The third in the NYT‘s series on The Future of Reading focuses on school libraries in the digital age and features Stephanie Rosalia, librarian at Brooklyn’s Public School 225, in Coney Island (The Future of Reading – In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update).

As the article makes clear, even though school librarians are on the front lines of the future of reading, their own futures are not rosy,

Yet as school librarians increasingly teach students crucial skills needed not only in school, but also on the job and in daily life, they are often the first casualties of school budget crunches.

A video of Rosalia interacting with her students accompanies the article; it effectively shows how central school librarians are to learning. Here’s hoping it will help the argument to save school libraries.

The two previous articles in “The Future of Reading” series are:

Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers

Literacy Debate – Online, R U Really Reading?

Two very different movies based on books open today.

Confessions of a Shopaholic has been endlessly promoted. Its Valentine’s Day weekend opening may be a bid to get a slight box-office boost from men, who, under cupid’s influence, may be slightly more amenable to being dragged to a chick flick.

The other book-based film, Gomorrah has received much less promotion and definitely has little to do with cupid (unless you associate the word “massacre” with “Valentine’s Day”).

About the Mafia in Naples (called “Camora”; the movie title is a pun on the name), it is based on the 2006 exposé by an Italian journalist (published here in 2007). The book was reviewed by all the prepub journals (getting a star from Booklist) and widely in the consumer media:

• New York Times Book Review, 11/25/07, Underworld
• New York Times, 11/14/07, Where Savage Parasites Rot a Nation from Within
• Washington Post Book World, 11/4/07, Good Fellas: A young Italian laments how Naples has fallen under the sway of brutal mobsters.
• Christian Science Monitor, 11/6/07, In Naples, the Sopranos’ scarier cousins; Journalist Robert Saviano’s eyepopping look at La Camorra.

The movie, an Italian production is opening in a limited number of theaters. It won the 2008 Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and receives a strong review in the New York Times today (unlike Shopaholic).

The hardcover edition of the book is owned by most large libraries, with heavy holds in some areas. The tie-in edition was released in November. It is also available as an unabridged audio.

Gomorrah

Saviano, Roberto

• Paperback: $15; 320 pages
• Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (November 25, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0312427794
• ISBN-13: 978-0312427795

• Unabridged Audio: Tantor
• Narrated by: Michael Kramer
• 9 Audio CDs (Library Binder Pkg): 9781400135578

• List Price: $69.99

For your Friday viewing pleasure, the trailer for the movie, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (a remake of the 1974 movie starring Walter Mathau and Robert Shaw, which was based on the 1973 bestseller of the same name by John Godey), is now available.

The remake is directed by Tony Scott, stars Denzel Washington and John Travolta and will be in theaters June 12th.

Berkley is reissuing the book in May:

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Godey, John

• Paperback: $9.99; 384 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (May 5, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0425228797
• ISBN-13: 978-0425228791

Given all the media attention, it’s no surprise that Joe Torre’s book, The Yankee Years hits the NYT Nonfiction list. Not only is it a hit, it’s a  home run, landing at #1.

Libraries are showing modest ordering, with strong holds.

The Yankee Years

Torre, Joe and Verducci, Tom

• Hardcover: $26.95; 512 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (February 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0385527403
• ISBN-13: 978-0385527408

• Large Print, Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Random House, (February 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0739328328
• ISBN-13: 978-0739328323

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A somewhat less sure bet is Amy Dickinson’s The Mighty Queens of Freeville, which goes on the Nonfiction list at #16 (it’s tied with #15, another debut title, The Inaugural Address). However, as Ann Lander’s successor and a regular on NPR’s quiz show “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”, she has what publishers call a “platform” (the Wall Street Journal wrote earlier this week about the “growing significance of authors who have their own media platforms.” Oh, please! Publishers have been pursuing authors with platforms for years.)

The Mighty Queens of Freeville

Dickinson, Amy

• Hardcover: $22.99; 240 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (February 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 1401322859
• ISBN-13: 978-1401322854

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On the Fiction list, Ace/Berkley’s move to publish Patricia Briggs’s fourth title in her urban fantasy series in hardcover pays off; Bone Crossed hits at #3 (for some reason, the NYT‘s dry annotation strikes me as hilarious; “ A shapeshifter who works as an auto mechanic in Washington State is menaced by a vampire.”). Library ordering is fairly light and reserves are  as high as 9 to one in some areas.

