EarlyWord

The third trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation of The Great Gatsby focuses on the story’s romanticism (compare it to the previous trailer here). Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton and Jason Clarke, it opens May 10.

We’d love to know what Roger Ebert, who died yesterday, would have thought of this. He wasn’t much of a fan of the 1974 adaptation, starring Robert Redford, calling it a “superficially beautiful hunk of a movie with nothing much in common with the spirit of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.” He was a fan of Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, which he gave 3.5 stars out of 4, saying it is constructed  with “the melodrama of a 19th century opera, the Technicolor brashness of a 1950s Hollywood musical and the quick-cutting frenzy of a music video … like the fevered snapshots created by your imagination before an anticipated erotic encounter.”

The trade paperback tie-in arrives on 4/23 (S&S/Scribner).

The second adaptation of Stephen King’s classic horror story, Carrie, arrives in theaters in Oct. 18. The first trailer was released yesterday. Directed by Kimberly Peirce, it stars Chloë Grace Moretz in the title role and Julianne Moore as her mother.

Brian De Palma directed the original adaptation in 1976, with Sissy Spacek as Carrie and Piper Laurie as her mother. Roger Ebert, who died yesterday, was a fan.

Official Movie Site: Carrie-Movie.com

Tie-ins from RH/Vintage release Sept. 24 in mass market, audio (Sissy Spacek narrates) and Spanish-language editions.

Next week brings a debut that may be a Newbery contender, Zebra Forest … Another debut, is a twisted modern version of Rumpelstiltskin … Tracy Kidder’s book about a remarkable doctor who works with the poorest in Haiti is rewritten for kids … Tie-ins are being released for the summer animated movie, Epic, based on William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.

All the titles highlighted here and many more coming next week, are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet Kids New Title Radar, Week of April 8.

Picture Books

Tea Rex, Molly Idle, (Penguin/Viking)

This is Idle’s second book of 2013 after February’s charming word-less pink pas de deux Flora and the Flamingo, (Chronicle). Here, she brings the same sweet, stylish vision to a tea party where the guest of honor is bigger than life.

Middle Grade

Zebra Forest, Adina Rishe Gewirtz, (Candlewick; Brilliance Audio)

A compelling debut novel of family secrets and how to deal with them once they are revealed. Put it in the mix for your Mock Newbery discussions.

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, Liesl Shurtliff, (RH/Knopf BYR)

The perfect next read for fans of Adam Gidwitz’s Grimm stories, a twisted fairytale with accessible characters and modern humor, as the following trailer demonstrates.

Nonfiction

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder and Michael French,  (RH/Delacorte BYR)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Tracy Kidder (Soul of the New Machine, Among the School Children, House) has reworked his profile of Dr. Paul Farmer to be accessible to readers in the 10 and up range. The doctor is an infectious disease specialist and humanitarian who works with the poorest of the poor in Haiti.

Movie Tie-ins

The 3D animated Fox movie Epic, coming to theaters May 24, is based on William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs (HarperCollins, 2000).

See the trailer on the Official Web Site: EpicTheMovie.com

Epic: Welcome to Moonhaven, Annie Auerbach (HarperFestival, 4/9/13) — Ages 4 to 8

Epic: The Junior Novel, Annie Auerbach (HarperFestival, 4/9/13)  – Ages 8 to 12

Epic: Meet the Leafmen,  (I Can Read Book 2), Lucy Rosen, (HarperCollins, 4/9/13)

Epic: M.K. Saves the Day,  (I Can Read Book 2), Lucy Rosen, (HarperCollins, 4/9/13)

Leading in the number of holds among the titles arriving next week, is the new book by Mary Higgins Clark, Daddy’s Gone A Hunting, followed closely by Stuart Woods’ Unintended Consequences and Lisa Scottoline’s Don’t Go (in this standalone, Scottoline wries for the first time from a male perspective, a soldier returning from Afghanistan).

In nonfiction, we’re reminded that Mother’s Day is around the corner with two tender mother-daughter memoirs; one by Jane Fonda‘s adopted daughter and the other by Carol Burnett.

All the titles highlighted here, and more, are listed on our downloadable file, New Title Radar, Week of April 8.

Watch List

The Ashford Affair, Lauren Willig, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Thorndike Large Print)

A modern-day young lawyer investigates her family’s past  from 1906 into the 1930’s in London and Kenya in this novel, giving the publisher the shorthand that it brings “an Out of Africa feel to a Downton Abbey cast of unforgettable characters.”

