to confirm her perception of him, Rounding (Catherine the Great, 2007, etc.) participated in several online personality tests in the guise of Nicholas. Alexandra most likely suffered from Porphyria, and her paranoia, depression and hysteria, as well as the physical symptoms that kept her in bed, separated her not only from her people but also from her own family. Communications, even with her children, were in little notes exchanged almost on a daily basis exhorting them to better themselves and not to upset her. Rounding’s story is built on the letters, especially those between the czar and czarina throughout their marriage. The letters leave no doubt that the two loved each other very much, even to the point of lightly disguised sexual references in their correspondence. The author does not provide an explanation of how Philippe Vachot and his successor, Rasputin, managed to work their way into the family, and the connection of Alix’s dearest friend, Ania Vyrubova, is also indeterminate. The implication is that Ania fancied herself madly in love with the czar, even writing long love letters (destroyed upon receipt) to him. Ania became extremely close to the couple and managed to control them with her constant demands. References to Ania, Philippe and, especially, Rasputin give an indication of how much her “friends” influenced Alix. Rasputin was treated as a godlike seer, influencing even the conduct of World War I battles.

The author’s strong background in Russian history and meticulous research establish her as an excellent biographer, although taking the personality tests in the guise of the Czar could be construed as somewhat presumptive.

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“A work of broad, archival and anecdotal research by writer with a good grasp of the messy era and times.” from the last great senate

THE LAST HOLIDAY A Memoir Scott-Heron, Gil Grove (304 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-8021-2901-7

A posthumous memoir that evokes Scott-Heron’s (1949–2011) voice but leaves too many gaps unfilled and questions unanswered.

The distinction between memoir and autobiography is clear in this narrative by the author (Now and Then, 2000, etc.), a once-prolific poet and recording artist who had all but disappeared from the culture for more than a decade, before his revival with 2010’s I’m New Here, a well-received comeback album. At that time, a resurgence of publicity cast light on his hiatus, as his crack addiction and incarceration for cocaine had silenced a voice that had been strong and prophetic, with cuts such as “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” having a profound influence on the most socially conscious hip-hop. A few months later he died. There isn’t a single mention of the artist’s struggles with drugs and the law here, almost nothing from the last decade of his life and only spotty accounts of the 30 years that transpired after his 1980 tour with Stevie Wonder. Oddly enough, that tour and Wonder’s efforts to establish a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. provide this book with both its focus and its title.

There is also plenty about the author’s formative years, after his soccer-playing father left his mother and Scott-Heron was raised by his grandmother in Tennessee, before moving to Manhattan to live with his mother. The author writes with a wit and warmth at odds with what he perceives as his image of “some wild-haired, wild-eyed motherfucker.” He came from a well-educated family, received a postgraduate literary education, became a student militant during the early ’70s and taught writing while establishing the fusion of jazz, groove and spoken word that would prove so influential. Yet his partnership with musical collaborator Brian Jackson ends without explanation, as does his wife’s transition to ex-wife.

Of his third child, he writes, “How I became a father again at nearly fifty years old is a story I will save for another time.”

The author ran out of time, leaving plenty of stories untold.

THE LAST GREAT SENATE Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis

Shapiro, Ira PublicAffairs (448 pp.) $34.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-1-58648-936-6

From a Washington insider, a scrambled but edifying examination of the last four years of the Senate’s “era of greatness”—1977 to 1980.

The class of ’62 (a Democratic majority) presided over the Senate during the two ensuing decades that wrought the great |

civil-rights legislation, cut off funding for the Vietnam War, propounded environmental-protection laws and oversaw the Watergate hearings, among other epic national battles. Shapiro, now an international trade law lawyer in Washington, concentrates on the tail end of that brave, progressive and fluidly bipartisan run, when Robert Byrd of West Virginia (known as “the grind,” having grown out of his bigoted early conservatism) acceded as majority leader, inheriting the inspired leadership mantle of LBJ and Mike Mansfield before him. By 1977, with the election of Jimmy Carter, the Senate had regained its democratic footing since being unsettled by the “imperial presidency” of Richard Nixon, and was receptive to Carter’s urging for strengthening ethics in government. Despite Carter’s tendency to circumvent legislators’ input altogether, Byrd’s diverse, youngish, dynamic Senate passed the ethics code, met the energy crisis, deregulated airlines, raised the minimum wage, passed the Panama Canal treaties, took on labor law reform, saved New York City and Chrysler from financial collapse, protected Alaska wilderness land and agreed to the peace proposal between the rancorous parties in the Middle East. All of these Herculean efforts required the experience and cajoling of nowlegendary senators like Moynihan, Javitz, Kennedy, Ribicoff, Muskie, Church and Mondale. The progressive run would come to a screeching halt with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and the decisive turn of the Senate, and populace, to the right.

A work of broad, archival and anecdotal research by a writer with a good grasp of the messy era and times.

THE MOMENT Wild, Poignant, LifeChanging Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure

Smith, Larry–Ed. Perennial/HarperCollins (192 pp.) $14.99 paperback | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-06-171965-3 Writers and other artists candidly report on the private moments that transformed their destinies.

Smith, proprietor of an eponymous magazine and holder of the six-word memoir franchise, gathers stories of life-changing events from a cadre of ready, self-aware authors, each done in a page or two. A short selection of the contributors: A.J. Jacobs, Melissa Etheridge, Gregory Maguire, Dave Eggers, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jennifer Egan and Judy Collins. There are many “wakeup calls,” some smiles and plenty of tears in these first-person explorations of a few eternal truths. Each of the 125 participants deserves our regard, but the enterprise occasionally becomes a little too rich. The earnest narratives tell of coming out and hiding, of seeking the light, the path, the truth, the way and/or the writers’ inner selves. Those goals were achieved by aid of a word, sign, teacher, family road trip, some dope, an inner voice or, more than once, a Eurail pass. As often as it contains instructive memoirs, such a collection verges on a solipsistic mélange. It’s only natural. Consider all that Too Much Information from strangers

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“A nicely polished oral history— good reading just for the vicarious kicks.” from londoners

about their parents and children, about adolescent and senescent love, about death, fear, illness, stress, ritual, addiction, separation, reconciliation and one dead mouse. It’s all released in a torrent of heartfelt, short stories. The therapeutic public confessionals are augmented with photos, graphics, varied typography and vagrant sentences about still more moments.

An easily read compendium of brief inspirational memory pieces—not necessarily literature, but more in the style of a college-application essay or an assignment in an adult creative-writing course.

MY FRIEND TOM The Poet-Playwright Tennessee Williams

Smith, William Jay Univ. Press of Mississippi (192 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-61703-175-5

Fragmentary but affecting memories of the playwright by former Library of Congress poetry consultant Smith (Up the Hill and Down, 2003, etc.).

They met in 1935 at Washington University in St. Louis, where Williams, Smith and Clark Mills were the only male students in the Poetry Club. Williams thought of himself primarily as a poet in those days, although he had already written some oneact dramas. His first full-length plays were presented in 1937 by an amateur theatrical group, the Mummers. Smith, who attended both, provides appreciative descriptions of Candles to the Sun and Fugitive Kind, which demonstrated that Williams’ poetic gifts were best served in the theater. The adequate but unexciting verses Smith quotes illustrate the same point, but Williams continued to write poetry throughout his life. The author movingly captures the importance of poetry to Williams in his account of the disastrous 1940 Boston premiere of Battle of Angels, after which the distraught playwright asked his friend to read John Donne aloud to ease his despair. Smith’s recollections of seeing The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire are less interesting, mostly because the plays have been written about so much, but the author’s affection for his troubled friend is evident even in later chapters that show Williams making public appearances visibly under the influence of drink and drugs. Smith suggests that Williams never really got over the death of his companion Frank Merlo. The author has a knack for selecting astute, littleknown critical evaluations of Williams from such unlikely sources as Kenneth Tynan and John Simon (both uncharacteristically appreciative); he also uncovers an intriguing exchange between Williams and Yukio Mishima, who agreed that Southern and Japanese literature had strong affinities. There’s nothing revelatory in these slightly scattered reminiscences, but they flesh out our knowledge of Williams with a warmly personal touch.

Especially valuable for the early chapters on the youthful, pre-fame Williams, but in its entirety a tender portrait that will appeal to scholars and fans alike.

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MASTERS OF THE PLANET The Search for Our Human Origins

Tattersall, Ian Palgrave Macmillan (272 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-230-10875-2

A veteran anthropologist writes a superb overview of how our species developed (a long process) and how we grew smart enough to dominate the planet (a short process in which evolution played little part).

Tattersall (Paleontology: A Brief History of Life, 2010, etc.), curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, begins with early hominids, who took the first step away from apedom about five million years ago by rising to walk on two legs. In absorbing detail, he describes two centuries of often-grueling field research that turned up more species that learned to make tools and whose brains slowly grew. For three million years, our small-brained ancestors, the Australopithecus genus, spread throughout Africa before leaving the scene. From about two million years ago, bigger-brained members of genus Homo ranged across Eurasia without making a great impression. Homo sapiens, remarkably young at 200,000 years, did not seem a great improvement until about 60,000 years ago, when their brains began processing information symbolically, leading to language, art, technology and sophisticated social organization, all of which accompanied our species across the world, wiping out competing hominids. While researchers argue over why this happened, Tattersall emphasizes that evolutionary milestones, even dramatic ones like flying, do not happen when new features appear but take advantage of those already present. Feathers existed long before birds flew, and Homo sapiens’ brains were always capable of great things.

Keeping a critical eye on the evidence and a skeptical one on theories, Tattersall confirms his status among world anthropologists by delivering a superior popular explanation of human origins.

LONDONERS The Days and Nights of London Now—As Told By Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It Taylor, Craig Ecco/HarperCollins (448 pp.) $29.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-06-200585-4 978-0-06-209693-7 e-book

A Canadian playwright and literarymagazine editor ponders the love and hate for London, sifting through hundreds of interviews with the denizens.

Living for a time in the city, Taylor (One Million Tiny Plays About Britain, 2009, etc.) is clearly fascinated and fond of the place and those who manage to thrive there, even if he is still mystified by

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who is and isn’t a “Londoner.” With 32 boroughs (New York only has five), London is truly a city of villages and takes its postcodes very seriously. Cleverly, Taylor organizes his masses of voices by “people who worked with the stuff of the city.” His subjects include a male nurse; a street photographer; a nightclub door attendant; a manicurist who offers her singularly wise take on the strata of society; a personal trainer who tries to smarten up his clients but finds the shoulders and the alignment give out immediately; the black actress who got tired of being cast as a slave and now plies her trade as a plumber; a beekeeper atop the Royal Festival Hall; a gay man who depicts the best cruising spots; the female voice of the London Underground who reveals that even the officials couldn’t decide how to pronounce the stop “Marylebone.” From the wellheeled Pakistani currency trader near his office across from Bank station to the transsexual “skipper” (“forager for waste food in the skips”) on the streets in South London, the stories are alternately poignant, uplifting, amusing and sad.

A nicely polished oral history—good reading just for the vicarious kicks. (Events in Boston, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and upon request)

FAIRY TALE INTERRUPTED What JFK Jr. Taught Me About Life, Love, and Loss Terenzio, RoseMarie Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-1-4391-8767-8

Entertaining memoir from the personal assistant and publicist to John F.

Kennedy Jr. For five years, Bronx-born Terenzio worked for the iconic JFK Jr. The author recalls tense first encounters with the dashing socialite as he insinuated himself, unannounced, into her spacious office, but eventually his persistent attempts to ease the tension worked and the two became friendly. Terenzio eventually became his personal assistant at Kennedy’s start-up magazine, George. The author soon discovered that assisting a Kennedy was no easy feat, but her story makes deliriously fun reading. Juggling last-minute responsibilities and thwarting the rapacious media and “annoying hangerson” became commonplace duties in her job working for boss who could be callous and had little patience for mistakes on a schedule overflowing with business and social engagements. Terenzio characterizes herself as a hard worker with a direct demeanor and an Italian temper, a diehard Howard Stern fan who assumed the role of Kennedy’s gatekeeper, constantly “controlling access to someone who everyone wanted a piece of.” She also proves herself a model of loyalty, trustworthiness and discretion during her tenure on Kennedy’s payroll, most notably during his courtship to Carolyn Bessette, whose friendship Terenzio also cherished. Kennedy’s tragic accidental death in 1999 would end the author’s association with the family, but the memory of her dedicated service is heretofore memorialized, with obvious admiration.

A fitting personal tribute to a unique boss. |

THE CREATIVE DESTRUCTION OF MEDICINE How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care

Topol, Eric Basic (304 pp.) $26.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-465-02550-3

The director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute suggests that in the not-too-distant future DNA testing and sequencing may become available on a smartphone.

The former chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and founder of its cardiovascular gene bank, Topol looks to a future in which genomics will be one of the major tools of innovative, individualized medicine. “What constitutes evidence-based medicine today is what is good for a large population,” he writes, “not for any particular individual.”

Not so in the future. The author is aware of instances in which pharmaceutical companies attempt to violate the principle of evidence-based medicine by suppressing negative results. In fact, Topol was the first to reveal “significant heart attack and stroke concerns for both Vioxx and Celebrex,” information he published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As a result of his whistle-blowing, he was forced out of his position at the Clinic in 2004, when the two drugs were finally removed from the market. The author explains how “the large-scale randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial performed under the most rigorous conditions” will be superseded by individualized medicine. Sequencing the human genome opened up major new areas of preventative medicine; in the future these procedures will be able to identify medications that will benefit, or be injurious to, a small portion of the population who carry a specific genetic mutation, rather than the population at large.

Topol weaves useful knowledge about how to evaluate the choices open to patients into this exciting account of the revolutionary changes we can expect.

THE LOST MAJORITY Why the Future of Government Is Up for Grabs— and Who Will Take It

Trende, Sean Palgrave Macmillan (272 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-230-11646-7

American politics is nasty, ugly, messy and divisive—and that’s just the way it should be.

RealClearPolitics senior elections analyst Trende, frequently heard on the seemingly contradictory avenues of Fox News, CNN and NPR, allows that the current scene looks especially chaotic, but adds, “the type of instability we’ve witnessed recently is really the rule in American politics, whereas extended dominance of

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“A poignant memoir that bears comparison to the bestselling Running With Scissors—but better written and far darker.” from gypsy boy

either the presidency or the House is the exception.” Thus the often-mooted predictions, usually just after an election, that one of the major parties is headed for extinction or permanent minority status is usually wrong—and though Trende doesn’t adequately allow for the possibility of gerrymandering or poll fixing, we should hope that he’s right. Voter coalitions are similarly fragile, he writes; they tend to cluster around issues, and once the issue is addressed or forgotten the coalition tends to disintegrate. That some coalitions have been killed deliberately is another matter. The author examines the slow but steady expulsion of Southern conservatives out of the ranks of the Democratic Party during the FDR administration, which he calls “a feature of the New Deal, not a bug.”

Without being blatant about it, he also examines the rightward tilt of the current GOP in that light. FDR eventually had to rerecruit the Southerners; the question remains whether the GOP will have to seek out moderates to fill its tent, given the fact that in the last election the “Republicans nominated several candidates who were too stridently conservative for their states and districts, even in 2010.” The big news in the book is Trende’s observation that the Obama victory of 2008 drew on the narrowest reading of the broad-based coalition that Bill Clinton assembled in the early 1990s, and the steady withering of his base may prove harmful in 2012. Nonetheless, writes the author, “[t]his book offers no sexy prediction about what will happen next in American politics,” but instead a smart look at just how predictably unpredictable the electorate has proven to be.

Required reading for electoral handicappers, polling bookies and other political junkies.

THE DAILY YOU How the New Advertising Industry is Defining Your Identity and Your Worth

Turow, Joseph Yale Univ. (256 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-300-16501-2

Turow (Communication/Univ. of Pennsylvania; Niche Envy: Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age, 2006, etc.) warns that today’s advertising industry is secretly reshaping our world—and not for the better.

Using the Internet, writes the author, marketers and media now peek, poke, analyze and tag us, gathering data for “one of history’s most massive stealth efforts in social profiling.” Turow shows that advertiser efforts to understand consumer buying impulses now involve many digital tracking tools as well as companies like BlueKai and Rapleaf, which follow people on and across websites to learn what they care about and who their friends are. Once collected, customer information analyzed so marketers can divide people into targets and waste, writes the author. Targets are desirable consumers; waste has no value.

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social problem.” All these privacy-breaching and social-profiling activities are legal and unregulated, and all are becoming standard practice among media buyers in top advertising firms. As a result, the industry has information on the social backgrounds, locations, activities, and social relationships of hundreds of millions. Turow traces the history of advertising’s evolving relationship with the Internet, debunks arguments that the consumer is king in the new media environment and says advertisers are segregating people and customizing content on the basis of assigned reputations. The practices persist despite the fact that 79 percent of respondents in a 2005 survey said they are nervous about websites having information about them.

An eye-opener that will startle readers, the book offers grist for policy makers and others battling to preserve a shred of privacy in America.

GYPSY BOY My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies

Walsh, Mikey Dunne/St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-312-62208-4

Grim, well-told memoir of a boyhood among the much-maligned Romany Gypsy “travelers” of Britain.

The pseudonymous Walsh begins by debunking some well-known myths that have contributed to a pervasive historical bias against Gypsies: “contrary to popular belief, they don’t believe in magic, and the Gypsy ‘curse’ is no more than an ageold way of scaring non-Gypsies into buying something.” Unfortunately, the biographical reality he reveals is more disturbing than the old prejudices. Walsh explains that in the decades following World War II, many Gypsy families prospered and bought land and businesses such as scrapyards, while still maintaining elaborate vehicular “caravans.” He also asserts that within this closed society remain a number of unsavory traditions, like the persistence of elaborate cons to rip off non-Gypsies. The author portrays the men as devious, crude and angry, exemplified by another tradition that caused Walsh much misery: bare-knuckle fighting. This tradition was especially important for Walsh because his father was a third-generation champion; their relationship turned monstrously abusive when Walsh’s father realized his first-born did not display the necessary aggression.

Years of torment and beatings followed, along with grisly sexual abuse at the hands of an uncle. By adolescence, Walsh’s realization that he was actually gay made matters worse. He ultimately realized he must escape the confinement of his culture, which inherently necessitated fleeing his family. Despite this framework of personal misery, Walsh writes thoughtfully about his connection to this heritage, focusing on his tangled but less-vicious relationships with his mother, sister, younger brothers and extended family. Walsh tries to end on an uplifting note, but this portrait of violence and ignorance cloaked in cultural tradition may prove hard for readers to shake off.

A poignant memoir that bears comparison to the bestselling Running With Scissors—but better written and far darker.

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THE FIRST FRONTIER The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance In Early America

Weidensaul, Scott Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 8, 2012 978-0-151-01515-3

Creating a new civilization is a bloody, destructive and morally withering business; for proof, one need look no further than frontier American life.

In this comprehensive chronicle, Pulitzer Prize winner Weidensaul (Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding, 2007, etc.) sheds light on the shadowy world of pre-Revolutionary America, when the unconscionable chicanery of white explorers and settlers was met with horrific vengeance by the established Indian tribes. As straight history, it can be dry stuff, as the author’s arsenal of facts tends to slow him down. Nonetheless, Weidensaul weaves together an impressive number of true stories, bolstered by first and secondhand records and journals. Captain John Smith has a grimly funny account of a starving man who killed, seasoned and devoured own his wife: “Now whether shee was better roasted, boyled or carbonado’d, I know not, but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of.” There’s also the story of Richard Waldron, who had a special talent for cheating Indians but got a dread comeuppance when his victims slowly dismembered him, starting by slashing knives across his chest and saying, “I cross out my account.”

Another figure of lasting interest is Hannah Duston, who became a frontier hero (and a source of lasting controversy) when she killed 10 Indians (including children) in their sleep, as retribution for the murder of her infant daughter.

Students of early American history will be the most attentive audience for the book, but any reader who picks it up will get a very real picture of what it was like to live and die in the New World. (15 black-and-white illustrations; 9 maps)

NO CHEATING, NO DYING I Had a Good Marriage.

Then I Tried to Make It Better.

Weil, Elizabeth Scribner (192 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4391-6822-6

A frank examination of one woman’s marriage and how she tried to improve it.

What makes a good marriage? After 10 years with her husband, Dan, New York Times Magazine contributing writer Weil decided to find out. She could no longer view their relationship “like the waves on the ocean—a fact of life, determined by the sandbars below, shaped by destiny and the universe, not by me.” The author wanted to create her own future and discover if her “good” relationship could be improved. Using self-help books, visits to therapists and |

marriage-education classes, Weil embarked on a yearlong journey with Dan to explore all the facets of their relationship, opening the doors on their present and past lives. In a narrative that is part memoir and part counseling book, the author candidly discusses their intimacy, religions, anger, money and views on monogamy and death. Humorous stories of Dan’s obsessions with cooking, flamenco guitar playing, surfing and other athletic pursuits contrast with the personal pain they both felt and expressed at the loss of their unborn son. In the end, Weil writes that her marriage is “good enough”—a marriage “characterized by its capacity to allow spouses to keep growing, its ability to give the partners involved the strength and bravery required to face the world.”

A woman’s project to improve her marriage reveals she already has something good right in front of her.

WISH YOU WERE HERE Travels Through Loss and Hope

Welborn, Amy Image/Doubleday (256 pp.) $14.00 paperback | Feb. 7, 2012 978-0-307-71638-5 Catholic author and blogger Welborn’s (Listening to God with Blessed John Paul II, 2011, etc.) part travelogue, part family memoir written in the year following her husband’s sudden death in 2009.

Five months after the fatal heart attack of her husband, Michael, the author impulsively took a trip to Sicily with her children. They traveled from their home in Alabama in part because of Catholicism’s roots in Italy, where Welborn revisited biblical and personal experiences of hope and sorrow. She tethers her musings on religion with family vignettes and the longing for the quotidian details of their former life, such as Michael’s Saturday excursions with their sons to Sam’s Club for free food samples. Welborn’s directness is sometimes superfluous (“Dungeons are, of course, dark”), but her honesty, occasional humor and willingness to explore her contradictory emotions make her an engaging narrator. Instead of feeling sorry for herself and her children, she forged ahead, exploring a country had never visited. In a rental car, the family traveled from town to town, visiting churches and monuments. In lieu of writing scenes, however, Welborn summarizes conversations and encounters.