Bone Crossed

Briggs, Patricia

• Hardcover: $24.95; 309 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover (February 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0441016766
• ISBN-13: 978-0441016761

Other titles new to the Fiction list are:

#5 True Colors, Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s, $25.95

#9 Very Valentine, Adriana Trigiani, Harper, $25.99

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In Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous, The Element by motivational speaker Ken Robinson (you guessed it, he has a “platform”) debuts at #7 (tied with #6, High Voltage Tattoo).

Robinson, Ken

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

• Hardcover: $25.95; 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (January 8, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0670020478
• ISBN-13: 978-0670020478

• Audio CD: Unabridged
• Publisher: Tantor Media;  (January 1, 2009)
• 7 Audio CDs: $34.99,  9781400110605
• 7 Audio CDs: $69.99, 9781400140602
• 1 Mp3-CD: $24.99,   9781400160600

 

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On the Childrens Paperback list, Evermore, the first book in Alyson Noël’s paranormal series, “Immortals” debuts at #3.

Evermore

Alyson Noël

• Paperback: $9.95; 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (February 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 031253275X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312532758

From all accounts, Abraham Verghese wowed the crowd as part of a stellar author breakfast at ALA MidWinter.

His first novel, Cutting for Stone (he’s written two memoirs, The Tennis Partner, 1998, and My Own Country, 1994) is being reviewed widely and is building reserve lists in some libraries.

Verghese’s also won over Tina Brown, who interviews him in The Daily Beast this week. She says his book kept her “absorbed and enthralled all the way to India two weeks ago.”

It’s a book with a complex narrative, making it difficult, if not exhausting, to describe. Writing about this #1 Indie Next List pick for March, bookseller Meredith Allison gave up on plot summary altogether and just said,

Cutting for Stone resists easy categorization — it is just as much the chronicle of a bond between twin brothers and family as it is a book about medicine, or a story of grace. Verghese’s carefully drawn characters are compelling and unforgettable — this is a book you will have to share with others, if you can bear parting with your copy.

In the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, the reviewer acknowledges that readers may not leap at the book,

Any doubts you might (reasonably) harbor about a 534-page first novel by a physician in his 50s will be allayed in the first few pages of this marvelous book. Abraham Verghese has written two graceful memoirs — the first about his experiences with AIDS patients in Appalachia, the second about his friendship with a drug-addicted medical student — but Cutting for Stone, his wildly imaginative fictional debut, is looser, bigger, even better.

NYT Book Review was more critical, saying the novel should be lauded for its ambition but that it gets bogged down in overwriting.

Other reviews:

Washington Post Book World, 2/1, “Healing the Past; A doctor’s search for his twin brother”

Even with its many stories and layers, Cutting for Stone remains clear and concise. Verghese paints a vivid picture of these settings, the practice of medicine (he is also a physician) and the characters’ inner conflicts. I felt as though I were with these people, eating dinner with them even

San Francisco Chronicle, 2/1, Cutting for Stone

With all the traits of a great 19th century novel – a personal and intense narrative with coincidences and an unexpected denouement – Cutting for Stone is destined for success.

Cutting for Stone

Vergese, Abraham

• Audio CD: $44.95
• Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (February 3, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0739382853
• ISBN-13: 978-0739382851
• Download: Overdrive

This week, both Entertainment Weekly and People get The Help, a first novel by Kathryn Stockett.

EW gives it an A- and notes that it works despite an unpreposessing premise:

The backstory is cringeworthy: A young, white first-time author — inspired by her own childhood relationship with her family maid in Jackson, Miss. — sets out to write a novel from the point of view of black maids in the midst of the civil rights era.

But finds it,

…graceful and real, a compulsively readable story of three women who watch the Mississippi ground shifting 
beneath their feet

The review ends with this kicker,

…When folks at your book club wonder what to read next month, go on and pitch this wholly 
satisfying novel with confidence

People gives it 3.5 out of a possible 4 stars and predicts the book will make you “cheer out loud.”

In prepub reviews, Publisher Weekly called it, “Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it.” Kirkus, said, testily, “This genuine page-turner offers a whiff of white liberal self-congratulation that won’t hurt its appeal and probably spells big success.”

