EarlyWord

The second Oprah 2.0 pick, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis, arrives on the NYT Hardcover Fiction best seller list this week at #10 (oddly, the annotation does not mention the Oprah connection —  “Fifty-some years in the life of an African-American family, starting with Hattie Shepherd, who leaves Georgia for Philadelphia in 1923.”)

It rose to #41 on the USA Today list from #95 last week.

Mathis received another strong endorsement after the Oprah pick, in the form of a rave from the NYT‘s difficult-to-please critic, Michiko Kakutani. The Washington Post’s Ron Charles is also impressed, but there are at least two dissenting voices, including the Wall Street Journal and a particularly scathing review in the L.A. Times, which says the book is,

…a callow work by a writer of still unpolished talents. Our great novelists give us fully rounded characters whose lives reflect the limitations, the possibilities and the wonder of the times in which they live. Mathis gives us a one-dimensional portrait of their suffering — and little else.

It won’t hit screens until May 10 of next year, but we already have the second official trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, (the first one was released in May, back when the movie was still scheduled for this Christmas).

Luhrmann again pairs modern music with an older story (as he did for Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet). The sound track features Kanye West and Jay-Z’s No Church in the Wild, Florence + the Machines’ Bedroom Hymns and the Turtles’ Happy Together, covered by Filter.

The film stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio … Jay Gatsby

Carey Mulligan … Daisy Buchanan

Tobey Maguire …  Nick Carraway

Isla Fischer …  Myrtle Wilson

Joel Edgerton … Tom Buchanan

Elizabeth Debicki … Jordan Baker

With the Christmas holiday arriving next week, it’s amazing that any new books will be shipped, but a few are on the way. Dick Wolf, creator of the TV series Law & Order, makes his fiction debut. Simon Garfield, whose book on fonts was a surprise hit, turns his attention to maps and the tie-in to a “zombie rom-com” movie arrives.

The Intercept: A Jeremy Fisk Novel by Dick Wolf, (Harper/Morrow; HarperAudio; Blackstone Audio)

Wolf, the creator of the TV series Law & Order introduces NYPD anti-terrorism detective Jeremy Fisk, in this, his first novel, planned as the beginning of a series. Expect heavy promotion for this one. It is already connecting with booksellers, who put it on the  Indie Next List for January. Prepub reviews were enthusiastic about the tense plot, but not so much about the writing or character development.

On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks, by Simon Garfield, (Penguin/Gotham)

Garfield fed the growing fascination with fonts in his book Just My Type. Now he turns  to a subject with even more enthusiasts, cartography. Published earlier  this year in the UK and in several university library collections, this is a “fully Americanized edition” (besides taking out all those pesky u’s, we’re dying to know what that means).

Warm Bodies: Movie Tie-in by Isaac Morton. (S&S/Atria/Emily Bestler)

Billed as a “zombie rom-com,” the movie is based on a book that was originally a self-published success. Set  in America after a zombie apocalypse, it features “R,”  a young zombie who communicates mostly via grunts and moans. His favorite food is human brains, which give him a side of memories. After eating the brains of a suicidal teen, R falls in love with the boy’s girl friend. One hitch; her father, played by John Malkovich, is the country’s leading zombie killer.

Official Web Site: WarmBodiesMovie.com
 

Two major Top Ten Books lists landed today — People magazine’s (not available yet online) and USA Today’s.

Neither includes E.L. James’s trilogy, but both feature the author (USA Today as “Author of the Year,” People as “Game Changer”). USA Today says, in a version of, “at least they are reading,” that James’s series “has proven that the novel — whether in print or e-book pixels — remains a heavyweight in the boxing ring of popular entertainment.” People calls the series a “soft-porn phenom.”

Both top ten lists include Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers, but that is where similarities end.

People is one of the few to not include Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies, which has been the year’s big winner, both in sales and the number of best books picks (see below).

People‘s #1 pick, Alice Munro’s Dear Life, has appeared on many longer lists, but is not on any other top ten. The same is true of USA Today‘s top pick, Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver.

After the jump, the titles on each list, with notes on titles that received other top ten picks to date (LJ‘s list is due some time today).

Read the rest of this entry »

A year ago nearly to the date, it was announced that Universal had acquired the rights to Laini Taylor’s award winning YA novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Hachette/LBYR).

The studio has now signaled that they “see the project as a priority,” according to Deadline.com, by signing Joe Roth (Snow White and The Huntsman) to produce it.

