There are a number of books that come out any given week that reflect what has happened in the world, commenting on history, whether recent or ancient.  The nature of publishing means that a manuscript was turned in as many as 18 months before a book hits stores,  so by the time you open the front cover, the ideas within reflect a reality the author was considering quite a while beforehand.  What ends up being rare is a book that's prescient, that ends up being about a time that hasn't yet been realized when the author is first putting the words on a page.

Jacqueline Gum's Confessions of a Corporate Slut (released in 2008) managed to reflect universal themes about men and women, but also tell a story that will sound familiar to anyone who has heard the last names Spitzer, Sanford or Woods. Written as a memoir, but one composed by a fictional character named Roberta who gives up her identity for her husband's success. Confessions... is a really interesting book, and we're happy to have it on our bookshelf of titles we had a part in. Jacqueline puts the mirror up to society, and anyone who has any familiarity with the corporate world or the culture of success will find something on nearly every page that rings true. She's witty, insightful and great fun to read. In fact, there's been interest from producers in turning the book into the seed for a TV series.

with Dan Gibson

Mary Kole isn't just an associate agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (a solid gig by itself), but an author, and a blogger who extensively covers the wide world of children's literature on her site, Kidlit.com.  We appreciate her willingness to share some of her expertise and perspective on the young adult industry at the end of 2009.

Many authors have the dream of taking their imagination and creating an universe full of adventure on the printed page.  Of course, it's not always quite that simple...the idea needs to be focused, the characters need to seem real, the language has to be perfected, somehow the resulting product needs to be printed, and then the final product needs to get in the hands of an audience.

Alex Cross's Trial, by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

A:  Jennifer Rudolph Walsh/William Morris Agency  P:  Little, Brown  C:  Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT:  1     LAT:  1     BS:  1

Instead of an Alex Cross story, per se, this new entry in the endless parade of novels with James Patterson's name on the cover is a story told by Alex about the past.  Alex tells the story of Ben Corbett, a brave lawyer at the turn of the century who takes on the Ku Klux Klan.

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy

A:  Marly Rusoff Literary Agency  P:  Doubleday  C:  Mainstream Fiction
NYT:  3     LAT:  2     BS:  3

Pat Conroy returns with his first novel in fourteen years with a book full of tearfilled moments as a gossip columnist in Charleston, South Carolina looks back on his life, his group of friends, and their loves and losses.

with Dan Gibson

I met Rob Stennett at the International Christian Retail Show in Denver in the midst of his faux-protest across the street from the convention center.  When you're at a Christian convention of any sort, a little disorder is always welcome, but when you see an author wearing an "I [HEART] THE RAPTURE" shirt surrounded by similarly attired protesters waving hand written signs at traffic passing by, it's a nice change of pace from the general dire seriousness of the event.

Interested in summary data for all 2009? Please click here.

Handle with Care: A Novel, by Jodi Picoult

"Handle with Care" explores the knotty tangle of medical ethics and personal morality. When faced with the reality of a fetus who will be disabled, should a parent have the right to consider termination? Bestselling author Picoult explores a timely yet controversial issue in her latest novel.

A: Laura Gross   P: Atria   G: Literature/Fiction

NYT: 3         LAT: 2           BS: 3

Bestsellers Nonfiction February 2, 2009

Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

A: - P: Little, Brown C: Self Help/Improvement

NTY: 10 USAT: 18 PW: 9

Plum Spooky, by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum is back in town, along with her sidekick Lula, her Grandma Mazur, and an ever-widening cast of freaks, criminals, deranged felons, and lunatics looking for love. And just when she thinks her life can't get any more complicated, in walks the mysterious Diesel.

A: Robert Gottlieb          P: St. Martin’s G: Mystery/ Thriller/ Suspense

NYT: 3 LAT: 3   BOOKSENSE: 3

by Shannon Roberts

Aside from the prologue, the first 50 pages of George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Game of Thrones’ is divided into five chapters, each written from the point of view of one of the novel’s main characters. While shifting POV can occasionally lead to confusion, giving each character a clearly titled chapter solves the problem admirably.

We open with three men in a wintry forest, and it soon becomes clear they’re part of a scouting party. The leader, a young lordling, is dismissive of his companion’s superstitious fears that once night falls, they may be prey for some unnamed evil believed to occupy the forest. In the next nine pages, they discover an abandoned camp, where the lord falls prey to terrifying wraiths with cold blue eyes, then rises as one of them and falls upon the youngest of his companions. It’s a frightening and exciting chapter which shows us that magic and monsters, while relegated to the realm of mythology, are in fact lethally real.