EarlyWord

Sterling Publishing is pretty busy launching imprints this month. In addition to the new fiction imprint Silver Oak, the house is starting a YA imprint, Splinter, with the publication of Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck. The fantasy novel is the first in a trilogy about an 18-year-old girl and the Bengal tiger she encounters while working at a circus.

USA Today mentions the book in a roundup of spring titles that booksellers are excited about, quoting Barnes and Noble’s Patricia Bostleman saying the book “has it all: paranormal, romance, fantasy, adventure, historical fiction.” It’s also been picked by MTV as one of “11 YA Novels We Can’t Wait to Read in 2011.”

But PW says “the attractive premise is let down by wooden dialogue, excessive detail, and wobbly mechanics.”

Originally self-published in 2009, Houck’s trilogy will continue with Tiger’s Quest and Tiger’s Voyage, due later in 2011, according to the publishing blog Galley Cat.

At libraries we checked, modest orders were in line with modest reserves.

Tiger’s Curse (Book 1) Colleen Houck Retail Price: $17.95 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Splinter – (2011-01-11) ISBN / EAN: 1402784031 / 9781402784033

Usual Suspects:

Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer (Grand Central Publishing) will surely be helped by the December 2 debut of the author’s History Channel show, Brad Meltzer’s Decoded. However, PW is lukewarm, declaring that “a fascinating look at the hidden treasures of the National Archives is the one strength of this otherwise unsatisfying thriller.”

The Sentry by Robert Crais (Putnam) elicits divided opinions: PW says “heartbreaking ironies, frustrated desires, and violent nonstop action make this a standout.” Booklist say’s “longtime fans may find this one not quite up to the authors high standards, but the demand will still be there.”

Gideon’s War by Howard Gordon (Touchstone) is a debut thriller by the executive producer of TV’s 24.  PW says this “loosely plotted thriller… lurches unpredictably from backstory to frenzied present-day action, employing a 24-hour ticking clock for suspense.”

Border Lords by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton) gets the thumbs up from PW: “Three-time Edgar-winner Parker, long a favorite of genre cognoscenti, is making the transition to widespread mainstream popularity. His latest, to receive best-seller-type promotion, will increase the pace.” LJ is also keen on it: “Parker’s dark and gritty series takes readers beyond the drug war headlines, personalizing the toll it’s taken on our souls. Series fans will devour this sequel to Iron River.“

USA Today‘s calendar of major titles coming out through April is now available. Although it tends to cover the predictable big-name authors, it’s a good way to get to know the book covers that will soon become ubiquitous. It’s like RA flashcards.

In an an accompanying article, the USA Today book editors query booksellers about their picks and discover a few less obvious titles. Geoffrey Jennings of Rainy Day Books (KS) says The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Random House, March 8) is “The debut novel we’re all excited about…[Obreht] deftly uses the history and conflict of the Balkans [to tell a] tale filled with metaphor and mystery.” It was also mentioned several times on Tuesday’s Galley Chat. Random House will be featuring it at their booth (#1816) at MidWinter.

Author Téa Obreht is the youngest of The New Yorker‘s twenty best American fiction writers under forty.

The Tiger’s Wife: A Novel Téa Obreht Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Random House – (2011-03-08) ISBN / EAN: 0385343833 / 9780385343831

Audio; Books on Tape, UNABR, 9780307877024; $40

OverDrive WMA Audiobook

On Monday, USA Today gave Three Seconds, the new Scandinavian thriller by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom, a stellar review (it would be more apt to call it a fan letter than a review). In today’s NYT, Janet Maslin, clearly not a devotee of the genre, says authors like Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell,

…know how to deliver the kind of stilted, world-weary verbosity that somehow quickens the pulses of this genre’s readers. Even better, they are on a first-name basis with the Seven Dwarfs of Scandinavian Noir: Guilty, Moody, Broody, Mopey, Kinky, Dreary and Anything-but-Bashful.

Neither is she won over by Three Seconds. After a long description of the book’s plot, she calls it one of many “half-decent Millennium knockoffs” we can expect to see in the future.

Clearly, readers don’t agree. For most of the week, the book is has been at #2 on the B&N.com’s sales rankings, where it is featured as one of the “Best Books of the Month.” It has also cracked the Amazon top fifty, rising to #39 earlier this week.

It’s notable that Three Seconds is the very first book from the new imprint, Silver Oak, a joint deal between six-year-old British Quercus Publishing (publishers of Stieg Larsson’s books in the UK) and Sterling Publishing in the U.S.

