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Hardcover Fiction

Week of November 27, 2011

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1
NEW
11/22/63
Stephen King
Cover of 11/22/63

11/22/63

by Stephen King · Scribner

4 wks at #1 · 1 on list

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a tour de force. Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment—a real life moment—when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history. Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time. A tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best.

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THE LITIGATORS
John Grisham
Cover of THE LITIGATORS

THE LITIGATORS

by John Grisham · Doubleday

3 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • After leaving a fast-track legal career and going on a serious bender, David Zinc is sober, unemployed, and desperate enough to take a job at Finley & Figg, a self-described “boutique law firm” that is anything but. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago. And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him. With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking it have suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money. A little online research confirms Wally’s suspicions—a huge plaintiffs’ firm in Florida is putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heart attacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join the class action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, they won’t even have to enter a courtroom! It almost seems too good to be true. And it is. The Litigators is a tremendously entertaining romp, filled with the kind of courtroom strategies, theatrics, and suspense that have made John Grisham America’s favorite storyteller.

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ZERO DAY
David Baldacci
Cover of ZERO DAY

ZERO DAY

by David Baldacci · Grand Central

2 wks on list

'One of the world's thriller masters' – Daily Mail Zero Day is the explosive first instalment in David Baldacci's thrilling John Puller series, featuring a gifted investigator with an unstoppable drive to find out the truth . . . * * * * * Distinguished as a top investigator in the US government, John Puller is called in to conduct an enquiry into the brutal murders of a family in a remote area of West Virginia. It soon becomes clear that the case has wider implications and as the body count rises he teams up with local homicide detective Samantha Cole. As the web of deceit is revealed, it quickly becomes apparent that there's much more to this case than they had first thought. It is an investigation where nothing is as it seems, and nothing can be taken at face value. When Puller and Cole discover a dangerous situation in the making, Puller finds he must turn to the one person who can help avert certain catastrophe. A person he has known all his life. In a breathtaking rollercoaster race against time, Cole fears for the community in which she was raised, and Puller knows he has to overcome the enemies of his country to avoid far reaching disaster. But in the end, you can't kill what you can't see is coming . . . Continue this fast-paced, breathtaking series with The Forgotten, The Escape, No Man's Land and Daylight. * * * * * KILLER TWISTS. HEROES TO BELIEVE IN. TRUST BALDACCI. 'Baldacci is still peerless' – Sunday Times 'Baldacci keeps things moving at express-train speed' – Daily Express 'One of the all-time best thriller authors' – Lisa Gardner 'Baldacci delivers, every time!' – Lisa Scottoline *The 6.20 Man, the first instalment in the Travis Devine series, was an instant New York Times bestseller w/c 31/07/2024

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THE BEST OF ME
Nicholas Sparks
Cover of THE BEST OF ME

THE BEST OF ME

by Nicholas Sparks · Grand Central

5 wks on list

The bestselling love story behind the massive Hollywood film starring James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan. They were teenage sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks - with a passion that would change their lives for ever. But life would force them apart. Years later, the lines they had drawn between past and present are about to slip . . . Called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter when they needed it most, they are faced with each other once again, and forced to confront the paths they chose. Can true love ever rewrite the past? This is the new epic love story from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of The Notebook, The Lucky One and The Last Song. Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved authors.

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1
THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING
James Patterson and Richard DiLallo
Cover of THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING

THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING

by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo · Little, Brown

3 wks on list

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day--she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays. But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise--she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

6
NEW
1Q84
Haruki Murakami
Cover of 1Q84

1Q84

by Haruki Murakami · Knopf

En japonés, la letra q y el número 9 son homófonos, los dos se pronuncian kyu, de manera que 1Q84 es, sin serlo, 1984, una fecha de ecos orwellianos. Esa variación en la grafía refleja la sutil alteración del mundo en que habitan los personajes de esta novela, que es, también sin serlo, el Japón de 1984. En ese mundo en apariencia normal y reconocible se mueven Aomame, una mujer independiente, instructora en un gimnasio, y Tengo, un profesor de matemáticas. Ambos rondan los treinta años, ambos llevan vidas solitarias y ambos perciben a su modo leves desajustes en su entorno, que los conducirán de manera inexorable a un destino común. Y ambos son más de lo que parecen: la bella Aomame es una asesina; el anodino Tengo, un aspirante a novelista al que su editor ha encargado un trabajo relacionado con La crisálida del aire, una enigmática obra dictada por una esquiva adolescente. Y, como telón de fondo de la historia, el universo de las sectas religiosas, el maltrato y la corrupción, un universo enrarecido que el narrador escarba con precisión orwelliana.

