The September Indie Next List & Notables Preview

August 07, 2008

Here's a preview of the September Indie Next List now on its way to ABA member stores in the IndieBound movement.

In Hovering Flight: A Novel by Joyce Hinnefeld
(Unbridled, $24.95, 9781932961584 / 1932961585)
"In Hovering Flight is the story of a couple, Addie and Tom, a bird painter and a bird scientist, of their romance and marriage, and of their only daughter, Scarlet. In lovely but precise language Joyce Hinnefeld slowly reveals the larger world and the more intimate landscapes within it. This is a remarkable first novel and a unforgettable story." --Cheryl Upchurch, Capitol Book & News Company, Montgomery, AL

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar
(Algonquin, $25.95, 9781565124905 / 1565124901)
"Ariel Sabar relates an intimate and moving account of how he reconciled his own Kurdish Jewish past, and, at the same time, he gives all of us who have been similarly touched by parents or grandparents who have been affected by the diasporas of the 20th century a way of dealing with our own sense of identity and dislocation." --Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books of Miami Beach, Miami Beach, FL

America Eats! On the Road with the WPA -- the Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chitlin Feasts That Define Real American Food by Pat Willard
(Bloomsbury, $25.99, 9781596913622 / 1596913622)
"Pat Willard is a terrific food writer, and this book, which traces the WPA's 1935 documentation of American food traditions throughout the country, will have you itching to go on the road yourself to try and find the out-of-the-way diners, restaurants, and communities where food and its celebration take you to new gastronomic heights. If you love food, food writers, food junkies, food festivals, and food history, you must read America Eats!" --Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ

The Good Thief: A Novel by Hannah Tinti
(Dial, $25, 9780385337458 / 0385337450)
"Ren, one of many orphans at Saint Anthony's Orphanage for boys, is approaching the age when he will be conscripted into the army. A swaggering Benjamin Nab appears and claims Ren as his long-lost brother. But, as soon as they are on the way, it is clear that Benjamin Nab is not anything he seems to be. Tinti has written a wonderful, compelling novel." --Lyn Roberts, Square Books, Oxford, MS

Anathem: A Novel by Neal Stephenson
(Morrow, $29.95, 9780061474095 / 0061474096)
"Welcome to a world that only Neal Stephenson could create: math as religion! Amidst a tumult of squabbling, consumerist societies stand a handful of monastic enclaves where logic and science are sacred. When the entire planet is threatened, order and chaos make very strange bedfellows. Anathem is a cerebral romp!" --Hap Houlihan, The Morris Book Shop, Lexington, KY

Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 by Annie Proulx
(Scribner, $25, 9781416571667 / 1416571663)
"Annie Proulx is a master. Her prose is tight and direct, and, cutting through predictability and cliche, she fashions stories, plots, and characters full of intense truths about humanity. Thrilling to read." --Drea Firth, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, CO

Feather Man by Rhyll McMaster
(Marion Boyars, $15.95 paper, 9780714531489 / 0714531480)
 "In this beautifully written and disturbing Australian coming-of-age novel, McMaster tells the story of Sooky, who struggles to overcome her difficult childhood, the effects of which are powerfully portrayed as she moves from relationship to relationship and from Brisbane to London." --Nancy Felton, Broadside Bookshop, Northampton, MA

Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs
(Mira, $24.95, 9780778325772 / 0778325776)
"Cartoonist Sarah Moon takes a lot of deep breaths in Wiggs' latest novel. She crawls out of the ashes of a seemingly perfect marriage and runs home to a new life and new loves. Beautifully written and delightfully funny." --Janet Bollum, The Muse Book Shop, DeLand, FL

Hurry Down Sunshine: A Memoir by Michael Greenberg
(Other Press, $24.95, 9781590511916 / 1590511913)
"A haunting memoir of a father and wife dealing with a daughter's sudden psychotic breakdown. Filled with brilliant imagery and the strain her illness brought to her family, this is an important book that will bring some element of understanding to such painful situations." --Amy Ellis, Front Street Books, Alpine, TX

American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
(Random House, $26, 9781400064755 / 1400064759)
"The reader will recognize the main characters, Alice and Charlie, as they experience their tempestuous courtship and marriage, and their rise to political fame and fortune. Although the setting is Wisconsin, the protagonists bear a curious resemblance to a couple from Texas who achieved the highest office of the land. This story, told from the perspective of a fictional First Lady, is hard to put down!" --Marilyn Sieb, Books & Company, Oconomowoc, WI

City of Refuge: A Novel by Tom Piazza
(HarperCollins, $24.95, 9780061238611 / 0061238619)
"Tom Piazza's novel follows two families through their trials and tribulations during and after Hurricane Katrina. Piazza's story really captures the reality of the tragedy -- the fears, the doubts, and the hopes that everyone experienced after this life-altering event." --Britton Trice, Garden District Book Shop, New Orleans, LA

Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
(Farrar, $25, 9780374299101 / 0374299102)
"Home is set at the same time and in the same Iowa town as Robinson's novel Gilead, but in a different household, where the children of a dying man return home to care for him and to face the demons of their shared past. Beautifully written, Home is a tender portrayal of families, their secrets, their loves, and their faith." --Donna Hawley, Howard's Bookstore, Bloomington, IN

