Archive for September, 2016

Patterson Calls Off THE MURDER OF STEPHEN KING

Saturday, September 24th, 2016

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Stephen King can rest a bit more easily. James Patterson has called off the publication of a title in his new BookShots series, originally scheduled for November, The Murder of Stephen King.

Having announced the book just two weeks ago, its cancellation, reports The Guardian, was a result of Patterson “belatedly deciding that he did not want to cause King and his family ‘any discomfort.'”

It will be replaced with Taking the Titanic, co-authored with Derek Nikitas. A book with the same title, but co-authored by Scott Slaven, is listed on retailer and wholesaler sites for April. The Hachette site, however, has it listed for November, but still with Slaven as the co-author.

Several other new titles in the series have been announced, including a hardcover collection of four BookShot titles, Kill or Be Killed, set for publication in October, and three mass market “ominous” editions. See our downloadable spreadsheet, BookShots Oct, 2016 thru May,2017

Titles to Know and Recommend, Week of September 26, 2016

Friday, September 23rd, 2016

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Woman of God, James Patterson, Maxine Paetro, (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print).

The story as described by Kirkus, that sounds very different for Patterson and Paetro, about the “life of physician-turned-priest” who manages to be accepted by the Catholic Church. Kirkus concludes that it is “A high-concept pitch, a potboiler on the page, and a protagonist to cheer for, but the authors do not quite tie it all together.”

Also, this week, ads are promoting the YA title, Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco, published last week, that feature an arresting quote from Patterson, “The book I wish I had written.” He may not have written it, but he came close. It is published under the “James Patterson Presents” line, from his Hachette kids young readers imprint, Jimmy Patterson.

The Fever Code (Maze Runner, Book Five; Prequel), James Dasher, (RH/Delacorte; Listening Library).

Although it’s Book Five, this is billed as the prequel to the popular YA series. Meanwhile, the future of the Maze Runner series of movies is in doubt, after the injury on set of star, Dylan O’Brien, during the filming of the second movie.

The titles covered here, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet,Earlyword New Title Radar Week Of Sept 26 2016

Media Attention

Born to Run Springsteen  Springsteen, Vanity Fair

Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen, (S&S; S&S Audio; PRH/Vintage Espanol).

Surprisingly, a raft of advance media attention (including the cover of Vanity Fair‘s October issue, a profile on the most recent CBS Sunday Morning, and listed on nearly every fall reading preview) has not brought heavy holds for Springsteen’s autobiography. Reviewed by NPR earlier this week, it also gets the cover of this week’s New York Times Book Review, and is People‘s “Book of the Week,” saying, “It’s like sitting next to Springsteen in the campfire light hearing his life story — you’ll be begging or another exhilarating refrain.” Accompanying the publication is the release of a companion album, titled Chapter and Verse.

Critics Picks

9780761169086_ff360Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton (Workman; OverDrive Sample).

We’ve featured this as a holds alert. Entertainment Weekly features it in the Books section this week as “The World’s Coolest Travel Guide.”

Peer Picks

Two Indie Next picks publish this week:

9781476778501_09b02Irena’s Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto, Tilar J. Mazzeo (S&S/Gallery Books; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“There have been accounts of men who helped Jews and other victims of the Nazi regime escape the clutches of genocidal pogroms and mass slaughter, but this story is about a woman who courageously smuggled thousands of children to safety. Granted unusual access to the Warsaw ghetto as a public health specialist, Irena Sendler used her position to rescue children by various means, sometimes right under the noses of guards. As compelling as any great fiction thriller, Irena’s story will remain with the reader for a long time to come.” —Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, WA

Additional Buzz: Fall Reading selection by The Wall Street Journal, “New Books Trace the Holocaust’s Legacy.” [subscription may be required].

9780062437501_f4894Mercury, Margot Livesey (HC/Harper; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample).

