Archive for the ‘2012/13 – Winter/Spring’ Category

NYT Breaks Embargo on Amanda Knox Book

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

Waiting to Be HeardDiane Sawyer was supposed to have the first word on Amanda Knox’s memoir, Waiting to Be Heard,(Harper; HarperLuxe, HarperAudio) in an interview with the author on April 30, the book’s publication date. Instead, the NYT‘s publishing reporter, Julie Bosman got it first, breaking the embargo with a story on Friday.

Knox, an American attending college in Perugia, Italy, was accused, along with her boyfriend, of killing her roommate. She was tried, convicted and imprisoned, but released after the the decision was was overturned. In March, the Italian courts again changed their minds and ordered a new trial, which is to be held some time next year.

Holds are heavy in many libraries.

More Fans of ME BEFORE YOU

Friday, January 4th, 2013

Me Before YouAn author couldn’t ask for much better than this. Liesl Schillinger’s NYT BR review of Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You, (Penguin/Pamela Dorman Books, Thorndike Large Print), begins “When I finished this novel, I didn’t want to review it; I wanted to reread it.”

People magazine designates it their first “People Pick” of the year, calling this story of a quadriplegic’s relationship with his caregiver,  “funny, surprising and heartbreaking, populated with characters who are affecting and amusing in equal measure. Written in a deceptively breezy style… [it] captures the complexity of love.”

This adds to an equally strong review in USA Today and endorsements from independent booksellers, who made it an Indie Next pick and librarians on GalleyChat.

Moyes, a best seller in the UK and winner of  two  of the UK’s Romantic Novel of the Year Awards (for Last Letter from Your Lover in 2011 and Foreign Fruit, in 2004) appears poised for her breakout here.

THE Best Book You’ll Read This Year

Friday, January 4th, 2013

NYT Magazine Cover

It’s a bold prediction to make so early in the new year, but the NYT Magazine’s deputy editor, stepping on the territory of his colleagues at the Book Review as well as those on the daily NYT, predicts that the best book you will read this year is George Saunders’s fourth book of short stories, The Tenth of December (Random House; BOT), which arrives next week. The article calls him a “writer’s writer,” quoting literary fans such as Lorrie Moore, Tobias Wolff, Junot Diaz and Mary Karr.

It’s also reviewed in the L.A. Times,  the Chicago Tribune and Entertainment Weekly.

Early Attention for THE LAST RUNAWAY

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

The Last RunawayTracy Chavalier’s next novel, The Last Runaway, (Penguin/Dutton, Penguin Audio; Wheeler Large Print) coming a week from today, becomes the first book of the new season to receive attention on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Chavalier, who is known for her historical settings, here turns to Ohio’s Underground Railroad in the 1850’s. Reviewing it, Dolen Perkins-Valdez (whose novel Wench, HarperCollins/Amisted, is about an Ohio resort for slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses) says,

You have probably read stories like this before…But what makes this particular story interesting is [main character] Honor’s perspective. She’s English. And in some ways, coming from far away helps her see American slavery in simpler terms.

Live Chat with Kristopher Jansma

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
 Live Chat with Kristopher Jansma, THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS(12/19/2012) 
3:53
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I see some folks gathering for our live online chat with the Kris Jansma, author of THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS, coming in March from Viking. We’ll begin chatting at 4:00. While we are waiting to begin, here’s the cover of the book:
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:53 Nora - EarlyWord
3:53
Nora - EarlyWord
Jacket for THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS by Kris Jansma
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:53 
3:56
Nora - EarlyWord: 
The book has been getting some pretty impressive reviews.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:56 Nora - EarlyWord
3:56
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:56 
3:56
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:56 
3:57
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:57 
3:59
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Chat participants -- you can send your questions through at any time. They'll go into a queue, and I’ll submit as many of them as I can to Kris before the end of the chat. Don’t worry about typos – and please forgive any on our part.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 3:59 Nora - EarlyWord
4:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Those of you joining us today will be able to enter to win a boxed set of PENGUIN SELECTS -- ARC’s for six books coming out in the upcoming season. We will tell you how later.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:00 Nora - EarlyWord
4:00
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:00 
4:01
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Penguin encourages Today’s participants to leave their own reviews here -- http://bit.ly/YlMDLz -- or tweet a review using #PenguinSelects
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:01 Nora - EarlyWord
4:01
Kristopher Jansma: 
Hello everyone and thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me and Nora this afternoon! I work with a lot of librarians, so I know how busy many of you are at this time of year, but I’m glad we have a chance to talk a bit about The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:01 Kristopher Jansma
4:01
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Hey, Kris, thanks for joining us.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:01 Nora - EarlyWord
4:02
Kristopher Jansma: 
Hi Nora!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:02 Kristopher Jansma
4:02
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Kris, We’ve seen how others have described your book – how would you describe it?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:02 Nora - EarlyWord
4:03
Kristopher Jansma: 
Well, there are a lot of ways to describe The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards… I always have trouble thinking of where to begin. First, it’s a book about a friendship between two writers. But it is also a love story, and a journey around the world…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:03 Kristopher Jansma
4:03
Kristopher Jansma: 
In many ways it is sort of a book about books. What makes us want to write them, and what does it cost the people who write them?

At first I was nervous to say that, because it's a bit of a cliche I guess, to write a debut novel about a would-be novelist! But at its heart, I think this is a book about people who love stories, and who wonder if people can really change or not, the way they do in stories.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:03 Kristopher Jansma
4:04
Nora - EarlyWord: 
The advance reviews have been pretty amazing [see above]. That must feel pretty great. Were there any surprises in what they said?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:04 Nora - EarlyWord
4:04
Kristopher Jansma: 
Hah, yes, many surprises...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:04 Kristopher Jansma
4:05
Kristopher Jansma: 
I’ve been very heartened by the reviews so far. When I was writing the book, I really didn’t know if it would appeal to a wide audience or not. Because I’m an English professor, I had big ambitions to write something really literary, with this cagey narrator and all these nested stories…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:05 Kristopher Jansma
4:05
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
Coming in a bit late but looking forward to the chat session.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:05 Lucy
4:05
Kristopher Jansma: 
but at the same time I wanted to write something adventurous that everyday readers, like many of my students, would sincerely enjoy. And I sort of believed that it should really be possible to do both things at the same time. And I think the biggest surprise so far has been that the book seems to have genuinely moved readers in both crowds, and that makes me very happy.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:05 Kristopher Jansma
4:05
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Hey, Lucy, Welcome!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:05 Nora - EarlyWord
4:06
Nora - EarlyWord: 
The advance reactions can be summarized with the word “inventive.” (Mira Bartok, author The Memory Palace, says your protagonist is “Houdini, Tom Ripley and Hemingway rolled into one.”) What were some of your inspirations?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:06 Nora - EarlyWord
4:06
Kristopher Jansma: 
That was such a great quote! Mira is one of my favorites, to be sure...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:06 Kristopher Jansma
4:06
[Comment From Sue D Sue D : ] 
In my opinion with a beginning writer if the reader feels immediately comfortable and 'lost' in the writer's world, that is a major accomplishment.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:06 Sue D
4:06
Kristopher Jansma: 
And she's right on there. Tom Ripley is a terrific character, and one who was definitely in my mind as I wrote. I’m a big fan of both Patricia Highsmith’s original Ripley and of the interpretation that Anthony Minghella did in the film with Matt Damon…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:06 Kristopher Jansma
4:07
Kristopher Jansma: 
I have always had a big thing for unreliable narrators – from the unnamed speaker in Henry James’s The Aspern Papers, to Holden Caulfield, and Ellison’s Invisible Man. The fun thing about writing this narrator is that he’s very different from my actual self. For one thing, I’m a terrible liar in real life, which might be why I love to write characters like this who can lie with impunity!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:07 Kristopher Jansma
4:07
[Comment From BethMills2 BethMills2 : ] 
Really liked the opening chapter--it pulled me into the story right away--and loved the way story circled back to the same setting at the end.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:07 BethMills2
4:07
Kristopher Jansma: 
Thanks Sue! I know I certainly got lost in it myself, and I'm glad that comes through to the reader as well!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:07 Kristopher Jansma
4:08
Nora - EarlyWord: 
You also mentioned some paintings and photos that inspired you,
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:08 Nora - EarlyWord
4:09
[Comment From Kelly C Kelly C : ] 
I just started reading the book yesterday in anticipation of today's chat, and I could not put it down. My to-do list was tossed aside!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:09 Kelly C
4:09
[Comment From Anne Anne : ] 
I am some intrigued by the narrator's voice that I am finding very hard to put the book down to get some work done.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:09 Anne
4:09
Kristopher Jansma: 
Beth - that's great to hear. I actually wrote that beginning very late in the process, trying to think of a way to frame it all... and I got the idea from another great book: The Madonnas of Echo Park, where the author, Brando Skyhorse uses a technique of that type of Author's Note, which is really part of the story.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:09 Kristopher Jansma
4:11
Kristopher Jansma: 
Kelly and Anne - that's great! People have been telling me their holiday shopping may not get done because of my book. I sure hope that doesn't happen!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:11 Kristopher Jansma
4:11
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Here's a question that came in advance from Audra --

