On Order Now!

Amateur Barbarians by Robert Cohen

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Artfully juxtaposing two contrasting personalities (as he did in Inspired Sleep), Cohen explores the terrain of male middle age in a novel that keenly observes the dissatisfactions of contemporary life. Teddy Hastings, the 53-year-old principal of a New England middle school, yearns for a grand adventure that would celebrate his manhood. Restless and impulsive, Teddy unwittingly causes a scandal that lands him briefly in jail. Disgraced and forced to take a sabbatical, Teddy leaves his wife, Gail, behind and flies to Ethiopia, where his college dropout daughter is working with orphans. Meanwhile, Oren Pierce, the younger man appointed in Teddy's absence, skitters through life in the same manner he has always done: perennially uncommitted, congenitally irresolute, though he is eventually forced to confront the limits of his desultory lifestyle. (Gail comes into play, as well.) Teddy's sojourn in Africa is the most dynamic part of the book, though it is Gail who acts as the novel's fulcrum; witty, sensual, focused and centered in reality, she remains an indelible figure as the two men in her orbit are diminished by the collapse of their dreams and expectations.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Just Arrived! Great Debut Novel!

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr

Summary
Anne Rosenbaum leads a life of quiet Los Angeles privilege, the wife of Hollywood executive Howard Rosenbaum and mother of their seventeen-year-old son, Sam. Years ago Anne and Howard met studying literature at Columbia—she, the daughter of a British diplomat from London, he a boy from an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. Now on sleek blue California evenings, Anne attends halogen-lit movie premieres on the arm of her powerful husband. But her private life is lived in the world of her garden, reading books.

When one of Howard's friends, the head of a studio, asks Anne to make a reading list, she casually agrees—though, as a director reminds her, "no one reads in Hollywood." To her surprise, they begin calling: screen-writers; producers, from their bungalows; and agents, from their plush offices on Wilshire and Beverly. Soon Anne finds herself leading an exclusive book club for the industry elite. Emerging gradually from her seclusion, she guides her readers into the ideas and beauties of Donne, Yeats, Auden, and Mamet, with her brilliant and increasingly bold opinions. But when a crisis of identity unexpectedly turns an anguished Howard back toward the Orthodoxy he left behind as a young man, Anne must set out to save what she values above all else: her husband's love.

At once fiercely intelligent and emotionally grip-ping, You or Someone Like You confronts the fault lines between inherited faith and personal creed, and, through the surprising transformation of one exceptional, unforgettable woman, illuminates literature's power to change our lives.

Review
"Smart, literate, and humane...deftly melds an entertaining tour through...the culture of the moment with an original investigation into the timeless themes of great literature and the painful, private fault lines of deep marital love. In the process, he creates a heroine that few readers will forget." (John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Commoner and Reservation Road)

"Provocative...weighs in on the issue of identity politics and also makes a powerful case for why great books are a great danger to small minds." (NPR's Fresh Air )

"You Or Someone Like You is a pitch-perfect, often very funny novel about why, in this crazy world, we still bother to read. It's for anyone who defiantly clings to the belief that a book can change our lives." (David Ebershoff, author of The 19th Wife and The Danish Girl)

"In his first, well crafted and thoroughly enjoyable novel, New York Times scent critic Chandler Burr presents a sweeping spectrum, set in Hollywood, of contemporary religious and social issues...it is well worth the read." (Jewish Book World)

"A true celebration of intellect.examines the personal decision each of us must make to run from, or embrace, our identity." (Publishers Weekly)

"A savvy novel that deals with Hollywood from a cultural rather than a tabloid perspective." (Kirkus Reviews *starred*)

"[Burr's] field work serves the novel well, with depictions of Los Angeles culture that feel spot-on...It's a genuine thrill to read what people like Albert Brooks, to give just one of many examples, might think of Jude the Obscure..." (Time Out New York)

And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program...