“This riveting psychological novel delves into the lives of Donald and Vivian, a married couple whose stability is threatened and ultimately undermined when Vivian, whose former life as an aspiring equestrian was cut short, meets Mercury, a magnificent horse with a tragic history. What unfolds may seem like destiny to Vivian, but to Donald, a staid and deliberate ophthalmologist still mourning the death of his beloved father, it tests everything he’s ever known, including his faculty for navigating the world. A truly remarkable study of human nature and the blindspots that hinder us all.” —Mary Cotton, Newtonville Books, Newton, MA

Additional Buzz: The New Yorker calls it “consuming” in this week’s “Briefly Noted Book Reviews.” In LitHub‘s “The Great Booksellers Fall 2016 Preview,” a bookseller calls it “unforgettable,” noting “No one has a better understanding of human nature” than Livesey.

Tie-ins

9781501156588_0aeb0The film, Birth of a Nation, which is ironically uses the title of D.W. Griffith’s racist movie from a century ago, was hailed as an answer to Hollywood’s lack of diversity. It received a standing ovation before its screening earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Then it was revealed that the director had been been tried for rape while in college and many in Hollywood said they would refuse to see it, dimming Oscar predictions.

But the film did not face controversy at either the Toronto International Film Festival or its L.A. premiere. As a result, Deadline wrote, “Perhaps audiences – and Oscar voters – will decide that it should be judged on its own merits.”

The tie-in publishes this week, The Birth of a Nation: Nat Turner and the Making of a Movement, Nate Parker (S&S/Atria/37 INK; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample).

Based on the story of Nat Turner, the movie was co-written and directed by Nate Parker, who stars in the role of Turner. The film also stars Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Mark Boone Junior, Penelope Ann Miller, and Gabrielle Union. It opens nationwide on 10/7/16.

9781447299974_12742Poldark’s Cornwall, Winston Graham (IPG/Pan Macmillan). Not a direct tie-in but for those interested in Poldark’s setting. The book offers images of Cornwall’s rugged beauty and picturesque landscape.

Poldark, Season 2 begins airing on PBS Masterpiece on the 25th. It stars Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Heida Reed.

Read our earlier coverage here and here.

9780399559105_24accTrolls opens on Nov. 4, 2016.

Directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn (both of whom worked on various Shrek movies), the animated movies features the voices of Anna Kendrick, Zooey Deschanel, James Corden, Justin Timberlake, Russell Brand, and Gwen Stefani.

Read our earlier coverage here and link to an extensive list of tie-ins.

9780778330080_ed536Harbor Lights, Sherryl Woods (HC/MIRA; OverDrive Sample) is the next in the Hallmark Channel’s Chesapeake Shores series, which will eventually span a seven episode first season.

The first and second novels in the series, The Inn at Eagle Point and Flowers on Main, have already been released as a tie-ins (see here and here).

9781785650673_4cfc4Quarry began playing on Cinemax on Sept. 9th. As we wrote earlier (here and here), it is a dark and moody adaptation of Max Allan Collins’s noir 1970’s era series about a hit man.

The eight-episode run stars Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus) as a Marine who comes home to Memphis after the Vietnam War and gets caught in a world of violence and corruption.

The tie-in is Quarry – TV Tie-In Edition, Max Allan Collins (RH/Hard Case Crime; OverDrive Sample).

For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.

Churchill Comes of Age

Friday, September 23rd, 2016

9780385535731_c653bA string of high profile coverage has brought attention and sales to Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill, Candice Millard (PRH/Doubleday; RH Audio/BOT), causing the book to leap to #61 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

The NYT‘s Jennifer Senior, in a review that appeared in the paper yesterday, says the book’s mix of biography, history, war, and adventure is “as involving as a popcorn thriller.”

Summarizing Millard’s career, Senior continues “Over the years Millard has made a stylish niche for herself, zooming in on a brief, pivotal chapter in the life of a historical figure and turning it into a legitimate feature-length production.”

