EarlyWord

Unfortunately, Depression era stories have particular resonance right now. A philanthropist from Canton, Ohio, gave away money anonymously, usually in the form of just $5, to those in need in the 1930’s.

On Friday, many of the living recipients of those gifts, gathered to talk about what those small gifts meant to them, reports the NYT. They were brought together by the donor’s grandson, Ted Gup, who discovered their letters in an old suitcase. Gup, a journalist, also used the letters as a basis of a book.

Most libraries own the hardcover; few have ordered the audio or the large type versions.

A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness–and a Trove of Letters–Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression Ted Gup Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2010-10-28) ISBN / EAN: 1594202702 / 9781594202704

Large Print; Center Point; 9781602859258; 12/01/10

Random House Audio; 9780307578037; 11/09/10

How many people will be interested in reading a 592-page book on a dreaded disease by a first-time author? Scribner is placing a 125,000-copy bet on a “biography of cancer,” The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, arriving next week.

The author and the book are profiled today in the New York Times. Mukherjee explains why he wrote the book,

“I was having a conversation with a patient who had stomach cancer and she said, ‘I’m willing to go on fighting, but I need to know what it is that I’m battling.’ It was an embarrassing moment. I couldn’t answer her, and I couldn’t point her to a book that would. Answering her question — that was the urgency that drove me, really. The book was written because it wasn’t there.”

For a sample, read Mukherjee’s article in the Oct. 31 New York Times Magazine (“The Cancer Sleeper Cell“), which is based on the book.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Siddhartha Mukherjee Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 592 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1439107955 / 9781439107959

Picture books were dissed by the daily NYT recently (“Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children“), but the NYT Book Review clearly still believes in their importance. The 48th annual “Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2010” is featured in the current issue. Many other picture books get attention in the special Children’s Books section (including a piece by EarlyWord Kid’s writer, Lisa Von Drasek on “Absurd Picture Books“).

Commenting on the Best Illustrated selections, Lisa says,

I am pleased, delighted and surprised that Bink And Golly by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee is on the list. I can’t remember an easy-to-read book making the list before. By definition, these books usually have very literal illustrations that do not reach “best illustrated” heights. I have adored that book since I first read it standing in a booth at ALA. The art, by Tony Fucile, is sweet, stunning and as the kids say…”the pictures go with the words” It is this kind of easy-to-read book all publishers should strive for…a limited language book that respects kids. It presents big ideas about friendship with art that not only illuminates the story but goes further (check out the one that shows Fred, the goldfish, in a barely visible in a frozen pond).

The book is also reviewed in the issue.

Bink and Gollie (Junior Library Guild Selection) Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 96 pages Publisher: Candlewick – (2010-09-14) ISBN / EAN: 076363266X / 9780763632663

Excerpts of Matt Lauer’s interview with George W. Bush, to air this evening, are being heavily promoted on The Today Show. Bush will also appear on the Oprah Show on Tuesday, the day of the release of his book, Decision Points.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Jon Stewart will interview the current Republican Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, one of the leaders of the call to repeal health care reform. Some say he has been using his book tour as a leadup to running for President.

Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington Rick Perry Retail Price: $21.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2010-11-15) ISBN / EAN: 0316132950 / 9780316132954

On Wednesday, Stewart talks to pro wrestler Mike Foley about his new memoir. Foley’s previous book, Have a Nice Day!, was a #1 NYT Best Seller.

Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal Mick Foley Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing – (2010-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0446564613 / 9780446564618

On Monday, Stephen Colbert explores twentieth century Middle Eastern literature with the editor of an anthology. Tablet and Pen.

Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East (Words Without Borders) Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 657 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2010-11-08) ISBN / EAN: 0393065855 / 9780393065855

A Woman in the Top Ten

Publishers Weekly‘s selection of 2010’s Top Ten books arrives today, joining Library Journal‘s and the Amazon editors’ lists announced last week.

Unlike last year, when PW‘s Top Ten did not include a single woman, half of the titles this year are by women.

As we have come to expect, there is very little consensus. Just three titles appear on all three lists. Moreover, only one of the National Book Award finalists made these lists; the title by PW’s cover author, Patti Smith.