The second in the planned trilogy, Days Of Blood & Starlight, (Hachette/LBYR), came out last month.

Angelina Jolie lands her second role as director (after Blood and Honey) for the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s long running best seller, Unbroken (Random House, 2010), reports Deadline.com.

Amazingly, a film about Unbroken‘s subject, Louis Zamperini, who survived 47 days on a life raft in the Pacific during WWII, has been in the works for 55 years, long before Hillenbrand began working on her book. Universal bought Zamperini’s “life rights” in the 1950’s, with plans to star Tony Curtis.

The film is supposed to begin production next year.

Zamperini will be 96 years old in January.

Hillenbrand’s earlier book, Seabiscuit, (Random House, 2001), was made into a successful movie.

Patti Smith announces that she plans to publish a sequel to her best selling memoir and National Book Award winner, Just Kids (Harper/Ecco, 2010).

She tells Billboard that it will cover the same period as the first book, but with a different perspective. Just Kids focused on her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. This one will focus more on her music and her late husband, Fred Smith, the MC 5 guitarist.

No title or release date has been announced.

The next in my series of BEST BOOKS TO GIVE KIDS YOU DON’T KNOW VERY WELL, my picks in nonfiction, below.

Stay tuned for poetry picks.

For The Kid Who Is Nuts About Dogs

Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs, by Michaela Muntean, photos by K.C. Bailey and Stephen Kazmierski, Scholastic, ages 5 and up

Circus performer, Luciano Anastasini rescues unwanted dogs and uses their talents in his Big Apple Circus act. The full-color photographs and close-up portraits telegraph the joy of these working partners, as does the following video.

For The Kid Who Is Always Picking Up Stuff At The Beach

Life in the Ocean: the Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, written and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola, (Macmillan/FSG), ages 6 and up

Nivoli has captured the adventuresome inventiveness of a pioneering scientist in this picture book biography.  We discover a mysterious richly populated underwater world as Earle finds new ways to observe and interact with multiple species.

Great for the Whole Family to Share

 

Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth’s Strangest Animals, by Michael Hearst, Diagrams, artwork and other visuals by Arjen Noordeman, Christie Wright and Jelmer Noordeman, (Chronicle), ages 5 and up

From the platypus entering the first end papers to the moment he swims off the final ones, we are enthralled by the information and sheer artistry in bookmaking of this compendium of odd living things from around the globe. Hearst’s Web site continues the story, with news about new discoveries.

For The Kid Who Has To KNOW And You Don’t Have The Answers

A Black Hole Is Not A Hole, written by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, illustrated by Michael Carroll, Charlebridge (Charlesbridge), ages 10 and up

DeCristafano takes a complicated topic and teases it apart, exploring discoveries and theories with a light but not silly humor assisted by Carroll’s diagrams and illustrations. The book tells you everything you wanted to know about black holes but were afraid to ask.

For The Kid Who Picks Up Every Insect And Brings It Home

Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard, by Loree Griffin Burns, photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz, (Macmillan/Henry Holt), ages 7 and up

No matter how old we are and no matter where we live we can participate in the community of scientific discovery. As we observe and record information about the world around us, we become part of the grand tradition of everyday people supporting working scientists in their quest for knowledge.

No Crystal Stair, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, artwork by R. Gregory Christie, (Lerner/LAB), YA and adult crossover

Although classified as fiction, the author used archival materials, extensive bibliographic resources and interviews to create a “documentary novel of the life and work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem bookseller.” She describes the impact that one man had on an entire community as “just a book bookstore owner.” Christie’s  paintings evoke a time, a place and a people. A splendid volume to give adults as well as teens.

The Today Show asked two best selling authors to talk about their favorite books for holiday gifts this morning. David Baldacci and Gillian Flynn managed to mention eight of the twenty titles on their full lists,

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Librarians will heartily agree with this lead-in to an interview which airs on Rock Center with Brian Williams tomorrow night, “When you line up all of James Patterson’s books, there seems to be no end in sight.”

As is well known, he has some help. Patterson answers Harry Smith’s question about whether he is an author or an assembly line, in this brief clip:

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Continuing my series of BEST BOOKS TO GIVE KIDS YOU DON’T KNOW VERY WELL, which began with my picks of books to give younger kids and continued with easy-to-read titles, here are my picks for older kids and young adults.

