Book News: February 11, 2009

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, many people are on the hunt for the perfect gift for that special someone. If that someone is like me, you can win their heart through the written word. Here are some new books that are just hitting the shelves.

Run for Your Life by James Patterson is now available. Description from Borders.com: A calculating killer who calls himself  The Teacher is taking on New York City, killing the powerful and the arrogant. Discovering a secret pattern to The Teacher’s lessons, Detective Mike Bennett realizes he has just hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in history.

A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White, Jr. is also a new release and may be right up the alley for that person you adore who loves the Civil War era or presidential biographies. Description: In this magnificent book, White offers a fresh and compelling definition of Lincoln as a man of integrity–what today’s commentators would call “authenticity”–whose moral compass holds the key to understanding his life.

Dog On It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn looks like a cute new mystery series that involves some detective dogs. Description: In this irresistible new detective series featuring a canine narrator, Quinn speaks two languages–suspense and dog–fluently. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and in a few places terrifying.

And, of course, here is your NY Times Bestseller list for Hardcover Non-Fiction:

1. THE ASSOCIATE, by John Grisham. An idealistic law-school graduate is forced to take a job at a large, brutalizing law firm.
2. THE HOST, by Stephenie Meyer. Aliens have taken control of the minds and bodies of most human beings, but one woman won’t surrender.
3. THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, by David Wroblewski. A mute takes refuge with three dogs in the Wisconsin woods after his father’s death.
4. PLUM SPOOKY, by Janet Evanovich. The bounty hunter Stephanie Plum hunts an evil genius and his sidekick, who are hiding in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens.
5. WHAT I DID FOR LOVE, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. A former sitcom star, abandoned by her husband, elopes with her former co-star, who treats her badly.
6. DARK OF NIGHT, by Suzanne Brockmann. The head of an elite security force fakes the death of a friend who has left a shadowy government agency.
7. AGINCOURT, by Bernard Cornwell. An English archer with a complicated past joins Henry V at the famous battle against the French in 1415.
8. BLACK OPS, by W. E. B. Griffin. An Army officer and special presidential agent is targeted for death — but by whom?
9. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A journalist travels to the island of Guernsey to meet residents who resisted the Nazi occupation.
10. A DARKER PLACE, by Jack Higgins. A Russian defector becomes a counterspy.

And here is the NY Times Bestseller List for Non-Fiction Hardcover:

1. OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunity — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”
2. A SLOBBERING LOVE AFFAIR, by Bernard Goldberg. The mainstream media’s partisan support for Obama, from a Fox News media analyst.
3. DEWEY, by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. The kitten left freezing in the returned-book slot of an Iowa public library and his rise to fame.
4. GUILTY, by Ann Coulter. The columnist argues that liberals victimize everyone else by pretending to be victims themselves.
5. NEXT 100 YEARS, by George Friedman. A forecast of future wars and changes in nations’ economic and political power.
6. MULTIPLE BLESSINGS, by Jon Gosselin, Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson. A couple has sextuplets.
7. WE CAN HAVE PEACE IN THE HOLY LAND, by Jimmy Carter. Advice for the new president on how to make peace in the Middle East.
8. AMERICAN LION, by Jon Meacham. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president, in the White House, by Newsweek’s editor.
9. HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED, by Thomas L. Friedman. How a green revolution can renew America, by the New York Times columnist.
10. WHY WE SUCK, by Denis Leary. Sardonic essays from the actor and comedian, currently the co-creator and star of the TV series “Rescue Me.”

Want to join our online, interactive book club? Send an email to momsinabookclub@gmail.com for more information!

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