Another Britney-Free "Early Word"! And it looks like Momma Spears' Down-Home Parenting For Dummies done got put on hold. Go figure... 

NONFICTION:

Race Card: How Bluffing about Bias Makes Race Relations Worse by Richard Thompson Ford

In a world of wayward hand-wringing in which self-serving individuals and political hacks use accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other types of "bias" to advance their own ends, tiresome charges of racism are employed by anyone from O.J. Simpson's lawyers alleging being framed by racist cops; to Oprah Winfrey suggesting skin color was an issue in her being turned away by a chic Paris store; to Michael Jackson pointing an ungloved finger at bigotry for his declining album sales. Bringing discerning legal analysis, constructive anecdotes, and no-nonsense common sense to the often controversial topic, Stanford Law School professor Richard Thompson Ford offers, in Race Card: How Bluffing about Bias Makes Race Relations Worse, a subtle study of "post-racist" America, exploring the progress made and yet to be attained, including such facets as affirmative action and profiling. Among Ford's conclusions is that the danger of unmerited allegations of racism draw attention to frivolous slights and distract from the pressing need to address larger social injustices.

What's Next: The Expert's Guide: Predictions from 50 of America's Most Compelling People by Jane Buckingham

Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections by Women Writers, Up Close and Personal by Susan Morrison

Sovereignties: History, Theory and Practice by Raia Prokhovnik

Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob by Lee Siegel

FICTION:

Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

"Near genius," "at once an accusation and a consolation," "big and wild -- it is as though Bock saved up everything," "careens from the seedy to the beautiful, the domestic to the epic": These are just a few of the superlatives from early critical responses in praise of the artistry and audaciousness of Las Vegas-born Charles Bock’s debut novel Beautiful Children, a sweeping portrait of a sad and dissolute Las Vegas from suburban suffocation to sexed-up exploitation. Newell Ewing, a hyperactive 12-year-old boy with a comic-book obsession, is central to this war of the worlds within a world when he vanishes one Saturday night after going out with his socially clumsy but considerably older friend. Support troops in the search and the battle of "people hurting people for no reason" include Newell's distraught parents, clinging onto a tenuous but tender marriage; a growth-stunted comic book illustrator; a stripper and her boyfriend/pimp who urges her to get breast implants and a porn shoot; and a gang of street kids.

Killer Year: A Criminal Anthology by Lee Child (Editor), Laura Lippman (Afterword)

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

Duma Key by Stephen King

Betrayal by John Lescroart

Inside Straight by George R. R. Martin (Editor)

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz