EarlyWord

The science fiction news site, io9 got their hands on a casting call for the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic,  Enders Game (Tor, 1985), a strong indicator that the project is finally moving ahead, after years in development. Based on their reading of the character descriptions, the movie will stick closely to the book, “All of the book’s themes, including the brutality of warfare and the need to understand your enemy, remain intact.”

The movie will be directed by Gavin Hood (; the script is by by Star Trek‘s Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (X-Men Origins: Wolverine; Rendition).

Jonathan Safran Foer was accused of opportunism when he followed his first novel, the critically acclaimed Everything is Illuminated, with one about 9/11, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (HMH, 2005).

Many wonder how movie audiences will react to the film adaptation (USA Today recently explored  that question). Starring Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, with newcomer Thomas Horn as the 9-year-old lead, it opens in an Oscar-qualifying limited run this Christmas, to be followed by wider distribution in January. The director, Stephen Daldry, is no stranger to Oscar buzz, he was nominated for each of his first three feature films– Billy Elliott, The Hours and The Reader.

The trailer has just appeared on the Web (warning; don’t watch if you are disturbed by 9/11 imagery):

The tie-in cover is striking variation of the original.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Movie Tie-in Jonathan Safran Foer Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Mariner Books – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0547735022 / 9780547735023

Russell Banks reveals the reality behind his new novel, Lost Memory of Skin (Ecco; HarperAudio; Large Type, HarperLuxe; ePub, OverDrive) in an interview on PBS News Hour last night.

Janet Maslin gives the book a heartfelt review in Monday’s NYT. About a young man who convicted as a sex offender after unwittingly becoming involved with underage girl via the internet, Maslin says Banks grippingly depicts how the character moves from “helpless innocence to enlightened dignity, from all-consuming shame to glimmering self-knowledge” and says the book is “destined to be a canonical novel of its time.”

The book rose to #140 on Amazon’s sales ranking.

Below is the extended PBS interview:

The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, this one based on the second book in George R.R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series, A Clash of Kings, is in the midst of filming. A “teaser trailer” aired before the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire on Sunday and is available on the web. It’s really nothing more than the tagline, so we won’t waste your time with it (if you must, check it out here). It doesn’t even reveal the beginning date, which hasn’t been set (the HBO site simply indicates “Spring 2012”).

Don’t weed copies of other titles in the series yet. Back in July, HBO programing chief Michael Lombardo told TV reporters, that, in terms of how long the series will continue, he doesn’t know if all the books will be adapted, but that he “takes very seriously the passions of fans for the book series.”

So far, five books have been published and two more are expected.

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2) George R.R. Martin Retail Price: $17.00 Paperback: 784 pages Publisher: Bantam – (2002-05-28) ISBN / EAN: 0553381695 / 9780553381696

Stephen King followed up on hints he dropped while on a book tour two years ago, by announcing that he is nearly finished writing a sequel to The Shining. He told the audience at George Mason University’s 2011 Fall for the Book festival that the book will be titled Dr. Sleep, (no pub date or ISBN has been announced yet, however).

Saying he had always wondered what happened to Danny Torrance, an idea “wormed” into his head,

I knew there were bad people in this story that were like vampires, only what they sucked out was not blood, but psychic energy from special people like Danny Torrance. I came to realize that these people are called ‘The Tribe” … and they travel around on the highways.

Below, he reads a section:

King’s next book, 11/22/63, (Scribner, 11/8; Unabridged CD, S&S Audio) was recently optioned by film director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). It is a time-travel novel about a high school English teacher who goes through a time portal in an attempt to stop the Kennedy assassination. Booklist says King began writing this book years ago and it exhibits an “intoxicating, early-King bouquet of ambition and swagger.”

Ron Howard’s ambitious plans for a TV/film adaptation of King’s The Dark Tower series were abandoned over the summer. The eighth title in the book series, The Wind Through the Keyhole (Scribner), is scheduled for publication in April.

