When asked what she thought of some libraries removing Fifty Shades of Grey from their shelves on The View on Friday, the book’s author, E.L. James responded, “I think people should read what they like, providing it is age appropriate,” bringing applause from the audience.

The studio audience went away with a copy of the book (as well as $100 Marshall’s gift certificate and a copy of Weeknights with Giada – how mainstream can you get?).

Earlier in the week, the co-hosts discussed the “Hot Topic” of whether it’s appropriate for libraries to remove the book. All agreed that it’s not (even though, in another segment, they expressed strong reservations about the book’s theme of female submission). Whoopie Goldberg said, “If people want to see the book for themselves, the library is obligated to provide it.”

The man who led the CIA’s anti-terrorism efforts, Henry Crumpton, said in an interview on CBS Sixty Minutes last night that there are “more foreign spies in the US than ever before.”

Crumpton writes about his experiences in The Art of Intelligence. The embargoed book is being released today.

An excerpt is on The Daily Beast.

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service Henry A. Crumpton Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Penguin Press – (2012-05-14) ISBN / EAN: 1594203342 / 9781594203343

To celebrate the release of Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother?, Time magazine offers a slide show of ten other “unforgettable autobiographical comics,” beginning with Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

Several libraries are showing heavy holds on Bechdel’s title.

Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama Alison Bechdel Retail Price: $22.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – (2012-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0618982507 / 9780618982509

Arriving next week are a father-son memoir from Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, biographies of Clarence Birdseye by the author of Cod and Salt and foodie Craig Claiborne by Thomas McNamee, plus a wacky self-help book from Augusten Burroughs.

Along the Way: The Journey of Father and Son by Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez (S&S/Free Press) is a joint memoir by father and son, both well-known actors. It’s partly set in Hollywood, but its through-line is the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage path across northern Spain, from which Sheen’s father emigrated to the U.S. and to which Estevez’s own son has returned to live. A Today Show interview is scheduled for May 8.

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky (RH/Doubleday) is a biography of Clarence Birdseye, the inventor of fast-freezing for food, written by the author of Cod and Salt. Kirkus says, “Kurlansky tells the exciting tale of Birdseye’s adventures, failures and successes (he became a multi-millionaire) and his family, and he also offers engaging snippets about Velveeta, dehydration and Grape-Nuts. The author notes that Birdseye knew that curiosity is ‘one essential ingredient’ in a fulfilling life; it is a quality that grateful readers also discover in each of Kurlansky’s books.”

The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance by Thomas McNamee (S&S/Free Press; Tantor Media) is an authorized biography of culinary tastemaker Craig Claiborne’s Parisian days, world travels, and influence on American chefs and food culture. Kirkus calls it ”a highly readable, well-researched narrative.”

This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More by Augusten Burroughs (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press; Thorndike Press; Macmillan Audio) is an unconventional self-help book by the bestselling author who chronicled how he overcame an abusive childhood. “Despite pages of platitudes, Burroughs provides plenty of worthy material on the absurdity of the human condition and the unpredictability of contemporary life,” says Kirkus.

For young adults next week, there’s Andrew Fukuda’s would-be successor to the Hunger Games (with the added element of vampires). In children’s books, Patterson continues his middle school series and Stephen Colbert tries to rival Maurice Sendak.

YOUNG ADULT

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (Macmillan/St. Martins/Griffin; Macmillan Audio) is the first in a new vampire series that is on many lists of what to read after The Hunger Games. PW says, “With an exciting premise fueled by an underlying paranoia, fear of discovery, and social claustrophobia, this thriller lives up to its potential while laying the groundwork for future books.”  To capitalize on the Hunger Games hook, The Hunt‘s website (where you can read an excerpt), cross-promotes a free download of an eBook called How to Survive The Hunger Games and uses the tagline “Now that the games are over…it’s time to start the hunt.”

