BookExpo America builds buzz for upcoming titles
By Carol Memmott, USA TODAY

Thousands of booksellers and publishing professionals gathered in Washington, D.C., over the weekend at BookExpo America to look ahead to the big books for fall. Three titles that had the most buzz at the annual convention:

•For One More Day by Mitch Albom, best-selling author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Albom says his new novel "focuses on the relationships between mothers and sons." It's about a man who loses his mother and years later is given the chance to spend one more day with her. In stores: Sept. 26.


IN SEARCH OF GOOD READS: More from BookExpo


•Thirteen Moons, Charles Frazier's first novel since 1997's Cold Mountain. Set in the 19th century, Moons is the story of a young white man adopted by members of the Cherokee nation. Publication date: Oct. 3.


•The Innocent Man: A True Story, the first non-fiction title from John Grisham. It's about Ronald Keith Williamson, a second-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 1971 who was convicted in the late 1980s of raping and killing a waitress in Oklahoma. Williamson was five days away from execution in 1999 when he was exonerated by DNA evidence. In stores: Oct. 10.


Robert Taecher, a buyer for the Borders bookstores, says Frazier's novel is one of many "upcoming books by established authors who haven't published new novels in a long time." Taecher says fans of Anna Quindlen, Jane Hamilton, Richard Ford, Jennifer Egan and William Boyd also can expect to find their novels in stores this fall.


Other fiction titles talked up at BookExpo:


•The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. Historical thriller that imagines what happened when Sigmund Freud visited America in 1909. September.


•The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. A mystery revolving around a woman who is invited by a reclusive author to write her biography. It will "be as big as The Historian and The Rule of Four," says Bob Wietrak, vice president of marketing at Barnes & Noble. September.


•After This by Alice McDermott. Follows an American family dealing with the changing world of the mid-20th century. September.


•One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. Jackson Brodie, protagonist in the author's successful 2004 novel Case Histories, is back. October.


Other hot non-fiction:


•The Audacity of Hope: Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama. The senator from Illinois lays out his vision for the country's political future. October.


•Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivial Pursuits by Ken Jennings. The author, a certified brainiac - he won on Jeopardy! 75 weeks in a row - writes of his game-show stardom. September.


•The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. Publisher Hill and Wang is calling this the "most accessible version" of the report.



BookExpo America builds buzz for upcoming titles - Yahoo! News