Below are the titles, followed by links to EarlyWord stories about them.

ON ALL THREE LISTS

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown) —  #1 on Amazon, also on LJ, PW — Buy Alert: IMMORTAL LIFE

• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Random) — #5 on Amazon, also on LJ, PW — More WARMTH

• Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) — #6 on Amazon, also on LJ, PW — FREEDOM IS #1

ON TWO LISTS

• Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand (Random) — #4 on Amazon; PW — GalleyChatting; Fall Books

• Just Kids, Patti Smith (Ecco) — – #9 on Amazon; PW (also an NBA finalist) — Cover of the NYT BR

• The Big Short Michael Lewis (Norton)– #10 on Amazon; PW — THE BIG SHORT; Big Sales

ONLY ON AMAZON’s TOP TEN

• #2 Faithful Place, Tana French, Viking — All Over The PLACE

• #3 Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes, Atlantic Monthly — Book of the Week: MATTERHORN

• #7 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson, Knopf — HORNET’S NEST Gets All the Buzz

• #8 To the End of the Land, David Grossman, Knopf — NYT BR Cover

ONLY ON PW‘s TOP TEN

• A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan (Knopf) — Hating the Plot Summary

• The Surrendered, Chang-rae Lee, (Riverhead) — THE SURRENDERED — Reviewers’ Fav

• Man in the Woods, Scott Spencer (Harper) — NYT BR Cover; NEMESIS

• The Lonely Polygamist,Brady Udall (Norton) — Buzz List: Udall, Orringer, Kwok

ONLY ON LJ‘s TOP TEN

• The Passage by Justin Cronin (Ballantine) — #16 on Amazon — No Escaping THE PASSAGE

• The Tiger by John Vaillant (Knopf) — #34 on Amazon — TIGER Burning Bright

• Room by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown) — #35 on Amazon — ROOM a Best Seller

• By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) — #36 on Amazon — Follett Leads Next Week’s Fiction

• How To Live, Or, a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell (Other Press) — #86 on Amazon

• Walker Evans Decade by Decade (Hatje Cantz) — not on Amazon’s Top 100

• American Terroir by Rowan Jacobsen (Bloomsbury) — not on Amazon’s Top 100

When the NYT comics reporter, George Gustines recently asked, “What is Manga?“, the comics community groaned, “What? Have we gone back to 2000?  Do we really need to define manga yet again?”

Hetalia, manga by anyone's definition.

Folks who read past the headline discovered this was not another attempt to explain Japanese comics to the masses but instead an examination of  how the definition of manga has changed. Gustines interviewed Tokyopop Senior Vice President Mike Kiley who sees it this way,

“It used to be fairly straightforward to say that manga were black-and-white comics originating in Japan. But for many years now, there have been manga ‘variants’ in many places around the world…In my humble opinion, while my roots are in Japan and my first love of ‘comics’ really comes from Japan, I think a lot of these distinctions have become meaningless.”

In my work collecting and discussing manga with readers, I have been careful to maintain the following distinction: manga are comics from Japan, whereas manga-style comics are works produced outside Japan that with varying degrees of intent and success integrate that country’s traditions into their storytelling. Over the years I’ve made that distinction in direct response to my readers. Manga readers wanted only titles from Japan while the non-manga readers steered clear of Japanese origin titles.

The suggestion that these distinctions are now meaningless made me wonder how true this is from the reader’s point of view.  As a publisher of both manga and manga-style works, Tokyopop and Mr. Kiley benefit if readers no longer judge titles by their origins.  How do the readers rather than the publishers feel?

Librarians I asked both supported Kiley’s claim for younger readers and deflated the idea that the divisions are a thing of the past.

Koontz's Odd series, manga style.

Esther Keller, a school librarian in New York, reports that younger readers don’t particularly care:

I work in a middle school, so at times, the kids are less sophisticated in their reading choices than high schoolers, but they gravitate to titles that are familiar to them, whether it’s from TV or some other media tie-in.  In fact, recently, I overheard a group of students talking as they were thumbing through a volume of One Piece.  “You know,” one said, “All these comics are from China.”  I did correct them and I explained a little more about manga. But to these kids, it didn’t matter where the comics came from, just that it’s a format they enjoy reading.