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (S&S/Margaret K. McElderry; Simon & Schuster Audio) is the fifth installment in the bestselling Mortal Instruments series. The film of first book is moving forward, with release currently slated for August 23, 2013, starring Lily Collins and directed by Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid).

CHILDREN’S

Middle School: Get Me Out of Here! by James Patterson (Hachette/LBYR; Hachette Audio) the second in Patterson’s bid to appeal to the Wimpy Kid crowd.

I am A Pole (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio) is a book that the author threatened to write when he interviewed Maurice Sendak on his TV show. Sendak called the concept “terribly ordinary,” adding: “The sad thing is I like it.” We’re listing it as a children’s title, because that’s what Colbert calls it; it’s being published as an adult title, however.

We generally hate book trailers that try to come across like cheap imitations of their movie counterparts. This one seems to fall into that trap, but a clever twist rescues it.

It’s for The Family Corleone by Ed Falco, a prequel to The Godfather.

Author Web Site: EdFalco.us

Libraries are showing a few holds on light ordering at this point.

The Family Corleone Ed Falco Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing – (2012-05-08) ISBN / EAN: 0446574627 / 9780446574624

Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print

When Stephen Colbert interviewed Maurice Sendak in late February, he threatened to write his own kids book, I Am a Pole (And So Can You!). After he outlined the idea, Sendak proclaimed, “The sad thing is, I like it!” Colbert immediately pounced on that quote for his blurb.

And, so it came to pass:

I Am A Pole (And So Can You!) Stephen Colbert Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Hachette/Grand Central – (2012-05-08) ISBN / EAN: 1455523429 / 9781455523429

Amazingly, the book is also going to be available in audio (Hachette Audio).

Colbert’s description of the book begins at the 3:13 time mark in the video below (but how can you not watch the entire thing?).

True to Colbert’s prediction (and Sendak’s irritation) it will also be an eBook, but Hachette no longer sells their eBooks to libraries.

The book’s “popular illustrator with a horrible sense of design” is not named.

News stories that actor Ryan O’Neal has prostate cancer mention that he has a book coming out the week after next, a memoir of his relationship with Farrah Fawcett.

Both of Us: My Life with Farrah Ryan O’Neal, Jodee Blanco, Kent Carroll Hardcover: $26.00; 9780307954824 Publisher: Crown Archetype – (2012-05-01) Audio: RH Audio; 9780307988515

Disney is beating the publicity drum for The Serpent’s Shadow, the final volume in Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles series, arriving May first.

USA Today reports on the two-million copy first printing and Riordan’s live webcast on publication day from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium in San Jose (the series features Egyptian mythology). The webcast is co-sponsored by School Library Journal (sign up for it here).

The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, Book Three) Rick Riordan Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Hyperion Book CH – (2012-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 1423140575 / 9781423140573

Thorndike Large Print; Brilliance Audio

Excerpt here

Author Web site: RickRiordan.com

In prep for our upcoming GalleyChat today at 4, ET, here are a few titles that have been high on the radar:

Heading Out to Wonderful, Robert Goolrick, Workman/Algonquin Books, ISBN: 9781565129238, June 12  – Available on NetGalley

One of my earliest “crystal ball” posts on EarlyWord began, “In these uncertain times, there is one thing I can say with confidence. However many copies you’ve ordered of A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick, it’s not enough.”

I breathed a sigh of relieve when that proved to be true. In hardcover it hit the IndieBound best seller list, rising as high as #4, and the extended NYT list. The trade paperback, had an amazing ride, beginning at #2 on the NYT list in January of 2010, moving to the extended list in the fall. GalleyChatters say this one is “even better.” I look forward to moderating the “Book Trip” panel featuring Goolrick at BEA in June.

Into the Darkest Corner, Elizabeth Haynes, Harper, ISBN: 9780062197252, June 5 – Digital RC on Edelweiss.

