The May 2010 Indie Next List Preview

Here's a preview of the titles on the May Indie Next List flier, on its way to ABA member stores in the IndieBound movement, as well as the May Indie Notables, which will be featured in a downloadable flier and shelf-talkers on BookWeb.org, beginning May 1.

Along with the May Indie Next Great Reads, the newly redesigned print flier features an expanded list (12) of "Now In Paperback" titles with jacket images. The month's Notables no longer appear on the print flier.

The May Indie Next Great Reads will also be available in a downloadable flier and shelf-talkers beginning May 1 on BookWeb.org and IndieBound.org.

The May 2010 Indie Next List Great Reads

The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel
(Unbridled Books, $24.99, 9781936071647)
"The Singer's Gun fulfills all the promise held by Last Night in Montreal, which was my choice for best debut novel of 2009. While in some ways Emily St. John Mandel's novels defy classification, the appeal of her work is wide. The Singer's Gun is a taught, restrained book with a quick hook and a long pull. More than that, though, The Signer's Gun reads refreshingly against the grain of so much commercial literary fiction that is full of cute tricks andslick, self-impressed prose. It is a moving and mysterious work, wholly authentic, and I look forward to following this outstanding novelist's career for many years." -- Jason, Wolfgang Books, Phoenixville, PA

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
(Norton, $26.95, 9780393062625)
"The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall is the story of 45-year-old Golden Richards, a hapless soul, whose four wives, twenty-eight children, and one paramour run his life. The reader learns to love and root for this man at every wrong turn. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and hauntingly sad, this novel is a big, fat, satisfying read that will make you reconsider what it means to be part of a family. Plus, it contains the naughtiest, goofiest eleven-year-old boy who will ever break your heart." -- Roberta Dyer, Broadway Books, Portland, OR

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
(Harper, $25.99, 9780061727665)
"To open a new Maisie Dobbs is like checking in with an old friend. In Mapping of Love and Death, Maisie has been asked to discover what really happened to cartographer Michael listed missing in the trenches in France. 17 years later his remains are uncovered. As Maisie digs for answers, she discovers that Michael was murdered. The closer she gets to answers for Michael's family she must also deal with personal issues that will change her life once again. As the last page is turned, I can't wait to read the next installment in Maisie's adventure. Sue Richardson, Maine Coast Book Shop, Damariscotta, Maine." -- Sue Richardson, Maine Coast Book Shop, Inc., Damariscotta, ME

Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok
(Riverhead Hardcover, $25.95, 9781594487569)
"It's never easy being the new kid and harder still when you are poor and you don't speak the language. From a comfortable life in Hong Kong to a gritty sweatshop in New York we follow Kimberly Change, in this smartly told story that illuminates the struggles of adolescence against a backdrop of poverty and cultural conflicts and reveals that, even in the land of opportunity, sometimes you have to fight for what you want and let go of what you love." -- Carol Mark, Books On The Common, Ridgefield, CT

Diamond Ruby: A Novel by Joseph Wallace
(Touchstone, $16.00, 9781439160053)
"Brooklyn, baseball, prohibition, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, corrupt cops, Ku Klux Klan, Chicago gangsters; whats not to love, especially in the capable hands of author Joseph Wallace. But the best part is Ruby, the girl with the golden throwing arm who pitches faster than any man and outwits the ones that get in her way." -- Josette King, Books Inc., San Francisco, CA

Tomorrow River by Lesley Kagen
(Dutton Adult, $25.95, 9780525951544)
"Another slam dunk for the author of Whistling in the Dark! Kagen's trademark has become her unusual narrators, and Tomorrow River gives us one to remember in Shanandoah Carmondy - daughter of a formidable Virginia Supreme Court Judge, twin of the creative but recently mute Jane Woodrow Carmody and daughter of the 'disappeared' Evelyn Carmody. And once again, Kagen ingeniously gives us a compelling story on two levels - the story we're told by 11 year old Shenandoah, and the story we understand as an adult reader. Atmospheric, great characters, interesting twists..Tomorrow River has it all." -- Jill Miner, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
(Knopf, $26.95, 9781400041169)
"THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE will make you forget every other novel you've ever read about World War II. Through the lives of two Hungarian Jewish brothers, whose fates span the vibrant student cafes of 1930s Paris to the backbreaking labor camps on the Eastern Front, Julie Orringer creates an entire universe breathtaking in its breadth and extraordinary in its intimacy." -- Elizabeth Sher, Politics & Prose Books &, Washington, DC