This makes the book feel more like a diary than a structured story, but her optimism and unwavering belief in the power of prayer give this memoir a cohesive theme.

Not especially illuminating, but this book may appeal to Christians interested in personal stories of finding hope after loss.

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“Anyone who lives in a home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom will delight in reading this history of the development of home life.” from if walls could talk

JOY THE BAKER COOKBOOK 100 Simple and Comforting Recipes Wilson, Joy Hyperion (208 pp.) $19.99 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-4013-1060-8

Wilson’s debut cookbook carries the same exuberant, humorous tone as her popular blog, coupled with beautiful photographs of her one-of-a-kind recipes.

As a celebration of butter and sugar, this cookbook is not for the faint of stomach or high of cholesterol. Recipes feature peanut butter and bacon cookies, avocado fries, strawberry cookie dough ice cream and coffee bacon. Displaying easy-to-follow recipes, Wilson believes that “(b)aking isn’t about high-tech gizmos. It’s about stepping into your kitchen with a monster sweet tooth and coaxing something beautiful out of the oven.”

With an upbeat, quirky tone, the author comes across as the perfect friend with whom to spend an afternoon baking cookies. But with quirkiness comes occasional disorganization, and the chapter contents seem a bit random at times. Wilson also includes important extra information about the recipes, including how long they will keep, what texture to strive for and when to let imperfections pass. In a chapter of kitchen tips, the author provides advice about whether you really need to sift that flour, what size eggs to use and why, and how to get the most out of fruit zest. Wilson offers surprising but delicious combinations: parmesan seaweed popcorn, peanut butter and jam milkshakes, vegan chocolate avocado cupcakes, chocolate black pepper goat cheese truffles, and sweet potato chocolate chip cookies. You have to love a cookbook that features an incredible one-person chocolate lava cake that is easy to make and dubbed the “single girl melty chocolate cake.”

A joyful, entertaining cookbook.

WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL?

Winterson, Jeanette Grove (240 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-8021-2010-6

Acclaimed novelist Winterson (The Battle of the Sun, 2010, etc.) revisits her difficult childhood as an adoptee, chronicling the search for her biological mother.

The author ponders her youth and examines how those challenging years changed and shaped her as an adult. Frequently locked out on the doorstep by her abusive, Pentecostal, adoptive mother or often told she was “a fault to heaven, a fault against the dead, and a fault to nature,” Winterson wondered if she had ever been wanted, by her biological or adoptive mother. The author struggled with the ebb and flow of Mrs. Winterson’s love, finding escape from her mood swings 2216

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in the local public library, where she devoured a wide variety of literature. When her secret stash of books was discovered and burned, Winterson rebelled by claiming she would write her own books one day. At age 16, she was kicked out of the house and forced to live in her car. Books and words brought comfort and led Winterson to Oxford and writing, but she descended into a deep depression when her lover left her. The search for her true identity and her birth mother helped bring her back from the darkness. Rich in detail and the history of the northern English town of Accrington, Winterson’s narrative allows readers to ponder, along with the author, the importance of feeling wanted and loved.

A moving, honest look at life as an abused adopted child.

(Author tour to Boston, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle)

IF WALLS COULD TALK An Intimate History of the Home

Worsley, Lucy Walker (368 pp.) $27.00 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-8027-7995-3

This masterful social history illustrates the lessons you could never have learned in school, and with a great deal more entertainment.

With inspired precision, historian Worsley (The Courtiers: Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace, 2010) entertainingly traces the expansion of the rooms of the house from medieval times to the present. As chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the author has opportunities not only to research upper-class habits through the centuries, but also to be able to physically experience the arduous lives of the lower-class men and women who served them. One of the great strengths of her book is the exposure of all levels of society throughout the history of England, with delightful notations of daily life most readers would not ponder: the food they ate, the way they cooked it, the privacy they lacked, the diseases they endured, etc. Just the fact that bathing was out of favor from 1500 to 1750 will make many readers appreciate living in modern times.

Many of today’s common necessities, such as the toilet, the dishwasher and the kitchen extractor fan, changed daily life in unimaginable ways. Even so, in 1960 only 60 percent of London homes had a refrigerator. The availability of an army of servants to manage a home faded as the opportunities for education and betterment lured the staff away from the scullery and the pantry. This lighthearted approach to the most intimate moments of our lives informs, amuses and titillates. Who could not be enthralled by the history of toilet paper?

Anyone who lives in a home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom will delight in reading this history of the development of home life. (16-page color insert; 42 blackand-white illustrations)

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children & teens ROBBIE FORESTER AND THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD STREET

Abrahams, Peter Philomel (320 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-399-25502-1

A girl obtains a magical charm that she and her newfound friends use to fight injustice in the form of a corrupt real-estate tycoon and his unscrupulous and violent cohorts.

Set in Brooklyn, this first-person thriller with fairy-tale and superhero elements begins when Robbie Forester, a seventh-grade girl, aids an old homeless woman and winds up with her small, heartshaped charm. Though it takes Robbie a while to understand the charm’s power, she soon begins to notice that the charm magically heats up in response to injustice and gives her, and later her friends, special powers. The friends, a multicultural crew who are given traits but for the most part lack souls (except for the stuttering TutTut), form a kind of merry band of thieves, vowing to fight injustice by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. They zero in on Sheldon Gunn, an avaricious real-estate developer who is raising rents and ejecting tenants from their homes and businesses all over the neighborhood. The suspense kicks hard during the adrenalinelaced final third, though the shifting nature of the power of the charm makes any outcome seem possible.

Still, what with Occupy Wall Street and the public’s fury at an economic system gone awry, it’s an apt idea for its moment. (Thriller. 10-14)

CROCODILE’S TEARS

Beard, Alex Illus. by Beard, Alex Abrams (48 pp.) $17.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0008-8

Rhino and Tickbird’s query about why Crocodile cries tears leads them from one animal to another, triggering troubling and provocative questions about Africa’s endangered habitats and its vanishing wildlife.

As Crocodile cries beside the Mburu River, Rhino asks Tickbird, “Why is Crocodile crying?” Rather than confront wily Crocodile, Tickbird sagely suggests asking a rare golden eagle, who believes Crocodile misses the trumpeting elephants. Rhino and Tickbird proceed to find an old elephant, who thinks Crocodile |

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misses singing tree frogs. A solo tree frog thinks Crocodile misses flitting blue butterflies. A lone butterfly thinks Crocodile misses giraffes crossing the savanna. A single giraffe thinks Crocodile misses cheetahs sprinting across the grasslands. Cheetah thinks Crocodile misses open spaces, and Ostrich refuses to answer, burying his head in the sand. Then Rhino makes the nearly fatal mistake of asking Crocodile why he cries. Beard’s strong use of textual repetition emphasizes the somber subtext that explores the “ongoing collapse of the wild and its inhabitants,” while his bold signature pen-and-watercolor illustrations rely on line, pattern and color in a primitive style that echoes some African folk art. Like a camera lens, strongly defined borders zero in on the action among Rhino, Tickbird and the endangered animals while droll expressions on animal faces add humorous touches to this cautionary tale.

Ecological storytelling at its finest. (author’s note, glossary of endangered animals with colored photos) (Picture book. 4-8)

I DON’T WANT TO BE A PEA!

Bonwill, Ann Illus. by Rickerty, Simon Atheneum (32 pp.) $14.99Jan. 13, 2011 978-1-4424-3614-5 In this sweet-but-sassy British import, Hugo the hippo and Bella the bird announce their intentions to attend the HippoBird (or Bird-Hippo) Fairy-Tale Fancy Dress Party disguised as the Princess and the Pea. Bella doesn’t want to be the pea to Hugo’s princess, of course (“too green and small”), so she decides she’ll be a mermaid and Hugo will be her rock. Hugo protests that rocks are “too gray and blobby”—despite obvious similarities between him and rocks that Bella isn’t shy to point out. Not long after their bickering ends in a snippy standoff, both separately reconsider…and both end up dressing as peas for the ball. This charming story of compromise is mostly a dialogue rendered in two typefaces, a rounder, more hippo-ish style for Hugo’s voice and a scrappier one for Bella’s.

The spare design, a fetching combination of inky black lines and blankets of saturated color, perfectly reflects the comical nature of the friends’ opposing perspectives. Rickerty has fun with color—at one point Bella paints Hugo orange (to be Cinderella’s pumpkin), and the next spread is a cheerful mess of orange hippo tracks and white Bella tracks. The copyright page shows a photograph of a bird and hippo together, a natural phenomenon no doubt inspiring Hugo’s opening line “All hippos have birds, and Bella is mine.”

A satisfying story of hippo-bird, bird-hippo friendship.

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“Painful, cathartic and cautiously hopeful; a fairy tale for those who have given up on believing in them, but still yearn for happily ever after.” from dragonswood

NEVER EIGHTEEN

highlights of restrained color to depict the urbane lad and his equally dapper companion making themselves comfortably at home in upper-crust digs.

A happy tale of domestic amity, with a well-set-up punchline. (Picture book. 6-8)

Bostic, Megan Graphia (204 pp.) $7.99 paperback | Jan. 16, 2012 978-0-547-55076-3 A boy decides he wants to live the last weeks of his life helping others get their own lives into better shape.

Unless they read the back cover of the book, readers won’t learn until late in the story that 17-year-old Austin is dying of leukemia.

Meanwhile, it becomes increasingly clear that Austin, thin and weak, has embarked on some kind of mission. Because he never got his driver’s license, he enlists best friend Kaylee to drive him around the Seattle area as he meets with people whom he knows have problems. While Kaylee waits in the car, Austin tries to talk them into making better decisions in their lives. He also treats Kaylee to some Seattle sights and an expensive dinner. Underneath it all, however, Austin looks for the courage to tell Kaylee that he loves her as more than a friend. But will he have time? Bostic writes this graceful, affecting tale without pretension, simply by focusing on Austin himself. She avoids the maudlin, merely writing a boy who knows what he wants and showing his family and his friends as they move toward the final scenes. Perhaps it’s because of that simplicity that the story concludes with such a powerful emotional punch.

There won’t be many dry eyes at the end of this extremely affecting story. (Fiction. 12-17)

ONE COOL FRIEND

Buzzeo, Toni Illus. by Small, David Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-8037-3413-5

Boy and Antarctic bird bond in a tongue-in-cheek tale keyed by artful misdirection.

Drawn to an aquarium’s penguin exhibit because the birds resemble his own tuxedo-wearing self, young Elliot secures permission from his (seemingly) distracted single dad to get a penguin. Rather than hit the gift shop, though, he pops a live one he dubs “Magellan” into his backpack. Using a hose, a backyard wading pool and an overpowered air conditioner, he sets up a rink in his bedroom. He stashes his diminutive new buddy amid frozen seafood in the fridge overnight, then leaves him splashing around in a tub of extra-cold water the next day. Crisis looms when Elliot’s still strangely oblivious father heads for the bathroom—but, as observers sharp enough to have picked up some subtle visual clues will understand, Magellan isn’t the only exotic animal in the house, and the old man has good reason to be more surprised than shocked to find himself sharing the tub with an interloper. In line with Buzzeo’s elegantly spare text, Small uses neutral washes with loosely drawn lines and 2218

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MICHAEL AT THE INVASION OF FRANCE, 1943

Calkhoven, Laurie Dial (240 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-8037-3724-2 Series: Boys of Wartime, 3

A young Parisian joins the French Resistance in this Boys of Wartime series entry.

Motivated equally by patriotism, hatred for the occupying boches and a desire to win the esteem of his absent father, Michael joins a friend in distributing taunting leaflets. His involvement in Resistance activities soon escalates into helping captured British and American airmen make their way to Spain. At first he acts only as a courier of forged identity documents, but later he helps first to slip a Jewish neighbor’s child out of the city, then hides an ailing American fugitive in his family’s apartment before accompanying him south over the Pyrenees. Meanwhile, he serves as a witness to the anxieties and physical hardships of wartime life under the Nazis, while seeing friends, neighbors and his own older brother taken away and ultimately earning sufficient self-esteem to lose his dependence on his father’s regard. Calkoven’s characters are simplified types, but she crafts an action-oriented plot that is suspenseful without being explicitly violent and is also well stocked with carefully researched details. A timeline and multiple notes at the end provide quick overviews of the tale’s historical background and the war’s overall course.

An absorbing adventure that wears its twin informational and character-development loads lightly. (map, glossary, reading list) (Historical fiction. 10-12)

DRAGONSWOOD

Carey, Janet Lee Dial (416 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-8037-3504-0

A dark fantasy illuminated by piercing flashes of hope builds upon the well-received Dragon’s Keep (2007), while standing complete on its own.

Tess has known little in her 17 years but brutality, grief and fear: the angry fists of her blacksmith father, the infant graves of her siblings and the ominous prophetic visions she sees in flames. As Wilde Island teeters toward political collapse and a vicious witchhunter sets her sights on Tess, she and her friends flee into kirkusreviews.com

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Dragonswood, the forbidden abode of dragons and the fey folk.

Even as they find refuge with a secretive woodward, the fairies keep calling to Tess… as if they had a duty only she could fulfill. Despite the romantic cover and lush, poetic prose, this is no adventure for the squeamish. Tess does not shy away from graphic descriptions of beatings, torture and grisly violence— and subtler betrayals, manipulation and callous disregard—that leave her scarred in body and soul. Yet for all her mistrust, selfloathing and cringing expectation of blows, Tess reveals a surprising strength and unflinching loyalty. While she does not extend an unrealistic forgiveness, she finds the courage to work with her abusers towards a greater goal; her tentative, hesitant love for the one person who treats her with kindness and respect is both touching and achingly bittersweet.

Painful, cathartic and cautiously hopeful; a fairy tale for those who have given up on believing in them, but still yearn for happily ever after. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

RIDING ON DUKE’S TRAIN

Carlon, Mick Leapfrog (162 pp.) $9.95 paperback | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-935248-06-4

Utilizing his encompassing knowledge of Ellington’s music, personnel and decades-long touring, Carlon (a veteran middle-school teacher) presents a kid’seye view whose drama centers on the band’s 1939 European tour.

Danny, orphaned at 9, stows away on Duke’s tour train.

Adopted as a gaffer and drum polisher, later becoming the composer’s musical copyist, Danny narrates a life of touring: exciting, sometimes boring, rich with musical highs and adoring fans worldwide. Schooled by band members in both reading (Dickens, Marcus Garvey) and trumpet lessons, Danny comes across a bit more as a vehicle for the rich chronicle than an authentic child with whom readers can identify. (Indeed, Carlon fashions Danny as an older man looking back at life with Duke; there’s an extraneous epilogue detailing a bucolic Irish retirement.) Danny’s awe is leavened by small adventures with such band friends as cornetist Rex Stewart and Rabbit (a.k.a. alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges). Tension ratchets during the tour abroad, as Belgians hide machine guns in haystacks and Nazis detain the band’s Scandinavian-bound train for hours in Hamburg. Carlon unflinchingly characterizes the Nazi hatred of “Niggermusik.”

Two references to the n-word contextualize it appropriately, as a reprehensible tool of Nazi hate speech.

In schools where students are lucky enough to experience classroom jazz studies, this title, combining rich musical history and a “you are there” approach, is a natural.

(Historical fiction. 8-12)

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LEO GEO AND HIS MIRACULOUS JOURNEY THROUGH THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Chad, Jon Illus. by Chad, Jon Roaring Brook (40 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-59643-661-9

The top geologist at the Fizzmont Institute of Rad Science takes a solo journey right through the planet. It’s science! With monsters!

This unusually sized book—4 1/2 inches high by 13 inches long— contains appropriately long, skinny black-and-white scenes replete with finely inked detail and is designed to be turned 90 degrees and read vertically. Chad sends his intrepid explorer—depicted as a tiny, round-headed outline figure with rubbery limbs—down (and, for the second half, up, after a 180-degree turn) a continuous winding tunnel defined by masses of individually drawn boulders, bones and embedded artifacts. The text is delivered in comic-book–style dialogue, with balloons of hard science (“There are three common types of lava: basaltic, andesitic, and rhyolitic….”) interspersed with exclamations (“Crawling Curies, look at those bones!”). The nattering narrator not only encounters geological wonders, but complex mining works, teeming cities of sluglike “Subvisors,” all sorts of decidedly weird-looking giant creatures, including a “Quadclops” so huge that the journey necessarily takes an alimentary turn, and a host of toothy subterranean and aquatic attackers. Fellow travelers will understand why Leo breaks into tears when at last he emerges on a hill above Taipei.

“Science is no walk in the park,” he rightly proclaims.

Also: “Long live geology!” (Graphic fiction/nonfiction hybrid. 7-10)

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Chin, Oliver Illus. by Wood, Jennifer Immedium (36 pp.) $15.95 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-1-59702-028-2 Series: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac, “Strong and passionate…idealistic and independent…”: These are some of the characteristics of Dragon-Year people in the Chinese Zodiac.

The 12-year cycle is well-known in North America because of the ubiquitous Chinese-restaurant placemats. This series has appeared annually to provide a back story for each animal, highlighting the personality traits that are said to influence the people born in particular years. Selecting some elements of Chinese culture, such as the Dragon Boat races that still take place today, the dragon’s power over water, the dragon’s legendary features as an amalgam of elements from the other real Zodiac animals and the pearl, a symbol of prosperity awarded at the end of the race, Chin weaves an original tale. It extols the dragon Dom’s talents and initiative as he helps the boy Bo and the |

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“Book creatures of all ages will love Otto and will enjoy wondering if any other of their books’ characters have a secret life.” from otto the book bear

other Zodiac figures work together and win the boat race, demonstrating that “dragons are energetic and shoulder responsibility well.” Humorous, motion-filled color illustrations are full of large-eyed, obnoxiously cute animals and funny-looking people that appear as if they have stepped out of an animated TV cartoon (Wood’s usual gig). None of the humans look particularly Chinese, and anachronistic elements such as a Polaroid-style photo of Dom pull the tale away from its traditional roots.

For those who want a sugar-coated, didactic Chinese New Year story. (Picture book. 4-7)

OTTO THE BOOK BEAR

Cleminson, Katie Illus. by Cleminson, Katie Disney Hyperion (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 31, 2012 978-1-4231-4562-2

Otto usually lives as an illustration of a book, but when no one is looking, he comes to life.

All is usually well when Otto explores the house—he can read other books, poke about the house and even type out a story on the typewriter. But when the bookshelf is cleared and the books placed in boxes ominously marked “ship to,” little Otto is separated from his book and must go out into the world alone. Drawing with inkfilled pipettes and watercolor against extensive white space, Cleminson’s emotional illustrations show just how lonely and tiny Otto is out in the world. On the inside, he is a comfortable, confident size, but out in the world, he is nearly lost in urban hubbub. Young readers will enjoy locating the tiny Otto and will identify with his fear and worry, especially when he is forced to take refuge in the darkness of a coffee cup, alongside an apple core. It’s only when he finds himself with books again, in the library, that Otto feels truly at home, with other “book creatures just like him.” Book creatures of all ages will love Otto and will enjoy wondering if any other of their books’ characters have a secret life.

A delight. (Picture book. 4-8)

SNEED B. COLLARD III’S MOST FUN BOOK EVER ABOUT LIZARDS

Collard III, Sneed B. Photos by Collard III, Sneed B. Charlesbridge (48 pp.) $16.95 | paper $7.95 | $6.99 e-book Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-58089-324-4 978-1-58089-325-1 paperback 978-1-60734-084-3 e-book This lively, information-packed introduction to the world of lizards describes their surprising variety and life in the wild and offers cautions from a long-time reptile fan for those who want to keep lizards as pets.

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Collard, who introduced middle-grade readers to Mesozoic reptiles with Reign of the Sea Dragons (2008), turns his attention here to modern-day lizards. After presenting an exemplar, “Joe Lizard,” a western fence lizard, he goes on to describe other well-known species, including Komodo dragons, Gila monsters, chameleons and iguanas, as well as some with unusual talents, including “religious lizards” that can walk on water. He covers eating and being eaten, the ways saurians keep warm and reproduce, and threats to their survival. His information is solid and clearly organized but conveyed in a relatively lengthy, chatty narrative whose occasional exaggerations may surprise some readers, who will need his warning, “Just kidding.” Sentences trail off into ellipses, encouraging readers to keep turning the pages. Most of the appealing and well-reproduced photographs were taken by the author. Close-ups show lizard characteristics (the break line for a new tail, a monitor’s forked tongue); longer shots show them in their natural habitat. Captions and sidebars add further information.

For readers intrigued by Nic Bishop Lizards (2010), this may lead to true lizard-love. (suggested resources, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-13)

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF BLACK PETER

Conan Doyle, Arthur Illus. by Rohrback, Sophie & Morrow, JT Graphic Universe (48 pp.) $6.95 paperback | $19.95 e-book PLB $27.93 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-7100-7 978-0-7613-8742-8 e-book 978-0-7613-7092-5 PLB Series: On the Case with Holmes and Watson, 11 A bit of nautical skullduggery leads to a brutal former sea captain’s murder in this graphic adaptation.

Consistent with series formula, it is retold in easy-to-follow framed panels of various sizes and shapes interspersed with prose transitions and capped by analyses of the significant clues. This case has Holmes and Watson helping a novice police inspector nab a hulking tar who left his victim pinned to a wall with a harpoon. The resultant confession reveals murky deeds in the pasts of both mariners. The gruesome elements here and in the co-published #12, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Cardboard Box, are not explicitly depicted, and the simply drawn art’s dark palette gives the visuals a muted look. Characters have an unfortunately cartoony look; Holmes, in particular, lacks the expected gravitas. Still, the plots remain intact, and the language and settings have a properly period flavor.

Budding Holmesians not yet ready to tackle the originals will certainly get a taste of what’s in store. (map, reading list) (Graphic mystery. 10-12)

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★★★

★★★★

★★★

aRoUND thE WoRLD

by Matt Phelan

NaaMah aND thE aRK at NIGht

by Susan Campbell Bartoletti illustrated by Holly Meade

Who has What?

