With spring… new thoughts and intents fill our corners of free time. So, instead of our usual list of “just published” for the current month (to return in April), we would like to direct you to some favorite children’s books from 2007 as well as spring fiction debuts.

Favorite Picture Book of the Year

Toy Boat, by Randall de Seve, illustrated by Loren Long.
When the wind blows a little boy’s beloved toy boat out into the wide lake, the little boat, missing his friend, must brave fierce waves, a surly ferry, a sassy schooner, and a growling speed boat in order to find his way home. “A beautiful and timeless new classic.”

Favorite Middle Grade Novel

The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker’s classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns muchof value about the world he lives in.During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker’s classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in. “It will make you laugh, make you cry, and begs to be read outloud.”

Favorite YA Novel

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Leaving the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school, Junior struggles to find his place in his new surroundings in order to escape his destiny back on the reservation. 75,000 first printing.

Most Unusual Picture Book of the Year

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan
Although saddened at having to leave the family he loves, the immigrant is certain that moving to the new land is the right thing to do and so ventures off to a strange land to begin a life that will hopefully reap the rewards he seeks through his sacrifice, hard work, and determination. “A wordless, graphic novel that is very sophisticated, by almost entirely visual.”

Best Book Title (3 Winners!)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
Greg records his sixth-grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship.

I’d Really Like to Eat a Child, by Slyvianne Donnio
One morning Achilles, a young crocodile, insists that he will eat a child that day and refuses all other food, but when he actually finds a little girl, she puts him in his place.

Do Unto Otters, by Laurie Keller
Unsure of how to treat the family of otters that moved in next door, Mr. Rabbit turns to Mr. Owl and gets just the advice he needs to make his new neighbors feel right at home. 75,000 first printing.

Most Memorable Characters in a Lead Role

Kek in…Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate.
Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner. “He has such an unusual voice, and its cadence stays with you.”

Best Sequel

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling (No Contest!!)
Burdened with the dark, dangerous, and seemingly impossible task of locating and destroying Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes, Harry, feeling alone and uncertain about his future, struggles to find the inner strength he needs to follow the path set out before him.At a time when the forces of evil seem to be gaining the upper hand, Harry comes of age in the wizarding world, and must take on and defeat Voldemort–or be killed himself.
The seventh and final book of the blockbuster Harry Potter series follows the wizard’s last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 12,000,000 first printing.

…honorable mentions:

Knuffle Bunny Too, by Mo Willems
When she arrives at school, excited to show off her one-of-a-kind Knuffle Bunny, Trixie is quite upset when someone else has the exact same bunny, resulting in hilarious chaos. 175,000 first printing.

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, by Jane O’Connor, Illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser
Nancy wants to adopt a special puppy so that she is no longer the only fancy member of her family, but after a day of puppysitting a papillon, she realizes that being fancy is not always the most important thing. 200,000 first printing.

The Titan’s Curse, by Rick Riordan
When the goddess Artemis disappears while hunting a rare, ancient monster, a group of her followers joins Percy and his friends in an attempt to find and rescue her before the winter solstice, when her influence is needed to sway the Olympian Council regarding the war with the Titans.When the goddess Artemis disappears while hunting a rare, ancient monster, a group of her followers joins Percy and his friends in an attempt to find and rescue her before the winter solstice, when her influence is needed to sway the Olympian Council regarding the war with the Titans.

Favorite Book Jacket

How To Paint the Portrait of a Bird, by Jacques Prevert, illus. by Mordicai Gerstein
Setting up his easel, prepping his palette, and picking up his brush, a young boy captures the beauty of the day as he paints the majesty of a tree, the warmth of the sun, and wonderment of a visiting bird.

Funniest Book (tie)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
“A good slice of middle school humor.”
          
          
          
          
          

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex
Twelve-year-old Gratuity Tucci has a hard time writing an essay on “The True Meaning of Smekday” due to her complex life after Earth was overtaken by aliens and her mother was kidnapped and taken to Happy Mouse Kingdom in Florida. 50,000 first printing.

Most Promising New Author

Jeff Kinney and Linda Urban

Favorite Series

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, and The Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer; and of course…Harry Potter.

Best Nonfiction Treatment of a Subject

The Wall, by Peter Sis
I was born at the beginning of it all, on the Red side - the Communist side - of the Iron Curtain. Through annotated illustrations, journals, maps, and dreamscapes, Peter Sis shows what life was like for a child who loved to draw, proudly wore the red scarf of a Young Pioneer, stood guard at the giant statue of Stalin, and believed whatever he was told to believe. But adolescence brought questions. Cracks began to appear in the Iron Curtain, and news from the West slowly filtered into the country. Si;s learned about beat poetry, rock ‘n’ roll, blue jeans, and Coca-Cola. He let his hair grow long, secretly read banned books, and joined a rock band. Then came the Prague Spring of 1968, and for a teenager who wanted to see the world and meet the Beatles, this was a magical time. It was short-lived, however, brought to a sudden and brutal end by the Soviet-led invasion. But this brief flowering had provided a glimpse of new possibilities - creativity could be discouraged but not easily killed.Annotated illustrations, maps, and dreamscapes explore how the artist-author’s life was shaped while growing up in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, in a powerful graphic memoir. 75,000 first printing.

Most Innovative/Unique Book (Tie)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
Living in the walls of a busy Paris train station in 1931, clock keeper and orphan Hugo Cabret must constantly work to keep his secrets safe, but when an inquisitive girl and an old man who owns a toy store begin probing, he must do all he can to keep them at a safe distance. 150,000 first printing.

Gallop, by Rufus Butler Seder
Rhyming text asks if the reader can move like a variety of animals, in a book where striped acetate overlays on board pages give illustrations the illusion of movement.

Favorite Book to Handsell (it’s so great to convince both adults and kids to read them!)
Gallop (see above), and…

A Crooked Kind of Perfect, by Linda Urban
Upset when her dreams of becoming a grand pianist are squashed when her father returns from the store with an old organ, ten-year-old Zoe Elias tries to make the best of it and so practices hard in order to get her moment in the spotlight at the annual Perform-O-Rama organ contest. Jr Lib Guild. 20,000 first printing

Best Novel for Young Readers That Adults Would Love If They Knew About It (tie)
The Wednesday Wars (see above) and…

Spud, by John van de Ruit
In 1990, thirteen-year-old John “Spud” Milton, a prepubescent choirboy, keeps a diary of his first year at an elite, boys-only boarding school in South Africa, as he deals with bizarre housemates, wild crushes, embarrasingly dysfunctional parents, and much more.In 1990, thirteen-year-old John “Spud” Milton, a prepubescent choirboy, keeps a diary of his first year at an elite, boys-only boarding school in South Africa, as he deals with bizarre housemates, wild crushes, and embarrasing parents.

Spring ’08 Fiction Debuts

Blood Kin, by Ceridwen Dovey
Arrested and forced to serve their country under a new regime when their president is overthrown by a military coup, a barber, a chef, a portraitist, and the women they love find their intimacies exposed by the government’s new order. 20,000 first printing.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes, by Mohammed Hanif
Junior Officer Ali Shigri of the Pakistan Air Force, the son of Colonel Quli Shigri, who had been one of General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq’s right-hand men prior to his suicide, struggles to unravel the secrets and motives that led to his father’s death and plots his revenge on the Pakistani dictator whom he blames for his father’s death. A first novel. 40,000 first printing.

Chld 44, by Tom Rob Smith
Rising Soviet state security force officer Leo Demidov encounters the test of his career when a serial killer challenges his beliefs about the paradise of the working world, resulting in his demotion and threats against the lives of his family members. A first novel.

