EarlyWord

TWO national newspaper stories came out this week about Americans who can’t wait for the third volume in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, not due here until the end of May. They are buying the UK editions, which came out in October of this year.

The New York Times writes about some independent bookstores that have imported the British editions and are selling them for as much as $45.

Of course, this violates territorial rights agreements. Other booksellers quoted by the NYT, such as Powell’s in Portland, OR, say they plan to stick to the rules and wait for the American edition.

Ignoring territorial rights, the Wall Street Journal suggests Americans buy Hornet’s Nest through Amazon, UK, as well as four other “hot titles” (sorry, we don’t see these titles as being quite so heavily sought-after by Americans):

• Anne Tyler, Noah’s Compass, US pub, Knopf, (January 5, 2010)
• William Boyd, Ordinary Thunderstorms, US pub, Harper, (January 26, 2010)
• John Banville, The Infinities, US pub, Knopf, (February 23, 2010)
• Sebastian Faulks, A Week in December, US pub, Doubleday, (March 9, 2010)

Why is the Hornet’s Nest available in the UK so far ahead of the US edition? Both articles quote responses from the US publisher Knopf, but Sarah Weinman offers a more plausible theory on her mystery-focused blog, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

One library we checked already has over 500 holds on the 46 copies they’ve ordered of the Knopf edition.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Stieg Larsson Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2010-05-25) ISBN / EAN: 030726999X / 9780307269997

Simultaneous unabridged audio; Random House Audio; 9780739384190; $40.

Annual “best books” roundups always reflect a mix of love and duty, as any book reviewer or awards judge knows. On the theory that many of the lesser-known picks on these lists are actually the best-loved, we took another look at the year’s “Best Books,” trying to spot books with broad appeal that slipped under our radar this year, and perhaps yours, too. Some of these titles don’t have holds list, so you may actually find them on the new book shelves.

(Check out our list of Under-the-Radar Literary Picks too!)

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C. E. Mayo

Library Journal chose this historical novel about the short-lived career of Austrian archduke Maximilian as Mexico’s emperor in the 1860s for their best books longlist. It also got a fair amount of coverage from book bloggers –  including Bookslut and others – after Unbridled Books sent the author on a lively blog tour. According to World Cat, 239 libraries have the book. Those we checked had 4-6 copies with no reserves.

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire C. M. Mayo Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Unbridled Books – (2009-05-05) ISBN / EAN: 193296164X / 9781932961645

The Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser

This paean to Detroit and one of its immigrant families in the decodes after WWII by a native son and author of five novels was a New York Times Notable Book and is available in 151 libraries in modest quantities with modest reserves. The full review in the Times called it

“One of the finest novels about Detroit’s history to come along in years. With its generous and cleareyed vision of the city’s grand past, it will particularly resonate with readers who remember the glory days of the American Rust Belt.”

The Art Student’s War Brad Leithauser Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 512 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2009-11-03) ISBN / EAN: 0307271110 / 9780307271112

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy

This story collection set in Montana about characters adept at creating misery for themselves was the only short story collection to appear on the New York Times Top 10 list for 2009, in a year the critics acknowledge was a superlative one for short stories. It’s in 558 libraries, says World Cat; those we checked had 20 or fewer copies, with up to twice as many reserves.

The full New York Times review praises Meloy’s wry humor and exceptional restraint,  while the Los Angeles Times review notes that “Meloy’s richest territory is the fork in the road at right and wrong, the moment when a person’s moral compass wavers.”

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2009-07-09) ISBN / EAN: 159448869X / 9781594488696

Big Machine by Victor LaValle

A Publishers Weekly Top 10 pick, Victor LaValle’s second novel is about about faith and the monsters and mental sustenance it can create, particularly among America’s underclass. World Cat says 401 libraries have it, some with modest reserves.

The Washington Post places LaValle’s work in an “increasingly high-profile and important cohort of writers who reinvent outmoded literary conventions, particularly the ghettos of genre and ethnicity that long divided serious literature from popular fiction.”

