The
bestseller lists are surprisingly similar this month, with different variations
of the same song. Even Booksense is reflecting the New
York and Los Angeles
lists with only Matt Ruff’s BAD MONKEY making an unexpected appearance. All
three lists feature bizarre spins on the ever-popular detective mystery theme:
PLAY DIRTY features a disgraced NFL quarterback, POWER PLAY is a corporate
thriller, and SPOOK COUNTRY has an addict/cryptographer fighting against
bureaucracy. Then there are the oldie-but-goodies—for example, FORCE OF NATURE
could be any detective fiction ever written, and Patterson’s THE QUICKIE isn’t
far behind.
Why on
earth do people seem to read the same books over and over again? I was recently
on vacation with my parents and my mother read three whole novels by Ian
Rankin. She said, “You know how people say, ‘I want something completely
different?’ Well, I don’t.” There ya go.
A THOUSAND
SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini is still going strong, number one on all three
lists and on week 14 on the New York Times list.
There is
one debut novel pretty high on both the New
York and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists: LOVING
FRANK by Nancy Horan. The juicy celebrity gossip might be the success behind
this one. Check out the New York Times review by Janet Maslin below, entitled, “When
Frank Lloyd Wright Scandalized Chicago.”
Unlike most writers of
historical fiction Nancy Horan has not had to inflame the passions of real
people in order to create a transporting drama. If anything, she has had to tamp
down the truth behind “Loving Frank,” a novel about the most fearsome chapter
in the wildly eventful life of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Telling
a love story that is known to this great architect’s admirers but will stagger
those not braced for its monstrous resolution, this book describes the runaway
romance between Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Mrs. Cheney, the Oak Park, Ill.,
wife of a sedate businessman, began as a Wright client and wound up the great
love of Wright’s life. When they impulsively fled Oak Park
for Europe in 1909, Frank and Mamah (this book
is on a decidedly first-name basis) left behind two baffled spouses, nine
aggrieved children (including a daughter of Mamah’s dead sister) and a
salivating American press corps eager to see the Faustian side of the lovers’
rash move.
Not even the most tabloid
reportorial imagination could have foreseen how luridly this story would
explode five years later. And beyond its shock value, the outcome would have
ramifications not only for two ruptured families but also for architects,
feminists, criminologists and armchair moralists of every stripe.
Any writer, even one as
level-headed as Ms. Horan, would be accused of histrionic overkill if she had
not hewn closely to the facts. But her book has been pieced together and
extrapolated from Wright’s autobiography, newspaper accounts, a handful of
Mamah’s letters and other matters of record.
“Loving Frank” opens on a
revealing image: that of Mamah frantically trying to crank up her Studebaker so
that she can race off to hear Frank address a Nineteenth Century Woman’s Club
meeting. The year is 1907, and Mamah already knows Frank: she and her husband
live in a house that they commissioned from him four years earlier. Now Mamah
and Frank plan to add a garage. And that’s not all they are brewing. “It’s
going to be the best damn garage in Oak Park,” he tells her, not long after Ms.
Horan has described “the naked landscape of his body gliding over hers” in
keeping with the book’s architectural imagery. “But it could take years to
finish.”
The author’s biggest
challenge is that of finding conversational ways to integrate cultural
landmarks (Mamah reads Ibsen) and artistic ideals (“He’s a visionary, Mattie,
and he’s going to be famous someday for developing a true American
architecture”) into an otherwise forthright narrative. No crowbar is needed,
despite the occasional sign of a heavy hand. For instance Mamah’s husband
foreshadows: “Everyone likes pirates, no matter how bad they are.”
The book chronicles how
Frank and Mamah arrive at the point of no return, how they construe their
rebelliousness as idealism, and how they reconcile self-interest with
inconvenient family obligations. This last matter is trickiest, since it is
potentially so polarizing.
But Ms. Horan makes a point
of keeping the children at a distance, mirroring her subjects’ myopic if
tormented state of mind. And she echoes the quaint tone of contemporary press
coverage in explaining the runaways’ decision. “Spouse Victim of a Vampire,”
one Chicago
newspaper wrote, by way of illustrating what Catherine Wright claimed had
befallen her husband.
The first great mystery in
this story is what made Frank and Mamah sever their family ties. To its credit
“Loving Frank” humanizes its main characters so successfully that this seems no
mystery at all. But the second question has to do with trouble in paradise, and
it is more complex. After their sojourn in Europe they settled in Wisconsin, where Frank
designed his legendary prairie house Taliesin as their new home. It was an
exercise in optimism that nearly destroyed them both. (William R. Drennan’s
recent “Death in a Prairie House” offers a more detailed factual account of
what transpired.)
Ms. Horan has the
novelistic imagination to conjure the psychic storm clouds that arose, as well
as the freak criminal outburst. And since Mamah is the more obscure figure, the
book’s main challenge is to breathe life into her transformation. Invigorated
by nascent feminism as powerfully as she was smitten by Frank, Mamah also succumbed
to the gravitational pull of Ellen Key, a Swedish advocate of true love’s
ability to trump quotidian obligation. Ms. Horan explains how Mamah became
Key’s translator and disciple, only to grow disillusioned by Key’s manipulative
nature.
