Before the Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall was published here, many felt that Americans would not be able to follow its story of Tudor palace intrigue.

A bit of help is on its way. Anne Weir’s forthcoming The Lady in the Tower serves as a “useful companion piece,” says Janet Maslin in the NYT, to Mantel’s “delectably arch portrait of Anne [Boleyn].”

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn Alison Weir Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 0345453212 / 9780345453211

Audio; Recorded Books; Anticipated Release: Feb 13, 2010

• Unabridged CD; $123.75
• Unabridged Cassette; $113.75

The movie based on Alice Sebold’s 2002 bestseller The Lovely Bones opened in select theaters last week to generally bad reviews (with the notable exception of Time magazine).

Early audience research shows that the movie plays well with a group the producers did not expect, teen and college-aged women, according to the L.A. Times.

Paramount is now aiming its marketing at the same demographic that made Twilight a hit.

The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Back Bay Books – (2009-09-30) ISBN / EAN: 0316044938 / 9780316044936

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The Lovely Bones: Deluxe Edition Alice Sebold Retail Price: $16.99 Paperback: 328 pages Publisher: Back Bay Books – (2007-09-17) ISBN / EAN: 0316001821 / 9780316001823

The year is winding down, with just a few big titles this week.

12/22 Nonfiction

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right Atul Gawande Retail Price: $24.50 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Metropolitan Books – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 0805091742 / 9780805091748

Macmillan Audio: UNAB CD; 9781427208989; $29.99

Surgeon and writer Gawande’s 2007 title, Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Perfomance was on the NYT bestseller list for 6 weeks. His first book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, was a finalist for the National Book Award. In The Checklist Manifesto, he argues that a seemingly mundane checklist can go a long way preventing mistakes in the operating room, a subject he wrote about in a 2007 in the New Yorker.  He will appear at ALA Midwinter in the Sunrise Speaker Series on 1/17, 8 to 9 a.m.

12/24 Nonfiction

Your Kids Are Your Own Fault: A Guide For Raising Responsible, Productive Adults Larry Winget Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Gotham – (2009-12-24) ISBN / EAN: 1592404952 / 9781592404957

Audio and ebook downloadable from OverDrive

Another slap upside the head from Winget, “The Pitbull of Personal Development,” who’s already told you to Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life, that You’re Broke Because You Want to Be and It’s Called Work for a Reason!: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault.

12/22 Fiction

Hidden Empire Orson Scott Card Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Tor Books – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 0765320045 / 9780765320049

Macmillan Audio: UNAB CD; 9781427207777; $39.99

Audiobook downloadable from OverDrive

The sequel to Empire

12/22 Childrens

A Whole Nother Story Dr. Cuthbert Soup Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 1599904357 / 9781599904351

Vying for a place alongside Lemony Snicket, this is the debut of a new series. Booklist said, “Any story elements that feel derivative will likely only attract the book’s target readers, who will eagerly embrace the entertaining narration of Dr. Cuthbert Soup, Founder of the National Center for Unsolicited Advice.”  Kirkus called it “Great fun.”

12/22 Young Adult

Hearts at Stake: The Drake Chronicles Alyxandra Harvey Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 0802798403 / 9780802798404

Before you roll your eyes at yet another YA vampire series, consider that  Booklist says it’s “Fun, funny, and a relief from Twilight wannabes, this first installment in the Drake Chronicles has lots to offer for savvy readers and gives vampire addicts a nice twist on their usual fare.”

Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an international hit before it caught on in the US (in fact, at one time, many thought that American would turn a cold shoulder to the book’s dark themes). A Swedish movie of the title has also been a success in Europe and is now the highest-grossing Swedish film of all times. It’s due to hit screens here in March.

But Sony Pictures has decided there needs to be an American version and is signing up the English-language rights to the entire Millennium series, with Scott Rudin, famous for producing many successful book-based films (The Hours, Revolutionary Road, The Other Boleyn Girl) as producer.

It can be a long road from option-signing to the silver screen. Meanwhile, here’s the trailer for the Swedish movie, with English subtitles.

This week, because of the controversy over eBook pricing, the general public was introduced to the concept of “windowing,” or deciding when to release books in cheaper versions.

Conventional wisdom says that publishers should try to get as much out of hardcover sales as possible, which is why the paperback release of The Help was moved from January to June, 2010.

Sometimes a publisher breaks rank with this thinking and decides to move the paperback release date earlier, to take advantage of publicity and give a price incentive to readers to take a chance on a book.

