The ECLIPSE Movie Trailer…
Thursday, March 11th, 2010…is heeeere!
The movie opens June 30th. The official site is here.
Archive for the ‘Books & TV’ Category
Coming to Comedy Central This Week
Monday, March 8th, 2010Lots of authors on tap for the week:
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Mon, 3/8 — Harry Markopolos — the man who led an investigation that brought down Bernie Madoff.
 |
|
ebook available from OverDrive
Tues, 3/9 — Marc Thiessen who says, “Barack Obama did arguably more damage to America’s national security in his first 100 days of office than any president in American history.”
 |
|
Wed, 3/10 — Eamon Javers on the world of business warfare.
 |
|
ebook available on OverDrive
The Colbert Report
Tues, 3/9 — Annie Leonard. Her video, The Story of Stuff has been downloaded millions of times.
 |
|
S&S Audio; UNABR; 9780743599153; $26
Wed, 3/10 — Sean Carroll; ideas from the cutting edge of theoretical physics
 |
|
Tantor Audio:
Trade; 9781400115655; 13 Audio CD; $39.99
Library; 9781400145652; 13 Audio CD; $79.99
MP3; 9781400165650; 2 MP3-CD; $29.99
Thurs, 3/11 — David Aaronov on conspiracy theories.
 |
|
Tantor Audio
Trade; 9781400115921; 12 Audio CD; $39.99
Library; 9781400145928; 12 Audio CD; $79.99
MP3; 9781400165926; 2 MP3-CD; $29.99
THE PACIFIC’s Robert Leckie
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010Like the movie The Titanic, the ten-part HBO series The Pacific, beginning March 14, is likely to make bestsellers of dozens of books by many publishers (as some said about The Titanic’s effect on publishing, “it raised all boats”).
The producers based their earlier series, Band of Brothers, on the book of the same title by Stephen Ambrose. But they couldn’t find one single volume that gave them a story line that worked for The Pacific. According to the L.A. Times, screenwriter Bruce McKenna came up with the idea of following several main characters. He interviewed dozens of veterans and read nearly 50 books; one of the titles that emerged was the 1957 memoir by Robert Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow.
Leckie, who was a writer before the war, became one of the main characters in the series. ABC News singles out Leckie’s role as “perhaps the most pivotal… because of the insight the character brings to so many situations,” and gives actor James Badge Dale special note for his portrayal, “Not once does Dale falter.”
In the following, Tom Hanks calls Helmet for My Pillow “a magnificient piece of prose… almost like a long poem.”
Helmet for my Pillow, is being released as a tie-in (see earlier post, with other tie-ins and related titles).
Leckie went on to write 30 more books, including Okinawa, an account of that battle, which Penguin books is re-releasing to coincide with the series.
 |
|
eBook available from OverDrive
DeCapo Press is also re-releasing his Strong Men Armed, which Library Journal described as his “carefully researched history of the Marines from Guadalcanal to Okinawa.”
 |
|
ebook available from OverDrive
New Memoir Ties in to THE PACIFIC
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010HBO’s series, The Pacific, is based on memoirs that were published after the war.
A new memoir by a Marine who is featured in an episode of the series, was released yesterday.
It has not been reviewed. The publisher describes it as,
An unvarnished and moving memoir of a Marine veteran who fought his way across the Pacific Theater of World War II — whose story is featured in the upcoming HBO series The Pacific
This is an eyewitness — and eye-opening — account of some of the most savage and brutal fighting in the war against Japan, told from the perspective of a young Texan who volunteered for the Marine Corps to escape a life as a traveling salesman. R.V. Burgin enlisted at the age of twenty, and with his sharp intelligence and earnest work ethic, climbed the ranks from a green private to a seasoned sergeant. Along the way, he shouldered a rifle as a member of a mortar squad. He saw friends die-and enemies killed. He saw scenes he wanted to forget but never did-from enemy snipers who tied themselves to branches in the highest trees, to ambushes along narrow jungle trails, to the abandoned corpses of hara kiri victims, to the final howling banzai attacks as the Japanese embraced their inevitable defeat.
