A release date for the movie Parkland, based on Vincent Bugliosi’s book on the JFK assassination, Reclaiming History, (Norton, 2007), has been set for Sept. 20, a date regarded by Deadline as a bid for Oscar nominations (release was orginally planned for Nov. 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination). The movie  focuses on the chaos that ensued at Parkland Hospital in Dallas when Kennedy was brought there after the shooting. It is produced by Tom Hanks’ Playtone Partners. Stars include Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, Billy Bob Thornton, Jacki Weaver and Paul Giamatti (as Abraham Zapruder, the man in the crowd who captured the assassination on his home movie camera).

The release date for the tie-in is now likely to be moved up.

Parkland (Movie Tie-In Edition)
Vincent Bugliosi
Trade paperback: $16.95
Norton, (2013-09-23)
ISBN / EAN: 0393347338 / 9780393347333

Former Bond Girl, Rosamund Pike has accepted the lead role of Amy in David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (RH/Crown), opposite Ben Affleck, according to Entertainment Weekly. She most recently starred opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher.

The film is expected to begin production in September, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, production for a film based on the author’s previous title, Dark Places (RH/Crown), starring Chloe Moretz and Nicholas Hoult, is expected to begin in August.

The Washington Post‘s Ron Charles interviewed Flynn last week, who talked about the moment she realized Gone Girl was a hit.

Attention to Reza Aslan’s book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (Random House) blew up over the weekend after his appearance on the FoxNews.com show “Spirited Debate.” Host Lauren Green grilled Aslan about why, as a Muslim, he would write a book about Christ, to which Aslan replied, “I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim.”

People weighed in all weekend, with the New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum tweeting that the interview was, “absolutely demented” but that Aslan “handled it with remarkable calm.”

The book debuted at #2 on the latest NYT Combined Print & E-book Nonfiction best seller list but this controversy has sent its sales even higher. It is now at #1 on Amazon’s sales rankings and holds are multiplying in libraries.

The author has appeared on several other shows, including NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, and HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

A few highlights of the titles coming out next week are below. All of these, and more, are on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of 7/29

Picture Books

Good Night, Sleep Tight, Mem Fox, Judy Horacek, Orchard Books

Picture book master, Mem Fox (Time for Bed) again teams up  with the illustrator of Where Are The Green?  creating the perfectly rhyming text for  story that will become another bedtime favorite.

Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song , Andrea Davis Pinkney, Brian Pinkney, (Hachette/Little, Brown BYR)

“They were each born with the gift of gospel./Martin’s voice kept people in their seats, but also sent their praises soaring. /Mahalia’s voice was brass-and-butter – strong and smooth at the same time. /With Martin’s sermons and Mahalia’s songs, folks were free to shout, to sing their joy.”

Coretta Scott King winner Pinkney brings her storytelling voice to expressing the passion and commitment of two civil rights icons.

NOTE: The University of Minnesota, Children’s Literature Research Collections has been named the site for Andrea Davis Pinkney’s Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, which will be given on Saturday May 3rd, 2014.

Middle Grade

Goosebumps Most Wanted #4: Frankenstein’s Dog, R.L. Stine, Scholastic Paperbacks

Since Scholastic re-launched the Goosebumps series with fresh packaging, the it has flying off the shelves.

The Hypnotists: Book 1, , Gordon Korman, Scholastic Press

This prolific author of high interest series provides fast-paced reads. This is the first in a new series.

Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Rise of a Legend, Kathryn  Lasky, Scholastic Press

Prequel to the popular series.

Young Adult

Earthbound, Aprilynne Pike, Penguin/Razorbill

The perfect summer read, a supernatural romance that is the first in a new series from the  best-selling author of the Wings series.

The Lying Game #6: Seven Minutes in Heaven, Sara Shepard,

I know it sounds crazy, but this is the series that has librarians fighting over who gets the galley first. Addictive reading for the Pretty Little Liars fans.

