A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned Homer’s Odyssey, a book about a blind cat and his effect on his owner, Gwen Cooper’s life.

Happily Jen Childs, from the wonderful library marketing team at Random House, is making galleys available for EarlyWord readers.

To enter to win a copy, just send an email to EarlyWord, with “I Want Homer” in the subject line, by 11:59 p.m, this Friday, July 3rd. Don’t forget to include your UPS shipping address (no P.O. box numbers), so Jen will know where to send your galley.

If you’re not one to leave things to chance and if you’re going to ALA, Random House will be giving away Homer galleys at their booth — #1834.

Homer’s Odyssey Gwen Cooper Retail Price: $20.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press – (2009-08-25) ISBN / EAN: 038534385X / 9780385343855

Here’s Homer in action:

Many of you may know that there is at least one blind library cat. It happens she also has a Greek name, Nyx. She doesn’t have a book, but she does have a Web site; Nyx the Library Cat. One of her human companions, Ann Chambers Theis runs the Web site Overbooked.

NYT daily reviewer Dwight Garner (who recently moved over from the NYT BR) today writes what will the second entry in the EarlyWord 2009 “Review That Most Makes You Want to Read the Book” award (including, not only the honor, but a HUGE prize, yet to be determined). The first entry was also by Garner.

In his review, Garner sums up Last Journey by Darrell Griffin this way,

…the most honest and gripping accounts of the Iraq war have come from low-ranking soldiers, not from generals. Last Journey joins that small shelf of serious books, thanks to a father with a native gift for the English language, one who gave his son the greatest gift a father can give: his avid and appreciative attention.

Libraries have ordered in small quantities. The PW review was largely positive, but said,

Darrell Sr. overquotes his son’s grandiose and not always cogent ideas about religion, philosophy and politics. But when the book sticks to Skip’s everyday impressions of the conflict, it presents a harrowing, unsanitized vision of the war and the toll it takes on our soldiers

Last Journey: A Father and Son in Wartime Darrell Griffin Sr., Darrell “Skip” Griffin Jr. Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Atlas – (2009-06-29) ISBN / EAN: 193463316X / 9781934633168

Amazon preorders have shot The Beckham Experiment, to #243 (from #13,878), likely because of an excerpt, titled “How Beckham Blew It,”  in the July 6th Sports Illustrated. According to author Grant Wahl, soccer star David Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy team, which was supposed to bring new American fans to the sport, has been a “soccer fiasco.”

The book’s release, originally scheduled for October, has been moved up to July 14th. According to WorldCat, only Seattle & Gwinnett County, GA, have it on order.

The Beckham Experiment: How the World’s Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America Grant Wahl Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Crown – (2009-07-14) ISBN / EAN: 030740787X / 9780307407870

It will also be downloadable from OverDrive beginning July 14.

Today’s NYT Science section wades into the controversial world of archeology. “Scientist Tries to Connect Migration Dots of Ancient Southwest” explores the theories of Stephen Lekson, who believes the various Anasazi sites were not separate entities, but linked by migrations, despite their distances from each other.

Lekson’s new book, A History of the Ancient Southwest argues for this ‘big picture’ archaeology. Another scientist, who completely disagrees with Lekson’s ideas, still says,

Steve is possibly the best writer in Southwest archaeology…Our academic writing has this inherent gift of taking something interesting and making it dull and boring. And Steve doesn’t have that problem. He thinks outside the box, and the rest of us comb through his ideas.

Most libraries have not ordered the book.

History of the Ancient Southwest Stephen H. Lekson Retail Price: $39.95 Paperback: 452 pages Publisher: School for Advanced Research Press – (2009-06-15) ISBN / EAN: 1934691100 / 9781934691106

These days anyone who dares to complain about work adds “But at least I have a job.”

