New York Times book critic Dwight Garner is at it again – writing a review that immediately compels you to pick up a book you might not have given a second glance, based on his confident comparisons to similar titles, his sensitivity to good writing, and his own seductive storytelling flair.

This time it is I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay, a look at the roots of the global financial crisis by English novelist John Lancaster (The Debt to Pleasure), who began by researching a novel but found the facts so compelling he chose to write a work of nonfiction. It’s already up to #94 on Amazon.

Forty-six libraries have this book, according to World Cat. Those we checked show reserve ratios of five to one on modest orders.

Here are a few of Garner’s most compelling endorsements of the book:

“Few if any [similar] books will be as pleasurable — and by that I mean as literate or as wickedly funny — as John Lanchester’s.”

“If you don’t know how derivatives or credit default swaps work, or what securitization is, or why futures are riskier than options, this is a book for you.”

“Mr. Lanchester’s history lesson is peppered with dead-on references to everything, including ‘Annie Hall,’ ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘The Wire,’ Hemingway and Jacques Derrida. He is effortlessly epigrammatical.”

I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay John Lanchester Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 1439169845 / 9781439169841

If you’re looking for a quick reminder of favorite winter-themed titles for a book display, check out my article in the new Nick Jr. on “Books that Celebrate Winter.”

George Lucas appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart  last night. They spent barely a minute talking about the ostensible reason Lucas was on the show, to promote the book, George Lucas’s Blockbusting. Nonetheless, the book is currently the fastest-rising title on Amazon’s sales rankings, going to #116 from #40,609.

Stewart commented that he loves all the “crazy details” in the charts in the book. It reminds him of one of “those great Jane’s sports books that are filled with great statistics and facts.” Who knew that Jane’s had branched out into sports!

A much better description of the book is available at the StarWars site,

…a comprehensive look at 300 of the most financially and/or critically successful motion pictures of all time — many made despite seemingly insurmountable economic, cultural, and political challenges — set against the prevailing production, distribution, exhibition, marketing, and technology trends of each decade in movie business history.

The post also features an interview with one of the editors.

The book was not reviewed prepub and is not owned by most libraries

————————–

George Lucas’s Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success Alex Ben Block, Lucy Autrey Wilson Retail Price: $29.99 Paperback: 976 pages Publisher: It Books – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061778893 / 9780061778896

The hot topic of the new crop of self help books is saving money. Elizabeth Leamy, consumer correspondent for ABC’s Good Morning America, says in her new book, Save Big, that you can forget saving small by cutting out lattes and packing your own lunch and save big in other areas. She’s been appearing on Good Morning America this week to promote the book.

Most libraries haven’t ordered it; it was not reviewed prepub.

SAVE BIG: Cut Your Top 5 Costs and Save Thousands Elisabeth Leamy Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 338 pages Publisher: Wiley – (2009-12-14) ISBN / EAN: 0470554215 / 9780470554210

If you’re like me, when you checked you calendar yesterday, you suddenly realized that MidWinter is NEXT week. HOW did that happen?

I know none of you, dear readers, are procrastinators. But you may have a friend who procrastinates and then is angry that she missed all the great author events at ALA.

Here’s how she can put together her schedule quickly:

1) Check out ALA’s rundown of authors (some with highly anticipated new titles, like Elizabeth Gilbert and Tracy Chevalier) who will be appearing.

2) Don’t miss these events that are not on ALA’s list:

AAP Author Breakfast
Sunday, January 17, 2010
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Room 151 A/B Convention Center

What a deal;  free breakfast with SIX major short story writers, including NBA winner Ha Jin (as you know, critics proclaimed 2009 the Year of the Short Story, but clearly 2010 will also be a strong year), sponsored by the Assoc. of American Publishers (the invitation lists all the authors). It’s free, but you have to send an RSVP to Marlene Scheuermann at the AAP.

Publisher Title Presentations
This is a great way to get a jump on the  Spring/Summer seasons and to get at inside look at what the library marketing reps are particularly excited about, as well as a chance to load up on major galleys. Two of the largest trade houses will be doing title presentations:

HarperCollins
Saturday, January 16, 2010
10:00 AM – 11:15 AM — Adult Titles
11:30 to 12:30 — Children’s Titles
Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel
(Connected to the Boston Convention Center)
425 Summer Street
Burroughs Room
Boston, Massachusetts
Please RSVP by emailing Bobby Brinson so there will be an adequate number of galleys, tote bags and goodies.

Random House, Inc.
Sunday, January 17th
Children’s Titles: 10:30am – 11:30am
Adult Titles: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
RSVP to library@randomhouse.com for location information.

ALCTS – CMDS  and RUSA – CODES — Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group
Monday, January 18
1:30 – 3:00 p.m
Room 156 Convention Center
A rare opportunity to find out what other coll. dev. librarians from around the country are thinking

Sunday, January 17th
4-6pm
RUSA Book and Media Awards
Intercontinental, Rose Kennedy III
Celebrate the genres with the Reading List Awards announcements, as well as the Notable Book Awards, the Dartmouth Medal, the Zora Neale Hurston Award, the Sophie Brody Award, the Louis Shores, and Outstanding Reference Sources, as well as many others.

Kirkus will continue publishing. Managing editor Eric Liebetrau sent out an email to colleagues today, saying that there may be a buyer after all and they are restarting publication.

Certain editors and agents who expressed delight that Kirkus was being shut down may be facing a dinner of crow.

