Fall's Book List Heavy Both with Fiction and Nonfiction
 Allen Pierleoni - Scripps
Here's a sampling of fiction and nonfiction titles for fall that are earning buzz in the publishing world and among readers. They are arranged alphabetically by author name. Some of them are on sale now; for the others, the upcoming publishing dates are noted.
FICTION
• "Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday, $23.95, 240 pages, Sept. 19): The poet-novelist is in fine form with this collection of stories that follow 60 years in the turbulent life of a Canadian family, beginning in the 1940s.
• "The Collectors" by David Baldacci (Warner, $26.99, 448 pages, Oct. 17): Baldacci introduced his team of conspiracy theorists in last year's "Camel Club." They're back, this time teamed with a con woman to fight evildoers who are hatching a plot that threatens the security of the United States.
• "Dawn of Empire" by Sam Barone (William Morrow, $25.95, 496 pages, Aug. 29): The scene is Mesopotamia, the time is 2500 B.C. The battle is between a band of nomadic barbarians and the villagers who work the land. The author's research brings the era to life.
• "The Best American Crime Writing 2006," edited by Mark Bowden (Harper, $14.95, 352 pages, Sept. 1): Journalist Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down," chose these 15 stories.
• "Armageddon's Children" by Terry Brooks (Del Rey, $26.95, 384 pages, Aug. 29): Master fantasy novelist Brooks has written several series, the best known of which is "Shannara." This stand-alone is set on an Earth ruined by atomic war and plagues.
• "The Hounds and the Fury" by Rita Mae Brown (Ballantine, $24.95, 336 pages, Oct. 17): In the fifth entry in Brown's "Foxhunting" series, Sister Jane talks to the animals to solve a mystery of missing cash and a missing body.
• "Echo Park" by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $26.99, 416 pages, Oct. 9): Fans of LAPD detective Harry Bosch will rejoice at his return. Bosch is working on an unsolved murder case that has haunted him for 11 years, when a killer in custody (for other crimes) suddenly confesses to the murder. During the interrogation, Bosch learns something that shakes him to his core.
• "Wild Fire" by Nelson DeMille (Warner, $26.99, 528 pages, Nov. 6): The Custer Hill Club _ with an exclusive membership of power brokers _ plots to avenge the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
• "Paint It Black" by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown, $24.99, 400 pages, Sept. 18): Fitch follows "White Oleander" (2000) with this wrenching story of the relationship between two women _ the domineering mother of an art student who has killed himself, and his street-wise girlfriend who's trying to understand why.
• "The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford (Knopf, $26.95, 496 pages, Oct. 24): Ten years after his Pulitzer Prize-winning "Independence Day," Ford continues the Everyman saga of Frank Bascombe, first introduced in "The Sportswriter" in 1986.
• "The Mephisto Club" by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine, $25.95, 368 pages, Sept. 12): New York Times best-selling author Gerritsen teams Boston medical examiner Maura Isles with police detective Jane Rizzoli as they investigate a series of murders linked to a satanic cult.
• "When Madeline Was Young" by Jane Hamilton (Doubleday, $22.95, 288 pages, Sept. 19): Aaron and Julia MacIver share a house with their two children and Aaron's first wife, Madeline. Madeline's brain was damaged in an accident shortly after she and Aaron were wed, and now she has the mental prowess of a child.
• "Nature Girl" by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $25.95, 320 pages, Nov. 14): In the Miami Herald columnist's 11th novel, the good-hearted but wacky Honey Santana gets involved with a cast of oddball characters who all end up in the remote Ten Thousand Islands area of Florida's west coast.
• "Last Shot" by Gregg Hurwitz (William Morrow, $24.95, 432 pages, Sept 1): Thriller-meister Hurwitz continues his series featuring U.S. Marshal Tim Rackley.
• "The Gods of Newport" by John Jakes (Dutton, $26.95, 302 pages, Nov. 7): Jakes has been called "the godfather of the historical novel." His tumultuous "Kent Family Chronicles" moves from the Barbary Coast to New England.
• "Forgetfulness" by Ward Just (Houghton Mifflin, $25, 320 pages, Sept. 6): When terrorists murder a former CIA-operative's wife, he must decide whether to take revenge or move to higher philosophical ground.
