New Titles on 'The New York Times' Best Sellers List

Here are the hardcover fiction titles that are new to The New York Times Best Sellers list. These titles will be listed in the June 14, 2015 issue of The New York Times Book Review.
The Water Knife by  Paolo Bacigalupi

Working as an enforcer for a corrupt developer, Angel Velasquez teams up with a hardened journalist and a street-smart Texan to investigate rumors of California's imminent monopoly on limited water supplies. By the National Book Award-finalist author of The Windup Girl. (Publisher Summary)

Radiant Angel by Nelson DeMille

Taking a job with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group after a showdown with "The Panther," Corey realizes that America has unknowingly entered a second Cold War era with a newly resurgent Russia. (Publisher Summary)

Piranha by Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison

Covertly recreating the 1902 sinking of a ship on which a German scientist was on the brink of an astonishing breakthrough, Juan Cabrillo and his team are targeted by an assassin before learning that a traitorous weapons designer has finished the scientist's work. (Publisher Summary)

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Addie Moore and Louis Waters, a widow and widower each living alone, forge a loving bond over their shared loneliness, provoking local gossip and the disapproval of their grown children in ways that are further complicated by an extended visit by a sad young grandchild. (Publisher Summary)

Make Something Up by Chuck Palahniuk

A compilation of twenty-one stories and one novella includes both previously published and original pieces, including "Zombies," "Knock, Knock" and "Tunnel of Love." (Publisher Summary)

Food Shortage Dystopias

What if the only food available came from a single source of climate-resistant seeds?  That's the question asked in Rob Ziegler's new dystopian novel Seed.  In 22nd-century America, a hyper-intelliigent living city named Satori controls the production of this sole food source, at least until Secret Service agent Sienna Doss is tasked with finding a rogue seed designer, an assignment that she sees as an opportunity to take down Satori.  Enjoy worst-case scenarios involving genetic engineering and a fragile food supply?  You might also like Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, in which an AgriGen agent is sent to Thailand to investigate rumors of black market fruits not created or controlled by the calorie companies.

Pessimists' Reading List

War, terrorism, corporate greed; this article from The Millions features a pessimist's reading list styled as "troubled reading for troubled times."  Highlighted titles available from your Community Library include The Night Manager by John Le Carre, which deals with illegal drug and arms trafficking, and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, where a dystopian future is ruled by calorie companies that regulate the Earth's dwindling food supply.  Check one out, or for additional troubled-times reading selections, take a look at this earlier post about top-ten schadenfreude novels.

Share with a young person: New award-winners

Here are some new award-winning titles to share with a special young person in your life! This week, the American Library Association awarded the Newbery Medal (for children's literature) to Moon Over Manifest by debut author Clare Vanderpool, the Caldecott Medal (for illustration) to A Sick Day for Amos McGee written and illustrated by husband-wife team Philip and Erin Stead, and the Printz Award (for young adult literature) to Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Here's the full list of award winners from the American Library Association.

Award winning YA author Paolo Bacigalupi has also written books for the adult market, including the Locus Award-winning science fiction book The Wind-Up Girl about a bleak, food-scarce future where an enterprising main character teams up with a discarded female android.