Now that Oprah has picked the 39-year-old’s first novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (RH/Knopf; BOT Audio; RH Audio and RH Large Print), as the second title in her Book Club 2.0, many are asking who Ayana Mathis is.

The media is responding. She is interviewed in the New York Times today (her writing mentor is Marilynne Robinson) and, on the Oprah Club site, Mathis writes about overcoming obstacles (as a tour operator in Florence, she had to learn Italian) and on making difficult choices (“When in Doubt, Cook Italian”).

Oprah interviews Mathis on her “Super Soul Sunday” show, February 3 at 11 a.m. ET.

The trailer for the first of four contenders for Next Big Movie Based on a Paranormal Romance, was featured, appropriately, before screenings of the final installment of Twilight. This one, however, adds some humor to the love story about a teenage zombie who falls in love with a human who happens to be the daughter of a zombie killer (Montagues and Capulets, anyone?), played by John Malkovich.

The tie-in (S&S/Atria/Emily Bestler) arrives Dec. 25. The movie arrives Feb. 1.

The book’s author, Isaac Marion noted on his blog in October that he is working on a sequel.

The other Next Big Movie Based on a Paranormal Romance contenders coming next year are:

Feb 13 — Beautiful Creatures — Based on the first in a four-part YA paranormal romance series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

March 29 — The Host — Based on a standalone alien romance novel by Stephenie Meyer

Aug 23 — Mortal Instruments — Based on the first two titles in a six-part YA urban fantasy series by Cassandra Clare

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.

Audible has just released their list of the best audios of the year, including their pick of the ONE best, which is Beautiful Ruins by Jesse Walter (HarperAudio). It was also chosen by Salon, which praised narrator Eduardo Ballerini’s “handling of this fantastically complex narration [which] is so accomplished you keep forgetting that it’s a performance.”

The print version has been picked up Best Book picks, from Kirkus, NYT Book Review, Publishers Weekly and the Washington Post.

We first heard about it during HarperCollins Library Marketing’s Buzz session at ALA MidWinter last year (sign up for the upcoming one here). Kayleigh George’s description deserves its own award.

The movie is not scheduled for release until Nov. 1 of next year, but Entertainment Weekly is already offering a sneak peek at Ender’s Game, including a still of Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff, staring down Asa Butterfield as Ender, plus photos of the full cast.

There are those who want to read the book before the movie; the attention has moved Orson Scott Card’s 1985 sci-fi novel (Macmillan/Tor) up Amazon’s rankings. EW quotes director Gavin Hood about the changes they will see. He promises that at least one thing remains the same,“That ending — and the complex moral questions that it raises — is one of the reasons why I love the book. I promise you that it is very much there.”

Summit Entertainment has just launched the film’s official Facebook page.

Hours after Oprah announced she had picked Ayana Mathis’s The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (RH/Knopf), the NYT posted a rave review from their difficult-to-please reviewer, Michiko Kakutani, who calls the book a “piercing debut.”

Although it shot up Amazon’s sales rankings, jumping from #186,959 to #130, it didn’t break in to the top 100. It’s doing much better on BandN.com rankings, however, where it is currently at  #17.

All the libraries we checked ordered the book prior to the announcement, based on stellar pre-pub reviews, but we found just one that had ordered multiple copies per branch. Cuyahoga’s Wendy Bartlett reports on how she spotted it:

I snapped up The Twelve Tribes of Hattie as soon as the publisher sent me the ARC, because it deals with America’s great African-American migration. Our customers loved the nonfiction title on that subject, The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House), which came out last year. Baby boomers especially enjoy books about this time period; they’ve heard these stories all their lives from their parents and grandparents, so they want to know more. Every African-American family here in Cleveland has a migration story, so I knew they’d love this book.

A reminder: the pub date for The Twelve Tribes has been moved up from mid-January to today and the original ISBN’s have been changed (see previous post), so libraries need to place new orders. Also, please note the BOT editions —

The debut novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis (RH/Knopf) has been chosen as the next title in Oprah’s Book Club 2.0.

The book was originally scheduled for publication in January, but the date has now been moved up to tomorrow, Dec. 6.

RH Library Marketing alerts librarians that the original ISBN’s have been changed and they will need to place new orders.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah’s Book Club 2.0) Ayana Mathis Retail Price:  $24.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2012-12-06) EAN: 9780385350280

Regular Ebook: 9780385350303, $12.99

Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 Digital Edition: 9780385350297, $12.99

BOT CD: 9780804127271

BOT Library Download: 9780804127288

Large Print, Trade Pbk.: 9780804121026, $26.00

Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist all starred the book. The author was interviewed in PW last month.

The man credited with “changing the nature of television criticism” by Slate, Alan Sepinwall, recently published a new book, The Revolution Was Televised. After Michiko Kakutani’s glowing review in yesterday’s New York Times, it rose to #133 on Amazon Sales Rankings. It has also been covered by Time magazine, The New Yorker, the Hollywood Reporter and USA Today.

