If you didn’t see Oliver Sachs on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Monday night, you MUST link here to watch it.
Sachs’s Musical Minds has been running on PBS’s Nova. It’s based on his book, Musicophilia.
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Tonight, Stewart will interview Justin Fox, whose book has been called “good wonky fun.”
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Tomorrow night he interviews Robert Kenner, filmmaker of Food, Inc. Below is the tie-in book:
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Today, Jon Stewart’s guest is Bill Russell.
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On Wednesday, he will feature Reza Aslan, a frequent guest on the show. His most recent book is
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Jon Stewart’s second author interview of the week also struck gold, moving Peter Laufer’s The Dangerous World of Butterflies (much Stewart guffawing about that title) to #92 on Amazon sales rankings.
The Mad Ones, featured on The Daily Show on Tuesday, continues to rise on Amazon and is now at #30.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Peter Laufer | ||||
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Last night, Jon Stewart bestowed the magic words, “This book is great” on Tom Folsom’s The Mad Ones, about mobster Joey Gallo in the early ’60’s. It rose to #69 (from #10,134 on Amazon).
No wonder; it’s a great interview. At the end, Stewart notes The Mad Ones would make a great movie and Folsom admits that he is working with Harvey Weinstein on that very thing (the book is published by Weinstein Books). Stewart tries to pitch himself for the lead, but an earlier story on the MTV site reports that Weinstein is considering Twilight star Rob Pattinson for the role (although Leo diCaprio is Folsom’s top choice). Weinstein also attended a star-studded reading from the book in NYC’s Soho a couple of weeks ago. That event was mobbed, according to the New York Observer. As further evidence of the book’s high profile, Womens Wear Daily interviewed the author prior to the reading.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Tom Folsom | ||||
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Today and tomorrow, Jon Stewart will interview two authors, each of whom has a book about criminal subcultures.
Today, June 16:
Peter Laufer, The Dangerous World of Butterflies
A journalist who has written about the war in Iraq and the immigration debate decided to take on a lighter subject, butterflies, and discovered that world has its own controversies. LJ recommended it for people who like Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief.
Most large libraries own it in small quantities.
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Tomorrow, June 17:
Tom Folsom, The Mad Ones
The Daily Show describes the book’s subject as “the clash between the underworld and counterculture in 1960’s New York City.”
PW Annex: “chronicle of the infamous Gallo brothers who ruled Red Hook, Brooklyn in the 1950s and 60s…In crisp prose that can veer into the tabloid, Folsom expertly captures the color of Crazy Joey and his times.”
Most libraries own it in small quantities.
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Today’s NYT interview with Charlaine Harris confirms that the second season of True Blood , beginning on HBO on June 14th, is based on the second title in Harris’s Southern Vampire series, Living Dead in Dallas. This seems perfectly obvious, since the first season was based on the first book, Dead Until Dark, but we haven’t seen it stated before.
This also lead to the discovery that a mass market tie-in edition of Living Dead in Dallas is being released:
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In addition, the entire series is being repackaged in trade paperback, beginning in July.
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail (cover not final)
Definitely Dead (cover not final)
Charlaine Harris’s new title, the ninth in her Southern Vampire series (aka “Sookie Stackhouse” series), Dead and Gone, hit the USA Today list at #2 last week, rising above that other vampire series, Twilight, which moved to the #3, 4, 5 and 7 spots.
Harris was shut out of the top spot by The Last Olympian (it takes a real heavy hitter like Patterson or Grisham to get an adult title to #1 on the USA Today list these days). Harris did capture the #1 spot on the NYT Fiction list, which doesn’t include childrens or YA titles.
This is quite a step up; Harris’s most recent title, From Dead to Worse, debuted much lower, at #24, its peak, on USA Today, staying on for 8 weeks.
Harris’s sudden success is a result of HBO’s True Blood series, based on the Stackhouse books, which put all eight of the paperbacks onto bestseller lists. The second season begins June 14:
The DVD of the first season releases today; it’s #1 on Amazon sales rankings for Movies & TV.
The next Harris book is a collection of Sookie Stackhouse stories:
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Following closely behind is the fourth in Harris’s Harper Connelly mysteries, Grave Secret. The publisher is doing a big push on it, clearly hoping some Sookie magic will rub off on this series.
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Also in audio from Penguin and in downloadable audio and eBook from OverDrive.
More details are emerging on network Oprah is launching in partnership with Discovery Communications. The deal originally announced last year.
In a presentation to media buyers yesterday, Discovery announced that the channel, called OWN for the Oprah Winfrey Network, will launch in 2010 on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel. It will feature regulars from Oprah’s show, like clutter maven Peter Walsh and a one-hour talk show on sex and relationships hosted by Laura Berman. It will also feature a newsmagazine, “Lisa Ling Investigates.”
