Of the titles I’ve been checking on library catalogs this week, the one that has the most holds per copy (an average of 14) is Richard Price’s Lush Life.

Richard Price, Lush Life

• Hardcover: $26.00
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (March 4, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0374299250
• ISBN-13: 978-0374299255

• Audio CD, Unabridged: $44.95
• Reader: Bobby Cannavale
  
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio (March 4, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1427203202
• ISBN-13: 978-1427203205

Libraries had reason to be cautious in buying this title:

It’s too New York centric.

That doesn’t seem to be a problem, it’s #1 on both the San Francisco Chronicle and the Northern California Independent Booksellers lists and West coast libraries show long reserve lists.

Price’s last book came out ten years ago, so there might be concern about whether there’s a waiting fan base.

The fan base was waiting. It went to #6 on Amazon on the day of release and is now at #18. It’s one of the few fiction titles to break into the top twenty on Amazon’s list recently — and from a guy who hasn’t even been on Oprah.

The secret to it’s success may be that it’s being reviewed as crime fiction, not as “littrachure.” The reviews make the book sound accessible and they’re some of the best-written reviews I’ve read in a while (perhaps Price inspired the critics).

Besides the usual suspects (the NY Times, Sunday and Daily, the Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and eleven other newspaper review sections), it’s been reviewed in places that cater to more popular interest:

USA Today review

Newsweek profile

Entertainment Weekly review

Time listed it as number 1 in the “5 Things You Should Know About,” calling it the “best crime novel of the year, guaranteed.”

Many libraries don’t have the book on the shelves yet, even though it’s been out for nearly two weeks. So, get the book out there and consider ordering more copies (the wholesalers have inventory).

We’ve been tracking the reception of the new Geraldine Brooks title, People of the Book. A glowing review (the headline calll is “an erudite Da Vinci Code.” An oxymoron, or a great RA handle? You decide.), sent it up the Amazon bestseller list to #13.

Checking library catalogs, most libraries are showing it still “on order” and reserves are building. Time to get those books out of the back room!

The New York Times review of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks opens by noting that it’s dedicated to librarians. But not only librarians have been looking forward to the book’s publication; it’s been on Amazon’s Top 50 since the first of the year, hitting a peak of #19 on release date (at this writing, it is at #46).

Maslin’s review could generously be called “mixed” (but, who knows, most people may only see the grabber headline, “A Literal Page Turner of a Mystery”). Other newsstand reviews have been considerably more positive, with the Washington Post’s Jonathan Yardley saying that Brooks “appears to be finding readers and admirers in growing numbers, and People of the Book no doubt will increase those numbers.”

Checking library catalogs, holds are building, so make sure your copies have made it through processing. Some of you may also want to order additional copies.