• "The One from the Other" by Philip Kerr (Putnam, $26.95, 384 pages, Sept. 7): It's been 15 years since Kerr introduced PI Bernie Gunther in a three-part series known as the Berlin Noir Trilogy. In it, the cop-turned PI operates in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1947. Now it's 1949 and Gunther takes on a missing-person case that nearly costs him his life.
• "Lisey's Story" by Stephen King (Scribner, $28, 528 pages, Oct. 24): After the death of Lisey Landon's husband, a madman begins to stalk her. She finds partial refuge in another dimension where "life" is heavenly during the daytime, but dangerous at night.
• "Brother Odd" by Dean Koontz (Bantam, $27, 352 pages, Nov. 28): Odd Thomas is a young man who can see the dead; he even counsels them. In this third adventure, Odd is staying at a monastery while recovering from recent harrowing experiences that exhausted him emotionally and physically.
• "Thunderstruck" by Erik Larson (Crown, $25.95, 480 pages, Oct. 24): In the spirit of 2003's best-selling "The Devil in the White City," Larson again goes into the past to connect history with mystery.
• "The Other Side of the Bridge" by Mary Lawson (Dial, $25, 304 pages, Sept. 26): Lawson enjoyed a best-seller with "Crow Lake." The follow-up revolves around the consequences of sibling rivalry in a family that is shattered by war.
• "After This" by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24, 288 pages, Sept. 5): The National Book Award-winner continues her intimate saga of the Keane family of Long Island.
• "The Book of Fate" by Brad Meltzer (Warner, $25.99, 528 pages, Sept. 5): An assassin tries to murder the president of the United States, but misses and kills the president's friend and wounds an aide. Years later, the aide sees the supposed dead man in Asia.
• "Fear of the Dark" by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown, $25.95, 320 pages, Sept. 19): For style and daring, Fearless Jones rivals Mosley's character of Mouse in the popular Easy Rawlins series. On this outing, set in 1956 Los Angeles, timid bookstore owner Paris Minton gets involved in a blackmail scam and must enlist the help of his tough pal Jones.
• "The View from Castle Rock" by Alice Munro: (Knopf, $25.95, 368 pages, Nov. 7): In her 12th collection, the award-winning Munro links a series of short stories that tell her ancestors' tales.
• "The Light of Evening" by Edna O'Brien (Houghton Mifflin, $25, 304 pages, Oct. 6): In her trademark lyrical style, veteran novelist O'Brien tells the touching story (mostly in flashbacks) of the relationship between a regretful mother and her willful daughter, beginning in the 1920s.
• "Keeper of the Keys" by Perri O'Shaughnessy (Delacorte, $25, 336 pages, Oct. 31): When architect Ray Jackson's wife vanishes, he quickly becomes a suspect. On the quest to find her, he discovers much more than he ever could have imagined.
• "Hundred Dollar Baby" by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $24.95, 304 pages, Oct. 24: Boston PI Spenser teams with his buddy-in-arms Hawk to help a woman whose business is being shaken down by bad dudes with ties to organized crime.
• "The Best American Short Stories," edited by Ann Patchett (Houghton Mifflin, $28, 320 pages, Oct. 11): The author of "Bel Canto" chose these 20 stories and excerpts from novels.
• "Cross" by James Patterson (Little, Brown, $27.99, 400 pages, Nov. 13): Patterson's favorite protagonist, forensic psychologist Alex Cross, teams with a former partner from his police days to help track a serial rapist in Washington, D.C.
• "Rise and Shine" by Anna Quindlen (Random House, $24.95, 288 pages, Tuesday): A family drama unfolds in New York City when a morning-TV talk-show hostess doesn't know the microphone is on.
• "Born in Death" by Nora Roberts (writing as J.D. Robb; Putnam, $24.95, 352 pages, Nov. 7): The queen of the bestseller lists continues with her futuristic suspense series set in New York City in 2060.
• "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell (Knopf, $22, 256 pages, Sept. 5): This big-buzz collection of 10 strange tales marks the debut of 24-year-old Russell. The stories are told by various children _ one the daughter of a minotaur, another the child of a werewolf. The tales are magical, fable-like enchantments.
• "Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West" by Hampton Sides (Doubleday, $26, 416 pages, Oct. 3): Mountain man and Indian fighter Kit Carson plays a large role in this fictionalized history of manifest destiny and how the West was taken from the American Indians.
