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GalleyChatters
Adam Mansbach, author of the phenomenally successful faux-bedtime book, Go The F@@k To Sleep made his first TV appearance on The Today Show on Friday.
As the author has said earlier, a G-rated version is in the works, planned for release around Christmas.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Congratulations to Lisa See; her book Dreams of Joy debuted on the 6/19 NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list at #1. It is the sequel to Shanghai Girls, which was on the NYT list in paperback for 23 weeks, reaching a high of #22.
It’s quite a summer for See; the movie based on her novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, directed by Wayne Wan, opens July 15.
Movie tie-in:
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In the works is a special-effects-heavy HBO series based on Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novel, American Gods. The next project for Tom Hanks’ production company, Playtone, it is planned for six seasons, each with 10 to 12 hour-long episodes and will debut in 2013 at the earliest, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The 2001 book is being reissued as a hardcover “Author’s Preferred Text 10th Anniversary Edition” later this month.
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The musical with the strangest title on Broadway, The Book of Mormon, by the creators of South Park, won the Tony for Best Musical last night, as well as winning in eight other categories. Newmarket Press recently released the official companion book, which features the complete script and song lyrics.
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War Horse received the second most awards, with five Tonys, including best play. It is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo (Scholastic, 2007) and is also being adapted into a film, directed by Steven Spielberg, scheduled for release on Dec. 28th.
Summer fiction gets full emphasis next week, with a debut thriller by S.J. Watson, a second novel from J.Courtney Sullivan, author of the bestselling debut Commencement, and Pen/Faulkner winner Kate Christensen’s latest. Usual suspects include Jeffrey Deaver, Tom Clancy, Dorothea Benton Frank and an adult novel from Ann Brashares.
Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (HarperCollins). We’ve been talking about this title for months. Soon, we will find out how the public responds to this disturbing psychological thriller in which an amnesiac desperately tries to uncover the truth about who she is — and who she can trust.
In the New York Times, Janet Maslin writes in her “critic’s notebook” on summer beach reads that it has “the summer’s single most suspenseful plot.” Holds are as high as 13 to 1 in libraries we checked.
The Astral by Kate Christensen (Doubleday) finds the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author exploring marriage, friendship and parenthood among aging bohemians in rapidly changing Brooklyn. Kirkus calls it “a masterpiece of comedy and angst,” NPR reviewer Alan Cheuse gives it a thumbs up, and it’s a People Pick for summer in the June 14 issue.
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan (Knopf) follows three generations of Irish Catholic women who converge on a family beach house, seeking acceptance from one another while struggling for self-acceptance. By the author of the bestselling debut novel Commencement, this one has also gotten some mentions on our very own Galley Chat and is a People Pick for summer.
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Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver (Simon & Schuster) is a new James Bond thriller – with 007 as a thirty-something veteran of the war in Afghanistan. USA Today interviews Deaver, who’s the bestselling author of the Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance series of thrillers.
Folly Beach: A Lowcountry Tale by Dorothea Benton Frank (Morrow) is the story of a woman picking up the pieces after her equity-trader husband commits suicide in the wake of the 2008 economic crash. Kirkus doesn’t give it high marks for “scene-craft,” but there’s no denying the popularity of the series.
Against All Enemies by Tom Clancy (Putnam) finds an ex-Navy Seal fighting a dark conspiracy on the U.S./Mexican border.
One Summer by David Baldacci (Grand Central) is a family drama about learning to love again after a terminally ill man’s wife is killed in a car accident. Kirkus calls it “creaky” and “contrived.”
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares (Random House) follows the heroines of the mega-selling YA series – Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget – as they start lives of their own, now that the jeans they shared as teenagers are long gone.
The cover of the upcoming NYT BR (6/26) is devoted to Eleanor Henderson’s Ten Thousand Saints (Ecco, 6/7). For once, the NYT BR may be ahead of the pack; this debut novel, which arrived just this week, has so far received scant consumer media attention.
It was chosen by Sherryl Connelly in the NY Daily News as one of her summer reads set in New York. She describes it this way, “Eleanor Henderson’s novel of coming of age in ’80s New York, Ten Thousand Saints (6/7), has a literary edge as well as landmark sites (CBGB) and turning points (the emergence of AIDS).”
