EarlyWord

Two popular and long-running book series come to an end with the latest volumes published today. Judging by some of the reviews, readers may be better off returning to earlier volumes.

The Clan of the Cave Bear — The Land of Painted Caves (Crown/Random House) is the final volume in Jean M. Auel’s series, which began in 1980. USA Today says, “Auel has been driven by her insistence on accuracy, which is why it took more than three decades to publish the series,” but says, “Alas, her dedication to detail is what makes this final book interesting but not compelling.”

The Kurt Wallander series — in the NYT, Janet Maslin objects to the way Henning Mankell finishes off the star of his 22-yeqr-old series. In the final volume, The Troubled Man (Knopf/Random House), Maslin says the author sounds “fed up and bored” with him (she may be right; Mankell himself tells the Guardian why he is happy to say goodbye to Wallander). Although Maslin judges this a “successful stand-alone book” because Wallander, now 60, brings readers up to speed on the series by his ruminations on the past, she finds the novel overly focused on the character’s worries about his own mental and physical deterioration.

On the other hand, Marilyn Stasio, in her crime column in the NYT BR, says that Wallander is at “his gloomy best” in this final book.

HBO’s (and director Todd Haynes’) five-part take on Mildred Pierce began on Sunday. In addition to much praise (Fresh Air‘s critic David Bianculli called it a “Masterpiece of Modern Film Noir“), it brought welcome attention to the original, James M. Cain’s fourth novel, published in 1941. The most in-depth is the New Yorker‘s fascinating piece on the Baltimore-born author, “ This Woman’s Work.”

Official Web site: HBO.com

A review on NPR’s All Things Considered last night called Peter Godwin’s book about Zimbabwe’s brutal dictator, Robert Mugabe, The Fear, “…a gut-wrenching portrait of Mugabe’s enormous political sadism — and the brave, heartbreaking, nearly superhuman resistance to it” and “…as important a book as we can read right now.”

The author was also interviewed on today’s Morning Edition.

The book is currently at #116 (up from #892 yesterday) on Amazon’s sales rankings.

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe Peter Godwin Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2011-03-23) ISBN / EAN: 031605173X / 9780316051736

The phrase “One for All and All for One” will be revived this fall with Paul Anderson’s remake of The Three Musketeers.

There’s been dozens of remakes of the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas (Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland starred in the 1993 Disney version).

This version features Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) as d’Artagnan. The three musketeers are Matthew Macfadyen (Robin Hood), Ray Stevenson (The Book of Eli) and Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans). Orlando Bloom plays one of the gang’s enemies and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) is Cardinal Richelieu.

The film opens on Oct. 14th. The trailer has just been released.

Director Anderson is known for video game adaptations (Mortal Kombat)  and science fiction horror films (Event Horizon and Resident Evil). He’s expected to bring a new level of excitement to this classic story (not to mention 3-D realism).

Official Web site: Three-Musketeers-3D.com

It’s not unusual for a book to be used as part of a PR campaign. Howard Schultz has been remaking Starbucks since he took back control as hands-on CEO in 2008 and is now working to make sure the world knows it. He was interviewed earlier this month in the NYT and the WSJ. His just-released book is bringing even more media attention, including NPR’s Morning Edition today and CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last night. In addition, the book is excerpted in Newsweek.

Of the book, Fortune magazine says,

There may be more detail here than most readers really want, as when Schultz describes the weather outside his kitchen window… or what he wore to an important meeting with employees (“blue jeans and a dark gray sweater”).

But for anyone looking for insights on how to turn around a troubled giant brought low by overconfidence in its own success, Onward is essential reading

In the three years since he took back control of the company, Schultz has turned Starbuck’s share price around, earning him a $3.5 million bonus this year.

The book is now at #1 Amazon, but holds in libraries we checked are in line with modest ordering.

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul Howard Schultz, Joanne Gordon Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Rodale Books – (2011-03-29) ISBN / EAN: 1605292885 / 9781605292885

This week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the attempted assassination of then President Ronald Reagan. CBS Sunday Morning looks at how close that call actually was.