Other reviews similarly emphasize the author’s ability to make history come alive, USA Today calls it a “a slam-bang study of Churchill’s wit and wile as he navigates the Boer War like some porto-james Bond” and The Washington Post cites her formidable storytelling skills,

In addition, the Wall Street Journal interviews the author about her “distinctive approach to writing about historical giants” by focusing “tightly on a forgotten yet riveting episode in an extremely well-documented life.”

Best Sellers: Patchett Hits New Highs

Friday, September 23rd, 2016

9780062491794_46ce0Ann Patchett lands at #4 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list, making Commonwealth (Harper; HarperAudio) her highest ever debut.

According to the paper, Bel Canto reached #8 in 2003 but debuted at #70 and State of Wonder hit, and peaked, at #12.

Commonwealth is #1 on the PW Fiction list, making it likely to land on the NYT‘s list at #1 as well when the Oct 2 list comes out later this afternoon.

Library patrons are echoing the sales figures. Holds are strong on all formats at libraries we checked.

It looks like Jonathan Burnham, publisher of HarperCollins’s Harper imprint, was correct when he told The Wall Street Journal “It’s probably the most commercial novel Ann has written yet.”

As we noted earlier, it is a darling of critics. It made most, if not all the fall reading previews. It is also the Indie Next #1 pick for September; Entertainment Weekly gave it a solid A review; The Guardian says it is “outstanding;” and Jennifer Senior reviewed it early for the daily NYT, calling it “exquisite.

Food Savvy

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016

9780871406804_675a7Rising on Amazon’s sales rankings is Ten Restaurants That Changed America, Paul Freedman (Norton/Liveright; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample), moving from #303 to just outside the Top 100.

The jump is a result of media attention including features by NPR’s All Things Considered, The New York Times (with a separate list of the ten, a magnet for foodies to test their knowledge), and The New Yorker.

Yale professor Paul Freedman explores how the history of where we choose to eat reflects the history of America, what restaurants mean to society, and how they shape culture.

While some other of the eateries Freedman cites are now closed, Tasting Table offers an overview of how Freeman’s work connects to modern dining.

Some libraries we checked have yet to order the book while others are showing multiple holds on a modest number of copies.

ZITA Blasts Off

Wednesday, September 21st, 2016

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Heading off the comic page and onto the silver screen is Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke (Macmillan/First Second; 2/1/11; OverDrive Sample) reports Deadline Hollywood. Fox Animation has acquired rights to the trilogy. Morgan Jurgenson and Alex Ankeles (Robodog) will adapt the books.

The graphic novel trilogy, created by award-winning Hatke, follows the adventures of Zita as she learns to be brave and navigate her far out world. Bleeding Cool lists it as one of the “Essential 8 Comics For Kids,” writing:

“… everything I love about comic books; adventure, humor, humanity and a big heaping dose of wonder … Hatke has made something really special here … original and fun. It’s completely appropriate for kids but like the best stories, I think everyone will appreciate it.”

97815964380649781626720589_8fe46The other books in the trilogy are:

Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (9/4/12; OverDrive Sample)

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (5/13/14; OverDrive Sample)

Hatke won an Eisner Award for Little Robot. His other books include Nobody Likes a Goblin, and Julia’s House for Lost Creatures.

First Second reports that “Of all our books, Zita the Spacegirl has earned the most fan photos and cosplay” and provides some images to prove it.

Wired interviewed the author shortly after the second book in the trilogy hit shelves (accompanied by bonus illustrations).

HIS BLOODY PROJECT:
The Interview

Wednesday, September 21st, 2016

9781510719217_2caa3The author of the most under-the-radar title on the Man Booker Prize shortlist  His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae (Skyhorse; OverDrive Sample), Graeme Macrae Burnet is interviewed by The Wall Street Journal today [subscription may be required].

The brief exchange focuses on the author’s writing process.

In a response to a question about the novel’s structure, including the use of fictional primary documents, Burnet talks about the personal differences in recollection and says he “wanted to present the reader with different viewpoints of the same incident, so they can … make up their own mind about what happened.”

