Look for “Not Me,” a novel by Michael Lavigne, in which a man learns his dying father had a nefarious past as a Nazi officer in a concentration camp. Lynne Truss, the woman who brought us “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” now is ticked off about how we interact in “Talk to the Hand #?*!” Just in time for the long-delayed movie, Vintage has rereleased the paperback version of Arthur Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha.” Coming in January, CNN analyst Peter Bergen’s in-depth look at the life of a killer in “The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader.”
FICTION
Not Me, by Michael Lavigne, Random House, 300 pages, $24.95|A stand-up comedian is given the journals of his dying father. He learns of a secret past during which his father was a Nazi at a concentration camp during World War II.
The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming, by Elliot Perlman, Riverhead, 277 pages, $24.95|Perlman (“Seven Types of Ambiguity”) offers nine short stories in this collection, all told in the voices of different characters, including illicit lovers, pining students and drug-addicting siblings.
The Cat Dancers, by P.T. Deutermann, St. Martin’s, 352 pages, $24.95|A hair-raising tale that kicks off when thugs who commit a heinous crime are set free on a technicality. Vigilante justice kicks in, and a sheriff’s deputy is sent to bring them to justice.
NONFICTION
Talk to the Hand#?*!: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door, by Lynne Truss, Gotham, 206 pages, $20|In this slim volume, the author of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” bemoans the lack of civility in the world and offers up an attack on bad behavior.
The Coldest Winter: A Stringer in Liberated Europe,” by Paul Fox, Henry Holt, 133 pages, $18 |This is a memoir of the author’s year in Europe soon after the end of World War II working as a reporter for a small British news service.
Wordsworth: A Life, by Juliet Barker, HarperCollins, 576 pages, $29.95|Barker, as she did with “The Brontes,” tells the detailed story of the author’s life, from his rebellious youth, to middle age and finally his latter years as a famous poet.
PAPERBACKS
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, Vintage, 428 pages, $14.95|The widely read novel that relates the story of a young girl who is sold into a geisha house and goes on to become one of Japan’s most well-known entertainers.
Wodehouse: A Life, by Robert McCrum, W.W. Norton, 542 pages, $15.95|Despite his wild popularity, P.G. Wodehouse’s life has largely gone unexplored, with the exception of a colossal misstep during World War II. McCrum puts it all into perspective.
The Sucker’s Kiss, by Alan Parker, Thomas Dunne Books, 340 pages, $13.95|As a 7-year-old Tommy Moran picks his first pocket. Parker follows Tommy through Prohibition, the Great Depression and to the wharfs of San Francisco and the vineyards of the Napa Valley.
COMING UP
The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader,” by Peter Bergen, Free Press, pages, $26, January|Bergen, CNN’s terror analyst, uses the transcripts of his interviews with more than 50 people who have known bin Laden through the years to tell the story of a pious boy who grew up to be the world’s most sought-after terrorist.
The Doctor’s Daughter, by Hilma Wolitzer, Ballantine, 272 pages, $24.95, February |Returning from a 12-year hiatus, Wolitzer (“Ending,” “Hearts”) tells the story of a middle-aged woman who wakes one day with a pain behind her sternum. In looking for clues to her symptoms, she revisits her past and her relationships with her father, mother and husband.
Rasputin’s Daughter, by Robert Alexander, Penguin, 320 pages, $23.95, January|A harrowing, fictional account of the last week of Rasputin’s life as told through the eyes of his teenage daughter.
