As part of its first year celebration, LibraryReads has released a list of the Top Twenty-Five favorites from the first years worth of picks, as voted on by hundreds of librarians around the country.

Now, you can vote on this shortlist (even if you’ve never voted before). A final list of the top ten vote getters will be released on  December 1st (voting ends on November 15th).

Also, remember to nominate your favorite upcoming books for future lists (Dec/Jan nominations are due by Nov. 20).

Noting a growing tend of  fast-moving but very complex thrillers that challenge the readers and are well worth the attention they require, Nancy Pearl, during her regular Tuesday appearance on Seattle’s NPR station, KUOW, recommends one of  her recent favorites, The Distance by Helen Giltrow, (RH/Doubleday; RH Audio). It  features a wealthy, elegant socialite named Charlotte who lives another life as Karla, a woman who helps people in trouble disappear. Katla, Nancy emphasizes, is not a nice person, and in fact, the book is “filled with people who are not particularly good people, but whom you somehow care about. It takes skill for a writer to pull that off.” Listen here

It was a LibraryRead pick for September and a favorite on GalleyChat.

OverDrive Sample

Audio Clip:

That book included scenes Nancy “had to read with my eyes closed,” but on last week’s show, she recommended a book in a quite different genre, one she doesn’t generally enjoy, a cozy mystery. Murder at the Brightwell, by Ashley Weaver, (Minotaur/Macmillan) won her over with its subtle humor and “witty repartee” between a “Nick and Nora” type of wealthy young couple in the 1930’s, making it “like armchair traveling into a rarefied world.” Listen here.

It was a LibraryReads pick, for October, as well as a GalleyChat favorite (New York librarian Janet Schneider described is as “a Dorothy L. Sayers/Downton Abbey combo”). A debut, the author is a public librarian in Louisiana.

Holiday catalogs are arriving earlier than ever, so why not the best books lists?

Library Journal is the first out of the gate, several weeks earlier than usual, beating out Amazon (although they have a slight edge, having released their mid year previews, “Best Books of the Year, So Far“) and Publishers Weekly.

NOTE: Check links at the right for our downloadable spreadsheets with LJ’s picks, as well as the 2014 LibraryReads picks and titles longlisted for the Man Booker and National Book Awards.

Below are the Top Ten (there’s also a “More of the Best” list, plus several lists of the best in various categories, including e-original romance).

Some recent awards winners did not make the cut. The Man Booker winner, announced earlier this month, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan is not on either of LJ‘s top lists, nor are any of the National Book Awards shortlist titles. But it’s the diversity of the lists that make them interesting (don’t forget to vote for your favorites from the LibraryReads shortlist),

Library Journal’s Best Books of 2014 — Top Ten

An Untamed State, Roxane Gay, (Grove Press/Black Cat, Brilliance Audio), 5/6/14, OverDrive Sample

No Place To Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State, Glenn Greenwald, (Macmillan, Metropolitan; Brilliance Audio), 5/13/14, OverDrive Sample

Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, Mark Harris, (Penguin Press; Recorded Books), 2/17/14, OverDrive Sample

A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James, (Peguin/Riverhead; Highbridge), 10/2/14, OverDrive Sample

The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert, (Macmillan/Holt; S&S Audio), 2/11/14

Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans, Gary Krist, (RH/Crown; Dreamscape; Thorndike), 10/28/14,  OverDrive Sample

The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell, (Random House; Recorded Books; Thorndike), 9/2/14, OverDrive Sample — on Man Booker longlist; and IndieNext pick

Us, David Nicholls, (Harper: HarperAudio; HarperLuxe), 10/28/14 — on Man Booker longlist; LibraryReads #1 pick for November

Some Luck, Jane Smiley, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; Thorndike), 10/7/14, OverDrive Sample — was on the National Book Awards longlist; a LibraryReads pick for Oct. and an IndieNext pick

Audio sample:

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin, (Workman/Algonquin; Highbridge; Thorndike), 4/1/14, OverDrive Sample — LibraryReads #1 pick for April and an IndieNext pick

Special Time 6:00-7:00 PM EDT!