This novel shows not only
how Key influenced Taliesin but also how she executed a philosophical
about-face, one that suddenly transformed her into a champion of motherhood.
That left Mamah demonized and in the lurch. Caught in these pincers as well as
in the arrogance that led Frank “to mistake his gift for the whole of his
character,” Ms. Horan’s Mamah comes to face as much inner peril as outward
jeopardy.
If “Loving Frank” begins
dutifully, it takes on the impact of truly artful fiction when all these forces
come into play. In the end it shows how Mamah and Frank faced dangers more
deep-seated than a murderous accident of fate. If “Loving Frank” clings to any
blind romanticism, it is in the measure of how deeply a personal tragedy could
dent a swaggering figure like Frank Lloyd Wright. In his capacities as prophet,
guru, narcissist, chick magnet and inspiration to Ayn Rand, Wright showed many
signs of being impervious to loss.
Ms. Horan sees the events
in “Loving Frank” as devastating. She writes this book vibrantly enough to make
her readers agree. But according to Mr. Drennan, Wright played host to a party
for rural mail carriers barely three weeks after Taliesin’s conflagration. “We
are told,” wrote a local Wisconsin newspaper,
“that this was one of the most successful and enjoyable meetings the assembly
has held.”
New York Times Hardcover Fiction:
1 A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, by Khaled Hosseini. (Riverhead, $25.95.) A friendship
between two women in Afghanistan against the backdrop of 30 years of war.
Agent:
Elaine Koster | Elaine Koster Agency
2 PLAY DIRTY, by Sandra Brown. (Simon & Schuster, $26.95.)
A disgraced N.F.L. quarterback struggles to remake his life in the face of a
strange assignment from an eccentric millionaire and the machinations of a
crooked detective.
Agent: Maria Carvainis | Maria
Carvainis Agency, Inc.
3 AWAY, by Amy Bloom. (Random House, $23.95.) An immigrant who
escaped a Russian pogrom crosses America, toward home, after learning her
daughter may still be alive.
Agent: Phyllis Wender | The Gersh
Agency
4 THE QUICKIE, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.
(Little, Brown, $27.99.) A police officer’s attempt to get back at her husband
goes dangerously awry.
Agent:
Robert Barnett | Williams & Connolly
5 THE SANCTUARY, by Raymond Khoury. (Dutton, $25.95.) A
geneticist and a C.I.A. agent try to discover the meaning of a mysterious
symbol connected to centuries of destruction.
Agent: Jay Mandel | William Morris
Agency
6 SWEET REVENGE, by Diane Mott Davidson. (Morrow, $25.95.) A
former district attorney is found dead in a library, and the caterer Goldy
Schulz thinks she knows the killer.
Agent: Elise Capron | Sandra
Dijkstra Literary Agency
7 POWER PLAY, by Joseph Finder. (St. Martin’s, $24.95.) In this
corporate thriller, armed men crash a wilderness retreat and take a company’s
entire executive leadership hostage.
Agent: Molly Friedrich | The
Friedrich Agency
8 LOVING FRANK, by Nancy Horan. (Ballantine, $23.95.) A
historical novel about the scandalous affair between a married Chicago woman
and the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Agent: Lisa Bankoff | ICM
9 THE SECRET SERVANT, by Daniel Silva. (Putnam, $25.95.)
Gabriel Allon, an art restorer and an occasional spy for the Israeli secret
service, joins the search for the kidnapped daughter of an American ambassador.
Agent: Esther Newberg | ICM
10 SANDWORMS OF DUNE, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
(Tor/Tom Doherty, $27.95.) The resolution of the war between man and machine;
the concluding novel of the Dune series, based on Frank Herbert’s final
outline.
John Silbersack, Robert Gottlieb
| Trident Media
Group
11 FORCE OF NATURE, by Suzanne Brockmann. (Ballantine, $21.95.)
A Florida P.I. and his assistant infiltrate the circle of a crime boss who may
be involved in international terrorism; the 11th Troubleshooters novel.
Agent: Steven Axelrod | The Axelrod
Agency
12 DEVIL MAY CRY, by Sherrilyn Kenyon. (St. Martin’s, $19.95.) A
former Sumerian god, now a casino owner, must cooperate with the servant of the
goddess who stole his powers; the 11th Dark-Hunter novel.
Agent: Julie Culver |
Lowenstein-Yost Agency
13 THE BURNT HOUSE, by Faye Kellerman. (Morrow, $25.95.) Lt.
Peter Decker of the L.A.P.D. and his wife, Rina Lazarus, investigate a
mysterious plane crash.
