It’s a long wait until January and season three of Downton Abbey (check here for tidbits on what to expect, including sparks between Maggie Smith and new cast member Shirley MacLaine).

As a result, the magic phrase applied to any new novel set during WWI is “for fans of Downton Abbey.”

The Minneapolis Star Tribune applies it to the paperback original, Park Lane by Frances Osborne (RH/Vintage, 6/12), in their intriguing selection of eight titles for summer reading. The description (and the cover) makes it appear to fill the bill:

Osborne deftly parallels emerging suffragette and erstwhile socialite Bea’s privileged lifestyle with the lowered expectations of reluctant housemaid Grace. While their stations in life may be quite different, by the end of the novel their lives have intersected in ways they could have never foreseen.

The San Francisco Chronicle finds The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones (Harper, 5/1) a good choice for D.A. withdrawal, “It seemed heaven sent; Jones’ third novel is set in 1912, the very year Downton began, on the day and evening of a smallish house party celebrating the 20th birthday of the likable but spoiled eldest daughter of the manor, Emerald Torrington.” The reviewer finds it “sublimely clever.”

Production on the second movie in The Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, is set to begin this fall. The first casting news was just released. Philip Seymour Hoffman has been offered the role of Plutarch Heavensbee, according to a tweet from Variety reporter Jeff Sneider, later confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Hunger Games Head Gamemaker Heavensbee is not a major character in the book, but the role is likely to be expanded for the movie. Director Gary Ross quit the franchise after the first installment. This one will be directed by Francis Lawrence (Water for Elephants, I Am Legend). Jennifer Lawrence will again play Katniss Everdeen, along with Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne. The film is scheduled for release on Nov. 22, 2013.

At the BEA this week, there was buzz about Libba Bray’s The Diviners, the first in a planned four-part YA series, to be published in September. It’s a mystery, featuring a main character with mystical power, set in NYC in the 1920’s (appropriately, Little, Brown threw a speakeasy-themed party for the book during BEA). More buzz– it was just announced that Paramount has picked up the film rights, with Bray writing the screenplay and acting as executive producer.

The Diviners Libba Bray Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2012-09-18) ISBN / EAN: 031612611X / 9780316126113

Fans of Robert Goolrick (count us in) are eagerly awaiting the public response to his new book, Heading Out to Wonderful, (Workman/Algonquin Books; Highbridge Audio; Thorndike Large Print), which releases today.

USA Today‘s profile of the author explores his distinctive writing style, concise, yet sensuous, making you read with highlighter in hand. Goolrick says it is the result of his years in New York advertising, writing copy for products from Kohler faucets to Pantene, “It teaches you to cover a lot of information in a short space.” And, as Goolrick said during the ALTAFF “From Writer to Reader” panel at BEA, the writing is always in service to the plot. His Algonquin editor, Chuck Adams, said their goal was to create “a big book, but not a long book.”

Good news for fans; Goolrick is working on another novel, as well as a prequel to Heading out to Wonderful. A movie of his previous novel, A Reliable Wife, is in the works from Columbia Pictures.

Book Expo offers opportunities to hear from favorite authors such as Barbara Kingsolver, Junot Diaz, Michael Chabon and the chance to get a peek at the sure-fire best sellers of the fall (J.K. Rowling’s title for adults, Casual Vacancy, is one of the leaders in that category, but is still under wraps). But the real fun is trying to divine which titles will be the next The Art of Fielding or The Night Circus or Rules of Civility.

New York magazine’s “Vulture” blog gives its pick of the Ten Hottest Book Prospects, Shelf Awareness rounded up bookseller picks in fiction and nonfiction in advance of the show, Publishers Weekly did so after, and seven librarians picked their favorites (nearly 90 titles; even with a few brief minutes, librarians can really pack in the titles) at the fourth annual “Shout ‘n’ Share” panel (titles listed here, with information on which are available as egalleys, so you can play along at home).

Of the many titles mentioned in the above, a few echo some previous BEA hits:

The Next ART OF FIELDING

(title passionately promoted at the Editors Buzz panel)

The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers, Hachette/Little, Brown, September 11 — eGalley from NetGalley

Last year, Hachette/Little, Brown’s publisher, Michael Pietsch talked up The Art of Fielding, described by some as an unlikely combination of J.D. Salinger and baseball. This year, he was equally passionate about The Yellow Birds, a novel about the Iraq war by one of its veterans.

Runners Up:

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan, S&S/Free Press, 11/13/12

There was also strong reaction to S&S/Free Press editor Millicent Bennett’s presentation of New York Post writer Callahan’s book that recounts her struggle to find out what was causing her  convulsions and to deal with doctors’ prognosis that she would have to be institutionalized.