Sorry about the break. It's been almost one week since I've updated our blog. But I'm back and I've got something for ya (don't I always?). Here's a new mystery we just ordered and you will love it!

Last Known Address by Theresa Schwegel

Summary

Detective Sloane Pearson is new to the Sex Crimes Division but no stranger to being treated like an incompetent blonde by her hardened male co-workers. She’s also no stranger to hard-to-crack cases, and her latest is as tough as they come: A rapist is on the prowl, dragging women to deserted building sites or vacant apartment buildings peppered all over downtown Chicago, and forcing them to fight---knowing, of course, that he’ll win.

When a real estate agent Sloane knows is attacked by the violent predator, Sloane finds herself taking a case that threatens her secret plans to leave her long-time lover. Her personal bond with the victim and a would-be relationship with a man she interviews along the way lead Sloane down a dangerous path---one that poisons the investigation as well as her personal life.

Sloane’s balancing act topples when her father falls ill. Between coping with his weak heart and following the few weak leads she has, her case begins to go the way that many rape cases go: The victims fall away, one by one, suddenly unsure of what they saw or unwilling to relive the horrifying moments again and again.

When Sloane helps a hungry young Sun-Times reporter declare the case serial, she loses support: Her bosses demand she get a suspect or move on. Sloane stays on the case, though---no matter how much it strains her personal relationships. Even her partner claims she’s in too deep: He doesn’t believe there’s an arrest on the planet worth a cop’s life. Sloane disagrees: Someone’s got to take up the fight.

From the worst slums of Chicago’s west side to the glittering Loop skyscrapers, Sloane finds no shortage of suspects. As she loses everything she’d called home, she can only hope to find the rapist before she also becomes a victim.

COMING SOON! (On Order Now)

How to Sell by Clancy Martin

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A Canadian in 1987 goes to Texas and gets crushingly corrupted in Martin's sexy, funny and devastating debut. Bobby Clark is 16 when he leaves a dead-end setup with his single mother and grass-is-greener girlfriend, Wendy, and heads to Fort Worth to get into the fine jewelry business under the stewardship of his salesman brother, Jim. In no time, Bobby and Jim are snorting lines, Bobby's moving in on (and smoking crank with) Jim's mistress, Lisa, and getting a crash course in amazingly crooked business. Scams, bait-and-switch deals, bogus jewelry and startling treachery are day-to-day at the jewelry store, until the store's gregarious owner gets into trouble at the same time Bobby tries to save Lisa from a massive flame-out. Years later, Bobby's back in Fort Worth, married to Wendy (and with a child) and still in the jewelry business with Jim when Lisa reappears, engaged in an equally questionable if older profession. Bobby's helplessly honest narration is a sublime counterpoint to the crooked doings he's complicit in. Reading this is like watching one man's American dream turn into a soul-sucking nightmare. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reviews
“Dirty, greatly original, and very hard to stop reading.”
—Jonathan Franzen

“How to Sell is outrageous, theatrical and slicker than oil. It tells the tale of Bobby Clark, a high-school dropout who joins his older brother at a jewelry emporium in Texas. It's a festival of drugs, diamonds and sex. Quality is nice, but any drugs, any sex and any diamonds will do, because anything can be spun into something better. Prostitution, a saleswoman turned hooker suggests at one point, is a more honest kind of living than the jewelry trade (at least in this book). ‘With what I do now,’ she tells Bobby, ‘I sleep well at night.’ . . . With How to Sell, Martin has written a gem of a story. Selling it probably won't be hard. The bigger challenge for Martin might be to learn how to stop selling.”
—Louisa Thomas, Newsweek

“How to Sell is, with memorably dark comedy, a virtual handbook on fraud. The world the Clark boys build for themselves and teeter precariously upon—one driven by wads of cash, adrenaline, an indiscriminate lust for sex and money, and a misunderstanding of what in life is really at stake—is a compelling setting for Martin’s propulsive storytelling. His narration feels cinematic, the sets and scenery popping off the page. With remarkable skill as the story spools out, Martin omits just enough exposition and interior insights to keep his characters shrouded in mystery, as if constantly reminding us that we’ll always be the customer, never the insider. Speaking of customers, prepare to be a much shrewder one after reading How to Sell.”
—Rachel Rosenblit, Elle

