Once again, the UK’s major book award, the Man Booker, has influenced readers in the U.S. Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, (Hachette/Little, Brown; Brilliance Audio), which was released here on the day the award was announced, has been on the NYT Fiction Best Seller list for two weeks and is showing heavy holds on modest ordering in most libraries.

Reviews appeared here shortly after the award was announced. All noted the book’s unusual length (834 pages), without calling it  overlong. Said Bill Roorbach (Life Among Giants, Workman/Algonquin, 2012) in the NYT Book Review, “as for the length, surely a book this good could never be too long.”

Celebrating the beauty of illustrated books, this week’s NYT Sunday Book Review features the ten best of the year, as selected by a judging panel consisting of Brian Selznick, who has won the award twice himself, NYPL’s Youth Materials Collections Specialist Betsy Bird, and Steven Heller, art director at the NYT and author of many books on design.

Among the titles is Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson, (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen).

Also in the issue is a special section of children’s book reviews.

For a list of the titles, with ordering information, download our NYT Book Review Best Illus. Books spreadsheet,

The biggest film adaptation opening tomorrow is based on comics characters. Thor: The Dark World, is the second movie in the series based on Marvel comics by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby. Reviews of the film are not kind, with USA Today saying, “Unlike Iron Man and Captain America, Thor is too dull a character to pin a franchise on, though Chris Hemsworth certainly looks the part and the production design is striking,” but one writer begs to differ.

Tie-in: Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World Prelude. Also available is a collection of the original comics, The Mighty Thor Omnibus, Vol 2.

YA Adaptations 

The adaptation of Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief debuts in a very limited Oscar-qualifying release, just four screens, with plans to roll it out more widely. How widely depends on whether it gets Oscar nods. Early reviews, which  repeatedl yuse the lackluster term “earnest,” don’t bode well. The Forbes reviewer notes that it is based on a “somewhat popular novel” (guess 230 weeks on the NYT best seller fails to impress him). He’s also not impressed by the star power of Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and newcomer Sophie Nélisse as Liesel. The movie did, however, win over fellow YA novelist John Green and has brought new readers to the book, which has been moving up the USA Today best seller list to #15 as of the 11/7 list, its highest spot to date.
Showtimes. Tie in: The Book Thief , (RH/Knopf YR)

In a less limited opening (over 60 theaters, as well as VOD), How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan, is the adaptation of Meg Rosoff’s debut novel, a Printz Award winner published in 2004. Ronan is getting strong reviews for her performance.
Showtimes. Tie-in: How I Live Now, (RH/Ember).

A Classic and a Modern Story

Also opening in a limited number of theaters is  Great Expectations, directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), starring Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch. Although Charles Dickens’ book has been adapted before (a two-part series aired just last year on PBS Masterpiece) both the trailer and reviews indicate this is a different take on the story.
Showtimes. Tie-in: Great Expectations: (Movie Tie-In)  

The indie movie, The Motel Life is the directorial debut of brothers Alan Polsky and Gabe Polsky. Fittingly, it is based on a novel about two brothers by Willy Vlautin. It stars Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Dakota Fanning, and Kris Kristofferson
Showtimes. Tie-in: The Motel Life Movie Tie-in Edition, (HarperPerennial).

To view the trailers of these and other upcoming film adaptations, click on links at right, under Movies & TV Based on Books — Trailers.

With the tagline, “This Valentine’s Day Believe in Miracles,” the first trailer for Winter’s Tale, based on Mark Helprin’s 1983 novel has just been released.

It stars Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe, William Hurt, Will Smith, Jennifer Connelly and Eva Marie Saint. The film’s director, Akiva Goldsman, worked for years to get financing for the movie. Shooting finally started last year, only to be delayed by Hurricane Sandy.

Official Site: WintersTaleMovie.com

A trade paperback movie tie-in edition arrives in January:
Winter’s Tale (Movie Tie-In Edition)
Mark Helprin
HMH/Mariner
On Sale Date: January 7, 2014

Trailer, below.

