Editor’sChoice
Crazy, by William Peter Blatty.
Joey El Bueno recalls his childhood in World War II-era New York in this nostalgic, uncharacteristically sentimental novel from horror master Blatty (“The Exorcist”). Cheerful though unsubstantial, this novel will please nostalgia seekers but will disappoint readers who associate Blatty with spewed pea soup. Publishers Weekly
Fiction
The Greatest Russian Stories of Crime and Suspense, edited by Otto Penzler.
Many of stories were penned by such 19th-century literary giants as Gogol, Tolstoy and Chekhov, whose short but powerful “Sleepy” depicts an overworked servant girl driven by despair to commit murder. The most interesting story is Lev Sheinen’s “The Hunting Knife,” in which the author, a former prosecutor for Stalin during the purge trials of the 1930s, introduces an impossible crime element. Publishers Weekly
The Nostradamus Prophecies, by Mario Reading.
The murder in Paris of a Gypsy man who may know the whereabouts of Nostradamus’ lost prophecies propels this first in a trilogy from Reading. Readers will find all the usual “Da Vinci Code” elements — a remorseless hunter, forgotten knowledge, ancient conspiracies, malevolent cults and a steeplechase from clue to clue. Publishers Weekly
Nonfiction
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe, by Glynis Ridley. An 18th-century peasant expert in countryside herb lore, Jeanne Baret posed as a young man to gain the post of assistant to the naturalist aboard France’s first global seafaring expedition, in the 1760s. Ridley quickly crushes modern romantic ideas of the golden age of exploration: There were starvation and crowded quarters, and significant abuse suffered by Baret. Publishers Weekly
Blowout in the Gulf: The BP Oil Spill Disaster and the Future of Energy in America, by William R. Freudenburg and Robert Gramling.
In this intelligent and refreshingly readable — if inevitably depressing — expose, Freudenburg and Gramling, professors of environmental studies and sociology, respectively, analyze the origins of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and its aftermath. Publishers Weekly
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, by Daniel Okrent.
Though much has been written about Prohibition, Okrent offers a remarkably original account, showing how its proponents combined the nativist fears of many Americans with legitimate concerns about the evils of alcohol to mold a movement powerful enough to amend the United States Constitution. Okrent’s description of the Prohibition era is a narrative delight. The New York Times
Paperbacks
The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire, by Linda Himelstein.
From his early days as a “small-time liquor peddler” to one of Russia’s richest men, Smirnov was the nemesis of teetotaling Tolstoy — who blamed the country’s late-19th-century woes on his countrymen’s thirst for alcohol. Himelstein has triumphed with a timeless book that entertains, informs and inspires Publishers Weekly
Bel Canto, by Anne Patchett.
As her readers now eagerly anticipate, Patchett can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance. Patchett proves equal to her themes; the characters’ relationships mirror the passion and pain of grand opera, and readers are swept up in a crescendo of emotional fervor. Publishers Weekly
Voodoo Histories: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History, by David Aaronovitch. Aaronovitch, who is a columnist for The Times of London, deconstructs a dizzying array of conspiracy theories in these pages with unsparing logic, common sense and at times exasperated wit. The New York Times
Coming Up
Night Vision, by Randy Wayne White. When a woman sees an ugly act, the perpetrator must find her and silence her. White’s continuing protagonist Doc Ford is on the case. (February)