He says he gathered some of his insider details from working his way through primary source “documents [that] still have wax seals on them. These are original, handwritten documents of post-mortem reports on victims or psychiatric evaluations of prisoners about to stand trial.”

As to the eloquence of his murderer he says “it goes against one’s expectations of how somebody who has committed a violent act will behave.”

Very interested in the interior workings of a character, Burnet concludes the interview by saying his favorite crime writer is Georges Simenon, author of the Inspector Jules Maigret series because he “is a brilliant writer on the psychology of his characters, and he’s brilliant at setting a scene in very simple language. You’re completely transported to whatever place he’s writing about.”

Burnet talks more about his research in a video created by his Scottish publisher:

Holds Alert: ATLAS OBSCURA

Wednesday, September 21st, 2016

9780761169086_ff360A gazetteer to the “the weird, the unexpected, the overlooked, the hidden and the mysterious” places of the planet, from a 40-year old sound instillation still humming away in Times Square to a tree in South Africa with a pub inside, is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings and in holds as a result of a round of media attention.

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton (Workman; OverDrive Sample) is drawn from the website which has been described as “National Geographic for millennials.”

One of the authors provides a tour of Manhattan’s astounding places for NPR’s All Things Considered, taking host Ari Shapiro on a path through of the city’s little known wonders such as an apartment filled with earth and an elegant, but abandoned, subway station.

The coverage helped launch the atlas into Amazon’s top 10 sellers.

Public radio is big on the book. In an earlier story for NPR’s 13.7: Cosmos & Culture, a blog about science and culture, an essayist writes,

“The human brain seems to love lists and, at its core, Atlas Obscura is a text-rich, prettily illustrated, brick of a list. It invites us to compose fantasy travel lists of our own, or seek places we’ve already traveled to that have made the cut … Fair warning: It’s addictive.”

Back in 2015, PRI’s The Takeaway featured the website’s creation of a detailed literary map of road trips across America and discusses the ways different authors over time have described the same landscapes.

While the site has been running for a couple of years, it is just now gaining mainstream attention. A recent article in the Washingtonian provides background on the site and its mission, “to delight you, then get you off your couch and out into the world.”

Despite its 100,000 copy initial printing and enthusiastic prepub reviews from LJ and Booklist, libraries have bought it very modestly or not at all and holds are soaring on the few copies purchased.

BIGFOOT to Big Screen

Tuesday, September 20th, 2016

9781481470742_15883Jennifer Weiner’s debut book for children, The Littlest Bigfoot (S&S/Aladdin; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample), will be adapted as an animated feature reports Deadline Hollywood. The first in a planned trilogy, Deadline reports that Weiner is writing the second, titled Little Bigfoot, Big City, expected in November 2017.

Weiner will serve as executive producer. Chris Bender (We’re the Millers) and Jennifer’s brother Jake Weiner (A History of Violence) will create the feature with 20th Century Fox Animation. Keeping it all in the family, brother Joe Weiner, negotiated the deal.

Pre-publication reviews are strong. Publishers Weekly described it as a “witty story of outcasts coming together,” adding, “Well-drawn characters, high comedy, and an open-ended finale will leave readers eager for the next installment.”

Bookers on Screen

Tuesday, September 20th, 2016

9781510719217_2caa3Another of the 2016 Man Booker Prize shortlist titles had made the first step towards adaptation.

Deadline Hollywood reports that Graeme Macrae Burnet’s historical crime thriller His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae (Skyhorse; OverDrive Sample), has been optioned for a TV series.

The Scottish production company Synchronicity Films, known in the UK as the force behind Not Another Happy Ending, has bought the rights.

Originally published by a tiny 2-person house Saraband, the novel earned praise from The Guardian, which said “The book’s pretense at veracity, as well as being a literary jeux d’esprit, brings an extraordinary historical period into focus.”

Skyhorse picked it up for US publication after its Booker nod.

Another of this year’s shortlist titles, Ottessa Moshfegh’s literary thriller Eileen, as we noted earlier, is being adapted by screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson, “Hollywood’s Go-To Scribe for Thrillers” for producer Scott Rudin, known for his many successful literary adaptations.

