September 2004

Nonfiction

• The Truth About Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What To Do About It
  Author: Angell, Marcia
  Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375508465 Date: 2004
  LJPW
  During her two decades at "The New England Journal of Medicine", Dr. Marcia Angell had a front-row seat on the appalling spectacle of the pharmaceutical industry. She watched drug companies stray from their original mission of discovering and manufacturing useful drugs and instead become vast marketing machines with unprecedented control over their own fortunes. She saw them gain nearly limitless influence over medical research, education, and how doctors do their jobs. She sympathized as the American public, particularly the elderly, struggled and increasingly failed to meet spiraling prescription drug prices. Now, in this bold, hard-hitting new book, Dr. Angell exposes the shocking truth of what the pharmaceutical industry has become - and argues for essential, long-overdue change. - Publisher Marketing.
  Updated 8.2.04
• The Cyanide Canary
  Author: Hilldorfer, Joseph & Robert Dugoni
  Publisher: Free $ 26 ISBN: 0743246527 Date: 2004
  KirkusBooklist
  In this true story of a horrific environmental crime, written by an EPA Special Agent, a brave young man suffers severe brain damage after being pulled from a poison-saturated 25,000-gallon storage tank.
  Updated 6.30.04
• Bloodsworth: the True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA
  Author: Junkin, Tim
  Publisher: Algonquin $ ISBN: 1565124197 Date: 2004
  LJ
  A shocking, page-turner of a book that, as Scott Turow says, "may well be the most incredible and important true story ever written about a death row convict's daily battle for survival, both in the cell block and in the courtrooms."
  Updated 6.17.04
• The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives and Broken Hearts
  Author: Rubenstein, Julian
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316071676 Date: 2004
  PW
  Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of Attila Ambrus, the legendary outlaw of Budapest.
  Updated 8.23.04

Fiction

• How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater
  Author: Acito, Marc
  Publisher: Broadway $ 21.95 ISBN: 076791841X Date: 2004
  KirkusPW
  Set in 1983, this is a deliciously funny romp of a novel about one overly theatrical and sexually confused New Jersey teenager's larcenous quest for his acting school tuition.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 9.6.04
• Hissy Fit
  Author: Andrews, Mary Kay
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN:0060564644 Date: 2004
  LJ
  Welcome to the wonderful world of bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews, where the bourbon is cold, the manners are genteel, and a cheating varmint of an ex-fianc gets the comeuppance he so richly deserves.
  Updated 7.13.04
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
  Author: Clarke, Susanna
  Publisher: Bloombury $ 29.95 ISBN: 1582344167 Date: 2004
  KirkusBooklistPWLJ
  Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Clarke's magisterial novel weaves magic into a flawlessly detailed vision of historical England. She has created a world so thoroughly enchanting that it leaves readers longing for more.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Magic & Magicians
  Updated 7.12.04
• Broken for You
  Author: Kallos, Stephanie
  Publisher: Grove $ 23 ISBN: 0802117791 Date: 2004
  KirkusBooklistLJ
  Funny, heartbreaking and alive with a potpourri of eccentric and irresistible characters, this fresh and compulsively readable debut novel is about two women in self-imposed exile whose lives intersect, transforming both their worlds.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts | All Stars
  Updated 8.16.04
• Outside Valentine
  Author: Ward, Liza
  Publisher: Holt $ 23 ISBN: 0805075984 Date: 2004
  PWBooklistLJ
  Debut novelist Ward interweaves a trio of voices--haunting, dangerous, and full of longing--mysteriously linked by a shocking crime and the search to heal the past.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 9.20.04
• The In-between World of Vikram Lall
  Author: Vassanji, M.G.
  Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 140004216x Date: 2004
  PWKirkus
  The author of The Book of Secrets, winner of the first Giller prize, brings readers a novel that is rich in sensuous detail and political insight. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, an Indian brother and sister find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates. These are the friendships that will haunt the rest of their lives.
  Updated 7.26.04
• Citizen Vince
  Author: Walter, Jess
  Publisher: Regan $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060394412 Date: 2004
  Kirkus
  From a highly acclaimed young novelist comes a story of witness protection, petty thievery, local politics and murder set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1980 presidential election.
  Suggested Reading: Political Fiction Stars
  Updated 8.25.04

