Announcing the June 2004 Book Sense Picks

Here is a preview of the June "Book Sense Picks." Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will receive the Picks fliers in the May Red Box.

The flier is designed for store use during the month of June, and it is one component of a monthly program that also includes a downloadable PDF flier of 20 additional titles and online listings of bibliographic information for more titles that have been nominated for this time period by independent booksellers with Book Sense, but that have not been chosen for either of the other two lists. The PDF flier -- titled "We Also Recommend…" -- features booksellers' quotes and is designed so that it can be distributed in the store. (To review the June "We Also Recommend…" titles, click here.) In addition, an electronic file of shelf-talkers of these titles will also be made available in a downloadable PDF format.

Looking ahead, the deadline for nominations for the July Book Sense Picks list is Friday, May 7. To nominate, just e-mail a few sentences about the title to Book Sense Picks Editor-in-Chief Dan Cullen at [email protected], or use the convenient Web form at www.bookweb.org/read/6305.

And many thanks for all your contributions to Book Sense!

EVENTIDE: A Novel, by Kent Haruf (Knopf, $24.95, 0375411585) "In this sequel to Plainsong, Haruf has gotten stronger as a writer. The writing is lyrical, the characters' stories -- woven together with the landscape of the plains of Colorado -- touch your heart and stay with you long after the last page is read." --Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ Also a Random House Audio (0739309404, Unabridged CD)

TRUTH & BEAUTY: A Friendship, by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins, $23.95, 0060572140) "Lucy Grealy, who wrote Autobiography of a Face, endured a series of surgeries that removed half her jaw and left her disfigured. She always wanted people to look beyond her disfigurement to her thoughts and feelings. Thanks to Patchett's poignant and tender memoir we do." --Mary Jane Beaufrand, Madison Park Books, Seattle, WA Also a HarperAudio (006058680X, Unabridged Cassette)

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: A Maisie Dobbs Novel, by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho, $25, 1569473684) "When lady detective Maisie Dobbs takes on the job of finding the daughter of a wealthy businessman, she assumes the case will be fairly simple. But when the girl's friends start showing up dead, finding her becomes more urgent. This is a great read and a classic whodunit." --Mary Hurley, Diablo Books, Walnut Creek, CA

ORDINARY WOLVES: A Novel, by Seth Kantner (Milkweed, $22, 1571310444) "Ordinary Wolves is the story of Catuk -- a white boy growing up with his father and siblings in a sod igloo in remote Alaska. This beautiful novel is forthright, compelling, and loving, as Kantner stirs our hunger to know our world more intimately, with all its beauty and danger." --Erin Balch, Student Book Corp, Pullman, WA

THE LAMENTS: A Novel, by George Hagen (Random House, $24.95, 1400062217) "If you are going to be on a bumpy ride, you sure as heck want pleasant company, and the Lament family is entertaining the whole way along. Leaving Africa, doing some dead-end time around Britain, and taking on America circa 1958, the story of the Laments is touching without being saccharine, complex but easygoing." --Jean Riescher Westcott, Olsson's Books & Records, Arlington, VA Also a Random House Audio (073931257X, Abridged CD)

THE PERFECT MILE: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It, by Neal Bascomb (Houghton, $24, 0618391126) "The Perfect Mile tells the story of three men on three continents, all trying to achieve what most believed to be impossible, running the four-minute mile. To read The Perfect Mile is almost to feel the wind rush by as these athletes burn around the track with the fiercest speed." --Linda Ramsdell, The Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, VT Also a Recorded Books Audio (1402575610, Unabridged CD)

YOU REMIND ME OF ME: A Novel, by Dan Chaon, (Ballantine, $24.95, 0345441419) "In You Remind Me of Me, Chaon refuses to shrink from showing how people fail themselves and each other. This is a compassionate novel about plain people living in a hardscrabble region, but, more than that, it is a great American tragedy." --Jane Love, Copperfield's Books, Sebastopol, CA

CROSSING CALIFORNIA: A Novel, by Adam Langer (Riverhead, $24.95, 1573222747) "Crossing California is a bold and ambitious story, a multigenerational look at a group of Northside Chicago Jews working hard to improve their lot in 1979 and 1980. It's a fresh and funny story that is so well told I was shocked that this is Langer's first book." --Mark LaFramboise, Politics & Prose Books & Coffee, Washington, DC

THE DOG FIGHTER: A Novel, by Marc Bojanowski (Morrow, $23.95, 0060595604) "Comparisons will be made, but, in reality, The Dog Fighter -- Bojanowski's story of a young man drifting through the badlands of California and Mexico -- is unique in style, character, subject, and voice. From the first paragraph, he stuns the reader and never lets up." --Bill Cusumano, Nicola's Books, Ann Arbor, MI