As you were writing The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, was there a particular scene or character that surprised you?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:11 Nora - EarlyWord
4:12
Kristopher Jansma: 
Great question, Audra. Actually, the book was really constantly surprising me. I wrote it one chapter at a time, but not always in order. So sometimes I would suddenly feel like I understood something new and important about the characters, and have to write a new chapter that happened before the others, to set that up...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:12 Kristopher Jansma
4:13
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
Love the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Nice setting of the stage...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:13 Lucy
4:13
Kristopher Jansma: 
But two big questions I didn't know the answer to until the end were, one, if Julian would recover, and two, if the narrator really loves Evelyn/The Princess or if it was just a fantasy.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:13 Kristopher Jansma
4:13
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I agree with Lucy and noticed how many were about truth, which is clearly an obsession of yours.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:13 Nora - EarlyWord
4:14
[Comment From readingenvy readingenvy : ] 
So you are saying that even you don't know what to think of your unreliable narrator? Ha!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:14 readingenvy
4:14
Kristopher Jansma: 
Yes, that's very true (hah). As I was writing, I was grappling with a lot of questions about fiction. I'd heard so many people dismiss fiction as "made-up" and I really believed (and still do) that it can be more truthful than non-fiction sometimes.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:14 Kristopher Jansma
4:15
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
But 'truth' is at the center of the novel, so again, very apt quotes ...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:15 Lucy
4:16
[Comment From Kelly C Kelly C : ] 
Reviewers have mentioned all the literary references woven into your book, but I think the reader can enjoy the story without catching all those references. (I must admit I'm not seeing them all but love the book anyway!) So it reaches a lot of different levels of readers.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:16 Kelly C
4:16
Kristopher Jansma: 
Thank you. Yes, those quotes really helped me figure those ideas out.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:16 Kristopher Jansma
4:16
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Kris -- The book is set in many different places. Does this represent your own love of travel?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:16 Nora - EarlyWord
4:17
Kristopher Jansma: 
Kelly - That was really important to me. I wanted people to read it and, if they didn't get some of the references, to still enjoy the book but also to maybe go and read up on the things they hadn't understood.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:17 Kristopher Jansma
4:17
Chris Kahn: 
I'm here now! Was watching on the site.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:17 Chris Kahn
4:18
Kristopher Jansma: 
Nora, yes, I do love to travel, as does my wife, and we both wish we had the time to do more of it! Since I was a little kid, reading has always been a mode of transportation, and that’s why I wanted to set the book in so many places. The more I travel, the more I feel the world connecting to itself – and that’s also something great books can do.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:18 Kristopher Jansma
4:18
Kristopher Jansma: 
Hi Chris, glad you could make it!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:18 Kristopher Jansma
4:18
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Had you been to all the places you describe?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:18 Nora - EarlyWord
4:18
Kristopher Jansma: 
Oh, I wish I had been to all those places! Unfortunately I haven’t… at least not yet! I have spent time in North Carolina, although I did not grow up there, and I have been living in New York City for the past nine years…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:18 Kristopher Jansma
4:19
Kristopher Jansma: 
I did get to go to Ghana with my in-laws, who are both Professors and once spent their sabbaticals teaching at Kwame Nkrumah University in Kumasi. But I had actually already written the “Doppelganger” chapter before I went to visit them. All the research I did the hard way, online and in (several!) libraries. But once I got there I was able to check my facts and found, to my delight, that I’d gotten pretty close to the real sense of the place…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:19 Kristopher Jansma
4:19
Kristopher Jansma: 
After I sold the book, my wife and I traveled to Luxembourg and I was able to check a lot of facts for the last chapter, but only after I’d already written it. I still haven’t been to Sri Lanka, but a friend of mine from college who has family there was able to help me with that chapter. And my in-laws took a trip to Iceland and I got to look at some of their pictures, so that helped with the Writers’ Colony chapter.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:19 Kristopher Jansma
4:19
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Ah, Ha! You hadn't been to those places ... that makes you a little unreliable yourself. What happend to "write what you know"?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:19 Nora - EarlyWord
4:20
Kristopher Jansma: 
Haha. You know, that is some advice that I have always found very limiting! I tell my students to write what they want to know.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:20 Kristopher Jansma
4:20
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Here's a photo of you in Ghana with your wife...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:20 Nora - EarlyWord
4:20
Kristopher Jansma: 
Then you have a good excuse to go and learn something new!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:20 Kristopher Jansma
4:21
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:21 
4:21
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
It seems that 'the narrator just keeps getting caught up in his own lies and the stories to which they led.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:21 Lucy
4:21
[Comment From Kelley Tackett Kelley Tackett : ] 
I love the cover of the book. I would have picked it up regardless of the story. The cover is so visually appealing.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:21 Kelley Tackett
4:21
Nora - EarlyWord: 
It was a brilliant idea to turn the leopard’s spots into typewriter keys for the cover. [show jacket] Did the jacket go through many iterations?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:21 Nora - EarlyWord
4:22
Kristopher Jansma: 
Yes, there we are outside of Kumasi. Those children are students, part of an orphanage that my father-in-law was volunteering with. They really helped me understand a lot about Ghana.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:22 Kristopher Jansma
4:22
Nora - EarlyWord
Jacket for THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS by Kris Jansma
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:22 
4:22
Kristopher Jansma: 
Yes! It is a beautiful jacket – I am so lucky that Alison Forner at Penguin had this idea for the typewriter keys / spots. It actually was the first jacket they showed me, and I couldn’t stop staring at it. I put it up on my bookshelf at home and it just fit right in. Then I went around to every bookstore I could find over the next few days and started taking pictures of it on the front table, with all the other books, and it just seemed perfect.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:22 Kristopher Jansma
4:23
Nora - EarlyWord: 
One of our participants sent in an advance question asking how involved you were with the jacket design.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:23 Nora - EarlyWord
4:24
Nora - EarlyWord: 
And it sounds like you answered that -- you just fell in love with the first design!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:24 Nora - EarlyWord
4:24
Kristopher Jansma: 
Well, I sent in a lot of images that had inspired me when I was writing the book, and the art department looked at those. But from there, they took off with it! I know well enough to leave it to the experts! :)
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:24 Kristopher Jansma
4:24
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Another advance question comes from Donna Zmrazek:

