When Fleming and Bond had equal billing.

Recent James Bond movies have moved further and further from their origins in Ian Fleming’s series of novels (Wikipedia offers an exhaustive essay on the differences between the books and the movies). Skyfall, which opens next week isn’t based on an Ian Fleming book or short story (and thus, there is no tie-in novel, although there is a behind-the-scenes title, Bond On Set: Filming Skyfall by Greg Williams, Penguin/DK, 10/1/12). Unlike the first Bond movie, Fleming’s name is buried in the credits.

We haven’t yet reached the point where people are surprised to learn that the Bond character first appeared in a series of books. Movie reviewers are keeping his name alive. In his Newsweek review of Skyfall, historian Simon Schama mentions Fleming multiple times and calls Skyfall the best Bond movie yet (he also calls On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, “one of Fleming’s best books” and, the movie version, “stunningly shot and artfully written”).

Bond also continues in books, written by authors hand-picked by the Fleming estate. William Boyd accepts the mantle next, with an as-yet-untitled book, to be published in the fall of 2013, the 60th anniversary of the first Bond book Casino Royale. He will follow in footsteps of several others. Jeffery Deaver published Carte Blanche, in 2011 (S&S). It was a NYT hardcover best seller for 4 weeks. Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care (S&S, 2008) also spent a few weeks on the hardcover list. Raymond Benson published 6 titles from 1997 to 2002; John Gardner, 14 (the same number as Fleming wrote himself), from 1981 to 1996. Kingsley Amis, under the name of Robert Markham, was the first, with Colonel Sun in 1968.

Which Bond novels are the best? Several have offered their opinions:

GoodReads, Best/Favorite Bond Book 

BookRiot.com, The Best James Bond Novels: Ranking the Fleming Originals

The Telegraph, Carte Blanche: the greatest James Bond novels

FlashlightWorthy.com, Bond. James Bond

If you are doing Bond book displays, include James Bond’s guides to birds, if you own them. Fleming, a birding enthusiast, named his character after this American ornithologist.

If  you’ve seen Toby Jones as Hitchcock in the HBO movie, The Girl, you’ll want to compare his performance to Anthony Hopkins, in the trailer, below, for Hitchcock, set for a limited, Oscar-qualifying run beginning Nov. 23rd. That’s Helen Mirren as Hitchcock’s wife, Alma (played by Imelda Staunton in the HBO movie).

Both movies are based on books:

The Girl —  Spellbound By Beauty, by Donald Spoto (RH/Three Rivers)

Hitchock — Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello (Dembner Books, dist. by W.W. Norton, 1990), being re-released as Hitchcock!: Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Soft Skull Press, Dec. 24 (also, Blackstone Audio).

The original novel, Psycho, treated so disparagingly by Helen Mirren in Hitchcock, it still available in print as well as in audio.

Psycho, Robert Bloch, Overlook Press, 2010; Blackstone Audio

With the wealth of titles published about Hitchcock, this is a great time for a book display.

Below, director Joe Wright introduces a new, six-minute clip of his film of Anna Karenina (try to get past the surprisingly stilted into). Opening in theaters on November 9th, it stars Keira Knightly and Jude Law with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard.

Get those Russian-themed book displays ready.

Official Site: FocusFeatures.com/Anna_Karenina

Vintage is releasing a tie-in edition in October. The translation is by Tolstoy’s close American friends Louise and Aylmer Maude, originally published in 1918.

A 2004 Oprah book club pick, it is still available in that edition. Two of the beneficiaries of that pick were the husband-and-wife translators, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who, according to a story in the New York Times, had never heard of Oprah or her club when they got the news that their translation was getting a new print run of 800,000 copies.

In reviewing this translation in the New Yorker, James Wood said the couple are “at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English, and their superb rendering allows us, as perhaps never before, to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy’s ‘characters, acts, situations.'”

New Yorker editor David Remnick explored translations of Russian classics in depth in “The Translation Wars: How the race to translate Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky continues to spark feuds, end friendships, and create small fortunes.”

Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Retail Price: $17.00 Paperback: 862 pages Publisher: Penguin Classics – (2004-05) ISBN / EAN: 0143035002 / 9780143035008

When James Cameron’s The Titanic came out in 1997, publishers experienced a sudden windfall as the sales of over 30 backlist and new titles from a range of different publishers jumped onto best seller lists (resulting in the joke that it “floated all boats”).

Publishers are hoping that magic hits again, when the movie is rereleased in 3-D on April 4th, days before the 100th anniversary of the disaster. This time around, audiences will be offered another reenactment of the events in Julian Fellowes’ (Downton Abbey) two-part, four-hour series, Titanic, running April 14 and 15 on ABC. Fellowes has been on the offensive about the big-screen version, calling it inaccurate.