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, by Sasa Stanistic
Stanisic’s debut novel is the moving story of a young Bosnian refugee named Aleksandar Krsmanovic. Aleksandar is the apple of his family’s eye, but his sheltered childhood ends when ethnic wars brewing in the surrounding republics make their way to his hometown in the spring of 1992. As Serbian troops storm the village, Aleksandar’s family hides, but nowhere is safe. The violence forces the family to Germany, where they struggle to adjust to their new lives as refugees. In the depths of their despair, Aleksandar’s grandmother makes him promise to “remember when everything was all right and the time when nothing’s all right.” Aleksandar keeps his word, and the memories pour out of him like a river. The author organizes Aleksandar’s recollections as a stream of consciousness, operating on no distinct linear time line and often stopping one story and starting another in the same breath. It is difficult to keep up with this frantic pace, but it pays to be patient because a remarkable life’s journey unfolds. (June)

A Richer Dust, by Amy Boaz
An attempt to establish a new world Utopia in the American Southwest succumbs to a clash of genders and cultures in this subtly compelling historical novel, the author’s debut.Boaz takes inspiration from the life of D.H. Lawrence and the painter who accompanied him and his German wife to forge a new life free from the cultural contaminations of supposedly civilized England. Narrated by Doll (short for Dorothy, a character inspired by painter Dorothy Brett, who came to New Mexico with the Lawrences), the novel shifts its chronology among three different periods. Most of the story concerns the years immediately following the emigration of the artistic-minded trio in 1924, as Abe Bronstone (the Lawrence figure) expounds his theories on raising the human consciousness within a community of Indians mixed with a motley assortment of Caucasians. Doll also flashes back to her formative years in England, as a neglected daughter and a sexually abused child who finds refuge in the arts, and she flashes forward to 1963, when she spends her later years with a much younger Indian man, as naive to the ways of the world as she had been. The switching among these three different time periods initially feels a little arbitrary, but Boaz pulls the various strands together in the novel’s second half, which builds to a riveting climax, as the influence of Bronstone’s strong-willed wife on the other women sparks tension between the Anglo and Indian cultures. Throughout the novel, Boaz turns the landscape itself into a protagonist, richer in detail than many of the characters. Physically unattractive and hard of hearing, Doll takes a leap of faith in following Bronstone, whom she alternately seems to consider a mentor, friend, lover and father figure (though they are roughly the same age). The stormy marriage of the Bronstones provides much of the narrative momentum, as the more submissive Doll decides where she fits between such strong-willed people. Readers need know nothing about Lawrence and his circle to become engrossed in this evocative tale.

Sun Going Down, by Jack Todd
Three generations of the Paint family struggle through 70 years of hardship and heartache on the Western plains in Todd’s ambitious fiction debut. En route from Mississippi to the Dakota Territory at the height of the Civil War, Ebenezar Paint meets and marries twice-widowed Cora, a union that produces two strapping twin boys, Eli and Ezra. Ebenezer vainly chases riches; by 15, the boys are orphans and cowboys—and involved in a risky but profitable bit of horse stealing. Ezra remains a wanderer, while Eli settles down to become a wealthy rancher. The narrative eventually follows Eli’s favorite daughter of his six children: Velma, who is brutalized by two of her three husbands, but whose estrangement from Eli causes her the most pain, and takes the story into the Depression era. Vivid and colorful in its depiction of the West’s transformation from the frontier to the modern age, this is a hardscrabble tale of proud folks who refuse to forgive mistakes or forget faults.

Three Girls and Their Brother, by Theresa Rebeck
Transformed into the fashion world’s latest “It” girls, the three Heller sisters, the granddaughters of a late, famous literary critic, fall prey to the venal forces and temptations of show business, unleashing a bitter rivalry and competition that threatens the three girls and their quiet, neglected brother with a self-destructive disaster. A first novel. 60,000 first printing.

The Well and the Mine, by Gin Phillips
A tight-knit miner’s family struggles against poverty and racism in Phillips’s evocative first novel, set in Depression-era Alabama. Throughout, she moves skillfully between the points of view of miner father Albert, hard-working mother Leta, young daughter Tess and teenage daughter Virgie, and small son Jack. They see men who are frequently incapacitated or killed by accidents in the local mines; neighbors live off what they can grow on their patch of land; and blacks like Albert’s fellow miner and friend Jonah are segregated in another part of Carbon Hill—and often hauled off to jail arbitrarily. When Tess witnesses a woman throwing a baby into their well, no one believes her until the dead child is found, and few are shocked. Tess, hounded by nightmares, and Virgie, on the cusp of womanhood and resistant to the thought of an early marriage to the local boys who court her, begin making inquiries of their own, visiting wives who’ve recently had babies and learning way more than they imagined. With a wisp of suspense, Phillips fully enters the lives of her honorable characters and brings them vibrantly to the page. (Mar.)

Popularity: 100%

Hardcover – Fiction

The Ghost War, by Alex Berenson
Returning to Washington after a harrowing case in the Middle East, CIA agent and al-Qaeda infiltrator John Wells is selected to investigate a surge in Taliban activity with possible Asian ties. By the author of The Faithful Spy. 150,000 first printing.

7th Heaven, by James Patterson
Investigating the arson deaths of a wealthy couple, San Francisco detective Lindsay Boxer and Assistant DA Yuki Castellano find the case further complicated by the disappearance of a former governor’s son, internal pressure, and the media. 1,250,000 first printing.

Someday, by Karen Kingsbury
When Dayne and Katy Matthews take on separate movie projects, tabloid rumors talk of trouble and unfaithfulness between the two, but something drastic catches Dayne’s attention and makes him realize the destruction they’re playing with; meanwhile, the Flanigans recognize the deep loss of the Christian Kids Theater program, and they lead a final effort to keep the theater from being torn down. Original. 300,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo.

Song Yet Sung, by James McBride
A tale set against a backdrop of slave rights conflicts in the nineteenth-century Chesapeake Bay region finds young runaway Liz Spocott inadvertently inspiring a slave breakout from the attic prison of a notorious slave thief who vengefully calls slave catcher Denwood Long out of retirement. 100,000 first printing.

The Chocolate Lovers’ Club, by Carole Matthews
Together with her fellow addicts–Autumn, Nadia, and Chantal–Lucy Lombard forms a select group known as The Chocolate Lovers’ Club that gets together at their sanctuary, a caf‚ called Chocolate Heaven, whenever there is a crisis in one of the member’s lives, including a gambling husband, cheating boyfriend, flirtatious boss, and a loveless marriage. 25,000 first printing.

An Irish Country Village, by Patrick Taylor
Delighted to be offered a permanent position with crusty Dr. O’Reilly, Dr. Barry Lavery confronts a crisis when his reputation is threatened by the unexpected death of one of his patients, he and O’Reilly launch a campaign to save Ballybucklebo’s four-hundred-year-old pub, and his beloved Patricia tries to win a scholarship to Cambridge, in the sequel to An Irish Country Doctor. 75,000 first printing.

Stranger in Paradise, by Robert B. Parker
Ten years after hit man Crow Cromartie escapes with the spoils of a lucrative heist, Massachusetts police officer Jesse Stone is astonished when the fugitive enlists his cooperation with a job gone bad involving a young woman whose father wants her killed. By the author of High Profile. 275,000 first printing.

Dakota, by Marth Grimes
A sequel to Biting the Moon finds amnesiac drifter Andi Oliver moving between waitressing jobs throughout the country until a discovery at a livestock facility renders her a target of two men, including a hired gunman and a pursuer who would claim something from her forgotten past. By the author of Dust. 75,000 first printing.

