New & Noteworthy Books

New & Forthcoming Books from
Independent & University Presses

See full list of noteworthy books by category below

Posted on November 23, 2011

Bin Laden's Bald Spot & Other Stories

Fiction by Brian Doyle

Red Hen Press, October 2011

ISBN-13: 978-1-59709-915-8

Paperback: 160pp; $16.95

From a priest who goes out with you for a beer after confession to a Bin Laden sporting a crewcut and a bald spot shaped like Iceland, Brian Doyle's characters inhabit an odd, hilarious world. The editor of Portland Magazine, Doyle has authored ten previous books, and his essays have been published worldwide. He is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and the 2008 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

Fiction by Shehan Karunatilaka

Graywolf Press, May 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1-55597-611-8

Paperback: 416pp; $16.00

Aging sportswriter W. G. Karunasena's liver is shot from years of drinking. As his health fades, he embarks with his friend Ari on a madcap search for legendary cricket bowler Pradeep Mathew. En route they discover a mysterious six-fingered coach, a Tamil Tiger warlord, and startling truths about their beloved sport and Sri Lanka.

The Plot Against Hip Hop

Fiction by Nelson George

Akashic Books, November 2011

ISBN-13: 978-1617750243

Paperback: 220pp; $15.95

A noir novel set in the world of hip hop culture. After a music critic is killed, his old friend begins to investigate his death and is led into a parallel history of hip hop, where real-life figures such as Jay-Z and Russell Simmons are mixed with a hidden world of FBI agents and Illuminati.

Rad Dad

Dispatches from the Frontiers of Fatherhood

Anthology Edited by Tomas Moniz, Jeremy Adam Smith

PM Press, September 2011

ISBN-13: 978-1-60486-481-6

Paperback: 200pp; $15.00

A compilation of essays from the award-winning magazine Rad Dad and the Daddy Dialectic blog, this new collection explores the complexities of modern fatherhood, covering such topics as the politics of the birth experience, the tests faced by transgendered and gay fathers, and the challenges of parenting on an equal basis with mothers.

Schoolgirl

Fiction by Osamu Dazai

Translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell

One Peace Books, October 2011

Paperback: 100pp; $11.95

Originally published in Japan in 1939, this novella traces a day in the life of a brooding, introspective teenager. Schoolgirl is reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye, yet predated that novel by 12 years. Considered one of the most important figures in post-war Japanese literature, author Osamu Dazai has a cult following in Japan today.

White Shirt

Poetry by Christopher Buckley

Univ of Tampa Press, October 2011

ISBN-13: 978-159732090-0

Paperback: 102pp; $24.00

The latest collection of poetry from Christopher Buckley. His last book, Rolling the Bones (2010), received the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. Raised in Santa Barbara, California, Buckley currently teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the University of California Riverside. He is recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, two NEA grants, a Fulbright Award to Yugoslavia, four Pushcart Prizes, the James Dickey Prize from Five Points magazine, and two Gertrude B. Claytor Memorial Awards from the Poetry Society of America.

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