Read this one before it hits theaters. Bradley Cooper will be starring and producing it, so you know this will be big, and you can say you knew about it from the start.
The plot centers around a cop pulled back into the line of duty to find a missing woman. Former NYPD officer Marshall Grade wasn’t retired like you’d expect, though: He was in the witness protection program after an undercover job with a mob went bad.
Marshall wants to use his talents to save a local woman who has gone missing, but coming out of hiding means attracting the Dallas Man, the contract killer who is out to murder him. Sounds like a made for movie film..let's hope it's a good read before Hollywood taints it!! Although I have to admit, Bradley Cooper is a definite positive in my book.....
Order directly from Amazon...click on the Amazon Search Box in the sidebar....
Audiobook available, narrated by Stephen King and 14 others Since his first collection, NIGHTSHIFT, published 35 years ago, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection, he assembles, for the first time, recent stories that have never been published in a book. He introduces each with a passage about its origins or his motivations for writing it. There are thrilling connections between stories: themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past. THE MAGIC STRINGS OF FRANKIE PRESTO by Mitch Albom(Fiction) Audiobook available, performed by Mitch Albom and a full cast At nine years old, Frankie Presto --- a war orphan raised by a blind music teacher in a small Spanish town --- is sent to America in the bottom of a boat. His only possession is an old guitar and six precious strings. But Frankie’s talent is touched by the gods, and his amazing journey weaves him through the musical landscape of the 20th century. Frankie becomes a pop star himself but soon realizes that, through his music, he can actually affect people’s futures. At the height of his popularity, Frankie vanishes. Only decades later does he reappear --- just before his spectacular death --- to change one last life. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
Audiobook available, narrated by Armando Duran Fourteen-year-old Juan Diego, who was born and grew up in Mexico, has a 13-year-old sister. Her name is Lupe, and she is a mind reader. Regarding what has happened as opposed to what will, Lupe is usually right about the past; without your telling her, she knows all the worst things that have happened to you. What might a teen girl be driven to do if she thought she could change the future? As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but what travels with him are his dreams and memories.....all this and more for the John Irving fan.
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Dear Joyce, When I research a new novel, I become engrossed in the art and the politics of the times. Join me now in New York City on the cusp of the abstract expressionism movement and World War II. |
My new novel traces the life and disappearance of a brilliant young artist, the fictitious Alizée Benoit, on the eve of World War II. She paints murals for the U.S. government’s WPA, alongside Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner–and her lover Mark Rothko. When her paintings catch Eleanor Roosevelt’s eye, Alizée enlists the First Lady in her desperate attempt to get her Jewish family out of occupied France. Then Alizée vanishes. Seventy years later, her great-niece discovers hidden scraps of paintings and begins to unravel the mystery. I loved entwining real and imaginary characters while moving between the past and present–just as I did in The Art Forger. I hope you enjoy reading The Muralist as much as I enjoyed writing it! Artfully yours, |
Sebastian Rudd defends people other lawyers won’t go near: a drug-addled, tattooed kid rumored to be in a satanic cult, who is accused of molesting and murdering two little girls; a vicious crime lord on death row; a homeowner arrested for shooting at a SWAT team that mistakenly invaded his house. Sebastian believes everyone is entitled to a fair trial, even if he has to cheat to secure one. He hates injustice, doesn’t like insurance companies, banks or big corporations; he distrusts all levels of government and laughs at the justice system’s notions of ethical behavior. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman. And Bill O'Reilly/Martin Dugard team up again. Many critics say this book restates old claims and rumors that have been discredited by the historical record. It sounds like a good read, although not that accurate...but lots of juicy stuff about Nancy!
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New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor --- and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve. When the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever. (Bookreporter.com ) Order now on Amazon.com directly from this blog. Click on the Amazon Searchbox in the sidebar. |
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A Message from Author Emma Donoghue: Goodreads.com |
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Dear Joyce, My new novel, The Secret Chord, will be published October 6th. These last few days are unsettled ones for me. The book is finished, in the warehouses, gone beyond my reach. What happens next is up to you. I'm hoping for that magical connection, that moment when something I've written grips you and carries you away. This time the journey reaches deep into the past—Second Iron Age Israel—and into the hidden recesses of one of the most passionate and mysterious hearts in literature. King David shimmers between history and myth. He loves ardently, fights viciously, creates great art, forges a nation, loses his children: in short, everything happens to him. I've imagined him through the eyes of Natan, the prophet who foresees his greatness but who also sees his flaws. As a news reporter in the 1990s, I covered the lives of women in the Mideast. I found myself remembering those women as I thought about David’s wives, shaping their destinies as best they could in a patriarchal world that allowed them little obvious power. A pleasure of writing the novel was imagining full lives behind the scant sentences about them in the scriptures. Ten years ago, my son asked if he could learn the harp. As I write this, I’m listening to him play an arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s "Hallelujah," and thinking of all the ways this enigmatic and charismatic king from three thousand years ago continues to inspire. Hoping you, too, will be inspired. |
The world according to John
If you’ve been obsessed with John Irving since The World According to Garp, then you certainly aren’t alone. While early reviews aren’t putting Avenue of Mysteries on quite the same level as Irving’s prior blockbusters, no fan should pass up the opportunity to immerse him- or herself in this engrossing saga. Familiar themes of sex and death permeate this tale about a writer named Juan Diego, who has journeyed far and wide to find success, and must grapple with his own impending end. Viagra, lust, and music abound in John Irving’s latest.