How easy is it for you to change back and forth between your writing formats (from blogs to short stories to essays to novel)?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:24 Nora - EarlyWord
4:25
Kristopher Jansma: 
Great question. I’ve always had a hard time with short fiction because I inevitably want to just keep writing more and more. I feel the same way when I’m reading short stories, to be honest—if it is a great story, I wind up wishing that it was a whole novel. When I’m writing a story, it’s sometimes hard not to get carried away. Sometimes they come out obscenely long, and then I have to cut them back down again, which is never easy…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:25 Kristopher Jansma
4:25
Kristopher Jansma: 
Switching to non-fiction is also tough. It’s a lot harder for me to be direct about what I’m trying to say. With fiction, I can ease into it, but with non-fiction you have to come straight to your point. But as with fiction, I usually start by doing a lot of research, and then usually some idea comes out from whatever I’m learning about.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:25 Kristopher Jansma
4:25
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Donna also wanted to know how has writing a blog influenced your novel writing.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:25 Nora - EarlyWord
4:26
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
I liked that the texture of the spots/keys is different than the rest of the cover (except for the spot with the words 'A Novel"). Slick like the keys on a typewriter - very clever.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:26 Lucy
4:26
Kristopher Jansma: 
Tremendously! This is a little bit of a long story, but I think a good one if you can bear with me a moment...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:26 Kristopher Jansma
4:26
Kristopher Jansma: 
For several years I was working hard on several novels that, for various reasons, weren’t quite working out. I was making endless revisions and doing rewrites, but I couldn’t get them to work. So in 2009 I decided that I wanted to get back to short stories. I hadn’t written one since leaving my MFA program. So I set up a blog online called Forty Stories and I told all my friends that I would be posting a new short story each week, for three weeks in a row, and then I’d take one week off to revise. And if I kept to my schedule I would have 40 new stories by the end of the year…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:26 Kristopher Jansma
4:27
Kristopher Jansma: 
Because it was shared online, I felt obligated to meet that deadline each week, and it pushed me to search for material and to write about things I’d always avoided writing about. And if I was ever late, I knew that some friend would email me and ask where the new story was...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:27 Kristopher Jansma
4:27
Nora - EarlyWord: 
While you are finishing your thought, I will announce how to enter our contest...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:27 Nora - EarlyWord
4:28
Nora - EarlyWord: 
To enter to win a boxed set of PENGUIN SELECTS -- send an email right now to:

Catherine.Hayden@us.penguingroup.com

We will announce winners at the end of the chat.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:28 Nora - EarlyWord
4:28
Kristopher Jansma: 
And “The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards” was the 13th story I wrote for that project. Immediately afterwards I wrote “Anton & I” and then, off and on, that whole year, I wrote other stories and many of them ended up coming together to become the first draft of this novel. So to answer the original question, without that online process, I don’t think I could have written this book at all.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:28 Kristopher Jansma
4:28
Kristopher Jansma: 
(Thanks! That's the whole answer!)
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:28 Kristopher Jansma
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord: 
And an excellent one.

The promo of you book is making use of social media. For instance -- I saw this:

Snap a photo of your copy of TUSOL someplace & tweet it w/ ‪#leopardspotting‬ & we'll add it to ‪http://spottedleopards.tumblr.com ‬–

People have started responding
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:30 Nora - EarlyWord
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:30 
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:30 
4:31
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:31 
4:31
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:31 
4:31
Nora - EarlyWord: 
How is social media changing book promotion and how authors interact with readers?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:31 Nora - EarlyWord
4:32
Kristopher Jansma: 
Yes! You can take a photograph of your copy of the book anywhere interesting and if you tweet about it with the #leopardspotting hashtag, they will add it to spottedleopards.tumblr.com

This evolved out of that other story I told, about me going around taking pictures of the jacket in bookstores!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:32 Kristopher Jansma
4:32
Nora - EarlyWord: 
And, while we're at it, this is one of Kris's favorite leopard photos -- he just needs a copy of the book...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:32 Nora - EarlyWord
4:32
Nora - EarlyWord
A favorite photo of a leopard -- by Peet van Schalkwyk
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:32 
4:33
Kristopher Jansma: 
To me, it’s still very strange that I can follow writers I admire on Twitter – and hear them complain about their kids, or curse about the latest Yankee game. A friend’s father was telling me recently that when he was my age, his favorite writer was John Updike, and one day he was in the library and someone told him that Updike was coming to do a reading that afternoon. He told me he ran out of there as fast as he could – he was so terrified to meet his favorite writer. It’s almost like he didn't want to believe he was flesh-and-blood…
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:33 Kristopher Jansma
4:33
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Some questions and comments are backing up -- will begin posting those now...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:33 Nora - EarlyWord
4:33
[Comment From readingenvy readingenvy : ] 
Oh, can you direct us to your blog? Will you continue this project?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:33 readingenvy
4:33
[Comment From Guest Guest : ] 
How interesting! I have an author friend who is doing something similar with his most recent novel - writing a chapter a week and posting it on his blog.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:33 Guest
4:33
Kristopher Jansma: 
And I get that. When I was growing up, I don’t think I really understood that writers were real people. I thought all the books already existed and I didn’t really realize anyone was making more of them. Then I got my first internet service, Prodigy, and joined a Piers Anthony fan group called “The Xanth Xone” (I was in 7th grade I think). And then one day Piers logged onto the site and started answering questions! It was very surreal. After that, I wrote him several actual letters and told him I wanted to be a writer as well, and he wrote back and gave me a lot of advice! So now I embrace it myself too, as you can see! And you can follow me on Twitter at @kristopherjans or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KristopherJansma
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:33 Kristopher Jansma
4:34
[Comment From Laura Laura : ] 
It's been interesting to watch his process (and his panic as he used up all the chapters he had already written).
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:34 Laura
4:34
Kristopher Jansma: 
One more thought on social networking... I really think the most incredible change is that, thanks to social media, readers and writers can connect to bookstores and other book-lovers so much more directly than we once could. So it really creates this genuine sense of community, which has always existed… we just never were so easily able to talk to one another until now!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:34 Kristopher Jansma
4:35
[Comment From Kelly C Kelly C : ] 
So where did you grow up? And did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:35 Kelly C
4:35
Kristopher Jansma: 
I haven't been writing new short stories in the past few years, mostly because I've been busy with the edits to this book, but I hope to do it again in the coming months! My website is now at http://www.kristopherjansma.com
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:35 Kristopher Jansma
4:36
Kristopher Jansma: 
Laura - That's great! I think it can be really helpful. Writing can be so isolating... you have to be alone to do it and really focus, and it's nice to share it with a community of people who are going to support you and cheer you on. (And, as I learned the hard way, email you EVERY time you make a factual error!) :)
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:36 Kristopher Jansma
4:37
Nora - EarlyWord: 
You sent me a bunch of images that you said inspired you. I am impressed by how visual you are. I'm going to post a few, beginning with that great Washington Square photo. Please tell us about them.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:37 Nora - EarlyWord
4:37
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:37 
4:38
Kristopher Jansma: 
Kelly - I grew up in a small town called Lincroft in central New Jersey, which is near Red Bank, which sometimes people know as the place where the director Kevin Smith works and lives.

