Monday Morning Book Buzz

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In all of the excitement of the ALA Youth Media Awards, I forgot to post the Monday Morning Book Buzz…so here it is!

Welcome to the Monday Morning Book Buzz, a preview of notable books being released this week. Some of them will be added to the Academy Library collection; if you read about a title that you would like added to the collection, let me know by either commenting on this post or by contacting me directly at the Library.

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This week’s releases are listed by category: Young Adult Fiction, Graphic Novels, General Fiction and Nonfiction. On-sale dates are indicated in parentheses.

Notable New Releases for the week of January 23rd:

Young Adult Fiction

  • Angel Fire by L. A. Weatherly (1/23/2012) — In the wake of the Second Wave, the angel menace has exploded, and Alex and Willow are on the lam. Willow’s prophetic dream points them to Mexico City, where they connect with a fledgling group of angel killers led by the exotically beautiful Kara, an Angel Killer from Alex’s past.
  • Diabolical (Tantalize Series #4) by Cynthia Leitich Smith (1/23/2012) — Prepare for a wild ride as Cynthia Leitich Smith calls on characters from her previous novels – and conjures up new ones – for a climactic showdown.
  • Everneath by Brodi Ashton (1/23/2012) — Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. “Drawing inspiration from such myths as Osiris, Orpheus, and Persephone, it explores the nature of loss and longing and what it means to be alive.” — Publishers Weekly
  • Fallen in Love (Fallen Series) by Lauren Kate (1/23/2012) — Just in time for Valentine’s Day, four original new stories collected in a new novel set in the Middle Ages by Lauren Kate.
  • Forbidden by Syrie James (1/23/2012) — Claire Brennan has been attending Emerson Academy for two years now (the longest she and her mom have remained anywhere) and she’s desperate to stay put for the rest of high school. So there’s no way she’s going to tell her mom about the psychic visions she’s been having or the creepy warnings that she’s in danger. “Lightweight, but the story has some thrills, and [paranormal romance] addicts will enjoy it.” — Kirkus Reviews
  • Getting Over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald (1/23/2012) — Can a twelve-step program help Sadie kick her unrequited crush for good? Seventeen-year-old Sadie is in love: epic, heartfelt, and utterly onesided. The object of her obsession – ahem, affection – is her best friend, Garrett Delaney, who has been oblivious to Sadie’s feelings ever since he sauntered into her life and wowed her with his passion for Proust (not to mention his deep-blue eyes). “Plain Janes and lovelorn teens will appreciate the sound self-help tips and be inspired by the stronger, deserves-better Sadie who emerges, ready to give love another chance.” — Kirkus Reviews
  • Life Eternal (Dead Beautiful Series #2) by Yvonne Woon (1/23/2012) — Renée Winters has changed. When she looks in the mirror, a beautiful girl with an older, sadder face stares back. Her condition has doctors mystified, but Renée can never reveal the truth: she died last May, and was brought back to life by the kiss of her Undead soul mate. “A solid read, this one will leave readers wanting more.” — Publishers Weekly
  • Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block (1/23/2012) — Despite how much Louise insists, no one will call her Weetzie. It’s her dad’s nickname for her, but it won’t stay put. Neither will her dad. Charlie left Louise and her mom and he took everything with him: her family, her home—and her understanding of who she’s meant to be. “An intoxicating mix of mystery, fantasy, and romance told in her signature poetic style and peopled by guardian angels, witches, a goddess, and a demon.” — Booklist
  • There Is No Dog by Meg Rosoff (1/23/2012) — What if God were a teenaged boy? In the beginning, Bob created the heavens and the earth and the beasts of the field and the creatures of the sea, and twenty-five million other species (including lots of cute girls). Every time he falls in love, Earth erupts in natural disasters, and it’s usually Bob’s beleaguered assistant, Mr. B., who is left cleaning up the mess. So humankind is going to be very sorry indeed that Bob ever ran into a beautiful, completely irresistible girl called Lucy. “The flirtation with blasphemy, lack of an admirable main character, episodic plot, unstable setting, and jarring absurdities create an atmosphere not unlike that of a Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett novel.” — Voice of Youth Advocates

Graphic Novels

General Fiction

  • All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley (1/23/2012) — In the latest and most surprising novel in the bestselling Leonid McGill series, Leonid finds himself caught between his sins of the past and an all-too-vivid present.
  • The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey (1/23/2012) — When her widower father drowns at sea, Gemma Hardy is taken from her native Iceland to Scotland to live with her kind uncle and his family. But the death of her doting guardian leaves Gemma under the care of her resentful aunt, and it soon becomes clear that she is nothing more than an unwelcome guest at Yew House.
  • Taken by Robert Crais (1/23/2012) — When the police tell a wealthy industrialist that her missing son has faked his own kidnapping, she hires Elvis Cole and Joe Pike-and Cole soon determines that it was no fake.

Nonfiction

  • All In: The Education of General David Petraeus by Paula Broadwell (1/23/2012) — Broadwell, who has more than a decade of military service and nearly two decades of work in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, provides an authoritative and engrossing look at General David Petraeus (now director of the CIA), his impact on the Army (particularly in terms of counterinsurgency tactics), and his command of the NATO and U.S. forces during the surge in Afghanistan.
  • City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas by Roger Crowley (1/23/2012) — Crowley, acclaimed historian and author of Empires of the Sea, applies his narrative skill to chronicling the astounding five-hundred-year voyage of Venice to the pinnacle of power.
  • Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power by Zbigniew Brzezinski (1/23/2012) — Brzezinski, a professor of foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University, considers the implications of the changing distribution of global power, ponders why America’s global appeal is waning, speculates on the likely geopolitical consequences if America declines by 2025, and describes a vision of a resurgent America.
  • Why Jesus?: Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality by Ravi Zacharias (1/24/2012) — Zacharias believes that over the past forty years, movements like New Age spirituality and society’s obsession with human potential have combined like a “perfect storm” to redefine for popular culture what has been for centuries the classic biblical definition of the person, work, and teaching of Jesus Christ. In Why Jesus?, Zacharias looks at the impact of that “storm”.

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