Holds Alert; Hot in Cuyahoga
Cleveland isn’t the only place where things are hot; Wendy Bartlett, from Cuyahoga County reports that several titles are taking off there. Holds for he forthcoming debut The Light Between Oceans by Australian writer, M.L. Stedman (S&S, 7/31) have risen so quickly that she just placed an order for six times the original number. So far, it hasn’t received much review attention, other than the lead in O Magazine’s Summer Reading List. It’s been mentioned on GalleyChat and Wendy herself featured it during the BEA librarian’s Shout and Share panel. Several other libraries are showing heavy holds on light ordering.
Also heating up is Mark Haddon’s The Red House, (RH/Doubleday; Random House Audio). Reviews have ranged from admiring (Ron Charles, The Washington Post) to perplexed (The New York Times Book Review). Similarly, libraries are showing a range of holds from heavy to very light.
The Playdate by Louise Millar (S&S/Atria/Emily Bestler) is a local phenomenon in Cuyahoga, where the influential Cleveland Plain Dealer gives it an irresistible review. A paperback original, it’s worth buying additional copies for browsing and readers advisory, even where holds are not building. Like this summer’s breakout, Gone Girl, it is a psychological thriller told in alternating first-person chapters. According to the Plain Dealer, it “starts out as one of those readable domestic novels — all friendship, social climbing and marriage trouble” but slowly becomes “taut, page-turning and surprising.”