Chef by Jaspreet Singh
(Bloomsbury USA, $14.00, 9781608190850)
"Set in war-torn Kashmir, a young Sikh's training to become an army chef is the setting of this hauntingly atmospheric novel. CHEF weaves together themes of conflict, duty and allegiance to self, friends and country. Throughout runs the current of food: as art, as love, as teacher and even as weapon. A quietly passionate and beautifully crafted book." -- Anne Adare, The Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
(Viking, $26.95, 9780670021673)
"On the eve of the Civil War, Albany midwife Mary Sutter desperately wants to be a surgeon. When Dorthea Dix puts out a call for nurses, Mary leaves her family and her practice behind and rushes to Washington. Told from the view of nurses, families, and politicians, this novel is an enthralling, exquisitely crafted debut. It is a story for lovers of historical fiction as well as anyone who believes in the power of the human spirit." -- Erin Kurup, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY

The Ark by Boyd Morrison
(Touchstone, $24.99, 9781439181799)
"Can the ancient world still impact the modern? In a resounding yes, Boyd Morrison relates a story involving Noah's Ark and a modern bioweapon. This fast-paced suspense sweeps two engineers and an archaeologist into the grip modern day fanaticism. I highly recommend this for great leisure reading! More enjoyable than The Lost Symbol" -- Fran Wilson, Colorado State University Bookstore, Fort Collins, CO

The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
(William Morrow, $25.99, 9780061624780)
"Brunonia Barry has claimed Salem as her own locale, even using Hawthorne's house of seven gables, and the town couldn't ask for a better chronicler. Just as the city is a place of haunted mystery, so is the life of Zee Finch who is forced to confront both past and present when caring for her ailing father. With characters that are rich, engaging and sympathetic, Barry has created a world that perfectly expresses ordinary life." -- Bill Cusumano, Nicola's Books, Ann Arbor, MI

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
(Spiegel & Grau, $23.00, 9781400069262)
"Henry is a writer whose first book was wildly successful. When harsh criticism greets his second work, Henry retreats from the literary world. A request for help by the author of a strangely compelling play draws him deeper and deeper into the bizarre reality of its writer. While this plot may seem simple, its many faceted story draw readers into a complex drama of guilt and the attempt to justify a horrific past. This small book has much to offer its readers." -- Linda Walonen, Bay Books, San Ramon, CA

Lean on Pete: A Novel by Willy Vlautin
(Harper Perennial, $13.99, 9780061456534)
"I have been a big fan of Willy Valutin's since his first book, Motel Life. Lean on Pete, his third, is his best. It is the harrowing and heartbreaking story of a high school-aged boy in the Portland area who is set adrift when his father dies. With no resources and nowhere else to go, he sets out to find an aunt who may or may not still be in Wyoming. Vlautin's prose is skillfully without artifice, telling the story directly and cleanly, and we ache as our protagonist tries to make his way in an indifferent and sometimes dangerous world." -- Kevin Ryan, Green Apple Books, San Francisco, CA

The Other Family by Joanna Trollope
(Touchstone, $15.00, 9781439129838)
"Richie Rossiter has two families, the family he left behind over two decades ago and his second family with three beautiful daughters and the woman he would not marry. They revolved around Richie like planets orbiting a hot sun, never intersecting. He was the star of their firmament, life spun around him until one day it stopped. Now because of a strange bequest in his will the two orbits must cross." -- Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books, Sunriver, OR

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25.00, 9780547330792)
"Alternating chapters tell the story of 2 women in London in 2 very different times: Lexie, the journalist in post war London, and Elina, a new mother struggling with baby & boyfriend in present times.The portraits of these women are dazzling in thier understanding, but the way they come together is even more so." -- Jude Sales, Readers' Books, Sonoma, CA

Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts
(Forge Books, $24.99, 9780765325433)
"Witty, unrelenting, and tenacious, Lucky O'Toole runs the Babylon Casino in Las Vegas with the ferocity of a crowd of gamblers in the midst of a malfunctioning slot machine. When a suspected murder kicks off a weekend filled with a sex industry convention, a swinger's retreat, and an adult film industry banquet, Lucky must add investigator to her repertoire. To complicate matters further, Babylon's Big Boss gets entangled in the murder investigation and Lucky's best friend suddenly wouldn't mind being romantically entangled with her. Wrangling the partygoers, pornographers, and murderers is enough to drive Lucky over the edge, but she holds on with sarcasm, passion, and just a smidge of romance." -- Megan Fecko, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lyndhurst, OH

The Red Thread by Ann Hood
(W.W. Norton, $23.95, 9780393070200)
"Is it chance or an invisible Red Thread that connects parents to the children they were meant to have? In her new novel, Ann Hood weaves together the lives of five Rhode Island couples who yearn for children and the Chinese babies who are abandoned half a world away. This is the story of love and hope and new beginnings - Ann Hood does not disappoint!" -- Pat Coussa, Island Books, Middletown, RI