All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies

by Robie H. Harris illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

HC: 978-0-7636-3619-7 • $24.99 ($28.00 CAN)

HC: 978-0-7636-4242-6 • $16.99 ($19.00 CAN)

Kirkus Reviews • Booklist Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books School Library Journal

The Horn Book • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist

HC: 978-0-7636-2931-1 • $15.99 ($18.00 CAN)

wick Pr e l d e an shines bright

ss

C

Kirkus Reviews • Booklist • School Library Journal

★★★★

★★★

a MoNstER CaLLs by 2011 Carnegie Medalist Patrick Ness inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd illustrated by Jim Kay

thE FLINt hEaRt

by Katherine and John Paterson illustrated by John Rocco HC: 978-0-7636-4712-4 • $19.99 ($23.00 CAN) • Also available in audio

Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews School Library Journal

HC: 978-0-7636-5559-4 • E-book: 978-0-7636-5633-1 $16.99 ($19.00 CAN) • Also available in audio

Booklist • Kirkus Reviews Publishers Weekly • School Library Journal

★★★★★

stEaMpUNK! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant HC: 978-0-7636-4843-5 • E-book: 978-0-7636-5638-6 • $22.99 ($26.00 CAN) Also available in audio

Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books School Library Journal

★★★★

★★★

LIFE: aN ExpLoDED DIaGRaM

by Mal Peet

thE WatCh that ENDs thE NIGht Voices from the Titanic

by Allan Wolf

HC: 978-0-7636-5227-2 • E-book: 978-0-7636-5631-7 $17.99 ($20.00 CAN) • Also available in audio

Kirkus Reviews • Booklist Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books School Library Journal

HC: 978-0-7636-3703-3 • $22.99 ($25.00 CAN) • Also available in audio

The Horn Book • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist

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C H I L DR E N

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2011 Best Books for Teens With shelves fairly groaning under the weight of paranormal love triangles, it may be easy to think that books for teens are all the same these days. Not so, we are delighted to report. Here you’ll find soulful romance of the utterly normal kind, deliciously frothy historical novels, piercingly intelligent nonfiction, thrillingly inventive fantasy and science fiction and some great kickass horror, as well as some books that may leave you weeping with laughter. Make sure to visit www.KirkusReviews. com for the complete reviews, as well as author Q&A’s, essays and more.

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DREAMLAND SOCIAL CLUB

Tara Altebrando Dutton (Fiction. 14 & up)

BROOKLYN BURNING

Steve Brezenoff Carolrhoda Lab (Fiction. 14 & up)

BLACK & WHITE: The Confrontation Between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor Larry Dane Brimner Calkins Creek (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

I AM J

Cris Beam Little Brown (Fiction. 14 & up)

CHIME

Franny Billingsley Dial (Fantasy. 14 & up)

ANYA’S GHOST

Vera Brosgol illustrated by the author First Second (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD

Kendare Blake Tor (Paranormal adventure. 12 & up)

BOOTLEG: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition Karen Blumenthal Flash Point/ Roaring Brook (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

STRINGS ATTACHED Judy Blundell Scholastic (Historical fiction.

14 & up)

BEAUTY QUEENS Libba Bray Scholastic (Fiction. 14 & up) teens

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QUEEN OF HEARTS Martha Brooks Farrar Straus & Giroux (Historical fiction.

12 & up)

TEXAS GOTHIC

Rosemary Clement-Moore Delacorte (Paranormal mystery.

12-15)

IF I COULD FLY

THIS THING CALLED THE FUTURE

Judith Ortiz Cofer Farrar Straus & Giroux (Fiction. 11-15)

THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING

J.L. Powers Cinco Puntos (Fiction. 12 & up)

TILT

Catherynne M. Valente Feiwel & Friends (Fantasy. 10-14)

I.M. PEI: ARCHITECT OF TIME, PLACE, AND PURPOSE

Alan Cumyn Groundwood (Fiction. 13-16)

WINTER TOWN

ISLAND’S END

Padma Venkatraman Putnam (Fiction. 12 & up)

Jill Rubalcaba Marshall Cavendish (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

Stephen Emond illustrated by the author Little Brown (Fiction. 13 & up)

OUT OF SHADOWS Jason Wallace Holiday House (Historical fiction.

14 & up)

BUNHEADS

Sophie Flack Poppy (Fiction. 13 & up)

THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS

TIGHTER

Marcus Sedgwick Roaring Brook (Horror. 14 & up)

THE FITZOSBORNES IN EXILE

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY

Michelle Cooper Knopf (Historical fiction. YA

Ruta Sepetys Philomel (Historical fiction.

12 & up, adult)

VIRTUOSITY STAY WITH ME

Paul Griffin Dial (Fiction. 14 & up)

WHY WE BROKE UP

Daniel Handler illustrated by Maira Kalman Little Brown (Romance. 14 & up)

MANGAMAN

Barry Lyga illustrated by Colleen Doran Houghton Mifflin (Graphic fiction.

13 & up)

Lynn Weingarten HarperTeen (Paranormal romance.

12 & up)

WHITE CROW

Adele Griffin Knopf (Fiction. 12 & up)

Guadalupe García McCall Lee & Low (Verse fiction. 12 & up)

FINDING SOMEWHERE

Joseph Monninger Delacorte (Fiction. 11 & up)

ASHFALL

Mike Mullin Tanglewood (Speculative fiction.

14 & up)

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Michael Williams Little Brown (Fiction. 12 & up)

MISFIT

Simon Pulse Jessica Martinez (Fiction. 14 & up)

UNDER THE MESQUITE

NOW IS THE TIME FOR RUNNING

Jon Skovron Amulet (Urban fantasy.

14 & up)

A MONSTER CALLS Patrick Ness illustrated by Jim Kay Candlewick (Fiction. 11-14)

THE SCORPIO RACES

BLINK & CAUTION

Maggie Stiefvater Scholastic (Fantasy. 13-18)

Tim Wynne-Jones Candlewick (Mystery. YA)

DELIRIUM

THE ISLE OF BLOOD

Lauren Oliver Harper (Science fiction. 14 & up.)

LIFE: An Exploded Diagram

Mal Peet Candlewick (Fiction. 14 & up)

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Rick Yancey Simon & Schuster (Horror. 14 & up)

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE Laini Taylor Little Brown (Fantasy. 13-16)

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UNRAVELING ISOBEL

Cook, Eileen Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-1-4424-1327-6 This blend of paranormal romance, murder mystery and quirky, coming-ofage narrative offers tasty moments, but the elements prove incompatible, leaving a bad taste in mouths.

Thanks to her mother’s abrupt remarriage, Isobel, a budding artist, must finish high school on a small island in the Pacific Northwest where her new stepfather, Richard Wickham, and his gorgeous son, Nathaniel, reside in an incongruously Gothic mansion with a troubled history. Past residents and visitors have disappeared here, including—seven months ago—Richard’s wife and daughter. Nate and Isobel’s mutual resentment quickly morphs into mutual attraction, complicated by the attentions to Nate of Nicole, the island’s über cheerleader and social queen bee. Not nice, but Isobel has bigger worries, like the ghost appearing in her bedroom who wants something from her and Richard’s growing conviction that Isobel has inherited her father’s schizophrenia. Veering between breezy, humorous teen and shivery paranormality, Isobel’s voice—that snarky tone of humorous exasperation so common in YA literature—clashes with the increasingly serious, violent subject matter: troubled ghosts, brutal crimes and “lessons learned” about mental illness, standing up to bullies and overcoming fear.

As she did in The Education of Hailey Kendrick (2011), Cook gives readers a fast-paced plot, likable narrator and interesting characters, but even first-rate ingredients can’t save a flawed recipe. (Suspense. 14 & up)

HANS MY HEDGEHOG A Tale from the Brothers Grimm

Coombs, Kate Illus. by Nickle, John Atheneum (40 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-1-4169-1533-1

Hans, half hedgehog and half human, lives as a hermit, deep in a forest with a rooster steed and an entourage of pigs, happily playing his fiddle, until two kings make promises that send him looking for his just reward: a princess.

This unusual Grimm adaptation utilizes traditional fairytale treatments (lyrical language, graceful lettering) alongside innovative artistic choices (embedded paneling, sharp spot art). Inset oval illustrations, framed with blurred edging, draws eyes, while coal-black silhouetted scenes contribute to storytelling, adding even more depth to rich acrylic illustrations. Flecked, smudged backgrounds look like fibrous paper and complement the pictures’ prevalent, ripe oranges, yellows, reds and blues. Plump, puppetlike people might seem dated, |

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but Hans breaks from old-school fairy-tale renderings as a contemporary character; he’s cute, comical and soulful enough to seem both freakish and sad. To older children, just seeing lines drawn between insiders and outsiders, between the attractive and unattractive, Hans’ story seems grave. While the ending is completely expected, readers can’t help loving it and even giving up a little gasp. When a kind princess inspires magical music from Hans’ fiddle, he transforms into an entirely human hottie—and even looks like his old spiky self, with red tufted hair and a scratchy beard!

Prickly, a bit funny and a bit dark: classic Grimm, modernized. (author’s note) (Picture book/fairy tale. 4-10)

THE WAY WE FALL

Crewe, Megan Hyperion (304 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-1-4231-4616-2

An introverted girl’s struggle with isolation mirrors her island’s quarantine during a mysterious, deadly epidemic.

Kaelyn prefers observing wildlife to having a social life, as human interactions baffle the closed-off teen. She’s in the odd position of pseudo–new kid, since she has moved back to her hometown, a small island community, after a few years living in a different city. Worse, she and her childhood best friend haven’t spoken in years, and she’s lost the chance to reconcile as he has left for school. Her personal resolution to connect with others comes right as getting near people becomes dangerous—a new virus is rapidly spreading by human contact, killing nearly all infected. Soon the government forcibly quarantines the island. Residents respond in a variety of ways, some trying to help him and others doing anything for personal survival. Crewe (Give Up the Ghost, 2009) utilizes a less-is-more approach, subtly closing the walls in on the characters as they run out of resources. The narrative consists of Kaelyn’s letters she’ll never send, addressed to her estranged best friend. While the entries sometimes read less like letters than prose, the focused perspective enhances the claustrophobic atmosphere. An abrupt ending neglects some story aspects but nicely completes Kaelyn’s social arc.

Readers will root for the believable characters struggling through heartbreaking situations. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

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“Fast-paced action, a sympathetic main character and appealing alternate reality combine here for a kid-friendly introduction to a classic.” from last of the gullivers

LAST OF THE GULLIVERS

Crocker, Carter Philomel (240 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-399-24231-1

Young readers won’t need to have read Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels to enjoy this fantasy about a contemporary kid who comes across a village of Lilliputians by accident.

Twelve-year-old Michael Pine suffers from a lack of imagination, and who could blame him? His uncle shows no interest in him except for his stipend for caring for the boy, the local gang presses him to complete an initiation by robbing a store and he doesn’t otherwise see much hope for the future.

That is, until he stumbles upon a tiny village in the backyard of the town eccentric, Lemuel Gulliver. Michael’s struggles to cope with accusations (some false, some true), keep his job at a grocery store and avoid the gang become compounded by his taking the responsibility of protecting the Lilliputians. Swiftian satire isn’t completely absent here (the Lilliputian community devolves into a useless war, while the people in Michael’s world experience their own power struggles), but the focus is more on character development than political commentary. Michael is the one character everyone else in the story relies on (Mr. Fenn at the store, his uncle who needs the stipend, the Lilliputians and even the gang, whose members lack smarts), and it’s satisfying when he comes into his own to save the little people, sticking up for himself in the process.

Fast-paced action, a sympathetic main character and appealing alternate reality combine here for a kid-friendly introduction to a classic. (Magical adventure. 10-14)

GRAFFITI MOON

Crowley, Cath Knopf (272 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-375-86953-2 978-0-375-98365-8 e-book 978-0-375-96953-9 PLB Alternating narrators and snatches of poetry tell the tale of love among graffiti artists.

Lucy has been searching for the mysterious graffiti artist Shadow, whose work seems to address her fear of romance. Unfortunately, the only guy who knows how to track him down is Ed, whose nose Lucy broke at the end of a disastrous date. Ed knows how to track down Shadow because he is Shadow—a secret he hopes to keep from Lucy while he leads her around town revisiting old haunts. When Lucy discovers that Ed has been lying to her, she must deal with her conflicted feelings over the artist and the annoying man. Readers will quickly realize that Ed and Shadow are one and the same, a fact that Crowley reveals fairly early on. With that mystery stripped away, Ed is difficult to like, lacking both a strong personality and emotional 2226

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resonance. His difficulty at school due to dyslexia smacks of pandering and isn’t well integrated into the overall story. Lucy’s personality is slightly more developed; glassblowing is a talent not often seen in teen fiction. However, Crowley’s divided narrative doesn’t suit the characters, and the decision to intersperse poems into the mix further fractures their interactions.

There’s splashes of color, but teens will find their interest washes out rapidly. (Fiction. 13 & up)

CARL AT THE DOG SHOW

Day, Alexandra Illus. by Day, Alexandra Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.) $14.99 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-374-31083-7 Series: Carl the Dog, Mischievous Madeleine and her canine companion, Carl the Rottweiler, attend a dog show in this latest entry in the long-running series.

Madeleine, a little girl of 4 or 5, is given permission by her mother to wander through the dog-show arena with Carl’s help, meeting up later to watch Carl’s brother in competition. Madeleine rides on Carl’s back as they amble through the grooming and bathing areas, grabbing supplies and splashing in a washing tub. They visit display booths and vendors selling dog supplies, including a particularly intriguing booth selling coordinating costumes for dogs and their owners. Their journey concludes as Madeleine rides on Carl’s back to meet her mother, who again is clueless as to the adventures her daughter and dog have just experienced. The three final pages show thumbnail sketches with the names of all the dog breeds shown in the busy illustrations of the dog-show setting. There are just a few lines of text at the beginning and end, spoken by the mother and the other dog owner, so young readers and adults sharing the story can make up their own version of Madeleine and her dog’s adventures.

Carl and his concept are getting a bit long in the tooth, but fans of the series and Rottweiler owners will still find Carl a charming canine character. (Picture book. 3-5)

LITTLE BUNNY FOO FOO The Real Story Doerrfeld, Cori Illus. by Doerrfeld, Cori Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-8037-3470-8

Ever a guilty pleasure anyway, the popular but violent preschool hand rhyme takes a gothic turn in this startling iteration.

Doerrfeld concocts an oh-so-sweet visual story line for the lyric, setting a snub-nosed, big-eyed bunny baker off in pursuit of a crew of cute little cupcake rustlers. At first Little Bunny delivers only gentle cuffs with her oven mitt as she recovers the cupcakes, and she shows remorse when the pink-haired, pink-cheeked Good kirkusreviews.com

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Fairy descends to warn that she’ll be turned into a monster if she keeps it up. But as the mice, joined by several birds and squirrels, continue to snatch bites, Foo Foo’s mild annoyance intensifies to such outright rage that the climactic transformation definitely turns out to be a tactical mistake on the Good Fairy’s part. Bright, simply painted pictures set the chase on a pleasant sward with an open, woodsy backdrop populated by relentlessly adorable little creatures, none of whom appear to be more than momentarily discomforted by all that bopping.

Never have expectations been more thoroughly set up, and then gleefully confounded. (Picture book. 4-6)

WHEN MY BABY DREAMS

Enersen, Adele Illus. by Enersen, Adele Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (48 pp.) $14.99 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-06-207175-0 A picture book inspired by Enersen’s popular blog, which features artistic and whimsical photographs of her daughter, Mila.

The narrative begins, “These are Mila’s dreams.” Each page spread that follows features a photograph of a sleeping Mila with fabrics and household items arranged around her to create a scene intended to represent her dreams and an accompanying explanation. For example, a photograph of Mila in which she sleeps atop a fabric skyscraper and grasps a tiny car in her hand is accompanied by the following text: “When my baby dreams of being big… / she grows tall enough to take over the city.” In the next photo, sleeping Mila is placed on a black background filled with stars made of aluminum foil and a couple of colorful planets. A paper plate behind Mila’s head makes her look like an astronaut. In this dream, she is “gigantic enough to conquer the universe.” It is not surprising that Enersen’s quirky, creative photographs trough a large audience to her blog. The babies and preschoolers, however, for whom this book was presumably designed, will likely find much less appeal in this series of photos of one sleeping baby. The prose serves primarily to transition between photos and is also likely to appeal much more to parents than to their little ones.

Not the first book for adults to masquerade as a children’s book, but one of the more interesting. (Picture book. 4-8)

EMILY AND CARLO

Figley, Marty Rhodes Illus. by Stock, Catherine Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $15.95 | $9.99 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-58089-274-2 978-1-60734-075-1 e-book

modern readers may harbor of Miss Dickinson. As Figley draws forth their gathering affection, she reveals important aspects of Dickinson’s relationship to the world, her deep-running shyness that led to a reclusive life. But her time with Carlo, some 16 years, was full of beauty and meaning, as expertly coaxed from her poems and letters. The path to her brother’s house, “just wide enough for two who love”; “I started early, took my dog, / And visited the sea.” They were a couple, surely—they shared sweeps of time, they endured separations, they went calling—and when the end came for Carlo, Dickinson did not dodge the sting: “ ‘Twas my one glory— / Let it be / Remembered / I was owned of thee.” And if a moodiness still pervades the proceedings, something blue, the tone is lifted by Stock’s watercolors, which are as drenched in color as a sun room painted by Childe Hassam.

A pleasing little window into Dickinson’s life and an invitation to learn more about the fresh-breathed poet from Amherst. (Picture book/biography. 5-8)

A DIAMOND IN THE DESERT

Fitzmaurice, Kathryn Viking (256 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-670-01292-3

In episodic bursts, a Nisei lad describes two and a half years of making do in a World War II–era relocation camp.

Swept off his family’s West Coast farm in the wake of Pearl Harbor and resettled along with thousands of other Japanese Americans in Arizona, 12-year-old Tetsu quietly waits with his mother and his beloved little sister, Kimi, for his father, who has been interned in another camp. At Gila River, he makes friends and enthusiastically pitches in to clear and construct a baseball field. When he accidentally allows Kimi to run off into the desert and she comes down with a severe case of Valley Fever, he drops off the team and even discards his treasured Mel Ott glove. Incorporating information and specific incidents drawn from interviews with former camp residents, Fitzmaurice has Tetsu describe his experiences and feelings in restrained vignettes threaded with poetic language—”Kimi looked at me with those eyes that always found the good part of things.” The outlook does brighten at last after his father appears as the war winds down, and Tetsu picks up bat and glove again in time to compete against other camps’ teams.

A simply drawn picture of a shameful chapter in this country’s race relations, sharing a theme with Ken Mochizuki’s classic, angry Baseball Saved Us (1993) but less an indictment than a portrait of patience in adversity. (afterword, source list) (Historical fiction. 10-12)

Emily Dickinson did have a love interest. His name was Carlo.

He was a dog, a Newfoundland, a great, slobbering, shaggy mess of a creature, which undercuts any notions of primness |

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BRENDAN BUCKLEY’S SIXTH-GRADE EXPERIMENT

Frazier, Sundee T. Delacorte (288 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-385-74050-0 978-0-375-89930-0 e-book 978-0-375-98949-0 PLB A few months older and proud owner of Einstein, a small, green anole, the eponymous budding scientist of Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It, winner of the 2007 Coretta Scott King/ John Steptoe New Talent Award, returns to grapple with new challenges in this likable sequel.

Last seen, Brendan had reclaimed his estranged grandfather, helping to heal the longstanding family rift arising from his parents’ interracial marriage. Entering middle school, Brendan’s goals are more universal and more daunting: negotiating puberty and fitting in with his peers. Complicating matters is his equally science-minded classmate Morgan, who has a major crush on him. Paired with her for a science project (cow poop is central), Brendan worries their friendship will alienate his guy friends. His parents have their own obsessions—gaining official approval to adopt a baby (Mom) and carving time from work to earn a college degree (Dad). Middle schoolers and science projects make for enjoyably combustible fiction, as Greg Leitich Smith demonstrated in Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo (2003).

Underlying Frazier’s light and humorous tone lies a serious question science can’t answer: Why does Dad focus only Brendan’s martial-arts training, ignoring his scientific achievements?

The role of racism and family history is key in shaping these multifaceted characters, but it is largely left for readers to infer.

Events may be less dramatic than realistically nuanced, and pacing is relaxed, but appealing Brendan should keep readers fully engaged. (science notes on biomass, anoles) (Fiction. 9-12)

CAN I BRING WOOLLY TO THE LIBRARY, MS. REEDER?

Grambling, Lois G. Illus. by Love, Judy Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $6.95 | $6.99 e-book Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-58089-281-0 978-1-58089-282-7 paperback 978-1-60734-074-4 e-book

the library, Ms. Reeder? Can I? PLEASE?!” Unfortunately, Ms. Reeder never has an opportunity to respond or encourage the child to use the word “may.” Instead, the boy lists the things Woolly might do in the library, from practicing his letters to getting a library card and participating in Story Hour. Imaginative scenarios depicting Woolly learning that he may not bellow in the library or thump around do not mask the didactic text.

At least one comment—“being read to will help Woolly with his reading, too”—is clearly aimed at adults. Animated spreads illustrating Woolly tackling library tasks will tickle youngsters, but, in a questionable scene they will not understand, Woolly shakes down a patron for fines. Readers will sigh with relief when the boy announces that Woolly will not be visiting the library after all, only to turn the page to hear the child ask, “Can I bring Saber to the library, Ms. Reeder? Can I? PLEASE?!”

For a more child-friendly romp through the library, try No T. Rex in the Library by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa (2010). (Picture book. 5-8)

MOONLIGHT

Griffith, Helen V. Illus. by Dronzek, Laura Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-06-203285-0 978-0-06-203286-7 PLB A sleepy rabbit hops to his burrow just before the moon appears to cast its light on trees, mountains and streams.

Quatrains with alternating rhyme set a lulling rhythm that evokes the dark, dreamy nighttime world captured in Dronzek’s murky, chunky acrylic illustrations. Unabashed strokes of yellow moonlight highlight dusky scenes, while solid lines carve out sweetly sleeping animals snug in their homes. Craggy rocks rise distinctly behind mountain goats; a resolute ring of trees circles resting meadow deer; round-eyed raccoons peer innocently out from their hollow tree. Warmth emanates from pages dominated by rather gloomy blues, greens, grays, browns and purples, thanks to the animals’ gentle curvatures and benign expressions.