A new, much longer trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second in the film trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkein’s novel, was revealed at a fan event Monday night.

The film arrives on Dec. 13. The third in the trilogy, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, will be released on Dec. 17, 2014.

Fans at the event also saw 20 minutes of “never before seen footage” from the film (IGN breaks it down here).

Cathy Marie Buchanan’s novel, The Painted Girls, (Penguin/Riverhead), published in January, was inspired by Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.

It is now the inspiration for a possible TV series, produced by The CW and CBS TV Studios, according to Deadline.com.

The novel received praise in a Washington Post review by Susan Vreeland, the author of another book inspired by a work of art from the same period, Luncheon of the Boating Party, (Penguin).

The film adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s Live By Night, directed by Ben Affleck, will be released on Christmas Day, 2015. Affleck will star; no other stars have been announced.

Affleck’s first outing as a director was a film based on another Lehane novel, 2007’s Gone Baby Gone.

Live by Night (Harper/ Morrow) is a crime novel set in the Prohibition era about the rise of an Irish-American gangster. Prophetically, Entertainment Weekly, called it a “ripping, movie-ready yarn that jumps from a Boston prison to Tampa speakeasies to a Cuban tobacco farm.”

Affleck is currently at work as an actor, playing the lead in David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, set for release on Oct 3, 2014.

Lehane is no stranger to the movies; in addition to Gone Baby Gone, films have been made of his novels Mystic River (2003) and Shutter Island (2010). He has also written for the TV series The Wire and Boardwalk Empire.

This week, Colbert outstrips Jon Stewart in terms of the number of authors on their shows.

Last night, The Colbert Report featured NPR journalist David Folkenflik for his book on Rupert “Murdoch’s media empire, his influence on world leaders and the extent of the News Corp phone-hacking scandal.”

Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires, David Folkenflik, (Perseus/PublicAffairs)

The author was  interviewed earlier on Salon and on NPR’s Morning Edition. MediaMatters covered “5 Of The Most Interesting Stories From David Folkenflik’s Upcoming Murdoch Biography.”

Video below:

Coming up

Tonight, Colbert

Dr. J: The Autobiography. Julius Erving, Karl Taro Greenfeld, (Harper; HarperLuxe)

Wednesday, The Daily Show:

Finding the Dragon Lady: The Mystery of Vietnam’s Madame Nhu, Monique Brinson Demery, (Perseus/PublicAffairs)

According to the show’s  description, the book “uncovers the mystery behind the woman whom author David Halberstam once called ‘the beautiful but diabolic sex dicta tress.’ ”

Thursday, Colbert

The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease, Daniel Lieberman, (RH/Pantheon; RH Audio)

Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of the few historians who gets recognized on the street, as USA Today notes in yesterday’s profile.

A popular talk show guest, she is in the middle of a media blitz for her latest book, releasing today, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, Doris Kearns Goodwin, (S&S; S&S Audio). Her tour has an added zing, with the announcement last week that the book has been optioned by Steven Spielberg‘s DreamWorks Studio (which, of course, used Goodwin’s 2005 book, Team of Rivals as the basis for last year’s Academy Award winning biopic, Lincoln).

Goodwin appeared on NPR Morning Edition yesterday and CBS Sunday Morning. On Wednesday, she is scheduled to appear on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (also featuring Martin Short).

The Bully Pulpit was reviewed in The Wall Street Journal. Moving up  Amazon’s sales rankings, it is  currently at #19.

Video of the CBS Sunday Morning interview, below:

Kate Winslet, featured on the cover of the current issue of Vogue, stars in the upcoming adaptation of Joyce Maynard’s 2009 novel, Labor Day (HarperCollins/Morrow). Josh Brolin also stars, as a convict who manages to persuade Winslet as Adele to take him in. Winslet talked about the role in an interview in yesterdays New York Times.

The trailer has just been released. The movie arrives in theaters in a limited run on December 25, followed by a wider release on January 31.