I wanted to be a writer since I was in the 7th grade. My English teacher, Mrs. Inglis, was the first person to ever point out to me that there were people called writers who actually wrote books. As soon as I knew that, I was determined!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:38 Kristopher Jansma
4:39
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Let's go to the next question before we go on to the images...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:39 Nora - EarlyWord
4:39
[Comment From Trisha Trisha : ] 
Are you on twitter as well?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:39 Trisha
4:39
Kristopher Jansma: 
Nora - That is a photograph by Imre Kertesz. When I was in college I took a class called "Landscape and Setting" with Jean McGarry, and she had us buy this book of his photographs and we wrote descriptions of the images in them. That one was my favorite, and years later it became the jumping-off point for the "Anton & I" chapter.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:39 Kristopher Jansma
4:40
Kristopher Jansma: 
Yes, my twitter is https://twitter.com/KristopherJans
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:40 Kristopher Jansma
4:40
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Here's another of your inspirations ...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:40 Nora - EarlyWord
4:41
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Sorry! I seem to have lost it, but many of our readers will be familiar with Klimt's portrait.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:41 Nora - EarlyWord
4:42
Kristopher Jansma: 
Oh I think you want this one? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Gustav_Klimt_046.jpg/300px-Gustav_Klimt_046.jpg
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:42 Kristopher Jansma
4:42
Nora - EarlyWord: 
That's right!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:42 Nora - EarlyWord
4:43
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
Does the phote by Kertesz of Washington Square have a specific name/title? Beautiful imagery and I can see the inspiration for the chapter
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:43 Lucy
4:43
Kristopher Jansma: 
It is the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" by Klimt and yes, it is beautiful! It is in the Neue Galerie here in New York City and it is inspiring. And covered in gold leaf!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:43 Kristopher Jansma
4:43
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I think the following is in response to the Klimt painting -- has she spotted the character, Kris?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:43 Nora - EarlyWord
4:43
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
Evelyn!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:43 Lucy
4:45
Kristopher Jansma: 
Hah! Lucy, I can't say that exactly. But I can say that the museum has a very nice Austrian Coffee Shop which might be the inspiration for Ludwig's Cafe in the first chapter!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:45 Kristopher Jansma
4:46
Nora - EarlyWord: 
This is a HUGE question, but you opened it up, so I'm going to follow through. What have you learned about the nature of truth?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:46 Nora - EarlyWord
4:47
Kristopher Jansma: 
Nora - That is a big question!...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:47 Kristopher Jansma
4:48
Kristopher Jansma: 
I think what I learned through writing this book is that truth can seem to be very subjective. It can appear to be malleable based on who is looking at it, and talking about it, and describing it. And this can be very frustrating. I think it can lead people, like the narrator in the middle of the book, to believe there is no such thing as truth at all...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:48 Kristopher Jansma
4:49
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I did noticed that you didn't use one of the most famous quotes about truth and art -- "Truth is beauty..." and I wondered why.

Personally, i always found that one a bit of a cop out.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:49 Nora - EarlyWord
4:49
[Comment From Jennifer W. Jennifer W. : ] 
Late as usual, just wanted to say I'm excited to read Kristopher grew up in Lincroft....I lived in Shrewsbury as a child. My favorite part of the book was when the narrator became the journalism professor...just how awesome was that to be someone else for a while and be different.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:49 Jennifer W.
4:50
[Comment From Leah Leah : ] 
Do you think your characters have a different perspective on the truth from the beginning of the book to the end?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:50 Leah
4:50
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
Changes with each situation/encounter/etc>? It's not alwayws what it's cracked up to be? :-)
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:50 Lucy
4:50
Kristopher Jansma: 
but slowly, and through being honest about how he really feels about Tina, and Julian and the Princess, I think he sees by the end that there is such a thing as real truth, and that maybe we can't get straight at it sometimes, with words, but it is still there.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:50 Kristopher Jansma
4:51
Kristopher Jansma: 
Nora - that's Keats? Yes, I remember that one! I think, yes, there's just much more to the puzzle than that quote indicates.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:51 Kristopher Jansma
4:52
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Ah, right! That wonderful Emily Dickinson quote about telling truth but slanted.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:52 Nora - EarlyWord
4:52
Catherine - Penguin: 
Hey everyone! Thanks so much to all who entered to win a Penguin Selects Boxed Set. Loved all the enthusiasm! Here are the randomly selected winners in no particular order:

1) Laura K from Springfield Township Library
2) Sue Dittmar
3)Trisha P. from Oldham Co Public Library
4) Sarah C from Worthington Library and
5) Sue Marie Rendll

Congrats!

Please send me a follow-up email at catherine.hayden@us.penguingroup.com to let me know that you saw this and include your library's address so that I can send you the box!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:52 Catherine - Penguin
4:52
Kristopher Jansma: 
Jennifer - I know Shrewsbury well! And yes, the part about the journalism professor was a LOT of fun to write. It was so incredibly different from how I actually am in a real classroom!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:52 Kristopher Jansma
4:53
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Congrats to the winners! Thanks for enterting (and for joining us today).
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:53 Nora - EarlyWord
4:53
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We're getting close to the end of the chat -- I've been holding this question...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:53 Nora - EarlyWord
4:53
Kristopher Jansma: 
(Leah, I hope I answered your question there in my previous answer! Great question)
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:53 Kristopher Jansma
4:53
[Comment From Wendy Wendy : ] 
Leopards seems to play around with a lot of genres and subjects. Besides literary fiction what story-styles appeal to you most?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:53 Wendy
4:54
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I'd add -- to that -- how about film and TV as a way of telling stories?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:54 Nora - EarlyWord
4:55
Kristopher Jansma: 
Wendy - I love detective fiction. I taught a class once on classic Hardboiled Detective novels from the 20s and 30s. I've tried writing in that style but so far it doesn't quite turn out right. Maybe someday! But I really admire writers who can do genres and make it literary too. My all-time favorite living writer is David Mitchell, who does that better than anyone.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:55 Kristopher Jansma
4:55
[Comment From Kelley Tackett Kelley Tackett : ] 
I love memoirs from "average" people - they have real problems.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:55 Kelley Tackett
4:55
Nora - EarlyWord: 
That leads us to what may be our final question -- what are you working on next?
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:55 Nora - EarlyWord
4:57
Kristopher Jansma: 
Nora - I am a huge TV addict, for better or worse. My friends always joke that I've "come to the end of television" because I can never find anything new to watch. But we are living through a real special time in the history of television. Shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad are doing things that only novelists ever tried to do before. They really try to provoke us and make us think. It's so much more than the easy entertainment that television was when I was growing up.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:57 Kristopher Jansma
4:57
Kristopher Jansma: 
Nora, well first let me say thank you to you and to everyone! I've really enjoyed this!...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:57 Kristopher Jansma
4:58
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Thanks, Kris and thanks to all the First Flights members for joining us.