Agent: Carrie
Feron | William Morrow
14 THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN, by James Lee Burke. (Simon &
Schuster, $26.) The Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux copes with the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Agent:
Philip Spitzer | Philip Spitzer Agency
15 SPOOK COUNTRY, by William Gibson. (Putnam, $25.95.) A
musician/journalist, a spy and an addict/cryptographer push back against
bureaucracy, history and technology.
Agent: Martha Millard | Martha
Millard Literary Agency
Los Angeles Times Fiction:
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled
Hosseini (Riverhead: $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil
war and Taliban tyranny.
2.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by
J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $34.99) Harry's final quest to rout the forces of
evil arrayed against him.
The Christopher Little Literary
Agency (UK)
3.Spook Country by William Gibson (Putnam:
$25.95) A writer's pursuit of a story about celebrity death scenes takes a
cyber-turn for the worse.
4.Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and
Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books: $27.95) Humankind makes a last stand against the
machine empire of Omnius.
5.The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva
(Putnam: $25.95) Israeli intelligence agent Gabriel Allon seeks a young woman
kidnapped by terrorists.
6.Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (Ballantine
Books: $23.95) Scandal and tragedy haunt the intellectually driven lover of
Frank Lloyd Wright.
7.The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
(Simon & Schuster: $26) The line between survival and criminality is
blurred in post-Katrina New Orleans.
8.The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman
(William Morrow: $25.95) When a commuter jet crashes into an apartment
building, terrorism is suspected.
9.The Quickie by James Patterson and
Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown: $27.99) A detective with a cheating husband is
caught in a web of revenge.
10.Play Dirty by Sandra Brown (Simon &
Schuster: $26.95) A disgraced pro quarterback is in over his head after he
accepts an indecent proposal.
11.No One Belongs Here More Than You by
Miranda July (Scribner: $23) Short stories explore seduction, romance and the
search for acceptance.
Agent: Sarah Chalfant | The Wylie Agency
12.The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
(HarperCollins: $24.95) A bohemian explores her feelings after her husband
moves to Maine with another woman.
Agent: Timothy Seldes | Russell & Volkening
13.Force of Nature by Suzanne Brockman
(Ballantine: $21.95) A Florida private eye fears his beautiful, inexperienced
assistant might blow their cover as they go undercover working for a local
crime boss.
14.On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (Nan A.
Talese/Doubleday: $22) A couple face a cruel reality on their wedding night.
Agent:
Georges Borchardt | Georges Borchardt
15.Peony in Love by Lisa See (Random House:
$23.95) A 17th century Chinese girl who dies before she can marry tells her
story from the netherworld.
Agent: Sandra Dijkstra | Sandra Dijkstra Literary
Agency
Booksense Hardcover Fiction:
1.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Hosseini, Khaled
Splendid characters and plot indeed, once again set in Afghanistan, by the
author of the wondrous The Kite Runner. A June Book Sense Pick.
2.
Loving Frank
By Horan, Nancy
The fictionalized account of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright is
an August 2007 Book Sense Pick.
3.
The Tin Roof Blowdown
By Burke, James Lee
The 16th Dave Robicheaux novel takes place in post-Katrina New Orleans.
4.
Spook Country
By Gibson, William
Gibson's latest is a present-day, action packed thriller.
5.
The Maytrees
By Dillard, Annie
Free-spirited characters are dazzled by Cape Cod and the sea in a lyrically
beautiful novel. A Book Sense Pick.
6.
The Secret Servant
By Silva, Daniel
Major fan and critical acclaim for this seventh Silva thriller featuring
Israeli intelligence officer Gabriel Allon.
7.
On Chesil Beach
By McEwan, Ian
A wedding night in 1963, sexual repression, and patented McEwan prose. A Book
Sense Notable title.
8.
The Careful Use of Compliments
By McCall Smith,
Alexander
The fourth novel to feature Isabel Dalhousie.
Agent: David Higham | David Higham Associates
9.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
By Chabon, Michael
A Yiddish-speaking detective in the Jewish homeland of Alaska. A fanciful and
believable Book Sense Pick.
Agent: Mary Evans | Mary Evans
10.
The Quickie
By Patterson, James/
Ledwidge, Michael
A not-so-perfect life undone by a murderous one-night stand.
11.
The Children of Hurin
By Tolkien, J.R.R.
Painstakingly edited and crafted stories take on a new life.
Harper UK, by the Tolkien
Estate
12.
Divisadero
By Ondaatje, Michael
Spellbinding and passionate new novel from the author of The English Patient. A
June Book Sense Pick.
Agent: Susan Schulman | Susan Schulman Literary Agency
13.
Peony in Love
By See, Lisa
A romantic ghost story set in 17th-century China, from the author of the still
bestselling Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
14.
Sandworms of Dune
By Herbert, Brian/
Anderson, Kevin J.
The follow-up to 2006's Hunters of Dune.
15.
Bad Monkeys
By Ruff, Matt
Just how crazy is the crazy murderer in this clever thriller (and Book Sense
Pick)?
Agent: Melanie Jackson | Melanie Jackson Agency
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