EarlyWord

It had to happen. The cover of the 11/21 NYT BR goes to Keith Richards for his memoir, Life (if you are suffering a bit of déjà vu, so are we. For some reason, last week’s NYT BR preview listed Liz Phair’s review as appearing in that issue). The book also moves to  #1 on the Hardcover Nonfiction best seller list, up from #2 last week.

The “biography of cancer,” The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, gets a better reception than Janet Maslin gave it in the daily NYT yesterday.

In nonfiction best sellers, Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra arrives on the list, as we predicted, at #11 and the Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro, arrives at #4 on the Advice, etc. list. In children’s, Kathy Reichs’ first book featuring the fictional niece of the protagonist of her adult mysteries, Virals, debuts at #6 on the Chapter Books list.

Of course you know that The Social Network is based on Ben Mezrick’s The Accidental Billionaires and that the upcoming Gulliver’s Travels is nominally based on Jonathan Swift’s satire.

But some connections are less obvious. Two movies getting heavy promotion right now are the upcoming Anne Hathaway/Jake Gyllenhaal rom/com Love and Other Drugs, which is based on a memoir of a Viagra salesman. The Way Back, with Collin Farrell and Ed Harris is based on The Long Walk,  a memoir of soldier captured by the Red Army in 1939 who escaped with six others, by foot, all the way to India. The latter is getting Oscar buzz for both director Peter Weir and star Ed Harris.

Below are the trailers and tie-in information:

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS — 11/24

Tie-in:

Hard Sell: Now a Major Motion Picture LOVE & OTHER DRUGS Jamie Reidy Retail Price: $12.99 Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing – (2010-11-30) ISBN / EAN: 0740799134 / 9780740799136

THE WAY BACK — 12/29, limited; Expands 1/21/11

Tie-in:

The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom: Movie Tie-In Slavomir Rawicz Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Lyons Press – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1599219751 / 9781599219752

—
You can stay up to date by regularly checking our listings of Movies Based on Books (links are available at the right):

Upcoming — with Tie-ins

Now Playing — With Tie-ins

For those who want to look even further out, we also list movies that are In Production and books that have had their Film Rights Acquired.

The L.A. Times today publishes a remarkably clear-eyed story about the issues libraries face in the digital age (with only a few laughable overstatements, like “Libraries are reluctant to digitize new bestsellers”).

Unfortunately, the article states that some libraries show declining circulation of books, without noting that the culprit could be reduced hours and book budgets.

Featured is the Rangeview, Colorado library as well as the L.A. Public Library.

Coming next week are the National Book Awards. We were going to write about them, but the Washington Post‘s critic Ron Charles says nearly all that needs to be said about them:

Like Charles, I am rooting for Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That, a book I’ve been thinking about ever since reading it in galley. I disagree with his description of the book, however. It isn’t really about how the cost of health care can devastate a family, or the ravages of cancer treatment. Shriver uses those issues to get to a deeper one; how much should you trust authorities, even doctors, and when is it time to have the courage to take your destiny in to your own hands?

We hope Shriver wins and that reading groups adopt it in droves when it comes out in trade paperback in March (with an intriguing change of  cover).

So Much for That: A Novel (P.S.) Lionel Shriver Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 480 pages Publisher: Harper Perennial – (2011-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061458597 / 9780061458590

Audio from Brilliance Corporation 03/09/2010; Compact Disc: $36.99; ISBN 9781423360995
Larger Type from HarperLuxe; $25.99; ISBN 9780061946134
Overdrive; Adobe EPUB eBook; WMA Audiobook; MP3 Audiobook

Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, about a WWII hero who survived being shot down and drifting on a life raft in the open ocean, only to endure two years in a brutal Japanese POW camp, is poised to be next week’s biggest nonfiction release. As we wrote earlier, it’s a People Pick, was featured on the cover of USA Today‘s “Life” section, and is excerpted in the December issue of Vanity Fair. Hillenbrand’s appearances next week include the Today Show and NPR.

It also made PW and the Amazon Editors Top Ten lists for 2010. Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles the subject of the book, Louis Zamperini, and quotes a buyer for B&N, “We’re positioning it as the big book for the holidays.”

The one naysayer so far is Entertainment Weekly which gives the book a “B”:

Hillenbrand is a better writer than a lot of historians and biographers. At times her prose even veers toward the poetic. But… she gives this story a chronological structure that frankly gets a little plodding…. Also, as inspiring as Zamperini’s tale is, his ordeal isn’t exactly a joy to experience on the page.

Nevertheless, the book is rising on Amazon, reaching #11 this morning (making it the fifth highest nonfiction title on the list). We’ll see how it fares with word of mouth after its release.

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

Other Notable Nonfiction on Sale Next Week

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda (HarperCollins) is a biography by the veteran publisher. PW says “Korda perhaps exaggerates the novelty and significance of Lawrence’s military exploits and makes an unconvincing stab at framing him in Joseph Campbell-inspired heroic archetypes. Still, Korda’s vivid portrait of Lawrence and his warring impulses captures the brilliance and charisma of this fascinating figure.”