The Hypnotist (The Reincarnationist, Book 3) by M.J. Rose
(Mira, $24.95, 9780778326755)
"Rose spins one incredible yarn with living, breathing characters. The shifts in perspective add to the overall story - like being able to see a sculpture from all sides. It adds dimension and depth and makes the entire story more enjoyable!" -- Maura I. Benton, Ravenous Reader, Charleston, SC

Day for Night: A Novel by Frederick Reiken
(Reagan Arthur Books, $24.99, 9780316077569)
"Ten parts, ten people, ten stories spanning over four decades and crossing the Atlantic Ocean. I was so mesmerized by Reiken's crafty weaving of character, time and space, that I stayed up reading until long after midnight in order to finish it. It is left up to the reader to determine which parts of which stories are vital, who is connected to whom, and leaving one final question: Who is the most important link in the chain? The one, that if broken, would result in the whole architecture crumbling to the ground. This web of interpersonal connection may seem unbelievable at first, until you examine the six degrees of separation in your own life." -- Stacie M. Williams, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI

Parrot and Olivier in America: A Novel by Peter Carey
(Knopf, $26.95, 9780307592620)
"Snobbish, aristocratic Olivier, a fictional version of Alexis de Tocqueville, escapes the French Revolution to America with his angry servant, Parrot. Their lives become a grand adventure both historical and humorous." -- Karen T Harris, Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, Vineyard Haven, MA

The May 2010 "Now in Paperback"

 Black Water Rising: A Novel by Attica Locke (Harper Perennial, $14.99, 9780061735851)

The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery by Tarquin Hall (Simon & Schuster, $14, 9781439172377)

Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg by Michael Perry (Harper Perennial, $14.99, 9780061240447)

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage (Walker & Company, $16, 9780802719911)

The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Story of Surprising Second Chances by Amy Dickinson (Hyperion, $13.99, 9781401310127)

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane: A Novel by Katherine Howe (Voice, $15.99, 9781401341336)

Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World by Mary Pipher (Riverhead Trade, $16, 9781594484407)

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet: A Novel by Reif Larsen (Penguin, $16, 9780143117353)

South of Broad: A Novel by Pat Conroy (Dial Press, $16, 9780385344074)

Valeria’s Last Stand: A Novel by Marc Fitten (Bloomsbury, $15, 9781608192090)

Vanessa & Virginia: A Novel by Susan Sellers (Mariner, $13.95, 9780547263380)

Woodsburner: A Novel by John Pipkin (Anchor, $15.95, 9780307455321)

The May 2010 Indie Next List Notables

(Featured in a downloadable flier and shelf-talkers on BookWeb.org, beginning May 1)

Fiction

Agaat: A Novel by Marlene Van Niekerk (Tin House, $19.95, 9780982503096)

The Cradle: A Novel by Patrick Somerville (Back Bay Books, $13.99, 9780316036115)

The Dead Republic: A Novel by Roddy Doyle (Viking, $26.95, 9780670021772)

Miss You Most of All: A Novel by Elizabeth Bass (Kensington, $20, 9780758235107)

The Queen of Palmyra: A Novel by Minrose Gwin (Harper Perennial, $14.99, 9780061840326)

An Unfinished Score by Elise Blackwell (Unbridled Books, $24.95, 9781936071661)

 

Nonfiction

The Circumference of Home: One Man’s Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life by Kurt Hoelting (Da Capo, $25, 9780306817748)

The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me by Bruce Feiler (Morrow, $22.99, 9780061778766)

An Eagle Named Freedom: My True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Jeff Guidry (Morrow, $21.99, 9780061826740)

The Fishes and Dishes Cookbook: Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska’s Commercial Fisherwomen by Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh, and Laura Cooper (Epicenter Press, $19.99, 9781935347071)

Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World by Seth Stevenson (Riverhead Trade, $15, 9781594484421)

Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides (Doubleday, $28.95, 9780385523929)

The House at Royal Oak: Starting Over & Rebuilding a Life One Room at a Time by Carol Eron Rizzoli (Black Dog & Leventhal, $22.95, 9781579128401)

Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House by Meghan Daum (Knopf, $24, 9780307270665)

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27, 9780151014231)

Unbillable Hours: A True Story by Ian Graham (Kaplan, $24.95, 9781607146292)

 

Mystery/Suspense

The Black Cat: A Richard Jury Mystery by Martha Grimes (Viking, $25.95, 9780670021604)

Elegy for April: A Novel by Benjamin Black (Holt, $25, 9780805090918)

Haunt Me Still: A Novel by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Dutton, $25.95, 9780525950776)

The Poacher’s Son: A Novel by Paul Doiron (Minotaur, $24.99, 9780312558468)