Death of a Gentle Lady, by M.C. Beaton
Suspecting that an elderly matron is not quite the kindhearted favorite her neighbors believe her to be, fractious constable Hamish Macbeth investigates the local inspector’s suspicions when the lady dies under mysterious circumstances but harbors private opinions about what may have brought about her demise.

The Appeal, by John Grisham
The author of such best-selling legal thrillers as A Time to Kill, The Last Juror, and The Brethren presents his latest novel of courtroom and legal suspense as he offers a provocative look at the price of American justice. 2,800,000 first printing.

Life Class, by Pat Barker
Capturing the devastation and psychological trauma of the Great War on every level of British society, a new novel by the Booker Prize-winning author of The Ghost Road focuses on a group of young art students, including Paul Tarrant, a Red Cross volunteer, who soon discovers that life, love, and art will never be the same. 35,000 first printing.

The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff
Returning in disgrace to her born-again Christian mother’s home after an affair with her professor, temperamental Willie arrives at the same time the remains of a prehistoric creature is discovered in the town’s lake, a finding that tests Willie’s archaeological skills and leads to painful revelations about her family. A first novel. 100,000 first printing.

The Killing Ground, by Jack Higgins
Entreated for help by an English-Bedouin man whose thirteen-year-old daughter has been kidnapped and forced to marry a terrorist, intelligence operative Sean Dillon finds his willing assistance sparking a deadly chain of events.

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida
Raised by her father after the disappearance of her mother, twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa discovers upon her father’s death that he had not been her father at all, a finding that drives her to leave and travel to the Arctic to discover the truth about her heritage. Reprint.

Hardcover – Nonfiction

The Greatest Gift, by Binka Le Breton
An inspirational portrait of an extraordinary nun describes how Sister Dorothy Stang came to Brazil as a missionary in 1966, her work in the Amazon to protect small farmers from powerful and ruthless logging and development interests, and her 2005 murder, and offers a provocative expos‚ of the collusion between government and commercial interests that contributed to the crime. 20,000 first printing.
**Binka as signed copies of her book for supporters of
An Open Book LLC…stop by for yours, quantity limited.**

Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary, Reflections by Women Writers, Edited by Susan Morrison
An evaluation of the presidential candidate by thirty women writers from diverse walks of life considers her political career and prospects from supportive and less favorable perspectives, in a volume that includes contributions by such names as Deborah Tannen, Susan Cheever, and Lorrie Moore. 35,000 first printing.

Sent Yourself Roses, by Kathleen Turner
An irreverent self-portrait by the Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning actress discusses such topics as the father she lost at a young age, her struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, and her relationships with such fellow celebrities as Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, and Francis Ford Coppola.

Marching Toward Hell, by Michael Scheuer
A veteran CIA counter-terrorism analyst provides a sobering analysis of the U.S. Iraqi War policy while making unsettling predictions about how American security will be affected by the conflict, in a report that reveals how America’s foreign policy is undermining key national goals and rendering the country vulnerable to terrorism. 200,000 first printing.

Daydream Believers, by Fred Kaplan
The author of the “War Stories” column in Slate argues that America’s foreign policy under the Bush administration has gone astray not only because of incompetence, but also because of misconceptions about world politics, the lessons of history, the nature of warfare, democracy, and other so-called “Daydreamer” beliefs.

Losing It, by Valerie Bertinelli
An inspirational memoir by the one-time star of the hit TV show One Day at a Time recalls the challenges of maintaining a healthy self-image while coping with the stress of celebrity, her twenty-year marriage to rock star Eddie Van Halen, her battle with depression and weight, motherhood, and her determination to take control of her own life. 250,000 first printing.

Fanon, by John Edgar Wideman
A fictional portrait based on the life of Frantz Fanon, a philosopher, psychiatrist, political activist, and author of The Wretched of the Earth, chronicles Fanon’s life, from his Martinique upbringing through the publication of his influential work and his legacy in a post-9/11 world, as seen through the eyes of the African-American novelist writing his biography.

The Food You Crave, by Ellie Krieger
The host of Food Network’s Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger shares her approach to a healthy and delicious diet with a selection of two hundred recipes for every meal and craving, with dishes that emphasize fresh, aromatic ingredients–herbs, spices, vegetables, grains, fruits, meats, and fish–accompanied by complete nutritional breakdowns.

Real Change, by Newt Gingrich
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives examines the need for change in health care, immigration, energy and environmental policy, transportation, and national security, and discusses the difficulties politicians from both parties have in implementing new agendas.

The Great Swim, by Gavin Mortimer
Draws on primary sources, diaries, and family interviews to document the story of four American athletes who in 1926 became the first women to swim the English Channel, in an account that also cites the media frenzy that surrounded their achievement.

(The following title was released in October…just a reminder!)
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Centruy, by Alex Ross
The scandal over modern music has not died–while paintings by Picasso and Pollock sell for millions of dollars, works from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences. Yet the influence of modern music can be felt everywhere. Avant-garde sounds populate the soundtracks of Hollywood thrillers. Minimalist music has had a huge effect on rock, pop, and dance music from the Velvet Underground onward. Music critic Alex Ross shines a bright light on this secret world, taking us from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties, from Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia to New York in the sixties and seventies. We follow the rise of mass culture and mass politics, of new technologies, of hot and cold wars, of experiments, revolutions, and riots. The end result is not so much a history of twentieth-century music as a history of the twentieth century through its music.–From publisher description.A history of modern music is set against the backdrop of the events and cultural movements of the twentieth century, chronicling the evolution of mass culture, technological innovation, revolution, social experiments, and more in terms of the music of the era.

Swimming in a Sea of Death, by David Rieff
A tribute to writer Susan Sontag and her final battle with cancer, written by her son, relates the human experience of being close to someone who is gravely ill and evaluates the current state of cancer research and treatment. 35,000 first printing.

The Radical and the Republican, by James Oakes
Oakes (history, City U. of New York) examines how the abolitionist and former slave, Frederick Douglass, and the pragmatic anti-slavery politician, President Abraham Lincoln, began from positions of relative mutual antipathy–with Douglass frequently denouncing Lincoln’s compromises and Lincoln just as frequently taking care to personally disavow the “radical” positions of the abolitionist movement–towards a mutual respect that would lead to Lincoln inviting Douglass to the White House twice and Douglass fastening his allegiance to Lincoln’s Republican Party.

Prime Green, Remembering the Sixties, by Robert Stone
A first work of nonfiction by the award-winning author of Dog Soldiers is a tribute to the 1960s that is told through a series of personal vignettes recounting his global experiences, from his final year in the military and Antarctic trip to his work as a correspondent in Vietnam, where he witnessed the invasion of Laos. Reprint.

Seducing the Boys Club, by Nina Disesa
In a valuable toolkit for professional women, the chair of McCann Erickson explains how to take advantage of their femininity, intuition, and wit to outmaneuver the competition, offering helpful tips on how to get ahead by learning how to read a room, use body language, develop a buddy system, and enhance their power of “benevolent manipulation.” 40,000 first printing

NEW PAPERBACK

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
In the aftermath of a horrific small-town school shooting, lawyer Jordan McAfee finds himself defending a youth who desperately needs someone on his side, while intrepid detective Patrick DuCharme works with a primary witness in the daughter of the superior court judge assigned to the case. By the author of The Tenth Circle. Reprint. 800,000 first printing.

Dream Chaser, by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Given a single month on Earth as a human to redeem himself or face eternal damnation in Tartarus, Dream-Hunter Xypher, who only feels emotions through the dreams of others, assists Simone Dubois, a coroner with the power to read the minds of the wrongfully dead to find those responsible for their murders, as together they pursue an evil Dimme demon. Original.

