Brace yourselves — officially licensed “Fifty Shades of Grey” products are about to hit shelves (including a version of the iconic necktie from Van Heusen).

EMI Music hosted a launch party in NYC for a classical music “soundtrack” on Monday, which uses the book’s cover art. It includes 15 classical pieces selected by E.L. James, the trilogy’s author (it should be safe even for those libraries who have shied away from stocking the books).

The VP of Classics at EMI predicts it will sell 15,000 copies in the first week.

The hottest title arriving today, in terms of media coverage, is Salman Rushdie’s memoir of his nine years in hiding after a Fatwah was issued against him, Joseph Anton (Random House; Random House Audio). The NYT‘s Michiko Kakutani heralds it today saying, “after several disappointing novels, [this memoir] reminds us of [Rushdie’s] fecund gift for language and his talent for explicating the psychological complexities of family and identity. ”

All the news stories mention that the memoir’s title refers to the alias Rushdie used during that time, “Joseph Anton.” The name is composed of the first names of his favorite authors, Joseph from Joseph Conrad and Anton from Anton Chekhov.

Based on that, Random House Library Marketing has come up with a clever Twitter/Facebook challenge; “Forced underground, @SalmanRushdie’s alias combined the names of writers he loved—#JosephAnton. What’s your #LiteraryAlias?”

Ours is Edith Attica (when your tweet yours, be sure to use the hashtags).

Some of you may be wondering if Rushdie spills any beans about ex-wife, Top Chef host Padman Lakshmi in the book. The Daily Beast answers that question in item #10 of “11 Revelations From Salman Rushdie’s Memoir, Joseph Anton.”

Attica Locke appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition today, the release day of her second mystery, The Cutting Season, (HarperCollins; HarperLuxe; Dreamscape Audio; audio and ebook on OverDrive).

HarperCollins reports that more is coming — in People, USA Today, and O Magazine (we’ve rounded up the media attention to date on the Team Attica Locke Facebook page. Be sure to “like” it).

Libraries around the country are getting the word out about The Cutting Season. Kaite Stover, Kansas P.L, selected it for the Oct. FYI Book Club, a special partnership the library has with the Kansas City Star.  The library picks a book, the paper writes about it and together the promote online chat that Kaite leads (see the September pick, The Song of Achilles, here).

Librarians are also reviewing it on their web sites (see this one on my library alma mater, Baltimore County PL’s web site).

Let other libraries know what you are doing by posting to the Team Attica Locke Facebook page.

One of the titles on our  Watch List breaks into the Amazon top 100 today, the debut historical mystery, The Malice of Fortune by Michael Ennis (RH/Doubleday; RH Audio; BOT; Thorndike).

It was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered last night, with a strong hook; “What would happen if two of the biggest names of the Renaissance — Niccolo Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci — teamed up as a crime-fighting duo? … The mystery novel pairs the ruthless political philosopher and the genius inventor and artist together as an unlikely detective team on the trail of a serial killer.”

It is currently at #82 on Amazon sales rankings, with an “up” arrow.

Most libraries have ordered lightly and are beginning to show holds.

Critics are placing bets on which movies will score with the Oscars, based on showings at the Toronto International Film Festival, which concluded over the weekend.

The Silver Linings Playbook won the festival’s top prize, raising expectations that it will be nominated for Best Picture. Vanity Fair also predicts that Jennifer Lawrence will pick up a Best Actress nomination for her performance in the film, while the Wall Street Journal gives kudos to co-star Robert De Niro, saying “the 69-year-old seems positively rejuvenated in David O. Russell’s sensational comedy … portraying a gambling addict and obsessive football fan who believes every factor in his environment — even the placement of his remote controls — affects how his beloved Philadelphia Eagles perform.”  The film, based on Matthew Quirk’s novel, also stars Bradley Cooper and opens Nov 21. The tie-in arrives in October.