Michelle Chrzanowski, from the Chesapeake Public Library in Virginia, reports that the divide is alive and well:

…For my readers, there is a definite divide.  Some of the younger readers will call everything either manga or graphic novels.  They are mostly the ones who read titles based on their popularity (i.e. they are on TV – Cartoon Network, Nick, etc.).  Then I have a group that are what I call the “manga snobs.”  They will only read manga (comics from Japan) and if I attempt to get them to read an OEL [Original English Language title], they inform me that they do not read “non-manga.”  Personally, I think the definition depends on the reader;  it is more blurry for the casual manga or graphic novel reader. However, if the reader is a dedicated manga reader or someone who has been reading for a while, they will definitely know the difference and will not be afraid to let you know about it.

Gilles Poitras, librarian and author of key reference works on Japanese popular culture including The Anime Companion, is skeptical of Kiley’s motives and points out that using country-specific terms shows respect for the creating culture.

It sounds like the old “let’ -call-anything-manga” line where all sorts of non-Japanese books had manga tacked onto the title or ads just to make a buck.

Frankly, I like my definitions clear. Manga is made in Japan for a Japanese audience, manhwa is made in Korea for a Korean audience and manhua is the term for Chinese works.

In the case of non-Japanese works like manhwa I find it disrespectful to the Koreans to call it manga. The Koreans, and other nations, deserve their own terms for their distinctive works.

Hilary Chang, hailing from McCully-Moiliili Public Library in Honolulu, finds her patrons agree with Gilles sentiment.

I personally feel “manga” means “Japanese comics” but know it has come to mean in the U.S. comic books with a certain art style.  Of course, in Japan, “manga” just means “comics” and does not specify origin.  However, my patrons (especially since we’re so much closer to Japan) feel if it isn’t from Japan, it shouldn’t be called “manga.”  They feel even calling it “Original English Manga” is like saying “Russian Yakuza.”  Just use the term “graphic novel” or “organized crime” rather than trying to create an association just because manga is popular now.

Mr. Kiley concludes with the following sentiment:

At this point, it’s probably more helpful to consumers to ‘shelve’ (in a retail sense) comics by genre and by age range, rather than by minutely splitting hairs over whether a comics version of a British writer’s young adult novel illustrated by a Korean artist in a ‘manga’ style should be considered ‘manga’ or not. For me, it’s all about choosing and creating the best stories, and then making sure they get put in front of an audience eager to read them.

In spirit, I agree with Kiley’s point: the ultimate decision for any reader should be whether the story is any good.  Dividing by age range and genre are tasks libraries are already tackling.  The country of origin as a defining feature will matter less and less over time. Given that our youngest readers aren’t married to the distinctions older fans abide by, these lines may eventually disappear altogether.

At the same time, I see Gilles’s and Hilary’s point that works created in one culture have significant markers precisely because they are from that culture. You read them because of those trademarks.  It feels awkward at best to drop or misuse a term that shows a sensitivity to that difference without having a good reason.

Until the distinctions truly fade away, I will continue using specific vocabulary and teaching it to readers.

After my rebuttal on the merits of picture books, I received this comment from a famous best-selling author by email,

Our publisher pals need to re-think ….the high prices they are charging…$18 for a book when you are struggling to keep/find a job is impossible.

The esteemed young adult author, Marc Aronson stated recently on CCBC_Net listserv (available only to subscribers), that these “books are so slim they disappear, a parent faces a relatively high cost (say $16) for a relatively short immersion experience (32, 40, 48 pages plus the effort the parent puts into engaging the child spread by spread).”

WHAT?!!!!!

Consider the Return on Investment

Rounding up, let’s say a hardcover picture book is twenty dollars. Let’s consider The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In many households, it is read every night for four months, or 120 hours. This experience is seventeen cents a reading.