Three Seconds Anders Roslund, Borge Hellstrom Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: SilverOak – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 1402785925 / 9781402785924

Brilliance Audio; Unabridged Lib Ed; 9781455807222; 13 CD’s; $79.97

It appears the sticky rights situation for a film adaptation of Unbroken has been cleared. Several movie news sources are reporting that Francis Lawrence, who just finished filming Water for Elephants, is in talks to direct Laura Hillenbrand’s best seller.

Universal has been trying to produce a film about the book’s central figure, Louis Zamperini since the ’50’s, when they bought Zamperini’s “life rights” as a starring vehicle for Tony Curtis. More recently, Brad Pitt had plans to produce, with Nicolas Cage starring. No news on who may star in this incarnation.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1400064163 / 9781400064168

RH Large Print; 9780375435010
RH Audio; 9780739319697

As we pointed out on Monday, the Book Beast lists among their “most anticipated” books of 2011 one titled O: A Presidential Novel, to be published on Jan 25 by S&S. The “O,” of course, is President Obama, but the author is anonymous. Libraries we checked had not ordered it and information is sketchy from wholesaler and bookseller sites and non-existent on S&S’s site.

S&S has confirmed to EarlyWord that the book will be released on Jan. 25th. News outlets, beginning with Yahoo! News, have now picked up the story, comparing it to Primary Colors, also by “Anonymous,” about the Clinton administration, which was a best seller in 1996 and made into a movie. After weeks of speculation, it was revealed that “Anonymous” was actually Time magazine journalist Joe Klein.

When asked by Yahoo if he might be the new Anonymous, Klein vigorously denied the idea (Yahoo points out that Klein also initially denied the suggestion that he wrote Primary Colors). We’re inclined to believe Klein this time, however. If he were to do another  “Anonymous” book, we think he’d turn to one of the Random House divisions, which have been his publishers in the past.

In the UK, The Telegraph, covers the story, including a more extensive look at the impact of Primary Colors in its day and notes that there will also be a simultaneous audio version of O, read by Campbell Scott (who, like everyone else involved, declined to comment).

A curious side note, the description on some wholesaler databases seems to be about a quite different anonymous novel:

The author has decided to remain anonymous because this was the only way she felt completely free to explore a woman’s secret life. As she writes in the afterword to the novel, “That doesn’t mean this is a memoir; it’s many things to me, fiction and nonfiction, fantasy and fact, a quilt pieced together not just from my own stories but those of my friends.” She was also inspired to embrace anonymity by the book that inspired her own, an anonymous and very daring Elizabethan manuscript entitled A Woman’s Worth.

The initial print run is showing as 100,000 copies. No cover image is available yet.

Audio: Simon & Schuster Audio (January 25, 2011);ISBN-13: 9781442341142

In a profile for the Jan. 15 issue of Library Journal, John Berry says it well, “No one other than Nancy Pearl has so convinced Americans that libraries, books, and reading are critical to our communities.”

We can only add that we particularly love Nancy’s sense of humor. She enjoys making fun of the retro vision of librarians via her action figure’s “amazing shushing action,”  a gesture she’s never used in real life.

May this award help her bring even more attention to the importance of libraries, books and reading.

Forty seventh graders (12 and 13 year-olds) at the Bank Street School discussed and voted on a list of candidates for the Mock Printz, 2011. Below are the winner and the three honor books, with comments from the kids.

The Bank Street School 2011 Mock Printz Winner

Half Brother Kenneth Oppel Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2010-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545229251 / 9780545229258

Student comments:

Andre — Everything you want in a book…drama…sadness…action.

Emma — I felt a lot of compassion for the character. I really got fed up with his parents.

Ana — This was the first book that I couldn’t stop reading. My mom made me stop. It was a page turner.

Katie — Interesting, unique plot

Ben — Unpredictable, in a good way

Josh — Entertaining, good story

Nicole — Interesting plot. Fresh

The Bank Street School 2011 Mock Printz Honor Books

Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green, David Levithan Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2010-04-06) ISBN / EAN: 0525421580 / 9780525421580

Brilliance Audio; UNABR
OverDrive WMA Audiobook

Student comments:

Maya — Some people think this book should be older but a lot of us in this age group know situations and people like this already. It was great to read a book where we get to know the characters in this special way that we have not met before.

Nicole — Interesting how the two Will Graysons met and the relationships that formed around them

Emma — It was really funny and realistic.

Josh — I liked that it was realistic and I could relate to the characters. I enjoyed the themes of friendship and acceptance.

Emily — It was easy to read, easy to relate to. I found myself laughing aloud.

Josh – I laughed out loud too. It is everything I want in a book.

The Search for WondLa Tony DiTerlizzi Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – (2010-09-21) ISBN / EAN: 1416983104 / 9781416983101

Student comments:

Simon — Interesting story, very satisfying

Steven — Good descriptions but also an adventure mystery

Noni — Good because there was always something happening

Josh — I don’t generally like fantasy but this one had a lot that I could relate to.

