After a winter season barren of big books by big authors, our May—August hardcover on-sale listing has plenty of promise—even without a new tome about a boy wizard or a sure-fire Historian-like blockbuster. There are new novels from Phillip Roth, Anne Tyler, Anna Quindlen and Larry McMurtry, and a surprise appearance from Patricia Cornwell, with a novel currently being serialized in the New York TimesMagazine.
Those looking for publishing drama may find it in the will-she-or-won't-she-pull-it-off question, which will inevitably surround second novels from Julia Glass, Monica Ali, Curtis Sittenfeld and Carolyn Parkhurst, whose debuts were all bestsellers. The first adult novel from Anne Brashares, author of the YA hit Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, also has something to prove.
In nonfiction, there are guilty pleasures from desperate housewife Teri Hatcher, Sopranos star Lorraine Braccoand crooner Willie Nelson, who weighs in with lessons from a life of songwriting. For those who don't want to turn off their brains at the beach, Mark Bowden returns with Guests of the Ayatollah, while books by 9/11 Commission chair Thomas Kean, CNN anchor Anderson Cooperand the Vice President's daughter Mary Cheney pick up where the headlines left off.
MAY
Beach Road by James Patterson (Little, Brown, $27.95). 1.25 million first printing.
The Right Words at the Right Time Volume 2: Your Turn by Marlo Thomas (Atria, $25). 175,000 first printing.
MAY 3
Possible Side Effects: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin's, $23.95). 500,000 first printing.
Digging to America by Anne Tyler (Knopf, $24.95). 300,000 first printing.
Malinche by Laura Esquivel (Atria, $22.95). 250,000 first printing.
I Say a Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday, $21.95). 250,000 first printing.
Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life by Teri Hatcher (Hyperion, $24.95). 250,000 first printing.
Bad Twin by Gary Troup (Hyperion, $21.95). 250,000 first printing.
Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel—Why Everything You Know Is Wrong by John Stossel (Hyperion, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
Full of Grace by Dorothea Benton Frank (Morrow, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz (FSG, $27). 150,000 first printing.
The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs by Madeleine Albright (HarperCollins, $25.95). 150,000 first printing.
Failed State: America by Noam Chomsky (Metropolitan, $25). 150,000 first printing.
And You Know You ShouldBe Glad: A True Story of Friendshipby Bob Greene (William Morrow, $24.95). 150,000 first printing.
The One That Got Away by Howell Raines (Scribner, $25). 125,000 first printing.
MAY 5
The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart by Willie Nelson, with Turk Pipkin (Gotham, $20).
MAY 9
Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $25.95). 125,000 first printing.
May 10
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home by Nando Parrado (Crown, $25). 150,000 first printing.
The Pro: Lessons from My Father About Golf and Life by Butch Harmon (Crown, $25.95). 150,000 first printing.
F.U.B.A.R.: America's Right-Wing Nightmare—And How You Can Wake Up from Itby Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill (HarperCollins, $23.96). 100,000 first printing.
Everyman by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, $24). 100,000 first printing.
Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey (Knopf, $24). 75,000 first printing.
Second Sight by Amanda Quick (Putnam, $24.95).
May 16
Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden (Grove/ Atlantic, $24). 200,000 first printing.
Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War by Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss (Little, Brown, $25.95). 125,000 first printing.
Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random, $22.95).
May 17
The Prevention Revolution: TheCrisis of Cardiac Care and How You Can Prevent a Heart Attack or Stroke by Arthur Agatston, M.D. (Rodale, $25.95). 300,000 first printing.
Now It's My Turn: A Daughter's Chronicle of Political Life by Mary Cheney (S&S/Threshold Editions, $26). 250,000 first printing.
Killer by Joseph Finder (St. Martin's, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
The Hard Way by Lee Child (Delacorte, $25). 175,000 first printing.
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power by James Carroll (Houghton Mifflin, $28). 100,000 first printing.
Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee (FSG, $24). 75,000 first printing.
May 24
At Risk by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam, $21.95).
The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins, $25.95). 500,000 first printing.
The Whole World Over by Julia Glass (Pantheon, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
America: The Last Best Hope (Vol. 1): From the Age of Discovery to the Exploration of the West by Dr. William J. Bennett (Nelson Current, $31.99). 150,000 first printing.