We hope you’ll enjoy recommending THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS when it is published in March. This chat is now available in the archive; tell your colleagues to check it out.

And, remember, Penguin encourages you o leave their own reviews here -- http://bit.ly/YlMDLz -- or tweet a review using #PenguinSelects
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:58 Nora - EarlyWord
4:58
Kristopher Jansma: 
Currently, I am very hard at work on my next novel. It actually also evolved out of some stories that I wrote several years ago, about some very different characters from these. Since I moved to New York City nine years ago, I wanted to write a whole novel that took place here, and so that’s what I’m trying to do now...
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:58 Kristopher Jansma
4:59
Kristopher Jansma: 
I can’t say too much about it yet, but I will say that it’s turning out to be a much longer book, and I’m really excited because so far it is all holding together very well. I think readers who’ve enjoyed The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards will love this one as well.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 4:59 Kristopher Jansma
5:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We're looking forward to it!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:00 Nora - EarlyWord
5:00
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
I agree. Who would have ever thought television could be creative again... :-)
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:00 Lucy
5:00
[Comment From Sue Marie Sue Marie : ] 
Thanks for another great chat!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:00 Sue Marie
5:00
[Comment From Lucy Lucy : ] 
Thank You, Kris for chatting with and Thanks, Nora for hosting. Great fun! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:00 Lucy
5:01
Kristopher Jansma: 
Thanks Nora! I can't wait to keep working on it! And thanks again to everyone who joined us! A very happy holiday season to all.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:01 Kristopher Jansma
5:01
Nora - EarlyWord: 
RIGHT -- thanks for the reminder, Lucy -- Happy Holidays everyone!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:01 Nora - EarlyWord
5:01
[Comment From Sue D Sue D : ] 
I appreciate everyone's efforts and thanks for a good discussion.
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:01 Sue D
5:01
Kristopher Jansma: 
And don't forget to take some pictures of your copies! You can also email them to viking.marketing@us.penguingroup.com and we'll add them to the Tumblr page!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:01 Kristopher Jansma
5:03
[Comment From Trisha Trisha : ] 
Thanks this was great
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:03 Trisha
5:03
[Comment From Colleen Lashway Colleen Lashway : ] 
Great story! Loved it!
Wednesday December 19, 2012 5:03 Colleen Lashway
 
 

New Title Radar: Dec. 10 to 15

Friday, December 7th, 2012

The number of big releases slows to a trickle next week. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child bring back their enigmatic hero, Aloysius Xingú Leng Pendergast in a new thriller; James Patterson continues to work the popular middle-school territory and, in Young Adult, Jessica Day George wraps up her Twelve Dancing Princesses trilogy.

Reviewer Favorite

Sebastian Faulks, A Possible Life: A Novel in Five Parts (Macmillan/Holt; Dreamscape Audio and OverDrive)

British reviewers quibbled with the author’s assertion in both the book’s subtitle and trailer, that this is a novel, not a set of long short stories. It appears the question hasn’t been settled; Vanity Fair‘s online interview opens with it. The book received strong reviews in the UK, with the Independent concluding that it is “probably Faulks’s most intriguing fictional offering.” Published in September there, it hit the top ten on the Times of London’s best seller list.

Usual Suspects

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Two Graves
(Hachette/Grand Central: Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print)

This completes a trilogy within the larger series. Referred to as the “Helen Trilogy,” beginning with Fever Dream and continuing last year with Cold Vengeance, it follows the erudite detective Pendergast search for his long-missing wife, Helen. Reviewers warn that reading the previous titles is a requirement.

Michael Palmer, Political Suicide (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press: Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

The 18th thriller by Palmer is his second featuring Dr. Lou Welcome, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict (introduced last year in Oath of Office). Prepub reviews are less than admiring, but libraries are showing holds and it gets high marks on GoodReads.

Childrens

James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
I Funny: A Middle School Story (Hachette/Little, Brown YR; Hachette Audio)

This is the third in Patterson’s series aimed at a once overlooked age group, which is clearly called out in the titles, beginning with Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, and followed by Middle School: Get Me out of Here! This one features Jamie Grimm, a wheelchair bound middle schooler whose goal is to become the world’s greatest standup comedian.

Young Adult

Jessica Day George, Princess of the Silver Woods (Bloomsbury USA)

The final title in the series that reworks classic fairy tales, beginning with Princess of the Midnight Ball, (based on the Grim tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses), and  followed by Princess of Glass (based, of course, on Cinderella). This one is based on the tales of two hoods —  Red Riding and Robin.

Movie Tie-in

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design (Harper Design)

This is the last of the tie-ins leading up to the Dec. 14 debut of the first in the series  of movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (you may have noticed promos nearly, well, everywhere). It is produced by the Weta Workshop, which designed the movie’s special effects and ends with a sneak peek at the second film in the series. Another behind-the-scenes book came out last month, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Official Movie Guide.

Patraeus and His Biographer

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Last December, a biography of General David Petraeus, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, by Paula Broadwell (Penguin, Jan. 23) made headlines because the author was regarded as implying that Petraeus nearly quit as the commander of troops in Afghanistan over Obama’s plans for a drawdown.

That inference was quickly denied. Several reports, including Fox News’, noted how adulatory the author was about her subject; “The book unapologetically casts Petraeus in the hero’s role” and Broadwell says “his critics fault him for ambition and self-promotion,” but “his energy, optimism and will to win stand out more for me.”

Jon Stewart speaks for many when he upbraids himself on last night’s show for missing the real story.

Forget What GCB Stands For — Show Is Cancelled

Friday, May 18th, 2012

ABC announced last week that they are canceling the series, GCB.

We will miss it. Back in February, we posted a story titled, What Does GCB Stand For? It seems those were just the right words for a Google search. We received close to 89,000 hits on it.

We’re rooting for the online campaign to bring the show back.

The series was based on a book, originally published by Brown Books in Dallas, reissued by Hyperion in January.

Booklist, reviewed it, saying, “Chick lit tackles the Christian Right, with amusingly predictable results in Gatlin’s solid freshman effort,” but LJ Express said, “The characters are obsessed with labels and bank balances, and the book is a tiresome exercise in unfettered consumption. Of possible interest to Texans who may enjoy identifying the thinly veiled Dallas environs. Other than that, there’s nothing to like here.”

Good Christian Bitches
Kim Gatlin
Retail Price: $14.99
Trade Pbk: 306 pages
Publisher: Hyperion – (2012-01-17)
ISBN / EAN: 9781401310707/1401310702

New Title Radar: May 21 – 27

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Richard Ford and Paul Theroux return next week – with Ford exploring a boy’s coming of age and Theroux probing a mid-life crisis – while Elizabeth Lowell delivers her latest romantic thriller. There are also three novels that librarians have been buzzing about on our Galley Chat: Suzanne Joinson‘s tale of two women connected across time, Melanie Gideon‘s comic novel about a bored wife, and a mystery set amid the early days of Scotland Yard by Alex Grecian. Plus YA novels from Alyson Noël and Michael Scott.  And in nonfiction, Colin Powell shares his leadership lessons.