Oprah has another obsession besides her weight — clutter.
Clutter expert Peter Walsh kicks off the next leg in his “Oprah’s Clean up Your Messy House Tour” — which may be coming to a home your neighborhood in the next few months (not Brooklyn, PLEASE) — not on Oprah’s show, but on Good Morning America, coinciding with the release of Walsh’s new book, Enough Already!
Above is a shot from the promo for the tour. We’re presuming that the Rockettes are with Walsh because they are an example of perfect order.
Walsh’s 2006 title, It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff was on the NYT Hardcover Advice bestseller list for 3 weeks. His book from last year, Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? was also on that list for 3 weeks.
Libraries are showing heavy holds against light ordering of Walsh’s new book:
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Last week, we wrote about Oprah’s show, What Can You Live Without?, which featured “reformed shopaholic” Mary Carlomango and her new book, Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less. I commented that due to the spiral binding, it isn’t owned in libraries. Several of you wrote to point out that is WRONG and you don’t have a problem with that format, and, in fact, WorldCat shows that 26 U.S. public libraries own the book. Our post even prompted a discussion on LIS News about spiral bindings (some would never buy that format, others see no problem and some recommend adding library binding).
We were talking in a vacuum, since none of us had the book in hand, so I went to my local B&N where I found three copies on the shelf. The spiral binding is actually what the publisher calls a “semi-concealed Wire-O binding,” which means the heavy paper cover goes over the wire binding, reinforcing it. The problem for libraries may not be the binding so much as the workbook format, with lots of checklists and fill-in sections (rough guess is that they take up about 1/3 of the book).
Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less
Mary Carlomagno
The HBO series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, based on Alexander McCall Smith’s books begins Sunday, March 29th, 8 pm.
Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Cold Mountain), who died last year, directed the two-hour pilot. Tim Fywell and Charles Sturridge direct the other episodes in the series.
Grammy-award winning singer Jill Scott plays Precious Ramotswe. Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) plays her secretary, Mma Makutsi. The series was shot in Botswana.
A tie-in edition is available:
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Alexander McCall Smith
On her show yesterday, Oprah asked the question on many people’s minds, ”What Can You Live Without?”
Featured was “reformed shopaholic” Mary Carlomango and her new book, Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less, which shot from #37,076 on Amazon to #48. The publisher is showing it currently out of stock.
Unfortunately, the book is spiral bound, so libraries do not own it. Libraries do own her previous title, however, Give It Up!: My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less (at #23,887 on Amazon).
Oprah also issued a “Simplify Your Life” challenge, with the opportunity for contestants to appear on the show, so it’s likely you will have to continue explaining why the library doesn’t own Secrets of Simplicity and to try to steer customers to Carlomagno’s earlier title.
Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less
Mary Carlomagno
Give It Up!: My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less
Mary Carlomagno
Today is launch day for the adaptations of Three Cups of Tea for children and young adults. Author Greg Mortenson and his daughter, Amira, appeared on the Today Show to promote the books.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to change the World One Child at a Time
Greg Mortenson
Jane Goodall provides the introduction. Libraries that have ordered it are showing the title as Three Cups of Tea: Young Readers Edition.
Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea
This picture book is inventively illustrated by Susan Roth with found-object collage.
You knew it had to happen. Oprah recently announced she’s fallen off the health and diet wagon. Now, she’ll drag herself and her viewers back on with her “Best Life Week,” beginning Jan 5.
The week features:
Jan 5 — Your Weight — Bob Greene. His Best Life Diet was released on 12/30.
Jan 6 — Your Health — Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author with Dr. Michael Roizen of the “YOU” series:
Jan 7 — Your Spirituality — a panel featuring,
Elizabeth Lesser, author of Broken Open and A Seeker’s Guide.
Michael Bernard Beckwith; Spiritual Liberation, Inspirations of the Heart, 40 Day Mind Fast Soul Feast and A Manifesto of Peace.
Jan 8 — Your Money – Suze Orman. Her 2009 Action Plan came out 12/30.
Jan 9 — Your Sex Life – Dr. Laura Berman, Real Sex for Real Women
At the risk of sounding obsessed, we highlight two pieces of Dewey news today:
1) Variety reports that Meryl Streep will star as librarian Vicki Myron in the movie of Dewey (thanks to Sarah Weinman for the tip, whose blog Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind is a must-read for anyone who buys or recommends mysteries).
2) The book appears for the second week in a row in the #1 spot on the 11/23 NYT Nonfiction list
According to the publisher, Laura Berman, author of Real Sex for Real Women will be on Oprah on Monday. WorldCat shows it is owned by just a handful of libraries.
Berman was co-author of For Women Only, which is owned widely.
Real Sex for Real Women
Laura Berman
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