Moonlight coats everything like butter, according to the poem, and some readers might find this repeated analogy slippery. Sleek actions words (slide, skim, skid, skip, sucks, skitter, slip, seeps) and their slithery consonants suggest something slighter, stealthier—something less thick and drippy than butter. When moonlight finally falls inside rabbit’s hole, it coats his pleasingly punchy radish, strawberry and flower dreams with butter. Their cheery brightness elevates this book’s somnolent mood for a final frolic: Rabbit wakes up raring for a moondance under the skies.

Soothing for sleepy-time; as soft as butter. (Picture book. 0-5)

As an introduction to the library, the book’s plot runs long and sometimes misses the intended audience.

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“A story like a good lesson horse: easy, pleasant, workmanlike, well-suited to beginning and intermediate riders—er, readers.” from bramble and maggie

SINGLED OUT

Griffiths, Sara Bancroft Press (192 pp.) $19.95 | paper $14.95 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-1-890862-95-4 978-1-890862-96-1 paperback Taylor, 17, has great talent as a baseball pitcher.

However, Taylor is a girl who’s just earned a scholarship to a posh, historically all-boys’ school. There she has a chance to improve her normally abysmal academic performance and to attract the attention of important college scouts.

She finds the baseball easy and the academics challenging, but she quickly learns about her real difficulty: avoiding the traps set by a clique of boys that dominates the school. The boys want Taylor and two other new girl students out. First they frame Gabby, the new girl basketball player, as a thief. Taylor knows she’s next. She doesn’t believe she can trust Sam, who appears to be the leader of the clique, although he saves her from their first attempt. Is Sam friend or foe? Griffiths writes in deliberately unadorned prose in order to attract reluctant readers. Her story, however, reflects Taylor’s dignity and never panders to immature readers, demonstrating a keen understanding of and respect for her audience. Her sentences may be simple, but her story is not. Taylor shows courage and determination as she remains wary of her fellow students yet decides to risk taking Sam’s offered help. The suspense will keep even reluctant readers hooked as Taylor seeks both revenge and success.

A solid effort with appeal to a wide audience. (Fiction. 12 & up)

BRAMBLE AND MAGGIE Horse Meets Girl

Haas, Jessie Illus. by Friend, Alison Candlewick (56 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-7636-4955-5

A bored lesson horse finds understanding.

Some riders look for the perfect horse. Bramble is looking for the perfect rider. Fed up with circling the ring at her lesson barn, with jumping and with insensitive children, Bramble begins a campaign of passive resistance until the stable owner Mrs. Blenkinsop (a hard name for beginning readers!) puts her up for sale. But Bramble doesn’t like the first riders that try her, either: One is too bossy, the other—horrors!—expects her to jump. Enter Maggie, who tries to figure out what Bramble wants. When Bramble goes too fast, Maggie apologizes— ”My mistake. I didn’t mean for you to go that fast”—and asks again. When Bramble shrinks from a snake in the yard, Maggie explains that it’s really a water hose. And when Bramble doesn’t want to be alone in her new stall, Maggie spends the night. Other than the improbable-but-cute ending, Haas’ latest |

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hits all the right notes, combining accurate horse information with the impossible longing of horse-crazy young girls. Friend’s cartoonish watercolors, which appear on nearly every page of this upper-level early-reader, convey affection and sympathy for stubborn Bramble and sweet Maggie.

A story like a good lesson horse: easy, pleasant, workmanlike, well-suited to beginning and intermediate riders— er, readers. (Early reader. 5-8)

HALLOWED

Hand, Cynthia HarperTeen (416 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-06-199618-4 Series: Unearthly, 2 Readers who enjoyed the steadfast characters, plotting and romance of Unearthly (2010) can expect more of the same in this equally satisfying sequel.

Picking up after the fire in which she rescued rodeo star Tucker, discovered that Christian (the boy from her dreams) is an angel like her and failed to fully realize her “purpose” as an angel, Clara Gardner faces her senior year with a new set of problems. She’s started having a different set of dreams, which reveal that someone close to her is about to die.

As she tries to piece together clues and a new purpose from the dreams, she must also be on constant watch for the evil fallen angel (known as a Black Wing) Samjeeza. Although it’s clear which direction Clara’s increasingly petulant younger brother, Jeffrey, is heading, occasional literary and pop references (“First rule of Angel Club, you do not talk about Angel Club”) keep the first-person narration snappy. As in the first novel, unexpected twists lead to surprising revelations (this time helping Clara learn more about the lives of angels and her own special angel qualities), and the incessant conflict between destiny and free will drives Clara’s actions—and heart.

While it’s readers’ fate to wait for a third book in the series, they’ll do so willingly to discover the answers to lingering secrets. (Paranormal romance. 13-17)

THE ADVENTURES OF BEANBOY

Harkrader, Lisa Illus. by Harkrader, Lisa Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (240 pp.) $9.99 | Feb. 9, 2012 978-0-547-55078-7 Can drawing the winning entry for a comic-book contest solve all of Tucker MacBean’s problems?

Actually, the seventh-grader’s ever-growing list of obstacles becomes the pressure cooker in which his own true character takes on power. This revelation becomes the kernel of truth |

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needed to make his comic-book avatar, Beanboy, a winner.

Harkrader builds realistic settings of complicated family relationships without requiring them to take center stage, including single-parent homes, special-needs siblings, living with grandparents and poverty. The action ramps up when the class bully, Sam Zawicki, is hired to babysit Tucker’s younger brother, Beecher.

Although there are an abundance of minor characters, it is the turbulent relationship between Tucker and Sam, crackling with villainous energy even as it warms, that sets the story’s pace. As Tucker’s real problems start to multiply, tension builds in his developing comic book—and with the contest deadline looming, Beanboy has not proven his mettle. The resolution of multiple problems, however, seems to fall like dominoes once Tucker sticks up for Sam at the school dance. Tucker realizes his own power to solve problems, resulting in an epiphany that contributes to be successful end to both his and Beanboy’s adventures.

With a full comic adventure that includes a farting superhero, this is an excellent recommendation for kids transitioning between graphic novels and traditional books.

(Fiction. 8-12)

WHAT BOYS REALLY WANT

Hautman, Pete Scholastic (304 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-545-11315-1

High-school student Adam Merchant is writing a small volume on what boys and girls really want, an irresistible topic for his classmates.

It takes him a whole month to write it, but lifting much of the information from a Miz Fitz advice-column blog makes the work go much faster.

When finished, the $10 self-published work becomes so popular it attracts the attention of a real publisher. Little does Adam know that his on-and-off-again friend Lita Wold is Miz Fitz, who’s not thrilled when she realizes that Adam has stolen her words. Told in Adam’s and Lita’s alternating voices, this is 300-plus pages of tedious teen banter over what boys and girls really think, plus a disappointingly mind-numbing subplot that finds Dennis liking Blair while Lita thinks he ought to like Emily, and other highschool drama. Originally, as explained in the acknowledgments, Hautman was to write Adam’s part, and a female writer was going to write Lita’s part, but the project was dropped when it became no longer fun. Years later, the project was revived, but it’s still not fun, though it has its moments of humor and will certainly appeal to teen readers looking for an easy read and cheap thrills.

A title that ought to be as appealing as the book Adam publishes but isn’t; Hautman is capable of far better. (Fiction. 13-17)

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LOVE? MAYBE.

Hepler, Heather Dial (272 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-0-8037-3721-1 An emotionally constipated girl falls in love.

Although she was born on Valentine’s Day, Piper Paisley believes that “being hopeful is just a big setup for disappointment.” Not that she doesn’t come by her skepticism about love honestly. She’s watched her mother’s two marriages fall apart and felt the pain of losing both her father figures, men who she thought really cared about her. Because of this unconscious fear of rejection, Piper is the “queen of pushing people away,” coming up with superficial Seinfeld-like reasons to rebuff any male who finds her attractive. But the people who love Piper aren’t about to let her stay in her shell forever, and this emergence is the heart of the novel. Despite the its good intentions, the book lacks spice, and not much tension is generated in this earnest story of emotional awakening. Perhaps it’s because the characters, though sometimes misguided, are essentially so well meaning that readers cannot ever doubt that the whole thing will end with a lesson learned and a group hug.

The particular lesson, that while “hearts are delicate,” they’re also “amazingly resilient,” is nevertheless valid, and while the story won’t attract readers outside of a narrow demographic, girls in need of emotional comfort should find it satisfying. (Fiction. 12 & up)

CHOMP

Hiaasen, Carl Knopf (304 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-375-86842-9 978-0-375-89895-2 e-book 978-0-375-96842-6 PLB Lots of kids think they live in a zoo; Wahoo Cray actually does.

Wahoo’s dad, Mickey, was the best wild-animal wrangler in south Florida until an iguana, frozen solid in a flash freeze, fell from a tree and conked him on the head. Now, Mickey has migraines and double vision, and the family’s in such dire financial straits that Wahoo’s mother has taken a temporary job teaching Mandarin to American businessmen in China. When offered good money for the use of Mickey’s tame animals, there’s no saying no to the production company of Expedition Survival!, a “reality” show starring Derek Badger (actually a former stepdancer named Lee Bluepenny with a fake Steve Irwin Australian accent). The Crays, however, draw the line at harming any animal; and Derek doesn’t think the scenes are “real” enough. The production company hires Mickey and Wahoo as guides on an Everglades location shoot, which is complicated kirkusreviews.com

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in true Hiaasen fashion by an abused, runaway girl from Wahoo’s class, a toothy encounter with a jazzed-out snake, a disastrously unsuccessful live-bat brunch…and a vanishing star. Hiaasen’s best for a young audience since Newbery Honor Hoot (2002) features a shy, deep-feeling protagonist who’s also a pragmatist and plenty of nature info and age-appropriate cultural commentary.

Humorous adventure tales just don’t get any more wacked…or fun to read than this. (Fiction. 10-15)

SWITCHED

Hocking, Amanda St. Martin’s Griffin (320 pp.) $8.99 paperback | $8.99 e-book Jan. 24, 2012 978-1-250-00631-8 978-1-4299-5652-9 e-book Series: Trylle, 1

THAT’S NOT A DAFFODIL!

Self-publishing phenom Hocking’s first traditionally published outing will appeal to teen readers looking for a para-

normal-romance fix.

Seventeen-year-old Wendy Everly has always been a misfit.

Though raised in privilege, the mental and physical scars inflicted by her mother, coupled with her own sense of not belonging to the family and life she was born into, have left Wendy struggling to find her place in the world. Bouncing around from town to town, school to school, the only thing consistent in Wendy’s life is a penchant for trouble. But just before her 18th birthday, everything changes. Found by a handsome “tracker,” Wendy learns the truth about who and what she truly is and journeys “home” to the mother and the world she never knew existed. Vampire and werewolf lovers beware; this trilogy opener offers readers a new take on an unexpected breed of mystical beings. Readers who can suspend preconceived notions and open themselves up to this new interpretation are in for a midwinter version of a good beach read.

Details of Wendy’s daily life tend to obscure the mounting tensions between good and evil, but there’s enough forbidden love and adventure to hook readers and leave them wanting more. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

ZERO THE HERO

Holub, Joan Illus. by Lichtenheld, Tom Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (40 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-8050-9384-1

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Honey, Elizabeth Illus. by Honey, Elizabeth Allen & Unwin (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-74237-248-8

You can’t judge a flower by its bulb.

Mr. Yilmaz from next door visits young Tom with a gift in a rumpled paper bag: a little bulb. He says it’s a daffodil, but Tom insists that it’s an onion. “Well, let’s plant it and see,” Mr. Yilmaz says. They set to work, planting the bulb in a terracotta pot. Then they use a watering can to “make it rain.” Nothing happens for a long time, though Tom watches the pot faithfully. Then one day there’s a little green beak sticking up. The beak opens up and eventually turns into, according to Tom, a hand with five green fingers. Mr. Yilmaz visits from time to time, bringing different fruits and vegetables on each visit. One finger develops a bud; when Mr. Yilmaz mentions the daffodil, Tom calls it a wet rocket.

Finally in the spring, the bud blooms, and, of course, it’s not an onion. Tom runs to get Mr. Yilmaz to see their beautiful daffodil, which Tom calls “a trumpet of gold.” Honey tucks a lot of learning into her simple tale. Her soft-focus illustrations capture the warmth of the relationship at its center. Blue-eyed Tom is watchful and intent, and Mr. Yilmaz, with his salt-and-pepper moustache, cuts a jaunty figure in a plaid cap and red vest.

Sure to bring a smile, if not an actual daffodil. (Picture book. 3-6)

NASTY BUGS

The counting numbers get their comeuppance in the havoc that breaks out after they fail to believe in Zero’s heroic powers.

Brimming with self-confidence, Zero sports a red cape and black mask. But looking and feeling like a hero do not help him when it comes to fitting in with one through nine. Left out and teased, he still stays positive, even though he is virtually useless at adding and subtracting, and goodness knows, division by 2232

zero is pointless. But the heretofore-unflappable Zero meets his match in multiplication. Questioning the qualities of a hero who multiplies “his friends into nothingness,” Zero rolls away. It isn’t long before the other numbers value (and miss) the important place he holds…even more so when they are captured by a cadre of Roman numerals. Luckily, Zero hears their cries and flies to the rescue, which finally earns him hero status with his friends. While the story would hold all on its own, the tonguein-cheek humor combined with Lichtenheld’s wonderfully personified cast of characters (complete with sassy speech bubbles and expressive faces) makes this a book kids will reach for again.

A hero and some villains and good winning over evil (oh, and all that educational stuff, too), all wrapped in humor and tied with a comic bow—what could be better?

(Picture book. 7-12)

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Hopkins, Lee Bennett–Ed. Illus. by Terry, Will Dial (32 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 15, 2012 978-0-8037-3716-7 In poems written especially for this humorously illustrated collection, 16 versatile poets describe 16 different, mostly familiar and certainly unwelcome insects. kirkusreviews.com

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“A wickedly funny ramble. With bunnies.” from mr . and mrs. bunny—detectives extraordinaire!

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! / Uck! Uck! Uck!” From stink bugs to giant water bugs, with nods to agricultural pests, creatures that bite or sting and those that prefer our waste, Hopkins and his fellow poets celebrate the pests among us. Contributors include many whose names will be familiar to readers of children’s poetry. From free verse to tight rhyme and rhythm, the forms are as diverse as the insects described. As in any collection, the poems vary in strength, but for read-aloud or choral presentation, many will have both audience and performer appeal.

Terry’s smooth, vividly colored paintings, mostly double-page spreads underlying the poems, add to the fun. These bright illustrations exaggerate his anthropomorphized subjects’ bugeyes, sharp teeth and pincers. But there’s some genuine information as well, both in the poetry and in the backmatter, which includes each creature’s scientific name or order, a thumbnail and a few words from the poem and an additional factual paragraph (which strains, sometimes, to include the titular “nasty”).

As the bedbug says, “absolutely / deeee licious”; a delightful introduction for audiences not quite ready for Douglas Florian’s Insectlopedia (1998) or Joyce Sidman’s Song of the Water Boatman, illustrated by Beckie Prange (2005). (Picture book/poetry. 6-9)

MR. AND MRS. BUNNY— DETECTIVES EXTRAORDINAIRE!

By Mrs. Bunny

Horvath, Polly Illus. by Blackall, Sophie Schwartz & Wade/Random (256 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-375-86755-2 978-0-375-89827-3 e-book 978-0-375-96755-9 PLB Horvath takes on the world of talking animals with all the absurdist, satirical panache fans have come to expect from the award-winning author.

The intrigue begins when fifth-grader Madeline’s hippie parents Mildred and Flo are kidnapped on Canada’s Hornby Island by a band of foxes in trench coats who have learned all about “hoomans” from studying sitcoms. The foxes don’t care about Mildred and Flo; they just urgently need the spacey couple to remember where Mildred’s Uncle Runyon lives, a government scientist who may be able to decipher the encrypted recipes needed to launch their enterprise: Fanny Fox’s Canned Rabbit Products and By-products. As the hyper-responsible Madeline contemplates her parents’ plight, she’s discovered

by Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, empty nesters (and detectives) who are only too delighted to find a nice human girl who speaks fluent Bunny, even if her bottom is gigantic. The story of Madeline’s budding relationship with the refreshingly nurturing Bunnys and their joint endeavor to find Madeline’s hopeless parents propel the farcical adventure. Playful pokes at everything from Fox News (“Foxes are titans of industry”) to the glut of orphans |

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in children’s books are often hilarious. A favorite of the splendid black-and-white illustrations shows Mr. Bunny in his 12-inch disco shoes that allow him to reach the pedals of his SmartCar. A wickedly funny ramble. With bunnies. (Satiric mystery. 9-14)

TRY NOT TO BREATHE

Hubbard, Jennifer R. Viking (272 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-670-01390-6

Evocative symbols, carefully drawn details and hints of romance enrich a spare, redemptive character study.

Home from a stay at Patterson Hospital following a suicide attempt, Ryan hikes to a powerful waterfall each morning to stand under the crushing spray. Nicki, the younger sister of a boy Ryan knows from school, sees him there one day in August and strikes up a conversation. For the first time, Ryan finds himself opening up to someone besides the two Patterson friends he now talks to by phone and online. As trust, familiarity and perhaps attraction build between the two, Ryan and Nicki reveal pieces of their personal histories, though each still harbors secrets. Defying both sensationalism and cliché, the narrative explores Ryan’s suicide attempt and its aftermath with what Ryan calls “Patterson Honesty: the truth, stripped down of all formalities, all politeness.” Although much is made of understanding the past—the shame and numbness that led to Ryan’s attempt, the unknowable reasons behind Nicki’s father’s completed suicide—the story is also about moving forward: Can intimacies built inside a place like Patterson survive outside? How can the parents of a teen who attempts suicide trust their child again? What can we ever truly know about ourselves and each other?

Haunting, hopeful and masterfully crafted. (Fiction. 14 & up)

THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND

Kamkwamba, William & Mealer, Bryan Illus. by Zunon, Elizabeth Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-8037-3511-8 The true story of a Malawian teenager who leveraged need and library research into a windmill constructed from found materials.

Forced by drought and famine to drop out of school, William dreams of “building things and taking them apart.” Inspired by science books in an American-built library near his village, his dreams turn to creating “electric wind.” Despite the doubts of others he begins—assembling discarded bicycle parts and other junk into a rickety tower, triumphantly powering an electric light and going on to dream of windmill-driven wells to water the land. Kamkwamba tells this version (another, for adult |

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h b a r r y lyg a

MANGAMAN

Barry Lyga illustrated by Colleen Doran Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (144 pp.) $19.99 Nov. 14, 2011 978-0-547-42315-9

Mangaman is no ordinary tale of starcrossed lovers. Romeo and Juliet may have been separated by a clan feud, but at least they inhabited the same universe. Ryoko and Marissa are separated by layers of fictive conventions that are blown apart by “an extrascientific event” that has stranded the two-dimensional Ryoko in Marissa’s seemingly three-dimensional world. Manga conventions clash with those of Western comics in a daring, funny tale.

The author of such well-received prose novels as The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and Boy Toy, Barry Lyga is a self-described “recovering comic book geek.” He has long been an advocate for the introduction of comic books and graphic novels into schools and libraries, and with Mangaman, he makes a strong case for the form’s potential for narrative and visual complexity. I recently caught up with Lyga to talk about the genesis of his novel, the difference between writing prose and graphic-novel scripts and working with the amazing Colleen Doran.

Q: How did Mangaman come about?

A: It came around the turn of the millennium, when the J-pop trend hit. I saw how bookstores started carrying manga, but comic-book stores resisted it. So I had this idea of a manga character in the “real world.” It sat for a long time, because I can’t draw. I knew I wanted to call it Mangaman, but it just sat there in the back of my mind.

Then, a few years ago, Marvel approached me about doing a Wolverine for the Wimpy Kid audience.

It wasn’t a comic, and I had a lot of fun with it. And there was my name next to Wolverine. And my editor at Houghton Mifflin called and asked me if I’d ever be interested in doing a graphic novel. Now. For us.

She was expecting Fanboy–Barry Lyga in graphicnovel form, but I feel like each story has its ideal form, and I didn’t want to do a Barry Lyga novel in graphic form. Then I realized it had to be a romance to bring together the two different art styles. It’s Romeo and Juliet with the genders reversed.

Q: The way Ryoko interacts with the “real world” is pretty funny, the way the speed lines get all over the place and his eyes become actual throbbing hearts when he sees Marissa.

I got those jokes, and I’m not a manga fan. How did you decide where to draw the line so it wasn’t all inside baseball?

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A: Before I settled on making it a romantic comedy, I thought of doing a superhero comic. The juxtaposition between the superhero and a manga universe was not so extreme though. It had to be a “realistic” universe for the juxtaposition to be so pungent.

Q: How conversant are the kids in Castleton, the town in Mangaman, with manga?

A: That was a casualty of page count. We were able to do a little, but I couldn’t do an actual scene featuring manga readers. Except for Dr. Cappelletti, [the government scientist working with Ryoko], who is a manga fan.

Q: What’s the difference between writing a prose novel and a graphic novel?

A: You can’t just add another paragraph. In the first draft, Marissa was not as well developed as I’d wanted. But we couldn’t just keep changing stuff and ever hope to publish it. So I finally had this epiphany that, “Dummy, this is a graphic novel.

It’s got pictures.” So I hit on the idea of having Marissa have all these different outfits. It isn’t till she’s happy that she dresses like a regular person.

And it gave Colleen a lot of chances to have fun.

Q: Do you expect to reach a different audience with this book than with your prose novels?

A: That’s a really good question. I have to confess that when I write, I don’t give a lot of thought to the audience. Not because I don’t love the audience, but if you think too much about it, it changes your writing. And I’m not very good at guessing the audience. I thought Fanboy and Goth Girl would appeal to boys, but it is read mostly by teen girls and adult women. Go figure.

I know I’ll pick up a lot of Colleen’s fans, because she’s got a huge readership, and it’s got pretty Colleen pictures in it.

When I’m working on a book, I never imagine people are going to read it, and that’s what keeps my writing honest.