Literary Favorites

Canada by Richard Ford (Harper/Ecco; HarperLuxe) is a story of abandonment and self-discovery, told by a boy transplanted to an obscure town in Canada after his parents are arrested for a bank robbery and his sister flees. It’s the #1 IndieNext Pick for June. LJ says, “the narrative slowly builds into a gripping commentary on life’s biggest question: Why are we here? Ford’s latest work successfully expands our understanding of and sympathy for humankind.” At libraries, holds are light on moderate ordering, but it’s on nearly every list of upcoming titles. 200,000 copy first printing.

The Lower River byPaul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) follows a man journeying back to an area in Malawi he hasn’t returned to since his years with the Peace Corps after his wife and child leave him, only to discover a village wracked by poverty. PW says, “A somewhat slow exposition and occasional repetition aside, Theroux successfully grafts keen observations about the efficacy of international aid and the nature of nostalgia to a swift-moving narrative through a beautifully described landscape.” Also an IndieNext pick for June.

Romance

Beautiful Sacrifice by Elizabeth Lowell (Harper/Morrow; HarperLuxe) finds archeologist Lina Taylor and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Hunter Johnson joining forces to track down missing Mayan artifacts in this romantic thriller.  150,000 copy-first-print. One-day laydown.

 

 

GalleyChat Favorites

A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson (Bloomsbury) is a historical novel with two parallel stories about women struggling to define themselves, which moves between 1920s Turkestan and present-day England. The publisher compares it to Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s been getting buzz on GalleyChat, with librarians saying it’s a ” good historical fiction novel, with a great cover.” LJ is also positive: “this atmospheric first novel immediately engages… Highly recommended” and it is an IndieNext pick for June. However, libraries have bought it relatively lightly. Cuyahoga buyer Wendy Bartlett cautions that the book does not deliver the light-hearted story signaled by the cover and title and that the parallel stories may put off casual readers. 75,000 copy first printing. The Web site LadyCyclistsGuide.com provides background on Kashgar and the origins of the story.

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon (RH/Ballantine; RH Audio) is about a bored San Francisco Bay Area wife and mother of teenagers, who in the course of taking a survey about her marriage (she is Wife #22) realizes that the researcher who’s interviewing her may understand her better than her husband. It’s the first adult novel from YA novelist Gideon, who is also the author of the popular adult memoir The Slippery Year.  Here are a few comments from our Galley Chat: “Add me to the list enjoying Wife 22. Would definitely be a great book for discussion.” — “Hard to put down! People will either love or hate main character.” CRYSTAL BALL: Most libraries could use more copies.

The Yard by Alex Grecian (Putnam) is a mystery set in Victorian London, featuring a detective new to Scotland Yard as the organization tries to recover from its failure to catch Jack the Ripper, and written by the author of the graphic novel series Proof. Booklist says, “Grecian’s infusion of actual history adds to this thriller’s credibility and punch.” One of our Galley Chatters had this to say: “mystery set at the end of the 19th C is excellent. Early Scotland Yard, beginning of forensics.” Also an IndieNext pick for June

Young Adult

Fated by Alyson Noël (St. Martin’s/Griffin) marks the beginning of the new Soul Seekers series, about a girl who discovers that she’s descended from Native American shamans, from the author of popular The Immortals series. PW says, “Though weakened by genre cliches and off-screen character development, [the] story is nicely paced and well-written.” It launches with its own Web site.

The Enchantress (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series #6) by Michael Scott (RH/Delacorte Young Readers; Listening Library) is the latest installment in the series that mixes fantasy (the main character is a fabulously wealthy book seller), science fiction and horror. Trailers and games available on the series site.

 

Nonfiction

It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell (HarperCollins) is a series of anecdotes that illustrate leadership lessons, by the former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and author of the two-million-copy bestseller My American Journey. PW says, “There’s much inspirational sense drawn from Powell’s matchless range of managerial and political experiences, but also a frustrating reticence on the great leadership crisis of his time [the war in Iraq].” Print Run: 750,000 copies.

New Title Radar: May 14 – 20

Friday, May 11th, 2012

Our list of eleven titles you need to know next week, includes Jai Pausch’s memoir about coming to terms with the loss of her husband, Randy, whose book, The Last Lecture, has been an enduring favorite. The author of Friday Night Lights writes a new book about traveling with his brain-damaged son. On our Watch List is a book libraries may have under bought and a Nancy Pearl pick for the summer.

Watch List

The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri (HarperCollins) is the followup to the 2009 word-of-mouth hit, The Lacemakers of Glenmara. Library orders range widely, with Cuyahoga (OH) buying the most; over 150 copies for their 28 branches, even though there are few holds on it so far. Head of collection development, Wendy Bartlett took a stand on the book because the previous book was a long-running local hit, with people continuing to place holds over a year after it was published. Wake County (NC) has bought more conservatively, and has much higher holds than other libraries we checked. Recreation Reading Librarian, Janet Lockhart believes holds are based on the cover and description, featured on their catalog, which appeals to anyone looking forward to summer on the beach. The Lacemakers of Glenmara is still circulating in both libraries, creating a built-in audience. Note: The author lives in Seattle and the book is set in Maine. CRYSTAL BALL: Most libraries can use more copies of this; with that cover and author name recognition, it will turn over quickly.

The Lola Quartet by Emily St John Mandel (Unbridled Books) explores the lives of the members of a suburban Florida high school jazz quartet as their paths cross ten years later, and they face the disappointments of adulthood, from lost jobs to unplanned progeny to addiction. This is a Nancy Pearl pick for the summer, as were the author’s previous two novels, both of which were critical successes.

Literary Favorites

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey (RH/Knopf) is a tale of love and loneliness by the two-time Booker winner focusing on a museum conservator in London who plunges into a project to restore an automaton as she silently grieves the death of her lover of 13 years, who was married to someone else. Booklist says, “Carey’s gripping, if at times overwrought, fable raises provocative questions about life, death, and memory and our power to create and destroy.” The Wall St. Journal has an interview with the author.

Usual Suspects

The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry (RH/Ballantine; Random House Large Print; Random House Audio) is a standalone thriller in which a journalist works to decipher the artifacts left in his father’s coffin, leading to discoveries about Christopher Columbus. The author is usually compared to Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler, but here, he is working in the Dan Brown mode.

Stolen Prey by John Stanford (Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audiobooks) is the 22nd novel featuring Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, as he investigates the murder of a family in their lakeside trophy house.

YOUNG ADULT

The Accused (Theodore Boone Series #3; Penguin/Dutton Children’s) by John Grisham finds 13 year-old Theo facing his biggest challenge yet, after having discovered key evidence in a murder trial and in his best friend’s abduction.

Gilt by Katherine Longshore (Penguin/Viking Children’s) follows the life of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard, through the eyes of her close friend. Kirkus says, “the mounting terror as lusty, luxury-loving Cat’s fortunes fall is palpable, as is the sense that the queen is no innocent. The author’s adherence to historical detail is admirable, clashing with both title and cover, which imply far more froth than readers will find between the covers. A substantive, sobering historical read, with just a few heaving bodices.” This one is highly anticipated by librarians on our YA GalleyChat.

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix (HarperCollins) is a space opera featuring a 19-year-old prince who is forced out of his protected bubble and must grapple with the weaknesses and strengths of his true self in order to take his rightful place as intergalactic Emperor. Kirkus says, “the rocket-powered pace and epic world building provide an ideal vehicle for what is, at heart, a sweet paean to what it means to be human.  75K copies.” This one has been heavily ordered by libraries and has holds.

