A selection of books worth enjoying...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

The Mummy Diaries author and columnist Rachel Johnson's NOTTING HELL, in the tradition of Helen Fielding and Alison Pearson, a about life in one of London's Notting Hill communal gardens, complete with celebrity neighbors, wealthy one-upmanship, pushy Americans, battles over building permits, and adultery, to Trish Todd at Touchstone Fireside, in a two-book deal, by Melanie Jackson (NA).
UK rights to Julliet Annan at Fig Tree.marcia.burch@simonandschuster.com

GENERAL/OTHER:

Novelist (THE ORDINARY WHITE BOY), story collection author (CARRYING THE TORCH), and McSweeney's and Believer contributor Brock Clarke's AN ARSONIST'S GUIDE TO WRITER'S HOMES IN NEW ENGLAND, the story of a young man jailed for torching Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, Massachussetts -- part detective story, part rumination on family, home, and place, and part examination of why we read books -- a story of numerous fires addressing not only the the mystery of who set them, but what they mean, to Chuck Adams at Algonquin, by Elizabeth Sheinkman at Curtis Brown UK.Elizabeth@curtisbrown.co.uk

THRILLER:

Matt Bronleewe's ILLUMINATED, including the historical details of Guttenburg and the printing of limited edition Bibles, to Allen Arnold at WestBow, in a five-book deal, by Don Pape at Alive Communications (world). dpape@alivecom.com

CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOK:

Blair Underwood's untitled children's book about the first haircut, to Kelli Martin at Hyperion Children's, by Lydia Wills at Paradigm (world).jyarn@paradigmny.com

UK:

Scott Frost's Edgar-nominated RUN THE RISK and NEVER FEAR, both featuring the same woman LA homicide detective, plus an untitled third book, to Vicki Mellor in her first acquisition at Headline UK, by David Grossman, on behalf of the Elaine Koster Agency.

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Cambridge historian Anna Whitelock's MARY: The First Queen of England, the story of Mary Tudor, trailblazer for her younger sister Elizabeth, to Michael Fishwick at Bloomsbury UK, and to Susanna Porter at Random House, by Emma Parry at Fletcher and Parry, on behalf of Catherine Clarke at Felicity Bryan Agency.emma@fletcherparry.com cc@felicitybryan.com cc@felicitybryan.com

Host of MSNBC's Countdown Keith Olbermann's THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD & 119 MORE STRONG CONTENDERS, to Stephen Power at Wiley, in a very nice deal, by Esther Newberg at ICM (NA).monorato@wiley.com

Harvard historian Jonathan Hansen's history of Guantanamo Bay, spanning from Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas through America's seizure of the land and the establishment of its naval base all the way up to the recent controversies concerning the detentions of political prisoners, to Tim Bartlett at Random House, by Wendy Strothman (world).

TRUE NORTH author and co-author of NYT bestseller AND THE SEA WILL TELL Bruce Henderson's DOWN TO THE SEA: Admiral Halsey, the Third Fleet, and the Great Typhoon, the story of one of the worst Naval disasters in US history, off the coast of the Philippines in December, 1944, to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at Smithsonian Books, for publication in Fall 2007, by Paul Bresnick of the Paul Bresnick Agency (NA).crissmand@si.edu

HUMOR:

Star of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report (and coiner of "truthiness") Stephen Colbert's untitled book, promising "the same noble goal as my television show: to change the world one factual error at a time," to Jamie Raab at Warner, in a pre-empt, for publication in September 2007, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group and James Dixon at Dixon Talent.jimmy.franco@twbg.com

MEMOIR:

Terrell Owens's INELIGIBLE RECEIVER: The Real Story of My Journey from the Super Bowl to the Sidelines, recounting what happened during his two years in Philadelphia, describing his deteriorating relationship with Donovan McNabb, and providing a detailed account of his arbitration hearing, to David Rosenthal at Simon & Schuster, to be edited by Bob Bender, for publication in July 2006, by Ian Kleinert of Literary Group International (world).

Son of famed New Yorker writer, Brendan Gill, Michael Gates Gill's HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE, a lemons-to-lemonade memoir, chronicling his transformative year working at Starbucks after falling from the heights of privilege, an opinionated white man in his 60s learning humbling life lessons from his new boss, an equally opinionated, 20-something African American woman raised in the projects, to Erin Moore at Gotham, in a pre-empt, by Gillian MacKenzie of the Gillian MacKenzie Agency (world).gmackenzie@gillianmackenzieagency.com

NARRATIVE:

Rachel Dickinson's FALCONER AT THE EDGE, a book that will do for contemporary falconry what THE ORCHID THIEF did for orchidelirium, penetrating the world of obsessed falconers through the story of one character who lives and dies for the hunt, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (NA).Foreign rights: Danny Baror russellgalen@scglit.com

SCIENCE:

Fermat's Last Theorem author Amir Aczel's THE JESUIT AND THE SKULL: Teilhard de Chardin and the Search for Peking Man, the story of the French priest-scientist who was present at the discovery in 1923 of the ancient skull that became known as Peking Man, and how that breakthrough anthropological find marked the beginning of both de Chardin's scientific vindication and the greatest test of his faith as it escalated the debate between science and religion, to Geoff Kloske and Jake Morrissey at Riverhead, at auction, by Ike Williams at Kneerim & Williams.

How to Survive a Robot Uprising author Daniel H. Wilson's HOW TO BUILD A ROBOT ARMY, based on interviews with leading researchers across multiple disciplines, teaching us to harness the power of our robot friends, with illustrations, to Colin Dickerman at Bloomsbury, by Laurie Fox at Linda Chester Literary Agency

GENERAL:

Steve Lopez's IMAGINING BEETHOVEN, about how a chance encounter with a homeless man, who was a Julliard-trained violinist, triggers a personal reawakening for a Los Angeles Times reporter, and changes both of their lives forever, to Dan Conaway at Putnam, at auction, by David Black (NA). dan.conaway@us.penguingroup.com

[NOTE: HAVE READ SOME OF LOPEZ'S COLUMNS ON THIS IN THE LA TIMES AND IT'S ONE TERRIFIC STORY!]

UK:

Susan Devenyi's QUIET: The importance of introverts in a world that can't stop talking, draws on psychology, science, and history to explore how western societies have gone from valuing introverted personality types to valuing extroverts, and examines the impact of this shift on individuals, in schools and in the workplace, to Kate Barker at Viking, by Bill Hamilton at A.M. Heath, on behalf of Richard Pine at Inkwell Management.Kate.Barker@Penguin.co.uk

PAPERBACK:

Betool Khedairi's ABSENT, set in 1990s Iraq, the story of a young woman and her family and neighbors, all determined to maintain ordinary lives and even to find love and hope, amid bombings, international sanctions, surprise arrests, and a crumbling social fabric, to Judy Sternlight at Random House, by Jessica Papin at American University in Cairo Press.English language rights: ctisne@randomhouse.com Others: Jpapin@aucegypt.edu

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