Canadian Manda Group represents over 20 national and international publishers and distributors in the Canadian market. For a full list, click here. Here are my picks from their Spring/Summer 2007 lines.

* Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange (Sourcebooks, Trade Paperback, March 2007)
* The Poison Diaries by Jane, Duchess of Northumberland, illus. by Colin Stimpson (Abrams, Hardcover, March 2007)
* The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa (Arcadia Books, Hardcover, April 2007)
* Before I Forget: a Novel by André Brink (Sourcebooks, Hardcover, April 2007)
* The Serbian Dane by Leif Davidsen (Arcadia Books, Trade Paperback, April 2007)
* Muriel Pulls it Off by Susanna Johnston (Arcadia Books, Hardcover, April 2007)
* The Produce Bible: essential ingredient information and more than 200 recipes for fruits, vegetables, herbs and nuts by Leanne Kitchen (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Trade Paperback, March 2007)
* The Cat in Art by Stefano Zuffi (Abrams, Hardcover, April 2007)
* A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon Publications, Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* Miniature Books: 4,000 years of tiny treasures by Anne C. Bromer and Julian I. Edison (Abrams, Hardcover, May 2007)
* The Depths of the Forest by Eugenio Fuentes (Arcadia Books, Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* Devil Water by Anya Seton (Chicago Review Press, Trade Paperback, May 2007)

tags: books reading fall books 2007 publishing Stewart, Tabori & Chang Abrams Sourcebooks Arcadia Books Tachyon Publications Chicago Review Press Canadian Manda Group

H.B. Fenn is the Canadian Distributor for a range of publishers. After perusing the pile of catalogues, here are my selections from their upcoming lists. They also distribute (in Canada) Little, Brown & Company and Henry Holt, whose books I’ve previewed in earlier entries.

Key Porter Books
* Holding My Breath: a Novel by Sidura Ludwig (Trade Paperback, January 15, 2007)
* Consequences: a Novel by Penelope Lively (Hardcover, May 2007)
* Global Warring: Environmental Change and the Looming Economic, Political, and Security Crisis by Cleo Paskal (Hardcover, August 2007)

Tor/Forge
* Dreamquest by Brent Hartinger (Hardcover, May 2007)
* A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez (Hardcover, May 2007)
* Fashionably Late by Nadine Dajani (Forge, Trade Paperback, June 2007)
* Mainspring by Jay Lake (Hardcover, June 2007)
* Shelter by Susan Palwick (Trade Paperback, June 2007)
* The Wanderer’s Tale by David Bilsborough (Hardcover, July 2007)
* Territory by Emma Bull (Hardcover, July 2007)
* They Came from Below by Blake Nelson (Hardcover, July 2007)
* Spaceman Blues: a Love Story by Brian Francis Slattery (Trade Paperback, August 2007)
* The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari (Trade Paperback, August 2007)

St. Martin’s
* A Much Married Man by Nicholas Coleridge (Hardcover, June 2007)
* Sarah’s Key: a Novel by Tatiana de Rosnay (Hardcover, June 2007)
* The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (Hardcover, August 2007)
* The Mapmaker’s Opera by Bea Gonzalez (Hardcover, August 2007)
* Sovereign Ladies: the Six Reigning Queens of England by Maureen Waller (Hardcover, August 2007)

St. Martin’s Minotaur
* The Cruel Stars of the Night: a Mystery by Kjell Eriksson (Hardcover, February 2007)
* The Cairo Diary by Maxim Chattam (Hardcover, June 2007)
* Raven Black: a Thriller by Ann Cleeves (Hardcover, June 2007)
* The Companion: a Mystery by Ann Granger (Hardcover, June 2007)
* Death in the Truffle Wood: a Mystery by Pierre Magnan (Hardcover, July 2007)
* Shadows & Lies: a Mystery by Marjorie Eccles (Hardcover, August 2007)

* The Professor’s Daughter by Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar (First Second, Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey (Griffin, Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* When She was White: the true story of a family divided by race by Judith Stone (Miramax Books, Hardcover, April 2007)
* Dusk Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (Miramax Books, Trade Paperback, June 2007)
* In the Shadow of Lady Jane by Edward Charles (Pan MacMillan UK, Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* The Inner Life of Martin Frost by Paul Auster (Picador, Trade Paperback, June 2007)

With the Easter weekend and a visit from my Grandparents, I ended up taking an unintentioned, and unannounced, week off blogging. My apologies to regulars who came seeking new book reviews! To make it up to you, here are my picks from Penguin’s Winter/Spring/Summer lines.