Live Chat with Rebecca Scherm, UNBECOMING

(10/22/2014)

  

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5:45	Nora - EarlyWord:  We will begin our live online chat with Rebecca Scherm, author of the the psychological thriller, Unbecoming, in about 15 minutes Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:45 Nora - EarlyWord

5:46	Nora - EarlyWord:  Meanwhile, here’s the cover of Unbecoming, to published by Penguin/ Viking on January 17 Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:46 Nora - EarlyWord

5:46	Nora - EarlyWord Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:46

5:46	Nora - EarlyWord:  And here is a special video that Rebecca made for First Flights members. Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:46 Nora - EarlyWord

5:46	Nora - EarlyWordNora - EarlyWord Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:46

5:54	Nora - EarlyWord:  I see chat participants gathering! You can send your questions through at any time (even now). They'll go into a queue, and we'll submit as many of them as we can to Rebecca before the end of the chat. Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:54 Nora - EarlyWord

5:55	Nora - EarlyWord:  And, please don’t worry about typos – we’ll make them too! Wednesday October 22, 2014 5:55 Nora - EarlyWord

6:00	Nora - EarlyWord:  Rebecca has joined us from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she lives, teaches (and writes). Say Hi, Rebecca. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:00 Nora - EarlyWord

6:00	Rebecca Scherm:  Hello, everyone! Thanks for coming! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:00 Rebecca Scherm

6:01	Nora - EarlyWord:  We've got some questions holding in the queue, but I'm going to start with a few of my own. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:01 Nora - EarlyWord

6:02

Nora - EarlyWord:  UNBECOMING has so many twists and turns. We’ll try to avoid spoilers for anyone who may not have finished it yet, but I wanted to know how you were able to structure the book so the reader would be surprised, but not get lost. I imagine a room full of post it notes, or storyboards! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:02 Nora - EarlyWord

6:02	[Comment From PDReaderPDReader: ]  Hi Rebecca Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:02 PDReader

6:02	Rebecca Scherm:  Oh, it was a tortuous road. All I knew in the beginning was that I wanted to write about the making of an unlikely "femme fatale" and that she would have a part in a failed heist... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:02 Rebecca Scherm

6:03

Rebecca Scherm:  I had many disorganized outlines, but before my second draft, I made an enormous one on a poster. The twists and new questions were marked and even color-coded by theme ("family," "sex," "ego," etc.). I needed that map, but I changed it constantly as I wrote. And I only used the map until the ¾ mark. After that, I just knew. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:03 Rebecca Scherm

6:03	Nora - EarlyWord:  How much was completed before you showed it to an agent? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:03 Nora - EarlyWord

6:04	Rebecca Scherm:  The version I sent out to agents was my fourth or fifth finished draft... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:04 Rebecca Scherm

6:04

Rebecca Scherm:  My agent is a very shrewd reader, and I revised quite a bit with her guidance. Right away, I liked that she didn’t tell me what she thought I ought to do. She would ask me questions like “I wondered why…” and leave them hanging there until I figured out how I wanted it to be! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:04 Rebecca Scherm

6:05	Nora - EarlyWord:  Did you show it to other people before your agent and editor? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:05 Nora - EarlyWord

6:05

Rebecca Scherm:  Oh, yes. Each time I finished a draft, I would set the manuscript aside for two months and not look at it at all. This was so hard, but it helped me see it clearly every time. Each of those times, I'd have different friends lined up to read, some who knew what I was "going for" and some who were reading it cold... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:05 Rebecca Scherm

6:06	Rebecca Scherm:  The only person who read it more than once was my dear friend Katie, to whom the book is dedicated. She was with me the whole way. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:06 Rebecca Scherm

6:07	Nora - EarlyWord:  You also dedicate the book to your husband (or at least I think it's your husband). Did he also get to look at it? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:07 Nora - EarlyWord

6:08

Rebecca Scherm:  Yes, and he's read it too. But really, he let me talk through it with him all the time. Every day, every scene-- he had heroic patience for listening to me work out these characters' problems. Eventually, you just talk abut them like they're people you know! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:08 Rebecca Scherm

6:09	[Comment From Mary C.Mary C.: ]  How did you pick that title? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:09 Mary C.

6:11

Rebecca Scherm:  My husband thought of it! My titles were all dreadful. One night we were talking about the title, and I said that it should be alluring but mysterious, and have a bit a warning bell to it-- it shouldn't sound like a sweet story! And Jon sat up in his chair and said "Unbecoming!" I thought it was perfect: it's both who Grace is and what she does. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:11 Rebecca Scherm

6:11	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  Hello from the Midwest, sorry I'm late, hope I didn't miss too much. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:11 Lucy

6:11	Nora - EarlyWord:  Hey, Lucy -- thanks for joining! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:11 Nora - EarlyWord

6:11	Rebecca Scherm:  Hello, Lucy! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:11 Rebecca Scherm

6:12	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  The title has lots of possible meanings. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:12 June

6:14	Nora - EarlyWord:  I agree, June. I kept thinking about how the art pieces Grace works on were unbecoming. Was Grace also unbecoming? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:14 Nora - EarlyWord

6:14

Rebecca Scherm:  Yes-- I thought of the expression "behavior unbecoming to a young lady," which was how we were disciplined as kids for being too loud, too raucous, too anything. And then, of course, Grace un-becomes and becomes and un-becomes several people. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:14 Rebecca Scherm

6:14	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  Don't want to jump ahead but will submit a question - did you have any input into the graphic for the cover? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:14 Lucy

