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Nonfiction 2008 - A selected list of titles
This reading list is based on personal preferences. It reflects interests
history, science, nature, travel,
food, biography, memoirs and a few assorted odd
topics. An emphasis is placed on nonfiction that reads like good fiction. Titles
are listed by approximate date of publication, then alphabetically by author. Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book
Magazine - unless otherwise noted.
Hotlist of Notable Nonfiction - more titles, subject listings
January...
- One Soldier's War
Author: Babchenko, Arkady
Publisher: PGW $ 25 ISBN: 9780802118608 Date: 2008
Kirkus
One Soldier's War is a visceral and unflinching memoir of a young Russian soldiers experience in the Chechen wars that brilliantly captures the fear, drudgery, chaos, and brutality of modern combat.
Updated 2.27.08
- I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted
Author: Boylan, Jennifer Finney
Publisher: Bantam $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780767921749 Date: 2008
LJ PW
From the bestselling author of She's Not There comes another buoyant, unforgettable memoir about growing up in a haunted house--and making peace with the ghosts that dwell in the heart.
Updated 2.27.08
- Strong at the Broken Places: Voices of Illness, a Chorus of Hope
Author: Cohen, Richard M.
Publisher: HarperCollins $24.95 ISBN: 9780060763114 Date: 2008
PW
The "New York Times" bestselling author of Blindsided offers an honest and inspirational perspective on living with chronic illness, witnessed through the lives of five remarkable individuals.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Author: Faust, Drew Gilpin
Publisher: Knopf $ 27.95 ISBN: 9780375404047 Date: 2008
LJ
Eminent historian Faust presents an illuminating study of the American struggle to comprehend the meaning and practicalities of death in the face of the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War.
Updated 11.19.07
- In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Author: Pollan, Michael
Publisher: Penguin $ 21.95 ISBN: 9781594201455 Date: 2008
PW
From the author of the bestselling The Omnivore's Dilemma comes this bracing and eloquent manifesto that shows readers how they might start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich their lives and enlarge their sense of what it means to be healthy.
Updated 2.27.08
- Her Last Death: A Memoir
Author: Sonnenberg, Susanna
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 9780743291088 Date: 2008
Booklist LJ
A searing, beautifully written, and compulsively readable memoir by a daughter who grew up with a narcissistic and addictive mother. Sonnenberg mines her painful and often startling memories as she examines her struggle to break free of her mother's all-consuming influence.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
Author: Weiner, Eric
Publisher: Grand Central $ 25.99 ISBN: 9780446580267 Date: 2008
PW
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness."
Updated 2.27.08
February...
- The Predictably Irrational: A Behavioral Economist's Startling Insights for Irrationally Better Life
Author: Ariely, Dan
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780061353239 Date: 2008
Kirkus
In the tradition of Freakonomics and Blink a behavioral economist argues that human behavior is often anything but rational--that thoughts are not random, but instead are systematic and predictable.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Good Rat: A True Story
Author: Breslin, Jimmy
Publisher: Ecco $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780060856663 Date: 2008
Booklist
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Breslin comes the streetwise saga of the Mafias golden era and its decadent demise.
Updated 11.19.07
- The Perfect Scent: A Year Behind the Scenes of the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York
Author: Burr, Chandler
Publisher: Holt $ 25 ISBN: 9780805080377 Date: 2008
PW
From the "New York Times" perfume critic comes a stylish, fascinating, unprecedented insiders view of an industry and its charismatic characters. Writing with wit and elegance, Burr juxtaposes the stories of two perfumes--one created for a luxury-goods house, the other made by a giant international corporation.
Updated 10.31.07
- Swallow the Ocean: A Memoir
Author: Flynn, Laura M.
Publisher: PGW $23 ISBN: 9781582433851 Date: 2008
Booklist
Set in 1970s San Francisco, Swallow the Ocean is a searing, beautifully written memoir of a childhood under siege and three young girls determined to survive despite their mothers mental instability. In luminous prose, this memoir paints an intimate portrait of what might have been a catastrophic childhood.
Updated 2.27.08
- Storming Las Vegas
Author: Huddy, John
Publisher: Ballantine $ 26 ISBN: 9780345487452 Date: 2008
PW
Huddy tells the memorable true-crime story of how a Cuban-born, Soviet-trained commando takes down the Las Vegas Strip to the tune of five world-class hotels, three armored cars, and three million dollars, over a 16-month period.