* Fangland: a Novel by John Marks (Hardcover, January 11, 2007)
* Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty: a Novel by Tim Sandlin (Hardcover, January 23, 2007)
* Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin (Hardcover, January 11, 2007)
* Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (Hardcover, February 1, 2007)
* Knots: a Novel by Nuruddin Farah (Hardcover, February 6, 2007)
* The Dead Fathers Club by Matthew Haig (Hardcover, February 2007)
* The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (Hardcover, March 6, 2007)
* The Gentle Axe: a Novel by R.N. Morris (Hardcover, March 22, 2007)
* Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx (Hardcover, May 1, 2007)
* The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi (Trade Paperback, May 1, 2007)
* Unravelled by Robyn Harding (Trade Paperback, June 5, 2007)
* The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith (Trade Paperback, August 2007)
* Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche (Hardcover, August 2007)

In honour of Small Press Month, here are a few titles I’m eagerly awaiting. Perhaps I should say, some of my Top Picks.

* The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees (Soho Crime Press, February 1, 2007)
* Greed: a Novel by Elfriede Jelinek (Seven Stories Press, April 1, 2007)
* Havana Blue by Leonardo Padura (Bitter Lemon Press, UK April 2, 2007/US June 2007)
* Eternity Is Temporary by Bill Broady (Portobello Books, April 12, 2007)
* The Fugitive by Massimo Carlotto, trans. by Antony Shugaar (Europa Editions, April 15, 2007)
* The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Persephone Books, April 19, 2007)
* Out of Cleveland: short stories by Lolette Kuby (Esplanade Books, Canada May 7, 2007/US September 2007)
* Memories from a Sinking Ship: A Novel by Barry Gifford (Seven Stories Press, May 10, 2007)
* The Incomplete Husband by Ben Faccini (Portobello Books, June 2007)

The biggest title in Houghton Mifflin’s Spring/Summer 2007 line is the much anticipated The Children of Húrin, the final Tolkien book due for release on April 17, 2007. Here are my picks:

* The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited by Christopher Tolkien (April 17, 2007)
* The Visible World: a Novel by Mark Slouka (April 19, 2007)
* Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times by Amitav Ghosh (April 23, 2007)
* The Last Chinese Chef: a Novel by Nicole Mones (May 4, 2007)
* A Day at the Beach: a Novel by Helen Schulman (June 1, 2007)
* Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (Trade Paperback release, June 5, 2007)
* The Inhabited World: a Novel by David Long (Trade Paperback release, July 2, 2007)
* On Kingdom Mountain: a Novel by Howard Frank Mosher (July 11, 2007)

I’ve been a huge fan of the Miss Read novels (pseudonym of Mrs. Dora Saint) since I first visited Fairacre and Thrush Green in the early 90s. Houghton Mifflin is releasing four novels in the Fairacre series in new editions in August and I would highly recommend them, along with the first volume Village School for anyone who loves quiet British character novels.

“The English village of Fairacre, comfortably nestled in the heart of the Cotswolds, is a picturesque place of tile-roof cottages, a historic church, a post office, and a small primary school. Through the school’s beloved headmistress, Miss Read, we meet the inhabitants of Fairacre and share in their trials and tribulations, their milestone celebrations, and their daily joys.”

* Village Diary
* Storm in the Village
* Over the Gate
* The Fairacre Festival
* The Caxley Cronicles: containing Market Square and The Howards of Caxley

Here are my picks from Hyperion Books’ Spring and Summer titles. A number are the trade paperback releases of books which were released in hardcover last year, so hopefully new readers will discover some great reads.

