Going straight to #1 on the March 20th NYT Hardcover Fiction list is The Wise Man’s Fear, the second in the fantasy trilogy, by Patrick Rothfuss.

The first book, The Name of the Wind, came out in 2007 and was a hit with libraries. It won both the Alex Award and the RUSA Reading List Fantasy Award in that year. Librarian Nancy Pearl talked about it on NPR Morning Edition and recently tweeted that the new book is “a worthy sequel…Well worth the 4 year wait.”

In fact that wait may be part of the secret of its success,  (more…)

USA Today designates The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, which releases today, as the “next big Afghanistan book” (following in the footsteps of The Kite Runner and Three Cups of Tea). It’s “…backed by a perfect blend of publishing elements — a remarkable Afghan heroine, a high-profile writer, bookseller support and a marketing campaign with a celebrity roster.” That celebrity roster includes… (more…)

It’s now official; in a front-page story, the New York Times, the “national newspaper of record” writes that libraries are protesting HarperCollins new 26-loan restriction on library e-book lending (the NYT covered the story earlier, but in the “Media Decoder” blog. It’s also been covered by other newspaper, such as USA Today).

Ironically, this attention may serve to bring more users to libraries for ebooks. As the article notes, “It is still a surprise to many consumers that e-books are available in libraries at all.” Nevertheless, ebook lending has risen by 36% in the New York Public Library in the last year.

The story quotes Macmillan CEO Jon Sargent, one of the two major trade publishers that does not loan ebooks to libraries (the other is S&S), who says Macmillan will continue that policy until they “…find terms that satisfy the needs of the libraries and protect the value of our intellectual property.”

As to whether other major publishers will follow the HarperCollins’ approach, Stuart Applebaum of Random House says they have no immediate plans to do so, but will not rule out that possibility.

How important are library sales to large trade publishers? In an industry where statistics are difficult to come by, there are no reliable industry-wide figures. Two major trade publishers told the NYT reporter, “Sales to libraries can account for 7 to 9 percent of a publisher’s overall revenue.”

Announcement and invitation….

Join us this Thursday (see invitation) to celebrate the winners of this years Bank Street College of Education’s Children’s Book Committee will be honored on March 17th.

Sharon Draper will be accepting the fiction award for Out of My Mind. A moving first person… (more…)

HBO’s five-part adaptation of James M. Cain’s book Mildred Pierce, starring Kate Winslet
and Evan Rachel Wood begins on March 27.

Director Todd Haynes used Cain’s original
1941 novel as the source, rather than the
1945 film noir classic starring Joan Crawford. He explains in an interview in ArtForum magazine:

When I began reading the novel,
I discovered that it bears scant resemblance to the film version.
The book felt so shockingly current.
It reflected what was happening right now. And then, of course, Mildred’s sexuality and the details of her erotic life…(trailer after the jump)
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The latest film adaptation of Jane Eyre was released in only four theaters over the weekend, but it achieved the highest ticket sales per-theater for a movie in limited release this year. In addition, sales increased over 50% from Friday to Saturday, indicating strong word of mouth, notes the L.A. Times.

It will continue to roll out slowly, opening in nine more cities next week.

The movie stars Mia Wasikowska as Jane and Michael Fassbender as Rochester. The movie tie-in is published by Vintage/Knopf.

New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin today jumps the pub date of a techno-thriller coming next week, Paul McEuen’s debut, Spiral. Although she doesn’t seem to like the book personally, she clearly expects it to be a big seller.

She says Spiral, “…sounds like something written by Michael Crichton in his prime. It’s actually better than a lot of what Mr. Crichton wrote once his prime was over.”

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Both The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will be running repeats this week, giving Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer yet another boost on Wednesday (it’s currently at #4 on Amazon sales rankings)…

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Serial killer Gretchen Lowell scared the pants off readers in Chelsea Cain’s first three thrillers (Heartsick, Sweetheart and Evil at Heart). What actress wouldn’t want to play her?

January Jones, who plays a different kind of scary on the TV series Mad Men, has optioned the books, with plans to play Gretchen…

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Thanks to a controversial video trailer for Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell, the book’s publication date has been pushed up by a week. In the video, the Grand Rapids, Michigan mega-church pastor and bestselling author of Velvet Elvis leans toward “universalism ─ a dirty word in Christian circles that suggests everyone goes to heaven and there is no hell,” as CNN.com’s “Belief Blog” puts it.

On March 14, Bell will be the subject of a New York Times profile, and will appear on Good Morning America and Nightline.

Several libaries we checked did not have copies on order. Others showed holds of up to 10:1 on light ordering.

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived Rob Bell Retail Price: $22.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: HarperOne – (2011-04-01) ISBN / EAN: 006204964X / 9780062049643

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week…

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The major film adaptation opening tomorrow is based on a picture book, Mars Needs Moms. Author Berkeley Breathed describes in the L.A. Times what it was like to see his 38-page book become a big-budget 3-D Disney movie (the filmmakers added back a segment that Breathed’s “lily-livered publisher” axed). In another piece, the L.A. Times says the movie may suffer at the box office, partly because of its potentially frightening ending. People magazine’s review gives it a lowly 1 of 4 possible stars, objecting to a “vicious caricature of a feminist” but sister mag. Entertainment Weekly completely disagrees, awarding it an A-.

A better landing is expected for Catherine Hardwicke’s…

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Mat Johnson, whose novel Pym is called a “blisteringly funny satire of contemporary American racial attitudes” by Laura Miller in Salon, recommends another “hilarious, uproarious, insane” novel about race on the regular NPR segment, “You Must Read This.” The book, Oreo, by Fran Ross, was overlooked in its time says Johnson…
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As a NYT columnist, David Brooks has easy access to the media and he’s been making the rounds with his new book, The Social Animal. Yesterday, he was on Good Morning America and The Colbert Report. The book rose to #2 on Amazon and several libraries are showing heavy holds on modest ordering.

While Brooks’s ideas are explored in these appearances, it’s not made clear that the book is an extended metaphor. PW describes it as…
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Jodi Picoult achieves a new landmark today. Her latest book, Sing You Home, arrives at #1 on the USA Today best seller list, her first time debuting in that position on that list.

Two of Picoult’s previous titles, Nineteen Minutes and Change of Heart, debuted at #1 on the NYT Fiction list, but the USA Today‘s list tracks all books, regardless of category or format. Both of those titles were beat out on the USA Today list by Oprah selections…

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