EarlyWord

The press is speculating on whether the four-hour ABC mini-series Titanic (April 14 and 15) will live up to James Cameron’s hugely successful 1997 movie (which returns to the big screen in 3-D in April).

The real question may be whether it lives up to Downton Abbey; Julian Fellowes created both for the UK’s ITV (The Guardian refers to it as “Downton-on-Sea”).

A flood of Titanic-themed books is on its way (when James Cameron’s movie came out fifteen years ago, it was credited with selling thousands of books on the subject; the joke in publishing circles was that Titanic was the “tide that raised all boats”).

Cameron will lead a new two-hour special called Titanic: The Final Word With James Cameron on The National Geographic Channel on April 8th.

Next week, Lyndsay Faye‘s historical novel about a serial killer in 1845 New York, The Gods of Gotham, builds on her breakout debut, while Mark Allen Smith‘s debut thriller The Inquisitor features a professional torturer who unexpectedly breaks character. There are also two notable magical realist novels: Tiffany Baker‘s The Gilly Salt Sisters and Heidi Julavit‘s The Vanishers. And in nonfiction, Marilynne Robinson returns with an essay collection about her Christian faith and “Pioneer Woman” Ree Drummond delivers a new recipe collection.

Watch List

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (Penguin/Putnam/Amy Einhorn Books; audio from Dreamscape is also downloadable from OverDrive) is set in 1845 New York, where an officer in the newly organized police force, encounters a blood-soaked girl who leads him to evidence of an anti-Irish serial killer at work. Library Journal raves, “vivid period details, fully formed characters, and a blockbuster of a twisty plot put Faye in a class with Caleb Carr. Readers will look forward to the sequel.” PW adds, “this one “improves on her impressive debut, Dust and Shadow.”

The Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker (Hachette/Grand Central Publishing; Thorndike Press) follows two sisters whose family has always harvested salt and who that may or may not have magical powers over their Cape Cod community, and the wealthy bachelor who forces his way into their lives. LJ says, “fans of Baker’s acclaimed The Little Giant of Aberdeen County won’t be disappointed with this quirky, complex, and original tale. It is also sure to enchant readers who enjoy Alice Hoffman and other authors of magical realism.”

The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith (Macmillan/ Holt; Macmillan Audio) is a thriller about a professional torturer in the “information retrieval” business, who instills fear rather than pain and has a gift for recognizing when he hears the truth. But this time, he must interrogate a 12-year-old boy, whom he decides to protect. LJ says “this is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. But Geiger, who’s seeing a psychiatrist and suffers disabling migraines, is a fascinating protagonist with a revealing backstory. A compelling debut thriller that blurs the lines between the good and bad guys.”

Literary Favorite

The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits (RH/Doubleday; Audio, Dreamscape Media) is set at an elite school for psychics, where a young student surpasses her troubled mentor, unleashing much wrath, in this novel (after The Uses of Enchantment) by the editor of the literary magazine The Believer. LJ calls it “reminiscent of Arthur Phillips’s The Egyptologist: clever, humorous, with supernatural elements. While one can easily get confused about what is real and what is imagined, readers who surrender to the narrative may be rewarded with rich insights about losing a parent.”

Usual Suspects

Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press; Wheeler Publishing; MacMillan Audio) focuses on a just-married woman whose angry new stepdaughter is determined to undermine her, and what motherhood truly means. LJ says, “Green is at her finest with this compelling novel. Deeper, more complicated, and more ambitious than her previous books, it will keep readers on edge as they wait to see how these tense family dynamics play out.”

Deep Fathom by James Rollins (HarperCollins Morrow; Harperluxe) finds ex-Navy SEAL Jack Kirkland surfacing from an aborted salvage mission to find the United States on the brink of a nuclear apocalypse.