In the Shadow of the Banyan, Vaddey Ratner, S&S, 7/31/12  — eGalley from NetGalley 

A novel based on debut author Ratner’s own experience  coming of age of during the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. It also connected with librarians on GalleyChat.

The Next PAT CONROY

(author whose personal story wins over the crowd)

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, Workman/Algonquin, 8/28/12 —  eGalley from NetGalley

Back when BEA was ABA, the Book and Author programs mixed big name authors with emerging authors, who often became the buzz of the show. That magic happened for that Conroy and his first novel, The Prince of Tides. Now that BEA’s main author events focus on headliners (some of them only tangentially authors, like Kirstie Alley and Stephen Colbert), discoveries come from other events. This year, when Jonathan Evison described the background to his second novel, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, at the AAP/EarlyWord Author Lunch, it was clear his emotions are still raw. Like Conroy’s novel, it is based on the author’s own family and the loss of his sister. The audience came away from the session a bit shaken, but talking about the book, which was chosen by several of the Shout ‘n’ Share panelists.

The Next TIGER’S WIFE

(debut by an impossibly young writer)

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, by Shani Boianjiu (RH/Hogarth, September 11) —  eGalley from NetGalley

Tea Obreht, at 25, was the youngest writer in the New Yorker ‘s picks of  best 20 writers under 40. Her book Tiger’s Wife went on to gather multiple awards and land on best seller lists. Sounding eerily familiar, Boianjiu  was the youngest writer ever chosen for the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” program. At the Editor’s buzz Panel, S&S editor Alexis Washam described the book, about three girls in the Israeli army as  “The Things They Carried meets Mean Girls.”

The Next JUST KIDS

(Musician’s autobiography)

Waging Heavy Peace, Neal Young, Penguin/Blue Rider, 10/2/12

Patti Smith anointed Neil Young as her successor when she interviewed him about his memoir  (read an account of  their conversation on the New Yorker‘s book blog).

Don’t cry Kermie, you will always be The First Frog.

But now, another frog is set to join you. The Jim Henson Company has acquired the rights to Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series for an animated feature, according to Deadline.

More media and librarian favorites land next week, as the summer reading season swings into gear. Some familiar names deliver new novels with big potential, including Alan Furst, Mark Haddon, Jess Walter, John Lanchester, and Robert Goolrick. There are also debuts to watch from Claire McMillan, Benjamin Wood, Maggie Shipstead. Usual suspects include Robert Dugoni, Dorothea Benton Frank, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. And in nonfiction, there’s an intriguing look at what humans and animals have in common when it comes to health and healing by cardiologist and psychiatrist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers.

Watch List

Mission to Paris by Alan Furst (Random House; Thorndike Large Print; S&S Audio) is set in Paris in the year leading up to Germany’s 1940 attack, as a Hollywood film star is drawn in to the Nazi propaganda war. It’s on Time magazine’s list of top ten picks for the year so far. In an early New York Times review, Janet Maslin says, “This particular Paris is the spy novelist Alan Furst’s home turf. He has been there many times in the course of 11 soignée, alluring novels. But he has never been there with a Hollywood movie star.”

The Gilded Age by Claire McMillan (S&S) follows a woman who returns to close-knit Shaker Heights, Ohio after a divorce and rehab, to find her next wealthy husband. It led the “women’s fiction” category on USA Today‘s Summer Books preview. Publishers Weekly says that “while the novel tips its hat to House of Mirth, a simple comparison doesn’t do McMillan justice.”  More Edith Wharton-inspired novels are out this summer. The Innocents by Francesca Segal (Hyperion/Voice. 6/5/12) recasts Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence in a close-knit North West London Jewish community and BEA Lbirarians Shout ‘n’ Share pick, The Age of Desire by Jenny Fields, Penguin/Pamela Dorman, 8/2/12, is about Edith Wharton’s love affair with a younger man.

The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood (Penguin/Viking; Brilliance Audio) is  told by caregiver Oscar Lowe, who becomes entangled with Cambridge students Iris and her brother Eden, who thinks he can heal others through music. It’s the second galley featured in our First Flights program. Booklist says, “this first novel is most notable for its acute characterizations and flowing prose that engrosses the reader as initial foreboding fades only to grow again. Wood is definitely a writer to watch.”

Returning Favorite

The Red House by Mark Haddon (RH/Doubleday; Random House Audio) is a social novel about a brother who invites his sister, her husband and three children for week’s vacation with his new wife and step-daughter, by the author of the runaway bestseller The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night.  Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+, saying in a review that sounds more like an A, “The story unfolds from all eight characters’ points of view, a tricky strategy that pays off, letting Haddon dig convincingly into all of the failures, worries, and weaknesses that they can’t leave behind during this pause in their lives.” It’s a June Indie Next pick.