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NEW
THE ALLOY OF LAW
Brandon Sanderson
Cover of THE ALLOY OF LAW

THE ALLOY OF LAW

by Brandon Sanderson · Tor/ Tom Doherty

1 wks on list

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn series is a heist story of political intrigue and magical, martial-arts action. Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Kelsier and Vin have passed into the realm of history and myth, and the world of Scadrial is on the verge of modernity. In the frontier lands known as the Roughs, the old magics are a crucial tool for those who establish order and justice. One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, tragedy has driven Wax back to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties of the head of a noble house. But when a gang of Allomancers turn to train robbery and kidnapping, Wax will soon learn that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs. Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Stormlight Archive The Way of Kings Words of Radiance Edgedancer (novella) Oathbringer Dawnshard (novella) Rhythm of War The Mistborn Saga The Original Trilogy Mistborn The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages Wax and Wayne The Alloy of Law Shadows of Self The Bands of Mourning The Lost Metal Other Cosmere novels Elantris Warbreaker Tress of the Emerald Sea Yumi and the Nightmare Painter The Sunlit Man Collection Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians The Scrivener's Bones The Knights of Crystallia The Shattered Lens The Dark Talent Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson) Other novels The Rithmatist Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England Other books by Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners Steelheart Firefight Calamity Skyward Skyward Starsight Cytonic Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson) Defiant At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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4
HOTEL VENDOME
Danielle Steel
Cover of HOTEL VENDOME

HOTEL VENDOME

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

2 wks on list

The Sunday Times Bestseller When Swiss-born Hugues Martin sees a small, run-down hotel in New York for the rough diamond it is, he transforms it into a beautiful boutique hotel of impeccable elegance, run with the precision and attention to detail he learned through his hotelier training in Europe. Renowned for its unparalleled service, the Hotel Vendôme soon becomes the ideal New York refuge for the rich and famous, as well as a perfect home for Hugues’ beautiful wife and their young daughter. But when his wife tires of his obsession for the hotel, she walks out on him for a notorious rock star, leaving Hugues a single parent to four-year-old Heloise. Heloise and her family live happily amid a colourful, exciting and sometimes mysterious milieu of celebrities, socialites, politicians, world travellers and hotel employees – and their inevitable intrigues. As unexpected challenges arise, the hotel is the centre of their world. And when Heloise grows us, she longs to follow in her father’s footsteps and one day run the Hotel Vendôme. The lessons she learned at his side will carry her through it all, in a story no reader will forget.

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1
THE SNOW ANGEL
Glenn Beck
Cover of THE SNOW ANGEL

THE SNOW ANGEL

by Glenn Beck · Threshold Editions/Mercury Radio Arts

3 wks on list

With their parents struggling to make ends meet, Anna and Lilu grow tired of always eating macaroni and cheese for supper and having their Nana stay with them, but when Nana hears their complaints she tells a story about the magic that snow angels can bring.

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NEW
THE PRAGUE CEMETERY
Umberto Eco
Cover of THE PRAGUE CEMETERY

THE PRAGUE CEMETERY

by Umberto Eco · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

1 wks on list

Nineteenth-century Europe abounds with conspiracy both ghastly and mysterious. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian priests are strangled with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate black masses by night. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. But what if, behind all of these conspiracies, lies just one man?

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LOST DECEMBER
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of LOST DECEMBER

LOST DECEMBER

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

2 wks on list

Three magical Christmas books from one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Richard Paul Evans. The Christmas List What if someone read their obituary before they died? When real estate mogul James Kier is mistaken for another by the same name, he learns firsthand what the world really thinks of him, and decides to change his future. A holiday tale of true redemption, this novel will warm your season. The Christmas Box Miracle: My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing and Hope In 1994, Richard Paul Evans, then an unknown writer, self-published a short book entitled The Christmas Box. That book went on to become an international bestseller, touching the lives of millions of people. The Christmas Box Miracle is the story behind the book that has become a Christmas classic: how a man writes and publishes a book which helps grieving people to heal and lost souls to find their way home. It is Evans’s story: his own spiritual journey and stories of people he encountered along the way—miraculous stories of healing and divinity that often defy explanation. Finding Noel The Christmas season is supposed to be full of joy, but not for Mark Smart. Life had dealt him one body blow after another: he lost his scholarship and had to drop out of school; his beloved mother had died in a car crash; his girlfriend dumped him, and now, late on a snowy night in November, his car had broken down. Stumbling into a coffee house, he was looking for a phone to call a tow truck. What he found was a beautiful young woman with an unusual name who, through a simple act of kindness, changed his life forever. Finding Noel is an inspiring novel about the power of love and the wonder of Christmas.

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2
THE MARRIAGE PLOT
Jeffrey Eugenides
Cover of THE MARRIAGE PLOT

THE MARRIAGE PLOT

by Jeffrey Eugenides · Farrar, Straus & Giroux

5 wks on list

Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while at the same time an old friend of hers resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny.

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4
OUT OF OZ
Gregory Maguire
Cover of OUT OF OZ

OUT OF OZ

by Gregory Maguire · Morrow/HarperCollins

2 wks on list

Maguire returns with the final instalment in his transformative work, a thrilling and compulsively readable saga in which the fate of Oz is decided at last

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1
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
George R. R. Martin
Cover of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

by George R. R. Martin · Bantam

18 wks on list

A latest installment of the popular series follows a showdown set in the north of the Seven Kingdoms and reveals the circumstances that shaped southern-region events. By the best-selling author of A Feast for Crows.

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NEW
THE AFFAIR
Lee Child
Cover of THE AFFAIR

THE AFFAIR

by Lee Child · Delacorte Press

A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base. But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington. Elite military cop Jack Reacher is ordered undercover the truth.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.