If the projects make it to screens, they will follow in the footsteps of adaptations of previous Booker titles. Hilary Mantel’s two winners Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies were made into a BBC/PBS Masterpiece series. Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally became the now iconic 1993 film Schindler’s List. Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi were also successfully adapted.

Closer To Screen: THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

Tuesday, September 20th, 2016

9781400052172_1e7da Filming begins in Baltimore this week on the Oprah Winfrey vehicle, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, based on Rebecca Skloot’s book of the same title. The book is still on the NYT Nonfiction Paperback list after 184 weeks, following over a year on the hardcover list.

The events in the book took place in Baltimore and the film will include sites around the John Hopkins hospital, the location where Lacks’s cells were taken without her knowledge and used to create the cell line used by scientist in such medical advances as the polio vaccine.

Oprah is playing Deborah Lacks in the HBO production, Henrietta’s daughter and the character through whom the story is told in the book.

WJZ, the station where Oprah once worked as a news anchor, reports on the upcoming locations, interviewing residents, one of which says “It’s a story that needs to be told. Needs to be told, I think in the context of things that are still happening today, that still violate peoples rights, and people’s property and their own being.”

Lacks’s legacy is extending beyond the scientific uses of her cells. In Vancouver, WA a special school named in her honor is training students who want to be medical researchers, the Henrietta Lacks Health and Bioscience High School. The president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle recently visited the school and said that Lacks’s “legacy is not a cell line she left us … Her legacy is the people like you who train here … Looking ahead, I can’t imagine what you might go on to do.”

NBA Longlists, 2016

Monday, September 19th, 2016

News of the World  blood-in-the-water  Pax
Best Books season begins officially with the announcement of the National Book Awards longlists.

In fiction, one of the ten titles is the number one LibraryReads pick for October, News of the World, Paulette Jiles (HC/William Morrow). It is also an Indie Next selection for October. Below is the LibraryReads annotation.

“Readers fortunate enough to meet Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an old ex-soldier who makes a living reading the news to townspeople in 1870s Texas, and Joanna, the Indian captive he is charged with returning to her relatives, will not soon forget them. Everything, from the vividly realized Texas frontier setting to the characters is beautifully crafted, right up to the moving conclusion. Both the Captain and Joanna have very distinctive voices. Wonderful storytelling.” — Beth Mills, New Rochelle Public Library, New Rochelle, NY

Missing from the list is Elizabeth Strout’s My Name is Lucy Barton (PRH/Viking; OverDrive Sample; 1/13/16), a Booker longlist title, that did not make the cut to the shortlist (the two titles by U.S. writers on that shortlist were published here in 2015, so are not eligible for the NBA).

The nonfiction list is dominated by titles on racism in America, including a book which has received media attention, Heather Ann Thompson’s Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Pantheon Books/Penguin Random House; OverDrive Sample; 8/23/16).

Middle grade novels were winners in the Young Peoples Lit category in 2015 and 2013. They make a good showing on the 2016 longlist, taking four of the ten slots. Included is Pax by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Jon Klassen (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray; HC Audio; OverDrive Sample; 2/2/16). A bestseller, it may be the only one of all the nominees to have been optioned for a film. CORRECTION: At least one other adaptation is in the works, but as a limited TV series. Deadline reports that Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad, on the fiction longlist, is “about to hit the TV marketplace.”

In poetry, mainstays Rita Dove and Donald Hall received nominations. So did a debut poet, Solmaz Sharif for Look: Poems, Solmaz Sharif (Macmillan/Graywolf; OverDrive Sample; 7/5/16). Sharif and Hall share a notable distinction, both are among the rare poets who have books selected as Indie Next picks. Sharif made the July list and Hall’s collection was the #1 December 2015 pick:

“This is a gift of honesty, intimacy, and the pure genius that is Donald Hall, as he hand-picks what he considers to be the best of his poetry from more than 70 years of published works. From this former U.S. Poet Laureate comes one essential volume of his works, where ‘Ox-Cart Man’ sits alongside ‘Kicking the Leaves’ and ‘Without.’ As he is no longer writing poetry, this ‘concise gathering of my life’s work’ is the perfect introduction to Hall’s literary contributions, as well as closure for his many ardent followers.”–Katharine Nevins, of MainStreet BookEnds of Warner, Warner

The finalists will be announced on Oct. 13, the winners on Nov. 16.

