Bloglander

I’d Know You Anywhere, by Laura Lippmann (William Morrow, Aug. 17) Eliza’s a suburban mom now, but back when she was 15, she waskidnapped and held hostage for weeks. And now the bad guy, who’s ondeath row, is trying to contact her. Lippmann, a former Baltimore Sunreporter, is the author of the Tess Monaghan mysteries.

Mockingjay (the third book of The Hunger Games trilogy), by SuzanneCollins (YA novel from Scholastic Press, Aug. 24) It’s the almighty Capitol vs. poor little Katniss and her family — andthe powers that be are very, very unhappy with Katniss. (The firstHunger Games novel — with its dystopian plot about world governmentusing children as gladiators in televised, fight-to-the-deathentertainment — appeared in September 2008.)

Nashville Chrome, by Rick Bass (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sept. 14) A fictional treatment of the real-life Browns, the trio thatrevolutionized country music. Maxine and Bonnie Brown had grown up inDepression-era Arkansas; by the late ‘50s, their harmonizing withfather Jim Ed was setting the country and pop charts on fire. Morethan 40 years later, in Memphis, Bass actually caught up with Maxine.(Bass will appear at Auntie’s Bookstore on Saturday, Aug. 28, at 2pm.)

The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and ItsDangerous Legacy, by David E. Hoffman (Anchor, Aug. 3, paperback) As the Cold War wound down, the Soviets left a lot of biological andnuclear weapons unsecured. And those guys hanging around just outsidethe chain-link fence? They’re terrorists. Winner of this year’sPulitzer for nonfiction.

Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter, by Randy L. Schmidt (ACappella/Chicago Review, May 17) When she was singing “Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun,” shewas suffering from bulimia and anorexia — in an era that was in denialabout both diseases and just trying to make a buck off her, despitethe relentless demands of her recording and touring career.

The Thieves of Manhattan, by Adam Langer (Spiegel & Grau, July 13, paperback) An editor suggests that a frustrated writer/barista try to pass off anold novel as a memoir, just to embarrass the big wigs of publishing;the result is a postmodern con game and satire with a lingo all itsown.

The News Where You Are, by Catherine O’Flynn (Holt, July 6, paperback) A British TV news anchorman is troubled by his mother’s anxiety overbeing warehoused in a retirement complex; his investigation leads tograppling with big and complicated questions.