“A timely meditation on greed and the American Dream.”
—Men.style.com

“It’s a lean and mean book, perfect for those who distrust all this recent talk about change. The kind of novel—cool and dark—that goes with you to the beach and then keeps you thinking at night.”
—Benjamin Alsup, Esquire

“Clancy Martin writes with no-nonsense punch, detailing the schemes—fake certificates, ‘antiques’—shady jewelers have been running for centuries. If the sentences in How to Sell feel lived-in, well, that’s because the author himself is a former con man, borrowing liberally from the gem-scam life before going straight (He’s a philosophy professor now; go figure.) By the time you’re hooked on the book’s insidious plot twists, concerning sibling rivalry and a meth-addicted mistress who sleeps better hooking than she does selling Faux-lexes, you’re blissfully unaware you’re downing a metaphor: No commission can buy you a soul.”
—Adam Baer, GQ

“It's hard to imagine a more seductive blurb than that delivered by Jonathan Franzen for Martin's first novel. Here goes: ‘Dirty, greatly original, and very hard to stop reading.’ Sex, of course, may sell, but Martin's wicked take on money, the jewelry business and American passions could prove to have multiple pleasures. Oh, and by the by, Martin teaches philosophy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and bases his book, at least in part, on an earlier life as a jewelry salesman in Texas.”
—Kansas City Star

COMING SOON! On Order Now!

Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

Summary
From the prizewinning "master of atmosphere" (Boston Globe) comes the surprising and affecting story of a man well past middle age who suddenly finds himself on the threshold of renewal.

Living on a tiny island entirely surrounded by ice during the long winter months, Fredrik Welin is so lost to the world that he cuts a hole in the ice every morning and lowers himself into the freezing water to remind himself that he is alive. Haunted by memories of the terrible mistake that drove him to this island and away from a successful career as a surgeon, he lives in a stasis so complete an anthill grows undisturbed in his living room.

When an unexpected visitor alters his life completely, thus begins an eccentric, elegiac journey--one that shows Mankell at the very height of his powers as a novelist.

A deeply human tale of loss and redemption, Italian Shoes is a testament to the unpredictability of life, which breeds hope even in the face of tragedy.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A tragic operating room error has cost Swedish surgeon Fredrik Welin his career in this moving novel from Mankell, who's best known for his Kurt Wallander mystery series (Firewall, etc.). Welin, 66, lives on a remote island with only his dog and cat for company. His routine is abruptly shattered by the arrival of an elderly woman who proves to be Harriet Hörnfeldt, the youthful love he ditched four decades earlier. Hörnfeldt, who's dying of cancer, has sought out Welin because she wants to share a secret about their relationship. This reintroduction to the world of human emotions and interactions proves to be the first of many, leading the doctor to an awkward attempt to get absolution from the woman whose perfectly healthy arm he mistakenly amputated. Mankell displays his considerable gifts for characterization as he succeeds in making his emotionally limited lead character sympathetic. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

COMING SOON! (On Order Now)

A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy by Charlotte Greig

Summary
Susannah’s official boyfriend, Jason, is the perfect foil for her student lifestyle. He is ten years older, an antiques dealer, and owns a stylish apartment that prevents her from having to live in the seedy digs on campus. This way, she can take her philosophy major very seriously and dabble in the social and sexual freedom of 1970s university life. But circumstances become more complicated than Susannah would like when she begins to have an affair with her tutorial partner, Rob. Soon she is dating two men, missing her lectures, exploring independence and feminism with her girlfriends, and finding herself in a particularly impossible dilemma: she becomes pregnant. Forced to look beyond her friends and lovers for support, she finds help and inspiration from the lessons of Kierkegaard and other European philosophers.

