Random House Presentation

[Sara]

So, Toni Hetzel, one of our Random House sales reps came last night to present several of her house's books for consideration. Here is a list of the titles she picked. Stacey, our other Random House rep, sent along a list as well from her side of the house. Let me know which ones might appeal to you for future reads.
The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel - this is a novel about a young man growing up in North Korea. Drew has read it and has it on his staff picks.
A Partial History of Lost Causes: A Novel - A young woman in Florida finds some correspondance between her father and a Russian chess champion turned political dissident.
Anatomy of a Disappearance: A Novel - an adolescent boy is so enraptured with his stepmother that he wishes his father would disappear. Then, one day, he does. Nuri and his stepmother are left trying to cope with their loss and the idea that they didn't truly know the man their family was built around.
Signs of Life: A Memoir - Natalie Taylor is a high school English teacher, expectant mother, and abrupt widow. Her memoir is a raw, but often slyly funny story of how she used literature to carry on with her life.
The Language of Flowers - Victoria has grown up in the foster system. Now she's eighteen, out of the system, and on her own. The only thing that she has ever really connected to is Victorian flower language. She uses that in her new job as a florist, with unexpected results.
Nightwoods - This is a huge departure for Charles Frazier. Set in the 1960's, Nightwoods centers around two children who have lost their mother to murder. Their stepfather is the killer and now he's after them.
Giving Up the Ghost: A Story About Friendship, 80s Rock, a Lost Scrap of Paper, and What It Means to Be Haunted - Eric Nuzum was haunted as a young man. By a real ghost. Maybe. Unless she wasn't real. Nuzum went through a very difficult and troubled time, but made it through with the help of his friend Laura, a very unusal girl. However, during college she died, creating a different kind of ghost in his life. This book is about him trying to cure his fear of ghosts and coming to peace with the past.
Angel What would you do if your only dream was to become a successful author? Then you do. But you're still not happy. The critics hate you, the readers adore you, and you just want more.


Stacey's List
Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World - Hedy Lamarr; movie star, world renowned beauty, co-inventor of a torpedo guidance system...
History of a Pleasure Seeker - described as E.M. Foster meets Fifty Shades of Grey... I'm not sure how accurate that is, but it is supposed to live up to its name. Set in 1907 in Amsterdam.
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President - James Garfield was shot by an assassin, but he was pretty much killed by his doctors. This book gives light to a little acknowledge president.
The Healing: A Novel - Granada is a slave, who is taken to replace the master's dead baby. She grows up as almost a cross between a pet and a ghost. When another slave named Polly Shine comes to the plantation Granada learns that she might have the healing gift. Polly takes Granada from her life of privilege and makes her an apprentice healer. Polly does wonders to improve conditions on the plantation, but there is a dark side to her work as well. Decades later, Granada takes in a young child herself and begins to tell the story to her.
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival - The true story of the hunt for a vindictive, man eating tiger in Russia. Inexplicably, this tiger seems to know who the hunters are and actively hunt them back. Further however, this book is also about the history and people of a little known part of far eastern Russia.
Trapeze - This is the story of a World War II spy who reconnects with her first love while on a mission that is torn between two objectives.
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean - out in the ocean there are waves big enough to crush a supertanker. There are also people who hunt these waves down to study them, and to surf on them. Susan Casey takes a look at the science behind the waves and the psychology behind those who seek them out.
Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away - this novel tells the story of Blessing, a young woman in Nigeria who moves from a fairly privileged life to the primitave compound of her maternal grandmother. There she sees things totally unknown in her previous life. Her brother falls in with an army of child soldiers; her mother finds a new boyfriend who is caring, but doesn't fit in, Blessing herself has lost access to education as well as indoor plumbing. However, she gets training as a midwife and finds a new center to her life.