One of the books that experienced renewed sales the first time around was Walter Lord’s 1955 classic A Night to Remember (reissued in a 50th anniversary edition in 1996, with an intro. by Nathaniel Philbrick). It’s included in USA Today‘s extensive roundup of 25 available titles, as is the update of the movie tie-in (new forward by Cameron):

James Cameron’s Titanic James Cameron Retail Price: $24.99 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Harper Design – (2012-03-06) ISBN / EAN: 0062119389 / 9780062119384

Just one adult fiction title is featured in that list, The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott. The author was profiled in the NYT prior to the book’s release in February. The approaching anniversary is bringing renewed attention; the book was reviewed by Carolyn See in The Washington Post on Friday and was recently featured as an adult book for teens in SLJ. The public is picking up on the connection; several libraries are showing heavy holds, as high as 8:1.

The Dressmaker: A Novel Kate Alcott Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 322 pages Publisher: RH/Doubleday – (2012-02-21) ISBN : 978-0385535588

The Today Show site offers “The Draper Papers,” a list of six titles that give a sense of that era, including two by ad execs. The contrast between the period covers and the updated versions demonstrates how much the show has stylized the past. (See also our earlier roundup of new titles by some other real mad men, and one woman.)

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front Line Dispatches from the Advertising War, Jerry Della Femina (S&S)

“For a nonfiction take on Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s three-martini lunches, office dalliances, and innovative ad campaigns, Della Femina’s frank and funny book is just the ticket. “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner even cites the memoir as an inspiration for the series.”

Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy, (current edition, Southbank Publishing)

“Unlike Della Femina’s book, Confessions of an Advertising Man is more of an advertising handbook, dispensing advice and wisdom from Madison Avenue wunderkind David Ogilvy. Regarded as the father of modern advertising, Ogilvy lays down some mind-blowing concepts that can benefit many industries and business professionals.”

Six of the nine Academy Awards Best Picture nominations were adapted from books. In all, thirteen movies based on books received nominations. Two of those titles, Hugo and The Descendants, also received nominations for Best Director [NOTE: Thanks to those that pointed out that we overlooked the Best Picture nomination for Hugo in the earlier version of this story. We have now corrected that oversight].

Hugo is regarded as the film that stands to gain the most from winning. Worldwide box office so far is about half the movie’s $170-million production cost. The L.A. Times quotes Scorsese,  “I think this could help the audience understand that it’s an enjoyable and very moving experience — that it has some depth to it.”

Below are the thirteen movies based on books that received major nominations, with links to an EarlyWord story about each. Full tie-in information is in our 2011 Books-to-Movies Archive (plenty of titles there for a book display, whether actual or online).

The Adventures of Tintin — Best Music (John Williams) — Tintin Teaser

Albert Nobbs — Best Actress (Glenn Close), Best Supporting Actress (Janet McTeer), Best Makeup — ALBERT NOBBS, The Book

The Descendants — Best Picture, Best Actor (George Clooney), Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Editing (Kevin Tent), Best Adapted Screenplay — What Makes George Clooney Run?

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close — Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Max von Sydow) — INCREDIBLY CLOSE This Christmas

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  — Best Actress (Rooney Mara), Best Cinematography (Jeff Cronenweth), Best Editing (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall), Best Sound Editing — Still Talking about DRAGON TATTOO

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 — Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects

The Help — Best Picture, Best Actress (Viola Davis), Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastain), Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer) — Alternate Ending to THE HELP

Hugo — Best Picture, Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Cinematography (Robert Richardson), Best Art Direction, Best Costume, Best Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), Best Music (Howard Shore), Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Adapted Screenplay — Behind the Scenes with Hugo and Martin

Jane Eyre — Best Costume — JANE EYRE At the Box Office

Moneyball — Best Picture, Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Best Editing (Christopher Tellefsen), Best Adapted Screenplay — MONEYBALL Is Rolling

My Week With Marilyn — Best Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Supporting Actor (Kenneth Branagh) — THE MARILYN OBSESSION

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — Best Actor (Gary Oldman), Best Music (Alberto Iglesias), Best Adapted Screenplay — The Anti-Bond

War Horse  — Best Picture, Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Best Music (John Williams, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing — Spielberg’s WAR HORSE

Former President Bill Clinton and star of The Office, Mindy Kaling appeared on the Today Show to promote reading and their favorite books to give as gifts. Their lists are very different (although Clinton said he’d love to read the first four on Mindy’s list).

