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Starred Reviews

All Stars 2001

August 19, 2008

Fiction and Mystery titles which received three or more starred reviews from major review sources

Fiction

The Hiding Place
Author: Azzopardi, Trezza
Publisher: Atlantic $ 24 ISBN: 0871138158
Kirkus Library Journal PW
Set in a Maltese immigrant community in Cardiff Wales, The Hiding Place is the story of Frankie Gauci, his wife Mary, their six daughters, and about Frankie's betrayal, gambling away his family's livelihood and eventually the family itself. A young British novelist bursts onto the international literary scene with this iridescent first novel.
The Complete Works of Isaac Babel
Author: Babel, Isaac
Publisher: Norton $ 39.95 ISBN: 0393048462
Booklist LJ Kirkus Publisher Weekly
Often revolving around the tortured dilemmas faced by Jews within the ruthless Soviet state, Babel's terse, violent fiction has left its mark on generations of readers and writers. This single-volume edition of all his work will stand as Babel's final, most enduring legacy.
Perfect Recall
Author: Beattie, Ann
Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0743211693
PW Kirkus LJ
This new collection of short stories, by the recipient of the 2000 Pen/Bernard Malamud Award for lifetime achievement, features 12 new works peopled by an assortment of characters contending with contemporary American life in ways alternately moving, comic, wrenching--and always unmistakably human.
Observatory Mansions
Author: Carey, Edward
Publisher: Crown $ 23 ISBN: 0609606808
PW Kirkus Booklist
Why does this novel's narrator, who practices the art of stillness and touches nothing without the protection of white gloves, who collects useless articles only because their owners have loved them, come to seem, not odd, but supremely human and much like us? Edward Carey has written a neo-Gothic classic of truly startling originality that John Fowles called "easily the most brilliant new fiction I've seen this year".
True History of the Kelly Gang
Author: Carey, Peter
Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 0375410848
PW Kirkus LJ
Speaking from the grave, out of 19th century Australia rides a hero of his people--Ned Kelly--a mythic outlaw whose life embodies tragedy, perseverance, and freedom. Executed more than a century ago, he resonates still as that country's most potent legend, now brought to life by the award-winning author of Oscar & Lucinda.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
Fred & Edie
Author: Dawson, Jill
Publisher: Welcome Rain $ 25 ISBN: 156649222x
Kirkus PW Library Journal
Based on a true story of a love triangle that turned deadly, this is a novel of passion, murder and a spectacular public trial at a time of momentous change for women.
Body Artist
Author: Delillo, Don
Publisher: Scribner $ 22 ISBN: 074320395x
Booklist Kirkus PW
A Heart of Stone
Author: Dorrestein, Renate
Publisher: Viking $ 23.95 ISBN: 067089558x
Kirkus PW Booklist
Ellen Van Bemmel lives with her parents and three siblings in an Amsterdam suburb. Her idyllic childhood is suffused with Americana, such as Coca-Cola, potato chips, and the moon landing. But when disaster strikes on her 12th birthday, Ellen's world begins to unravel, and years later, she confronts the ghosts of her childhood.
Gabriel's Story
Author: Durham, David Anthony
Publisher: Doubleday $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385498144
PW Booklist Kirkus
In this literary debut, Durham recounts the adventures and trials of a black pioneer family in the late 1870s. At the center of the story is Gabriel, a young man who moves reluctantly from the urban North with his mother and younger brother to join his stepfather, a homesteader in Kansas. When he runs away to become a cowboy, his search for excitement brings trouble and danger.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars | Western Stars
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Author: Erdrich, Louise
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26 ISBN: 0060187271
PW Kirkus Booklist
From the bestselling author of Tracks comes a dramatic sequel--a story of suspect miracles, tests of faith, and the corrosive and redemptive power of secrecy. Over the years, Father Damian has seen the reservation through its most severe crises, yet he is more than a heroic priest. He has lived with and served the Objibwa people as a man of the cloth, and also as a woman. However, where does fact end and reality begin?
The Corrections
Author: Franzen, Jonathan
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374129983
Kirkus PW Booklist Library Journal
A comic, tragic masterpiece of an American family breaking down in an age of easy fixes, Franzen's third novel brings an old-time America of freight trains and civic duty into wild collision with the era of home surveillance and New Economy speculation.
Paradise Park
Author: Goodman, Allegra
Publisher: Dial $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385334168
Kirkus PW LJ
Bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Goodman follows Kaaterskill Falls with a sparkling new tale featuring one of the most endearing, exasperating, indomitable heroines in modern fiction. With an open heart, a soul on fire, and her meager possessions, Sharon Spiegelman begins a hilarious 20-year quest for enlightenment. But each time she believes she has struck spiritual gold she comes up empty when her irrepressible self shines through.
The Pickup
Author: Gordimer, Nadine
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 23 ISBN: 0374232105
Kirkus PW Booklist
The Nobel Laureate's penetrating story follows a love affair that begins as a casual encounter between a rich South African and an illegal alien.
Juno and Juliet
Author: Gough, Julian
Publisher: Doubleday $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385501722
PW Library Journal Booklist
Written by the fresh, new Irish voice of Julian Gough, Juno & Juliet is an intelligent and lighthearted tale of two beautiful sisters who experience university life in Galway and the radiance of newfound love.
Student of Weather