Young Adult

Infamous(Chronicles of Nick Series #3) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin; Macmillan Audio) follows the further adventures of teenager Nick Gautier, whose first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him. He’s learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, as well as divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive and keep a girlfriend so hard, let alone survival? Kenyon’s books and fans keep mounting: there are 23 million copies of her books in print in over 30 countries,

Out of Sight, Out of Time (Gallagher Girls Series #5) by Ally Carter (Hyperion Books; Brilliance Corporation) is the latest installment in the popular spy-girl series, in which Cammie wakes up in an alpine convent and discovers months have passed since she left the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family, and her memory is a black hole.

Starters, Lissa Price, (RH/Delacorte Young Readers; Listening Library) is a new entry in the crowded field of YA dystopian novels. This one imagines a world in which teens rent their bodies to seniors who want to be young again. Kirkus wasn’t impressed with the writing, but predicted, “twists and turns come so fast that readers will stay hooked.” In its spring preview, the L.A. Times called it “the next, best entry” in the genre. It comes with a book trailer that makes you wonder how quickly it will be snapped up by Hollywood.

Nonfiction

When I Was a Child I Read Books:  Essays by Marilynne Robinson (Macmillan/FSG) is a new collection that returns to her major themes: the role of faith in modern life, the inadequacy of fact, and the contradictions inherent in human nature. Kirkus says, “Robinson is a splendid writer, no question–erudite, often wise and slyly humorous (there is a clever allusion to the birther nonsense in a passage about Noah Webster). Articulate and learned descriptions and defenses of the author’s Christian faith.”

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier by Ree Drummond (HarperCollins/Morrow) intersperses recipes with photographs of the author’s life on her ranch. Kirkus says, “some readers may delight in Drummond’s down-home way of speaking directly to the reader, while others may find the interaction a bit snarky and annoying. A collection of basic recipes to guarantee a full belly and an empty plate.”

ALA has created two new awards for adult books; the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The first winners will be announced at the ALA annual conference in June. The selection committee is chaired by Nancy Pearl. A short list of 50 titles, drawn from the Booklist Editors’ Choice and RUSA CODES Notable Books lists will be announced in May.

The NBCC winners were announced last night (annotations are from the press release):

Fiction

Edith Pearlman, Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories (U of N.C., Wilmington, Lookout Books); “a collection of 34 Chekhov-like short stories that was also nominated for the National Book Award. The publication is the first from Lookout Books and a triumph for Pearlman’s distinctive storytelling, bringing it to a larger audience.”

Nonfiction

Maya Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (RH/Knopf);  “a book of fresh, original, and sprightly scholarship, by Harvard professor of British history Jasanoff, acknowledging colonists’ response to Loyalists during the Revolutionary War and the consequences for Britain’s entire empire thereafter.”

Biography

John Lewis Gaddis,  George F. Kennan: An American Life (Penguin Press); “a book that brings alive the remarkable American statesman while also delivering a profound understanding of U.S. foreign policy in the 20th-century.”

Poetry

Laura Kasischke, Space, in Chains, (Copper Canyon Press);  “a formally inventive work that speaks to the horrors and delights of ordinary life in an utterly original way.”

Autobiography

Mira Bartók, The Memory Palace: A Memoir (S&S/Free Press); “a book that rose to the formal challenge of blending her mother’s journals, reflections on her mother’s mental illness and subsequent homelessness, and thoughts on her own recovery from a head injury to create a heartfelt yet respectful work of art.”

Dozens of suggestions have been offered for the poor bereft souls who are longing for more Downton Abbey (a third season has begun shooting. It is scheduled to air in the UK in Sept and the US in Jan). In an unusual dip into the past, this week’s People magazine recommends John Galworthy’s The Forsythe Saga (CORRECTION: in an earlier version of this story, we misidentified the recommendation as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon; People recommends that book for fans of The Artist).

Below are some of the other lists that have appeared (none of them include The Forsythe Saga):

“RA Crossroads: What To Watch (and Read) After Downton Abbey,” Neal Wyatt, Library Journal — focuses on DVD’s.