We’re light on brand names next week, but heavy on titles that arrive with high hopes (see our Watch List, below). In the former category, C.J. Box abandons his series character, Joe Pickett, for a moment, for a standalone titled The Highway, (Macmillan/Minotaur). Most of the prepub reviewers love it (Kirkus, PW, LJ, which gives it a star), with one holdout (Booklist; “the usually sure-handed author never quite gets our hearts racing”). Also pre-ordained as a best seller is the 15th in Linda Fairstein’s series, Death Angel.

All the titles highlighted here and several more, are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, Week of July 29

If you are interested in reading any of these titles, many of them are available as digital ARC’s on Edelweiss and NetGalley, but hurry, they are generally  removed on publication date.

Watch List

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese, Michael Paterniti, (RH/Dial; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike)

Chosen as a hot book of the summer by USA Today back in May and by librarians on the BEA Shout ‘n’ Share panel, (Doug Lord, LJ‘s “Books for Dudes” columnist went so far as to call it a “Gorgeously sexy story about a guy tracking down a magical cheese”), this is set to enjoy some major publicity; on NPR’s upcoming Weekend Edition Saturday and a major feature in the New York Times Magazine. Entertainment Weekly gives it an unequivocal A.

The Wicked Girls, Alex Marwood, (Penguin Books, Original Trade Pbk)

On the list of the Millions Most Anticipated titles,this novel is about two eleven-year-old girls who are involved in the death of a younger child and meet again as adults. The annotation notes,  “Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of British journalist Serena Mackesy, and The Wicked Girls is her dark and beautifully executed first novel.” It’s also a hit among librarians on GalleyChat; “very intriguing. Reminded me a little of the Anne Perry story.”

The Husband’s Secret, Liane Moriarty, (Penguin/Putnam/Amy Einhorn; Thorndike)

The new title by author of book-club favorite What Alice Forgot, gets  an A-  from Entertainment Weekly, which says “Despite its awkwardly soapy title and pink-petaled cover, The Husband’s Secret is a sharp, thoughtful read — a sneaky sort of wolf in chick-lit clothing. It’s also darker and less whimsical than the twinkly, rom-comish Alice,” but adds, “Moriarty ultimately can’t resist wrapping up her story lines with a bow that will probably feel too shiny and pink-petal neat for some. But you don’t need a husband or a secret to feel for her characters’ very real moral quandaries, and to want that shiny bow for them a little bit, too.”

The Skull And The Nightingale, Michael Irwin, (HarperCollins/Morrow)

Entertainment Weekly is big with the accolades this week, handing out another A-  for this one and saying this “raunchy novel of sex and manipulation — set in 18th-century England — evokes Tom Jones, The Crimson Petal and the White, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”

Sea Creatures, Susanna Daniel, (Harper)

Daniel impressed GalleyChatters with her debut, Stiltsville, a quiet story about a marriage that managed to seem very real. The book also won the PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and was a Barnes and Noble Discover pick. The author’s new book, set in the same area of South Florida, where the home are on stilts,  is again drawing raves from GalleyChatters for its “really complex and interesting” characters.

The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic, Emily Croy Barker, (Penguin/Pamela Dorman)

An August IndieNext pick,which calls it “a beautifully written first novel [that] reverberates with echoes of fairy tales and fantasy literature from Narnia to Harry Potter,” this was one of our Penguin First Flights titles (see our online chat with the author here).

A Street Cat Named Bob: And How He Saved My Life, James Bowen, (Macmillan/Thomas Dunne; Thorndike).

A best seller in the UK, this is a memoir by a London street musician, recovering from a heroin addiction, who rescues an ailing cat, which in turn, rescues him. If you want your heart warmed, check the photos from the story in London’s Daily Mail and the following book trailer (a movie deal has been discussed).

Going Deep: How Wide Receivers Became the Most Compelling Figures in Pro Sports, Cris Carter, (Hyperion)

Believe it or not, football season is around the corner. Carter is ESPN’s NFL analyst, so you can expect coverage on the network, beginning with Carter’s preview on the ESPN site.

Tie-ins

The Butler: A Witness to History, Wil Haygood, (S&S/37 Ink)

The movie, which opens August 16, is based on Haygood’s Washington Post story, now released as a book. The movie, which stars  Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker (plus Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan!) will be getting plenty of media attention, beginning with this week’s Washington Post Magazine cover story, written by Haygood.

Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love, Thomas Maier, (Basic Books)

A Showtime series, beginning Sept. 29, is based on Maier’s book, which received praise when it was released, particularly for bringing deserved attention to Virginia Johnson’s role in the groundbreaking research into human sexuality.

Paranoia, Joseph Finder, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s;  Trade pbk;  Mass Mkt pbk; Macmillan/Audio)

Opening August 16, the movie ada[tatopm of Finder’s thriller stars Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth, and Amber Heard.

The deadline for nominations for the inaugural LibraryReads list is August 2, a week from Friday. If you haven’t already, submit your nominations for forthcoming books (titles published in late August and beyond) that you loved reading and cannot wait to share!

The ten books that get the most nominations will be featured on the list. Participation is open to everyone who works in a public library, both senior staff and new arrivals, no matter which area of the library you work in. The more the merrier – LibraryReads is designed to be inclusive, and to represent a broad range of reading tastes.

LibraryReads is using Edelweiss as the platform to gather nominations. If you don’t already have an active account, you can sign up for free on the site. After you’ve registered, enter each title you want to nominate into the search box, click on “Your Review” on the title page. A new window will open, with a place to write your review and to “Submit to LibraryReads.” Much more info on the nomination process is available on the LibraryReads Tumblr site.

Please also encourage fellow library staff to nominate their favorites.

Help LibraryReads prove how effective libraries are in helping readers discover books.

The media has made several stabs at divining what will be the surprise hit of the summer, but a “debut” mystery that was released in April got by everyone, until the author’s true name was revealed.

The ebook version of  The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka, J.K. Rowling) (Hachette/Mulholland) shoots to #1 on the new USA Today best seller list.

Meanwhile, some of the hot books of this summer were actually published last year.

The leader, of course, is Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, (RH/Crown), now at #7 after 58 weeks on the NYT hardcover best seller list (a paperback release date still hasn’t been announced). Most libraries have whittled down the wait time for it to just a few weeks and a couple have practically, but not quite, wiped out holds by buying over 650 copies. Holds also continue on Flynn’s earlier titles, Sharp Objects and Dark Places (the movie adaptation of the latter may make it to screens before Gone Girl. Reports say filming is set to begin next month with stars Charlize Theron, Chloe Moretz, and Nicholas Hoult).

Three other surprise hits from last summer have been on the trade paperback list since their spring release in that format  and continue to show holds in libraries.

Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter, (Harper Perennial) — Note that the audio (HarperAudio), which was declared the best of the year by Audible, is also showing holds.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette, (Hachette/Back Bay; Hachette Audio; Thorndike)

The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman (S&S/Scribner; Thorndike)

Announcing the longlist for the Man Booker Prize yesterday, the panel of judges declared it the most diverse in the prize’s history. The Booker has been accused of a British bias; seven countries are represented this year  (U.S. are not eligible). Past lists have also  under-repreresnted women (an impetus for the creation of the Women’s Prize for Fiction); 7 of the 13 authors this year are female.

Seven of the titles have been published in the U.S. with one more, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland, (RH/Knopf) coming in September (covers above; download our spreadsheet Booker Longlist 2013 Titles Pubbed in US).

The Booker has made long-running U.S. best sellers of many books, including Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi.

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 10th and the winner in October.

The book that is seared into the minds of thousands of adolescents, V. C. Andrews’ 1979 novel, Flowers in the Attic (S&S) is being adapted into a Lifetime movie. Ellen Burstyn is set to play the evil grandmother who abuses her four grandchildren hidden in the attic of her mansion. Heather Graham will play the childrens’ mother.

The book’s themes of incest and child abuse may be difficult to translate into a Lifetime movie. In the L.A. Times, book critic Carolyn Kellogg begins her story, “Maybe there’s still time to stop this crazy thing.”

The book was already adapted as a movie in 1987 with Louise Fletcher as the grandmother. It was universally regarded as a flop. If the new version  is successful, there are plenty of opportunities for sequels; the Dollanganger Series continued with Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. Since her  death in 1986, Andrews’ estate has issued  more than seventy novels under her name, with new titles arriving each year.