“Plus the effort the parent puts in engaging the child spread by spread.” Is Marc Aronson looking for a fight? That “effort” is bonding with a young child, that “effort” is building early literacy skills, that “effort” will pay off in untold dividends in a stronger vocabulary, ability to track cause and effect, and create the beginning of the understanding that one can derive enormous enjoyment from the words on a page. Let’s add to this – shared meaning and fun.

A child who is having a whiny moment can be reminded of Llama, llama Red Pajama. A child inappropriately seeking attention can be distracted with a story on a bus or a train. Whether in hard copy, on a Nook or an iPad, a picture book can save a restaurant meal from a too hungry, too tired child meltdown.

Need a study?

“Children’s Access to Print Material and Education-Related Outcomes,”  says that not having access to print materials  (i.e., books) in the home is detrimental to a child’s ability to succeed in the elementary school years.

Want to talk money?

Let’s compare to other monetary wants of childhood…

• The DVD of a new movie, $30.
• New cool electronic hamsters, $15 dollars a piece, collect them all! Accessories, $20 a set.
• A dancing Micky Mouse $93
• PlayScool Alphie, $45.
• Can a parent leave a movie theater or museum less than $40 lighter in the wallet?
• One dinner at McDonalds for a family of four?

Where is your $16 to $18 going? We can agree that the artist and the writer should get paid. How about the art director who created the object? The editor who discovered, nurtured the writer and championed the book? The publisher who produced the books, balanced the books, and kept things on schedule? The marketing people who had to shine a light on THIS book in a crowded market, let librarians, booksellers, and parents know about this fabulous new illustrator?

Mr. Aronson also suggests some ways to get books in the hands of parents and children for less money (for instance, creating subscription plans). Let’s not reinvent the wheel. There is a way. Paperback. The top selling paperback picture books on Amazon are  $6.00 and $7.00. Scholastic Book Clubs distribute through classrooms and sell paperbacks at affordable prices. REading is Fundamental gives books away (www.rif.org).

Is there a place where a parent can go for expert advice on picture books for their child? A community center where professionals have selected the best of what is available and share this knowledge freely with anyone who walks through the door? A place where parents can borrow books read to their children?

Oh, right — THE LIBRARY.

How much will borrowing a pile of picture books cost? Nothing, nada (admittedly, that’s not really true. Tax dollars paid for them and for that expert). If the books for children in your local library are ratty and old, use your voice to demand a children’s librarian who is knowledgeable, to raise funds for new books.

Going without picture books is not an option. The loss to a child of not sitting with a parent or older sibling, turning those thirty-two pages, poring over the art, repeating joyfully those juicy words, cannot be replaced.

A week of Starbucks’ Lattes — $24.50

The cost of a Michael Jordan sneaker? — Seriously.

Snuggling with a five-year-old, laughing over John Scieszka’s Truckery Rhymes?

Priceless.

Stacy Schiff’s bio of Cleopatra has already received a boatload of reviews and is now featured on the cover of the NYT BR for 11/14. Liz Phair reviews Keith Richards’ memoir and the NYT BR selection of The Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2010 are announced.

Best Sellers

Room by Emma Donoghue pops back onto the main Hardcover Fiction list, at #15. after moving to the extended list last week. Its peak position was #9 on Oct. 10th.

Two books with single-word titles arrive at #1 and #2 on the Nonfiction Hardcover list resulting in strange bedfellows. Keith Richards is at #1 for Life, followed by Glenn Beck at #2 for Broke.

The Last Boy continues in the top five after three weeks. More publicity is coming. Author Jane Leavy is scheduled for NPR’s Talk of the Nation on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (when lots of people will be in their cars, listening to the radio).

Finishing the Hat, Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics annotated with personal anecdotes has been getting press attention and arrives at #11.

Tyler Perry’s movie, For Colored Girls opens today. The script of the play has been selling in anticipation; it arrives at #9 in Paperback Trade Fiction list.

So what if George W. once considered dropping Cheney as a running mate? The real news is that Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl was NOT Christie Brinkley.

The song was originally about Elle MacPherson.

