What’s New
While most people are still looking ahead to spring books, you can get an instant tan by looking at publishers’ summer catalogs -- links are to the right of this page, under “Publishers Catalogs.”
Now that ’09 is over, we’ve taken down our links to the various best books lists, but kept up the spreadsheets of the adult and children’s picks.
The Oscar season brings new attention to ’09 movies based on books; be sure to check out our links to the trailers and our list of new and upcoming moview with tie-ins.
For more on EarlyWord,
click here.
Nora Rawlinson
Co-Founder and Editor
Fred Ciporen
Co-Founder and Publisher
On Tuesday night, Jon Stewart interviewed Mark Thiessen on Comedy Central’s Daily Show. Going in, you had to know, simply from the title of the book, Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack, that the interview would be contentious.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Marc Thiessen | ||||
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The extended interview continues in two additional parts:
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Releasing on Tuesday is Karl Rove’s memoir Courage and Consequence. The book is embargoed, but news began breaking about it this week (see NYT story, “Ultimate Bush Insider Lifts Veil on Presidency“). It is currently at #52 on Amazon.
Since there were no prepub reviews, you may want to check your holdings. However, most of the libraries we checked own it, with fewer than 1 hold per copy ordered.
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S&S Audio; ABRIDGED; 9781442334069; $29.99
A book by the son of one of the founders of Hamas is making headlines around the world. Published by the Christian press Tyndale House, the book is coming out next week in the U.S. Libraries have not ordered it.
Mosab Hassan Yousef claims in his memoir, Son of Hamas, that he was a top informant for Isreal, and helped prevent dozens of suicide bombings by providing classified information. The author was interviewed in Isreal’s newspaper, Haaretz, on Wednesday, but made no comment to other reporters.
The story is being covered in newspapers internationally, including the Washington Post, The New York Daily News, The Toronto Star as well as on TV (CNN and ABC News).
The book rose to #14 on Amazon’s U.S. sales rankings.
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Tyndale Audio; 3/2; 9781414333090; $29.99
Several new books about Barack Obama are in the works, in addition to the just-announced Bridge by New Yorker editor David Remnick (Knopf, 4/6/10) — see earlier post.
Coming a few days before Remnick’s bio, is a book by Robert Kuttner, co-founder of the liberal magazine The American Prospect and author of Obama’s Challenge. Libraries we checked are not showing it on order.
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Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter’s The Promise: President Obama, Year One will be published in May (most large libraries have it on order in small quantities). Alter also wrote The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, 2006, which got a boost in sales when Obama himself said he was reading it prior to taking office.
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S&S Audio; UNABR; 9781442334458; $39.99
According to USA Today, other books by presidential biographers are in the works. David Maraniss, whose account of the early Clinton years, First in his Class, is considered, “a standard text for the early life and political rise of the 42nd president” is at work on a “long-range project” about Obama.
And, Robert Draper, (Dead Certain: The Biography of George W. Bush) is working on a book that considers Obama “in the context of the civil rights movement.”
Like his book needed more attention — Andrew Young, author of The Politican, at #2 on the 2/28 NYT best seller list after three weeks, is scheduled for a full hour on Oprah on Wednesday.
Oprah’s sympathetic interview with Elizabeth Edwards last summer helped make her book Resilience a best seller. It will be interesting to see how Oprah treats Young.
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Unabridged audio now available from Tantor:
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
The media appetite for political scandals, even ten-year-old ones, continues unabated.
Last night on NPR’s Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed Ken Gormley, whose book, The Death of American Virtue, recounts the Clinton impeachment (listen here). Gormley also appeared on the Today Show.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The book rose to #52 on Amazon, but library holds are light in most places.
It has also been reviewed widely in newspapers, including the following.
Wall Street Journal — a scrupulously even-handed and exhaustively reported book
New York Times — so exhaustive that some of it raises doubts about the value of Mr. Gormley’s exertions…. But by and large Mr. Gormley has packed his narrative with intense, overdue and definitive testimony about the still-surprising investigation of Mr. Clinton’s activities spearheaded by Kenneth W. Starr.
