February 7, 2012

February 6th

CONTENTS MAY HAVE SHIFTED by Pam Houston
Stuck in a dead-end relationship, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds a comfort zone in the air. She flies around the world, finding reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places from Alaska to Bhutan.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393082654


February 7th

ALL THAT I AM by Anna Funder
ALL THAT I AM is an affecting and beautifully evocative debut novel about a group of young German exiles who risk their lives to awaken the world to the terrifying threat of Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Harper * 9780062077561

BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels in Mumbai, and as India starts to prosper, residents are electric with hope. The lives of four ambitious Annawadians intertwine --- but tragedy and terror may destroy their dreams.
Random House * 9781400067558

CATCH ME by Lisa Gardner
A lone woman outside Detective D. D. Warren’s latest crime scene shocks her with a remarkable proposition: Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant believes she will be murdered in four days. And she wants D. D. to handle the death investigation.
Dutton Adult * 9780525952763

DA VINCI'S GHOST: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image by Toby Lester
Toby Lester takes on one of the great untold stories in the history of ideas: the genesis of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Everybody knows the picture --- and yet almost nobody knows about the epic intellectual journeys that led to its creation.
Free Press * 9781439189238

FDR AND CHIEF JUSTICE HUGHES: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal by James F. Simon
Although Franklin D. Roosevelt later called Chief Justice Hughes the best politician in the country, the two men fiercely collided at a pivotal moment in history --- during the initial stages of FDR’s New Deal.
Simon & Schuster * 9781416573289

A GOOD AMERICAN by Alex George
When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother in 1904, where better to go than America, the land of the new? By chance, they find themselves in Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam * 9780399157592

HANGING HILL by Mo Hayder
Newly divorced and penniless, Sally is desperate to support herself and her teenage daughter. Forced into a criminal world of pornography and drugs, she and her sister --- who has a crippling secret that dates back 20 years --- struggle to keep a grip on reality.
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802120069

HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER by Richard Mason
Piet Barol has an instinctive appreciation for pleasure and a gift for finding it. He applies for a job as tutor to the son of Europe’s leading hotelier, and soon finds his life transformed as he in turn transforms the lives of those around him.
Knopf * 9780307599476

KILL SHOT: An American Assassin Thriller by Vince Flynn
KILL SHOT is a suspenseful political thriller that follows the young Mitch Rapp on a deadly mission to hunt down the men responsible for the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781416595205

THE LAST STORYTELLER: A Novel of Ireland by Frank Delaney
The national mood in Ireland is downtrodden, and although Ben wants no part of the insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer. Yet all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, actress Venetia Kelly.
Random House * 9781400067855

LEFT FOR DEAD by J. A. Jance
Ali Reynolds investigates two shocking cases of victims brutally left for dead --- Santa Cruz County deputy sheriff Jose Reyes, Ali’s classmate from the Arizona Police Academy, and an unidentified young woman presumed to be an illegal border crosser.
Touchstone * 9781451628586

THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE by Amy Franklin-Willis
Driven by the soulful voices of 42-year-old Ezekiel Cooper and his mother, Lillian, THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE journeys from the 1940s to 1980s as it follows Zeke’s evolution from anointed son, to honorable sibling, to unhinged middle-aged man.
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802120052

THE MIRAGE by Matt Ruff
The MIRAGE presents a twisted alternate take on the 9/11 attacks: on September 11, 2001, Christian fundamentalists flew two planes into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh.
Harper * 9780061976223

NO MARK UPON HER by Deborah Crombie
Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, Scotland Yard partners as well as devoted life-mates, become embroiled in the case of the puzzling drowning of a rower, a Met detective, on the Thames.
William Morrow * 9780061990618

STAY AWAKE: Stories by Dan Chaon
In these suspenseful stories, lost, fragile characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection --- and find themselves in unfathomable situations.
Ballantine Books * 9780345530370