Steven — The author really was able to make the very different world real.

White Cat (Curse Workers, Book 1) Holly Black Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry/ S&S – (2010-05-04) ISBN / EAN: 1416963960 / 9781416963967

Student comments:

Lincoln — The characters were well-written. Less of a fantasy to me … more like a book about gangsters or mafia.

Nick — When you pick it up , you can’t stop reading.

Julia — I normally don’t like fantasy but this book had a very real element. The characters develop over time

USA Today signs on as a fan of writer Lisa Genova and her second novel, Left Neglected,

Genova is a master of getting into the heads of her characters, relating from the inside out what it’s like to suffer from a debilitating disease. How she does it we don’t know, but she does, and brilliantly.

Genova’s debut novel, Still Alice, about a woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s, was an original trade paperback best seller last year. In the new book, Genova, a neuroscientist, writes about a woman with a brain disease that results in her inability to see or feel anything on the left side of her body.

Readers may think, “oh, no, not another brain disease,” but, looked at more broadly, the novel is about a more universal issue, as writer Ann Hood describes it in her blurb,

Imagine your too busy, over scheduled, Type A life coming to a screeching halt. That is what happens in Lisa Genova’s timely new novel, Left Neglected. As her protagonist, Sarah Nickerson, works her way through a devastating brain injury and back into that hectic life, she is forced to re-evaluate what really matters. I dare any reader to not do the same in their own lives after reading this book.

USA Today echoes, “Picking up anything written by Genova is quickly becoming, well, a no-brainer.”

Left Neglected Lisa Genova Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Gallery – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 1439164630 / 9781439164631

Simon & Schuster Audio, January 2011; Unabridged Compact Disk, 9 disks; ISBN-13: 9781442335394; $39.99
Large Type; Thorndike, ISBN 9781410433824; $35.99

Now that the best books of 2010 lists are wrapped up (from the various media outlets, that is. As noted in the comments, we still have the ALA lists to look forward to), media attention is turning to the most anticipated books of the new year.

The first up to offer their takes, are The Huffington Post (40 titles through March) and The Book Beast (17 titles through May). The selections tend to focus on the more literary; not necessarily the ones your customers will be clamoring for. However, there are a few possible exceptions.

January

My Father at 100: A Memoir, Ron Reagan, Viking/Penguin (January 18, 2011), 9780670022595; Nostalgia for Reagan continues (even President Obama took a book about Reagan with him on his Christmas vacation), so this memoir by his son may be a hit. Selected by The Book Beast.

O: A Presidential Novel, Anonymous, Simon & Schuster (January 25, 2011), 9781451625967; According to The Book Beast, this anonymous novel “about just what President Obama will do to win in 2012” will cause a sensation similar to Primary Colors, about the Clinton administration. There is, however, very sketchy information on wholesalers’ and bookseller’ sites and none on S&S’s, making us wonder if it’s been delayed. Libraries we checked have not ordered it.

February

A Widow’s Story: A Memoir, Joyce Carol Oates, Ecco/HarperCollins, (February 15, 2011) 9780062015532; if you”ve read the excerpt in The New Yorker, you’ll agree with The Book Beast that “Oates’ memoir will join Antonia Fraser and Joan Didion on the shelf of essential works on loss.” It’s also picked by The Huffington Post.

Townie, Andre Dubus III, Norton, (February 28, 2011), 9780393064667; we’ve been hearing advance buzz on this. If you’re going to MidWinter, be sure to stop by Norton’s booth for an advance readers edition. Dubus will  be the the Sunrise Speaker this Sunday, Janurary 9th at MidWinter and will be signing at the Norton booth that day, from 2 to 2:30 pm.

April

The Uncoupling, Meg Wolitzer, Riverhead, (April 5, 2011), 9781594487880; A staging of  Lysistrata has unexpected effects on female teachers and students. The Book Beast predicts it “will provoke.”

Try this on customers still waiting for a crack at The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; USA Today says the books by the Swedish crime-writing duo, Roslund & Hellstrom are as good, if not better than Stieg Larsson’s.

The latest in by the authors, Three Seconds, comes out tomorrow.

Roslund, a former journalist and Hellstrom an ex-con, met when Roslund was making a documentary about an organization founded by Hellstrom, KRIS (Criminals Return Into Society). They have written four previous titles, only one of which, Box 21, is available in the U.S.

The publisher of Three Seconds, Silver Oak, is a new joint venture between Sterling in the U.S. and Quercus in the U.K..

