It was just pointed out that I confused two titles, both called Relentless Pursuit, in the 5/20 review roundup.

I noted that Relentless Pursuit, by Donna Foote, a book about the Teach for America program, reviewed in Slate, had been reviewed extensively elsewhere, including a negative review in the NYTimes. Unfortunately, the Times review was for a book of the same title, by Kevin Flynn, a true crime novel.

Here is the corrected entry:

Slate, 5/20 - Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America, Donna Foote

This book has also received other positive reviews, including one in The Chicago Tribune. 5/03

The author was also featured in US News and World Report, 3/5

Hurrah! USA Today’s Summer Books preview is up, listing 130+ of the season’s top books, with cover images and annotations for each and every one. It even has excerpts for some of the titles. Set up in a fun, interactive format (watch out, it’s addictive), it’s a great tool for readers advisory training.

Good as it is, it doesn’t take chances. The list is dominated by expected hits from authors with track records (no mention of The Art of Racing in the Rain, which just appeared on their Top 150 list at #129, after a few days on sale).

From that large crop, USA Today’s editors choose “The Authors of Summer,” with quick info. on each of the six, including why they’re hot.

James Bond is back in book form with the ‘Devil’
Devil May Care
By Sebastian Faulks

“Why it’s hot: It will be released on what would have been Fleming’s 100th birthday as part of a centennial celebration. Faulks is an acclaimed literary novelist, unlike Fleming, who was known more for his plots than style.”

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: Doubleday (May 28, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0385524285
• ISBN-13: 978-0385524285

• Audio CD: Unabridged
• Publisher: Random House Audio;, $29.95 (May 28, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0739366211
• ISBN-13: 978-0739366219

• Large Type: $24.95
• Publisher: Random House Large Print; (May 28, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0739327852
• ISBN-13: 978-0739327852

E. Lynn Harris proves to be quite ‘Good’

Just Too Good to Be True
by E. Lynn Harris
“Why it’s hot: After nine best-selling novels about the lives and loves of black Americans (gay, straight and bisexual), Harris has nailed the winning formula for a sexy, melodramatic beach read.”

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: Doubleday (July 15, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0385492723
• ISBN-13: 978-0385492720

Stephanie Klein remembers what it was like to be ‘Moose’
Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp
by Stephanie Klein
“Why it’s hot: It combines the classic misery-at-summer-camp story with the lengths we’ll go to get thin.”

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: William Morrow (May 27, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0060843292
• ISBN-13: 978-0060843298

W. Hodding Carter is holding his breath in the ‘Deep End’
Off the Deep End
By W. Hodding Carter

“Why it’s hot: Aimed at aging baby boomers, it’s dedicated ‘To all those aged athletes out there with a burning desire to kick some young butt.’ Publisher is touting it as Father’s Day gift.”

• Hardcover: 209 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (June 10, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1565125649
• ISBN-13: 978-1565125643

The matchless David Sedaris quits smoking in ‘Flames’
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
By David Sedaris
(Little, Brown, $25.99)

“Why it’s hot: Sedaris is on a roll after his wildly popular best-sellers Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.”

• Hardcover: $25.99
• Publisher: Little, Brown, (June 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0316143472
• ISBN-13: 978-0316143479

• Audio CD: Unabridged, $34.98
  
• Publisher: Hachette Audio; (June 3, 2008)
• Reader: David Sedaris
• ISBN-10: 1600241824
• ISBN-13: 978-1600241826

• Audio Cassette: Unabridged, $34.98
  
• Publisher: Hachette Audio (June 3, 2008)
• Reader: David Sedaris
• ISBN-10: 1600242316
• ISBN-13: 978-1600242311

• Large Type: $25.99
• Publisher: Little, Brown. (June 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0316024597
• ISBN-13: 978-0316024594

Emily Giffin is in top chick-lit form
Love the One You’re With

“Why it’s hot: The best-selling chick-lit author (Something Borrowed, Baby Proof) makes her highest debut on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list at No. 8 today with her latest novel.”

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (May 13, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0312348673
• ISBN-13: 978-0312348670

• Audio CD: Abridged, $24.95
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio; (May 13, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1427204217
• ISBN-13: 978-1427204219

The book that launched Michael Crichton’s career, his 1969 bestselling techno-thriller The Andromeda Strain will be a two-part miniseries on A&E, beginning on Memorial Day. The DVD releases on June 3rd.

Variety says it’s “The biggest production in A&E’s 23-year history.”

It was made into a movie of the same title in 1971.

ASIN: B0017IVHHO

She will if Kathy Freston has anything to do with it. The “vegan spiritual counselor” was featured on Oprah’s makeover show yesterday. No surprise, then, that her book Quantum Wellness sprang to #2 on Amazon where it’s remained (after the #1 title, The Last Lecture, and ahead of Oprah Book Club Selection, A New Earth).

Most libraries have ordered modestly (a few not at all). Significant levels of holds are building.

Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness

Kathy Freston

• Hardcover: $23.95
• Publisher: Weinstein Books (May 20, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1602860181
• ISBN-13: 978-1602860186

• Audio CD: listed as “currently unavailable” on Amazon
  
• Publisher: Weinstein Books (May 20, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1602860270
• ISBN-13: 978-1602860278

Continuing our experiment of rounding up the daily reviews, below is today’s listing. One title, The Wines of Burgundy, is not owned by most libraries I checked and libraries should consider adding more copies of Split: A Memoir of Divorce, which is building significant holds to copy ratios.

5/21 Reviews:

New York Times

• The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine (Crown, $24.95), by Benjamin Wallace — “one of the rare books on wine that transcends the genre.”

Also recently reviewed in USA Today, and the Seattle Times

• The Wines of Burgundy, Clive Coates, (University of California Press, $60

Not owned by the libraries I checked. Asimov calls it “a solid, in-depth reference on Burgundy — the best, in fact, since Mr. Coates’s own Côte d’Or (1997)”

• Reflections of a Wine Merchant: On a Lifetime in the Vineyards and Cellars of France and Italy, Neal I. Rosenthal, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24)

Also reviewed by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post and in last Sunday’s L.A. Times

• Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Family in the Heart of Italy, Sergio Esposito and Justine Van Der Leun, (Broadway Books, $24.95

Washington Post

BUSH’S LAW

The Remaking of American Justice

By Eric Lichtblau

Pantheon. 349 pp. $26.95

This has also been reviewed in the New York Times (4/3) and the Rocky Mountain News (4/18)

NPR (5/20)

Interview with James Frey, Bright Shiny Morning

Seattle Times

Split: A Memoir of Divorce

by Suzanne Finnamore

Dutton, 255 pp., $24.95

Also recently reviewed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer with this great line: “Suzanne Finnamore might just as well be the love child of Fay Weldon and Lily Tomlin. “Split: A Memoir of Divorce” is that ferocious, funny and dark.”

And USA Today 4/30, wrote, “Split is hilarious and moving. Finnamore falls apart, she drinks, she burns photos, she needs to be rescued by her mother and friends.”

Significant holds to copy ratios are building in several libraries.

Christian Science Monitor

Ghettostadt: Lodz and the Making of a Nazi City

By Gordon J. Horwitz

Belknap Press 416 pp., $29.95

Boston Globe

A Curious Earth
By Gerard Woodward
Norton, 290 pp., $14.95

Remember when presidents actually got caught reading?

The New York Times snapped a presidential candidate in the act this week. Barack Obama is shown, carrying a copy of Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World, as he walks off a plane in Montana, forefinger clearly marking his place, the sign of a true reader.

Thanks to our friends over at Shelf Awareness for spotting it.

Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, frequently appears on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the book has been reviewed widely. It’s on all the national bestseller lists (at #5 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction list and #7 on Amazon’s overall list).

Thomas Friedman features the book in his Op-Ed piece in today’s New York Times. He describes its central thesis;

…while the U.S. still has many unique assets, “the rise of the rest” — the Chinas, the Indias, the Brazils and even smaller nonstate actors — is creating a world where many other countries are slowly moving up to America’s level of economic clout and self-assertion, in every realm…If we don’t fix our political system and start thinking strategically about how to improve our competitiveness, [says Zakaria] “the U.S. risks having its unique and advantageous position in the world erode as other countries rise.”

Tellingly, Friedman adds,

The next president will have to manage these new rising states… while wearing the straightjacket left in the Oval Office by Mr. Bush.

Reserves are running high; as many as 25 to one in some places.

The Post-American World
Fareed Zakaria

• Hardcover: $25.95
• Publisher: W. W. Norton (May 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 039306235X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393062359

• Audio CD: Unabridged, $39.95
  
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; (May 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0743576853
• ISBN-13: 978-0743576857

People have told us that they like the convenience of our bestseller links (see “Best Seller Lists,” to the right), so we thought we’d try to do the same for reviews (see “Book Reviews,” to the left, under “Pages”).

RSS feeds automatically update links to specific reviews, which is great, but I’m not completely happy with the results. Only the headlines show in the feeds, not the titles of the books; I want to see at a glance what’s being covered. And, many important sources don’t offer feeds, while others are out of date or inconsistent.

So, in frustration, I put the following together manually for today’s reviews. Let me know if it’s worth the extra effort.

5/20 Reviews:

New York Times

APPLES & ORANGES: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found, Marie Brenner, Illustrated. 268 pages. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $24.