Hitting Screens, Week of
September 19, 2016

Monday, September 19th, 2016

While Sully still soars at the box office, other book-related movies were considered flops, including the heavily promoted Bridget Jones Baby.

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Five adaptations open this week, three films and two TV shows, beginning with a movie that has been an enormous success in Australia, but has taken a perplexingly long time to make it to the U.S. The Dressmaker stars Kate Winslet as a fashionable Australian woman who returns to her rural home, shaking things up and getting revenge. It was the second highest grossing Australian film of 2015, losing out to  Mad Max: Fury Road.

Amazon bought the US film rights reports Variety, and will release the film in a limited number of theaters on the 23rd, before making it available via streaming.

In the U.K. and Australia, much was been made of Liam Hemsworth’s nudity in the film. As it arrives in the U.S. attention is turning to the age difference between Winslet and Hemsworth (and the fact that Winslet dares to play a woman five years younger than she is).

The book was published in the U.S. for the first time last year, when it was expected that the film would get its U.S. release,  The Dressmaker, Rosalie Ham (PRH/Penguin; Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print;  OverDrive Sample).

mv5bnzq0mdg2nty4n15bml5banbnxkftztgwotk2nzu3ote-_v1_sy1000_cr006741000_al_9781501127182_5e089Disney’s big movie, Queen of Katwe opens in limited release Sept. 23rd, expanding to more theaters the next week. Starring Lupita Wyong’o, who won an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, David Oyelowo (Selma), and newcomer Madina Nalwanga, it is directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding).

Vanity Fair calls it a “Bright and Inspiring Success,” while Roger Ebert.com says it is “thoroughly crowdpleasing.Collider writes that the Disney production “stands alongside some of the studio’s best efforts, and it’s the best family film involving chess since the charming 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer.”

A tie-in is out: The Queen of Katwe: One Girl’s Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion, Tim Crothers (S&S/Scribner; Mass Market, (S&S/Pocket Books; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample).


mv5bmtuxnjg1ody3ml5bml5banbnxkftztgwodeynjuzote-_v1_ux182_cr00182268_al_9780399591426_ad32bGoat also opens on the 23rd. Directed by Andrew Neel, starring Ben Schnetzer, Nick Jonas, and Gus Halper, it is a college fraternity film that traces a series of brutal induction rituals and the strain they place on two brothers. The Hollywood Reporter calls it “A harsh but gripping study in uncontrolled male aggression.”

The Guardian writes that it is  “a pointed, astute and unflinching look at unbridled machismo and its consequences … everything is designed to provoke disgust – and there’s a lot to be disgusted with.”

Variety says “this testosterone-drenched indie-movie adaptation feels like something that might have come out under the MTV Films banner a decade ago (back when the book was published), as director Andrew Neel can’t quite decide whether to indict or endorse the hard-partying behavior on display — painfully aware that half the audience has pledged or will pledge the Greek system.”

A tie-in has been released, Goat (Movie Tie-in Edition): A Memoir, Brad Land (PRH/RH; OverDrive Sample).

y648mv5boduxndu3mdm1ml5bml5banbnxkftztgwmjm3ndc0ote-_v1_ux182_cr00182268_al_The Exorcist TV series begins playing on Fox on the 23rd, over 40 years after the film adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel.

Cosmic Booknews says it is “a propulsive psychological thriller” and Cavalcade says it “delivers on both scares and drama. Though not always compelling, it manages to be consistently engaging.”

