EarlyWord

Our first clue that the film adaptation of The Descendants did well at last night’s Golden Globes was the rise of the tie-in on Amazon’s sales rankings (now at #125, from #2,944).

What do these wins portend for the Oscars? MTV explores that question.

Below are the winners based on books, with tie-ins (full list here).

Best Motion Picture (Drama)
The Descendants

Best Actor (Drama)
George Clooney (The Descendants)

Tie-in:

The Descendants: A Novel Kaui Hart Hemmings Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks – (2011-10-04) ISBN / EAN: 0812982959 / 9780812982954

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Tie-in:

The Hugo Movie Companion Brian Selznick Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2011-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545331552 / 9780545331555

Best Actress (Drama)
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Tie-in: No specific book is listed as the source for the screenplay. In the UK, a biography titled The Iron Lady was published in 2003. Penguin has released an abridged version in the U.S. to coincide with the movie.

The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, from Grocer’s Daughter to Prime Minister John Campbell Retail Price: $16.00 Hardcover: 576 pages Publisher: Penguin – (2011-10-25) ISBN: 9780143120872

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)
Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)
Tie-in:

My Week with Marilyn Colin Clark Retail Price: $16.00 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Weinstein Books – (2011-10-04) ISBN / EAN: 1602861498 / 9781602861497

Audio; Dreamscape

Best Animated Feature Film
The Adventures of Tintin

Tie-ins: In addition, to the following, LBYR has released new “Young Readers Editions” of the Tintin books, with original story and art, plus background material (full list of titles available here).

The Adventures of Tintin: The Chapter Book (Movie Tie-In) Retail Price: $4.99 Paperback: 80 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316185736 / 9780316185738

The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin’s Daring Escape (Movie Tie-In) Kirsten Mayer Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: LB Kids – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316185744 / 9780316185745

The Adventures of Tintin: The Mystery of the Missing Wallets (Passport to Reading Level 2) Kirsten Mayer Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 32 pages Publisher: LB Kids – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316185752 / 9780316185752

The Adventures of Tintin: Danger at Sea (Passport to Reading Level 2) Kirsten Mayer Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 32 pages Publisher: LB Kids – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316185779 / 9780316185776

The Adventures of Tintin: A Novel (Movie Tie-In) Alex Irvine Retail Price: $14.99 paperback 240 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2011-11-01) ISBN : 9780316185790

Best Supporting Actress:
Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Tie-in:

The Help (Movie Tie-In) Kathryn Stockett Retail Price: $16.00 Paperback: 544 pages Publisher: Berkley Trade – (2011-06-28) ISBN / EAN: 0425245136 / 9780425245132

Many of us are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Newbery winner and honor books at the upcoming ALA Midwinter meeting. So, too are the kids at the Bank Street College of Education School for Children. They have already voiced their opinion in the annual Bank Street Mock Newbery Awards. Seventy-seven kids, ages ten to twelve, read, discussed and voted on a short list of titles.

And, the winner is:

Wonderstruck Brian Selznick Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Scholastic – (2011-09-13) ISBN / EAN: 0545027896 / 9780545027892

Honor Books

Divergent Veronica Roth Retail Price: $13.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Tegen Books – (2011-05-03) ISBN :  9780062024022

Bird in a Box Andrea Pinkney Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hachette/LBYR – (2011-04-12) ISBN / EAN: 0316074039 / 9780316074032 Audio: Listening Library Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: HMH/Clarion – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0547152604 / 9780547152608 RH/Listening Library; OverDrive The rest of the titles on the short list, after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

To watch next week, a young adult title set during the Haitian earthquake has strong crossover appeal. Stewart O’Nan delivers a love story and Orson Scott Card returns with another title in the Ender series. In nonfiction, the fascination with SEAL’s continues with an autobiography by the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history.

Young Adult Watch List

In Darkness by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury) is set in Haiti, where a teenage boy is trapped among ruins, surrounded by bodies, with death seeming imminent. But then he becomes aware of Touissant L’Overture reaching out to him across 200 years of history. The Wall St. Journal covered it a roundup of YA titles for Black History Month, saying “elegant, restrained prose and distinct characters will reward adults and older teenagers able to brave a story with strong language, harrowing scenes of brutality and an almost painful stab of joy at the end.”