–By Vicky Smith

9 For the full interview, please visit kirkusreviews.com

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PH OTO © A LYS O N LYGA

A: Well, we went back and forth on that. There was some thought given to putting actual kanji in, but we decided early on that this was for a Western audience. Even Western manga fans are reading in translation, after all. They’ll get some jokes that readers of Western comics won’t, but that’s OK, too.

Q: You play a lot with the conventions of manga; why not Western comics conventions?

readers, was published with the same title in 2009) of his tale of inspiration meeting perspiration in terse, stately third person: “He closed his eyes and saw a windmill outside his home, pulling electricity from the breeze and bringing light to the dark valley.” Zunon illustrates it handsomely, with contrasting cutpaper-collage details arranged on brown figures, and broad, sere landscapes painted in visibly textured oils.

A plainspoken but inspiring tale of homespun ingenuity. (afterword) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID Cabin Fever

Kinney, Jeff Illus. by Kinney, Jeff Amulet/Abrams (224 pp.) $13.95 | Nov. 15, 2011 978-1-4197-0223-5 Series: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, 6 In a world where “Wimpy Kid–like” has become a shorthand to describe a certain type of book, what is there to say about the sixth volume in the groundbreaking series?

It certainly delivers what series fans have grown to expect: “hand-lettered” text on lined, faux-journal pages and cartoon vignettes depicting the opinions and misadventures of antihero and diarist Greg Heffley. Here, Greg struggles to get from Thanksgiving to Christmas without attracting Santa’s attention. Before getting to the sub-titular main event, Kinney lampoons school anti-bullying efforts, our modern obsession with safety and Internet games that entice players to spend real money on fake consumer goods. Predictably, Greg’s jury-rigged get-rich-quick scheme in service of his Net Kritterz pet goes awry, resulting in his conviction that at any moment he will be arrested. Then the blizzard starts, and Greg, brothers Rodrick and Manny and their mother are snowed in. With the power cut off and food supplies running low, things are looking desperate…

Unfortunately, the humor inherent in this scenario is stifled by Kinney’s having given over so much of the set up (more than two thirds of the book) to digressive, stand-up–comic rants that what could provoke manic hysteria elicits only chuckles, if that.

Kinney has built a world that has potential for truly subversive humor and has a fan base willing to go wherever he takes it, but by choosing to play it safe here, he sells both short. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

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SEEDS OF REBELLION

Mull, Brandon Aladdin (512 pp.) $19.99 | Mar. 20, 2012 978-1-4169-9794-8 Series: Beyonders, 2

Plenty of hard-fought skirmishes and an entertainingly diverse supporting cast keep this quest fantasy’s middle volume on the right track.

Finding his way back to Lyrian from this world, hero-in-training Jason rejoins fellow “Beyonder” Rachel and several Lyrian allies in a nascent rebellion against evil emperor/wizard Maldor. With imperial troops constantly in hot pursuit, the company survives attacks from giant swamp monsters, blood-craving zombies, plant people and others, as well as encounters with deadly natural hazards, to gather special weapons and allies, reluctant or otherwise. Though surmounting several individual challenges, Jason is largely along for the ride here, but others pick up the slack—particularly Rachel, struggling to control rapidly developing magical talents; Ferrin, a “displacer” with suspect loyalties who can detach while continuing to use hands, eyes or any other part of himself; and Aram, a pipsqueak by day but a giant warrior at night. The author threads glib banter (“Everybody should get to clobber a princess at least once”) and quirky twists into his already-speedy plot to ensure that there’s never a dull moment. He brings the episode to a close with an ominous but refreshingly lucid prophecy that sends cast members off on separate missions to set up the closer’s climactic confrontation.

Full measures of swordplay and sorcery, along with a healthy grain or two of salt added to keep things from getting overly earnest. (Quest fantasy. 10-13)

THE CABINET OF EARTHS

Nesbet, Anne Harper/HarperCollins (272 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-06-196313-1 978-0-06-196318-6 PLB

Paris.

The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Les Invalides. Then there’s that sinister cult addicted to immortality. Prompted by her father’s job offer and to ultimately fulfill the wish of her mother, 13-year-old Maya and her family uproot their lives in California for an across-the-pond move to Paris. Though she has her objections, Maya can hardly voice them to her mother, a delicate cancer survivor. So, despite her brewing frustrations, she is dutifully accommodating, all while acting as the unpaid babysitter for her ebullient younger brother, James, to smooth the transition. However, Maya and James soon discover a hypnotically alluring cabinet, peculiar branches in their family tree and an underground society with a morbid |

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“The quest to invent a skimobile, which burned in one man’s heart as fiercely as the Holy Grail, as researched and re-imagined by Older.” from snowmobile

recipe for staying eternally young. Though it’s easy to generalize this as a coming-of-age tale, Nesbet more specifically pinpoints this as the story of a young girl coming to terms with mortality while realizing that finding her intrinsic worth makes her content and also inspires her appreciation of those around her. The underground society (to which Maya and her brother are more closely tied than she could have ever imagined) morphs from simply a strange affair to an intriguing mystery to downright chills. While touches of the ever-popular fantasy theme of vampirism are definitely there, they are appropriately held at bay.

A charmingly creepy European vacation for fans of chillers and thrillers. (Suspense. 12-15)

SNOWMOBILE Bombardier’s Dream Machine

Older, Jules Illus. by Lauritano, Michael Charlesbridge (64 pp.) $14.95 | paper $6.95 | $6.99 e-book Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-58089-334-3 978-1-58089-335-0 paperback 978-1-60734-085-0 e-book The quest to invent a skimobile, which burned in one man’s heart as fiercely as the Holy Grail, as researched and re-imagined by Older.

Older tells the story of Joseph-Armand Bombardier in the unhurried manner of a river approaching the sea, allowing for plenty of twists and turns as it goes its leisurely way. Bombardier was a boy of his time, and his time—the early years of the 20th century—was all about engines. Link that to his home place— Quebec, where it snowed like crazy for seven months a year and no one bothered to plow the few roads—and his drive to create a snow vehicle is as understandable as might be his love for hot chocolate. The author charts his route from his small village to Montreal, his journeymanship as a mechanic, his marriage and the loss of his son because he couldn’t get him to the hospital through the winter drifts. His gradual fashioning of his workhorse snow machine “to carry doctors to patients, priests to parishioners, children to school” unfolds naturally. It’s a warm story, made toastier still by Lauritano’s spare, retro drawings, which are complemented by period photographs. An affectionate author’s note parses fact from fiction and is followed by a timeline, a bibliography, glossary and index.

From any perspective, Older’s yeomanly tale of the snow vehicle’s birth is as worthy to know as the inspiration of the Iditarod. (Fiction. 8-11)

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INHERITANCE

Paolini, Christopher Knopf (800 pp.) $27.99 | Nov. 8, 2011 978-0-375-85611-2 Series: The Inheritance Cycle, 4 Capping the former Inheritance Trilogy, this fourth epic-length episode brings teenage Dragon Rider Eragon at last to a decisive faceoff with his greatest enemy.

Beginning with the capture of the fortress city of Belatona, the rebellious Varden alliance wins multiple hard-fought victories before arriving at last before the iron gates of imperial Urû’baen, “wherein sits Galbatorix, proud, confident, and disdainful, for his is the strength of the dragons.” Meanwhile, Eragon and his scaled companion Saphira fly off to the ruins of Doru Araeba in response to mysteriously delivered hints that something in a hidden “Vault of Souls” will help defeat their clever and overwhelmingly powerful adversary. Tucking in welldeveloped side plots, elaborate set pieces, internecine squabbles, extraneous characters, piles of corpses and, toward the end, even oblique allusions to sex (dragon sex, anyway), Paolini moves his tale along with all deliberate speed to its properly explosive, massively destructive climax. As in previous volumes, there are so many nods to Tolkien and other fantasists that authorial whiplash must have been a chronic hazard, but battle scenes are satisfyingly dramatic. Moreover, the act that leads to the thoroughly predictable outcome is just one of several ingenious twists, and before sailing off to lands unknown in a boat of Elvish make (sound familiar?), the young warrior/mage actually wages peace while methodically tying up loose ends over the final 90+ pages.

Despite the long, anticlimactic wind-down, it is a strong conclusion to the crowd-pleasing series. (maps, multilingual word list) (Heroic fantasy. 12-15)

BEHIND THE MASKS The Diary of Angeline Reddy, Bodie, California, 1880 Patron, Susan Scholastic (304 pp.) $12.99 | $12.99 e-book | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-545-30437-5 978-0-545-39241-9 e-book Series: Dear America,

A not-so-shy Angeline is a force for justice in a Wild West town that is out of control.

In 1880s Bodie, Calif., there is no safety. Criminals run amok, along with a corrupt sheriff and a vigilante gang, all striking terror into bad guys and decent citizens alike. When Angie Reddy’s father, a renowned criminal lawyer, is said to have been murdered, neither Angie nor her mother believes it. Angie sets out to find answers and discovers that she is pluckier, stronger and more determined than she believed herself to be. She is aided in her quest by the mysterious Ling Loi, new friend Ellie, young, handsome Antoine and kirkusreviews.com

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the Horrible performance group. Together they bravely encounter cruelty, kindness, adventure and a host of fascinating and frightening characters. The female characters, missing from so much of the Western genre, are strong, passionate and enduring, with fully developed back stories. As Momma says, “[W]omen out west need to be ready to do most anything.” Employing the diary format common to the Dear America series, would-be writer Angie paints a vivid picture of her life in that time and place. Primitive medicine and dentistry, gossip, prejudices, education, local politics, even clothing, parties and romance are all woven into Angie’s account, adding richness and texture to the plot.

A rip-roaring tale with a satisfying conclusion. (author’s note, historical note) (Historical fiction. 9-14)

47 THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Petronis, Lexi Zest/Orange Avenue (128 pp.) $10.99 paperback | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-9827322-1-2

Boosterish advice for teens and preteens looking for ways to board the eco-wagon and bring along some friends.

Urging readers to “greenify” house, school, car, community and especially themselves, as well as spread the word to peers, ‘rents and politicians, Petronis tallies many more than 47 general ways. These range in amount of effort required from bringing rather than buying lunch, plunking a full bottle into the toilet tank to cut down the flush and turning off the ignition before making out to organizing a clothing swap and applying for grants. The book’s thoroughness is to be praised: Kids are exhorted first to buy clothes made with “e-fibers” such as organic cotton, hang them dry instead of putting them in the dryer and then swap or resell them when it’s time to move on. Parenthetical page references helpfully take readers to related topics. Though the author is more focused on providing ideas and inspiration than specific nuts and bolts, she does close with pages of source notes, plus a hefty annotated list of organizations with grant providers and sites aimed at teens marked by icons.

Nothing new here, but nothing that isn’t both feasible and necessary, either. (Nonfiction. 11-16)

WINTERLING

Prineas, Sarah Harper/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-06-192103-2 978-0-06-192104-9 PLB An atmospheric middle-grade fantasy ties the coming of age to the turning of the year.

Young Fer (short for “Jennifer”) loves her strict Grand-Jane and the herbal lore she teaches, but she feels more at home in the woods and fields |

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than in the concrete and iron cage of her school. When she rescues the shapeshifting puck Rook, Fer opens a Way into a place of wild beauty, deep magic and strange half-human denizens. The land’s glamorous Lady claims friendship with Fer’s lost parents and begs her allegiance, but Fer senses something deeply wrong: something that holds Rook sullen and silent, forces the people into savagery and keeps the land in the grip of relentless winter… something that is now spreading to Fer’s home. Prineas calls upon Celtic (and a few Nordic) traditions to build a vivid fantasy world, steeped in pagan sensibilities, where the cycle of seasons resonates with the awakening of identity. The prose is lush and sensuous, evoking the sounds and tastes and scents of the natural world. Unusually, almost every character (except the puck-in-distress) is female, portrayed in all ages and roles—authority, hero, villain, mentor, warrior, healer, servant and goddess. Fer is herself brave and kind, but not unrealistically so; her magic is both matter-of-fact and a source of quiet joy.

There’s no flashy pyrotechnic wizardry to dazzle here, but the right readers will find refreshment in a tale as muted and miraculous as the return of spring. (Fantasy. 10-14)

MY HEART WILL NOT SIT DOWN

Rockliff, Mara Illus. by Tanksley, Ann Knopf (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-375-84569-7

A moment of communal compassion is remembered in this fictionalized retelling of a too-little-known tale.

When little Kedi learns from her Cameroon village’s teacher that the people of New York are starving thanks to the Great Depression, she can’t get the problem out of her head.

Determined to help the hungry children overseas, Kedi appeals to all the people of her village, only to be rebuffed. No one has enough money to pay the colonial head tax, let alone spare riches for an unknown poor. Downcast, Kedi returns to school, only to discover that her efforts to open the hearts of her neighbors have worked beyond her wildest hopes. Rockliff ’s recap of this true 1931 incident taps into the wonder of altruism toward total strangers. An author’s note explaining not just the story’s background but also similar historical incidents proves to be almost more fascinating than the book itself. All this is accompanied by Tanksley’s lush, vibrantly colored paintings, which take seemingly simple images and render them big, beautiful and bold. They make what might otherwise be a rote story lush.

The human capacity to reach out to those who suffer is lovingly and inspiringly rendered. (Picture book. 4-8)

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THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks Rosenstock, Barb Illus. by Gerstein, Mordicai Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-8037-3710-5

Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 trip to the western parks included a backcountry camping trip—complete with snowstorm—with John Muir in the Yosemite Wilderness and informed the president’s subsequent advocacy for national parks and monuments.

In a boyish three-day adventure, Teedie (Roosevelt) and Johnnie (Muir) dodge, if temporarily, the confines of more formal surroundings to experience firsthand the glories of the mountains and ancient forests. (You can’t ever quite take the boy out of the man, and Rosenstock’s use of her subjects’ childhood names evokes a sense of Neverland ebullience, even as the grownup men decided the fate of the wilderness.) The narrative is intimate and yet conveys the importance of the encounter both as a magnificent getaway for the lively president and a chance for the brilliant environmentalist to tell the trees’ side of the story. Gerstein’s depiction of the exuberant president riding off with Muir is enchantingly comical and liberating. A lovely two-page spread turns the opening to a long vertical to show the two men in the Mariposa Grove, relatively small even on horseback, surrounded by the hush and grandeur of the giant sequoias, while in another double-page scene, after a photo of the two at Glacier Point, Muir lies on his back at the edge of the canyon, demonstrating to an attentive Roosevelt how the glacier carved the deep valley below. An author’s note explains that the dialogue is imagined and reconstructed from Muir’s writing as well as from other accounts of the meeting.

Wonderfully simple, sweet and engaging. (author’s note, source notes) (Picture book. 7-10)

THERE IS NO DOG

Rosoff, Meg Putnam (272 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-399-25764-3

Bad luck for Earth that the job of the Almighty went to a horny, indolent teenager named Bob whose mother, Mona, won it in a poker game.

In a few flashes of brilliance, Bob created the heavens and the earth, adding short-lived mortals in his own image, which seemed like a colossal mistake to his assistant, Mr. B. Humankind has been dealing with God’s adolescent mood swings ever since. If Bob seduces one more girl, it’ll be the end of Mr. B’s rope—he’s already considering turning in his resignation. A veteran of middle 2238

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management, he’s having his own identity crisis. While Bob fantasizes about “soapy sex” with Lucy, an assistant zookeeper praying for someone to fall in love with, the world drowns in Bob’s bathwater. Meanwhile, Bob’s pet, Eck, a penguin-like little creature with far more empathy than his owner possesses, is the latest victim of Mona’s excesses. Beneath the light, snarky banter lie provocative ideas. As Bob himself wonders, “if life were without flaws and no one ever changed or died, what role would God have?” A piece of graffiti spurs Bob to get his planet under control, to surprising effect.

Irreverent and funny, this book is sure to put off those concerned about blasphemous ideas showing up in teen literature, but it earns its place among the sharpest-witted tours de force of recent memory. (Fiction. 14 & up)

DAUGHTER OF THE CENTAURS

Ross, K.K. Random House (384 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $20.99 Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-375-86975-4 978-0-375-98542-3 e-book 978-0-375-69675-1 PLB Series: Centauriad, 1 A primitive girl bonds with horses and centaurs in this tedious trilogy opener.

After a flock of Leatherwings decimates her tribe and home, young Malora Thora-Jayke spends four years in the wilderness with her father’s horse, Sky. When Orion Silvermane captures a herd of Ironbound Furies for his father’s stables, he discovers Malora among them. Given Malora’s unruly appearance, skill with weapons and apparent status as the last of the legendarily violent People, Orion and his companions treat her as curiosity and threat. Both 15-year-old Malora and her hosts regard centaurs as “Perfect Beings”; unlike their rapacious ancestors or Malora’s people, Orion and the other Highland centaurs abstain from meat, wear clothing for modesty and pursue the arts. Menial labor falls to the impoverished Flatlanders and the subservient catlike Twani, and horses are merely beasts of burden, but a sportsmovie conclusion ultimately dispels the inter-class tension. With safety, Malora’s compelling quest for survival becomes a montage of high-society indulgence punctuated by scenes of existential angst and more horses. Malora is alternately “the Daughter” of the Plains, Mountains and Centaurs, but labels do not constitute an inner journey. Characters are plentiful but underdeveloped, pacing is uneven, present-tense narration is ponderous and worldbuilding is exposition-heavy. The abundance of capitalized words and named characters (and horses) merits a glossary, character list and the Edicts of Kheiron.

Does not gallop apace. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

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“A werewolf, a guardian angel and a former vampire princess take turns narrating the fourth in this smart, playful series that began with Tantalize (2007).” from diabolical

MY AWESOME/AWFUL POPULARITY PLAN

Rudetsky, Seth Random House (224 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-375-86915-0 978-0-375-87324-9 e-book 978-0-375-96915-7 PLB Chubby, Broadway-obsessed gay goofball Justin Goldblatt pines after swoony, blond, blue-eyed Chuck, the douchebag quarterback of the football team who’s dating the school’s hottest girl, Becky.

Opportunity rears its persuasive head when he learns that Becky’s dad despises Chuck, and the only option for the two of them to see each other is for Justin to pretend he’s Becky’s new boyfriend. Of course, not all goes as planned, and their carefully laid plans fall apart: Becky crushes on Justin, and Justin loses his best friend in the shuffle. Rudetsky’s first teen novel is full-on fluff. Readers will definitely identify with Justin’s pursuit of his crush, but too often his character’s flakey-ness and silly disposition causes him to make stupid, thoughtless decisions that could cause him to lose both his readers’ respect and their interest. Stock characters, predictable plot devices and unmemorable dialogue abound. Broadway themes run amok, and theatrically inclined readers can expect plenty of references to Wicked, Phantom, Cats and more. The novel’s conclusion itself unfolds like a jukebox musical—predictably canned, with lots of high drama, public unmaskings and a showstopping musical number that will leave readers wondering why they had to read so long to get where they knew there were going in the first place.

Not much style, not much substance, but suitable for younger readers. (Romance. 12 & up)

DIABOLICAL

Smith, Cynthia Leitich Candlewick (368 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-7636-5118-3 Series: Tantalize, 4 A werewolf, a guardian angel and a former vampire princess take turns narrating the fourth in this smart, playful series that began with Tantalize (2007).

Miranda renounced her blood-sucking ways in 2009’s Eternal and has since been stuck in limbo at a hotel called the Penultimate somewhere between Earth and Heaven. From there, she keeps tabs on her best friend, Lucy, and is dismayed to see her arrive at Scholomance Preparatory Academy, a boarding school in rural Vermont that may be a place of great evil. She sends word to her soul mate, the guardian angel Zachary, who sets out with werewolf/human hybrid Kieren and his girlfriend Quincie to investigate the matter. A blend of |

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romance, action and horror, this distinguishes itself from the crowd of paranormal teen fare with the employ of plenty of camp and a healthy dose of dry humor, as in this passage where Zachary attempts to prove his angel status to Lucy: “ ‘Demons have scaly, dragonlike, clawed wings,’ I counter. ‘Not gleaming, white, eagle-like...pretty wings.’ That sounded lame. Luminous is the word Quincie uses. I should have said that.” However, the pacing of this installment drags in places, particularly in the sections narrated by Miranda, so far in remove from the main event.

This flaw aside, fans of the first three will thrill to this latest. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

EVERYBODY GETS THE BLUES

Staub, Leslie Illus. by Roth, R.G. Harcourt (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 9, 2012 978-0-15-206300-9

Staub, a native of New Orleans, cloaks a worthy message in obscure metaphor.

Kids and adults get sad sometimes, and they can help lift each other up. The narrator, a young boy, goes from happy to tearful, saying, “Hello, blues. Hello, Blues Guy— / I feel all bad and mad and sad inside.” Illustrator Roth’s “Blues Guy” appears in a natty herringbone suit, doffing a fedora and carrying both a horn and a mod-looking gray cat. The gent comforts the boy with his presence: “Blues Guy sits there by my side, / sometimes talking, sometimes quiet.” They sing together: “We sing so loud, we start to rise, / We rise so high, we start to fly— / we fly to where someone else is crying.” Some readers might wonder whether—as Staub avows—dogs, cats and tiny babies get the blues, along with “scary bullies, beauty queens, / little old ladies from New Orleans.” And the matter-offact appearance and leave-taking of the enigmatic Blues Guy might prompt questions from perplexed preschoolers. Roth’s Photoshopabetted collages combine pale backgrounds, angular cut-out figures and textures that incorporate dry-brushed paint, fabric, wood and inked line. This gently instructive meditation that examines sadness— “the blues”—as a shared emotion, might be useful as a springboard to discussion in some classrooms, clinics and homes.

Hip and stylized—yet, given its important humanitarian message, curiously enervated. (Picture book. 4-8)

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“Neither teen is particularly articulate, but Polly’s first-person narration is as snarky and devastatingly honest as she is.” from catch & release

THE GALAHAD LEGACY

Testa, Dom Tor (304 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-7653-2112-1 Series: Galahad, 6

The starship Galahad left Earth on a mission with the last remnants of humankind: 250 teens chosen for their intellect, their areas of expertise and their ability to survive.