TRIBULATIONS OF THE SHORTCUT MAN by p. g. sturges
Dick Henry is the Shortcut Man, assisting people with sticky situations in the belief that the shortest solutions may not always be legal. In TRIBULATIONS OF THE SHORTCUT MAN, he reluctantly assists an old girlfriend, pole dancer Pussy Grace.
Scribner * 9781439194218

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK: Stories by Nathan Englander
These eight new stories from celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander address the great questions of modern life, exploring a range of eccentric characters through history and across generations.
Knopf * 9780307958709


February 8th

PURE by Julianna Baggott
After an apocalyptic disaster, the Pures ---- those unmarked by the crisis --- are separated from the rest of humanity in the Dome. But Partridge risks his life to go in search of his mother. Along the way, he meets Pressia, a damaged girl on the run.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455503063

WILD THING by Josh Bazell
It's hard to find work as a doctor when using your real name will get you killed. When a reclusive billionaire offers Dr. “Peter Brown” a job accompanying a sexy but self-destructive paleontologist on the world's worst field assignment, he has no choice but to say yes.
Reagan Arthur Books * 9780316032193

February 6th

TOWNIE: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III
After their parents divorced, Andre Dubus III and his siblings grew up with their mother in a depressed mill town. Nearby, his father taught on a college campus. In TOWNIE, Dubus shares how he escaped the cycle of violence and bridged the rift between his father and himself.
W.W. Norton & Company * 9780393340679


February 7th

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by S.J. Watson
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love --- all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story. Welcome to Christine’s life.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062060563

DREAMS OF JOY by Lisa See
In DREAMS OF JOY, Lisa See returns to the story of sisters Pearl and May from SHANGHAI GIRLS, and Pearl’s strong-willed 19-year-old daughter Joy, who runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812980547

FADEAWAY GIRL by Martha Grimes
For waitress and cub reporter Emma Graham, tragedy defines where she lives. Spirit Lake, La Porte and Lake Noir have been plagued by intertwined crimes. And with the arrival of an unexpected visitor, it looks like the bad times have only just begun.
NAL Trade * 9780451235640

FAR FROM HERE by Nicole Baart
When Danica Greene’s pilot husband disappears during a trip to Alaska, Danica begins a desperate journey to find him. But when she learns that her husband wasn’t flying alone and that a woman is missing too, she is forced to search for the truth in her marriage.
Howard Books * 9781439197332

FOUR OF A KIND by Valerie Frankel
When the mothers of four Brooklyn Heights private school kids are thrown together on a school committee, they impulsively turn their first meeting into a game of poker. But instead of betting with money, they play for intimate secrets about each other’s lives.
Ballantine Books * 9780345525406

HISTORY OF A SUICIDE: My Sister's Unfinished Life by Jill Bialosky
On April 15, 1990, Jill Bialosky’s 21-year-old sister Kim climbed into a car in the garage, turned on the ignition, and fell asleep. Now, Jill recreates her sister’s inner life, and the events and emotions that led her to take her life on this particular night.
Washington Square Press * 9781439101940

LONG DRIVE HOME by Will Allison
In Will Allison’s critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller, a happily married man makes a split-second decision that sends his life into a devastating tailspin.
Free Press * 9781416543046

LUCIFER’S TEARS: An Inspector Vaara Novel by James Thompson
Still recovering from his last case and struggling with his personal life, Kari Vaara is pushed into the case of a 90-year-old national hero for war crimes committed during World War II --- which may be related to a murder-by-torture case that he’s also investigating.
Berkley Trade * 9780425245392

OVERBITE by Meg Cabot
Meena’s ability to predict how everyone she meets will die has impressed the Palatine Guard --- a powerful secret demon-hunting unit of the Vatican --- and they’ve hired her to work at their new branch in Lower Manhattan.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780061735110

RESTORATION by Olaf Olafsson
Having grown up in a circle of wealthy British ex-pats in Florence in the 1920s, Alice Orsini shocks everyone when she marries the son of a minor Italian landowner. But her restlessness pulls her into a reckless affair that will have devastating consequences.
Ecco * 9780062065650