Yet, as evidenced by what we’re reading, Americans are not fulfilled by their work. Alain de Botton’s The Pleasure and Sorrows of Work has been widely reviewed and is on waiting lists in most libraries. Matthew Crawford’s Shop Class as Soul Class, which argues against the white-collar life and for working with your hands, is at #34 on Amazon.

It seems everywhere you turn, you find new books on chucking it all and raising goats (Brad Kessler’s Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese, Scribner, 6/23; featured on Salon today) or leaving a solid career to move as far away from what you know as possible (Waking Up in Eden: In Pursuit of an Impassioned Life on an Imperiled Island, Lucinda Fleeson, Algonquin, 6/16; I spent my weekend enchanted with this book), or staying put, but changing your life completely (Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, Novella Carpenter, Penguin, 6/11).

If you’re hearing echos of the ’60’s, you won’t be surprised to learn that a book called Yeah Dave’s Guide to Livin’ the Moment rose to #14 on Amazon over the weekend (it’s now at #42).

Author Dave Romanelli is co-founder of a Phoenix AZ yoga studio and teaches “Yoga+Chocolate” and “Yoga+Wine” courses. Of the book, PW said, “This lighthearted overview of awareness should provide seekers many ideas; accomplished yogis probably need not apply…”

Yeah Dave’s Guide to Livin’ the Moment: Getting to Ecstasy Through Wine, Chocolate and Your iPod Playlist David Romanelli Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Broadway – (2009-03-17) ISBN / EAN: 0767929489 / 9780767929486

Based on its performance on Amazon and library holds, we expected Perfection to rise on this list. We were wrong, it actually slid from #16 to #25 on the Extended Nonfiction list. Libraries are still showing holds

New titles to the list are:

#8

Are You Kidding Me?: The Story of Rocco Mediate’s Extraordinary Battle with Tiger Woods at the US Open Rocco Mediate, John Feinstein Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2009-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 0316049107 / 9780316049108

#10

Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival Norman Ollestad Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Ecco – (2009-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061766720 / 9780061766725

Also available from HarperAudio:

And in large type:

#16 (tied with #15)

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath Michael Norman, Elizabeth M. Norman Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-06-09) ISBN / EAN: 0374272603 / 9780374272609

Also in audio from Tantor:

Narrator: Michael Prichard

• 14 Audio CDs (Retail Unikeep Pkg); EAN: 9781400111671
List Price: $39.99
• 14 Audio CDs (Library BinderL Pkg); EAN: 9781400141678
List Price: $79.99
• 2 Mp3-CDs (Retail SlimlineL Pkg); EAN: 9781400161676
List Price: $29.99

#27 Extended

The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld Tom Folsom Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Weinstein Books – (2009-05-05) ISBN / EAN: 1602860815 / 9781602860810

Two glowing early reviews have rolled in for How Shall I Tell the Dog: And Other Final Musings, the memoir in letters by Miles Kington, one of Britain’s most popular newspaper columnists. It’s good to see that several libraries have ordered it since we mentioned it last week as a possible sleeper.

Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review, praising the book as “a witty, bittersweet slice of meta-nonfiction” about Kington’s struggle with pancreatic cancer, “or, more precisely, his struggle to write a book about it: ‘phrases like ‘cashing in on cancer’ give quite the wrong impression. What I mean is, ‘making cancer work for its living.’” 

The bookseller newsletter Shelf Awareness declares that Kington “effortlessly takes the reader from sadness to laughter” and relishes the part where Kington thinks  

he might make a good assassin, offering his services as his last useful act on earth: “People who look at my hangdog expression and my air of lingering malady would never dream that underneath it all simmers a potential killer.” And he’s after big game, too–Robert Mugabe or a”‘public nuisance’ like Jeffrey Archer or Victorla Beckham.”

