A few weeks ago, we mentioned The Oxford Project, a book of portraits of the members of one small town, today and as they were twenty years ago, plus stories of what happened to them in the intervening years. The gallery of some of the photos demonstrates just how fascinating the result is (warning; if you go to the gallery, you may find yourself poring over these images for quite some time). 

CBS Sunday Morning is fascinated by the result, too, and will feature the project on this week’s show. Here’s how they describe the segment:

If you have ever gone up to the attic or searched in a closet and found a treasure trove of old photos, you probably have sat in amazement looking at family and friends from years earlier.  When you see them today, it almost seems as if they have traveled in a time warp. And that is exactly what the people of Oxford, Iowa, experienced after a university professor came to town in 1984 and took individual snapshots of them. He returned 20 years later to see how things have changed with the town folk. Needless to say, as correspondent Josh Landis finds out, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words.

 

The Oxford Project
Stephen G. Bloom and Peter Feldstein

• Hardcover: $50; 264 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Books (September 16, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1599620480
• ISBN-13: 978-1599620480

A Platter of Figs is shaping up as THE cookbook of the season. Both today’s New York Times and the new People magazine (11/4) include it in their seasonal cookbook roundups. It was also featured in the LA Times list of standouts in what they call a “dazzling season” of cookbooks.

Julia Moskin, NYT  “Dining” section reporter, calls it the “most alluring and useful” of all the books discussed (or coming out this season, it’s not entirely clear). 

The book went from #862 on Amazon to #117. Several libraries have not ordered it; those that do own it show reserves.

A Platter of Figs

Tanis, David

• Hardcover: $35
• Publisher: Artisan (September 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1579653464
• ISBN-13: 978-1579653460

Several books from high-profile chefs are out this season, some with high-end price tags to match (but, at $250, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook still costs less than a meal at London’s Fat Duck restaurant). Recognizing that most of these books are beyond the skills of even the best home cooks, Moskin says you should think of them as “art books, deluxe professional manuals and creative memoirs that happen to be in recipe form.” After all, you wouldn’t expect to be able to paint a masterpiece after reading a Jackson Pollock memoir.

Of the high-end books, Moskin says she would choose Alinea, from the award-winning Chicago restaurant (tasting menu, $125), because of the book’s “relatively reasonable” price and “seductive photography.” 

It rose from #209 to #126 on Amazon. It’s owned in small quantities by some libraries and is showing holds.

Alinea

Achatz, Grant 

• Hardcover: $60; 416 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (October 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1580089283
• ISBN-13: 978-1580089289

The subject of race is obviously major in the current election, but most commentators back off discussing it (other than a few references to the “Bradley Factor”). Not so anti-racist activist and writer Tim Wise, who feels it’s crucial to deal with the issue head on, especially now. His essay “This is Your Nation on White Privilege” appeared on nearly a thousand web sites in the past few weeks and has drawn heated response. The author appeared on the Tavis Smiley show last week, NPR’s News & Notes (check it out; it’s powerful stuff) the week before, and on All Things Considered this summer.

Wise’s most recent book is a collection of essays Speaking Treason Fluently, owned by just a few libraries. Its only prepub coverage was in PW’s web-exclusive reviews, where it was described as “bold and bracing.”

Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male

by Tim Wise

• Paperback: $16.95; 352 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (September 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1593762070
• ISBN-13: 978-1593762070

Wise works from anecdote … to recount his path to greater cultural awareness in a colloquial, matter-of-fact quasi-memoir that urges white people to fight racism “for our own sake.”

• Paperback: $14.95; 176 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press; 2nd edition (December 28, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 1933368993
• ISBN-13: 978-1933368993

Wise has a huge speaking schedule coming up. I’m posting it here (sorry for the length), since it doesn’t seem to be available online. If he’s going to be in your area, you may need to stock up on copies of his books:

The reserve lists for My Stroke of Insight are about to get even longer. The author is scheduled for a full hour on Oprah today.

Most libraries do not own the audio or the large print editions.

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey

Jill Bolte Taylor

• Hardcover: $24.95; 192 pages
• Publisher: Viking;  (May 14, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0670020745
• ISBN-13: 978-0670020744

John Grogan’s The Longest Trip Home, his memoir of life before Marley, releases on Tuesday. Sister publications Entertainment Weekly and People (both owned by TimeWarner) have diametrically opposing views of the book:

Entertainment Weekly — gives it a “C.” The reviewer liked Marley, but says this one‘”feels more like an uneventful 334-page back-jacket author bio than a book.” Ouch! That comment makes the “C” rating sound like “grade creep.”