THE SECRET SOLDIER by Alex Berenson
In Saudi Arabia, a series of terrorist attacks has put the Kingdom on edge. King Abdullah is losing his hold, and his own secret police cannot be trusted. With nowhere to turn, the king asks for ex-CIA agent John Wells's help.
Jove * 9780515150346

THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE by Helen Schulman
When 15-year-old Jake Bergamot receives --- and then forwards to a friend --- a sexually explicit video that an eighth-grade admirer sent to him, the video goes viral within hours. The scandal that ensues threatens to shatter his family and his world.
Harper Perennial * 9780062024398

THE UNION QUILTERS: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
In 1862, the men of Water's Ford, Pennsylvania, rally to President Lincoln's call while Dorothea Granger marshals her friends to "wield their needles for the Union." As their men struggle on the battlefield, the women forge a new independence that will forever change Elm Creek Valley.
Plume * 9780452297609

THE WEIRD SISTERS by Eleanor Brown
Three sisters have returned to their childhood home, where books are a way of life. They struggle to communicate with one another, and now, faced with their parents' frailty and their own disappointments, not even a book can solve what ails them.
Berkley Trade * 9780425244142

WHAT HAPPENED TO HANNAH by Mary Kay McComas
As a teenager, Hannah Benson ran away from home in order to save herself. Now, 20 years later, the past comes calling and delivers life-changing news: her mother and sister have passed away, leaving Hannah the guardian of her 15-year-old niece.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062084781

A WIDOW’S STORY: A Memoir by Joyce Carol Oates
In this memoir, Joyce Carol Oates sheds light on the unexpected death of her husband of 46 years. She shares the derangement of denial, the anguish of loss, the disorientation of the survivor amid a nightmare of "death-duties," and the solace of friendship.
Ecco * 9780062020505

THE WINTER GHOSTS by Kate Mosse
Young World War I veteran Freddie Watson meets an enigmatic young woman one night while traveling through the French Pyrenees. By dawn, he will have unearthed a tragic mystery that goes back centuries, and discovered his own role in the life of this old remote town.
Berkley Trade * 9780425245293

February 13th

PRIVATE GAMES by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
Private, the world's most renowned investigation firm, has been commissioned to provide security for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. When a high-ranking member of the games’ organizing committee is killed, Peter Knight is on the case.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316206822


February 14th

AVAILABLE DARK by Elizabeth Hand
Photographer Cass Neary is sent to Helsinki, where an iconic fashion photographer shows her gorgeous photos of ritual killings. After escaping death, Cass flees to Iceland, where she finds a former lover and a legendary, exiled musician. Soon, unsolved murders are rapidly multiplying.
Minotaur Books * 9780312585945

BLACKHORSE RIDERS: A Desperate Last Stand, an Extraordinary Rescue Mission, and the Vietnam Battle America Forgot by Philip Keith
BLACKHORSE RIDERS tells the story of the famed Blackhorse Regiment, a specialized cavalry outfit buried deep in the jungles of Vietnam during the war that succeeded in an incredible rescue mission against all odds.
St. Martin's Press * 9780312681920

FRIENDS LIKE US by Lauren Fox
For Willa Jacobs, seeing her best friend, Jane, is like looking in a mirror on a really good day. But when Ben, Willa’s oldest friend, reappears and falls in love with Jane, Willa wonders: can she let her two best friends find happiness if it means leaving her behind?
Knopf * 9780307268112

HEART OF A KILLER by David Rosenfelt
Jamie Wagner is a young lawyer who is happy to be flying under the radar at a large firm. But the case of Sheryl Harrison, who murdered her husband and has a teenage daughter in desperate need of a heart transplant, turns Jamie’s world upside down.
Minotaur Books * 9780312598372