* Queen of Broken Hearts: A Novel by Cassandra King (February 2007)
* The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust by Heather Pringle (Trade Paperback, February 2007)
* A Model Summer: A Novel by Paulina Porizkova (April 2007)
* Not on Our Watch: A Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast (May 2007)
* Grief: A Novel by Andrew Holleran (Trade Paperback, June 2007)
* The Late Bloomer’s Revolution: A Memoir by Amy Cohen (July 2007)

Too often publishers appear to publish most of their titles in the fall in anticipation of the holiday buying season. I was therefore pleased to find most of the publishers have strong spring lines with an interesting range of titles.

Simon & Schuster don’t have a lot of well-known authors in their spring 2007 line; however, there are some great treasures to be found for readers willing to take time with their catalogue. Here are my picks for the spring season:

* Him Her Him Again The End of Him by Patricia Marx (January 2007)
* The Night Buffalo: A Novel by Guillermo Arriaga (February 2007)
* Looks to Die For by Janice Kaplan (February 2007)
* A Family Daughter: A Novel by Maile Meloy (February 2007)
* Broken Paradise: A Novel by Cecilia Samartin (February 2007)
* The Secret Supper: A Novel by Javier Sierra, Translated by Alberto Manguel (February 2007)
* The Lying Tongue by Andrew Wilson (February 2007)
* The Spellman Files: A Novel by Lisa Lutz (March 2007)
* The Rossetti Letter by Christi Phillips (March 2007)
* The Expected One: A Novel by Kathleen McGowan (Trade Paperback, April 2007)
* The Killing Jar: A Novel by Nicola Monaghan (April 2007)

tags: books reading spring and summer books 2007 publishing Simon & Schuster

Raincoast Books is a Canadian publisher and distributor producing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles for adults and children. They distribute many well-known imprints in Canada including: Bloomsbury UK, Chronicle Books, Harcourt (HBJ), & Hesperus Press, as well as many others. A full list is available on their website.

The following titles (my picks) are listed by publication date rather than by publisher, except for Hesperus Press.

Raincoast Books
* Paris: the secret history by Andrew Hussey (Bloomsbury USA, January 2007)
* Audrey Hepburn: the Paramount years by Tony Nourmand (Chronicle Books, January 2007)
* Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist by Marisa Handler (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, February 2007)
* If Minds Had Toes by Lucy Eyre (Bloomsbury UK, March 2007)
* Linger Awhile by Russell Hoban (Bloomsbury UK, New Format, March 2007)
* A Book Addict’s Treasury by Lynda Murphy and Julie Rugg (Frances Lincoln, March 2007)
* White Man Falling by Mike Stocks (Alma Books, March 2007)
* Welcome to Everytown: a journey into the English mind by Julian Baggini (Granta Books, April 2007)
* Pretty in Punk: 25 Rock, Goth, and Punk inspired knitting projects by Alyce Benevides and Jaqueline Milles (Chronicle Books, April 2007)
* Untapped: the scramble for Africa’s Oil by John Ghazvinian (Harcourt, Inc., April 2007)
* Divas Don’t Knit by Gil McNeil (Bloomsbury UK, April 2007)
* Return to Akenfield: portrait of an English village in the 21st Century by Craig Taylor (Granta Books, Trade Paperback, April 2007)
* The Nature of Monsters: a novel by Clare Clark (Harcourt, Inc., May 2007)
* The Catastrophist: a novel by Lawrence Douglas (Harcourt, Inc., May 2007)
* The Gravedigger: a novel by Peter Grandbois (Chronicle Books, May 2007)
* Volunteer: a traveller’s guide to making a difference around the world by Lonely Planet (Lonely Planet, June 2007)
* The Pantry: its history and modern uses by Catherine Seiberling Pond (Gibbs Smith, May 2007)
* When We Get There: a novel by Shauna Seliy (Bloomsbury USA, May 2007)
* Virgins: a cultural history by Anke Bernau (Granta Books, June 2007)
* Austenland: a novel by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury USA, June 2007)
* Becoming Shakespeare: how a provincial playwright became the world’s foremost literary icon by Jack Lynch (Walker & Company, June 2007)
* Sugarcane Academy: how a New Orleans teacher and his storm-struck students created a school to remember by Michael Tisserand (Harcourt, Inc., July 2007)
* The Museum of Dr. Moses: tales of mystery and suspense by Joyce Carol Oates (Harcourt, Inc., August 2007)