A Girl’s Guide to Modern European Philosophy is a delightfully insightful, bittersweet coming-of-age romp, in which love is far from platonic and the mind—body predicament a pressing reality. It even succeeds where many introductions to philosophy have failed, by effortlessly bringing to life the central tenets of the most important European philosophers of modern times.

Review
“A distinctive coming-of-age tale from a talented debut novelist based in the U.K…Susannah can be as dizzy as Bridget Jones, and her youthful confusion gives the novel much of its screwball charm. But she is also utterly serious about philosophy, and the author’s use of choice excerpts from great thinkers of the modern age sets this book apart…Women’s fiction that expects an intellectually adventurous and emotionally honest reader.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

COMING SOON! (On Order Now!)

Give Me Back My Legions by Harry Turtledove

Are you looking for a truly wonderful historical fiction novel? Well have I got one for you!

From Publishers Weekly
Alternate history icon Turtledove probes the intrigues and battles surrounding Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar's attempts to control uprisings in Germanic lands circa A.D. 9. Caesar appoints Publius Quinctilius Varus, formerly a successful governor of Syria, to become the new governor of Germany, and Varus sets off bolstered by three legions from the overextended Roman army. Sure that he is headed for further glory, Varus is unaware that crafty Prince Armenius, who serves in the Roman army but secretly seethes in indignation at Rome's plans to make Germany another conquered territory, is planning a massive revolt. Turtledove rotates through many points-of-view, from Caesar to slaves and soldiers, to give a panoramic look at the epic battle of Teutoburg Forest, laced with telling details of ancient military life and strategy and lightened with humorous interludes. The fantastic action scenes and taut narrative make this a fine addition to the ancient Roman battles canon.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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COMING SOON! (On Order Now!)

Did you know that Slumdog Millionaire, the little ol' film that picked up about a trillion Academy Awards this year, is based on a book? (Aren't all the best movies these days based on great novels?)

The novel is called Q & A by Vikas Swarup.

From Booklist
Swarup's inventive debut traces the fortunes of Ram Mohammad Thomas from "Asia's biggest slum" to his sudden acquisition of enormous wealth as the biggest winner on the popular quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? A poor, uneducated waiter, Ram is arrested after the final episode in the belief that he must have cheated. In jail he shares his hardscrabble life with his lawyer: his abandonment at birth in a used clothing bin, the church orphanage where he was dubbed an "idiot orphan boy," the foster home where children were purposely crippled and forced to beg, the estate of an Australian diplomat who was really a spy, the home of an aging Bollywood actress, and his meager waiter job. Each chapter in Ram's life provided him with a correct answer on the show, as a la Forrest Gump, he has been in the right place at the right time. Ram's funny and poignant odyssey explores the causes of good and evil and illustrates how, with a little luck, the best man sometimes wins.
--Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

COMING SOON!

Forever Princess by Meg Cabot

Are you a big fan of the Princess Diaries movies (you know The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2)? As you probably know, these popular movies are based on a wonderful series of books by noted young adult author Meg Cabot. Ms. Cabot just released the latest Princess book and it's a great read!

Summary
Although she has recently completed a 400-page romance novel, Princess Mia, in her last month of high school, has yet to pick a college, find a prom dress, or decide if her boyfriend J. P. is really The One.

And for more on the author and her inspiration for this enchanting series go to her website!

COMING SOON! (On order NOW!)

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Noir master Huston (The Shotgun Rule) should win himself a whole new audience with this bizarre and utterly grotesque stand-alone, told mostly through dialogue that highlights the author's uncanny ear for the spoken word. Former Los Angeles grade school teacher Web Goodhue, now a full-time slacker suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, falls into a job on a crime scene cleanup crew, scrubbing up the remains of the recently deceased. After the crew has finished cleaning up a messy suicide scene in Malibu, Web gets a phone call from the dead man's daughter, Soledad. She and her thug half-brother have another big mess on their hands that needs cleaning, on the QT. Unable to resist the beautiful Soledad, Web soon finds himself in way over his head. Huston, one of his generation's finest and hippest talents, shows in grisly detail what cleaning up after the dead entails. This one should appeal to Chuck Palahniuk fans as well as hard-boiled crime readers. (Jan.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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COMING SOON! (On Order Now!)