Burgin was one of the few surviving vets who attended the 2/24 premiere in L.A. where he posed for photographers with actor Martin McCann, who portrays him on screen.
 |
|
On OPRAH This Thursday
Monday, March 1st, 2010This Thursday, Oprah spends the show’s full hour with the only survivor of a tragic boating accident. Personal trainer Nick Schuyler set out for a deep-sea fishing trip one year ago with four friends. The boat capsized in unexpected bad weather. Clinging to the boat in rough seas, the friends helped each other as much as they could, but after 40 hours only Nick was left.
Schuyler writes about the frightening story in his memoir, Not Without Hope. It was not reviewed prepub, so many libraries have not ordered it.
Schuyler will also make appearances on the Today Show and Larry King Live. The book will be featured in People magazine and in USA Today (in the Sports section; two of the friends played for the NFL).
 |
|
HarperCollins Audio: UNABR; 9780061999413; $18.99
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive
HBO Series — THE PACIFIC
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010Coming in March is a ten-part HBO series, The Pacific, the follow-up to Band of Brothers. It debuts on March 14th, continuing on Sundays through May 16. Like Band of Brothers, it is produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
The series interweaves the stories of real-life Marines who were involved in various parts of the war and is based on two first-person accounts; Robert Leckie’s Helmet for My Pillow and Eugene B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. A companion book, The Pacific: Hell Was an Ocean Away, is coming out on 3/2.
Official Web site: HBO.com/The-Pacific
———————————
 |
|
Tantor Audio:
Trade; 9781400110506; 9 Audio CD; $34.99Library; 9781400140503; 9 Audio CD; $69.99MP3; 9781400160501; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
eBook available from OverDrive
———————————
|
|
ebook available from OverDrive
An earlier paperback edition notes in a burst on the cover that it was “used by Ken Burns for The War on PBS.”
———————————
 |
|
———————————
In addition, two new titles have been published about the third major figure in the series, John Basilone.
Hero of the Pacific is the final book by James Brady, known for his books about the military, who died shortly after the book was published. Basilone, “Manila John,” is from Raritan, New Jersey where the library has a small museum honoring Sergeant Basilone. Library Director Mary Paese told Wiley Public Library rep Trudy Lindsey (who writes the newsletter Trudy’s News and Views) that the author did some of his research there. HBO will hold a special screening of the series at the libray.
 |
|
Oasis Audio; UNABR; 9781598595970; $29.99
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive
———————————
In addition, St. Martins is publishing an authorized biography of Basilone. The Web site outlines his short and amazing life,
Sgt. John Basilone held off 3,000 Japanese troops at Guadalcanal after his 15-member unit was reduced to three men. At Iwo Jima he single-handedly destroyed an enemy blockhouse, allowing his unit to capture an airfield. Minutes later he was killed by an enemy artillery round.
 |
|
———————————
The series is likely to bring interest in other books about the war in the Pacific. Newmarket is re-releasing one about the sinking of the Japanese battleship, the Yamamato, told from both the American and the Japanese points of view.
 |
|
Lisa & Laura Ling on Oprah
Friday, February 19th, 2010One of the books highlighted in the HarperCollins MidWinter Buzz Session, was a title that had just been added to the list, Somewhere Inside by Lisa and Laura Ling.
You probably remember the news stories about Laura Ling being arrested last year in North Korea, along with fellow journalist Euna Lee. The women were dramatically rescued after Bill Clinton interceded by negotiating on their behalf with North Korean President Kim Jong-Il. Laura’s sister Lisa is also a journalist and the two tell their stories, in alternating chapters, from Laura’s perspective inside the North Korean prison and Lisa’s in the U.S., as she desperately tries to help her sister.