Notable Literary Titles

The Odds: A Love Story by Stewart O’Nan (Viking; Center Point Large Print) is set on Valentine’s weekend, as Art and Marion Fowler – both jobless and facing foreclosure – flee to the site of their honeymoon in Niagara Falls decades earlier, book a bridal suite, and risk everything at the roulette wheel. Library Journal says that O’Nan “sensitively makes the everyday hurts of everyday people real and important. This book will resonate profoundly in today’s strapped environment; great for book clubs.”

Usual Suspects

Raylan by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow; Blackstone Audio) is the third crime novel starring U.S. marshal Raylan Givens (now the star of the FX television series Justified), a former Kentucky coal miner, against three very different female crooks. Library Journal says, “Leonard lovers will find the fascinatingly twisted personalities common to his fiction here, along with memorable trademark Leonard moments of humor, grit, and greed. Raylan will play well with his current popularity and won’t disappoint fans of the books and the show.”

Death of Kings (Saxon Tales #6) by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins; HarperLuxe Large Print) is the sixth (but not final) installment of  Cornwell’s saga of England, in whichAlfred the Great lays dying, while the fate of the Angles, Saxons and Vikings hang in the balance. PW says, “Ninth-century combat lacks the grandeur of large armies, but Uhtred’s cunning, courage, and a few acts of calculated cruelty make for a compelling read.”

Shadows in Flight (Ender’s Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books) finds Bean having fled to the stars with three of his children, who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. Library Journal says, “Card deals with the repercussions of bioengineering for the human species. [His]graceful storytelling gives this narrative the feel of a parable or a futuristic myth; it is bound to please the author’s fan base and readers who enjoyed the first book.” But Kirkus cautions, “Do not attempt to appreciate this book without at least some familiarity with Card’s child-warrior Ender series.”

Young Adult

Hallowed (Unearthly Series #2) by Cynthia Hand (HarperTeen) is the second novel to feature part-angel Clara Gardner, who is torn between her love for her boyfriend Tucker and her complicated feelings about the role she seems destined to play. Kirkus says, “readers who enjoyed the steadfast characters, plotting and romance of Unearthly (2010) can expect more of the same in this equally satisfying sequel.”

Nonfiction

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle (William Morrow; HarperLuxe Large Print) is the autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, whose record 255 confirmed kills make him the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history. Booklist says, “The book reads like a a first-person thriller narrated by a sniper. The book follows his career from 1999 to 2009, and, like Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead (2003), it portrays a sniper’s life as a mixture of terror and mind-numbing boredom… A first-rate military memoir.”

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions; S&S Audio) finds the bestselling author of Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto exploring the philosophical basis of America’s foundations and the crisis that the government faces today.

Kim Jong Il’s oldest son is about to release a book in Japan and journalists are preparing to jump on it to try to uncover information about the secretive regime (see the Washington Post “Political Bookworm” blog).

Curiosity about North Korea may be driving interest in Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son, (Random House) a thriller about a North Korean soldier, which is based in part on firsthand accounts from defectors from that country.

It’s receiving strong reviews, even from the hard-to-please NYT critic, Michiko Kakutani. The Washington Post says it turns “implausible fact…into entirely believable fiction” and NPR’s The Takeaway took a look at the impressive research behind the book.

Libraries have ordered lightly and several are showing growing holds (thanks to Janet Lockhart at Wake County Library, NC, for the tip).

The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel of North Korea Adam Johnson Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 465 pages Publisher: Random House – (2012-01-10) ISBN 9780812992793

RH Audio

Steven Spielberg’s two holiday movies are both based on books (War Horse and Tintin). The director  is currently at work on Lincoln, based on the last section of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals (S&S, 2005) starring Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. This week, he confirmed in an interview with Time Out London that his next movie will be Robopocalypse, based on the novel by Daniel H. Wilson (RH/Doubleday, June, 2011), a thriller set in the near future that was heavily promoted at BEA this year and landed on the NYT best seller list at #13 for one week. Spielberg signed it before it was published, based on a 100-page sample.