The Silver Linings Playbook [movie tie-in edition] Matthew Quick Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books – (2012-10-16) ISBN / EAN: 0374533571 / 9780374533571

Several sources commented on the sheer length of many of the films (the Wall Street Journal complains in its headline “When Will It End“?), including the much-anticipated Cloud Atlas which runs 2 hours and 43 minutes (and is called the “Most overwhelming visual experience of the T.I.F.F.” by Vanity Fair). It opens on Oct. 26th, the same day as another long film, Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children which, at 2.5 hours, is slightly shorter. Critics lost patience with the it; the Toronto’s Globe and Mail commented, “With the book’s wryly witty tone mostly gone, all that’s left is plot – diminished yet recitative, like episodic milestones duly checked off on a laboured journey.”

Also  clocking in at over two hours are  Great Expectations (128 minutes; release not yet scheduled) and Anna Karenina (130 minutes; opens 11/16), with Keira Knightley. Critics were divided on the latter, with The Hollywood Reporter saying it “lacks emotional depth, moral resonance,” while Time magazine enthused that it is an  “intelligently ecstatic new adaptation.”

Author Lee Child appeared on CBS This Morning yesterday to talk about his new book, A Wanted Man  (Delacorte Press; RH Large Print; RHAudio). The interview begins with comments about the striking physical difference between Child’s character, Jack Reacher, who is six-feet-five and 250-pounds, and Tom Cruise, who plays the lead in the upcoming movie, Jack Reacher. Child insists that Cruise is a “fantastic” Reacher, “How? I don’t know. He’s an actor. That’s what they do.”

Child was involved in the making of the film (including a cameo) and was writing A Wanted Man during production. He says the energy of the movie influenced the pacing of the new book.

Jack Reacher, the movie is scheduled for release on 12/21. It’s based on Child’s 9th title in the Jack Reacher series, One Shot. The new book is the 17th.

The trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, which focuses on the last four months of the president’s life, premiered last night (yes, trailers now have premieres — this one was on Google+ and featured a conversation with Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Robert Todd Lincoln). In addition to being online, it was featured on the ABC Jumbotron in Times Square.

Entertainment Weekly’s analysis of the film gives a warning in the headline; “Know your Civil War history before watching Daniel Day-Lewis bring it to life,”

The film opens in a limited number of theaters on Nov, 9, expanding to many more on Nov. 16.

The following is the Google+ presentation:

The movie is based on the later sections of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals.

It is being released in trade paperback and audio tie-in editions (S&S, 10/16).

Official Movie Site: TheLincolnMove.com

The big events this week are the release of memoirs from two very different people: Salman Rushdie and Penny Marshall. We will, of course, be watching and cheering as Attica Locke’s second mystery, The Cutting Season debuts and two new YA series, by Maggie Stiefvater and Libba Bray launch.

Watch List

The Cutting Season, by Attica Locke, (HarperCollins; HarperLuxe; Dreamscape Audio; audio and ebook on OverDrive) is the book we’ll be watching the closest. Libraries across the country have joined Team Attica Locke which will prove the power of library word of mouth by making this a best seller (more here).

Trouble & Triumph: A Novel of Power & Beauty by Tip, “T.I.”, Harris and David Ritz (Harper/Morrow) is the Grammy-winning rapper’s sequel to his street-lit debut Power & Beauty, about two teenagers who tangle with an Atlanta gangster. LJ says, “Some mixed response to the first, but the 100,000-copy first printing says that expectations are high.”

Literary Favorites

San Miguel by T.C. Boyle (Penguin/Viking; Thorndike) is set on desolate San Miguel island off the coast of California, where two couples try to run a farm in the wind and rain – first in 1888, and then during the Depression. PW says, “The author subtly interweaves the fates of Native Americans, Irish immigrants, Spanish and Italian migrant workers, and Chinese fishermen into the Waters’ and the Lesters’ lives, but the novel is primarily a history of the land itself…as beautiful, imperfect, and unrelenting as Boyle’s characters.”