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The CIA allows their agents to moonlight with financial firms, according to the online news site, Politico. Reacting to the story last week, Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, demanded answers on the policy.
Several newspapers reported on the story, which is drawn form a forthcoming book by Politico reporter Eamon Javers. As The Guardian put it,
It is hard to imagine two more distrusted and reviled professions. One has been accused of torturing detainees and failing to track down Islamist terror suspects; the other is widely perceived to be responsible for the worldwide recession.
Now, in a move likely to provoke a perfect storm of opprobrium, the two have joined forces: enterprising CIA officers who want to earn a little extra have been given the green light to moonlight for Wall Street firms.
The book is out today and on the rise at Amazon (to #160, from #2,230). Most libraries have not ordered it; as a book with breaking news, it was embargoed and therefore was not reviewed prepub.
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E-book available from OverDrive
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By now, you may feel that you know everything that is in The Politician by John Edwards’ aide, Andrew Young, but in today’s New York Times, Janet Maslin reviews the book, saying, “this,…like Game Change, is a book worth reading for its larger drama.”
Game Change has been in the top three on Amazon’s sales rankings since January 11th, sometimes occupying the #1 position (it was recently knocked down by Michael Pollan’s Food Rules; speaking of strange bedfellows).
The highest level The Politician has reached is #7; it is currently at #52.
| The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down |
| Andrew Young |
| Retail Price: | $24.99 |
| Hardcover: | 320 pages |
| Publisher: | Thomas Dunne Books – (2010-30-01) |
| ISBN / EAN: | 031264065X / 9780312640651 |
Unabridged audio will be available from Tantor:
Publisher: Tantor, 2/22/10 (UPDATE: see comment; Available Now)
Read by: Kevin Foley
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
News is leaking from a book by former John Edwards’ aide, Andrew Young. On the Today Show this morning, a reporter called the book,
…salacious, full of tawdry details, betrayal and countless lies. And as brutal as it is about John Edwards, it’s also tough on Elizabeth, who, the book says, became intoxicated by power, and sometimes looked the other way.
Tomorrow night, Young appears on 20/20.
The release date, originally scheduled for next week, has been moved up to Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly.
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Unabridged audio will be available from Tantor:
Publisher: Tantor, 2/22/10
Read by: Kevin Foley
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
In an effort to “get ahead” of a tell-all book being released the week after next by a former aide, John Edwards has admitted that he is the father of Rielle Hunter’s daughter Quinn.
The aide, Andrew Young, had claimed he was the father to protect his boss. His book, The Politician, due on Feb. 2, rose to #117 on Amazon after the news broke.
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Unabridged audio will be available from Tantor:
Publisher: Tantor, 2/22/10
Read by: Kevin Foley
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
Next week’s most-anticipated nonfiction book is bestselling business guru Seth Godin’s guide to mastering the new economy, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Three of the four libraries we checked had it, with holds of close to 2:1 on orders of 8-15 copies
Though the reserves aren’t huge, they appear to be a positive effect of Godin’s gamble on Internet-only publicity campaign, in which he bypassed the traditional media, giving away books at his own expense to the first 3,000 readers who agreed to make a minium $30 donation to the Acumen Fund.
So far, Godin has a page of positive blog reviews and tweets to show for his efforts, and the Acumen Fund has raised more than $100,000.
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Audio available from Random House on 2/09/10:
Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging by Greg Critser (Harmony) is a journalist’s irreverent look at the anti-aging industry. Kirkus found it ”a delightful, politically incorrect view of the life-extension movement, accompanied by the disappointing news that aging is reversible but not in the near future.”
I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne (Grand Central) is the legendary rocker and reality show star’s memoir, which Kirkus deemed “as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.”
Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour by Gayle Haggard (Tyndale) is a memoir by the wife of evangelical Christian leader Tim Haggard who had liaisons with a male prostitute.
Tea with Hezbollah: Sitting at the Enemies Table, Our Journey Through the Middle East by Ted Dekker and Middle East expert Carl Medearis (Doubleday Religion) is an account of the Christian novelist’s effort to love his enemies.