Spielberg describes the project to Time Out London,

It’s a movie about a global war between man and machine.I had a great time creating the future on Minority Report, and it’s a future that is coming true faster than any of us thought it would. Robopocalypse takes place in 15 or 20 years, so it’ll be another future we can relate to. It’s about the consequences of creating technologies which make our lives easier, and what happens when that technology becomes smarter than we are. It’s not the newest theme, it’s been done throughout science fiction, but it’s a theme that becomes more relevant every year.

In their regular seasonal books preview, USA Today lists ten books “sure to entice you,” from a longer list of thirty of the “biggest books” coming January through April (in slide show form, it’s like flash cards for readers advisors — for other previews, check our links at the right, under “2012 Book Previews”).

Most of them, of course, are titles from sure-bet authors, but there are a few lesser-knowns among the picks.

In the Top Ten:

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity Katherine Boo Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Random House – (2012-02-07) ISBN / EAN: /

RH Audio; Thorndike Large Print

The first book by Pulitzer-prize winning New Yorker writer, this book looks at the lives of  a some of the 3,000 people who live on piles of garbage in an area near Mumbai’s airport, hidden behind a fence covered with ads for a floor tile called “Beautiful Forever.” USA Today points out that it will have a ready audience among fans of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, (and those who read  Boo’s 2009 New Yorker story about a 13-year-old scavenger, Letter form Mumbai: Opening Night, The scene from the airport slums. The “Opening Night” of the title is the Indian premier of Slumdog Millionaire).

—

One of two first novels on the the longer list is a title that may sound unlikely (how willing ARE Americans to delve into Greek mythology? Come to think of it, Rick Riordan has proved that at least one segment of the population is willing to go down that road), but the advance buzz on GalleyChat has us intrigued. If you’re going to MidWinter, try to nab a copy at the HarperCollins booth (they are also including copies in the goodie bag at their buzz session — sign up at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com).

The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Ecco – (2012-03-06) ISBN / EAN: 0062060619 / 9780062060617

One of last year’s major fiction debuts, A Discovery of Witches, currently on the NYT trade paperback best seller list, is getting renewed attention. It’s a COSTCO book pick for January and Variety reports that Warner Bros. has signed screenwriter David Auburn for the movie adaptation. In hardcover, the book spent 6 weeks on the NYT bestseller list and 9 more on the extended list.

It is the first in the All Souls Trilogy (book 2, Shadow of Night, is coming in July). Libraries that have it on order are already showing significant holds.

Shadow of Night: A Novel Deborah Harkness Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 592 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2012-07-10) ISBN / EAN: 0670023485 / 9780670023486

Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print

Yesterday, we reported on the next moves by various Harry Potter alums. In addition, Chris Columbus, director of the first two Harry Potter movies, is turning his eyes to creating source material. Entertainment Weekly interviewed him recently, after he signed a deal with HarperCollins to write House of Secrets, a middle-grade fantasy trilogy, with co-author Ned Vizzini (who wrote It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which became a movie starring Zach Galifianakis). No release date has been set.

Why buy the rights to someone else’s books when you can write your own?

The fledgling CBS This Morning show scored a major “get” today. First Lady Michelle Obama, who rarely gives interviews, sat down with Gayle King. The interview had been arranged before Christmas, but the timing was uncanny as it gave Obama an opportunity to address some of the issues raised in NYT reporter Jodi Kantor’s book, The Obamas.

While many news sources are simply reporting the book’s “juicy bits,” others, like Time magazine, have expressed skepticism. A list of the book’s alleged errors is supposedly making the rounds. The site Buzz Feed has gone to the extreme of fact-checking that fact-checking.

Despite all the attention, the book is at #26 and falling on Amazon, after reaching a high of #19 yesterday. Where ordering was light, libraries are showing heavy holds.

The Obamas Jodi Kantor Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2012-01-10) ISBN / EAN: 0316098752 / 9780316098755

Thorndike Large Print

Many of you were dismayed when you learned that Tom Cruise had been chosen to play Jack Reacher in the film version of  Lee Child’s One Shot (RH/Delacorte, 2005). At 6 feet 5 inches and  around 250 pounds, Reacher is an imposing figure. Tom Cruise is…smaller.

Here’s a way to vent your feelings; the Wall Street Journal today offers the opportunity to vote on who would make the best Reacher. So far, Cruise trails all the choices, with just 3% of the votes. Daniel Craig leads, with 28%, followed closely by Viggo Moretensen (23%) and Ray Stevenson (22%).