THE HOUSE I LOVED by Tatiana de Rosnay
Paris, France: 1860s: hundreds of houses are being razed, and Rose Bazelet is determined to fight the destruction of her family home. But when she begins to write letters to her beloved late husband, she is forced to come to terms with a long-buried secret.
St. Martin's Press * 9780312593308

I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER by Sophie Kinsella
Poppy is about to marry her ideal man. But then she loses her engagement ring and her phone in a hotel fire drill. When she finds a phone in a trash can, she takes it --- but the phone’s owner wants it back, and the two begin an unpredictable exchange.
The Dial Press * 9780385342063

JAMES MADISON AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA by Kevin R. C. Gutzman
Historian Kevin Gutzman looks beyond the way James Madison is traditionally seen to find a more complex and sometimes contradictory portrait of this influential Founding Father and the ways in which he influenced the spirit of today's United States.
St. Martin's Press * 9780312625009

NIGHT ROUNDS: A Detective Inspector Irene Huss Investigation by Helene Tursten
One nurse lies dead and another vanishes after their hospital is hit by a blackout. The only witness claims to have seen Nurse Tekla doing her rounds, but Nurse Tekla died 60 years ago. Detective Inspector Irene Huss has the challenge of disentangling wandering ghosts and complex human relationships to get to the bottom of this intriguing case.
Soho Crime * 9781616950064

OATH OF OFFICE by Michael Palmer
When respected doctor John Meacham goes on a shooting spree, the blame falls on Dr. Lou Welcome, who worked with Meacham years before as a counselor. And he discovers that Meacham is connected to a conspiracy that may lead to the White House.
St. Martin's Press * 9780312587536

RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE: A Kate Shugak Novel by Dana Stabenow
Dana Stabenow teams up two of her most beloved characters, Aleut private investigator Kate Shugak and Alaska state trooper Liam Campbell, in the same story for the first time. In RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE, Kate and Liam unite to solve a murder case that is tied to a dark conspiracy.
Minotaur Books * 9780312559137

ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE JANSON COMMAND by Paul Garrison
When his latest job rescuing a doctor abducted in international waters by African pirates goes haywire, Paul Janson realizes he's caught in the middle of something much bigger.
Grand Central Publishing * 9780446564502

THE WOLF GIFT by Anne Rice
A young reporter from the San Francisco Observer is sent to write about a magnificent home, and is welcomed by the older woman who lives there. But when he is attacked by a mysterious beast, he is about to undergo a life-changing transformation.
Knopf * 9780307595119


February 16th

ANATOMY OF MURDER by Imogen Robertson
London, 1781. Harriet Westerman anxiously awaits news of her husband, a ship's captain who has been gravely injured in the king's naval battles with France. As London's streets seethe with rumor, a body is dragged from the murky waters of the Thames.
Pamela Dorman Books * 9780670023172

CHARLOTTE AU CHOCOLAT: Memories of a Restaurant Girlhood by Charlotte Silver
In this memoir, Charlotte Silver recalls her childhood growing up in her glamorous mother’s Harvard Square restaurant. When the restaurant nears financial collapse, Charlotte realizes the sacrifices her mother has made in running a kitchen while raising a family.
Riverhead Hardcover * 9781594488153

THE DARLINGS by Cristina Alger
Now that he's married to the daughter of a billionaire, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries. But Paul's luck is about to take a catastrophic turn, and suddenly, he must decide where his loyalties lie.
Pamela Dorman Books * 9780670023271

THE GARDEN INTRIGUE by Lauren Willig
In this ninth installment of Lauren Willig's bestselling Pink Carnation series, an atrocious poet teams up with an American widow to prevent Napoleon's invasion of England.
Dutton Adult * 9780525952541

THE ROYAL WULFF MURDERS by Keith McCafferty
A fishing guide reels in the body of a young man on the Madison, the Holy Grail of Montana trout rivers. Following her instincts, Sheriff Martha Ettinger soon finds herself crossing paths with newcomer Sean Stranahan, and unexpected clues begin to emerge.
Viking Adult * 9780670023264