Fragile Lives by Jane A. Adams

Summary
Rina Martin returns in the second book in this new series from the author of the "Naomi Blake mysteries". When a body is washed up on a beach a short distance from Frantham, the first assumption is that it must be Edward Parker who had fallen from Marlborough Head just a couple of weeks before. When the badly battered body is examined, however, it is discovered to be the body of Pat Duggan, son of local nightclub owner Jimmy Duggan. It seems Pat had been abducted. Twice. And, to complicate matters, the missing Edward Parker had worked for Jimmy Duggan and disappeared at the same time as Duggan's son. Coincidence? Mac and Rina don't think so...Mac, following procedure as a serving police officer, and Rina, an interested outsider, soon discover that others are now at risk of meeting Pat Duggan's fate and this time they are only eight years old. Mac and Rina are both dragged into a race against time to solve the case.

Review
"Adams proves her versatility with the new series, a solid village procedural with a clever plot and skilfully drawn characters. Fans of M.C. Beaton and Clare Curzon will find Adams right up their alley"

Booklist on A Reason to Kill: Rina's kick-off emphasizes people and place, letting the reader in on secrets early and relying on psychological conflict to drive the appealing plot.

Kirkus Reviews on A Reason to Kill: The intriguing premise, combined with solid plotting, make this unusual series well worth a look.

Booklist on Legacy of Lies: The plot soon heats up, engaging the reader with its clever twists, intriguing characters and shock ending.

COMING SOON! (March 09)

Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black

Summary: A Haitian woman arrives at the office of Leduc Detective and announces that she is Aimée’s sister, her father’s illegitimate daughter. Aimée is thrilled. A virtual orphan since her mother’s disappearance and her father’s death, she has always wanted a sister. Her partner, René, is wary of this stranger, but Aimée embraces her and soon finds herself involved in murky Haitian politics leading to murder. The setting is the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank of the Seine, in the old university district of Paris.

This book is part of the Aimée Leduc series.

COMING SOON! (February 2009)

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Product Description

A major literary debut that explores class, culture, power, and desire among the ruling and servant classes of Pakistan.

In the spirit of Joyce's Dubliners and Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches, Daniyal Mueenuddin's collection of linked stories illuminates a place and a people through an examination of the entwined lives of landowners and their retainers on the Gurmani family farm in the countryside outside of Lahore, Pakistan. An aging feudal landlord's household staff, the villagers who depend on his favor, and a network of relations near and far who have sought their fortune in the cities confront the advantages and constraints of station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change. Mueenuddin bares—at times humorously, at times tragically—the complexities of Pakistani class and culture and presents a vivid picture of a time and a place, of the old powers and the new, as the Pakistani feudal order is undermined and transformed.

Check out the author's website!

And as always: RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY!

COMING SOON!

Thaw by Monica M. Roe

Summary

Dane is a thousand miles south of his home in northern New York. It's not the warm winter that keeps him off his skis, though. Not even creepy Isaac, who wanders by in Mardi Gras beads and a top hat, could block Dane from a Nordic race. Guillain-Barre Syndrome is the culprit, a paralyzing disease that has committed the high-school senior to a hospital bed indefinitely. Days in bed pass and Dane recalls both his former prowess and his disdain for the people in his life. Physical recovery is painfullu slow, though, and it becomes clear that Dane may not fully regain the use of his body, that he may become one of the losers he abhors. As this threat grows more immediate, either Dane's icy mind will crack, or the young man will learn to thaw.

