It seems a famous name on the cover doesn’t always win over readers.

Al Roker, book lover and Today Show‘s seemingly irrepressible weatherperson, releases his first work of adult fiction today; The Morning Show Murders. Library users are not jumping on it; holds are light. Selectors have also been cautious; the systems we checked ordered just one per large branch, despite strong prepub reviews. PW called it “solid and exciting”; Kirkus, “a crisp puzzler”; Booklist reveals a bit of anti-celebrity prejudice by calling it “surprisingly engaging.”

Of course, Roker can expect to get more publicity than your average first-time mystery author. He is interviewed in USA Today, in a story that gives more ink to how various Today Show staffers feel about the book (even though none of them have read it yet), than the book itself.

He is also featured on the Today Show, but most of the segment is taken up by an odd, not particularly funny, fake book trailer.

Fortunately, mystery maven Sarah Weinman treats Roker like an author in The Daily Beast, delving in to his writing process with coauthor Dick Lochte and the book’s tone (unlike Roker’s on-air personality, his book has its dark moments).

The main character, Billy Blessing, is a chef and restaurant owner, who also does segments on a TV morning show and has just begun filming a reality show. There’s no love lost between Blessing and the show’s executive producer, who inconveniently dies after eating poisoned coq au vin in Blessing’s restaurant.

The book is the first of a planned series. Roker and his coauthor are working on the second one, which is scheduled for release in fall 2010.

The Morning Show Murders Al Roker, Dick Lochte Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press – (2009-11-24) ISBN / EAN: 038534368X / 9780385343688

Random House Audio; 9780307577375; $35

If one of the functions of book awards is to bring attention to books that may not have received it otherwise, then the National Book Awards achieved that goal with one of the nonfiction nominees, The Poison King. In the Washington Post, Carolyn See reviewed it, saying,

I read this biography as a layperson, not a scholar, but I can say without reservation that it’s a wonderful reading experience, as bracing as a tonic, the perfect holiday gift for adventure-loving men and women…it’s drenched in imaginative violence and disaster, but it also wears the blameless vestments of culture and antiquity.

Put that in your nonfiction readers advisory bag.

The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy Adrienne Mayor Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 472 pages Publisher: Princeton University Press – (2009-10-18) ISBN / EAN: 0691126836 / 9780691126838

The NYT reviews a book that has been a best seller in Israel and France and was recently released in English here and in the UK, where it has sparked heated debate. In The Invention of the Jewish People, by Shlomo Sand, a professor at Tel Aviv University, says the NYT, “resurrects a theory first raised by 19th-century historians, that the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, to whom 90 percent of American Jews trace their roots, are descended from the Khazars, a Turkic people who apparently converted to Judaism…”

The NYT quotes Michael Terry, head of NYPL’s Jewish Division, who says experts have since discredited this theory.

The historian Simon Schama recently reviewed the book in the Financial Times, saying it “…relies on twists of historical logic and strategic evasions of modern research.”

It appears that it was not reviewed prepub; few libraries own it.

The Invention of the Jewish People Shlomo Sand Retail Price: $34.95 Hardcover: 332 pages Publisher: Verso – (2009-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 1844674223 / 9781844674220

Sunday’s NYT features their “Holiday Gift Guide,” which includes a “Books” section (Art and Architecture, Books About Antiques, Gift Books and, for the first time Graphic Novels — another indicator that the genre is now mainstream). Selected New Cookbooks are in the “Dining & Home” section.

In the “Electronics” section, personal tech columnist David Pogue looks at eBooks. He also discusses them with fellow NYT columnist David Carr (also author of  Night of the Gun) at NYPL’s 42nd street library (Carr knows that you can borrow eBooks from the library!)

[Note: Pogue refers to the Sony PRS700, which had a backlight. The new PRS600 does not have the backlight. We’re not sure why he didn’t mention Barnes & Noble’s Nook; perhaps because it is sold out until after the holidays.]

A  tearful Oprah explained her decision to say “goodbye” live on her show Friday.

Well, not goodbye quite yet — the show continues through September 9, 2011; quite a long goodbye. The Oprah site is already featuring her “Top Twenty Moments” (a lot of weeping and, yes, the Book Club is one of the moments and, no, the Sarah Palin interview is not, nor is Tom Cruise’s).

Actually, we may be saying hello to even more Oprah in the future, as the Discovery Network Health channel morphs into the Oprah Winfrey cable network, OWN, in January 2011. Officially, Oprah has said she will not bring the Oprah Winfrey Show to the Oprah Winfrey Network, but news sources, such as  the LA Times, are already predicting she will do a daily show on OWN.

When Michael Chrichton died last year, he left two books, Pirate Latitudes, which releases next week and an unfinished thriller.