6:15	Nora - EarlyWord:  Of course, the crux of the book is the character of Grace. We got this advance question from one of the First Flights members about her: Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:15 Nora - EarlyWord

6:15	Rebecca Scherm:  Yes, Lucy, and I was surprised that I had as much of a voice as I did! We went through many possible covers, but we wanted a mood that was hard to capture. I LOVE my cover! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:15 Rebecca Scherm

6:16	Nora - EarlyWord:  Oops -- posted the last too quickly -- here's the advance question: Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:16 Nora - EarlyWord

6:16

Nora - EarlyWord:  Hi Rebecca, I was fascinated by the development of Grace's character, and how the physical and metaphorical journeys she went on added layer after layer to her complexity--all the way from TJ Maxx to the world of international antiques. What an amazing heroine--not easy to like, but absolutely riveting! Was it challenging to keep her on track? Did she go through many evolutions and changes during your writing process? Janet Schneider The Bryant Library, Roslyn, NY Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:16 Nora - EarlyWord

6:16	[Comment From Janet SJanet S: ]  Hi from Long Island, Rebecca. Sorry I am late. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:16 Janet S

6:16	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  Yes, the unfocused face and all those lined up dots ... Great cover! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:16 Lucy

6:17

Rebecca Scherm:  Hi Janet, I'm just answering your question! In my first draft, Grace was not nearly so badly behaved, but friends who read that draft thought Grace felt far too guilty for what (at that point) she’d actually done. It became clear that if I really wanted to write about the making of a femme fatale, she was going to have to be much worse... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:17 Rebecca Scherm

6:17

Rebecca Scherm:  Sometimes, it was very hard for me! The last scene with Mrs. Graham and Grace alone together—I won’t say more and spoil it—was the most difficult scene I’ve ever written. I was heartbroken for Grace then, even as I was furious with her. I was shaken up all day about it. So she became "worse" with each draft, but also more complex. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:17 Rebecca Scherm

6:18	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  I’ve heard someone say that there’s a trend towards more complex thrillers. Do you agree? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:18 Miranda

6:20

Rebecca Scherm:  I hope so! To be honest, I had no idea I was writing a thriller-- that's something your publisher decides after the fact! I knew I was writing something psychologically suspenseful, though, and I love that kind of complexity in suspenseful fiction that I read. Tana French, Kate Atkinson-- they don't shy away from complication. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:20 Rebecca Scherm

6:21	[Comment From PubLibPubLib: ]  What about the debate about likable characters? Are they for “small-minded readers” as one author asserted? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:21 PubLib

6:22	Rebecca Scherm:  I wouldn't put it that way, but I do read different book for different feelings that I want. Sometimes you want a book to be your companion, and sometimes you want something to startle you, to shake you up... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:22 Rebecca Scherm

6:22	Rebecca Scherm:  I knew that I was writing the second kind of book. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:22 Rebecca Scherm

6:22	[Comment From Femme FataleFemme Fatale: ]  You said in your video that you like Dashiell Hammett, Ruth Rendell (hurrah!) and Rex Stout, as well as Hitchcock movies. What are your favorite contemporaty books? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:22 Femme Fatale

6:24	Rebecca Scherm:  Ah! Most recently, I've loved Emily St. John Mandel's STATION ELEVEN, Roxane Gaye's UNTAMED STATE, and DAYS OF ABANDONMENT by Elena Ferrante. Knocked me off my feet. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:24 Rebecca Scherm

6:24	Rebecca Scherm:  And Kate Atkinson's Life After Life! What a stunner. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:24 Rebecca Scherm

6:25	Nora - EarlyWord:  You mentioned you were influenced by seeing the movie TO CATCH A THIEF with Grace Kelly. How does it strke you now? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:25 Nora - EarlyWord

6:25	Rebecca Scherm:  I thought that I was heavily influenced by To Catch a Thief, but it turns out I was only partially right… Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:25 Rebecca Scherm

6:25

Rebecca Scherm:  As a child, I was infatuated with Grace Kelly, particularly the three films she made with Alfred Hitchcock. I watched To Catch a Thief many times in my childhood. Midway through my final draft, I watched it for the first time in about twenty years. I was horrified!... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:25 Rebecca Scherm

6:26

Rebecca Scherm:  I thought that Francie and Robie run away and become cat burglars at the end. That's not what happens at all. They settle down and live lawfully ever after-- Francie's mother even moves in. I had rewritten an ending I liked better, and then the novel I wrote was influenced by this not-real version of the movie. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:26 Rebecca Scherm

6:26	Nora - EarlyWord:  Love that you named your character after her. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:26 Nora - EarlyWord

6:27	Rebecca Scherm:  I knew she had that transfixing "golden" quality. That thing that puts people under a spell. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:27 Rebecca Scherm