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COMING SOON! (January 2009)

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

Barry Unsworth, a writer with an “almost magical capacity for literary time travel” (New York Times Book Review) has the extraordinary ability to re-create the past and make it relevant to contemporary readers. In Land of Marvels, a thriller set in 1914, he brings to life the schemes and double-dealings of Western nations grappling for a foothold in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

Somerville, a British archaeologist, is excavating a long-buried Assyrian palace. The site lies directly in the path of a new railroad to Baghdad, and he watches nervously as the construction progresses, threatening to destroy his discovery. The expedition party includes Somerville’s beautiful, bored wife, Edith; Patricia, a smart young graduate student; and Jehar, an Arab man-of-all-duties whose subservient manner belies his intelligence and ambitions. Posing as an archaeologist, an American geologist from an oil company arrives one day and insinuates himself into the group. But he’s not the only one working undercover to stake a claim on Iraq’s rich oil fields.

Historical fiction at its finest, Land of Marvels opens a window on the past and reveals its lasting impact.

Reviews
“A richly imagined novel squarely in the tradition of his Booker Prize triumph, Sacred Hunger. Unsworth has an Austen-esque flair for character and an uncanny ability to bring the past to life."
–Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March

“This is the work of a master: lean, elegant, and wise, weaving the doomed ambitions of two fallen empires into a compelling story that also deftly comments on the American presence in Iraq."
–Andrea Barrett, National Book Award-winning author of Ship Fever

“Land Of Marvels is up to Unsworth’s highest standard, featuring a cast of fascinating characters thrown together in the desert of Mesopotamia just before the Great War, all furiously digging for the past and turning up the future. American readers will recognize the landscape and learn some surprising facts about how we got exactly where we are right now. As well a great read, Land of Marvels is an important book.”
–Valerie Martin, Orange Prize-winning author of Property

“An intriguing story, elegantly and eloquently told.”
–Peter Ackroyd, bestselling author of London: The Biography

“Unsworth here offers historical fiction at its best. [Land of Marvels] provides some insight into current political divisions in the Middle East as it explores the power and limitations of storytelling…. Unsworth [draws] characters with depth and complexity.”
-Library Journal, starred review

“Booker Prize-winning Unsworth sets his intelligent and timely new book in Mesopotamia during the spring of 1914, just before the chaos of WWI…. The tension between the players builds toward a violent, unexpected finale. In elegantly modulated prose, Unsworth creates a tapestry of ambition and greed while, at the same time, foreshadowing the current conflict in the region.”
-Publishers Weekly

COMING SOON! (November 2008)

The Fourth Time is Murder : a Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill

Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is always busy, but more so now than ever. The sheriff is still not completely recovered from his stay in the hospital, and she is recovering from a hospital stay herself. After a long day at work, Estelle is happy to clear off her desk and drive home, where her beloved family waits. She hears her cell phone ringing as she pulls into the driveway. A truck has gone off the road and the driver’s body found near the wreck. Back on the job, Estelle drives to the scene, where she finds more questions than answers.

Was the truck’s going over the hill really an accident? And why was there a single footprint on the man’s body? An autopsy spurs further puzzles.

Steven F. Havill paints a vivid portrait of this small New Mexico town in the sixth entry of this atmospheric, entertaining series.-- From Amazon.com

COMING SOON! (October 2008)

The Smart Cookies' Guide to Making More Dough : How Five Young Women Got Smart, Formed a Money Club, and Took Control of Their Finances by the Smart Cookies with Jennifer Barrett

Let The Smart Cookies show you how to eliminate debt, spend smarter, save better, and achieve financial freedom-without sacrificing your social life or your sanity!

They were five dynamic young women: smart, successful-and secretly drowning in debt. Inspired by an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show on personal finance, Andrea, Angela, Katie, Robyn, and Sandra formed a money club, together developing strategies for turning their finances around. Just one year later they had dramatically improved their financial situations-and had made major developments in their careers, relationships, and life goals to boot. Their proven recipe for success has since been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, MSNBC, and in the New York Daily News.