Fiction Ages 9 and up

Wonder, R.J. Palacio, (RH/ Knopf Young Readers; Brilliance Audio), ages 9 and up

This stunning debut novel about a home-schooled boy with a facial disfigurement who attends school for the first time has hit the bestsellers lists. I suspect it is grownups, teachers and librarians that are making that happen. I am hoping that this book with its multiple points-of-view finds itself in the hands of middle-school children who desperately need permission to make mistakes, make amends, and begin again.

Almost Home, by Joan Bauer, (Penguin/Viking), ages 9 and up

For the kid that has read all of Katherine Paterson, Patricia Reilly Giff, and loved Because of Winn Dixie.

Full disclosure – I will read anything Joan Bauer writes. She had me at Rules of the Road.  Each novel is a gem. If there is a theme to her books it is resilience, defined as the process of learning to cope with stress and adversity. Bauer’s storytelling gift is her ability to paint her fictional world in the spectrum of colors, the good and the bad, the surprising and the disappointing. Sugar Mae Cole copes with an unpredictably absentee father, a mother with mental health issues and the stress, sadness, discomfort of homelessness. This isn’t a sad book (although there a weepy bits), it is one that makes the reader cheer when Sugar is discovering moments of joy and putting together a stack of “best days.”

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielson, (Scholastic; Scholastic Audio), ages 11 and up

Looking for a few quiet moments during the holidays? After handing this page-turner to a kid, it is a good bet that we won’t hear from them for hours. This is a book for readers who ate up Harry Potter, tore through Rick Riordan, and are just discovering the entire backlist of Diana Wynne Jones. The story begins predictably enough, Sage is surviving in an orphanage, wretched and unloved when his life takes an unexpected and dangerous turn. He is to be presented to the court as the missing heir of the King. Fast-paced plotting, plenty of twists make this a worthy gift to the Rowling/Riordan fans. The second title in this projected trilogy, The Runaway King, is scheduled for release in March.

Jepp Who Defied the Stars, by Katherine Marsh, (Hyperion; Blackstone Audio), ages 12 and up

Marsh’s stunning debut The Night Tourist featuring Greek mythology set in New York City’s Grand Central Station captured the 8^th graders who had aged out of Riordan’s Lightning Thief series. Here she presents a meaty read for historic fiction readers. Set in 16^th century Europe, we follow the coming of age journey of Jepp, a dwarf who becomes a court jester, a transformative story of compassion and forgiveness, immersed in a world of faith, fate and scientific discovery.

Young Adult

Devine Intervention, by Martha Brockenbrough, (Scholastic), ages 12 and up

In a new twist to the “dead girl genre” (Thirteen Reasons Why, The Lovely Bones, If I Stay) we have the dead boy teen. Imagine that a barely literate stoner dude, who dies in an incredibly stupid accident, is appointed a guardian angel to help a living soul. Only he doesn’t read much of the manual or comprehend what little he does read.  Laugh out-loud funny.

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, (Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends), ages 12 and up

That middle school speculative fiction fan who has read everything may have overlooked this not-really fairytale retelling of Cinderella set in a dystopic future of indentured servitude, class warfare and overt prejudice, subjugation and persecution of economic and geographic classes. A resourceful independent heroine compels the readers’ empathy and cheers as she battles forces beyond her (and our) understanding. The second in the series, Scarlet, which plays on the Red Riding Hood story, arrives in February.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, (Random House; Listening Library)

Turning the trope of a fantasy novel with sentient dragons on its ear, Hartman’s debut features a race of dragons who are alien beings capable of transforming to “fit in” yet not quite being able to grasp the norms of social graces. Seraphina discovers that all that she was sure of in life is not true, yet she has been graced with love and loyalty. The second in this two-part series is planned for fall 2013.

Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin, by Robin LaFevers, (HMH; Recorded Books audio), ages 14 and up

Move over vampires, werewolves and zombies, there is a new original fantasy genre, assassin nuns. What if there was a society where young women were educated in a convent-like atmosphere and trained to murder for a “higher-cause”? With all of the intrigue of The Thief, this is a compelling read that I couldn’t put down. The sequel, Dark Triumph, arrives in April.

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein, (Disney/Hyperion; Brilliance Audio), ages 14 and up

Did you know that the Royal Air Force employed women as pilots and couriers to serve in occupied France during World War II?  This historic novel weaves the stories of young women who risked their lives to save others during the darkest days of the war. Wein begins this heart-wrenching story with the memoir-like writings of a captured British spy. This is more than a “war story,” It is a tale of friendship and love, of courage and endurance. So suspenseful, I could barely catch my breath to turn the page.

