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Summer Reading 2002

 

Page Modified: June 4, 2007

 



Selected Titles for summer reading pleasure. Also, check out other summer reading lists - many of the titles on those lists are now available in paperback.


 

sun image All Stars List - Fiction & Nonfiction
sun image Try something new - First Novels List
sun image Have some fun - Humor List
sun image Genre Fiction Lists: Romance & Romantic Suspense , Speculative, Inspirational, Mystery & Suspense, General Fiction
Book a Trip - Travel Tales List


All Star Fiction (all genres) -> titles with 3 or more stars from the following review sources:
Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly

  • The Emperor of Ocean Park
    Author: Carter, Stephen L.
    Publisher: Knopf $ 26.95 ISBN: 0375413634
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    The Emperor of Ocean Park is as brilliant in its suspense as in its acute social observation. Set in the privileged world of New York-Washington-Martha's Vineyard upper-crust African-American society and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school, it tells the story of a complex family with a single seductive and dangerous link to the shadowlands of crime.
    Suggested Reading: African American Stars ~Legal Stars ~ First Fiction

  • Stories of Your Life and Others
    Author: Chiang, Ted
    Publisher: Forge $ 24.95 ISBN: 076530418x
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    Ted Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon" ,won the Nebula Award for 1990. Now, collected for the first time, are all seven of this extraordinary writer's extraordinary stories--plus a new story written especially for this volume.

  • Without Fail
    Author: Child, Lee
    Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399148612
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    Assassins have the new vice president in their sights, until Jack Reacher picks up their trail. For only Reacher has the head and the heart to corner his prey and bring them to justice--without fail.

  • A Simple Habana Melody: From When the World Was Good
    Author: Hijuelos, Oscar
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060175699
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    The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love returns to the world of music with this gorgeously written novel about one man's passion for his art, his family, and his country.
    Suggested Reading: Music & Fiction

  • Enemy Women
    Author: Jiles, Paulette
    Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0066214440
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    The Colley family are modest farmers in the Missouri Ozarks. The Colleys try to remain neutral, a fact ignored by the Union militia who confiscate their livestock, burn their farm, and arrest their daughter on charges of "enemy collaboration." Yet as this innocent young woman soon discovers, fate can have a double edge. In unsentimental yet elegant prose, Jiles reveals the universal horrors of war and its irreparable damage, and introduces a wonderful new character in a memorable story.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars & Civil War Stars

  • Company: A Novel of the CIA 1951-1991
    Author: Littell, Robert
    Publisher: Overlook $ 27.95 ISBN: 1585671975
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    The magnum opus of acclaimed espionage novelist Littell is a mesmerizing, dazzlingly plotted epic that tells the life and death struggle of two generations of CIA operatives during a long Cold War.

  • The Dive from Clausen's Pier
    Author: Packer, Ann
    Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0375412824
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    A suspenseful, richly layered first novel that asks: How much do people owe the people they love? The Dive from Clausen's Pier will speak to all those who have ever thought about leaving when they knew they should stay or felt trapped, not only by circumstance, but by the strength of their own love.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • The Dream of Scipio
    Author: Pears, Iain
    Publisher: Riverhead $ 27.95 ISBN: 157322202x
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    From the author of An Instance of the Fingerpost comes this anticipated novel that is constructed around Provence in three different centuries, and each has at its heart a love story. Expertly imagined and perfectly realized, The Dream of Scipio is a feat of storytelling.

  • Lovely Bones
    Author: Sebold, Alice
    Publisher: Little Brown $ 21.95 ISBN: 031666343
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    In the hands of a brilliant new novelist, and through the eyes of her winning new heroine, this tale of family, memory, love, and living is told by 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who is already in heaven. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and builds out of her family's grief the most hopeful and joyful of stories.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • More Fiction All Stars

All Star Nonfiction - titles with 3 or more stars from the following review sources:
Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly

  • Double Bond: The Live of Primo Levi
    Author: Angier, Carole
    Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 40 ISBN: 0374113157
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    Perhaps the most important writer to emerge from the death camps, Primo Levi is known for Survival in Auschwitz, The Reawakening, and the classic The Periodic Table. Angier has spent nearly ten years writing this meticulously researched, vivid, and moving biography.
    Primo Levi web site

  • Back Then: Two Lives in 1950's New York
    Author: Bernays, Anne & Justin Kaplan
    Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060198559
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    This dual memoir by two prominent figures in American arts provides a candid, anecdotal account of two children of privilege who came of age in the transformative 1950s and faced the challenges of new careers, married life and parenting against growing sexual and social freedoms, and the shadows of McCarthyism and the Cold War.

