Elizabeth Edwards’s recent appearances on Oprah and the Today Show have made her the author of the moment. But the media speculation about her motives for writing Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities has largely obscured the question of whether her memoir is actually a good read.

Now, a book review from the Los Angeles Times says the strength of her memoir about facing the loss of her 16-old son, resurgent cancer and marital betrayal by former Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards lies in “how little of it actually has to do with John Edwards’ caddish behavior.” Noting that Edwards emerged from her husband’s shadow in the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns “on the power of her personality” and her willingness to take her own positions, such as her support of gay marriage, the review calls Resilience ”short but surprisingly deep… And when you finish it you have not just a deeper understanding of Elizabeth Edwards but also a better appreciation for the strength of will it can take to survive.”

For those who missed it, here’s a quick recap of the previous coverage. Edwards began her tour with an appearance Oprah, in which she said her feelings for her husband were “complicated,” and later appeared on the Today Show, where Matt Lauer quoted criticism of her book by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times (“it’s just a gratuitous peek into their lives, and one that exposes her kids”) and Sally Quinn in the Washington Post  (who suggests Edwards enabled her husband to cheat).  Tina Brown in The Daily Beast also weighed in; “If she had stuck with her health and her loss, Edwards might have held on to our sympathy. But her insistence on belittling to Oprah the dreaded ‘other woman,’ Rielle Hunter…was so embarrassingly self-righteous it almost made me feel sorry for the Democratic twinkie John.”

The book has been rising on both Amazon (currently at #12) and B&N.com (currently at #12). Libraries show heavy reserving, 15 to 1 in several cases.

Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities Elizabeth Edwards Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Broadway – (2009-05-08) ISBN-10: 076793136X ISBN-13: 9780767931366

Also in audio from Random House:

• ISBN-10: 0307577198
• ISBN-13: 978-0307577191

Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours in the Toughest Firm on Wall St. by Kate Kelly has risen to #37 on Amazon, but none of the major library systems we checked had it in stock (it may have been embargoed, preventing prepub reviews). 

Released May 12, the Wall St. Journal reporter’s book is riding a publicity wave that began with yesterday’s New York Post report on Kelly’s revelation that Bear Stearns rebuffed last minute aid by rival investment bank Goldman Sachs shortly before its collapse last spring. Other major media hits include an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air and a rave Los Angeles Times review, which described Kelly’s look at the firm’s final 72 hours as “brilliantly reported” and “grippingly propulsive,” with well-sketched portraits of Bear’s upper ranks, “where executives were fiercely territorial and oddly inattentive to even critical operational questions. Bear Stearns was, in the end, an institution where denial was the executive suites’ emotion of first resort.”

Librarians may have skimped on Kelly’s book in favor of William D. Cohan’s book about Bear Stearns, House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, which beat Kelly’s book to market by two months and is currently #4 on the New York Times bestseller list. That book, which focuses on the firm’s final 10 days, received a rave review from Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times. Now #117 on Amazon, Cohan’s book is better represented in the libraries we checked, although the ratio of holds to available copies is high – ranging from 117 to 158 holds on 4 – 39 copies. 

Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours of Bear Stearns, the Toughest Firm on Wall Street Kate Kelly Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover – (2009-05-12) ISBN-10: 1591842735 ISBN-13: 9781591842736

House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street William D. Cohan Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2009-03-10) ISBN-10: 0385528264 ISBN-13: 9780385528269

House of Cards is available in audio:

• Publishers: Tantor Media.
• ISBN: 9781400141685
• $54.95; unabridged; 20 discs

There is also an e-book version:

• Overdrive Adobe ePub eBook; $27.95

On the Daily Beast, Daphne Merkin writes about the cleverly titled Masters of Sex, a biography of Masters and Johnson, the pioneers of sex research, Masters and Johnson, calling it

…a richly informed and elegantly organized account of the two people behind the logo that stood for new sexual horizons.

The review is as fascinating as the book sounds.

Several libraries have not yet ordered it.

Masters of Sex Thomas Maier Price: $27.50 Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Basic Books – (2009-04-13) ISBN-10: 0465003079 ISBN-13: 9780465003075

Who of us could resist this headline – A Sleuth Goes to the Library?

It’s for the Wall Street Journal‘s review of a book most of us won’t be able to resist, Curiosities of Literature, “a book crammed with enough amusing trivia to fuel your cocktail-party conversation until Bernie Madoff’s memoirs come out.”

Indeed, the review is peppered with fascinating literary tidbits. 

Unfortunately, a full three paragraphs is spent detailing typos and errors in grammar.