GalleyChat Picks

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (HarperCollins) is a bittersweet romance that begins when a starlet pregnant with Richard Burton’s baby is whisked from the set of Cleopatra to a tiny Italian seaside village in 1962, where the innkeeper falls in love with her, and looks her up in Hollywood years later.  Reviews have begun already, as we noted earlier.

Capital by John Lanchester (Norton) is set in former a working class London neighborhood where property values have skyrocketed, as the 2008 recession sets in. LJ says it “weaves together multiple stories in an uncanny microcosm of contemporary British life that’s incredibly rich and maybe just a bit heavy, like a pastry. Yet definitely worth a look.”  It’s also a June Indie Next pick.

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick (Workman/Algonquin Books; Highbridge Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the story of a man who returns from WWII to a small Virginia town with a suitcase stuffed with cash and a set of butcher knives. LJ says, “this novel is not a straightforward Southern gothic thriller but primarily a lyrical meditation on the magnified elements of small-town life: friendship, trust, land, lust, and sin.” The author’s previous novel, A Reliable Wife, was a huge seller, especially in paperback. We’re expecting even more from this one. This one is the #2 June Indie Next pick

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (RH/Knopf), a debut novel, is the story of  “WASP wedding dysfunction at it’s most hilarious,” as librarian Jennifer Dayton of Darien, CT observed on our GalleyChat. It’s a June Indie Next pick and a B&N Best Book of the Month. Ron Charles in the Washington Post this week calls it “a perfect summer romp” and, “Shipstead’s weave of wit and observation continually delights.”

Usual Suspects

The Conviction by Robert Dugoni (S&S/Touchstone) is the fifth thriller featuring Seattle lawyer David Sloane, as he tries to spring his adopted son and his friend from a hellish juvenile detention center. Nancy Pearl is a Dugoni fan, as evidenced by this interview from 2011.

Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank (Harper/ Morrow; HarperAudio; Thorndike Large Print) explores how a mother and son rekindle their faith in life after their beloved husband and father is killed in the line of duty as a fireman.

Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (S&S/Atria Books; Wheeler Large Print; S&S/Audio) is the story of a young woman who escaped her unhappy Oklahoma childhood as an adult in New York City, but can’t refuse a request to assist her famous cousin, who proceeds to have a very public unraveling. LJ says, “while attempting to address deeper family bonds, the authors swing wide and miss their mark. The emotional ties never quite shine through.”

Nonfiction

Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers (RH/Knopf; RH Audio) brings together cardiologist and psychiatrist Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Bowers to make the case that since animals and humans suffer the same diseases, doctors and veterinarians should work more closely together. Booklist calls it “as clarion and perception-altering as works by Oliver Sacks, Michael Pollan, and E. O. Wilson.”

Jess Walter’s sixth novel, after The Financial Lives of the Poets, which was a critical success in 2009, is also gathering strong reviews. Entertainment Weekly says it “expertly scratches the seasonal itch for
both literary depth and dazzle.” In today’s NYT, Janet Maslin says the author takes some dangerous leaps (like scrambling the chronology of the story), but the book would not be as successful without them.

Some libraries are showing heavy holds.

Beautiful Ruins Jess Walter Retail Price: $20.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Harper – (2012-06-12) ISBN: 9780061928123

It was announced in November that Jack Black had signed to star in a movie titled Bailout, based on The Financial Lives of the Poets, but no news has emerged since.

The new poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey was profiled on NPR’s Morning Edition and on PBS NewsHour yesterday. She has published four books, including Beyond Kartrina (U. of Georgia Press, 9/1/10) and the upcoming Thrall (HMH, 9/18/12).

She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for her third book of poetry, Native Guard, (HMH, 2006).

The winners of the 45th Horn Book – Boston Globe Awards were announced at the BEA yesterday. Horn Book’s editor in chief Roger Sutton said that the winners are “frequently unusual or under-the-radar choices. Because of the small judging panel, there’s always an excellent chance for surprise. Each year, the judges uncover some amazing treasures that I think will delight adult readers as much as the intended audience of children and young adults.”

PICTURE BOOK AWARD WINNER

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)

“When young Annabelle finds a small box containing a never-ending supply of yarn of every color, she does what any self-respecting knitter would do: she knits herself a sweater. Then she knits a sweater for her dog. She continues to knit colorful garments for everyone and everything in her snowy, sooty, colorless town—until an archduke gets greedy.”