  • Dont' Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
    by Fuller, Alexandra
    Publisher: Random House $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375507507
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    Magnificently original and affecting, Fuller's memoir of a childhood dominated by the Rhodesian civil war of 1971-1979 captures the fascinating life of a white family living in one of the most remote regions of Africa.

  • Art Lover: A Biography of Peggy Guggenheim
    Author: Gill, Anton
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 29.95 ISBN: 0060196971
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    Insightful and comprehensive, Anton Gill's work reveals Peggy Guggenheim as never before, including new information about her relationship with her daughter. It is a book that will appeal to serious art lovers, art history buffs, and anyone who wants to read an engrossing tell-all biography of a fascinating woman.
    Peggy Guggenheim collection

  • The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton
    Author: Klein, Joe
    Publisher: Doubleday $ 22.95 ISBN: 0385506198
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  • Beyond the Mountains of the Damned: The War Inside Kosovo
    Author: McAllester, Matthew
    Publisher: New York Univ $ 24.95 ISBN: 0814756603
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First Novels

  • Queenmaker: A Novel of David's Queen
    Author: Edgehill, India
    Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312289189
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    For more than 40 years, Michal lived and reigned in David's court. Speaking as a sister, a wife, a mother, a lover, a woman both scorned and worshipped, and above all, as a friend to David's other women, Queen Michal reveals her hopes and pains, as the fire of God burns and war, passion, murder, and prophecy fill the Promised Land.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars

  • The Love of Stones
    Author: Hill, Tobias
    Publisher: Picador $ 25 ISBN: 0312287739
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    The Love of Stones follows three lives all linked by one precious jewel. An epic story spanning two continents and six centuries, at the heart of their quests is the Three Brethren, a legendary jewel that binds them together in an irresistible narrative.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction - Mystery

  • Wavemaker 2
    Author: Hughes, Mary-Beth
    Publisher: Atlantic $ 24 ISBN: 0871138352
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    An exhilarating debut, Wavemaker II is a heart-stopping story of what happens when one man takes a fall for another, leaving his family in disarray. Combining poetic intensity with a gritty realism, Mary-Beth Hughes has delivered a masterpiece of page-turning suspense.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • Crow Lake
    Author: Lawson, Mary
    Publisher: Dial $ 23.95 ISBN: 038533611x
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    For the farming Pye family of northern Ontario, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and terrible events occur offstage. In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, Lawson ratchets up the tension with heartbreaking humor and consummate control.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • Burning Marguerite
    Author: Inness-Brown, Elizabeth
    Publisher: Knopf $ 23 ISBN: 0375411968
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    Waking to the chill of a snow-cloaked morning, carpenter James Jack finds his 94-year-old "Tante, " Marguerite Deo, lying dead outside his cabin. As he confronts the mystery of her death, an emotionally intricate and unexpected tale unfolds in a narrative that moves from the present back to a windswept New England island at the turn of the century, and to New Orleans during the Depression and World War II.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars

  • Lying, Crying, Dying
    Author: Martell, Dominic
    Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 24 ISBN: 0786709553
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    A debut thriller features the elite counterterrorist operative Pascual in a treacherous race from the past he betrayed. The lying has again begun; the crying--and the dying--are yet to come.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction - Mystery

  • Simon Silber: Works for Solo Piano
    Author: Miller, Christopher
    Publisher: Houghton $ 23 ISBN: 061814336x
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    Miller's darkly hilarious first novel takes the form of liner notes to a recording of the complete works of a prodigiously cranky composer, who haunts the borderland between genius and mediocrity.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • Prague
    Author: Philips, Arthur
    Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375507876
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    It is 1990 and the Berlin Wall has come down. Young Westerners flood into the atmospheric decay of post-Cold War Eastern Europe seeking the legendary Paris of the 1920s. Prague follows four Americans and one Canadian, flush with irony and striving for success in a place they often fail to understand.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • The Patient's Eyes
    Author: Pirie, David
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290950
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    This compelling new Victorian mystery reveals the untold story behind the creation of the world's most celebrated detective: Sherlock Holmes.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction - Mystery

  • Precenct Puerto Rico: Book One
    Author: Torres, Steven
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312285809
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    In a small Puerto Rican beachfront town of Santa Domingo, arrangements are being made to smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S. Soon, however, the bodies of those same immigrants wash up on a beach, and Sheriff Luis Gonzalo sets out to investigate.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction - Mystery