Late one night, Mikael Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker --- a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Lisbeth Salander for help. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub. Recently Andrea D, a friend and blog reader mentioned a new book by Linda Hirshman. The clever title caught my attention (It was easy to remember which is a huge plus! ) and a biography of these two judges seemed like a formula for a best seller...and indeed it will be. However, the reviewer had some disparaging comments which caused some reflection...See what you think.... The following review is from www.bookreporter.com SISTERS IN LAW: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirshman (Biography) The relationship between Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg transcends party, religion, region and culture. Strengthened by each other’s presence, these groundbreaking judges, the first and second to serve on the highest court in the land, have transformed the Constitution and America itself, making it a more equal place for all women. Linda Hirshman’s dual biography includes revealing stories of how these trailblazers fought for their own recognition in a male-dominated profession. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman. |
Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann
Colum McCann
Acclaimed National Book Award–winning author Colum McCann returns withThirteen Ways of Looking, a short fiction collection containing three short stories and a novella. McCann’s characters in this new work — whether nuns or judges or writers — are mostly ordinary people encountering extraordinary situations often touched by loss. Powerful, profound, and deeply empathetic, McCann’s beautifully wrought writing in Thirteen Ways of Looking glides off the page. (Buzzfeed Books)
Pre-order from this Blog. Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar.
Release Date: September 29 Collected and introduced by the bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry--including Audrey Niffenegger's own fabulous new illustrations for each piece, and a new story by..more | |
Release Date: September 22 A rich and utterly absorbing novel about the life of King David, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of People of the Book and Pulitzer Prize winning March. PRE-ORDER FROM AMAZON CLICK ON AMAZON SEARCH BOX IN THE SIDEBAR. |
| Two more alphabet letters left and the infamous Sue Grafton's mystery novels will end! For all the fans, including me, hopefully she'll contuinue the adventures of Kinsey! How about using vowels...or even the Hebrew alphabet... Here's what to expect from her latest.... | |
Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, Sue Grafton’s X features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey Millhone can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim. Reviewed by Roz Shea. |
I don’t think there’s a false word in Kent Haruf’s final novel, Our Souls in the Night. Nor, for all the colloquial ease and transparency of the prose and the apparent simplicity of the story, is there a glib word, or a predictable one.
Ordinarily the circumstances of the writing of a novel aren’t of much interest to me as a reader, but in this case, I am moved, even awed, to consider that the book was written while the author was dying. It is a report from the edge of darkness, made in the consciousness of responsibility. Haruf is bearing witness. Having gone farther than we have, he wants to tell us what matters there. His knowledge of his situation, and my knowledge of it as I read the book, made me appreciate the rare privilege of being with a person who is past the need to say anything but what needs to be said.
| THE MARRIAGE OF OPPOSITES by Alice Hoffman | |
Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. She is married off to a widower with three children. When her husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France to save the family business, all hell breaks loose. Hoffman turns to actual historical figures, namely Rachel Petit Pizarro and her son, the Impressionist artist Camille Pisarro to tell this wonderful tale. |
Purity by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Sept.) - In Franzen’s first novel since Freedom, a young woman follows a German peace activist to South America to intern for his WikiLeaks-like organization.
The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende (Atria, Nov.) - A love story and multigenerational epic encompassing WWII-era Poland and the United States and present-day San Francisco.
Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving (Simon & Schuster, Nov.) - Irving’s 14th novel relates what happens to Juan Diego in the Philippines, and how his past in Mexico collides with his future.
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein (Europa, Sept.) - The fourth and final Neapolitan novel solidifies the masterpiece status of Ferrante’s series.
A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk, trans. by Ekin Oklap (Knopf, Oct.) - The latest from the Nobel Prize winner is the tale of an Istanbul street vendor and the love of his life, told from the perspectives of several characters.