This is the second book by Maynard to be made into a movie. To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman, was released in 1995.

The tie-in will be released (cover, above, ruth) on Dec. 13.

Below is the trailer. The official movie site is LaborDayMovie.com.

After no news for two years, it appears that the adaptation of the comic novel, The Family Fang, by Kevin Wilson (HarperCollins/Ecco, 2011) is moving forward.

Nicole Kidman optioned it a couple of months after it was published, with plans to star. The Playlist just announced that she has hired Jason Bateman as the film’s director. Better known as an actor, Bateman made his debut as a director with Bad Words, which was shown at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

For those unfamiliar with the book, it has nothing to do with vampires, but with a quirky family of performance artists. The book received strong reviews when it was published, including Maureen Corrigan who was a fan,

…it’s such a minty fresh delight to open up Kevin Wilson’s debut novel, The Family Fang, and feel the revitalizing blast of original thought, robust invention, screwball giddiness. Every copy of The Family Fang sold in August should have a sticker on it imprinted with the life-giving invitation that used to be issued on movie marquees in summertime during the dawn of the air-conditioning age: ‘Come on in! It’s cooool inside!’

In addition to Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement, (see earlier post), several other November LibraryReads picks will be hitting shelves tomorrow, including the #1 pick, Diane Setterfield’s Bellman & Black .

Remember to nominate your favorite forthcoming titles, and use the marketing materials to promote the list to your readers.

Links to spreadsheets with ordering info. and alternate formats are to the right.

#1 Pick — Bellman & Black, Diane Setterfield, (S&S/Atria/Emily Bestler; S&S Audio)

“William Bellman is a happily married father with a promising future, until an event from his childhood comes to haunt him and everyone he loves. Beautifully written with a vividly enticing setting, Bellman & Black is a truly gothic tale that will you have entwined in its arms until the very end.” “William Bellman is a happily married father with a promising future, until an event from his childhood comes to haunt him and everyone he loves. Beautifully written with a vividly enticing setting, Bellman & Black is a truly gothic tale that will you have entwined in its arms until the very end.”
Scott Lenski, Whitefish Bay Public Library, Whitefish Bay, WI Scott Lenski, Whitefish Bay Public Library, Whitefish Bay, WI

Lies You Wanted to Hear, James Whitfield Thomson, (Sourcebooks Landmark paperback original)

“What causes a person to make bad choices, and to remain on a path so disastrous it could destroy a family? Thomson’s first novel raises these questions and explores the course of a failed marriage. The story is bitter and painful, but you’ll want to stick with it for the surprising turn that makes you wonder who is most to blame.” “What causes a person to make bad choices, and to remain on a path so disastrous it could destroy a family? Thomson’s first novel raises these questions and explores the course of a failed marriage. The story is bitter and painful, but you’ll want to stick with it for the surprising turn that makes you wonder who is most to blame.”
Nancy Russell, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH Nancy Russell, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH

Through the Evil Days, Julia Spencer-Fleming, (Macmillan/Minotaur; Macmillan Audio)

“Reverend Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne’s honeymoon retreat to the Adirondacks is interrupted by a brutal winter storm and a complicated police investigation involving a kidnapping, a drug ring and the murder of federal agents. Spencer-Fleming’s suspenseful and engrossing procedural introduces a fun, new character (Oscar the German Shepherd) and ends with a signature cliffhanger.” “Reverend Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne’s honeymoon retreat to the Adirondacks is interrupted by a brutal winter storm and a complicated police investigation involving a kidnapping, a drug ring and the murder of federal agents. Spencer-Fleming’s suspenseful and engrossing procedural introduces a fun, new character (Oscar the German Shepherd) and ends with a signature cliffhanger.”
Leslie DeLooze, Richmond Memorial Library, Batavia, NY Leslie DeLooze, Richmond Memorial Library, Batavia, NY

Death of a Nightingale, Lene Kaaberbol, (Soho Crime; Blackstone Audio)