Updated 2.27.08
- High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed
Author: Kodas, Michael
Publisher: Hyperion $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781401302733 Date: 2008
Kirkus
Kodas details how the recent infusion of wealth into mountaineering has brought about the age-old lust for glory. Through others accounts, as well as his own, the author illustrates the mountain's ability to reduce climbers to their essential selves--revealing villains as well as heroes.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Lodger Shakespeare: His Life on Silver Street
Author: Nicholl, Charles
Publisher: Penguin $ 26.95 ISBN: 9780670018505 Date: 2008
Kirkus
Acclaimed writer Nicholl presents a brilliantly drawn detective story with entirely new insights into Shakespeare's life, in this atmospheric and exciting book.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Life of the Skies
Author: Rosen, Jonathan
Publisher: FSG $ 24 ISBN: 9780374186302 Date: 2008
PW PW
In this illuminating and charming book, Rosen shows us the poetry, the philosophy, and the history--natural and human--of the strange modern pastime of bird-watching.--Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and The Stuff of Thought.
Updated 1.3.08
- Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret
Author: Shulman, Seth
Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780393062069 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
Shulman challenges the reputation of an icon of invention, rocks the foundation of a corporate behemoth, and offers a probing meditation on how little Americans know about their own history.
Updated 2.27.08
March...
- Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight to Be the World's Fastest Human Being
Author: Balf, Todd
Publisher: Random $ 24 ISBN: 9780307236586 Date: 2008
Booklist
Balf brings to life the fascinating story of cyclist Major Taylor, America's first African-American sports mega-celebrity and his quest to beat out his white, racist rival for the title of the Fastest Man in the World at the turn of the century.
Updated 2.27.08
- Jumbo: This Being the True Story of the Greatest Elephant in the World
Author: Chambers, Paul
Publisher: Steerforth $ 23.95 ISBN: 9781586421410 Date: 2008
LJ
This biography of the most famous elephant to ever live--his name entered the lexicon as an adjective for oversized things, and he was the inspiration for Walt Disney's "Dumbo"--draws on new material to tell a rich, deeply moving tale.
Updated 11.19.07
- Have You Found Her: A Memoir
Author: Erlbaum, Janice
Publisher: Random $ 14 ISBN: 9780812974577 Date: 2008
Booklist
Twenty years after she lived at a homeless shelter for teens, Erlbaum went back to volunteer. There she met Sam, a 19-year-old junkie savant whod been surviving alone on the streets since she was 12. Written with startling candor, this is the story of one womans quest to save a girl's life.
Updated 2.27.08
- From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People
Author: Goodison, Lorna
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780061337550 Date: 2008
PW
In lush, vivid prose, textured with the cadences of Creole speech, Goodison weaves together memory and mythology to create a vivid tapestry of her ancestors and the places they called home.
Updated 2.27.08 - Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human
Author: Hess, Elizabeth
Publisher: Bantam $ 23 ISBN:9780553803839 Date: 2008
PW
Hess delivers the heart-tugging true story of Nim, a baby chimpanzee whose human-like manners and behavior have made him a celebrity in 1973. Nims story is by turns moving, tragic, and hilarious, and has raised profound questions about what it means to be human.
Updated 2.27.08
- Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival
Author: Jones, Margaret B.
Publisher: Penguin $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781594489778 Date: 2008
LJ Booklist
This memoir is the stunning account of a mixed-race girl growing up in gang-ridden South Central Los Angeles, where she followed her foster brothers into the Bloods before she hit puberty. Jones chronicles what she witnessed, how she survived, and--against all odds--thrived.
Updated 2.27.08
- Amalia's Tale: A Poor Peasant, and Ambitious Attorney, and a Fight for Justice
Author: Kertzer, David I.
Publisher: Houghton $ 24 ISBN: 9780618551064 Date: 2008
PW
National Book Award finalist Kertzer presents the unforgettable true story and landmark case of a woman's struggle for basic human rights in 19th-century Italy. "Amalia's Tale" chronicles a rural woman whose life was ruined and the lawyer who would not stop until he had seen justice done.