  • Angel Rock
    Author: Williams, Darren
    Publisher: Knopf $ 23 ISBN: 0375414517
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    From a young Australian writer whose first novel received the Australian/ Vogel Literary Award comes a new story about the disappearance of a four-year-old boy in the Australian Outback. Menacing and mesmerizing, dazzling in its evocation of terrain--both physical and psychological--Angel Rock is a brilliant combination of the literary and the entertaining.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

Romance & Romantic Suspense

  • Summertime
    Author: Barker, Raffaella
    Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375503870
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    In this delicious romantic comedy, a charming heroine offers hilarious and touching commentary on relationships, divorce, fashion, pets, and children as she copes with her chaotic family and fractured love life in rural England.

  • The Trials of Angela
    Author: Criswell, Millie
    Publisher: Ivy $ 6.99 (paper) ISBN: 0804119937
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    Angela DeNero's life is a mess. She's just broken up with her cheating fianc; her law practice is gasping for air; and her parents are planning to move back to Baltimore. To make matters worse, Angela finds she has to argue her biggest case against arrogant John Franco, a man she believes would send his own grandmother to jail. Instead, he sends Angela's heart soaring.

  • Lady Sophia's Lover
    Author: Kleypas, Lisa
    Publisher: Avon $ 7.50 (paper) ISBN: 0380811065
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    Hoping to snare the unattainable Sir Ross Cannon, Lady Sophia Sydney will do anything--even ruin his reputation to cause a scandal in London. She insinuates herself into his life and even lives in his house. Her presence tempts him beyond all reason. She knows Ross in falling in love with her. But she never counts on falling in love with him.

  • A Debt to Delia
    Author: Metzger, Barbara
    Publisher: Signet $ 4.99 (paper) ISBN: 0451205863
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    While battling Napoleon, Major Lord Tyverne is wounded and trapped behind enemy lines. A fellow redcoat comes to his aid, insisting Ty ride his horse to safety. Horrified to learn of his rescuer's death, Ty vows to repay his debt of honor. Ty offers marriage to the dead man's sister, Delia Croft. But Delia longs for love--not obligation.

  • Step-Ball-Change
    Author: Ray, Jeanne
    Publisher: Crown $ 22.95 ISBN: 0609610031
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    Caroline has it all: a successful dance studio in Raleigh, a long-term marriage, and four adult children, all of whom are lawyers. All it takes, though, are two back-to-back phone calls to change everything. After her sparkling, bestselling debut, Julie and Romeo, Jeanne Ray returns with this second story of love and family in all their complicated, infuriating, mystifying splendor.
    Updated 4/1/02

  • Also: Brenda Joyce's Francesca Cahill series, Elizabeth Adler's Summer in Tuscany, Savanah Blues, Dream Island by Josie Litton, Suzanne Brockman's series, Summer in Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz, The Bride by Julie Garwood, The Pursuit by JohannaLindsay, The Last Chance Cafe by Linda Lael Miller, Don't Look Back by Amanda Quick.

Speculative Fiction

  • Diplomatic Immunity
    Author: Bujold, Lois McMaster
    Publisher: Baen $ 25 ISBN: 0743435338
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    A rich Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station, after a bloody incident on the station docks. Commanded by his Emperor to intervene diplomatically, Lord Miles Vorkosigan--a special high-level troubleshooter--has no choice but to comply. However, the downside of being a troubleshooter becomes apparent when trouble starts shooting back.

  • The Watch
    Author: Danvers, Dennis
    Publisher: Eos $ 24.95 ISBN: 0380977621
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    In 1921 Russia, a mysterious visitor from the far future appears at the deathbed of Peter Alexeivich Kropotkin, and offers him and extraordinary opportunity: the chance to be reborn. But as the former prince-turned-anarchist begins a new life in 1999 America, he finds his new home a difficult Eden.

  • Knight Life
    Author: David, Peter
    Publisher: Ace $ 22.95 ISBN: 0441009360
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    Fifteen years ago, the paperback publication of Knight Life heralded the debut of a new talent on the science fiction scene. Now, armed with more wit and wisdom than ever before, Peter David has reworked the story of New York City's most surprising candidate for mayor: Arthur Pendragon, Once and Future King.

  • The Eyre Affair
    Author: Fforde, Jasper
    Publisher: Viking $ 23.95 ISBN: 0670030643
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    Based on an imaginary world where time and reality bend in the most convincing and original way since Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Eyre Affair is a an endlessly inventive caper unlike any other.