USA Today

Two submarine accounts:

Escape From the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew, Alex Kershaw, Da Capo Press, 217 pp., $27.95

A Tale of Two Subs: An Untold Story of World War II, Two Sister Ships and Extraordinary Heroism, Jonathan J. McCullough, Grand Central Publishing, 277 pp., $26.95

Salon - American Nerd: The Story of My People, Benjamin Nugen

Slate - Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America, Donna Foote

This book has other positive reviews, including one in The Chicago Tribune. 5/03

The author was also featured in US News and World Report, 3/5

Washington Post - HALLAM’S WAR, By Elisabeth Payne Rosen, Unbridled. 473 pp. $25.95

L.A. Times - Snuff, Chuck Palahniuk, Doubleday: 198 pp., $24.95

All Things Considered (5/19) -

Rabih Alameddine discusses his new book, The Hakawati

The author is on the current Titlepage.tv show.

Maureen Corrigan’s Summer Fiction Picks

Lady of the Snakes by Rachel Pastan;

The Sister by Poppy Adams;

The People on Privilege Hill by Jane Gardam; and

Exiles by Ron Hansen

Boston Globe

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic
Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who
Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom
By Simon Winchester
Harper Collins, 316 pp., illustrated, $27.95

This book has been reviewed by many sources, including USA Today, 5/8.

Winchester is also on the current Titlepage.tv show.

Barnes and Noble Review

The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby

Jacoby received quite a bit of attention when this book was pubbed in February. USA Today’s Book Buzz column called her “the “Intellectual ‘It’ Girl,” of the moment. The book appeared on several bestseller lists, including the New York Times Nonfiction, where it rose to #3. It went off the list in early April.

Business Week

The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company
By David A. Price
Knopf; 308pp; $27.95

Also reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, 5/16

Christian Science Monitor

General Lee’s Army, Joseph Glaathaar Simon & Schuster 600 pp., $35

Wall Street Journal

The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage
By Daniel Mark Epstein
(Ballantine, 559 pages, $28)

The Wall Street Journal today breaks the news that the new head of Random House, to be announced tomorrow, is expected to be someone totally unknown to American publishing, Marcus Dohle, the current head of Bertelsmann’s worldwide printing group, Arvato (the article includes a long string of official “no comments”). UPDATE, 8:36 a.m. — PW Daily says the news was made official in a memo to the staff this morning and Dohle will take over beginning May 31st.

The WSJ article (available only to subscribers), emphasizes that the 39-year-old Dohle has made his career by being entrepreneurial. He added cell phone repair, call centers and billing systems as well as pharmaceutical storage to Arvato’s traditional print business. This is credited with turning Arvato into a “major growth engine for Bertelsmann”, according to the Journal.

As to what Bertelsmann head, Hartmut Ostrowski is thinking, the WSJ states:

Mr. Ostrowski wants to introduce Arvato’s aggressive diversification drive to other parts of the company, including Random House, which is struggling to retain consumers increasingly drawn toward videogames, the Web and other forms of digital entertainment. One area of interest that Mr. Ostrowski already has flagged is education services.

Interesting, since many trade publishers divested their educational divisions in the ’90s. Random House never had one.

The online media gossip site, Gawker (which also runs a photo of Dohle, who is not pictured in the WSJ piece) gives their succinct take on the story with the headline, “New Random House Chief to Make Publishing Even Less Sexy.”

Further update, 9:30 a.m.: For those deep into Bertelsmann-ology, Publishers Lunch has links to download the various announcements to RH staff:

Ostrowski’s letter
Ostrowski’s in-house interview
Peter Olson’s letter to employees

Joseph O’Neill won raves from both Michiko Kakutani in the daily NY Times on Friday (comparing him favorably to Fitzgerald) and from Dwight Garner, Senior Editor of the NYT BR on Sunday. Garner calls his book, Netherland:

the wittiest, angriest, most exacting and most desolate work of fiction we’ve yet had about life in New York and London after the World Trade Center fell.

and still manages make you want to read it

O’Neil was born in Ireland and lived in the Netherlands before moving to New York (prompting the Atlantic to call his book “The Great Irish-Dutch-American Novel“).

All libraries I checked show it on order in modest quantities. Holds are building in a few areas. It is currently at #21 on Amazon’s Best Seller List and at #1 in the category of Literary Fiction.

Netherland

Joseph O’Neill

• Hardcover: $23.95
• Publisher: Pantheon; (May 20, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307377040
• ISBN-13: 978-0307377043

Yesterday, we did a Frey review mashup and compared the wild analogies that reviewers are using to describe the book. Today brings the most outrageous one yet, from Dierdre Donahue of USA Today:

Morning reads like a saccharine-sweet Hallmark Special that Oliver Stone wrote and Quentin Tarantino directed.

Whereas Time magazine’s Lev Grossman finds the book is “reminiscent of the socially conscious early 20th century naturalism of John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck,” Donahue invokes the same authors to make the opposite point;

Alas, Frey is no John Steinbeck or Dos Passos. Morning is a gusher, too often spouting bad prose, predictable plot turns, and one-dimensional characters (the poor ones are good, the rich one evil)

Looks like you may have some fun discussion at the New Books shelves!