• "The Right Attitude to Rain" by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $21.95, 288 pages, Sept. 19): Smith continues the Isabel Dalhousie series. The outspoken editor of the Review of Applied Ethics casts her philosophical net over couples in love _ or what could be love.
• "Murder at the Opera" by Margaret Truman (Ballantine, $24.95, 336 pages, Nov. 21): Truman's "Capital Crimes" series continues, this time with a plan to assassinate the U.S. president during an opera at the Kennedy Center.
• "The Best American Mystery Stories 2006," edited by Scott Turow (Houghton Mifflin, $14, 320 pages, Oct. 11): For this collection, legal-thriller specialist Turow chose the 21 stories by well-known authors and newcomers alike.
• "The Long Night of Winchell Dear" by Robert James Waller (Crown, $21, 160 pages, Nov. 14): The title character is an ex-gambler who has "retired" to a quiet life on a desert ranch. But then his past catches up with him.
• "Hollywood Station" by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown, $24.99, 352 pages, Nov. 28): It's been 20 years since the cop-turned-novelist has written about his alma mater, the LAPD. Working out of the Hollywood Station, a tough sergeant nicknamed "Oracle" and his squad take on the Russian mafia.
• "Sleight Of Hand" by Kate Wilhelm (Mira, $24.95, 368 pages, Sept. 1): In the eighth of Wilhelm's series starring district attorney Barbara Holloway, a former pickpocket is charged with the murder of an old friend who inexplicably accused him of theft.
• "The Godfather's Revenge" by Mark Winegardner (Putnam, $25.95, 400 pages, Nov. 7): About 18 months after Random House commissioned Winegardner to write a sequel to Mario Puzo's "The Godfather," the Florida State University creative writing professor published "The Godfather Returns" in 2004. Now the sequel to the sequel finds Michael Corleone manipulating the Mafia onto the national political stage.
• "Short Straw" by Stuart Woods (Putnam, $25.95, 304 pages, Oct. 10): Veteran storyteller Woods revisits a character from a 1992 novel, Santa Fe attorney Ed Eagle. His wife has cleaned him out, sent the money to the Cayman Islands and split for Puerto Vallarta.
NONFICTION
• "Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions: Travels with an NPR Correspondent" by John F Burnett (Rodale, $24.95, 312 pages, Sept. 5): In his 20 years as a National Public Radio reporter, Burnett has covered the big stories: the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, South American drug smuggling. This collection shares with readers the details and anecdotes that never made it over the airwaves.
• "Mellon: An American Life" by David Cannadine (Knopf, $35, 816 pages, Oct. 3): The heavy-hitting historian offers the first thorough biography of industrialist-philanthropist Andrew W. Mellon.
• "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster, $27, 320 pages, Nov. 1): The peace-brokering ex-president examines the complex issues surrounding Palestine and its relationship with its neighbors and the United States, and offers words of healing and caution.
• "Life After Death: The Burden of Proof" by Deepak Chopra (Harmony, $24, 304 pages, Oct. 17): The physician, author and philosopher explores the possibilities of what happens to us after death.
• "Since Then" by David Crosby and Carl Gottlieb (Putnam, $26.95, 352 pages, Oct. 24): The legendary musician was again in the spotlight this summer on his reunion tour with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young. This frank telling of his life and misadventures is best expressed in the book's subtitle: "How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About It."
• "The Cave Painters" by Gregory Curtis (Knopf, $25, 288 pages, Oct. 10): Who were the people that left behind their cave paintings in Spain and France 30,000 years ago? Curtis examines the controversies over the ancient artworks and makes his own speculations. With color and black-and-white photos.
• "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins (Houghton Mifflin, $27, 288 pages, Oct. 18): The intellectual evolutionist presents his case for why God does not exist and why, ultimately, organized religion has been a source of human suffering for millenniums.
• "Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell" by Karen DeYoung (Knopf, $28.95, 624 pages, Oct. 10): DeYoung takes readers from Powell's childhood to his role as secretary of state in the Bush administration.
• "Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book" by Deirdre Dolan (Gotham/Dutton, $30, 208 pages, Oct. 19): This celebration of Larry David and his HBO comedy series includes a lengthy interview with David, shorter interviews with key members of the cast and crew, a five-season episode guide, episode outlines written by David and more.