Updated 10.31.07
- The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
Author: Lee, Jennifer 8
Publisher: Grand Central $ 24.99 ISBN: 9780446580076 Date: 2008
PW
Readers take an unexpected and entertaining journey through culinary, social, and cultural history in this delightful first book on the origins of the customary after-Chinese-dinner treat by "New York Times" reporter Lee.
Updated 2.27.08
- God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre
Author: Richard, Grant
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 15 ISBN: 9781416534402 Date: 2008
PW
Part gonzo misadventure, part cultural history, God's Middle Finger explores a fascinating land--the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico--where few outsiders are foolish enough to venture.
Updated 2.27.08
- Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction
Author: Sheff, David
Publisher:Houghton $ 24 ISBN: 9780618683352 Date: 2008
LJ Booklist
Sheffs story tells of his teenage sons addiction to meth in this real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the familys gradual emergence into hope.
Updated 2.27.08
- Cheer! A Year in the Extreme World of Competitive College Cheerleading
Author: Torgovnick, Kate
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781416535966 Date: 2008
Kirkus
Bring It On meets Pledged in this fascinating odyssey through the world of competitive college cheerleading.
Updated 2.27.08
- Long After Midnight at the Nino Bien: A Yankqui's Missteps in Argentina
Author: Winter, Brian
Publisher: Perseus $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781586483708 Date: 2008
Kirkus
In a book that is part travelogue, part history, a young American reporter moves to Argentina and struggles to learn the tango. He discovers that the tango, with its tales of jealousy, melodrama, and lost glory, may hold the secret to the country that is inexplicably disintegrating before his eyes.
Updated 2.27.08
- A Step from Death
Author: Woiwode, Larry
Publisher: PGW $ 24 ISBN: 9781582433738 Date: 2008
Kirkus
Larry Woiwode's literary fame began with his first novel, the 1969 classic What I'm Going to Do, I Think, and continued unabated through his brilliant 2000 memoir What I Think I Did. In this deeply affecting follow-up to the latter, Woiwode addresses his son as heir to his emotional interior. With vibrant wordcraft and a poetic sensibility, Woiwode begins his story by relating a near-death experience with a malfunctioning hay baler 2; the kind of mistake that can kill a novice farmer. This episode is the first skein in a rich tapestry of memories, from colorful snippets of Woiwode7;s time in New York as a young writer working with the late, great William Maxwell, to his days as a young father, husband, and teacher trying to scrape enough together to buy a ranch in western North Dakota, and finally to the prospect of an empty nest and the step from death that he finds rapidly approaching.
Updated 2.27.08
April...
- I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Author: Crosley, Sloane
Publisher: Penguin $ 14ISBN: 9781594483066 Date: 2008
PW
Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. Crosby's strikingly original voice chronicles the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Execution of Willie Francis
Author: King, Gilbert
Publisher: Perseus $ 26 ISBN: 9780465002658 Date: 2008
Kirkus LJ
The inspiration behind A Lesson Before Dying meets the best of John Grisham as a young Cajun lawyer fights to save a black teenager from the electric chair.
Updated 2.27.08
- The Soloist: A Lost Dream, and Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
Author: Lopez, Steve
Publisher: Penguin $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780399155062 Date: 2008
Booklist PW LJ
Soon to be a major motion picture from DreamWorks, The Soloist is a beautifully told story of friendship and the redeeming power of music.
Updated 5.29.08
- Panama Fever: The Epic History of One of the Greatest Engineering Triumphs of All Time: the Building of the Panama Canal
Author: Parker, Matthew
Publisher: Doubleday $ 30 ISBN: 9780385515344 Date: 2008
PW
A tale of exploration, conquest, money, politics, and medicine, Panama Fever charts the challenges that marked the long, labyrinthine road to the building of one of the greatest engineering feats in human history.
Updated 10.31.07
- Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
Author: Roach, Mary
Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780393064643 Date: 2008
Kirkus
The bestselling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and infectious wit on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. In Bonk, Roach shows how and why sexual arousal and orgasm can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place.
Updated 5.29.08
- Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared
Author: Robbins, Christopher
Publisher: Norton $ 24 ISBN: 9780977743384 Date: 2008
Kirkus LJ
In this funny and revealing travelogue of Kazakhstan--a blank in Westerners' collective geography--Robbins reveals the country to be diverse, tolerant, and surprisingly modern. A superlative addition to the literature of travel--"The Observer" (UK).