America v. God: Why We Must Reverse the Assault on Faith in Our Courts by Jay Sekulow (Harper San Francisco, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
May 31
The Husbandby Dean Koontz (Bantam, $27). 525,000 first printing.
Killer Dreamsby Iris Johansen (Bantam, $26). 350,000 first printing.
Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry (S&S, $25). 250,000 first printing.
Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up at Night edited by James Patterson (Mira, $24.95).
JUNE
June 2
In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders (Riverhead, $23.95).
June 7
The New Ann Coulter by Ann Coulter (Crown Forum, $26.95). 1 million first printing.
The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver (S&S, $26). 300,000 first printing.
Captive of My Desires by Johanna Lindsey (Pocket, $25). 200,000 first printing.
Heat by Bill Buford (Knopf, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
In Defense of Hypocrisy: Picking Sides in the War on Virtue by Jeremy Lott (Nelson Current, $22.99). 40,000 first printing.
Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $24.95).
On the Couch by Lorraine Bracco (Putnam, $25.95).
The Saboteurs: A Men at War Novel by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam, $25.95).
The Girl of Lost Things by Ann Brashares (Riverhead, $23.95).
June 14
The Wrong Hostage by Elizabeth Lowell (William Morrow, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst (Little, Brown, $23.95). 175,000 first printing.
Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen (Bantam, $24). 100,000 first printing.
June 15
How to Set His Thighs on Fire: 76 Red-Hot Lessons on Love, Life, Men, and (Especially) Sex by Kate White (Warner, $21.95). 100,000 first printing.
June 21
Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $26.95). 1.25 million first printing.
Dispatches from the Edge of the World by Anderson Cooper (HarperCollins, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
June 28
Coming Out by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $20). 800,000 first printing.
The Traitor by Stephen Coonts (St. Martin's, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley, $24.95). 150,000 first printing.
Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot (Morrow, $21.95). 100,000 first printing.
Whose Freedom?: How the Right Is Stealing Our Most Precious Idea and What We Can Do About It by George Lakoff (FSG, $18). 75,000 first printing.
JULY
July 2
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, $25.95). 275,000 first printing.
July 5
Proof Positive by Phillip Margolin (HarperCollins, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
What They Want by Omar Tyree (S&S, $21.95).
July 11
Judge & Jury by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, Brown, $26.95). 1.25 million first printing.
July 12
Conservatives Without Conscience: Bush, Cheney, and the Radical Republicans Who Are Destroying the Nation's Democratic Values by John W. Dean (Viking, $25.95). 250,000 first printing.
Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke (S&S, $26). 200,000 first printing.
Cancer Vixen: A True Story by Marisa Acocella Marchetto (Knopf, $22). 100,000 first printing.
July 18
How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life by Art Linkletter and Mark Victor Hansen (Nelson, $24.99). 110,000 first printing.
July 19
Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper (Bantam, $25). 175,000 first printing.
July 26
Dead Wrong: A Novel of Suspense by J.A. Jance (William Morrow, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
Insight: Case Files from the Psychic World by Sylvia Browne, with Lindsay Harrison (Dutton, $25.95).
AUGUST
August 2
The Keep by Jennifer Egan (Knopf, $24). 100,000 first printing.
August 9
The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities by Darrell L. Bock, Ph.D. (Nelson, $21.99). 100,000 first printing.
Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali (Scribner, $25). 75,000 first printing.
The Red Hat Society Cookbook by Sue Ellen Cooper (Rutledge Hill, $24). 50,000 first printing.
August 16
Outcry by Sandra Brown (S&S, $25.95). 650,000 first printing.
Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography by Lou Holtz (Morrow, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton (Knopf, $25.95). 150,000 first printing.
Overcoming Life's Disappointments by Harold S. Kushner (Knopf, $21.95). 150,000 first printing.
August 22
The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights by Faye Kellerman (Warner, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
August 23
Summerall: My Life On and Off the Air by Pat Summerall (Nelson, $24.99). 105,000 first printing.
August 30
Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli (Warner, $26.95). 200,000 first printing.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (Knopf, $25). 75,000 first printing.
—with reporting by Raya Kuzyk