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

Below are the lists featured on the show (each had a longer list, available on the web site)

Kaling’s List

#1 11/22/63, Stephen King, (S&S/Scribner)

#2 Bossypants, Tina Fey (Hachette/Little,Brown)

#3 Lady Gaga, Terry Richardson, (Hachette/Grand Central)

#4 My Father’s Daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, (Hachette/Grand Central)

#5 Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Andrew Bolton, (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Clinton’s List

#1 Jerusalem: The Biography, Simon Sebag Montefiore, (RH/Knopf)

#2 Lincoln, David Herbert Donald, (S&S)

#3 Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, (RH/Modern Library and others)

#4 The Way of the World, David Fromkin (RH/Knopf)

#5 The Cure at Troy, Seamus Heaney (S&S/FSG)

NPR’s All Things Considered takes a look at the new Sherlock Homes movie, Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey Jr., through the lens of two recent books inspired by Conan Doyle’s master detective.

As a result, The House of Silk, rose on Amazon’s sales rankings. Libraries are showing moderate holds. In its review, PW said, “The hype surrounding what’s being billed as the first pastiche ever officially approved by the Conan Doyle estate is amply justified in this authentic, if melancholy, recreation of the beloved Baker Street characters by the creator of the acclaimed Foyles War TV series.”

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel Anthony Horowitz Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Mulholland Books – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316196991 / 9780316196994

The second book is a collection of short stories inspired by Conan Doyle, also released this fall.

A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon Laurie R King, Leslie S Klinger Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 250 pages Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press – (2011-10-25) ISBN / EAN: 1590585496 / 9781590585498

Of course, many other authors have carried on the Holmes tradition. Check this list from Wikipedia for the makings of an extensive book display.

The new movie, unlike the previous one, is based on a specific Holmes story,  “The Final Problem,” which is included in the re-released The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Penguin; other editions available in ePub and Kindle on OverDrive).

Sherlock Homes himself said (paraphrasing a famous British writer), “I trust that age will not wither, nor custom stale my infinite variety.” USA Today writes that the master detective is hot again after all these years, with movies, re-releases and a “new” Holmes novel.

The movie Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey Jr., follows last year’s surprise hit and opens 12/16. It’s based on the story, “The Final Problem,” which is included in the re-released The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Penguin; other editions available in ePub and Kindle on OverDrive).

Published today is the first “new Sherlock Holmes novel,” authorized by Doyle’s estate, The House of Silk (Mulholland/Little, Brown; audio, Hachette Audio; Large Print, Little, Brown) by Anthony Horowitz, author of the popular Alex Rider series for teens and the writer for the PBS series Foyle’s War.

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel Anthony Horowitz Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Mulholland Books – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316196991 / 9780316196994

Of course, many other authors have carried on the Holmes tradition. Check this list from Wikipedia for the makings of an extensive book display.

Released last week, A Study in Sherlock is a collection of stories homages to the master by contemporary writers, including by Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Margaret Maron, Jacqueline Winspear and Neil Gaiman. It is available in hardcover (Poisoned Pen Press, 9781590585498) and in trade paperback:

A Study in Sherlock: Stories inspired by the Holmes canon Laurie R. King, Leslie S. Klinger Retail Price: $15.00 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Bantam – (2011-10-25) ISBN / EAN: 9780812982466/0812982460

Coming next month is a book on Holmes’s creator, by Washington Post book reviewer, Michael Dirda.

On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling (Writers on Writers) Michael Dirda Retail Price: $19.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Princeton University Press – (2011-10-30) ISBN / EAN: 0691151350 / 9780691151359

Earlier this week, we highlighted what we thought was one of the funnier of the Royal Wedding books, Knit Your Own Royal Wedding (Andrews McMeel).

Turns out it’s been one of the biggest-selling titles in the UK and is currently out of stock in the US. The staff the Everett Public Library in Washington State actually took up the challenge and knitted the entire wedding party. The resulting display gained coverage from the local newspaper as well as CNN.

Compare the photos below — we think the Everett Public Library knitters’ results are even better than those in the book.

Photo Credit: Everett Library staff

Of course, it was tough to predict exactly what the family would wear, but the knitters got one thing right — Kate Middleton, confounding expectations, wore a tiara.

The heavily (and bloodily) promoted Showtime series The Borgias, starring Jeremy Irons, debuts on April 3.

USA Today offers a list of new and re-released titles about the family. Showtime is using Mario Puzo’s quote that they were the “original crime family.” His novel proving his case, which he was working on at his death, is being re-released.