My Passion for Design by Barbra Streisand (Viking) is an illustrated tour of the great star’s homes and art collections – and her first book. Streisand will appear for a full hour on the Oprah Winfrey Show on November 16.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama (Knopf Books for Young Readers) explores the characteristics of 13 important figures in American history through a letter to the President’s daughters.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner) chronicles the history of cancer, cancer treatments and new research into the disease. Reviewing the book in the  New York Times, yesterday, Janet Maslin objects that it is “transparently glib” to call the book a “biography,”  but that, “With objectives so vast, and with such a beautiful title, The Emperor of All Maladies is poised to attract a serious and substantial readership.” While the tone of the review is generally negative, it’s clear that Maslin is fascinated by much of it, underscoring her assessment that it will attract readers.

Decoded by Jay-Z (Spiegel & Grau) is part memoir, part tribute to the genre of hip-hop by the superstar. Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-: “The memoir’s chief theme is Jay-Z’s obsession with words…. He situates his work in the English canon, comparing his chosen form to the sonnet and crediting favorite authors (”Shout-out to Alfred, Lord Tennyson”). After reading Decoded, you won’t doubt for a second that he deserves the same level of respect as any of those great scribes.”

Sterling’s Gold: Wit and Wisdom of an Ad Man, the fictional memoir of Roger Sterling, a character from the TV series Mad Men, is the unlikely media darling of next week’s fiction lineup. It compiles Sterling’s best one-liners from the show, such as: “When God closes a door, he opens a dress.”

It has already attracted a swarm of media attention along the lines of this mention on New York Magazine‘s pop culture site, Vulture and on the Los Angeles Times Show Tracker blog – with more reviews undoubtedly to follow next week.

Libraries we checked have placed minimal order, but this gold, although a great holiday gifts for series lovers, may just be a flash in the pan.

Sterling’s Gold: Wit and Wisdom of an Ad Man Roger Sterling Retail Price: $16.95 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Grove Press – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 0802119891 / 9780802119896

Usual Suspects on Sale Next Week

Crescent Dawn (Dirk Pitt Series #21) by Clive Cussler (Putnam) didn’t entirely win over PW: “Fans of the indefatigable Pitt will enjoy watching their hero as he joins the battle on land, in the air, and at sea, but others might wish the Cusslers had picked less familiar terrorist targets.”

Night Star by Alyson Noel (St. Martin’s) is the newest entry in the bestselling paranormal romance Immortals series for teens.

Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie (Random House) is a surreal adventure in which a boy must journey through the “World of Magic,” a land with strangle creatures and video game logic, which Rushdie wrote for his 13-year-old son Luka. PW says, “the author’s entertaining wordplay and lighter-than-air fantasies don’t amount to more than a clever pastiche…. This is essentially a fun tale for younger readers, not the novel Rushdie’s adult fans have been waiting for.” The Washington Post delves in to the inspiration for the story.

Ricky Martin’s memoir is a best seller in both English and Spanish. The English version, Me is at #36 on the new USA Today list. The Spanish-language edition, Yo, is at #145, It’s published by Penguin’s Spanish-language imprint, Celebra.

Yo (Spanish Edition) Ricky Martin Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Celebra Hardcover – (2010-11-02) ISBN / EAN: 0451234162 / 9780451234162

The London premiere of  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (opening next week in the US) proved that the franchise still has a strong fan base.

The Telegraph gives an assessment of the UK reviews.

The Tattoo Chronicles may be a NYT best seller, but the REAL deal is Literary Tattoos, featuring inked librarians and other “Bookworms Worldwide.” They’re more fun than Kat’s tatts because they offers insight into books people are passionate about (one woman’s entire back is covered in the last lines from On the Road, in typescript, with a superimposed portrait of Kerouac at his typewriter).

But our favorite is this tribute to a librarian, by a librarian:

Danielle, a librarian from Indianapolis has the Dewey number for poetry inked on her wrist. Ben Rubinstein Library Marketing Assoc. at Macmillan (where he works with Talia Sherer) sports this line from Margaret Atwood’s poem, Asparagus.

Please, Ben, why did you choose this particular quote? (UPDATE: Ben spills the beans in the comments section!)

See more literary tattoos at The Word Made Flesh web site.

By the way, we think the EarlyWord bird would make a great tattoo.

Just sayin’.

…………………………………………..

The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide Eva Talmadge, Justin Taylor Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Harper Perennial – (2010-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061997404 / 9780061997402

The New York Times will leap into the eBook fray, with fiction and nonfiction best seller lists as an “an acknowledgment of the growing sales and influence of digital publishing.” The lists launch next year.

The NYT added Graphic Books best seller lists a couple of years ago. To date, however, they have ignored audiobooks, a format that accounts for greater sales than eBooks.