Of the titles coming out next week, those by Chrichton, Koontz, & Butcher lead in holds. Butcher has the highest holds to copies ratios.

Fiction

11/24

Butcher, Jim, First Lord’s Fury
Chrichton, Michael, Pirate Latitudes

Pirate Latitudes Michael Crichton Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Harper – (2009-12-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061929379 / 9780061929373 HarperAudio: 9780061930256; $34.99 HarperLuxe: 9780061929403; pbk; $27.99

Audio downloadable from OverDrive

Entertainment Weekly gives Pirate Latitudes a C, saying Crichton should not be remembered for this “hackneyed historical novel filled with bosomy maidens and blustery old navy dialogue.” but, “Crichton’s great talent was writing books that were virtually impossible to put down, even when they were bad. Pirate Latitudes is no exception.” Spielberg bought the film rights back in August (Jurassic Park with pirates?).

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Jin, Ha, A Good Fall

A Good Fall: Stories Ha Jin Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Pantheon – (2009-11-24) ISBN / EAN: 0307378683 / 9780307378682 Blackstone Audio: CD 9781441711458: $29.95

Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive

This collection of stories by 1999 National Book Award winner, Ha Jin gets the lead review and 3.5 of a possible 4 stars in People‘s “Books” section this week. The stories feature people who leave China to try for a new life in the U.S. People says Jin “writes with humor about it means to be a bewildered stranger in a strange land.”

Koontz, Dean, Breathless
Roker, Al, The Morning Show Murders
Wambaugh, Joseph, Hollywood Moon

Nonfiction

11/24

Sklenicka, Carol Raymond Carver
Bradley, James The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War
Scottoline, Lisa, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman

Childrens

11/24

Hunter, Erin, Warriors: Omen of the Stars #1: The Fourth Apprentice

Warriors: Omen of the Stars #1: The Fourth Apprentice Erin Hunter Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2009-12-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061555096 / 9780061555091

Book downloadable from OverDrive

It looks like it may be real this time. Oprah told her staff yesterday that her last show will be on Sept 9, 2011. She will make an official announcement on her show today.

According to reports, she wants to concentrate on her cable network, OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network, natch), planned for launch in January, 2011.  Variety reports,

Insiders said new episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show won’t be moving to OWN, but Winfrey will have a daily presence on the channel via series, specials or promos.

At the very least, OWN will have the rights to the entire 25-year Oprah Winfrey Show catalog beginning in September 2011.

Book publicists around the city may be referring to today as “Black Friday.”

Library Journal has just released its Best Books list. As we’ve come to expect, there are few overlaps with the other lists that have appeared to date.

But, perhaps with a business a diverse as book publishing, we should be more interested in differences than similarities. In the list intro, LJ‘s Book Review editor, Barbara Hoffert says the editors were looking for “unique voices” as well as “highlighting what might otherwise be lost.” No wonder many of the titles are not familiar.

LJ notes that sister publication, PW caught flak for their Top Ten list, because it includes no female authors. Of LJ‘s 31 Best Books, 11 are by women, or about one third of the list. Although that’s much better then PW‘s Top 10, it’s similar to PW‘s Top 100 which includes 30 women.

This year, LJ added Street Lit to their selection of best titles in the genres.

It’s a genre that appears to be going mainstream. PUSH, originally published over 13 years ago, is now #1 on the NYT Pbk. Trade Fiction list after 11 weeks, due buzz around the movie. A street lit title that has not benefited from media attention, The Cartel 2, by Ashley JaQuavis, has been on the extended list for two weeks, which may be the first time a book published by a small, street-lit focused publisher (Urban Books) has appeared on the NYT list. Two of Urban Book’s titles appear on LJ‘s list.

An even surer sign that street lit is getting notice from main street; the Wall Street Journal‘s Op/Ed page recently railed against the genre (‘Precious’ Little of Value in Ghetto Lit) and mentioned that, horrors, libraries are stocking the genre; “Even libraries now stock gangster-lit novels, because they bring new readers in the door.”

Barbara Genco, Collection Management Editor for Library Journal, and her Pratt LIS students put together a useful guide to street lit resources for the recent BEA, available here.

We’ve updated the Bests — Titles Selected by Three or More — Spreadsheet.

In case you haven’t heard already, the National Book Award Winners were announced last night.

In the L.A. Times “Jacket Copy” blog, Carolyn Kellogg reports on the event; the dinner was “dwonsized” from last year’s lamb to chicken. The New York Times‘ book beat reporter Motoko Rich not only tweeted as the NBA was in progress, she posted interviews and stories in the “Arts Beat” blog (her full story in the newspaper is here).

Claudette Colvin, the subject of the winning Young Adult Literature title was at the dinner and joined author Phillip Hoose on stage.