Updated 2.27.08
- The Suspicions of Mr.Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
Author: Summerscale, Kate
Publisher: Walker $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780802715357 Date: 2008
PW
In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led to a national obsession with detection, ironically destroying, in the process, the career of perhaps the greatest detective in the land.
Updated 10.31.07
May...
- The Prince of Frogtown
Author: Bragg, Rick
Publisher: Random $ 24 ISBN: 9781400040407 Date: 2008
PW
In this final volume of the memoir that began with All Over but the Shoutin and continued in Ava's Man, Bragg closes his circle of family stories with an unforgettable tale about fathers and sons.
Updated 5.29.08
- Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found
Author: Brenner, Marie
Publisher: FSG $ 24 ISBN: 9780374173524 Date: 2008
Kirkus
In her exposes of Big Tobacco and Enron, Brenner unveiled the secret networks and simmering malevolence behind the corporate facade. Now the reporter trains her eye on the complexities of her own family dynamics and what makes them stick together.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, a Son, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood
Author: Coates, Ta-nehesi
Publisher: Bantam $ 22.95 ISBN: 9780385520362 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus
This powerful memoir about coming of age in inner-city Baltimore during the cracked-out 1980s is written with a stunning poetic awareness and gorgeous immediacy (James McBride, author of "The Color of Water")
Updated 5.29.08
- The Last Campaign
Author: Clarke, Thurston
Publisher: Holt $ 25 ISBN: 9780805077926 Date: 2008
Kirkus
Clarke provides an absorbing historical narrative of the action-packed 82 days of Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign as well as the heightened personal, racial, and political dramas of the time.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Crowd Sounds Happy: A Memoir
Author: Dawidoff, Nicholas
Publisher: Twelve $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780375400285 Date: 2008
LJ PW
From the author of the bestselling The Catcher Was a Spy comes his most original work yet: a memoir of two cities, a family, and a boy who never quite fits in anywhere--and how baseball helps him find his place.
Updated 5.29.08
- That Summer in Italy: A Love Story
Author: De Blasi, Marlena
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24 ISBN: 9780345497659 Date: 2008
Kirkus
From the national bestselling author of "A Thousand Days in Venice" and "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" comes a magical, beautifully-written true story of life, love, and the magic of Sicily.
Updated 5.29.08
- I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes...
Author: Edison, Mike
Publisher: FSG $ 25 ISBN: 9780865479647 Date: 2008
Kirkus
"Half the time I spent reading this laugh-out-loud saga of depravity and mayhem, I found myself wishing I'd lived this life; the other half, I was thanking sweet heaven I didn't. In a world where many would-be rebels (myself included) would like to consider themselves or their work 'anti-establishment' or 'punk rock, ' Mike Edison hasn't just talked the talk, he's walked the walk. May God have mercy on his soul." --Todd Hanson, writer and editor, "The Onion"
Updated 5.29.08
- The Legend of Colton H. Bryant
Author: Fuller, Alexandra
Publisher: Penguin $ 23.95 ISBN: 9781594201837 Date: 2008
Booklist
From the bestselling author of "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" comes the unforgettable true story of a boy who comes of age in the oil fields and open plains of Wyoming.
Updated 5.29.08
- Falcon Fever: A Falconer in the Twenty-First Century
Author: Gallagher, Tim
Publisher: Hougton $ 25 ISBN: 9780618805754 Date: 2008
Booklist
Gallagher mines his lifelong obsession with falcons in this engaging volume, interweaving memoir, history, and travelogue.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Obsession, Commerce and Adventure
Author: Gollner, Adam Leith
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 9780743296946 Date: 2008
PW
Gollner takes readers on a fascinating journey through the world of fruit--from the jungles of Borneo to American supermarkets--in this broadly appealing and vividly written tale of horticultural obsession.
Updated 5.29.08
- Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest
Author: Hall, Lincoln
Publisher: Tarcher $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781585426461Date: 2008
Booklist
Australian mountain climber Hall chronicles the amazing story of his rescue following a night spent near the summit of Mount Everest, where he had been left for dead by the other members of his expedition.
Updated 5.29.08
- Can't Remember What I Forgot: Closing in on a Cure for Memory Loss
Author: Halpern, Sue
Publisher: Random $ 24 ISBN: 9780307406743 Date: 2008
Booklist LJ
Halpern offers this essential foray into the world of cutting-edge memory research that unveils findings about memory loss that are only now available to general readers.