February 13th

COMING HOME: Winds of Change, Book 1 by Stacy Hawkins Adams
Brent had cheated on Dayna and coldly said goodbye to her seven years ago. Working hard to become a successful hospital executive, Dayna has moved on. But then Brent resurfaces on her doorstep at just the wrong time. Why is he asking for forgiveness now?
Zondervan * 9780310333982

THE EVOLUTION OF BRUNO LITTLEMORE by Benjamin Hale
Bruno Littlemore is quite unlike any chimpanzee in the world. Precocious, self-conscious and preternaturally gifted, young Bruno, born and raised in a habitat at the local zoo, falls under the care of a university primatologist named Lydia Littlemore.
Twelve * 9780446571586

THE STORY OF BEAUTIFUL GIRL by Rachel Simon
In 1968, Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution. Deeply in love, they escape, and embark on a 40-year journey with the broken family who rescues them.
Grand Central Publishing * 9780446574457


February 14th

DAY OF HONEY: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo
In 2003, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad and Beirut, she encountered Shiites and Sunnis, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. DAY OF HONEY is her memoir of the hunger for food and friendship.
Free Press * 9781416583943

DELICACY by David Foenkinos
After her husband’s unexpected death, Natalie has erected a fortress around her emotions; and Markus, clumsy and unassuming, will never be her knight in shining armor. Yet slowly but surely, an offbeat romance begins between these two complex souls.
Harper Perennial * 9780062004369

FAITH AND OTHER FLAT TIRES: Searching for God on the Rough Road of Doubt by Andrea Palpant Dilley
At 23, Andrea Dilley left the church, running into the arms of men and friends who pushed all her former boundaries. In this memoir, Andrea navigates the universal doubts that plague nearly every believer and every skeptic alike: Doesn't religion diminish God?
Zondervan * 9780310325512

GONE by Mo Hayder
Jack Caffery’s newest case seems like a routine carjacking. But as the hours tick by and his investigation morphs into a nightmare, he realizes the sickening truth: the thief wasn’t after the car, but the 11-year-old girl in the backseat.
Grove Press * 9780802145703

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN by Michael Lee West
Teeny Templeton is getting married, baking her own wedding cake, and leaving her troubled past behind. And then? She finds her fiancé playing naked badminton with a couple of gorgeous, skanky chicks. When he’s found dead a few days later, all fingers point to Teeny.
Minotaur Books * 9781250003775

HEART OF GOLD by Robin Lee Hatcher
Back in her beloved Virginia, Shannon Adair loved nursing injured soldiers back to health. But in Grand Coeur, Idaho, the rough-and-tumble place where her father has been called to lead the church, she's not sure where she fits in --- until she meets Matthew Dubois.
Zondervan * 9781595544889

IN STITCHES: A Memoir by Anthony Youn, M.D., with Alan Eisenstock
Tony Youn grew up Asian-American in an almost all-white town. On top of that, he had a protruding jaw that one day began to grow, expanding to an unthinkable size. In this memoir, Youn describes how his own cosmetic treatment inspired him to become a plastic surgeon.
Gallery Books * 9781451649765

THE PRIEST by Gerard O’Donovan
Struggling to find his feet back in Ireland after a lengthy posting with Europol in Spain, drugs specialist Mike Mulcahy is plunged into unfamiliar territory when the daughter of a politician suffers a horrific sex attack.
Scribner * 9781451610611

SAVE ME by Lisa Scottoline
Rose McKenna volunteers as a lunch mom in her daughter Melly’s school in order to keep an eye on Amanda, a girl who’s been bullying Melly. But an accidental explosion in the kitchen will change the course of Rose’s life.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9780312380793

SIPPING FROM THE NILE: My Exodus from Egypt by Jean Naggar
Born into a prominent, sophisticated Jewish family who spend time in Europe and live in the Middle East, author Jean Naggar’s coming-of-age memoir tells the story of her protected youth in an exotic multicultural milieu.
AmazonEncore * 9781612181417