Author: Hay, Elizabeth
Publisher: Counterpoint $ 24 ISBN: 158243123x
Booklist PW Kirkus
On the prairie of Dust Bowl Canada, two sisters fall down the same well, and the well is named Maurice Dove. Spanning 30 years, this brilliant first novel is a Canadian bestseller about the rivalry between Lucinda and Norma-Joyce and the stranger who changes both of their lives forever.
How to Be Good
Author: Hornby, Nick
Publisher: Riverhead $ 23.95 ISBN: 1573221937
Kirkus PW Library Journal Booklist
In a humorous yet uncompromising look at what it takes to have the courage of one's convictions, Hornby reinvents himself as Katie--the consummate liberal, urban mom--whose world is being turned on its ear by the outrageous spiritual transformation of her husband, David.
Clerical Errors
Author: Isler, Alan
Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0743210603
LJ Kirkus PW
From the award winning author of The Prince of West End Avenue comes an irreverent tale of a formerly Jewish--and now decidedly errant--Catholic priest.
The Grand Complication
Author: Kurzweil, Allen
Publisher: Hyperion $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786866039
Kirkus PW Booklist
The anticipated new novel from the author of A Case of Curiosities, Kurzweil returns with another work narrated by Alexander Short, a reference librarian who takes on an unusual research assignment when he feels his passions--both professional and personal--waning.
The Feast of the Goat
Author: Llosa, Mario Vargas
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374154767
PW Booklist Kirkus Library Journal
A tyrant's last days are the focus of this magisterial, long-awaited novel, as Mario Vargas Llosa recounts the end of a regime in the Dominican Republic and the terrible birth of a democracy.
Niagara Falls All Over Again
Author: McCracken, Elizabeth
Publisher: Dial $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385318375
PW Kirkus Library Journal
Two young men, Carter & Sharp, become the most famous comedy team of their era, conquering vaudeville, the movies, radio and television. Their 30 year partnership prevails--until Carter commits one desperate act of betrayal.
Updated 8/24/01
Kit's Law
Author: Morrissey, Donna
Publisher: Mariner $ 13 (trade paper) ISBN: 0618109277
PW Kirkus Booklist
Kit Pitman lives with her unstable mother in a cottage on the outer banks of Newfoundland. Her life is compounded by the mystery that surrounds her illegitimate birth. Morrissey depicts the way the lines between mother and daughter, although blurred, are deeply felt. Kit's Law marks the debut of a new talent.
Half a Life
Author: Naipaul, V.S.
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0375407375
Kirkus Booklist PW Library Journal
Willie Chandran's flight from the travails of his mixed birth takes him from India to London, where in the shabby haunts of immigrants and literary bohemians he affects a new identity. When he returns with his lover to her home in Africa during the last doomed days of colonialism, he lives yet another life not his own.
In the Shape of a Boar
Author: Norfolk, Lawrence
Publisher: Grove $ 25 ISBN: 0802117015
Library Journal PW Kirkus
From prehistoric Greek hunters to an S.S. officer on the run, this mesmerizing epic by the author of Lempriere's Dictionary and The Pope's Rhinoceros explores ancient myths and modern horrors.
Empire Falls
Author: Russo, Richard
Publisher: Knopf $ 25.95 ISBN: 0679432477
Kirkus PW Booklist
Richard Russo, author of The Risk Pool and Nobody's Fool, takes readers back to the small-town, blue-collar heart of the country. - Publisher marketing.
Tale of Genji
Author: Shikibu, Murasaki
Publisher: Viking $ 60 ISBN: 0670030201
Kirkus Library Journal PW
Information about the book and Lady Murasaki
Screens and Scrolls - Japanese Painting from the Ackland Museum of Art - includes an eighteenth-century Tale of Genji scroll
Bonesetter's Daughter
Author: Tan, Amy
Publisher: Putnam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0399146431
PW Booklist Kirkus
Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. This is the story of LuLing Young, who searches for the name of her mother, the daughter of the famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain. The story conjures the pain of broken dreams, the power of myths, and the strength of love that enables us to recover in memory what we have lost in grief.
Sweethearts
Author: Thon, Melanie Rae
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 23 ISBN: 0395785898
Kirkus PW Booklist
Set in the wild and beautiful plains and forests of Montana, Sweet Hearts recounts the searing story of a brother and sister haunted by their family's turmoil and half-forgotten Native American heritage. It is the story of 16-year-old Flint, who has already spent eight years in detention, and the one person he loves--his little sister, Cecile.
Argall
Author: Vollmann, William T.
Publisher: Viking $ 40 ISBN: 0670910309
Booklist PW Library Journal
Updated 9/17/01
John Henry Days
Author: Whitehead, Colson
Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385498195
Kirkus PW Booklist
From the author of The Intuitionist comes a retelling of the legend of John Henry that sweeps across generations and cultures in a stunning, hilarious, and unsettling portrait of American society.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
Crooked River Burning
Author: Winegardner, Mark
Publisher: Harcourt $ 27 ISBN: 0151002940
PWKirkus LJ
A turbulent relationship between rich and poor counterpoints the epic story of a great Midwestern city drifting towards decline and the chaos of the 60s. This sweeping novel of a star-crossed romance is by the author of The Veracruz Blues.
Father of the Four Passages
Author: Yamanaka, Lois-Ann
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux $ 24 ISBN: 0374153876
PW Kirkus Booklist
Sonia Kurisu, a streetwise young mother, struggles to raise her child, Sonny Boy, as she seeks to come to terms with the three children she aborted. Set in Hawaii and Las Vegas, this haunting novel about fathers, forgiveness, spirituality, and solace is Yamanaka's most ambitious work to date.

Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers and Crime Fiction

Undercurrents
Author: Fyfield, Frances
Publisher: Viking $ 23.95 ISBN: 0670896365 Date: 2001
Kirkus LJ PW
For 20 years, Henry Evans has been haunted by a blurred but shining memory of his lost love, Francesca Chisholm. Now this shy American has come looking for her in her hometown on the English coast. What he finds there is not what he expects.
The Grand Complication
Author: Kurzweil, Allen
Publisher: Hyperion $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786866039 Date: 2001
Kirkus PW Booklist
The anticipated new novel from the author of A Case of Curiosities, Kurzweil returns with another work narrated by Alexander Short, a reference librarian who takes on an unusual research assignment when he feels his passions--both professional and personal--waning.
Mystic River
Author: Lehane, Dennis
Publisher: Morrow $ 22 ISBN: 0688163165 Date: 2001
Booklist PW LJ
When Jimmy Marcus's daughter is found dead, his childhood friend Sean Devine is assigned the case. Sean's personal life begins to unravel as his investigation takes him back into a world of violence and pain he thought he'd left behind. His quest also leads him on a collision course with Marcus--a man with his own dark past--and David Boyle, a man who hides monstrous secrets beneath a bland facade.
Protect and Defend
Author: Patterson, Richard North
Publisher: Knopf $ 26.95 ISBN: 0679450440 Date: 2001
Kirkus PW Booklist
In a compelling new novel, Patterson makes a major departure that confirms his place among the most important writers at work today. A newly elected president faces the unexpected chance to nominate a new chief justice of the Supreme Court, but the Senate majority leader is determined to thwart the nomination for reasons that cross the boundary between the political and the personal. What results is the definitive novel of politics and law at the dawn of the 21st century.
Suggested Reading: Legal Stars | Political Fiction
Right as Rain
Author: Pelecanos, George
Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.95 ISBN: 0316695262 Date: 2001
Kirkus Booklist PW
Derek Strange, a private detective, is hired to clear the lingering doubts about a young black police officer killed in the line of duty. After Strange interviews Terry Quinn, the officer who pulled the trigger, Quinn joins the investigation and helps seek answers in the darkest sectors of Washington, D.C., where racism and ruthless capitalism create a lawless world.
The Falls
Author: Rankin, Ian
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312206100 Date: 2001
Kirkus Booklist PW
A student is missing, a coffin is found, and John Rebus must match wits with a fiendishly clever killer as ancient and modern evils are brought together in contemporary Scotland.
Reflecting the Sky
Author: Rozan, S.J.
Publisher: Minotaur $24.95 ISBN: 0312244274 Date: 2001
Kirkus Booklist PW
Lydia Chin . . . is hired by Grandfather Gao, one of the most respected figures in New York City's Chinatown, for what seems to be a simple task. Lydia, along with her professional partner Bill Smith, is to fly to Hong Kong to deliver a family heirloom to the young grandson of a recently deceased colleague. They arrive in Hong Kong safely, but before they can deliver the heirloom, the grandson is kidnapped and two separate ransom demands are made. While the family of the kidnapped boy tries to freeze them out, Lydia and Bill must quickly learn their way around a place where the rules are different, the stakes are high, and the cost of failure is too dire to imagine. - from the jacket copy.
Shape of Snakes
Author: Walters, Minette
Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399147330 Date: 2001
Kirkus LJ PW

More All Stars Lists

2008

Hotlists

Fiction | Zoho DB

Crime Fiction | Zoho DB

Nonfiction Notables

African American Fiction | Christian Fiction

2008 Excel Files: (download - print, sort, etc.)

Crime Fiction | Fiction | African American Fiction | Christian Fiction | Nonfiction Notables

Stars

Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec

Speculative Fiction Romance Historical Nonfiction | YA

Summer Reading

2009

2009 Hotlists

Fiction - excel file more coming soon...

Crime Fiction - excel file more coming soon...

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