The Boys in the Trees, by Mary Swan
Newcomers in their rural home, William Heath, his wife, and his two daughters appear to be the picture of a devoted family, until accusations of embezzlement prompt William to commit a terrible crime, leaving those around him struggling to reconcile his actions with their preconceived perceptions. A first novel. Original. 40,000 first printing.

Mistress of the Art of Death, by Kim Edwards
Sent to medieval Cambridge in order to exonerate a group of Jewish prisoners with financial ties to King Henry I, University of Salerno medical examiner Adelia and a group of companions struggle to avoid being accused of witchcraft and discover that the killer may be a former crusader. Reprint.

The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins
In an impassioned rebuttal to religion, a noted scientist and author of The Blind Watchmaker speaks out on the irrationality of belief in God; criticizes the dire impact of religion on society, from the Crusades to September 11; and argues that religion fuels war, bigotry, child abuse, violence, and other ills. Reprint.

Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande
The surgeon-author of Complications explores the efforts of physicians to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, discussing such topics as the ethical considerations of lethal injections, the influence of money on modern medicine, malpractice, and surgical errors. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.

Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics
A behind-the-scenes look at the accomplishments of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games draws on previously unpublished interviews, family sources, and extensive archival research to provide a portrait of a remarkable man in relation to the intrigues, plots, controversies, and political machinations that took place. By the author of Cinderella Man. Reprint.

Popularity: 75%

REMEMBERING THE BONES, By: Frances Itani
Invited to Buckingham Palace to attend the eightieth birthday celebration of Queen Elizabeth II, Canadian Georgina Danforth Witley is on her way to the airport to board a plane for London when her car goes off the road and plunges into a ravine, leaving Georgina stranded and injured as she reflects on her life, family memories, wit, lost loves, and secrets to survive.

New Hardcover Fiction

PLUM LUCKY, By: Janet Evanovich
Just after Valentine’s Day, Diesel returns to once again turn New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s world upside down, in a novel marked by the presence of such familiar characters as Lula, Grandma Mazur, Connie, Ranger, Joe, Tank, Valerie, and Albert Kloughn. 1,250,000 first printing.

THE SECRET BETWEEN US, By: Barbara Delinsky
Picking up her sixteen-year-old daughter Grace after a party, Deborah Monroe accepts responsibility for hitting a man with the car on the way home, even though Grace had been driving, a deception that takes on a life of its own, threatening their family and the bond between mother and daughter. 225,000 first printing.

DUMA KEY, By: Stephen King
Renting a house on an eerily undeveloped stretch of the Florida coast after suffering a crippling accident and ending his marriage, construction millionaire Edgar Freemantle obsessively creates works of art that lead him to discover unsettling elements from his landlady’s enigmatic family history. 1,500,000 first printing.

THE SENATOR’S WIFE, By: Sue Miller
Two unconventional women, neighbors in adjacent New England townhouses–Meri Fowler, pregnant, newly married, and discovering the gap between reality and expectation, and Delia Naughton, wife of a notoriously unfaithful liberal senator–confront the costs and challenges of love. 150,000 first printing

KYRA, By: Carol Gilligan
The turbulent love affair between Kyra, an architect involved in a project to design a new city, and Andreas, a director staging an innovative production, has a profound impact on both their lives as a shocking betrayal and Kyra’s fierce determination to uncover what is true and real leads her to Greta, a therapist who helps her come to a larger undertanding of love. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.

MARMAID IN THE BASEMENT, By: Michael Lee West
Struggling with the loss of her mother, a bad case of writer’s block, and a her boyfriend’s highly publicized affair with a famous actress, Renata DeChavannes travels to her Gulf Coast family home, where she faces ghosts from her past and struggles to become the empowered woman her formidable grandmother believes her to be.

LIGHT OF THE MOON, By: Luanne Rice
Feeling adrift in the wake of her mother’s death and a failed love affair, anthropologist Susannah Connolly leaves Connecticut to travel to the French Camargue to see its fabled white horses and to investigate a saint linked to her family’s history, but her life is changed forever by an encounter in the marshes with a lonely man and his wounded daughter. 200,000 first printing.

BLASPHEMY, By: Douglas Preston
Built by Nobel laureate William North Hazelius, the Torus, the world’s largest supercollider, has been constructed with the intent of unlocking the secrets of creation, the Big Bang, but when twelve scientists are sent to turn it on, they stumble upon a secret that must be hidden at all costs, unless ex-monk and CIA operative Wyman Ford can unlock the truth. 300,000 first printing.

BLUE HEAVEN, By: C.J. Box
Fleeing the killers whom they witnessed committing murder, twelve-year-old Annie and her younger brother William escape into the woods of northern Idaho, not knowing whom they can trust and pursued by the murderers and a group of dirty cops seeking to prevent the youngsters from revealing what they know. By the award-winning author of the Joe Pickett mysteries. 100,000 first printing.

HARD TRAIL TO FOLLOW, By: Elmer Kelton
In the seventh volume in the popular Texas Ranger series, former Texas Ranger Andy “Badger Boy” Pickard leaves his fiancée’s north central Texas farm to pursue Luther Cordell, the outlaw ringleader he believes responsible for the death of his friend, Sheriff Tom Blessing. 30,000 first printing.

THREE SHIRT DEAL, By: Stephen J. Cannell
Asked by beautiful Internal Affairs detective Secada “Scout” Llevar to help investigate the claims of small-time crook Truit Hickman, convicted of killing his mother, that he has been framed by the police, Shane Scully takes on a violent Hispanic gang, a millionaire powerbroker, and a frontrunner in L.A’s mayoral race, risking his family, his job, and his life to uncover the truth. 100,000 first printing.

SIZZLE AND BURN, By: Jayne Ann Krentz
A latest work by the author of White Lies finds lonely and reluctant psychic Raine Tallentyre targeted for recruitment into the secret Arcane Society by attractive fellow psychic Zack Jones, an effort that is complicated by Raine’s painful memories of how the organization shattered her family through an act of betrayal years earlier. 200,000 first printing.

SIN NO MORE, By: Kimberla Lawson Roby
Resolving to turn over a new leaf after cheating on his wife once again, the Reverend Curtis Black is blackmailed by both his former mistress and a substitute pastor, a situation that further tests his marriage and reveals additional painful secrets.

BLEEDING KANSAS, By: Sara Peretsky
The pious late-twentieth-century descendants of anti-slavery emigrants worry about maintaining religious superiority over a rival family while launching an active harassment campaign against a Wiccan newcomer, an effort that is challenged by a young man’s military service and the birth of a promising cow. 150,000 first printing.

HISTORICAL FICTION

THE AGE OF SHIRA, By: Manil Suri
Marrying in order to escape an overbearing father, Meera is further victimized by her physically demanding husband and lustful brother-in-law, a circumstance from which she finds fleeting escape through her relationships with her sister-in-law and young son. By the author of The Death of Vishnu. 70,000 first printing.

RHETT BUTLER’S PEOPLE, By: Donald McCaig
Paralleling the events of Gone with the Wind, an authorized novel chronicles the life and times of dashing hero Rhett Butler and the people who shaped his world–his unyielding father Langston Butler, sister Rosemary, best friend and onetime slave Tunis Bonneau, former love Belle Watling, and the headstrong, passionate Scarlett O’Hara. 2,000,000 first printing.

SWORD SONG, By: Bernard Cornwell
A fourth installment in a saga of early England that includes Lords of the North finds Alfred of Wessex surviving the Danish invasion, only to find the Saxons targeted by Vikings, a conflict during which he harnesses the abilities of the formidable warrior Uhtred.