Terry Gross introduced her NPR Fresh Air interview with Mark Bowden, author of Worm: The First Digital World War (Atlantic Monthly Press; Brilliance Audio), by saying,

Your computer might already be infected with a worm that could command your computer to be used in [a hacker attack on anything from the Pantagon to the banking system to the power grid].

As a result of the interview, Bowden’s book rose to #57 (from #23,639) on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Following a strongly negative review from Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times for Charles Frazier’s third book, Nightwoods (Random House; Audio, Random House Audio and Books on Tape; Large Print, Random House; Audio currently on OverDrive, eBooks available soon), Ron Charles in the Washington Post, offers equally strong words of praise.

He points out, as did Kakutani, that Frazier enjoyed huge, and unexpected success with his debut, Cold Mountain, followed by lesser success for his second book Thirteen Moons (for which his new publisher paid him considerably more money than his first).

As Charles puts the question that’s on the minds of many in the publishing business,

Will Frazier’s new novel, Nightwoods, redeem his reputation (and his publisher’s faith), or will it only confirm claims that he’s a deep-fat-fried Faulkner who won the lottery on his first time out?

His answer:

Sorry, haters, but this is a fantastic book: an Appalachian Gothic with a low-level fever that runs alternately warm and chilling. Frazier has left the 19th century and the picaresque form to produce a cleverly knitted thriller about a tough young woman in the 1960s who has given up on the people of her small town and gone to live alone in the woods.

Sorry, Kakutani, this one may be a hit.

It seems that Michael Lewis is everywhere. His new book, coming next week, Boomerang; Travels in the New Third World, (Norton, 10/3; S&S Audio), on the global financial crisis, gets strong praise today from Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times; “Michael Lewis possesses the rare storyteller’s ability to make virtually any subject both lucid and compelling.”

The movie based on his book about the Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, Moneyball, is number 2 at the box office, right after another surprise success, the 3-D rerelease of the 17-year-old Lion King  (get ready; now Star Wars, Top Gun and Titanic are all slated for 3-D rereleases).

Last year, the film of Lewis’s The Blind Side, (Norton, 2006) was also a success. Sensing a winner, Hollywood is now giving Lewis the opportunity to write the script for the long-dormant adaptation of his first book, the best-selling Liar’s Poker (Norton, 1989) about his time working as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers.

Also in development is an adaptation of Lewis’s best seller on the U.S. fiscal crisis, The Big Short (Norton, 2010), with Brad Pitt’s company producing.

Moneyball, the movie is quite different from the book. Entertainment Weekly urges “Love the movie? Read the book” and the L.A. Times offers a guide to how the film differs from real life.

Out today is a collection of “lost” Dr. Seuss stories (they weren’t exactly lost; they had been published in magazines, but never collected into a book). Below is a promotional trailer on how The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (Random House) came about:

Also being released is an unabridged CD with celebrity narrators, including Angelica Huston, Joan Cusack, and William Macy. It is also available from OverDrive (listen to excerpts here).

Season two of AMC’s hugely successful The Walking Dead, based on the graphic novels by Robert Kirkman, premieres on October 16th.

For those who just can’t get enough of the gore, The Walking Dead Chronicles: The Official Companion Book goes behind the scenes of the first season.

The Walking Dead Chronicles Paul Ruditis, AMC Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Harry N. Abrams – (2011-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 1419701193 / 9781419701191

Also coming in October is a novel by Kirkman, with co-writer, horror novelist, Jay Bonansinga, the first in a projected series of original Walking Dead books (more on Kirkman here).

The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor Robert Kirkman, Jay Bonansinga Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2011-10-11) ISBN / EAN: 0312547730 / 9780312547738

Also Unabridged CD, Macmillan Audio

Katherine Heigl dons dark hair and a Jersey accent to play Stephanie Plum in the movie adaptation of Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money, which opens January 27th. The trailer was just released on the Web.

Tie-in:

One for the Money (Movie Tie-in) (Stephanie Plum) Janet Evanovich Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin – (2011-11-22) ISBN / EAN: 0312600739 / 9780312600730

Ken Burns three-part series on Prohibition, based on the book Last Call by Daniel Okrent (Scribner, 2010), begins this Sunday on PBS and runs through Tuesday. The series will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Oct. 2nd.