  • Fallen Dragon
    Author: Hamilton, Peter F.
    Publisher: Aspect $ 25.95 ISBN: 0446527084
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    When his platoon is sent to a distant colony, it seems like a stroke of amazing fortune, and Lawrence plans to rob the colony of their fabled gemstone, the Fallen Dragon. However, he soon discovers that the Fallen Dragon is not a gemstone at all, but an alien life form that the local colonists have been protecting since it crashed in their area.

  • Everything's Eventual
    Author: King, Stephen
    Publisher: Scribner $ 28 ISBN: 0743235150
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    Writing about encounters with the dead, about near death, or about the plain dread of mundane life, King is in top form in this collection of dark tales--his first in nine years. Includes three never-before-printed stories and four pieces previously published in The New Yorker.

  • Whole Wide World
    Author: McAuley, Paul
    Publisher: Tor $ 24.95 ISBN: 0765303922
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    Winner of both the Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick Awards, McAuley now presents a gripping thriller of the day after tomorrow--when the world and the Web are one.

  • Chasm City
    Author: Reynolds, Alastair
    Publisher: Ace $ 23.95 ISBN: 0441009123
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    The once utopian Chasm City has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, and it is through this city that Tanner Mirabel must pursue a lowlife postmortal, only to be taken far beyond the mere settling of a score to come face to face with a centuries-old atrocity that history would rather forget.

  • The Years of Rice and Salt
    Author: Robinson, Kim Stanley
    Publisher: Bantam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0553109200
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    With the same visionary scope that brought his now-classic Mars trilogy to life, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson constructs an alternative history of the last 600 years--a history where the Black Death kills nearly everyone in Europe and where China, India and the nations of Islam control the world.

    More Speculative Fiction

Inspirational Fiction

  • True Valor
    Author: Henderson, Dee
    Publisher: Multnomah $ 11.99 (trade paper) ISBN: 1576738876
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    In this second book in the Uncommon Heroes series, Air Force pararescueman Bruce "Striker" Stanton must save his love, a pilot, when she crash lands in Turkey after a deadly air battle.

  • The Justice
    Author: Hunt, Angela Elwell
    Publisher: W $ 15.99 (trade paper) ISBN: 0849916313
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    A gripping political mystery about the first woman president of the United States examines the corrupt side of government and the intense impact produced when Christ changes a life.

  • In This Mountain
    Author: Karon, Jan
    Publisher: Viking $ 25.95 ISBN: 0670031046
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    In her seventh novel in the bestselling Mitford Years series, Jan Karon delivers surprises of every kind, including the return of the man in the attic and an ending that no one in Mitford will ever forget.

Mystery & Suspense

  • Savage Run: Joe Pickett
    Author: Box, C.J.
    Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399148876
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    C.J. Box's debut novel, Open Season, hit the mystery-book world with the force of a speeding rifle bullet. Now Box returns with a gripping and suspenseful new novel, as dramatic and brutal as its Wyoming wilderness setting.

  • Money Wanders
    Author: Dezenhall, Eric
    Publisher: Dunne $ 24.95 ISBN: 031228753
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    Get Shorty brought the mob to Hollywood. In this hilarious debut, Dezenhall brings a wiseguy mentality to Washington spin, media, and image as a Beltway pollster is "persuaded" by a mob boss to launch a PR campaign to help improve his image.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction - Mystery

  • Code 61
    Author: Harstad, Donald
    Publisher: Doubleday $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385501188
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    In Code Sixty-One, Harstad brings the offbeat, Fargo-esque style of his previous books to a stunning tale about modern-day vampires. Investigating the apparent suicide of a colleague's niece, Iowa deputy sheriff Carl Houseman comes to the chilling conclusion that the young woman was the victim of a 21st-century Dracula.

  • Learning to Fly
    Author: Henry, April
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290527
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    The chaotic scene of a huge chain-reaction car accident leaves Free Meeker in possession of a bag of money and a dead hitchhiker in the passenger seat. But when the owner of the money realizes that it didn't burn up in the fire, things get complicated.

  • Absolute Zero
    Author: Logan, Chuck
    Publisher: HarperCollins $24.95 ISBN: 0060185724
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    Absolute Zero is Chuck Logan's breakout thriller, a page-turning tour de force that begins with a white-knuckle rescue of a canoeing expedition, and comes to a stunning conclusion on the coldest night in Minnesota history. It's a story of love, manipulation, and revenge that puts Logan in the elite company of fictional-series-heavyweights.