So says a new book, The Girl in the Song, which details the back stories of many classic rock lyrics. News stories have sent the book up Amazon sales rankings (now at #386, it’s unlikely to pose any threat to Bush’s Decision Points, however; it’s which is at #1).

The Girl in the Song: The Stories Behind 50 Rock Classics Michael Heatley, Frank Hopkinson Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Chicago Review Press – (2010-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 1569765308 / 9781569765302

Putnam has announced that they will publish a book about the Chilean miners’ rescue in February. Titled 33 Men, it’s by Jonathan Franklin, an American journalist who has lived in Chile for 15 years.

Kathleen Kent returns to the territory of her standout 2008 debut, The Heretic’s Daughter, with a prequel set in 17th century Massachusetts, in The Wolves of Andover.  Based on the life of a woman from whom Kent is descended, the novel takes place before she became a victim of the Salem Witch trials, during her relationship with an Englishman involved in the beheading of Charles I, who is pursued by assassins.

Early reviews are good:

PW: “Kent doesn’t disappoint….[she] brings colonial America to life by poking into its dark corners and finding its emotional and personal underpinnings.”

Booklist: “Part historical fiction, part romance, and part suspense…. Skillfully meshing these various elements, the authors latest effort is bound to please fans of each.”

Kirkus: “Kent has more fun with the Londoners—Johnny Depp could play almost any of the baddies—than her somewhat morose ancestors, but she lovingly captures their daily grind and brings looming dangers, whether man or beast, to harrowing life.

Modest holds on modest orders in libraries we checked.

The Wolves of Andover: A Novel Kathleen Kent Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books – (2010-11-08) ISBN / EAN: 0316068624 / 9780316068628

Usual Suspects On Sale Next Week

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books) continues the popular children’s book series.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King (Scribner) is a collection of four new horror tales. In a starred review, Booklist says, “King begins his afterword by stating, ‘The stories in this book are harsh.’ The man ain’t whistlin Dixie…. King provides four raw looks at the limits of greed, revenge, and self-deception.” It’s also an Amazon Editor’s pick this month.

Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci (Grand Central) is the fifth Camel Club political thriller. PW is not impressed: “Those who prefer intelligence in their political thrillers will have to look elsewhere.”

Cross Fire (Alex Cross Series #17) by James Patterson (Grand Central) finds detective Alex Cross’s wedding plans on hold while he investigates the assasination of Washington D.C.’s most corrupt congressman and lobbyist.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley (Riverhead) follows an old man who undergoes a procedure to cure his dementia at the cost of longevity. PW says, “Though the details of the experimental procedure are less than convincing, Mosley’s depiction of the indignities of old age is heartbreaking, and Ptolemy’s grace and decency make for a wonderful character and a moving novel.”

I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg (Random House) is about a former beauty queen and realtor in Birmingham, Alabama planning a graceful exit from her burdensome life as the housing bubble implodes. Kirkus was disappointed: “What could have been an edgy excursion into the individual toll of the Recession on real women devolves into fluff.”

Sunset Park by Paul Auster (Holt) is the veteran author’s 16th novel, set in a house full of 20-something squatters in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood. It gets a starred review from Booklist: “In a time of daunting crises and change, Auster reminds us of lasting things, of love, art, and the miraculous strangeness of being alive.”

Life Times by Nadine Gordimer (FSG) is a collection of stories set in the Nobelist’s native South Africa. Kirkus calls it “a welcome collection by a master of English prose—lucid and precisely written, if often bringing news only of disappointment, fear and loss.”

The Box: Tales from the Darkroom by Gunter Grass and Krishna Winston (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is a fictionalized exploration of the childhood memories of his eight children, from whose lives he was mostly absent.

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, the Australian author of The House of Riverton and The Forgotten Garden, hinges on a 1941 letter that finally reaches its destination in 1992 with powerful repercussions for a London book editor. PW calls it “an enthralling romantic thriller.”

Nora Ephron‘s latest collection of humorous essays, I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections is a People Pick in the new issue, and New York magazine has a Q&A with her. Entertainment Weekly rains on the parade a bit, with a B- review (worth reading as an example of saying a great deal in just a few lines) as does Jane Maslin in today’s NYT, at much greater length.