6:27	Rebecca Scherm:  Just like Grace Kelly. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:27 Rebecca Scherm

6:27	Nora - EarlyWord:  And she is the crux of the book. I'm curious what our participants though of her. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:27 Nora - EarlyWord

6:27	[Comment From Janet SJanet S: ]  Right. Is that the femme fatale/Grace Kelly angle?--you mentioned that in the video. Nice how you played with making someone beautiful outside and (somewhat) ugly inside. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:27 Janet S

6:28	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  I found myself always giving her the benefit of the doubt, Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:28 June

6:28	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  It felt like something was missing from her heart. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:28 Miranda

6:28	[Comment From LyndaLynda: ]  I thought it was weird that she loved Mrs. Graham, but she basically screwed over her son. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:28 Lynda

6:28	Rebecca Scherm:  Yes, Janet, for me that was the central motivation. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:28 Rebecca Scherm

6:29	Rebecca Scherm:  And Miranda, I completely agree! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:29 Rebecca Scherm

6:29	[Comment From JulieJulie: ]  She was maddeningly unknowable, but fascinating! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:29 Julie

6:30	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  I could see why she chose Alls -- his background was troubled, too. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:30 Miranda

6:30	Rebecca Scherm:  I'm happy to talk about your question, Lynda, I just don't want to give too much away! Let me know if I should continue there! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:30 Rebecca Scherm

6:31	[Comment From CathyCathy: ]  She wasn't really an :unlikeable" character -- somehow, she never made me hate her. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:31 Cathy

6:31	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  No spoilers, please, pretty please ... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:31 Lucy

6:32	Rebecca Scherm:  ok! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:32 Rebecca Scherm

6:32	Rebecca Scherm:  As a writer, there's a sense of readerly discomfort that I want. One of the things I find so incredible about Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels is that I am rooting for him and against him at the same time. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:32 Rebecca Scherm

6:32	Nora - EarlyWord:  Lucy, you're killing me. I wanted to know what Rebecca would say. Guess that will have to be off line! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:32 Nora - EarlyWord

6:33	Rebecca Scherm:  Well, I can say this... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:33 Rebecca Scherm

6:33	Nora - EarlyWord:  I'm so glas you mentioned Ripley -- I often though of him while reading Unbecoming. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:33 Nora - EarlyWord

6:33	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  Can turn my eyes away until the chat scroll gets past the comments ... :-) Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:33 Lucy

6:33	Rebecca Scherm:  I believe that Grace did what she did in some part-- unconsciously-- because she loved Mrs. Graham so much and was so angry about what had happened. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:33 Rebecca Scherm

6:34	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  Why did you have Grace and Riley get married? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:34 June

6:35	Rebecca Scherm:  They had very different reasons for wanting to "seal" their decision to be together... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:35 Rebecca Scherm

6:36	Rebecca Scherm:  But these two people are so determined, in a way, to be who they think they want/deserve to be, right now. They would make such a momentous decision very young. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:36 Rebecca Scherm

6:36	[Comment From Janet SJanet S: ]  Was there a lot of research involved into the process of restoring antiques/jewelry? Is this something you knew about before? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:36 Janet S

6:37	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  Right! Sometimes I forgot how young they were. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:37 June

6:37	Rebecca Scherm:  Janet, I just read and read and read some more. I read books about jewelry making, talked to gemologists... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:37 Rebecca Scherm

6:38	Rebecca Scherm:  And on one memorably embarrassing occasion, I went to gem dealer in the diamond district to have a Fassi-like experience. It was a disaster! I was trying to sound educated and get educated at the same time-- a terrible combination. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:38 Rebecca Scherm

6:38	Nora - EarlyWord:  I enjoyed your descriptions of the pieces Grace worked on, particulary that intricate centerpiece. Is it based on a real object? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:38 Nora - EarlyWord

6:38	[Comment From Janet SJanet S: ]  Your descriptions of the process were visceral and seemed very authentic. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:38 Janet S

6:39	Rebecca Scherm:  Well, all the pieces-- jewelry and antiques-- are real pieces. The centerpiece is a based on an incredible piece I saw in Prague, at the Decorative Arts Museum there... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:39 Rebecca Scherm

6:40

Rebecca Scherm:  They wouldn't let me take pictures of it, so I could only make notes of the materials and the restoration process. Actually, the museum's placard on the centerpiece inspired Hanna's voice as a character. I was very taken with the tone-- very clipped and authoritative, but clearly full of love for the object. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:40 Rebecca Scherm

6:40	[Comment From Janet SJanet S: ]  Also, now I want to do some serious Paris Flea Market-ing...:) Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:40 Janet S

6:40	Nora - EarlyWord:  A character’s voice influenced by a museum placard? That’s a first. Your mind must be like a sponge, absorbing all kinds of things. Can you tell us about any other unusual details you picked up for the book? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:40 Nora - EarlyWord