Most libraries have ordered a cautious number (one copy per large branch), typical for a first novel. Reserves are developing; two to one in some areas.

The Help is one of four titles on the first list from Putnam’s new imprint, Amy Einhorn Books. Einhorn left Grand Central last year where she was hardcover editor-in-chief to begin this imprint. In a letter introducing the imprint in Putnam’s Winter catalog (p37), she said she aims to hit “that sweet spot between the literary and the commercial,” which is certainly the hope of many editors. She has had a good track record in that “sweet spot” — at Grand Central, she worked with Robert Hicks (The Widow of the South), Susan Jane Gilman (Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress) and Min Jin Lee (Free Food for Millionaires).

The Help

Stockett, Kathryn

• Audio CD: $39.95, Unabridged
• Publisher: Penguin Audio;  (February 10, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0143144189
• ISBN-13: 978-0143144182

The Wall Street Journal reports that John Grisham is close to finalizing an agreement to make all 22 of his titles available in all e-book formats.

This represents a significant endorsement of the format, since Grisham’s literary agent says they decided to sit on the sidelines until eBooks became a “more mature marketplace.”

Getting real figures on that marketplace is impossible, as the article notes. However, the WSJ quotes Arthur Klebanoff, CEO of eBook publisher RosettaBooks, who estimates that the Kindle accounts for 2/3 of total consumer eBook sales (whatever that is!)

The Fall/Winter publishing season was brought a deluge of Lincoln books, in anticipation of the 200th anniversary of his birth, no doubt the reason that Gettysburg College chose to award the 2009 Lincoln prize to two authors.

The winners are announced in the New York Times. A list of past prize winners is available on the Gettysburg College site.

First Place winners:

Tried by War

McPherson, James

• Hardcover: $35; 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press, (October 7, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1594201919
• ISBN-13: 978-1594201912

• Audio CD: Unabridged; $39.95
• Publisher: Penguin Audio; (October 7, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0143143603
• ISBN-13: 978-0143143604
• Audio Download: NetLibrary

• Large Type Hardcover: $31.95
• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• ISBN-10: 141041339X 
• ISBN 13:  9781410413390 

Lincoln and His Admirals

Symonds, Craig

• Hardcover: $27.95; 448 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 17, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0195310225
• ISBN-13: 978-0195310221

Out today and moving up Amazon’s sales rankings (from #99 to #26), is Christopher Moore’s Fool, a comic retelling of King Lear.

Fool got strong reviews in all the prepub review media, with Booklist demurring slightly and offering this readers advisory note,

…His legion of fans will forgivingly enjoy it, while newcomers should be quickly steered toward The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove (1999) or The Stupidest Angel (2004) for a giddy taste of Moore at his ludicrous best.

Michael Dirda in the Washington Post, offers his own readers advisory take, 

…If you like Benny Hill’s leering music-hall routines or Terry Pratchett’s satirical Discworld novels, or George MacDonald Fraser’s rumbustious Flashman adventures, not to overlook the less well known comic fiction of, say, Tom Holt and Tom Sharpe, you’re almost certain to enjoy Christopher Moore’s latest romp.

Moore is interviewed in the Wall Street Journal, A Man of Infinite Jest, saying the book was influenced by Tom Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. 

Fool
Moore, Christopher

• Hardcover: $26.99; 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (February 10, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0060590319
• ISBN-13: 978-0060590314

• Audio CD: Unabridged, $39.99
• Publisher: HarperAudio; (February 10, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0061712590
• ISBN-13: 978-0061712593

Other consumer reviews to date:

• SF Chronicle (Moore is from SF), ‘Fool,’ by Christopher Moore
• Dallas Morning News, ‘Fool’ by Christopher Moore: making King Lear hilarious
• Christian Science Monitor, Fool; A wickedly funny retelling of King Lear and his court in a make-believe England.

It was expected to be the blockbuster of the Spring, but it appears fans will have to wait for Sara Gruen’s Ape House, her next novel after  the bestseller list fixture, Water for Elephants.

According to the Canadian trade magazine, Quill & Quire, Gruen is still working on the book; it may not be published until later this year or early next (EarlyWord got confirmation on the story from the publisher).