It’s been a year since lift off from a dying planet. Traveling to the closest star system capable of supporting human life, these teens have already dealt with sabotage, alien life forms, on-board romances, power plays among the crew and the death of one of their own. But they now face their biggest challenge yet. Galahad is breaking down around them and will disintegrate in a matter of days if they can’t escape this sector of space. A new alien species, the Dollovit, has offered to guide the Galahad through a worm hole to deliver them to their destination—for a price. Even more threatening is the discovery of a virus inserted into the ship’s operating software that might cause her to explode at any time. Are the Dollovit friends or foe? Will the ship’s crew stay united or split into factions? Will they arrive at their destination in time to disembark or blow up just when their new life is in sight? Testa knows how to keep the pages turning. An author’s note assuring teens they can be both cool and smart at the same time and reader’s guide round out the book.

While this is the conclusion of this particular voyage, there is enough material left to make Galahad fans hope there may be more: It’s a new future out there. (Science fiction. 13-17)

CATCH & RELEASE

Woolston, Blythe Carolrhoda Lab (216 pp.) $17.95$12.95 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-7755-9 978-0-7613-8725-1 e-book Eighteen-year-old Polly recounts her road trip with Odd, a fellow survivor of the disease that killed five others from their small town, in D’Elegance, his Gramma’s old baby-blue Cadillac.

Fishing is ostensibly the purpose of their outing, and it symbolically charts the way the two teens process their disabilities.

Polly once had a boyfriend and a sense of a normal future, and she now calls her former self “Polly-That-Was,” since Bridger has vanished with the disfigurement of her face and loss of an eye from MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Odd Estes lost a foot as well as some football buddies, and although the two barely knew each other before, they both now struggle to accommodate their good fortune in surviving and their misfortune of disability. Swearing, booze and weed are along for the journey, which takes them from their hometown somewhere near Yellowstone toward Portland, Ore. Neither teen is particularly 2240

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articulate, but Polly’s first-person narration is as snarky and devastatingly honest as she is. Odd and Polly move from isolation to a mutual connection that helps them deal with their pain. This is not a romance, but a tale of two people thrown together after their world has been turned upside down. Each is unique, vividly complicated and true. Engaging writing and characters lift this above the typical clichéd story of disabled teen.

Heartbreakingly honest. (Fiction. 14 & up)

LIFE ETERNAL

Woon, Yvonne Hyperion (400 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-1-4231-1957-9 Series: Dead Beautiful, 2 Renée Winters knows about the Undead: Her soul mate, Dante, has been Undead for years.

But having been saved by Dante at the end of the series opener (Dead Beautiful, 2010), Renée is left to wonder whether she too is now one of the Undead. Renée is sent to Montreal to protect her after a series of attacks at Gottfried Academy. At St. Clément, the curriculum is designed to train students as Monitors, who police the Undead and prevent them from murdering humans. Knowing that Dante only has five more years of animation before he will need to either take a life or die a second time, Renée searches the school’s library and mystical texts for a solution. Following clues left by the school’s founders, she’s trailed by Noah, a fellow Monitor who would like to be more than just a friend. But for Renée, this isn’t a romantic lark or a quick trip into the history of a charming city; it’s a race against time. Her body is changing, the effect of Dante’s life-saving kiss.

And both are pursued by The Brotherhood, an order of Undead dedicated to extending their own existence at all costs. Renée’s narration takes readers through the twisting streets of Montreal, effectively drawing them into her distress over Dante, boardingschool psychodrama and the world of the Undead.

Renée’s story is romantic, suspenseful and far from over. A solid read, this one will leave readers wanting more.

(Paranormal romance. 13 & up)

PRINCESS OF THE WILD SWANS

Zahler, Diane Harper/HarperCollins (224 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Jan. 31, 2012 978-0-06-200492-5 978-0-06-200493-2 PLB In her third fairy-tale novelization, Zahler (The Thirteenth Princess, 2010, and A True Princess, 2011) dips into Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans” and mixes in a bit of Celtic folklore. kirkusreviews.com

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Twelve-year-old Princess Meriel often vies for the attention of her five older brothers and envies them for their schooling and sports, rebelling against the royal traditions of her day.

When her father arrives home at Castle Rua unexpectedly with the beautiful and silken-voiced Lady Orianna, his new queen (the king was widowed 10 years earlier), Princess Meriel is alarmed, and two mornings later her brothers are gone.... A terrible enchantment, powerful spells, Faerie folk (most of whom live below ground, except for good and bad witches) and a mysterious spring set the scene for what turns out to be a much larger battle between good and evil. Riona, a young half-witch herbalist and her brother Liam, an animal healer, also play an important role in this suspenseful, ultimately romantic tale in which Princess Meriel must rescue her brothers, who have been transformed into swans. To break the spell, the princess needs to sew five shirts from stinging nettles without speaking aloud, while eluding the wicked queen who is hot on her trail. Though largely plot-driven, a story that tends to skate on the surface, it is nonetheless engaging and entertaining, especially appropriate for younger middle-grade readers.

A pleasant magical outing. (Fairy tale/fantasy. 8-12)

va l e n t i n e ’s d a y picture books round -up WHERE DOES LOVE COME FROM?

Accord Publishing Illus. by Kirkova, Milena Accord (18 pp.) $9.99 | Dec. 6, 2011 978-1-4494-0839-8

The title is not the only question this offering elicits.

Who is the audience? Is this no more than a book-size greeting card? Kirkova is listed as the illustrator of this ill-conceived product. Perhaps seeking to introduce the abstract concept of love to young readers, it serves only to confuse. After the title invites readers in and the book’s die-cut cover tempts young fingers to explore, each double-page spread further poses questions. One spread with a forest of trees made up of heart-shaped leaves in greens and yellows asks, “Do you think it grows on a tree?” Most of the yellow leaves are die-cut to reveal one of the dominant colors on the following page. The page turn shows the yellow seen through the previous spread’s openings are part of the sun and star on this space-themed spread. The question continues, “Or lights up the sky?” And so it goes, heart-shaped die cuts and all…through a garden, in the sea, blowing in the |

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wind, etcetera. What adults will recognize as rhetorical questions may puzzle kids primed for an interactive experience.

Most children view the heart as a symbol for love, and there are plenty populating the pages here. So is the answer always “yes”?

The final spread fails to clarify: “You know where LOVE comes from… / It comes from your heart!” Huh? No question here—pass. (Picture book. 2-4)

BIG HUGS, LITTLE HUGS

Bond, Felicia Illus. by Bond, Felicia Philomel (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-399-25614-1

Bond, illustrator of the If You Give… series, falls short in her attempt to celebrate hugs of all kinds everywhere.

Despite an illustrative technique that resembles collage with various textured papers, the mostly bright and seemingly tactile creatures still appear flat as they lie upon stark white backgrounds. The brief text begins with the statement, “Everyone hugs all over the world.” The litany of mostly opposite pairs fails to engage young readers as the pages flip by. First comes a list of different animal hugs (cats/dogs, hamsters/hippos), followed by directional concepts (upstairs/downstairs, inside/outside, here/ there) and then more opposites (winter/summer, day/night). The last two double-page spreads come full circle to reiterate the initial declaration. The final spread then shows all of the animals featured in the story, reduced in size and floating around the Earth.

Though individual illustrations display Bond’s customary whimsy, poor contrast in some makes the animals difficult to distinguish.

She is to be applauded for expanding beyond her usual style, but this métier needs more development—or perhaps a real narrative line—to work well. Although obviously well-intentioned, there is little here to set this apart from the multitude of books on hugs and other demonstrations of affection.

Pass. (Picture book. 2-4)

A GIANT CRUSH

Choldenko, Gennifer Illus. by Sweet, Melissa Putnam (32 pp.) $16.99 | Dec. 22, 2011 978-0-399-24352-3 Newbery Honoree Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts, 2004) and Caldecott Honoree Sweet (A River of Words: The Story of Williams Carlos Williams, written by Jen Bryant, 2008) combine talents to tell the appealing tale of Jackson, a rather large rabbit, who is struggling with the often embarrassing, nerve-racking and exhilarating feelings of his first crush.

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valentine with chocolates, brings a flower to school that then disappears and worries that rival Carter is cute classmate Cami’s boyfriend. As narrator Cooper learns what is troubling his buddy, the bright-hued mixed-media pictures effectively capture the nuances of the interpersonal dynamics at play.

Readers feel Jackson’s flushed cheeks turning “red as a wronganswer pencil” and relate to his hands-on-head anxiety when Cami receives his valentine. Setting this apart from other holiday fare is the friendship between Jackson and Cooper. When Carter taunts Jackson by calling him a giant, all Cooper sees is a good pal lacking confidence to listen to his heart. Cooper encourages Jackson to be brave; the result is a lovely “two-person soccer [game]”…played “all recess long.” Share this along with the author’s previous titles: How to Make Friends with a Giant, illustrated by Amy Walrod (2006), and Louder, Lili, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (2007).

Each addresses issues that affect self-esteem in a gentle, entertaining way. (Picture book. 4-7)

YOU A Story of Love and Friendship

King, Stephen Michael Illus. by King, Stephen Michael Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $14.99 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-06-206014-3

A charming yellow pup knows the world is full of color, music and exciting adventures, but the very best thing to him is “YOU,” who is, in this case, his chum, a tiny orange bird.

King (Leaf, 2009) paints a soft watercolor world in which dog and bird can guilelessly demonstrate and declare their strong friendship. They review colors as they paint a birdhouse, compare the sizes of buildings and bugs, experience both high and low notes as they dance and drum and endure ups and downs and tearful “far, far aways.” The text is a love letter to someone dear, and young children will enjoy having it read aloud, because “the most exciting place in [the] world / is with… // YOU. The understated illustrations and impressive use of white space will engage young readers.

The images combine with the gentle, rhythmic pacing of the text for a quiet yet powerful story for preschoolers still developing an understanding about the concepts of love and friendship.

Best for sharing one-on-one with someone special.

(Picture book. 3-5)

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MR. PRICKLES A Quill-Fated Love Story

LaReau, Kara Illus. by Magoon, Scott Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (32 pp.) $14.99 | Dec. 20, 2012 978-1-59643-483-7

It looks as if Mr. Prickles will never fit in with the cast of furry forest creatures that cavort each night. This makes him feel “Very prickly.” That is, until he meets Miss Pointypants.

The lonely porcupine does his best to make friends with Raccoon, Chipmunk and Skunk, but he is too different and not “cute,” “cuddly” or “playful” like them. Angry at being avoided and ignored, he retires to his stump to glare at them “with very prickly regard.” One night he notices Miss Pointypants at a nearby stump. Slowly they become friends and enjoy a nighttime stroll, a splash in the lake, a woodsy snack and a romantic moonrise. When the tormenting trio sets upon them with taunts and teasing, the duo “didn’t seem to care,” discovering that “[i]t’s much nicer being alone with someone else.” LaReau clearly enjoys the particularly pertinent and pointed power of alliteration and wordplay here—more accomplished readers should, too. Magoon’s cartoonlike illustrations manage to capture the range of Mr. Prickles’ emotions as he goes from hopeful to annoyed to infuriated to surprisingly happy all within a relatively dark palette. The pair have a history of creating humorous tales that tackle not-so-funny issues (Ugly Fish, 2006, and Rabbit and Squirrel: A Tale of War and Peas, 2008).

Misfits, bullies, educators, parents and kids of all kinds just may learn a thing or two from this nocturnal love story.

(Picture book. 4-8)

LITTLE TREASURES Endearments from Around the World

Ogburn, Jacqueline K. Illus. by Raschka, Chris Houghton Mifflin (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 2, 2012 978-0-547-42862-8

A colorful catalogue of endearments for children spans the globe and expands awareness by showing how love is universal.

Ogburn (A Dignity of Dragons, illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli, 2010) turns her attention to terms of affection used for children. The author organizes the pet names first by language and then by country if necessary. “English-speaking people love their children very much.” In America, they may choose “pumpkin”; in England, it may be “poppet”; in Australia, it could be “possum.” Preschoolers will giggle at the humor inherent in these names. Animals (“hug bunny” in Finland, “bear cub” in Poland) and foods (“dumpling” in Russia, “my berry” in Ethiopia) are common. Older kids will admire the interesting script and character alphabets in kirkusreviews.com

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“Superbly designed and executed with love; children of any age will appreciate the story’s message and celebrate Jasper’s quiet success.” from snowy valentine

Hindi (Devanagari), Arabic, Russian (Cyrillic) and Mandarin Chinese. Each term appears in English, in its original language and with a phonetic pronunciation to enable all ages to participate in the fun. There is a lot of information in this slim book, and Raschka’s playful illustrations of people of all colors—in cheerful rainbow hues—serves to helpfully group the characters of one country or language together.

Although not a comprehensive compendium for the reference shelf, what is found within is a huge treasure sure to be utilized by educators and eagerly consumed by future citizens of the world. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 4-8)

SNOWY VALENTINE

Petersen, David Illus. by Petersen, David Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $15.99 | PLB $16.89 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-06-146378-5 978-0-06-146380-8 PLB Petersen, creator of the Mouse Guard comic-book series and winner of an Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids (2008), impresses with his picture-book debut about a bunny’s earnest quest for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for his wife.

It is Valentine’s Day, and Jasper has no gift for Lilly. He sets off in the snow searching for inspiration from his neighbors.

Industrious porcupine children knit scarves for their mother, but Jasper just gets tangled up. Elegant Miriam the frog’s chocolate-covered flies won’t do, and neither will Everett the raccoon’s wilted flowers. When Teagan the fox invites Jasper in to “brainstorm by the fire,” he ends up “in the soup!” After escaping, poor Jasper is droopy-eared, wet, defeated. When he encounters Spalding the wise cardinal, he blurts out his worry and frustration at remaining empty-handed. “The cardinal looked thoughtful. ‘Hmm…. From where I sit, …you have given Lilly a wonderful gift already.’ “ The dramatic page-turn reveals Lilly outside their burrow looking down on the valley, where Jasper’s footprints from his long journey have traced a huge heart in the snow. Lush, detailed illustrations drawn in ink and then digitally colored enrich the cozy reading experience.

Superbly designed and executed with love; children of any age will appreciate the story’s message and celebrate Jasper’s quiet success. (Picture book. 4 & up)

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HEDGEHUG A Sharp Lesson in Love Pinto, Dan with Sutton, Benn Illus. by Pinto, Dan Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $9.99 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-06-196101-4

Dear Hedgehug eagerly anticipates Valentine’s Day. But when he goes out, heart in hand, he finds his loving gestures are quite unwelcome.

Pinto’s first story comes from a set of drawings he made that later became a film. Now that film has been adapted into this picture book. There are books aplenty about hedgehogs and other prickly creatures having difficulty finding love. But the childlike, painterly look of the illustrations, along with Hedgehug’s sweet determination, just may motivate readers to make room for this tale. Hedgehug appears so swept up in the excitement of sharing his valentine heart that he does not take time to properly get to know the objects of his rather instantaneous affection. Doris the Bunny and Edie the Owl are quite rude.

With an “OUCH!” and an “ARGGGGHHH!”, they rebuff his spiky embrace and reject his “stupid” and “silly” heart. Alone and dejected, he looks up to find a fearsome boar that delivers a loud “THUMP.” Poor Hedgehug’s heart is crumpled, and he learns a sharp lesson that “Love hurts.” All seems lost until thick-skinned Hannah the armadillo appears on the scene. She has patched up the seemingly ruined valentine, which now reads, “i think you’re special! P.S. I like your spikes.”

With just enough heart-beating action and well-placed sound effects, this could become a new holiday favorite for preschoolers still puzzling out how to best share their own feelings. (Picture book. 3-6)

PLANT A KISS

Rosenthal, Amy Krouse Illus. by Reynolds, Peter H. Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $14.99 | PLB $15.89 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-06-198675-8 978-0-06-198676-5 PLB What happens when a kiss is planted? Readers will be captivated as a young girl’s seemingly silly act literally blossoms into a generous reward.

Rosenthal (This Plus That, illustrated by Jen Corace, 2011) strips away all but the most essential words to share her story. Spare short phrases and one-word descriptors propel the action while leaving plenty of room for Reynolds, illustrating in a similar style found in The Dot (2003), to work his visual magic in a pale palette of mostly yellow, pink and gray. After providing sun, water and attention, the spunky heroine has moments of doubt. Her patience pays off when a sparkly object emerges from the soil. “Sprout! / SHOUT! SHOUT! // Gather about. // Wow! How? What now? / Stare and stare. // ‘I’ll share!’ she declared.” The other children who come by strongly disagree: “Don’t you dare! It’s far too rare! It’ll go bare!” kirkusreviews.com

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But “(She didn’t care.)” She collects a large amount of the sparkly stuff in her big red bowl and distributes it far and wide. When it is all gone, “she returned. There she learned…from one little kiss… // endless bliss!” Here Reynolds uses a golden wash with pink and iridescent dots to paint a most vigorous blooming swirly plant that spans the entirety of the final double-page spread.

Sure to dazzle children, who will appreciate that a relatively small deed can lead to such magical results. (Picture book. 3-6)

HUGS FROM PEARL

Schmid, Paul Illus. by Schmid, Paul Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $14.99 | PLB $15.89 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-06-180434-2 978-0-06-180433-5 PLB In this welcome departure from the seemingly ubiquitous theme that finds porcupines looking for love, gentle-hearted Pearl experiments with ways to make her hugs more comfortable for others.

From the first page, the text speaks directly to young readers in simple sentences that instantly establish a friendly rapport: “Pearl is sweet… She’s a very good friend to have. She plays fair, shares her lunch treats, and best of all… / Pearl LOVES to hug.” But she does have those pesky quills. Even though everyone in her class likes Pearl, they find her hugs “a little ouchy.” So Pearl dedicates herself to finding a solution. Set against backgrounds of pale green or blue, the charcoal strokes delineating Pearl’s soft, white body portray her as anything but prickly. A touch of pastel pink highlights her face and the myriad feelings she experiences while struggling with her prickliness. Using pincushions, taking a long bath and requesting a quillcut all prove futile. When she is at her most discouraged, some bees and rosebushes give her an idea. With a little ingenuity, some resourcefulness and a whole lot of heart, Pearl solves her own dilemma. Children and adults alike will cheer as she rushes to school to share her rosy success. Schmid’s follow-up to A Pet for Petunia (2011) proves he is a talent to watch.

Keep quills crossed for a future porcupine tale. (Picture book. 3-6)

10 VALENTINE FRIENDS

Schulman, Janet Illus. by Davick, Linda Knopf (32 pp.) $8.99 | PLB $11.99 | Dec. 27, 2011 978-0-375-86967-9 970-0-375-96967-6 PLB

candy hearts identifying their names. The following two-page spreads feature the author’s couplet describing each valentine, its creator and recipient: “Annie Lee knows how Pete likes bugs. / He’ll really dig her squishy slugs!” On the right half of the recto of these spreads is white space that fills up one by one with the various valentines. Once all 10 are completed, the narrator asks and answers, “Did everyone—even the cat— / get lots of cards?

YOU CAN COUNT ON THAT!” For those up for greater challenges, turn the page to see dozens of additional valentines.

“How many can YOU count?” Readers may also extend the fun further by trying to spot the 10 valentines from the story. The flat illustrations made up of bright hues on pastel backgrounds are amiable enough. But the book’s smaller size as well as the detailed depictions of the kids’ artwork will likely limit its use to sharing one-on-one or with an intimate group.

Not much new here—consider it an additional purchase. (Picture book. 3-5)

ALL KINDS OF KISSES

Tafuri, Nancy Illus. by Tafuri, Nancy Little, Brown (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 2, 2012 978-0-316-12235-1

That picture-book master for the very young, Caldecott Honoree Tafuri (Have You Seen My Duckling?, 1985), proves the barnyard a fertile setting in her latest offering.

As readers follow mama bird flying around the farm, various animals show affection for their families. In her classic oversized style, the author/illustrator uses watercolors to warmly portray creatures that fascinate young children. The simple text begins, “Little ones love kisses.” But “Little Chick loves Cheep kisses” and “Little Dove loves Cooo kisses.” The familiar barnyard animals included are painted close up, as if to appear life size. And although their common accompanying sounds are reflected in the text, readers will notice softly drawn words for the sounds emanating from the creatures’ mouths. Even an animal that is known for being silent is added: “Little Bunny loves quiet—Sniff—kisses!” The cozy story concludes with what most already know, “the best kiss of all… / is Mommy’s kiss good night.” Little ones will appreciate the large format and respond to the predictable repetition of the text. Slightly older children can interact further with the book by trying to find the blue bird on each full-bleed spread.

Many bedtime books featuring animal sounds exist, but few are executed with such skill; this one has the potential to become a classic. (Picture book. 1-4)

Davick complements the late Schulman’s serviceable, rhyming verse with pleasant, digitally rendered pictures of circlefaced friends preparing for Valentine’s Day. The fourth title in this duo’s series of holiday counting books (10 Easter Egg Hunters, 2010, etc.) introduces the ethnically diverse crew on the opening page with strategically placed |

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THE KISS BOX

Verburg, Bonnie Illus. by Cole, Henry Scholastic (32 pp.) $16.99 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-545-11284-0 In this sweet story about separation anxiety, Mama Bear and Little Bear find a way to send kisses to each other when they are apart.

The tale begins with a familiar concern of the intended audience: “Mama Bear was always home, and that’s how Little Bear liked it. But sooner or later, all mama bears need to go away, even if it’s just for a little while.” Of course, this troubles Little Bear. What ensues is a series of touching scenes in which Little Bear and his mama establish just how much she loves him, how Little Bear will remain in her thoughts and ultimately how they can keep the many kisses they send to each other close by. Little Bear’s brilliant idea is to make boxes to hold their kisses (represented as tiny paper hearts). Debut picture-book author Verburg structures the story, inspired by her personal experience, with a steady, soothing pace. Cole complements the language beautifully with watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations evoking the classic joys of childhood: enjoying a tree swing, fishing at a pond and sharing a yummy picnic lunch. Ever-patient Mama Bear and charming Little Bear remain the focus on each framed spread. The large font and generous spacing of the text should extend the book’s appeal to newly independent readers as well.

Similar in subject matter to Audrey Penn’s The Kissing Hand, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak (1993), but a whole lot more artful, this fresh take will motivate younger children to create boxes of their own. (storyteller’s note) (Picture book. 3-7)

the kiss small or tall, one to start or end the day, young readers are reminded that “the very best kiss… / is a kiss from you!”

Perhaps no big surprise but comforting nonetheless.