But, no libraries own it.

Why?

Sepinwall chose to self-published the book. It appears to be available only through Amazon and hasn’t been reviewed by library publications.

The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever Alan Sepinwall Retail Price: $16.99 Paperback: 306 pages Publisher: What’s Alan Watching? – (2012-11-21) ISBN / EAN: 0615718299 / 9780615718293

George Clooney already has a slate of big names for his movie about the rescue of art treasures from the hands of  the Nazis, The Monument’s Men. Now Deadline reports that Matt Damon is also in talks to join a cast that would overwhelm the largest marquee. It includes Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, and John Goodman.

The film is based on a book by Robert M. Edsel who, after selling his oil and gas exploration company, began researching the efforts of the group called “The Monuments Men,” (which, despite its name,  included at least one woman, Rose Valland, a French Resistance fighter, to be played by Blanchett).

Clooney will direct as well as star. Filming is set to begin in January in Europe.

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History Robert M. Edsel Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 513 pages Publisher: Hachette/Center Street – (2009-09-03) ISBN 9781599951492

There are several other books on the subject (see our earlier story). Edsel is also publishing new book, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nations Treasures from the Nazis, this coming May.

Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis Robert M. Edsel Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2013-05-13) ISBN / EAN: 0393082415 / 9780393082418

The winners of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards were just announced. Since this is basically a people’s choice award, the titles tend to reflect best seller lists and offer few surprises (with the possible exception of the Best History & Biography award which went to Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith, RH; a somewhat surprising choice, given the rich outpouring of titles in that category this year. But then, it was the subject’s Jubilee Year).

For those looking for the unexpected, the Slate Book Review critics suggest “20 Great Books You Never Heard About — But Should’ve.” Indeed, they surprised us; one of the few titles we recognize is City of Women by David Gillham, which was featured in our “Penguin First Flights” program (listen to our interview with the author and read the online chat with program participants). We’re happy it’s getting recognition, but sorry that it’s considered “overlooked.” Slate’s critic Claire Lundberg writes:

Do we really need another World War II novel? This jaded reader sure did, because David Gillham’s City of Women is great. Set in Berlin in 1943, it’s about Sigrid, a bored German housewife who starts an affair with a Jewish man she meets in a movie theater, then quickly finds herself helping her lover smuggle his wife and children out of the country. The writing is a great mix of the literary and commercial, page-turning and suspenseful, with a morally complex, intelligent heroine at its center. If you’re a fan of well-written historical novels in the vein of Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, this one is for you.

As an indicator of the importance of authors to the movie business these days, the new issue of Hollywood Reporter (on stands Dec. 7) features their first list of the top 25 “Power Authors,” complete with glamour shots (yes, that’s Stephenie Meyer, in the center of the photo on the left, holding her own with the stars of the upcoming adaptation of The Host, Jake Abel and Diane Kruger. Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon is in danger of being outshone by author Gillian Flynn in their photo).

There’s few surprises among the Top 25 (Stephen King, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson, et. al.). The feature on Six Writers to Watch is more fun. It’s headed by Jennifer Egan (her novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad is being adapted by Peter Weir as an HBO series, according to THR, but other sources have reported that Weir is actually set to film her earlier gothic-tinged The Keep). Reflecting the importance of the YA audience to Hollywood, two of them are known as young adult writers — Maggie Stiefvater and John Green — and a third, Ransom Riggs, is listed for his YA title, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

The next title by the author of  The Hunger Games will be a picture book for ages 4 and up, The Year of the Jungle, (Scholastic, 9780545425162; 9/10/13). Based Collins’ experiences as a child when her father was serving in Vietnam, it will be illustrated by James Proimos.

The Scholastic press release also announces that the paperback edition of Catching Fire will be released next summer (Scholastic, 9780545586177, $12.99; 6/4/13) as well as redesigned paperback editions of the author’s middle grade series, The Underland Chronicles.

The Oprah Book Club 2.0 pick, Wild (RH/Knopf) by Cheryl Strayed (pictured, right) is headed for Hollywood. Film rights have been acquired by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, with plans for the actress to star. Deadline just announced that author Nick Hornby has been tapped to write the script

Witherspoon has several other book-related projects in the pipeline:

• Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (RH/Crown).
  Withersppon is producing (The Hollywood Reporter features the author and actress together in an issue on “power authors“).
• Mara Leveritt, Devil’s Knot:The True Story of the West Memphis Three (S&S/Atria).
  Witherspoon to star with Colin Firth.
• John Gray, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (HarperCollins).
  Witherspoon signed to star; may begin shooting in January (Deadline, 6/21/12).
• Mitch Larson, Pennyroyal’s Princess Boot Camp (children’s title, to be published by Putnam; no release date set).
  Rights acquired (Deadline, 3/21/12).