Mystery & Suspense

• The Warlord's Son
  Author: Fesperman, Dan
  Publisher: Knopf $ 23 ISBN: 0375414738 Date: 2004
  PW
  In this electrifying thriller set in present-day Afghanistan, the fates of an American journalist and his Pakistani translator become dangerously intertwined with the fortunes of warlords, spies, and dubious corporate interests.
  Updated 8.16.04
• First Do No Harm
  Author: Karp, Larry
  Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 159058130x Date: 2004
  Booklist
  The past comes rearing up to bite the next generation when a son digs too deep into his family's past.... Martin Firestone can't figure why his father, the eccentric painter Leo Firestone, is throwing a fit. All Martin did was tell his dad he'd been accepted to medical school. Then, Leo tells Martin a story about his own father, Dr. Samuel Firestone, an extraordinarily gifted doctor and a living legend in the small city of Hobart, NJ, but a man with a serious character flaw. During the summer of 1943, while Leo worked as Samuel's extern, he witnessed some highly questionable behavior. Illegal abortions, supplying heroin to an addict, black-market pharmaceuticals, babies sold to adoptive parents-all in a day's work for Samuel Purdue, M.D. When Leo decided his father was covering up a murder, he and his girlfriend, stage-struck Harmony, followed a trail of clues into the Fleischmann Scrapyard. There, they ran afoul of old Oscar Fleischmann, Samuel's longtime nemesis. By the time Leo realized he and Harmony were in far over their sixteen-year-old heads, it was too late to call off the investigation. But there are loose threads in Leo's story. Martin picks them up, and sixty years after the fact, goes snooping in Hobart. And like his father, he comes away with a whole lot more junk than he'd bargained for. - Publisher Marketing.
  Updated 9.22.04
• The Sunday Philosophy Club: Isabel Dalhousie
  Author: McCall Smith, Alexander
  Publisher: Pantheon $ 19.95 ISBN: 0375422986 Date: 2004
  PWBooklist
  Filled with endearingly thorny characters and a Scottish atmosphere as dense and savory as oatmeal, The Sunday Philosophy Club is irresistible, and Isabel Dalhousie is the most delightful literary sleuth since Precious Ramotswe.
  Updated 8.13.04
• Chaucer and the House of Fame
  Author: Morgan, Phillipa
  Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 25 ISBN: 0786714662 Date: 2004
  PWBooklist
  The famed Medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer must turn sleuth in this surprising and imaginative first novel.
  Updated 9.7.04
• Skin River
  Author: Sidor, Steven
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312329490 Date: 2004
  Kirkus
  In this incredible debut, Buddy Bayes, a man with a past, finds his life shattered when he finds the severed hand of a missing young woman. "Steven Sidor must have sold his soul to the devil to write this well."--Steve Hamilton, author of Ice Run.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 7.8.04

 

Books for Kids, Teens & Readers of All Ages

• The Secret of Castle Cant
  Author: Bath, K.P.
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 16.99 ISBN: 0316108480 Date: 2004
  Kirkus
  With remarkable wit and a flair for the fantastic, this debut author captivates readers with fast-paced action, a cast of eccentric characters, and two strong female heroines who learn that cunning and heroism are not merely words in a storybook. Includes artistic embellishments by David Christiana.
  Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction | Speculative
  
• The Sea of Trolls
  Author: Farmer, Nancy
  Publisher: Atheneum $ 17.99 ISBN: 0689867441Date: 2004
  PWKirkusBooklist
  The three-time Newbery Honor-winning author and National Book Award recipient pens a new adventure set in A.D. 793 in the land of the Vikings, where two children are soon swept up in a quest on which they encounter a dragon, a giant spider, and trolls.
  Grades: 5-8 Category: Fiction | Speculative | Action & Adventure
  
• Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Girl's Adventure upon the High Seas
  Author: Lee, Tanith
  Publisher: Dutton $ 17.99 ISBN: 0525473246 Date: 2004
  Kirkus
  The award-winning author introduces a swashbuckling pirate heroine in this gaudy, outrageous tale that sparkles with swordplay, skullduggery, and salty language--not to mention over-the-top comedy.
  Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction | Action & Adventure
  
• Science Verse
  Author: Scieszka, Jon & Lane Smith
  Publisher: Viking $ 16.99 ISBN: 0670910570 Date: 2004
  BooklistPW
  What if a boring lesson about the food chain becomes a sing-aloud celebration about predators and prey? Only the amazing talents of John Scieszka and Lane Smith, the team who created Math Curse, could make science so much fun.
  Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Fiction | Science