Hesperus Press
* The Watsons by Jane Austen (March 2007)
* Sanctuary by Edith Wharton (March 2007)
* Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell (April 2007)
* The Calligraphers’ Night by Yasmine Ghata (June 2007)
* A Simple Story by Leonardo Sciascia (June 2007)

tags: books reading spring and summer books 2007 publishing Raincoast Books Chronicle Books Hesperus Press Bloomsbury USA Berrett-Koehler Publishers Bloomsbury UK Frances Lincoln Alma Books Granta Books Harcourt, Inc. Gibbs Smith Lonely Planet Walker & Company

Here are my picks from Henry Holt & Company’s Spring and Summer titles. Some exciting books are being released in trade paperback from Owl Books and I would highly recommend Disaster: Hurrican Katrina and the failure of Homeland Security by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block.

Henry Holt
* The Short Bus: a journey beyond normal by Jonathan Mooney (June 2007)
* My Colombian War: a journey through the country I left behind by Silvana Paternostro (July 2007)
* The Master Bedroom: a novel by Tessa Hadley (August 2007)
* Letter from Point Clear: a novel by Dennis McFarland (August 2007)

Metropolitan Books
* Helpless: a novel by Barbara Gowdy (April 2007)
* Inglorious: a novel by Joanna Kavenna (June 2007)

Owl Books
* Book by Book: notes on reading and life by Michael Dirda (Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* Brutal Journey: Cabeza de Vaca and the epic first crossing of North America by Paul Schneider (Trade Paperback, May 2007)
* Disaster: Hurrican Katrina and the failure of Homeland Security by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block (Trade Paperback, June 2007)

tags: books reading spring and summer books 2007 publishing Henry Holt and Company Metropolitan Books Owl Books

Random House is the distributor for some of my favourite UK imprints; most notably Harvill Secker and Chatto & Windus. They also have a number of other important imprints. So with a period covering 6 months, it shouldn’t be surprising that my picks comprise such a long list.

I haven’t had a close look at their non-fiction offerings, so this list is mostly adult fiction. A number of notable books are being released in trade paperback over the next few months and, for those I listed as picks last summer, I’ve included them here again.

Note: Books marked with the “%” symbol are books I reviewed in hardcover. The link will take you to the blog entry of my review.

Anchor
* The Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (January 30, 2007)
* The Unbinding by Walter Kirn (January 30, 2007)
* The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure: Curious Stories by Jack Pendarvis (February 6, 2007)
* Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan (Trade Paperback, April 10, 2007)
* The Attack by Yasmina Khadra (May 8, 2007)
* The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue (Trade Paperback, May 8, 2007) %

Ballantine Books
* Blood of Paradise: a Novel by David Corbett (March 6, 2007)
* Damsels Under Stress by Shanna Swendson (May 1, 2007)
* Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer (May 22, 2007)
* The Sonnet Lover: a Novel by Carol Goodman (June 12, 2007)

Bantam
* Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson (February 27, 2007)
* The Hindi-Bindi Club: a Novel with Recipes by Monica Pradhan (May 1, 2007)

Bond Street Books
* The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (April 24, 2007)

Broadway Books
* French by Heart: An American Family’s Adventures in La Belle France by Rebecca S. Ramsey (April 24, 2007)
* The Book of Jane by Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt (June 12, 2007)

Chatto & Windus
* Death of a Salaryman by Fiona Campbell (April 27, 2007)

Crown
* The Secret Magdalene: a novel by Ki Longfellow (March 27, 2007)
* Adventures of an Italian Food Lover: With Recipes from 213 of My Very Best Friends by Faith Willinger (April 3, 2007)
* The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes by Tess Uriza Holthe (May 8, 2007)
* Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon (May 15, 2007)
* Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War by Joe Bageant (June 12, 2007)
* Mary Modern: a Novel by Camille Deangelis (July 10, 2007)
* The Water’s Lovely: a Novel by Ruth Rendell (July 17, 2007)

Del Rey
* Ink: the Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan (February 27, 2007)
* The Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers (May 1, 2007)
* Maledicte by Lane Robins (May 29, 2007)