The series stars Alfonso Herrera, Ben Daniels, and Geena Davis. A tie-in has not been released but 2011 marked the release of the 40th Anniversary Edition (HC).

MV5BMTc0NjYxNDkzNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTM2NjQyNTE@._V1_SY1000_SX1000_AL_On the 25th Poldark, Season 2, begins airing on PBS Masterpiece, starring Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Heida Reed. Of season one, The New York Times wrote:

Sweeping, stirring, rousing, lush. These are the sorts of adjectives suggested by Poldark … It’s the kind of show in which every plot twist appears to require a shot of someone pounding on horseback along the Cornish coast, close to the cliffs and outlined against the sun … Another adjective that comes to mind is shameless, in the sense of nonstop audience-pandering melodrama. But there’s good shameless and bad shameless, and Poldark is reasonably good stuff, milking the emotions and pleasing the eye without unduly insulting the intelligence.”

The series is based on the Poldark novels by Winston Graham. There are a number of tie-ins and associated titles.

 

The Flavor of Grief: UMAMI

Monday, September 19th, 2016

9781780748917_edecdNPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday features an under-the-radar debut novel by a Mexican author, published in English by an indie British press, Umami by Laia Jufresa, translated by Sophie Hughes (Perseus/Oneworld Publications, dist. in the U.S. by Perseus/PGW; OverDrive Sample).

Host Scott Simon lyrically introduces the book as set in a Mexico City neighborhood where “The residents … each have their own stories told in different times, different stories that, in time, reveal common threads of love, loss, regret, recovery, mystery, loneliness and an undefinable richness.”

All the characters are struggling with some level of loss and Jufresa says she wanted to write a book about “grief during a [specific] period of time because I also wanted to write about the end of grief … this kind of grief where you’re already coming out.”

About the process of translation Jufresa says that “It’s such a treat to have someone translating your work because no one ever will read your work as closely as a translator does … you have the fantasy that you will have readers like this, I think, that pick up all the details.”

Jufreza was named as one of the most outstanding young writers in Mexico as part of the 2015 project México20. Her novel was listed as one of the titles on The MillionsMost Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2016 Book Preview” and The Rumpus called it “Dynamic and delicate.”

 

Towles Rises; HIDDEN FIGURES Soars

Monday, September 19th, 2016

9780670026197_2f9f39780062363596_b2357On the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list, half the titles are new this week. J.D. Robb’s Apprentice in Death (PRH/Penguin; OverDrive Sample) lands at #1, followed by Carl Hiaasen’s Razor Girl (PRH/Knopf; RH Audio/BOT; OverDrive Sample).

The number 7, 8, and 10 spots are new as well, filled by Here I Am, Jonathan Safran Foer (Macmillan/FSG; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample), A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles (PRH/Viking; Penguin Audio/BOT; OverDrive Sample), and Downfall: A Brady Novel of Suspense, J. A. Jance (HC/William Morrow; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample).

All but Towles are to be expected and that is a significant rise for him. His debut, Rules of Civility, never broke the top ten, rising only as high as #16 and holding that position for just one week. It is also both an Indie Next pick and a Fall Reading favorite. Holds are strong in most libraries we checked.

On the nonfiction side, four new titles appear, including the #1 seller this week, Oprah’s pick Love Warrior: A Memoir, Glennon Doyle Melton (Macmillan/Flatiron Books; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample).

New at #7, is Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample). As we have written, it is the basis for a forthcoming movie starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe. A tie-in arrives this December.

The paper spotlights the title in “The Story Behind This Week’s Best Sellers” quoting Shetterly on her experience growing up: “I knew so many African-Americans working in science, math and engineering that I thought that’s just what black folks did.”

Dave Barry’s Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland (PRH/G.P. Putnam; OverDrive Sample) debuts at #8 and The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life (PRH/Viking; Penguin Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample) rounds out the new books in the top ten, landing at #10.

Oddly, the J.K. Rowling titles that appeared in the top ten on the USA Today list don’t appear on either the Middle Grade or the YA eBook lists.