USA Today’s “Book Buzz” column notes that Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope is now at #11, the highest it’s been on its 35 weeks on the list (it was at #25 last week). Meanwhile, Amazon shows the book even higher, currently at #3. His previous title, Dreams from My Father is also on the rise, at #26, up from #61, on the USA Today list. The column also notes that “Obama has a contract with Random House for two more books, one for children.” Hmm, wonder what the delivery dates are?

“Book Buzz” says Susan Jacoby may be the “Intellectual ‘It’ Girl,” of the moment because her book, The Age of American Unreason (Pantheon, $26) is one of those rare books by “a serious thinker … that grabs the popular culture’s imagination.” Rare, indeed. The column is only able to give two other examples, both from many years ago; The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch (1979) and The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom (1987). Jacoby appeared on the Today Show on Tuesday. Holds are building in libraries and several still have the title listed as “on order.” The book is not yet on the USA Today list (the list shows sales through the 17th, so it doesn’t take into account results from recent publicity). The publisher says there are now 56,000 in print. It rose to #2 on the Amazon list this week and is currently at #14.

The following titles are rising because of movie tie-ins:

Now at #16 The Other Boleyn Girl is up from #26. the movie releases at the end of the month.

Landing at #134 is Jumper by Steven Gould. The movie brought in $33.9 million since its opening on 2/14 (which included the President’s Day holiday weekend), putting it slightly ahead of The Spiderwick Chronicles. The following titles in the series moved up the list:

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide at #34, up from #67 after 7 weeks.

Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: The Nixie’s Song at #80, up from#132 after 9 weeks.

Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone at #85, up from #145 after 2 weeks.

It’s tough to say what’s the best line from today’s NY Times Op/Ed piece by Timothy Egan, “Book Lust.” In it, Egan challenges Steve Jobs’s recent comment that people don’t read any more.

I vote for this one as the most inspiring line:

Reading is… an engagement of the imagination with life experience. It’s fad-resistant, precisely because human beings are hard-wired for story, and intrinsically curious. Reading is not about product.

But the “Oh, snap!” moment is this one:

The latest Harry Potter book sold 9 million copies in its first 24 hours – in English. “The DaVinci Code,” a story of ideas even with its wooden characters and absurd plotting, has sold more than 60 million copies.

By contrast, Apple reported selling a piddling 3.7 million of the much-hyped iPhones through 2007. Is the iPhone dead? Of course not. But what should be dead are foolish statements about how human nature itself has changed because of some new diversion for our thumbs.

Vindicated:

Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball

• Hardcover: $25.95
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment (March 31, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1416591877
• ISBN-13: 978-1416591870

Speculation is building about who will be named in Canseco’s second book (after Juiced, 2005) for using steriods. The book is set for release on March 31st, following a change in publisher and allegations that Canseco offered to not name a player in exchange for investment in a movie project.

Of the ten libraries I track, only one has it on order. All of them own the earlier title.

The AP and many other news agencies, report today that Owen Wilson and co-star Jennifer Aniston are set to begin work on the movie Marley & Me, which is due out at Christmas.

After a reported suicide attempt, Wilson had dropped out of shooting another movie, Tropic Thunder and was replaced by Matthew McConaughey.

The following titles have been rising on Amazon during the last week:

• Hardcover:$26.00
• Publisher: Pantheon (February 12, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0375423745
• ISBN-13: 978-037542374

Several reviews, a feature by Laura Miller in Salon, an appearance on Bill Moyers Journal, plus several op/ed pieces by Jacoby herself, sent The Age of American Unreason to #2 on Amazon’s list where it stayed for several days. It’s now at #6 (and at #1 in Nonfiction). Her 2004 title, Freethinkers: a History of American Secularism also received a bump. It is now at #72.

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

• Paperback:$14.00
• Publisher: New World Library (September 29, 2004)
• ISBN-10: 1577314808
• ISBN-13: 978-1577314806

Tolle’s Oprah Pick New Earth has been at #1 since shortly after it was announced. His earlier title, The Power of Now, is also on the list at #14.

Manic: A Memoir

• Hardcover:$24.95
• Publisher: William Morrow (February 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061430234
• ISBN-13: 978-0061430237

Currently at #37, this title is listed as on order at most libraries — time to get it out on the shelves!

As tax time approaches, many may be wondering just where the money does go. Currently #45, this book has been in the high 20’s. It was not reviewed in the pre-pub media, so most libraries do not have it. The link above allows you to “browse inside” to find out more about the book.

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

• Hardcover:$24.95
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (February 14, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0525950494
• ISBN-13: 978-0525950493

Currently at #40, this title is still listed as on order in many libraries.

Baseball Prospectus 2008: The Essential Guide to the 2008 Baseball Season

• Paperback: $21.95
• Publisher: Plume (February 25, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0452289033
• ISBN-13: 978-0452289031

This is the new edition. Many libraries have the 2007 edition, but not this one.

The Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan, Book 6)

• Hardcover:$24.95
• Publisher: Eos (February 26, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0060788704
• ISBN-13: 978-0060788704

Due for release next week, this is already at #49 and #12 in “Literature and Fiction.” Most libraries have it on order.

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood

• Hardcover:$27.95
• Publisher: Penguin Press (February 14, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1594201528
• ISBN-13: 978-1594201523

Currently at #59, this has had quite a bit of media attention, including Newsweek, and the NYT Book Review. It is listed as “on order” or “in process” in most libraries

Change of Heart

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Atria (March 4, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0743496744
• ISBN-13: 978-0743496742

Already at #73 (and #18 in fiction), this one won’t be released until March 4.

