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Access our Top 20
Books of 2024!
Thousands of books are due to publish in the next few weeks as the Fall season gets underway. We've been trawling through the catalogs and early reviews to pick out the literary diamonds from among this vast number, and have whittled the list down to about 100 September books, which members can view in full here. From among this number, here are a dozen to whet your appetite including 6 novels, 3 biographies and 3 books for older children and teens.
Enjoy!
Davina, BookBrowse editor
Novels
 The Mirrored World by Debra DeanHistorical Fiction, 256 pages Published by Harper: Aug 28, 2012 The bestselling author of The Madonnas of Leningrad returns with a breathtaking novel of love, madness, and devotion set against the extravagant royal court of eighteenth-century St. Petersburg. Full description & reviews |
 The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise PennyMystery, 384 pages Published by St Martin's Press: Aug 28, 2012 "An entire mystery novel centering on Gregorian chants?...Yes, indeed, and in the hands of the masterful Penny, the topic proves every bit as able to transfix readers as the chants do their listeners." - Booklist Full description & reviews |
 NW by Zadie SmithNovel, 400 pages Published by Penguin Press Sept 4, 2012 Depicting the modern urban zone - familiar to town-dwellers everywhere - Zadie Smith's NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself. Full description & reviews |
The Forgetting Tree by Tatiana SoliNovel, 416 pages Published by St Martin's Press: Sept 4, 2012 From The New York Times bestselling author of The Lotus Eaters, a novel of a California ranching family, its complicated matriarch and an enigmatic caretaker who may destroy them. Full description & reviews |
 This Is How You Lose Her by Junot DiazNovel, 224 pages Published by Riverhead Books: Sept 11, 2012
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 Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy by Ken FollettHistorical Fiction, 960 pages Published by Dutton: Sept 18, 2012 Winter of the World picks up right where Fall of Giants left off, as its five interrelated families - American, German, Russian, English, Welsh - enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, up to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs. Full description & reviews |
Biographies
 Interventions: A Life in War and Peace by Kofi AnnanBiography, 512 pages Published by Penguin Press: Sept 4, 2012
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 Mortality by Christopher HitchensBiography, 128 pages Published by Twelve Books: Sept 4, 2012 Mortality is the story of one man's refusal to cower in the face of the unknown, as well as a searching look at the human predicament. Crisp and vivid, veined throughout with penetrating intelligence, Hitchens's testament is a courageous and lucid work of literature, an affirmation of the dignity and worth of man. Full description & reviews |
 Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman RushdieBiography, 656 pages Published by Random House: Sept 18, 2012 On February 14, 1989, Valentine's Day, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist and told that he had been "sentenced to death" by the Ayatollah Khomeini. For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime? To have written a novel called The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being "against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran." So begins the extraordinary story of how a writer was forced underground, moving from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team. He was asked to choose an alias that the police could call him by. He thought of writers he loved and combinations of their names; then it came to him: Conrad and Chekhov - Joseph Anton. Full description & reviews |
Older Children & Young Adults
 Katerina's Wish by Jeannie MobleyDebut Novel for ages 9-14, 256 pages Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books: Aug 28, 2012 "Weaving rich details of life in a mining town at the turn of the 20th century with the pacing of a good old-fashioned historical romance and conveying it all in Katerina's heartfelt voice, Mobley has constructed a world where one determined teenager with brains for business, the bravery to stand up for herself and the ability to find love helps make dreams come true." - Kirkus Reviews Full description & reviews |
 The Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances O'Roark DowellNovel for ages 9-12, 240 pages Published by Atheneum: Aug 28, 2012 "Middle school mean girls are not uncommon, in fiction or in life, but seldom has an author so successfully defeated them without leaving her protagonist or her reader feeling a little bit mean herself." - Kirkus Reviews Full description & reviews |
 Every Day by David LevithanNovel for Ages 14+, 336 pages Published by Knopf Children's Books: Aug 29, 2012 With his new novel, David Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A's world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day. Full description & reviews |
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