Articles tagged "Vietnam"
February 2018 Nonfiction
Nature, history, humor, and sex—just a few of the subjects in this month’s new nonfiction releases:
THE SEABIRD’S CRY: The Lives and Loves of the Planet’s Great Ocean Voyagers by Adam Nicolson
THREE starred reviews! “Marveling at lives lived in some of the harshest places on the planet, Nicolson writes lyrically of birds most of us only briefly notice when visiting a rocky shoreline, beings possessing extraordinary forms of understanding we have never shared.” — Booklist, starred review
THE KINGS OF BIG SPRING: God, Oil, and One Family’s Search for the American Dream by Bryan Mealer
Two starred reviews! An indelible portrait of a family through three generations of boom and bust, and a legacy of fortune and ruin as big as Texas itself. “In his themes and vivid storytelling, Mealer invites comparison to James Mitchener (TEXAS) or J.D. Vance (HILLBILLY ELEGY). As tribute to the grit of the rural poor, as social history of dirt-and-oil Texas, and as rambunctious family saga, this work triumphs.” — Library Journal, starred review
LEFT BANK: Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris, 1940-50 by Agnes Poirier
A lively, authoritative group portrait of some of the 20th century’s most revered creative minds as they lived, loved, fought, and flourished in Paris during and after World War II. “This book defies simple description; part collective biography, part cultural history, it aims to make the generation of intellectuals who shaped the Paris of the 1940s familiar to readers. For Francophiles and informed readers interested in 20th-century cultural trends.” — Library Journal
OPERATION CHAOS: The Vietnam Deserters Who Fought the CIA, the Brainwashers, and Themselves by Matthew Sweet
An untold Cold War story about how the CIA tried to infiltrate a radical group of U.S. military deserters; a tale that leads from a bizarre political cult to the heart of the Washington establishment. “A surprising, tragic, and, in many places, angry story of a country’s paranoia inflicting itself upon its own citizens.” — Booklist readmoreremove
Happy #BookBday (2/6/18 Edition)
Oh what a lovely day for a #BookBday!
THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
Also available in audio
The #1 February 2018 LibraryReads pick, and a February 2018 Indie Next pick with two starred reviews! From the author of the worldwide phenomenon, THE NIGHTINGALE, comes a story of a family in crisis and a young girl struggling to survive at the edge of the world, in America’s last true frontier: Alaska. “Hannah’s follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet-like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska’s homesteaders in both of the state’s seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America. A tour de force.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
MOTHERS OF SPARTA by Dawn Davies
A February 2018 Indie Next & Winter/Spring 2018 Indies Introduce pick! Discovered by Michael Ondaatje, Davies’ dazzling literary memoir has shades of Mary Karr, Anne Lamott, and Jenny Lawson as she examines motherhood and what it’s like to be a woman trying to carve a place for herself in the world, no matter how unyielding the rock can be. “Davies’ first book is magnetic attraction in memoir form: it will pull readers in with stories that are funny, insightful, and bordering on farce while also pushing them away with darker pieces about loss, mental illness, and an immense amount of physical pain. Readers will laugh and cry, probably at the same time.” — Booklist readmoreremove
THE GREAT ALONE and FORCE OF NATURE are February 2018 LibraryReads Picks!
FANTASTIC NEWS! Macmillan has two books on the February 2018 LibraryReads list!
Topping the list at #1 is THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
A February 2018 Indie Next pick with two starred reviews! From the author of the worldwide phenomenon, THE NIGHTINGALE, comes a story of a family in crisis and a young girl struggling to survive at the edge of the world, in America’s last true frontier: Alaska. “Hannah’s follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet-like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska’s homesteaders in both of the state’s seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America. A tour de force.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Click to listen to an excerpt of the audiobook
Available from St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio on February 6.
