Summer Preview Mashup
The Los Angeles Times just published its picks of the books being pubbed this summer. Maybe it’s the heat wave we’re having in the Northeast, or, more likely, I have officially lost my mind, but I put together an Excel spreadsheet of the June through August titles selected by the LAT as well as those from the earlier USA Today and Wall Street Journal previews (a total of 107 titles) to spot overlaps.
All three lists are great Readers Advisory training tools (especially the WSJ and USA Today lists; they include nifty slide shows with covers, brief annotations, and some excerpts).
If you’re as crazy as I am, you may want to download my spreadsheet and do your own analysis.
Here’s mine:
There are very few overlaps. Just three titles were selected by all three publications (listed below, in order by publication date):
The Garden of Last Days
Andre Dubus III
- Hardcover: $24.95
- Publisher: Norton (June 2, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0393041654
- ISBN-13: 978-0393041651
On order in all libraries I checked; several with heavy reserves to copy ratios. It’s been reviewed widely in the consumer media, mostly favorably. The one major exception is Janet Maslin in yesterday’s New York Times. The more common view is expressed by John Dufresne in the Boston Globe.
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Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World
David Maraniss
- Hardcover: $32.95
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 1, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 1416534075
- ISBN-13: 978-1416534075
- Audio CD: Abridged, $29.95
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (July 1, 2008)
- Reader: David Maraniss
- ISBN-10: 0743572718
- ISBN-13: 978-0743572712
- Large Print: $32.95
- Publisher: Thorndike Press; (July 2008)
- ISBN-10: 1410408515
- ISBN-13: 978-1410408515
On order in small quantities in some libraries, with holds growing.
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Vanderbilt, Tom
Traffic: Why We Drive Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
- Hardcover: $24.95
- Publisher: Knopf (July 29, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0307264785
- ISBN-13: 9780307264787
- Audio CD: Abridged; $29.95
- Publisher: Random House Audio; (July 29, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0739370324
- ISBN-13: 978-0739370322
On order in most libraries I checked, in modest quantities, with holds beginning to build.
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One title was selected by both LAT and WSJ :
One More Year: Stories
Krasikov, Sana
- Hardcover: $21.95
- Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (August 12, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0385524390
- ISBN-13: 978-0385524391
On order, in small quantities, with some holds
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These three overlapped on the LAT and USA Today lists:
Furst, Alan
Spies of Warsaw
On our “Bestseller Watch”
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America, America: A Novel
Canin, Ethan
- Hardcover: $27.00
- Publisher: Random House (June 24, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0679456805
- ISBN-13: 978-0679456803
- Audio CD: Unabridged; $44.95
- Publisher: Random House Audio, (June 24, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0739368494
- ISBN-13: 978-0739368497
On order in libraries, with holds exceeding copies.
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Palace Council
Carter, Stephen L.
- Hardcover: $26.95
- Publisher: Knopf (July 8, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0307266583
- ISBN-13: 978-0307266583
- Audio CD: Abridged edition, $29.95
- Publisher: Random House Audio; (July 8, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0739343408
- ISBN-13: 978-0739343401
On order, with some holds.
===========================
The following four were chosen by USA Today and WSJ
Say You’re One of Them
Akpan, Uwem
- Hardcover: $23.99
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 9, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0316113786
- ISBN-13: 978-0316113786
As we mentioned yesterday, this one got an amazing review in the current Entertainment Weekly.
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Fearless Fourteen
Evanovich, Janet
No need to say much about this one — it’s already a bestseller.
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Oates, Joyce Carol
My Sister, My Love
- Hardcover: $25.95
- Publisher: Ecco (June 24, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0061547484
- ISBN-13: 978-0061547485
The only surprise here is that it wasn’t chosen by all three publications. It is, of course, on order for all the libraries I checked.
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Pharmakon
Dirk Wittenborn
- Hardcover: $25.95
- Publisher: Viking Adult (July 31, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0670019429
- ISBN-13: 978-0670019427
- Audio CD: Unabridged, $39.95
- Publisher: Penguin Audio; (July 31, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0143143298
- ISBN-13: 978-0143143291
On order, in small quantities, for most libraries.