It’s been buzzed by librarians on GalleyChat who say the writing made them go back to read the author’s earlier books (this is her first historical romance outside of her popular ten-book Regency Pink Carnation series). It’s also a hit with booksellers who made it an IndieNext Pick for April, calling it  “ a convincing portrayal of 1920s English society and a family history artfully hidden from the current generation … Rich details, realistically flawed characters, and a narrative that travels from England to the high life of the ex-pat community in Kenya and finally to present day Manhattan make this a book to remember.”

The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer, (Penguin/Riverhead; Dreamscape Audio)

Called “a big and deliciously complicated novel that follows a group of summer-camp friends through the decades” on the NPR web site, where an excerpt is posted as one of their “Exclusive First Reads.” The cover blurb, “The wit, intelligence, and deep feeling of Wolitzer’s writing are extraordinary, and The interestings brings her achievement, already so steadfast and remarkable, to an even high level,” is by Jeffrey Eugenides, the author Wolitzer cited last year when argued in the New York Times Book Review that fiction by women is often treated less seriously than that by men. She is getting respect, with an early review from Janet Maslin in the NYT and a unadulterated “A” from Entertainment Weekly.

Midnight at Marble Arch, Anne Perry, (RH/Ballantine; Thorndike)

The latest title in Perry’s series set in Victorian England arrives with an extra jolt of interest. A book coming in May delves into a real-life crime that Perry was at the center of. In New Zealand in the early 1950’s, two girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme murdered Parker’s mother. The story became the background for Peter Jackson’s 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, starring Cate Blanchett Kate Winslet in her first role as Hulme. Jailed as am accomplice, Hulme was later released and became, you guessed it, Anne Perry. Jennifer Dayton of Darien Public Library brought this up during this week’s GalleyChat, saying that the staff there is obsessed with a forthcoming book on the story, Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century, Peter Graham, (Skyhorse Publishing, May; digital ARC on Edelweiss).

Famous Mothers

The Lost Daughter, Mary Williams, (Penguin/Blue Rider; Tantor Audio)

Jane Fonda will join with her adopted daughter Mary Williams on Oprah’s Next Chapter this Sunday. Kirkus calls Williams’ book a “tender memoir of love and redemption.”

Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story, Carol  Burnett, (S&S; S&S Audio)

The beloved comedian writes in this memoir about her relationship with her eldest daughter, Carrie Hamilton, who died of cancer at age 38.

Media Magnets

The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth, Mark Mazzetti, (Penguin Press)

EMBARBOED: as we noted earlier this week, heavy publicity begins on Sunday for this book on the modern CIA, with a New York Times page one story and the author’s live one-on-one with Bob Scheiffer on CBS’s Face the Nation. On publication day, 4/9, the author is scheduled to appear on NPR’s Morning Edition, CNN’sSituation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and PBS’s Charlie Rose Show. Later in the week, comes MSNBC’s Morning Joe and NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, among others. The next week, Mazzetti is scheduled for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Simpler: The Future of Government, Cass R. Sunstein, (Simon & Schuster)

As the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Sunstein streamlined government regulations (even overhauling the iconic “food pyramid”). His new book will get attention next week on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the PBS Nightly Business Report, NPR’s Marketplace, and Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, among others. His “Ten Steps Toward a Simpler World” appeared in the Wall Street Journal this week.

Film critic and author of several books, Roger Ebert, died yesterday at 70. The Chicago Tribune, where he worked for over 45 years, declares “in words and in life he displayed the soul of a poet whose passions and interests extended far beyond the darkened theaters where he spent so much of his professional life.”

He showed the range of his passion for the movies in over a dozen books from A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length: More Movies That Suck (Andrews McMeel) to appreciations of The Great Movies, Volume One and Volume Two (RH/Broadway).

He also wrote a book about one of his favorite cities, The Perfect London Walk (Andrews McMeel, 1986)  and even a cookbook, The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker, (Andrews McMeel, 2010).

In 2011, after treatments for thyroid cancer robbed him of his ability to speak, he published a memoir, Life Itself, (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio). In the New York Times, fellow critic Janet Maslin, called it, “candid, funny and kaleidoscopic … the best thing Mr. Ebert has ever written.”

UPDATE: The producers of a film based on Life Itself have announced that they will finish it. Martin Scorsese is one of the executive producers. Ebert was participating in the documentary. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The movie of The Host by Stephanie Meyer, which opened last week, may be considered a flop, but don’t tell the tie-in book edition (Hachette, Back Bay) — it rises to #2 on the new USA Today‘s best seller list.

It’s just a reminder that box office and tie-in success do not necessarily correlate.

Nicole Kidman is “braving the cold” in London during production of the film adaptation of Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson, (Harper, 2011), according to UK news reports.

The book, a debut mystery, received early buzz from librarians on GalleyChat months before publication. It went on to hit best seller lists, rising to #7 on the NYT list for a week.