GalleyChatters describe this debut as,

• “Dark, dark psychological suspense must read”
• “Really really tense; don’t read alone!”
• “very unnerving hard to put down”

Several sequels to big debuts are also eagerly awaited:

Shadow of the Night, Deborah Harkness, Penguin/Viking, ISBN 9780670022410, July 10; Sequel to A Discovery of Witches.

There are a limited number of galleys; a lucky few got them at PLA.

Talulla Rising, Glen Duncan, RH/Knopf, ISBN 9780307595096, June 26; Sequel to The Last Werewolf.

Galleys have been sent out. Digital RC’s on Edelweiss.

The Twelve, Justin Cronin, RH/Ballantine, ISBN 9780345504982, Oct 18; Sequel to The Passage.

When the first book in this trilogy came out last year, I accused Random House Library Marketing of trying to paper the earth the galleys. Seems it did the trick. For this sequel, there will be a limited number of galleys (they will have them at ALA) and RH is not currently planning to make it available as an e-galley.

During a recent interview with Maurice Sendak, Stephen Colbert threatened to publish a children’s book, I Am a Pole (And So Can You). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the video of that interview became a “viral sensation.”

So, naturally, Colbert is now making good on his threat; the book is scheduled to be published on May 8th (Hachette/Grand Central; ISBN: 1455523429).

Colbert is releasing another book in October, America Again, Hachette/Grand Central; 0446583979).

Part One of the viral video, below (skip to Part Two to preview I Am a Pole):

Part Two, in which Colbert reveals his brilliant idea (beginning at 3:10) and Sendak gives him a blurb, “The sad thing is, I like it”:

The Bourne series is back, with a new director (Tony Gilroy, who wrote the screenplays for the first three movies) and a new star (Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker). The first trailer appeared yesterday and fans of the originals, starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, have their knives drawn.

The original movies were loosely based on the trilogy by Robert Ludlum (in fact, Deadline reports that Gilroy famously didn’t even read the first Ludlum book. He just used the book’s basic concept). After Ludlum’s death, Eric Van Lustbader continued the series, with the blessing of Ludlum’s estate. The first was appropriately named The Bourne Legacy. Lustbader has now written six Bourne novels, with a seventh, The Bourne Imperative, (Hachette/Grand Central), coming in July.

Is this movie based on the book? Following in the footsteps of the previous “adaptations,”  it only takes its title from the novel, as Lustbader says in his blog. Officially described as, “A story centered on a new CIA operative in the universe based on Robert Ludlum’s novels,” the movie introduces a new character. Instead of the amnesiac David Webb, who takes on the identity of a ruthless CIA assassin, “Jason Bourne,” a new character joins the Treadstone program as “Kenneth Kitson.” As the trailer puts it, “there was never just one.” Cleverly, this leaves open the possibility of Damon returning to future movies in the series.

Even though it bears little resemblance to the movie, the book will be released as a movie tie-in by St. Martin’s on June 2. The movie arrives August 3.

One of last year’s major fiction debuts, A Discovery of Witches, currently on the NYT trade paperback best seller list, is getting renewed attention. It’s a COSTCO book pick for January and Variety reports that Warner Bros. has signed screenwriter David Auburn for the movie adaptation. In hardcover, the book spent 6 weeks on the NYT bestseller list and 9 more on the extended list.

It is the first in the All Souls Trilogy (book 2, Shadow of Night, is coming in July). Libraries that have it on order are already showing significant holds.

Shadow of Night: A Novel Deborah Harkness Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 592 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2012-07-10) ISBN / EAN: 0670023485 / 9780670023486

Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print

Disney Publishing announced late yesterday that a 2-million-copy first printing of The Serpent’s Shadow, the final volume in Rick Riordan’s best-selling Kane Chronicles will be released on May 1. An excerpt of the first chapter is now available on TheKaneChronicles.com. It will also be released in audio by Brilliance.

The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, Book Three) Rick Riordan Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Disney Publishing – (2012-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 1423140575 / 9781423140573

Riordan appeard on Rock Center with Brian Williams last night. Towards the end of the interview, he announced the new title.

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