Although a bit on the slight side, this offering is infused with a warm, light humor just right for cuddling up with a young tyke or sharing with a gathering for storytime. (Picture book. 2-5)

THE BIGGEST KISS

Walsh, Joanna Illus. by Abbot, Judi Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $12.99 | Dec. 20, 2011 978-1-4424-2769-3 This title previously published in the U.K. takes a cozy look at all kinds of kisses.

Walsh’s rhyming text is full of cutesy rhythms: “Kisses on noses, kisses on toes-es. Sudden kisses when you least supposes.” Sometimes the phrasing stumbles: “Who likes to kiss?

I do! I do! Even the shy do. Why not try, too?” But toddlers and young preschoolers will probably not mind. They will be too engaged in spotting the lively penguin on each spread and too charmed by Abbot’s winsome illustrations that fittingly extend the wording in the story. Patient dogs queue up for a smooch from a frog prince, cool blue “ ‘normous elephants” contrast strikingly with bright red “little tiny ants” and a bewildered monkey endures a smattering of lipstick kisses. Be 2246

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This Issue’s Contributors # Kim Becnel • Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley • Louise Brueggemann • Timothy Capehart • Melissa Riddle Chalos • Ann Childs • Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Carol Edwards • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn • Diane B. Foote • Omar Gallaga • Judith Gire • Melinda Greenblatt • Lynne Heffley • Lyndsay Hemphill • Megan Honig • Julie Hubble • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Laura Jenkins • Betsy Judkins • K. Lesley Knieriem • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Joan Malewitz • Hillias J. Martin • Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • R. Moore • John Edward Peters • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Lesli Rodgers • Mindy Schanback • Dean Schneider • Chris Shoemaker • Paula Singer • Robin Smith • Karin Snelson • Shelley Sutherland • Gordon West • Monica D. Wyatt • Melissa Yurechko •

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kirkus indie Kirkus has been keeping an eye on selfpublishing for years, and we’ve never seen anything like the current boom. With the number of self-published titles now pushing 1 million per year, and independent authors utilizing new technologies to sell tens of thousands of copies of their work, the age of indie has truly arrived. Kirkus Indie brings readers the best works by independent authors, and we bring independent authors the crucial tools to get the word out about their books like no one else. We’ll give your book an unbiased, professional review, and then we’ll push that review into the world via our social-media properties, newsletters, website and expanding content. To learn more about Kirkus Indie and start promoting your title, please visit us online at kirkusreviews.com/indie/about.

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MONTFORT THE FOUNDER OF PARLIAMENT The Viceroy 1243-1253 Ashe, Katherine CreateSpace (265 pp.) $12.99 paperback | $2.99 e-book May 27, 2011 978-1450574235

A full-blooded second installment of Ashe’s historical fiction, in which the seeds of rebellion against Henry III’s economic tyranny are sown in the mind of Simon de Montfort, the founder of Parliament.

More assuredly ensconced in the saddle than she was in her first volume, a volant Ashe (Montfort the Founder of Parliament: The Early Years, 2010) charges ahead, taking the reader along on a largely gripping ride. This volume opens with dark tidings that Palestine, gloriously secured by Simon in the First Crusade, has fallen. Plunged into an orgy of grief, he lashes himself until he passes out. He wants to immediately jump on his horse and head to the Holy Land, but the king has other plans; Henry sends his finest general to subdue the notoriously rebellious French province of Gascony. Although the fine detailing of the three Gascony campaigns occasionally plods, Ashe does her best to mine it fully to build up the antagonism that will eventually explode into civil war. Pitted against a spiteful, changeling Henry who plies him with favors only to then humiliate him by trusting the word of the Gascon lords over his, Simon is tried for treason but acquitted. The official charge against him is his ruthlessness in Gascony, but the real treason has taken place in the bedroom, with Simon lapsing back into his affair with Queen Eleanor. In the background is a quiet but dangerous campaign launched

by Simon’s archbishop-mentor and chancellor of Oxford, Robert Grosseteste, to curb Henry’s arbitrariness by appointing a council. This could be seditious but it has a deep appeal for the barons and clergy bled to death by a king addicted to wars and keeping his foreign in-laws in velvet (literally—the fabric was new to the court, as, incidentally, was Roger Bacon’s rudimentary canon). The sanctimoniously loyal Simon initially dismisses Grosseteste’s talk with “Henry is no Tiberius,” but, in a deftly turned phrase by Ashe, he is soon bitterly aware that trusting Henry is akin to “leaning on Aaron’s staff that would one day turn serpent and sting him.”

Ashe is more flag-bearer of the rampant Montfort lion than objective storyteller, but her sharp eye for human drama and historic detail, together with strong characterization, keep the reader absorbed to the very end.

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“Beyer’s sharp-eyed look at health care in the United States is revealing to a fault.” from heaven or health

HEAVEN OR HEALTH A Doctor’s Common Sense Plan to Save our Health & Our Health Care System

A TRIP TO THE NUMBER YARD A Fun and Easy Guide to the Math You Need for Construction...

And Nothing Else

Beyer, Craig F. CreateSpace (220 pp.) $16.49 paperback | Oct. 11, 2011 978-1463745998 A Colorado ophthalmologist lasers gaping holes in Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare, prescribes a new two-tiered health care system and Dutch-uncles ridiculously overinsured Americans.

The book’s title doesn’t quite work, but everything else in first-time author Beyer’s sharp-eyed look at health care in the United States is revealing to a fault, and, as a reader might expect, it’s not a pretty picture. Medicare and Medicaid are Ponzi schemes and deficit makers that augur higher taxes.

Obamacare, while well-intentioned, is a poison pill that will drive private doctors out of business as its myriad regulations diminish the overall quality of health care. With lobbyists running interference, Big Pharma and insurers are running riot gaming the system, with some doctors joining in. Meanwhile, government officials and these same insurers, clueless about what doctors face, are making the rules and setting fees. Honest, everyday physicians who are doing no better than plumbers and their hapless patients stand at the very bottom of a trickle-down, gazillion dollar, third-party-payer health system that is dysfunctional in every way. This may sound familiar, but what sets Beyer’s rendition apart is the cogent, lucid manner in which he indignantly makes his case. Though he occasionally sounds like a screamer at the back of the hall, what really shows through is a rugged individualist, old-line Western conservative with naturopathic leanings. Get off your dern butts, he says, and learn to eat and live right. He advises reserving the government safety net for the relative few who are truly sick, disabled or mentally incapacitated. For the rest, tax-exempt personal health savings accounts can fund medical care while giving incentives not to overconsume. This system cuts out third parties and leaves it up to patients and their physicians to set fees in free market style. Throw in a modicum of high-deductible, catastrophic insurance and most people will have all the protection they need, plus health costs will plummet. The plan looks good on paper, but how will it take effect? Which presidential candidate will heed the call? Or is this just a somewhat Colorado-centric eye doc crying in the wilderness.

A highly illuminating book that deserves the widest possible audience, not that it would necessarily make any difference.

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Cook, Alan Illus. by Scott, Mary E. Freshwater (113 pp.) $19.95 paperback | Sep. 15, 2008 978-0979409707

This step-by-step guide to mastering basic construction math utilizes the building of a hypothetical bungalow as an occasion to lightheartedly relate mathematical thinking to practical application.

The need for one more book in a market where a dozen books on basic math for construction workers have been published appears initially questionable. Yet Cook’s book earns a place of distinction for bringing a gently humorous tone and an engaging sense of storytelling to what could be the driest of subjects. Organizing his book around the building of a hypothetical bungalow, Cook brings essential grade-school level mathematical concepts (how to solve for unknowns, distinguishing numbers and units and dealing with fundamental algebra and geometry) into play in the sequence you would need to use them if you were building your own home. This is a particularly engaging read for anyone suffering math phobia. “Solving for an unknown is like traveling to a new destination,” opens the book, and, through the author’s clearheaded examples of construction problems mathematically solved, math becomes a thoroughly charming form of intellectual recreation. Each chapter concludes with a helpful review of key concepts. And sprinkled through the text are Mary E. Scott’s cartoons achieving a remarkable balance between adult sophistication and childlike playfulness. In Cook’s chapter on reviewing how to solve fractions, decimals and percent, the author gives the alltoo-gripping math problem of calculating the cost of filling up your truck’s gas tank, a skyrocketing cost of doing construction work. Levity is introduced through Scott’s cartoon showing a depressed consumer pondering which button to press on a gas pump with buttons labeled “Barely Afford,” “Second Mortgage” and “Buy a Bike.” The book’s 17 compact chapters conclude with a helpful list of conversion factors and handy equations.

Cook successfully establishes the mathematical foundation needed for construction with a witty, conversational tone that clarifies math while instilling confidence in a reader’s capacity to practically apply numbers.

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“The foundation of the story is laid out well, with a journalist’s attention to facts, but also working poetry and the Italian language into writing.” from restoration

RESTORATION

Costanzo, Joe Charles River (372 pp.) $15.95 paperback | $5.99 e-book Nov. 28, 2011 978-1-936185313 A man’s return to his childhood home in Italy connects him to the controversial attempts to restore an old church.

The new novel from Costanzo (Graphic Times, 2008) first follows Carlo Strazzi, a teacher in the fictional mountain town of Roccamonti in the province of Calabria, Italy, where life centers on family ties and the crumbling church of Santa Prisca. Carlo’s brother, his brother’s wife and their son are leaving for America when old disputes come tumbling to the fore, involving the first and second restoration attempts of the church. Later, Stefano Strazzi returns to his home of Roccamonti to visit his uncle, Carlo, and becomes a benefactor of the third attempt to restore the church. Roccamonti and the slow pace of life along Via della Scala renews Stefano, and he finds he is prolonging his stay, much to the anger of his wife, who is waiting for him to join her. Stefano learns of the debate surrounding the previous restoration attempts and the anger Carlo feels toward the whole charade.

As Stefano becomes reacquainted with the town of his childhood, he also becomes intertwined in the drama that continues his uncle’s bloodlust for revenge. Constanzo only reveals the intricacies of the plot at the very end of the novel, a tell-tale sign of the author’s affinity for mystery writing. The foundation of the story is laid out well, with a journalist’s attention to facts, but also working poetry and the Italian language into writing that is otherwise unemotional. While Costanzo grounds the story in the telling of Strazzi family history, the characters of the town of Roccamonti and the mystifying back story, the climax comes late with the resolution feeling rushed and confused. Despite the shaky ending, Costanzo’s second novel is bolstered by his intimate knowledge of life in an Italian village.

A journalist’s carefully plotted story shines in its depiction of Italian culture.

VON LAGERHAUS DiGrazie, Dave Wine Flash (199 pp.)

Nov. 10, 2011 978-0984003600

A group of strangers traveling through a surreal afterlife learn about themselves and each other as they seek a mysterious man named Von Lagerhaus.

One minute Rawanzel Johnson was in a Buffalo, N.Y., crack house, getting high, the next she was shivering next to a two-lane road in the middle of a mysterious pine forest. Soon she runs into Karen, a pretty television journalist from North Carolina who says that moments ago she’d run a red light and somehow ended up in the woods. The two |

find a note on the ground from someone named “G. Von Lagerhaus” welcoming them and urging them to keep walking. Soon they meet more people—a reformed gangster rapper named Terry Twinkle and his spiritual advisor Professor Raymond McDermott, who were struck by lightning while playing a round of golf, and two senior citizens, Lou and Winnie, who died old but were made young again upon arriving in the woods. Together, the group follows the instructions left sporadically by Von Lagerhaus, who always seems to be just on the verge of arriving with all the answers. Meanwhile, as they travel, they develop powerful connections, and occasional conflicts, with one another and discover new, surprising things about themselves. Told in straightforward prose and with a charmingly goofy sense of humor, this novel is short on plot and long on character development. The author creates a wide range of characters and gives them life, only occasionally lapsing into broad cliché. He also displays knowledge of both Eastern and Western thought, and effectively weaves these ideas into the narrative without sounding like he’s teaching Philosophy 101. While some characters are better developed than others, those that are done well feel real, and while several loose ends remain dangling by the end, this is in keeping with the dreamlike nature of the rest of the novel and in no way detracts from the enjoyment.

A thoughtful, charming story of transformation and self-knowledge.

THE IMITATION OF PATSY BURKE

Gaynard, John J. CreateSpace (268 pp.) $12.99 paperback | $6.99 e-book Sep. 8, 2011 978-1463594374

Booze, brawls, sex and schizophrenia—such is the artist’s life in Paris, according to this raucous satire.

When Patsy Burke, a world-famous Irish sculptor living in France, wakes up in his hotel with his body torn and bloody and no recollection of how it got that way, he’s not particularly surprised. A raging alcoholic given to beating up pimps in Paris dives, he’s used to blackouts and drunk tanks. Unfortunately, his latest bender has left a dead man in its wake, and Patsy’s attempt to piece together what he’s been doing for the last few days triggers a reckoning with his past and his demons. Said demons take the form of bickering voices inside his head, including Caravaggio, a Nietzchean figure who eggs on Patsy’s fistfights and womanizing; Goody Two-Shoes, a prim woman who castigates his atrocious treatment of friends and lovers; a wispy romantic named Forget Me Not; and a scary demiurge called the Chopper, whose insistent promptings to behead women with a meat cleaver are barely fended off by the remnants of Patsy’s sanity. These clashing personae narrate Patsy’s violent picaresque and roiling internal conflicts; he’s bombastic, selfish, preening and cynical, yet steeped in Irish-Catholic guilt. (His downward spiral was touched off when he learned that a statue he made of Jesus being sodomized by two monks—meant as a

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“Well-crafted prose and attention to detail bring Kit Lamb to life.” from the de - conversion of kit lamb

protest against clerical abuses—is now presiding over orgies conducted by Vatican pedophiles.) Patsy’s saga is plenty lurid—”You bit off his right ear and you spat it out”—yet the author’s pristine prose keeps it under control. Despite the tale’s almost Dantean excesses, Gaynard makes the tone ironic and droll—during an odyssey through the Parisian demimonde, Patsy finds himself discussing Marxist development economics with a glamorous prostitute—and registers delicate shadings of his antihero’s psychic travails. The result is an entertaining, over-the-top farce that still draws readers in with pathos.

A rich, darkly comic send-up of the art world and the megalomaniacal souls that populate it.

LEGACY OF THE LIGHT

Gipstein, Todd A. Dog Ear (322 pp.) $19.95 paperback | $8.99 e-book May 6, 2011 978-1457503573 In an attempt to redeem his family’s honor, a man returns to keep the lighthouse where his father had failed to do his duty.

Keepers of the lonely lighthouse on Race Rock, off the shore of New London, Conn., had to learn to deal with intense isolation. The wife of Nathaniel Bowen, a keeper in the early 1900s, could not, so she left Nathaniel, taking their young son, Caleb, with her. Nathaniel was devastated, but continued to do his duty, until one night, consumed by grief over his absent family, he drank too much whiskey and failed to light the light, resulting in a shipwreck and dozens of deaths. The guilt was too much for Nathaniel, driving him to suicide. Several decades later, Caleb returns, seeking his father. Upon learning of the circumstances surrounding Nathaniel’s death, Caleb vows to become a keeper on Race Rock to make up for his father’s lapse in duty. After several years on the job, a stranger named Eliot, who claims to be a journalist, arrives at the lighthouse, ostensibly to research an article. Caleb’s fiancée Jennifer catches Eliot snooping around the lighthouse, so he reveals a dark family secret. With the storm of the century closing in, Caleb and Jennifer must decide how best to deal with an increasingly erratic Eliot, and whether they should believe his outrageous claims. While Gipstein’s prose is crisp and direct and his characters well-formed, there are some pacing issues, most notably in the form of a protracted coda after the climactic night of the storm. Still, the final resolution is satisfying, if a little long in coming. Gipstein has clearly done his research, and the period details of life in an early-20th-century lighthouse are fascinating, adding considerable depth to the narrative without getting in its way.

A well-wrought tale of family, duty, honor and redemption.

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THE DE-CONVERSION OF KIT LAMB

Kasten, Kate Islet (345 pp.) $15.95 paperback | $9.99 e-book Nov. 14, 2010 978-0615390857 A young, born-again, American evangelical goes to Guatemala in 1983 to study Spanish in preparation for future work as a missionary, but his experiences over the subsequent three months in a country run by the fundamentalist dictator Gen. José Efraín Ríos Montt shock, frighten and ultimately challenge him to question his faith.

Kasten’s novel is unapologetically political, a vehicle for presenting “an object lesson for those who think theocracy leads to peace and justice.” As such, it suffers from occasional plot contrivances. But her well-crafted prose and attention to detail bring Kit Lamb to life. The third-person narration is from Kit’s perspective, blending his current experiences with memories of the troubled life—and salvation—that brought him to the small town of Antigua. Kasten offers poignant portrayals of the indigenous population, as well as detailed descriptions of clothing, colors and landscapes. These create vibrant images that convey a sense of being with Kit as he walks the narrow streets and wanders the hillsides. An amateur artist, Kit sketches portraits of children in the center plaza, connecting with them even before his studies begin. His artist’s eye for nuance and inherent compassion compel him to notice the discrepancies between Montt’s stated fundamentalist doctrine and the reality of indigenous life in Guatemala. Colleen, a 20something American girl, is seated next to Kit on the plane. She serves as the love interest as well as the catalyst for the upheavals and discoveries that propel Kit through the tortuous journey from a naïve boy to a self-sufficient young man.

He struggles against her obvious contempt for his religious devotion, determined to save her soul from eternal damnation, even as he finds himself drawn to her physically. Ultimately, it is Kit’s relationship with Colleen that results in his first-hand experience with the brutality of the Rios Montt regime.

An engrossing, provocative novel.

THE $21 CHALLENGE

Lippey, Fiona and Gower, Jackie Simple Savings Intl. (290 pp.) $19.95 paperbackOct. 5, 2011 978-1466369436 A clever, merry approach to feeding your family while staying on the right side of debtors’ prison.

New Zealanders and ministers of the website SimpleSavings, Lippey and Gower are believers in the artful use of scant means, and they pursue that end with a jaunty, unstoppable enthusiasm. They contend, and then go about demonstrating, that you can feed a family of four for a week with $21

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“Masse balances realistic harrowing experiences with festive holiday cheer and the result is a satisfying Christmastime novel.” from the taste of snow

(and if you have anything in the larder, so much the better). This is a challenge for one week, not every week of the year; neither Lippey nor Gower suggests that. But when the cupboard and the checkbook are nearly bare, it’s one problem off your plate to know you can feed a brood on a few bucks. The authors take you step by step through their plan: how to involve your family, how to take stock and inventory, develop shopping lists and meal plans and deal with the “minor hurdles”—”These are the underminer, the guilt tripper, the shopping victim, the sponge, the big kid, the snob and the high D.I. (disposable income).” They provide tips and tricks for meeting your goals and focus on a well-rounded diet, quality foodstuffs and healthy eating of the commonsense sort, with plenty of treats that don’t lead down the road of morbid obesity. And the recipes aren’t what you might expect for a measly $21 for the week: sausage risotto, hotpots, cream pasta, potato cakes and bean pies and stretching a chicken five ways.

They address leftover ingredients, such as opened cans of chickpeas and coconut milk, curry paste and chili sauce, gelatin, oats and the dreaded zucchini (BBQ, soup, stir fry), and then step into the breach with substitute ingredients when you can’t find the one you want. When the portions seem small to you—one woman feeds her four on a pound of ground chuck one night, a half a chicken breast the next—just move on.

It’s rare that paupery can be so much fun and a bracing thumb in the supermarket manager’s eye.

HITLER’S SILVER BOX Malnak, Allen Two Harbors (328 pp.)

Dec. 30, 2011 978-1937293369

In Malnak’s international thriller, a cadre of neo-Nazis wants to keep the fires of war raging with the secrets of the Thousand-Year Reich—and only a beautiful Israeli operative and the nephew of a concentration camp survivor can stop them.

The thriller market seems increasingly saturated by books that fail to thrill, so Malnak’s debut is a nice surprise. The author doesn’t have the depth or breadth of a Daniel Silva, but he mines similar terrain with enough compelling aplomb to keep the pages turning. In Malnak’s case, the primary attraction is Miriam Horowitz, a sort of Le Femme Gabriel Allon, who encounters protagonist Dr. Bruce Starkman after his “Hail Mary” at the Holocaust Museum. A titleless operative attached to the Israeli Embassy in Paris, the remarkably adept (and fetching) attaché happens to be related to the man who helped keep Starkman’s uncle, Max, alive in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. After Max’s mysterious death compels Starkman to ask questions, Horowitz’s fearlessness gets the answers—and helps keep them one step ahead of the coterie of neo-Nazis who are intent on getting their mitts on the Silver Box, which contained the secrets for the Third Reich’s Thousand-Year Reign and had been destined for Der Führer himself. The harrowing chase begins in Starkman’s |

native Chicago and doesn’t stop until everyone reaches the former Czechoslovakia. There’s murder and mayhem and triplecrosses, and a rat-a-tat series of close calls. The characters are a little too broadly drawn, the history is a little too swiftly written and there’s not nearly enough nuance, but given a little more depth and breadth, and an encouraging edit, Malnak’s book could race alongside the bestsellers of the genre.

Cross The Spear of Destiny with Daniel Silva and you’ll come close to Malnak’s swift but unpolished thriller.

THE TASTE OF SNOW Masse, Stephen V. Good Harbor (207 pp.) $20.00 | Oct. 15, 2011 978-0979963810

Through trials and small miracles, a young girl gains a true appreciation for the magic of the holiday season in Masse’s children’s novel.

When 11-year-old Nicole Kinders receives a “magic candy cane” from a local shopkeeper on her way to school at the beginning of the holiday season, she pockets it gingerly but skeptically. However, immediately following the exchange, strange events occur and Nicole can’t get the idea of “magic” out of her head—during a fight on the school bus, when she goes skiing with her sister and the neighbor boys pelt them with golf balls and when she gets so sick that she’s forced to miss an Advent church service. While she stays home in bed and her family is away, an accidental fire burns part of the house. Luckily she manages to escape, but all the close calls inspire her to return to the shopkeeper and demand he take back the candy cane because it isn’t magic after all. He then helps her realize that although bad things have happened, good things have happened as well; her grandparents, uncle and new aunt have come to visit for the holidays and their presence is a kind of magic, too. But Nicole’s greatest test is yet to come, when she ventures out on the snowy slopes by herself one afternoon and is stranded by nightfall. Will the magic of the candy cane be enough to protect her against the elements? The story’s setting, a small village in the Alpine region of Austria, lends itself fabulously to this story in terms of sensory atmosphere and culture. Masse deftly describes the winter chill and the sights and smells of the holiday, while also weaving inspiring tales that demonstrate a deep appreciation for the triumph of the human spirit in a region where people have suffered hardships in the past century. Nicole grows as a character and readers will root for her as she learns to appreciate the blessings in her life and to confront her problems head on. Masse balances realistic harrowing experiences with festive holiday cheer and the result is a satisfying Christmastime novel.