How Shall I Tell the Dog?: And Other Final Musings Miles Kington Retail Price: $19.95 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Newmarket Press – (2009-07-07) ISBN / EAN: 155704841X / 9781557048417

What’s that sound? Could it be tech reporters sharpening their nails, in anticipation of next month’s release of Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, billed as the true story of the founding of Facebook?  Mezrich, you’ll remember, is the author of the nonfiction bestseller Bringing Down the House, about MIT students who beat the odds in Las Vegas, who later conceded that he had fictionalized parts of that book. 

The New York Times Bits blog and Boston magazine both note that the stakes are higher for Mezrich in the new book — and not only because Mezrich will face stiff scrutiny from tech reporters and bloggers, who have already debunked some details in leaked copies of his original proposal for the book. Mezrich has also received a $1.2 million advance for the book and has made a film deal with West Wing creator Alan Sorkin. And let’s not forget that the Facebook founders could be litigious. In addition, the Bits blog says, Mezrich’s main source is not airtight: he had access only to Eduardo Saverin, who provided seed money to one of the site’s founders, Mark Zuckerberg, before Saverin was ousted from the Facebook team. 

Libraries are showing some reserves on the book. This could be one to watch, depending on how other reporters and Facebook respond to the book.

The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal Ben Mezrich Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2009-07-14) ISBN / EAN: 0385529376 / 9780385529372

Available from Random House audio (July 7, 2009)

• CD; $35; 9780739383582

Much touted at Book Expo, Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Wired magazine founder Chris Anderson is now drawing a round of negative publicity less than two weeks before its July publication, stemming from accusations that Anderson lifted content from the Web without attribution. Though the book has been in the news for several days, preorder activity on Amazon is relatively mild: Free is currently at #4897. Libraries we checked show some reserves, with between 10 and 25 copies on order.

The charges against Anderson first emerged in a post by Waldo Jaquith on the Virginia Quarterly Review blog, and were seconded by Edward Champion, who posted examples of possible plagarism from other websites on his own blog. Anderson, in turn, responded to Jaquith’s claims on his blog, stating that the unattributed passages would be rewritten or credited to Wikipedia in all digital and future print editions of the book.

It remains to be seen if the controversy will overshadow the book itself, which PW gave a starred review, saying “Anderson provides a thorough overview of the history of pricing and commerce…As in [his] previous book, the thought-provoking material is matched by a delivery that is nothing short of scintillating.”

Amazon has also posted a video interview with Anderson from Book Expo, taped before the controversy erupted, in which Anderson explains how business models involving “free” giveaways have evolved between the 20th and 21st centuries.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price Chris Anderson Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hyperion – (2009-07-07) ISBN / EAN: 1401322905 / 9781401322908

Beacon Books has signed a deal with Dexter King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s son and chief executive officer of King, Inc., to release new editions of four King books in 2010, according to an AP story that appeared in USA Today:

• Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story – The story of the 1955-56 bus boycott organized by King
• Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? – King’s penultimate book, written in 1967, on combatting poverty and responding to the Black Power movement
• Trumpet of Conscience: A collection of speeches King delivered in November and December 1967
• Strength to Love: A collection of King’s sermons

Under the agreement, Beacon will also compile King’s writings, sermons, lectures and prayers into new editions with introductions by leading scholars.

So far, it’s unclear whether this deal will reignite the objections of siblings Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, who have not settled three lawsuits related to their brother Dexter’s management of the King estate, and the control of their mother Coretta Scott King’s personal items, which caused a $1.4 million book deal to fall through last year, according to a previous AP story.

Dick Cheney has signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to publish a memoir in Spring 2011, covering his past 40 years in Washington, D.C. and in the private sector, the New York Times reported today. The editor is Mary Matalin, his close friend and adviser, who founded the conservative Threshold Books imprint.

The Times notes that Cheney is joining numerous Bush administration figures writing memoirs, including:

President George W. Bush; his wife, Laura; former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.; former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; and Karl Rove, the former presidential political adviser. Mr. Rove’s book will also be published by Threshold.