NEW HARDCOVER – NONFICTION

MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECT, By: Madeleine Albright
A former Secretary of State presents a wide-ranging set of recommendations for the next U.S. president, posing such suggestions as selecting a top-rate foreign policy team, avoiding the mistakes of previous presidents, and employing strategic tools to garner international support for American objectives. 200,000 first printing.

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, By: Michael Pollan
The best-selling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma cites the reasons why people have become so confused about their dietary choices, counseling readers on the importance of enjoyable moderate eating of mostly traditional plant foods. 200,000 first printing.

REAL CHANGE, By: Newt Gingrich
From the Inside Flap:
Are you fed up with bickering politicians, self-satisfied bureaucrats, and a government that never seems to address the real problems facing our country? Can we create a government that is small, efficient, and responsive–from the state house to the White House? Is that kind of real change even possible? Newt Gingrich, architect of the Contract with America, says it’s time for citizens to demand results from our elected officials. In this revealing and exciting new book, he shows how America can achieve transformational change–from a government of bureaucratic failure to a government that can meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. As a first step, Gingrich busts the pernicious myth that America is divided between conservative red states and liberal blue states. As Gingrich points out, the American people are united on almost every important issue facing our country–including immigration, taxes, defending America, and freedom of religion. The real division is between red-white-and-blue America and a fringe on the left. Red-white-and-blue America believes overwhelmingly–by majorities of 70 percent or more–that we need a change in course. But our politicians aren’t listening. Gingrich reveals why the Democratic Party can’t deliver real change and why the Republican Party won’t. He provides answers and a step-by-step, issue-by-issue toolkit for building a better America–the safe, innovative, and dynamic America we all want. What will take us from the world that fails to the world that works? Real change–the kind of change that happens when politicians drop their own agendas and respond to the will of the people. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can make real change a reality.

THE ALL NEW ATKINS ADVANTAGE, By: Stuart L. Trager
A comprehensive, twelve-week plan on how to lose weight and achieve optimal fitness shares specific strategies in the areas of personal motivation, nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle makeover while creating a customizable eating plan, recipes, personal progress tracking tools, and more. 100,000 first printing.

THE BUSH TRAGEDY, By: Jacob Weisberg
An objective political portrait of George W. Bush, his presidency, and its impact on the world offers a revealing study of Bush’s conflicted relationships with his father and with major figures in his administration, the roots of his political philosophy, his early life, and the evolution of his world view over the course of his political career and the events of 9/11. 150,000 first printing.

HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD, By: Charla Krupp
A quick-reference compendium of beauty tips and self-care practices draws on the insider secrets of makeup and hair artists, cosmetic dentists, and other fashion professionals to counsel readers on maintaining a youthful and polished appearance

MY MISTRESS’S SPARROW IS DEAD, By: Jeffrey Eugenides
A collection of love story excerpts from classic literary works, culled by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex, includes selections by such writers as Alice Munro, William Faulkner, and Milan Kundera, in a volume published to benefit the McSweeney literacy project 826 Chicago. 35,000 first printing.

GOD SAVE THE FAN, By: Will Leitch
A founding editor of the popular blog Deadspin presents an irreverent assessment of the negative influence of money-driven owners, corporate media, and egocentric figures on professional sports, in a whimsical manifesto that addresses such topics as fantasy leagues, the steroid debate, and fan empowerment. 40,000 first printin

SOLDIER’S HEART, By: Elizabeth D. Samet
A West Point English professor offers an intimate portrait of teaching literature to young men and women preparing for war and assesses the various ways in warfare has transformed her relationship with literature, describing the changes that have occurred since September 11, what it means to be a civilian teaching at a military academy, and what books and movies mean to her students.

INSIDE THE JIHAD, By: Omar Nasiri
A gripping account of life inside Al Qaeda traces the rise of the terrorist organization from an insider’s perspective, documenting his role as a double agent working for the UK and French intelligence to infiltrate the group’s training camps, detailing his own illegal activities with Al Qaeda, and profiling the top terrorist leaders, including Osama bin Laden. Reprint.

WHY MARS & VENUS COLLIDE, By: John Gray
The best-selling author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus outlines positive strategies for maintaining healthy relationships in spite of stressful professional lives and polarizing gender differences, in an accessible guide that explains how biological factors play a key role in conflict. 100,000 first printing.

STRONG AT THE BROKEN PLACES, By: Richard Cohen M.D.
An inspirational testament to living with chronic illness is presented through the experiences of five individuals who have battled such conditions as ALS, Crohn’s disease, and bipolar disorder, in a tribute that offers insight into how their diseases affected their lives and personal relationships. By the author of Blindsided.

NEW BIOGRAPHY

THE MIDDLE PLACE, By: Kelly Corrigan
Traces a San Francisco newspaper columnist’s life experiences as evaluated during her late thirties, describing her relationships with her husband, children, and Irish-American father before and during her battle with breast cancer and describing her establishment of the CircusOfCancer.org Web site. 100,000 first printin

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY, By: Sudhir Venkatesh
Recounts the full story of a young sociologist whose infiltration of a Chicago drug gang was originally introduced in the work Freakonomics, in a firsthand account that describes the author’s grad student idealism, his friendship with gang leader JT, and his seven-year witness to the organization’s complex crack-selling trade

DID LINCOLN OWN SLAVES? By: Geraold J. Prokopowicz
A Lincoln scholar shares biographical details about the life and times of America’s sixteenth president in an engaging and informative study that answers both frequently asked and unusual questions about Abraham Lincoln, in a chronologically arranged volume that illuminates Lincoln’s life, work, and legacy. 35,000 first printing.

NEW PAPERBACK

BODY SURFING, By: Anita Shreve
Struggling to start over again after being divorced and widowed while still in her twenties, Sydney tutors the daughter of a wealthy couple during a New Hampshire summer but finds herself caught up in a bitter family squabble involving her charge’s two grown brothers. By the author of The Pilot’s Wife. Reprint. 500,000 first printing.

BLAZE, By: Richard Bachman
Originally written thirty-five years ago but never published, an evocative crime novel chronicles the life and times of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr.–the crimes committed against him and the crimes he himself commits, including a kidnapping he is doomed to attempt. Reprint.

NINETEEN MINUTES, By: Jodi Picoult (February 5, 2008)
In the aftermath of a horrific small-town school shooting, lawyer Jordan McAfee finds himself defending a youth who desperately needs someone on his side, while intrepid detective Patrick DuCharme works with a primary witness in the daughter of the superior court judge assigned to the case. By the author of The Tenth Circle. Reprint. 800,000 first printing.

THE 6TH TARGET, By: James Patterson
When a horrifying attack leaves one of the four members of the Women’s Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before anyone else is hurt. And Lindsay Boxer and her new partner in the San Francisco police department run flat-out to stop a series of kidnappings that has electrified the city: children are being plucked off the streets together with their nannies–but the kidnappers aren’t demanding ransom. Amid uncertainty and rising panic, Lindsay juggles the possibility of a new love with an unsolvable investigation, and the knowledge that one member of the club could be on the brink of death. And just when everything appears momentarily under control, the case takes a terrifying turn, putting an entire city in lethal danger. Lindsay must make a choice she never dreamed she’d face–with no certainty that either outcome has more than a prayer of success.

ONCE IN A PROMISED LAND, By: Laila Halaby
Jassim Haddad, a Jordanian, has come to Arizona to pursue his career as an hydrologist, but after the events of September 11th, he and his wife find themselves under investigation by the FBI as their marriage begins to unravel. Reprint.

