PLA 2010: Nancy Pearl's Book Buzz

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I like playing with my Nancy Pearl Deluxe Librarian Action Figure just as much as the next girl, but the real fun comes when listening to Nancy (and the folks she's gathered) gush about books. I'm on the Alex Award Committee, so I am always scouring blogs and lists, eavesdropping on conversations, browsing book stores, and scanning trains for possible contenders. We look for books published as adult that have possible high teen interest. (You can nominate a title here: http://yalsa.ala.org/forms/alexnominate.php, but it's a no-no for publishers and authors to nominate their own books.)

And, I just love to read. Humorous P.I. fiction, gritty memoirs, anything YA, pop science, suspense (romantic and otherwise), food stuff. Basically, I go ga-ga during publisher previews and round-ups. I'm not going to list everything, but here's some titles that stood out to me:

• My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira. Described as "midwifery gore." May 2010.
• The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees. April 2010.
• Under Heaven by Guy Gavrial Kay. Historical fiction + fantasy. April 2010.
• Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay by Beverly Jensen. I'd love anything with Scrabble in the title. Stephen King sings its praises. June 2010.
  
• Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez. September 2010.
  
• Think of a Number by John Verdon. Spooky. July 2010.
• Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts. Murder + humor. May 2010.
• Elegy for April by Benjamin Black. Crime thriller. April 2010.

Nancy also recommended a business book: Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath. It's out now so I went ahead and put in a request at my'brary.