The #4 pick is FORCE OF NATURE by Jane Harper
A February 2018 Indie Next pick and one of Elle‘s “Best Books to Read This Winter!” When a whistleblower goes missing on a corporate team-building hike, Agent Aaron Falk must uncover secrets and betrayals among friends to find out what happened in this new thriller from the New York Times bestselling and LibraryReads author of THE DRY. “…[Harper] manages to match her debut’s intensity with another riveting, tension-driven thriller. Perfect for fans of Tana French and readers who enjoy literary page-turners.” — Booklist, starred review readmoreremove
Stars for THE GREAT ALONE
Kristin Hannah’s THE NIGHTINGALE was a worldwide bestseller and a book club favorite. Now, Hannah’s sure-to-be instant bestseller, THE GREAT ALONE, has two starred reviews:
“Hannah’s follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet-like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska’s homesteaders in both of the state’s seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America. A tour de force.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Hannah skillfully situates the emotional family saga in the events and culture of the late ’70s—gas shortages, Watergate, Ted Bundy, Patty Hearst, and so on. But it’s her tautly drawn characters—Large Marge, Genny, Mad Earl, Tica, Tom—who contribute not only to Leni’s improbable survival but to her salvation amid her family’s tragedy.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
Booklist Mystery Month 2017!
May is Mystery Month at Booklist! Check out our recent mystery award winners (plus Talia’s “Spring the Trap: Mysteries That Won’t Let Go” webinar titles) and see which Macmillan titles made Booklist‘s “Best of” reading lists for 2017.
The Year’s Best Crime Novels: 2017 (full list) — Top 10 Crime Novels & Best Crime Fiction Debuts
LET THE DEVIL OUT by Bill Loehfelm
New Orleans rookie cop and loose cannon Maureen Coughlin is tasked with helping the FBI track a white supremacist group. Will Maureen go rogue again, or will she channel what she calls her “killing feeling” into doing good police work? Not only has Loehfelm created the most compelling, complex patrol cop in the genre; he has also reenergized New Orleans as a setting for the best in crime fiction, edgy, dangerous, but pulsing with life.
THE DRY by Jane Harper
Harper’s small-town, big-secrets page-turner tells the story of Aaron Falk, who returns to his Australian hometown to attend the funeral of a friend believed to have shot his wife and son and then killed himself. Falk begins to question the details of the crime and, together with the town’s police sergeant, undertakes an investigation that unearths secrets new and old, some involving Falk’s father. A stunning debut reminiscent of Peter Corliss’ Cliff Hardy series.
Find out what inspired Jane Harper to write THE DRY in Booklist Reader’s “Clues to My Crime” column!
THREE YEARS WITH THE RAT by Jay Hosking
Neuroscientist Hosking turns in a startlingly fine performance with his first novel, about a man so determined to find his missing sister that he risks his own reality to solve the mystery of her disappearance. It’s quickly apparent that this is one of those mind-bending thrillers in which time and space are fluid concepts, but Hosking draws us in completely to his labyrinthine narrative.
For titles reviewed from May 1, 2016 through April 15, 2017.
Top 10 Crime Fiction Audiobooks: 2017 (full list)
BEHIND HER EYES by Sarah Pinborough, read by Bea Holland and others
A fine cast of narrators voices this complex, riveting story of a love triangle based on obsession and deceit.
A GREAT RECKONING by Louise Penny, read by Robert Bathurst
Using realistic voices and impeccable nuances, Bathurst portrays a cast of quirky characters in this atmospheric, multilayered mystery.
For titles reviewed from April 1, 2016 through April 15, 2017.
Plus, Benjamin Black’s EVEN THE DEAD, read by John Keating, is listed as a great listen-alike for Celtic Noir!
Trend Alert: Suburban Suspense (full list)
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS by B. A. Paris
The marriage of Grace Harrington and Jack Angel seemed perfect, except for what went on behind closed doors. On their honeymoon, Grace’s new husband, Jack, reveals his psychopathic nature, using Grace’s deep love for her special-needs sister, Millie, as leverage in concocting a depraved scheme that will ruin both women.
COME SUNDOWN by Nora Roberts
Alice Bodine turns up at her family’s Montana ranch and luxury resort battered, bruised, and with no memory of her old life, 25 years after running away. Her niece puts Alice’s return together with the recent murders of two women and suspects that someone very twisted may be living nearby.
TRULY MADLY GUILTY by Liane Moriarty
Moriarty handles neighborhood secrets, indiscretions, and twists like no one else. A spontaneous barbecue upends the lives of three couples in suburban Sydney. From the start, readers know that something terrible has happened—Erika can’t quite remember the details, Clementine doesn’t want to remember them, and their husbands are struggling with the aftermath. But it’s not until midway through the story that Moriarty shows her hand.
A Hard-Boiled Gazetteer to the Pacific Rim (full list)
AUSTRALIA
THE BROKEN SHORE by Peter Temple
This first in a series stars Melbourne homicide detective Joe Cashin, who has been temporarily reassigned to his hometown in rural Australia while he recovers from injuries only slowly explained. But despite its remote landscape, the little town of Port Munro generates some big-city crime. Evoking a view of the continent that is more Ian Rankin than Crocodile Dundee, Temple tells a troubling tale of race and class conflict—with an even darker crime at the heart of it. This deeply intelligent thriller starts slowly, builds inexorably, and ends unforgettably.
CRUCIFIXION CREEK by Barry Maitland
Sydney homicide detective Harry Belltree is as hard-boiled as they come, a kind of Australian Dirty Harry with a little of Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder, who once said to a killer he was about to dispatch, “I just don’t want you to be alive anymore.” This installment in Maitland’s unsparingly dark series provides backstory, explaining how Harry got to be Harry and how he developed his investigative style: shake the tree, see who falls out, and kill them. So old school you can smell the cordite. readmoreremove
Veteran’s Day!
In honor of Veteran’s Day we’d like to share with you poignant novels and war-time accounts from award-winning authors:
THE GOOD SOLDIERS and THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE by David Finkel
In these companion works, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Finkel chronicles the Iraq War through the eyes of the soldiers of the 2-16 Infantry Battalion. Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, and many more, THE GOOD SOLDIERS is a new classic on war. In THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, Finkel reconnects with the men of the 2-16 Infantry Battalion and follows them as they returned home and struggle to reintegrate into their family lives and into American society at large. As with THE GOOD SOLDIERS, it's received outstanding reviews and critical attention.
SPARTA by Roxana Robinson
In Robinson's novel, a young man drawn by the appeal of furthering a long tradition of honor, courage, and commitment enlists to serve in the Iraq War. Upon his return home four years later, he finds it nearly impossible to adjust to "normal" life and fears that the bitterness and rage he's festering will cause irreparable damage when it comes out.
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME: An Oral History of New York City's Vietnam Veterans by Philip F. Napoli
In the spirit of Tom Brokaw’s THE GREATEST GENERATION, Napoli’s collection of oral histories from New York’s Vietnam vets humanizes the men and women who sacrificed for our country in a deeply troubling war. "Riveting... BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME crackles with the kind of extraordinary voices Studs Terkel mined from ordinary people." – New York Daily News
MARSHLANDS by Matthew Olshan
In his first novel for adults, Olshan reveals the story of a prisoner who was formerly a doctor in a culture virtually snuffed out under Saddam Hussein. Transcending fiction, MARSHLANDS is a gripping and deeply moral investigation into our own history as occupiers and the myths we spin around it. readmoreremove
A debut to take you back.
Tatjana Soli's debut novel tells the story of an American female combat photographer in the Vietnam War as she captures the wrenching chaos and finds herself torn between the love of two men. The buzz for this title has been huge both in-house and in trade reviews. Not one to miss!
"A visceral story about the powerful and complex bonds that war creates... Moving and memorable." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Soli's poignant work will grab the attention of most readers. A powerful new writer to watch." —Library Journal (starred review)