How did they do it? These five women-with varied careers in marketing, public relations, social work, and TV production-joined forces to create a fun, simple, effective strategy for achieving financial success, forming a money club and supporting each other every step of the way. Now, in this extraordinary hands-on guide, the women, who soon dubbed themselves The Smart Cookies, share the secrets of their success.

Weaving anecdotes from their own lives with practical, how-to advice, The Smart Cookies offer strategies that cut across the financial spectrum, whether you-re deeply in debt or just want to manage your money better. Tackling the unique financial challenges facing women today, they offer easy-to-follow advice on everything from creating a spending plan to boosting your income to starting your own money club.


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COMING SOON! (November 2008)

A Dangerous Friendship by Jeffrey Ashford

Detective Constable Andy Gregg is security officer for Kent County CID, and takes his responsibilities, which include conducting security surveys for vulnerable premises. But when Querry Brade, a late fifteenth-century manor house, full with priceless antiques, is broken into just five days after Andy's most recent survey, tongues start wagging.

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COMING SOON! (On Order Now!)

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Romero zombies are unfeeling monsters with limited intelligence who hunger for human flesh. Who could have ever imagined a world where zombies and humans would want to be friends? Daniel Waters, that’s who. In Generation Dead, a strange phenomenon is occurring all over the country. Dead teenagers aren’t staying dead. And now those termed “living impaired” or “differently biotic” are seeking a way to fit in to a society that doesn’t want them.

At Oakvale High, Phoebe, a pale-skinned Goth, has never been a member of the “in” crowd. As the new school year begins, Phoebe finds herself drawn to Tommy Williams, one of the “living impaired.” Tommy, the leader of the “DB” kids at Oakvale, is trying to break the Romero stereotype by going out for the football team. The punishing blows he’s taken on the football field do not faze Tommy. However, society at-large does not view being “DB” as an asset. To the religious zealots, it is an abomination. A sign of the apocalypse. Integration is not something that the living should have to tolerate.

Waters spends a great deal of the novel’s word count building compelling characters and allowing the story to unfold through dialogue as well as internal monologue rather than subjecting readers to lengthy bits of exposition. For the most part, the pacing of story not an issue. However, while the story comes to a satisfying resolution, the change in pace at the transition to the story’s climax felt a bit rushed.

(from: Dark Scribe Magazine)

COMING SOON! (November 2008)

2666 by Roberto Bolaño

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Last year's The Savage Detectives by the late Chilean-Mexican novelist Bolaño (1953–2003) garnered extraordinary sales and critical plaudits for a complex novel in translation, and quickly became the object of a literary cult. This brilliant behemoth is grander in scope, ambition and sheer page count, and translator Wimmer has again done a masterful job. The novel is divided into five parts (Bolaño originally imagined it being published as five books) and begins with the adventures and love affairs of a small group of scholars dedicated to the work of Benno von Archimboldi, a reclusive German novelist. They trace the writer to the Mexican border town of Santa Teresa (read: Juarez), but there the trail runs dry, and it isn't until the final section that readers learn about Benno and why he went to Santa Teresa. The heart of the novel comes in the three middle parts: in The Part About Amalfitano, a professor from Spain moves to Santa Teresa with his beautiful daughter, Rosa, and begins to hear voices. The Part About Fate, the novel's weakest section, concerns Quincy Fate Williams, a black American reporter who is sent to Santa Teresa to cover a prizefight and ends up rescuing Rosa from her gun-toting ex-boyfriend. The Part About the Crimes, the longest and most haunting section, operates on a number of levels: it is a tormented catalogue of women murdered and raped in Santa Teresa; a panorama of the power system that is either covering up for the real criminals with its implausible story that the crimes were all connected to a German national, or too incompetent to find them (or maybe both); and it is a collection of the stories of journalists, cops, murderers, vengeful husbands, prisoners and tourists, among others, presided over by an old woman seer. It is safe to predict that no novel this year will have as powerful an effect on the reader as this one. (Nov.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


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