Wait! Should my first line have started with “Whom of us…”?

Curiosities of Literature: A Feast for Book Lovers John Sutherland Retail Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing – (2009-04-22) ISBN 10:     ISBN 13: 1602393710      9781602393714

The following is based on the 5/17 NYT list (sales through 5/2) and the 5/7 USA Today general list (sales through 5/3).

#1 NYT Fiction
#1 USA Today general

The 8th Confession (The Women’s Murder Club) James Patterson, Maxine Paetro Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2009-04-27) ISBN-10: 0316018767 ISBN-13: 9780316018760

Also available in audio from Books on Tape and  Hachette; as downloadable Adobe EPUB eBook and audio from OverDrive; and large print from Little, Brown.

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#1 NYT Paperback Trade Fiction
#3 USA Today general

This is Nora Roberts’s first trade original and the first in a new series. Upcoming titles are:

• Bed of Roses (12/09), 
• Savor the Moment (5/10),
• Happy Ever After (12/10)

Vision in White (The Wedding Quartet, Book 1) Nora Roberts Price: $16.00 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Berkley Trade – (2009-04-28) ISBN-10: 0425227510 ISBN-13: 9780425227510

Also available in audio from Brilliance; in downloadable eBook and audio from OverDrive.

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#2 NYT Fiction
#10 USA Today general

Breaking onto the hardcover fiction list for the first time, after several years on the paperback lists, is J.R. Ward’s seventh installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a series about vampire warriors. The previous titles in the series are:

• Dark Lover; Book One; September 2005
• Lover Eternal; Book Two; March 2006
• Lover Awakened; Book Three; September 2006
• Lover Revealed; Book Four; March 2007
• Lover Unbound; Book Five ; September 2007
• Lover Enshrined; Book Six ; June 2008
• The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider”s Guide; October 2008

Ward begins another “dark and edgy paranormal romance” series this year Covet: A Novel of the Fallen Angels, (Signet; ISBN-10: 0451228219; ISBN-13: 978-0451228215; $7.99 pbk).

She will also continue the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. 

Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 7) J.R. Ward Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 544 pages Publisher: NAL Hardcover – (2009-04-28) ISBN-10: 0451225856 ISBN-13: 9780451225856

Also available in audio from Penguin and downloadable ebook and audio from OverDrive.

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#4 NYT Fiction
#19 USA Today general

Summer On Blossom Street Debbie Macomber Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Mira – (2009-05-01) ISBN-10: 0778326438 ISBN-13: 9780778326434

Also available in audio from Brilliance; in downloadable eBook and audio from OverDrive.

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#9 NYT Fiction
#121 USA Today general

This marks the first time in the NYT top ten for Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. 

The Language of Bees Laurie R. King Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Bantam – (2009-04-28) ISBN-10: 0553804545 ISBN-13: 9780553804546

Also available in large print from Throndike and downloadable Adobe EPUB eBook from OverDrive.

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#14 NYT Fiction
#148 USA Today general

Home Safe Elizabeth Berg Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Random House – (2009-04-28) ISBN-10: 1400065119 ISBN-13: 9781400065110

Also available in audio from Random House and downloadable Adobe EPUB eBook from OverDrive.

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#19 NYT Fiction, Extended
#120 USA Today general

Mr. and Miss Anonymous Fern Michaels Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Kensington – (2009-05-01) ISBN-10: 0758212720 ISBN-13: 9780758212726

Also available in audio from Brilliance; in downloadable eBook and audio from OverDrive.

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#30 NYT Fiction, Extended

Debut novel with significant bookseller backing.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Alan Bradley Price: $23.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press – (2009-04-28) ISBN-10: 0385342306 ISBN-13: 9780385342308

Also available in audio from Random House and downloadable Adobe EPUB eBook and audio from OverDrive.

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#34 NYT Fiction, Extended

Sag Harbor Colson Whitehead Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2009-04-28) ISBN-10: 0385527659 ISBN-13: 9780385527651

Also available in audio from Books on Tape and downloadable Adobe EPUB eBook and audio from OverDrive.

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#35 NYT Fiction, Extended

This crime novel by National Book Award winning author (Tree of Smoke) originally appeared as a serial in Playboy. it’s being reviewed widely, including a very strong review in this week’s NYT Book Review.

Nobody Move Denis Johnson Price: $23.00 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-04-27) ISBN-10: 0374222908 ISBN-13: 9780374222901

Also available in audio from BBC Audio and downloadable audio from OverDrive.

Healing the Addicted Brain: The Revolutionary, Science-Based Alcoholism and Addiction Recovery Program by physician Harold Urschel sped up Amazon’s bestseller list yesterday after Dr. Phil featured the author on a show about “How to Stay Sober.”

None of the major systems we checked have any copies.

Dr. Phil praised Urschel as “the number one addictionologist expert in this particular area,” for his treatment that combines brain chemistry science with psychiatry and environmental and lifestyle adjustments, with clients from around the world seeking his treatment at the Urschel Recovery Science Institute in Dallas, TX.

According to a press release from publisher Sourcebooks, 

Dr. Urschel starts with leading-edge thinking about brain science and neuronal chemistry, then integrates the latest anti-addiction medications and therapies, combined with unique, individualized psycho-social direction, stress management, coping skills, and even legal guidance, providing a comprehensive science-based program focused on the prevention of relapse.

Healing the Addicted Brain: The Revolutionary, Science-Based Alcoholism and Addiction Recovery Program Harold Urschel Price: $15.99 Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Trade – (2009-04-01) ISBN-10: 1402218443 ISBN-13: 9781402218446

When a 29 year-old author’s first novel jumps to #112 on Amazon the day after it goes on sale, it’s time to call it “a precocious debut.” The rise of The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larson appears to have been sparked by an excerpt in Vanity Fair magazine and a Boston Globe writeup that focuses as much on the $900,000 advance paid for the book by Penguin Press as it does on the book’s 12 year-old narrator, Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet. The book follows the Montana rancher’s son on a journey to Washington (without his parents’ knowledge) to collect an award for the maps he obsessively makes, which are reproduced in hand-drawn marginalia that spills over the pages of Larsen’s book.

So far, library orders are on the low side (most in the 4-8 copy range) with reserves ranging from 17 to 30. That may be because early reviews of the novel have varied, with Booklist giving it a star, Library Journal fairly positive and PW and Kirkus more mixed. The book has also attracted publishers in two dozen other countries, and recently drew praise from the Times Online (UK), which called the writing “redolent of Mark Twain’s Roughing It in the rhythms of its humour and the picaresque deviations of its storytelling,” while also observing that the book “loses its poise” in the final chapters.

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet Reif Larsen Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2009-05-05) ISBN-10: 1594202176 ISBN-13: 9781594202179

UPDATE; We just learned that Spivet is also available in audio:

• Publisher: Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (May 5, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0143144650
• ISBN-13: 978-0143144656

Are library buyers multitasking too much to keep track of Winifred Gallagher’s new book, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life? It’s jumped to #26 on Amazon.com after a New York Times “Science” section story by John Tierney on “The Science of Concentration,” and by critic Laura Miller in Salon. Yet the libraries we checked showed low ordering (in some cases, no copies; in others, a single copy against 35 or more requests).

Gallagher argues that how we focus our attention is not only the key to mood, productivity and relationships, it’s the sum of our very being. A journalist and author of two other psychology books, she came to recognize the importance of attention while fighting cancer, when she discovered that consciously focusing on meaningful, productive or energizing subjects transformed her experience of the world. On a practical level, she recommends starting the workday with 90 minutes of undistracted attention on your most important task—bearing in mind that the brain can take 20 minutes to reset after an interruption.

Both reviewers clearly found Gallagher’s ideas engaging, although Miller found her writing “frustratingly scattered, self-contradicting and platitudinous” and questioned if we really need “more hand-wringing about families who don’t have dinner together or reheated summaries of scientific studies demonstrating the power of positive thinking?” Yet the Amazon rankings make clear that this subject strikes struck a chord. At this rate, we can expect to see it on bestseller lists next week.

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life Winifred Gallagher Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2009-04-16) ISBN-10: 1594202109 ISBN-13: 9781594202100

Rapt is also available on audio from Brilliance:

• 7 audio CDs: 978-1-4233-9321-4
  $82.97 
• 1 MP3-CD: 978-1-4233-9323-8
  $39.97 

And a downloadable e-book is available from Overdrive:

• Adobe EPUB eBook ISBN:  9781101032596
  $25.95 

Note from Nora:

With this post, we’re happy to welcome a new voice and an old friend, Charlotte Abbott. 

Charlotte’s career has been in the publishing business, as a book editor in several publishing houses, and as a columnist and book review editor for Publishers Weekly (she wrote the popular “Book News” column for many years and introduced regular features such as “Galleys to Grab” and the “On-sale Calendar”). In addition to her strong knowledge of publishing, she has an appreciation of libraries (she works on author programming for the Brooklyn Public Library) and looks forward to getting to know the EarlyWord readers.