Nonfiction

Father’s Day: A Journey into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son by Buzz Bissinger (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Simon & Schuster Audio) finds the author of Friday Night Lights on a cross-country trip with his 24 year-old son, who has some significant disabilities related to brain damage at birth, and many admirable qualities. 100K copy first printing.

DNA USA by Bryan Sykes (Norton/Liveright) is part travelogue, part genealogical history of the U.S. as the author, an Oxford geneticist, writes about the DNA samples he has gathered. Kirkus says, “Sykes gives lucid, entertaining explanations of new genetic techniques and their startling success at tracing familial ties across continents and millennia.” An interview with the author is scheduled for NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered, in addition to coverage on local NPR stations. Libraries are showing some holds.

Dream New Dreams: Reimagining My Life After Loss by Jai Pausch (RH/Crown Archetype) is a meditation on marriage, grief and caregiving through illness by the wife of Randy Pausch, who wrote the bestseller The Last Lecture on the eve of his death from pancreatic cancer. Kirkus says, “Far from being a mere add-on to her late husband’s book, this work stands on its own as an eloquent testimony of a caregiver.”

One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season by Chris Ballard (Hyperion) is a Sports Illustrated writer’s fond look back at the 1971 Macon (Ill.) High School’s baseball team’s journey to the state finals. PW says, “Ballard holds the story of the team together with his conversational prose and boosts the story’s poignancy with a touching conclusion that demonstrates the importance of high school sports and hometown heroes while asking, if not answering, the question of how much one game, a win or lose, can change a life.” 100,000 copy first printing.

Fiction Radar: May 7th – 13th

Friday, May 4th, 2012

Media attention is focusing on next week’s titles from long-time literary stars Toni Morrison, and John Irving as well as Hilary Mantel’s sequel to Wolf Hall. There’s also a hot debut romance with a touch of time travel from newcomer Beatriz Williams, another doggy bestseller from Bruce Cameron, and a prequel to The GodfatherReturning favorites include James Patterson and Maxine Paetro and Richard Paul Evans.

WATCH LIST

Overseas by Beatriz Williams (Penguin/Putnam) is a debut novel about a contemporary Wall Street analyst, who falls in love with a mystifying billionaire, and then discovers they met in another life, in WWI. PW says, “at heart this is a delicious story about the ultimate romantic fantasy: love that not only triumphs over time and common sense, but, once Kate overcomes Julian’s WWI-era ideas about honor, includes mind-blowing sex.” The author begins her book tour with her home town library in Greenwich, CT.

A Dog’s Journey: Another Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron (Macmillan/Forge; Macmillan Audio; Wheeler Large Print) is the sequel to the bestseller A Dog’s Purpose that asks: Do we really take care of our pets, or do they take care of us? Booklist says, “Cameron explores the concept of canine karma with acute sensitivity and exhibits cunning insight into life from a dog’s perspective.”

The Family Corleone by Ed Falco (Grand Central; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print) is a prequel to The Godfather. We wrote about the book trailer‘s clever twist last week.

LITERARY FAVORITES

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Macmillan/Holt) continues the story of intrigue in the Tudor court that began in the Booker Prize winning Wolf Hall. There have already been several advance reviews, including Janet Maslin’s in the New York Times (which says that Wolf Hall is “a hard act to follow. But the follow-up is equally sublime”), and in Entertainment Weekly (it gets an “A”), as well as an article in the Wall St. Journal about whether you need to read Wolf Hall first (you don’t according to her publisher, but a Washington D.C. bookseller says you do).

In the British book trailer, Mantel talks about the enduring fascination with her subject, Anne Boleyn, who had “huge sexual magnetism.”

Home by Toni Morrison (RH/Knopf; Random House Large Print; Random House Audio) is the Nobel winner’s exploration of the inner life of Korean War veteran, who endured front line trauma and returns to racist America with more than just physical scars. People magazine says, “At half the length of most of her previous works, Home is as much prose poem as long-form fiction — a triumph for a beloved literary icon who, at 81, proves that her talents remain in full flower.”

In One Person by John Irving (Simon & Schuster; Simon & Schuster Audio) is a portrait of a bisexual man described by the publisher as “a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting—and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences.” It’s well known that Irving repeats themes; Wikipedia even has a chart of which recurring subjects appear in which books. Some find that tiresome;  Entertainment Weekly asks, “What is it with John Irving and transsexuals?” but still gives it a B+. Earlier, in an interview in the same publication, Irving explained that he continues to explore issues he began writing about in Garp back in 1978 because, “There’s still a problem. People hate each other for their sexual differences, even today.”  People, also comments on Irving revisiting old themes, but says in this book, he manages to expresses a “fresh, heartfelt urgency.”

Expect major media coverage, including a profile in Time magazine (which asserts that  In One Person marks the author’s return to being “a literary heavyweight”), an appearance on NPR’s Weekend Edition tomorrow and CBS This Morning on Tuesday. NOTE: Irving will be featured speaker at ALA on Saturday, June 23.

A person who got to know the book intimately, the audio narrator, gives a passionate promo for the book and talks about the difference between narrating a book and acting:

USUAL SUSPECTS

11th Hour by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Large Print; Hachette Audio) finds Lindsay Boxer pregnant and on the case of the murder of a millionaire with a weapon that’s linked to the deaths of four of San Francisco’s most untouchable criminals, and was taken from her own department’s evidence locker.

The Road to Grace by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster; Center Point Large Print; Simon & Schuster Audio) continues The Walk series, with Alan setting out to cover nearly 1,000 miles between South Dakota and St. Louis on foot, where he encounters a mysterious woman, a ghost hunter and an elderly Polish man.


THE SELECTION a YA Best Seller

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Author Kiera Cash gushes on her blog today (time-stamped 12:02 a.m. — did she have to sit on the news until it was official?),

You guys! I’m totally a New York Times bestselling author! The Selection made it to #9 on the children’s list [the 5/13 NYT Chapter Books list]. My whole world is upside down! Thank you all so much for going out and buying my book. I hope you’re having as much fun reading it as I had writing it. THANK YOU!

It also just makes it on to the USA Today list at #150.

The first in a trilogy, The Selection is a dystopian novel with a difference. As made clear by the cover, this one is heavy on romance with no bloodsport. Of the pre-pub reviews, only Publishers Weekly gave it a thumbs-up. Kirkus called it a “probably harmless, entirely forgettable series opener,” and VOYA said, “readers who enjoy commonplace romances will gravitate to this novel while dystopian lovers who revel in series such as Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games and Uglies will be disappointed.”

That doesn’t seem to matter to readers; most libraries are showing holds, heavy in some areas.

The Selection (Selection – Trilogy)
Kiera Cass
Retail Price: $17.99
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen – (2012-04-24)
ISBN / EAN: 0062059939/9780062059932

It comes comes with a trailer:

New Indie Best Sellers

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

     

There are no surprises on the new Indie Fiction Best Seller list. Stephen King’s The Wind Through the Keyhole arrives at #1, moving Grisham’s baseball novel, Calico Joe to #2. The Paris Wife is enjoying the most longevity, at #8 after 62 weeks, (it was on our Crystal Ball back in March, 2011, but we had no idea it would last this long).

Popping back on to the list, at #15, after having moved to the extended list for a couple of weeks is The Night Circus. Meanwhile, another of the Big First Novels of last fall, Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding, is out in trade paperback and hits that list at #4.

