Editor’sChoice
The Farmer’s Daughter, Jim Harrison, $24. In three novellas as dark as they are exuberant, Harrison delivers protagonists who are smart, lusty in that classic Harrison fashion and linked by “The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me,” a Patsy Cline song that appears throughout and could easily serve as the characters’ theme song. Taken together, they present another fine accomplishment in a storied career. Publishers Weekly
FICTION
The Disciple, Stephen Coonts, $26.99. Last seen together in Coonts’ “The Assassin,” Tommy Carmellini, a CIA operative, and Jake Grafton, the new CIA head of Middle Eastern Operations, try to stop the Iranian president, madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, from starting WWIII in this nail-biting near-future thriller. Publishers Weekly
The Last Will of Moira Leahy, by Therese Walsh, $24. Walsh’s satisfying novel follows Maeve Leahy, a brilliant young professor, in her pursuit for answers about her family and herself. When she impulsively bids on a keris — an ancient Javanese dagger — at an auction house, Maeve’s orderly life spins out of control. Walsh’s pleasing blend of mystery, romance and the supernatural is enough to keep readers rooting for the heroine. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins, $27.99. Did feminism fail? Collins’ smart, thorough, often droll and extremely readable account of women’s recent history in America not only answers this question brilliantly, but also poses new ones about the past and the present as she explicates moments that were widely recorded and illuminates scenes that were barely remarked upon at the time. The New York Times
Last Words, by George Carlin, with Tony Hendra, $26.99. Armed with an eye for detail and a seemingly photographic memory, Carlin retraces his life in full, chronicling petty crimes and stolen kisses, escalating drug problems and the death of his wife with unflinching honesty. Fans may be surprised at his discipline and drive, and anyone interested in comedy should find this autobio as illuminating as it is funny. Publishers Weekly
Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What, by Lee Eisenberg, $26. Why do Americans buy what they buy? What tricks do advertisers use on unsuspecting consumers? These are some of the questions addressed by Eisenberg (former editor in chief, Esquire) in this illuminating work. Library Journal
PAPERBACKS
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin, $13.95. The pangs of individuals and cultures subject to established inequality and radical change are expertly analyzed in Pakistani author Mueenuddin’s impressive debut collection. The stories are Chekhovian in their grasp of indigenous detail and understanding of their characters’ complex experiences and destinies. Kirkus
A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein, edited by Stephen Hawking, $18.95. It’s hard to imagine a better guide to the work of Albert Einstein than Hawking, one of the world’s most renowned physicists and popular science writers. Publishers Weekly
A Place of Execution, by Val McDermid, $14.99. Val McDermid’s elegiac study of a henious crime and its aftermath, is very much in the (P.D.) Jamesian mode, both in its inventive use of devices of detection and its mournful view of murder as a moral reckoning. The New York Times
COMING UP
Pearl of China, by Anchee Min, $24. The author of “Empress Orchid” returns with a novel based on the life of Pearl Buck, the author who is hailed as a national heroine in China. (March)