AWARD WINNING FIRST IN MYSTERY SERIES

THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE, By: Laurie R. King
A chance meeting with a Sussex beekeeper turns into a pivotal, personal transformation when fifteen-year-old Mary Russell discovers that the beekeeper is the reclusive, retired detective Sherlock Holmes, who soon takes on the role of mentor and teacher. Reprint. 15,000 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.

OTHER BOOKS OF NOTE…

77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age, By: Terry Frei
Documents the successful football season of the 1977 AFC champion Denver Broncos on their quest to their first Super Bowl in terms of the dramatic changes that occurred in Denver, Colorado, during the late 1970s related to the city’s political, cultural, economic, and social intitutions, and offers profiles of such legendary players as Lyle Alzado, Craig Morton, and others.

The Ghost Mountain Boys: their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea – the Forgotten War of the South Pacific, By: James Campbell
An in-depth chronicle of a little-known episode during the Second World War describes how the America’s “Ghost Mountain Boys” endured hardship, malnutrition, disease, and harsh environmental conditions in a forty-two-day march from New Guinea’s south coast across jungle and mountain terrain to the north coast battlefields of Buna. 50,000 first printing.

Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin, By: Judy Nolte Temple
Long before her body was found frozen in the Leadville shack where for decades she had guarded the Matchless Mine, Elizabeth McCourt “Baby Doe” Tabor was the stuff of legend. For thirty-five years, Baby Doe, who was considered mad, lived in solitude high in the Colorado Rockies. Baby Doe Tabor left a record of her madness in a set of writings she called her “Dreams and Visions.” These were discovered after her death but never studied in detail–until now. In Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin, author Judy Nolte Temple retells Lizzie’s story with greater accuracy than any previous biographer. She unpacks the mythology to uncover Lizzie’s actual experiences as told in her fragmentary writings and correspondence. Undertaking the first close analysis of Lizzie’s writings, Temple reveals a story more heartbreaking than the legend and, for the first time, gives voice to the woman behind the myth.

Popularity: 87%

Popularity: 65%

The Book Sense Mind Body Spirit Bestseller List
January 09, 2008
For the eight-week period ending January 8, 2008, and based on sales in independent bookstores nationwide.

1. The Secret
   Rhonda Byrne (Ed.), Atria/Beyond Words, $23.95, 9781582701707
2. The Four Agreements
   Don Miguel Ruiz, Amber-Allen, $12.95, 9781878424310
3. The Power of Now
   Eckhart Tolle, New World, $14, 9781577314806
4. 90 Minutes in Heaven
   Don Piper, Revell, $12.99, 9780800759490
5. Sage-Ing While Age-Ing
   Shirley MacLaine, Atria, $26, 9781416550419
6. 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
   Daniel Pinchbeck, Penguin/Jeremy Tarcher, $14.95, 9781585425921
7. A New Earth
   Eckhart Tolle, Plume, $14, 9780452287587
8. Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings
   Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin, $14, 9780143112327
9. The Secret Gratitude Book
   Rhonda Byrne, Atria Books/Beyond Words, $19.99, 9781582702087
10. Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
    Thich Nhat Hanh, Bantam, $14, 9780553351392
11. Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
    Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Hay House, $14.95, 9781401904593
12. What on Earth Have I Done?: Stories, Observations, and Affirmations
    Robert Fulghum, St. Martin’s, $22.95, 9780312365493
13. The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham
    Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Hay House, $14.95, 9781401912277
14. Awakenings: Asian Wisdom for Every Day
    Danielle Follmi, Olivier Follmi, HNA, $29.95, 9780810993792
15. The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life
    Deepak Chopra, Three Rivers, $14.95, 9781400098347
16. The Hidden Messages in Water
    Masaru Emoto, Atria, $16.95, 9780743289801
17. Way of the Peaceful Warrior (20th Anniversary Ed.)
    Dan Millman, H.J. Kramer, $12.95, 9780915811892
18. Spook
    Mary Roach, Norton, $13.95, 9780393329124
19. Many Lives, Many Masters
    Brian L. Weiss, Fireside, $14, 9780671657864
20. Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui
    Karen Kingston, Broadway, $10.95, 9780767903592
21. The Astonishing Power of Emotions: Let Your Feelings Be Your Guide
    Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Hay House, $24.95, 9781401912451
22. The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny
    Janet Attwood, Chris Attwood, Hudson Street, $23.95, 9781594630422
23. Be Here Now
    Ram Dass, Three Rivers, $14.14, 9780517543054
24. Psychic Children: Revealing the Intuitive Gifts and Hidden Abilities of Boys and Girls
    Sylvia Browne, Dutton, $25.95, 9780525950134
25. Insight: Case Files From the Psychic World
    Sylvia Browne, NAL

Popularity: 63%

The New York Times

10 Best Books of 2007

(Our customers have an eclectic and far-reaching range of interests.   Most of the following books were purchased at An Open Book LLC this past year!)

Hooray for your excellent tastes…

Hooray for your support of literacy!!

HOUSE OF MEETINGS by Martin Amis.

  This harrowing, deeply affecting novel recounts the story of two brothers interned at one of Stalin’s slave labor camps, taking the reader on a frightening journey deep into the heart of darkness that was the Soviet gulag.

THE SECOND CIVIL WAR: HOW EXTREME PARTISANSHIP HAS PARALYZED WASHINGTON AND POLARIZED AMERICA by Ronald Brownstein.

  A veteran political reporter provides a shrewd election-year assessment of the growing partisanship in American politics, looking at the roots of this polarization and its alarming consequences for the country at large.

THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN’S UNION by Michael Chabon

. A clever, engaging and fully imagined epic cum detective story based on this historical what if: What if a temporary safe haven for Jews had been created in Alaska in the wake of the Holocaust?

NIXON AND KISSINGER: PARTNERS IN POWER by Robert Dallek.

A fascinating portrait of President Richard M. Nixon and his chief foreign policy honcho, Henry A. Kissinger , a book that not only deftly deconstructs their emotionally fraught relationship and their policy making on Vietnam, the Middle East and China, but also underscores the historical lessons of their decisions and missteps.

THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Díaz.

  A dazzling debut novel that unfolds from a comic portrait of a second-generation Dominican geek into an unnerving meditation on Dominican history and the relationship between political and personal dreams and losses.

THE UNKNOWN TERRORIST by Richard Flanagan.

  This Tasmanian novelist has written a dark, unsparing thriller about a case of mistaken identity, using his Hitchcockian heroine’s plight as a launching pad for an examination of a post-9/11 world in which fear is a valued commodity for terrorists and governments alike.

WHEN A CROCODILE EATS THE SUN: A MEMOIR OF AFRICA by Peter Godwin.

  A haunting and deeply evocative memoir about a writer’s discoveries about his father’s hidden past and his family’s life in Zimbabwe, a country that has seen its bright post-revolution dreams of a multiracial society give way to violent hatred and strife.

SCHULZ AND PEANUTS by David Michaelis.

  A revealing and sympathetic new biography of the creator of “Peanuts,” which highlights the autobiographical sources of the cartoonist’s art: how Charles M. Schulz gave his own wishy-washiness and determination to Charlie Brown, his sarcasm and anger to Lucy, his dignity and “weird little thoughts” to Linus and his frustrations and daydreams to Snoopy.

THE NINE: INSIDE THE SECRET WORLD OF THE SUPREME COURT by Jeffrey Toobin.

  A vivid narrative of the Supreme Court’s recent history and an intimate portrait of the individual justices that shows how personality, judicial philosophy and personal alliances can inform decisions that affect the entire country.

