Fall 2004 Preview

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Heir to a Glimmering World
Cynthia Ozick returns after a seven-year hiatus from fiction with a sharply imagined novel of New York in the thirties.

The Little White Car
A finer grade of "chick-lit."

Cutty, One Rock
August Kleinzahler’s memoir takes on Garden State family life and other indignities.

The Plot Against America
Philip Roth imagines what it would be like with Charles Lindbergh in the Oval Office.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Susanna Clarke turns England into Fantasy Island.

4 Political Novels
A gathering of (deliberate) election-year fictions.

Craig Thompson and Jonathan Lethem
A conversation between the two authors gets graphic.

What are you looking forward to this fall? Ask a bookstore owner.

Nancy Bass, owner of Strand Book Store

Taste: Not blockbusters, but books that attempt to get at the whole truth behind a subject.

Looking forward to: Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers, a graphic novel about 9/11. Jon Stewart’s Daily Show Presents America (the Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction. T. C. Boyle’s Inner Circle: always a winning subject—sex. It should make a fun partner to the film biography Kinsey.

Wish list: Mark Twain writing about the state of our country today.

Best of the Rest

September

The Secret Goldfish
by David Means
A collection of short stories, by the author of the acclaimed collection Assorted Fire Events. Fourth Estate; September 7.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Aron Ralston
An account by the self-amputating hiker who made headlines in 2003. Atria; September 7.

Confessions of an Heiress
by Paris Hilton, with Merle Ginsberg
Anecdotes and advice from the pop-culture princess. Fireside; September 7.

In the Shadow of No Towers
by Art Spiegelman
September 11, as seen though the eyes of the famed comics artist. Pantheon; September 7.

All I Did Was Ask: Conversations With Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
by Terry Gross
A collection of interviews by the popular host of NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Hyperion; September 8.

The Divine Husband
by Francisco Goldman
A lyrical romance set in Central America. Atlantic Monthly; September 9.

The Inner Circle
by T. C. Boyle
A fictionalized account of the life and times of Alfred Kinsey. Viking; September 13.

The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty
by Kitty Kelley
The best-selling author’s hotly anticipated biography. Doubleday; September 14.

The Falls
By Joyce Carol Oates
The unpredictable course of a lawsuit wrecks a Niagara Falls family. Ecco; September 14.

America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction
by Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show
Political ramblings from the premier news satirists. Warner; September 20.

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
by Stephen King
The final volume. Scribner; September 21.

The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
by A. J. Jacobs
An Esquire editor spends a year reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. Simon & Schuster; September 21.

Breaking Ground
by Daniel Libeskind
The architect’s account of his vision for the World Trade Center site. Riverhead; September 28.

Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way
by Pope John Paul II
The pontiff’s own account of his early years. Warner; September 28.

October

The Double
by José Saramago
The Nobel-winning author imagines finding one’s doppelgänger. Harcourt; October 4.

Magical Thinking: True Stories
by Augusten Burroughs
More life stories from the best-selling author. St. Martin’s; October 5.

War Trash
by Ha Jin
POW Fiction from the National Book Award winner. Pantheon; October 5.

Cheat and Charmer
by Elizabeth Frank
The Pulitzer-winning biographer takes on Hollywood. Random House; October 5.

Honored Guest: Stories
by Joy Williams
Her first collection in more than a decade. Knopf; October 5.

Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House 1911–1980
by Bob Colacello
The shared life of America’s political golden couple. Warner; October 6.

Author, Author
by David Lodge
Picking up where Colm Toibín left off in The Master, the British novelist imagines Henry James’s struggles with the bitch-goddess success. Viking; October 11.

Light on Snow
by Anita Shreve
A family is thrown into turmoil when an abandoned baby turns up in its midst. Little, Brown; October 12.

The Darling
by Russell Banks
A child of the sixties flees to Africa. HarperCollins; October 12.

Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts
The best-selling Australian author’s debut novel. St. Martin’s; October 13.

November

The Final Solution: A Story of Detection
by Michael Chabon
A briefer-than-average novel from the Pulitzer-winning writer. Fourth Estate; November 9.

I Am Charlotte Simmons
by Tom Wolfe
The Zeitgeist chronicler’s controversial novel about sex on the American college campus. Farrar Straus Giroux; November 9.

Magic Seeds
by V. S. Naipaul
The Nobel-winning author’s latest work. Knopf; November 16.