The best books lists are beginning to flow, so we’ve put together a special links section (see Best Books 2008 at the right).

Since the end of the year coincides with the major gift-giving season, some of the lists are really gift guides, but they also offer an opportunity to look at categories that otherwise get overlooked (such as illustrated books). We’ve decided to include them all; the specialty lists can help you identify titles that fill a need in your collection, whether your own, or the library’s.

It looks like The Reader is back on the ‘08 movie schedule, with a limited opening on Dec. 10th, making it a contender for the ‘08 Oscars. 

Below is the updated information:

The Reader

Contender for:

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Screenplay

Best Actress: Kate Winslet (see also, Revolutionary Road)

Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes (see also, best suporting for The Duchess)

Opens: Dec 10, limited; Jan 9, wide

Director: Stephen Daldry

Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes

Based on: The Reader by Bernard Schlink

Movie Tie-in:

The Reader

Bernhard Schlink

• Mass Market Paperback: $7.99; 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Mti edition (December 30, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307473465
• ISBN-13: 978-0307473462

The movie tie-in edition of The Road appears on the new USA Today list at #43. The movie, originally scheduled to come out last week, was suddenly switched to an undefined date in 2009, leaving the tie-in seemingly stranded. But it seems that the book doesn’t need no stickin’ movie to be a bestseller again; all it needed was a new cover and prominent display.

There’s no new titles in childrens, but favorite backlist titles are returning to the list, signaling the advent of the major gift-giving season, such as The Cat in the Hat, Where the Wild Things Are and Polar Express

The USA Today list shows the top-selling 150 books, regardless of format, age level, or category. Here, we break down the titles new to the list by broad buying categories.

Adult Fiction

#5 Cross Country, James Patterson, Little, Brown

#30 Dashing Through the Snow, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark,  Simon & Schuster

#31 Private Patient, P.D. James,  Knopf

#128 Dying For Revenge, Eric Jerome Dickey,  Dutton Adult

 

Adult Nonfiction

#9 Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell,  Little, Brown

#45 Why We Suck, Denis Leary,  Viking Adult

#55 Do the Right Thing, Mike Huckabee,  Sentinel

#71 32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business, Earvin Magic Johnson,  Crown Business

#127 Annie Leibovitz at Work, Annie Leibovitz,  Random House

 

Paperback Originals

#91 The Pagan Stone, Nora Roberts,  Jove

#103 Talk of The Town, Karen Hawkins,  Pocket

 

Young Adult

#27 Burning Up: On Tour With the Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas,  Disney-Hyperion

#140 Night World # 2, L.J. Smith,  Simon Pulse

The current issue of USA Today features the new Starbucks pick, The Traveler. 

The book is a fable, but the story of the its road to publication is an inspirational tale for wannabe authors everywhere– a guy gets an idea, turns it into a book, asks his brother to illustrate it, sells it to a prestigious house, Starbucks picks it to feature in over 7,000 of their shops for the holidays.

What USA Today doesn’t point out is that the 26-year-old first-time author is hardly an outsider; he’s a former assistant to Gore Vidal.

The book is on sale now; it will be in Starbucks beginning Friday. Libraries have modest quantities on order, with few reserves.

The Traveler

Daren Simkin and Daniel Simkin (illustrations)

• Hardcover: $12.95; 48 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (November 25, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0374116393
• ISBN-13: 978-0374116392

February 12, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth and a raft of new Lincoln books are being published this fall, to tie in with the upcoming celebrations.

Nobody could have anticipated an even more powerful publicity push; a President-elect with a Lincoln fascination. Yesterday, he was photographed by the AP, carrying the recently-released Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan. (Thanks to our friends at Shelf Awareness for spotting it).

The book has been reviewed widely:

• LA Times, by Jack Lynch
• NYT, by Michiko Kakutani
• Washington Post, by Jonathan Yardley

Most libraries own the hardcover, but few have the audio.

 

 

Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer

by Fred Kaplan

• Hardcover:  $27.95; 416 pages
• Reader: Dan John Miller
• Publisher: Harper (October 28, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0060773340
• ISBN-13: 978-0060773342

The editor of the Oxford Project alerts us that the CBS Sunday Morning segment about the book is now available online (you’ll have to endure a short ad in the beginning):

The book is published by Welcome Books, an independent publisher of illustrated books, distributed by Random House. Welsome was co-founded by Lena Tabori (who also co-founded Stewart, Tabori and Chang) and the cartoonist Tom Wilson (Ziggy). Their catalog is included in our Downloadable Publisher Catalogs.