Okrent, who, in addition to being a writer, is the inventor of Rotisserie (aka “Fantasy”) Baseball. He also appeared in Burns Baseball series.

Watch the full episode. See more Ken Burns.

The cry “Yo, Rinty!” rang out on CBS Sunday Morning, as the show featured Susan Orlean’s book Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (S&S; Audio, S&S; Large Type, Thorndike), which arrives tomorrow.

Following the show, the book moved into the top 50 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Three of the four major movie releases opening today have a book connection. Click on the movie titles to watch the trailer.

Moneyball — Based on the best selling book by Michael Lewis, the new Brad Pitt movie may knock the 3-D version of The Lion King out of its #1 position, but money is also on Dophin Tale (see below). Moneyball has been receiving great reviews and Oscar buzz. The book, as MTV notes, “isn’t exactly an obvious candidate for Hollywood’s adaptation machine. It’s filled with geeky tales about the importance of obscure stats like ‘wins above replacement,’ the founding of fantasy sports and the evolution of a guy named Bill James from factory worker to baseball deity.”

Lewis’s next book, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World (W.W. Norton, 10/3/11), explores how cheap credit fueled bubbles around the world with disastrous effects (as in Ireland and Greece) and how it that may come home to the US. Tie-in, published by W.W. Norton.

Dolphin Tale — is not based on a book, but on the true story of a dolphin named Winter whowas  rescued from trapping ropes, only to lose her tail due to her injuries. A prosthetic engineer figured out how to create a replacement, which also led to a breakthrough in engineering human prostheses. The story was covered in the news and Scholastic published a picture book about it, Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again (2009). Scholastic has published an official movie book, Dolphin Tale: A Tale of True Friendship, with stills from the movie, Dolphin Tale: The Junior Novel and a paperback reprint of Winter’s Tail.

The Killer Elite — The smallest of the movies opening this weekend, both in size of budget and number of theaters carrying it, this movie is based on The Feather Men by the British explorer and writer, Ranulph Fiennes. The story of an elite group of British soldiers, it raised controversy when it was publishing in the UK in 1991, which resurfaced when the movie was announced last year. It stars Robert De Niro, Jason Statham, Yvonne Strahovski,  and Clive Owen. Tie-in published by Ballantine.

This week brings an unusual number of big trade paperback releases, the book club format of choice, so we have listed them under their own heading.

Watch List

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier (Random House; Audio, Random House Audio and Books on Tape; Large Print, Random House; Audio currently on OverDrive, eBooks available soon) is the author’s third novel. Anticipation is high, as indicated by the fact that it is already reviewed in the NYT and Entertainment Weekly.

Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks, (Ecco; HarperAudio; Large Type, HarperLuxe; ePub, OverDrive); This one comes with Nora’s personal recommendation, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been so involved with a book’s characters that at one point, I shouted, ‘No, don’t!'” About a young man forced into homelessness after being convicted as a sex offender, it’s a book that people will be talking about. Booklist starred it, but Publishers Weekly found it, “Bloated and remarkably repetitive, this is more a collection of ideas and emblems than a novel.”

River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh (FSG; Audio, Brilliance and on OverDrive) is the second volume of a trilogy about the Opium Wars in China that began with the 2008 Booker short listed Sea of Poppies. Publishers Weekly warns, “This crowded novel is in turn confusing and exhilarating, crammed with chaotic period detail and pidgin languages.”

Trade Paperback Originals

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore: A Novel by Stella Duffy (Penguin; Audio, Recorded Books) caught the eye of librarians at BEA’s Shout ‘n’ Share program and was a GalleyChat Pick of ALA. Below, the author describes the book.

The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman, (Mira/Harlequin) was a GalleyChat Pick of ALA, a disturbing story about a teacher involved in a sexual relationship with a student. Ripe for book discussions, the trade paperback format makes it even more attractive to book groups.

