Reamde
By Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson, the author of the hugely popular Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, is back to his old games. In Reamde, Richard Forthrast amasses a fortune by smuggling marijuana across the border between Canada and Idaho after dodging the draft. After being granted amnesty, he returns to the United States and uses his riches to create a online roleplaying game. With its popularity, the game is a target for hackers who unleash REAMDE, a virus that holds players’ electronic files hostage. Things get more serious as the virus expands beyond the boundaries of the game and into the real world. ~ September 20
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America
by Melissa V. Harris-Perry
Sister Citizen seeks to address the persistent stereotypes that black women encounter in contemporary American life. Harris-Perry uses different methods of inquiry, like literary analysis, political theory, focus groups, surveys and experimental research to look into black women’s political and emotional responses to negative race and gender images. ~ September 20
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
by Candice Millard
James A. Garfield might just be an underrated president. He was a Civil War hero and renowned reformist congressman. He didn’t want to be president, which might have made him an even better one. He was shot in the back, but wasn’t killed instantly. Instead, Alexander Graham Bell worked around the clock to find the bullet that was lodged in his back. The book details all of the adventure of being Garfield. ~ September 20
The Underdogs
by Mike Lupica
~ September 20
Football season is ramping up, so it might be a good time to take in a feel-good sports story. The Underdogs features Will Tyler, who may not be the biggest running back on the field, but he’s quick at finding the end zone. Of course, things aren’t all shiny. He deals with a dying town, family issues, and ultimately a canceled football season.
Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant
by Dyan Cannon
Before there was George Clooney, there was Cary Grant. He was the king of Hollywood, and Dyan Cannon, an actress, fell in love with him. They got married and had a child together. Cannon describes a Cary Grant that the public didn’t know, one whose dark family secrets impacted his life. ~September 20
Getting Off: A Novel of Sex and Violence
by Lawrence Block
A girl walks into a bar, finds a man and goes to bed with him. Then she kills him and finds a new obsession: murder. As she begins her slaughter, she goes back into her past to find all of the men that got away. ~ September 20
The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin
by Joe McGinniss
Joe McGinniss made news after he became neighbors with Sarah Palin. His plan was to reinvestigate the woman whom he profiled in Fatal Vision and The Rogue is that report. The book delves deeply into the political and business affairs of Palin and her family life. It’s also been embargoed from review before its official street date, because, McGinniss says, of the secrets that are held in its pages. ~ September 20
Throw Like a Girl
by Jennie Finch
Jennie Finch is a gold-medalist softball pitcher. In Throw Like a Girl, she answers questions on issues that are specific to being a female athlete. The book addresses and aims to inspire with ideas on how to integrate into one’s life the lessons learned from sports. ~ Out Now
The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith
Leaders do whatever it takes to keep them in power. Simple enough to understand, right? Bueno de Mesquita and Smith use this as the basis of their book, which calls the difference between tyrants and democrats just “a convenient fiction.” ~ September 27