BiblioCommons, “Waiting for Downton Abbey,” by Anne Rouyer, Seward Park Library, NYPL — focuses on books.

Flavorwire.com, “Essential WWI Novels for ‘Downton Abbey’ Fans” — there are some extraordinary leaps on this list; will Downton fans really be interested in Johnny Got His Gun?

The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver included some interesting choices in their Downton-themed promotion, including To Marry an English Lord, by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace (Workman, 1989; reissued in trade pbk in March). The show’s creator, Julian Fellowes, has said it was a major inspiration (full list is here; scroll down to the sixth story on the newsletter). Libraries that own it are showing holds on few copies.

Looking ahead, PBS Masterpiece returns to WWI, beginning April 22, with the BBC’s two-part Birdsong, based on the book by Sebastian Faulkes. The British tabloid, The Daily Star, referred to it as a “raunchy adaptation” and an “X-rated hit.” British critics applauded the first episode, but were divided over the second. The audiences, while strong, were not as large as those for Downton Abbey.

A tie-in edition is coming in April (check here for EarlyWord‘s full list of tie-ins to upcoming movies & tv series)

Birdsong (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Vintage International) Sebastian Faulks Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 496 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2012-04-03) ISBN / EAN: 0345802896 / 9780345802897

The Muppets do their own version of The Hunger Games trailer (to promote their DVD and VOD “Wocka Wocka Value Pack“):

Meanwhile, Lionsgate has released a new “exclusive” clip from the real thing on Yahoo!

We’re pleased to announce an opportunity for EarlyWord readers to become part of the launch of titles by major debut authors. Working with the Library Marketing team at Penguin (many of you already know Alan Walker and Dominique Jenkins), we’ve begun “First Flights — The Penguin Debut Author Program.”

I am particularly pleased that the first title in the program is The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman (Penguin/Viking, June 16). A work of historical fiction, it appeals to me on several levels. It’s set in an area I’m familiar with, the island of Manhattan, in a time period many of us don’t know much about, when it was part of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. It features a remarkably free-spirited female character who is even more remarkable for being based on a real person. The details of daily life at the time are fascinating (foot-long oysters!) and rooted in the author’s deep knowledge of 17th C history.

When you join the program, you will get a copy of the advance readers edition of The Orphanmaster and will be invited to join an online conversation with the author and me on April 11.

You will also become part of the “Penguin First Flights” club and will automatically receive notice of each new title in the program. The second title, The Bellwether Revivals, by Benjamin Wood, is a book of psychological suspense, coming June 28.

We all love being the first to know about a book that later becomes a household name. As part of this program, you will not only be among the first to read each book, you will be among the first to get to know the authors. Find out more and sign up here.

Entertainment Weekly‘s “Inside Movies” blog just released a clip from the forthcoming The Trouble with Bliss, in which Michael C. Hall’s character explains how he chose the places he dreams of visiting. Turns out they are all based on books; something every book lover would find perfectly logical, but “Inside Movies” labels as “pathetic” (we’re betting their tone would different if the choices had been based on movies).

We can’t show you the scene, because it’s an Entertainment Weekly “exclusive,” but a portion of it appears in the beginning of the trailer.

After appearing at several film festivals last year, it will be in limited release (NYC and LA only) as well as VOD, beginning March 23rd.

It’s adapted from the book East Fifth Street Bliss by Douglas Light, (Behler Publ., 2006), which was reviewed by Library Journal and is currently owned by many libraries. It’s no longer in print, but Dreamscape is releasing an audio version, using the film’s title, that is available both as a CD and downloadable via OverDrive

We admit we were a bit skeptical when GalleyChatters first raved about The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller (HarperCollins/Ecco), a debut novel based on The Iliad.

