Two books released on the same day, make quite different cases; the atheist Richard Dawkins makes the case for evolution in The Greatest Show in Earth, while Karen Armstrong makes The Case for God.

Armstrong’s book was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered last night; Dawkins is scheduled for the Colbert Report tomorrow night.

Both are showing heavy holds (Dawkins is running ahead of Armstrong) on light ordering.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution Richard Dawkins Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Free Press – (2009-09-22) ISBN / EAN: 1416594787 / 9781416594789

Unabridged Audio:
Simon & Schuster Audio; 9780743579278 $ 39.99; 9/1/09

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The Case for God Karen Armstrong Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2009-09-22) ISBN / EAN: 0307269183 / 9780307269188

Unbridged Audio:

• Random House Audio; 9780307702371; $50.00; 9/1/09
• Books on Tape; 9780307702395; $100; 9/22/09

Large Type:

Thorndike Press; 9781410421531; $ 32.95; 11/1/09

Downloadable audio and eBook from OverDrive

Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of Civilization of Love by Carl Anderson and Eduardo Chavez has remained in Amazon’s top 100 over the past week and now appears at #137 on the USA Today list.  The book traces the ways that the Catholic Virgin has been a catalyst for relgious and cultural transformation from the sixteenth century to the present. None of the libraries we checked had any copies.

The book’s rise is clearly tied to Anderson’s role as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Knights of Columbus – the world’s largest Catholic organization. Our Lady of Guadalupe was prominently featured at the first international Marian conference and the Guadalupe Festival - attended by thousands in early August in Phoenix, Arizona – both of which came on the heels of the 127th Annual Knights of Columbus convention.

Co-author Chavez is an expert on Guadalupe apparitions and the first Dean of the Catholic University Lumen Gentium of the Archdiocese of Mexico. He and Anderson created a video for the book, hosted on their website.

Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love Carl Anderson, Eduardo Chavez Retail Price: $22.99 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Doubleday Religion – (2009-08-04) ISBN / EAN: 0385527721 / 9780385527729

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.

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

We wrote about The Shack three months ago when it first appeared at #147 on the USA Today bestseller list. Now that it’s risen to #8 (from #11 last week), USA Today also takes note of it, with an article in today’s book section. The book, published by two former pastors is described as being about “the father of a murdered child [who] encounters God the Father as a sarcastic black woman, Jesus as a Middle Eastern laborer and the Holy Spirit as an Asian girl.” Published a year ago, its sale grew because of attention from Christian radio, websites and blogs.

The book’s success will surely add fuel to self-publishers’ dreams. The author says that his original goal was just to get it “copied and bound at Kinko’s in time for Christmas as a gift to my kids.”

Most (but not all) libraries I checked have copies, a few still show on order status, with heavy holds to copy ratios.

The Shack

William P. Young

• Hardcover:$24.95
• Publisher: Windblown Media (December 6, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0964729245
• ISBN-13: 978-0964729247

• Paperback:$14.99
• Publisher: Windblown Media; (May 1, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0964729237
• ISBN-13: 978-0964729230