EarlyWord

Here’s an irresistible recommendation; People magazine says Claire Dederer’s new memoir about studying yoga while trying to raise two children and keep a marriage together  “…reads like Eat, Pray, Love for hip but harried moms.”

They also give it four of a possible four stars and designate it a People Pick in the new issue, dated Jan. 10. For other titles reviewed in that issue, check our PEOPLE Book Reviews Archive.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses Claire Dederer Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2010-12-21) ISBN / EAN: 0374236445 / 9780374236441

Blackstone Audio, 9781441781505

Caroline Leavitt’s Pictures of You, an original trade paperback, is the January Costco Book Pick (Costco Book Buyer Pennie Ianiciello is credited with creating several best sellers via her monthly picks in the Costco Connection. She is also on the King County Library Foundation’s Board of Directors). She describes it this way,

The story begins with two women running away from home. When their cars collide on a foggy highway, one is killed. The survivor, trying to heal herself, sets out to help the husband and child left behind by the deceased. Once their lives intersect, the unlikely trio fumble through questions of forgiveness, love, truth and what really matters.

The prepub reviews were all splendid (with the possible exception of LJ, which offered a criticism that sounds more like a recommendation; “This is an entertaining read and a wonderful story, but it doesn’t cover any new literary ground.”)

Check out the insightful interview with Leavitt by Susan Henderson (we’re big fans of her debut, also an original trade paperback, Up From the Blue) in the online publication The Nervous Breakdown; useful for book clubs.

Pictures of You Caroline Leavitt Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2011-01-25) ISBN / EAN: 1565126319 / 9781565126312

Director Baz Luhrmann has been studying up for his adaptation of The Great Gatsby and is inviting the public to be part of the process. Earlier this month, he told Entertainment Weekly,

Having spent at least two years full-time on [Gatsby], I probably have read [most every] book. But maybe not… I think engagement with an audience is great. I am fascinated about genuine audience participation because I grew up in the theater…I think to myself, well look, this [list] is what we’ve read. Go read that, and help me. If you want to have a point of view, get informed, then be helpful. Let’s try and make the best interpretation [for today].

Luhrmann’s research material is listed on the director’s Web site, with discussion on his Facebook page.

It was confirmed recently that Carey Mulligan will play Daisy, joining Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby. Release is planned for some time in 2012; plenty of time to organize “Reading with Baz” book groups.

The first full-length trailer of the movie based on the YA title, I Am Number Four, has just been released (a teaser appeared back in September).

The book is by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, writing under the pseudonym, Pittacus Lore. The movie. starring heart-throb-in-the-making Alex Pettyfer (he is also the lead in the upcoming film of Beastly), debuts in theaters on Feb. 18.

Official Web site: FindNumberFour.com

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I Am Number Four Movie Tie-in Edition Pittacus Lore Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2011-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 0062026240 / 9780062026248

Sarah Weinman, who writes the crime fiction column for the L.A. Times, reads so widely that when she picks her favorite crime novels of 2010, you can expect a wide range of titles, from the already popular to the more obscure.

Her top of the list is Don Winslow’s Savages, which she claims to have read three times (quite a feat for someone who reads over 400 books a year).

Savages: A Novel Don Winslow Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2010-07-13) ISBN / EAN: 1439183368 / 9781439183366

USA Today ‘s book review editor Dierdre Donahue proclaims, “Debut Heartbroke Bay is a golden chance for discussion,” and calls the trade paperback original “literary Geritol” for tired book groups. Based on a true story, this debut by a pseudonymous author came out in early November. It received some strong prepub reviews, but no coverage in the consumer media.

Heartbroke Bay Lynn D’urso Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Berkley Trade – (2010-11-02) ISBN / EAN: 0425236803 / 9780425236802

The Washington Post features YALSA’s Teens Top Ten program today, focusing on a DC area group, calling them,

…a little-known sounding board for publishers of teen fiction, poring over advance copies of books and dutifully typing up their ratings and impressions…[that] give publishers an important glimpse inside the minds of teen readers. Sometimes they also help build buzz about a new book.

The groups create a list of their top picks, which teens around the country vote on, resulting in the Teen’s Top Ten, published in October, during Teen Read Week.

The 2010 Teens’ Top Ten 2010 list is:

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic
2. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, McElderry/S&S
3. Heist Society by Ally Carter, Hyperion
4. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Scholastic
5. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, S&S
6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Little, Brown
7. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, Viking
8. If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Dutton
9. Fire by Kristin Cashore, Dial
10. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, Viking

Now that the gift-buying season is over (and the rush to redeem gift certificates begins), the flow of new releases begins to rev up.

