New Books This Week: April 17
The eagerly-awaited Wiley Cash debut, A Land More Kind Than Home (Harper Collins $24.99), is now available. The author is garnering outstanding reviews for this lyrical and poignant novel, set in western NC. Told by alternating narrators (a young boy, the town's midwife, the sheriff), Land combines mystery and true Southern Gothic. If you love Ron Rash, Pat Conroy, or Tom Franklin, you'll want to discover this author. Wiley Cash will be here on Wednesday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m.
For those who love dark mysteries, in an even darker setting: Philip Kerr's Prague Fatale (Penguin $26.95) is his latest to star police investigator Bernie Gunther, a cop whose beat is WWII Berlin, where he's forced to wear the uniform of the Nazis he despises. You do not have to read the other mysteries involving Bernie. In an afterword, Kerr fills you in on what happened to many of the 'characters' in Prague Fatale, based on historical figures.
David Baldacci's The Innocent (Grand Central $27.99) has hitman Will Robie stepping way out of character - a job feels wrong to him, so he doesn't proceed with the kill. Now he's a target, and he's taken an orphaned teenage girl, also on the run and a possible victim, under his wing. We're treating it is an instant NYT best seller: 30% off for Readers' Club members, and 20% off for everyone else.
In Julia Alvarez's A Wedding in Haiti (Algonquin, $22.95), she explores deeply personal relationships both with her family and with the other country that shares her homeland's island.
Nancy Gibbs' The Presidents Club (Simon & Schuster $32.50) explores the world's most select club - that of U.S. Presidents. From Eisenhower on, it's been the home of diplomacy, rivalries, and sometimes the most unexpected of friendships.
E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey hit the ground running recently, and now parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy are available in paperback. Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed (both Vintage $15.95) complete the steamy liaison of Christian and Anastasia.
For those needing a bit of humor (ok, lots of humor), Jenny Lawson (the Bloggess) shares her mostly-true memoir, Let's Pretend This Never Happened (Amy Einhorn $25.95). Get it for the cover alone!
For the kids:
The hugely popular Judy Moody celebrated last year with a movie. There was a novelization of the movie. Now Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (Candlewick $15.99 or $5.99) returns in the standard Judy Moody format, including those great illustrations by Peter Reynolds! Ages 8 +.
Honor a teacher today with Patricia Polacco's new The Art of Miss Chew (Putnam $17.99). The famed children's author and illustrator has openly dealt with her childhood learning disability. Now she celebrates the teacher who set her on her path as an artist. We should all have a Miss Chew in our lives - and perhaps you do. For ages 5+.