Ephron’s also said to be launching a divorce section on the Huffington Post this week.

We hope she can remember her schedule next week, it’s a crowded one:

NPR/Morning Edition– 11/8
Charlie Rose – 11/9
Today Show – 11/9
The View – 11/10

All that, coming off the heels of her 2006 bestselling collection I Feel Bad About My Neck, is adding up to a 500,000 print run for her latest.

Booklist says: “A master of the jujitsu essay, Ephron leaves us breathless with rueful laughter. As the title suggests, she writes about the weird vagaries of memory as we age, although she is happy to report that the Senior Moment has become the Google Moment. Not that any gadget rescued her when she failed to recognize her own sister.”

I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections Nora Ephron Retail Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2010-11-09) ISBN : 9780307595607

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week

Decision Points by George W. Bush (Crown) gives personal insight into the major events of Bush’s presidency. Though it’s embargoed, there have been lots of leaks, as we’ve already mentioned.

Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen and Albert S. Hanser (Thomas Dunne) is historical fiction about the Continental Army during the winter of 1777, following up on the authors’ success with Try Men’s Souls (2009). Booklist says, “The dialogue tends to get a little long-winded, and the authors are unabashed cheerleaders for GW, but, really, who can blame them? American readers can’t get enough of Valley Forge, so expect high demand for this fair-to-middling fictional adaptation.”

Don’t Sing at the Table: Life Lessons From My Grandmothers Adriana Trigiani  (Harper)  was featured at the BEA – AAP  Librarian Lunch. PW says, “Trigiani combines family and American history, reflections on lives well-lived, and sound advice to excellent effect, as a legacy to her daughter and a remembrance of two inimitable women.”

Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman (Twelve) analyzes the composition and decisions of the Supreme Court during the 1940s and 50s. Kirkus calls it “an immensely readable history that goes behind the façade of our most august institution to reveal the flesh-and-blood characters who make our laws.”

Charles Elton’s debut novel, Mr. Toppit should be worth keeping an eye on when it arrives next week.  The premise is quite intriguing: it’s the tale of an English family whose private moments become immortalized in an internationally famous series of children’s books – in a plight reminiscent of Christopher Robin Milne, who wrote three memoirs about living in the shadow of Winnie the Pooh. At ALA, Library Journal‘s Barbara Hoffert picked it for Shout & Share.

PW calls it “an excellent debut…. while beautifully written and graced with a unique story line, it is Elton’s characters who drive the novel and give it a depth uncommon in debuts.”

Published earlier this year in England, it got rather wildly divergent reviews, with the Independent and the Times (London) praising it for its confident storytelling, and the Guardian and the Telegraph calling it overhyped and thin.

We’ll let you know what U.S. critics have to say…

Mr. Toppit Charles Elton Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Other Press – (2010-11-09) ISBN / EAN: 1590513908 / 9781590513903

Publishers Weekly inaugurated their Top Ten Best Books list last year (a selection of the best of the best from their long list of best of the year). No-longer-sister-publication Library Journal follows suit with their own Top Ten list today.

Amazon also announced a Top Ten list today. LJ’s list is in alpha order. For comparison, we’ve arranged the titles by where they appear on Amazon’s Top 100.

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown) — #1 on Amazon

• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Random) — #5 on Amazon

• Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) — #6 on Amazon

• The Passage by Justin Cronin (Ballantine) — #16 on Amazon

• The Tiger by John Vaillant (Knopf) — #34 on Amazon

• Room by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown) — #35 on Amazon

• By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) — #36 on Amazon

• How To Live, Or, a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell (Other Press) — #86 on Amazon

• Walker Evans Decade by Decade (Hatje Cantz) — not on Amazon’s Top 100

• American Terroir by Rowan Jacobsen (Bloomsbury) — not on Amazon’s Top 100

“The Atlantic Ocean was absolutely critical to the story of America,” says Simon Winchester explaining why he’s written a “biography” of it. He spoke to Lynn Neary on NPR’s Morning Edition today.

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories Simon Winchester Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 512 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061702587 / 9780061702587