Not Quite What I Was Planning:

Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061374059
• ISBN-13: 978-0061374050

This wasn’t reviewed in the pre-pub sources and therefore is not available in the libraries I checked. It has been getting a lot of attention in the press, including The New Yorker and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.” It reached a high of #73 yesterday and is now at #127. The book started as a contest in the online magazine SMITH; “Your life story in six words.”

The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association has posted their February list of top 5 favorite recent reads, including The Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone, calling it a “mystery as compelling as The Alienist.”

The IMBA’s bestseller list for January is also up on the site. They note that “relative newcomer Julie Hyzy topped the paperback list” with an original mass market paperback, her first in her “White House Chef” mysteries.

The American Booksellers Association has announced their Book Sense Picks for March. The top choice is Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (”This second entry in the nonstop, frenzied, comedic world of Isabel Spellman, P.I., is both more convoluted and funny than The Spellman Files.”), but my favorite hand-sell line is for The Philosopher’s Apprentice by James Morrow:

“If Plato, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche decided to tie one on, paint the town red, and, then, write a novel, they might be able to come up with something like this. Morrow’s tale of a sarcastic moralist and his unique protege shocks and perplexes, while taking the reader on a marvelous adventure.” –Michael Lyle, Market Street Books, Chapel Hill, NC On sale March 11

Newsweek’s Malcolm Jones adds his thoughts to the many on “the book of the moment” Beautiful Children, saying that author Charles Brock “knows how to tug at your heart, and he knows how to make you laugh out loud, often on the same page, sometimes in the same sentence. The only thing he doesn’t seem to know is when to quit.”

Borders new concept stores

Many years ago, when Borders began to expand their stores beyond Ann Arbor, media reports often commented, with some amazement, that they seemed like libraries. The stores had comfy chairs, encouraged browsing, offered lots of titles and even allowed people to read books they didn’t buy.

This week, Reuters trumpets,”New Borders Stores Combine Literary and Digital Worlds.” Hmm, now that sounds even MORE like a library. USA Today, in comparing bricks and mortar stores to online booksellers, reports, “One of the saving graces for bookstores, say analysts, consumers and industry officials, is they offer people with shared interests a site to gather and socialize.” Hmm, sounds like ALA past president, Leslie Burger, talking about libraries as community centers.

Borders premiered the first of its new “concept stores” yesterday. As USA Today puts it, the chain “hopes to reverse years of sluggish sales by reinventing itself as a hub for knowledge, entertainment and digital downloading.” They plan to open thirteen more stores by the end of the year. Among the new offerings, Borders is working with Internet companies such as Ancestor.com to allow customers to do genealogy searches.

It’s amusing to read about Borders new approaches to merchandising, like displaying cooking magazines and books together. How many different shelving approaches have libraries tried over the years?Borders press release gives full details (with a few ideas worth stealing).

• Hardcover: $22.99 (704 pages)
• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (August 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 031606792X
• ISBN-13: 978-0316067928

There’s no cover art yet and the publication date is nearly six months away, but Breaking Dawn is already at #10 on Amazon’s bestseller list. This is just further proof, if you needed it, of the popularity of Stephenie Meyer’s series of Y.A. vampire love stories, Twilight.

The series is known for its striking cover art and fans are already speculating on what the cover will be. Some are even creating their own versions (this one gets my vote). Capitalizing on this fervor, the publisher is keeping the cover under wraps until May 31 (the Saturday of Book Expo) when they will release a special hardcover edition of the third book in the series, Eclipse, which will include the cover art and first chapter of Breaking Dawn.

Last week’s announcement of the publication date also brought attention to Meyer’s adult title, The Host, to be released on May 6th. Its Amazon ranking is now #77. Although it is being published as an adult title, it is definitely a crossover title that belongs in Y.A. as well as adult.

• Hardcover: $25.99 (624 pages)
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (May 6, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0316068047
• ISBN-13: 978-0316068048

Twilight hits the big screen on Dec. 12, directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) and starring Kristen Stewart (Into The Wild) and Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

On her web site, Stephenie Meyer says she’s contemplating another book in the series, Midnight Sun, which will tell the Twilight story from the point of view of Edward Cullen (the vampire). The first chapter is posted on the site, but no publication date has been announced.

• Paperback:$18.00
• Publisher: Busted Flush Press, (December 3, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0976715732
• ISBN-13: 978-0976715733

On Friday, the Houston Chronicle profiled a tiny (a one-man house, you can’t get much smaller than that) independent press that has just received its second Edgar nomination for Best Short Story. The goal of Busted Flush (named after Travis McGee’s houseboat in the series by John D. MacDonald) is to bring back out-of-print mysteries and to publish anthologies of mystery short stories.

The nominated story is “Uncle,” by Daniel Woodrell, which appeared in A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir.

In 2007, Bill Crider’s “Cranked,” from the anthology Damn Near Dead was nominated.

According to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, may be made into two films. Producer David Barron worries that people will see such a move as cashing in on the franchise, but says it would solve the problem of compressing the book into two hours. Filming will begin February next year. Rumors that Steven Spielberg will direct it are being vehemently denied.

Meanwhile, the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is being shot in Gloucester and is scheduled for a November release.