It also arrives with a cover blurb from Ann Patchett, “The best thing I’ve read in a long time.”
The publisher has high expectations; it was released with a 500,000 copy first printing.
The new issue of People magazine (6/20; not available online yet) lists their picks of “Great Summer Reads.” Below are the fiction (and one nonfiction) titles. The listing also includes “Books for Cooks” and “Fun for Kids'”
Sister, Rosamund Lupton, Crown, June 7 — a debut that is on several other summer reading lists
Marriage Confidential, Pamela Hagg, Harper, May 12 — Nonfiction; Subtitle: The Post-Romantic Age of Workhorse Wives, Royal Children, Undersexed Spouses and Rebel Couples Who Are Rewriting the Rules
Sisterhood Everlasting, Ann Brasheres, Random House, June 14 — The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, ten years later
The Ghost of Greenwich Village, Lorna Graham, Ballantine, 6/28 — debut about a young woman who moves to NYC and finds her apartment has ghosts
Robopocalypse, Daniel H. Wilson, Doubleday, 6/7 — there’s a lot of excitement about this thriller which looks at what would happen if our technology banded together and took control (a world of Hal’s). Spielberg has the rights, but what is most important is that Nancy Pearl calls this a “really good book.”
The First Husband, Laura Dave, Viking, May 12 — People calls it a “fresh, funny take on the search for a soul-mate.”
Long Gone, Alafair Burke, Harper, 6/21 — People says this mystery/thriller is “fast-paced fun.”
Maine, J. Courtney Sullivan, Knopf, 6/14 — following up on her best-selling debut, Commencement, this book uses the seasonal cliche of a family coming together in a summer beach house.
The Astral, Kate Christensen, Doubleday, 6/14 — People calls it “delicious social satire by the author of The Great Man.”
The Hypnotist, Lars Kepler, FSG, 6/21 — One of the many books expected to be “the next Stieg Larsson.” It may have the goods; People calls it “spellbinding.”
Escape, Barbara Delinsky, Doubleday, July 5 — A woman fulfills her dream of escaping from her everyday world.
What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty, Amy Einhorn/Putnam, June 2 –Alice wakes up thinking she’s 29 and in love with her husband, when she is really 39 and definitely not. From Amy Einhorn, an editor with a good track record for spotting the “sweet spot” between literary and commercial.
Summer Rental, Mary Kay Andrews, St. Martin’s, June 7 — Set on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, People says it is “worth a visit.”
The Harry Potter cast have finally flown Hogwarts and are working on new projects. Emma Watson is currently filming the adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. She is shown at left, with a copy of the YA novel. Co-star Logran Lerman has been sending out Twitpics from the set (via MovieLine.com)
They are joined by a strong cast that includes Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd, Nina Dobrev, Kate Walsh, Mae Whitman and Johnny Simmons. They are directed by Stephen Chbosky from his own novel (MTV Books, 1999).
It is expected to be in theaters next year.
One of the most talked about debuts of last year, Tea Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife, has won the Orange Prize for Fiction. At 25, she is the youngest person ever to win this award.
Her book won over a short list of strong contenders, including Emma Donoghue’s Room, Jennifer Egan’s National Book Critic Circle Award winner, A Visit from the Goon Squad, and Nicole Krauss’s Great House.
The Award was announced in London. The Orange Prize was established to recognize fiction by women and is open to any woman writing in English.
The little book that began as a Tweet continues to build steam. Go The F@@K to Sleep, by Adam Mansbach, (Akashic), a faux-bedtime story that gives vent to parents’ frustrations in trying to get their little ones to shut their eyes, gets a second NY Times story today, a week in advance of its release date (the original October pub date was moved up, both because of the media attention, but also because it gets it on shelves in advance of Fathers Day. The publisher has seen this as a gift items for adults from the beginning).
While many are excited to sell it, the NYT notes,
Still, Akashic [the publisher] has encountered resistance from some retailers. While the book has a clearly identified reader demographic — parents of young children — some of the stores whose shoppers fit that profile have refused to carry it. Wal-Mart, for instance, has declined to sell the book.
What about libraries? A check of catalogs at several large library systems shows half have ordered it. Curiously, there are not as many holds as one might expect.