Updated 5.29.08
- Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music
Author: Jennings, Dana
Publisher: FSG $ 24 ISBN: 9780865479609 Date: 2008
PW Booklist
In "Sing Me Back Home," Dana Jennings pushes past the iconic voices and images to get at what classic country music truly means to us today. Yes, country tells the story of rural America in the twentieth century--but the obsessions of classic country were obsessions of America as a whole: drinking and cheating, class and the yearning for home, God and death. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 5.29.08
- The Two Kinds of Decay: A Memoir
Author: Manguso, Sarah
Publisher: FSG $ 22 ISBN: 9780374280123 Date: 2008
PW
At 21, Manguso was faced with a wildly unpredictable disease that appeared suddenly, paralyzing her for weeks at a time. In this captivating story, she recalls her nine-year struggle with arduous blood cleansings, collapsed veins, multiple chest catheters, addiction, and depression.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf and Armed Robbery
Author: Montville, Leigh
Publisher: Bantam $ 26 ISBN: 9780385520331 Date: 2008
Kirkus
From the glamour of 1930s Hollywood and John Montague's extraordinary skill on the golf course to the shady world of Adirondack rumrunners and bootleggers, a "New York Times"-bestselling author captures a man and an era with extraordinary color and energy.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Bishop's Daughter
Author: Moore, Honor
Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780393059847 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus PW
Paul Moore's vocation as an Episcopal priest took him from prominence as an activist to two decades as the bishop of New York. "The Bishop's Daughter" is a daughter's story of that complex, visionary man, in a memoir that engages the reader in the great issues of life.
Updated 5.29.08
- American Nerd: The Story of My People
Author: Nugent, Benjamin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 20 ISBN: 9780743288019 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
"American Nerd" explores the concept of nerdiness and the history of the nerd subculture: how they developed and how they have manifested in media, literature, schools, the workplace, and in the general public.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom
Author: Winchester, Simon
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 27.95 ISBN: 9780060884598 Date: 2008
PW LJ
The "New York Times"-bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa returns with the remarkable story of the growth of a great nation, and the eccentric and adventurous scientist who defined its essence for the world.
Updated 5.29.08
June...
- Me of Little Faith
Author: Black, Lewis
Publisher: Penguin $ 24.95 ISBN: 9781594489945 Date: 2008
PW
From the hilariously mad-as-hell "Daily Show" regular and "New York Times "-bestselling author comes a ferociously funny exploration of religion and faith.
Updated 5.29.08
- No Man's Land
Author: Fowler, Ruth
Publisher: Penguin $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780670019397 Date: 2008
Booklist
Fowler offers a gritty memoir of her descent into the world of strip clubs and how she pulled herself out, in this provocative look at the underground economy of sexual service and the costs it exacts.
Updated 5.29.08
- House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family
Author: Fisher, Paul
Publisher: Holt $ 35 ISBN: 9780805074901 Date: 2008
Kirkus
Revealing the fascinating complexities of one of history's most brilliant, eccentric, and daring families, House of Wits looks at how the James family was traumatized by the restrictive standards of their times but reached out for new ideas and ways to live.
Updated 5.29.08
- Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
Author: Gosling, Sam
Publisher: Basic $ 25 ISBN: 9780465027811 Date: 2008
LJ
For the last 10 years, psychologist Gosling has been studying how people project, and protect, their inner selves. Now he looks at what can be learned about people simply from looking at their stuff; what he has discovered is astonishing.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town
Author: Kurlansky, Mark
Publisher: Ballantine $ 25 ISBN: 9780345487278 Date: 2008
PW Booklist
From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of Cod, Salt, and The Big Oyster comes the colorful story of a way of life that for hundreds of years has defined much of America's coastlines but is slowly disappearing.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Wild Places
Author: Macfarlane, Robert
Publisher: Penguin $ 15 ISBN: 9780143113935 Date: 2008
PW
Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? That is the question that Macfarlane poses to himself as he embarks on a series of breathtaking journeys through some of the archipelago's most remarkable landscapes.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars
Author: Pham, Andrew X.
Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780307381200 Date: 2008
Booklist PW Kirkus
From the award-winning author of Catfish and Mandala comes a son's searing memoir of his Vietnamese father's experiences over the course of three wars.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Monster of Florence
Author: Preston, Douglas
Publisher: Grand Central $ 25.99 ISBN: 9780446581196 Date: 2008
PW
In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), "New York Times"-bestselling author Preston presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy.
Updated 5.29.08
- When You Are Engulfed in Flames
Author: Sedaris, David
Publisher: Little Brown $ 25.99 ISBN: 9780316143479 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW
In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, his sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing.
Updated 5.29.08
July...
- Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern-Day Iraq
Author: Baez, Fernando
Publisher: Norton $25 ISBN: 9781934633014 Date: 2008
Kirkus Booklist
Baez's well-researched work traces a tragic story: the widespread looting of libraries, book burnings, and censorship against authors past and present as well as the motives behind the destruction of books.
Updated 10.1.08
- Why I Came West
Author: Bass, Rick
Publisher: Houghton $ 24 ISBN: 9780618596751 Date: 2008
Kirkus Booklist
A poignant look at the 30-year journey of one of the country's great naturalist writers, "Why I Came West" explores how Bass fell in love with the mystique of the West and describes his role as a reluctant environmental activist, unwilling to stand by and watch this treasured place disappear.
Updated 5.29.08
- The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century
Author: Dolnick, Edward
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26.95 ISBN: 9780060825416 Date: 2008
PW Kirkus
The Edgar Award-winning author of The Rescue Artist is back with the riveting story of the brilliant con man--the world's most famous art forger ("New York Times")--who perpetrated the greatest art hoax of the 20th century.
Updated 5.29.08
- A Few Seconds of Panic
Author: Fatsis, Stefan
Publisher: Penguin $ 25.95 ISBN: 9781594201783 Date: 2008
PW
The "New York Times"-bestselling author of Word Freak chronicles his attempts to become a placekicker in the NFL. As he sharpens his skills, he gains surprising insight into the daunting challenges--physical, psychological, and intellectual--that pro athletes must master.
Updated 10.1.08
August...
- The Numerati
Author: Baker, Stephen
Publisher: Houghton $ 26 ISBN: 9780618784608 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
Every day people produce loads of data about themselves simply by living in the modern world: they click Web pages, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now, in one of the greatest undertakings of the 21st century, a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists sifts through this data to determine how to manipulate people's behavior--what they buy, how they vote--without their even realizing it.
Updated 10.1.08
- The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own
Author: Carr, David
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 9781416541523 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus LJ
"New York Times" reporter and columnist Carr crafts a groundbreaking memoir on his years as an addict. Built on more than 50 videotaped interviews with people from his past, Carr's investigation of his own history reveals a past far more harrowing than he allowed himself to remember.
Updated 10.1.08
- Hard Driving: The American Odyssey of NASCAR's First Black Driver
Author: Donovan, Brian
Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 9781586421441 Date: 2008
Booklist
Hard Driving documents a previously untold chapter in the history of integration and sports in America--the odyssey of Wendell Scott, NASCAR's first black driver.
Updated 10.1.08
- Dry Storeroom No.1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
Author: Fortey, Richard
Publisher: Random $ 27.50 ISBN: 9780307263629 Date: 2008
PW
In an elegant and illuminating narrative, the acclaimed author of Life, Trilobite! and Earth acquaints the reader with the extraordinary people, meticulous research, and driving passions that helped to create the Natural History Museum in London
Updated 10.1.08
- Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar
Author: Theroux, Paul
Publisher: Houghton $ 28 ISBN: 9780618418879 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
Thirty years after his classic The Great Railway Bazaar, Theroux revisits Eastern Europe, Central Asia, India, China, Japan, and Siberia. Wherever he goes, his omnivorous curiosity and unerring eye for detail never fail to inspire, enlighten, inform, and entertain.
Updated 8.1.08
- How Fiction Works
Author: Wood, James
Publisher: FSG $ 22 ISBN: 9780374173401 Date: 2008
PW Kirkus LJ
What makes a story a story? What is style? What's the connection between realism and real life? These are some of the questions Wood answers in How Fiction Works, a book-length essay by the preeminent critic of his generation. Updated 5.29.08
September...
- American LIghtning:
Author: Blum, Howard
Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780307346940 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus PW
A masterpiece of narrative history that vividly brings to life the original crime of the century, American Lightning shows the lasting impact the 1910 bombing of the "Los Angeles Times" offices had on three remarkable individuals and, through them, the country itself.