Interviewed in the segment is Del Qentin Wilbur, author of a new book that discloses previously unknown details about the event. The book is titled Rawhide Down, after Reagan’s Secret Service code name.

The book rose to #79 on Amazon sales rankings as a result.

………………………….

Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan Del Quentin Wilber Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2011-03-15) ISBN / EAN: 9780805093469 / 9780805093469

Audio; Macmillan; ISBN 9781427211835
Large Print; Center Point; 9781611730425; 4/1/11

If you’ve been dreading the movie version of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, the just-released teaser trailer may confirm your worst fears. Richard and Florence Atwater’s Mr. Popper has been updated to a contemporary businessman (Jim Carrey), with a high-end NYC apartment, rather than a poor small-town house painter.

The movie debuts June 17. Little, Brown will re-release the book in May (ISBN 9780316186469).

Official Web Site: PoppersPenguins.com

Next week is dominated by new books in series (two of which are coming to an end), but one debut mystery may break through.

To Watch

The debut mystery Bent Road by Lori Roy, (Dutton/Penguin), arrives with the kind of inhouse excitement the publisher felt for Tana French’s breakout. It’s received stars from Kirkus, Library Journal and PW, and a review that reads like a star from Booklist, “Terrifying and touching, the novel is captivating from beginning to end.” Publishers Weekly called it “Midwestern noir with gothic undertones [that] is sure to make several 2011 must-read lists.”

Movie Tie-in

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, (St. Martin’s Mass Mkt., 9780312993177; Trade Pbk. 9780312600723). The tie-in arrives this week, the movie opens in theaters on May 6th, starring Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin. Check out the trailer here.

Usual Suspects

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel (Crown) is the sixth and final book in the Earth’s Children series. Despite some long spells between books (the first, The Clan of the Cave Bear, came out in 1980; the most recent, The Shelters of Stone, in 2002), this one is hotly anticipated. It’s been on the Amazon Top 100 (now at #12) for 67 days.

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell (Knopf) is, sadly, the final mystery featuring Kurt Wallander, which is likely to bring it extra media attention.

Lover Unleashed by J. R. Ward (NAL/Penguin), book nine in the Black Dagger Brotherhood vampire series, it’s getting a 300,000 printing.

Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal (St. Martin’s Press). The girls of the popular Sweet Valley High series, which began in 1983, are now grown up and what grownup fan can resist them? Entertainment Weekly‘s reviewer, for one. That former fan rates it a lowly C.

Mystery: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman, (Ballantine Books). The book is a mystery, but the title actually comes from the nickname of the murder victim in this 26th book featuring the L.A. psychologist/detective.

Nonfiction

Come to the Edge: A Memoir by Christina Haag (Spiegel & Grau). The ex-girlfriend of JFK Jr. revealed some supposed scandal (Tantric Sex! Marijuana! Thrill-seekng!) in an excerpt in Vanity Fair, riling up the tabloids. The book received more measured attention in an early review this week from Janet Maslin in the NYT. The author is scheduled to appear on the Today Show next week.

We suspected it was a hoax when it was first announced last fall, but it looks like it may be real. Workman’s uber-popular pregnancy manual, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, is en route to theaters. Lionsgate announced this week that Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine and Nanny McPhee) has been tapped to direct it as a romantic comedy. They describe it this way, “…in the vein of Love Actually and Valentine’s Day. The film is a modern look at love through the eyes of four interconnected couples experiencing the thrills and surprises of having a baby.”

We just hope they leave in the part about belly piercing and pregnancy.

Have we caught your attention with these covers?

They’re a just a few of the cookbooks you can look forward to in the coming months, from the Edelweiss list of  the cookbooks most-ordered by independent booksellers. Edelweiss produces online catalogs for publishers (a few publishers are not on the system, such as S&S, so their titles are not included). Many independent booksellers use Edelweiss for ordering.