It’s been a long an tortuous road to bring Reacher to the screen, and not only because the lead was difficult to cast, as the accompanying WSJ article explores.

The movie, One Shot, is expected to be released in 2013. Child tells the WSJ that if it is a success, Killing Floor (Penguin/Putnam, 1997) will probably be the next title in the series. Bad Luck and Trouble (RH/Delacorte, 2007) is under discussion for #3.

Disney Publishing announced late yesterday that a 2-million-copy first printing of The Serpent’s Shadow, the final volume in Rick Riordan’s best-selling Kane Chronicles will be released on May 1. An excerpt of the first chapter is now available on TheKaneChronicles.com. It will also be released in audio by Brilliance.

The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, Book Three) Rick Riordan Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Disney Publishing – (2012-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 1423140575 / 9781423140573

Riordan appeard on Rock Center with Brian Williams last night. Towards the end of the interview, he announced the new title.

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

The graduates of Hogwarts may be on to new chapters in their careers, but they are sticking to book adaptations.

After appearing in a supporting role in My Week with Marilyn, Emma Watson’s next role is in the adaptation of the coming-of-age novel, The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (S&S/MTV Books). She plays Sam, who guides wallflower Charlie (Logan Lerman) through the pitfalls of trying to fit in. Chbosky wrote the screenplay and directs. Summit has just released the first images from the film. There’s no opening date yet, but it is expected some time this year.

Watson’s Harry Potter co-star, Daniel Radcliffe, next stars in The Woman in Black, based on the book by Susan Hill. It opens on February 3rd.

The Woman in Black (Movie Tie-in Edition): A Ghost Story Susan Hill Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 176 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2012-01-03) ISBN / EAN: 0307745317 / 9780307745316

Meanwhile, J.K. Rowling seems to be having trouble with the launch of Pottermore.com. After opening in Beta for a select group of 1 million users this summer, with plans to open to the rest of the world in October, it was put on indefinite hold in November. The Pottermore Insider blog gives no clues; it’s focused on posting art by the Beta users.

According to several news sources, including CBS News, Washington is buzzing over a new book that portrays Michelle Obama as a powerful behind-the-scenes White House force (yes, that’s Charlie Rose, below, in his new position as the anchor for the CBS Early Show now revamped as CBS This Morning).

Actually, the buzz is coming from an excerpt published in the NYT (the author is by the Times Washington correspondent); the book releases tomorrow.

The Obamas Jodi Kantor Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2012-01-10) ISBN / EAN: 0316098752 / 9780316098755

Thorndike Large Print

George Clooney has starred in many movies based on books (The Descendants, The American, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Up in the Air and even The Fantastic Mr. Fox). He hits the books again with his next project, a big budget film based on The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. According to the movie news site, The Wrap. Clooney is writing the script with producing partner Grant Heslov. The pair also collaborated on Good Night, and Good Luck, and The Ides of March. Clooney plans to direct and star in the movie.

The book is by Robert M. Edsel who, after selling his oil and gas exploration company, began researching the international efforts to rescue art from the hands of the Nazis (the group who did this were called “The Monuments Men,” although at least one woman was part of the group), and created a foundation for art preservation.

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History Robert M. Edsel Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 513 pages Publisher: Center Street – (2009-09-03) ISBN 9781599951492

Edsel co-produced a documentary on the subject, The Rape of Europa, based on the book by Lynn Nicholas. The film is included in The Greatest Theft in History, an educational program for schools and libraries.

The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War Lynn H. Nicholas Retail Price: $17.00 Paperback: 512 pages Publisher: Vintage – (1995-04-25) ISBN / EAN: 0679756868 / 9780679756866

Edsel published an earlier book, Rescuing Da Vinci, which was published in 2006.

Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe’s Great Art – America and Her Allies Recovered It Robert M. Edsel Retail Price: $39.95 Hardcover: 302 pages Publisher: Laurel Publishing, LLC – (2006-12-15) ISBN / EAN: 0977434907 / 9780977434909

Another book on the subject is Ilaria Dagnini Brey’s The Venus Fixers.