Delacorte Press
* The Blood Spilt by Åsa Larsson (January 30, 2007)
* All Saints by Liam Callanan (February 27, 2007)

Dial Press
* Send Me by Patrick Ryan (January 30, 2007)
* Paradise Park by Allegra Goodman (Reissue, March 17, 2007)
* Cellophane by Marie Arana (May 1, 2007)
* The Archivist’s Story by Travis Holland (May 1, 2007)

Doubleday Canada
* Overture: a Novel by Yael Goldstein (January 16, 2007)
* The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson (January 23, 2007)
* Death Comes For the Fat Man: A Dalziel and Pascoe Mystery by Reginald Hill (March 6, 2007)
* The Color of a Dog Running Away by Richard Gwyn (March 20, 2007)
* Rant: The Oral History of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk (May 1, 2007)
* Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (June 5, 2007)
* The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham (June 12, 2007)

Harvill Secker
* Montano by Enrique Vila-Matas (January 23, 2007)
* Nada by Carmen Laforet (February 27, 2007)

Knopf
* Adam Haberberg by Yasmina Reza (January 2, 2007)
* A Handbook to Luck by Cristina Garcia (April 10, 2007)
* The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander (April 24, 2007)

Little Bookroom
* Literary St. Petersburg by Elaine Blair (May 1, 2007)

Nan A. Talese
* The Fabric of Night: A Novel by Christoph Peters (January 9, 2007)
* Delirium by Laura Restrepo (March 20, 2007)
* The Sirens of Baghdad: a Novel by Yasmina Khadra (May 8, 2007)

NYRB Classics
* That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda (Reissue, February 27, 2007)
* Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (Reissue, April 3, 2007)
* The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya (Reissue, April 17, 2007)

Random House
* Still Water Saints by Alex Espinoza (January 30, 2007)
* Radiance by Shaena Lambert (February 13, 2007)
* Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart (Trade Paperback, April 3, 2007)
* No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (May 1, 2007)
* A Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis (May 8, 2007)
* Tom Bedlam: a Novel by George Hagen (June 5, 2007)

Shaye Areheart Books
* The Prince of Nantucket: a novel by Jan Goldstein (April 24, 2007)
* A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans (May 22, 2007)

Three Rivers Press
* The Moonlit Cage: A Novel by Linda Holeman (March 27, 2007)
* 13 Bullets: a Vampire Tale by David Wellington (May 22, 2007)
* To Dance with Kings: a Novel by Rosalind Laker (May 22, 2007)
* Dark Angels: a Novel by Karleen Koen (May 29, 2007)
* Wish Club by Kim Strickland (May 29, 2007)
* Turning the Tables: A Novel by Rita Rudner (June 26, 2007)

Vertical
* The Cat in the Coffin by Mariko Koike (June 5, 2007)

Villard
* There’s a Slight Chance I Might be Going to Hell by Laurie Notaro (May 29, 2007)

Vintage Canada
* The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeister (Trade Paperback, January 9, 2007)
* Lost Echoes by Joe R. Lansdale (February 13, 2007)
* The Truth About Sascha Knisch by Aris Fioretos (February 27, 2007)
* The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly (Trade Paperback, March 6, 2007)
* The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers (Trade Paperback, March 27, 2007)
* Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard (Trade Paperback, March 27, 2007)
* Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Trade Paperback, April 10, 2007)
* The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D’Ambrosio (Trade Paperback, April 10, 2007) %
* By the Time You Read This by Giles Blunt (Trade Paperback, May 8, 2007)

William Heinemann
* Nine Nights by Bernardo Carvalho (February 27, 2007)
* Cupid’s Darts by David Nobbs (March 27, 2007)
* Forgotten Dreams by Katie Flynn (May 22, 2007)
* A Most Dangerous Woman by Lee Jackson (May 22, 2007)

tags: books reading winter and spring books 2007 publishing Anchor Books Ballantine Books Bantam Books Bond Street Books Broadway Books Chatto & Windus Crown Del Rey Delacorte Press Dial Press Doubleday Canada Harvill Secker Knopf Little Bookroom Nan A. Talese NYRB Classics Random House Shaye Areheart Books Three Rivers Press Vertical Villard Vintage Canada William Heinemann