Warner Bros announced yesterday that William Hurt has been cast in the final major role for the movie Winter’s Tale based on Mark Helprin’s 1983 novel. Production is set to begin in October. Hurt will play the father of a young girl, played by Downton Abbey‘s Jessica Brown Findlay, who is dying of consumption in late 19th C Manhattan. Colin Farrell is set to play a thief who breaks into her mansion.

At the time it was published, Winter’s Tale received extraordinary praise in the the NYT BR. After several paragraphs about the plot, the reviewer finally despaired, saying, “We’re now scarcely more than a tenth of our way through Winter’s Tale, and my plot summary is a tissue of (to me) painful omissions.” He also despaired of doing the writing justice, saying he found himself “nervous, to a degree I don’t recall in my past as a reviewer, about failing the work, inadequately displaying its brilliance . . . Not for some time have I read a work as funny, thoughtful, passionate or large-souled. Rightly used, it could inspire as well as comfort us. Winter’s Tale is a great gift at an hour of great need.”

Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that the film’s director Akiva Goldsman has been working for seven years to get the project off the ground.

It happens that Helprin’s next book, In Sunlight and Shadow (HMH; Blackstone Audio), will be published in October, the same month that filming is set to begin on Winter’s Tale.

The Paperboy, based on Pete Dexter’s novel (Random House, 1995), now has a trailer (below). To be released on Oct.5, it stars Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey and John Cusack and is directed by Lee Daniels (Precious).

After its premiere at the Cannes film Festival, the critics either loved it or hated it in wildly disperate reviews, from the Telegraph, “It feels like clips from around 20 other films, none of them good, sandwiched back to back, and the talented cast can only grit their teeth,” to the Atlantic, “one of those rare movies that feels spontaneous and unhindered, sampling from genre conventions, creating its own tone, winking at the audience (with repeated shots of Efron’s impeccable torso and Kidman’s killer figure), and occasionally urging us to take things a bit more seriously.”

Those reviews may help, if you find the trailer a bit opaque.

Tie-in:

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (Nation Books, 6/12/12), a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges and cartoonist Joe Sacco debuts on the Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list at #4. It was recently featured on Bill Moyers and Company. 

Libraries are showing a wide range of holds, from just a few to over 100.

Kirkus reviewed it, saying that the authors are each known for covering international wars, but “the war they document here is in America, where ‘[c]orporate capitalism will, quite literally, kill us, as it has killed Native Americans, African Americans trapped in our internal colonies in the inner cities, those left behind in the devastated coalfields, and those who live as serfs in our nation’s produce fields.’ Through immersion reportage and graphic narrative, the duo illuminate the human and environmental devastation in those communities, with the warning that no one is immune.”

Tana French’s fourth novel in her Dublin mystery series, Broken Harbor, (Penguin/Viking; Recorded Books; Thorndike Large Print), debuts at #2 on the new Indie Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list, the highest spot yet for the author.

The author is a reviewers’ darling. NPR lauds French’s “ability to … easily sow doubt, all the while building to a truly gut-wrenching conclusion.” Entertainment Weekly says she “has that procedural pro’s knack for making mundane police work seem fascinating. And she’s drawn not just to the who but also to the why — those bigger mysteries about the human weaknesses that drive somebody to such inhuman brutality.”

In the NYT, Janet Maslin says, “Ms. French’s books all give the same first impression. They start slowly and seem to need tighter editing. But as in Faithful Place, she patiently lays her groundwork, then moves into full page-turner mode … like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, this summer’s other dagger-sharp display of mind games, Broken Harbor is something more [than it appears].”

Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones, the “official companion book” to the series based on George R. R. Martin’s books, will be released on September 25. Entertainment Weekly is touting an exclusive look at four of the interior pages (click through to view details with a clever virtual magnifying glass).

The book includes interviews with actors and crew members, a preface by Martin and is bound with a “lavishly debossed padded cover” (we’re not sure what “debossed” means, either).

It may not be an exclusive, but we have our own spread, via Edelweiss (no virtual magnifying glass, but you can click on the image for a larger version and then use your own magnifying device):

Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones Bryan Cogman Retail Price: $40.00 Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Chronicle Books – (2012-09-25) ISBN / EAN: 1452110107 / 9781452110103

Season three begins March 31. It’s based on the first section of A Storm of Swords, the third in the book series.

Word is out that the second title in Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series, Reflected in You, is coming October 2, causing it to rise on Amazon’s sales rankings, where it is currently #24.