Charlotte will be sharing the day-to-day coverage with me, freeing me up to develop new features for the site. 

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Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in Minutes lands in the top spot on Amazon’s bestseller list today, thanks to last night’s premiere of a new Lifetime TV show by the same name.  But a quick check of several major library systems shows no copies on order.

The book includes low-calorie versions of favorite recipes and a guide to healthy alternatives to common foods. Typical tips include mashing potatoes with the skins to make them taste more buttery, and adding cauliflower and scallions to reduce the calories in each serving.

On the show, three chefs advise a dieter on how to cut calories in familiar recipes and follow up six months later to check their progress. The book and series are based on British versions with the same name.

Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in Minutes Lifetime Television Price: $19.99 Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Voice 04-28-09 ISBN-10: 1401341136 ISBN-13: 9781401341138

If you’re a fan of the engrossing first novel by Christian Moerk, Darling Jim, you probably read the acknowledgments; I find myself doing this with books I love, it’s my way of trying to extend the experience.

The publishing site GalleyCat not only read the acknowledgments, but also discovered an interesting story lurking there; something that can bring an added dimension to book discussions – The Darling Jim Ending Americans Haven’t Seen

Darling Jim Christian Moerk Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2009-03-31) ISBN-10: 0805089470 ISBN-13: 9780805089479

Tantor is releasing Darling Jim in audio this month, narrated by Stephen Hoye and Justine Eyre. The audio is also downloadable from OverDrive.

• 9 Audio CDs (Library Binder Pkg)    EAN: 9781400141982 $55.99 


• 1 Mp3-CD (Retail Slimline Pkg)        EAN: 9781400161980 $19.99
• 9 Audio CDs (Retail Unikeep Pkg)    EAN: 9781400111985 $27.99

Elizabeth Edwards’s book, Resilience has been in the headlines for the past week. She gives her first interview about the book to Oprah on Thursday.

Libraries are showing heavy reserves on light ordering.

The book was originally scheduled for release next week, but the publication date has been moved to this Friday.

Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities Elizabeth Edwards Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Broadway – (2009-05-08) ISBN-10: 076793136X ISBN-13: 9780767931366

Also in audio from Random House:

• ISBN-10: 0307577198
• ISBN-13: 978-0307577191

In today’s NYT, Michiko Kakutani calls Age of the Unthinkable “provocative.” (Books of The Times: The Era of Adapting Quickly).

The book has been on the extended NYT bestseller list for two weeks. Some libraries are showing heavy reserves on light ordering.

The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It Joshua Cooper Ramo Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2009-03-23) ISBN-10: 0316118087 ISBN-13: 9780316118088

It’s also available as an unabridged audio from Hachette Audio:

• ISBN-10: 1600247202
• ISBN-13: 978-1600247200

And, downloadable from Overdrive in both eBook and audio.

Talk about timing. Philip Alcabes’s book Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu came out just two weeks ago.

He appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last Wednesday, before the swine flu stories hit the news.

Since the news broke, his appearance schedule has speeded up:

• 4/27,  NPR’s The Takeaway, Don’t panic! Pandemics and epidemics throughout history 
• 4/28, NPR’s The Brian Lehrer Show, Slammed
• 4/28, interview on Smithsonian.com
• 4/26, New York Post, review by Marc Siegel, Fox News medical contributor

Stories by Alcabes are scheduled to appear soon in the Wall street Journal later this week or early next week, in the Washington Post, and in The Nation.

The book received a starred review on Publishers Weekly.com last month (review only on the Web).

It appears that few libraries have ordered it.

Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu Philip Alcabes Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: PublicAffairs – (2009-04-13) ISBN-10: 1586486187 ISBN-13: 9781586486181

Jon Stewart interviews many authors on The Daily Show, but when he says, “You’ve got to read this book,” it constitutes a “heavy reserve alert.”

Getting the magic last week was the President of Liberia and her memoir, This Child Will Be Great.

Watch the video, if only to see her make Jon a chief.

Libraries are showing heavy reserves on very light ordering.
 

This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Harper – (2009-04-01) ISBN-10: 0061353477 ISBN-13: 9780061353475

Christopher Buckley’s memoir of his parents, Losing Mum and Pup was featured prominently this weekend:

• NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, Christopher Buckley’s Memoir Of ‘Mum And Pup’, interview with the author
• Cover of the NYT Magazine. Growing Up Buckley, article adopted from the book

The book is now at #35 on Amazon and is showing heavy reserves on light ordering in most of the libraries I checked.

Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir Christopher Buckley Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Twelve – (2009-05-06) ISBN-10: 0446540943 ISBN-13: 9780446540940