Usual Suspects

Low Pressure by Sandra Brown (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio) is a romantic thriller in which a woman who writes a bestselling novel based on her sister’s murder and becomes the target of an assailant. Kirkus says, “Brown skillfully combines strong characterization with plots that keep the reader guessing all the way. A good old-fashioned thriller and a winner, even though the bad guys are sometimes just a little too bad for plausibility.”

Severe Clear by Stuart Woods (Putnam Adult; Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is Woods’s 50th novel–and the 24 to feature protagonist Stone Barrington. This time he attends the opening of a hotel on grounds owned by his late wife, and faces a terrorist attack. PW says, “Woods expertly mixes familiar ingredients to produce an intoxicating cocktail that goes down easily.

Winter of the World by Ken Follett (Penguin/Dutton; Penguin Audio) is the second installment in the trilogy that began with the popular Fall of Giants, about interrelated American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh families in the early 20th century. LJ says, “in the hands of a less adroit storyteller, it would be hackneyed, but Follett moves his stock figures through interesting situations and draws the reader in to care what happens to them. The next thing you know, you’ve read all 960 pages of this enjoyable novel.”

Young Adult

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic; Scholastic Audio) is a new series by the author of the best selling Shiver series as well as the Printz Honor book Scorpio Races. In an early review, the Washington Post says, “In contrast to the melancholy werewolves of her popular Shiver trilogy, the Raven Boys are not paranormal critters but the entitled students of elite, raven-crested Aglionby Academy….This first in a planned four-novel series draws readers into a world where time enfolds hauntingly, and magic informs reality”

The Diviners by Libba Bray (Hachette/Little, Brown YR; Listening Library) is a new trilogy from the Printz-winning author of Going Bovine (2009) and Beauty Queens (2011) as well as the Gemma Doyle trilogy. This one features a young woman who goes to live in jazz age New York City with an uncle who runs a museum of the occult, a finds myriad friends and no small measure of mystery. Booklist says, “It’s Marjorie Morningstar meets Silence of the Lambs, and Bray dives into it with the brio of the era, alternating rat-a-rat flirting with cold-blooded killings…Seemingly each teen has a secret ability (one can read an object’s history; another can heal), and yet the narrative maintains the flavor of historical fiction rather than fantasy.” Movie rights were snapped up by Paramount in advance of publication.

Dodger by Terry Prachett (HarperCollins) is surprisingly close to historical fiction, from the author of Discworld. Set in Victorian England, it features a thief named Dodger who leaps out of a drain to rescue a mysterious woman from a brutal attack, just as Charles Dickens and social reformer Henry Mayhew arrive on the scene. “Full of eccentric characters and carefully detailed London scenes, the tale embodies both Dickens’s love for the common man and a fierce desire for social justice.” It comes with a dramatic trailer.

Nonfiction

Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie (Random House; Random House Audio) is the esteemed author’s memoir of the nine years he spent living underground after the Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a death sentence on him for the blasphemy of his fiction in 1989. The title refers to his alias, comprised of the first names of his two favorite writers, Conrad and Chekhov. LJ says, “His memoir matters not simply because of startling personal detail but because his experience presaged a global battle over freedom of speech that continues today.” An excerpt is featured in this week’s New Yorker. It will receive plenty of media attention, of course, with interviews scheduled on the Today Show, CBS/This Morning, NPR/Morning Edition and in the New York Times.

500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars by Kurt Eichenwald (Touchstone) is the former New York Times investigative reporter’s reconstruction of the Bush administration’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attack and the delusions and deceptions it has spawned around the world. PW says, “Eichenwald’s novelistic approach takes us into the White House offices, courtrooms, and Guantanamo interrogation cells where tense people groped through the chaos of a new world of fear and brutality and tried to harness it to their own agendas. The result is both a page-turning read and an insightful dissection of 9/11’s dark legacy.”