The series began with Bared to You, widely considered the successor to Fifty Shades of Grey, (the author objects to this, pointing out that both books were published at the same time, in an interview on the romance site, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books). Like Fifty Shades, it was originally self-published and then picked up by a traditional publisher, in this case, Penguin/Berkley. In its first week of reissue it hit the New York Times trade paperback list at #4.

Unlike Fifty Shades author, E. L. James, however, Day has published several books in other genres — historical, fantasy, and paranormal — with traditional publishers Kensington and Macmillan/Tor, before trying the self-published route. Many libraries own several of Day’s earlier titles.

During their interview with the author, Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and Jane Litte of DearAuthor.com, talked about the similarities and differences between Day’s series and Fifty Shades. While Litte says readers who liked Fifty Shades are likely to enjoy Bared to You, the latter is darker and doesn’t have the “Cinderella quality” of Fifty Shades. In a review on DearAuthor, she suggests “it is what 50 Shades could have been.” (see Smart Bitches list of other Fifty Shades read-a-likes).

We’ve been tracking the debut title The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio), which has growing holds in libraries. After its release yesterday, it rose into Amazon’s Top 100 (to #58 from #1,035). Holds have tripled since our first alert last week.

It’s the lead title on the O Summer Reading list. The description begins,

There’s something irresistible about a morally complex story that makes you root for all its flawed characters, even when they’re at odds with one another. The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman’s seductive debut, is just that sort of book. And it comes with a bonus: a high-concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page.

Those qualities are undoubtedly the reason Cuyahoga PL apotted it for their Book Discussion Sets.

This week’s People magazine declares, “Stedman’s debut signals a career certain to deliver future treasures.” The New York Times warns that it “does occasionally dip into the melodrama pot; Isabel at one point screams, ‘Don’t take my baby away!’ It’s a moving tale, regardless. Prepare to weep.”

Costco’s book buyer, Pennie Clark Ianniciello, recommends Spencer Quinn’s first book in his series featuring the canine detective Chet, Dog on It (S&S/Atria, 2009) in the August  issue of Costco Direct.

In an accompanying interview, Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams) says his wife was the inspiration for the series. After she suggested doing something with dogs, he immediately knew he wanted to write in the voice of a dog. Within
ten minutes had the first page of Dog on It (S&S/Atria, 2009).

That title was quickly followed by Thereby Hangs a Tail (Jan, 2010), To Fetch a Thief  (Sept, 2010) and The Dog Who Kenw Too Much (Sept, 2011).

The newest in the series, A Fistful of Collars is coming in September (it is now available as an egalley on both Edelweiss and NetGalley). S&S is also releasing a Quinn short story, A Cat Was Involved, in August, which tells the story of how Chet met his human companion, Bernie. It is an ebook only and is not available to libraries.

Is someone nervous about the potential success of Joe Wright’s take on Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightly? Following the first trailer, we were treated to a six-minute clip, introduced by the director. Just one week later we have a behind-the-scenes “feaurette,” aimed at making us understand that this is not just another costume drama. Keira Knightly claims in a voice over, “The rules of a period film have been completely broken,” adding, “What is the point in doing a safe adaptation?”

The movie doesn’t open until Nov. 9th. Plenty of time for more trailers, featurettes and clips.

See our earlier post for information on the tie-in and links to stories about the various translations of Tolstoy’s classic.

Official Site: FocusFeatures.com/Anna_Karenina

Binchy launched her career as a novelist with LIGHT A PENNY CANDLE in 1982

Popular Irish novelist Maeve Binchy has died in Dublin after a brief illness. She was 72.

The Telegraph calls Binchy “Ireland’s national treasure,” noting, “She was always delightfully self-deprecating, saying once: ‘I was very pleased, obviously, to have outsold great writers. But I’m not insane – I do realise that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation.’ ”

The Irish Times, where she once worked as a journalist, writes about her love of Ireland and quotes her saying,  “the fax was invented so we writers could live anywhere we liked, instead of living in London near publishers.”

Her most recent book, Minding Frankie (RH/Knopf), was published last year.

Jonah Lehrer, the author of the best selling book on creativity, Imagine, has admitted that he made up some of the quotes he attributed to Bob Dylan in the book. Publisher Houghton Mifflin has announced that it is canceling further shipments and has asked accounts to stop selling it.