• "Jimmy Stewart" by Marc Eliot (Harmony, $25.95, 480 pages, Oct. 10): Is there another word that can be written about the golden boy of Hollywood's Golden Age? Yes, as the biographer ("Cary Grant") shows, with new stories and photos.
• "Warren Beatty: A Private Man" by Suzanne Finstad (Harmony, $25.95, 608 pages, Sept. 27): Natalie Wood's biographer does an equally impressive job of capturing the essence of superstar Beatty via interviews with friends and colleagues, as well as details gleaned from diaries and other private papers.
• "Tough Choices: A Memoir" by Carly Fiorina (Portfolio, $24.95, 336 pages, Oct. 10): As president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, Fiorina took her share of shots from the male-dominated computer industry before being fired by the HP board of directors. This is her take on what happened.
• "On Truth" by Harry G. Frankfurt (Knopf, $12.50, 112 pages, Oct. 31): Can we handle the truth? The philosophy professor emeritus at Princeton University thinks Americans lack the commitment to being truthful and acting with noble principles.
• "The Discomfort Zone" by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $22, 208 pages, Sept. 5): The National Book Award-winner recalls the tumult of growing up in the 1960s and '70s. He also visits his adulthood and its most traumatic moment _ his mother's death.
• "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" by Neal Gabler (Knopf, $35, 880 pages, Oct. 31): Gabler's authoritative biography is based largely on his inside access to the treasures in the Disney archives.
• "I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life" by Al Goldstein and Josh Alan Friedman (Thunder's Mouth, $26.95, 304 pages, Sept. 28): The irrepressible "rabbi of porn" spills all: four failed marriages, legal battles over issues of pornography, fortunes made and lost. Thirty-four years as publisher of Screw magazine will do that to you.
• "Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships" by Daniel Goleman (Babtanm $28, 416 pages, Sept. 26): Goleman's previous book, "Emotional Intelligence," sold 5 million copies. In this new work, he explores a "new" science, one that says we are chemically designed to connect with others in ways that can shape all of our relationships, from marriage to the workplace.
• "Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones" by Robert Greenfield (Da Capo, $24, 224 pages, Nov. 30): Rock 'n' roll chronicler Greenfield was at Keith Richards' mansion in France in 1971 when the Stones recorded "Exile on Main Street" in the basement. Here, he tells a story of excesses and craziness.
• "French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes and Pleasure" by Mireille Guiliano (Knopf, $24.95, 400 pages, Oct. 31): The "sequel" to 2004's best-selling "French Women Don't Get Fat" dishes up more of the same _ tips on shopping and cooking for those who want to indulge and stay slim, too.
• "On Becoming Fearless in Love, Work and Life" by Arianna Huffington (Little, Brown, $21.99, 240 pages, Sept. 4): The fearless syndicated columnist, politician and author counsels women on how to assert themselves while remaining ladylike.
• "Brainiac" by Ken Jennings (Villard, $24.95, 288 pages, Sept. 12): Jennings is the trivia expert who won $2.5 million on the TV show "Jeopardy." He examines past and present trivia fads and writes about his "Jeopardy" reign.
• "China Shakes the World" by James Kynge (Houghton Mifflin, $25, 288 pages, Sept. 27): The growing giant that is China is dramatically altering the world's economies and resources, writes the Financial Times' former Beijing bureau chief.
• "Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends" by John Leguizamo (Ecco, $25.95, 288 pages, Nov. 1): The Emmy Award-winning actor-comedian is always over the top. This autobiography stays true to that theme.
• "A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005" by Annie Leibovitz (Random House, $75, 472 pages, Oct. 3: The renowned photographer is perhaps best known for her photos of rock stars that have appeared on the covers of Rolling Stone magazine. This collection focuses on other celebrities, her family and friends, news events and dramatic landscapes.
• "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness" by Steven Levy (Simon & Schuster, $25, 288 pages, Oct. 17): How earth-shaking is the iPod? Extremely, writes Levy in his examination of the electronic device that, he contends, is reshaping popular culture.
• "Unbowed" by Wangari Maathai (Knopf, $24.95, 352 pages, Oct. 3): The Kenyan environmentalist-politician won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." Here, she reinforces her goals to nurture Africa's environment and educate the continent's women.
• "Cancer Vixen" by Marisa Acocella Marchetto (Knopf, $22, 224 pages, Sept. 26): Life was good for the successful New York City-based cartoonist, but breast cancer intervened. Marchetto's positive attitude and the support she received from family and friends is the real story.