The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate (Algonquin; ePub and Kindle, on OverDrive) is part of the Algonquin Readers Roundtable, titles published in original trade paperback to appeal to book groups. It was included in Reading Group Guides’ 2011 Hot Fall Titles for Book Clubs. This is the third book by an author that Kirkus calls “A master at portraying the hurdles faced by upwardly mobile African-Americans,” In this case, the novel deals with the effect of alcoholism on a family. Booklist gives it high praise, “With a lyrical style and obvious respect for her craft, Southgate has composed a compassionate, complex, and concentrated novel, tenderly powerful, that explores family bonds that last long after the family is dispersed.” People chose it as one of five fiction titles in their Great Fall Reads preview.

Childrens

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss (Random House Books for Young Readers; Audio, Random House and Books on Tape and OverDrive) is a collection of “lost” stories by Dr. Seuss. Earlier this year, All Things Considered explored the story of the book’s origins. On eBay, a Random House art director discovered that a Dr. Seuss-obsessed collector had identified magazines from the ’50′s featuring Seuss stories that had not been published elsewhere.

The Flint Heart by Katherine and John Paterson, illustrated by John Rocco (Candlewick Press; Audio, Brilliance and OverDrive) is the retelling of a hundred-year-old story by the Newbery Medalist (Bridge to Terabithia) and her husband. It is starred by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and Booklist, which said, “This timeless, enjoyable retelling is a strong choice for both a read-aloud and an under-the-covers escape.”

Ten Rules for Living with My Sister by Ann M Martin, (Feiwel & Friends) is nine-year-old Pearl’s hard-won rules for living with her 14-year-old sister. Says Kirkus, “Pearl, as narrator, shows herself to be a keen observer of the people around her and mature enough to handle some sticky situations, all with a sense of humor and aplomb.”

Usual Suspects

The Affair by Lee Child, (Delacorte/RH; RH Audio and Books on Tape;  RH Large type) explores the series character, Jack Reacher’s back story (sorry, Reacher fans, the movie version of One Shot is moving along,  with Tom Cruise in the role of the imposing 6′ 5″ Reacher). Janet Maslin already sang its praises in the NYT this week.

Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke (S&S; Audio, S&S; Large Type, Thorndike) continues the story of Hackberry Holland, the reformed drunk who is now a sheriff in a small South Texas border town. Booklist stars it, saying, “As Burke steers the elaborately structured narrative toward its violent conclusion, we are afforded looks inside the tortured psyches of his various combatants, finding there the most unlikely of connections between the players. This is one of Burke’s biggest novels, in terms of narrative design, thematic richness, and character interplay, and he rises to the occasion superbly.”

Nonfiction

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean (S&S; Audio, S&S; Large Type, Thorndike); we’re expecting this to be THE narrative nonfiction title of the fall. An excerpt appeared in the 8/25 issue of The New Yorker. In a video, Susan Orlean chats about her work.

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt, (WW Norton, 9/26) has already been featured twice on NPR, on Morning Edition and Fresh Air (libraries may want to heed the advice that this will bring a spike in the sales of Greek philosopher Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things). More media attention is coming next week.

Worm: The First Digital World War by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly Press; Brilliance Audio) is a true cyber-crime story about the battle against the Conficker computer worm by the best-selling author of Blackhawk Down.

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (Holt; Audio, Macmillan Audio; Large Type, Thorndike) the Fox News host joins forces with historian Martin Dugard (who earlier teamed with James Patterson on the nonfiction title, The Murder of King Tut) to retell an often-told story. PW commented dryly, “Well-documented and equally riveting histories are available for readers interested in Lincolns assassination; this one shows how spin can be inserted into a supposedly no spin American story. ”

Luck and Circumstance: A Coming of Age in Hollywood, New York, and Points Beyond by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, (Knopf) is a celebrity memoir (Lindsay-Hogg is the son of actress Geraldine Fitzgerald and the director of Brideshead Revisited). Kirkus, enthuses, “even those who dismiss celebrity memoirs should enjoy this jaunt through the glitz.”

Movie Tie-ins

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (Penguin; other editions available in ePub and Kindle on OverDrive) includes “The Final Problem,” the story that is the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Jr., which opens Dec. 16.