Originally scheduled for late 2013, reports now say it’s due in 2014. Directed by Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later, The American, Brighton Rock), it also stars Colin Firth and Mark Strong.

David Sheff, lived through the nightmare of his son’s addiction. As a journalist, he was able to take that experience and write about it in a best selling memoir, Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Meth Addiction (HMH, 2008). That son, Nic Sheff wrote his own memoir, Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines (S&S/Atheneum YR, 2008).

Nic wrote a second book, We All Fall Down: Living with Addiction. (Little, Brown YR, 2011) about his struggles to stay clean. His father, who sent him to ten different treatment programs, writes in his new book, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy, (HMH, Brilliance Audio), that he has severe doubts about how addicts are currently treated and suggest alternatives.

He was interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday and on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on Monday and is featured in USA Today.

The book is currently #8 Amazon’s sales rankings and rising. His earlier book, Beautiful Boy, is also rising.

Director Peter Jackson takes questiosn about the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug coming December 13 and gives a few (very few) glimpses of some of the footage in the following video [UPDATE: video has been removed].

One of the questions comes from Stephen Colbert who proves he is a Hobbit nerd. Jackson responds in kind, spending an inordinate amount of time asking Colbert a question about his show.

We have learned to adjust to the concept of a premiere for a movie trailer. Now things have gone a crazy step further, a teaser for a teaser.

The teaser for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire debuts on April 14 during the MTV Movie Awards at 9 p.m. ET. Below is the teaser for that teaser (warning: even for a teaser, it’s pretty slight). The movie releases on Nov. 22.

Official Site: TheHungerGamesExplorer.com

Both Beautiful Creatures and The Host were declared DOA in theaters, so Hollywood is looking to the summer movies for a YA blockbuster to rival Hunger Games. The release this week of the second trailer, below, for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones gives little hope to one observer.

Arriving in theaters on August 23, it is based on the first in a six-book series by Cassandra Clare.

Star Lily Collins assures fans in Entertainment Weekly that she cares as much about the books as they do. Simon and Schuster is releasing tie-ins in hardcover, trade paperback and audio on July 9.

Meanwhile, another YA dystopian novel, Divergent, based on the critical hit and best seller by Veronica Roth, is scheduled to begin production in Chicago this week, with a planned released date of March next year.

E! Online, presents a “Meet the Cast” slideshow, with breathless commentary; it seems they consider everyone a perfect fit.

The first trailer for Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, based on the book by Rick Riordan was released earlier this week.

Some Hollywood watchers are surprised that there is a sequel, since the first was not judged a financial success in theaters. This time around, director Thor Freudenthal (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) replaces Chris Columbus (the first two Harry Potter movies). The movie opens on August 7.

Official Web Site: PercyJacksonTheMovie.com

The tie-in edition arrives in July:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Two The Sea of Monsters (Movie Tie-In Edition). Rick Riordan
Disney/Hyperion, 9781423160076, 142316007X $7.99 US / $8.99 Can

Signaling hopes for Oscar nominations, Fox Searchlight has set a Dec. 27 limited release for director Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave, based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir of the same title. The book recounts Northrup’s struggles to return to his family and his life as a free black man in upstate New York  after being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South.

The new pope is getting the Life pictorial treatment in Pope Francis: The Vicar of Christ, From Saint Peter to Today, (Hachette/Life). A paperback book/magazine edition appears on newsstands this week, with the hardcover releasing on April 16.

A book by the new Pope, previously published in Spanish in 2010, will be released in English on May 7. On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, (RH/Crown/Image Books) is a record of conversations between the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires. According to the Random House press release, the two religious leaders address “such topics as God, fundamentalism, atheism, the Holocaust, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and globalization.”

It will be released simultaneously in print, digital, large print and audio formats. The original Spanish-language version, Sobre el Cielo y la Terra will be published in North America in both trade paperback and eBook by RH/Vintage Espanol.

Also coming from the Image imprint of Random House is a book by Robert Moynihan, the founder of Inside the Vatican magazine, Pray for Me: The Life and Spiritual Vision of Pope Francis, First Pope from the Americas.

Jon Stewart clearly loves Mary Roach, greeting the author on Monday night’s Daily Show with the words, “I like your books!”

Her latest, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (Norton; Tantor Audio), was released on Monday. The interview begins with the question of why your stomach doesn’t digest itself (hint; it’s a trick question).

After the appearance, Gulp rose to #3 on Amazon sales rankings.

Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In, will appear on the show tonight. That appearance is unlike to result in a rise on Amazon’s sales rankings, however. The book has held the #1 spot for most of the last month.

Below is part one of the interview; part two is here (warning: it features nutrient enemas).