Cheney received a $2 million advance according to the Times. George Bush reportedly received $7 million from Crown, while Bill Clinton was said to have accepted $15 million from Alfred A. Knopf.

CNBC’s David Faber appeared this morning on the Today show with host Matt Lauer, sending his book, And the Roof Caved In: How Wall St. Greed and Stupidity Brought Capitalism to its Knees, to #12 on Amazon. None of the libraries we checked had copies.

On the show, Farber said that his book tries to connect the dots between the experience of individual Americans and the economic forces that created the collapse of the mortgage market. He also commented that President Obama’s proposed mortgage industry regulations leave too much discretion to the states; discussed the problem of companies that become “too big to fail;” and contrasted current levels of consumer spending with the views of financial experts who project recovery beginning in 2010 at the earliest.

And Then the Roof Caved In David Faber Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Wiley – (2009-06-22) ISBN / EAN: 0470474238 / 9780470474235

Let’s start a new award, for “The Review That Most Makes You Want to Read the Book.” It’s surprising how few would qualify.

My nominee this week comes from the NYT BR, in a special category, “Most Made Me Want to Read a Book about a Subject I’m Not Drawn to,” for Dwight Garner’s review of Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman.

Library reserves are averaging 5 to 1 in six large systems we checked. It’s been moving up Amazon and is currently at #22, indicating it will appear on next week’s best seller lists.

What about you? Seen any reviews lately that made you say, “I’ve just gotta read that one”?

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath Michael Norman, Elizabeth M. Norman Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-06-09) ISBN / EAN: 0374272603 / 9780374272609

Also in audio from Tantor:

Narrator: Michael Prichard

• 14 Audio CDs (Retail Unikeep Pkg); EAN: 9781400111671
List Price: $39.99
• 14 Audio CDs (Library BinderL Pkg); EAN: 9781400141678
List Price: $79.99
• 2 Mp3-CDs (Retail SlimlineL Pkg); EAN: 9781400161676
List Price: $29.99

News coverage about recent events in Iran has helped to push two titles up Amazon’s sales rankings.

Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, was interviewed on Real Time with Bill Maher on Saturday. His book rose to #97, up from 1,076.

It is owned by most large libraries, with some reserves.

The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran Hooman Majd Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2008-09-23) ISBN / EAN: 0385523343 / 9780385523349

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Afshin Molavi, author of The Soul of Iran, was quoted the NYT on Saturday (Gauging Obama in Iran). His book is now at #107 on Amazon, up from #15,809. It is owned by fewer libraries than The Ayatollah Begs to Differ.

The Soul of Iran: A Nation’s Journey to Freedom Afshin Molavi Ph.D. Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton – (2005-09-26) ISBN / EAN: 0393325970 / 9780393325973

Thanks to a review in today’s New York Times, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday, Neil MacFarquhar’s new book of reportage on the Middle East, is up to #328 on Amazon.com. Libraries we checked had fewer than eight copies, with up to 38 holds.

The book’’s title gives a hint of its unexpected point of view: MacFarquhar is an American who speaks Arabic, grew up in a Libyan oil town, worked for more than 13 years as a correspondent in the Middle East and is now The New York Times’ United Nations bureau chief. The Times review praises his grasp of history, and declares,

MacFarquhar writes most passionately about the activists and intellectuals struggling to liberalize their societies and Islam as a whole. These reformers — many of whom espouse an Islamic vision of democracy and human rights — are caught between religious zealots and repressive regimes that are often backed by the United States.”

The Washington Post also weighed in on the book back in May, calling it “an intelligent and fascinating romp full of anecdotes, acid asides and conversations with everyone from dissidents to diplomats and liberal religious sheikhs, and even a Kuwaiti woman with a sex-advice column.”

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday Neil MacFarquhar Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 359 pages Publisher: PublicAffairs – (2009-04-27) ISBN / EAN: 1586486357 / 9781586486358