The Gambles

The Radleys: A Novel Matt Haig Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Free Press – (2010-12-28) ISBN / EAN: 1439194017 / 9781439194010

The Radleys by Matt Haig (Free Press) was touted at BEA (and was one of Neal Wyatt’s Librarians Shout & Share picks). About a family of vampires trying to pass for normal in a British suburb, it comes from the UK with a plenty of great quotes. Prepub reviews here were also strong. The first consumer review, Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+, finding it charming but not a standout in the crowded field of vampire stories. The Dallas Morning News has this amusing take, “Haig effectively treats the unhinging, fiendish desire to feast on human blood as, well, just another unfortunate family dysfunction. Like alcoholism or drug addiction, only with hemoglobin.”

It also has backing from Hollywood; it was announced in April that Alfonso Cuarón acquired film rights. The director (Y Tu Mamá También and HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban) calls the book “funny, scary and wickedly familiar…On the one hand it’s a parochial comedy of manners in a dull suburban setting, but it quickly gathers poison and then effortlessly enters the supernatural without ever betraying its worldly concerns.”

This may have crossover appeal; in the UK, it was released as both adult and YA.
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American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee Karen Abbott Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-12-28) ISBN / EAN: 1400066913 / 9781400066919

American Rose by Karen Abbott (Random House); we’ve heard good things from people who have read the ARE’s of this new biography of Gypsy Rose Lee and RH is backing it with an announced 100,000 copy printing. The NYT‘s Janet Maslin, however, faults the book for focusing more Lee’s times than on Lee herself.

The Usual Suspects

What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz (Bantam) is a supernatural thriller about the murder of a family that reawakens an investigator’s memories of surviving a similar family massacre. PW carps that the terror level doesn’t get high enough, but Booklist gives it a star, noting that “Koontz worked out a family-at-risk scenario in last year’s Relentless; but whereas that book was breakneck-paced, science-fictional, riddled with screwball humor, and concerned about cultural politics, this novel is deliberate, highly supernatural, somber throughout, and motivated by religious dread of Koontz’s weightiest performances.”

In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz (Putnam) is the first in the new Looking Glass trilogy, and also part of Krentz’s ongoing romantic suspense Arcane Society series, about a psychic detective agency. Booklist gives it a starred review: “Krentz’s flair for creating intriguing, inventive plots; crafting clever dialogue between two perfectly matched protagonists; and subtly infusing her writing with a deliciously tart sense of humor are, as always, simply irresistible.”

The Outlaws by W. E. B. Griffin & William Butterworth (Putnam) is the sixth military thriller in the Presidential Agent series, in which Lt. Col. Carlos “Charley” Castillo must face life after the disbandment of his secret organization, the Office of Organizational Analysis. PW says “Series fans who love these characters will find the novel fulfilling; newcomers and those expecting a big payoff will be disappointed.”

To Have and To Kill (Wedding Cake Mystery) by Mary Jane Clark is the first in a “promising new cozy series” (PW). Hear her editor, Carrie Feron, talk about Mary Jane’s transition from her harder-edge mysteries to this new series in HarperCollins Editors’ Buzz.

Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag (Dutton) is the second in the author’s Deeper Than the Dead series. Says PW, “Newcomers will have no trouble getting into this suspense novel rich in pre-DNA detecting methods.”

Young Adult Fiction

Bloody Valentine (Blue Bloods Series #7) by Melissa de la Cruz. Prolific author Cruz also begins a new adult fantasy series, Witches of East End this summer and is working on a Blue Bloods spinoff, Wolf Pack, coming April 2012.

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (Penguin) is the sequel to Incarceron; Taylor Lautner has been signed to play the lead in the film adaptation of Incarceron, which appears on three Best Books lists; PW, SLJ, Washington Post and Hornbook.

Louis Zamperini, the hero of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, was featured on Fox News on Christmas Eve. Now 93 and living in California, Zamperini, with a mind an voice undimmed by age, still speaks like a man of his era (about a religious conversion after hearing Billy Graham speak, he says, “I realized what a heel I was to turn my back on God”).

As a result of the story, Zamperini’s own autobiography, Devil at My Heels (with a foreword by John McCain) broke in to the Amazon 100. The out-of-print hardcover edition of the book is for sale at prices ranging from $129 to  $599.

Several local newspapers (the Lexington Herald Leader, the Louisville Courier-Journal, and the Houston Chronicle) also featured Zamperini, as an inspirational story for the holidays

Hillenbrand’s Unbroken is now at #1 on Amazon sales rankings, edging out The Autobiography of Mark Twain and Decision Points by George W. Bush.

Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian’s Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II Louis Zamperini, David Rensin Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks – (2004-02) ISBN / EAN: 0060934212 / 9780060934217

Take a break from all you have to do before tomorrow and watch this inspired piece (be sure the sound is on!):

The Wall Street Journal swam against the tide this year by starting a standalone weekend book section in September.

More often than not, the WSJ reviews titles that are not covered elsewhere. It’s no surprise, then, that seven of their top ten books of the year do not appear on other lists. Only two novels make the cut; Bernard Cornwell’s The Burning Land and Howard Jacobson’s Booker Award winner The Finkler Question.