Continuing my series of BEST BOOKS TO GIVE KIDS YOU DON’T KNOW VERY WELL, which began with my picks of books to give younger kids…

Is there a four or five-year-old in the house that you are visiting? You cannot go wrong by bringing along some easy-to-read books. Series books are the key for this group. As kids get more fluent, they tear through books with favorite characters like popcorn. You may want to bring an entire series (we’ve given you links to information on each of them).

Let’s Go for a Drive! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), Mo Willems (Disney/Hyperion)

Deapan humor featuring the best friends Elephant and Piggie in this newest of the series.

Katie Woo Rules the School written by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Tammie Lyon, (Capstone/Picture Window Books)

This series stars a little girl in all of the very real awkward school and home situations confronting elementary students.  First and second graders with new reading skills beg for these books.

Penny and Her Song, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)

Caldecott award winner, Henkes gives us the present of a new character in this first in anearly chapter book series about a big sister mouse who sings a new song.

Bink and Gollie: Two for One, Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile,(Candlewick)

This newest installment of a series about two best friends – one tall, neat and reserved, one petite, rambunctious with a thatch of spiky blonde hair – take us to the exciting, sometimes overwhelming experiences of the State Fair.

How often do the NYT daily book reviewers agree with their colleagues on the Sunday NYT Book Review?

Only about a third of the time, judging by the overlap between best books selections by the two publications.

Download our Excel files compiling the various Best Books lists here:

• 2012 — Adult Fiction Best Books Collated
• 2012 — Adult Nonfiction, Collated
• 2012 — Childrens Best Books Collated

The daily reviewers go their own way. Of the total 30 picks, 8 have not appeared on other Best Books lists we’ve been tracking (we don’t track all of them, focusing on the most influential consumer lists and those from library publications).

Critic Michiko Kakutani breaks ground by being the first to choose a self-published title as a best book, The Revolution Was Televised by hitflix.com’s TV critic Alan Sepinwall.

Michiko Kakutani’s 10 Favorite Books of 2012 — Unique picks:

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs And The Great Age Of American Innovation, by Jon Gertner (Penguin Press).

The Twelve Tribes Of Hattie, Ayana Mathis, (Alfred A. Knopf) — this is also the current Oprah pick.

The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers And Slayers Who Changed Tv Drama Forever, Alan Sepinwall, (self-pubbed under the nameWhat’s Alan Watching?)

Janet Maslin’s 10 Favorite Books of 2012 — Unique picks:

Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle To Save The World, Evan Thomas (Little, Brown)

Dwight Garner’s 10 Favorite Books of 2012 — Unique picks:

Poems 1962-2012, Louise Glück (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Fire In The Belly: The Life And Times Of David Wojnarowicz, Cynthia Carr (Bloomsbury).

In Praise Of Messy Lives: Essays, Katie Roiphe (Dial)

The Richard Burton Diaries , Edited By Chris Williams (Yale University Press)

Alien Vs. Predator: Poems, Michael Robbins

 

A book that’s been called the “Sci-fi Fifty Shades of Grey” (as in, a self-published book that became such a hit that Hollywood came knocking — NOT because it takes eroticism into space), Hugh Howey’s Wool, is going to be released in paperback and hardcover by S&S, this coming March. Wool began life as short story, followed by four more titles, which are collected in Wool – Omnibus Edition (Amazon/CreateSpace; 9781469984209), available through wholesalers as print-on-demand and owned by several libraries.

Back in April, Howey told Publishers Weekly, that he had not made a deal with an American publisher (although he had one with Random House in the UK), because he found the terms being offered unattractive. On his Web site, Howey says he decided to go with S&S because, “This deal is all about the new publishing paradigm. There are no clauses limiting what I can write and how quickly I can release. I keep control over the ebooks, which means the prices will stay where they are.”

While he doesn’t mention it specifically, he has chosen to go with a publisher that does not make their ebooks available to libraries. He does mention libraries in his announcement of the deal, but makes a common erroneous assumption about the preferred library format:

And it gets better. Simon and Schuster is planning a simultaneous paperback and hardback release … It’s the best of all possible worlds. Affordable e-books published swiftly, paperbacks where anyone can find them, hardbacks for the libraries.

Ridley Scott is producing the film and has hired J. Blakeson as the director.

Below, Howey gives many more details about the book deal (as part of the post, “Luddites, Rejoice!” because print book are for Luddites. Presumably, that includes libraries):