The Family Mario Puzo Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks – (2011-04-01) ISBN / EAN: 0062089153 / 9780062089151

Actually, we have two winners from yesterday’s book display contest. Within fifteen minutes of our posting the challenge, Lauri Wilson and Melissa DeWild both identified the unifying theme as books that are sources for movies that Tom Hanks is working on. Each will receive a copy of Knit Your Own Dog, published by Black Dog & Leventhal (thanks to Mike Rockliff, head of library marketing at Workman, for providing the prizes).

How did they guess so quickly? Both had also read Shelf Awareness yesterday and noticed that Hanks will star in a movie based on Richard Phillips’s memoir of his capture by Somali pirates, A Captain’s Duty.

It happens that we noticed the same story and it set us wondering about the other book projects Hanks has in the pipeline. Updates on them after the jump.

We’re hoping one of the winners knits us a dog — Lucy needs a new toy.

(more…)

[UPDATE: We Have A Winner]

Attention knitters and dog lovers!  What’s the unifying theme of the above book display?

The first person to accurately respond, in the comments section below, wins a copy of Knit Your Own Dog, published by Black Dog & Leventhal. (Hint: if you’re having trouble reading the covers, click on each one for more information).

And, don’t forget to enter Wiley’s Dummies contest — a chance to win every Dummies book in print.

The ability to slice and dice content digitally, giving new life to backlist titles, is often touted as a major advantage for publishers. Often touted, but so far, rarely used.

Simon and Schuster just announced that they are releasing an eBook called Truman Fires MacArthur, about the event that is the historical precedent of “Obama Fires MacChrystal.” The ebook is an excerpt of David McCullough’s 1992 Pulitzer Prize winning bio, Truman.

It appears the excerpt is not available to libraries. However, the full book is available electronically through OverDrive.

In her L.A. Times blog “Jacket Copy,” Carolyn Kellogg notes calls this a smart move by S&S’s brand-new publisher, Jonathan Karp, the former publisher and founder of the Grand Central imprint Twelve, and says it  bodes well for  his leadership of S&S.

By the way, for libraries that haven’t already done so, this is a good reminder to bring the book out of the stacks and display it.

Truman David McCullough Retail Price: $22.00 Paperback: 1120 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (1993-06-14) ISBN / EAN: 0671869205 / 9780671869205

The New Yorker has announced their picks of the best 20 writers under 40. This is the magazine’s first such list since 1999, when it identified several future literary successes, such as Junot Díaz and Jhumpa Lahiri. Stories by the authors will be featured in upcoming issues.

By the way, the list is evenly divided between women and men.

Several of the authors have new books coming this fall; all but one were featured at the recent BEA librarians’ Shout & Share program:

Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel Gary Shteyngart Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-07-27) ISBN / EAN: 1400066409 / 9781400066407

Also picked as a summer read by Time magazine, this is the author’s third book after The Russian Debutante’s Handbook (2003) and Absurdistan (2007).

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Great House: A Novel Nicole Krauss Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2010-10-04) ISBN / EAN: 0393079988 / 9780393079982

This is the third novel by Krauss, who is married to another author on the list, Jonathan Safron Foer. Her History of Love (Norton, 2005) received acclaim and was a fixture on several best seller lists in paperback.

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How to Read the Air Dinaw Mengestu Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2010-10-14) ISBN / EAN: 1594487707 / 9781594487705

Mengestu’s first book, The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, won many awards

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The only one of the group not mentioned during Shout & Share is a title coming out in March, 2011.

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The rest of the authors have published books that are well-represented in libraries; a good opportunity for a display. The list below shows each author’s latest titles; links are to EarlyWord coverage.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32 — The Thing Around Your Neck, Knopf, 6/10

Daniel Alarcón, 33 — Secret Miracle: The Novelist’s Handbook, Holt, 4/10

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38 — Ms. Hempel Chronicles, Holt, 9/08

Joshua Ferris, 35 — The Unnamed, 1/10

Jonathan Safran Foer, 33 — Eating Animals, Little, Brown, 11/09

Nell Freudenberger, 35 — The Dissident, Ecco, 8/06

Rivka Galchen, 34 — Atmospheric Disturbances, 5/08

Yiyun Li, 37 — Vagrants, 3/09

Philipp Meyer, 36 — American Rust, Spiegle & Grau, 2/09

C.E. Morgan, 33 — All the Living, FSG, 3/09

ZZ Packer, 37 — Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, Riverhead, 3/03

Karen Russell, 28 — St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Knopf, 9/06

Salvatore Scibona, 35 — The End, Graywolf Press, 10/09; was a surprise nominee for the National Book Awards in ’09, but lost out to Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country

Wells Tower, 37 — Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, FSG, 2/10 — was on several Best Books lists last year.