The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel by Kathleen Kent
(Little, Brown, $24.99, 9780316024488 / 0316024481)
"This is a novel of family, of mothers and daughters, and of the Salem witch trials told from such an intimate perspective you can smell the hearth and feel the cold of a New England winter. The Heretic's Daughter is enveloping and rich in historic detail and tone -- a beautifully written masterpiece." --Calvin Crosby, Books Inc., San Francisco, CA

Songs for the Butcher's Daughter: A Novel by Peter Manseau
(Free Press, $25, 9781416538707 / 1416538704)
"A tragic story about the last Yiddish poet in America and his young goy translator. Their interwoven lives -- one who doesn't know he is a poet and the other who doesn't know he isn't -- tell a tale that is cleverly structured and beautifully written: a memoir within a novel that reads like a poem." --Jet Hopster, The Book Works, Del Mar, CA

The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
(Morrow, $24.95, 9780061173509 / 0061173509)
"In The Black Tower, a ne'er-do-well medical student is surprised by the founder and chief of a newly created Paris plainclothes police force and is asked to help solve a mystery involving French royalty, with surprising and dangerous results. Bayard's talent for spinning a suspenseful story along the margins of known history makes his books irresistible!" --Carol Schneck, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, MI

Man in the Dark: A Novel by Paul Auster
(Holt, $23, 9780805088397 / 0805088393)
"The alternative histories swirling about in a writer's head (and the reasons why these particular histories were conjured) take on a life of their own in this absorbing, gripping story. A haunting novel that will not disappoint." --K.M. Allman, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA

American Savior by Roland Merullo
(Algonquin, $24.95, 9781565126077 / 1565126076)
"With Jesus entering the presidential campaign, running on the platform of opening your mind and treating others kindly, how can he possibly expect to win? Merullo takes two hot-button issues, politics and religion, and turns them into challenging, thought-provoking examinations of our society and our own illusions." --Iris Cline, The Rediscovered Bookshop, Boise, ID

Stalking Irish Madness: Searching for the Roots of My Family's Schizophrenia by Patrick Tracey
(Bantam, $24, 9780553805253 / 0553805258)
"The heartbreaking journey of a man trying to make sense of the curse of schizophrenia that has haunted his Irish-American family for generations. This fascinating book is part memoir, part travel writing, with Irish history and scientific observations sprinkled liberally throughout. I was spellbound." --Karen M. Frank, Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT

Ritual: A Novel by Mo Hayder
(Atlantic, $24, 9780871139924 / 0871139928)
"The queen of funky thrillers has done it again, as a female English police diver named Flea discovers a severed hand, leading us into the world of black market African superstitions and rituals in Bristol, England. Mo Hayder's weird, she's wild, and I love her!" --Jerry Kannel, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop, Brookfield, WI

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn D. Wall
(Poisoned Pen, $24.95, 9781590585122 / 1590585127)
"Filled to the brim with tension, one can feel the people's hunger in Kentucky in 1938, feel their love and hate for others, and feel their fears of racial cruelty. Olivia not only has to keep her business afloat when there is no money but she also has to keep her grandson, her friends, and transplanted silver-faced wolves safe from those who want to harm them. A very literary mystery and one of the most intense stories I've read in a long time." --Susan Wasson, Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM

Fiction

The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future by Thomas Nevins (Ballantine, $14 paper, 9780375503917 / 0375503919)

Apart From the Crowd by Anna McPartlin (Downtown Press, $15 paper, 9781416569725 / 1416569723)

Changing Tides by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington, $15 paper, 9780758210609 / 0758210604)

The Crow Road by Iain Banks (MacAdam/Cage, $14 paper, 9781596923072 / 1596923075)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (Europa, $15.95 paper, 9781933372600 / 1933372605)

Kaleidoscope by Darryl Wimberley (Toby, $24.95, 9781592642441 / 1592642446)

Matters of Faith by Kristy Kiernan (Berkley, $14 paper, 9780425221792 / 0425221792)

One More Year: Stories by Sana Krasikov (Spiegel & Grau, $21.95, 9780385524391 / 0385524390)

The Road Home by Rose Tremain (Little Brown, $24.99, 9780316002615 / 0316002615)

The View From Garden City by Carolyn Baugh (Forge, $24.95, 9780765316578 / 0765316579)

Will by Christopher Rush (Overlook, $25.95, 9781590200971 / 1590200977)

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (Tor, $24.95, 9780765316981 / 0765316986)

Nonfiction

The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own. by David Carr (Simon & Schuster, $26, 9781416541523 / 1416541527)

Old Masters, New World: America's Raid on Europe's Great Pictures by Cynthia Saltzman (Viking, $27.95, 9780670018314 / 0670018317)

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale (Walker, $24.95, 9780802715357 / 0802715354)

Mystery/Suspense

Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke (HarperCollins, $23.95, 9780061561023 / 0061561029)

Burial of the Dead by Michael Hogan (St. Martin's Minotaur, $26.95, 9780312367299 / 0312367295)

Findings by Mary Anna Evans (Poisoned Pen, $24.95, 9781590584835 / 0)

The Hanged Man: A Tarot Card Mystery by David Skibbins (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, 9780312377830 / 0312377835)

Lost Girls: A Sherry Moore Novel by George D. Shuman (Simon & Schuster, $25, 9781416553014 / 1416553010)