Turns out we’re not the only ones with reservations; Mary Doria Russell, in her review in the Washington Post, admits, “Until I was 60 and writing about Doc Holliday (who read the classics in their original languages), the closest I came to The Iliad was watching Brad Pitt in Troy.”

Russell goes on to say that the book “draws the personal and the intimate” out of Homer’s story and makes it partly a “quiet love story” (about the adolescent friendship between Achilles and Patroclus, causing the Independent to dub it, “Brokeback Mountain sets sail for Troy“), peppered with “tense and exciting” battle scenes.

If you’ve been putting off reading the advance readers edition (HarperCollins was giving them away liberally), Russell’s review should put you over the top.

The multiple award-winning debut YA novel, Before I Die by Jenny Downham, (RH/David Fickling, 2007), has been adapted for the screen, with a strong cast, led by Dakota Fanning (trying on a British accent) as 17-year-old Tessa, who is trying to make the most of her life before she dies of leukemia. It also stars Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) as her shy next-door neighbor Adam and Kaya Scodelario (Skins) as her best friend Zoey.

Unfortunately, the title had to be prettied up for the movies, so it has been changed to Now Is Good and, naturally, it’s been given the Hollywood handle of “The Bucket List for Teens.”

A trailer has just been released online. Several sources note it will be released on May 25th, but that is the UK date; the US date has not been set.

Coming this weekend is one of Hollywood’s biggest gambles of the year, Disney’s $250 million John Carter.

In today’s NYT, Charles McGrath, former editor of the Book Review, looks at the movie’s source material, A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a book “filled with inconsistencies and plot threads that are never followed up.” It has nevertheless, stayed in print for decades.

McGrath defines its appeal as “a kind of cheerful boys’ adventure romanticism” and says that the very qualities that have “made it so transporting for generations of readers” are the ones that have made it “both tempting and daunting to filmmakers, who have struggled since the ’30s to come up with a version that will play to both young viewers and adults, newcomers and members of the cult.”

Many are waiting anxiously for the film’s opening this Friday, to see if the box office proves it to be the next Avatar or the next Ishtar.

To feed speculation, Disney released a new 10-minute trailer over the weekend (see our Upcoming Movies— with Tie-ins for the many re-releases of various versions of the book).

Sunday’s NYT Book Review caught up with Robert Harris’s Fear Index (RH/Knopf, Jan 31). Dozens of other reviews have already appeared (see summary here). It hit the 2/18 NYT fiction hardcover best seller list at #12 and is currently on the extended list at #24.

Last month, in a profile in The Washington Post, Harris was described as,

…[belonging to] the international community of the airport reader — the people of the paperback who demand burning plots and tense suspense. His stuff is Dan Brown, but better written. It’s Ken Follett, but less discovered. He does refined thrillers; he does restrained mania; he does social commentary disguised as potboiler.

A movie is also in the works, with Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) directing. No cast has been announced.

Several libraries are showing heavy holds.

Markus Zusak‘s young adult novel The Book Thief  (RH/Knopf, 2006) was optioned by Fox six years ago, shortly after it was released.

Signs of life appeared this week, when Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) signed on to direct.

According to Variety, the studio wants to begin production this summer.

Nicole Kidman is in talks to star in Before I Go to Sleep, based on the debut psychological thriller by British writer S.J. Watson. A GalleyChat favorite long before publication in June of last year, it went on to become a NYT best seller, rising to #7 on the hardcover fiction list.

Kidman has several book-related projects in the works. She stars, with Clive Owen, in HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn, premiering in May. Shooting is complete on The Paperboy, based on the book by Pete Dexter, but no US release date has been set and she is getting ready to shoot The Railway Man opposite Colin Firth. Back in October, she acquired the screen rights to another GalleyChat favorite, Family Fang by Kevin Wilson.

Railway Man: A POW’s Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness Eric Lomax Retail Price: $16.95 Paperback: 294 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (Dec., 1980) ISBN : 9780393334982