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall (Amazon/HMH/New Harvest) is the TV actress and Hollywood producer’s memoir of her ascent from a Bronx childhood to fame on the sit-com Laverne and Shirley to directing 1990s hit films Big and A League of Their Own. It’s also one of the first books to emerge from Amazon’s proprietary publishing imprint, New Harvest. Kirkus says, “Marshall is as candid about her failures (which include a painful second divorce from writer/comedian Rob Reiner) and her weaknesses (like the one she developed for drugs) as she is about her successes.”

The trailer features Saturday Night Live veteran Fred Armisen.

The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin (RH/Doubleday) looks at the contentious relationship between chief justice Roberts and the President. It will be getting plenty of press attention, including NPR/Fresh Air, PBS/Charlie Rose Show, CNN/Anderson Cooper 360 and Comedy Central/Colbert Report.

What’s special about the news that Hollywood has bought the rights to yet another YA title? As Entertainment Weekly puts it, “although every studio would like to grab a fresh YA book series in the hope that it can be turned into the next Harry Potter-style film franchise, not every film has the actual producer of the Potter movies overseeing it.”

The debut YA novel, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Macmillan BYR) came out in June and hit the NYT Chapter Book Best Seller list for one week, at #8. The first in a planned series, it will be produced for Dreamworks by David Heyman, who also produced Harry Potter.

A few other YA franchises are already in the works. Next year alone brings Beautiful Creatures (Feb 13), Mortal Instruments (Aug. 23), The Seventh Son (Oct 18; based on Joseph Delaney’s the Last Apprentice series) as well as the second Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire (Nov. 22). 

In addition, Divergent was just given a release date of 3/21/14. It is based on the first in the series by Veronica Roth, whose blurb,”unlike anything I’ve ever read” appears on the cover of Shadow and Bone. Lionsgate is still touting a series based on Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, and the screenplay for the film of Marie Lu’s Legend was completed this summer. In July, Paramount acquired the rights to Libby Bray’s forthcoming first book in a series, The Diviners.

To throw a bit of title confusion into the mix, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor was acquired by Universal in December. The second title in the planned book trilogy, Days of Blood and Starlight, is coming in Nov.

That’s just the series; we’ll also be seeing  several films based on YA standalones.

It’s a good time to remember that there have been some failed YA film franchises.

Hitting a series high on the new USA Today bestseller list is the 12th title in Laurie King’s Russell & Holmes mysteries, Garment of Shadows (RH/Bantam; Recorded Books; Thorndike large print).  It debuts at #59. The previous title, The Pirate King, was on the list for one week at #88.

King’s series features Mary Russell, who teams up with Sherlock Holmes in the first title in the series, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and later becomes his partner and wife.

Holmes has enjoyed a recent revival, with two hit films starring Robert Downey Jr.; Sherlock Holmes 3 is in development. A third season is also in the works for the BBC’s Sherlock, a co-production with PBS’Masterpiece.

This fall, CBS begins a new prime-time series, Elementary, which features Holmes as a 21st-century Manhattanite, played by Jonny Lee Miller, aided by Dr. Joan Watson played by Lucy Liu. It premieres Sept. 27.

Fifty Shades of Grey has finally been pushed out of the #1 spot on USA Today‘s best seller list after 20 weeks. The feat was accomplished by the healine-making Navy SEAL book No Easy Day. USA Today‘s “Book Buzz” blog notes that Fifty Shades holds the record, just ahead of The Hunger Games, which spent 17 weeks in the top spot.

No Easy Day also arrives #1 on PW’s list. BookScan shows that it sold 253,000 copies in its first week on sale, nearly three times as many as Fifty Shades sold that week.

Although most libraries still have long hold lists for Fifty Shades in all formats (including the large print edition; we’ll leave you to figure out what that indicates), the number of new holds are slowing.

We’re thrilled that so many libraries have answered our call to make Attica Locke’s The Cutting Season, (HarperCollins; HarperLuxe; Dreamscape Audio; audio and ebook on OverDrive) a best seller and to also prove that libraries build buzz.