PICTURE BOOK HONOR WINNERS

And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press)

And the Soldiers Sang by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Gary Kelley (Creative Editions)

FICTION AWARD WINNER

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab)

“Lewis Michaux opened the National Memorial African Bookstore in Harlem at the end of the Great Depression with an inventory of five books and a strong faith that black people were hungry for knowledge. For the next thirty-five years, his store became a central gathering place for African American writers, artists, intellectuals, political figures and ordinary citizens. In a daring combination of fiction and nonfiction and word and image, thirty-six narrative voices are interwoven with articles from the New York Amsterdam News, excerpts from Michaux’s FBI file and family papers and photographs.”

FICTION HONOR WINNERS

Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet (Candlewick Press)

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Disney/Hyperion)

NONFICTION WINNER

Chuck Close: Face Book, written and illustrated by Chuck Close (Abrams Books for Young Readers)

“Chuck Close’s art is easy to describe and especially attractive to children because he creates only portraits—in almost every possible medium with an intriguing trompe l’oeil effect. This book explores how his life story and so-called disabilities relate directly to his style. In this Q&A–style narrative, Close himself answers with a clear voice without a hint of famous-artist self-aggrandizement or angst.”

NONFICTION HONOR WINNERS

Georgia in Hawaii: When Georgia O’Keeffe Painted What She Pleased by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (HMH/Harcourt Children’s Books)

The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O’Connell & Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children)

The new Oprah Book Club kicks off this week with Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (RH/Knopf). The first Webisode, a brief (VERY brief) interview with Strayed is now up on Oprah.com. A new Webisode will appear each week, leading up to Oprah’s July 22 interview with Strayed on OWN’s Super Soul Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.

The club is living up to its 2.0 name. Members can tweet comments via Twitter (#oprahsbookclub), submit questions and get video responses via VYou, and form  virtual book clubs via GroupMe.

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) announced the winners of the Audies in 30 categories last night. Tina Fey’s recording of her book, Bossypants (Hachette Audio) was named the Audiobook of the Year. The AudioFile list of winners and nominees includes links to reviews and audio clips.

In the category of “Narration by the Author,” Libba Bray won out against tough competition from John Lithgow, Ellen DeGeneres and Tina Fey for her reading of her YA novel, Beauty Queens (Scholastic AudioBooks). The AudioFile reviews says,”As narrator, Bray puts her theatrical background to good use, changing accents, register, and pitch so smoothly and consistently that listeners will forget there’s but a single narrator”

Thousands of tributes are pouring in for Ray Bradbury, who died Tuesday night in Los Angeles at 91.

We particularly like the following:

“A man who won’t forget Ray Bradbury,” The Guardian (by Neil Gaiman)

“Dreams of Ray Bradbury: 10 predictions that came true,” The Washington Post

“Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 And The E-book Era,” Forbes (because it quotes a librarian)

The excitement is rising for Gillian Flynn’s third novel, Gone Girl, released yesterday. In addition to raves from People, Janet Maslin in the NYT, and Time magazine, it’s picking up more this week, from the Associated Press (syndicated widely), USA Today and many regional newspapers. The author was interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday. Holds are rising quickly.

Expect to see it on next week’s best seller lists.

A film adaptation is in the works for Flynn’s 2009 title, Dark Places (RH/Crown).

Gone Girl Gillian Flynn Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 412 pages Publisher: RH/Crown – (2012-06-05) ISBN: 9780307588364

Audio, BOT; audio an ebook on OverDrive

Illustration by Olimpia Zagnoli

This week’s New York Times Book Review presents a beautiful summer reading image, but few true “beach reading” suggestions. There are lists of summer cookbooks, gardening books (even though it’s a little late in the season, perhaps justified by the fact that the lead title, Michelle Obama’s American Grown, RH/Crown, was released late) and travel books, plus music (who knew that summer was the time to read about music?), Hollywood (two titles) and a smattering of children’s books.

Possibly more in line with true beach reading, their “Summer Reading: Fiction” selections feature just six titles (including Joseph Kanon’s Istanbul Passage and the debut A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar, Suzanne Joinson, Bloomsbury).

From the other coast, the L.A. Times lays out a smorgasbord of over 100 titles (hover over each cover to read why it was chosen) that includes popular as well as literary titles, from Beach Reads (one of the only titles that overlaps with the NYT BR‘s list is A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar) to The Quirky (Bob’s Booger, anyone?) and Audio.

The Daily Beast selects 21 Best Summer Reads, including the buzz debut of the season, The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker, Random House, 6/26 (missing from both the L.A. Times and the NYT lists) and a few unusual, but intriguing choices (Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady, Kate Summerscale, Bloomsbury, 6/19) and emerging favorites (Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple, Hachette/Little, Brown, 8/14).

Links to all the lists are at the right, under 2012 Summer Reads.