Books: New and noteworthy

Paste BN's Jocelyn McClurg scopes out the hottest books on sale each week.

1. Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect: A Jack Ryan Novel by Mark Greaney (Putnam, fiction, on sale Dec. 2)

What it's about: President Jack Ryan is targeted for assassination by North Korea's dictator, who wants to acquire a nuclear missile capable of hitting the U.S.

The buzz: Clancy, who died last year, lives on through his former co-author's efforts; Greaney's Tom Clancy Support and Defend hit No. 6 on Paste BN's Best-Selling Books in July.

2. Selected Letters of Norman Mailer, edited by J. Michael Lennon (Random House, non-fiction, on sale Dec. 2)

What it's about: Collects letters the feisty American writer penned between 1941 and 2007, to everyone from Truman Capote to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The buzz: "A treat for Mailer fans," says Kirkus Reviews.

3. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami (Knopf, fiction, on sale Dec. 2)

What it's about: Books become threats in this illustrated story about a boy imprisoned in a library; by the acclaimed Japanese writer.

The buzz: "This dryly funny" tale (Publishers Weekly) follows Murakami's 2014 best seller Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

4. Life Could Be Verse by Kirk Douglas (Health Communications, non-fiction, on sale Dec. 2)

What it's about: The actor, who suffered a stroke in 1996, shows his lust for life in this small book filled with reminiscences, photos and poems.

The buzz: Arrives a week before Douglas celebrates his 98th birthday on Dec. 9.

5. When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, non-fiction, on sale Dec. 2)

What it's about: Tells the story of a program during World War II that made readers out of millions of GI's.

The buzz: "A fresh perspective on the trials of war and the power of books," says Kirkus.