New Releases

If you are looking for new works from big-name writers, a few are forthcoming:

• Barbara Kingsolver: The Lacuna. This is a book I'm looking forward to reading. Barbara Kingsolver was a must-read author until Poisonwood Bible, which I did not like at all. But I enjoyed her earlier fiction so much that want I want to believe in her, and thus will definitely give this new book a try.

• John Irving: Last Night in Twisted River. Mr. Irving is an author I've left behind. Loved Garp and enjoyed Hotel New Hampshire. However, after those two I drifted away; probably forever.

• Stephen King: Under the Dome. I haven't read a Steven King book since The Shining frightened the heck out of me. This genre isn't for me. Also, recently I've read a number of disappointing books that had a Stephen King blurb on the jacket. I'm now using quotes from Mr. King as a warning to stay away from a publication. Blurbs: They can help or they can hurt.
  

And finally, from a non-big name author:

• Chris O'Dell: Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They LovedMs. O'Dell's memoir of her 20 years managing rock groups could be a bit of fun to read, and sometimes reading fluff is just what the book doctor ordered.

New Orleans Jazz Fest

The 2009 New Orleans Jazz Fest starts today. Even if you can't get there, you can add a little New Orleans to your life this weekend:

Listen to the music: Start with some Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, and Wynton Marsalis. Add in community radio WWOZ 90.7 FM, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station; WWOZ will be broadcasting live from the Jazz Fest grounds.

Enjoy the food and drink: Prepare something from Judy Walker's book Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans or check out her blog at The Times-Picayune. Ms. Walker is that paper's food editor.

The Times-Picayune also has an excellent recipe index. Creole Julep anyone?

Read books and view movies set in New Orleans: Rent A Streetcar Named Desire. Read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, John Grisham's The Client and The Pelican Brief, or the classic A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, a few of the many books set in the city. A list of more works of fiction set in New Orleans can be found at this Wikipedia link.

If nothing else, have the right attitude: Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Best Seller Round-Up

"The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has." - Will Rogers.

In the top spot this week for hardcover fiction on all four lists tracked here is John Grisham's The Associate. Yet this morning on Amazon, The Associate, with 108 reader reviews, has an average rating by readers of 2.5 stars out of a possible 5. Now that's mysterious.

Frankly, I have zero interest in reading The Associate, in which, according to the description of the book at its Amazon link, lawyer Kyle McAvoy "becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world [oh my!], where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed". Who needs legal fiction when you can be mesmerized and horrified by reading the real story of two Pennsylvania judges who pled guilty last Thursday to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks for sending juveniles to private detention facilities?

If you are looking for an action-packed mystery to read, try David Rollins' The Death Trust. This book is a fast-moving thriller in which Major Vin Cooper of Air Force Special Investigations looks into the death of a four-star general who was also the son-in-law of the United States' vice president. Although the end of the book is a bit weak, throughout the bulk of it Vin works in a world of danger, corruption, and murder that will keep you rapidly turning pages.





I. The New York Times.
Published February 15, 2009.

Fiction Paperback (Trade): The Shack, William P. Young.
Fiction Hardcover: The Associate, John Grisham.
Nonfiction Paperback: Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama.
Nonfiction Hardcover: The Yankee Years, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.

II. Los Angeles Times
Published February 15, 2009.

Fiction Paperback: Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates.
Fiction Hardcover: The Associate, John Grisham.
Nonfiction Paperback: Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell.

III. Northern California Independent Booksellers
For the week ending February 8, 2009.

Fiction Paperback (Trade): The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) Aravind Adiga.
Fiction Hardcover: The Associate, John Grisham.
Nonfiction Paperback: Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Outliers, The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell.

IV. Heartland Indie Bestseller List
Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association
For the week ending February 8, 2009.

Fiction Paperback: The Shack, William P. Young.
Fiction Hardcover: The Associate, John Grisham.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Dewy, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, Vicki Myron.
Nonfiction Paperback: Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin.

New Books in 2009

The Wall Street Journal's Weekend Journal highlights a number of forthcoming books that retailer's hope will generate buzz in 2009.

You will likely not be shocked to learn that one of these is by James Patterson. Mr. Patterson's name appears on such an overwhelming number of book jackets that I have completely stopped paying any attention at all to his work. You may not feel this way. If that's the case, then in September look for James Patterson's The Murder of King Tut, a nonfiction investigation into the death of that young pharaoh. Let me know if you like it.

The Wall Street Journal notes also that this January, a new book from John Grisham is being published, The Associate. Mr. Grisham, like Mr. Patterson, is an author whose work I typically skip. I blame this on the movie versions of The Firm and The Pelican Brief, which somehow soured the whole of Mr. Grisham's work for me. Que lastima!

A number of forthcoming books that do look intriguing include:

Ape House by Sara Gruen. Ms. Gruen wrote the wonderful Water for Elephants. Her new book is scheduled for release in June.

The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. This March release, which won France's Prix Concourt in 2006, is a fictional memoir of a Nazi officer.

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler, which is scheduled for publication in September, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Tyler's work is always engaging and beautifully written.

Check out the full story in the Wall Street Journal for additional titles.