The unconventional approach seems to have worked for Colum McCann’s National Book Award winner, Let the Great World Spin. It was published in hardcover in June and as USA Today notes in their “Book Buzz” column, Random House decided to release the trade paperback several months earlier — on Dec. 2nd, rather than late Spring 2010. This week, the book jumps from #351 on the USA Today bestseller list to #126.

USA Today also notes that the movie option has been sold and McCann is at work on the screenplay.

Many libraries are continuing to show heavy holds on the book; here’s an opportunity to get through that list less cost.

Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks – (2009-12-02) ISBN / EAN: 0812973992 / 9780812973990

Ellen DeGeneres’ enthusiasm for The Life and Love of Trees sent the book all the way to # 28 on Amazon.

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The Life & Love of Trees Lewis Blackwell Retail Price: $50.00 Hardcover: 200 pages Publisher: PQ Blackwell – (2009-10-14) ISBN / EAN: 0473150956 / 9780473150952

The year’s major sleeper success, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, is being fast-tracked by producer Chris Columbus, according to Variety. Set to direct is actor-turned-director Tate Taylor.

Like Stockett, Taylor grew up in Mississippi. In fact, one of the characters in the book is based on his mother. He optioned the book before publication.

No word yet on who may star.

The Help Kathryn Stockett Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Putnam Adult – (2009-02-10) ISBN / EAN: 0399155341 / 9780399155345

Penguin Audio; ISBN: 9780143144182 $39.95
Downloadable from OverDrive in both eBook and audio

On NPR’s All Things Considered last night, 85-year-old photographer Theodore Cross talked about his love of waterbirds, which he calls courageous because of the long migrations they make. He’s pretty courageous himself, having traveled seven days across the Arctic tundra to get a a shot of a particular bird.

His photographs are gathered in the book Waterbirds. Several are also on NPR’s photoblog.

Waterbirds Theodore Cross Retail Price: $100.00 Hardcover: 344 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0393072266 / 9780393072266

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David Sedaris is a master of the audio format, so it’s no wonder that he is also a fan.

On the New Yorker Book Bench blog last week, he writes about his favorite audios, a slim selection of four from all time, that achieve the perfect match of both material and narrator. Among his choices are the entire Harry Potter series, but the British version, featuring Stephen Fry a narrator, rather than the American favorite, Jim Dale. The idea of Elaine Stritch reading Dorothy Parker had us salivating, but, sadly, it is no longer available.

Fortunately, there’s plenty of tasty titles on these best audios of 2009 lists:

• Washington Post — The Top Audio Books of ’09
• AudioFile — Best Audiobooks and Best Voices

NPR keeps adding new best books lists; the latest are Memoirs, Mysteries, and today’s Best Books for a Book Club, selected by NPR books correspondent, Lynn Neary.

We’re happy to see one of our favorites, A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick, on her list of five titles. The trade paperback will be coming in January, with a new and dramatically different cover.

A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2010-01-26) ISBN / EAN: 1565129776 / 9781565129771

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A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick Retail Price: $23.95 Hardcover: 291 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2009-03-31) ISBN / EAN: 1565125967 / 9781565125964

Audio: Recorded Books; Narrator; Mark Feuerstein

• Unabridged CD; C5952; 8 CDs; $92.75
• Unabridged Cassette; 99732; 8 Cassettes; $67.75

Large Type; Thorndike; Hdbk; $33.95

Imagine you write a novel about a guy who is a frequent flyer.

Then, imagine that the cover looks like this:

Then, imagine that the actual date of the book’s publication party is September 11, 2001. Sales, needless to say, were not great and a movie deal was tabled.

But, nearly ten years late, as author Walter Kirn recounts in in the Daily Beast (“George Clooney Saved My Novel“), the book is a bestseller and the movie is topping the Golden Globe as well as Oscar lists.

Up in the Air (Movie Tie-in Edition) Walter Kirn Retail Price: $7.99 Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Anchor – (2009-11-24) ISBN / EAN: 0307476294 / 9780307476296

After the author appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation yesterday, What on Earth Evolved? rose to #134 on Amazon; few libraries show it on their catalogs.

The book celebrates the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by ranking the top 100 species, in terms of their impact on evolution, human history and the environment. Species also get marks for how long they’ve survived and how far they have expanded across the globe.

The most influential species? Earthworms. Humans don’t even make the top five.

The book was not reviewed prepub, but it is described on the the National Geographic blog.

Be sure to check out the What on Earth Evolved? game on the book’s web site; it’s challenging and £1 is donated to charity for each person who plays.

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What on Earth Evolved?: 100 Species That Changed the World Christopher Lloyd Retail Price: $45.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA – (2009-11-10) ISBN / EAN: 1596916540 / 9781596916548

If you’re wondering about the price — the publisher says it’s “lavishly illustrated.”

Hoping that stores will be overwhelmed with shoppers this week before Christmas, publishers are giving them and their back room staffs a break, by releasing fewer big-name titles.

12/14

Patterson, James Witch & Wizard

Patterson begins a new YA series with co-author Gabrielle Charbonnet. Unsurprisingly, it is drawing the most holds of books being pubbed this week, averaging 5 to 1 at several large libraries.

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12/15

Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus Nanny Returns

Nanny is welcomed back with a B+ from Entertainment Weekly and  3.5 of 4 stars from People, which say it’s “as bitingly funny as its predecessor.” Holds are rather light (readers may have put off by that dreadful movie of the first title).

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12/15

Dominick Dunne, Too Much Money

Entertainment Weekly gives Dunne’s posthumous book a middling C, saying, “like a high-society dinner party — it promises glitz and excitement, but devolves into something of a bore.”

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12/15

Timothy Ferris, The Four-Hour Work Week

The work week may still have only four hours, but the new edition of the book has expanded from 320 pages to 416. An updated audio is also available.

I once heard a mystery writer, in a speech to a library crowd, say that he wanted his tombstone to read, “F**K Virginia Kirkus.”

His revenge may be sweeter now that Kirkus is the one with the tombstone.

It’s not surprising that the …

“codgerish” — Washington City Paper

“reliably cantankerous” — New York Times

“famously grouchy” — New York Observer

…Kirkus is not getting sympathy from all quarters, especially from agents and editors. Agent Esther Newberg tells the New York Observer,

…it’s never been a publication worth anything. The reviews were almost always negative and not helpful in any way. And so that’s it. Good riddance.

Tim Duggan, executive editor at Harper, observes in the NYT,

…it’s been a long time since a review there actually moved the needle in any meaningful way.

But David Wright, Seattle Public librarian and RA guru, gives Kirkus its fairest assessment in the Seattle Post Intelligencer (he’s also quoted in the NYT article):

Among its fellows – Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal – Kirkus often held itself apart, slow to join in a chorus of adulation, and often the only eye to catch some promising talent or sleeper sensation in the offing. Its criticism was at times merciless, but its knack for highlighting truly interesting and satisfying books will be deeply missed.

Let’s not be sanguine about the remaining prepub review publications. Three of them — Library Journal, School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly — have suffered several rounds of layoffs and their owner, Reed Business Information, put them back up for sale in July, after a failed attempt the year before. No buyers have emerged yet.

Most of the news stories focus on how booksellers used (or didn’t use) Kirkus, but The New York Observer quotes a previous Kirkus publisher who blames falling revenues on a decrease in library subscribers who “just could not afford it” anymore. More likely, libraries have found it not only more affordable, but more efficient to get reviews electronically from their wholesalers, an issue that affects subscription rates for all the prepub review media.

With libraries an increasingly important segment of the book market and given their heavy dependence on prepub reviews for buying, it’s shocking that anyone in the business does not consider this a loss.

In today’s New York Times, Janet Maslin says Greg Mortenson’s second book after Three Cups of Tea is “very different” from his first,  still hugely popular title; its  first-person narrative [is] much more vigorous than the third person of Three Cups of Tea”.

In the LA Times’ review, Bernadette Murphy offers more insight into the differences between the two books;

The new book is less focused on the plot drive found in Three Cups of Tea — will he succeed or fail to build the school? — and more concerned with educating readers about the region, the religions represented, the tribal customs and countless other details that animate the area…

Stones Into Schools has more characters, more regions to consider, more obstacles to overcome, more history to digest. At times, these “mores” can require a slow and careful read.

But be not discouraged: Like the trouble it takes to build these important and life-enriching schools, endeavoring to better understand this region through Stones Into Schools is worth the effort.

The book goes on to the NYT Nonfiction bestseller list for the first this week, at #2. It’s had a surprisingly slow start, given the popularity of the first title. Prior to publication, libraries were showing low holds on cautious ordering. In the last two weeks, however, holds have doubled and even tripled in several large libraries.

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan Greg Mortenson Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2009-12-01) ISBN / EAN: 0670021156 / 9780670021154

Penguin Audio; UNABR; CD; 9780143144960; $26.95
Blackstone Audio; UNABR; CD; 9781433298271; $105
Blackstone Audio; UNABR; Cassette; 9781433298264; $72.95
Blackstone Audio; UNABR; MP3 CD; 9781433277184; $59.99
Thorndike Large Print; Hdbk; 9781410420350; $34.95