Lisa is a special correspondent for the Oprah show; it’s just been confirmed that the book will be featured on the show in mid-May.
|
TEMPLE GRANDIN; HBO Movie
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010Clare Danes plays autistic animal specialist Temple Grandin in an HBO biopic debuting on Saturday, February 6th.
Entertainment Weekly is very enthusiastic about it, admitting that the subject, autism and cattle handling, doesn’t scream “must see,” but that the movie is “…relatable to anyone with a heart, and fascinating to anyone with a brain. The fact that it does so with such a singular story only makes the movie that much greater.”
Grandin has written several books, including last year’s Animals Make Us Human; her autobiography has been reissued as the tie-in.
 |
|
eBook and audio available from OverDrive.
Pollan and Oprah
Monday, January 25th, 2010Food guru Michael Pollan appears on the Oprah show on Wednesday. His most recent book is currently at #1 on the NYT paperback bestseller list.
 |
|
ebook available from OverDrive
Ethan Watters will appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday night.
 |
|
———————–
GLEE Books
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Fox’s high school musical comedy Glee just won a Golden Globe for best TV musical or comedy series. I just learned that Little Brown Books for Young Readers will be publishing Glee books in the fall; original stories featuring our show favorites. Whoo, hooo!
Also coming is a Ghost Hunters series for middle grade readers, based on the Syfy series.
No bibliographic information yet; we’ll let you know when it’s available.
On The Daily Show This Week
Monday, January 18th, 2010There’s a theme to the books that Jon Stewart will be featuring on The Daily Show this week:
Monday
 |
|
Audio: Books on Tape
eBook and audio available from OverDrive
Wednesday
 |
|
Unabridged Audio: S&S; 9781442305090
Alcott on PBS
Monday, December 28th, 2009Premiering tonight on PBS’s American Masters is Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. It was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition today.
Clips from the film:
The movie is based on a biography by Harriet Reisen, who is the writer/producer of the film.
 |
|
——–
One of the commentators featured in the film is Geraldine Brooks, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her novel, March, which imagines the Civil War experiences of the fictional Mr. March, the father of the “little women” of the book.
 |
|
Al’s Book Club
Monday, December 7th, 2009Grace Lin appeared on the Today Show on Friday, to talk about her book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with Al Roker and the Today Show Club Kids.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
————————–
 |
|
Al also announced that he’s reaching way back to his own childhood for the next Al’s Book Club selections.
Note that audios are available for both; we thought it was such an inspired idea to have Laura Linney read Nancy Drew that we included a clip.
 |
|
Audio: Listening Library; Read by Laura Linney; 9780739349137; CD; $14.95
Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive
—————————
 |
|
Audio: Listening Library; Read by Bill Irwin; 9780739366813; CD; $19.99
Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive
—————————
Coming to the Daily Show
Monday, November 30th, 2009Jon Stewart returns from the break with new author interviews:
Wednesday, Dec. 2
 |
|
Thursday, Dec. 3
 |
|
Spector recently appeared on a CBS Sunday Morning feature about the safety of flu vaccine. He’s also been interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday and the book was reviewed in the New York Times as well as in the NYT Book Review. Holds continue to be heavy in many libraries.
Oprah Announces End of Show
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009A tearful Oprah explained her decision to say “goodbye” live on her show Friday.
Well, not goodbye quite yet — the show continues through September 9, 2011; quite a long goodbye. The Oprah site is already featuring her “Top Twenty Moments” (a lot of weeping and, yes, the Book Club is one of the moments and, no, the Sarah Palin interview is not, nor is Tom Cruise’s).
Actually, we may be saying hello to even more Oprah in the future, as the Discovery Network Health channel morphs into the Oprah Winfrey cable network, OWN, in January 2011. Officially, Oprah has said she will not bring the Oprah Winfrey Show to the Oprah Winfrey Network, but news sources, such as the LA Times, are already predicting she will do a daily show on OWN.
See All Listings »