Big Machine Victor LaValle Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Spiegel & Grau – (2009-08-11) ISBN / EAN: 0385527985 / 9780385527989

Lowboy by John Wray

This novel about a paranoid schizophrenic teenager who spends his days riding the New York City subways was on the Amazon.com editors’ Best Books longlist. More libraries have it than any other book on this list – 875 libraries, according to World Cat – yet reserves are low, despite solid coverage in highbrow print venues like the New York Times and New York magazine and hipster blogs like Largehearted Boy.

Lowboy John Wray Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-03-03) ISBN / EAN: 0374194165 / 9780374194161

As we looked back through the lists of Best Books for 2009, we caught several literary picks that slipped under our radar, but look promising for readers advisory. Here they are.

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

Chosen as a “Best Book” by Amazon and the Atlantic (long list), this masterful and quirky story collection, which swings from the grandiosity of love to the dissolution of families, is available in 192 libraries, according to World Cat, and has substantial reserves as in libraries we checked.

Davis’s literary pedigree and accomplishments get their due from Susan Salter Reynolds in the Los Angeles Times. And the New Yorker recently chose Davis’s collection for its book club.

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 752 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-09-29) ISBN / EAN: 0374270600 / 9780374270605

The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam

Chosen for Publishers Weekly‘s Best Books long list, The Man in the Wooden Hat offers a wife’s point of view on a marriage that began in adultery and was unhappily childless before ending in resigned old age. (If this plot sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the sequel to Gardam’s Orange Prize finalist Old Filth, which was told from the husband’s point of view.) According to World Cat, 305 libraries have it. Libraries we checked show high reserves on modest orders.

The Man in a Wooden Hat was an Indiebound pick and Gardam was the subject of a Publishers Weekly profile and a thoughtful Barnes and Noble Review essay, but the top reviews are from the UK.

By the way, the publisher, Europa Editions, publishes European literary titles and had a huge success with Muriel Barbery’s Elegance of the Hedgehog.

The Man in the Wooden Hat Jane Gardam Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Europa Editions – (2009-10-27) ISBN / EAN: 1933372893 / 9781933372891

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is a “surprise success,” according to Publishers Weekly. It began life as a “small title,” and now has 40,000 copies in print.

What PW doesn’t note is that librarians spotted it early, highlighting it at the Librarian’s “Shout ‘n’ Share” program at BEA in May.

Author Rhoda Janzen is publishing another memoir, Backslide, currently scheduled for March, 2012.

HighBridge released an audio version in October. Libraries are showing heavy holds on both versions.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home Rhoda Janzen Retail Price: $22.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2009-10-13) ISBN / EAN: 080508925X / 9780805089257

Also in audio from HighBridge:

• CD: 9781598879070; $29/95; 10/13

Downloadable audio from OverDrive

Andy Sorkin’s book about Lehman Brothers has been on the NYT Nonfiction Best Seller list for six weeks. Some libraries are showing holds ratios as high as 20:1. Holds are also heavy on the audio, where it is owned.

Expect them to rise even higher after Sorkin appears on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday.

Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves Andrew Ross Sorkin Retail Price: $32.95 Hardcover: 624 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2009-10-20) ISBN / EAN: 0670021253 / 9780670021253

Penguin Audio; Unabridged; 9780143144991; #39.95

Blackstone Audio; Unabridged:

• Cassette; 9781433297762; $72.95
• MP3CD; 9781433297809; $29.95
• CD; 9781433297779; $105

Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive

We’ve been going a little crazy compiling all the best books lists (over 400 titles on our compilation of the best adult book lists —  Bests — All Adult Titles — Spreadsheet —  and over 100 for best children’s books lists — Bests — All Children’s Titles — Spreadsheet. If you want just the consensus titles, you can download our Bests — Titles Selected by Three or More — Spreadsheet.)

So, we’re happy to see Publishers Weekly do the heavy lifting for cookbooks: A Round-Up of the Round-Ups: Looking at the ‘Best Cookbooks of 2009’ Lists includes 6 “Bests” lists, ranging from blogs to NPR.