Three Seconds Anders Roslund, Borge Hellstrom Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: SilverOak – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 1402785925 / 9781402785924

The Seattle Times looks at the crowded field of contenders for the Newbery/Caldecott Awards, to be announced a week from Monday at MidWinter.

The reporter comments, “Some years, there are obvious winners. This year, however, there are really no sure bets.” To that, we would add, “some years the ‘obvious winners’ don’t take home the medals.”

Nevertheless, the book that comes out as the leader for the Newbery is One Crazy Summer, by Rita William-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins). It also garnered the most picks on the year’s best books lists.

For the Caldecott, the top contenders are  are considered to be City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon Muth (Hyperion) and Art & Max, written and illustrated by David Wiesner (Clarion/HMH).

The Seattle Times did not look at the Printz Awards, but you can check out Lisa Von Drasek’s list of candidates for the Bank Street School’s Mock Printz Awards (also see their Mock Newbery Awards list).

At this time of year, many reviewers reach back to books they overlooked in the Fall crush. USA Today gives a belated push to the fourth title in the Charles Lenox detective series, published in early November, describing author Charles Finch as  “a modern fellow writing about the Victorian period in England…an absolute delight… he and his fictional gentleman protagonist deserve a wider audience.”

A Stranger in Mayfair (Charles Lenox Mysteries) Charles Finch Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books – (2010-11-09) ISBN / EAN: 0312625065 / 9780312625061

It won’t be published until March, but Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Future is already featured on Good Morning America. No wonder; the author says that in our lifetime, we could see one of five major cities (Los Angeles or San Francisco are on the list) completely destroyed by an earthquake.

…………………………

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 Michio Kaku Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2011-03-15) ISBN / EAN: 0385530803 / 9780385530804

Adam Fergusson enjoyed “an unexpected literary revival” this past summer when a book he wrote 35 years ago was republished in the UK. About Germany’s economic collapse after WWI, which lead to Hitler’s rise, it was a “cult text among gold enthusiasts and inflation phobes.” After it was erroneously reported that Warren Buffet was a fan, original copies began selling for upwards of $1,000 each on the Web. (Financial Times, 8/20/10)

The book was reprinted by Public Affairs in the U.S. in October. The Wall Street Journal revisits the story today, in a review that ends with the words, “Every body ought to read this book. But baby boomers must.” As a result, the reprint  moved up to  #43, from #939 yesterday on Amazon’s sales rankings.

When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany Adam Fergusson Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: PublicAffairs – (2010-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 1586489941 / 9781586489946

Adobe EPUB eBook available on OverDrive

Booklist just posted their editors’ picks of the best adult and youth books of 2010, so we can now say that the Best Books season is a wrap.

Below are the top choices, along with links to our downloadable spreadsheets collating all the titles, useful if you have remaining budgets you need to spend. If you have any trouble downloading either list, or have suggestions for making them more useful, please email me).

Adult Titles, Collated (Downloadable Spreadsheet); Version 7; FINAL

Top Titles:

Tied with nine of fourteen picks:

Egan, Jennifer,  A Visit From The Goon Squad, Knopf

Skloot, Rebecca, The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, Crown (the trade pbk. coming in March is featured above)

Wilkerson, Isabel, The Warmth Of Other Suns: The Epic Story Of America’s Great Migration, Random House

Seven of fourteen:

Franzen, Jonathan, Freedom, FSG

Mitchell, David, The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet, Random House

Mukherjee, Siddhartha, The Emperor Of All Maladies: A Biography Of Cancer, Scribner

Smith, Patti, Just Kids, Knopf

Six of fourteen:

Donoghue, Emma, Room, Little, Brown

Grossman, David, To The End Of The Land, Knopf

Murray, Paul, Skippy Dies, Faber & Faber

Richards, Keith, with James Fox, Life

Schiff, Stacy, Cleopatra: A Life, Little, Brown

————–

Childrens Titles, Collated (Downloadable Spreadsheet) Version 6; FINAL

Top Titles:

Number One (nine of eleven sources):

Williams-Garcia, Rita, One Crazy Summer, HarperCollins/Amistad

Six of eleven:

Greenberg, Jan & Sandra Jordan, illus. by Brian Floca, Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring Roaring Brook/Neal Porter

Lin, Grace, Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!, Little, Brown

Five of eleven:

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group; HMH

Burningham, John, illus. by Helen Oxenbury, There’s Going To Be A Baby, Candlewick

Collins, Suzanne,  Mockingjay, Scholastic

Sidman, Joyce, illus. by Beckie Prange, Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors, HMH

Singer, Marilyn, Mirror Mirror: A Book Of Reversible Verse, Dutton

Wiesner, David, Art & Max, Clarion