Book TV will be running video of the event on Sat 8pm & Sun 10am ET

Winners:

Fiction

Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Random House – (2009-06-23) ISBN / EAN: 1400063736 / 9781400063734

eBook downloadable from OverDrive

Nonfiction

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt T.J. Stiles Retail Price: $37.50 Hardcover: 736 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2009-04-21) ISBN / EAN: 0375415424 / 9780375415425

Books on Tape; UnAbr; 9781415965917; $100
Audiobook and eBook downloadable from OverDrive

Poetry

Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (New California Poetry) Keith Waldrop Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 216 pages Publisher: University of California Press – (2009-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 0520258789 / 9780520258785

Young People’s Literature

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice Phillip M Hoose Retail Price: $19.95 Hardcover: 144 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) – (2009-01-20) ISBN / EAN: 0374313229 / 9780374313227

Brilliance Audio

• CD Unabr Lib Ed; 9781441802378; $59.97
• MP3-CD Unabr Lib Ed; 9781441802392; $39.97

Audiobook downloadable from OverDrive

A shoutout out to the 14 libraries who, according to WorldCat discovered Glamourpuss: The Enchanting World of Kitty Wigs before we spied it in the new issue of People (thank heaven; it’s a welcome relief from all those photos of the 110 Hottest Guys on the Planet).

Sadly, it seems the book is currently out of stock.

Glamourpuss: The Enchanting World of Kitty Wigs Julie Jackson Retail Price: $14.95 Hardcover: 96 pages Publisher: Chronicle Books – (2009-09-16) ISBN / EAN: 0811867048 / 9780811867047

How many times has Gossip Girl been called “Sex and the City for Teens”?

Come May, there will be an actual S&TC for teens, when Candace Busnell publishes The Carrie Diaries, the first of two fictional diaries supposedly written by Carrie Bradshaw as a teenager.

The grownup version of Carrie will appear in theaters in May, with the release of Sex and the City 2.

Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog gives a sneak peek at the cover and so do we:

The Carrie Diaries Candace Bushnell Retail Price: $18.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: HarperTeen/Balzer + Bray – (2010-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061728918 / 9780061728914

HarperChildrensAudio; 5/1/10; UNAB; 978-0061983948; $25.99

A recipe for spicy caramel corn from The Craft of Baking featured in the “Cooking with Dexter” column in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine was all it took to send the book rising on Amazon.

Who could resist that cover?

The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own Karen DeMasco, Mindy Fox Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Clarkson Potter – (2009-10-27) ISBN / EAN: 0307408108 / 9780307408105

First there was Captain Chesley Sullenberger’s autobiography, Highest Duty, with his account of the miraculous landing on the Hudson that brought him to fame. In it, Sullenberger says, as he has from the beginning, that credit for the feat should not go to him alone, but to the teamwork of everyone involved.

Now comes a different take. In the book, Fly By Wire, William Langewiesche says there’s another member of the team that hasn’t received the credit it deserves; the Airbus’s automation system.

Sullenberger recently shot back, saying that Langewiesche “greatly overstates” the importance of the plane’s equipment.

Library users are with Sullenberger; holds are much higher for his book than Langewiesche’s, as are number of copies.

Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters Chesley B. Sullenberger, Jeffrey Zaslow Retail Price: $25.99 Roughcut: 352 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061924687 / 9780061924682

HarperAudio, 9780061953255, UNAB. $39.99
HarperLuxe, 9780061927584, pbk, $25.99
Audio and eBook downloadable from OverDrive
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Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson William Langewiesche Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-11-10) ISBN / EAN: 0374157189 / 9780374157180

Tantor Audio available 12/21/09. Read by David Drummond

• 5 Audio CDs (Retail Pkg); 9781400115464; $29.99
• 5 Audio CDs (Library  Pkg) : 9781400145461; $59.99
• 1 Mp3-CD (Retail  Pkg); 9781400165469; $19.99

On NPR’s Fresh Air last night, Joshua Kosman, author of The Buyout of America, spoke to Terry Gross about how private equity companies work. Kosman believes that their practices are leading to another credit crisis.

The book rose to #117 (from #4,194). Libraries own modest quantities, with holds averaging 1:1.

The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis Joshua Kosman Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover – (2009-11-12) ISBN / EAN: 1591842859 / 9781591842859

Downloadable eBook from OverDrive.

When you make Jon Stewart laugh this much, it’s great for book sales. Jake Edelstein’s Tokyo Vice went to #95 (from #201) on Amazon after this appearance last night.

As we noted earlier, Edelstein was interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air last week. Tokyo Vice was reviewed in the Boston Globe on Thursday.

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Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan Jake Adelstein Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Pantheon – (2009-10-13) ISBN / EAN: 0307378799 / 9780307378798

Audio and eBook downloadable from OverDrive.