6:41

Rebecca Scherm:  Ha, yes, I soak up everything. Sometimes it’s overwhelming! I like to populate the fictional world with real life: real objects, real artwork, real news stories. I think my editor thought the pink diamond teardrop watch was a little farfetched-- then she googled it! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:41 Rebecca Scherm

6:42	Nora - EarlyWord:  I am SO glad to know that is real. Will google it right after this chat! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:42 Nora - EarlyWord

6:42	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  You interweave today’s technology easily. Some of our debut authors have said it presents a problem to them because the speed of technology can make it difficult to set up tension. Did you have any trouble with that? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:42 June

6:43

Rebecca Scherm:  June, I decided that I needed technology to work to create suspense instead of resolve it. Grace does this antiquated work, doesn't text anyone, certainly doesn't skype--for someone her age, it's like she lives in another time! So it was fitting that the internet would be this threat to her... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:43 Rebecca Scherm

6:44	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  Peeking back in now ... :-) Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:44 Lucy

6:44	Rebecca Scherm:  ...both as a way for her to be tracked or found, and as a way for her to seek information she shouldn't really have or doesn't want. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:44 Rebecca Scherm

6:44	[Comment From PubLibPubLib: ]  Do you have more books in the works? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:44 PubLib

6:45	[Comment From N.C. LibrarianN.C. Librarian: ]  Will you stick to thrillers? Are you finished with the femme fatale? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:45 N.C. Librarian

6:45	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  I just can't get enough of Grace -- will you write more about her? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:45 Miranda

6:46

Rebecca Scherm:  Yes, I'm working on my second, novel, Beta. It's also a psychological suspense novel with a crime-- "You and your liars," my husband says-- but it's otherwise very different. It's about an American family on a private space station, testing it out for the rich... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:46 Rebecca Scherm

6:47	Rebecca Scherm:  Some themes I can't quit just yet! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:47 Rebecca Scherm

6:48	Rebecca Scherm:  Miranda, I do fantasize about writing about Grace again. But we'll have to see. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:48 Rebecca Scherm

6:48	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  There's something unknowable about her and I want more! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:48 Miranda

6:49	Rebecca Scherm:  Good luck getting the truth out of her now, Miranda! I think she will become less and less knowable with time. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:49 Rebecca Scherm

6:50	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  Ha! So true. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:50 Miranda

6:50	Nora - EarlyWord:  We touched on the debate about "unlikeable" characters earlier -- any more you want to add to that? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:50 Nora - EarlyWord

6:51

Rebecca Scherm:  Well, to me, Grace is a fascinating criminal. I didn't intend for her to be liked-- I just wanted to know what made her tick! We’ve all known people who did awful things to us, felt bad about it, and then did them again. Those people are infuriating, so hard to understand, and that’s what motivated me as a writer... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:51 Rebecca Scherm

6:52	Rebecca Scherm:  There are great novels about good people and great novels about sociopaths, but I think Grace is complex because she does have a conscience but often ignores it… Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:52 Rebecca Scherm

6:52

Rebecca Scherm:  In the end, I feel both invested in her and wary of her. I wrote about someone who would be the villain in any other book. In mine, I would call her an anti-heroine. I don't want her to be my friend--or near any of my friends or family!-- but I am compelled by her-- and I hope you are too! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:52 Rebecca Scherm

6:53	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  I love how, in the beginning, she claims to not enjoy lying. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:53 June

6:53	[Comment From JuneJune: ]  As Nora said, it's fun to go back and re-read the beginning. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:53 June

6:54	Rebecca Scherm:  I read that pathological liars, as we call them, don't even know they're lying. It seemed important to establish that she knows right from wrong-- she just doesn't heed those signals very well. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:54 Rebecca Scherm

6:54	[Comment From JinnyJinny: ]  My son is debating whether to go to school for creative writing. Do you think it can be taught? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:54 Jinny

6:55	Rebecca Scherm:  I think that the impulse and the desire can be nurtured. At least, they were in me! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:55 Rebecca Scherm

6:55	[Comment From MirandaMiranda: ]  What's your best piece of advice for an aspiring writer? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:55 Miranda

6:57

Rebecca Scherm:  Read widely. Don't just read things you know you're going to like, things that are like the things you already love. Challenge yourself. Read different styles, genders, races, and nationalities, looking for stories that are unfamiliar to you. That's what literature is for, and that's how you find a voice that's only yours... Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:57 Rebecca Scherm

6:58	Rebecca Scherm:  And write even when the writing is awful, when you fear you have nothing to say. You have to already be at work when the moment hits-- you can't wait for it to come to you. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:58 Rebecca Scherm

6:58	[Comment From JenJen: ]  Just gotta say, your idea for the next book sounds SO different! Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:58 Jen