Updated 10.1.08 - Diving into Darkness; A True Story of Death and Survival
Author: Finch, Phillip
Publisher: St Martins $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780312383947 Date: 2008
PW
Finch chronicles the harrowing true story of two friends who plunge 900 feet into the water in South Africa--and only one returns. What happened that day is the stuff of nightmarish drama, but it's also a compelling human story of friendship and of coming to terms with loss and tragedy.
Updated 10.1.08
- The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
Author: Gordon-Reed, Annette
Publisher: Norton $ 35 ISBN: 9780393064773 Date: 2008
Booklist Lj PW
Historian and legal scholar Gordon-Reed presents this epic work that tells the story of the Hemingses, an American slave family and their close blood ties to Thomas Jefferson.
Updated 10.1.08
- Hurry Down Sunshine
Author: Greenbert, Michael
Publisher: Random $ 22 ISBN: 9781590511916 Date: 2008
Booklist LJ
This mesmerizing account tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of 15, Michael Greenberg's daughter, Sally, was struck mad. Unsentimental and deeply humane, this work chronicles Sally's journey into and out of psychiatric wards and its effect on those closest to her.
Updated 10.1.08
- Dewey: The Small-town LIbrary Cat Who Touched the World
Author: Myron, Vicky
Publisher: Grand Central $ 19.99 ISBN: 9780446407410 Date: 2008
Booklist LJ
The charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa, starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the library. For the next 19 years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with his enthusiasm, warmth, humility, and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most.
Updated 10.1.08
- Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Author: Norris, Kathleen
Publisher: Penguin $ 25.95 ISBN: 9781594489969 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
As in her bestselling Amazing Grace, Norris demystifies a spiritual concept, exploring acedia--or soul-weariness--through the geography of her life as a writer; her marriage and the challenges of commitment in the midst of grave illness; and her keen interest in the monastic tradition.
Updated 10.1.08
- Epilogue: A Memoir
Author: Roiphe, Anne Richardson
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780061254628 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW
From the critically acclaimed author of "Fruitful" comes a devastatingly beautiful memoir about death, life, and widowhood. Moving between heartbreaking memories of her marriage and the pressing needs of her daily routine, Epilogue follows Roiphe's journey into the unknown.
Updated 10.1.08
- The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War
Author: Seierstad, Anse
Publisher: Perseus $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780465011223 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
International bestselling journalist and author Seierstad returns from her most harrowing and dangerous journey yet--this time into the rarely glimpsed, strife-torn region of Chechnya.
Updated 10.1.08
- The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition
Author: Slaughter, Thomas P.
Publisher: FSG $ 30 ISBN: 9780809095148 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus PW
A biography of the famous eighteenth-century Quaker whose abolitionist fervor and spiritual practice made him a model for generations of Americans John Woolman (1720-72) was perhaps the most significant American of his age, though he was not a famous politician, general, or man of letters, and never held public office. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.1.08
October...
- Old World, New World: Great Britian and America from the Beginning
Author: Burk, Kathleen
Publisher: PGW $ 35 ISBN: 9780871139719 Date: 2008
Kirkus LJ PW
America's close bond with Great Britain seems inevitable, given the shared language and heritage. But as distinguished historian Burk shows, that close international relationship had been forged only recently, preceded by several centuries of hostility and conflict.
Updated 10.1.08
- Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces
Author: Clark, Robert
Publisher: Dou bleday $26 ISBN: 9780767926485 Date: 2008
LJ
On November 4, 1966, the city of Florence was inundated by the waters of the Arno River. Beyond the human and economic cost, the flood destroyed or damaged hundreds of works from the Western world's greatest collections of art. This work brings the flood and its aftermath to life through the voices of witnesses past and present.
Updated 10.1.08
- Champlain's Dream
Author: Fischer, David Hackett
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 40 ISBN: 9781416593324 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian brings to life one of the great figures in North American history, Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec 400 years ago and established a colony where respect for the native people and religious tolerance were practiced
Updated 10.1.08
- The Big Necessity
Author: George, Rose
Publisher: Holt $ 26 ISBN: 9780805082715 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus LJ PW
An utterly original exploration of the world of human waste, The Big Necessity takes aim at the taboo and reveals everything that matters about how people do--and don't--deal with their own waste.