  • Resolution
    Author: Mina, Denise
    Publisher: Carrol & Graf $ 25 ISBN: 0786710101
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    Blending suspense, compassion, raw instinct, and grim wit, this powerful conclusion to the Garnethill trilogy returns to the seamy side of downtown Glasgow and the untidy world of Maureen O'Donnell.

  • Open and Shut
    Author: Rosenfelt, David
    Publisher: Warner $ 23.95 ISBN: 089296748x
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    Defense attorney Andy Carpenter manages to sail through any tough situation, whether inside the courtroom or in his personal life. But this all changes when his marriage breaks up and his father suddenly dies, leaving him distraught--and 22 million dollars richer.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction - Mystery

  • Bad Seed: Alex Bernier
    Author: Saulnier, Beth
    Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967498
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    Journalist Alex Bernier has her hands full investigating a breaking story for the Gabriel Monitor. A legion of activists has besieged Benson University to protest research on genetically engineered food. When Kate Barnett, a charismatic plant science professor and avid proponent of genetic engineering, is found beaten to death in her lab, the activists are the number one suspects. But is it really such an open-and-shut case?

  • In the Bleak Midwinter
    Author: Spencer-Fleming, Julia
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312288476
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    It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill. When a newborn baby is abandoned and a young mother is brutally murdered, newly-ordained Clare Fergusson has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow the town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains.

  • Funny Money: Tony Valentine
    Author: Swain, James
    Publisher: Pocket $ 24 ISBN: 0743436865
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    After making the mystery scene in a big way with the acclaimed Grift Sense, the author serves up a crackling new Tony Valentine caper. This time around, it's personal: Valentine's ex-partner Doyle Flanagan has been blown to pieces by a car bomb and Tony is on the case.

  • Also: You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews, Gone for Good by Harlan Coben, and books by Andy Straka

    More Mystery & Suspense Stars ~ More Mystery & Suspense Best Bets: Hardcover or Paperback

General Fiction

  • Big If
    Author: Costello, Mark
    Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393051161
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    It's winter in New Hampshire, the economy is booming, the vice president is running for president, and his Secret Service people are very, very tense in this scary, funny novel--a riff on recent history and the American obsession with assassination.
    Suggested Reading: Political Fiction

  • Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa
    Author: Estrin, Marc
    Publisher: Blue Hen $ 26.95 ISBN: 0399148361
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    In this delightfully original work of imagination, compassion, and good reason, readers follow the trajectory of Kafka's salesman-turned-cockroach across two continents and 30 years as he touches the most significant flash points of his time.

  • The Jazz Bird
    Author: Holden, Craig
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 0743212967
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    Based on a true story, The Jazz Bird is at once a love story, a crime novel, and the tale of the courtroom battle between two powerful men whose respective futures hang in the balance, set at the apex of that time of glitz and innocence known as the Jazz Age.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
    Information and excerpt

  • Five Boys
    Author: Jackson, Mick
    Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 00601394x
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    Evacuated from London during World War II to a remote English village filled with eccentrics, young Bobby is the victim of horrible mistreatment by five boys who accuse him of being a Nazi spy. At the center of these villagers is the enigmatic Bee King, a mysterious figure who exercises a powerful, hypnotic influence on the village and especially the boys.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars & World Wars

  • Billie's Kiss
    Author: Knox, Elizabeth
    Publisher: Ballantine $ 24 ISBN: 0345450523
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    In the tradition of Drowning Ruth and The Dress Lodger comes a beautifully written, darkly romantic mystery set in the stark landscape of the Scottish islands at the beginning of the 20th century.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars

  • Martin Sloane
    Author: Redhill, Michael
    Publisher: Little Brown $ 13.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 0316739367
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    The story of a relationship across two decades, of Jolene's search for Martin Sloane when one day he disappears from their home without warning or explanation, is told in a novel that brilliantly and movingly explores the vagaries of love and friendship, the burdens of personal history, and the enigmatic power of art.

  • Henderson's Spear
    Author: Wright, Ronald
    Publisher: Holt $25 ISBN: 0805069968
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    Through unforgettable characters and a mesmerizing story, Wright traces two tales of obsession, intrigue, and loss--from the 1890s and the 1990s. With a deep understanding of the landscape and culture of the South Sea Islands, Henderson's Spear explores the patterns of history and the accidents of love.
    Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars

Humor

  • Miss America Family
    Author: Baggott, Julianna
    Publisher: Pocket $ 24 ISBN: 0743422961
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    A soulful, mordantly funny follow-up to the bestselling Girl Talk stars a fading beauty queen and her 16-year-old son as the delightfully nimble co-chroniclers of Baggott's inspired new take on suburban dissolution.