6:58	[Comment From JenJen: ]  How does it involve "your liars"? Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:58 Jen

6:59	Rebecca Scherm:  Well, I don't want to spoil the next book, Jen! But one of the character's-- a biochemist-- has embellished his accomplishments, and that's going to be hard for him to undo. Wednesday October 22, 2014 6:59 Rebecca Scherm

7:00	[Comment From JenJen: ]  Sounds like fun! Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:00 Jen

7:00	Rebecca Scherm:  Characters, pardon me! Don't tell my freshman I did that-- they'll never let me hear the end of it! Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:00 Rebecca Scherm

7:00	Nora - EarlyWord:  Wow, everyone, that’s it for this chat. The hour flew by.Thanks, Rebecca for a fascinating discussion. Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:00 Nora - EarlyWord

7:00	Rebecca Scherm:  Yes it's a pleasure to work on something new! Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:00 Rebecca Scherm

7:00	Rebecca Scherm:  Thank you all! These were great questions. Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:00 Rebecca Scherm

7:01	[Comment From LucyLucy: ]  Thank You Rebecca and Thanks to Nora for hosting! Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:01 Lucy

7:01	Nora - EarlyWord:  And thanks to the Penguin First Flights program members for joining us today. The chat will be posted in our archives, Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:01 Nora - EarlyWord

7:01	[Comment From Janet SJanet S: ]  Thank you Rebecca and Nora! Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:01 Janet S

7:03	Nora - EarlyWord:  Our next chat, on Dec 4, is with Brooke Davis, author of Lost & Found – read more about it here, If you’re not part of the First Flights program, you can sign up here Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:03 Nora - EarlyWord

7:03	Nora - EarlyWord:  Goodbye, everyone! Keep on reading! Wednesday October 22, 2014 7:03 Nora - EarlyWord

 

 

Surgeon Atul Gawande’s new book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, (Macmillan/Holt/Metropolitan; Macmillan Audio) debuted on this week’s NYT Best Seller Hardcover Best Seller list at #3 and is currently #6 on Amazon’s sales rankings (between Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Patton and John Grisham’s Gray Mountain). Libraries are showing heavy and growing holds on conservative ordering.

Gawande appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and was profiled in New York Magazine. The book was reviewed last week in the daily New York Times, as well as in many other newspapers.  OverDrive Sample

When Ebola began making headlines this year, one of the few books on the topic was the 20-year-old nonfiction title that the NYT says could “be classified as dystopian nonfiction,” The Hot Zone,(RH/Anchor Trade; Mass Market; S&S Audio).

The author, Richard Preston publishes new reporting on Ebola in the 10/28 issue of the New Yorker. In an interview in this week’s NYT Book Review, he says so much has changed in the last 20 years that he is “dying to update the book” and is clearly doing so, outlining what he plans to change.

Asked about rumors of a Fox TV series based on the book, he confirms that efforts are now underway, (The Hollywood Reporter also confirmed that story on Thursday, adding that Preston’s new reporting  will be incorporated).

Asked why he and brother Doug Preston each write such scary books, he says people often wonder if they come from terrible childhoods. But no, he says, “It comes from storytelling around the dinner table. We all just got into the habit of telling weird and interesting stories.”

THE big title of the fall arrives next week, John Grisham’s Gray Mountain … George R.R. Martin fans will have something to tide them over until The Winds of  Winter arrives … and several titles are already getting media bumps.

All the titles covered here, and several more notable titles arriving next week, are listed, with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of 10/20/14

Holds Leaders

Gray Mountain, John Grisham, (RH/Doubleday; RH Audio; RH Large Print), OverDrive Sample

Grisham’s latest is not only the holds leader for the week, but for the entire season. The protagonist is a young lawyer, Samantha Kofer, who, after her cushy corporate job is ended by the collapse of Lehman Bros., takes on pro bono work in a small Appalachian coal town. There she learns, up close and personal, how people’s lives are ruined by the machinations of big companies. PW suggests this “may be the debut of a series character.”

Shopaholic to the Stars, Sophie Kinsella, (RH/Dial; RH Audio, BOT; Thorndike, 11/1), OverDrive Sample

A distant second to the Grisham in holds for the week, but still strong, this is the first new title in the series in four years. A relocation to Hollywood offers shopaholic Becky the opportunity to fulfill what seems to be her ultimate destiny as a celebrity stylist. The author is scheduled to appear on CBS This Morning on Wednesday.