We’re now up to version 6 of our collated list of titles on the major adult best books lists — 396 titles from 14 sources. Also available is the childrens list; 199 titles from 11 sources

We wish we had gotten it together to create a fun holiday greeting. We didn’t, so we’ll just steal this one from those creative folks at Chronicle Books (love the use of the company logo and the dancing CEO).

Happy holidays to all our wonderful EarlyWord readers (try to imagine the EarlyWord bird swooping into the scene).

Starring the Chronicle staff, in order of appearance:

Laura Bagnato, Marketing Designer
Alex Sheehan, Special Sales Manager
Nion McEvoy, Chairman & CEO
Ben Laramie, Industrial Designer
Dean Burell, Managing Editorial Director
Anna Carollo, Marketing Design Coordinator
Jack Jensen, President
Emily Craig, Marketing Designer
Kelly Abeln, Marketing Design Fellow

If you want to find out more about the creation of this stop motion video, check Chronicle’s behind the scenes blog post.

Word of mouth must be working for Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken. Let us know, in comments below, what your readers are saying. Are the excruciating descriptions putting them off, or are they loving the ultimate triumph (a subject we explored in an earlier post)?

Unbroken is now at #3, from #5 last week, on USA Today‘s best seller list, making it the second best selling nonfiction title after George Bush’s Decision Points.

Holds in libraries are growing. Libraries have increased their copies by as much as ten times the initial order, to try to keep up with demand.

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

UPDATE: Unfortunately, one of our favorite ALA meetings, The Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group did not make it on to the conference scheduler. Below is the info — hope to see you there!

Monday, January 10. 2010
1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Room 24 A
2011 Collection Management in Public Libraries
Discussion Group

Issues for the Fresh New Decade
Lively discussion at Midwinter in San Diego! We will be discussing technology, budgets, and other practical issues for collection development in public libraries.

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Fellow procrastinators; MidWinter begins two weeks from tomorrow.

We need to make this easy. Below are a few steps to take right now, followed by things you can do mañana.

1) Sign up for the following free events

Take a procrastinator’s advice and do it now; space is limited.

AAP Author Breakfast
Monday, January 10, 2010
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Hilton Bayfront Hotel, Sapphire A Ballroom, One Park Blvd.
Veterans of the AAP events will tell you that it almost doesn’t matter who the authors are; it’s always fun and discovering new authors is the best part (plus, you’ll get Advance Readers Copies). This one features SIX, including Jacqueline Winspear, whose  A Lesson in Secrets is coming from Harper in April. It’s free, but you have to RSVP to Becca Worthington at the AAP to reserve your spot.

Publisher Title Presentations
Get  jump on the Spring/Summer seasons and an inside look at what the library marketing reps are particularly excited about, as well as a chance to load up on major galleys. Two of the largest trade houses offer title presentations:

HarperCollins
Saturday, January 8, 2011
10:00 AM – 11:15 AM — Adult Titles
11:30 to 12:30 — Children’s Titles
San Diego Convention Center, Room 26 A/B
Please RSVP by emailing Bobby Brinson so there will be an adequate number of galleys, tote bags and goodies.

Random House, Inc.
Sunday, January 17th
Adult Titles: 11:15pm – 12:15pm
Convention Center, Room 31B
(RH is not asking for an RSVP this year)

2) Check ALA’s listing of special events. Put the ones you don’t want to miss on your schedule

Below are two that are not on ALA’s special events list:

RUSA Book and Media Awards
Sun, January 9th
5-6:30pm
Manchester Grand Hyatt, Manchester Ballrooms A&B
Celebrate the genres with the Reading List and other RUSA award announcements. Even better, enjoy cocktails with fellow RA librarians.

Gala Author Tea
Mon., Jan. 10
2-4 p.m.
Convention Center, Room 29 A-D
You’ve missed the cutoff for advance tickets, so you will want to get to the session early to try to nab an on-site ticket ($55).

3) Don’t forget to schedule meetups with friends

4) Mañana

Make a list of galleys not to miss. A prime time to pick them up is on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., during the Spotlight on Adult Literature (more info. in ALA’s listing of special events).

Check out these special offers and signings from adult publishers:

HarperCollins, booth 2016

Macmillan, booth 2026

OverDrive, booth 1017 — check out their new eBook Apps and presentations like, “Best Practices to Maximize Download Circulation”

Penguin Group, booth 1917

Random House, booth 1816

Wiley, booth 1541 (Sam the Cooking Guy there on Monday at 2 p.m.; giving away copies while they last) and a 20th Anniversary Dummies celebration on Saturday (dessert reception at 4 p.m.)

See you there!

Yea!!!!! Scholastic announces they are re-launching the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate in May.

In the series, five kids are given the power to morph into animal forms by alien beings. Applegate’s gift was to take have these stock series characters fight evil while vividly capturing each animal’s attributes (what kid, or adult for that matter, wouldn’t want to fly like a condor or swim like a dolphin?)

In my library, the copies are old, yellowed and ratty (they were published between 1996 and 2001). I would have tossed them years ago if our kids weren’t still taking them out.