THE HUNDREDTH MAN, by Jack Kerley (Dutton, $23.95, 052594821X) "Jack Kerley's gripping plot is a work of genius. The Hundredth Man is the best thriller I've ever read! Move over Dennis Lehane." --Charlotte Cabaniss Robertson, Page & Palette Bookstore, Fairhope, AL Also a Brilliance Audio (Abridged CD, 1593555814)

KILLER SMILE, by Lisa Scottoline (HarperCollins, $25.95, 0060514957) "Lisa Scottoline gets better and becomes more fun with each book. This one has to do with lost documents and cover-ups, and an Italian man who was interned in a camp in Montana during WWII. The tension builds as the clues come together, and the ending is absolutely perfect!" --Susan Wasson, Bookworks, Aptos, CA Also a HarperAudio (Abridged CD, 0060723335)

TAMPA BURN, by Randy Wayne White (Putnam, $24.95, 0399151818) "Randy Wayne White has been one of our favorite authors since Sanibel Flats. In this, a story involving secrets and abduction, White's writing is as smooth as the sands of the Florida islands. Tampa Burn comes just in time to grab a copy and head for the beach." --Gee Gee Rosell, Buxton Village Books, Buxton, NC Also a Brilliance Audio (Abridged Cassette, 1590869648)

TRUE NORTH, by Jim Harrison (Grove, $24, 0802117732) "Jim Harrison's excellent new novel follows its protagonist across three decades as he wrestles with the destructive legacy of his family's men, who have made their fortunes for generations by pillaging the abundant wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A casual epic, brimming on each page with Harrison's trademark insight, wit, and eros." --Jamie Kornegay, Square Books, Oxford, MS Also a Blackstone Audio (Unabridged CD, 0786186895)

DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM, by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $24.95, 0316143464) "David Sedaris has done it again with this rollicking mixture of comedy, domestic tragedy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Life abroad and the regalings of family history have never been so hilarious." --Brian Case, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY Also a Time Warner Audio (Abridged Cassette, 1586215019)

THE HAMILTON CASE: A Novel, by Michelle De Kretser (Little, Brown, $24.95, 0316735485) "The Hamilton Case is a subtle, deeply ironic novel about the consequences of imperialism on the human soul. Not since Paul Scott's Raj Quartet has the personal ruin wrought by the English Raj been so subtly portrayed. Modern fiction at its finest." --Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights Books, Iowa City, IA

THE WISDOM OF CROWDS: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations, by James Surowiecki (Doubleday, $24.95, 0385503865) "After reading The Wisdom of Crowds, we might never make another decision on our own. Surowiecki supports his idea that groups can make better decisions than an expert in any given field. This is a fantastic example of how individual ideas shape society as a whole." --Jessilynn Krebs, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI Also a Random House Audio (Abridged CD, 0739311964)

WHISKEY SOUR: A Jack Daniels Mystery, by J.A. Konrath (Hyperion, $21.95, 1401300871) "Lieutenant Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels is a welcome addition to the group of female crime busters. The plot is well driven and, while the villain is chillingly horrific, the book has humor and witty dialogue." --Holly Frakes, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, MI Also a Brilliance Audio (Unabridged CD, 1593554885)

THE MASTER: A Novel, by Colm Toibin (Scribner, $25, 0743250400) "Irishman Colm Toibin has been in my pantheon of essential contemporary novelists from his pitch-perfect debut. In a novel about Henry James, Toibin takes on the master's mantle of exquisite perception, while framing it in his own hushed and reticent prose. A masterpiece!" --Terri Merz, Chapters -- A Literary Bookstore, Washington, DC

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN: A Novel, by Lionel Shriver (Perennial, $13.95 paper, 006072448X) "In this chilling tale, Shriver takes on a mother's voice. But she isn't any mother -- she has the distinction of having borne a child-murderer, who, as a teenager, commits a Columbine-style mass execution. A nerve-racking book to read, it is also one of the most compelling I have picked up in a long time." --Kathy Ashton, The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT

THE WORK OF WOLVES: A Novel, by Kent Meyers (Harcourt, $24, 0151010579) "This story of horses, love, and life, set in a South Dakota border town, is one of the most wonderful reads I've had in a long time. It features compelling and beautiful writing throughout. I found it hard to put down, as I went back again to reread paragraphs just one more time." --Sue Richardson, Maine Coast Book Shop, Damariscotta, ME