George R.R. Martin Teases 

Game of Thrones fans will soon be teased by two “new” books by George R.R. Martin (the eagerly anticipated next book in the series, The Winds Of Winter, is expected in 2015, but no pub date has been announced). Coming next week, is a Y.A. title, The Ice Dragon, (Macmillan/Tor Teen). Originally published as part of the 1980 anthology of stories, Dragons of Light, edited by Orson Scott Card, it was then republished as a stand-alone book in 2007, now out of print. The new edition features artwork by Spanish artist Luis Royo. Entertainment Weekly previewed it in August, saying “the book’s themes more resemble those of a children’s fable than HBO-ready sex-and-gore fare.”  OverDrive Sample

Arriving next week is The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia, Linda Antonsson (RH/Bantam), which gives further background on the series to insatiable fans.

In the Media

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Bryan Stevenson, (RH/Spiegel & Grau; RH Audio),  OverDrive Sample

Audio sample:

Nicholas Kristof in a column in the NYT Book Review last week notes that Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, as “America’s young Nelson Mandela.” In the long blurb on the cover, John Grisham says that Stevenson is  “… doing god’s work fighting for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, the vulnerable, the outcast and those with no hope. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story.”

Stevenson appeared on the Daily Show last night and is scheduled for NPR’s Fresh Air on Monday.

The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books. Azar Nafisi, (Penguin/Viking)

Audio sample:

This week brought a rare occurrence, an author featured on Late Night With Seth Meyers. Not only that, Meyers called Asar Nafisi, “cool”  (Part One, Part Two). In this book, she attempts to answer the question of whether books can be as meaningful to Americans as they were to her Iranian students in her best seller, Reading Lolita in Tehran.

Food: A Love Story, Jim Gaffigan, (RH/Crown; BOT, read by author)

Audio sample:

In the follow-up to his bestseller Dad Is Fat, comedian Jim Gaffigan writes about his favorite topic, food. He will be featured in a cover story in Parade Magazine, and on the Today Show on Monday.

Rosewater: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival, Maziar Bahari, Aimee Molloy, (Random House Trade Paperbacks; Tantor Audio), OverDrive Sample

Tie-ins rarely get featured in the media, but this case is different:

The first trailer has just been released for Ron Howard’s upcoming movie In the Heart of the Sea. Scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 13, it is based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s book of the same title.

Related Books

Philbrick won the 2000 National Book Award in Nonfiction for In the Heart of the Sea, about the Essex, a Nantucket ship hunting whales in the South Pacific in 1819, when it was stalked and eventually sunk by a sperm whale, setting the crew adrift for 90 days.

Philbrick also published a version for young readers, Revenge of the Whale, (Penguin/Puffin, 2004).

The movie stars Chris Hemsworth as the whaling ship Essex’s first mate Owen Chase. His account of the story, published in 1821, inspired Herman Melville (played byBen Whishaw in the movie) to write Moby Dick. Chase’s book is still available in several editions, including The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale, (Penguin Classics, 2000) with an introduction by Philbrick.

Tie ins (for tie-ins to all upcoming book adaptations, check our Edelweiss catalog):

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Movie Tie-in)
Nathaniel Philbrick
Penguin, Trade Paperback January 27, 2015
9780143126812, 0143126814

Audio: January 27, 2015
Nathaniel Philbrick, Scott Brick
9781611763577, 1611763576

Saturday Night Live has been sending up YA film adaptations.

Last week, dystopian movies got the treatment:

The week before, it was a “grounded” YA film:

Look what’s rising on Amazon’s sales rankings:

Ebola Survival Handbook: A Collection of Tips, Strategies, and Supply Lists From Some of the World’s Best Preparedness Professionals
Lost Arts Publishing (Author)
Pbk, 138 pages, $7.95
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 9/22/14
ISBN-10: 1502449870

Published via Amazon’s self-publishing platform, CreateSpace, the book appears to only be available via Amazon (some copies are being sold on EBay).

Bloomberg News published a story earlier this month, “Ebola Fears in U.S. Boost Sales of Emergency Supplies,” which includes the book. It is also featured on several survivalist Web sites, many of which are run by the authors of the articles collected in the book.

Also rising in sales is Richard Preston’s 1994 book The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus, (RH/Anchor trade paperback, also available as mass market pbk; S&S Audio), about an Ebola outbreak in Washington D.C. It’s currently at #27 on Amazon’s sales rankings and libraries are showing holds. OverDrive Sample.

UPDATE: Preston publishes new reporting on Ebola in the 10/28 issue of the New Yorker, and is interviewed in the NYT Book Review.

We’ve become so used to the goofy Steve Carrell, on full display in theaters now as the dad in Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, that it may be difficult to believe that same guy plays billionaire John du Pont in this trailer.

The movie, which opens on Nov. 14, is generating Oscar buzz, (read what the cast members, including Vanessa Redgrave, have to say about it here).