The most heavily-anticipated title coming out this week, based on library holds, is Laurell Hamilton’s Divine Misdemeanors. Trailing behind it is Alexander McCall Smith’s La’s Orchestra Saves the World, with about half as many holds.

Fiction

12/8

Coonts, Stephen; The Disciple, St. Martin’s

Hamilton, Laurell; Divine Misdemeanors, Ballantine

Karpyshyn, Drew, Star Wars Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil, Lucas Books

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La’s Orchestra Saves the World Alexander McCall Smith Retail Price: $23.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Pantheon – (2009-12-08) ISBN / EAN: 0307378381 / 9780307378385

Smith departs from his four popular series (he’s most well-known, of course, for the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency; the sixth in his Isabel Dalhousie series, The Lost Art of Gratitude, came out in Sept), with this stand-alone novel set in English countryside during WW II. Amazon’s editors’ blog, Omnivoracious, declared it their Omni Daily Crush and the author is interviewed in USA Today on the eve of publication. Prepub reviews were mixed, from a starred Booklist, which recommended it for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, to LJ, which said exactly the opposite — “..readers hoping for another Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will be left wanting.”

Nonfiction

12/8

Lillien, Lisa Hungry Girl Chew the Right Thing
This, the newest title in the popular series is a set of recipe cards, which obviously doesn’t work for libraries.

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Golf: An Unofficial and Unauthorized History of the World’s Most Preposterous Sport Henry Beard Retail Price: $16.00 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2009-12-08) ISBN / EAN: 1439169934 / 9781439169933

Libraries we checked have not ordered this, although they own other golf titles by the author. S&S announced a 100,000 copy first printing.

Literary Life: A Second Memoir by Larry McMurtry, Simon & Schuster

Young Adult

12/8

Fallen Lauren, Kate Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2009-12-08) ISBN / EAN: 0385738935 / 9780385738934

The first in a planned series about fallen angels (the Booklist review says these creatures seem “poised to become the new vampires.”) Prepub reviews are lukewarm (Booklist was the strongest, saying, “Although there’s not enough story to justify the length of this series opener, readers who stick with it get rewarded with a climactic payoff that far exceeds the buildup.”), but the Web site and trailer are getting buzz on blogs. Libraries are averaging 2:1 holds per copy. Warning; the book features an evil school librarian,

Grace Lin appeared on the Today Show on Friday, to talk about her book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with Al Roker and the Today Show Club Kids.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2009-07-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316114278 / 9780316114271

Al also announced that he’s reaching way back to his own childhood for the next Al’s Book Club selections.

Note that audios are available for both; we thought it was such an inspired idea to have Laura Linney read Nancy Drew that we included a clip.

The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew, Book 1) Carolyn Keene Retail Price: $6.99 Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap – (1930-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0448095017 / 9780448095011

Audio: Listening Library; Read by Laura Linney; 9780739349137; CD; $14.95

Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive

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The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys, Book 1) Franklin W. Dixon Retail Price: $6.99 Hardcover: 180 pages Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap – (1959-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 0448089017 / 9780448089010

Audio: Listening Library; Read by Bill Irwin; 9780739366813; CD; $19.99

Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive

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Several new Best Books list have appeared.

In childrens:

• NYT Book Review — Notable Children’s Books
• School Library Journal
• Nick Jr. (selected by our own EarlyWord Kid, Lisa Von Drasek)

We’ve put together all the children’s picks so far in one spreadsheet, complete with ISBN’s:

Bests — All Children’s Titles — Spreadsheet

New list of adult titles:

• NYT Book Review — Stasio’s Notable Crime Books
• L.A. Times — Fiction Favorites
• L.A. Times — Mystery Favorites
• L.A. Times — Nonfiction Favorites
• L.A. Times — Science Fiction Favorites

We’ve also compiled all the adult selections into another spreadsheet (sorry, no ISBN’s)

Bests — All Adult Titles — Spreadsheet

And, created a listing of the titles, both Adult and Children’s, that were selected by three or more sources (amazing how few there are!)