Another of their titles, The American Farmer will be featured on the Martha Stewart Show today. It is owned by half the large libraries I checked (with all copies in circulation). 

American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country

by Paul Mobley

• Hardcover: $50; 276 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Books (October 14, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1599620472
• ISBN-13: 978-1599620473

Among the many movies that will open during the holidays are several that are drawing Oscar speculation. Some of them are based on books.

The field has narrowed, as several titles that received earlier Oscar buzz have been moved to next year — The Soloist, The Reader [Update: it looks like The Reader will have a limited opening on Dec. 10th, making it eligible. We've added it back to the list] and The Road.

Variety is tracking all the contenders at their Awards Central section.

We’ve set up a page with all the movies getting Oscar speculation that are based on books. The nominees will be announced Jan. 22nd (with the Awards on Feb. 22nd).

The Reader

Contender for:

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Screenplay

Best Actress: Kate Winslet (see also, Revolutionary Road)

Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes (see also, best suporting for The Duchess)

Opens: Dec 10, limited; Jan 9, wide

Director: Stephen Daldry

Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes

Based on: The Reader by Bernard Schlink

Movie Tie-in:

The Reader

Bernhard Schlink

• Mass Market Paperback: $7.99; 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Mti edition (December 30, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307473465
• ISBN-13: 978-0307473462

——————————–

Revolutionary Road

Best Picture

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actress: Kate Winslet

Opens DEC 26 in selected theaters

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring:

Leonardo DiCaprio — Frank Wheeler

Kate Winslet — April Wheeler

Based on: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Movie tie-in:

Revolutionary Road

Richard Yates

• Paperback: $14.95; 368 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (November 25, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307454622
• ISBN-13: 978-0307454621

—————————-

Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Picture

Best Actor: Brad Pitt

Best Actress: Tilda Swinton

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett

Opens: DEC 25

Director: David Fincher

Based on: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Starring: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett with Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Julia Ormond

Many editions are available. Below is the tie-in:

• Paperback: $9.95; 64 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (August 14, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 1416556052
• ISBN-13: 978-1416556053

—————————-

Defiance

Best Picture (dark horse)

Best Actor: Viggo Mortensen

Best Director: Ed Zwick

Opens: DEC 31 (Limited); JAN 16 (Wide)

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Starring: Daniel Craig, George MacKay, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Allan Cordun

Based on: Defiance : The Bielski Partisans, by Nechama Tec (Oxford University Press, 1994)

The Bielski Partisans

Nechama Tec

• Paperback: $14.95; 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 26, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0195376854
• ISBN-13: 978-0195376852

Featured in NPR’s roundup of best illustrated books for gift-giving is one of our favorites, The Oxford Project. Libraries are showing heavy reserve to copies ratios. It was featured on CBS Sunday Morning recently. Unfortunately, that segment of the show is not available on the CBS Web site [update — the video is now available, see: ‘Oxford Project’ Update). 

The Oxford Project 
Stephen G. Bloom and Peter Feldstein

• Hardcover: $50; 264 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Books (September 16, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1599620480
• ISBN-13: 978-1599620480

How many of you equate Brooklyn with delicious baked goods?

Change your tune, non-Brooklynites. TWO of NPR’s picks of the best cookbooks of the year (Baked and The Sweet Melissa Baking Book) come from Brooklyn bakeries (both within walking distance of EarlyWord).

We’re waiting for our favorite street vendor, “The Treats Truck,” which also does its baking in Brooklyn, to produce a cookbook.

But, we digress. 

Holds are building on the following titles that were specifically mentioned on the show.

NPR correspondent Susan Chang’s top pick is by an NPR colleague, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.

The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio’s Award-Winning Food Show.

• Hardcover: $35; 352 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (April 8, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307346714
• ISBN-13: 978-0307346711

 

 

To see the rest of the titles, including The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, go to The 10 Best Cookbooks Of 2008. But don’t go if you’re hungry; NPR includes recipes from each title.