It is based on the forthcoming hardcover

Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother’s Murder, John du Pont’s Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold, by Mark Schultz, and David Thomas

(Penguin/Dutton, 11/18)

Jonathan Yardley, the nonfiction book critic for the Washington Post since 1981, is retiring. Known as an iconoclast (if you’re not a fan of Salinger’s, you’ll enjoy his reassessment of Catcher in the Rye as “a maladroit, mawkish novel” that is suffused with “cheap sentimentality”), he also won a Pulitzer for criticism.

On Monday, it was announced that Carlos Lozada  will replace Yardley, leaving his current job as editor of the paper’s Sunday opinion section, Outlook.

Interviewed by Poynter.org yesterday, Lozada talked about his plans, which are focused on “building a digital audience,” by using “author interviews; short posts that highlight key nuggets from new books; deep dives on trends in nonfiction,” such as his piece, “The End of Everything” and adds, “while I know that lots of people use reviews to help them decide which books to buy and read, lots of them also see reviews as a substitute for reading the book. I certainly do – there isn’t enough time to read everything, right? And I want to respect those readers and their needs, too, which is where I hope these other forms can help.”

Asked whether he will cover book selling (the interviewer notes, “I can think of a company that might be really interesting to cover!”), he says that he’ll leave the business used to the paper’s “great business/financial writers.”

Announced on NPR’s Morning Edition today, the finalist for the National Book Awards (winners to be announced on Nov. 19). Listen here, or see the list below:

Fiction

Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman, (Grove Press, Brilliance Audio), OverDrive Sample

Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See, (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio; Thorndike), OverDrive Sample— Both a LibraryReads and an IndieNext pick

Phil Klay, Redeployment, (Penguin Press; Penguin Audio; Thorndike), OverDrive Sample

Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; Thorndike), OverDrive Sample — LibraryReads pick

Audio Sample:

Marilynne Robinson, Lila (Macmillan/FSG; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike), OverDrive Sample — IndieNext pick

Nonfiction

Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (Macmillan/Bloomsbury), OverDrive Sample

Anand Gopal, No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes
(Macmillan/Holt; Highbridge), OverDrive Sample

John Lahr, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, (Norton; Brilliance), OverDrive Sample

Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China (Macmillan/FSG, Brilliance Audio), OverDrive Sample

Edward O. Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, (Norton/Liveright)

Young People’s Literature

Threatened, Eliot Schrefer, (Scholastic Press), OverDrive Sample — The author’s previous book, Endangered, was a 2012 finalist

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, Steve Sheinkin, (Macmillan/Roaring Brook; Listening Library), OverDrive Sample  — The author’s Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon was a 2012 finalist

Audio Sample:

Noggin, John Corey Whaley, (S&S/Atheneum; S&S Audio), OverDrive Sample — The author’s Where Things Come Back, was a Printz Award Winner

Revolution: The Sixties Trilogy, Book Two, Deborah Wiles, (Scholastic Press; Listening Library) — The author’s Each Little Bird That Sings, was a National Book Award Finalist

Audio Sample:

 

Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson, (Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Group; Listening Library), OverDrive Sample — The author was a finalist for both Locomotion and Hush

Audio Sample:

Poetry

Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night, (Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux),  OverDrive Sample 

Fanny Howe, Second Childhood, (Graywolf Press)

Maureen N. McLane, This Blue, (Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux),  OverDrive Sample 

Fred Moten, The Feel Trio, (Letter Machine Editions)

Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric, (Graywolf Press)

Originally scheduled for release on Christmas Day, the Weinstein Co.’s adaptation of Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear has been moved to a different holiday, the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Jan. 16.

Official Movie Site: Paddington.com (which includes a look at Paddington as envisioned by various illustrators)

For tie-ins, check our Edelweiss collection.

Richard Flanagan has won the Man Booker Award for his sixth novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, (RH/Knopf; Blackstone Audio), described  by the judges as a “magnificent novel of love and war.” He was featured in August on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

Seattle librarian David Wright praised it last month in the Seattle Times. In the Washington Post, critic Ron Charles reacted strongly to it, warning readers that it can, “cast a shadow over your summer and draw you away from friends and family into dark contemplation the way only the most extraordinary books can. Nothing since Cormac McCarthy’s The Road has shaken me like this — all the more so because it’s based on recorded history, rather than apocalyptic speculation.”

In the daily New York Times, however, Michiko Kakutani called it “adeeply flawed,” but appreciated Flanagan’s ability to “communicate both the abominations that men are capable of inflicting upon one another, and the resilience many display in the face of utter misery.”

Read a sample here, via OverDrive; audio sample here.

Flanagan is Australian. This was the first year that the Awards were opened to Americans. Four were on the longlist and two made the transition to the shortlist of six; Joshua Ferris, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour,  Hachette/Little,Brown) and Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, (Penguin/Putnam/Marian Wood).

Historically, Booker winners have gone on to become best sellers in the U.S. UPDATE: The Narrow Road to the Deep North, rose to #16 on Amazon’s sales rankings the day after the announcement.