On the Nonfiction list, Rachel Maddow’s book on how the US has outsourced war, Drift, continues at #1 after five weeks. Anna Quindlen’s memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, debuts at #2 and Madeleine Albright’s, Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 arrives at #5.

Debuting at #14, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel, questions our current obsession with marketplace solutions (such as schools paying kids to read books or companies making money from life insurance on their employees). It has gotten attention in the business press, with an admiring review from an unexpected source, The Wall Street Journal (noting, for readers who may be put off, that the author is “not a socialist, and his critique of markets is measured”). Several libraries are showing heavy holds on moderate ordering. It is also available in audio (Macmillan Audio).

What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
Michael J. Sandel
Retail Price: $27.00
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: MacmillanFSG – (2012-04-24)
ISBN / EAN: 0374203032 / 9780374203030

 

Getting to Know Wiley Cash

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

It’s always fun to see a book by a new author begin to take off, but even more so when you’ve had a chance to meet that author. Many of you joined us for a chat last week with Wiley Cash about his debut, A Land More Kind Than Home, (Harper). Several great things have happened for the book since then. It landed on the NYT Hardcover Fiction extended list at #33 in it’s first week on sale and Barnes and Noble just announced that it is one of their Discover Great New Writers Summer picks.

In conjunction, the Barnes & Noble Review ran an interview with the author. He was, of course, thoughtful and charming, but we’re partial to how well he used just 140 characters during our TwitterChat.

The author describes his book:

The novel tells the story of the bond between two young brothers and the evil they face in a small town in the mountains of N.C.

 …which brought this response from a librarian:

That description just put it on my TBR list!

On the two brothers:

Kids do know and intuit a lot of things we don’t realize; Only diff is kids don’t know how to respond to that knowledge.

On the title (which comes from the last line in Thomas Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again):

The title hints at something beyond the present that awaits us, some kind of place that is more suited to who we are or want to be.

On the importance of North Carolina as the setting:

I’m a writer of place & a reader of place. It’s the most important thing in my life. I wrote LAND to recreate the place I love.

I love works w/setting as character: Winesburg OH, Their Eyes, Look Homeward Angel. Characters coming from a PLACE are fascinating.

I really wanted to take the reader there & have all the senses touched. W. NC is such a visceral place.

The thrill of seeing your book in a library:

My mom just sent me a text pic of my book in the library in Oak Island NC. God bless writers’ moms.

Seeing it all wrapped up in the library with a call number: that’s real.

Thanks to the library marketing team at HarperCollins for sponsoring the chat and for making Advance Readers copies available to many EarlyWord readers.

New Title Radar: April 30th – May 6

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Next week is a big one for memoir and biography, with the much-anticipated fourth installment in Robert Caro‘s biography of Lyndon Johnson, plus memoirs by Dan Rather and Ryan O’Neal, and an oral history of NBC-TV’s triumphant turnaround in the 1990s by former executive Warren Littlefield. It also brings a debut novel by Brandon Jones about human trafficking in North Korea and Nell Freudenberger‘s sophomore novel of cross-cultural marriage. And, new titles are soming from usual suspects Charlayne Harris and Ace Atkins filling in for Robert Spenser, and the latest installments in popular YA series by Kristin Cashore and Rick Riordan.

Watch List

All Woman and Springtime by Brandon Jones (Workman/Algonquin; Highbridge Audio) is a debut novel about two North Korean girls who form an immutable bond when they meet in an orphanage, but are betrayed and sold into prostitution at age 17, taking them on a damaging journey to South Korea and ultimately a brothel in Seattle. LJ calls it “impossible to put down,” adding “this work is important reading for anyone who cares about the power of literature to engage the world and speak its often frightening truths.”

Critical Success

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio) is the author’s second novel of cultural confrontation, this time featuring Amina, a 24 year old Bangladeshi woman who becomes the e-mail bride of George, an electrical engineer in Rochester, NY. It’s heavily anticipated by the critics, as indicated by the number of early reviews in the consumer press. It gets the cover of the NYT Book Review this coming Sunday, Ron Charles reviewed it earlier this week in the Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly gives it a solid A.

Usual Suspects

Deadlocked: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood #12) by Charlaine Harris (Penguin/Ace Books; Recorded Books; Wheeler Large Print) is the penultimate title in this popular supernatural series, as Sookie Stackhouse and her friends struggle with the consequences of the death of the powerful vampire Victora. PW says, “as loyalties realign and betrayals are unmasked, Harris ably sets the stage for the ensembleas last hurrah.”

Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins (Penguin/Putnam; Random House Audio) finds Parker’s PI invesigating a women’s death at the request of her 14 year old daughter. PW says that “Atkins hits all the familiar marks – bantering scenes with Spenseras girlfriend, fisticuffs, heavy-duty backup from the dangerous Hawk – as he offers familiar pleasures. At the same time, he breaks no new ground, avoiding the risk of offending purists and the potential rewards of doing something a bit different with the characters.”

Young Adult

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Penguin/Dial Books; Penguin Audiobooks) arrives to the sound of YA librarians and their readers screams of “at last!”  Kirkus says of this followup to Graceling (2008) and Fire (2009), “devastating and heartbreaking, this will be a disappointment for readers looking for a conventional happy ending. But those willing to take the risk will — like Bitterblue — achieve something even more precious: a hopeful beginning.”

The Serpent’s Shadow (Kane Chronicles Series #3) by Rick Riordan (Disney/Hyperion; Thorndike Large Print; Brilliance Audio) is the conclusion to this bestselling YA fantasy series, in which Carter and Sade Kane risk death and the fate of the world to tame the chaos snake with an ancient spell.

Embargoed

Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News by Dan Rather (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Large Print; Hachette Audio) reveals that the TV news anchor felt “his lawsuit against his former network was worth it, even though the $70 million breach-of-conduct case was rejected by New York courts,” according to the Associated Press, which broke the embargo on this book, on sale May 1. Kirkus calls it “an engaging grab-bag: part folksy homage to roots, part expose of institutional wrongdoing and part manifesto for a truly free press.”

Nonfiction

The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro (RH/Knopf; Brilliance Audio) is the fourth volume in Caro’s series on Lyndon Johnson, focusing on the years between his senatorship and presidency, when he battled Robert Kennedy for the 1960 Democratic nomination for president, and undertook his unhappy vice presidency. Caro is the subject of a New York Times Magazine profile, and will doubtless get an avalanche of coverage, starting with Entertainment Weekly‘s review (it gets an A-). Kirkus notes, “the fifth volume is in the works, and it is expected to cover Johnson’s election to the White House and his full term, with the conduct of the Vietnam War ceaselessly dogging him.”

Both of Us: My Life with Farrah by Ryan O’Neal (RH/Crown Archtype; Center Point Large Print; Random House Audio) is the story of film actor O’Neal’s enduring love for TV actress Fawcell – from the love that flared when she was married to Lee Major, to their marriage that ended in 1997, and their eventual reunion for three years before Fawcell died from cancer in 2009. The book is excerpted in the new issue of People magazine (5/7).

Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV by Warren Littlefield and T.R. Pearson (RH/Doubleday; RH Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is an oral history by NBC’s former president of entertainment, with a chorus of voices including Jerry Seinfeld, Kelsey Grammar and Sean Hayes, as they discuss the ups and downs of turning NBC into a multi-billion dollar broadcasting company in the 1990’s. PW says, “these revelatory glimpses of those glory days make this one of the more entertaining books published about the television industry.”