(via Sarah Weinman at Daily Finance)

The rebroadcast yesterday of Oprah’s show with Tal Ronnen, her favorite vegan chef, shot the book up Amazon’s charts (to #3 from #407).

Most libraries are showing heavy holds; 5 to 1 is typical.

The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat Tal Ronnen Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061874337 / 9780061874338

Michael Pollan appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. The appearance sent his new book, Food Rules, to #5 on Amazon sales rankings.

Libraries that own the book show heavy holds. Several do not; it was not reviewed prepub.

An original paperback, the book is described by the publisher as a “pocket compendium of food wisdom.” Some of the pieces of wisdom? “Avoid foods you see advertised on television” and “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.”

—————–

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual Michael Pollan Retail Price: $11.00 Paperback: 112 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) – (2009-12-29) ISBN / EAN: 014311638X / 9780143116387

eBook downloadable from OverDrive

The New York Times Science section calls Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle, “an exquisite picture guide to the universe,” adding, “Actually ‘exquisite’ does not really do justice to the aesthetic and literary merits of the book…”

Online, the NYT offers a slide show of some of the book’s amazing images.

The book is owned by most large libraries. Today, it rose from #29,203 on Amazon sales rankings to #18.

Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle Michael Benson Retail Price: $55.00 Hardcover: 328 pages Publisher: Abrams – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0810949482 / 9780810949485

One of the biggest gainers on Amazon sales rankings today is not owned by most libraries (it wasn’t reviewed prepub); Stop Getting Ripped Off by Bob Sullivan rose to #18 from a lowly #10,432 after an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air last night. Sullivan is a reporter for MSNBC.com covering computer crime and consumer affairs.

Confusing title alert: Fight for Your Money: How to Stop Getting Ripped Off and Save a Fortune, by David Bach came out in March and is owned by most libraries.

——————-

Stop Getting Ripped Off: Why Consumers Get Screwed, and How You Can Always Get a Fair Deal Bob Sullivan Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2009-12-29) ISBN / EAN: 034551159X / 9780345511591

eBook available from OverDrive

Pilots always run through a checklist before a flight. On the other hand, surgeons don’t, relying instead on their considerable knowledge, training and instinct. Harvard Medical School surgeon Atul Gawande, wondered if checklists might be useful in medicine. He tested the idea and found it produced not only better results, but “massively better results.”

Something as simple as making sure everyone in the operating room knew each other’s names resulted in a 35% reduction in the number of complications and deaths. Why? Because once everyone introduced themselves, they were more likely to speak up if they saw a problem.

Gawande, who besides being a surgeon, also writes for the New Yorker, discusses his findings in The Checklist Manifesto. He was interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition today. As a result, the book rose to #57 from #245 on Amazon sales rankings. Holds are heavy in many libraries.

NOTE: Gawande is Sunday’s Sunrise Speaker at the upcoming ALA MidWinter in Boston; Jan. 17, 8 to 9 a.m, Grand Ballroom, Boston Convention Center.

—————————–

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right Atul Gawande Retail Price: $24.50 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Metropolitan Books – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 0805091742 / 9780805091748

Macmillan Audio: UNAB CD; 9781427208989; $29.99

Katherine Paterson takes the helm as the new Ambassador for Young People’s Literature today. She’s the second to hold that position and the first woman (Jon Scieszka filled the post admirably last year).

The position was created “to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature,” so it is fitting that the New York Times‘ publishing reporter, Motoko Rich, interviews Paterson today.

Paterson tells Rich,

I want people to be reading about children of other places and other races and religions. I think novels are a wonderful way to do that because you get in somebody else’s psyche and you see things quite differently than the way you see things simply through your own eyes.

Hurrah; Scholastic is reviving the Baby Sitters Club.

I don’t know about you but I have a whole new generation of readers who will love a refreshed look and updating (no more “perms;” the girls will now have their hair “styled”). I’m not the only one excited about it; the NYT devoted a fairly long story to the announcement.

The first two volumes are coming in April, along with a newly written prequel, The Summer Before, which will be followed by a reissue of three more next year (ther are 213 titles in the entire series).

As a sign of how things have changed since the series’ original publication (1986 to 2000), they are now being aimed at a slightly younger ages group — 7 to 10, rather than 8 to 12.

The Summer Before (Babysitters Club) Ann M. Martin Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Scholastic Inc. – (2010-04-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545160936 / 9780545160933

—————–

—————-

—————-

What’s the best one-line description you’ve ever heard, or used, for a book?

A friend of mine just described Larry McMurtry’s Rhino Ranch this way, “When I was done, I thought I’d grown up with all of his characters.”

Makes me want to pick it up.

Rhino Ranch: A Novel Larry McMurtry Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2009-08-11) ISBN / EAN: 1439156395 / 9781439156391

Tracy Chevalier talks about the true story behind her book Remarkable Creatures on NPR’s All Things Considered.

The book is being released this week.
NOTE: Chevalier will be speaking at MidWinter, as part of the ALA/ERT Author Forum, “From Book to Big Screen” (Fri., Jan. 15, 4–5:15 p.m.)

———–

Remarkable Creatures Tracy Chevalier Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Dutton Adult – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 0525951458 / 9780525951452

Audio from Penguin Audiobooks (01/01/2010)

• Compact Disc: $ 39.95; ISBN 9780143145301

Large Print from Thorndike Press (01/01/2010)

• $33.95; ISBN 9781410422880