Popularity: 54%

NON-FICTION

THE ONION: OUR DUMB WORLD, by The Onion
A news-parody compendium of world non-facts features incorrect statistics for all of the earth’s independent nations, from Afghanistan’s “Allah’s Cat Box” and the world’s rejected flag designs to the planet’s most annoying handicrafts and the Ukraine’s “Bridebasket of Europe.” 300,000 first printing.

THE FIRST CAMPAIGN, THE: GLOBALIZATION, THE WEB, AND THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE, BY Garrett M. Farrar Graff
An informative, insightful study of politics in the twenty-first century looks at the implications of globalization and technology for the presidential campaign of 2008, arguing that technology has changed the way in which a campaign needs to be run, emphasizing the role of the Web as a political tool that has transformed domestic issues into global ones. (see review below)

Kirkus Reviews 2007 October #1
Having invented most modern technology, including the Internet, the United States is walking blind and backwards into the future, argues a former Howard Dean webmaster and current Washingtonian editor. Ardent tech-evangelist Graff offers an incisive and fairly persuasive text laying out the reasons why the 2008 presidential campaign will not only be extraordinarily important, but unlike any ever seen before. New technologies have reshaped not only the electoral scene but the fabric of everyday life, and 2008 is the first time in a half-century that neither party has a sitting executive to nominate. Therefore, writes the author, “the first campaign of a new era is upon us.” Given his background, it’s not surprising that the author focuses heavily on the importance of Internet technology. Although there are times when he comes off as just another e-cheerleader from the golden days of the dot-com boom, Graff is realistic enough in his acknowledgement that no matter how web-savvy a candidate may be, if there’s no message to deliver, voters won’t care: “The candidate who best understands that the internet isn’t an end to itself but merely a means to an end—a chance to pull people in and get them involved in the political process—will triumph.” Some of the most interesting sections lay out the tough issues the country faces (everything from globalization to climate change), making the case that 2008 and the following decade may well be the last chance “to make changes and address those looming challenges before they begin to become truly painful.” Graff is mostly hopeful, though he paints a bleak picture of lagging educational standards and politicians so woefully out of step with the times that as recently as 2001, Sen. Dianne Feinstein was quoted saying, “I don’t believe the Senate should be on the internet until we get rid of pedophilia and pornography.”A smart handbook for the politically plugged-in.

LOOKING FOR HAMLET, by Marvin Hunt
An investigation into the historical and theatrical perspectives of Shakespeare’s tragic prince offers insight into why his character has endured throughout history, explaining Hamlet’s world and troubled mind, as well as his timeless reflection of humanity’s hopes and doubts.

THE TWELVE SECOND SEQUENCE, by Jorge Cruise
A revolutionary new weight-loss program for busy people explains how to burn twenty percent more calories and fat to help readers lose weight quickly and easiily, presenting two simple, twice-a-week workouts that target belly fat and maximize the calories the body burns twenty-four hours a day. 400,000 first printing.

JIM CRAMER’S STAY MAD FOR LIFE, by Jim Cramer
The influential investment authority outlines a comprehensive program for investors at every stage of life, from college graduates to retirees, with suggestions on how to make money when young, protect it when older, provide for a family’s essential expenses, and still enjoy a comfortable and prosperous retirement. 500,000 first printing.

A BOUND MAN, by Shelby Steele
A leading black intellectual offers a thoughtful and illuminating analysis of the complex racial issues confronting candidate Barack Obama in his quest for the presidency, assessing the unique–and disparate–challenges that threaten his support in both the white and black communities. By the author of The Content of Our Character. 75,000 first printing.

CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ‘n’ ROLL MAGAZINE
A retrospective of twenty years of rock-and-roll history as recorded by the popular genre magazine features more than 25,000 iconoclastic photographs, articles, and graphic artist illustrations, including contributions from Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus, Robert Crumb, Robert Christgau, and Cameron Crowe. 40,000 first printing.

THE GENOTYPE DIET, by Peter J. D’Adamo
The creator of the Eat Right 4 Your Type diet program presents a customized approach that works with one’s genetic makeup to maximize one’s overall health and weight loss, explaining how to use family history, blood type, and simple diagnostic tools to determine which GenoType plan is the best and offering precise diet and lifestyle choices for each. 100,000 first printing.

HAPPINESS IS AN INSIDE JOB, by Sylvia Boorstein
The Buddhist teacher draws on more than three decades of practice and teaching to share her secret to happiness, explaining how the three parts of the Buddhist path–mindfulness, concentration, and effort–can draw us out of the confusion and struggle of daily life to cultivate connections with friends, family, colleagues, and strangers. 30,000 first printing.

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES: SPECIAL COMMENTS ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S WAR ON AMERICAN VALUES, by Keith Olbermann
The host of MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann shares his pithy observations and commentary on the mismanagement, cronyism, brutality, duplicity, cynicism, and lack of accountability at the highest levels of the Bush administration, condemning a government that has lost its ability to distinguish between leading and ruling a nation. 150,000 first printing.

MEET THE NEXT PRESIDENT: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WHITE HOUSE CANDIDATES, by Bill Sammon
A voter’s guide to the upcoming 2008 presidential campaign evaluates the platforms and positions of its major candidates, in a resource by a senior White House correspondent that offers insight into how Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and others view key issues.

SECRET BOOK OF GRATITUDE, by Rhonda Byrne
The best-selling author and producer of The Secret offers inspiring quotes and affirmations to encourage personal journaling and reflection on gratitude and abundance, equipping individuals with a powerful tool to transform their lives and experience more joy. 500,000 first printing.

HOW THE SOUTH COUND HAVE WON THE CIVIL WAR: THE FATAL ERRORS THAT LED TO CONFEDERATE DEFEAT, by Bevin Alexander A military historian and author of How Wars Are Won looks at the costly errors that cost the South victory during the Civil War and outlines the tactical and strategic approaches the Confederacy should have used that could have changed the course of the war. 30,000 first printing.

WHEN ASIA WAS THE WORLD, by Stewart Gordon
Tracing the history of Asia between A.D. 700 and 1500, a critical study describes the important influence of Asia’s great civilization on the West, as traveling merchants, scholars, philosophers, and religious figures brought the wisdom of China and the Middle East to medieval Europe during the Dark Ages.

WHITE HEAT: THE EXTREME SKIING LIFE, by Wayne Johnson
An evaluation of the practice of extreme skiing by the National Ski Patrol emergency worker and author of Don’t Think Twice describes the sport’s competitions and death-defying challenges while citing the achievements of such athletes as Jerry Martin, Vinko Bogata, and Shake McConkey

FICTION

THIRD STRIKE: A BRADY COYNE/ J.W. JACKSON MYSTERY, by Philip Craig & William Tapply
When a union striker is killed in an engine room explosion and accused of setting the bomb that ended his life, J. W. Jackson is entreated by the victim’s widow to prove the man’s innocence, in a disturbing case that exposes suspicious relationships among strikers, boat owners, and the midnight activities at a Martha’s Vineyard loading dock. 17,500 first printing

T IS FOR TRESPASS, by Sue Grafton
A latest installment in a best-selling series shifts readers to the voice of sociopath Solana Rojas, who uses a stolen identity as a private caregiver to gain access to her intended victims while endeavoring to outmaneuver private investigator Kinsey Millhone. 1,200,000 first printing.

THE VENETIAN BETRAYAL, by Steve Berry
Ex-secret agent Cotton Malone and his partner, the enigmatic Cassiopeia Vitt, are pitted against ruthless Central Asian dictator Irina Zovastina as they scour the globe in search of the final resting place of Alexander the Great, unaware that his grave holds the key to a deadly modern mystery that could save the lives of millions. 350,000 first printing.