If you’re still on the fence, EarlyWord Kids correspondent, Lisa Von Drasek, offers this review.
Despite its completely inappropriate language and the fact that it is being tracked as a children’s book on the Amazon lists, this satire on every sickly sweet “good night” picture book is spot on for sleep deprived “billyburg” hipster parents [Ed Note: “billyburg” refers to the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn].
The rhyming text captures the frustrations of the grown-up dealing with the umpteenth request for a glass of water, the billionth story as the manipulative toddler who refuses to “go the f*** to sleep.”
It reads aloud well with a sickly sweet voice supported by over-the-top cute painting of sweeping landscapes and pudgy wide awake, wide eyed babies plopped in the middle.
Is it for the children’s collection? No.
Will it be the highlight of an adult only new parents gathering? Yup.
Go the F@@K to Sleep is also coming out on June 14 as an eBook from Open Road Media, which DOES make its books available to libraries via OverDrive. An enhanced ebook version will be published later. Brilliance is also releasing an audio version on Aug. 3.
Jon Stewart interviewed author Maziar Bahari about his book, Then They Came for Me, (RH, June 7; Tantor Audio; EPUB eBook, OverDrive) on The Daily Show on Monday. Bahari is an Iranian journalist and filmmaker. His father was imprisoned and tortured under the Shah’s regime and his sister, under Khomeini’s. He drew on the memory of his family’s strength to survive his own imprisonment and torture.
Stewart, who is clearly moved by the book (he posted an extended two-part interview on his Web Site) also revealed that he is working with the author on a film about the story.
As a result of the appearance, the book, which came out yesterday, rose to # 78 on Amazon Sales Rankings
Extended Interview, Part One
Part Two
In case you missed it on Sunday’s MTV movie awards (or subsequently on the Web — on YouTube, it’s had over 3.5 million hits), below is the trailer for Breaking Dawn, Part 1 which premiered on the show. The movie arrives on Nov. 18
Oliver Stone begins shooting an adaptation of Don Winslow’s novel, Savages (S&S, 2010; Audio, Tantor) next month. Meanwhile, Winslow has been hired to write a prequel, which will be published by Simon and Schuster, and will come out around the time of the movie, in 2012. According to Deadline, Savages screenwriter Shane Salerno came up with the idea. No news about whether it is being planned as a separate film.
The cast for the movie is filled with big names; John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Emile Hirsch, Salma Hayek, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson and Benicio Del Toro.
Lilian Jackson Braun, who wrotes 29 “The Cat Who…” mysteries died on Saturday in South Carolina. She was 97. Her husband told the local newspaper that her one regret was that she was unable to finish her last novel, The Cat Who Smelled Smoke.
In Friday’s New York Times, Janet Maslin took Ann Patchett’s new book, State of Wonder, to task for taking too long to “hit its stride,” (although, by the end, Maslin admits the book is “up to the level of Ms. Patchett’s usual work”). She also doesn’t think much of the basic premise, about an American researcher in the Amazon, working on a new fertility drug (in the book, the work is referred to as “Lost Horizons for American ovaries”), calling it “a little too loony to be taken seriously.”
But don’t be put off by that; subsequent reviews have been stellar:
NPR; An Amazon Adventure, Replete With Love, ‘Wonder’ — “[Patchett is] back in form with her mesmerizing sixth novel…”
Salon, Laura Milller, “State of Wonder”: Dueling doctors in the Amazon — “With audacity and ambition, Ann Patchett has transfigured the story line of Heart of Darkness by setting it in the present day and turning both the seeker and the sought after into women.”
L.A. Times, Carolyn Kellog, Review — Kellog explores the themes of the book and notes it drags a bit towards the middle, but calls it an “exciting mystery” that “speeds to a close” by the end.
The Telegraph (UK), Helen Brown, Review — This is by one of the few reviewers that didn’t think much of Patchett’s bestseller, Bel Canto, but says State of Wonder “really is something special.”
People (6/15 issue, pg. 61; review not currently available online) — People not only bestows 4 of a possible 4 stars on the book, but makes it a “People Pick,” and gives readers fair warning, “Reading this book will cause you to call in sick, cancel all plans and return to page one upon completion.”