A fresh Christmas story interspersed with joyful, ageold holiday traditions.

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K I R K US

I N DIE

2011 Best of Indie One of our favorite parts about the Indie section is the amazing variety; we see every genre you can imagine—and some you probably never thought of (goat production, anyone?). Out of this menagerie come the Best of Indie, books that caught our eye or blew our mind or touched our heart, some even earning Kirkus stars. And visit www.KirkusReviews. com for Q&As with Indie authors in each of the major categories (Fiction, Nonfiction, Children, YA and Poetry), plus we’ve sliced and diced subjects and genres to create some additional reading lists to tempt your palette.

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ARSONIST

Nathan Allen Griffins Wharf

AMIDST LATVIANS DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Edward Anders Occupation Museum Association of Latvia

TALES OF CHINKAPIN CREEK Jean Ayer Chinkapin Publishers

THE NAME OF THE RIDER Michael Brooke M. Brooke

THE HOUSE THAT WAR MINISTER BUILT Andrew Imbrie Dayton and Elahe Talieh Dayton Octavio

NO HOPE FOR GOMEZ! Graham Parke Outskirts

PROPHETS OF THE GHOST ANTS

Clark Thomas Carlton CreateSpace

DISASTERS

Asim K. Dasgupta AuthorHouse

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THE GHOSTS OF WATT O’HUGH

Steven S. Drachman Chickadee Prince

A CHILD OF RAPE Jon duVal Jon duVal

THE RELUCTANT MARTYR

DEMYANSK

Russ Schneider Neue Paradies/NPV

Rick Elliott Rising River

INFECTED WITH DIFFERENCE

MAGPIE

Curt Finch Carrier Pigeon

Wade Sikorski CreateSpace

JEZEBELS OF THE EARTH

THE WORD ON WORDS

Wandering Meadowlark CreateSpace

Norman German CreateSpace

ROCK STAR’S RAINBOW

NEON DREAMS Marilyn Mufson Marilyn Mufson

Kevin Glavin Kevin Glavin

THE SHAKE

NEWSLADY

DEATH WITH DIGNITY

SIREN’S SONGS

Mel Nicolai CreateSpace

Carole Simpson AuthorHouse Elisabeth Stevens BrickHouse

Robert Orfali Mill City

OH, BEAUTIFUL John Paul Godges CreateSpace

FERRET GIRL Colin Haskin DBR

GIVING GOOD HOLLYWOOD

Mary Pitman Do The Right Thing

Chris Culler CreateSpace

BRIDGE OF THE SINGLE HAIR

MINDWARP

SPEAKING TRUTHS

THE LONG ROAD TO PARIS

THE VOICE OF THE DOLPHINS

MORAVEC’S WAR BOOK ONE: The Schoolmaster Spy

THE SHIELD THAT FELL FROM HEAVEN

Xavier James Granite House

YELLOW BIRD

Linda Johnson Garden Gate Farm

THE WOODCUTTER AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TREE

MISFITS & HEROES Kathleen Flanagan Rollins CreateSpace

Hardy Jones CreateSpace

Bret Lowery CreateSpace

LEARNING CURVES Dorie LaRue CreateSpace

THE INSURGENCY IN CHECHNYA AND THE NORTH CAUCASUS

AMERICAN INFERNO

Sue Lange Book View Café

Neal Wooten Mirror

James Rouman Peter E. Randall

Raymond J. Learsy iUniverse

TRITCHEON HASH

RETERNITY

UNCERTAIN JOURNEY

OIL AND FINANCE

William S. Kerr Groton Jemez

Johnny Townsend Booklocker

Jane E.M. Robinson Jane E.M.Robinson

Dayna Hester iUniverse

JAWS: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard

THE ABOMINABLE GAYMAN

RIDDLES IN PROVENCE

Damian Lawrence Pentelicus

Laurie Stevens CreateSpace

Matt Taylor Moonrise Media

Candida Pugh Langdon Street

THE GUARDIANS OF TIME

Richard Hébert AuthorHouse

Ed and Janet Howle Xlibris

THE DARK BEFORE DAWN

THE LITTLE BOOK OF MISSING MONEY

Robert W. Schaefer Praeger

MOTHS TO FLAME

FLEETING MEMORY Sherban Young CreateSpace

Fredric Maffei CreateSpace

Robb N. Johnston Robert N. Johnston

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“Told in lucid prose, this story’s evolution is at once surprising and organic.” from have you seen me

THE LAST OF THE PASCAGOULA

Meredith, Rebecca La Sirene (332 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $9.99 e-book Aug. 20, 2011 978-0615506371 Meredith’s coming-of-age novel tells the story of a young woman who, in the wake of her mother’s death, befriends a couple of small town outsiders with whom she forms an important bond.

Taking place primarily in 1968 Mississippi, the book starts and finishes 40 years later with a reunion of friends. After their mother’s death from cancer, 15-year-old Kate and her younger sister, Martha, are left by their father to live with their grandparents in a trailer park in Pascagoula, Miss. After years of nursing her mother and taking care of her emotionally fragile sister, Kate has a pessimistic, world-weary outlook on life. Debut novelist Meredith sensitively, but unflinchingly, portrays the horror that might impact a young girl as she watches her mother die. Kate meets another injured soul in Tom Carmody, whose brother has returned from Vietnam a paraplegic. Tom also carries the secret of his homosexuality. Kate and Tom forge a deep friendship and are joined by Claire, the daughter of the town’s resident communist. Meredith deftly maneuvers between the growing friendships and the turmoil and violence of 1968 America. Tom, Claire and Kate’s adventures to New Orleans and a rinky-dink circus on the outskirts of town expose Kate to the wonders and excitement of life. But Kate’s awakening is squashed by an accident that damages Martha in such a way that the sisters’ lives are never the same. Soon after the accident, Kate and Martha’s father returns to take them away from Pasacagoula and the family of friends that Kate has formed.

After 40 years, Kate still takes care of Martha, who, despite being unable to live on her own, has become a successful artist. Kate receives a desperate message from Tom, whom she hasn’t heard from for decades, pleading with her to visit. In the days proceeding Hurricane Katrina, the sisters set off on an adventure, returning to Tom and Claire and setting in motion the resolution and change that Kate has needed to finally get on with her life.

A compelling, beautifully written novel that is an intimate portrayal of friendship and redemption.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME

Nelson, Katherine Scott Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (68 pp.) $4.99 e-book | Oct. 18, 2011 Nelson’s debut novella is the comingof-age tale of two gay teenagers in a small Nebraska town during the mid-’90s.

Told through the eyes of smart, shy Chris, the story opens with the hook of his missing best friend, the fiery, sad cutter Vyv. Vyv’s disappearance is a mystery that 2254

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yields whispered suppositions of abduction and fills everyone who ever knew her with the inexplicable sorrow of an erased life.

Only Chris knows that Vyv has simply run away, first to Lincoln, then farther east and, eventually, all the way to New York City.

The two, who have the kind of inseparability that only seems possible in adolescence, keep in contact through e-mails that propel the narrative. Vyv’s voice—desperately grappling between the hope and despair of her new freedom—sheds light on the angst that Chris deeply understands in his friend but with which he does not completely sympathize. After all, he has stayed at home, to drive her car, watch his homophobic grandfather’s decline and take on a new job as a helper to Albert, a middle-aged man in the midst of a “re-wilding” project on the outskirts of town. Chris is at first awed by Albert’s pioneer spirit and his snazzy politics, but, as the summer progresses and Vyv gets farther and farther away, he comes to see Albert’s imperfections and develops a strong bond with him despite them. Told in lucid prose, this story’s evolution is at once surprising and organic, revealing tidbits of the pain and love Chris and Vyv will never share again, piece by piece. Despite the possible bildungsroman pitfall of overdramatized awkwardness, Chris’ woes ring urgent and true, and the presence of Vyv’s absence becomes a weight the reader also has to bear.

Refreshingly earnest and artfully wrought, Nelson’s debut is a quick, compelling read that warrants a wide audience.

HOLLYWOOD AND WINE

Pala, R.M. CreateSpace (240 pp.) $11.99 paperback | $0.99 e-book Sep. 9, 2011 978-1463650193 A transcontinental Cinderella story set in the Great Depression.

Orphaned as a young child, Linda McLane lives a life of servitude and physical abuse with her guardians, a stereotypically villainous aunt and uncle. Alarmed by Linda’s plight, a kindly reverend notifies her other aunt, prominent Hollywood actress Vera Sinclair, who promptly whisks Linda away from her dreary English village and off to sunny Los Angeles. On the ocean voyage, Linda begins a transformation from gawky village lass to beautiful sophisticate, a transformation so complete that she finds immediate success as her aunt’s secretary, working toward the older woman’s spectacular comeback. Readers who push through this formulaic beginning and its one-dimensional characterizations will be pleased to find a story of surprising depth and complexity. Pala (MarsFace, 2002) tackles such issues as racism, socioeconomic inequality and sexual abuse with an engaging fervor. While this earnestness sometimes lessens readability—characters are given to extended moralizing speeches, for example—the otherwise lively pace compensates well. Pala keeps the various plotlines moving forward quickly, though this is sometimes at the expense of adequate development; the blossoming romance between Linda and aspiring actor Alejandro Alicante feels especially inauthentic and rushed. Alicante comes

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“This wildly imaginative epic adventure incorporates a virtual cornucopia of science-based speculation.” from redshift blueshift

perilously close to being a “Latin lover” caricature, though several clumsy scenes in which he discusses literature and psychoanalysis seem designed to portray him as cerebral and enlightened.

The books he discusses and other period-appropriate cultural references (e.g., It Happened One Night, King Kong, The Scarlet Empress) enliven the narrative, as do frothy descriptions of parties and socializing. These elements are a nice counterbalance to the serious themes and create a pleasing overall tone that is marred somewhat by erotic scenes that are jarring in their explicit detail. Throughout the novel, effective, if sometimes heavy-handed, use of foreshadowing ensures that the plot twists at the conclusion are plausible but still unexpected. All things considered, this is an enjoyable but unpolished story that doesn’t quite live up to its considerable potential.

A book worth reading from an author definitely worth watching.

REDSHIFT BLUESHIFT The Pendulum of Time

Peterson, Leslie Trafford (579 pp.) $35.39 paperback | $9.99 e-book Apr. 14, 2011 978-1425170578 Peterson’s science-fiction debut follows a contingent of humans as they take the maiden voyage on the “ultimate spaceship” only to find themselves hopelessly off-course and humankind’s last hope to save the universe from death by extreme entropy—the Big Rip. This wildly imaginative epic adventure incorporates a virtual cornucopia of science-based speculation and plot elements: extraterrestrial contact, near-instant interstellar travel, a looming galactic apocalypse, the existence of a multiverse and more. The enigmatic Dorts—giant, translucent, amoebalike entities—have been on Earth for three centuries and the single advancement that they brought with them has been nothing short of revolutionary—it’s called the Transformation Theory, a radical new approach to space travel. Reinterpreted by human physicists, the resulting effort is the Great Cone, a massive “transformation vehicle” inhabited by an eclectic community of humans preparing to take a historic journey to the stars. Their trip, however, is fraught with setbacks, culminating in their arrival at a seemingly dead planet that is anything but. A memorable line from the story appropriately describes the novel: “The conclusion…is clear-cut. We have mixed results.”

The hard-science-fiction-powered narrative elements are nothing short of glorious, instilling a sense of wonder that is very much comparable to sci-fi classics like Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and John Varley’s Gaea trilogy (Titan, Wizard and Demon). But, as is the case with many ambitious sci-fi epics, the characters are all but overshadowed by the grand-scale narrative. Aside from the largely forgettable cast, there are other shortcomings; at points, the narrative becomes wearisomely protracted (a good editor would’ve shaved off a considerable |

amount) and the drawn-out ending—although the author was apparently setting the table for a sequel—could’ve been much more impactful.

Hard science-fiction fans will find this shelf-bending debut impressive; an ambitious novel that doesn’t quite hit it out of the park.

THE GOLDEN BALL The Fairy Tale of the Frog Prince and Why the Princess Kissed Him Sinclair, Katelyn Chthonicity (56 pp.) $27.99 | Jul. 4, 2011 978-1937186005

In her children’s picture book, Sinclair turns a Brothers Grimm classic about a frog and a princess into playful poetry that begs

to be read aloud.

In this engaging reinterpretation of the familiar Brothers Grimm fairy tale about an arrogant princess and a witch-cursedprince-turned-amphibian, Sinclair uses rhyming iambic tetrameter couplets—”An infant princess once was born / Upon an early winter morn / So long ago and far away / Her name is lost to us today”—to tell the tale of enchantment, transformation and royal comeuppance. Sinclair manages the form evenly throughout, from the origins of the princess’ favorite toy (“Because he loved her most of all / The Sun gave her a golden ball”) to the extended happy ending—with the spell broken by a friendly kiss, the little princess and the restored prince, still children, become best friends. They play together, grow up “[a]nd as a happy consequence / They fell in love a few years hence.” In addition to introducing young readers to a classic form of poetry, Sinclair stretches their imaginations through her choice of vocabulary— the princess has a “voracious” appetite, she’s “consumed” by fear, the wily frog prince plots to “contrive” a meeting—adding interest through words and context. Visually, the tale’s characters are represented as simplistic cartoon figures, but the serviceable illustrations feature a variety of scenic backdrops, playing with textures and suggesting varied watercolor and cutout effects. Sinclair helpfully includes a “How to Read this Book Aloud” page of instructions in the back of the book, encouraging readers to enjoy the rhythmic pattern of the text.

A well-known Grimm’s fairy tale is given a playful new interpretation through rhyming couplets and appealing word pictures in this charming read-aloud, read-along book for ages 5 to 9.

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MAGPIE

Finch, Curt Carrier Pigeon September 23, 2011

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Q: Magpie reached Kirkus as a spiral-bound galley copy—care to share some of your adventures on the path to publication?

A: I decided to take the self-publishing route for the lack of any other options. In a lot of ways, a firsttime writer is like a band that nobody’s heard yet.

You have to get out there a play a few small venues to build your fan base. You never know who might be in the crowd. I enjoyed every step of the process, and if I have to do it again, I’ll know exactly what needs to be done.

Q: It’s been well-attested by everybody from Ben Jonson to Tolstoy that writing comedy is far more difficult than writing tragedy. The breakneck pace of Magpie never seems to relent—and yet you seem to have survived the process. Any tips?

A: The pacing of the novel was intentional, because it fits the characters and the world they inhabit— especially in today’s world, where information is coming at you so fast and our attention spans are shrinking by the minute. I think Arthur and Ian are merely trying to keep up with the rest of the world, which is spinning like a top.

around him; he seems like a relic of a lost age of celebrity journalism. It certainly adds to the comedy, but still, is this partially a critique on your part? Is Magpie a dream of yours, or a cautionary tale?

A: Arthur is definitely an anachronism. There are bits and pieces of a lot of famous writers and journalists there—Graham Greene, Gore Vidal, Kenneth Tynan, Tom Wolfe, Evelyn Waugh, Dorothy Parker, Arthur Koestler and George Orwell immediately spring to mind. And like Falstaff, there’s a tragedy there as well. Arthur’s the last of dying breed of journalists, those hard-drinking, chainsmoking wordsmiths who are now being replaced by news conglomerates and the Internet. If there’s a constant of the Information Age, it’s the disappearance of personality, and unfortunately I think that’s here to stay. However, this is not to say these writers can’t exist again.

Q: The book seems to have as many cinematic antecedents as literary ones—everything from His Girl Friday to My Favorite Year. Did the story go through many forms before the one we see?

A: The cinematic allusions are no accident, and for a time I did envision the Magpie series as a film or possibly a television series. That is, until I finally got a sense of the scope of it and how difficult it would be to try to film some of the novel’s happenings—Kubrick’s famous adage of “If you can think it, you can film it” doesn’t really apply with this book. Certainly Withnail and I had a big influence on the novel, as did films by the Marx Brothers and Preston Sturges. That said, if somebody did want to fashion a film out of Magpie, I don’t think I’d said no. There’s certainly a lot there for actors to chew on, and if put into the right hands, it could really take on a life of its own.

Q: Any reader coming to the end of Magpie and reading that our heroes’ adventures will continue must perforce clap hands for sheer joy—any progress reports on that sequel?

A: I’ll be starting on the second book in about another week and all I’ll say is that it will cover a special assignment in the Sudan. It’s been too long already since I’ve last checked in with Arthur and Ian, and I’m looking very forward to seeing what they’re up to.

–By Steve Donoghue

Q: The character of Magpie himself—Falstaffian, globetrotting, larger-than-life—is constantly butting up against limitations in the novel. The world seems to have shrunk

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In Curt Finch’s debut novel, young Ian Swansea first enters the employ of mercurial, accidentprone, award-winning journalist Arthur Magpie after saving the star reporter from a rampaging (and quite stoned) bull; soon Ian is “doing [Arthur’s] laundry, cleaning up his flat, feeding Gustave, balancing his books, pacifying his ex-wives, replenishing his liquor supply, traveling to ungodly destinations, stalling his publishers and feigning enthusiasm whenever he read aloud the poems of W.H. Auden” (“But then again, I was raised Catholic,” Ian muses, “and we do love to suffer”). In the pages that follow, this Quixotic pair manage to fall into—and extricate themselves from—half a dozen adventures involving wheedling publishers, loathsome rival journalists, buxom young ladies, a grotesquely obese legendary writer and some very funny terrorists. Arthur, a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other, careens from one disaster to the next with the unshakable aplomb of a deadline-hound; Ian is far more flappable, a newcomer to Arthur’s world of high-profile writing and energetic ribaldry. Their comic teaming makes Magpie a truly memorable debut, and here Finch talks to us about going indie, the changing face of journalism and the book’s cinematic influences.

“...a disturbing tale of morality.” from the jaguar dances

CATHOLICS AND THEIR RIGHT TO MARRIED PRIESTS Struggles with the Vatican

Vogels, Heinz-Jurgen AuthorHouse (172 pp.) $32.07 | paper $17.09 | $9.39 e-book Mar. 11, 2011 978-1456774714 978-1456773632 paperback Vogels gives an account of his crusade for married priests.

Growing up in 1940s Germany, Vogels felt called to the Catholic priesthood. Soon after entering, however, he chafed under the realities of the celibate life. Rather than accept the Church’s mandate for clergy, Vogels took the lead from Eastern churches, local practices and the Bible itself to advocate for priests’ right to marry. Citing 1 Corinthians 9:5, he wrote and spoke extensively against mandatory celibacy, and he went so far as to marry a woman to force the Church to, in his words, “restor[e] the truly ‘Catholic,’ i.e., the all-encompassing fullness in the real sense of the word.” In his view, the right for priests to marry goes beyond marriage alone, all the way up to the Church’s relationship with God. Translated from the German, the prose is a little stilted and disjointed at times, and the course of events can sometimes be hard to follow. Despite this, Vogels’ intense study of and passion for his faith shines through, and the reader can keenly feel his torment as he is compelled to alternately give up his calling or give up romantic human connections. Rather than falling in love and then deciding to marry, Vogels’ feelings for his partner and eventual marriage flow naturally from his political and religious commitment, contrary to the more relatable but suspect motivations of Catholic writers such as Thomas Merton. Though this can seem somewhat cold, the reader can see that Vogels is motivated not out of simple self-interest but from a place of faith and exegetical rigor. Of particular interest are the conspicuously slow, equivocal machinations of the Vatican that have reached strategic heights in relation to the sex abuse scandals going on today. The slowly growing movement of married priests is virtually unheard of, and Vogels’ book gives the reader an inside look at the struggles of this little-known population.

An unusual, compelling read.

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THE JAGUAR DANCES

Winther, Barbara CreateSpace (228 pp.) $12.95 paperback | $7.99 e-book Oct. 22, 2010 978-1453710272 In Winther’s thriller, a vacation goes perilously awry when two friends encounter danger, intrigue and drug smugglers in the exotic resorts and mountain villages of Peru.

Along with her best friend Carrie, legal secretary Jan Fielding arrives in Peru hoping for a relaxing, glamorous vacation away from the office. But almost immediately it’s anything but peaceful. Gun-toting soldiers patrol the streets, Carrie’s suitcase is broken into while the girls are in the hotel bar and there’s something odd about their tour guide, Luis, the son of a business associate of Carrie’s father.

Worse, Jan feels an attraction toward him that she doesn’t want. Nevertheless, Jan is determined to enjoy the sights of ancient and modern Peru. But as they travel to some of the country’s most intriguing locales, the girls’ relationship deteriorates as Carrie acts more and more suspicious. The appearance of the overly friendly, chameleonlike American named Brewster further convinces Jan that something’s going on. But her growing relationship with Luis makes the usually in-control secretary dangerously off-balance. When she learns Carrie’s father is smuggling drugs and Carrie is working with the DEA to uncover the drug ring, Jan wants out—now. Unfortunately, she’s “persuaded” to spy on their prime suspect, Luis, even if it costs Jan her life. Winther nicely ramps up the suspense and tension from page to page, and her details of Peru’s landscape, natives and locales pull readers into a lush South American realm. But it’s also a disturbing tale of morality as Jan struggles to come to terms with Peru’s impoverished population and their survival role in the production of cocaine. Colorful characters pepper the narrative and create a well-rounded cast.

Some story threads aren’t solved and the ending feels hasty and flat. Still, it’s satisfying to see Jan figure out what’s important in life and make peace with her past while catching the bad guys.

An ultimately fulfilling thriller with plenty of treachery, villains and heroes to go around.

kirkusreviews.com

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kirkus indie

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1 december 2011

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2257

Tanglewood takes kids where only books can lead them

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