People (reviews not available online) — on the opposite end of the spectrum, People gives it four out of four possible stars; “As he did in Marley, Grogan makes readers feel they have a seat at the family dinner table.”

Library ordering and holds are surprisingly light for the followup to such a major bestseller. Orders for four major systems total just 61 copies in all formats, with 113 holds (one of the systems hasn’t ordered it at all). In contrast, these libraries have over 500 copies of Edgar Sawtelle, with reserves totaling over 2,000 at one point.

Also surprising, the book not among Amazon’s most popular pre-orders or in its Top 100 (it’s currently at #436 in Amazon’s sales ranking, which is respectable, but doesn’t indicate a blockbuster).

The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir
John Grogan

• Hardcover: $25.95; 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061713244
• ISBN-13: 978-0061713248

Dewey rose to #2 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction list this week, after three weeks on the list. If you haven’t caught Dewey Fever yet (and even if you have), check out the recent review by Christian Science Monitor Books Editor Marjorie Kehe. Dewey reminds her of a friend’s advice about the difference between dogs and cats, “A dog leaps immediately into your heart. A cat arrives with a slow crawl”;

I picked this book up dubiously, expecting a big, gooey cinnamon roll of a read – way too sticky-sweet to merit more than a few bites.

Instead, I made it to the last page and I was crying when I got there. Sure enough, the little guy had crawled his way right into my heart.

Reserves are piling up (ten to one in some areas); consider buying more copies.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Vicki Myron

• Hardcover: $19.99
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 24, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0446407410
• ISBN-13: 9780446407410

• Audio CD: Unabridged, $22.98
• Publisher: Hachette Audio, (September 24, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1600243827
• ISBN-13: 9781600243820

• Large Print Hardcover: $22.99
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, (September 24, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0446541192
• ISBN-13: 9780446541190

This week, a book called The Oxford Project rise to #46 on Amazon.

Twenty years ago, Peter Feldstein decided to photograph each one of his neighbors in the small town of Oxford, Iowa (pop. 676). Recently, he photographed the same people again. He convinced a friend, a University of Iowa journalism professor, to interview the subjects about their lives in the intervening years. The side-by-side photos of the subjects from then and now, along with their stories became The Oxford Project.

How interesting can intimate portraits of strangers be? The answer is “very,” as evidenced by stories on CNN.com (Mom pinned note on me, gave me away) and the Washington Post (Time and Again).

Only one of 9 large library systems I checked have the book on order, with 47 holds on 6 copies.

The book is currently at #222 on Amazon.

The Oxford Project 
Stephen G. Bloom and Peter Feldstein

• Hardcover: $50; 264 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Books (September 16, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1599620480
• ISBN-13: 978-1599620480

…read Carolyn See’s amusing review of Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream by Steven Watts in today’s Washington Post. See manages to write a fascinating review of a book she considers “incredibly boring.” 

USA Today’s review in the current issue consists mainly of a list of the “most interesting parts” of the book.

Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream

Steven Watts

The PBS show Bill Moyers Journal often makes bestsellers, e.g., The Limits of Power by Andrew Bacevich and Bad Money by Kevin Phillips.

This Friday, billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros is scheduled to appear. His most recent book, published in May, was prophetically titled, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means. 

The book was also featured in an annotated list of twenty titles that Shelf Awareness put together last week, based on the recommendations of booksellers and librarians; Meltdown Lit: Recommended Books for the Wall Street Debacle. 

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means
George Soros

• Hardcover: $22.95; 208 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (May 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1586486837
• ISBN-13: 978-1586486839

Last week, in our roundup of titles new to the USA Today bestsellers list, we noted the following, at #94:

The Love Dare, Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick, B&H, pbk, $14.99; The companion volume to the Christian-themed film, Fireproof, which is a surprise box-office success. The star of the movie, Kirk Cameron, who played Mike Seaver on the TV series Growing Pains, appeared on the Today Show recently, promoting both the book and the movie. Libraries have not ordered it.

The book is now at #9 on Amazon and the movie was #8 on Variety’s weekly box office rankings.

On Monday, the NYT ran a story on the movie’s success;

An almost all-volunteer cast and crew, including a star who was an ’80s teen heartthrob, and a plot about a firefighter who saves his marriage by turning to God — it hardly sounds like a recipe for box office success, let alone a best-selling book. But that’s what the film “Fireproof” has spawned.

In addition to The Love Dare, a paperback novelization of the film has been published by Thomas Nelson and an inspirational book by the film’s executive producer.

The Love Dare
Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick

• Paperback: $14; 224 pages
• Publisher: B&H Books (September 28, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0805448853
• ISBN-13: 978-0805448856