  • Beautiful Bodies
    Author: Cunningham, Laura Shaine
    Publisher: Washington Sq Press $ 24 ISBN: 0743434013
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    From the celebrated memoirist comes a hilarious and insightful new novel--a comedy of manners featuring six 30-something women navigating the perilous currents of single life in New York City.

  • The Sisters Mallone
    Author: Ermelino, Louisa
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 23 ISBN: 0743223330
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    From the acclaimed author of The Black Madonna: A sinfully fun dark comedy about the power of sisterhood and the American dream. Through irrepressible characters, and infectious and suspenseful writing, The Sisters Mallone captures and fulfills the Italian immigrantUs dream--with a twist.

  • Moral Hazzard
    Author: Jennings, Kate
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 21.95 ISBN: 0007141084
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    Jennings pens a darkly witty novel, taut as a wire, that pits love and loyalty against Wall Street.

  • It's My F***ing Birthday
    Author: Markoe, Merrill
    Publisher: Villard $21.95 ISBN: 0375507124
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    Legendary comedy writer Merrill Markoe makes her fiction debut in this scathingly funny tale of an L.A. woman's ongoing quest to find happiness.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

  • The Cadence of Grass
    Author: McGuane, Thomas
    Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0679446745
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    In a masterpiece of savage comedy, the author of the bestselling Nothing But Blue Skies writes of the perverse Whitelaw patriarch, a man who exerts his control, even in death, by means of a will that binds the family fortune to a failing marriage.

  • Burden
    Author: Walters, Tony
    Publisher: St Martins $23.95 ISBN: 0312287054
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    In this lyrical and funny novel, a young man named Burden tries to get himself killed by sleeping with as many married women as possible in his home town of Walterboro, South Carolina.
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction

Book a Trip - Travel Tales

  • West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Reflects on Islam and the West
    Author: Ansary, Tamim
    Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 22 ISBN: 0374287570
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    Shortly after militant Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, Tamim Ansary of San Francisco sent an e-mail to 20 friends, telling how the threatened U.S. reprisals against Afghanistan looked to him as an Afghan American. He has now emerged as one of the most eloquent voices on the conflict between Islam and the West and this is his deeply personal account.

  • I'll Know It When I See It: A Daughter's Search for a Home in Ireland
    Author: Carey, Alice
    Publisher: Clarkson $ 22 ISBN: 060960984x
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    By turns bittersweet and laugh-aloud funny, I'll Know It When I See It tells an Irish-American woman's story of restoring a cottage in Ireland and reclaiming her roots.

  • Land's End: A Walk Through Provincetown
    Author: Cunningham, Michael
    Publisher: Crown $ 16 ISBN: 0609609076
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    The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours explores one of America's oldest towns--Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod. Known as a summer mecca of beautiful beaches and quirky stores, the town has attracted an impressive array of artists and writers.

  • Trouser People
    Author: Marshall, Andrew
    Publisher: Counterpoint $ 26 ISBN: 1582431205
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    Part travelogue, part history, part reportage, The Trouser People is an enormously appealing and vivid account of Sir George Scott, the unsung Victorian adventurer who hacked, bullied, and charmed his way through uncharted jungle to help establish British colonial rule in Burma.

  • French Revolutions
    Author: Moore, Tim
    Publisher: St Martins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290454
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    Determined to tackle the most fearsome physical challenge outside of classical mythology, Moore, the ultimate amateur, resolves to complete all 2,256 miles of the Tour de France in the weeks before the professionals set off in this epic comic depiction of how to hilariously exceed one's limits.

  • Also: Route 66 A.D by Tony Perrottet: Tracing a Mediterranean itinerary modeled on that of the world's first tourists, this witty well researched memoir investigates ancient Roman history and culture as compared with our own.

    More Travel Tales


Overbooked is a volunteer project undertaken by Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.

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Book reMarks...

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Summertime and the living is easy . . . Well, maybe. Still, summertime is perfect for reading escapes. Not to mention musical interludes.

Book & Musical Interlude:Check out the Love is a Mixtape booklist for books that rock.

All Stars 2006

Arthur and George

Peoples Act of Love

Timothy

Brookland

Elf

Eat Pray Love

Book Thief

Falling

Death in Belmont