The wife of Appalachian Trail fan, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, will appear on national shows to promote her forthcoming book, Staying True, originally announced for a May publication date, but recently moved up to February 5.
Some of her scheduled appearances and coverage include:
February 5th — Barbara Walters interview on ABC’s 20/20
February 8th
Little information has leaked about this embargoed title, but Sanford is also scheduled appear on the Christian Broadcasting Networks’ The 700 Club, indicating it will be short on salacious details. As Politics Daily puts it, “With other stories rapidly feeding the public appetite for scandal, is there still interest in Jenny Sanford’s tale before, during and after a South American trip made her famous?”
Libraries we checked are currently showing light reserves on light to moderate ordering.
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Random House Audio; UNABR; simultaneous; 9780307736284; $25
Revelations from the book Game Change has been much discussed in the media, but we haven’t heard much about the actual experience of reading it. In the new Entertainment Weekly, book review editor Tina Jordan, calls it a “riveting read” that is “more bodice ripper than Beltway.”
More media is coming up, including NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
Unfortunately, the publisher is currently out of stock and working furiously on a reprint.
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HarperLuxe; 9780061945991; $27.99
eBook downloable from OverDrive beginning 2/23
Gossipmongers have been riveted all week by revelations from the book Game Change, keeping it at #1 on Amazon sales rankings. Sarah Palin, the Clintons, the McCains and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have all various amounts of dirty laundry aired. But some of the most eyebrow-raising sections are about John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth, excerpted in this week’s New York magazine; far from being the humble man of the people, John Edwards developed into a megalomaniac, Elizabeth was an “abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending, crazy woman”, and campaign workers agonized over Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter.
And, John Edwards’ $400 haircut? It really cost $1,250.
There’s more to come. Andrew Young, the Edwards’ aide, who pretended to be the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby to protect his boss, is publishing his own tell-all, The Politician. He is scheduled to get some serious air time:
1/29 — 20/20 begins a multiple-part interview with Bob Woodruff
2/1 — Book will be featured on World News with Diane Sawyer
2/2 — Interview with George Stephanopolous on Good Morning, America
2/2 — Nightline appearance
Few libraries have ordered The Politician; it was not reviewed prepub.
UPDATE: Unabridged audio will be available from Tantor:
Publisher: Tantor
Read by: Kevin Foley
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
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The ‘08 presidential campaign may seem like old news, but a new book that examines it in depth is dominating headlines and is currently #1 on both Amazon and B&N.com sales rankings.
Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, releasing today, has been featured on Sixty Minutes, The View, as well as in countless news stories. A section about the Edwards’ campaign is excerpted in NY mag under the headline, “Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster.”
Fox News delineates the “juicy bits” that have “rocked Washington despite arriving on the shelves months after a number of other campaign 2008 retellings.” Among the allegations are that Bill Clinton was having an affair during his wife’s campaign; Elizabeth Edwards was an “abusive, paranoid, condescending crazy woman;” and further evidence that Sara Palin lacked basic knowledge about world events.
Of course, the book caused Harry Reid to apologize about comments he made about Obama. Last night, Stephen Colbert commented on that issue (John Heilemann, coauthor of Game Change will appear on his show tomorrow).
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Harry Reid’s Racist Comment | ||||
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In the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani reviews the book, saying that the authors use the technique pioneered by Bob Woodward, “relying heavily on ‘deep background’ interviews, along with e-mail messages, memorandums and other forms of documentation to create a novelistic narrative that often reflects the views of the authors’ most cooperative or voluble sources.” However, she notes, “Unlike Mr. Woodward’s last two books this volume has no source notes at the end.”
On Good Morning America yesterday, George Stephanopoulos questioned the authors about their sources and why many of these stories have not come out before (the video is not embeddable; view it here).
HarperCollins has already increased the print run twice, from 75,000 to 135,000,and then to 155,000, according to the AP. Libraries are showing heavy holds on moderate ordering; an average of 10:1 in the libraries we checked.
Below, the women of The View discuss the book with coauthor Mark Halperin:
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HarperLuxe; 9780061945991; $27.99
eBook downloadable from OverDrive
See All Listings »