This is how the book was described in Doubleday’s Spring catalog:

Yesterday, Amazon held a press conference to formally introduce their new eReader, the Kindle 2, at the Morgan Library (symbolism or irony?). Photos show Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos brandishing a Kindle displaying a page from the Lindisfarne Gospels. Irony may be the operative word here, since it clearly shows that, although the Kindle 2 displays more shades of gray than the earlier model, it cannot yet rival a four-color book, or even a computer screen, as a display device.

But the point of the Kindle, at least for now, is not to reproduce heavily-illustrated books. As Bezos asserted when asked about Google’s larger catalog of scanned books, Amazon has newer titles and bestsellers; “We have tens of millions of customers buying books from us every day, and we know what it is that people want to read.”

News articles note these improvements to the device:

• It has seven times the memory and is slimmer than its predecessor (living up to two attributes of new technology, that it always gets smaller and faster)
• It’s the same price as Kindle 1, $359 (not living up to the third attribute of new technology, that it always gets cheaper)
• The battery door is now fixed so it doesn’t flop open
• The keyboard design is better, but not yet really cool
• It allows for speedier downloads
• You can sync between Kindles and cell phones (so you can read a book on your cell phone, then pick back up where you left off on your Kindle)
• It can “read” the book to you, using speech-to-text technology, setting off concerns by the Author’s Guild about audio rights.

Stephen King, also at the press conference, has written a novella specifically for the Kindle, called Ur. It will be available exclusively on the Kindle for a limited time.

The Wall Street video explores what’s cool, and what isn’t, about the new device:

A selection of stories on Kindle 2 (Google News search shows nearly 1200 articles):

• NYT — Amazon in Big Push for New Kindle Model
• WSJ — Amazon Unveils Slimmer Kindle
• Guardian — Stephen King writes ebook horror story for new Kindle
• ZD Net — Why did Amazon downplay the most important part of Kindle 2?
• PC World — Amazon Kindle 2: 10 Things You Should Know
• National Post, Canada — High-tech, yes, but it still can’t get past the border

The media is hearalding Thomas E. Ricks’s new book, The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, which releases tomorrow. Ricks appeared on Meet the Press yesterday.

A two-part excerpt is being featured in The Washington Post.

According to Shelf Awareness, Ricks’s upcoming appearances include:

The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
Ricks, Thomas E.

The New York Times “Theater” section reports Another ‘Coraline’ Waits in the Wings. Neal Gaiman’s novel will soon be a musical (the movie based on the book opened this weekend and was #3 at the box office).

The Times comments dryly that the casting is “unconventional”; 55-year-old Jayne Houdyshell will play the 9-year-old Coraline. Music and lyrics are by Stephin Merritt (lead singer and songwriter of the group Magnetic Fields); Leigh Silverman will direct. Previews begin May 7.

The 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth is nearly upon us. Henry Louis Gates’s new book, Lincoln on Race & Slavery comes out next week; his documentary, Looking for Lincoln, also airs on PBS next week. He is interviewed in both the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine.

Wall Street Journal, Lincoln in Black and White

Time, 10 Questions for Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The book is owned by surprisingly few public libraries; it appears it wasn’t reviewed prepub.

Lincoln on Race & Slavery

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

• Hardcover: $24.95; 408 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 11, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0691142343
• ISBN-13: 978-0691142340

Lincoln has always been a favorite subject (Gates claims that around 14,000 books have been written about him; more than any other American). Two publications look at  some new titles.

USA Today, Literature hails Lincoln on his bicentennial

Wall Street Journal, Abe Lincoln as He Really Was

The surprise hit movie Slumdog Millionaire, is nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and six other Oscars, is based on the book Q&A by Vikas Swarup. The Wall Street Journal does its own Q&A with the author today.

The book had very modest sales in hardcover, but the  tie-in paperback, re-titled to match the movie now has 100,000 copies in print.

Swarup has a second novel in the works, Six Suspects, which will be released here in late ’09 or ’10 (it’s already been pubbed in the UK), from his new publisher, Thomas Dunne/St. Martins.

Tie-in edition:

Slumdog Millionaire
Vikas Swarup

• Paperback: $15; 336 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (November 18, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1439136653
• ISBN-13: 978-1439136652

Slumdog Millionaire: The Shooting Script
Beaufoy, Simon with introduction by Danny Boyle