THE OVERLOOK, by Michael Connelly (Paperback)
Having left the LAPD’s Open Unsolved Unit for the prestigious Homicide Special squad, Harry Bosch investigates the murder of a doctor whose death is linked to the theft of a dangerous radioactive substance that Harry fears may be part of a large-scale terrorist plot. Reprint

SOMEONE TO LOVE, by Jude Deveraux (Paperback)
Still grieving three years after his fiancée’s mysterious suicide, Jace Montgomery discovers a clue about her death that leads him to purchase an English fortress, where he encounters a headstrong ghost who died under similar circumstances. By the author of First Impressions.

BLOOD DREAMS, by Kay Hooper
When the daughter of a powerful U.S. senator becomes the latest victim of a bloodthirsty serial killer, FBI agent Noah Bishop and his Special
Crimes Unit must join forces with a rogue civilian agency, structured much like Bishop’s team of psychics and originally founded by Bishop as a privately funded resource team, to stop the maniac before it is too late. 175,000 first printing.

SHADOW MUSIC, by Julie Garwood
Betrothed to a stranger by King John, Gabrielle, the last of her royal line, is in possession of a powerful secret that could plunge the entire highland Scottish kingdom into anarchy, while her growing love for Colm MacHugh, a fearsome and powerful warrior, could cost her everything, as hidden enemies threaten to destroy them both. 300,000 first printing.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, by Colleen McCullough
A seventh installment in the popular Masters of Rome series retells the story of Antony and Cleopatra from a meticulously researched perspective that features detailed historical and psychological details about the love affair that transformed the ancient world. By the author of The October Horse. 125,000 first printing.

BEETHOVEN WAS ONE-SIXTEENTH BLACK: AND OTHER STORIES, by Nadine Gordimer
A new collection of short fiction by the Nobel Prize-winning author addresses issues of race, identity, politics, and more in the title story about an anti-apartheid activist and academic who pursues questions of his own racial identity; “Dreaming of the Dead,” in which Susan Sontag and Edward Said return in the dreams of a friend; and “Alternative Endings,” about how writers choose to end their stories

HAND OF EVIL, by Judith Jance
Struggling with the fallout of a failed marriage and halted career, former L.A. news anchorwoman Ali Reynolds finds her tenacious new life in her Arizona hometown threatened by the murder of a real estate tycoon, a case that places her at a crossroads between old loyalties and new friendships. 200,000 first printing.

Popularity: 63%

We have added so many titles and authors to our Local and Regional section. Gift books with spectacular color photography, biographies of Colorado pioneers; women and men, lawmen and outlaws…history, geography, books for kiddos! This section is constantly changing…come by and tell us what you think!

Popularity: 50%

BORAT, by Boral
Presents guidebooks to Kazakhstan and the U.S.A. by the star of the eponymous film, discussing the insights he gained into the two countries by being a citizen of the first and by creating his film while visiting the second.
   
   

A NEW AMERICA, by Lou Dobbs
The CNN anchor and author of War on the Middle Class examines how public policy choices throughout the past three decades have compromised personal liberty and worker rights while promoting social and political divisions, in a critical assessment of existing domestic and foreign policies that proposes specific solutions. 150,000 first printing.

THE CHASE, by Clive Cussler
The 1950 discovery of four bodies inside a sunken steam locomotive in a Montana lake gives way to the story of a murderous 1906 bank robber whose ruthlessness challenged Isaac Bell, a talented detective whose struggle to identify and capture the killer had been complicated by the great San Francisco earthquake. 750,000 first printing.

BOOM, by Tom Brokaw
The author of the best-selling The Greatest Generation redefines the tumultuous and history-making decade of the 1960s, a decade that saw the rise of the rebellious children of the greatest generation, to reveal how American social, political, economic, and cultural institutions were transformed by an era of dramatic change and upheaval. 250,000 first printing.

LOVE OVER SCOTLAND, by Alexander McCall Smith
The lives of the inhabitants of Edinburgh’s 44 Scotland Street continue to be complicated, as Domenica Macdonald heads off on an expedition to the Malacca Straits to study pirates, Angus Lordie’s dog Cyril is stolen, musical prodigy Bertie is left behind in Paris during an orchestra tour, and Pat finds herself torn between two very different men. Original. 125,000 first printing.

RACHAEL RAY: JUST IN TIME, by Rachael Ray
Explaining how to put a tempting and healthy meal on the table every night of the week, a new collection of recipes from the host of the Food Network’s 30 Minute Meals presents a host of thirty-minute meals, as well as quick-and-easy fifteen-minute meals, and slow-it-down sixty-minute meals, all of which can, with a few simple additions, be enjoyed twice. Original. 1,300,000 first printing.

ANGELA AND THE BABY JESUS, by Frank McCourt
When six-year-old Angela decides that the uncovered baby Jesus is cold in his manger in the church, she takes him home to warm him up, little guessing the trouble that will follow.

BETWEEN SUNDAYS, by Karen Kingsbury
Three people–self-centered star running back Troy Anderson; pro football player Ben Parker, who has strayed from God; and social worker Kimberly Singleton, who faces many obstacles as she tries to adopt a little boy–are brought together during a season of hope, self-discovery, and faith.

SNAKEHEAD: AN ALEX RIDER SERIES, by Anthony Horowitz
While working with the Australian Secret Service to infiltrate a ruthless South East Asia gang that is smuggling drugs, weapons, and people, teenaged spy Alex Rider uncovers information about his parents–and about his old nemesis, Scorpia. 200,000 first printing.

A LIFE OF PICASSO, by John Richardson
The third in a multi-volume study of the life and work of Pablo Picasso captures the artist at the height of his talent in prewar Europe producing sets and costumes for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, working in Paris with an avant-garde group that included Miró and Braque, and spending summers in the south of France with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and others. 60,000 first printing.

GOOD DOG STAY, by Anna Quindlen
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author offers sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous reflections on living with her beloved black Labrador retriever Beau, describing how her life unfolded in tandem with Beau’s and the lessons she has learned by watching him live his life, in an illustrated volume based on a Newsweek column. 350,000 first printing.

BORN STANDING UP, by Steve Martin
The Emmy Award-winning comedian shares the stories of his years in stand-up comedy in a humorous memoir that recalls a first job selling guidebooks at Disneyland, his early magic and comedy act, his years of honing his craft, and the sacrifice, discipline, and originality it took to take him to the top, set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. 350,000 first printing.

DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR, by Dean Koontz
Dedicated to the cause of dog rescue, Amy Redwing risks everything, including her relationship with long-time suitor Brian McCarthy and her own well-being, to come to the aid of Nickie, a very special golden retriever, unaware that she has drawn the attentions of an unknown and ruthless enemy whose attacks escalate with stunning ferocity. 850,000 first printing.

LORD JOHN AND THE HAND OF DEVILS, by Diana Gabaldon
Eighteenth-century Britain once again forms the backdrop to a trio of swashbuckling adventures featuring Lord John Grey as he sets out to avenge a murder victim in Lord John and the Hellfire Club, is caught between an enemy army and a mysterious night-hag in Lord John and the Succubus, and confronts a traitor and a ghost in Lord John and the Haunted Soldier. 150,000 first printing.

Popularity: 46%

Roger Johnson, AP history teacher at Greeley West High School and soon to be published author (by Random House, no less) patiently reminded me that he had introduced a local author, Gail Rowe, to me when I first opened. My mistake…to not have contacted Mr. Rowe back then! How perfect o become acquainted with Mr. Rowe during this exciting baseball season. We have all four of his books on our “Local and Regional” table.
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Popularity: 51%