As expected for an author whose first book was an enormous success, Laura Hillenbrand is getting attention for her next title, Unbroken. And, as expected by most who have read it, it’s poised to do even better than Seabiscuit.

It’s a People Pick in the 11/22 issue. About a little-known WWII hero, who survived on a life raft in the middle of the ocean, only to be “rescued” by the Japanese and put in to a brutal POW camp for two years, Caroline Leavitt (frequent reviewer for People and the author of Pictures of You, Algonquin, Jan) says it is,

… as mesmerizing as it is gut-wrenching. And Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page…a devastating story of the unforgivable, and of one extraordinary man who forgave.

Hillenbrand is also featured on the cover of USA Today‘s “Life” section today, the book is excerpted in the December issue of Vanity Fair and more publicity is coming, including appearances on the Today Show and NPR.

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

Is Angelina Jolie going to play Cleopatra in a 3-D movie directed by James Cameron, based on the book by Stacy Schiff?

The answer is unclear. On NPR’s Morning Edition today, Tina Brown raved about the book in a “must-reads” segment and casually stated that Cleopatra “is about to be played by Angelina Jolie.”  However, just last week, Cameron told the Fox News entertainment blog, PopTarts, “I am not doing Cleopatra. That has been decided.” Yet, in an interview in WSJ’s entertainment blog Speakeasy (don’t you just love these blog titles?), Stacy Schiff said,  “Angelina Jolie is immensely interested in playing Cleopatra.”

So, maybe the answer is that Jolie is still in and producer Scott Rudin is looking for another director.

But, what does it matter, if the rumors bring people to read the book. On NPR, Brown said, “I just love this book…it is so well-written that it’s almost like a novel in its juicy literary flair…Schiff’s portrayal of Alexandria, turns the city itself into a kind of siren.” She’s so taken with it that she read from the book.

The book is piling up fans among book critics and is currently at #16 on Amazon’s sales rankings, where it has been for almost a week, so we can expect to see it on the upcoming NYT list. Holds are growing and are heavy in some libraries.

Cleopatra: A Life Stacy Schiff Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2010-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316001929 / 9780316001922

Hachette LARGE PRINT; Hdbk; 9780316120449; $31.99
Hachette Audio; UNABR; 9781607887010; $34.98

Is Mia Wasikowska the next Gwyneth Paltrow? Like her predecessor, she is taking on classic heroines. Last year she starred as Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and now she’s Jane Eyre (coming March 11).

Looks like this adaptation will capture all the spookiness of the book (and then some).

To help promote breast cancer awareness Penguin is reissuing classic romances by Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz and others, featuring pink ribbons on the covers, to underline Penguin’s support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

This is a good opportunity to replace worn-out titles. Eloisa James in her “Reading Romance” column in the Barnes and Noble Review, looks at several of them. She was “delighted to find romances with no relation to cotton candy. These are books that tackle life’s toughest issues head-on, that depict men and women in hardship, in pain, and in love.”

The discussion about the price of picture books rages on. In response to my defense of current prices on a cost-per-use basis, one person replied,

Yes, books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar may get read over and over again to a child, providing hours of entertainment for a reasonable price. But a parent might just as easily spend the $20 on a book that their child has no interest in whatsoever. Perhaps they’ll sit through one read if you’re lucky, but still you’ve just spent that $20.

Yes, librarians and other knowledgeable advisers can steer a parent towards more likely contenders, but even in those cases the book may not appeal to your child. There are probably some kids out there in the world who won’t like that Caterpillar (though I find it hard to believe!) and thus each purchase becomes a riskier proposition for a parent.

Playing picture book roulette when buying for a kid is asking for heartache. Fortunately, you don’t have to resort to that. Good children’s librarians know what to recommend because they actually read the books.

A grown-up who wants a book on spiders can just be directed to the spider book section to pick for himself, but a children’s librarian needs to conduct an interview. First we judge development; “What is the child reading right now?” Then, we probe a little further…

• “Do you want a story about spiders?” (The Very Busy Spider, by Eric Carle, or Charlie and Lola, I’m Just Not Keen on Spiders, by Lauren Child).

• “An Information book about spiders?” (Nic Bishop’s Spiders).

• “How well can the child read, or will a grown-up be sharing the book with her?”  (Tarantula Scientist in the The Scientists in the Field series).

My go-to for recommendations that I trust (and that that parents and teachers can access) is The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, (CCBC). It offers well thought-out, current, diverse, developmentally appropriate recommendations. My favorite list is Ten Author’s Every Childcare Provider Should Know.

In addition, I also regularly refer to these resources:

• The Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street, is now in its 100th year of selecting the Best Books of the Year (PDF’s by age group are available free online. It is also available at the same site in book form).

• ALA/ALSC Notable Books for Children

• Best Science Books of the Year

What are your recommended children’s book lists or awards that I should be looking at?