 And Sons, (RH/Hogarth), is only David Gilbert’s second novel, but it arrives with great anticipation, from Entertainment Weekly’s “Shelf Life” blog, which calls it potentially “the literary novel of the summer” to the NPR reviewer who calls it “seductive and ripe with both comedy and heartbreak” and an instant classic because it “feels deeply familiar, as though it existed for decades and I was just slow to find it.”

In his interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air today, Gilbert gives a sense of what all the fuss is about.

Film rights have just been acquired for A.M. Homes’s novel, May We Be Forgiven, (Penguin/Viking) winner of this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize), reports Deadline.

About a dysfunctional family Thanksgiving and its aftermath, this darkly humorous story, said the L.A. Times critic, “is so fast-moving and pushes its characters to such extremes that it quickly moves into a zone that’s a farcical hyper-realism.”

A few of the earlier  prize winners have been made into movies, most notably Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, which starred Tilda Swinton. It was a sensation at the 2011 Cannes film festival but did not get the expected Oscar nominations. Filming for the 2007 Prize winner, Half of a Yellow Sun by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been completed. Some footage has appeared online, but  no release date has been set.

So far, despite many predictions, no book has emerged as THE hot summer read  (where are you, Dragon Tattoo?).

We’ve checked Goodreads to try to divine titles bubbling under the surface, and the highly-rated titles tend to be dominated by erotic or “New Adult” series (is there really a new series from best selling J. Lynn called Frigid? Warning to that guy on the cover; going shirtless in the falling snow may not be a good idea, even if you’re embracing a hot woman).

Entertainment Weekly’s “Shelf Life” blog reports that the number crunchers at GoodReads have come up with a list of seven titles that are taking off with their readers for summer reading. We’re dubious;  there’s not a six-pack on the cover of any of them.

Nonetheless, it’s an interesting group of titles, a mix of above- and below-the-radar titles, worth reviewing for reader’s advisory. The only one showing heavy holds in libraries at this time is A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams, (Penguin/Putnam, May 30).

Back in May, USA Today called Michael Paterniti a “hot summer author” for a book on a subject that may not sound perfect for hot-weather reading; a legendary cheese handcrafted in a small village in Spain. Called The Telling Room, (RH/Dial; Brilliance Audio), it arrives next week on the heels of today’s intriguing, if somewhat mixed, review by Janet Maslin in the NYT.

Libraries are showing rising holds. If you want to read it, digital ARC’s are still listed on NetGalley and Edelweiss, but hurry, they will no longer be available after Tuesday’s pub. date.

We first heard about the title when Doug Lord,  LJ‘s Books for Dudes columnist, picked  it as a BEA Shout ‘n’ Share title.

Last year’s debut novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, (RH/Dial, 6/19). was a GalleyChat favorite. Now out in trade paperback, it makes its first appearance on the NYT best seller  list at #18, gaining momentum from COSTCO’S influential book buyer, Pennie Ianniciello, who featured it in the COSTCO Connection as the Book Pick for July.

Told from the point of view of a 14-year-old girl, who is not only dealing with the usual torments of becoming a teenager, but also with the death of her beloved uncle, Tell the Wolves I’m Home, says Ianniciello, “is packed with real emotion and characters that, if they don’t tap into someone you used to be, will at the very least make you think of someone you once knew. “

Divergent author Veronica Roth and the stars of the upcoming film based on the first in her YA dystopian series, which opens March 14, appeared on a panel at Comic-Con yesterday. The audience got to see footage from the film, but it has not been released online (Entertainment Weekly offered a “first look,” with stills from the set last month).

Plot details have not been revealed for the final book of the trilogy, Allegiant (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen; HarperAudio; Dreamscape Audio, Oct 22), but CNN reports that Roth said it will be told from two points of view; that of Tris and her love interest Four.

The film of the second book in the series, Insurgent, is expected in 2015.

Tie-ins:

Divergent Movie Tie-in Edition
Veronica Roth
On Sale Date: February 11, 2014
HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen
9780062289841, 0062289845
Hardback; $17.99 US / $23.99 Can.

9780062289858, 0062289853
Paperback; $9.99 US / $10.99 Can.