The Venus Fixers: The Remarkable Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy’s Art During World War II Ilaria Dagnini Brey Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Macmillan/FSG – (2009-08-04) ISBN / EAN: 0374283095 / 9780374283094

Asian politics animate two key titles this week, one by American author Adam Johnson about North Korea, and the other a translation of a novel by Chan Koonchung about China in the near-future that has been banned in that country. Usual suspects include Elizabeth George, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and John Burdett – plus young adult authors John Green and Beth Revis. In nonfiction, there are biographies of the Obamas by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor and of Queen Elizabeth by Sally Bedell Smith.

Watch List

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Random House; RH Audio) follows a young man’s journey from a North Korean orphanage into a life of spying, kidnapping, and torture, followed by a new identity as the husband of the Dear Leader’s favorite actress. Library Journal says, “evidently a blend of personal story and political revelation, with thriller overtones thrown in for fun, this work is being positioned as a breakout for Johnson. The first two serials go to Granta in August 2011 and Playboy in January 2012, which certainly suggests broad appeal.”

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung (Nan A. Talese) was an underground sensation in China before being banned. Set in Beijing in the near future, it’s about a group of friends who decide to find out more about the “lost month” during the country’s political transition that has been erased from the nation’s memory.  PW says, “this first English translation… feels flat, a quality exacerbated by the novel’s uneven pace and lengthy digressions into historical and political minutiae. However, Koonchung (founder of Hong Kong’s City Magazine) reveals the moral and political perils of contemporary Chinese life.”

Usual Suspects

Believing the Lie (Inspector Lynley Series #16) by Elizabeth George (Dutton; Penguin Audiobooks; Thorndike Large Print) finds Scotland Yard policeman Thomas Lynley to delving into the accidental death of the gay nephew of a wealthy industrialist. Kirkus says, “pared-down George, weighing in at a svelte 600 pages, but still strewn with subplots, melodrama, melancholy, a wretchedly unhappy Havers and the impossibly heroic, impossibly nice Thomas Lynley.”

Gideon’s Corpse by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Grand Central Publishing; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Print) finds Gideon Crew in his second outing, tracking a terrorist cell ten days before a planned attack on a major American city. PW says, the “lead could be cut-and-pasted into any number of books by less gifted genre writers.”

Vulture Peak: A Bangkok Novel by John Burdett (Knopf) is the latest to feature Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who is in charge of the highest-profile case in Thailand — an attempt to bring an end to trafficking in human organs. Kirkus says, “Burdett’s strengths are tilted toward characterization rather than plotting, for Buddhist Sonchai remains a fascinating cross between Buddhist monk and hard-boiled detective.”

Lothaire by Kresley Cole (Gallery Books; S&S Audio) continues the Immortals After Dark series, with the story of how Lothaire the Enemy of Old rose to power a millenia ago, becoming the most feared and evil vampire in the immortal world.

Young Adult

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton; Brilliance Audio). The uber-popular author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns, applies his trade-marked humor to a serious subject. A young girl facing terminal illness encounters an unexpected friend who turns her life around.  Every time Green mentions the book on his popular vlog, it rises on Amazon, as we’ve been noting for several months, so it’s no surprise that the announced first printing is 150,000 copies. Entertaiment Weekly is giving it a push, with an author interview, an “exclusive” (but rather unrevealing) trailer and a strong review.

A Million Suns: An Across the Universe Novel by Beth Revis (Razorbill) is the second installment in the Across the Universe trilogy about the 2,763 people trapped aboard a spaceship. Kirkus says, “Revis’ shining brilliance is the fierce tension about survival (is Godspeed deteriorating? can people survive terrorism inside an enclosed spaceship?) and the desperate core question of whether any generation will ever reach a planet. Setting and plot are the heart and soul of this ripping space thriller, and they’re unforgettable.”

Nonfiction

The Obamas by Jodi Kantor (Little, Brown; Thorndike Large Print) peers inside the White House as the Obamas try to grapple with their new roles, change the country, raise children, maintain friendships, and figure out what it means to be the first black President and First Lady. Kantor is the Washington correspondent for the New York Times, as well as its “Arts & Leisure” editor.

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith (Random House; Random House Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is “comparable to Ben Pimlott’s excellent The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II (1998),” says Library Journal. “But with information on nearly 15 more years, this will appeal to readers of biographies, British history, and all followers of the British royal family. The Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee should increase demand.”