The errors were brought to light in the article “Jonah Lehrer’s Deceptions” by Michael C. Moynihan published in the online magazine Tablet yesterday. The New York Times reported that, as a result, Lehrer has resigned his job as science writer for the New Yorker and that the book will no longer be shipped.

The story is being picked up by dozens of other news sources, including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, NPR and CBS News. Jayson Blair, the former New York Times reporter who was the subject of a plagiarism case nine years ago, reflects on the story for The Daily Beast.

Imagine has been on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction list for the past 18 weeks. It debuted on the list at #1 and is on the current, 8/5 list at #14. Lehrer published two earlier books, How We Decide (HMH, 2009) and Proust Was a Neuroscientist (HMH, 2007).

Nobody knows how well Fifty Shades of Grey will do as a movie. It’s still a long way from arriving in theaters; it doesn’t even have a director, let alone a cast yet. Nevertheless, Hollywood is hot on the trail of the NEXT Fifty Shades.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, a bidding war is on for Jamie McGuire’s Beautiful Disaster. The book began as a self-published title, from Amazon’s CreateSpace. After appearing on the NYT E-Book Fiction best seller list, where it reached high of #9, it was picked up for publication by the Atria division of Simon and Schuster and is coming out in August. Atria also signed Walking Disaster, which, according to the publisher, “will continue this story from a different and surprising point of view.”

The Hollywood Reporter says, “The book is seen as being similar in tone to Fifty Shades but in a YA vein and without all the kinky sex. That makes it very attractive to Hollywood studios, which are concerned that audiences might shy away from a Fifty Shades movie due to the graphic scenes.”

It has a 4.13 rating on GoodReads, from nearly 26,000 readers.

Beautiful Disaster Jamie McGuire Retail Price: #15 Paperback: 446 pages Publisher: Atria Books – (2012-07-12) ISBN / EAN: 1476712042/9781476712048

S&S Audio

Interest continues in the breakout book of the summer, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (RH/Crown). It moved back up to #2 on the 8/5 NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list (from #3 last week) after 7 weeks (two of them at #1). Holds continue to be heavy on both the book and the audio (RH Audio & BOT).

Flynn was interviewed on Friday’s CBS This Morning. Gayle King revealed that the book kept her up until 4:23 in the morning.

Flynn’s home town newspaper, the Chicago Tribune interviewed her on Sunday, “Peeking in Flynn’s Vault of Horror.”

The book was also the subject of Glamour magazine’s “five minute book club” (plenty of spoilers, so avoid it if you’re planning to read the book).

Marking another step in the growing acceptance of ebooks, two titles published by digital imprints were among the dozen titles winning RITA awards from the Romance Writers of America at a ceremony in Anaheim over the weekend.

The winner for best Contemporary Single Title is Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe. Originally published as an ebook by Harlequin’s Carina imprint, it was released in paperback as well. Currently it is an ebook-only title, available via OverDrive and B&T’s Axis360 platform.

The winner for best Romance Novella, I Love the Earl by Caroline Linden, is published by HarperCollins/Avon’s digital imprint, Impulse. It is also available via OverDrive and Axis360.

The RWA Librarian of the Year is Mary Moore, Reference & Adult Services Manager, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, Huntsville, Alabama. She is profiled on the RWA site.

In addition, nine unpublished manuscripts won the association’s Golden Heart Awards.

Glee star Chris Colfer was so excited to hear that his debut book lands at #1 on the 8/4  NYT Children’s Chapter Books Best Seller list that he  leaked the news yesterday afternoon, via a tweet. The leak was picked up by the Hollywood Reporter, which noted that “Colfer first came up with the idea when he was in grade school but wrote the book between scenes on Glee.

Prepub reviews for The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell (Hachette/LBYR; Hachette Audio) were not particularly strong, but most acknowledge, as Booklist puts it,  that the many Glee fans “will not be disappointed by the giddy earnestness of the writing.”

Last week’s debut, Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, (Random House YR), arrived on the list at #8 with much better prepub attention; four starred reviews. Booklist says, “Hartman proves dragons are still fascinating in this impressive high fantasy.” The Washington Post agreed, “Nothing strikes dread in a reviewer’s heart like a dragon on a book cover. Can the author infuse this tired trope with fresh blood, or is it doomed to flame out in blatant cliche? Happily, Rachel Hartman, with her richly imagined reptile and human characters, proves more than equal to the task.” The book continues on the new list at #9. The debut began bullding librarian buzz on YA GalleyChat back in March.