Updated 10.1.08
- Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey
Author: Least Heat-Moon, William
Publisher: Little Brown $ 27.99 ISBN: 9780316110259 Date: 2008
Booklist
In his previous book Blue Highways, " Heat-Moon had embarked on an American journey off the beaten path. Now, the author is back on the backroads, in this lyrical, funny, and touching account of his series of journeys into small-town America.
Updated 10.1.08
- Tried by War
Author: McPherson, James M.
Publisher: Penguin $ 35 ISBN: 9781594201912 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus LJ PW
A bestselling historian of the Civil War illuminates how Lincoln worked with--and often against--his senior commanders to defeat the Confederacy and create the role of commander in chief as we know it. Tried by War offers a revelatory portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis America has ever endured.
Updated 10.1.08
- Death from the Skies!
Author: Plait, Phiil
Publisher: Penguin $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780670019977 Date: 2008
Kirkus
According to astronomer Plait, the universe is an apocalypse waiting to happen. With humor and wit, Plait details the myriad doomsday events that the cosmos could inflict to destroy the planet and life in general.
Updated 10.1.08
- Napoleon in Egypy
Author: Strathern, Paul
Publisher: Bantam $ 26 ISBN: 9780553806786 Date: 2008
LJ PW
This captivating narrative details Napoleon's dramatic invasion of Egypt in 1798, the first attack on a Middle Eastern country by a Western power in modern times
Updated 10.1.08
- The Wordy Shipments
Author: Vowell, Sarah
Publisher: Penguin $ 25.95 ISBN: 9781594489990 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of Assassination Vacation and The Partly Cloudy Patriot comes an examination of the Puritans, their covenant communities, deep-rooted idealism, political and cultural relevance, and their myriad oddities.
Updated 10.1.08
- Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World
Author: Waxman, Sharon
Publisher: Henry Holt $ 27.50 ISBN: 9780805086539 Date: 2008
PW
Waxman, a former culture reporter for "The New York Times," examines the international conflict over who should own the great woks of ancient art, the implications for the preservation of these objects, and how this impacts the idea of a shared cultural heritage.
Updated 10.1.08
- Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel
Author: White, Edmund
Publisher: Norton $ 24 ISBN: 9781934633151 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW
The distinguished biographer, novelist, and memoirist White brings his literary mastery to a new biography of 19th-century poet and prodigy Arthur Rimbaud.
Updated 10.1.08
- Finding Beauty in a Broken World
Author: Williams, Terry Tempest
Publisher: Random $ 26 ISBN: 9780375420788 Date: 2008
Booklist PW
A meditation on how the natural and human worlds connect in both ugliness and beauty, and how they combine to produce both tumult and peace. It is Williams' most beautifully written and powerfully moving book yet.
Updated 10.1.08
November...
- Thames: The Biography
Author: Ackroyd, Peter
Publisher: Nan Talese $ 40 ISBN: 9780385526234 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW
Ackroyd writes about connections between the Thames and such historical figures as Julius Caesar and Henry VIII, and offers memorable portraits of the ordinary men and women who depend on the river for their livelihoods. Illustrated with maps and photographs.
Updated 10.1.08
- The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul
Author: French, Patrick
Publisher: Random $ 30 ISBN: 9781400044054 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW
French offers the first authoritative biography of V.S. Naipaul, the controversial Nobel laureate. Informed by exclusive access to Naipaul's private papers and personal recollections, this biography does full justice to an enigmatic genius.
Updated 10.1.08
- Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business
Author: Mordden, Ethan
Publisher: St Martins $ 32.95 ISBN:9780312375430 Date: 2008
Booklist Kirkus LJ
When Florenz Ziegfeld started in theater, it was flea circus, operetta and sideshow all rolled into one. When he left it, the glamorous world of "show-biz" had been created. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.1.08
- John Lennon: The Life
Author: Norman, Philip
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 34.95 ISBN: 9780060754013 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW
From the bestselling author of Shout comes an extraordinarily detailed, vibrant, in-depth account of the life of John Lennon--the most deeply researched and comprehensive biography to date.
Updated 10.1.08
December...
- Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the World
Author: Morton, Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 28.95 ISBN: 9780007163649 Date: 2008
Kirkus PW LJ
Updated 11.31.08