“Compulsive do-gooder Nina Borg is now involved with Ukrainian detainees seeking asylum in Denmark. Among them are Natasha, an abused refugee and widow of a slain journalist, and her anxious 8-year-old daughter, Katerina. The two are pursued by a mysterious, powerful Ukrainian woman and Danish security forces, who consider Natasha a suspect in her fiance’s murder. Two plots gradually merge in a dramatic climax. Recommended for fans of Karin Fossum, Arnaldur Indridison, Colin Cotterill and mystery lovers who prefer plots that explore social justice and morality.” “Compulsive do-gooder Nina Borg is now involved with Ukrainian detainees seeking asylum in Denmark. Among them are Natasha, an abused refugee and widow of a slain journalist, and her anxious 8-year-old daughter, Katerina. The two are pursued by a mysterious, powerful Ukrainian woman and Danish security forces, who consider Natasha a suspect in her fiance’s murder. Two plots gradually merge in a dramatic climax. Recommended for fans of Karin Fossum, Arnaldur Indridison, Colin Cotterill and mystery lovers who prefer plots that explore social justice and morality.”
Margaret Donovan, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA Margaret Donovan, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA

Heralding the return of P.G. Wodehouses’s character Jeeves, via Sebastian Faulks’s “homage,” Jeeves and the Wedding Bells, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio) arriving tomorrow, Charles Finch (author of the series of six Victorian mysteries featuring the “gentleman sleuth” Charles Lenox), writes in USA Today about the original, “One of the most astonishing miracles of modern literature is that the novels and stories of P.G. Wodehouse are still, 111 years after the publication of his first book, so incredibly funny. Not in a nostalgic, black-and-white way, either, but in a helpless, can’t-quite-breathe way.”

While Faulks’s “love and knowledge of Wodehouse shines through on every page,” says Finch, the result is “not in the same class as the originals it honors.” Prepub reviews are much stronger, however, with Booklist starring it, Library Journal offering this verdict: “Let word go forth, from Mayfair to Herald Square, from Piccadilly to Kansas City: Jeeves and Wooster are back and in fine fettle. After sampling this tasty bonbon, Wodehouse fans and new readers will want to go back to the original series” and PW goes so far as to declare that Faulks has managed to outdo the master (in his own country, Faulks endured scathing attacks for having the temerity to attempt to write in the Wodehouse’s vein, as he reports in an interview in The Telegraph).

There’s good news for readers who want to return to the originals, as Jonathan Yardley writes this weekend in the Washington Post. Overlook Press is publishing the Collector’s Wodehouse series, printed on acid-free paper, and, astonishingly, sewn and bound in full cloth, with a retail price of just $19.95.

It’s time to replace that copy of  Pigs Have Wings we borrowed from the Decatur, IN, Public Library many years ago and mislaid (we hasten to add that we paid  the fine).

Amy Tan talks about her research into Chinese pornography from the 1700’s for her new novel, The Valley of Amazement, (HarperCollins/Ecco; Brilliance Audio; HarperLuxe), on today’s CBS This Morning. She is also scheduled to appear on tomorrow’s NPR Morning Edition. 

This is Tan’s first book with HarperCollins. As she explains to the Wall Street Journal, the change in publishers was the result of her search for “the perfect editor.” Tan’s previous book Saving Fish From Drowning, may have disappointed some of her readers, notes the WSJ, quoting her agent, “It’s a very different book for Amy. I think people feel she’s been away.”

The Valley of Amazement is both a LibraryReads and an IndieNext pick for November.

Below is the video from CBS This Morning.

   
The media blitz is working; Double Down: Game Change 2012, by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann (Penguin Press; Penguin Audio) is gaining holds in libraries, as high as 14:1 on light ordering.

An excerpt is featured as the cover story of the new issue of New York magazine (where co-author Heilemann is a journalist) and the book is  covered in many other publications from the New York Post to the Washington Post.

The authors appeared on The Today Show (video below) earlier this morning. Appearances are also scheduled for NPR.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy