New Title Radar, Week of 6/17
The BIG book arriving next week is Neil Gaiman’s adult novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperAudio; Harper Luxe), his first for adults since Anansi Boys (2005). His writing appears in so many different forms (including a Dr. Who screenplay), that the L.A. Times finds it necessary to help readers sort it out with “Getting to know Neil Gaiman.” Ocean recevied starred reviews from all the pre-pub reviewers, but Entertainment Weekly is a hold out, giving is just a B-. Noting that “Gaiman is among the premier fantasists working in any storytelling medium, partly because he actually works in every storytelling medium,” they feel this one, “As a coming-of-age reverie … is a fitfully interesting trifle, but you’re constantly catching glimpses of a more interesting, darker, stranger tale farther down the lane.”
Also arriving next week, is a book that has been big on GalleyChat, Max Berry’s Lexicon, (Penguin Press; Dreamscape Audio), described by one GalleyChatter as “What if La Femme Nikita had gone to Brakebills in The Matrix?” That may require a bit too much knowledge of pop culture; Kirkus calls it simply a “smart, compelling, action-packed thriller about the power of words.”
The nonfiction title Humboldt: Life on America’s Marijuana Frontier, received a strong pitch at the BEA Librarain’s Shout ‘n’ Share from LJ‘s “Books for Dudes” columnist, Douglas Lord, who said it, “uses lyrical, measured prose to lift the ‘redwood curtain’ on the lives of 4 people who are involved in Humboldt County’s major economical driver — the raising of marijuana. It gives a real sense of what life is like in the underground business.”
These titles and highlights of many more coming next week are listed with full ordering information on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, 6.17.13