Earlier, we posted the Edelweiss most-ordered fiction and nonfiction lists.

Full cookbook list below, after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Simon and Schuster is one of the two publishers in the Big Six that do not sell ebooks to libraries (Macmillan is the other one). In a public interview yesterday, Carolyn Reidy, CEO of the company, indicated that is not likely to change soon. As reported on TeleRead, she said, “We don’t yet sell ebooks to libraries because haven’t found a business model that they are happy with…[we] have met with various people about library solutions but haven’t found one yet.”

This serves to further highlight what we wrote earlier, that librarians concerned about their ability to circulate ebooks need to look beyond the change in HarperCollins’ policy (LJ’s Editor-in-Chief, Francine Fialkoff also addresses this issue in yesterday’s editorial, “It’s Not About HarperCollins“).

Ebook Sales

Information on sales of ebooks has been dominated by Kindle hype (at MidWinter, several librarians were using the term “anecdata” for the kind of information generally available). The view from a publisher is valuable because it is less likely to be influenced by the desire to sell hardware. Reidy said that ebooks are  “now 15 – 20 % of units,” sold (she was not able to be definitive because B&N had some reporting problems early in the year) and that she expects that number to be 50% in five years.

Earlier this week, Hachette Livre reported to the UK publication, The Bookseller, that for their US division (which includes imprints Little, Brown and Grand Central), ebooks are now 23% of sales volume and, since the beginning of the year, they represent 8 to 10% in terms of dollars (Reidy did not have information on S&S’s dollar sales).

The heavily (and bloodily) promoted Showtime series The Borgias, starring Jeremy Irons, debuts on April 3.

USA Today offers a list of new and re-released titles about the family. Showtime is using Mario Puzo’s quote that they were the “original crime family.” His novel proving his case, which he was working on at his death, is being re-released.

The Family Mario Puzo Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks – (2011-04-01) ISBN / EAN: 0062089153 / 9780062089151

Hang on to your out-of-print copies of Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry. They are now selling online for up to $1,999. It’s currently the most popular Taylor book on Alibris.

There were dozens of books about Taylor and various sources have weighed in on their favorites (more will surely come):

Books To Help You Remember The Great Elizabeth Taylor — NPR

Elizabeth Taylor’s life was a true page-turner — USA Today

16 Elizabeth Taylor books, scandals included — L.A. Times

Every one of the lists includes My Love Affair with Jewelry (says NPR’s Linda Holmes, “If you don’t have Elizabeth Taylor’s campy, frothy tribute to her bauble collection on your coffee table, you are really missing out.”)

Also included on each list is the recent book on the Taylor/Burton romance, Furious Love, which Holmes calls a “soapy, delicious and highly literary double biography.”

Tomorrow, the  authors are scheduled to appear on The Early Show (CBS) and an ABC 20/20 special with Barbara Walters.

For our money, the best description of the book came from Kayleigh George, HarperCollins Library Marketing.

Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 512 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 006156284X / 9780061562846

Large type; Thorndike; 9781410429858; $32.99
OverDrive WMA Audiobook; Adobe EPUB eBook

Addressing the issue of LGBT teen suicides yesterday, NPR’s Fresh Air spoke to the organizers of the It Gets Better Project, Terry Miller and Dan Savage. The project grew from a simple idea; ask adults to create videos reassuring LGBT teens that it’s worth surviving high school, because life does get better. Since the project began last fall, over 10,000 videos have been submitted from gay as well as straight people, including President Obama (a “historic moment” says Miller; the first time a US president has reached out to the LGBT community).

This week, Miller and Savage published a companion book to the It Gets Better Project, which is a collection of expanded essays and new material from people who have posted videos to the site, as well as new contributors, and resources for teachers.

A segment on the project is scheduled to air on ABC’s Nightline tonight.

It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living Retail Price: $21.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Dutton/Penguin – (2011-03-22) ISBN / EAN: 0525952330 / 9780525952336