April New and Notable
Fiction and Nonfiction
HUMAN SMOKE, by Nicholson Baker
A persuasive argument for peace and pacifism, this critical study of the decades leading up to World War II offers insightful profiles of the world leaders, politicians, business people, bankers, and others whose personal politics, ideologies, and agendas provided an inevitable barrier to the peace process and whose actions led to the outbreak of war. 125,000 first printing.
SUPERCLASS, by David Rothkopf
An informative study of global power brokers examines the world of the privileged elite; their role in government, business, international finance, world religion, the media, and criminal and terrorist organizations; their influence on our everyday lives; and the connections among these global communities of leaders. By the author of Running the World.
THE MATCH, by Mark Frost
A chronicle of a lesser-known 1956 golf match documents how car salesmen Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi competed against the period’s leading players as a result of a bet between sponsors Eddie Lowery and George Coleman, in a competition that helped promote golf into a professional sport.
JUST WHO WILL YOU BE? by Maria Shriver
This slender inspirational book is a candid self-portrait of a woman in transition. A longtime NBC anchorwoman, Shriver was thrown into a tailspin when asked to resign after her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was elected governor of California; she writes, “My career was gone, and with it went the person I’d been for twenty-five years.” With a combination of self-deprecation and chutzpah, Shriver describes herself as the consummate overachiever, a “people-pleasing, legacy-carrying, perfection-seeking Good Girl,” now realizing that “asking ourselves not just what we want to be but who we want to be is important at every stage in our lives, not just when we’re starting out in the world. That’s because, in a way, we’re starting out fresh in the world every single day.” Reprinted in full in this book is the speech Shriver made at her nephew’s high school graduation—a humorous meditation on fame, achievement and self-worth—that inspired the writing of this book. Shriver’s earnest self-inquiry and her humility and readiness to regard herself as a 50-year-old work-in-progress make for a charming and genuinely inspiring read.
THE LAST LECTURE, by Randy Pausch
The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.
LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS, by Richard Low
Presents a study showing how a child’s lack of involvement with nature can increase the chances of obesity, distraction, and depression and how a nature-child reunion can enhance problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
WOLF TOTEM, by Jiang Rong
A best-selling work in China is set in the 1960s on the eve of the Cultural Revolution and follows the spiritual journey of Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen into the world of the nomadic Mongols, a dying culture that honors the endangered Mongolian wolf and follows a philosophy about maintaining a balance with nature. 25,000 first printing.
KILLER YEAR, edited by Lee Child
Some of the rising stars in the crime, suspense, and mystery genres reveal their talents in a spinetingling anthology of short stories, each of which is introduced by such mentors as Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, and Lee Child, accompanied by additional tales and essays by Laura Lippman, MJ Rose, Allison Brennan, Ken Bruen, and Duane Swierczynski. 25,000 first printing
WALLACE STEGNER AND THE AMERICAN WEST, by Philip Fradkin
An illuminating portrait of Wallace Stegner examines the life and career of the twentieth-century literary luminary in terms of his roles as a premier chronicler of the American West, influential teacher, and visionary conservationist, from the perspective of the country that shaped his fiction and nonfiction works and his lasting influence on American literature. 30,000 first printing.
SO BRAVE, YOUNG AND HANDSOME, by Leif Enger
In 1915 Minnesota, Monte Becket, a novelist who has lost his sense of purpose, joins Glendon Hale, an outlaw intent on reconciling with his family, which he had abandoned more than two decades earlier, on his journey to California, but he is forced to leave his own family and is pursued by Charles Siringo, a relentless former Pinkerton agent. By the author of Peace Like a River.
HIGH CRIMES, by Michael Kodas
Documents a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s effort to climb Mount Everest in the aftermath of the tragic 1996 storm that ended the lives of eight climbers, an effort that tested the moral codes of the author’s team members and revealed the existence of mountain-based crime organizations preying on aspiring climbers. 125,000 first printing.
EARTH, THE SEQUEL, by Fred Krupp
An Environmental Defense Fund president presents a call-to-arms that reveals how the world can harness the capabilities of capitalist nations in order to address key environmental and economic challenges, in a report that discusses how specific actions have a potential to launch profitable new industries and jobs.
FIVE YEARS OF MY LIFE, AN INNOCENT MAN IN GUANTANAMO, by Murat Kurnaz
A former prisoner at Guantanamo describes how, in October 2001, he was arrested by police during a visit to Pakistan, sold to U.S. forces, and imprisoned in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo, where he endured more than 1,600 days of torture, interrogation, and solitary confinement before being released with acknowledgement of his innocence. 30,000 first printing.
THE MEANING OF NIGHT, by Michael Cox
Convinced that he is destined for great wealth, power, and influence, Edward Glyver–booklover, scholar, and murderer–will to anything to reclaim a prize that is rightfully his, following a trail from the underworld depths of Victorian London, to the posh estate of Evenwood and all-consuming love for the enigmatic Emily Carteret, to an ultimate showdown with his rival, poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt. 100,000 first printing.
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, by Laura Esquivel
Despite the fact that she has fallen in love with a young man, Tita, the youngest of three daughters born to a tyrannical rancher, must obey tradition and remain single and at home to care for her mother. A combination fairy tale, melodrama, romance, Mexican cookbook, and home remedy handbook, the long-awaited trade paperback edition of the hugely popular best-seller includes the artwork from the hardcover version. Reprint.
THE KNITTING CIRCLE, by Ann Hood
Grieving over the sudden loss of her only child, Mary Baxter joins a knitting circle in Providence, Rhode Island, whose members not only teach her a variety of knitting techniques but also valuable lessons about friendship, love, and redemption.
THE INTELLECTUAL DEVOTIONAL, by David Kidder
This daily digest of intellectual challenge and learning will arouse curiosity, refresh knowledge, expand horizons, and keep the mind sharp. Millions of Americans keep bedside books of prayer and meditative reflection–collections of daily passages to stimulate spiritual thought and advancement. This is a secular version of the same–a collection of 365 short lessons that will inspire and invigorate the reader every day of the year. Each daily digest of wisdom is drawn from one of seven fields of knowledge: history, literature, philosophy, mathematics and science, religion, fine arts, and music. The goal is to refresh knowledge we’ve forgotten, make new discoveries, and exercise modes of thinking that are ordinarily neglected once our school days are behind us.–From publisher description. A year’s worth of daily readings from the secular arena provides subject matter for intellectual growth and advancement, in a volume that includes coverage of such topics as opera terms, basic physics principles, musical genres, and the inner workings of batteries.
Popularity: 98%