• "Supreme Discomfort" by Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher (Doubleday, $26.95, 320 pages, Oct. 10): This hard-hitting biography of Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, originated from a magazine article by two Washington Post journalists.
• "Andrew Carnegie" by David Nasaw (Penguin, $35, 832 pages, Oct. 24): Expert historian Nasaw presents an intimate look at one of his century's titans of power and philanthropy.
• "Isaac B. Singer: A Life" by Florence Noiville (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24, 224 pages, Oct. 3): The literary critic for Le Monde presents a personable biography of the 20th century's most respected Yiddish writer.
• "Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man" by Dale Peterson (Houghton Mifflin, $35, 672 pages, Nov. 15): The anthropologist changed the world's perception about primates via her years of field study of chimpanzees. Peterson details her contributions to science and activism.
• "The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina" by Frank Rich (Penguin, $25.95, 352 pages, Sept. 19): The New York Times columnist throws acid on George Bush and his White House spin doctors.
• "The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of a Nation" by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (Knopf, $30, 528 pages, Nov. 21): Two veteran journalists relate in exhaustive detail how newspaper coverage of the civil rights movement helped shape a nation's culture and history.
• "Kill the Messenger" by Nick Schou (Nation, $14.95, 278 pages, Sept. 27): Writing for the San Jose Mercury News, investigative reporter Gary Webb constructed a three-part series in 1996 alleging a connection between CIA-backed Contras and the distribution of cocaine in Los Angeles. Though Webb resigned from the paper, the book's position is that "Webb's editors betrayed him, despite mounting evidence that his stories were correct." He committed suicide on Dec. 10, 2004.
• "I Killed" by Ritch Shydner and Mark Schiff (Crown, $23.95, 240 pages, Oct. 3): Some of the nation's top comics share their stories from the road _ the kinds of tales they might tell each other after a show.
• "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" by Amy Sedaris (Warner, $27.99, 304 pages, Oct. 16): Amy Sedaris is the sister of humorist David Sedaris, and it's clear in this hilarious book that a warped sense of the absurd runs in the family.
• "Nicole Kidman" by David Thomson (Knopf, $24.95, 304 pages, Sept. 5): For those who can't get enough of the actress, film historian Thomson offers a close-up.
• "Driving with the Devil" by Neal Thompson (Crown, $25, 432 pages, Oct. 3): Thompson reminds fans that NASCAR racing has its roots in the South, where moonshiners ran white lightning in souped-up cars.
• "Point to Point Navigation" by Gore Vidal (Doubleday, $26, 272 pages, Nov. 7): The controversial critic and novelist recalls the highs and lows of his life, populating it with anecdotes about the rich and famous.
• "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" by Brian Wansink (Bantam, $25, 288 pages, Oct. 17): Yes, we've been super-sized, writes Wansink in this explanation of the psychology and sociology of why we eat what we eat, and why we eat so much of it.
• "The Creation: A Meeting of Science and Religion" by Edward O. Wilson (W.W. Norton, $21.95, 160 pages, Sept. 5): Both the religious and the non-religious can join together in the name of biodiversity, urges Wilson, to recognize the miracles of nature and help save the environment.
• "What Was Asked of Us," edited by Trish Wood and Bobby Muller (Little, Brown, $25.95, 320 pages, Nov. 2): This collection of true, first-person accounts of the Iraq War is told by the military men and women who were there.
• "Inside Bush's White House: The Second Term" by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster, $28, 480 pages, Oct. 30): Woodward once again goes behind the scenes to report on President George W. Bush and his crew.
• "iWoz" by Steve Wozniak, with Gina Smith (W.W. Norton, $25.95, 288 pages, Sept. 25): Computer geek Wozniak and partner Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976. "The Woz" writes about life and creativity before and after Apple.
• "Carson the Magnificent" by Bill Zehme (Random House, $24.95, 208 pages, Nov. 6): Using interviews with Johnny Carson's friends and colleagues, journalist Zehme has fashioned a tribute to the King of Late Night TV.
• "Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation" by Michael Zielenziger (Doubleday, $24.95, 352 pages, Sept. 19): Japan's economic crises of the 1990s have had a lingering negative influence on the nation's culture, politics and younger generation, writes the journalist. |
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Entertainment | Books | August 2006 
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