Bests — Titles Selected by Three or More — Spreadsheet

Reviews are popping up all over for yet another Oscar-buzzed book based on a movie, The Last Station, from the novel by Jay Parini, about Tolstoy’s final year. It opens today in a limited number of theaters for one-week run (probably so it can qualify Oscar consideration), prior to its regular release in mid-January.

The NYT accuses the movie’s amazing cast (Christopher Plummer as Leo Tolstoy, Helen Mirren as his wife, Sofya Tolstoy, and Paul Giamatti as one of Tolstoy’s disciples) of overacting, but the  L.A. Times enjoys what they term, their “larger-than-life performances.”

Judge for yourself from the trailer below, or view it in a larger format on the movie’s Official Web site.

Tie-ins:

The Last Station (Movie Tie-in Edition): A Novel of Tolstoy’s Final Year Jay Parini Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Anchor – (2010-01-12) ISBN / EAN: 0307739643 / 9780307739643

Newmarket Press will also release the shooting script.

The third volume in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series is set to debut on 8/24/10. No cover, no title, no ISBN yet. Scholastic is doing a simultaneous audio.

If you’re curious about Ian Halperin’s book about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Brangelina, USA Today gives specifics, saying that this tell-all fails to tell much and what it does tell is badly sourced.

The book rose to #105 on Amazon Tuesday, the day of its release. It is now at #284. Llibraries we checked have it on order, with 1 to 1 holds.

Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Ian Halperin Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 285 pages Publisher: Transit Publishing – (2009-12-25) ISBN / EAN: 0981239668 / 9780981239668

We hope you’re not tired of best books lists yet, because there’s more coming. We love them for the opportunity to discover gems we’ve overlooked.

The lastest is not so much a best books list as a gift list. The advantage of gift suggestions is that they aren’t weighed down by considerations of literary merit — they’re about books people might actually enjoy.

NPR rounded up the top picks from three indy booksellers. We’re particularly taken with Daniel Goldin’s selections (his Boswell and Books is one of our favorite indy bookseller blogs) and are happy that he brings attention to one of our favorites of the year, Michelle Huneven’s Blame.

Blame Michelle Huneven Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0374114307 / 9780374114305

Unabridged audio from Blackstone
Large Type: Thorndike; Hdbk; 12/1/09; 9781410420930; $31.95
Downloadable audio from OverDrive

Up in The Air with George Clooney is being called the Oscar front-runner, with Precious close behind.

The director, Jason Reitman, was interviewed last night on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The show also reran an earlier interview with Walter Kirn, author of the book that the movie is based on. Kirn talks about the inspiration for his main character, a corporate “downsizer” who spends most of his life on airplanes as he travels around the country, laying people off. Great background for the movie, which opens tomorrow.

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Tie-in edition:

Up In The Air (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Random House Movie Tie-In Books) Walter Kirn Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Anchor – (2009-10-27) ISBN / EAN: 0307476286 / 9780307476289

Book downloadable from OverDrive.

Kirn’s new book, a memoir, Lost in the Meritocracy, is a NYT BR Notable book, described as,

The witty, self-castigating story of how Kirn’s schooling left him “not so much educated as wised up.”

Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever Walter Kirn Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2009-05-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385521286 / 9780385521284

Book downloadable from OverDrive.

The New York Times Book Review has selected the Top Ten Book of 2009 from their Top 100 notable titles.

Unlike PW‘s Top Ten, which included no women authors, 60% of the books on this list are by women, also besting the Amazon Editor’s Top Ten, which included only two women.

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel, Jeannette Walls, Scribner, 10/6/09

A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore, Knopf, 9/1/09

The Good Soldiers, David Finkel, Sarah Crichton/FSG, 9/15/09

Lit, Mary Karr, Harper, 11/3/00

A Short History of Women, Kate Walbert, Scribner, 6/16/09

Chronic City, Jonathan Lethem, Doubleday, 10/13/09

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, Richard Holmes, Pantheon, 7/14/09

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Liaquat Ahamed, Penguin Press, 1/22/09

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, Maile Meloy, Riverhead/Penguin, 7/9/09

Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life, Carol Sklenicka, Scribner, 11/24/09