A few other strong voices have joined Team Attica Locke. The NYT‘s Janet Maslin gave the book an outstanding review nearly two weeks before publication and Dennis Lehane has picked it as the first title in his imprint at HarperCollins.

But we think librarians have even more powerful voices.

If you haven’t joined Team Attica Locke yet, it’s time to get on board; The Cutting Season comes out next week. UPDATE: We now have a Team Attica Locke FaceBook page where we are gathering information on media coverage, as well as what libraries are doing. Please Like it.

The publisher is now out of print galleys, but you can still get an egalley from Edelweiss. Hurry; as of next week, when the book is released, the egalley will no longer be available (you will have until Oct. 3rd to read it).

The HarperCollins Library Marketing Team has set up an easy way to get The Cutting Season, as well as other HarperCollins titles, without having to wait for approval:

1) Register on Edelweiss

2) Send an email to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com to tell them you have registered.  You will receive a confirmation email that you are a VIP.

3) Go to The Cutting Season page on Edelweiss and hit “Download Review Copy” bar on the right. Follow the Edelweiss instructions to download it to your specific reading device.

The Cuyahoga Library staff is behind the book and have created the following poster at the request of their branch staff (click on the image for a larger version). Guess what? Holds are building there. They encourage you to create your own versions.

Two titles that were embargoed prior to release are currently dueling for headlines. The attention has propelled each title into top spots on Amazon’s sale rankings, even topping the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.

At number one is  No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden (Penguin/Dutton; Penguin Audio). The full 60 Minutes coverage is available here, including several additional “Overtime” segments. This appears to be the first and last of the author’s appearances for the book. Remember, Mark Bowden’s The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden, also embargoed, is arriving soon (Grove/Atlantic, 10/2).

At number three on Amazon sales rankings is The Price of Politics by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster; S&S Audio). Following his interview with Diane Sawyer, Woodward has appeared on several shows, including today’s CBS This Morning.

Libraries are showing heavy holds on both titles and many have ordered additional copies.

Meanwhile, a recent headline-making embargoed title, Paterno, which hit #1 on the NYT best seller list, has dropped off precipitously in sales, says The Hollywood Reporter, in a story about a possible movie based on the book (weird alert; Al Pacino may star).

The titles shortlisted for the Booker were just announced in London. A word-of-mouth favorite from the longlist (it reached #7 on the Indie best seller list and is still on at #12), Rachel Joyce’s debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, (Random House; RH Audio; BOT) did not make the transition

The two leading titles at British bookies are Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies and Will Self’s Umbrella. The winner will be announced on October 16.

Published in the US

Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies, Macmillan/Holt, 5/8/12; Review links; NYT best seller for 8 weeks; still on the extended list after 5 weeks

Will Self, Umbrella, Grove Press, 12/10/12; not yet reviewed in the US; British reviews,  The Independent; The Guardian; profile in The Economist

Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists, Perseus/ Weinstein Books, 8/14/12; reviewed in the NYT Book Review

Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis, Penguin Press, 4/12/12; Reviews, PW, starred;  The Millions

Deborah Levy, Swimming Home, And Other Stories, Macmillan/Bloomsbury, 10/16/12; Review, The Guardian — UPDATE, 9/13 — Bloomsbury US just announced they are publishing it here

Alison Moore, The Lighthouse, Salt Publishing (UK). UPDATE, 9/13 — Thanks to the comment, we learned this is available through Amazon Digital Services (but not for library lending)

Two new titles hit the NYT Children’s Chapter Books best seller list this week.

At #2 is Unwholly, by Neal Shusterman, the second in a series that began with Unwind (both S&S Young Readers), which has won several state and national awards. The book trailer indicates movie ambitions; indeed, Unwind, like many of Schusterman’s other titles, has been optioned. It may actually make it to the screen, it has its own production blog.

At #9 is Every Day, the much-anticipated novel by David Levithan. Libraries are showing more holds on this one than on Unwholly.